#concurrent if

[concurrent-if]

😬

[bixels]

Posting a sneak-peak of this now because I'm about to be In The Shit school workload-wise, so this'll take me a while to finish.

Doing some character design exploration/expression sheets for Celestia and Luna. Figuring out Celestia's weird ass anatomy while I'm at it.

[d1gitalwitness]

leverage redemption (redeems) itself

i kinda love that leverage redemption erased everything and everyone that was terrible on the original, and wrote stories that are now more acceptable on television than it was in the early 2000s. in this reboot, sophie is allowed to become the big hearted teacher that she has always been.

in the season one finale of leverage, eliot and hardison tell nate that they actually prefer sophie being the mastermind and running their cons ("you learn, and you con."). unlike nate, who rarely lets the team in on his plans, sophie - despite being a revered and feared grifter - takes the time to teach her craft to anyone who wants to learn, even to a newcomer like maggie. she explains the rationale behind why certain cons must be done a certain way. the team has little experience in the long con, but sophie does, and she teaches them the overarching picture of a scam, while respecting their individual professions and skills.

sophie isn't afraid to let the team try new things even during the con itself - things might go awry but she trusts them to handle themselves. even in the original, sophie gives just enough advice to parker on how to communicate with hardison, then lets parker calm hardison down when he was buried alive. she never ever condescends to the team, recognizing that they are world-class experts in their respective trades. this openness that sophie has is an aspect of leverage that i have always loved. it was also clear that during her absence in season two, the team was missing an emotional anchor. they confided in sophie about their fears and anxieties not because they don't trust nate, but because sophie always listens. maybe it is due to her profession as a grifter that sophie understands people and what they need so well, but nevertheless, the crew - a group of misfits from society - find solace in sophie.

but since nate was the mastermind, we didn't see this aspect of sophie as often during the original. and to be fair, the tragedy of nate's life also meant that show was also filtered through his anger - which isn't a negative, anger is a response to injustice - but sometimes, his anger tore the team apart.

with the departure of nate, leverage redemption cleverly makes the women the masterminds. we see sophie be the anchor of the crew - she guides and teaches them, and lets them handle themselves for the most part. with breanna, sophie is careful not to strike down her ideas. she trusts breanna's intelligence, and only offers advice when breanna needs it. there are just so many occasions when breanna thinks of a con, and everyone runs with it because they love and trust her. beyond this, sophie also encourages breanna to think of college - this is something nate would never do, consumed by rage and sometimes insularity. they may be very old thieves in this out of passion and a visceral sense of justice, but breanna can still forge a real life for herself. there is a lightness to the reboot that allows more space for compassion (it must be said, the show was always kind.)

even with the inclusion of a veteran like noah wyle, the series doesn't pander to his experience. harry wilson may be fifty years of age, but when it comes to running honest cons, he's an amateur, and the show treats him as such. harry has to find a specialty of his own, and sophie is there, giving him a chance to learn and fall over and again. you learn, and you con has become the theme of leverage redemption, and it is everything the original could have been.

it's even more special that instead of letting these women adopt stereotypical traits associated with male leads - stubborness, intractability and anger - leverage redemption shows us a world where compassion and grace are powerful and affecting emotions. sophie, breanna and parker have already established that they can stand on their own and hold their ground - they are assured in who they are, and don't have to resort to condescension and rage to get what they want. i find it incredibly moving and also an example of a reboot that is spectacularly done.

[joycrispy]

Very sweet of Sonic to babysit while Team Dark are on their mission.

[miatsai]

ConCurrent Seattle, or, What Happens When I Get Cranky

I was going to do this whole post about how genAI is ruining so much of what makes us human - human thought, human creativity, human connection - but as it so happens, I am also tired. So let's run this down:

On April 30, the con chair of WorldCon posted a statement answering questions about whether WorldCon had used ChatGPT in any of its processes. The answer was yes. It was used in panelist vetting.

The reaction was immediate and negative. Writers in general don't like genAI, especially writers who've had their work stolen for the LLM to train on (which is most of us). We also dislike the environmental impact of this!

Because it was used for vetting, a lot of panelists chosen for WorldCon began doubting whether they were chosen fairly.

On May 2nd, an apology was issued. The chair promised another update on what actions WorldCon would take to remedy the problem. Unfortunately, WorldCon had already lost a lot of trust in the community.

An explanation of what ChatGPT was used for and the prompt given to it dropped on May 6.

I was one of the authors who'd applied to WorldCon but got ghosted (I don't even get newsletters from them despite signing up). I'm not on the panelist list. Neither were some authors whose voices I thought truly belonged at WorldCon. Well, when I get cranky, I move. I decided that I was going to create a fringe con to run during one day of WorldCon, with stellar programming and wonderful panelists - and I'd do it with no genAI. No LLMs, no GPT, nothing but human brains and human work.

I present to you: ConCurrent Seattle.

Credit goes to @inkcurlsandknives for the logo design!

ConCurrent is a one-day, in-person only, masks required SFFH programming track intended to be an alternate to WorldCon. If you're in Seattle on Thursday, August 14, 2025, please drop in to see us! Admission is free, but registration is required (we'll have that process sorted out soon). I've got a bananas lineup of authors, I can promise you that. The sparklecorns will be sparkling.

But to make it run, ConCurrent will cost us 5000 USD. I've been crowdfunding for the last couple of weeks and we're halfway there! That's the good news. So now we need another push to get fully funded. If you wanna put your middle fingers up at genAI, I'd super appreciate it if you could send some dollars my way.

Yeah, that's it. This con is happening. It's gonna be a blast. I'm hyped for these panels. Please help defray the cost and I'll see you in Seattle!

(And after you go to ConCurrent, you can go see @charliejaneanders with Annalee Newitz, Cecilia Tan, Becky Chambers, Darcie Little Badger, and Andrea Hairston at Writers with Drinks at 7 p.m. at Town Hall Seattle!)

[theshitpostcalligrapher]

COUNTDOWN to Open Askbox Event: Requests will be Open on November 17, 2024

time for the countdown to the next openaskbox event!

Openaskbox streams are when i get to the bottom of my request inbox, during which the askbox will open for the first time in months and everyone gets a chance to yeet up to three free requests my way. there’s a few rules you gotta follow for your request to be considered, but I’ll post more about that on the day of. 

I will endeavour to write as many requests as I can during the event (which lasts around 6 hours) live on stream so people can hang out, chat, ask about calligraphy and the like whilst listening to some tunes. 

When stream time’s up, the askbox will close again and I’ll use the remaining hundreds of unanswered asks to fuel my regular 4 posts/day card posting schedule until the next time we run dry. 

See yall on tumblr and on the twitch stream then!

There are: 6 days left til we're open!

[kingcael]

A Marvellous Light by @fahye

Rebind by me

[vyxated]

3 new ui mods for sims 4 (wip)

brand new UI mods coming your way ✨ they are all still a WIP at the moment and only available for patreon members only (free/paid)

pastel blue ui // pastel purple ui // beige ui

previews below

[mirakurutaimu]

you palworld playin motherfuckers got no standards

[blubbed]

i might be aromantic tbh but im just not rlly thinking abt it srry

[concurrent-if]

It all starts with a wall.

A wall that was never in your apartment and yet suddenly is.

And then there's the cat that neither you nor your roommate have ever seen. Never mind that you both have dozens of photos of said cat in your phone galleries.

And then an unfamiliar pair of shoes in the hallway, your size but definitely not your style. Morning glories bombarding your building's exterior, not roses. An entire coffee shop that wasn't there yesterday.

...And that's just in the first hour you've been awake.

The worst thing is that no one else realizes it's happening. Not the superintendent of your building (who claims that wall has always been there).

Not the veterinarian (who claims you bring in Freckles the Cat for annual checkups and vaccinations).

Not your parents (who never seem to call you by your name anymore...)

Not your boss (who is suddenly single and seems to think you're best friends).

And certainly not the twins fighting one another for the city's mayoral seat.

Concurrent Assistance Hub

✷Play as a man, woman, or person who shares an apartment with their best friend and a surprisingly sweet (and shockingly ugly) cat named Freckles.

✷Make friends (with or without benefits...), enemies, and maybe even find love.

✷...Oh, and shape the future of the world you live in.

This game is 18+ for optional explicit sexual content.

Romantic Options

✷Coda Maeson - the best friend and roommate [they/them]

✷Ezra Blake - the nepo baby boss [he/him]

✷Tove Bacolod - the neighbor with a grudge [she/her]

✷Rory Alonso - the trope coffee shop owner [she/they]

Game Demo

Updated: June 10th, 2025

Patreon

[favouriteassassin]

i'm being so normal about him, actually

[peelingpaint-heavyheart]

first time with theo has been making my hole weak- i mean whole week

you and theo have been together for months now and the topic of sex has come up here and there; if it was something you both wanted, what you both liked, etc.

though theo was surprised when you admit that you've got little experience with yourself, and close to nothing with any of your past partners. unless you hadn't wanted anything from them, theo can't wrap his head around not taking the opportunity to make you feel good. lucky you've got him now

theo would make it his mission to make you feel so good when you finally enter that part of your relationship where you trust him to do just that. let him feel you, pleasure you, worship you, make you comfortable in yourself and what youre feeling before his true desires really come out to play. hes made you cum on his fingers to prepare you for him, encouraging you to be louder as you squeeze around his soaking digits

"don't hide those sweet noises, baby. wanna hear how good i'm making you feel"

he wants to show you everything youve been missing out on, the things that only he can give you. and when you respond so pliantly and openly, surrendering yourself to the pleasure, all he can think about is how he is the one drawing this from you, no one else has made you feel like this before and, if he has any say in it, no one else will

once you're taking his cock, nodding and telling him to move, theo has to hold back so he doesn't overwhelm you right away. he's peppering your face with kisses as he slowly rocks his hips against yours, nestling himself deeper and deeper with each thrust

"you're taking me so well, pretty. just a little more, ok? doing so well"

and when theo rubs small circles on your sensitive bud, your body tenses up and your thighs are shaking around his waist, your walls trying to keep him inside as they squeeze around his cock impossibly tight. he encourages you to let go, kissing you so softly as he coaxes you over the edge, swirling his hips over yours to nudge his tip over your sweet spot to make you see stars

"that's my good girl, just take everything i'm giving you, yeah?. just feel good, pretty, i got you"

[jpitha]

Concurrency Point 1

Next

N'ren

It was the knowledge that was the worst, N’ren decided.

She - and the rest of the crew of the K’laxi Frigate Menium - knew that the missiles were coming. Worse, she knew that there was nothing to be done about them. Their little frigate had no way to dodge the incoming weapons of war. The Xenni always seemed to attack this way; exit the Gate, launch missiles, then follow up with energy weapons if cleanup was necessary. Sitting in the back of the command room at her station she could see the Captain’s fur puff out and then lower as she consciously tried to calm herself. K’laxi were originally a small mammalian species in the tall boreal forests of home, and it was evolutionary beneficial to puff your fur to make yourself look larger to the few predators that existed. Now, it, plus her tail that she couldn’t stop swishing just let everyone know she was anxious.

“Sensors! How long do we have?” Captain Ko-tas Weniar barked at the officer sitting in front of the sensor suite. N’ren saw him flinch. It was subtle, mostly in his large, pointed ears, but as a member of the Mel’itim - the secret police - she had extra training on body language. “No more than five minutes, Captain.” He said and his ears flattened unconsciously as he delivered the bad news.

Captain Weniar clicked the comm. “Weapons, can we defend against the incoming missiles?”

“We have three anti-missiles ready and waiting, with two more currently printing. Point defense slug throwers are at 50% capacity.” That would take care of three quarters of the missiles, but means that one or two missiles will still hit, if the point defense slugs can’t clean up what’s left. N’ren had observed their training when she first came aboard. Her hopes for a successful strike were low.

“We can’t outrun the missiles, even if we thrust away at emergency, we’d never gain enough speed,” Captain Weniar was talking to herself in her birth language, Kinmar, quietly. N’ren and Heli’n, the Captain’s XO were the only ones close enough to hear, and N’ren was probably the only person aboard who understood her. Not a lot of people spoke Kinmar, but N’ren had a knack for languages. She had already made a note in her report about the habit, but also mentioned that she didn’t consider it a security risk as she only did it during periods of high stress.

“What about-” Captain Weniar said and stopped, her ears straight up. “Menium! What is the thickest area of the ship?”

“One moment, Captain.” Menium, the ship’s AI said. After a moment they spoke up. “The ventral rear quadrant has thicker hull plating to account for drive emissions.”

“That’s it! Helm, rotate us such that that section of the hull is facing the missiles.” She clicked the comm again. “All Hands. Strike Protocol.” As the words left her mouth, a new alarm sounded, shrill and insistent. She continued, “Everyone except for point defense suit up and move to the rear activity room, now.”

Strike Protocol was developed nearly a year into the war. When missiles were incoming and it was confirmed to not be possible to destroy them all, everyone was to enter their spacesuits so that a hull breach didn’t kill everyone. N’ren grabbed her suit from the locker outside of Command and stepped into it with the confident motions of someone who practiced it until she could don her suit while nearly asleep. After completing her diagnostics and her suit told her it was secure, she went over to some of the younger officers, and helped them get their suits ready. They are younger and younger, every season, She thought to herself. Soon, we will run out of recruits to throw against the Xenni.

The crew walked quickly towards the rear activity room. It was still configured for their kem-ball tournament. N’ren sighed internally. She was at the top of the leaderboard, but now the whole thing was going to have to be taken down. If they survived enough to have another tournament, she’d start back at the bottom like everyone else.

The room was able to hold everyone, though towards the end it was slightly claustrophobic. The fact that everyone was suited and that gave a few centimeters of additional personal space helped N’ren. She hated crowds, especially ones that weren’t moving. Her large triangular ears on the top of her head felt Menium roll to present her belly to the missiles. She chuckled internally at the thought. Presenting one’s belly to an adversary to save one’s self was a very old instinct.

Before she could worry herself further, N’ren felt, rather than heard the missiles launch. The heavy thumps of the launcher vibrated the hull beneath her feet, and she counted four launches. They were able to finish one of the missiles after all. She thought. A good note for her report - should they survive.

A few minutes after the missiles launched, the braying roar of the slug thrower filled the ship with noise. Shooting in short bursts to conserve ammunition, they fired off and on for half a minute, and then ceased, having run out of ammunition. All she could do was wait.

N’ren opened the secure Mel’itim channel she had, and selected the Captain’s radio. She could do this to any suit aboard, but she didn’t like to do it unless she had to. “Ko-tas.”

Captain Weniar squeaked in surprise at the interruption. “Oh, Discoverer N’ren, I apologize. You startled me.”

“You may call me just N’ren, it’s all right, Ko-tas. Were the missiles destroyed?”

“All except one, Disc-er, N’ren. We shall have to endure the strike.” “What of our attackers?”

“After firing missiles, most of the Xenni retreated back through the Gate. Only one remains to follow up on the attack. If the ancestors are pleased, we shall live this day.”

Only one Xenni ship. It probably wasn’t a Warfinder, their largest ships, probably just a light skirmisher. Ko-tas was right; they could either defeat or escape from a single Xenni skirmisher. Not only that, but she had underestimated the point defense crew. She felt a twinge of guilt over thinking them unskilled. “Your missileers and point defense crew are to be commended. I shall mention their skill in my report.”

“T-thank you N’ren, that is very generous.” Ko-tas sounded genuinely surprised. N’ren wondered if she thought that her report was going to be negative.

“Captain, it is never my intention to come to a ship just to deliver a negative report. My edict is to report the successes of the K’laxi as well as our challenges.”

Before the Captain could reply, the missile struck. The hull plating beneath N’ren jumped up, nearly pushing her knees into her face. As it was, the knee protectors clacked against the front of her helmet. Everyone went down in a heap of bodies and for a few moments, chaos reigned. Eventually people realized that the breach alarms had not sounded and that there was still air in the ship. N’ren shook her head, once again annoyed at her whiskers brushing against the inner wall of the helmet. “Menium, this is N’ren. Damage report.”

“Er, yes Discoverer. I am concurrently giving a report to the Captain.”

“I understand, but you will give me the same report.”

“We have sustained minor damage, much less than expected. Sensors is reviewing footage of the missiles for confirmation, but either they were smaller than anticipated, or the one that struck us was faulty. Regardless, other than some buckled hull plating and scorching, we are fine.”

N’ren heard Captain Weniar’s voice in everyone’s comm. “We have survived the attack with minimal damage and no injuries. However, there isn’t time to celebrate, we must return to our stations - while still suited - and break for the Gate.”

Back in her seat in Command, N’ren shifted, trying to get more comfortable. She cursed the designers who never really thought about having to sit in a regular chair while suited. Her faceplate was open, to let in fresh air, her rebellion to the suit order. Looking around she saw that she was in fact, the only person with her faceplate open. The Captain was standing over the helm station, working out something with the officer.

Satisfied, she returned to her seat, and signaled the crew. “We are going to attempt to run past the Xenni guarding the gate. All available power will be shunted to the main drive - including environmental. Remain in your suits until I give the order.” She said, and N’ren saw her eyes glance over to her. She sheepishly closed her faceplate, and the Captain continued. “You have done well, but we are not finished yet. Keep this up and we will return home victorious.”

The lights dimmed, and N’ren could feel the normal background noises and vibration of the ship still. It was very quiet. Other than the creaks of people shifting in their seats trying to get comfortable, there was no noise. Then, the drive fired.

It was a wall of sound, higher pitched and much more ragged than usual. Even with the compensators set to maximum, she was pressed into her seat from the acceleration. They must have shunted power from them as well. This was it. They would either make the Gate, or the Xenni would get them.

“Missile incoming!” The sensor officer shouted. His voice crackled over the suit radios.

“Will it hit?” Captain Weinar’s voice was calm, though N’ren could hear the edge in it.

“One moment… No, our speed is too great, it will not be able to catch us.” He said, and N’ren’s shoulders relaxed, and she opened her hand which had been balled tightly.

“Gate control, please begin transmitting the addressing codes to the Gate. Send us to Celiton.”

Celiton was a small, uninhabited system, one of many such empty systems that nonetheless had a Gate. K’laxi scientists long wondered why there were so many empty systems with a Gate. Arguments about former empires, or some kind of Great War abounded.

Normally, one could not trace a Gate traversal, so it was standard protocol to not Gate back to K’lax when under attack. The Captain was to continue to Gate jump until they had successfully shaken off the attackers, and only then Gate to K’lax.

Their small ship streaked past the Xenni skirmisher, and as they did, N’ren’s small subroutine briefly commanded all sensors to make a very high resolution scan to the ship. She made sure that she did not unduly steal power from the engines, but she heard the surprised chirp of the officer when he realized he lost control of his sensor suite. It only lasted a moment and control returned quickly enough that N’ren hoped he thought it was just a glitch. She checked her repository and sure enough, it had been filled with high resolution scans of the ship.

The Gate ahead glowed the painful, blurry blue of activation, and as they dashed ahead, a noise like rain on a metal roof reverberated through the ship.

“We have been struck by multiple slugs from the Xenni ship,” Menium said. “Multiple small hull breaches, and reports of injuries.” “What? How?” Captain Weniar looked over at Sensors. “You didn’t see it?”

“I apologize, Captain, my station- the suite, there was some kind of glitch, I had no control over the sensors for just a few moments. I was regaining control and running diagnostics when we were struck.” N’ren was glad for once of the suits as her own fur puffed out and her eyes widened, realizing what happened. Her own scan of the Xenni ship must have caused them to retaliate, and with the sensors down because of ‘a glitch’ they didn’t see the attack.

“Captain, it appears that the Xenni attack struck the Gate as well, look.” Menium said and put a view from the forward telescopes on the large screen.

The Gate was a perfect circle dozens of kilometers across with a small rectangular thing on one side. That was the building where the addressing stone was kept. Currently, there was some kind of white vapor pouring out at a high velocity, and the active gate looked… wrong. Instead of a pure blue flat plane, it undulated and wobbled. “Full Stop, Full Stop!” Captin Weniar screamed, her voice so shrill that the radio peaked as she yelled.

“We cannot stop in time.” Menium said cooly. “We are going to trav-”

Moments after the K’laxi traversed the damaged Gate, the Xenni skirmisher approached slowly. Instead of shutting down, as it normally does after a ship traverses, the Gate field started to grow in large blobby waves, larger and larger. The Xenni immediately flipped 180 degrees, their drive flame huge and ragged from being overdriven. It was all for nothing though, because at that moment, the Gate’s field enveloped the skirmisher and it too, traversed.

[revvethasmythh]

i'm having a normal one, clearly

[mrehkka]

I see your transman Dib and raise you transman Zim as well 😌