#Future-proofing strategies

[ranjith11]

Elevate Your Accounting Content Calendar with Chat GPT | Future proof accounts

Welcome to our channel, dedicated to empowering accountants and finance professionals with invaluable insights and strategies. 📊📚 In this video, we delve into the world of accounts management and financial reporting, covering topics ranging from future-proofing accounts to harnessing the capabilities of AI-driven tools like ChatGPT. Whether you're an accounting enthusiast or a seasoned professional, this content is tailored to help you navigate the complex landscape of financial data with confidence.

[skull-storm-daily]

Sorry to disturb, but bad player here still trying to work out how to beat the Skull Storm. Any general advice on how to defeat it?

Absolutely, happy to help! This response ran a little long, so I’ll put the rest of it under the cut.

There's really two key components you need to consistently keep track of to win your skull storm runs, those being:

1) making sure you have a surefire way to deal 6 damage on your first turn (especially important for map 3 when the totems get more dangerous and combats can quickly overwhelm you), and

2) having a contingency plan to get past the Bear Rush on phase 2 of each boss battle.

The first point here is fairly easy to succeed with, at least more so than the second, and this is by manipulating an internal game mechanic present throughout the entirety of Inscryption, called fairHand- which essentially makes sure you always have at least one usable card that isn't a pelt you can place down on the first or second turn. fairHand accounts for every kind of card in Inscryption, including energy- and mox-cost cards, as well as rules for bones, but the only important part of this we need to know for skull storm is the rule for the blood cards: essentially, a squirrel and two other cards are drawn, and if either of those does not have a blood cost equal to the number of free cards you have in your hand (ideally only the squirrel, meaning one blood cost), then the last card you draw will always be a card of that cost.

How to use this to your advantage requires you to be pretty careful with your deck management over the course of the run- in order to consistently win combats quickly and effectively, you need to stick to a single 1-blood cost card for the entirety of the run, since you'll always draw it on the first turn, and do everything you can to not have to pick up any other 1-blood cost cards for the rest of the run, or to get rid of them as quickly as possible- via sacrifice stones, campfires if you haven't gotten rid of the survivors yet, or the rare bone lord event. (It's also probably best to avoid picking free cards along the way too, like tadpoles, since they can mess with your fairHand.)

I should also note, that any starting deck can win a skull storm run, including the Curious Egg deck! Some are certainly easier to do so than others, but it is possible to win with any of them through playing carefully and maybe with a little luck.

Here are a few notable good 1-cost cards to consider picking up, plus a few notes on each:

Black Goat - excellent for when you have a lot of high cost cards that you've buffed fairly well, and is even included in the high cost starting deck. Best buffs to consider are Undying (when you have many high cost cards to play) and Searcher (when you have a single powerful card, ideal for winning on the first turn.)

Warren/Beehive - helpful in the same vein as the Black Goat, but only Excellent with the Undying sigil. Generating large amounts of undying rabbits or bees (which you can then use to play the Warren or Beehive again) is the ultimate recursive strategy to play just about any card you have. (Warning: Bees also fly and deal 1 damage and work with Insect totems while rabbits don't- but be VERY careful, as Beehives require them to be HIT first to spawn your bees, and they cannot stop flying enemies. My suggestion to solve this is to either stock well up on items or somehow put the Mighty Leap sigil on your Undying Beehive as well, whether via fusing two different Beehives with each sigil at the Mycologist event, or with an Insect-Mighty Leap totem.)

It should be worth noting that the Skink can also perform the same role as the Beehive as mentioned, with the same shortcomings as it requires being struck first, but has its own benefits and detriments as well- it requires space in combat to move to, and only leaves a single tail behind before it is killed, but this tail also keeps any sigil inscribed on the Skink, as well as retains the Skink's stat improvements from campfires.

Mantis, Mantis God - these cards are good if you want to deal damage directly on turn 1 rather than setup- and can even win right away, if the Mantis is buffed to 3 power or the Mantis God to 2. The Mantis God deck notably already starts with one, although the two ringworms with it can make it hard to use since they're also 1-cost and can trigger fairHand- although they're actually less difficult to get rid of, since they come with the Annoying sigil, which you can put onto another card you don't care about at the sacrifice stones, and the second one gets fed to the campfire folks, obviously.

The Mantis and Mantis God's Bi-strike and Tri-strike sigils make them work well as 1-cost cards, but you could put their sigils onto just about any other 1 cost card instead, as long as it's powerful enough to make use of them, if you really wanted. However, using them in tandem with each other is better- since they'll strike 5 times instead of the usual 2 or 3.

Outside of our Mantis buddies, the purpose of most of these 1-cost cards are to make the rest of your cards easy to play- and what really cinches your win is filling the rest of you deck with cards you can win with. Some easy clues to keep an eye out for:

Grizzly - by itself it isn't that helpful, but it's bulky and strong enough at 4/6 to be something to keep you standing until the next turn, at least- and even better if you buff its power with a campfire. It's a more worthwhile card if you put sigils on it like Bi-Strike, or...

Double Strike (and to a lesser extent Dire Wolf Pups) - Dire Wolves naturally have Double Strike, which you can sac onto just about any card with 3 power or higher (some common cards are Moose Bucks, Wolves, Wild Bulls, Great Whites, even Grizzlies) as an easy win card if you draw it turn 1. Alternatively, if you have a Dire Wolf or Dire Wolf Pup on hand and none of these other cards, you can buff them at a campfire and boost their power by 1 (no risk involved) to get a 3 power Dire Wolf and win with that. Double Strike cards are also the most common method of getting past the Bear Rush, since they only need one opposing tile to be free to work. All these cards are fantastic to put Double Strike on, but my personal favorite is to save it for my dear Lammergeier, which I'll speak about in a moment.

It's helpful to have as many of these cards as you can manage, especially if your 1-cost doesn't have the Searcher sigil to find the card you want.

Now, for point 2), the Bear Rush.

Since every phase two boss fight is the same, you can plan around all three of them relatively similarly, depending on what cards you have- although most of the time it will be rng based, since often you will need to pick up items along the way in between boss fights. Here are a few strategies that work:

Scissors/Carving Knife/Wiseclock + 5 damage - The concept behind this is simple- just use an item to remove a bear or otherwise create an empty space on the opponent’s side, then attack that space with 5 damage however you can- whether from a card attack forward, attacking to the side via bi-strike, adding a damage from pliers, whatever works. However, this only works that turn, since the bear behind it will come forward to fill the space on the opponent’s turn. Other means of getting opening up a space such as attacking with a death touch card and then attacking that space for 5 damage or more also works, but isn’t as easy to set up (however, this also means you don’t have to rely on items at all). One other thing about the Wiseclock in particular- the placement of your cards especially matters here, as you could end up accidentally blocking your win card, or even sending your win card to the opposing side. If you’re using a wiseclock and have a win card that attacks the space directly opposing it, put it on the second column from the left, and if your card attacks to the side, put it on the third column from the left instead. This will plop your cards exactly into the places they need to be once you use your wiseclock.

Brute Force (+ optional Hourglass) - This strategy is usually reserved for very late in the run, when you’ve had more chances to buff your deck and pick up powerful cards. Essentially, if you have a card that attacks the same tile twice (whether with Double strike or having both Bi- and Tri-strike sigils) and has a power of 6 or higher, then as long as you play that card and you are able to attack with it on the first turn of Bear Rush, you will win. If you have cards that can only deal 6 damage total to a single space instead, that works too, but only if you have an Hourglass item to stall the turn, or enough cards in your hand to stall TWO turns, to give you a chance to take out the second bear and then attack on the third turn of Bear Rush. Items such as spare Frozen Possums or Boulders can also help to stall, and both last at least two turns of Bear Rush. This strategy can be a bit spooky to pull off, but with strong enough cards you can win.

Magic Bleach + Fan or Flying cards - This strategy is clear enough, especially if you have a Fan to give flight to your non-bird cards: use magic bleach on the first turn of Bear Rush to remove the Mighty Leap sigils (I just had an unrelated thought of how terrifying bears would be if they could leap into the air like that), then play as many flying cards as you can to add up to 5 damage, using a Fan if you have one if necessary, and win. However, bird cards aren’t usually very powerful, with few exceptions, and it’s easier to pull this off if you have a Fan. This isn’t the only strategy Flying cards are essential to, though...

Starvation stall, Flying card - really for your last ditch effort attempts, like running into a boss with no items or you had to use your items to survive phase 1, no cards powerful enough to brute force it, and maybe you have a Fan or you stocked up on some good flying cards but never picked up any Magic Bleach to go with it. This strategy can be pretty tricky to pull off, but it’s really your best bet if you have nothing else. The strategy is essentially this: stall in phase 1 of the boss fight for as long as you can (usually easiest with Trapper or Angler, at least in map 1) so you draw almost all your cards, then defeat the boss’s phase one on exactly the turn you draw your last card- but don’t play your good flying card to win. The idea here is that as soon as the Bear Rush rolls out and it passes to your turn again where you draw a card, a Starvation card will replace ONE of the bears at the front- which critically, does not have the Mighty Leap sigil on it. As soon as the Starvation is played, play your good flying card (or any other win card if you have a Fan at your disposal) in front of it, and deal direct damage.

The absolute BEST card to use this strategy with is my lovely dear Lammergeier, as hopefully by the time phase two rolls around you’ll have plenty of bones to capitalize on (hopefully at least 7, since the last 3 will come from the cost Lammy needs to be played- unless you have a black goat, or something). However, if you have some cards to stall the bears with, such as the aforementioned Boulder or Frozen Possum bottle items, then you can use flying cards with a slightly lower attack power, such as a Turkey Vulture (3/3) if you can stall the rest of the bears for one turn, or even an unaltered Raven (2/3) if you can stall two turns. Risky, and depends on you still having cards in your hand that don’t have the Waterborne sigil, but works.

Those are the key points to keep in mind when playing a Skull Storm run- but as much rng manipulation is often involved, developing your own skill as an Inscryption player is a major part of this too! You can’t pick up an absolutely perfect deck every time, of course, and learning to think on your feet to handle those unexpected situations that come your way is important, too, like running into an unwanted inescapable 1-cost card, or encountering a combat with the Thorns totem when your best cards only have 1 health. All I have to say is, practice! Experiment with different strategies and starting decks, discover what way to play feels right to you. Here are some extra tips of things I’ve picked up playing for as long as I have, that I’ll let you know now:

Pack Rats - If you have trouble with your item luck, picking up a Pack rat or two can go a long way- ESPECIALLY if you put the Undying sigil on it! If you draw your Undying Pack Rat during a combat, that means you’ll get multiple chances to roll for new items, which is especially helpful if you’re in the third combat in a map and you still haven’t found any Scissors or Wiseclocks.

Soft Resetting is your Friend - This might be a bit cheating, but if you’re quick with the escape key, you can quit out and reload the game to back before you load the coming event, and choose differently. This can be done to check different cards on cost-choosing or tribe-choosing Add Card events, Cave Trial events if you fail the trial (before you’re sent back to the map), Item Backpack events, Prospector mining events (although the card placement is still randomized), and notably also the Campfire events- but ONLY if the card was not eaten, since the game autosaves the instant a card gets eaten (a good way to manip this is to put a card you want to get rid of first, and if it isn’t eaten, quit out and buff a card you want instead), and of course, Combat encounters. Just about all of these choices can be redone without penalty, since each event and outcome is rolled at the very start of when a new map is generated. You can even reroll the whole map if you’re looking for a specifc pathing at either the very start or when you move onto the next map, since it saves after you beat a boss and doesn’t save again until you complete an event on the new map. If you run into trouble and feel the need, a quick escape key and quit out can save your whole run, no joke.

(Interestingly, soft resetting also does not work for Goobert's Card Painting event, as it autosaves once your copied card is revealed- I suppose to keep you from fishing for better copies. It usually doesn't matter though, as fusing the og card and its copy at the Mycologist event is one of the quickest ways to buff the attack power of your best cards, since the attack and health are usually doubled.)

Woodcarver Totems - Not usually necessary for Skull Storm runs, and going out of your way to pick some up can mess with your pathing and collection of Necessary things you need to win- but if you stumble upon a Really good sigil for a totem, then complete it as fast as you can and lean into it. HARD. Pick up as many cards as you can of that creature type, or switch to a better totem head if you find one- essentially feel free to base your whole strategy for the rest of the run around that totem. Some particularly good sigils and combos that I recommend are Undying, Searcher, Item Hoarder, Bi-Strike, Double Strike, Blood Lust, Death Touch, and Morsel on just about any creature type- although in my experience the Elk creature type seems to benefit the most from most of these sigils (Elk-Morsel is my personal favorite, especially when use in tandem with Undying Black Goat- if you ever stumble upon that totem, give filling out your deck with elk type creatures and let me know how it goes!) Another sigil you do not want to sleep on is the Dam Builder totem, as the Dams created by each card who has it gains every sigil on the card with Dam Builder- especially neat for cards like Black Goats with the Worthy Sacrifice sigil on it, since that sigil makes those cards with that sigil on it able to be sacrificed! Also useful if your dams get Fledgeling- it’s a really good sigil, god dam. Another totem combo I should mention again is Insect-Mighty Leap, which absolutely erases the risk of using an Undying Beehive as your 1-cost card if you have one, but that’s really the only use I can think of for it, other than maybe Undying Corpse Maggots being used as a stall card...

Do not pick up Ring Worm it’s not good :( - Ringworms can really mess with your run, bud. They’ve absolutely killed more than a few runs because I hadn’t managed to burn them in time and they showed up instead of a card I needed in fairHand... If your strategy involves killing the Campfire survivors and you aren’t already starting with Ringworm (whether from the Mantis God starting deck or if you’re running without pelts), do not under any circumstances pick up a Ringworm- kill the Campfire people with an Adder instead, or any other card that has the Death Touch sigil on it (having it via totem doesn’t count).

And that’s all from me- have fun with your Skull Storm runs in the future, give Royal a kissy on the forehead for me when you see him!

[udhyogbazaar14]

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Introduction

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[asmussenpike72]

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[kunalmeghani]

Future-Proofing Your Business: Why IT Consultation is Essential for Long-Term Success

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[teaboot]

Forgive me if you’ve already answered something similar but how do you deal with crushing guilt when you did fuck up but there’s not really anything you can do to like make amends or you’ve already done anything you could and still feel guilty?

Like I know the guilt isn’t productive at all, if anything it’s just paralyzing me, and mentally beating myself up over it isn’t actually helping anyone. But I don’t know where to go from there. Idk how to actually forgive myself, or at least be able to move on

CW FOR SELF HARM

Okay, so this is something I've had to work through for a very long time myself, and there's a few different strategies that I've used to cope and process with varying levels of success.

What I used to do was handle the "I've ruined everything and hurt people and am never going to be forgiven" feeling by hurting myself in a number of creative and stupid ways, from physical hurt (Everything you'd expect) to mental hurt (wallowing, speaking badly of myself, going over the bad thing over and over again in my head) to passive hurt (neglecting my health, not eating properly, failing to pursue good living conditions, letting others hurt me, deliberately wandering into risky situations) and despite any short-term relief or peace I got, none of it ultimately fixed anything.

At the end of the day, making myself suffer as retribution or apology didn't fix the thing I'd done and didn't make the guilt go away, and all it gave me was an additional sense of shame and isolation because now not only was I a garbage person, I was a garbage person with something to hide from my loved ones. Zero out of ten, do not recommend.

The stuff that DID help was harder and is going to sound stupid because *I thought it was stupid* until it worked for me.

First: Learn the difference between GUILT and SHAME.

GUILT is how you feel about your choices.

SHAME is how you feel about yourself.

"I was late to a date again, that was inconsiderate": GUILT. The issue can be resolved by analyzing the reason behind the action and planning steps to avoid repeating it in the future. Guilt is productive because it motivates us to improve our choices. Once you've corrected the behaviour, it's over.

A"I was late to a date again, I'm inconsiderate": SHAME. The issue can be resolved by asking ourselves:

What negative thing to I believe about myself?

What other experiences support this belief? What evidence do I have that the bad thing is true?

Do those previous experiences have anything in common? Where they actually proof of a personal lack, or did someone just tell me they were? Were my choices and actions understandable? Did I have a reason? Was I trying to hurt others, or was it a mistake, accident, or learning experience? Have I grown from that experience?

Can I forgive myself for the past? What do I need to do to forgive myself for those past events? Was I really at fault at all, or was it out of my control?

Accept that.

Your present traumas and shames often have roots in beliefs you had about yourself before the new shameful thing occurred. When you dig into resolving the issues that led to today, you can use those conclusions to work through tomorrow. This is something I learned in cognitive behavioral therapy.

There are a number of ways of unpacking these questions, but as I felt I was deliberately avoiding my thoughts and feelings, I chose to jump into them directly, and found it to be effective.

You can write things down, talk to someone, paint something, draw something, whatever. Whatever at all works for you.

My solutions was to find a comfortable place on the floor, sit down, close my eyes, and do box-breathing (in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4) while deliberately thinking about every upsetting memory attached to a specific bad belief that I could recall until I had nothing left to go over.

Judge and jury. Was I a bad person, or did I make a mistake? Did I have malicious intentions, or did someone accuse me of malicious intentions? Am I bad, or have I been conditioned to believe I'm bad? And at the end of it all, am I capable of better? Do I want to be better? And would a truly bad person care?

It was more emotional than I expected the first few times. Cried a lot, actually. But if I can liken it to a common feeling, it was like getting out of a very thorough shower and realizing you didn't know how dirty you were before.

The process sucks ass, no lie, but it's worth it. Like draining pus from a gnarly wound to get it healed up properly.

I'm not an expert, of course, but life has gotten better since I started. I'm better at forgiving myself, at least.

Also: Some people will never forgive others even for tiny things. Sometimes once you've done your best, you've just gotta say "fuck 'em". C'est la vie, mon amie.

Good luck, yeah?

♡

[exilethegame]

Hi Pheo! So, I heard the Gorgon MC can actually bite Nikke in a fight? Absolutely feral. How does you get this option? 🤔

Hello!

Okay so-- first things first, I know there are multiple ways to get the bite, but there's so much variation here that I have a hard time combing through everything. That being said, I did find what I believe to be two fool-proof ways to get the bite. They're super niche, though, and they work if:

A.) Your MC has Strength and Strategy as their two highest stats OR B.) Your MC is VERY TALL, and has Strategy as one of their two HIGHEST stats, and strength as one of their two LOWEST stats (this method should work for werewolves too, but it doesn't have as much cultural flirtation as the gorgon bite scene does)

Like I said, I believe there are other ways, but these were the only two I could easily find. So!

1.) Choose the physical romantic path for the fight 2.) Choose any of the fight options, then "Wait for him to come to you." 3 [METHOD A:] Choose "Dodge him" IF your dexterity is not one of your two highest combat skills -> Choose charisma + flirt choice "You sure you wouldn't want to do anything else...?" IF charisma is not one of your two highest combat skills -> Bite him! (Alternatively, Nikke can bite you if you pick "This is your chance to bring it home" IF charisma is one of your highest two stats.) 3 [METHOD B:] Choose "Duck" IF strategy is one of your two highest stats -> Choose run at him IF strength is not one of your two highest stats AND if MC's height is "very tall" -> Bite him! (Works for werewolves too)

With all of this being said, as I rewrite fight scenes I am actively making guides for them as I write, so hopefully this won't be a problem in the future 😭

[reasonsforhope]

"The “Düsseldorf Patient”, a man now aged 53, is just the third person worldwide to have been completely cured of HIV via stem cell transplantation.

As in the case of the other two patients, the so-called “Berlin Patient” and “London Patient,” the transplantation was undertaken to treat an acute blood disease, which had developed in addition to the HIV infection.

The Düsseldorf Patient received a stem cell transplant used to treat leukemia in 2013 and has shown persistent suppression of HIV-1 ever since, including during the last 4 years after the patient stopped taking anti-retroviral medication.

“I still remember very well the sentence from my family doctor: ‘don’t take it so hard,'” the Düsseldorf Patient, who had leukemia as well as HIV-1, said in a statement. “‘We will experience together that HIV can be cured!’ At the time, I dismissed the statement.”

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a procedure used to treat certain cancers, such as leukemia, by transferring immature blood cells from a donor to repopulate the bone marrow of the recipient.

Scientists now understand that individuals with two copies of the Δ32 mutation in the gene for the HIV-1 co-receptor CCR5; are resistant to HIV-1 infection. The two previous cases of both the London patient and the Berlin patient involved receiving a stem cell transplant from a donor with these unique mutations.

Björn-Erik Jensen, a specialist in infectious diseases at Düsseldorf University Hospital, lead the treatment and subsequent research, revealed today in a peer-reviewed study in Nature.

The patient was diagnosed as having acute myeloid leukemia and proceeded to undergo transplantation of stem cells from a female donor in 2013, followed by chemotherapy and infusions of donor lymphocytes.

After the transplantation, anti-retroviral therapy was continued, but HIV was undetectable in the patient’s blood cells. Anti-retroviral therapy was suspended in November 2018 with the patient’s informed consent, almost 6 years after the stem cell transplantation, to determine whether the virus persisted in the patient.

“I very much hope that these doctors will now get even more attention for their work,” said the patient. “I have now decided to give up some of my private life to support research fundraising. And of course, it will also stay very important for me to fight the stigmatization of HIV with my story.”

The authors conclude that although HSCT remains a high-risk procedure that is at present an option only for some people living with both HIV-1 and hematological cancers, these results may inform future strategies for achieving long-term remission of HIV-1."

-via Good News Network, 2/20/23

VERIFIED 10 YEARS ON, PROOF THAT HIV IS CURABLE

[sleeplesssmoll]

Can you imagine everyone in the suitcase getting together to prepare the Foundation Kids’ first Christmas 🥹🥹🥹

The gift exchanging and the cuteness would be the most wholesome thing! Little Santa hats for all! Honestly this became a long list of HCs and not all of them are related to Christmas. It'll be Crew member and Vertin interactions because it'd be a lot to do it both ways for every single character. My ears are open for anyone who wants to share their HCs!

Regulus (actually Apple) gives a Vertin a set of high quality paint brushes. She also gives her also a weird rotund plushy with this face

• _ •

This is the real one Regulus picked but she and Apple work as a pair. She says it's face reminded her of Vertin. Vertin will keep this new friend among her growing collection of oddities from her crew members. She keeps everything they give her, even if it's just a pretty marble.

Joshua gives her a DIY woodworking book and then brings up his bookshelf being broken (hidden agenda!) At first the others are like "wth?" but Vertin seems to love it. You know the little game pieces we see throughout the game to represent the characters? Vertin makes something similar with her new skill and they use them when developing strategies. Jessica and Sonetto like to help her paint them. Druvis gives her tips (since she's a wandmaker she has more experience). Also, Vertin does fix his shelf eventually and made a few adjustments so it won't break again.

I see Vertin as the type who can figure out those God awful assembly instructions with 70 different letters and numbers labeling everything. For tech stuff, Regulus and Joshua have them covered. They try not to ask X if they can help it because despite being a genuis he always adds an unnecessary feature. No I don't need my camera have a "brew coffee" function!

None of the "fix-it" people above can put together a proper meal though.

Madam Z is invited but couldn't make it (Constantine at it again). She sends Vertin a very elegant coat with a water proof enchantment to keep her both warm and dry. She she noticed Vertin's grown a bit taller and she'll most likely need a new coat.

Tooth Fairy also couldn't make it (helping Madam Z so she can get leave the office sooner and they can celebrate with wine). She sends Vertin a jar of candies and a finely crafted pocket knife. Why a pocket knife? No one knows for sure. Despite no one getting it at first, whenever they have a package they can't open, a freshly picked fruit from the garden, etc. they ask Vertin if she has her knife. Of course she does. She's Suitcase Dad lol. Tooth Fairy was predicting the future.

Sotheby will give her candies that are actually healing potions! It's one of her newest creations! They're more convenient than carrying potion bottles. There are a few...side effects but nothing too major. Vertin is extremely grateful for this and carries a few in her pocket at all times in case someone gets hurt. This usually ends up being herself (in combat) or Sotheby tripping and scraping her knees, palm, etc. She'll hesitate to take the candy herself (because what if someone else needs it later?), even when she's barely standing but heaven forbid one of her people gets a boo-boo or a bruise. It's frustrating as it is endearing.

Sonetto gives her a tin of her favorite brand of tea and a thermal blanket. Vertin's the type of person with a cooler body temperature. In winter, her hands are freezing! This worries Pupnetto even though the Foundation trains them to endure cold temperatures. However, most of the other members end up snuggling in the heated blanket, including Sonetto herself (she is slowly unlearning the Foundation's way of suffering pointlessly) but she will share it with Vertin when she does. Vertin doesn’t mind. Honestly, Sonetto is hot blooded (the opposite of her) so having her nearby makes it warmer anyway.

And Sonetto's always at her side. She doesn't worry about the cold.

Druvis gives Vertin a wand with her arcanum built into it. It's shaped like a pistol, similar to Schneider's but it's nonlethal. The "bullets" are infused with the slime from Druvis's thorns and can hinder enemy movements (inflict petrify status). This way she can "protect" Vertin even if they're apart. With more eyes on the Suitcase than ever, she believes Vertin needs to take extra precautions. Vertin takes very good care of the gun (though she's never had to use it in real combat yet) and when they do co-op missions with other departments it garners a lot of attention from the soldiers.

Druvis is not accepting requests at this time.

Blonney gives her an ugly Christmas sweater but her gag gift backfires when Vertin looks cute. Stupid yes, but cute. Also the fabric is very soft and Vertin seems very cozy inside.

Later, Blonney gives her the real gift. She was too shy to give it to her in front of the others but there's a hand written card thanking her everything she's done for her and Jessica. There's money in the card of course. Jen also gives her a little short story she wrote. Not a horror one, but a sweet one about a curious kitten going on misadventures and making friends. Vertin can immediately tell its based on the shenanigans she gets into with her crew members. Blonney doesn't stick around long (blushing too hard) but Vertin is moved by this. The crew members are represented by their Udimos!

Jessica gives Vertin a doll (think chibi) she made that looks like the Timekeeper and it has removable accessories. For Christmas, the chibi Vertin is wearing a Santa suit. Sometimes the doll goes missing from her shelf if she's gone for more than a day (work relates reasons). 98% of the time it's with Sonetto who crumbles like a guilty puppy if Vertin asks about its whereabouts. The separation anxiety is real. Vertin recognizes this and eventually says it looks happier in Sonetto's room. She asks Sonetto to please take good care of her (the doll). Vertin also makes more effort to "call" home or send a message with arcanum tech after this event.

She's not used to having people wait for her at home, but one day in the near future she will be.

[twentydaysofmay]

So at first, this was a reblog of a different post, but I am now making it an original one for greater reach. Be warned that it's going to be quite long.

So, we all know and love the promotional comics of our Wii boxers, like this one about Glass Joe:

You might have never questioned its origin, and neither did I when I first encountered it a year ago. I just assumed that Nintendo officially published it in a guide, because that's what every source about them that I've read was implying.

But then I learnt that these translations aren't official at all. They were apparently done by the Tumblr user @boink-the-joiner in 2013, whose blog seems to be unfortunately deleted.

And then I was informed of the existence of this image by my friend @fan-mans (Charlie):

He said he originally found it on Tumblr, though he didn't give me the link to where he got it from. (It happens to be included at the very start of this post.)

But this supposed "original version" seemed fishy to me for several reasons:

If this is the "original" Japanese version, and no "official" English one exists that was published alongside it, why are the sound effects written in the Latin alphabet?

Why is the authorship at the bottom in English? And isn't that the exact same font as in the well-known English version?

Why is it read left-to-right? Shouldn't it be flipped from the English version? Wouldn't it make more sense for Mac to punch him with his right arm and for Joe's hair to be more often on his right side than the left, and to first put on the left boxing glove, and hold the coffee cup in his right hand?

Why is there a red rectangle in the middle right?

Charlie said that all of this was because Nintendo was catering to an American audience, but never actually published the guide outside of Japan. (Apart from the red rectangle, which was apparently a part of the website that image originally came from, but he didn't have a link to that either.) I didn't believe it at first, because it just seemed like an incredibly stupid pair of decisions to me.

But today, I found this webpage. It's a blog post talking about strategy books for Nintendo games, and includes this image:

This is it! This is proof that Nintendo printed the comic to be read left to right in the original Japanese version!

There was that little bit of doubt in my mind though. What if the copy that shows the actual pages of the comic is in English? The quality is so low...

...but the kana here are clear enough.

That isn't the end of the story. Shortly afterwards, I came across this webpage:

THIS IS THE ORIGIN OF THAT JAPANESE VERSION OF THE JOE COMIC ABOVE! The red rectangle was, indeed, holding up a textbox.

Anyway, the full website can be found here, and includes a few other materials, such as this part of a guide on Title Defense Von Kaiser:

Sadly, the website only includes Joe's comic, and I haven't found the original Japanese versions of anyone else online, so currently, you'd have to own the guide to know what they look like.

Also, out of curiosity, I decided to use the Wayback Machine to see if the site has ever been modified, but it just wasn't archived there at all. Not even a single snapshot. So I went ahead and preserved what it currently looks like.

The website itself seems to belong to the company that published the guide, Enterbrain, a division of Kadokawa Future Publishing, which is a part of the Kadokawa Corporation. The names "Ebten" and "Famitsu" seem to be related to it as well, but I have yet to figure out exactly how. The full Japanese title of the book is パンチアウト！！完全クリアーガイドブック, and its ISBN is 978-4-7577-5067-8. At least according to these listings.

Not all questions about the comics have been answered. For instance, we still aren't quite sure why Nintendo (or Enterbrain, anyway) decided to flip them. And our translator Boink had to have the copies of all of the Japanese comics, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to translate them! What if they are reachable somewhere else, and we can ask them if they still have the original scans?

More information might come as I (and hopefully others) research more.

[ranjith11]

Task prioritization using Asana | Asana features for task prioritization | Future Proof Accountants

In this video, Neha talks about how we can use Asana for task prioritization - making it simple for team to prioritize tasks :) In this video, we'll show you how to become a task prioritization pro using Asana. Efficiently managing your tasks is key to productivity, and Asana is here to help. We'll guide you through the steps to set up, organize, and prioritize your tasks effectively. Whether you're a project manager, student, or professional, mastering task prioritization can transform your workflow. Join us to discover the tools and techniques that will boost your productivity and help you stay on top of your to-do list.

[vickyvicarious]

God preserve my sanity, for to this I am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past. Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that I may not go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already. If I be sane, then surely it is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me; that to him alone I can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I can serve his purpose. Great God! merciful God! Let me be calm, for out of that way lies madness indeed.

Now Jonathan doubting his sanity is starting to really kick in. And the twistiness of this passage is really compelling to me. Like, let's break it down.

He first says that safety and "the assurance of safety" aren't possible anymore. Not just literal safety but also the promise/feeling of it at all. I think this in direct response to the very things that made him feel safe last night (untouched dusty room, thought of ladies in the past) being turned against him almost immediately (they didn't leave footprints, ladies attacked him). The last time Jonathan had a moment of peace looking at the scenery, he saw Dracula moving down the wall lizard fashion. There is no safety here, none - not even in his own mind.

That brings us to the next line. All Jonathan can hope for anymore is that he won't go mad, if he isn't mad already. He has no real hope for escape or rescue. That doesn't mean he will stop trying, but he doesn't see any way out, doesn't know what he can possibly do to protect himself from supernatural threats like this. The only refuge is in his sanity, in his knowledge of what is going on. He wants to doubt it regardless, because everything that is happening is so far outside the realm of what he has ever known or believed to be possible. This is where his diary is so so useful as a record of the truth.

"If I be sane, then surely it is maddening..." THIS LINE. Jonathan has been forced to confront the fact that the Count, his captor, may be the least immediate danger here. Up till now he has been playing a survival game against Dracula alone, but now that he knows about the vampire ladies - and now that Dracula has protected him from them - Jonathan's perspective of their dynamic has been irrevocably shifted. It's not just that he has to keep Dracula happy long enough to get away from him safely. He needs to ensure that Dracula is still invested enough to protect him from these other dangers. And at the same time, the abilities/desires of both the ladies and by extension Dracula himself have been expanded and made more horrible and harder to counter. The situation is distinctly worse than yesterday. And the thought of having to rely on Dracula specifically is maddening, sickening to even think about.

It drives Jonathan into a panic. He cries to god twice, unable to put to paper all his specific thoughts or fears... maybe not able to solidify them in his own mind, even. That's how much he hates and fears Dracula, that the thought of him being any source of safety is so repugnant.

But he needs to calm down. It's his only chance. Maybe not to escape, but to maintain his sanity. He has to stay calm. He has to rely on proof and evidence, to keep gathering it as best he can while adjusting his strategy to be wary of these new dangers. He has to calm down, to order his thoughts, to be logical. Suppress his emotions. If he lets himself dwell, then he is utterly lost - sanity and all.

Jonathan is in such a terrible place today. It's so compelling and so awful - especially how he feels about Dracula's new role as Protector.

The Count's mysterious warning frightened me at the time; it frightens me more now when I think of it, for in future he has a fearful hold upon me. I shall fear to doubt what he may say!

Once again, Jonathan's thoughts are so heartwrenching here. He was frightened by the warning but chose to disregard it because he was more afraid of Dracula's presence in his rooms. Now, though, he knows the warning carried actual weight, and a heavy one at that. Jonathan is fully aware of just how much Dracula is trying to control and influence him. He knows that Dracula's warning/rescue serve just as much to assert ownership and control over him as they did to save him, if not more. And yet, to an extent it worked anyway. Jonathan knows that his own terror might work to keep him under Dracula's influence in the future. He's going to have a harder time thinking critically about the Count's words or ever going against them again, which will probably make it that much harder to try and escape or even gather information. He knows that he's going to be more likely to play into Dracula's hands, but he doesn't know if he will be able to help it.

And that, too, scares him to death.

If it be that I had not dreamt, the Count must have carried me here. I tried to satisfy myself on the subject, but could not arrive at any unquestionable result. To be sure, there were certain small evidences, such as that my clothes were folded and laid by in a manner which was not my habit. My watch was still unwound, and I am rigorously accustomed to wind it the last thing before going to bed, and many such details. But these things are no proof, for they may have been evidences that my mind was not as usual, and, from some cause or another, I had certainly been much upset. I must watch for proof.

Finally, we finish off the entry today with more thoughts on both of these issues. We come back again to Jonathan trying so hard to gather proof - but what happened last night has shaken him so much that all the things he would normally consider proof aren't good enough. Because they all rely on what Jonathan would normally do, and he's beginning to be afraid that he alone isn't enough. He needs an external proof.

He wants it, desperately. In some ways, maybe even the inability to trust his own mind would be more comforting than the thought that it all really happened. The women waiting to drink his blood. The Count, too? The unbelievably invasive experience of Dracula undressing Jonathan and putting him to bed, even neatly folding his clothes, all that being a footnote here is just awful in so many ways. Jonathan is trying to avoid dwelling on it at all because it would make him panic and he can't afford that if he wants to stay sane. Jonathan knows even if it did happen it's the least of his worries, and the thought of that being the case is all the more frightening.

As I look round this room, although it has been to me so full of fear, it is now a sort of sanctuary, for nothing can be more dreadful than those awful women, who were—who are—waiting to suck my blood.

And the very last line... Once again you have to bear in mind exactly how much Jonathan hates this place, for the impact of the line to really hit. Exactly how unsafe he has felt here lately. This room is "full of fear" to him. Because of Dracula.

But at least Dracula has had more control than those awful women. So this room becomes a sort of sanctuary, in the most twisted of ways, in the most horrible feeling possible for a 'sanctuary' to have, because of Dracula. Because at least Dracula has not paralyzed Jonathan and made him feel like he wants that deadly 'kiss'... at least Dracula hasn't truly tried to suck his blood.

Yet.

[svtskneecaps]

a list of timestamps, for no reason :)

thesis statement : No, what blue did tonight and what red did the last two nights are not the same.

disclaimer: this is not a judgement of right / wrong, this is a glorified compare and contrast paper.

a TL;DR is available at the top, immediately following the keep reading link (which i hope, for your sake, is still there).

for each vod i have compiled the time stamps first, and then under the heading "notably" have compiled and compared them.

this is the most toxic i will allow myself to be.

TL;DR:

Blue team on Day 4 took 2 seconds from first task claimed to last. Red team on Day 2 took 5 minutes 14 seconds from first task claimed to last, and on Day 3 took 42 seconds.

Blue team on Day 4 was vulnerable in the area for 2 seconds before claiming their last task. Red team on Day 2 was vulnerable in the area for 8 minutes 31 seconds, and on Day 3 was vulnerable for 12 minutes 10 seconds.

The time blue team spent getting situated before logging out in global is not counted in this as being vulnerable because it is not a viable strategy for an entertainer to waste 4 hours of their limited time camping global to ensure no one is logging out.

Red team claimed their first global task on Day 3 with 13 minutes until the server closed. On Day 4, Etoiles and Roier arrived to stop blue team from applying the same strategy with 15 minutes until the server closed.

Blue team's actions on Day 4 did not leave them open to any reasonable retaliation efforts once Tubbo logged out. The moment he logged back in, the tasks were as good as complete. Unless another content creator metagamed, they would not be able to stop him.

Red team's actions on Day 2 and Day 3 did leave them open to retaliation. They were not fast, they often did not have the items they needed crafted in advance and spent time in sight of the global task dome crafting the items. If a team had been waiting for them to try this at the global task dome as Etoiles and Roier did for Blue team, that team could entirely have succeeded in killing them or ruining their plans.

The global tasks on Day 4 were already functionally blue's 4 hours before they were claimed. Even if the disaster hadn't affected global, the way it was supposed to, the only thing left would have been revenge. There was no preventing it once Tubbo logged out.

The global tasks on Day 2 were open to reclamation for an hour after red team claimed them. By Day 3 blue team was aware of red's strategy and had a full 12 minutes (at a predictable time! see below) in which they could have attacked red and stopped them.

What blue and red team did was not the same.

Below are the time stamps I used to get this data and draw these conclusions. I've included links to vods for verification purposes. These links are not future proofed.

November 7th, 2023: Day 4 of Purgatory

TubboLIVE's VOD:

1:47:20 : Tubbo logs out of the server, behind the blue "contracts" NPC. He has 15 minutes 32 seconds of server time remaining.

5:50:23 : It is 3:48:52 am in Tubbo's time zone. Tubbo shows the clock on his screen. There are 11 minutes and 8 seconds until the server closes.

5:50:49 : Tubbo loads in, behind the blue "contracts" NPC. It is 3:49:41 am. This is the first moment the game is visible on his screen. He has 15 minutes 03 seconds of server time remaining.

5:50:50 : Tubbo claims the first of the global tasks.

5:50:51 : Tubbo claims the last of the global tasks. It is 3:49:43 am.

Notably:

Functionally, tubbo was standing behind the blue NPC, invincible, for 4 hours 3 minutes and 3 seconds

There is a 29 second period of server time that I can't account for.

The total time it took for tubbo to claim every global task after loading in is 2 seconds.

The cooldown for every global task before it can be reclaimed is 10 minutes. In this case these ten minutes started at 3:49:42 and 3:49:43 am. The first moment any of these claimed global tasks can be reclaimed is 3:59:42 am, with 18 seconds until the server closes.

Etoiles's VOD:

4:56:08 : With some leniency, this is the first clear view of the blue "contracts" NPC and the spot Tubbo is "standing" shown on Etoiles's stream.

*(the blue NPC comes into view at 4:56:06 but whether Etoiles would have seen Tubbo there is dubious enough that I have opted for a later time stamp)

4:56:12 : Etoiles and Roier enter the global task dome. They are standing directly to the left of the red NPC; on the opposite side as the blue NPC. The spot Tubbo is "standing" is clearly visible on Etoiles's stream. Etoiles has 10 minutes 40 seconds of server time remaining. There are roughly 15 minutes and 30 seconds until the server closes*.

*(Time calculated roughly using Tubbo's log in message; this is not exact)

4:56:17 : Roier is standing in front of the blue "contracts" NPC.

4:58:03 : Without leaving global spawn, Etoiles disconnects to get a buffer on his time limit. Remembering that there is a disaster coming, he immediately re-logs to avoid the combat logging penalty. Roier does not disconnect during this time.

4:58:18 : The first frame of the game is visible after Etoiles relogs. Etoiles has 8 minutes 53 seconds of server time remaining.

4:58:45 : The quicksand disaster starts, affecting global spawn despite admins having informed Etoiles previously that disasters did not affect global spawn.

5:00:08 : The disaster ends.

5:01:17 : Tubbo logs in. There are roughly 10 minutes 11 seconds until the server closes.

Notably:

Roier is standing three blocks away from Tubbo's log-in point (effectively, three blocks away from Tubbo) at 5 minutes before Tubbo logs in.

Were Tubbo logged in, waiting physically at spawn, Etoiles and Roier would have been able to initiate combat 5 minutes and 5 seconds earlier. Both had plenty of time on their server counters to participate in this combat, albeit Etoiles would have been kicked before server close. Roier would not be (source: Slime's vod, 2:45:05 and on. There is no disconnect message for Roier before the server is closed at roughly 2:45:08).

Were Tubbo logged in, waiting physically at spawn when Etoiles and Roier arrived (at roughly 3:44:37 am in Tubbo's time zone, 15 minutes and 23 seconds before the server closed), and had claimed all global missions at that time rather than risk dying in combat, the missions would have been able to be reclaimed at roughly 3:54:37 am, with about 5 minutes and 23 seconds before the server closed. This is 5 minutes and 5 seconds more than the actual time.

November 5th, 2023 : Day 2 of Purgatory

This is the first day red has used this strategy.

Cellbit's VOD:

6:52:27 : Cellbit arrives at the plaza outside the global task dome (Carre is already here; he wasn't streaming so I don't know when he arrived).

6:52:49 : Cellbit enters the global task dome. He backtracks to the right of the global task dome, and sets up a crafting area to craft items for the tasks somewhat out of sight of the dome. He is 96 meters away from the dome.

6:55:34 : Cellbit re-enters the global task dome.

6:55:44 : Cellbit claims the first global task for red team (electrolytes). The cooldown is 10 minutes 41 seconds.

6:55:49 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (radiation medicine).

6:55:55 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (campfires).

6:56:04 : Cellbit leaves the global task dome and sets up a second crafting area to the right of the dome after losing the first. This area is in full view of the dome, and is roughly 61 meters away.

6:57:40 : Cellbit dumps every item in his inventory except for iron and minecarts and a shield into a chest (he is functionally defenseless).

6:58:18 : Cellbit re-enters the global task dome.

6:58:23 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (minecarts).

6:59:12 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (diamonds).

6:59:49 : Cellbit gets his sword out of the chest (he is no longer defenseless).

7:00:58 : Jaiden claims the last global task for red team (rails). The bananas task remains unclaimed.

7:01:01 : ElQuackity is visible outside the dome on Cellbit's stream for the first time. Cellbit chases him.

7:04:34 : Cellbit kills ElQuackity, putting red team in the lead.

7:48:07 : The server closes.

Notably:

Red team is physically present, visible, and murderable / stoppable at the global tasks area for 8 minutes 31 seconds.

Red team takes 5 minutes 14 seconds to claim their global tasks.

The cooldown on these global tasks leaves at minimum 36 minutes 28 seconds to reclaim, maximum 41 minutes 42 seconds to reclaim before server close.

If a team were to have come up to the dome during the 8 minute 31 second period, they would have seen the team and could have attacked or stopped them.

There is a 2 minute 9 second period where Cellbit literally does not have a weapon in his inventory.

If a team were to have come up to the dome while the red team was still crafting the global quest items, they could have attacked and prevented the team from crafting the items and forced them to retreat without claiming those goals.

November 6th, 2023 : Day 3 of Purgatory

This is the second day red has used this strategy.

Cellbit's VOD:

3:39:11 : Cellbit sees Bagi on the bridge to global. There are 24 minutes and 2 seconds until the server closes.

3:39:49 : Cellbit enters the global dome, standing just to the right of where the red NPC is on November 7th.

3:40:24 : Cellbit exits the global dome to craft the water bottles needed for the global task.

3:42:58 : Cellbit crafts the final water bottle needed for the global task.

3:43:28 : Cellbit, Foolish, and Carre re-enter the global dome.

3:44:15 : Cellbit and Carre exit the global dome to inspect Bagi's body. Foolish exits the global dome to use the crafting table.

3:45:36 : Cellbit and Carre re-enter the global dome.

(There's a few more entrances and exits from the dome during the following period, though they stay within the area marked with Bagi's body, the global NPCs, and the crafting table as corners : Never much more than 61 meters away and never out of sight of the dome)

3:49:45 : Cellbit sends the message "hey guys we are about to deliver global tasks you should come!" There are 14 minutes and 18 seconds until the server closes.

3:50:39 : Cellbit claims the first global task for red team (tea leaves). There are 13 minutes and 26 seconds until the server closes.

3:50:59 : Carre claims one global task for red team (gas masks).

3:51:01 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (hot cocoa).

3:51:09 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (water bottles).

3:51:12 : Cellbit claims one global task for red team (backpacks).

3:51:21 : Carre claims the last global task for red team (tea). There are 11 minutes and 52 seconds until the server closes.

4:03:13 : The server closes.

notably:

Red team is physically present, visible, and murderable / stoppable at the global tasks area for 11 minutes and 28 seconds before they turn in any global tasks.

Red team takes 42 seconds to turn in all of their global tasks.

The cooldown on the global tasks leaves at maximum 3 minutes 26 seconds of time to reclaim, and at minimum 1 minute and 52 seconds to reclaim.

If a team were to have come up to the dome during the 11 minute and 28 second period, they would have seen and could have attacked red team.

If a team were to have come up to the dome in the 3 minutes 47 seconds between red team arriving at the global dome and red team crafting all the water bottles for the global task, they would have seen and could have attacked red team.

[425599167]

The decisions in Fallout: New Vegas contain a lot of nuance, but I'm always able to find a resolution I can be happy with, except when it comes to the Brotherhood of Steel. They have me at a bit of an impasse. This is one situation where my default solution of "sneak attack critical headshots" won't help. The Brotherhood's individual members are among the least hateable of the factions, but they are collectively horrible and I don't know how to avoid fighting them.

Veronica is my favorite companion and the Brotherhood becomes a constant threat to her, she is rightfully terrified they are monitoring her to preserve their secrecy, but she wouldn't want me to destroy them. Also, I'm against mass murder as a general rule. That rule is negotiable if the entire faction is trying to kill me, (e.g. Legion, Fiends, Ghost People) which the Brotherhood isn't... yet. Only a few of them tried to kill me. They destroyed a Followers of the Apocalypse outpost, of which I am a respected member. Since I go the Wild Card route with an army of robots, plus all the advanced tech I brought from the DLC locations, the Brotherhood is going to attack New Vegas at some point. House and Yes Man both predict this, and they're proven correct in endings where the Brotherhood basically become high-tech raiders. Yes Man says they'll want to blow him up, and I will not let that happen, Yes Man is my favorite right below Veronica.

I repaired Helios One and deactivated its weapon system (after fighting through robotic defenses left behind by the Brotherhood, thanks for that), gave ED-E's data to the Followers instead of the Brotherhood, and took control of Hoover Dam. If you don't have Veronica in tow, your first interaction with the Brotherhood will be them strapping a bomb collar to your neck, and for all their talk about how crazy Elijah was, that's his standard approach. The Brotherhood aren't as relentlessly cruel as the Legion, but every interaction builds them up as dangerous to everyone, and an inevitable threat to a Wild Card Courier specifically. Their main protection is that I don't want to make my bestie sad. Not only do I like Veronica, I share her goals and her success is an indicator of the Mojave's future. If Veronica is sad, that means I am failing.

Even if I don't involve myself, the Brotherhood will only grow more desperate and dangerous. I didn't complete the mission to replace McNamara with Hardin because that would be stupid of me, but if the situation continued, Hardin would probably attempt a coup anyway, then more Brotherhood members will die from infighting. Then Hardin would pick fights with local factions, probably beginning with the Van Graffs. It won't accomplish anything since the Van Graffs in Freeside are only one outpost and their company doesn't just salvage energy weapons, they understand the technology and can manufacture their own. Now the Brotherhood has yet another enemy, one that can match their weapons. Sure would be unfortunate if someone sold the Van Graffs a prototype pulse gun Veronica feared could destroy the Brotherhood. Actually, that's probably a bad idea unless I can make the securitrons EMP-proof.

Eventually, the bunker's air filtration systems will break down on their own. Parts can be found in the vaults, the Brotherhood can handle Vault 11, but Vaults 3 & 22 would definitely cost them a few people. I could also get the parts, then never return them to the Brotherhood, making it even harder for them to locate replacements. Eventually the bunker would become uninhabitable and they'd evacuate. That's better than killing them all, but not by very much. Yeah, I won't kill them, I'll just make their home unlivable, force them to leave, then repair the bunker later and claim it for myself. I don't feel like the good guy.

My knack for underhanded strategies really shined when I retrieved the holotapes of dead paladins to demoralize McNamara, then took the mission to deliver the scouts' reports, killed the scouts (one died in a crossfire with Legion assassins), then never continued the quest so the lockdown remains. I feel kinda bad about that, but who's gonna tell McNamara? Obviously not those scouts.

One option I thought about was using pulse weaponry to wreck so much of their power armor and energy weapons that they can no longer maintain their armed forces. That might be wishful thinking, and I don't have any plan for what to do afterwards. I don't want their destruction or surrender, I want them to leave New Vegas alone. A written apology to Veronica, signed by every member of the Mojave chapter, would also be appreciated. I'd fix their air filters in exchange for that.

In theory, I could try and befriend the Brotherhood, but the whole point of Veronica's quest is they will not course-correct under any circumstances short of imminent destruction by the regional superpowers. Even the truce with the NCR is conditional on returning salvaged power armor. It doesn't matter how nice I am or what I do to help, they will not let me share advanced tech with the wasteland, and that's been my ultimate goal through all this. I'm not giving up on that to appease these guys.

This is one of the plot threads where post-ending theories can get interesting and gutwrenching, because the best option is "hope their society collapses on its own before I'm forced to kill or be killed".

[starqueensthings]

If It’s Not You, It’s Not Anyone.

Ficlets inspired by song lyrics: part two.

Pairing: ARC Echo x GN!Reader

POV/WC: 2nd, but from Echo's perspective, 2082 words

Rating/Warnings: Teen. Overall fluffy but with significant mentions of anxiety. Seggsy time is implied a few times also.

A/N: while this isn’t my favourite song in the world, I’ve never been able to listen to it without this kind of imagery floating through my mind. I love the lyrics, especially when I fit them into an ARC Echo sized box. Not proof or beta read (and I’m notorious for making up my own words when I can’t think of the one I want… fair warning.) ENJOY. 

“Forever’s not enough time to love you the way that I want, because every morning I find you, I fear the day that I don’t. You say that I won’t lose you but you can’t predict the future ‘cause certain things are out of our control. If you ever move on without me, I need to make sure you know: you are the only one I’ll ever love… if it’s not you it’s not anyone.”

[Anyone - Justin Bieber]

He wasn’t a betting man anymore, the days he’d found himself brazen enough to wager his belongings were long since outgrown, and now merely a memory of the past brought up too frequently atop relentless jeers from his brother, Fives. The purgatorial hours after curfew but preceding sleep, saw Domino Squad sprawled across a table, discarded face cards tossed aside as the boys bickered with each other over who lay claim to the prize pot anchoring their fun. Echo was only too miserable to watch his prized possessions float from his clutches, lost to the treachery of one bad poker hand after another, the certainty of his impending win often betrayed by Hevy’s nearly inscrutable bluffing skills. “Just lucky, I guess,” the broad shouldered soldier would coo across the table with a wink, smirking as his fingers draped themselves eagerly around the mountain of contraband that he’d won.

Time and experience had seen a shift in priorities. Life… war… had quickly reinforced the notion that the distribution of Lady Luck’s attention was entirely unpredictable, and trying to elucidate her choices could send a man spiraling into an anguished insanity. It was far simpler to just swallow the bitter pill of unreasoning: sometimes you simply had her favour, and sometimes you did not (and Hevy, somehow, seemed to always have it).

Departing the protective bubble of Kamino’s isolation had proved less of a challenge than Echo anticipated thanks to the unexpected comfortability of their first posting. Surveilling the Rishi system from the stillness of a desolate moon was barely a challenge for the squad’s capable hands, especially after years of conditioning had endowed their expectations with images of carnage and violence, but despite the perceived insignificance of their objective, their overseeing officers were no less regimented or dogmatic than those whom had raised them. Tactics and strategy continued to be encouraged at every possible opportunity; obedience enforced, and discipline expected. “Segregation from the front lines is no excuse for complacency,” their sergeant would iterate repeatedly. “Any brother would be lucky to have landed this posting. Take it seriously.”

Between inappropriately fluffy songs, Clone Nation Radio recounted the events of battles fought across the galaxy, perfectly mirroring the sergeants continued pleas. Seemingly the only squad member willing to heed the advice, the quiet hours on the distant moon saw Echo pouring over schematics, the memorization of regulation manuals presenting him with the perfect shield against the potential chill of Lady Luck’s cold shoulder. His brothers’ snide remarks about indulging in this new ‘strange’ habit, simply rolled off his armoured shoulders. “We’ll see who gets the last laugh when these ‘dumb manuals’ help me out-survive all of you,” he would always chirr back with a roll of his eyes.

Yet his incessant need to retain information had unknowingly only sharpened a double-edged sword. In his earnest to ensure a complete competency, his shield of preparedness had rendered him protected on one hand, but preoccupied on the other, with the unknown shift in his awareness exposing a notion shared by many troopers: that the monster of mortality is all-too happy to lay-in-wait long enough for him to be forgotten about, pushed to the back burner a overly confident soldier's mind.  

The Rishi posting was quiet… until it wasn’t. Kamino seemed a fortress impenetrable to external threat… until it wasn’t. Both events had struck Echo with a hard blow of realization that tactics can only ensure a portion of one's safety, schematics will not prevent an invasion, one must learn to expect only that which is unexpected, and there are variables far outside any one man’s control. Lady Luck will ultimately always get to play her game…

And sadly, he’d seen too many brothers had crumple at his side, their torches snuffed in a fraction of a blink, many of them with packs and pouches full of treats that they’d won in a game the previous night. Why is it that Luck had caressed them then, only to fatally betray them hours later? 

No, his betting days were behind him… and then there was you.   

Now? He’d have bet everything he ever owned that your hair was the softest the universe had ever seen. Even after hours of fervent frolicking between the sheets, your bodies entwining with the desperate desire to reacquaint after so many rotations apart, and each strand having been tugged, bunched, knotted and tossed in the name of a passionate routine so mesmerizing that time itself seemed to pause, it still felt like silk draped between his fingers. 

He’d have wagered every credit in the galaxy that history had never seen a hand fit more perfectly into another like yours fit into his. It was as if the Maker had initially sculpted your bodies as one, only to have it fall from Mortis and fracture, the pieces seamlessly fitting together to reestablish his physical rendering of love. 

And he’d have bet that, in all the systems he’d traversed, none of them orbited a sun even remotely as radiant as the twinkle in your eye. A luminescence shining from deep inside of you unrivaled by any charted celestial body; a lighthouse that he was all-too willing to let endlessly guide him into your embrace… back home. 

Definity now seemed attainable. He had never been surer of anything or anyone in his entire life, and such a certainty had been achieved without the memorization of manuals, and without the aid of instructions, tactics, or strategy. Embedded with the impenetrable protection of your belief in him, his shield now seemed the perfect match for redirecting every potential blow of Lady Luck’s unpredictable tantrums; his irrefutable love for you unwavering despite the external chaos. 

But always a double edged sword, the 'distraction' of your love ensured that the undoubtability of your union walked hand-in-hand with unpredictability… with fear and anxiety. The monster of mortality, while frequently concealed behind dense clouds of bliss and enamoring twinkles of light, was never again truly absent from Echo’s awareness, and the harrowing chirp of a deployment transmission ringing from his wristcom acted as a stark reminder that the monster was always waiting patiently for an opportunity to rob the universe of such beauty.     

“What’s on your mind, love?” you would ask in those moments, when the surging heat of your frenzied entanglement subsided and the stillness of the night exposed his resurging anxiety. But your query needn’t ever be spoken; the cause of the deepening crease between his brows and the frown tugging at his lips was a mystery to no one, and part of him wondered if you only uttered the question aloud knowing that the sound of your voice would soothe him in a way that nothing else could.

“You are, Cyare,” he would always answer, too aware that the unnatural smile hitched to his lips would provoke nothing but a skeptical cock of your eyebrow, yet too willing to deny his fear its chance in the light.   

This routine transpired only a handful of times before you’d successfully pulled the truth from him, his desire to remain a pillar of strength simply no match for the knowing twinkle in your eye, its majesty quickly summoning the anxiety from the depths of his gut and out past his lips.

The truth finally spoken: that he was scared to lose each other, to lose you, intensely fearful that every sorrowful departure preceding a deployment would be the last. His tactical mind was painfully aware that the probabilities of him safely returning home varied largely from one mission to the next, the chances laced with a risk that was incalculable… unpreparable despite his every effort.  

But even fatality seemed a welcome alternative to his greatest fear of all: that he would return home from a long deployment to find the twinkle banished from your eyes, that he would find a person no longer blind to the fact that a life built on the shoulders of a soldier was one laden with an unavoidable and potent neglect, and that you’d become a person no longer willing to suffer the solitude that accompanied his absence.  

“I’m not going anywhere, Echo,” you would always reassure him. “It’s you and me, my love. Until the end of the universe.”

The mantra never lost its purity despite how often you chorused it to him with your fingers intertwined tightly between his, or your forehead pressed to his in a motion of complete connection, but tonight felt… different. Despite your recited promise and the intimate swaddle of your body around his, Echo could not shake the feeling of dread simmering in his gut. 

“What is it?” you probed in barely more than a whisper, your hands stalling their thoughtless swirls atop his skin, fingers instead nestling themselves between the swells of his heaving chest. 

“Nothing, Mesh’la.” He couldn’t quite quantify the intensity of his anxieties tonight, for even unspoken they seemed baseless and irrational. How could he express that the gnawing of his upcoming deployment felt more formidable this time, when he knew his words would serve no purpose other than plaguing you with worry? He had no desire to let his malignant fears rob you of the listful peace that he so badly longed for in these moments. 

You hummed quietly, toes shifting to gently glide along the top of his foot, the sensation grounding him enough to tighten his grasp around your shoulders. “I’m not going to call you a liar,” you snorted as you nuzzled into his side, “but it kinda smells like your pants might be on fire.” 

He should have expected such a response; you’d always been quick to wit, quick to humour, quick to ensure that, even in the enshadowed bedroom where the only light came from the patchwork quilt of a million other windows scattered from here to the horizon, he felt utterly seen. 

A small sigh stalled his explanation, his plagued mind still attempting to grapple for some semblance of justification. “I don’t know,” he posed, pausing to press his lips to your forehead, the familiar fragrance of your hair wafting into his nose easing only a fraction of his worry. “Something feels… weird. I can’t shake the feeling that something is going to go amiss during this next one.” 

“Sounds like a bad case of the ‘send-off scaries’,” you chuckled, shifting your head on his shoulder to watch your fingers resume their mindless doodles across his skin.

“No, Mesh’la,” he protested, the ghost of misunderstood frustration dancing across his tense features as he retracted his arm from around you and pushed himself into a seated position. “It’s more than that, but… I can’t explain it.” 

You shifted your posture to mirror his, scooping his hands into yours and squeezing his palms tightly to prevent him from shielding his face. “Perhaps it’s because this one is a little riskier than some of the others?” you proposed, trying to catch the eyes that he’d deliberately averted from you. “You were saying the Citadel is pretty heavily fortified, right? Maybe it’s the fact that the archive maps are dated and incomplete that has you a little more anxious than usual.” 

“Yeah… maybe,” he sighed solemnly, only barely resisting the urge to shake his head and argue.  

“You and Fives are an unshakable team,” you persisted. “Especially with Rex and the General beside you. You all have an innate call to protect each other. Just have faith… trust your instincts. They’ve never led you astray, my love. In fact–” a gentle guiding finger under his chin pulled his anguished gaze back to you, “–they led you right to me.” 

There it was, dancing in your eyes as if fueled by starlight, the twinkle that reminded him time-and-time-again that nothing could rob him of his home… of his home in you.

“You’re right, Cyare,” he conceded, leaning in to graze his smiling lips against yours. “I love you. It’s you and me to the end of the universe.” 

No, he wasn’t anymore… but if he was a betting man, that lingering moment of quiet assurances with breath dancing atop each other's cheeks and lips moving to convey an unspoken message, he’d have wagered that the very stars aligned the night he met you. He’d have bet there wasn’t a force anywhere in this galaxy stronger than his connection to you… and you can bet that if only an ounce of his courage remains intact when he returns home from that wretched fortress, the first place you’ll find him is in your doorway, perched on one knee with a ring in his hand and a plea in his eyes. You can bet that, if Lady Luck’s cold shoulder ever robbed you of each other, his love for you, and only you, would be a promise more steadfast and unwavering than time itself.

taglist: @anxiouspineapple99 @sinfulsalutations

[dorokora]

Toji’s AR Dungeon Part 7-8

After the prison break, we see Moritaka in tears when he sees MC (who has injuries all over their body from being hunted down by the World Reps). Moritaka says MC is very important to him. Shino ask where was he during that time. It seems that Moritaka was shown a previous loop memory from someone with a pillar sacred artifact. Moritaka says from now on, all of the Hakkenshi will lose sight of their roles. Shino gives Moritaka a pep talk, There is only one reason why you are who you are. Because only you can choose what you do. There is no one in this world who can stop you from walking, except you. Anyway, they still don’t know the whereabouts of the final Hakkenshi. Yoritomo gives everyone an explanation about Masashi, his brain is on par with this artificial genius clone children. You could call him a child prodigy who knows world memory. With the addition of the prodigy, Hakkenshi will be complete. The app will considered it to have all the attributes and will be able to win and break the game in a meta sense. Suddenly, Fuxi shows up to strike. Everyone strikes at him but due to his fortune-telling ability he dodged all of their attacks. Fuxi reveals Yoritomo’s true name to everyone, with that all he has to do is wait until the World Reps take each other out. Nobumichi can’t fight Fuxi due to his powers being a bad match-up against Fuxi’s. Suddenly, Masashi appears. Fuxi can’t see a future where he wins against the eight trigrams (attacks from all directions) so he retreats for now. Shino orders the Hakkenshi to go after him but Masashi says it fine to let him go. And he then throws a “Mom loves me more than you” line at him while being all smug about it. Outside, Fuxi is thinking of another strategy when Temujin shows up to attack him. After that loop memory, Tadatomo ask who is that Masashi, his face is similar to Moritaka’s and Shino’s but his attitude is nothing like theirs.

Back in the loop memory, Toji ask Yoritomo to explain himself and why he was hiding his identity. Yoritomo says he wasn’t doing it to deceive them but he did it to not raise doubt (sure, Jan). In the end their goal is still the same, to end the Game. Yoritomo said that as he stroked the spot on the back of his forehead where the horn had once been broken. The pain of deciding to live as a human being in the world of humans and abandoning the proof and name of a demon is far, far away. In contrast, he distanced himself from his younger brother, who was kidnapped by Oniichi when he was young and lived as a something other than a human being. Toji says he if finds out that it’s another lie, he’ll kill him. Yoritomo wants to say something back but he kept his mouth shut for now. Toji then ask Masashi if he was watching them the whole time. Masashi says the reason he didn’t show up until now was he wanted to be the final perfect Hakkenshi to appear. Temujin also appeared but is injured though, it seems that Masashi started a rumor about a cure all medicine to lure Temujin here. The condition was that he would eliminate Fuxi (so is Fuxi dead?). Masashi says he’ll give him the medicine but it is only effective for ``good people,'' as his mother would approve. In other words, it won’t work unless you are a person who possesses all eight virtues. Masashi starts talking about Xanadu. Xanadu is a cross-species hybrid world whose family includes all species. However, it is said that the hero (Temujin), a descendant of the blue wolf and the white doe, had someone he could not have as a family member. His name is Jamuka, a pure-blooded human. He was banished by someone he even called an ally. That is an act that goes against the eight virtues...but don't worry. This time, Temujin just needs to help our allies to the end. Masashi says no matter what Temujin did in the past, what matters now is what he will do from now on. Masashi gives out his plan for what’s next. This plan involves using MC as bait. After that loop memory, Tadatomo is upset that Masashi will use MC as bait.