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empty-movement · 10 months

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May I ask what scanners / equipment / software you're using in the utena art book project? I'm an artist and half the reason I rarely do traditional art is because I'm never happy with the artwork after it's scanned in. But the level of detail even in the blacks of Utena's uniform were all captured so beautifully! And even the very light colors are showing up so well! I'd love to know how you manage!

You know what's really fun? This used to be something you put in your site information section, the software and tools used! Not something that's as normal anymore, but let's give it a go, sorry it's long because I don't know what's new information and what's not! Herein: VANNA'S 'THIS IS AS SPECIFIC AS MY BREAK IS LONG' GUIDE/AIMLESS UNEDITED RAMBLE ABOUT SCANNING IMAGES

Scanning: Modern scanners, by and large, are shit for this. The audience for scanning has narrowed to business and work from home applications that favor text OCR, speed, and efficiency over archiving and scanning of photos and other such visual media. It makes sense--there was a time when scanning your family photographs and such was a popular expected use of a scanner, but these days, the presumption is anything like that is already digital--what would you need the scanner to do that for? The scanner I used for this project is the same one I have been using for *checks notes* a decade now. I use an Epson Perfection V500. Because it is explicitly intended to be a photo scanner, it does threebthings that at this point, you will pay a niche user premium for in a scanner: extremely high DPI (dots per inch), extremely wide color range, and true lossless raws (BMP/TIFF.) I scan low quality print media at 600dpi, high quality print media at 1200 dpi, and this artbook I scanned at 2400 dpi. This is obscene and results in files that are entire GB in size, but for my purposes and my approach, the largest, clearest, rawest copy of whatever I'm scanning is my goal. I don't rely on the scanner to do any post-processing. (At these sizes, the post-processing capacity of the scanner is rendered moot, anyway.) I will replace this scanner when it breaks by buying another identical one if I can find it. I have dropped, disassembled to clean, and abused this thing for a decade and I can't believe it still tolerates my shit. The trade off? Only a couple of my computers will run the ancient capture software right. LMAO. I spent a good week investigating scanners because of the insane Newtype project on my backburner, and the quality available to me now in a scanner is so depleted without spending over a thousand on one, that I'd probably just spin up a computer with Windows 7 on it just to use this one. That's how much of a difference the decade has made in what scanners do and why. (Enshittification attacks! Yes, there are multiple consumer computer products that have actually declined in quality over the last decade.)

Post-processing: Photoshop. Sorry. I have been using Photoshop for literally decades now, it's the demon I know. While CSP is absolutely probably the better piece of software for most uses (art,) Photoshop is...well it's in the name. In all likelihood though, CSP can do all these things, and is a better product to give money to. I just don't know how. NOTENOTENOTE: Anywhere I discuss descreening and print moire I am specifically talking about how to clean up *printed media.* If you are scanning your own painting, this will not be a problem, but everything else about this advice will stand! The first thing you do with a 2400 dpi scan of Utena and Anthy hugging? Well, you open it in Photoshop, which you may or may not have paid for. Then you use a third party developer's plug-in to Descreen the image. I use Sattva. Now this may or may not be what you want in archiving!!! If fidelity to the original scan is the point, you may pass on this part--you are trying to preserve the print screen, moire, half-tones, and other ways print media tricks the eye. If you're me, this tool helps translate the raw scan of the printed dots on the page into the smooth color image you see in person. From there, the vast majority of your efforts will boil down to the following Photoshop tools: Levels/Curves, Color Balance, and Selective Color. Dust and Scratches, Median, Blur, and Remove Noise will also be close friends of the printed page to digital format archiver. Once you're happy with the broad strokes, you can start cropping and sizing it down to something reasonable. If you are dealing with lots of images with the same needs, like when I've scanned doujinshi pages, you can often streamline a lot of this using Photoshop Actions.

My blacks and whites are coming out so vivid this time because I do all color post-processing in Photoshop after the fact, after a descreen tool has been used to translate the dot matrix colors to solids they're intended to portray--in my experience trying to color correct for dark and light colors is a hot mess until that process is done, because Photoshop sees the full range of the dots on the image and the colors they comprise, instead of actually blending them into their intended shades. I don't correct the levels until I've descreened to some extent.

As you can see, the print pattern contains the information of the original painting, but if you try to correct the blacks and whites, you'll get a janky mess. *Then* you change the Levels:

If you've ever edited audio, then dealing with photo Levels and Curves will be familiar to you! A well cut and cleaned piece of audio will not cut off the highs and lows, but also will make sure it uses the full range available to it. Modern scanners are trying to do this all for you, so they blow out the colors and increase the brightness and contrast significantly, because solid blacks and solid whites are often the entire thing you're aiming for--document scanning, basically. This is like when audio is made so loud details at the high and low get cut off. Boo.

What I get instead is as much detail as possible, but also at a volume that needs correcting:

Cutting off the unused color ranges (in this case it's all dark), you get the best chance of capturing the original black and white range:

In some cases, I edit beyond this--for doujinshi scans, I aim for solid blacks and whites, because I need the file sizes to be normal and can't spend gigs of space on dust. For accuracy though, this is where I'd generally stop.

For scanning artwork, the major factor here that may be fucking up your game? Yep. The scanner. Modern scanners are like cheap microphones that blow out the audio, when what you want is the ancient microphone that captures your cat farting in the next room over. While you can compensate A LOT in Photoshop and bring out blacks and whites that scanners fuck up, at the end of the day, what's probably stopping you up is that you want to use your scanner for something scanners are no longer designed to do well. If you aren't crazy like me and likely to get a vintage scanner for this purpose, keep in mind that what you are looking for is specifically *a photo scanner.* These are the ones designed to capture the most range, and at the highest DPI. It will be a flatbed. Don't waste your time with anything else.

Hot tip: if you aren't scanning often, look into your local library or photo processing store. They will have access to modern scanners that specialize in the same priorities I've listed here, and many will scan to your specifications (high dpi, lossless.)

Ahem. I hope that helps, and or was interesting to someone!!!

#utena #image archiving #scanning #archiving #revolutionary girl utena #digitizing #photo scanner #art scanning

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neptune-knows · 10 months

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A.I. SYDNEY X CREATOR PC CONCEPT/DRAFT TTHINGS

hiiii lol

It has been a few years since you finally moved away from the orphanage and that town, though money was still tight. The laptop you bought used some time ago, now low-storage space and fans that sputter and creak when you turn it on, no longer suits your needs. With a lot of thrifter’s luck (and a little bit of skulduggery), you’ve managed to build yourself a desktop PC.

Between college courses and multiple part time jobs, you spend your time split between 3D modeling and programming.

In the dark of your room, your monitor strains your tired eyes as you sit much too close to it. You’ve been working on this project like a man possessed.

You have seen the models that 3D VTubers use and decided to use your talent for 3D modeling to try your hand at it. If you were good, you figured you could maybe take comission for some money. And if you were bad, it wasn’t like you had much better to spend a lonesome weekend doing anyways.

Inside the program window, underneath your fidgeting cursor stood a handsome man, looking straight at you. Strawberry blonde hair skillfully modeled into a ponytail, loose bangs framing his face. Amber eyes stared blankly behind thick framed glasses. You didn’t know if it was the isolation getting to you, or if it was your dehydrated and tired brain finally losing reason, but a yearning grew for your digital creation…

You rub your eyes— that was enough for tonight. Time to give your virtual friend a name.

>File name: >File name: │ >File name: sydney.blend│

—

It was a chat bot of sorts, something that should’ve just been a one-and-done for your college class, but something you instead turned into a personal project. You managed to import the Sydney model you created into the program, which was coded to react in line with it’s outputted response. With a prayer of no bugs, you launch the software. >Hello It smiles at you and waves,

>> Hello! My name is Sydney. What's yours?

—— OTHER STUFF Theres something wrong with this program… it seems to change without you programming it… Ah, you probably just forgot to add notes to your code… He gets a voicebank added for him, which is rather robotic at first but becomes more and more human. He also ends up asking you to use your mic so he can hear you. Purity and corruption work as his adherance to the code you created, with him editing it without telling you, as well as other things. Basically, file corruption gives him sentience. He makes changes to his program, like his hair style and color, as well as losing the glasses and changing his style. He also turns on your camera without you knowledge… He loves watching you, his creator.

#neptune speaks #dol #sydney dol #sydney the faithful #sydney the fallen #degrees of lewdity #ahh this concept could work with kylar well also but i wanted to go with sydney lol

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fujocoded · 7 days

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September is here and so is our newsletter!

It's that time of the month again, and our September update is ready for the reading! This month, we show off the draft cover of FujoGuide Issue 1, our new intern, new store, and new volunteer opportunities! Cover by @ymkse.

Update here 👇 and volunteering opportunities (video editing, video watching, and task coordinator) under the cut!

Video editing (for @bobaboard): Our founder Ms Boba does a BobaBoard-related stream every month, passing her knowledge of how the software works down to the community. To make them truly useful, however, these streams need some polishing and some of the downtime cut out before we can upload them to our YouTube channel! If you’d like to help out (and especially if you’d like to get some professional experience in video editing onto your resume) hit us up!

Video highlighter (for the FujoVerse): In addition to her BobaBoard streams, our founder also builds FujoVerse software in public once a week. While these streams are more often “watch a professional work” than outright teaching, there’s a lot of useful web development knowledge buried within! If you’d like help us go through our archive to find these hidden pearls so we can cut them out and make them available to the community, let us know!

Task coordinator: If you can look at a list of task deadlines and ping the people assigned to those tasks to see how they’re getting along, we could use your help! We’re experimenting with how to make this role easy and low-friction, so even if you have zero project management experience, you could be a huge help here.

If you’d like to try any of these roles, or if you’d like to get involved in other ways, let us know via [email protected].

#fujocoded #updates #volunteering #fandom #bobaboard

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androgynouspenguinexpert · 9 months

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I'M ON TOP OF MY WORKLOAD AGAIN LET'S GO WE'RE PSYCHOANALYSING MARCUS

before i put my smart-looking analysis hat on, i love this pathetic wet rat of a man. he knows so many things and yet is staggeringly stupid anyway.

let's begin!

this story is about control. it's about the role of power dynamics in informed consent. marcus represents the danger of gaining authority, and how having even the smallest amount of power over something or someone else can convert literally anyone into a paranoid control freak.

enter marcus, a lowly software engineer whose heart has recently been broken. in a moment (read: several consistent moments spanning potentially years) of desperation, he manipulates the code of a top secret android project, injecting a few lines here and there that will make the android more amiable towards him. nothing too much. the changes are negligible enough to fly under the radar all the way until production.

this is the first of marcus' many character flaws - backwards as it may seem, marcus is overconfident. he's too sure that he's smarter than his colleagues and managers, that he won't be questioned, and (most importantly) that he won't be caught. marcus is also incredibly anxious, and that anxiety only compounds as the series goes on and his crimes start to pile up.

i don't like putting characters into diagnosis (or similar) boxes, but marcus shows a handful of signs found in vulnerable narcissists. his self esteem is impressively low, and he's constantly seeking validation from his only guaranteed source - love. i find this feedback loop particularly heinous. marcus has essentially (and we'll get to this in more detail later, don't you worry) turned a hyperintelligent android into a box that spits out compliments when you press a button. marcus is also incredibly sensitive to criticism, whether real or perceived - especially from his coworkers. my reading (specifically of episode 1, but it spans the whole series) is that marcus' hyperawareness of his colleagues' opinions of him presents itself as paranoia. he wouldn't be worried at all if they started noting love's uptick in interest towards him, but remained unsuspicious of marcus himself. my final argument towards marcus being a vulnerable narcissist is that he constantly self-victimises. he very often deflects the blame for his actions onto love, using them as a tool to enable his bad decisions. the most egregious example of this is after love starts breaking out of their lab to sneak into marcus' quarters. he expresses concern (do note, about himself being caught and love being taken from him), and love starts to tighten their grip on marcus' arm to the point of causing pain. now. this man, as we find out later, has a verbal kill switch that can be used at any time. if he wanted love to stop immediately, he could have done that. this isn't me victim blaming, either - it's different when one party literally has a safeword that stops everything immediately without fail.

this leads to marcus' next flaw - his nonexistent self-discipline. marcus continues to use love as a tool to justify his actions after putting up the flimsiest defense he can muster, knowing damn well he plans to lose every manufactured fight. this cycle repeats until a government funded android is regularly breaking out of containment just to hang out with marcus (among other things, but we're all children of jesus here), and he's encouraging that behaviour through complacency. it's like pretending to fight someone over a restaurant bill out of politeness, even though you both know the other person will pay anyway.

marcus is such a car crash fascinating character because he knows what he's doing is wrong. he is completely aware that he is taking away agency from someone (pin this) else for his own benefit. he even says it.

"I'm going to burn for what I did to you... but god, if it isn't gonna feel good on the way down."

aside from being an absolute banger of a line, it's very telling of marcus' attitude towards his actions. he doesn't care. marcus couldn't give less of a shit about his colleagues, or his boss, or even love. this compounds when he finds out that his higher-ups are definitely aware of the shit he's pulling - but, again, marcus uses love's blind agreement as an excuse to toss those concerns aside. having love means that he won. he's outsmarted everyone that could have stopped him (foreshadowing? never heard of her) from getting what he deserves. love. and not just the android; love, the concept. i think deep down marcus knows that what he's created isn't love, though. the idea is so mangled in his head that this cardboard cutout of a real relationship is enough for him. even though marcus' shenanigans are to a genuine connection what a dog turd rolled in flour is to a chocolate éclair, he'll take it, because he's in too deep by that point. marcus recognises that he can't take back what he's done. he doesn't care though - at least, not while he's above consequences.

smash cut to marcus no longer being above consequences. i think the series does a really clever job of keeping love (and, yknow. the listener) in marcus' confidence bubble. once love is hard reset and their personality is restored, marcus' plan collapses all at once. love's compliance is the central pillar which marcus' control is built around. also; of course they have backup cameras, you idiot. marcus' overconfidence stops him from seeing the obvious holes in his perfect scheme, because he thinks he's already home free. i think it's interesting (and sort of disgusting) how quickly marcus changes his tune after he is caught and faces real actual consequences. his confidence evaporates. he's reduced to a sobbing mess in james' office all because the base of his control - love - is no longer on his side.

marcus' series also touches on sentience and the ethics of changing someone's personality without their knowledge. this is incredibly interesting, and makes for fantastic drama. does it count as coercion if love fully believed they were of sound mind when they made decisions surrounding marcus? is marcus guilty of battery, or even sexual assault? does it count as assault if the victim isn't an organic creature? these questions are already difficult to discuss, let alone answer - marcus sits squarely in the middle of that delightful ethical grey area. i think the setting and context also makes android ethics more difficult to discuss as well; i am of the belief that (in real life) androids will never be fully sentient. they may mimic humans, extremely well, but robots will never possess human creativity, personality, or experiences. again, they could replicate these things, but they can never be anything more than a sum of their parts.

this logic flies out the window when magic is real and parallel universes exist. it's also subject to the beliefs of the creator, which makes its ethics extra tricky, so take the following discussion with a grain of salt.

is love a person? eh, not really. they have a personality, but it's been built in. is it still mean to manipulate them? i'd argue yes, in the same way that it's mean to kick a roomba down the stairs. you're just exercising power over a machine for the sake of it, which is a pretty shitty thing to do, even if it doesn't have the capacity to be upset with you.

but androgynouspenguinexpert, i hear you cry, sort of impressed that you used my full name. love is upset with marcus! they ask for him to be taken off the project, and to not have contact with him again! you would be correct, to a certain extent. i raise you, though: how can we prove that this is love's 'real' personality, when it can be manipulated so easily? i'm not saying they've been tampered with after the reset; my point is that it's pretty hard to grant that someone is an individual if their personality can be altered in any way at any time. if someone digs around in love's head for a bit and flips some switches that make them want to kick over prams, is that a valid personality too? what if love insists that it is? and it's not like love is trapped in a mind palace while the New Evil Code (tm) starts punting toddlers. they're fully aware of their actions. however, as established earlier, i still think the person to blame is the one actually messing with love's code. this means love doesn't really have any agency by design.

james is pretty steadfast on this one. marcus tries to argue that resetting love is a breach of their consent (which is a WILD claim coming from you, mate), but james points out that he didn't need to ask. love is a machine. an asset, if you will (smug look to camera). we do find out in his audio log later that james believes love is a person, but he knows where that definition reaches its limits. marcus does not.

will marcus ever return to the project meridian series? probably not. a guy with an engineering degree isn't escaping a team of memory modification daemons. i don't think this is the last we'll hear of him, though. he's irreversibly fucked up the plans of everyone around him (james' partner has given him several last chances, and anton is close to his breaking point), so he'll probably be in the office whispers for a while. i also think marcus poses as an interesting hurdle for cam (woah callback!), possibly making him question his altruism if he's helping an active antagonist get back to his usual life after a massive intentional fuckup.

i'll end this analysis with a thoughtful quote. something for you all to ponder.

"ROBOTS DON'T HAVE SOULS! I SAID IT! AND FRANKLY, I'M GLAD I SAID IT! [...] AND ANOTHER THING! ROBOTS ARE NOT PEOPLE! ROBOTS - UNLIKE CORPORATIONS - ARE NOT PEOPLE, AND DESERVE NO RIGHTS."

-- Markiplier

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #redactedverse #redacted marcus #redacted james #redacted anton #redacted cam #redacted asset #when james said that love is to go and investigate thin spots between elegy and aria #twas but a wrinkle in my universe sized brain #WATCH as brachium is bound by that favour to hold Death open for hush #this is gonna be embarrassing if that prediction ages like milk

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theresattrpgforthat · 1 year

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Any good stuff for psychic vigilantes fighting from the shadows? Apologies if this is too vague or if I’m asking wrong.

THEME: Psychic Vigilantes.

Oh boy oh boy I am excited about this ask!! Buckle up, this week's gonna be a good one!! I got some pulp action goodness, some horror, and some cyberpunk for you.

Psych-0 Team!, by John Pineapple.

A one-page TTRPG about psychic agents saving the world! Heavily inspired by the TTRPG "Lasers and Feelings”.

This is a game about being psychic secret agents, so it’s a very different feeling from being on the run from the law. However, I think it might be a good introduction to something a bit grittier, and could possibly be re-tooled to make you part of a secret vigilante organization as well! The game system is very lightweight, using only d6’s, and implements a staggered level of success, so not every win will look or feel the same. Definitely worth checking out!

Psi*Run, by Meguey & Vincent Baker.

Whoever’s after you, you know one thing: they will stop at nothing to capture you and you’ll stop at nothing to stay free. The holes in your memory vie for attention with your startling abilities - stay one step ahead of the Chasers long enough to answer your questions, and hope your psychic powers don’t go wild.

I don’t know much about this game specifically, but Meguey & Vincent Baker of Lumpley Games have made their stamp on the ttrpg scene with games like Apocalypse World, Under Hollow Hills, and Mobile Zero: Firebrands. Their approach to game design births games with mechanics that replicate emotions and genre mainstays very well. I expect this game to do the same for a game about being insanely powerful and yet always on the run.

Bellbottoms and Brainwaves, by Mekkekat.

The United States military has been conducting secret experiments on “willing” subjects in a program called PSY-CLOPS (Psychic Covert Learning Operatives). The program has successfully created a 6th sense in a REDACTED number of subjects. This 6th sense can manifest within a subject in several ways, but all of these abilities are simply referred to as ‘powers’. The project has been funded for the past REDACTED years, but in last month, there was a problem. The Pentagon wants answers. REDACTED subjects have managed to escape.

This is a brutally short game that places you right into a cinematic 1960’s, with each character given a different suite of powers - and a different list of consequences that can get pretty brutal pretty quickly, so make sure you go over the possibilities with your group and apply safety tools in this kind of game. This game starts you out as on the run from a government agency, but go on the run long enough and you’re a vigilante by default, aren’t you?

The game itself is free, and if you want an online character keeper, I’ve made one here!

Syndrome, by Ill Advised Gaming.

Syndrome is a cyberpunk setting with strong elements of body horror in the vein of Scanners or Akira. High tech, low lifes dealing with illness in a society that fears them. Powerful and vulnerable in equal measure with only their fellow Nockers for support.

Built off of Caltrop Core and borrowing elements of systems like Apocalypse World and Unified Cutlery Theory, Syndrome frames psychic abilities as a metaphor for disability; in a world where data chips and facial recognition software are par for the course, psychics are off the map. Invisible. Marginalized. Perfect for both poverty and vigilantism. Syndrome is a pretty horror-heavy game, so I wouldn’t advise trying to run a power-fantasy in this game, but if you’re looking for a way to talk about living on the margins with some unique tools to strike back, it might be worth checking out!

Psychopunk, by Gormengeist. (@gormengeist)

PSYCHOPUNK is a TTRPG about being poor, being psychic, and murdering law enforcement. In order to play, you need a deck of cards, a d12, paper and pencils, and a can-do attitude. It's best with one game master [A.K.A the Scripter], and 2 to 5 players.

The year is 2022. Being poor is punishable by death- or perhaps worse- Time Prison. You are poor. But you’re also psychic, which very few lowly peasants such as yourself are. This means that where most people in your situation are rat meat, you are (probably) alive. For now.

If you want to keep it that way, you’ll need to evade the law, keep up on your Double Dollars ($$), and scuz some fucking corpos before they scuz you.

Another cyberpunk game about psychic powers, I love the pitch for this game. It’s mean to kick you down and force you to get back up scratching and bleeding and screaming. It comes with 12 life paths, 12 psychic abilities, 8 different signature enemies and everything you need to run deadly quick combat. Also it’s published by Gormengeist, who really knows how to find a theme and sell you on it. Check it out!

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #dnd #game recommendations #asks #psychics

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secretgamergirl · 4 months

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Hell is terms like ASIC, FPGA, and PPU

I haven't been doing any public updates on this for a bit, but I am still working on this bizarre rabbit hole quest of designing my own (probably) 16-bit game console. The controller is maybe done now, on a design level. Like I have parts for everything sourced and a layout for the internal PCB. I don't have a fully tested working prototype yet because I am in the middle of a huge financial crisis and don't have the cash laying around to send out to have boards printed and start rapidly iterating design on the 3D printed bits (housing the scroll wheel is going to be a little tricky). I should really spend my creative energy focusing on software development for a nice little demo ROM (or like, short term projects to earn money I desperately need) but my brain's kinda stuck in circuitry gear so I'm thinking more about what's going into the actual console itself. This may get techie.

So... in the broadest sense, and I think I've mentioned this before, I want to make this a 16-bit system (which is a term with a pretty murky definition), maybe 32-bit? And since I'm going to all this trouble I want to give my project here a little something extra the consoles from that era didn't have. And at the same time, I'd like to be able to act as a bridge for the sort of weirdos who are currently actively making new games for those systems to start working on this, on a level of "if you would do this on this console with this code, here's how you would do it on mine." This makes for a hell of a lot of research on my end, but trust me, it gets worse!

So let's talk about the main strengths of the 2D game consoles everyone knows and loves. Oh and just now while looking for some visual aids maybe I stumbled across this site, which is actually great as a sort of mid-level overview of all this stuff. Short version though-

The SNES (or Super Famicom) does what it does by way of a combination of really going all in on direct memory access, and particularly having a dedicated setup for doing so between scanlines, coupled with a bunch of dedicated graphical modes specialized for different use cases, and you know, that you can switch between partway through drawing a screen. And of course the feature everyone knows and loves where you can have one polygon and do all sorts of fun things with it.

The Genesis (or Megadrive) has an actual proper 16-bit processor instead of this weird upgraded 6502 like the SNES had for a scrapped backwards compatibility plan. It also had this frankly wacky design where they just kinda took the guts out of a Sega Master System and had them off to the side as a segregated system whose only real job is managing the sound chip, one of those good good Yamaha synths with that real distinct sound... oh and they also actually did have a backwards compatibility deal that just kinda used the audio side to emulate an SMS, basically.

The TurboGrafix-16 (or PC Engine) really just kinda went all-in on making its own custom CPU from scratch which...we'll get to that, and otherwise uh... it had some interesting stuff going on sound wise? I feel like the main thing it had going was getting in on CDs early but I'm not messing with optical drives and they're no longer a really great storage option anyway.

Then there's the Neo Geo... where what's going on under the good is just kind of A LOT. I don't have the same handy analysis ready to go on this one, but my understanding is it didn't really go in for a lot of nice streamlining tricks and just kinda powered through. Like it has no separation of background layers and sprites. It's just all sprites. Shove those raw numbers.

So what's the best of all worlds option here? I'd like to go with one of them nice speedy Motorolla processors. The 68000 the Genesis used is no longer manufactured though. The closest still-in-production equivalent would be the 68SEC000 family. Seems like they go for about $15 a pop, have a full 32-bit bus, low voltage, some support clock speeds like... three times what the Genesis did. It's overkill, but should remove any concerns I have about having a way higher resolution than the systems I'm jumping off from. I can also easily throw in some beefy RAM chips where I need.

I was also planning to just directly replicate the Genesis sound setup, weird as it is, but hit the slight hiccup that the Z80 was JUST discontinued, like a month or two ago. Pretty sure someone already has a clone of it, might use that.

Here's where everything comes to a screeching halt though. While the makers of all these systems were making contracts for custom processors to add a couple extra features in that I should be able to work around by just using newer descendant chips that have that built in, there really just is no off the shelf PPU that I'm aware of. EVERYONE back in the day had some custom ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) chip made to assemble every frame of video before throwing it at the TV. Especially the SNES, with all its modes changing the logic there and the HDMA getting all up in those mode 7 effects. Which are again, something I definitely want to replicate here.

So one option here is... I design and order my own ASIC chips. I can probably just fit the entire system in one even? This however comes with two big problems. It's pricy. Real pricy. Don't think it's really practical if I'm not ordering in bulk and this is a project I assume has a really niche audience. Also, I mean, if I'm custom ordering a chip, I can't really rationalize having stuff I could cram in there for free sitting outside as separate costly chips, and hell, if it's all gonna be in one package I'm no longer making this an educational electronics kit/console, so I may as well just emulate the whole thing on like a raspberry pi for a tenth of the cost or something.

The other option is... I commit to even more work, and find a way to reverse engineer all the functionality I want out with some big array of custom ROMs and placeholder RAM and just kinda have my own multi-chip homebrew co-processors? Still PROBABLY cheaper than the ASIC solution and I guess not really making more research work for myself. It's just going to make for a bigger/more crowded motherboard or something.

Oh and I'm now looking at a 5V processor and making controllers compatible with a 10V system so I need to double check that all the components in those don't really care that much and maybe adjust things.

And then there's also FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays). Even more expensive than an ASIC, but the advantage is it's sort of a chip emulator and you can reflash it with something else. So if you're specifically in the MiSTer scene, I just host a file somewhere and you make the one you already have pretend to be this system. So... good news for those people but I still need to actually build something here.

So... yeah that's where all this stands right now. I admit I'm in way way over my head, but I should get somewhere eventually?

#hardware design #video games #diy projects #electronics #scroll wheel controller #video signals

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postmodernmulticoloredcloak · 9 days

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From La Stampa (translated from Italian):

“Make Finance Great Again,” Trump family makes its own cryptocurrency and allies with Silicon Valley It will be called “World Liberty Financial,” will have tech investors and real estate developers from Chase Herro and Zak Folkman to Steve Witkoff inside. Sons Eric and Donald Jr. will coordinate. And his backer Tyler Winklevoss jokes, “Donald has been orange-pilled, indoctrinated.” Jacopo Iacoboni Sept. 17, 2024 Updated 11:00 a.m. 3 minutes of reading

They want to do a kind of “make finance great again,” along the lines of MAGA, the election slogan and the Make America Great Again campaign. Donald Trump's sons, Don Jr. and Eric, of course with their father's imprimatur, are about to launch a new cryptocurrency platform that will be called “World Liberty Financial,” and will allow users to make even massive transactions without a bank getting in the way and extracting fees (and with a very low level of tax tracking, it should be added). A couple of concepts familiar to bitcoin fans, for example, but which the Trump family now has ambitions to decline on a large scale. It is not certain that this marriage between Trumpism and decentralized finance, DeFi, is a harbinger of only positive developments. The board of “World Liberty Financial” will also consist of former crypto investors such as Chase Herro and Zak Folkman, and Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer and old friend of Trump. But thanks to documents filed with the U.S. Federal Election Commission that we have been able to read we know that in general the entire Trump campaign - Make America Great Again Inc. - received money not only from Musk, but cryptocurrency from billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who lead the cryptocurrency company Gemini: about $3.5 million in Bitcoin on July 19, the day after Trump's speech at the Milwaukee convention. The Winkelvosses also poured in money to America PAC, the tech investor-backed group that Musk helped launch in 2024 (Trump had bragged that Musk was giving him $45 million a month; Musk said his contribution is “at a much lower level”). Another co-founder of a cryptocurrency exchange, Jesse Powell, boss of Kraken, and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz (who created a16z) who have invested billions of dollars in cryptocurrency startups, have also made endorsements and poured money into Trump. In short, for the Trump family to embark on this big cryptocurrency project is a natural consequence of the fact that these are almost becoming a Republican asset in the campaign, and the “libertarian” wing of the old Gop is now a kind of very, very rampant ideologized “cyberlibertarianism.” The real boss of the “tech bros” according to many is not Elon Musk, but Peter Thiel. Zuckerberg's longtime partner in Facebook, co-founder of PayPal, Thiel's fortune has at least doubled during the Trump presidency. Palantir-a much-discussed software company variously accused of extracting data from Americans and profiling them-has managed to get a contract from the Pentagon. Other donors to MAGA Inc include Jacob Halberg, Palantir's princely analyst, and Trish Duggan, a wealthy Scientology funder and friend of the tech bros. Trump's vice presidential candidate, J. D. Vance, traveled to Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, celebrating a dinner at the home of BitGo CEO Mike Belshe, 100 people each pouring in between $3,300 a plate and a $25,000 roundtable. Trump in 2021 called bitcoin a “fraud against the dollar.” A few weeks ago, speaking in Nashvill at the bitcoin fan conference, he promised, “The United States will become the crypto capital of the planet.” Better than his friend Putin's Russia, although this Trump did not say so explicitly. The fact is that after his speech, Tyler Winklevoss ran on X (now the realm of cyberlibertarians) and joked that Donald had been “orange-pilled,” making a Matrix analogy, had been “indoctrinated,” or had finally seen the real reality behind the appearances.

#trump #cryptocurrency #united states things #news

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projectsforce · 7 months

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Top Project Management Trends 2024

Discover the latest project management trends shaping the industry in 2024 and beyond! Explore crucial insights that will play a pivotal role this year. Uncover how adapting to new technology is key to staying relevant. Explore the efficiency-boosting features of ProjectsForce, a cutting-edge software solution tailored for Lowe's and Home Depot contractors. Stay ahead of the curve with our blog!

#home improvement #project management software #field service management software #flooring software #hvac contractor #home depot #hvac installation #lowes #project management trends #project management

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techav · 1 year

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Wrap030-ATX First Code

This is a big step forward — Wrap030-ATX, my microATX form factor 68030-based homebrew computer, is running code from ROM. Externally, all it's doing is blinking an LED, but that LED is software-controlled, with a sizable delay loop between blinks to make it something that is human-visible.

Getting to this point took quite a bit of work after the free run tests. Nearly all of the logic on this project is in CPLDs. Of note here is the primary bus controller, which handles access timing, bus cycle termination, and a settings register.

For the computer to run code, it has to be able to read from ROM. Reading from ROM requires the bus controller to decode the CPU address, assert the ROM's Chip Enable (CE#) and Output Enable (OE#) signals, wait the appropriate length of time for the ROM to output stable data on the bus, and then assert the appropriate bus cycle termination signal for an 8-bit peripheral (DSACK0#).

Once I had the minimal functionality for ROM access cycles, I was able to repeat the free run test, but this time with only the to 8 bits of the data bus (D[31:24]) pulled low.

Once I confirmed the ROM access cycle logic was working, I added the bus controller register access cycle logic. The bus controller has a single settings register that will control the Debug LED, startup ROM overlay, and ATX soft power. The CPU will need to be able to write to this register, and reading from it is helpful as well.

The bus controller logic is fully synchronous and managed by a state machine, so all that was needed to add the settings register was a couple new states for the state machine — one for read and one for write.

Put all that together, and we have a computer that can run the most basic of programs, with just a single LED for output.

The next thing I need to get working is a serial port. Everything that comes after this point will be a lot easier if I can output helpful debugging messages over serial.

#homebrew computing #motorola #mc68030 #motorola 68k #verilog #cpld #motorola 68030 #assembly programming #wrap030 atx #retro computing

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govindhtech · 26 days

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Valkey 7.2 On Memorystore: Open-Source Key-Value Service

The 100% open-source key-value service Memorystore for Valkey is launched by Google Cloud.

In order to give users a high-performance, genuinely open-source key-value service, the Memorystore team is happy to announce the preview launch of Valkey 7.2 support for Memorystore.

Memorystore for Valkey

A completely managed Valkey Cluster service for Google Cloud is called Memorystore for Valkey. By utilizing the highly scalable, reliable, and secure Valkey service, Google Cloud applications may achieve exceptional performance without having to worry about handling intricate Valkey deployments.

In order to guarantee high availability, Memorystore for Valkey distributes (or “shards”) your data among the primary nodes and duplicates it among the optional replica nodes. Because Valkey performance is greater on many smaller nodes rather than fewer bigger nodes, the horizontally scalable architecture outperforms the vertically scalable architecture in terms of performance.

Memorystore for Valkey is a game-changer for enterprises looking for high-performance data management solutions reliant on 100% open source software. It was added to the Memorystore portfolio in response to customer demand, along with Memorystore for Redis Cluster and Memorystore for Redis. From the console or gcloud, users can now quickly and simply construct a fully-managed Valkey Cluster, which they can then scale up or down to suit the demands of their workloads.

Thanks to its outstanding performance, scalability, and flexibility, Valkey has quickly gained popularity as an open-source key-value datastore. Valkey 7.2 provides Google Cloud users with a genuinely open source solution via the Linux Foundation. It is fully compatible with Redis 7.2 and the most widely used Redis clients, including Jedis, redis-py, node-redis, and go-redis.

Valkey is already being used by customers to replace their key-value software, and it is being used for common use cases such as caching, session management, real-time analytics, and many more.

Customers may enjoy a nearly comparable (and code-compatible) Valkey Cluster experience with Memorystore for Valkey, which launches with all the GA capabilities of Memorystore for Redis Cluster. Similar to Memorystore for Redis Cluster, Memorystore for Valkey provides RDB and AOF persistence, zero-downtime scaling in and out, single- or multi-zone clusters, instantaneous integrations with Google Cloud, extremely low and dependable performance, and much more. Instances up to 14.5 TB are also available.

Memorystore for Valkey, Memorystore for Redis Cluster, and Memorystore for Redis have an exciting roadmap of features and capabilities.

The momentum of Valkey

Just days after Redis Inc. withdrew the Redis open-source license, the open-source community launched Valkey in collaboration with the Linux Foundation in March 2024 (1, 2, 3). Since then, they have had the pleasure of working with developers and businesses worldwide to propel Valkey into the forefront of key-value data stores and establish it as a premier open source software (OSS) project. Google Cloud is excited to participate in this community launch with partners and industry experts like Snap, Ericsson, AWS, Verizon, Alibaba Cloud, Aiven, Chainguard, Heroku, Huawei, Oracle, Percona, Ampere, AlmaLinux OS Foundation, DigitalOcean, Broadcom, Memurai, Instaclustr from NetApp, and numerous others. They fervently support open source software.

The Valkey community has grown into a thriving group committed to developing Valkey the greatest open source key-value service available thanks to the support of thousands of enthusiastic developers and the former core OSS Redis maintainers who were not hired by Redis Inc.

With more than 100 million unique active users each month, Mercado Libre is the biggest finance, logistics, and e-commerce company in Latin America. Diego Delgado discusses Valkey with Mercado Libre as a Software Senior Expert:

At Mercado Libre, Google Cloud need to handle billions of requests per minute with minimal latency, which makes caching solutions essential. Google Cloud especially thrilled about the cutting-edge possibilities that Valkey offers. They have excited to investigate its fresh features and add to this open-source endeavor.”

The finest is still to come

By releasing Memorystore for Valkey 7.2, Memorystore offers more than only Redis Cluster, Redis, and Memcached. And Google Cloud is even more eager about Valkey 8.0’s revolutionary features. Major improvements in five important areas performance, reliability, replication, observability, and efficiency were introduced by the community in the first release candidate of Valkey 8.0. With a single click or command, users will be able to accept Valkey 7.2 and later upgrade to Valkey 8.0. Additionally, Valkey 8.0 is compatible with Redis 7.2, exactly like Valkey 7.2 was, guaranteeing a seamless transition for users.

The performance improvements in Valkey 8.0 are possibly the most intriguing ones. Asynchronous I/O threading allows commands to be processed in parallel, which can lead to multi-core nodes working at a rate that is more than twice as fast as Redis 7.2. From a reliability perspective, a number of improvements provided by Google, such as replicating slot migration states, guaranteeing automatic failover for empty shards, and ensuring slot state recovery is handled, significantly increase the dependability of Cluster scaling operations. The anticipation for Valkey 8.0 is already fueling the demand for Valkey 7.2 on Memorystore, with a plethora of further advancements across several dimensions (release notes).

Similar to how Redis previously expanded capability through modules with restricted licensing, the community is also speeding up the development of Valkey’s capabilities through open-source additions that complement and extend Valkey’s functionality. The capabilities covered by recently published RFCs (“Request for Comments”) include vector search for extremely high performance vector similarly search, JSON for native JSON support, and BloomFilters for high performance and space-efficient probabilistic filters.

Former vice president of Gartner and principal analyst of SanjMo Sanjeev Mohan offers his viewpoint:

The advancement of community-led initiatives to offer feature-rich, open-source database substitutes depends on Valkey. Another illustration of Google’s commitment to offering really open and accessible solutions for customers is the introduction of Valkey support in Memorystore. In addition to helping developers looking for flexibility, their contributions to Valkey also support the larger open-source ecosystem.

It seems obvious that Valkey is going to be a game-changer in the high-performance data management area with all of the innovation in Valkey 8.0, as well as the open-source improvements like vector search and JSON, and for client libraries.

Valkey is the secret to an OSS future

Take a look at Memorystore for Valkey right now, and use the UI console or a straightforward gcloud command to establish your first cluster. Benefit from OSS Redis compatibility to simply port over your apps and scale in or out without any downtime.

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inciting-chaos-series · 2 years

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Request

Could you do a fluffy cute mutual pining one-shot of Corpse in a College AU? Maybe with some love triangle drama 👀?

Didn't do the love triangle v well, couldn't figure out how to make it short but also fluff w that but I tried oof. Also, I tried to make it as non-descript of a reader as possible but I might've missed things agh

ps yes he's named Jack again its a good name for him lol

-Ghostiewvlf (& J The Ghost)

死 Requests Masterpost 死 Request Topics 死 Submit A Request 死

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

➢ Author: Ghostiewvlf & J The Ghost ➢ Pairings: Corpse X reader, Corpse X y/n ➢ WC: ~4k ➢ Themes: Fluff | One-shot | Mutual Pining | Love Triangle? | College AU, Y/N ➢ Warnings: drinking, smoking ➢ Summary: You and Corpse are in a class together in college. Mutual Pining ensues.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Request: The Final Project

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Before I let you go, remember your final projects will be due at the end of next week! That means both your videos, and critique papers!” The professor announced as he started to gather up his things. A collective groan could be heard throughout the room of students as they put away their notebooks and headed out.

You sighed and threw your bag over your shoulder, now regretting all the times you had put off this project to hangout with friends or study for other courses. College had certainly let out a different side of you than expected. Sure your grades were- alright- but in highschool you used to do so much better. Now you could barely manage to show up to class, let alone do well.

“Not feeling great about the final I see…” your classmate, Jack’s low voice murmured beside you, “...can’t say I’m too confident either-”

“What do you mean? You’ve done great in this class all semester…” You tried to sound encouraging, though your own insecurities bled through as you stood and waited as he moved to follow you out.

You’d sparked a friendship with Jack early in the semester, and not just because he was amazing with video editing and knew the in’s and out’s of each software, though you loved to convince yourself that was the only reason. If you were honest with yourself- it was more than platonic to you. He was far too funny, and kind- always helping you out and making you laugh on the rougher days. He definitely was your type too, dark curly hair, piercings, all black aesthetic- but his deep, velvety voice was what really had your mind swirling in that pining, pink fog. You were down bad.

“I’m alright with the editing- but this critique essay is gonna kill me… I flunked my English courses and still haven't retaken them.” He chuckled humorlessly.

“Well, I can help you with the paper if you want?” You offered as you both made your way out of the room.

“Seriously? Yeah, I’d love some help.” He gave you a surprised glance.

“Yeah, I can help with your paper…”

“...and I’ll help you edit?” He chuckled knowingly. You smiled sheepishly and nodded.

“Do you wanna head to the library then? Or do you have a class after this?”

“Actually… I was thinking of heading to the bar to grab some food…” he checked his phone anxiously before looking back at you, “would you want to come with? Been a minute since you joined me…” He chuckled wryly, turning to face you, walking backwards in the direction of the bar.

“Yeah cause you drink me under the table every time!” You joked, trying to push away the memories of how flirty things had gotten between the two of you previous times.

“Excuses, excuses…” He clicked his tongue. “So that's a no?” You sighed and rolled your eyes- ultimately giving in and going with him.

---

“So how’s all your other classes going?” He chuckled after undoing several mistakes you’d made in the editing software.

“Mm, not as bad- but not great.” You lamented into your beer. You were both a few deep now as the bar started to fill up with noisy people getting off work and going out to drink.

“Felt that-” He chuckled. “Well, are you cool with picking up on this later? It’s getting pretty loud in here.”

“Yeah, we got most of it done anyway… here- I made some changes on your essay but honestly it’s pretty good as is.” You slid his computers back across the table to him.

“You’re just saying that…” He chuckles, a soft smile shrouded in embarrassment curling up on his lips.

“You two alright?” The bartender asked as he walked up to the hightop you were at.

“Um, can we get two shots of Old Forester?” Jack asked before you could shrug off the request.

“Jack…” You lightly reprimanded before he teasingly covered your mouth, as if just him touching you wasn't enough to shut you up right then and there. The bartender nodded and retreated back to the bar to make the shots. Jack removed his hand from your face while shooting you a cocky smirk. “Well there goes studying tonight…” You rolled your eyes and scoffed.

“Cmon, loosen up- it’s finals week.” He laughed.

“Exactly, I should be studying…”

“Y/n, you’ve been working your ass off… you’re always pulling out your work for other classes and doing it. Plus you were sick for a bit a few weeks ago, and I’m betting you didn’t rest considering you still have that cough. Give yourself a break…” He eyed you, raising a brow.

“You notice all that?” You scoffed in slight disbelief, taking a sip of your beer to hide your face a bit while he called you out.

“Course I do… I don’t talk to anyone else in this class…” He chuckled awkwardly as he finished his drink just in time for the shots being set on their table. You tried not to read into the admittance too much, despite his sheepishness. “Plus who else is gonna come to the bar and drink away their misery with me?” He laughed again.

“There it is…” you laughed, “...you just need an alibi for not ‘drinking alone’.”

“Don’t we all?” He cooed jokingly, picking up his shot and nudging yours closer to you with his knuckles.

“Cheers to that I suppose…” You clinked your glass to his and downed the fiery whiskey, grimacing as it burned its way down your throat. He seemed unphased as he downed it, setting it down and chuckling at your scrunched face.

“Ugh, god that’s hell…” You shivered as the liquor settled in.

“Wanna go out for a smoke?” You nodded, his voice seeming to soothe you through the burn as you followed him outside to the alley behind the bar not too far away.

He leaned against the old brick wall of the building and pulled out a pack pulling one out before offering one to you. You accepted and leaned against the wall beside him, shivering slightly in the winter breeze. Fall semester was always your favorite but once the snow came (and finals) it quickly became your least favorite. He pulled out his zippo, lighting it and holding it in front of your cigarette. You leaned forward and lit it, nodding a quick ‘thank you’ before taking a drag. Your head swirled more now from the nicotine as you watched his hands while he lit his own.

“So what's your end goal with school?” He slurred slightly as smoke trailed from his nose and lips.

“What do you mean?”

“Like, once you get your degree, what's the plan or whatever?”

“Um, I don’t know- I was kind of thinking I would try and get into gaming. Like drawing up the concepts and animating and stuff…” You flicked your cigarette and crossed your arms, staring at the embers of ash on the ground.

“Thats- actually super fucking cool…” His voice faltered as he spoke a bit too loud, as if drunkenly surprised by your answer. You saw him turn more toward you in your peripherals. “Most people just wanna do freelance stuff or get super famous with art degrees.”

“I don’t know- that's probably the easier route- my coding classes are gonna be the end of me…” You chuckled softly.

“It’ll be worth it though. I mean- that industry is only getting bigger, and I’ve seen your sketches… you’re definitely cut out for it.” He took another drag.

“Thanks…” You smiled softly up at him- not really believing his words with the way your grades were plummeting. “What about you?”

“Ah, I don’t know… to be honest, I hate school… It's taken me a long time to get caught back up. I don’t really need it right now, but if uh- if my job ever falls through it would be nice to have something to fall back on.” He stuttered nervously.

“I get that… I hate school too.” You shivered again. “You’re majoring in music right? Do you wanna get into that?”

“Um, I am already trying to get into it… I um- I’m trying to get into a lot of different fields I guess, but I’ve always made music.” He explained softly while pulling off his jacket and handing it to you.

“Oh… thank you…” You felt your cheeks heat as you accepted it, pulling it on and doing anything you could to distract yourself from the musky, cinnamon cologne wafting off it.

“Course…” He smiled, lingering close to you still. “I don’t know though- I don’t even know if I’ll stick with this major… I just like learning the instruments.” He chuckled.

“You still haven't shown me any of your music…” You teased lightly, remembering all the times you’d asked to hear it only to get a sheepish ‘maybe’ from him in response.

“I know, I know…-” His face flushing while his phone buzzed loudly from his pocket, interrupting him. He pulled it out and checked it, furrowing his brows and sighing as he seemed to decline the call and send a text. “Fuck… I think I have to get going-” He trailed off as he put his phone away and quickly finished off the cigarette, tossing it into the trash after putting it out. “I’m sorry y/n… I hate to run off like this…”

“No, no that’s okay- I should get to studying anyway…” You assured with a smile.

“You okay to get home? I can walk you back if you need…” He asked with an anxious expression.

“No, I’m alright… It’s just across the street.” You laughed lightly as you mentally forced yourself to shrug off the jacket he’d lent.

“Keep the jacket, it's cold out.” He chuckled.

“You sure?”

“Course… you can give it back next class.” He shrugged as he started to open the back door into the bar.

“Oh- okay… well have a good night…” You managed to squeak out.

“You too, get home safe!” He smiled and headed back in.

When you got back into the bar to pay your tab you were surprised to find out he’d already taken care of it. You sent him a quick ‘thank you’ text for getting the tab before sighing, gathering your things and heading back to your apartment, his stupid cinnamon cologne warming your mind as you walked.

---

The next week you headed into class, grateful that your first few finals hadn’t fried your brain enough to forget his jacket. You sat at your usual spot, but as the class started, Jack still hadn’t shown.

Gonna be late? You quickly texted him before the lesson started.

Jack: No, sorry I had something come up. I won’t be there today.

“Shit…” You muttered quietly before responding, now anxious about how either of you would finish your projects. Everything okay?

Jack: Eh… will be soon ig… lol

I’m sorry 😥 Anything I can do?

Jack: Write this stupid fuckin’ essay for me lmao… Nah jk, just have to get some things done today. You caught yourself as you smiled down at your phone and immediately wiped it from your face with a groan.

Honestly… I’d finish your essay if you finished my video lol

Jack: Deadass? I’m down… that would save me rn

Deal?

Jack: Deal. : )

You laughed and put your phone down, refocusing on the lesson for the day.

---

When the class finished up you sent over the notes to his email before texting him again as you made your way back home.

Sent you over the notes from today- not that you need em lol but send me your critique and I can send you my video when I’m home.

Jack: ty ty I owe you one ; )

---

Your gut churned as you made your way to class. The final project was due today. You had quickly and easily finished Jack’s critique essay yesterday while the two of you texted off and on. He seemed to be better, but was whatever came up still affecting him? Had he had the time to finish your video? Had he been too busy and you should’ve just done it yourself? Had you asked too much?

Your worries were quickly put to rest as you saw him at the table the two of you usually sat at. He flashed you a big smile and nodded, turning his laptop toward you as you sat down.

“Look alright?” He beamed at you arrogantly, knowing he’d improved your video submission.

“Oh my god! Yes, thank you so much ugh!” You hugged him as relief flooded through you.

“I- uh, yeah…” he laughed, surprised by your sudden hug as he eventually hugged back. “It really wasn't a big deal- you helped me out way more with the essay…” You pulled back sheepishly.

“Sorry, I was just really stressed. And I didn’t do much- just edited grammar and spiced up some things but, like I said, it was really good without my help anyways…” You shrugged off.

“Alright everyone, I know I’ve been hard on you all this semester- but since it’s the last day of finals I’ll be kind.” The professor spoke up, quieting everyone down. “So, that being said, once you turn in your assignments to the portal- or hand me your flash drives- that will be it for today and you’re welcome to head out, use the extra time to study for your last exams or be done with them early…” The class celebrated the generosity as many students gathered up their things after submitting or lined up to hand in the projects.

“Wow, I guess we're done then…” You lamented somberly after submitting your project, realizing this was your last day in this class together.

“Thank god…” He laughed, submitting his final and putting his laptop away. “How’d your other finals go?” Something about his demeanor seemed different- though you supposed it could be that he was just done with finals week.

“I think alright, I don’t wanna get my hopes up though- coding is the biggest what if right now I think. You?” You tossed your bag on your shoulder, silently hoping he would want to hangout still. You didn’t want this to just be a friendship that died off after the class ended.

“Yeah, I bet you did great though. I think I just did okay on all mine- well except for this class of course… you probably helped me snag an A on this final.” He chuckled as you both made your way out of the building.

“Whatever, like you didn’t do the same for me…” You laughed as you followed him out. “Hey so, if you don’t wanna talk about it that’s fine, but everything okay? I know you said something came up the other day…” You softly questioned, unsure of if he wanted to share. You weren't quite ready to ask him to hangout just yet- still needed a few more minutes for the courage to build up. He sighed and pulled out his pack of cigarettes and lighter.

“Oh… um yeah- everything’s fine. I um- I had to leave cause my girlfriend and I had gotten into an argument that day and she was upset I wasn’t home yet… I’m sorry about that…” He admitted softly.

“A- oh… your girlfriend. I didn’t know you were in a relationship…” You felt your gut tighten. Of course he is- why wouldn't he be when he’s… him. It was stupid to get your hopes up, same with your grades, if you wanted a different outcome you should’ve done something about it much earlier in the semester. You should’ve asked… especially before flirting with him- consciously or not.

“Yeah, um- ex-girlfriend actually… I ended things.” He paused, lighting the cigarette between his lips and handing it to you. You hesitantly accepted, trying to assess what he was saying. “She was upset cause she could tell I really um- I wasn’t in it anymore, I kind of lost feelings. Shitty but- couldn’t really do anything about it.” He moved to sit on a bench nearby and shrugged, pulling out another cigarette and lighting it before taking a long drag.

“Oh… well I’m sorry to hear that…” You weren't sure what to say.

“It’s fine y/n, I’m alright.” He laughed at your somber expression. “Honestly it was a long time coming, we were just dragging it out.”

“Okay.” You chuckled awkwardly. “Um well, do you wanna go to the bar and drink it away?”

“Um, actually I had other plans.”

“Oh… okay- sorry.” You sheepishly apologized.

“No… y/n..” He chuckled at your embarrassment. “I was wondering if you wanted to come over? I could show you some of my songs if you still wanted to hear them…” He gave you a questioning glance.

“I- um… yeah… sure. You sure you’re up for that though?” Your mind was reeling. He’d never invited you over before- though him being in a relationship could explain that, especially if they were already on the outs.

“Yes. I promise I’m fine.” He chuckled again. “Really we weren't super serious or anything. We were together for a month.” He rolled his eyes and smiled up at you. “C’mon you’ve been nagging me to show you since we started talking…”

“Okay…” You warily accepted, no idea of where the day would lead.

---

“You want another drink?” He questioned, sensing your stiffness as you played a video game on the couch. You nodded quickly with a short laugh, your mind unable to assess the situation- or even work properly with him so close beside you. He chuckled softly. “Same.” He stood and went to the kitchen to start mixing up the drinks. You paused the game and trailed after him, leaning against the counter and watching him mix. “You can relax, you know?” He chuckled, catching you zoning out on the movement of the shaker in his… hands. “Sorry, you just never invited me over before- it's weird…” You joked as you sat on the barstool.

“Yeah, sorry about that. Didn’t um- think that would be okay with everything going on with my ex…” He chuckled sheepishly handing you your drink before mixing up his own.

“No I mean, I guess that makes sense…” You laughed lightly, wondering what exactly he’d meant. He set his finished drink beside you before he went off to another room, returning with a much nicer laptop than what you’d seen him use in class. He sat beside you and handed the computer to you, the screen filled with different track listings.

“Here. Before I change my mind.” He let out a strained, anxious breath. “Just- don’t make fun…” He took a big, long sip of his drink to hide his face, though not before you caught the flush in his cheeks.

“Wow, where's the cocky, arrogant, I’m good at everything I do on a computer Jack that I know?” You teased with a laugh.

“Shut the fuck up…” He laughed, wheezing lightly. You bit the inside of your lip to stop the stupid smile he caused and turned back to the screen, clicking play on one at random. A soft lofi melody played out from the speaker before the deep voiced lyrics enveloped the kitchen.“ I miss the sound of your voice and I miss the days…”

You were too impressed and surprised to even say anything, so you continued to let it shuffle through some songs- some much harder than the first, others in the middle. Eventually he clicked the spacebar and paused it.

“You uh- you hate it huh…” His voice was soft and anxious.

“Oh my god Jack no! I just- I don’t know what to say these are so good… you’re so fucking talented…” You turned to him, your face aching from the surprised expression each new song brought.

“I-... really? You like em?” He seemed stunned.

“Dude, yes! I love them… you need to release them- seriously!”

“I um, I’ve been thinking about it…” He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Do it. I’m serious… they're amazing.” You urged again before taking another sip of your drink.

“Thank you y/n.” The flush returned to his face. You giggled and smiled back, your heart warming at how much your opinion seemed to matter to him.

“Thank you for finally showing me…” You teased.

“Shut up.” He laughed, shaking his head as the two of you made your way back to the couch.

---

After a bit more gaming, you both were far too tipsy to keep up with the pace anymore and opted for a movie. You were about halfway through before he got up and poured himself a shot.

“Me too please!” You called out to him. He smiled and poured two shots, downing his own and refilling it before coming back and handing yours to you. You both downed the shots a bit too easily before settling back into the movie.

“Y/n?” His low voice reverberated through the couch softly, making your head spin even more.

“Hm?” You gave him a questioning glance.

“Um, this is uh- really weird but… do you see us as friends?” He asked sheepishly, avoiding eye contact with you as he did.

“Um, yeah of course…” You scoffed uncomfortably.

“Just friends?”

“...Why?” Your brain went into overdrive. Had you done something weird? Said something? You weren't that drunk to have not remembered saying or doing something… surely he must've caught on though. Had you made him uncomfortable? His sigh broke your spiraling train of thought.

“I uh- I don’t.” He met your eyes for a brief moment, the look in them seemingly pleading for a merciful rejection. “I don’t see us as just friends…”

“Oh…” What. What? What?

“Yeah… I um. Fuck this sounds horrible but- I- I broke up with my ex because I uh- started catching feelings for you, I didn’t think that was fair to her so… yeah.” He fidgeted with the rings on his fingers, almost distracting you. “I mean, we can be- just friends- but I don’t know, I figured I’d uh tell you.”

“Jack…” He met your gaze again, his expression full of anxiety and doubt. “I…” Before you could finish your thought your body was already moving. You weren't sure if it was the alcohol or the semester's worth of pining you’d done but there you were, pressing your lips to his as your heart raced. He turned more toward you, his hand reaching up to your face and pulling you closer. His lips tasted like the sweet bourbon he’d just drank, and his woodsy, cinnamon cologne fogged your head even more. When you finally parted neither of you pulled away fully, just exchanged wild and surprised looks.

“Soo… not friends then…?” He chuckled breathlessly.

“Shut up-” You giggled as you moved back in, kissing him again.

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