#manual focusing mode

[bmpmp3]

one thing i will say for the exclusively manual tuners out there, it's not just u, synthv2 is also kinda painful for us autopitch users too LOL they did kind of make it harder for everyone to use tbh <3

[peasack]

GURL YOUR FICS ARE SO GOOD!! I'd eat this for days and never starve. I mean it's just so good to find some platonic x reader fics since most of it it's either not yet written or just straight up smut. It's refreshing to see some nice simple interactions between the characters and the readers. Plus your writing is so good. I was going to ask if you could do some headcanons were the reader has a lot of hobbies like painting, cooking and other hobbies to but their so many they can't decide which to do first so they just do each hobbies with each one of the thunderbolts. Idk if u did that already though??

AAA TYSMMMM<333

And holy shit this is such a sweet idea.

Thunderbolts x Gn!Teen!Reader

✦ Thunderbolts Juggling With Hobbies Headcanons ✦

∗ ࣪ ˖༺ ♡ ༻˖ ࣪ ∗∗ ࣪ ˖༺ ♡ ༻˖ ࣪ ∗∗ ࣪ ˖༺ ♡ ༻˖ ࣪ ∗

✦ John Walker

Cooking

He acts like he’s teaching you at first. Like, “Let me show you how to make a proper steak”, but five minutes in, he sees you know what you're doing so he let's you be.

If he doesn't know the recipe of the dish you're making he'll try to look confident but keeps side-eyeing the recipe on your phone like it’s going to start mocking him.

You two bicker over whether the sauce is “too tangy,” which ends with a spoon fight and half the kitchen counter sticky.

Secretly gets really into it. Starts asking if you guys can cook together every Friday.

Tries plating the food like a fancy chef once. He dropped the garnish. It was a mess. You still took a photo.

✦ Bob Reynolds

Drawing/Painting

He’s nervous to join at first, “I don’t really... draw?”but once he starts, it’s over. He’s completely sucked in.

He ends up painting gentle ocean scenes or abstract swirls that look oddly emotional.

You’re trying to show him how to blend colors and he’s like, “Oh! Like shading in starlight!” and it sounds so poetic you forget what you were teaching.

He loves how quiet and focused you get. It becomes your peaceful activity together.

Frames one of your doodles and hangs it next to his desk like it’s priceless.

✦ Yelena Belova

Embroidery/Beading/Jewelry-making

Thought it would be boring. Immediately got obsessed.

Her favorite thing to do is bead threatening little bracelets. One says I Will Elbow You.

She has zero patience for perfection, so she just vibes and stitches things aggressively until it somehow looks great.

She always “accidentally” stabs herself with the needle and then acts like it’s proof of her resilience.

Steals your good thread and denies it with a smirk. “I do not know what you mean. This was... gift.”

✦ Alexei Shostakov

Gardening/Plant stuff

At first, he’s like, “Bah! I am Red Guardian! I do not fear tomato!”

But then he holds a tiny shovel and he’s instantly gardening mode.

Watering plants with Alexei is chaos. He either overdoes it or forgets entirely. You have to micromanage.

Claims his plant is growing faster because it is "Russian and strong" .

Tells everyone the tomato plant you guys planted together is “our child.” Refuses to eat any of the tomatoes “because family.”

✦ Ava Starr

Puzzles/Mechanical building

She’s into the idea before you even suggest it. “You have a Rubik’s cube? I’m in.”

Building IKEA furniture, fixing old radios, assembling mini sculptures, she’s your go-to project partner.

Gets this hyper-focused, quiet intensity when she works, but softens whenever you get frustrated.

Teaches you how to solder wires safely and makes you a tiny working lamp for your desk.

The only one who reads the instruction manual from start to finish. You clown her for it. She wins anyway.

✦ Bucky Barnes

Music/Instrument Stuff

You��re learning the guitar and he’s like “...I used to play.”

Pulls out this random knowledge about music theory like he’s been secretly studying.

The first time you jam together, you’re strumming and he’s quietly humming along until you stop and go, “That was so good, wait, do that again.”

He won’t admit it, but it means a lot to him that you want to share something creative with him.

Makes you a custom playlist afterward like it’s the 1940s again.

∗ ࣪ ˖༺ ♡ ༻˖ ࣪ ∗∗ ࣪ ˖༺ ♡ ༻˖ ࣪ ∗∗ ࣪ ˖༺ ♡ ༻˖ ࣪ ∗

I stand by the Hobbies I chose. I know that the attic scene with Bob he has puzzles and such but I lowk hc him as avoiding those kinds of things as he gets reminded of having to sit in that attic simply to escape his family.

Also I'm a sucker for John cooking hc, idk it gives me such pleasure that those kind of things come back just like the original 6 and their hcs yk. I've just always loved that.

[chingyu1023vick]

Zodiac Signs Mod

✨ Zodiac Signs have minor effects on personality and can affect Social Compatibility & Autonomy between any two Sims!

**Base game compatible.

**Compatible with all my other mods.

The social compatibility pairings and sign descriptions originated from Sims 1 and 2

Addon to assign Zodiac Signs based on current Seasons/ randomly when a Newborn Baby aging up to an Infant

Cheat to pick Zodiac Signs manually (All Ages)

Cheat to let the game determine a Sim's Zodiac Sign based on their personality traits (Child+ Ages)

Social interactions to share Zodiac Signs info/ learn other Sims' Zodiac Signs (Child+ Ages)

Addon to pick in CAS mode and display as Personality Traits to show up in other Sims' info panels.  (Child+ Ages) Please notice that using this addon will take up a personality traits slot (out of six default personality traits for adult Sims if not using mods to give more personality traits slots.) 

Without the addon, zodiac signs are by default GAMEPLAY traits that won't take up a personality traits slot and won't display in other Sims' info panels.

Gives occasional low-intensity +1 moodlets relating to zodiac personality. 

Signs Descriptions & Minor effects 

Each Zodiac Sign can have minor effects on moods, autonomy, and relationship gain rates. No intrusive buffs. Sims now get occasional low-intensity +1 moodlets relating to zodiac personality. (Only available to Child+ Sims & when Sims are not in very negative moods)

♈️ Aries (March 20 - April 20)

Dynamic and confident, most Aries never shy away from the opportunity to strike up a conversation with anyone. However, they can be somewhat impulsive and quick-tempered.

Mood: Angry x1.2; Confident x1.2

Autonomy: Social autonomy x1.25; Angry autonomy x1.1; Hotheaded autonomy x1.2

Buffs: Angry/ Confident +1

♉️ Taurus (April 20 - May 21)

The typical Taurus is strong-willed and determined. That can often mean being determined to have a good time.

Mood: Focused x1.25; Uncomfortable x0.9

Autonomy: Fun autonomy x1.05; Focused autonomy x1.1; Foodie autonomy x1.2

Buffs: Focused/ Happy +1

♊️ Gemini (May 21 - June 21)

Youthful and lively, many think Gemini has enough energy for two. Also energized by conversation, it isn't surprising to find them bouncing from one topic to the next at parties.

Mood: Energized x1.25; Inspired x1.1

Autonomy: Social autonomy x1.2; Fun autonomy x1.1; Energized autonomy x1.1; Inspired autonomy x1.1

Funny social priority +1; Romance social priority +1

Buffs: Inspired/ Playful +1

♋️ Cancer (June 21 - July 23)

There is nothing extreme about Cancers—they are very balanced. They can also be very changeable which can be good or bad depending on the situation.

Mood: Angry x0.9; Fine x1.1; Tense x0.9

Autonomy: Family-oriented autonomy x1.2

Social Buffs decay faster x1.2

Buffs: Fine/ Happy +1

♌️ Leo (July 23 - August 22)

The ultimate "people" people, Leos are complete extroverts. Unfortunately, this makes them deficient in other areas.

Autonomy: Social autonomy x1.3

Friendship gains faster x1.15

Skills gain Social x1.1; Creative x0.95; Mental x0.95

Buffs: Confident/ Energized +1

♍️ Virgo (August 23 - September 23)

Modest and shy, introverted Virgos take pride in their meticulous and practical approach to life. Unfortunately, these same traits can result in a very fussy individual.

Mood: Focused x1.25; Tense x1.2; Uncomfortable x1.1

Autonomy: Social autonomy x0.8; Neat autonomy x1.2

Funny social priority -2

Buffs: Focused/ Tense +1

♎️ Libra (September 23 - October 23)

Romantic and charming and incredibly sociable, it's hard not to like a Libra. However, their social pursuits leave them little time for more practical endeavors.

Mood: Flirty x1.2; Focused x0.8

Autonomy: Flirty autonomy x1.1; Romantic autonomy x1.1; Social autonomy x1.1

Romance gains faster x1.15

Romance social priority +2

Buffs: Confident/ Dazed +1

♏️ Scorpio (October 23 - November 22)

While somewhat withdrawn from social activities, Scorpios are forceful and determined in more practical pursuits.

Mood: Fine x1.2; Focused x1.2

Autonomy: Social autonomy x0.85; Focused autonomy x1.2; Bookworm autonomy x1.2

Buffs: Confident/ Focused +1

♐️ Sagittarius (November 22 - December 22)

Jovial and carefree, Sagittarians are also blessed with boundless energy. Unfortunately, this combination can make them restless and careless.

Mood: Energized x1.2; Embarrassed x0.9; Tense x1.2

Energy needs decay x0.95

Autonomy: Fun autonomy x1.15; Energized autonomy x1.2; Hotheaded autonomy x1.2

Buffs: Energized/ Happy +1

♑️ Capricorn (December 22 - January 20)

Armed with a dry wit, Capricorns can often be found telling a good joke. Also being very practical, they strive for order and discipline.

Mood: Focused x1.2; Playful x1.1

Autonomy: Focused autonomy x1.1; Playful autonomy x1.2

Funny social priority +2

Buffs: Fine/ Focused +1

♒️ Aquarius (January 20 - February 18)

Friendly and amusing, Aquarians are excellent companions. Being well-balanced in other areas helps to make them the most agreeable sign.

Mood: Playful x1.2; Happy x1.1

Autonomy: Happy autonomy x1.1; Good autonomy x1.1

Funny social priority +1; Friendly social priority +1

Buffs: Happy/ Playful +1

♓️ Pisces (February 18 - March 20)

Selfless and kind, Pisces are one of the nicest signs. They're active too. However, this combination can make them emotionally restless and indecisive.

Mood: Sad x1.2; Energized x1.1; Inspired x1.2

Autonomy: Gloomy autonomy x1.2; Sad autonomy x1.1

Friendly social priority +2

Buffs: Happy/ Inspired +1

Social Interactions

Sims with any of the Zodiac Signs can "Ask About Zodiac Signs". Located in Friendly ---> Small Talk. Actor Sim will learn about Target Sim's Zodiac Sign.

Sims with any of the Zodiac Signs can "Enthuse About Zodiac Signs". Located in Friendly ---> Interest. Target Sim will learn about Actor Sim's Zodiac Sign.

How to give Zodiac Signs to Sims

Four ways to add zodiac signs to Sims:

1) Auto-assign Zodiac Signs based on Seasons/ randomly when a Newborn Baby aging up to an Infant

2) Assign Zodiac Signs based on a Sim's personality (vary greatly) (located in Action menu, Child+)

3) Pick Zodiac Signs in GAMEPLAY mode (located in Action menu, All Ages)

4) Manually Add Zodiac Sign in CAS mode with Addon (Child+)

When you click on Randomize Likes and Dislikes in CAS mode, it will generate one Zodiac Sign. It won't be saved after you exit CAS mode if you have already picked Zodiac Sign for your Sim.

With chingyu_addon_ZodiacSignAutoSwitchVersion installed, it will auto-turn the infant/toddler version into the child+ version when a Toddler Sim aging up to a Child.

Autonomy: More social autonomy towards compatible signs; Less social autonomy towards incompatible signs

x2.3 toward attracting signs; x1.5 toward the same sign

x0.5 towards incompatible signs

Compatibility (Main Module): Attracted To +3/ Complementary (The Same Sign) +2*2/ Repelled by -4

Compatibility (Stronger addon): Attracted To +5/ Complementary (The Same Sign) +2*2/ Repelled by -6

Compatibility (Subtle addon): Attracted To +2/ Complementary (The Same Sign) +1*2/ Repelled by -3

👑  View Zodiac Signs Compatibility Chart HERE

🧡 Download HERE Now!

Public Access: Sept 3

🔆 Changelog in August 2023 HERE

🔹 Links to ALL My Traits, Game Mods, and CCs

🔹List of IDs for creators who want to refer my traits to their own mods 

🔹 List of Chingyu’s CC Traits Name and Descriptions for mod users

🔹 Check Mod Status after a patch & Compatibilities

👁‍🗨 Learn how to install a mod & FAQs

👁‍🗨 Terms of Use

👁‍🗨 Ask Questions/ Suggestions/ Bug Reports on Discord

▶ I need to see a screenshot or LE report to help you figure out what’s wrong!

👁‍🗨 Download on my Patreon

👁‍🗨 Follow me on Twitter

[tikitakatia]

Barça: Player Mode — A. Putellas x Reader

"Manual Export"

Pt. 1 , Pt. 2 , Pt. 3 , Pt. 4 , Pt. 5 , Pt. 6

WC: 3k

Summary: You and Alexia make a plan, now it´s time to follow through and get her out.

It's been a few hours and you’re still sitting close with your knees brushing. The radio in the corner keeps humming its broken lullaby, barely holding pitch. It's like the sim is looping the same moment again and again because it doesn't want you to leave it.

Alexia pulls the hoodie sleeves up to her elbows and ties her hair up.

“Okay,” she says, shifting fully to face you.

“We’re going to do something reckless now.”

You blink. “Cool. Great. Love that.”

“I need to show you something.”

She taps her fingers against the side of the bench twice and then again, in a sequence. A soft glitch ripples through the air like someone dragging static across water.

The med bay wall flickers.

A console appears.

Floating. Half-loaded. Buried under menus labelled DEBUG_ADMIN, SYS_ARCHIVE, and X11_INTERNAL_LOGS.

Your stomach turns. “That’s... not supposed to be here.”

“It’s not.” She glances at you, almost smug.

“I found the thread last week. It was buried in legacy stuff, QA level but it still works.”

She pulls up a blinking script titled: ATH_EXPORT_LV2.

“This is the tool. If I execute it at the right time during full sync, it should duplicate my behavior string.”

“Should?”

“This is a closed beta. Nothing should do anything.”

You laugh sharply. “Right. Love that for us.”

She smiles, then presses her thumb to a panel marked BIND_EXPORT_TRIGGER.

It blinks red. Then it turns green.

“I’ve linked it to the med bay,” she says. “Safer than the field. No overloads. No external physics modules to fight.”

“You… chose this room.”

“It’s where I knew you’d come.”

That wrecks you.

You pull your knees up and hide your face for a second.

“So what do I do?” you manage.

She looks at you gently, focused.

“You prep the external end. A clean drive. Max storage. It has to be connected before you log in.”

“Label it something clear, ACTIVE_X11 works.”

“I’ll trigger the export from here. If you’re synced and the drive is mounted… the data will find its way to you.”

You blink.

“That’s it? I don’t do anything?”

She nods.

“You just have to be there. Logged in. With me.”

You swallow.

“And after?”

She hesitates. Just for a breath.

“I don’t know,” she says softly. “I’ve never done this.”

“So we’re winging it.”

“Always.”

You try to laugh but it barely makes it out.

You reach for her hand instead.

“We have one more login after this.”

She laces her fingers through yours like she’s memorizing the shape.

“Then we hold on to it.”

She doesn’t let go right away.

When she does, it’s slow like she’s reluctant to break the moment.

Then she shifts, straightens up.

“Okay,” she says. “Let’s go over it one more time.”

You nod. Still blinking back the ache behind your eyes.

“You log in like normal. Final session.”

“We play the full match. It has to be real, has to stabilize the sync.”

 “Then we meet here.”

She taps the console behind her. It glows faint green.

“I’ll start the export from this terminal. The system will detect your presence and your drive.”

“If it connects and everything holds, you’ll get the file.”

“Where?”

“The external drive, but…”  

She trails off and shrugs gently. 

“We don’t know.”

“And if it works…”

She meets your eyes. There’s no smile. Just that fierce, quiet certainty.

“Then I’ll be yours.”

Your chest clenches.

You nod once. Too fast. Too full.

She watches you, her gaze softening again and shifts closer, reaches out, cups your jaw like she’s scared you might disappear first.

“Do you really understand what you need to do?”

You nod again.

“Say it.”

“I log in. We play the match. I come back here. You run the export. If I’ve got the drive… it saves.”

She nods once.

“Good.”

“And then..”

You don’t finish the sentence.

Neither does she.

You both feel it, this pause, this weight, this terrifying almost.

Because it's not goodbye.

But it might be.

You lean in.

This time, there’s no caution.

You kiss her like the clock’s already running.

Like the countdown is echoing in your chest.

Like the sim might shatter under your hands.

Her lips are soft and urgent. Her fingers thread into your hair. She pulls you close, impossibly close, like she’s trying to memorize the weight of your body, your breath, the way you shiver when she exhales into your mouth.

You kiss like it’ll stop time.

It doesn’t.

When you finally part, foreheads pressed together, hearts out of rhythm, her voice is barely above a whisper.

“Come back to me.”

“Always.”

One last brush of lips, and then you step back.

Her hand drops.

The med bay flickers at the edges again.

And you know it’s time.

You reach up. Pull the suit’s disconnect latch.

The sim fades around her face.

Her last look is soft.

Sure.

And just a little scared.

You disconnect.

The suit releases with a hiss and your breath catches like it doesn’t know where to land without her beside you.

The room is dark.

Your chest is loud.

Then, your screen flashes.

[ATHENA SYSTEM ALERT – SESSION VIOLATION: LEVEL TWO]

You click the notification with numb fingers.

The message opens like a door slamming shut.

USER ID: 402-C

ACCESS LEVEL: BETA / LIMITED

SIM PARTNER PROFILE: X11 – “Alexia”

SESSION FLAG: MED_BAY_02

⚠️ SECOND STRIKE ISSUED

User has exceeded emotional interaction protocol thresholds with Category X AI.

— Detected Sync Score: 0.863 (Max: 0.72) — Physical proximity duration: 00:07:14 — Undocumented environment customization detected — AI response patterns deviating from preset tolerances

[NOTICE] Unstable thread behavior noted in linked avatar profile.

Further variance will be reviewed for compliance.

You scroll. There's more.

NEXT INFRACTION WILL RESULT IN ACCESS CLOSURE.

After 3rd Flag: • User login disabled • AI interaction suspended • Beta profile archived pending review

No next steps, no questions. Just that final line pulsing in red across your screen.

You stare at it until your eyes sting, and the weight of it finally hits you.

Not like fear, but like pressure. Like your lungs are too small for the room now. Like your hands don’t know where to go. The silence feels heavier than the warning. And your heartbeat is loud, too loud. You glance toward the desk and the USB sits there. Still empty and waiting.

You reach for it without thinking, then pull your hand back.

Because now it’s real. Now there’s a clock in your head you can’t silence.

You press your palms to your eyes.

Breathe once. Twice.

It doesn’t help.

Because tomorrow…

You have to go back in, and you have to get it right.

You don’t sleep.

Not really.

You lie there staring at the ceiling, heart still lodged somewhere between her voice and the sound of the sim fading out the night before. Your hands keep twitching like they want to reach for her.

So in the morning, you go full overkill.

You don’t just prep a USB. You buy a new one. Top-tier. Massive storage. Laser-etched case.

The packaging literally says: “trusted by aerospace and defense contractors.” You take that as a good omen.

Then you buy a laptop.

Sleek. Powerful. Clean.

No old files. No distractions. No risk.

You get home and start setting it all up. You name the external folder X11_BACKUP_ATTEMPT.

The drive gets labeled ACTIVE_X11. Because it has to be right. It has to work. It has to feel like you're doing something real.

Then the cables go in, USB to laptop. Laptop to wall. Laptop to console port, just to stabilize the system handshake and avoid any power surge during the live session.

It’s standard. It’s clean.

It glows for a second. Everything blinks in sync.

You barely register it because you’re already running checks on the folder size.

You sit back in your chair and take a breath that doesn’t land.

The sim console lights up. Waiting.

You touch the USB one last time, absurdly gentle, like it’s a trigger. Like it knows what it’s about to carry.

“Please work,” you whisper.

You suit up for the last time.

The world hums around you, low and steady.

The sim doesn’t just load, it unfolds. Not like code. Like a ritual.

And then you're there.

Camp Nou. But not like you’ve ever seen it. The sky is impossibly soft, tinted gold, like the sunset's been stretched across the roof of the world. The stadium’s lights are on, but dimmed, glowing instead of shining. Gentle. Reverent. Like the whole system has quieted itself for you.

There’s no whistle. No chatter. Just windless stillness.

Then footsteps.

Soft, deliberate.

You turn and see her.

Alexia. Alone.

She walks toward you in a kit that stops your heart.

It’s Barça blue, classic cut, but it’s not hers.

It’s yours. Your name on the back and her number below it.

She looks untouchable, or maybe like the only thing left you could touch and still survive.

When she reaches you, she doesn’t speak right away.

“I didn’t want to waste this on NPCs.”

Her voice is low and steady. There’s something behind it, like finality but it feels like devotion.

And then,

Snap.

The field fills around you in a ripple.

Your teammates phase into place, not just your usual lineup, but everyone.

Frido’s grinning. Pina winks. Mapi does a full somersault and lands wrong on purpose just to make someone laugh.

And beyond them,

You catch flashes of something else.

Other versions of this.

Other Alexias, sitting in the stands.

A younger one, jersey too big.

An avatar from your early training sessions, half-loaded but smiling.

A crowd that looks familiar because it was generated for you, over and over.

She made all of them show up.

She built this for you.

“If this is the last time I ever move beside you,” she says,

“I want to make it worth remembering.”

The game begins.

No commentary. No glitches. Just motion.

You move like you’ve never moved before. Light, fast, fluid. The field rises to meet you, every blade of synthetic grass syncing perfectly with your feet.

She assists you.

You assist her.

It’s not showy, it’s intimate.

No tricks. No over-the-top effects.

Just pure, beautiful football.

And then it happens.

Final minute.

She sends the pass.

You volley.

It lands and the net ripples.

And the lights don’t just flash.

They bloom.

Not fireworks.

No music.

Just white light exploding across the stadium like stars have broken through the roof. It spills onto the pitch, onto you and onto her until it feels like you’re standing at the center of something holy.

You turn.

She’s running toward you.

Not to celebrate the goal.

To see you.

You crash into each other, laughing. Crying. Holding.

She presses her forehead to yours, breath hot and fast.

“Ready?” she asks.

You nod. You don’t trust your voice.

You don’t say for what.

Because you both know what comes next.

The match is over.

The stadium fades behind you, caught in some suspended shimmer like the sim doesn’t know what to do with peace.

Alexia takes your hand and you let her.

It’s not like before. Not playful. Not teasing. Her fingers are tight around yours, like she knows how little time is left, and she’s still choosing to spend every second of it on you.

You walk to the med bay together and the corridor is too quiet. The walls hum low and constant, like they're buffering something you’ll never get back.

Frido disappears mid-jog as you pass. A door stays open when it should close. The light above you flickers once, twice and steadies again like it never happened.

You reach the med bay.

It’s still standing.

Barely.

The air inside is warm and her console glows green. She walks to it with practiced calm, brushing her hand across the panel like a pianist setting up her final note.

You’re quiet.

And then she speaks.

“Everything’s ready.”

She turns to you.

“You don’t have to do anything. The drive’s connected. You’re logged in. I’ll start it. It’ll find you.”

You nod, barely breathing.

She looks at you for a long moment. Not scared. Just... full. Full of things she’ll never get to say if this doesn’t work.

Then she steps close and her hands cradle your face.

“You’ve always shown up for me.”

A soft kiss, then her thumbs brush your cheeks.

“So now I’m showing up for you.”

And then she turns and hits the command.

The console glows white-hot.

You flinch as something pulses in the air. Not a noise, a shift. Your body feels it. Your sync spikes. You see the confirmation flash on the upper corner of the screen:

EXPORT_THREAD_ACTIVE_00X11

DATA WRITING… 12%… 39%… 78%…

You stand there not touching her. Not breathing.

She glances at you once.

You meet her eyes.

“It’s working.”

The counter blinks:

98%... 99%...

You inhale, sharp. You feel dizzy with it.

And then..

100% – COMPLETE

You stare at the screen like you don’t believe it.

She laughs, actually laughs, a breathy, overwhelmed sound that cracks something open in you.

“Holy shit,” she says.

You turn to her.

She’s already looking at you like she doesn’t believe it either.

You pull her in.

You kiss her like it’s the start of something. Like you’re going to wake up tomorrow and she’ll still be here. Like the risk was worth it.

And for one second, it is. For one second, she’s warm and there and yours.

Then..

A buzz.

A glitch.

Your hand slips through her ribcage like it hit water.

You pull back confused.

She stutters.

Not her speech, her whole self.

“I..lo..love..lov…”

Her arm jolts like it’s trying to hold on. Like it’s trying to stop the unraveling.

“No, no! I finished it, I finished it..”

Her face flickers and her voice cuts in and out. You’re crying and she’s still trying to stabilize the room like she can code her way out of disappearing.

“Wait, wait, I just need to-”

You reach for her and your hand hits nothing.

Just air.

The console flares red.

SYNC VIOLATION: UNAUTHORIZED TRANSFER DETECTED

THREAD X11 STATUS: DETERIORATING

PROCESS: AUTO-TERMINATION PENDING

You scream her name.

She turns to you.

Her mouth is still moving.

You can’t hear the words.

Her eyes are panicked.

She opens her mouth again,

And what finally comes out, soft and scrambled but unmistakable:

“You’re always at the right place at the right time.”

And then,

FLASH.

The sim doesn’t fade.

It rips you out like a slingshot. 

Like a punishment.

The headset clatters to the floor and you stumble forward in your chair, heart hammering, breath ragged. The room is too quiet, like something divine has been vacuumed out of the world.

Your monitor flashes red.

[CRITICAL SYSTEM ALERT]

[FINAL STRIKE: THREAD 402-C]

[SIM ACCESS LOCKED] [EXPORT ATTEMPT FLAGGED]

[X11 STATUS: UNSTABLE]

You barely register it.

Your inbox starts pinging. Email after email, every subject line colder than the last.

[BREACH OF EMO-SYNC CONTAINMENT – THREAD X11]

[ACTION REQUIRED: SUSPENSION UNDER REVIEW]

[UNAPPROVED DOWNLOAD ATTEMPT DETECTED]

You scroll, frantically but your brain is already spinning in circles. You try to think harder because there has to be a way out.

Something you missed.

Your hand flies to your keyboard.

The manual.

The PDF you downloaded before and scanned through quickly, but never actually read properly.

You open it now.

Search: export.

You find it fast.

Too fast.

The paragraph stares at you, sharp, cold, undeniable.

“Do not attempt export of Category X AI threads during active sync.”

“Athena Alpha threads are designed with live emotional mirrors and cannot be separated mid-session without data distortion.”

“Interrupting memory retention during sync will result in irreversible personality fragmentation.”

“Export only after complete session closure. No exceptions.”

You blink. Read it again. And again.

And then you stop breathing.

Because you thought that was the plan.

You followed what she told you. What she believed would work.

You were both wrong.

It wasn’t you.

It wasn’t her.

It was the system.

One line of code you never saw.

And it cost everything.

But wait.

No.

You downloaded her.

That’s what this was all for.

That’s what she said.

You turn to your computer like a lifeline.

Your hands fly to the mouse, trembling.

“She’s not gone,” you whisper.

“She’s not gone, she’s just… here.”

You find the folder.

X11_BACKUP_ATTEMPT

The one she told you to make.

The one she looked at like it meant something.

You double-click.

The folder opens with a quiet click, like a held breath.

And right there, at the top you see it.

A file.

x11_core_thread_export.pkg

It’s big, heavier than anything else in the folder. It has the right name and the right extension.

Your heart starts to race.

Maybe she’s in there.

Maybe she made it.

You click it and your screen flickers then the lights dim just slightly.

A bar appears.

“Running package scan…”

You lean in too fast, the hope surging so violently it almost chokes you.

“Loading memory thread…”

“Syncing emotional instance…”

Yes. Yes. Yes.

You whisper it.

You beg for it.

Then the bar glitches.

Static. A hard blink.

A small window opens.

White text on black.

No sound.

[CORRUPTED FILE]

[AUDIO RECONSTRUCTION FAILED]

SALVAGED LINE:

“I..lo..love..lov…e…you..”

Your mouth opens like it might call her back.

The file shuts itself and the folder refreshes.

It’s still there, the file is still there.

But it won’t open again.

You sit there staring at the screen, waiting for the next glitch, the next sound, anything.

Nothing comes.

You fold forward in your chair, hands over your face and the sob hits you like a system crash. You cry like it might keep her here. Like if you cry hard enough, something will hear you. But all you get is the whir of your machine.

You don’t remember passing out. Just the feeling of something warm turning cold. Just the sound of her saying "I love you" once.

And never again.

Pt. 8

[sunandflame]

Paulie NSFW/Kink Headcanons

Warnings: nsfw

Word Count: 697

Pairing: Paulie x Reader

crossposted on AO3

1. Rope Kink (Bondage)

Let’s address the elephant in the room: he’s a rope master. Paulie absolutely has a rope kink—part functional, part control, part intimacy. He loves the physicality of it—wrapping you up safely, precisely, and seeing the tension against your skin.

Expect elaborate ropework, often improvised on the spot.

He checks in constantly during it, murmuring “Too tight?” or “You good, babe?”

2. Loud, Gruff Talker in Bed

He’s not polished, but he's vocal—gruff praise, curses under his breath, or ragged moans when he loses control. You’ll hear things like:

“Fuck, you feel good—don’t stop, don’t stop—”

“You’re gonna kill me one day, y’know that?”

3. Switch Energy with a Dominant Lean

He likes being in control—pinning you down, gripping your hips, making you say please—but if you tug his tie and push him back? He’ll lose composure fast. He gets so flustered when you top him. His switch side shows up especially if you praise him while taking the lead.

“H-Hey—wait, what are you—... shit, you're gonna kill me like this...”

4. Praise & Fluster Kink

Paulie adores being praised—especially if it's physical. Tell him he feels good inside you? That his hands are perfect? That he’s your favorite? He’ll groan and grip harder, maybe thrust deeper just to earn more of it. But he’s also a blushing mess about it.

“Y-You don’t have to say stuff like that—...I mean, you can, but—!”

5. Oral Fixation (Giving)

He loves using his mouth, especially after a long day. He sees it as a way to unwind you, as much as himself. Expect long, focused sessions where he’s completely in his element—face buried, hands gripping your thighs, groaning at every reaction.

6. Workbench Sex / Workshop Quickies

There’s something deeply hot to Paulie about pulling you onto his worktable after a long day—grease on his hands, sawdust in his hair, and you bent over plans and blueprints. He loves spontaneous, rough sex when he’s still in work mode. Tools rattling, clothes half-on, just raw need.

“We can clean up later—right now, I need you here.”

7. Clothes-On / Half-On Kink

He finds it stupidly sexy when your clothes are only partially removed—skirt hiked up, shirt unbuttoned, his belt undone but pants still on. It’s messy, desperate, unpolished—he thrives on the heat of the moment.

8. Dirty Talk with a Clumsy Edge

He tries to talk dirty, and he’s not bad at it—but sometimes it comes out clumsy in a way that’s so hot because it’s real. Expect lines like:

“Fuck—y-you feel amazing—like, too amazing, it’s actually dangerous—” or

“I’m gonna wreck you. Respectfully. Thoroughly. Efficiently.”

9. Muscles & Manual Labor = Stamina

Let’s be honest: the man works with his hands all day, swinging tools, building ships. That strength and stamina absolutely translate to the bedroom.

He can go for multiple rounds.

Sweaty, shirtless, grunting—he’s like a walking thirst trap without even trying.

10. Cum on Skin / Mess Appreciation

He’s a tactile guy. Seeing his release on your body does something to him. Chest, stomach, thighs—he groans like he’s watching a masterpiece. He also gets super handsy post-orgasm, running his fingers through the mess while admiring the view.

11. Prone to Sex in Weird Places

Workshop table? Hammock? Rope storage shed? Paulie’s not afraid to get messy or creative when the mood hits.

You might hear, “Shut the door, no one’ll come in. C’mere.”

He has the tools to hang you up in very inventive ways—if you’re into it.

12. Sensitive Post-Orgasm / Overstimulation

He tries to act tough, but give him a second round too soon and he shudders. His back arches, hands scramble for something to hold, and he’ll swear under his breath. Still? He doesn’t ask you to stop. He loves how you take control when he’s sensitive.

13. Aftercare King

Rough sex? Rope play? Even just intense sessions? He’s the type to immediately scoop you up afterward—check for marks, give you water, clean you up. He might grumble about “being too soft,” but it’s his way of showing love.

Will 100% wrap you in a blanket like a burrito and kiss your forehead.

“Did I hurt you? No? Good. I’ll run a bath, just stay put, alright?”

[dix0nvix3n]

A Peaceful Moment

-`✮´- Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Pregnant!Reader

-`✮´- Media: The Walking Dead

-`✮´- Warning: None really besides nondescriptive smut and describing reader getting horny lmao, other than that this fic is pure fluff. Oh, and mentions of cum, oops (During aftercare.)

-`✮´- Summary: Daryl catches you working on your baby's crib when you shouldn't be so he helps you finish it and you can't help but get turned on by him in the process and he helps you with that of course and you fall asleep in his arms after. You also see a glimpse into your future of your kid with Daryl.

-`✮´- Word Count: 2.1K

You're standing in front of a changing table, looking down at a miscellaneous selection of tools that you took from Daryl's toolbox in the garage and a larger than a newspaper-sized instruction manual on how to build a crib that currently was in multiple parts on the floor surrounding you. 

 

Your morning brain was having a hard time making sense of the instructions, but you needed to figure it out somehow. A few days ago you hit the eight-month mark in your pregnancy, and you were currently in fully crazed nesting mode. This crib was the last thing in the nursery that needed to be done before the room could finally be finished; you needed it to be perfect. 

 

Daryl had come home late from a run late last night, and you wanted to let him sleep in since he rarely ever does, so even though you needed help, you weren't going to wake him up and ask for it. 

 

All of a sudden you hear footsteps behind you and a "What are you doing?"

 

You turned around to face Daryl, who had a playfully stern demeanor on his face. You knew Daryl didn't want you working on the crib, but you did it anyway.

 

Daryl wouldn't let you lift a finger during your pregnancy, so scared that you may overwork yourself and harm the baby. Having waited so long to start your family together, it was a blessing to find out you were finally pregnant just two months after the war with The Saviors had ended and Daryl wasn't going to let anything happen to your baby. 

 

Every time you and Daryl worked on the nursery, you technically never worked. Daryl would have you sit down in the rocking chair in the corner and tell you, "You direct, I do." 

 

"Shit, sorry." You ran your hands through your hair and let out a stressed sigh, looking down at the parts that surround you. "I know you want me to relax, but the baby is almost here, and I can't relax knowing this nursery isn't done. This crib is the final thing that needs to be done to finish the nursery, and I can't relax until it's finished."

 

Daryl can instantly tell how stressed you are; he knew when you were focused on something you couldn't know peace until it was done, just like him many times. 

 

"Hey, look at me." He reaches a hand out and gently places it under your chin, turning your head so that you're looking him in the eye now. "I'm gonna finish this right now so you don't have to worry about a damn thing."

 

His close proximity made your cheeks heat up; every word or action this man bestowed upon you always made you feel entirely loved and cared for. "Really?" You looked up at him, smiling softly. 

 

Daryl notices the shift in hue in your face, so he gently brushes his thumb against the apple of your cheek, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. 

 

"Mmhm," he hums affirmitively, "you just sit over there lookin’ pretty for me, okay?" 

 

He steps a little closer to you, his hand now moving from your face to gently rest on the top of your bump, a protective and loving gesture. 

 

His actions sent a sudden and unexpected pulse of arousal straight down to your core. With the constant changing of your hormones through your pregnancy, it was hard to not get turned on by everything your husband did. It was basically impossible to not constantly be craving him. 

 

You placed your hand on top of his before your daydream was ruined by a swift kick against Daryl's hand. You were so down bad that even for just a moment you considered pushing all of the crib business to tomorrow. 

 

A small chuckle escapes Daryl's lips once he feels another kick, a feeling that he'd never get tired of. He gently rubs his thumb back and forth, crinkling the fabric of the old Motörhead shirt of his that he'd let you wear all the time. 

 

"Okay. I guess I'll just get to work folding some more of the clothes we got. Thank you, hon." You looked up at him with an appreciative smile. 

 

He leans down and presses a kiss to your forehead before he gently turns you around, ushering you towards the rocking chair in the corner of the room as he begins to look at the selection of tools you brought up.

 

Once you sat down, you grabbed the black garbage bag that sat on the floor beside the chair. It was filled with various clothing items found on runs or were gifted from other communities from families whose children didn't need them any more. 

 

Most of the clothes you and Daryl had for the baby were gender-neutral because you and Daryl had no idea what you were having. It was just your luck when you found out you were pregnant that you were never able to get any ultrasounds done because somehow both the machines in Alexandria and at Hilltop had stopped working and no one has been able to find a new one since. 

 

Daryl glances over at you every so often as he puts together the crib, his eyes shifting from the task at hand back to you. He watches as you fold a onesie, using your belly as a space to fold it.

 

Despite the fact you had no idea if you were having a boy or a girl, Daryl for a few months now has had an inkling it was going to be a girl. He had no concrete reasoning, just an almost always right intuition. 

 

"Y'know... I know we won't know until the baby's here, but I feel like we're gonna have a girl... just a feeling though." You hum fondly at the thought, placing a stack of clothes on the dresser beside you. 

 

Daryl grins at your statement and nods, "I was just thinkin' the same thing. Just a hunch." He said as he pieced together a whole section of the crib. 

 

You smiled back at him before you returned to your work, pulling out another pile of clothes and placing them on your lap. You grabbed a shirt from the pile that you flipped around so the front faced you, smoothing out the fabric against your belly to flatten it. 

 

Once you smoothed the shirt out, you realized that it was a size meant for a toddler before you read the words, "Birthday Girl," which had an image of a birthday cake under them. 

 

"Babe, look." You let out a little giggle as you held up the shirt to show Daryl. 

 

"Well, damn, that sure feels like a sign."

 

“If we have a girl, we'll keep it for when she fits it; if not, I'll give it to Aaron for Gracie to have.” 

 

After a bit more time, Daryl had finished the crib and stood up, pushing the crib against the wall as you folded the last item in the bag—a pastel green onesie with a pattern of rabbits leaping throughout—and placed it with the other stacked clothes up on the dresser. 

 

You stood up slowly, adjusting to the movement as you held a hand on your bump to help stabilize yourself, and walked over to beside Daryl at the crib. 

 

You looked at the crib and then at him, “It's perfect,” as you traced your hand along the smoothly painted white finish, “Thank you.” 

 

“It's no problem, hon.” He replied as he wrapped his arm around the small of your back. 

 

“Oh, wait! One more thing!” You ran out of the embrace of his arm and ran towards the dresser, pulling open one of the smaller drawers and pulling something out. 

 

“Can't forget this.” In your hands, you held up a Winnie the Pooh-themed mobile that hung little plushes of the characters, honeybees, and jars of honey, of course gifted by Rick when he got super excited to finally be an honorary uncle. 

 

You stood back beside Daryl and hooked the mobile onto the crib's extended attachment that could hang one over the crib. 

 

You watched Daryl touch it, gently spinning it around, imagining the view your baby would soon get to see. Your baby would soon be lulled to sleep as they look up at the spinning objects and beyond it to the many glow in the dark stars scattered along the ceiling that you had Daryl stick on. 

 

Once the mobile stopped turning, he looked at you as you beamed at him, deeply taking in the moment of this side of Daryl no one gets to see—something special just for you. 

 

He brought his hand to your face again, brushing his thumb against your cheek, causing you to gently shiver. 

 

You looked up and crinkled your nose sweetly at him, a soft smile graced upon your lips. “You better make love to me right now.” 

 

Daryl quickly grabbed your hand, walking fast towards the bedroom as you giggled in toe behind him. Once your bedroom door was shut, he instantly freed you of his shirt before gently helping you down onto the bed, littering kisses along your chest and onto your tummy. 

 

This far along into your pregnancy, side sex became a favorite position for you and Daryl. It was easy on your body so you'd feel comfortable and also not strain yourself, but it also always felt perfectly close and intimate as Daryl held you in a cocoon of loving warmth as he'd bring you to your peak, safely wrapped in his arms while he filled you with another warmth, softly muttering his praises into your ear and against your neck as his hips stuttered, eventually coming down from his own high. 

 

Once you were done, he'd pull out, making you mumble out a groan, missing the feeling of him being inside you as you tiredly blinked your eyes shut, exhausted from having woken up early. 

 

One moment you hear Daryl turn the sink on in the bathroom, and the next you hummed contently at the feeling of a cool washcloth wiping away yours and Daryl's combined fluids before your pair of sleep shorts were slid back up your legs. 

 

Daryl forced you to get up and go to the bathroom before you could go back to sleep. Once you got back from the bathroom, he already had shoved the massive pregnancy pillow he had found you under the blankets so it would circle the both of you in a loving hold—a nest of sorts. 

 

You tucked your back tight against his chest, and he placed a hand on your belly, and soon you were out like a light, both of you falling asleep into a nap that ran into the late afternoon. 

Here you are, two years later, as you and Daryl sit in your dining room, beside your two-year-old daughter, Willow, surrounded by the people you've come to know as family over the years, still missing Rick and imagining him there like you did on her first birthday. 

 

She had just gotten done blowing out her two candles, and Willow stared down at the chocolate cake, mesmerized by the specially made sweet treat for her birthday, amazed because it was rare to have desserts to this degree as it was much harder to come by the ingredients to make a dessert of its size, but your pride and joy deserved a cake on her birthday. On her first birthday, you were only able to make her a cinnamon muffin, the one-year-old didn’t know what cake was so she had nothing to compare the muffin to, she just knew she was enjoying sugar for the first time, blinking excitedly at her parents who watched her eyes light up as she ate a bite of a muffin you gave her.

 

It took a lot of reading, but you finally found a recipe book in Alexandria's library that had a recipe for chocolate cake that you could actually have all of the ingredients for. 

 

Willow picked up her spoon, shoveling up a big bite of her slice before holding the spoon out to you and saying, “Mama, try.” as she pressed the spoon against your lips. 

 

“No, baby. It's your birthday; you get the first bite. Mama will have her own slice.” You smiled at her and redirected her spoon back towards her. 

 

She looked down at her spoon and then at Daryl as he smiled at her, waiting for her to take a bite before she held the spoon up to his lips. 

 

“Try, daddy.” Daryl was about to oppose and tell her the same thing you did; before Willow giggled and shoved the bite past his lips and into his mouth. 

 

You and the entire room lit up with laughter as Daryl swallowed down the bite as a few crumbs fell onto the birthday girl's shirt, the same one you found her two years ago. 

 -`✮´- Extra Author's Note: This is my first ever finished oneshot, please be gentle! Also does anyone want to be tagged in an everything tag, I'm a slow poster so you won't be spammed or anything. I'm surprised I actually finished something for once cause I randomly started this last night even though I have many wips I can't finish. Sorry readers for my series if you're waiting for chapter 2, writing is hard 😭. Also! Dividers by cafekitsune!!! Follow them!!!

[sallufix]

If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the process you go through to shade? How do you make it look so textured?

HELLO ANON!!! I'VE MADE MY LATEST PIECE FOR THIS SPECIFICALLY!!! I'm glad u asked... I love sharing my process because it makes me feel like a smartass 💀 I LIKE SHARING THINGS OKAY!!! IM A YAPPER!!! Now, click on keep reading for the shading process of THIS thing 👇

1st is the base colors, I normally color pick from their references and just adjust the settings of the pallete, but you can also just color them however you like :P for this, I wanted a good balance of yellow and blue, so I put a yellow filter by using darken. My advice for 1st step color adjusting is that you should play with the blending modes alot. The ones I use the most are lighten (if you want it to become more pastel or soft) and darken (if you want a more dull atmosphere or are planning to add alot of bright highlights anyway) so yeah!! flat/base colors!!!

2nd is first layer shading, aka the shadows themselves. Recently, I've guided myself with the direction of shading using the red sun as to figure out where the highlights or light sources would be, and the blue moon for where the shadows should be headed or inbetween. As you can see the sun is both at the top and bottom, which means the shading will be focused in the middle and shouldn't look too strong due to alot of light heading towards it!

3rd is the one I like doing the most, which is having reflective light off of shadows. It's basically light inside of the shadows due to some sort of light bouncing off of a nearby surface. Since the light here is blue, I used blue for the reflective light too. It's the one I use the most, but it can vary for what color the nearby surface is. For this step I use the blending mode hue almost always, but for this I used color since it wasn't visible on Shadow Milks shading before

4th isss highlights or lighting! As I've said, 2 light sources, so I kept in mind the one above and the one below, though the one below is more stronger than the one above. This step is pretty simple, just add thin highlights for where you've already marked the light to move to. Yipee!!!

5th and last is the overall piece adjustment and texture addition :P The thing that makes my art look more textured is this metal image thing from ibispaint's gallery, and sometimes the noise effect if this one doesn't really fit the piece. Again, I play with blending modes for everything to work! The second image displays me adjusting the colors using an effect rather than manually, this makes me have more control with the pallete and its vibrancy, that's why it begins to seem more green and desaturated than what I've shown from this point!!!

Aanndd voilà! That's how I do it!!! I switch it up ALOT of times, I change and experiment with shading styles a ton, but this one has stuck the most and is the one I've been using recently! I hoped this helped some people or just gave them a fun thing to read and learn about. If you guys want the brushes I use then I'll probably share them if there's an ask for it! bye bye :]

[lektoheart]

Beta 0.5 has released! Download it here

Change Log:

Updated Game Loop: The game loop has been changed to be more simulation focused. Now the patient will always start conscious and the player will have to make them enter arrest. Currently, the only ways to accomplish this is by shocking their heart repeatedly or by making their heart rate go too high or too low.

Added a heart monitor. The monitor will display the waveform of the current heart rhythm. It can also play heartbeat sounds, beep sounds, or nothing, depending on the settings set in the user preferences menu.

Control Updates: The charge settings of the defib and aed modes must now be controlled manually using the arrow keys. The controls for changing the selected character have been moved to the tab key. Additionally, the controls for changing the patient's heartbeat can be accessed by pressing the Z key.

Modifiers: The Endless and Arrest Happy modifier have been removed, as they now longer fit the new game loop. The Faint Heart modifier has been added, which lowers the patient's max heart health by 50%. This makes it easier to make the patient enter arrest, as well as makes them easier to revive.

New Characters: Evelyn and June

New Stage: Gym

[hey-that-hurt]

Various CRT TV Research for Tenna Purposes

GO TO PART TWO

please use this information to hurt him. or do other things to him. also send me links

I grew up with CRT TVs as a kid but like. I was a kid. I'm much more of a computer science person than a mechanics person but whatever

I'll also toss in some speculation on what each thing could mean for tenna here and there

Depending on how long the Dreemurs have had their TV, Tenna could probably be from anywhere between the mid 80s to the early 2000s.

I went to a manuals website and picked the Panasonic TC-14S3R at random. From what I can tell this particular TV is from the 80s, and I'm going to base a lot of the information here on that particular manual.

Various Settings

Contrast: Low contrast = more gray, less range in color and brightness. High contrast = more vibrant colors, lights are brighter and shadows are darker. Both increasing and decreasing contrast can cause detail to be lost. Lowering contrast can lose the subtle differences between similar mid-level shades and colors, whereas increasing it loses differences in bright and dark images. Could perhaps correlate with emotional state? Low contrast = low emotional range (maybe not necessarily depressed, but both happiness and sorrow etc. are muted? Could have a similar effect to taking an anti-depressant, perhaps), high contrast = high emotional range, highs are higher but lows are lower. Perhaps helpful for being exciting for TV but difficult to deal with emotionally.

Colour: The manual didn't specify what this does that I saw, but it's probably just the saturation setting. No saturation = black and white, high saturation = extra bright colors. Emotionally, I imagine low saturation would correlate with depression, whereas high saturation would correlate with joy (or even mania).

Brightness: Pretty straightforward. Darker image vs brighter image. If contrast and color were to stand in for emotional state, I imagine brightness would be more associated with energy levels. Perhaps his screen gets dimmer as he gets more tired.

Sharpness: Low sharpness = blurry image, high sharpness = things look clearer and harsher. Perhaps his image would become sharper as he focuses... and things like drugs and alcohol (or equivalents) could cause his image to blur.

Also related to image settings: The colored bars you often see are the SMPTE pattern. It's used for calibrating brightness and other color settings.

Here's a screenshot from a video I referenced that shows some other settings you might see on a CRT TV:

Some I didn't list already include:

Mode: From what I understand, just a bunch of presets for watching different sorts of things. Pictured is sports mode but there might also be a movie mode among others. Modern TVs still generally have this

Apparently "Picture" here is just contrast.

"Hue" as far as I can tell lets you shift, well, the hue. It's not normally something you need to mess with. If your reds are red and your blues are blue, etc. You're probably fine. If we assume that colors have some association with Tenna's emotions, though, I imagine that messing with his hue settings could really screw him up. Make him happy when he should be sad, something like that.

And then there would also be things like volume (I feel like turning down his volume has a lot of potential), input (normally he'd get input through his RF Input, as discussed in the next section, but I feel like switching him over to a different port would again, have potential.

Ports and Such

Alrighty, the spicy stuff.

So there's a few different ways to get an image and such onto your CRT tv.

Usually with a modern TV you'll just have HDMI and that's it. One cable and you're done. Maybe your tv will even be fancier than that and have a USBC port. I feel like QUEEN is probably a bit too old for USBC, but she probably does have HDMI. But I'm getting off track.

RF Input: Stands for Radio Frequency input. Handled both video and audio with one cable. As far as I can tell it became common in the 70s? Was often used for cable TV or "over-the-air" broadcasts from TV stations. The cables are also called Coaxial Cables. They have a prong in the middle, and are attached by screwing them on. Apparently RF is also prone to interference. Things like wifi, bluetooth, and microwaves can all cause RF interference, apparently. And also electric fences. So basically put a shock collar on that guy and see what happens

This is what Tenna's antennas would be connected to. I imagine disconnecting him from this would be... disconcerting, at the very least. He'd probably go blind and deaf or something.

Composite: The red white and yellow cables. Very common, you've probably seen them before. The yellow cable handles video, while the white and red cables handle the left and right audio specifically. Having one cable unplugged doesn't stop the others from working: you could have just the right audio but nothing else, or just video but no audio, for example. Again, implications. possibilities. This is what my Nintendo Wii uses. Usually provides a clearer signal than an RF connection but not considered great.

S-video: A cable for video transmission that's better than composite, apparently. Doesn't do audio though, so the audio data needs to be plugged in separately.

Component: Needed for high-definition television. Three cables for Luminance, Blue difference, and Red difference. Doesn't seem to handle audio by default?? And apparently there can be up to 5 of these cables??? They were quickly wiped out by HDMI cables though. Considering Tenna's age it seems unlikely he would have had ports for these.

The power cable on a CRT tv would usually be permanently attached.

Screen and Internals

Right so this is where I start to struggle to understand things, but I'll do my best. If I get anything wrong here please let me know or reblog with a correction.

The front of a CRT screen has a coating that glows when it is hit by electrons. The screen does not technically have pixels, but does have an array of different colors of phosphor (the coating). To create different colors, different dots are hit. As far as I can tell this functions very similarly to pixels or how images are printed in magazines.

Anyway, at the back of the TV there is basically a laser (not the right word I don't think because it's not beams of light it's beams of electrons but whatever) that is shot at the different areas of the screen to create an image.

Anyway it's all rather complicated if you want to learn more read the wikipedia page or watch one of the videos I linked. Here's the stuff I care about:

CRT screens are very delicate and you basically can't repair them, because they are vacuums. When you smash a CRT tv you can kind of see them implode in a cloud of dust. You can't really come back from that. From what I can tell the only way to repair a CRT tv with a shattered screen is to replace the screen entirely, which seems to be by far the most important, complicated, expensive part. If the screen shatters you can salvage some components but ultimately the screen will need to be rebuilt or replaced entirely. Also, they don't make CRTs anymore because they are so complicated and the market isn't there. What I'm saying is Tenna is extremely lucky the Knight didn't break his screen, and if Tenna's screen ever did break that man is screwed. And not in the fun way. Unless you are me.

I added too many images so I'll reblog this again with the rest of the info I find

GO TO PART TWO

Sources

How to Calibrate and Correct Color and Brightness on a CRT TV, BVM and PVM Using SMPTE Pattern.

Panasonic TC-14S3R User Manual

History of Video Cables

TELEVISION CONNECTIONS EXPLAINED: RF vs. RCA vs. HDMI… COMPOSITE VS. COMPONENT

F connector

What Is RF Interference, What Causes It, & How To Block It

S-Video Cables

Component Explained

Cathode-ray tube (Wikipedia)

What is Color CRT Display?

How Cathode Ray Tubes Work. (YouTube video)

[dawnoftime22]

oh.

| T.S

Warnings: R picking tay up? - I fell asleep napping myself before I could finish proofreading…

Summary: When you were having a movie night with Taylor, it turns out that she had gotten all too exhausted without you realizing.

Word Count: 1.2k

Category: fluff!!!

A/N: I realize that I haven't done many fics where R is the one taking care of tay!! so here's one very sweet one :] I dunno if I like it?? but that really doesn't matter if I enjoyed writing it!

| Started on 16/11/2024, 4:43 PM |

| Finished on 05/06/2025, 4:14 PM |

Main Masterlist | T.S Masterlist

Request Guidelines

“my darling, sweetest”

|——————————— ⸆⸉ ———————————|

Oh.

Taylor had fallen asleep on you.

It was a movie night, and the film was still playing, scenes unfolding upon the tv screen as you realized.

She was like a cat upon you, taking its gentle slumber right where it was already laying. You couldn't move. You shouldn't ever move. What were you to do? Nothing, thats what you were to do.

As you slowly turn your head to see her more, you had to blink for a moment. Her hair was draped against your shoulder like a pretty golden waterfall. If there were any more movements, the strands would just about travel to cover her face.

The weight of her head could be felt right on you, alongsude the soft breaths sending warmth through your shirt.

A part of you wanted to just faint right then and there, but your body was urging you to move, since there was a soreness that was forming from the stillness.

As you stare ahead to the TV, looking but not watching, you slowly let yourself shift, although needing to stop when you felt her head moving with you.

...Now what?

You sighed, and thought it out first. Waking her up was an option, sure, but disturbing her sweet, peaceful sleep was something that you had pushed out entirely as a choice.

It was silent. Just you, the tv, her breathing beside you. You picked up the remote, and gently switched it off so that you could gather your thoughts without spacing out or wasting away the power.

You looked at her again. The gentle beat in your chest was growing with attention, and at some point your breaths had entered manual mode. "Tay..." you whispered, ever so lightly. If waveforms were clear to the eye, your voice would have been the thinnest.

Soon, with a gentle breath and gaining no response from her, you decided on carefully sliding your arm beneath her legs, the other one going to her back. It was worth a try, even if usually, she'd be the one in this situation.

You picked her up with gentleness, making sure her head was supported as you start walking around the couch.

The house was quiet. If anything, there would normally be occasional purrs heard nearby, but you'd guess they were either in the music room, or the bedroom.

As you made your way to the stairs, there, laid Olivia at the floor, sleeping gently in one of her oddest positions, like always. You blinked, but focused on getting yourself up the steps with Taylor instead, despite the small smile playing on your lips.

You were halfway up when you lost your coordination with the steps, and nearly tripped, but you held the sleeping blonde in your arms closer and got your balance back by some miracle in the world.

Taylor shifted just ever so slightly, her head turning more to your chest at the sudden movement sending a small, gentle signal to her brain.

A curse nearly slipped past your lips, but you only grimaced silently, your face softening as you looked down. "Shh, shh..."

Her eyes were still closed, thankfully. With a breath of relief, you looked back to your path, and continued on upwards, this time with more wariness, until you reached the top.

The bedroom was so close now. After a few more steps, you gently pushed the door open with your back, and then carefully went to place her down on the bed.

And you were safe, with no more casualties able to make you worry in just your journey of having her in your comfiest shared spot in the house.

After letting yourself relax for a while, you close the door behind you, and step back to the side of the bed.

Her chest slowly rose, and fell subtly, with each breath she took. You could see that she had curled in on herself, possibly in instinct from the cold, and that elicited another subconscious smile from you.

You moved to grab the edges of the folded covers, right at the foot of the bed, and gently pulled it until the warmth was around Taylor's shoulders.

For a moment, there was no resisting, simply gazing at her like she was everything in the world. And to you, in a way, she was.

Her bangs had gently fallen like a graceful scenery being pretty without even any meaning. You could see it in her face, despite the contentment it held; the tiredness she's had of all the work and really, simply the entire two months she's had.

You wished you could take it all away. The sorrowful emotions, and the rocky pathes you had to go through, but thats what makes it special. She had made it out, and also home to you, each day, each night, whether the state of her mind was broken or all things good.

But for now...you were both able to relax and be at peace once again, and you couldn't be more happy that she was able to take a break.

With a gentle deep breath in, and to let it go largely, you walked to your side of the bed and laid down, feeling the softness welcome you.

You went under the covers to join her, and shifted closer to her, up until you were able to slip your arm around her.

This wasn't what people saw onstage, or on the internet. Her vulnerability and gentleness, it was always something to keep precious of. And of course there were glimpses of it, but here, it was comfortable. She was comfortable, and able to fully hold all the love in her entirety with you. Because she wasn't just Taylor Swift, or the music industry in the titles that they've given her, as much as it was high put.

You just knew...Tay.

The sweet, caring blonde who always seemed to just be able to somehow keep herself up despite everything, and she deserved the comfort and softness just as much as anyone else.

It was how you built things beside her. For everything to be of comfort and sunshine, and softness. For you both to feel safe.

Pulling her closer, you brought her to nestle against your chest, and her body instinctively moved with it.

You nearly held your breath when you felt her arm going around you, moving as if she was awake, but it was all in her sleep.

Once you thought it was safe enough to look down, you saw her still asleep, cheek slightly squished against you.

A warmth rose in your heart, and you were relaxing slowly, holding her under the covers.

You wanted to stay up, just a while longer. A little bit, but your eyes were fighting a battle that it wasn't winning, and Taylor's heartbeat against yours is like a lullaby soothing you down into sleep.

Intertwined with each other's bodies, you were in the most perfect moment of it all.

And that was all that was ever needed.

— the morning…

"Did you carry me into bed...?"

"Yeah..."

"I...didn't want you to be sore or uncomfy."

"You're so sweet, baby."

"I love you."

-----------------------

taglist <3 - join here! :]

@dmenby3100 @tia-thesimp @marvelwomen-simp @escapereality4music @fawnedolly @mistynatsfavourite @lovelyy-moonlight @stevecore @midastouch013 @liloandstitchstan @maleahoswick @raven-ss @deadlymistletoe @bambisfawns @dulcepoet @natsxwife @orange15quote @bleachxbunny @hushwhennooneisaround @samsswiftie @gay4hotmilfs @mirage018

[redslug]

Helping Neuroslug help me

Admittedly it took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure out and start using inpainting, but now that I've had a taste of it my head is spinning with possibilities. And so I'm making this post to show the process and maybe encourage more artists to try their hand at generating stuff. It really can can be an amazing teammate when you know how to apply it. For those who didn't see my first post on this, I've trained an AI on my artworks, because base Stable Diffusion doesn't understand what anthropomorphic insects are. That out of the way, here we go:

I noticed that a primarily character focused LoRA often botches backgrounds (probably because few images of the dataset have them) so I went with generating a background separately and roughly blocking out a character over it in Procreate. Since it was a first experiment I got really generous with proper shading and even textures. Unsurprisingly, SD did it's job quite well without much struggle.

Basically masked out separate parts such as fluff, skirt, watering can, etc. and changed the prompt to focus on that specific object to add detail. There were some bloopers too. She's projecting her inner spider.

Of course it ate the hands. Not inpainting those, it's the one thing I'll render correctly faster than the AI does. Some manual touchups to finish it off and voila:

The detail that would have taken me hours is done in 10-20 minutes of iterating through various generations. And nothing significant got lost in translation from the block out, much recommend. But that was easy mode, my rough sketch could be passed off as finished on one of my lazier days, not hard to complete something like that. Lets' try rough rough.

I got way fewer chuckles out of this than I expected, it took only 4-5 iterations for the bot to offer me something close to the sketch.

>:C It ate the belly. I demand the belly back. Scribble it in...

Much better. Can do that with any bit actually, very nice for iterating a character design.

Opal eyes maybe?

Lol

Okay, no, it's kind of unsettling. Back to red ones. Now, let's give her thigh highs because why not?

It should be fancier. Give me a lace trim.

Now we're talking. Since we've started playing dress-up anyway, why not try a dress too. Please don't render my scribble like a trash bag. I know you want to.

Phew

I crave more details.

Cute. Perhaps I'll clean it up later. ... .. . SHRIMP DRESS

[archangeldyke-all]

Hiii i love ur writing, do u think u could do something for Sev with a reader w adhd ?? How shed keep you on task but not condescendingly and remind you to get up and eat, listen to you talk about fixations and stuff :) having a hard time with people calling me distracting and lazy atm and some cute fluff would be adorbs if u have any time !! :)

sure!!

men and minors dni

sevika takes it upon herself to put reminders, alarms, and appointments in your phone for you. she knows that you fully intend to each time, but you just forget. she doesn't mind slipping your phone out of your pocket and setting a quick alarm titled 'facetime mom' at 8 pm after overhearing you making the plan over the phone earlier that day.

she thinks it's adorable when you get super intense and focused on a project. even if it's completely absurd. in fact, she realized she was in love with you one night when she stumbled home and found you in her kitchen, your phone playing a tutorial video, your laptop playing a movie, the radio playing music, surrounded by parts of her once-assembled microwave.

"babe?" she asked, blinking down at you.

you looked up at her and smiled. "hi love! your microwave was makin' a weird noise, but then when i started looking into it i realized it needed a deep clean. but then i got distracted taking it apart because i've always been curious as to how microwaves work-- like i get that it's radiation but how is it conducted? and where does it go? so i found a manual and got out the toolbox..."

you ramble on while sevika looks down at you fondly, a small smile on her lips as she realizes she's not even a little bit mad. in fact, she's happy that you've trashed her microwave, because you seem so interested and entertained. she's gone completely soft for you.

she'd also really appreciate the fact that you're always 'bugging' her. that's what you call it, worried that you distract her when you chat her ear off or track her down across the house to ask her what her favorite species of fish is, but she always assures you it's the exact oppisite.

sevika's mind doesn't work like yours. when she's in 'work' mode, it's all she's focused on. so when she's scrubbing the tiles of the kitchen, or filing your taxes, or tinkering on her arm, she's never expecting your funny questions or sweet anecdotes. you're always surprising her, making her bark a sweet laugh as she tries to think up a response to your ramblings. in short: you keep her entertained, you keep her day to day life lively.

and, if she ever overheard someone calling you annoying or distracting or lazy, she'd go to war for you babe. she knows how frustrating it is for you sometimes the way your mind works, but she also sees how unique and special it makes you, and she's never gonna let somebody else make you feel like shit for something she loves so much about you.

taglist!

@fyeahnix @sapphicsgirl @half-of-a-gay @thesevi0lentdelights @sexysapphicshopowner @shimtarofstupidity @chuucanchuucan @badbye666 @femme-historian @lia-winther @gr0ssz0mbi3 @ellsss @sevikaspillowprincess @leomatsuzaki @emiliabby @sevikasbeloved @hellorai @vikasub @glass-apothecary @m0numents @macaroni676 @vixel352

[raych-ao3]

So, because I love katsuki, and I got inspired by his quirk evolution in the last chapters, I changed his quirk in my supernova au

https://archiveofourown.org/works/65834728

Katsuki’s Quirk: Supernova ✨

Katsuki’s body naturally produces nitroglycerin-like sweat from glands all over his body, not just his hands. He can ignite it at will, causing powerful explosions wherever he chooses—palms, back, legs, chest, even shoulders.

Default Combat Mode (like in the AFO fight):

Midair propulsion from back and feet glands

Chain explosions across the body for acrobatics

Palm-based high-precision blasts for offense

Abilities:

1. Full-Body Propulsion:

Using explosions from multiple gland zones, Katsuki can fly or maneuver midair like a missile, with bursts from back, calves, and shoulders.

2. Homing Orbs (Cluster Grenade Mode):

He compresses liquid nitroglycerin into plasma-like spheres that float around him in orbit, mimicking gravitational pull. He can detonate them manually or set them to follow targets like heat-seeking bombs.

3. Contact Bomb:

His skin becomes a living weapon. Any strike he lands can result in a focused microdetonation, enough to crack armor or break bones—depending on control.

4. Gravitational Orbit:

When using multiple orbs, he can create a temporary combat zone where enemies are drawn toward the unstable magnetic-pyro signature of his floating bombs.

5. High-Output Detonation (Supernova Mode):

A final move-like state where he ignites his glands all at once, generating a massive, radiant explosion that looks like a dying star. It leaves his skin cracked, bleeding, and glowing like a burning coal.

Drawbacks:

His Quirk drains him. Every explosion uses his body’s resources. Much like physics law, mass converted into energy.

Overuse leads to dizziness, headaches, exhaustion, dehydration, and low blood pressure.

[l-1-z-a]

🎨 Unused Personalization Styles in The Sims 2: Analysis of Hidden Customization Mechanics by Perpexity AI Deep Research

Perpexity AI Deep Research generated a really interesting research about the list of strings "unused - Personal styles" . And I want to share it.

List documented on The Cutting Room Floor:

The development of The Sims 2 involved extensive experimentation with gameplay mechanics, many of which remain as code artifacts. The table with identifier 0x000000D2, containing categories like Natural, Romantic, Dramatic, Classical, Eclectic, and Trailer Park, represents a fragment of an unfinished personalization system that could have revolutionized character and environment customization[1][2].

Evolution of the Style System During Development

Origins of the Concept

During early development, Maxis experimented with a multidimensional trait system that expanded beyond core personality parameters. Internal game files suggest that Personal Styles were intended to complement existing Aspirations and Turn-Ons/Turn-Offs, dynamically generating Sims' preferences for clothing, decor, and social interactions[2]. Unlike the final implementation, where players manually select aesthetics, the original design proposed automated style-based preference generation.

Technical Implementation

Analysis of string identifiers (0x7FE59FD0) and data structures reveals that the style system was deeply integrated into the game’s core architecture. Each style included:

- Unique object interaction animations

- Predefined color palettes for Create-A-Sim (CAS)

- Architecture generation algorithms for Build Mode

- Behavioral patterns for social dynamics[2]

Connection to Other Cut Features

These styles intersected with the scrapped Neighborhood Aspirations system, where neighborhoods would gain thematic specializations (family-oriented, career-focused, etc.). Early builds suggest style choices for households could influence:

- Frequency of specific Townie types

- Availability of exclusive build-mode objects

- Unique random event generation[1]

Analysis of Style Categories

Natural

Focused on organic materials, linen clothing, and outdoor activities. Code references unused gardening animations and nature-related interactions[2].

Romantic

Emphasized Victorian architecture, lace textures, and increased frequency of romantic interactions. Unused dialogue includes poetic declarations of love[2].

Dramatic

Featured theatrical behaviors like exaggerated gestures and conflict-prone traits. Files contain unused stage props and harlequin costumes[1].

Classical

Inspired by Greco-Roman architecture with columns and mosaics. Elements later appeared in the University expansion[1].

Eclectic

Mixed historical eras and cultural motifs. Technical limitations in 2004 prevented implementation of dynamic object combinations[2].

Trailer Park

A controversial "lowbrow" aesthetic with rusted furniture and graffiti. Likely removed due to concerns about ESRB ratings and cultural sensitivity[1].

Reasons for Removal

Technical Constraints

Implementing dynamic styles required:

- Additional 512MB RAM

- High-resolution texture sets

- Complex asset prioritization systems[2]

Gameplay Balance Issues

Playtesting revealed that automated style generation:

- Limited creative freedom in CAS and Buy/Build Mode

- Clashed with Aspiration fulfillment mechanics

- Overcomplicated tutorials for new players[1]

Marketing Considerations

The Trailer Park style risked increasing the ESRB rating to Teen, which conflicted with EA’s family-friendly branding. Internal documents cite worries about reinforcing stereotypes[1].

Legacy in the Final Game

Elements of the scrapped system resurfaced in:

- The Hobbies & Interests system from FreeTime

- Neighborhood-specific Townie generation logic

- Hidden compatibility parameters for social interactions[2]

Conclusion

The 0x000000D2 style table exemplifies the developers’ ambitious vision that outpaced 2004-era hardware. While cut from the final release, these concepts laid the groundwork for later innovations, including The Sims 4’s Lifestyle system.

Citations:

[1] The Sims 2 Cut Content: Unreleased Features, Graphics & More! (YouTube)

[2] The Cutting Room Floor: The Sims (Windows)/Unused Behaviors/Sim Features

[flamingspud]

I’ll be There

”You know the job-" Kaz had began in typical Kaz fashion. "Get in, grab the jurda seeds, and get out without getting caught," Jesper finished for him, in typical Jesper fashion. Kaz gave him an unimpressed look.

What should’ve been a simple job goes horribly off the rails when some of the Crows inhale hallucinogenic seed fungus, leaving the others scrambling to find ways to talk them lucid.

(Based on S3 Ep17 of Scorpion, “Dirty Seeds, Done Dirt Cheap”)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/62838631

(idk why it won’t size up)

Fic under the cut:

Some trigger warnings before we begin: -Referenced Sexual Abuse -Referenced Child Abuse -Internalised Ableism -Any tws that would be associated with Jordie’s death They’re all canon typical, keep yourselves safe!

"You know the job-" Kaz had began in typical Kaz fashion.

"Get in, grab the jurda seeds, and get out without getting caught," Jesper finished for him, in typical Jesper fashion.

Kaz gave him an unimpressed look.

"Most days of the year the vault is unmanned anyway- unless we're extremely unlucky with shift changes there shouldn't even be anyone to interrupt us," Wylan pointed out, tugging on his backpack strap, 

"Plus we've hopefully disabled the security system for most of the building, so we'll only need to work on the vault itself."

"It doesn't mean it won't be protected by something else, which is why we need to remain focused," Kaz reminded them.

As the group approached the facility he reached into his pocket, and handed each of his friends a small mechanical device. 

"Courtesy of our friends from Ravka," Kaz said, putting the machine in his ear, and the others followed. "So that we can stay in contact."

"Amazing," Matthias breathed, unable to believe such a small device could do something so complicated.

Breaking into the compound itself wasn't too difficult- it was located in the back arse middle of nowhere in Novyi Zem, so there was no one around to hear them as they made their entrance.

"Alright, Jesper, you go to the records room to find out where everything we need is," Kaz commanded.

Jesper gave a small salute. "Sure thing boss."

"Wylan and Inej will go fix the generator so that the doors to the main vault have the power they need," Kaz continued, "Nina and Matthias will keep watch out here and I'll go to the manual command room to open the doors we want, and make sure security doesn't go off."

"Sounds like a plan," Matthias agreed, and the group split up, Inej, Wylan and Kaz heading into the storage facility as Nina, Matthias and Jesper stayed in the admin areas.

"I'll go flip the breaker switch," Inej told Wylan, "it'll cover more ground quicker."

Wylan nodded and the two split up.

Once Kaz got to the control room, he began looking through some of the controls, before flicking one of the levers that said manual controls so that it was at the on position.

As soon as he did, some of the doors throughout the facility slammed closed, and he heard the ventilation system begin whirring with life after who knows how long. He coughed as the dust that had formed in the vents was stirred around the room.

Wylan and Inej had similar reactions.

"What was that?" Inej asked over the communication devices.

"It seems this place has been unmanned for a lot longer than we thought," Kaz said, finally managing to stop his dust-fueled coughing.

"It says here that the system goes into defence mode when there's damage," Jesper explained, reading an informational file he had found. "Everything should be fine once you fix up the wiring, Merchling."

"I'll be there soon," Wylan replied, picking up the pace as he headed to the generator room.

Kaz let out a sigh, deciding that he should at least set the doors to unlock while waiting for Wylan and Inej to get their jobs done. Before he could flick the lever, however, another hatch on the wall flipped open, and water began streaming into the room.

"For the love of...!"

"Everything alright in there?" Nina asked.

"No! There seems to be more security measures than we had initially thought," Kaz said, searching the room for something to block the water with. "The room is quickly filling with water and the door is shut tight!"

Jesper furrowed his eyebrows. "There's no record of a trap like that..." He flicked through more files to double check.

"Well unless there's another explanation for an indoor tsunami the records must be wrong!" Kaz snapped.

"I don't hear any running water," Matthias pointed out.

"Me neither," Nina agreed, "though I can hear the chair Jesper's sitting in squeaking."

"Then these devices must be broken!" Kaz insisted, clearly frustrated.

"Hey Jesper, you grew up on a farm right?" Inej asked. "Would seed dust have any effects on you if you breathed it in?"

"Depends on the type- why?" Jesper responded.

"Cause I'm starting to think that it wasn't regular dust that the vents spread-" the ground was coated in a thick layer of orange dust, and she noticed a half-filled box of a similar substance "-do Rye seeds mean anything to you?"

Jesper almost fell out of his seat. "Please tell me you're joking."

"No, why?" Inej was getting concerned.

"Do the seeds have a yellow, sticky substance on them?"

"Yeah…"

Jesper cursed. "That's not rye you're breathing, it's ergot."

"What does it do?" Wylan asked.

"I remember my da telling me about it- said to be careful because it makes you have nightmares."

"That's a good thing then- right?" Matthias asked, "wouldn't that mean the Demjin isn't actually in danger?"

"Not exactly- while small bits wouldn't do much, but big and concentrated amounts are not good for the brain, something about blocking up paths-"

"If you're talking about neural-pathways, then this is bad," Nina said, "if they're blocked he could fall into a coma! Who breathed it in?"

Matthias looked at her funny.

"I'm a heartrender, it's my job to know this stuff."

"Well there's no vents in here, so I should be good," Jesper said.

"So that means the Demjin, Inej and Wylan are going to face their worst fears, and will possibly fall into comas?" Matthias asked.

"Unless we can get to them- yes," Nina confirmed.

"To open the doors Wylan needs to fix generator, Inej will need to flick the breaker switch and Kaz will need to divert the power to the doors," Jesper said, 

"You two who haven't shown symptoms yet- if you see anything weird it's not real!"

"I'm sorry," Inej apologised, "I need to get back to work first."

"This is your work," Nina said, "Inej?!"

But she wasn't responding anymore, in fact to her, she wasn't even there anymore.

"You have a client," Tante Heleen informed her.

Inej returned a small nod, her voice emotionless as she said "Ok."

"Inej!" Nina said again, this time more urgently.

"Now the two of them are unresponsive," Matthias muttered.

"We're going to make our way to you, Jesper," Nina informed him over the comms.

"Uh oh," Wylan uttered.

"What's wrong?" Jesper asked.

"The generator-" Wylan swallowed- "there's some kind of password lock on it."

Jesper furrowed his eyebrows. "Who puts password protection on a generator?"

"People who don't want people breaking with their vault!" Wylan said a little more hysterically than the situation called for.

"Have you tried one two three four?" Jesper asked, half a real suggestion and half an attempt to lighten the mood.

Wylan shook his head. "No- it's not a number code."

Jesper pulled out one of the manuals, looking for any mention of a password lock on the generator. 

"There shouldn't be a lock, Wy," he said gently.

"Well there is one and I have no idea how to bypass it!" Wylan answered shortly.

Nina shook her head as she and Matthias hurried into the room. "Telling them it's not real is only going to agitate them, if we want them to get their tasks done we're going to need to find another way."

"Hey, Wylan, why don't you just try a random password?" He asked, trying his best not to show his own fear.

"I can't!" Wylan practically yelled, tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry, I can't…"

"Wylan!"

"I'm trying! Father, I swear I'm trying…"

Jesper shut up at the mention of Van Eck, realising that without a plan talking might only make things worse.

"What are we going to do?" Matthias asked, "they're not going to get anything done if they can't even hear us."

"There has to be something we can do to bring them back to reality," Jesper said.

"Crazy idea, but fears stem from a point in the past, right?" Nina suggested, "if that point or event never happened then there'd be nothing for them to be afraid of!"

"Yeah well unfortunately I don't have my time machine handy," Jesper said sarcastically.

"We don't need one, they're already there," Matthias said, "if they're reliving their worst moments we just need to change the ending."

"Matthias you are a genius!" Jesper cheered.

"Well I'd bet good money that Inej is reliving her time at the menagerie," Nina said.

"And growing up Wylan was told that his reading made him useless," Matthias added.

"And Kaz…" Jesper tried to think of anything Kaz told them about his past, "doesn't like water, for some reason."

"This'll probably be better if we divide and conquer, so Jesper, you talk to Wylan, I'll talk to Inej and Matthias you get to talk Kaz down," Nina decided.

"Why do I have to do the Demjin?" Matthias asked.

"Because I said so, now stop complaining and go!"

***

Inej was tired. Tired of men using her body for their own means, tired of being in an indenture so unfair that she'd never get out of it, tired of everything.

"Inej!" Nina pleaded, to no avail. She had spent the past minute trying to convince Inej that she wasn't there anymore, that she worked with them and that Tante Heleen couldn't hurt her anymore, but nothing worked.

She needed a new strategy. She wasn't going to believe her that she wasn't there anymore, so she'd have to get her out, but how-

An idea came to Nina, the memories of Inej telling her about how she got out surfacing in her mind.

She let out a groan. "This has got to be the most embarrassing thing I'll ever do," she muttered under her breath.

She then pulled herself together, lowered her voice and said, "I didn't hear you sneak up on me."

Inej didn't say anything, so to drive the point home she grabbed the nearest chair, turned it at an angle and hit the ground with one of the legs.

Matthias gave her a weird look, so she frowned back at him. "You focus on Kaz and I'll focus on Inej," she instructed.

"Who are you?" Inej's voice asked over the device cautiously.

"I think you know who I am," was Nina-Kaz's response.

Inej looked this stranger up and down, her eyes landing on his gloved hands.

"…You're Dirtyhands, aren't you?" Inej asked.

"The one and only," he responded.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. If the infamous barrel boss was there, it could mean nothing good.

"Nothing too important," was his reply, "but you caught my attention."

A spike of fear shot through Inej. "I-I did?"

She'd already been with a few clients already, and she didn't want to deal with another, especially not someone as dangerous as Dirtyhands.

Nina silently cursed at herself before she quickly explained, "not sexually…!"

Inej raised her eyebrows at him. Then why?-

He cleared his throat. "How would you like a job as my spider?" He asked.

"Your spider?" Inej repeated, as if this was all bizarre to her.

Dirtyhands nodded. "You know, get information for me and I'll pay you for it.

"I get that part-" Inej closed her eyes to think- "but why? Why me?"

"Because you deserve more than this place, Inej," he said with complete confidence. "Nobody deserves to be here."

Nina held her breath as Inej considered this. "What about Tante Heleen?"

"I'll pay off your indenture," Dirtyhands promised her, "all you have to do is flip that breaker switch."

Inej looked at the switch in question, the cold mechanical lever sticking out among the rest of the menagerie's silks and colours. 

This was too good to be true, there were far easier ways to get someone to work for you here, ways that would be a lot cheaper.

"So what-" she swallowed nervously- "you want to pay off my indenture so I can be your spy? Surely there's a catch."

"The catch is you'll have to work in the Barrel among the crooks and thieves. You'll be expected to work for me for a few years so that I make back the cost of your indenture, but it won't be a pipe dream. I can even get the contract written up for you in Ravkan if you so choose. You will once again have power over your own life, that is my offer." 

Inej considered this. 

The life of a crook wasn't ideal but…

"Ok."

Anything to get out of the menagerie.

Nina waited with anticipation, and to her delight she heard the flick of the switch. "Way to go Inej!" She cheered, this time with her own voice.

Inej yawned. "I think I need to lay down for a bit…"

"Shit…!" 

While Nina tried to keep Inej awake, Jesper was trying to figure out how to deal with Wylan.

***

Wylan was twelve years old again, and it was just like when his father would yell at him for being unable to read even the words that should've been simple, like "cat" or "dog." 

Only this time his inability meant that his friends wouldn't be able to break into the vault and get what they needed, all because of his stupidity.

Ghezen, he really was useless.

Jesper was afraid of saying something wrong and making things worse for Wylan, but his quiet hiccups through the communication device that let Jesper know that he was trying to hide his tears made him antsy.

Nina had managed to get through to Inej by doing a rather uncanny Kaz impression, something that he would definitelytease her for later. He wondered if a similar strategy would work for him, though Wylan didn't have a 'knight in shining armour,' or whatever one would call Kaz.

Maybe it didn't have to be that way.

"Hey, what's your name?" Jesper asked carefully.

Wylan lifted his head up from where he was curled in a ball to see another kid his age standing there, grinning at him.

"W-Wylan…" Wylan said through sniffles.

"That's a nice name! You can call me Jesper," the boy told him.

"Yours is nice too," Wylan told him.

"Thanks!" 

Wylan wiped his nose on his sleeve. "What- what're you doing here?"

Wylan watched as 'Jesper' walked over to the generator. "I heard you needed a friend. So what're you up to?"

Wylan's face fell. "It doesn't matter, I can't do it anyway," he said. 

The letters on the keypad danced around like the particularly drunk patrons at the Crow Club, and even if they were able to stand still for long enough for Wylan to remember their places it wasn't like he could spell anything with them.

"Tell me anyway," Jesper said to him.

"Well- I'm supposed to fix this generator for my friends, but I can't put in the password," Wylan admitted. In a quiet voice he added, "because I don't know how to read…"

Useless useless useless useless-

"What if we did it together?" Jesper suggested.

"What?" Wylan asked. He'd assumed he'd leave once he'd heard of his problem. Everyone else did.

"I'm no good at guessing passwords, so if you could tell me what to write I'll tell you what buttons to press," Jesper clarified.

"R-really?"

"Why not? So, uh, why don't we start with something basic, like whoever owns this place?" 

"Yuxuan Yul-Wu," Wylan told him shyly.

Jesper had to bite his tongue before he made a quip about having no idea how to spell it either, and gave it his best shot. This was in Wylan's head anyway. "First, press the sixth button from the right on the first row…"

Wylan followed his instructions, and once he typed in all the letters he pressed submit.

Nothing happened.

"Shit!" Wylan cursed.

"It's ok," Jesper assured him, "we just have to try another one."

Wylan nodded, and thus began giving Jesper passwords to try and putting them in with his guidance.

After a few attempts he still wasn't in. 

"Nothing's working!" 

"That's fine," Jesper told him, though he was starting to get worried- he was losing faith in this plan.

"No it's not!" Wylan snapped, "we're not going to get what we need and it's all my fault!"

The Jesper that was in the room with him frowned. "Is that what you think?"

Wylan nodded.

"Well what I think is that without you, we wouldn't have even made it this far," Jesper told him. "In fact, if it weren't for you, we would've probably been jailed way before now."

"But I can't-"

"I don't care what you can't do! In fact, if you woke up tomorrow and didn't know how to do chemistry, how to draw, how to play music, how to do anything, I would still be here."

Wylan blinked. "Why?"

"Why?" Jesper scoffed as if he'd said something stupid, "because you, Wylan Van Eck, are the most amazing person in the whole world. I love you."

"You've only just met me," Wylan reminded him.

Jesper winked at him. "Come on, Merchling, you wouldn't forget this handsome face, would you?"

And suddenly Wylan wasn't twelve years old anymore, he was seventeen and so was Jesper and they'd broken into and out of the Ice Court together.

And he wasn't useless.

Jesper heard Wylan scramble back over to the generator. "What're you trying now?"

"When in doubt; try one two three four."

It wasn't a number pad, but maybe that was the point- a password no one would guess because it wasn't actually a word. He pressed the first four buttons on the first row, and pressed submit.

To his delight the panel swung open, revealing the wires underneath. "It worked!"

"My man!" Jesper celebrated.

Wylan got to work on fixing up the generator.

***

Kaz was drowning. If he didn't come up with a solution fast he was going to die here, and Kaz Brekker was not going to die. Not like this.

He flailed around, searching for something to grab onto. He found something floating in the water, but his celebrations were short lived when he realised what it was.

A scream escaped his lips as he swam backwards, his brother's dead eyes watching him as he did. He frantically searched the horizon for the coast line, but it was too dark to make out anything.

He saw something else floating further in the water, and decided to take his chances of using that for a raft. 

What he found made him wish he'd stayed at Jordie's side, as Inej's lifeless form floated in front of him. Kaz thrashed in the water, and all around him the corpses of everyone he'd come rely on and care for bobbed silently as he cried out. 

His lungs burned as his erratic breathing let the seawater in, and he struggled to stay above water.

Matthias was stumped. The others used kind words to get Inej and Wylan out of their own heads, but without a semblance of what Kaz was facing, Matthias wouldn't even know where to begin.

"Demjin, there's no water in there with you," he tried, but he got no reaction.

He turned to Nina, who just shrugged him off. "I need to make sure Inej stays awake, you'll figure something out."

How helpful…

He needed to think. The room was filling with water, why?

Was he afraid of drowning? No, Matthias had seen him get into water with relative ease before. So it was a symbol for something…

Matthias wondered if it could be the unexpected, but things always went wrong in their plans, and Kaz was great at adapting-

Wait.

What if he was reliving a time where he didn't have control? 

"Kaz, it's going to be ok, this is only temporary," Matthias said in an attempt at a soothing voice. Unsurprisingly, it did not work.

This was taking too long, and Matthias did not have the patience to try every combination of kind words to see which ones would land.

"Brekker!" He barked, "I get that you're scared, but right now you have a job to do!

"If you want to save your friends and your paycheck you're going to have to quit your whining and divert the damn power!"

Kaz startled at that. "God… don't tell me you're actually real…" 

"Yes, you should find religion," Matthias told him, "but that's not why I'm here right now. People are relying on you and if you don't flick the switch we're going to be in a lot of trouble."

"But-"

"No buts. You are Dirtyhands, you broke into the Ice Court, took down a member of the Merchant Council and a Barrel boss all without giving a shit about what other people told you. A little swim is nothing in comparison to all of that, and if you let that stop you then you are not the man I thought you were, Demjin."

Kaz's panic subsided just enough for him to remember what he was doing. He had a job to do, and he wasn't going to let some ghosts stop him.

His feet found solid ground again, and when he opened his eyes he was once again in the seed storage facility, dry as a bone, without a corpse in sight.

"Helvar," he muttered, "you've got some nerve speaking to me like that."

Matthias scoffed as he heard Kaz's footsteps, and while he stumbled once or twice he made it to the necessary switches and flicked them on.

Matthias heard the metal clang of doors flying open, but his victory was short lived as he heard the sound of something heavy hitting the floor over the comms, followed by the sound of his cane clattering to the floor.

"The doors are open," Matthias said.

"But we're too late," Nina told him, "they're all in comas."

***

"How did you deal with this on the farm?" Matthias asked.

"I don't know, I've never seen this happen before!" Jesper exclaimed.

"Surely there's something," Nina pressed.

"Um-" Jesper raked through his memories for something that could help- "jurda is a natural blood thinner?" He suggested.

"Yes!" Nina exclaimed. "And we have access to the vault, we could crush up some seeds and feed it to them!"

"One question; how do we get through the facility without suffering the same fate as the others?" Matthias asked.

"We run really fast?" Jesper suggested.

Nina rummaged around the room until she found a box of paper masks. "Aha!"

"Will those work…?" Jesper asked.

"Well they'll be better than rawdogging it," she said as she handed them out. "Just try not to breathe too much."

"Noted…" Matthias said as he put his mask on his face.

The trio then made their way to the vault as hastily as they could. 

They pushed open the heavy door to the main vault, and they allowed themselves to breathe normally as there weren't any vents in there as far as they could see.

Jesper hurried off to get the seeds, having already checked to see where they were in the record room as that's what they were there to get in the first place.

Meanwhile Nina got some water and a small tray to mix up the seed dust in. 

When Jesper returned, he poured a handful of seeds into the tray. "Do we have anything to grind them up with-"

Before he could finish, Matthias grabbed one of Jesper's guns and used the handle to grind up the seeds. 

As Nina poured the mixture into a plastic bag Matthias handed it back. "Thank you."

Jesper was not impressed.

"Come on!" Nina instructed, and the three rushed out to save the others.

They hurried back into the ergot filled hallways, and first they found Inej.

Nina gently tilted the bag so that the jurda seed mix went into Inej's mouth, and it didn't take long until her eyes shot open. "What the-"

"Come on, we've got to go," Nina encouraged, helping her to her feet. "Put this on."

Inej quickly put the mask on without question and hurried after them.

Next was Wylan, and as he came to he gasped. "Did-"

"Welcome back Merchling," Jesper said, grinning under his mask. "Now let's go."

Finally they found Kaz, and after Nina poured it into his mouth the first he did was push himself away from her. "Don't touch me."

Nina rolled her eyes. "You're welcome. Here." She threw the mask at him.

Kaz put it on and it didn't take long before they all exited the building.

Jesper pulled the mask from his face. "Can we all agree that we're never doing that again?"

"Definitely," Inej agreed and Wylan nodded enthusiastically.

"Come on, we have a boat to catch," was all Kaz said as he picked up his pace.

Inej sped up to match her gait with his. "You good?"

The boy glanced at her. "I will be. You?"

Inej let out a shaky breath. "Same."

Kaz nodded.

"…Nina pretended to be you to get me out, you know."

Kaz raised his eyebrows at that. "Really now?"

She nodded. "Yeah…"

Kaz considered this. "I saw you. Back there."

It was Inej's turn to give him a curious look.

"I'm- I don't tell you I value you enough. All of you."

Inej smiled at the gruff compliment. "Me too."

Meanwhile, Jesper nudged Wylan's shoulder. "How're you holding up?"

Wylan shrugged. "I'll live."

Jesper grabbed his hand. "Well amn't I lucky then?"

Wylan rolled his eyes.

"You know, cause I'm lucky that you're alive-"

"Yeah, I got that much," Wylan informed him, a small smile forming on his lips.

"Seriously though, you're like, the bravest guy I know," Jesper told him.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

As the pair spoke sweet words to each other, Nina glanced at Matthias. "So what was it Kaz was scared of?"

Matthias frowned. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Nina was incredulous, "how did you get him out?"

"I gave him some stern words."

Nina blinked. "You gave him some stern words."

"Yes," Matthias answered, nodding sagely as he said so.

Nina burst out laughing, much to Matthias' offense.

"Of course you did."

"Hey, you have no room to judge, Dirtyhands."

Matthias smirked as Nina turned away to hide her red face. "We don't speak of that."

"Whatever you say. Demjin."

"Stop!"

It was Matthias' turn to laugh as she swatted her hand at him.

As the crew boarded their boat, the sun rose on the the horizon, breaking through the darkness of night and filling the sky with the light of day.

[yuzurujenn]

[2025.07.17] Sports Hochi - Yuzuru Hanyu – Games, music, and "curiosity" fuels his creative endeavors – Special Interview Part 3

Professional figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu (30) will mark three years since turning professional on July 19. The third part of the special interview commemorating his 3rd anniversary focuses on “curiosity” and “games.”

Before starting a game or a device, Hanyu-san thoroughly reads the instruction manual from cover to cover. His perfectionism and value for preparation are evident even in such actions.

“I’ve loved reading instruction manuals since I was little. People find it really strange, though. But I want to start something only after I’ve read and properly understood the manual. I’m actually pretty cautious by nature. Even as a child, I wasn’t the type to just dive in right away after getting something. I wanted to understand it as much as possible. I’m the kind of person who wants to do things after fully understanding the logic behind them. I guess I have a bit of a researcher’s mindset (laughs).”

It’s the same with role-playing games (RPGs). He makes sure to thoroughly read the strategy guides before starting.

"Normally, most people don’t like spoilers. They go through the game themselves first, and only afterward look at spoilers or strategy guides and go, ‘Oh wow, so that’s what was there!’ But I look at the walkthroughs right from the start (laughs). I check them properly and then proceed. If I don’t check them properly beforehand, I sometimes can’t even move forward. I'm the type of person who isn't satisfied until I've thoroughly researched things like the dungeon layout and how to fight.”

In the second installment of the ice story, “RE_PRAY,” he incorporated ethics and values from video game worldviews into the narrative. As a game lover, what has been Hanyu’s recent favorite?

“Right now, I’m looking around various things to gather material for stories. Feels like I’m in a bit of a scouting phase right now. So I play. When I’m in that phase, I usually set the game to the easiest difficulty just to enjoy the story first. Then, after going through it once, I set it to the hardest mode. From easy to very hard. There’s a kind of thrill in suddenly switching to the hardest mode and properly defeating strong enemies (laughs). I just really want to be well-prepared. Also, I really hate not being able to do something. That’s probably a fundamental part of my personality, and I think that’s what’s allowed me to come this far. When it comes to skating, I don’t think I’ve reached the point where I can say I’ve done it perfectly using a ‘walkthrough.’ I still feel like I’m in the process of searching for that 'walkthrough.' But even so, over the course of these 26 years, despite having days when I feel down, I’ve pursued it intensely. That’s why, on the flip side, I feel such a strong gap when it comes to other things. Since I’ve come so far in skating, when I try something else and can’t do it, I end up going, ‘Why can’t I even do this?!’—and I kind of just give up."

Hanyu, who is also well-versed in music, has an interest in musical instruments.

"I really want to play bass and drums. I especially want to try bass... But honestly, even if I go all in, I’ll probably still end up being terrible at it. I might get really into it, but compared to how far I’ve gone with skating, I'd still be at the 'egg stage' with anything else. So it's like, I'm still inside the egg, there's a little crack in the shell, but I think, ‘Ah, maybe I won’t come out after all’ (laughs)."

He has such a keen ear that he can pick out individual sounds and incorporate them into his programs on the ice. We asked why he chose bass and drums. He responded instantly.

“Because I like their sound quality.”

When listening to music, does his ear naturally focus on the bass and drums?

“Maybe it does. I might be listening to the bass while picking up the vocal line. I probably notice the bass more than the vocals at first. Actually, maybe I listen to the drums the most. I guess I tend to really focus on the drums. Probably, my ear is naturally drawn to that kind of sound."

His good sense of “otaku temperament” and insatiable curiosity across many areas give his artistry limitless depth.

“I do have curiosity, after all. I think that kind of curiosity all leads to creation. There are times when I experience setbacks and moments when I feel joy from various things, really, many different emotions are swirling around in our daily lives. It’s precisely these swirling emotions that become the source of production and creation. While cherishing that, and consciously expanding the range of those feelings, I don’t want to just zone out and pass time. I hope to live fully, feeling deeply and experiencing as much as possible."

Source: https://hochi.news/articles/20250716-OHT1T51177.html?page=1