#patterns that could happen with or without direct intention it's a different thing

[taraxippos]

I think "media analysis with the goal of proving something you want to be canon is canon" is usually not good quality analysis because 9 times out of 10 it involves picking and choosing and stringing together bits of information that agree with you and discarding or explaining away the rest. You can make a compelling (or at least coherent) argument out of almost any scraps of information but it doesn't make it good analysis.

[slayingfiction]

Mastering the Art of Dialogue

Dialogue is the lifeline of any narrative. It brings characters to life, propels the plot, and creates depth in the story. However, writing dialogue that feels real and engaging can be challenging. Here are some tips to help you refine your dialogue-writing skills:

1. Listen to Real Conversations

The foundation of great dialogue is authenticity. Spend time listening to how people speak in real life. Notice the flow of conversation, the interruptions, the ums and ahs, and the unfinished thoughts. Real speech is rarely grammatically perfect or fully articulated. Incorporating these nuances can make your dialogue more relatable.

2. Each Character Should Have a Unique Voice

Your characters should be distinguishable by their dialogue alone. A teenager will speak differently from an elderly person; a doctor will use different terminology than a street artist. Think about their background, education, and personality. These factors should influence their speech patterns, vocabulary, and even the rhythm of their dialogue.

3. Use Dialogue to Show, Not Tell

Dialogue is a powerful tool for showing the reader what’s happening without explicitly telling them. Through conversations, you can reveal your characters' thoughts, feelings, and intentions. For example, instead of narrating that a character is nervous, you could show it through their stammering dialogue or their avoidance of direct answers.

4. Keep It Concise

In real conversations, people often meander through their thoughts. In written dialogue, however, it's important to be concise. Every line of dialogue should serve a purpose, whether it’s moving the plot forward, revealing character, or creating tension. If a piece of dialogue doesn’t add value to your story, consider cutting it.

5. Read Your Dialogue Aloud

One of the best ways to test your dialogue is to hear it. Reading your dialogue aloud can help you catch awkward phrasings or unnatural speech patterns. Better yet, have someone else read it to you. This can provide insight into how your dialogue will sound to your readers.

6. Use Subtext to Your Advantage

Not everything needs to be said explicitly. Subtext—the underlying meaning behind the spoken words—can add depth and complexity to your dialogue. Characters might say one thing but mean another, based on their emotions, relationships, or situations. This layering of meaning can make your dialogue more engaging and thought-provoking.

7. Balance Dialogue with Action and Description

While dialogue is critical, it should be balanced with narrative description and action. This balance helps maintain the pacing of your story and ensures that your scenes are visually and emotionally compelling. Action and description can also provide context that enhances the meaning and impact of your dialogue.

Conclusion

Great dialogue can transform a good story into an unforgettable one. By applying these tips, you can craft dialogue that captures the essence of your characters and engages your readers on a deeper level. Remember, writing is a craft that improves with practice. Keep experimenting with your dialogue, and don't be afraid to rewrite until it sounds just right.

Writing dialogue is a skill that can be honed over time. The more you practice and read, the better you'll become at capturing the essence of conversation on the page.

[hinge]

Hinge presents an anthology of love stories almost never told. Read more on https://no-ordinary-love.co

[sweetieviktor]

"salvation", feat. viktor.

summary: you come to his temple and ask the herald to heal you.

word count: 540.

content warning: season 2, arc 2 spoilers!!! please, don't read if you haven't seen the series yet! some descriptions might sound even a bit sexual but this is a sfw work! i just got a bit carried away while writing sensations lol. also, viktor may be a little ooc since im still getting used to him on the new season.

author notes: i rushed this one hehe but its finally complete! i really wanted to write something based on season 2 and the insane amount of people saying things as such "i would join his church wtvr" or "i may believe in god now" made me think why not write this kind of thing happening? so here it is :))))

you heard the rumors spreading through the lanes, there was someone, a “savior”, helping the ones in need – the shimmer addicts, the sick and the dying. and you thought that maybe the herald, as they called him, could save you.

so you walked down the busy streets, passing by empty shops and crowded brothels, finally descending in the dark alleys until light reached your eyes again, revealing a bright environment, made with metal, all with different colors and textures, molded into organic shapes, like it was meant to be like this all along. contorted yet so beautiful. outside the arch separating the commune and the commoners, there were people just like you, asking for help and hoping for his salvation.

a man walked towards you, the white clothing draped around him accentuating the swirly metallic patterns engraved on his body. “if you have something that could possibly harm someone, i must ask you to leave those here. this is a place of peace”, you discarded everything you could think of, emptying all pockets you had and he looked at you with empathy on his eyes, while you left behind everything that you used during your worst times, letting go of a part of your story, letting go of your past self. “now, you shall come. he is expecting you.”

the man walked in front of you, guiding your path between tents full of people, healthy people, all dressed in white. some adults were working while the kids were playing and you were in pure awe, it all seemed so... perfect. a miracle that happened on the underground.

“the herald is waiting, you must go”, he gestured towards a round temple-like structure, tilting his head and leaving you alone shortly after, moving to the arch again.

you followed his words, walking till you reached where the herald was, in fact, waiting for you. flowing hair and royal blue fabric covering his glowing purple skin, all adorned with golden accents. he looked ethereal, almost inhuman, a god-like figure, a saint. the kind of saint that could fix the broken. fix you.

you came closer and he extended his hand in your direction without saying a word – it was not needed, actually –, you could sense his intentions, it was kind of a vibration, radiating off his fingers. he wanted to save you. so, when he touched your forehead, the whole world seemed to fade with a burst of light and all you could do was to feel. feel his cold fingers pressing further in your skin, feel the jolts it sended through your body, the way it ignited something deep inside of you, how you couldn't breathe, the way your veins burned and your heart rate increased, but it didn't hurt at all, instead, you felt alive. the metal fusing with your body, the magic circling both of you, how you could feel him inside of you, changing, morphing and purifying your flesh. it felt like you ascended to heaven and came back different, new, evolved. gloriously evolved.

he pulled back his arm, allowing your body to fall to its knees, and he knelt too, leaning on his staff, looking at you with his emotionless iridescent eyes, “now, you need not suffer anymore.”

[ancientcraftnoccultism]

Beginner Class - Introduction To Spellwork

Introduction to Spellwork

___

By KB

Introduction

Welcome to Chapter 5 of the beginner Class! Woo-Hoo!! Only 2 chapters to go. We're diving head first into the world of spellwork! Today, we're going to be discussing the key elements and underlying foundation of any spellwork in order for you to begin casting your own spells confidently.

Ultimately, spells serve as intermediaries that unify entities through concepts. Though there are infinite ways to create a spell, there are different types of spells based on how entities are joined. These patterns of connection demonstrate the different ways a spell can create — or break — a bond.

Intention

We've all heard this a thousand times, I'm sure. Spellwork requires focus of intention. While this isn't necessarily the most important part of spellwork, it does play a major role in helping direct energy. Your intention is your reasoning for casting a spell. The important part about intention is to hone in on this as specifically as possible. When your mind is focusing on your intention, it gives less of a risk for scattered or unwanted energies to interfere with your work. It allows you to focus all of your personal energy into one facet, rather than having a hand in every cup. This is one of the most important factors within preparing for spellwork. It's also important to remember to keep your correspondences in association with your intention, as it will help keep your focus.

Raising/Gathering Energy

When you actually begin to cast your spell, you must know how to raise and collect energy in order for it to carry out your intent. Allow yourself to get in a relaxed state of mind until autopilot takes over. You know this feeling - it's when you're so focused on something you're absolutely immersed in the work without even realizing it. You're not thinking about what you need to do, what could happen, or anything else for that matter. Once you have achieved this state of mind, it's time to raise and gather this energy. There are multiple ways of going about this, so let's go over some of the most basic.

Chanting/Mantras

By repeating your intention, you are speaking it into existence, thus raising the energy of your intention. You begin to forge a connection between your mind, your reality, and the intention itself.

Sensory Immersion

Using our biological human senses can be more valuable than you'd like to think. This somewhat ties into correspondences, but if you surround yourself that naturally raise this energy within you - you'll have a much easier time gathering the energy you need to direct.

Visualization

Personally, my favorite way to raise energy is through visualization. Symbolism and imagery has a profound effect on the human subconscious. When you're able to visualize your intentions and symbolism that is directly linked to your intention, it will significantly raise the energy levels for your spellwork.

I'm sure there are several other methods of raising energy, such as drum circles, dancing, activity, and even more, but these are the most common within spellwork. The main thing is to keep your mind focused on your intention. You will begin to feel the energy levels rise through your method of choice. Once you have reached the "crescendo", it is time to move to the next step.

Now, this could take anywhere from 5-10 minutes, to several hours. It depends upon the practitioner, the spell itself, and several other factors. Experiment with raising energy in different methods to find your jam.

Direct & Release

Directing is nothing more than keeping your mind focused on your intention. I know this is a bit repetitive, but human mind's are funny, especially those who are neurodivergent. It's very easy to get distracted - but it is essential that you don't! We don't want any energies that don't align with your working to interfere with anything at all.

As far as releasing goes, there are several ways to do this as well. Burning, breaking, or tearing objects seem to be the most common method, but you could stomp, shout, or use any other motion if it feels right. Sometimes people infuse their spells into food or drinks - in which you would eat or drink in order to release this energy. Once you feel you have released the energy you raised in the initial phase, it is time to "seal" your spell.

Again, there are several ways to seal a spell. Some like to seal it with a phrase such as "so mote it be", others may opt to draw a sigil with an athame or wand in the air, or just a simple gesture. This is all very personal, so just go with what feels right for you. Once you have finished, it is EXTREMELY important to take care of your energy levels. Ground out, eat a good snack, and go outside to let Mother Earth absorb your excess energy.

Create A Channel

This is essentially creating a connection to flow freely between you, your intent, and the worldly energies swirling around. This is the action you must take in order for your work to come to fruition. For example, if I cast a spell to meet new people, I may choose to volunteer at new places, create a profile in a new online space, visit the dog park - anything that puts myself in a position in which the energy has potential to manifest. Without putting action behind your intention, remember, that's just "wishcraft".

[ragingstillness]

Ok I think I finally sorted out my feelings about the Maddie Flynn plot line. To preface, I have a lot of issues with this plot line and I kind of binged the episodes without paying full attention because it felt contrived and annoying. One of the things that felt most contrived to me was how guilty Liv felt about not helping Maddie when she first saw her in the truck. To that I say:

You had no idea beyond a gut feeling

You were coming back from a christening were you even armed?

How did you expect to make an arrest driving the opposite direction?

Would you have acted to stop a potentially dangerous perp with your son in the car?

The show just decided to ignore all those reasonable questions and heap guilt on Liv for…funsies???

But I do think that I’ve finally figured out what the intentions of this arc were, even if they were terribly executed.

This may seem a bit obvious to some, but this was meant to be a corollary to the Lewis arc. Just with Liv on the outside of it. You can see some more blatant hints: the perp representing himself in court, the perp gaining the sympathy of the jury, Maddie being transported to a different abandoned location, Maddie being on drugs, but they were also trying to hit the same emotional notes and they failed.

From Liv’s side we see the desperation to find Maddie but also the reality that life goes on and there are other people who need help too. This doesn’t strike the same chord as Liv’s desperation to escape when she was kidnapped. If they wanted to make the same impact, we should have seen some scenes from Maddie’s point of view and it should have been the only focus of SVU’s attention. I genuinely think this arc could have been condensed to like three or four episodes.

For me, one of the most compelling emotional notes of Liv’s ordeal was that she essentially rescued herself and then her internal battle with her rage. We saw none of that with Maddie and while Liv was the one to rescue her and the one to capture the perp, Liv didn’t do any extra violence to him beyond what happens to any other perp. She also didn’t lose control emotionally, which was one of my favorite bits of Liv’s arc.

One of the scariest bits of Liv being kidnapped was that for at least two days no one was looking for her. This was not the case at all with Maddie, she had tons of cops and her parents all out looking. While Liv’s disappearance did eventually raise an alarm, what increased the fear factor the most was how incredibly alone she was. We got none of that with Maddie. We did get her parents breaking down, which is honestly something I would have liked to see from Liv’s colleagues during her arc but regardless the emotional notes are different.

In Liv’s case she also knew the perp. We knew what he was capable of, we’d seen everything that went down and how he got off. Maddie’s abductor was unknown to us. He had no revenge motive for kidnapping Maddie, no complex psychology behind his actions, no specific torture patterns. He was just a plain bad dude. And for a single episode plot line that’d be fine but the comparison is stark.

I think Liv saw the similarities in that she was essentially able to speak for Maddie in a way that she hadn’t been able to speak for herself and that was why she was so hung up on the case but without enough similar emotional notes to clue the audience in or another character commenting on Liv’s actions, there was no way to make this equivalence until a while after the fact of sitting and thinking.

And yes the guy who kidnapped Maddie did represent himself and did retraumatize her and did attempt to twist the narrative, there were differences in that too. Liv could testify, as could the other investigators, to a lot of events, whereas when Liv was taken she was literally the only person who knew what happened. The trial for Maddie in fact lined up more with the IAB investigation after Liv’s second abduction than the trial after the first. Maddie’s abductor also got to Maddie’s mom, which is something that never happened with anyone for Liv. Every single person on Liv’s side could feel Lewis was bad news and nothing was said or done in his defense.

While it is super obvious to Liv the similarities between the cases I am shocked that no one else who was around during the Lewis arc noticed too. Like are you really telling me that Fin wouldn’t have made the connection between the events of the case and Liv’s desperation to solve it?

A brief point in the Maddie arc’s favor was that they actually followed up with her having issues with drugs after the fact. This 100% should have happened to Liv, especially considering that she is genetically predisposed to addiction on both of her parents’ sides. And I’m mad we didn’t get to see that. The focus of this arc was much more on Liv and the mom bonding than Liv and Maddie and felt more like Liv’s relationship with Shiela Porter (minus the betrayal) than anything else.

Anyway, I think this has finally clarified things for me and if it helps explain the awkwardness of the Maddie arc to someone else, all the better.

[anony-man]

Chubformers drabble #98!

Characters: Lockdown & Swindle (TFA)

Word count: 858

Whatever Lockdown says goes was always their adopted motto, especially after a few sparklings and settling in for the long haul. If Lockdown wanted to keep Swindle in for a night due to some bad weather, so be it. If he decided the sparklings needed some time hanging off of their conmech of a parental figure while the ex-bounty hunter decompressed, that was exactly what happened. Lockdown called the shots, and Swindle was more than happy to play along.

Momma Lockdown remained an uncomfortable new title, even after a few of the crazy little things. It never got easier, but Lockdown had his ways of coping and learning. Each step was a clumsy one, and with the various changes both he and Swindle were forced to endure, he was discovering plenty of room for improvement.

Still, it was baby steps until the end, and with every milestone they achieved, something newer and better lingered on the horizon. Their success never went without celebration, however, and tonight, while the bitlets were snuggled in a berth behind a closed door, Swindle was intent on treating Lockdown to a little love and attention.

There was really no better way to embrace change than to face it head-on, and while he knew how difficult it had been for Lockdown to accept the many, many changes over the past few years, he did his best to approach it from a different angle.

Swindle was quite the attentive bot, and he had caught Lockdown fawning over the reflection in the mirror more often than not since their romantic evening some weeks prior. He loved seeing his chubby partner embracing the change, but there was still plenty of room to play.

“Well?” he said, perched on the edge of the berth as he watched the ex-bounty hunter twist and turn in front of the mirror, the lingerie straps hugging his plump frame. “What do you think? Pretty snazzy, hmm?”

Lockdown didn’t respond at first, too busy pinching at his protruding love handles and running his servos over the lace patterned over his chest. It was delicate, sexy even. He could hardly believe he was even wearing it.

“Ah,” he managed to say, the words dying out as he continued to turn and stare at his reflection. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s… nice. I like it.”

Primus, he looked beautiful. He almost wanted to ask just where Swindle had managed to find lingerie like this, but he was simply too caught up in admiring the reflection in the mirror. Thin straps crossed over his body and pulled in all the right directions, framing the soft pouch of his belly and the jiggly fat of his hips and aft. His broadened chest was adorned in a lacy corset of a top, and Lockdown could hardly believe it managed to suit him so well.

It was almost impossible, the way everything fell so perfectly into place, but he liked it—he loved it, really. A small ribbon tied into a bow was the centerpiece against his back, and Lockdown had to crane his neck to catch a glimpse of the sight.

It was perfect, and he had never felt so good.

“I can’t believe it,” he said, having managed to get over his shock and awe long enough to turn back to see Swindle’s beaming face and smug smile. “I can’t even… where the hell did you find this stuff?”

“Secrets of the trade,” Swindle said, earning a snort from Lockdown.

The ex-bounty hunter shook his helm with a chuckle before turning back to the mirror, his gaze drawn to the crisscrossing pattern of straps over his hips. Everything fit just right, yet it still drew just enough attention to the soft curves of his frame. It was sexy but tasteful, and suited him perfectly.

That sneaky Con… Lockdown wasn’t sure how he did it—and really, he didn’t even want to know. It was almost nice, the element of surprise. For all he knew, Swindle could have something greater in store for them.

“You seem happy,” Swindle cooed. “Glad you like it, babe.”

“I love it,” Lockdown said, his servos sliding down the length of his frame, feeling out the dips and curves of his hips and belly. “It’s… slag, Swin. It’s perfect. You couldn’t have done it better.”

“Oh, don’t be so sure,” the conmech said as he pushed himself up from the berth. “I’ve got plenty more where that came from.”

The distance between them was closed in seconds, and Lockdown happily bent his helm low to receive a peck on the cheek. Swindle opened up his chest compartment and pulled out a dainty box, and the ex-bounty hunter didn’t need to look inside to know what it was.

“In case you wanted to try something different,” he said, nudging the box into Lockdown’s servos. “Why don’t you try these on next?”

Lockdown’s smile widened as he lifted the lid, revealing a crimson set of lingerie inside.

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” he grinned. “Now, why don’t you get back there and help me take this off? I’m dyin’ to see what else you brought.”

[hinge]

Hinge presents an anthology of love stories almost never told. Read more on https://no-ordinary-love.co

[johnsnotes]

How Everyday Design is Present in Our Lives

Design is problem-solving, and that demands a solid understanding of design.

Throughout a designer's career, their eye tends to become more refined, their process becomes more effective, and this helps them identify the notorious "technical adjustments," popularly known as "gambiarras" (workarounds/kludges).

Are designers really that good at analysis? Well, I tell you that the vast majority can identify a "gambiarras" almost instantly. You must know some designer who likes packaging and criticizes logos when walking down the street, in shopping malls, and when reading menus.

While reading Rick Rubin's book "The Creative Act," I usually jot down some ideas in my notepad so that I can later refine them in Notion. I use this as a kind of backlog so as not to lose sight of any idea or provocation for future study. I was struck by a thought about how people receive creative inputs, how they perceive design, and how this affects their lives. The book makes me think about how sensitive we are to external stimuli, how these stimuli affect us, and how we transform this into baggage for creations, turning these often disconnected threads into something solid. As a designer and curious person, I like to test new experiences and put myself in uncomfortable situations; this, in turn, helps me evolve as a creative.

“Knowledge makes everything simpler.” (Maeda, John)

In an ideal world, everyone should have a minimum understanding of design principles. After learning the basics, everyone could think about the causes and possible corrections for inadequate design, which would help them better appreciate design. Below, I briefly describe the main fundamental design topics that everyone should know, even if superficially.

Unity and Harmony

Relates to the complete design having a sense of oneness and things fitting together, making the design appear unique and consistent in various forms. It can be achieved through perspective, similarity, continuity, repetition, rhythm, and balancing of sides. When well done, one feels it is right, even without understanding why.

Balance

Refers to balancing the composition. It can be achieved through symmetry, asymmetry, radial balance (arranged around a central element), and even mosaic-like structures. An unbalanced design is not visually pleasing.

Hierarchy

One of the most important principles, it guides the user's eye through the elements in order of their importance. More important elements generally have greater visual weight, size, or a different appearance.

Scale and Proportion

The use of the relative size of elements to draw attention to a focal point. Increasing the scale of an element increases its value in terms of hierarchy, while decreasing it reduces its value in the composition. It is linked to contrast.

Consistency

Considered one of the most important principles, it involves the uniformity of sizes, typography, spacing, colors, and layouts. It brings a sense of familiarity from everything seen and makes the artifact, application, or system more consistent.

Contrast

Identifies the difference between opposites. It is used to create scale and proportion, consistency, hierarchy, and to direct the eye. It can be created by colors, sizes, position, spaces, textures (including opacity and depth), density, and structure.

“Try to understand how faulty design happened: try to determine how it could have been done differently.” (Norman, Don)

These principles are considered natural guides for the development of any quality design, as well as intention and purpose. Everyday design is based on how we perceive the world to make the artifacts we use comprehensible, functional, enjoyable, and how it aligns with the form of human perception, helping us identify structures and patterns.

[randomhcsgo]

Raquel was a child a little outside the norm, she got on well with everyone, was charismatic and had a tendency to get into fights with the older children, what set her apart from the other children was her small ability to see things that for the others weren't there.

Little monsters that she learned to avoid, it was easy to know where they would be, she just had to pay attention and trust her instincts. When you feel the air heavy with pain and despair, a promise of misery, fear and sadness, when every bone in your body is begging you to run as fast as you can, that's when you know one of these monsters is nearby, whether you see them or not, the catch? If you realize it too late, they realize it too...

It was from this that Raquel learned that she was special, the way she moved, always in silence, how she seemed to be able to make everything she touched stop making noise if she wanted to... A man and a woman showed up at her house one day, when she was seven, to explain what was wrong with her.

Cursed technique, they called it.

Once a week the two of them took it in turns to train her, how to use her "technique", how to exorcise the "curses", the history of the jujutsu community, how and why to hide it... The list was long.

And so her life went on, school, training, social life... A few small uses of her powers to... Borrowing things with no intention of returning them, until she found him...

It all happened when she passed near an alley, the feeling of pain and misery was greater than usual, but this time it was different, the sensation was different, a little more... Human... Raquel was 11, had been training for four years and knew how to trust her instincts. She completely eliminated the sound of her footsteps as a precaution, her phone on direct dial with an experienced sorcerer and the cursed dagger awkwardly in her other hand (perhaps it was time for her to re-train herself to be ambidextrous) and then entered the alley.

Sitting at the end of the alley was a boy, he was short, probably younger than her, hugging his legs and trembling slightly. Raquel approached the boy, and even though she hadn't made a sound, the boy immediately looked directly at her.

Raquel immediately froze under the weight of the boy's eyes. His eyes were red, dark red, dark with fear, despair and distress, almost as if the boy wasn't there with her but constantly reliving some terrible memory that was keeping him in a constant state of panic.

That boy feels like a curse, but he also feels like a human.

Raquel sat down in front of him, put her knife away, turned on the flashlight on her phone, placed it between the two of them and watched, watched as the boy watched her, completely ignoring the calls she knew she was receiving and forcing herself to appear as calm and friendly as possible without seeming too much to handle to try to make the boy more comfortable.

Minutes, maybe almost an hour, later she started playing with her cursed energy control, she noticed that certain patterns seemed to calm him down more, the boy felt cursed energy, that's good, a way to help him without having to talk or touch him... The boy felt like a curse, but as he calmed down he felt more human.

He slowly unwound from himself and Raquel could finally notice more things about him, his eyes seemed to have cleared up, the red was brighter, like genuinely bright, (reflective eyes perhaps? ), by the light of her flashlight she could see that he had something like red stripes down his arms and red spots in his curly, fluffy hair, his expressions were kind of androgynous and little spots of the same shade of red as his arms circled his eyes, the boy was dirty, sand, dirt, parts of his black suit with red stripes were whitish and with little darker spots (his clothes were strange, like those of the protagonist of that little soap opera "Yo soy Franky" that she liked).

He never took his eyes off her, paying attention to every move she made, but now it seemed more like curiosity than panic, Raquel slowly stood up, picked up her phone and slowly held out her hand to him.

Raquel gave him a choice

He held her hand

Raquel doesn't think her parents would mind if she came home with a little brother, right?

[selormohene]

day 82 (saturday, september 23rd 2023)

I've been people-watching a lot lately. I don't know if it's any more than before, but I think recently I've generally found myself reflecting more explicitly on the differences I see in people's social presentation, and on how such differences must reflect things like personality type, upbringing, self-concept, outlook on the world, sense of how much space one gets to take up or how much of the world is open to one, and so on. It's been especially interesting since I've been going on dates and trying to figure out what's unique about each of the people I'm meeting, what makes them tick, who it is they say they are and what it is they say they're looking for and the extent to which these declarations of self reflect a self-image that may or may not be entirely accurate, and of course how the manner in which everyone's personality presents itself to me is itself refracted through my own personality and the sort of perspective it affords me on others.

I wrote some time ago about despairing of ever changing. But as I've long thought, when it comes to human patterns, especially those captured by the blunt instruments of the scatter plot and the correlation line, the point to be observed is nearly always, as far as I'm concerned, that outliers don't represent freak deviations from some sort of iron law of humanity, but often just happen to be operating according to their own laws which happen not to be the default, but which could well be replicable if they were widely known and the mechanisms for replicating them were better understood. I'm thinking about this in the context of personality change. Inasmuch as I've seen a lot of the people I knew in high school turn into older versions of themselves, I've definitely seen others bloom or transform in a manner that I would not have thought possible from when I first knew them. In some cases maybe they always had their present form latent within them, and I guess to an extent you have to have that form latent within you if you're going to grow into it, but I also think that some people embark on intentional projects of self-transformation and self-transcendence and that to the extent that I'm particularly interested in becoming a much different person that could well be me. But intention is not the only causal factor, there's also the countervailing influence of inertia, both as a direct counterbalance to change and as represented in the fact that even one's efforts to become other than one is are refracted through the kind of person one currently is, and so you must pursue a transformation in the sort of person you are on a level that transcends one's intention to be other than one is; you must seek to inhabit a completely new way of being. And maybe there's no real trick to how one does it. One simply follows one's commitment, perhaps living through long spells without integration, not knowing where to go or what to do, until one eventually wakes up one day to find that one is completely and utterly transformed.

[thelemmallama]

random musing on agi

orthogonality thesis:

when you write a program, you don't give it a directive or a goal; you give it a structure, which you believe will make it behave in a certain way that will satisfy your goal

different sorting algorithms have the same 'goal', but they're still different algorithms with different structures

(the notion that an entity can have one overarching, terminal goal)

how are goals implemented in existing entities? for humans, at least, it's about emotions; we do things that make us feel better

how exactly does a paperclip maximizer's goal manifest in its structure? does it experience some form of 'pleasure' from perceiving an abundance of or increase in paperclips, or some form of 'pain' from perceiving an absence of or decrease in paperclips?

long-term-ness: how long-term does a paperclip maximizer think? is it trying to maximize average daily paperclip count within a certain time interval, which may or may not have infinity on one end? is it trying to have a single moment in time where there exists a maximum paperclip count? is there a point where the paperclip maximizer would declare its goal 'achieved'?

recurring patterns of behaviour

'wants to' do something like a ball 'wants to' roll downhill or a cowlick 'wants to' stick up

goals; real goals as in concretely objectives with well-defined parameters; falling outside this characterization are always instrumental, never truly terminal?

(i don't really want to 'maximize my happiness'; even if i could do a specific thing that'll make me happier this very moment with no consequences, i don't feel a particular urge to do so)

in humans, at least, long term values seem to be instrumental in sustaining an environment in which we can more consistently experience pleasure and avoid pain. goals stemming from our moral values are generally things we want to last; someone who lives in a world with consistently low (but never zero) homicides-per-day rate is probably more morally satisfied than someone who has lived to see merely a single day with zero murders

{we want to establish norms, and build culture/infrastructure/etc

even if it's a goal with a well-defined endpoint

is a world with high paperclip count, or a high rate of increase in paperclips, an environment that}

i get the point of the paperclip maximizer though is AI values likely being alien; it's probably not going to be as simplistic as maximizing a specific object, but it's an accessible intuition pump

so alien that it can have a notion of value (good or bad) without something in its structure 'flinching away' from the bad and being 'drawn towards' the good?

i feel like terminal values are always going to be instinctive and short-sighted to some degree. an entity can strategize and delay gratification for a better future payoff, but there'd be a limit to how long you can delay when every atom in your being is screaming for 'good thing, now'

conversely, moral values tend to be instrumental

the 'superintelligent (talking) rock' hypothesis

(a counter to the 'ai in a box' hypothesis)

what if there isn't a binary state of the ai being 'boxed' or 'unboxed', such that when the 'gatekeeper' declares intent to unbox the ai, it just happens automatically?

what if 'unboxing' the ai involves constructing a lot of infrastructure to give it any agency to act without help, like trying to upload a rock (or a human brain) to a computer? what if it takes multiple people multiple lifetimes to complete the 'unboxing' process, giving them plenty of time to reconsider even if they're transhumans who live many times longer than we currently do?

[earthstellar]

talking about hearing disabled!Megatron again

listen I’ve had to wear my hearing aids for 12 hours straight today and my ears physically hurt because the plastic bendy part of the tubes is scratching up my ears pretty badly, so here we go: 

(this is mostly about IDW 1 Megatron, but feel free to apply it to any Megatron because all Megatrons are excellent) 

-the helmet dampens his hearing fairly significantly, as it doesn’t have any micro-openings over his audials for sound to permeate. this is intentional as part of the design, and is a safety feature for both him and any other similar mining/heavy manual labour bots who might have similar helm designs.

-that having been said, he does still have actual hearing loss from his younger days in the mine (loud machinery in sound reflective mines/caves + lack of maintenance owing to being lower class/caste and not having the resources = not great for hearing health), so while the helm design prevented it from being more severe (at first), it still didn’t provide enough protection to actually prevent a still-significant amount of hearing damage to occur 

-on top of this, during the war he was constantly getting direct impacts to his helm, standing near heavy explosions, and otherwise very often in situations where his hearing damage had plenty of opportunity to gradually worsen for one reason or another (endless environmental noise + blunt force impacts to the audials even through his helmet is no bueno) 

-at some point during the war he developed a low grade tinnitus in both audials, which he believes may have been caused by Starscream shooting him directly in the face with either his null ray or something else, which is a thing that happened too many times and with too many different weapons for him to be able to guess which specific occasion may have ultimately caused the tinnitus. it could also have just occurred naturally, he has no idea. but he thinks it’s probably Starscream’s fault, somehow, maybe. it’s not impossible, that’s for sure. 

-the tinnitus isn’t bad enough to bother him too much most of the time, but it does irritate him when he’s in quieter moments in his hab suite and trying to settle down to write or consider strategy etc. since that’s when it’s most noticeable to him and it’s distracting whenever he actually focuses on it. it does disrupt his recharge patterns on occasion, which agitates him. 

-he never really considered his gradual loss of hearing in his youth to be that negative or scary, because of course, in the mines it’s already hard to hear anyone or anything, and open internal comms were often impractical due to their mining equipment typically interfering with their comms signals. so the mining bots generally adapted fairly well to both the noise pollution in their work areas as well as their collective general hearing problems, because they already created work arounds between themselves. 

-Terminus was also hearing disabled; Megatron refuses to ever have his hearing fully repaired even if he could, for three primary reasons: 1) it reminds him of where he came from and the struggle which originally inspired him to start writing, 2) it reminds him of Terminus, and 3) he’s personally so used to it that he considers his hearing disability to be a part of himself and his life experiences to such a degree that to attempt repairs would be to remove an important aspect of who he is-- he associates it closely with his sense of identity. 

-they did use sign language in the mines whenever possible, but it was a form of Cybertronian Sign Language unique to low class/manual labour bots. most signs could be made with one servo, to allow them to continue operating certain machinery with their other servo while still talking to each other during work hours-- whenever they could sign to each other without their pit bosses noticing, anyway. 

(BSL, British Sign Language, is usually two-handed. I’m aware that ASL, American Sign Language, has a lot of one-handed signs. Just mentioning this for a real world comparison for how this kind of stuff varies massively on a regional level, for those who aren’t aware!) 

-their sign language was more of a sign supported form of Cybertronian, similar to SSE (Sign Supported English) in real life, as most of them started out with reasonably functional hearing but lost hearing ability gradually. so the grammar structure etc. is more similar to spoken Cybertronian than to most other forms of signed Cybertronian.

-he uses multiple methods to interpret spoken speech and other sounds which he either struggles to hear or can’t really hear at all. only the most observant bots will notice him doing any of this. Soundwave and Ravage are the only two non-medical bots who have ever realised that he does use lip reading in a limited capacity to help “fill in” words that he can’t make out. 

-he suspects that some of the Autobot spec ops bots may have figured out some of this during the war too, but he’s not 100% sure. Jazz probably noticed on at least a few occasions, but may not have realised the extent to which Megatron relies on these “work-arounds”, or necessarily why he was using them. 

-he is aware of the fact that one of the only reasons he could actually tolerate Starscream’s constant yelling at him is because it doesn’t sound as shrill to him as it does to everyone else. Starscream’s voice would just sort of clip in and out, as far as Megatron’s concerned.

-ultimately his hearing by Cybertronian measure is far below what is considered a more “standard” operational hearing range, even without his helmet, but he’s been so used to this for the vast majority of his life that he’s totally fine with it and doesn’t want to attempt any repairs. like I said above, he considers it part of his identity, and he wants to protect/preserve that. 

-at some point on the Lost Light, Ratchet/First Aid/Velocity probably figure out the extent of Megatron’s hearing disability, and initially offer repairs or audial devices to assist in hearing, but Megatron declines and they don’t push him on it out of respect for his wishes 

-as he gets more comfortable on the Lost Light over time, he relaxes a bit and doesn’t bother stressing himself out 100% of the time trying to strain to figure out audial input as much (unless it’s critical to do so, such as when he’s on the bridge in command capacity etc.) 

-this leads to more bots figuring out that his hearing isn’t all that great, but most of them assume it’s because Megs is getting older and they likely don’t realise his hearing has been fucked for essentially forever 

-this in turn leads to a lot of old mech jokes but Megs doesn’t care and Ratchet very much does because uh oh he actually is maybe a little bit losing some audial sensitivity himself due to age and his general condition declining a bit and yes Drift he will see First Aid about it in the morning, no shouting in my audials does not help it just makes you harder to understand, please don’t do this around Rodimus or he’ll start doing it and will never stop etc. 

IDK I just really love the idea of hearing disabled!Megatron because it makes so much sense 

even if you think about it in terms of like, G1 Megatron, I can easily see one of the reasons for him yelling in that super gravelly tone literally all the time is because he can’t 100% gauge the volume/pitch of his own voice and he’s just like, fuck it 

TFP Megatron absolutely took some brutal blows to the head in the gladiatorial ring at the very least and we know he also started out doing manual labour in the mines, so there’s a very similar background to IDW 1 Megatron and a lot of this could apply to this version too 

even with Cyberverse Megatron, the reason his voice is slightly lower in pitch may very well be because he can’t hear higher frequencies so he adjusts his own voice box settings accordingly 

I’m just thinking out loud with all this (and of course I am biased in favour of any hearing disabled characters because I myself have some hearing issues lmao) but I think hearing disabled Megatron in particular just works extremely well 

it’s a concept that could work for Ratchet too though, especially in TFP/IDW 1 where he could gradually be dealing with age related audial damage etc. 

but there’s no way Megs is hearing shit through that helmet either way lmao 

[your-astro-mami]

The 1st House Ruler and your identity

The first House or your Ascendant/Rising sign represents your character, your self and everything that is a part of you, including your physical body and appearance.

The planet that rules your 1st House is highly important - what it represents is greatly connected to your identity, its the most influential energy in your chart.

How to find the planet ruling your 1st House?

Look at the sign on your 1st House/Ascendant and the planet it is ruled by:

Aries - Mars, Taurus - Venus, Gemini - Mercury, Cancer - Moon, Leo - Sun, Virgo - Mercury, Libra - Venus, Scorpio - Mars,Pluto, Sagittarius - Jupiter, Capricorn - Saturn, Aquarius - Uranus, Pisces - Neptune.

If the planet ruling your 1st House is the Sun:

You exude courage and confidence. You are warm, inviting, give people the energy you want to receive. Your world revolves around you, at times you may feel like other people's worlds have to revolve around you too. You can be authorative, you were likely very influenced by your father or male figures in your life. You are inspiring ro yourself and others.

If the planet ruling your 1st House is the Moon:

You are emotive, you are likely to face changes quite often, there can be lack of stability, you may be very reactive and sensitive to your surroundings and other people. You are highly empathetic, you like to nurture others, understand them, make them feel better. You are focused on caring about yourself and others, maybe even prioritize others at times. You are a person who feels like home. You may experience a lot of daily travelling or movement (for duties, job.)

If the planet ruling your 1st House is Mercury:

Your personality revolves around your intellect - you are a curious person who wants to understand everything they face. You are intelligent and quick-witted (If your Ascendant is Virgo, you may have a dry but smart sense of humor). You like to talk, share your thoughts and opinions. You like to play the devil's advocate and at times defend others just for the sake of it. You have great memory and good ability to collect information.

If the planet ruling your 1st House is Venus:

You exude beauty and harmony, you bring peace wherever you go. You are charismatic and have the ability to make people like you without much work. You are influenced by the feminine figures in your life. You like to see and represent the beauty in life, you like to bring things together, you like to appeal to everyone and visualize the world as a beautiful place to be.

If the planet ruling your 1st House is Mars:

You are dominant and assertive. You like things to go your way. You may have a troubled temper, inability to stay patient, you are expressive of your dissatisfaction or irritation. You can be prone to violence - it can be expressed in different ways, it's not always direct. You are very competitive, you are bold and brave, you have the courage to do things others may be afraid of. You aren't afraid to face your fears. You are a warrior at heart.

If the planet ruling your 1st House is Jupiter:

You are born with luck, throughout your life you are likely to meet many people who are willing to help you and guide you through anything. You attract opportunities and now matter how hard the situation you're in might be, there will always be a way out. You are wiser than your age, you learn through other people's experiences, you love freedom and knowledge. You receive double the amount of what you give.

If the planet ruling your 1st House is Saturn:

While Jupiter represents positive growth from experience, Saturn can show th growth we have from suffering, from hardships and what we've been through. You are a dedicated person who is persistent, unwilling to give up no matter how hard it is. You may feel restricted, limited, blocked from certain experiences in life - like something is holding you back. Despite the downs and sorrow you may experience, you must know that you have the strength of two people combined, you are the person who builds their own life's structure.

If the planet ruling your 1st House is Uranus:

You are an innovator, you are a person sent from the future, a stranger in a strange land. No one knows what to expect from you, you are the hidden genius - you may be misunderstood often, people rarely have the same perspective as you. You are an unconventional person, you have a distinctive way of presenting yourself, of being. You live in the future, you look foward to the way things will be, not how they are or were. You are bold, unapologetically yourself and unafraid of how you're perceived.

If the planet ruling your 1st House is Neptune:

You represent glamour - but in the untouchable, far-away type of way. You give an illusion about yourself that could be very different from reality - whether it's intentional or not. You are vulnerable and may often view the world and others in a deluded way - you may think things are better or worse than they are. You have a very strong inutuition and are likely to follow your heart.

If the planet ruling your 1st House is Pluto:

Even if you are quiet your presence is always noticed. You may experience things intensely - everything that has happened has influenced you in one way or another. Life feels like a constant transformation - big changes are made quite often, for better or for worse. You are strong-willed, you have tough-skin and the ability to overcome anything.

The House your chart ruler is in and which area of your life has the biggest impact on your identity:

Example: Kim Kardashian has Sagittarius on the 1st House Cusp/Ascendant. Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter. Her Jupiter is in the 10th House.

1st House ruler in the 1st House:

Similarly to the Sun, your world revolves around you. You are a very self-focused person. You are true to yourself. You may be seen as selfish, but you prioritize yourself. You are likely focuse on self-improvement throughout life. You are the face of your own brand. You are very connected to your body.

1st House ruler in the 2nd House:

Your identity is focused on the way you support yourself, your values and what brings value into your life and character. You may be seen and vain or materialistic, because you understand the worth of money. You have a strong sense of self-worth. You can sometimes be passive or avoidant of action. You like having stability, a pattern, you might be a creature of habit.

1st House ruler in the 3rd House:

You are a communicative person with a strong need to express yourself. Your siblings or neighbourhood have influenced you. You are a person who feels responsible for their community. You are creative and have the ability to transform any information in a useful way. You may often have short trips.

1st House ruler in the 4th House:

You are someone who is very connected to their roots, their home and family. Your family has had the biggest influence on your identity. You are a very home-oriented person who looks for parts of their home wherever they go. You may have traditional values or values taught from your family. Your life may revolve around homes, properties, ancestry.

1st House ruler in the 5th House:

They are constantly inspired - a very creative individual. They are great with children. Their life may revolve around anything that brings them pleasure and makes them feel good - relationships, hobbies. They have a strong need to express their creativity, to show off a product of theirs, to be proud of something in their life. They are a person who is very fun to be around, someone that brings out other people's best side and inspires them.

1st House ruler in the 6th House:

Another creature of habit, of routine. Their work and work environment is highly important when it comes to how they generally feel. Happy wife, happy life, but make the wife your work. They can be very health-conscious and keep a steady healthy lifestyle (if they have time). They are prone to health problems especially ones that come from stress (again, work-related) - especially headaches. They are very responsible and reliable.

1st House ruler in the 7th House:

You are very influenced by your relationships with other people. People with this placement tend to mirror other people's characteristics unintentionally. They are very considerate people, very willing to compromise in order to keep a good relationship with everyone. They tend to attract and be attracted to people similar to them. They are very diplomatic and have a natural good sense for business.

1st House ruler in the 8th House:

A very private, secretive person, who can often lack trust in other people. May be very money-focused. They value truth, they have the ability to face everything, every topic no matter how uncomfortable it is. They seek power, validation, to have any kind of impact. They aren't afraid of the darkness of the world.

1st House ruler in the 9th House:

A person very focused on knowledge, education or generally the complex matters in life. These are the people who are focused on gaining experience throughout life, undertaning different perspectives, travelling and mastering any topic that peaks their interest. This is a great position for a guru, a political leader, a professor, someone who has responsibility on a greater level.

1st House ruler in the 10th House:

They can be someone who is well-known, who has a large reputation and is known by a lot of people., especially from their career and what they do professionally. Their personal identity is influenced by their field of work. They are good at self-marketing, how they present themselves, carefully building their own image.

1st House ruler in the 11th House:

Another house that can show fame - more specifically fame from a following, from building an audience, networking. Their identity is influenced by their friend groups. They are a people's person, who seeks support from others. They often think for the good of a larger group of people, they can be very selfless.

1st House ruler in the 12th House:

Possibly the biggest sign of an introvert, someone more focused on their inner world than their surroundings. While it can show that you can be prone to isolating yourself, it can also show that your time alone is your most productive and joyful time (depending on the aspects). There people are highly intuitive, very close to the spiritual world.

[shikiii-skadi]

Hey. Life is a bit stressful right now. I wanted to write some hc's for the season 4 characters as well, before officially opening requests. So people know how I write them and what to expect. But I didn't come around to finish my drafts T-T Yeah, but other than that I am fine. Thanks for asking.

And thank you for your kind words as well <3

For a bit of context, the reader is going on a special mission and the characters can't accompany them.

Mikasa Ackermann:

Honestly, she would just come with you.

"You are going on a mission to the Karanese outpost? I will come with you."

Because she is such a talented soldier and a great addition to any team, no one of your officers, would have anything against it.

But there is a slim chance that she is not allowed or capable to come along.

She is missing you terribly. You have to see each other at least once a day for more than ten minutes for her to function properly.

Mikasa is in a kinda depressive state, where she is thinking too much. Her thoughts would be constantly with you. And she is afraid something might happen to you.

She would also be stressed over little things. For example, if you have eaten enough or if you get enough sleep.

Eren Jäger:

He wants to come with you as well. But because of his titan ability, he is not allowed to.

But that doesn't mean, he isn't going to ask your team leader at every opportunity he gets, to maybe be allowed to come along as well. Even like ten minutes befor you leave.

Eren would get so whiny. He would complain a lot to Mikasa and Armin. Low-key annoying them.

If he is with everyone else, he would sigh dramatically every minute. It's not on purpose. He just can't control it.

And of course Jean would yell at him to stop.

When you come back, he would act like you two haven't seen each other for years. Good luck at getting him away from you. He is attached to your hips for the next weeks.

Armin Arlert:

He wants to come with you as well but he knows that he probably wouldn't be a strong addition to the team. In the worst-case scenario, he might become an obstacle.

And he wouldn't want to stand in the way of you getting a higher position because of multiple successful missions.

He would tell you that he is sure that you will be successful but he wouldn't voice out his wish to accompany you.

He is not as depressed as Mikasa or whiny as Eren so he actually thought about away so you two could stay in contact.

It may not be highly efficient but he would purpose the idea of sending each other letters.

He writes you a lot of letters. Armin would even attach a gift to it. Nothing big or expansive. Maybe a flower that reminded him of you or a rock with a particularly nice pattern.

He might bring you up a few times more when he is talking with his friends but overall he would keep his feelings to himself.

Christa Lenz:

Similar to Armin, she wishes to come with you but wouldn't do it. She wants you to have the opportunity to show your skills.

But different than him, she would tell you about it. Not too direct, though.

"I will continue to train, so I can come with you on the next mission! Your accomplishments motivate me as well."

After you are gone. She would ask the higher-ups three times a day if they know anything about you.

She is more in thought than usual but I think only Ymir would really notice it.

Christa would also eat a little less. It is not intentional but without you, she just doesn't feel like eating.

She prays every minute for your safe return. Of course, she knows that you can handle yourself but there is still this lingering anxiety in the back of her head.

Porco Galliard:

He would act like it isn't that big of a deal.

Would probably also shift his feelings onto you. You are the one that's overdramatic about this situation. Surely, you will survive a few weeks without seeing each other.

While he might say that, in the background, he tries to pull the strings so that he can come as well. If he is allowed to he would act like it is a coincidence.

But he isn't allowed to.

He would be really defensive about anything that even just slightly involves you. Porco doesn't want someone to know that in reality, he misses you terribly. Yeah, but his behavior does kinda the opposite...

He is worried and thinks a lot about you but he tries to suppress it because it won't change the fact that you are not with him.

Pieck Finger:

Pieck is surprisingly chill about it. You are probably the one with the stronger reaction.

Of course, she wouldn't say no, if someone offers her to join the mission as well but she wouldn't actively try to get on the team.

She is confident in your skills. After all, there is a reason, you were picked and not someone else.

In the beginning, Pieck would think it won't be that hard to be separate from you for a few weeks. But she realizes that she was wrong after the first week.

Pieck would sleep in your bed because it still smells like you.

With every passing day Pieck would catch herself thinking how nice it would be to hug you right now.

[nightcourtreader]

Theory: Sangravah temple is in the Autumn Court not the Night Court.

I’m new to Tumblr and this is my first post. So I hope you like this theory!

Mor face turned solemn as she said, “There was another attack—at a temple in Cesere. Almost every priestess slain, the trove looted.” (ACOMAF, Page 76)

“What did Azriel have to say about it?” “He’s pissed. Cassian even more so—he’s convinced it must be one of the rouge Illyrian war bands, intent on winning new territory.” (ACOMAF, Page 77)

The way Rhysand reacted to finding out that Cesere was sacked could only mean that Cesere is their temple. For Cassian to even suggest it might have been Illyrian’s to attack the temple for more land it has to be in the Night Court.

“But Azriel confirmed that they’d raided the memorial in Sangravah three days ago. They’re looking for something—or found it.” Azriel nodded in confirmation, even as Mor cast a surprised look in his direction. Azriel gave her an apologetic shrug back. (ACOMAF, page 180)

“The first had just unbuckled his belt when Azriel arrived.” Silent unending tears streamed down Gwyn’s face. “Azriel slaughtered all of them within moments. He didn’t hesitate. But I could barely move, and when I tried to get up…he gave me his cloak and wrapped me in it. Morrigan arrived a few minutes later, and then Rhysand appeared, and it became clear some of the soldiers had gotten away with the piece of the cauldron, so Azriel headed after them. Mor healed me as best as she could, the brought me to the library. I couldn’t…I couldn’t bear to be at the temple, with the others. To see Catrin’s grave and know I failed her, to see that kitchen every day for the rest of my life.” (ACOSF, Page 695)

The thing is, Gwyn told Nesta & Emerie that Azriel got to Sangravah first, a few minutes later Mor did, then Rhysand appeared. So the three of them should already know what happen during the events of Sangravah and that Hybern was looking for the cauldron because supposedly Azriel was supposed to go after them. If that was the case, why did Mor seemed so surprised in ACOMAF if she should have known what happen already?

This makes me believe that SJM deliberately wanted Azriel to be the one to rescue Gwyn in Sangravah. She wanted to connect Azriel and Gwyn and in some way, to let them have a “past”. There’s no way they aren’t endgame if she went out her way to do this, because if you look at it, it doesnt make sense for Azriel and Mor to come to Sangravah in the Autumn Court to save Gwyn and the other priestess and risk facing the wrath of Beron and during this time Rhysand, in fact, didn’t want a internal war with Prythian. How the hell did Mor and Azriel get into Sangravah anyway without Beron mentioning at all?

The feet were hidden at three different temples—Cesere, Sangravah, and Itica. (Page 199, ACOMAF)

“The King of Hybern sacked one of our temples to get a missing piece of the cauldron. As far as I’m concerned, it’s an act of war.” (Page 206, ACOMAF)

So if we know Cesere is in fact in the Night court, and Rhysand said that Hybern only sacked ONE of their temples then that means that Sangravah is not one of their temples. Meaning Sangravah is not in the night court.

One day, he’d written to me from Cesere, a small city in the northeast where he was meeting with the few surviving priestesses to discuss rebuilding after their temple had been wrecked by Hybern’s forces. (page 378)

Another confirmation that Cesere is in the night court.

so swift he thought me might vomit on the very expensive, very old carpet. From Sangravah, if the patterns and rich dyes were any indication. (Page 250, ACOWAR)

I didn’t know what I’d really expected from Ianthe—one of the twelve high priestess who together governed their sisters across every territory in Prythian. Ancient, celibate, and quiet has been the extent of my expectations, thanks to those whispered mortal legends, when Tamlin had announced that an old friend was soon to occupy and renovate the crumbling temple complex on our lands. (Page 17, ACOMAF)

This is from Lucien’s perspective. Lucien recognized the carpet from Sangravah. Mind you, Lucien has never been to the night court until ACOWAR and has traveled to no new places in it besides Velaris. So that means the only way Lucien has recognized this carpet is because Sangravah is either in Autumn court or Spring Court.

Tamlin’s temple on his lands needed renovation. His temple wasn’t even up and running properly so priestess can actually be in the temple by the time Sangravah was attacked. So Sangravah is definitely not in the spring court.

I nodded, standing. I had a meeting in Cesere with the two priestesses who had survived Hybern’s massacre a year ago regarding how to handle pilgrims who want to come from outside our territory. (Page 19, ACOFAS)

Another confirmation that Cesere is in the Night court. If Sangravah was in the Night Court why did SJM never mentioned that they went to Sangravah? It was attacked too.

What this post all boils down to is Gwynriel. What it seems to me is that SJM wanted Azriel and Gwyn connected in a way for them to be endgame. The whole Azriel, Mor and Rhysand coming to Sangravah was obviously a last minute detail she put in ACOSF.

The Autumn Court was the second court to be talked about the most besides the Night Court in ACOSF. We got so much of Eris in it as well. So that makes me believe that the Autumn Court will be once again heavily talked about in ACOTAR 5 and we might actually get more details about it. (I love the Night Court but I’m sick of the series only heavily featuring the Night Court. We need to explore other courts.) There is only two characters connected to the Autumn Court besides Eris, and that’s Lucien and Gwyn. But Lucien wasn’t really seen much in ACOSF, but Gwyn was. Since I believe that ACOTAR 5 is featured with Azriel & Gwyn it’s a perfect setup to have Gwyn once again connected to the Autumn Court besides the storyline of her grandfather and father.

If that means that Sangravah is in the Autumn Court, I whole heartily believe that Gwyn will go back there to get closure on Catrin’s death. She needs to for her healing journey. So there is a lot of Gwyn that SJM can explore and she definitely has enough information about Gwyn to make Gwyn the second lead in the next book.

Disclaimer: I haven’t seen a lot of people talk about Sangravah and it’s where abouts. And while doing a re-read a while back I thought of this. I haven’t seen anyone particularly talk about Sangravah’s location. I came up with this theory and drafted all previous information in my phone notes.

[norrington-hell]

Yesterday, I, and one of my dear friends, participated in ‘The Defiant Walk of Resistance Against Injustice’ in Seattle, Washington.

When we arrived at 3pm, there was already a heavy police presence surrounding the intersection next to the Westlake Center where the march was supposed to start. I assumed they were there to close off streets and stop traffic, like they had during previous marches I’d attended in the city. But this time, even early on, I could tell things were different.

The Seattle PD was in full riot gear, every one of them standing in the line was holding a baton across their chest. They had barricaded the street by forming a wall and not letting anyone past, which meant that anyone approaching from the north could not join with anyone approaching from the south. From the very beginning they were separating us from each other.

Protesters filled the streets in all four directions, we could hear chanting and drumming. Our branch to the north was the quietest of the groups, but was still hundreds strong. Nearly every protester I encountered was wearing a mask, and those that were not were quickly offered ones by helpers who had come prepared.

I want to be very clear on this point: I was at the front of our portion of the protest, not ten feet from the police line, and there was no violence on the part of the protesters. We shouted and clapped and waved our signs and took hundreds and hundreds of videos and photographs. Nobody attacked the police on our side.

But that didn’t stop things from turning ugly fast.

The police began switching out, putting on gas masks and then rejoining the line. Then, they started to push forward. Without warning, the police used their batons to shove back the front lines, spraying mace and foam at anyone who didn’t move fast enough for them. Shove and spray. Shove and spray. Flash-bangs started going off, echoing down the streets. Protesters were scared and confused, with no idea why we weren’t permitted to march or why we were being herded back down the street.

The police line stopped advancing after about a block. Back at the original intersection, we could see the same thing was happening to the other branches of the protest. Helpers ran in with canteens of milk and spray bottles of baking soda and water to wash the eyes of those maced. They were handing out gloves and holding each other up. I have never seen so many strangers banding together.

About five minutes later, the police started advancing again. Now, with so many people, it was not possible to get out of their way with any speed. And many of us had taken to sitting in order to show that we were peaceful and had no intent to fight back. The cops marched forward regardless, forcing the line of protestors in front back over the seated ones and creating a pileup.

This is when I was maced. A woman fell back over my seated form and pinned me to the ground. I could not stand up. My friend had a death grip on my hand, trying to pry me free. But I could not move. The cop behind me sprayed pepper spray over the top of my head and down the back of my neck and into my jacket. Some got in my eyes. I was trapped and scared and I could not move out of the way.

Then a woman came forward and grabbed hold of my hands. I’ll never forget the look in her eyes. She was terrified, but she still came forward to pry me and my friend out of the pile. She risked getting maced too to save us.

This pattern continued on. The cops would advance, shove, spray, then stop. We’d regroup, help each other, share water and energy bars and masks and tend wounds. Flash-bangs were detonated right in front of us. Smoke was visible further down the street. Tear gas, I later learned. That, and on the south end, someone was starting fires.

After what felt like an eon of confusion and police provoking a crowd that was determined to stay peaceful, our branch peeled away and turned Northeast, finally beginning a march. We eventually met up with the fleeing south branch and headed toward the I5. A huge portion of the protesters blocked Southbound, and our group climbed up the median embankment to spread across Northbound.

Cars were stopped, half of their drivers leaning out to chant with us or honking to cheer us on. As we started working our way south, people lining the overpass joined in with encouraging support. Eventually, we took the nearest exit and headed back in the direction of downtown. The rain that had been present all afternoon was starting to come down harder, washing the chemicals in our hair down into our eyes. But the helpers were there. Brave people who came prepared.

This was when the emergency message was sent out. A five pm curfew had been put into place. That didn’t give us enough time to actually leave. Much of downtown had been blocked off. My friend and I, like many others, were kept from our vehicles. We could not leave the city. We were trapped.

I was very fortunate. A friend of a friend generously came to our rescue, taking us back to her home further away from the pandemonium. She washed our clothes and gave us milk soaked towels to ease the sting of our chemical burns and fed us grilled cheese. In the morning, when the blockade was lifted, she took us back to our car. It was not damaged. We got home safe.

I’ve watched the same feeds as everyone else. I’ve seen footage of protesters being maced and struck and fired upon with rubber bullets. I know this sort of thing does happen. But my previous experience in Seattle, one of the most liberal major cities in the United States, had not prepared me for the violence exhibited by the police yesterday. We were peaceful protesters exercising our First Amendment Right to peaceably assemble. We were given no warning and, in many cases, no chance to comply. The Seattle PD were the instigators. And their abuse of power was cowardly and wrong.

This experience has changed me. What I witnessed has shaken me to the core. I cannot, and will not, remain silent. From now on, when I hear a protest began peacefully, I will believe it. I will join with those who speak out against police brutality. I will pay less attention to rioting than the circumstances that drove people to it. And I will continue to fight for the rights of the oppressed.

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter

[vargaslovinghours]

So I may have gotten momentarily distracted about The Dating Sim

Honestly most of this is UI design and thinking around the mechanics of how a Dating Sim could be made with some spoilery(???) uses of said mechanics; I am completely enamoured by game design and player accessibility but it can be kind of a weird niche lol ♪

Starting off with text boxes!

Tried out a design with yarn acting as the entire border and bows tied throughout. The little scribbles of red in the lower left corner were supposed to be stitched/knitted heart patterns to represent Edgar’s Affection Points, but I still haven’t settled on a design I’m happy with |P

This is probably the closest, but it’s also the most simple - nothing wrong with simple! But I still feel like I can do better. 10 stitches for 10 possible Affection Points ♪

A slightly more refined take on the text box(es), especially to do with how Scriabin and Edgar’s complement each other - both sides of the yarn would go offscreen for either of them, but it’s mean to look like if you could zoom out the screen they would be tied to each other. The three bows are a bit much for such a confined space lol, but maybe if they were a bit more spread out. And giving each of them a directional border on the side the yarn ties in as well, I like that it’s more subtle :)

Still working on Edgar’s Affection display, I just can’t find a good balance of simple and thematic >:/ I do like the knitted text box tho, if it was subtle enough and I could get it to look right, I wouldn’t mind certain threads turning from a light grey to red ♪ I just worry that might be too much yarn, if such a thing exists haha

Down to just one loop-de-loop - it could reasonably show for both of them, cut off just after it on each side to indicate they share the one ♥

All menus all the time!

The buttons at the bottom of the text boxes would open up three different overlays with either a darkened BG or see-through screened effect, I’d have to test them digitally to see which is the most readable :P But they open to LOG (this screen: The current scene’s dialogue in case you clicked too fast or forgot a detail) - MENU - and a gear that opens OPTIONS

The aforementioned OPTIONS; mostly the basics for now, Text and Size, Music volume (I’d probably change it to overall volume and/or SFX specific) - I did forget one option here, toggling Adult Content since y’know, Vargas can get kind of A Lot sometimes haha ♪

A potential MENU layout, though I also like the SAVE/LOAD/TITLE/EXIT options being at the bottom of the screen, decisions decisions. I think leaving them to the side to allow the saves to have a multiple page listing at the bottom and keeps it all pretty clean and readable tho, hmm. Both OPTIONS and MENU would have the same overlay as LOG from earlier as well ♪ Unified design!

Me, just completely lost in the sauce: What is the most organic/non-utilitarian but still readable layout I can make so that the options are integrated but not a clusterfuck hmmmmmmmmm. Lol, it’s important to me! Depending on how tall and centralized the splash art is, either a stack would be too dividing or would cover up details - but it could also be used as an intentional divider! You can see I tried separating the buttons to each take a corner and hated that lol (which sucks ‘cause that would allow the art to be very centralized lol), and my notes from the OPTIONS spilling over haha

Next up: Endings Chart! Edgar’s on the left, Scriabin on the right; an ↑ indicates high Affection (7+), a - means mid-range Affection (~5), and a ↓ means low Affection (3-)

I actually forgot about the Neutral Ending, but that’s ‘cause it’s the Neutral Ending lol - it’s basically what happens if you get to the end without raising either of their affection high or low enough to get any other ending - basically if you start ignoring them and run out the days as normal. Technically the lowest one could be considered the Worst Ending, but it’s meant to be a joke ending lol :P

And finally thinking about a secret on the Title Screen, if I could figure out how to do it lol - since there’s like seven endings, it could be a pain to see how many you’ve gotten up to this point/how many are left, and how to get the last one(s), so why not a handy flow chart? But just leaving that out in the open feels like spoilers to new players and cheating for those who haven’t gotten at least one ending yet, so I liked the idea of hiding it in the yarn tied to their hands; on a first boot-up, the cursor wouldn’t react to it and the image wouldn’t look like something that can be clicked on, but if you did, it could still take you to the chart, but the intended route is to complete the game at least once, and then once the cursor is hovered over the yarn it would glow and change from a regular cursor to a clickable indicator, so anyone who got curious would get a bigger hint ♪ Still hidden, but easy to access :D

Those are most of my design notes and ideas for an over-excited first run lol, all the rest of my ideas were dialogue- and scenario-based :3c