#cs style swap

[capricioussun]

Style swap pt 3! Ft @kiok0r0 ‘s Pyre and @scrambledmeggys ‘s Boss (bhc)

[deeisace]

The app I use for yoga's pretty good actually I think

It's called "yoga for weight loss" which makes me 😬😬😬 but it's good cs there's all different levels of difficulty you can go to, and there's a new bit which is chair-based which is cool, and even within the day's exercises you can swap them round like I have really bad wrists so I swap the like "downward dog" style ones for something similar that doesn't fuck up my hands, y'know, that type of thing

[banny-pso2ngs]

Ok so! Here we go, NGS appreciation thread I guess. Genuinely never understood haters constantly doom posting about a game they refuse to leave. Be a real hater and simply leave lol. Anyway!

Something NGS does great? Combat!

From the moment I started NGS a year ago combat has always been snappy, feels great, high level of control and there’s just So MANY WAYS for you to engage with the combat system.

Almost every class having multiple weapons to choose from makes combat incredibly fun to engage with because u have what…18 different weapons currently to engage with? All of which have their own attack chains and skills? I know ff has a nice weapon spread, but between the two? NGS combat is simply just more fun for me without question. Get tired of a play style? Simply swap weapons and go have fun.

Something else NGS does incredibly well? It’s console experience.

I feel like this is something that can be easily overlooked by a lot of people but having played both PSO and FF it’s simply not a contest. The controls for ff are clunky, and of course this ties right in with combat. I shouldn’t need to tab 8 different times to target the enemy I want to attack. And with NGS I don’t need to. Is it perfect? No. Both games are built with pc in mind first so accessing your action palette on a normal controller is a bit of a pain. But some investment into a controller with pads underneath eases this pain considerably. 10/10 times I’m picking the NGS controller experience over ff.

The next thing NGS does well (more of a player driven thing”? Player events!

I came to NGS off of 10 years in Destiny and Never Not Once was there a player organized event in that game so seeing them here, attending them, participating in the phasion shows and puzzles and games have been So Much Fun! Such a great way to meet new people. Such a great way to be involved in your ships community. Even on ship 4 where I am, you can find player events to attend, the community is such a hearty bunch so it’s so much fun to go to these!

Actually this leads quite well into the next thing that’s well executed! Creative spaces!

Every time you attend one of these player hosted events you’ll definitely get the opportunity to see just how creative players can be in the spaces they build to host these! There’s no shortage of people who cheer on PSO’s character creator, so it’s a little bit of a shame you don’t see the same with CS considering it’s the same tools more or less. There’s hundred of parts to snag (I only just finished buying out the gp shops) and the sheer amount of creative freedom is, honestly, a bit overwhelming. But beyond that is the chance to build some downright incredible spaces that could honestly exist as part of the open world itself. I have MONTHS of time sunk into CS and it’s where I go during slow times.

[this-daydream-is-dangerous-13]

Since my brain is all Haylor, all the time, I’ll share a message I sent @matildastyles13 not too long ago.

The way she structured Eras with the lead songs threw me before the breakup was announced, especially when she swapped in the 1. I told my husband: “Other than Midnights and the 2 eras that predate him, she starts all eras with Haylor songs!”

Don’t believe me? Let’s look, shall we.

Lover - MAATHP into CS

evermore - TTDS into Willow

Rep - …Ready For It? (Look at those ellipses. That is not for Joe)

Red - 22 (you look like bad news, I gotta have you!)

Folklore - seven poem, and after the swap, The 1 into Betty

1989 - Style into Blank Space

And honestly, none of the explicit Haylor Midnights tracks would have worked, so she was stuck there.

Also - the Cardigan to Style transition?

“I knew you’d come back to me…I was your favourite…we never go out of Style…”

Vicious. The woman is lethal.

[terraliensvent]

good gpd im so frustrated with stuff in terras rn. idont care anymore if they know who i am im jyst. so so frustrayed. its so hard to get stuff u want without spending money and im really lucky i have 3 terras. but oh god its so frustrating seeing people ask for. what even was it. asking for 14 myos. for 1 terra. it makes me so unvelievably angry!!

not tomention the way terra staff picked all the people who werent that active in chats. but just because they knew eachother well and were friends. it makes me lose hope for ever being a syaff and helping make this cs a little better :(

also how terra gas are always peopel with super detailled "pop" styles. like yeah youre picking smaller artists but.. yhey all have very similar styles and. its discouraging to someone with a chibi style who just really likes designing terras. it makes me wanna leave so bad.

and i. i cannot handle some of the members sometimes. some members will talk about how they dony have much money, like someone said they didnt have money for something. then immediately after bought a terra??? i mean i get that it can be addicting n stuff but. its so so frustrating oh god.

especially when people like. are talking about stuff and someone mentions something cpmpletely off topic. i could understanf if!!! maybe !! they asked nicely for a topic change and left it at tht but. ive seen people spam their own topics in the middle of another convo.

also i dont even wanna mention the trading scene. its insane. man i. ive been condidering leaving for sonlong mostly from members and specific staff. but. aughhhgg i love terras so much i just. wish i could make it better. i genuinely cry over it bc . i love terras so so much but its all going to shit . :C

im mostly just frustrated with dtaff constantly taking customs because if the staff customs channel and their new godly role. it sucks. it makes people feel like their artvisnt worth it, seeinh bids surpass thr hundreds while some camnot sell a fullbody for $5 just bc bias.

if staff see this, im sorry. i wish i didnt have yo go on a vent blog to say this. but i know saying it in the server would just get me silenced. please try to help with these issues seen here. and im genuinely so sorry, i really want to help, but this is the only way i can help now: giving criticism. i hope things change and i can enjoy terras again. i also hope staff are okay, i do not eant this to be mean or stressing in any way. :C [sorry for the typos mod i am very shaky rn and in a bus and carsick so im trying to fix them as mucj as i can. and ty for dealing witg all the drama.]

im sorry youre having such a bad time anon, it can be difficult once you realize all the deep cracks within the foundation of something you like

youre right in saying the trading scene is absolutely insane rn, people have decided that myos arent as powerful of a trading chip anymore but theyre still just as difficult to get, what the FUCK would someone even need 14 myos for

the staff has always been cliquey, if youre not in their little friend group you might as well be dirt, and theyre so biased toward pop artists, thats why kiwi rot was allowed to make a feral terra custom even while the hammer was coming down hard on them.

members are so rude and im tired of people pretending theyre not. at some point you gotta wonder how many times someone will breach social contract again and again regardless of every single time theyre politely told to wait their turn, just say you want to butt in and be done with it. ive never seen so many people absolutely unable to actually pay attention to the conversation at hand and it really seems like they just want to hear themselves talk

staff as a role is just a pretty little modifier to say “im elite, now drop $100s on my customs so you can immediately trade it off and say ‘looking for staff swaps ONLY if you offer me anything else u r getting blocked xoxox’”, none of them actually really use the new role to bring new viewpoints to the species or to make systems move faster, if they were then youd think we would actually have implemented more site functionality than one single fucking forage button and people wouldnt have to wait upwards of 2 weeks to get a myo design approved

terras biggest downfall is that every single person in the server is too sensitive for criticism and take it way too personally, that way everything gets silenced and nothing gets better.

personally anon, i suggest distancing yourself a bit. when i started moving away from the species and focusing on irl self improvement, i felt so much better (and started saving a lot of money)

[csmeanerr]

Mignyans are chill. They had some issues when they started but completely swapped teams. I’ve never had them ask anything unreasonable of me and their sales and point system are cool. There’s some artists that are more liked than others but they’re not high and mighty about it and it’s not all just cutesy anime styles. I’d say it’s like what a normal CS should be. Not huge and full of people just making little guys as far as I can tell. Plus the lore is really neat without being intrusive to what others come up with!

post related

[vividracing]

New Post has been published on https://www.vividracing.com/blog/bmw-m3-e30-motor-swapped-and-supercharged/

BMW M3 E30 Motor Swapped and Supercharged

Here is quite the project car that we were involved with here at Vivid Racing. This is a BUILD BREAKDOWN as we show off this 1988 BMW M3 E30 that was transformed into a total monster. This BMW E30 has been fully built to deliver performance, handling, and style. Powered by an S50 engine from a ‘95 M3, it has been boosted with an Active Autowerke Stage 1 Supercharger kit and paired with a custom 2.5” header-back exhaust. This build is as aggressive as it is clean! With KW V3 coilovers and Wilwood 6-piston brakes, it’s dialed in for the track and the streets.

Full Mod List Below!

Performance & Drivetrain:

✅ S50 Motor & Transmission (from ‘95 M3)

✅ Active Autowerke Stage 1 Supercharger https://www.vividracing.com/index.php?keywords=active+autowerkes+bmw+m3+supercharger

✅ Custom 2.5” Header-Back Exhaust

✅ Chase Bays Radiator & Overflow Tank (https://www.vividracing.com/chase-bays16an-tucked-aluminum-radiator-only-bmw-e30-e36-e46-p-156616026.html)

✅ Chase Bays Power Steering Kit (https://www.vividracing.com/chase-bays-power-steering-kit-with-cooler-bmw-e30-with-m20-e30-steering-rack-p-156616050.html)

Suspension & Handling:

✅ KW V3 Coilovers (https://www.vividracing.com/suspension-coilover-kit-bmw-e30-includes-spindles-19881991-p-154019253.html)

✅ UUC Sway Bars & Links (Front/Rear) (https://www.vividracing.com/28mm-and-21mm-front-and-rear-sway-bars-bmw-318i-e30-8892-p-151648933.html)

✅ Coolerworx Short Shifter (https://www.vividracing.com/coolerworx-regular-short-shifter-for-bmw-e30x-e46-e8x-e9x-p-156663758.html)

Braking:

✅ Wilwood 6-Piston 3-Piece Rotors (Front/Rear) https://www.vividracing.com/index.php?keywords=Wilwood+Brakes+BMW

✅ Wilwood Braided Brake Lines

✅ Chase Bays ABS Delete Kit

Interior & Driver Setup:

✅ Recaro Sportster CS Seats + Recaro Sliders (https://www.vividracing.com/recaro-sportster-seat-reclineable-driver-seat-nardo-black-carbon-wsilver-logo-4101003215-p-155229753.html)

✅ Planted Seat Base

✅ DND Steering Wheel + Momo Hub (https://www.vividracing.com/index.php?keywords=DND+Steering+Wheel+)

✅ Stack Gauges

✅ Custom Carbon Shifter Surround & Gauge Pod

Exterior & Aero:

✅ DTM Fiberworkz Carbon Lip & Rear Wing

Wheels & Tires:

✅ Konig Hypergram 17×8 +15 5×120 https://www.vividracing.com/konig-wheels-c-6332.html

✅ Konig MK1 Arodisc 

[ringo-sans]

How hard was it for Ringo to adjust to having tentacles instead of hands?

It was pretty difficult to get a handle on at first, but he eventually adapted to them. Still, some tasks are still harder to do than others.

(Not to mention the . . . unique challenges that come from having emotionally responsive magic tentacles.)

[booksandchainmail]

Pale 4.8

oh fuck yeah flashback! This addresses something that I was thinking about with the class list last chapter: Lucy being listed as a Faerie swordfighter when we haven't actually seen her do/learn any of the fighting.

“You had another style when you dueled me, distracting the goblins from Brie Callie.  Changing weapons.”

no idea if this is the route Lucy's training is going to take, but I could see a path where the Kennet Trio, at least in combat, focuses on fluidity. Thinking back to descriptions of Verona using glamour to switch forms in mid-motion, or Avery using the rope to jump around the edges of a battle. Add in Lucy swapping weapons mid fight, and you've got an adaptable team. It's a very cool visual to me.

“You.  You specifically, there’s something else there.  You should run, you should call for help, you should be visible, you should defend yourself.  Except, for Lucy Ellingson in particular…” “Except… if you always run or walk away, if you always take that sensible course, if you defend yourself, and they, the worst people, they’re always on the offense?  Looking for fights?  It feels like I’m, we’re, ceding too much ground.”

Adds an extra layer to her frustration at having to be the practical one, urging the others to be careful when that's not what she wants either

I’ve talked with Avery at length about who she wants to end up becoming.

don't like that! especially since he's shaping both of them to be warriors

“If we had the summer I’d annoy you into breaking loose,

so the exact opposite of what she was trying to do in Ray's class

A picture.  Lucy with the fox mask on, surrounded by rolling smoke.  There were swords and daggers lying around.  It had been done in watercolor.  Her hair had pink to it.

someone has to have made fanart of this

Wary, she held out a hand, and she accepted the glamour.  It was like dust, but heavier, and it felt like cold metal that had just the edges heated by sun.

it would be very cool to wield the dangers her Sight shows her as weapons

She moved her hands with care, drawing out a sword.  It was crude and lacked detail, and the edge was wobbly.  But it more or less lined up. When she looked down, the sword was refined, accurate, detailed, with touches of rust and cracks here and there. There were others in the background, too.

UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS

For most purposes, this is something good to set up, if you have the time.  It gets faster to set up each time you do it.  If you don’t like the arena you’re fighting in, decide the arena.

so a Reality Marble? Or, if we're going PGTE instead of F/SN, a domain

Another apartment draws all the pests in the building to it. They pile up into a roughly human shape, go through their day, boot up a laptop, work an eight hour shift as tech support.

insert joke about cs/tech support here

he is in the midst of making a play for the Blue Heron Institute while simultaneously reaching out for Kennet. He thinks I have something secret and essential to my power there. A power source, a key contact, or whatever else.

wildly theorizing here, but what if Bristow is right? There are a lot of mysteries going on in Kennet, and we don't know who's behind anything. Admittedly it would be weird for any of the Kennet Others to be working with an outside practitioner, but I don't think it's out of the question

“It’s nice to be on the other side of this, as an observer while someone else is dealing with the threat of things being metaphorically set on fire,” Nicolette said.

Nicolette is great

[fwacata]

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Repost from @goblinsheist • COME GET YOUR NERD ON, SWAP MEET STYLE! LABOR DAY WEEKEND! Saturday, September 4th, 2021! 12–9 pm! Join us & various vendors, sellers, and fellow collectors as we put together our monthly SWAP MEETS here at the GOBLINS HEIST parking lot! We finna do some BBQ! Also, STOREWIDE SALES on everything from Back Issues to FUNKOS and more! PICKING UP VENDORS FOR THIS EVENT! Open to Everybody! $20 for Vendors FREE TO THE PUBLIC! We are looking for sellers of all types for this! If you have a stack of comics, some toys or clothes, or something you want to get rid of, COME ON DOWN! Make it happen here at the HEIST! Starts early, 10 am (for all the bargain hunters out there) till 5 pm, but you are invited to hang out and sell till closing at 9 pm! Any questions, feel free to call or text Juan at 305-343-3577 #comicbook #comics #comicbooks #comic #marvel #marvelcomics #dccomics #art #comicart #igcomicfamily #comiccollector #dc #comicbookart #drawing #igcomics #illustration #batman #igcomiccommunity #superhero #spiderman #igcomicbookfamily #comicbookcollector #artist #comicbookcollection #comiccollection #dcuniverse #sketch #graphicnovel #cartoon #goblinsheist (at The Goblins Heist) https://www.instagram.com/p/CS-QVXDFuyy/?utm_medium=tumblr

[capricioussun]

Style shift pt 2: everyone else

ft @decafguy00 ‘s Twig, @owl-bones ‘s Boss, @bonetrousledbones ‘s Edge, @alsojnpie ‘s Horrortale Papyrus, @save-star ‘s Duke, and a silly Undersell Papyrus for @phenom-lemon

[deeisace]

Fucking done it again

Fell asleep almost as soon as I got home from work, and then woke up at midnight

And it's not even like I've got my normal shift tomorrow, I'm on a fuckin close so I'm gonna be even more of a zombie than I usually am, ugh

I did have a dead mad dream tho, see if I can remember it all

So it was like a dream within a dream, right

I think

So I was back at uni, cs my flat was a different shape than in is now and there were two doors, which led to the same corridor so I don't see why

Anyway, my dishes needed doing, as is true perpetually, and some guy like my neighbour came round and swapped a normal potato of mine with a sweet potato

And I'm like thanks,,, wtf am I meant to do with this one tiny sweet potato then, and also I've no clean pans

And eventually I fell asleep then, and either this bit was a dream within a dream or I woke up in the dream to find that there were these two fellas like in my living room

And they were there to nick all my shit, basically, but I don't really have much stuff worth nicking, and they'd got distracted talking, and I'd woken up and caught them anyway

Anyway, I can't remember what he said but one of them got a bit like philosophical, and also he found half a sketch of mine and a pencil, and stood in my kitchen and finished the drawing while talking to me, perfectly reasonable

And eventually I'm like, okay sure but why are you still here tho, can you leave my gaff, thanks mate, so I let them out onto the university corridor, and watch as they wander down, still chatting as they go, and then I deadbolt both my doors

Anyway like the next day, I'm outside somewhere, seems like a scabby little park somewhere, and I'm on the phone to my mum, tryna explain this weird experience, right, and I get another call - on another mobile, somehow, and I awkwardly leave the convo with my mum, and put the phone down so I can answer the other call, which is somehow from the gender clinic people, and they want me to go in the very next day

So I do, and somehow my mum's driving me and a couple of other people that I knew from uni or secondary, but obviously haven't seen since

And I'm trying to explain my dream again, but then we get to the sort of clinic place, and we all have to go in to a waiting room

And we're split to surnames, like I'm in a waiting room with three other people who's last name starts with the same letter as mine - except I know these people, and none of their's last names start with the same letter as mine, and I wouldn't expect to see any of them in a gender clinic at all, and they're all sort of catching up between themselves, and someone asked me what I'm getting up to these days, and I'm embarrassed cs it's nothing, I don't see anyone else or do anything really at all but go to my little retail job

And then I'm like, aha! I have got a thing! I've gone back to uni!

I must've done, cs that's where my flat is

And one of the girls is like, well prove it then

And I'm briefly dumbfounded, cs how the fuck do I prove that, right, but I found a battered old uni access card in my jeans pocket, and it's falling apart, can't possibly be used, but I explain that as that I use it so much, and somehow (bcs this is a dream) they all accept that excuse, and tell me well done

And we're back in my mum's car again, she's driving

...

I fell asleep again, it's 6am, I can't remember the rest of it now

The new dream was smth about a statue of a horse, I remember that

...

And again, it's half past 8

These two dreams, the first one was that there was a parrot in my flat, one of those red ones, and I was trying to close my broken window so that he couldn't get out, and he was playing with bird food in my sink like he was a dog, and then one of my co-workers came round and was annoyed to find I didn't have fancy clothes on cs we had to go out to the symphony or the theatre or smth

Then the second one was very odd

Something sort of spy-ish, tho I can't remember it all

I do remember that there were cassette tapes, or not cassette but actual film, but they were wound on little wide bobbins that fit three to an envelope

And I went through inside one of these tapes, to the 1960s, and stole a car, and in the glove box found another envelope with tapes inside

And we (I don't know who the other person was, just that there was one and I can't drive) drove to this little village down the mountain, and there was a little teashop and someone who I think was an opposing spy made me tea in a very odd way (half a spoon of granulated sugar, and half of Demerara, and some type of loose-leaf twinings I can't remember, except I read the back of the box and it said Mr twinings died suddenly in 1932 and his successor, a woman whose name I've forgotten, told everyone about the secret tea blends they had, and that's why now we know how to make such good teas, apparently)

Then there was a 1880s photograph that was faked by the opposing spies of a man with an eyebrow piercing and his maid

Then there was a football game and a little boy went missing, and I watched back the footage and followed him out to the hill, where there was a tomb in sort of Egyptian style, filled with gold and riches, and the opposing spy was there, the archetypal villain, and then I left out on to the hill back to my car, saying that a villain is nothing without a hero, and watched as the tomb blew up

Then I was back home, and trying to clean ants out from where my lemon was growing, and there were wasps and spiders too (but no parrot this time), and I had a large cashew nut inside my eyebrow instead of my actual piercing, and I had take that out to clean it at the sink so I could put it back in, and it was printed with smth but I can't remember what

And now I think I am actually awake now

[cs-1-6-steam61666]

Everything about cs 1.6 steam downloadAt its Main, Steam is often a dispersed file procedure and shared set of technology elements that could be executed into any software software. A really one of a kind and funky edition of Counter Strike. This Edition is full of incredible new functions like magnificent style and design, new weapon skins, new plaer models and much more. check: indir counter strike 1.6 steam oyun turk. New revision termed XTCS counter-strike Workforce collected all These optimum technical specs of the initial toys. Builders have crippled from 50 %-life 1 motor Virtually almost everything achievable to obtain the best effectiveness. Sign up to determine explanation why you may or may not such as this according to your games, mates, and curators you observe. Check in or Open in Steam If you performed Insurgency than you happen to be presently know what this edition is like! An awesome pack of models, weapons, Appears and design and style. This CS may be very wonderful. An official Counter-Strike of Romania - a version of the sport designed for this excellent european country. This edition are going to be perfect for all romanians and other players. That Counter-Strike is on of quite possibly the most intersting versions of the game. It has every one of the remarkable traits: new player skins, new weapons, new GUI along with other points. That Counter-Strike is quite special. Along with staying checked for all viruses you will find (like all of the rest of our editions) it's an extremely interesing type. Paste the folder into this area. If prompted to interchange information, simply click Swap all data files On this location or very similar. The provided might be prefixed to all subsequently additional bot names. This is beneficial for "clan-tagging" bots. Prior to developing a match, you have to decide on the specified mod. There are some Formal kinds like Bomb Defuse (where you will have to prevent the terrorists from detonating an explosive product), Hostage Rescue (in which you ought to help you save the kidnapped scientists and take them towards your base) or Assassination (the place you'll need to escort a VIP towards the escape automobile though protecting him from Terrorists). The key factors which make CS so entertaining would be the team-dependent techniques and selection of weapons. A wide variety of accurately modeled shotguns, pistols, assault rifles, submachine guns and sniper rifles are presented on the participant, Other than the same old knife and various grenades. A truly great version of Counter Strike that features a complete bunch of new advancements like versions, skins, weapons, maps and so considerably more, you merely really need to attempt it. Within the window that seems, apply the following options for every tab. Settings highlighted in red have been changed from their default values.

[thebuttoncheck]

Valorant wears its inspirations proudly

Riot Games’ first major release since it’s inaugural foray into the games industry has been the topic of much discourse, even before the launch of it’s Closed Beta at the beginning of April. Valorant is the online gaming mega giant’s take on the competitive first person shooter, drawing heavy inspiration from its contemporaries, mainly Valve’s Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Blizzard’s Overwatch. While it’s hard to say that it does anything that we haven’t seen before, it instead brings a heavily refined competitive experience to the gaming landscape. 

Valorant is set up as a 5 v. 5 round-based shooter, very much in the same vein as Counter Strike. There’s one team of Attackers who must coordinate with each other to take over one of several bomb sites on a map and plant a bomb, or in this case a Spike. The other team of Defenders must prevent the attackers from detonating the Spike, either by killing the entire opposing force or by disarming the Spike after it’s been planted before it detonates. It’s the same formula that made Counter Strike what it is today. Plenty of games have done this before, with most falling by the way side. What makes Valorant stand out is it’s emphasis on the cast.

If Valorant wears it’s CS inspirations on one of it’s arms, then the other wears a game like Overwatch or Riot’s own League of Legends. Valorant brings in a cast of 10 different characters to choose from to spec out your team. Each character has their own set of unique abilities, ranging from offensive, defensive, and supportive. A character like Fuse has a more offensive play style with her kit, which includes an explosive paint grenade, a sticky satchel charge, an enemy seeking bomb-bot, and a glorified rocket launcher for her ultimate ability. The healer character Sage fills both the defensive and supportive roles, with her ability to heal players, build destructible ice walls, create sticky surfaces to slow down players, and her Ult that revives dead players back into the match. That last one is a real game changer, especially for a game where one of the win state’s is to eliminate the entire enemy team. The hero characters are easily this game’s defining feature. Their abilities are such a refreshing addition to this style of competitive shooter. They in no way hinder or obstruct the gameplay, but rather compliment the experience incredibly well.

The gunplay will always take center stage in a game like this, and Valorant mostly delivers on this front. Counter Strike players will feel right at home with it, while other less-experienced players will probably question ”Why wont my bullets hit the guy?!” Gunplay in Valorant is all about precision and positioning. This isn’t something like Quake or Overwatch where you can run and bounce around while still nailing those trick head shots. Recoil is key here. You cant just jump a corner and expect to get a multi-kill by unloading a full-auto clip at the other team. Can it work? Sometimes, but it’s an incredibly unreliable tactic. It’s also one that you should add to your omega sick professional gamer highlight reel if you nail it. There’s many factors to take into account when engaging the enemy team, and sound is another major component. When in close proximity, the other team can hear everything that you do, from running with your loud footsteps, swapping weapons, reloading guns, etc. You can use this to your advantage though. Walking or crouching while moving about the map will make you virtually silent to the enemy at the cost of movement speed. All of these different systems at play make for an incredibly satisfying tactical experience. Coordinating with your team to decide on a plan of action can be both stressful and super rewarding, and the ‘First to 13′ format for matches help the game move at a very brisk pace, compared to it’s contemporaries.

In it’s current Closed Beta form, Valorant shows great promise. It’ll be completely free-to-play upon it’s wide release, with it’s main source of revenue coming from selling cosmetics. The game has already proved popular among players and viewers on Twitch. Whether or not it can keep that momentum upon it’s exit from Closed Beta remains to be seen, but I’m willing to bet that it’ll stick around for quite a while.

[searchingwardrobes]

I Get to Be the One

Happy Birthday, @pocket-anon ! Talented author, sweet mother, and a physician to boot! Darling, I don’t know how you do it! I know how much your family means to you, and since your birthday is so close to Mother's Day, I thought some CS family fluff would make the perfect gift. I also threw in a few Easter eggs just for you. Have a great day!

Summary: A slice of Emma and Killian’s white picket fence life – on Mother’s Day. Based on the song by JJ Heller.

Words: Around 1,500

Triggers: Sugary sweet fluff may cause cavities :)

Also on Ao3 and part of my Fandom Birthday Playlist.

Tagging @snowbellewells @kmomof4 @whimsicallyenchantedrose @winterbaby89 @jennjenn615 @teamhook @bethacaciakay @thislassishooked @kday426 @snidgetsafan @delirious-latenight-laughs @shireness-says @xhookswenchx @optomisticgirl @welllpthisishappening @let-it-raines @distant-rose @wellhellotragic

 I get to be the one to hold your hand. I get to be the one. Through birthdays and broken bones, I’ll be there to watch you grow. I get to be the one.

 Normally, if Emma Swan was abruptly jarred awake, she would lash out in anger. But the crew bursting through her bedroom door on this Sunday morning was the exception. Killian was carrying a tray of food, complete with a little vase of buttercups, and the girls were marching in with smiles on their faces. All four were singing the tune “Happy Birthday to You,” but swapping the words with “Happy Mother’s Day to You.” The only one missing was Henry, but he was likely doing the same thing across town with Lucy for Jacinda. She still could hardly believe her little boy was all grown up and she was a grandma. Curses and wonky timelines aside.

She sat up, suddenly wide awake with a bright smile on her face. That wasn’t her normal morning state, either, but how could she not smile? Killian had that goofy grin on his face, the one that made him look more like a nerd than a fearsome pirate captain. The one she was pretty sure he only gave to her and their three little girls. He settled the tray across her lap just as they finished their song.

“Pancakes?” Emma asked him teasingly, and he winked.

“We can have . . . the other kind later,” he whispered in her ear.

He reached inside the drawer of his nightstand and pulled out three pieces of construction paper with crayon scribbled across them. The girls grabbed them eagerly, bouncing around the room. Elizabeth tried to make a flying leap onto the bed, but Killian caught her before she could knock over her mother’s breakfast. Hope handed her homemade card to her mother first with a hesitant smile on her face.

“Thank you,” Emma told her taking the simple piece of paper from her seven-year-old's hand. Hope wasn’t very good at drawing, so the picture was just two crude stick figures labeled “Mommy and Me.” Hope had no need to be shy, however, because it was the words she had written across the top that stole Emma’s heart.

Mommy you’re the best mom I could ask for. No one could ever replace you in my heart. I love you.

Emma pressed her hand to her mouth as tears threatened.

“She wrote every word of that by herself,” Killian told her with pride in his voice.

A tear did slip out then, which Emma wiped away with her palm. She pulled Hope close, pressing a kiss to her temple. “My little writer,” she whispered. When Hope pulled away, her blue eyes shone with pleasure at her mother’s praise. Emma brushed her fingers through her daughter’s blonde curls and gave her a watery smile.

“Here’s mine, Mommy!” Amy piped up in her high-pitched five-year-old voice.

Amy was their little artist, so Emma wasn’t surprised to see an elaborate rose made out of bits of paper on the front of the pink card. Inside was a drawing of Amy hugging her Mommy which, while still done with sticks and circles, was much more elaborate than her older sister’s.

“This is beautiful, sweetheart,” Emma told her, drawing her close. She glanced up at Killian over the top of her daughter’s dark head.

“Don’t worry,” he told her with a wink, “I vacuumed up all the bits of paper.”

Elizabeth crawled carefully across the bed to give Emma her card. Though she had the same dark curly hair and green eyes as her twin Amy, Elizabeth was more rambunctious and less likely to sit long enough to carefully make a card. Sure enough, the green piece of construction paper contained merely a scribble labeled “Mommy” with a heart around it.

“Oh look, you wrote your name,” Emma commented, pointing to the top corner.

Elizabeth snuggled against Emma’s side. She was also the cuddler of the three girls. “Actually, Hope wrote that for me.”

“Oh,” Emma said as she bit her lip. Her mind struggled to find something else to praise Elizabeth for about her card, but came up empty. The child didn’t seem to care, though.

“I love you, Mommy,” she said, snuggling into Emma more and putting her little arms around her.

Emma embraced her in return, breathing in the slightly sweaty smell of five-year-old.

“And now for your present,” Killian declared, pulling a gift bag out from somewhere and plopping it down on the bed.

“There’s more?”

“Hope helped me shop, so you should like it,” he said, scratching behind his ear.

Emma looked tenderly at her husband. “Of course I’ll like it.” He should know by now that just getting a gift at all was enough for her, especially considering the first 28 years of her life.

Emma yanked out the tissue paper, and inside was a large, charcoal gray bag. It was simple and classic in its design, the perfect style for her personality. She grinned as she pulled it out.

“Hope said you were looking at bags for weekend trips on the Jolly. Ones that were smaller than a duffel but nicer than a backpack.”

Her smile softened at the hesitancy in his voice. She clutched the bag to her chest as she looked up at him. “I love it.”

She loved the bright grin Killian gave her more than the bag, to be honest.

“Well,” he told her, scooping Elizabeth up and tossing her over his shoulder as she giggled, “enjoy your breakfast and take your time. Watch TV, read, whatever you want to do. I’ll check on you in a little while and draw you a bath.”

“Daddy says today is all about you,” Hope explained.

“He says we’re going to paper you,” Amy added.

“Pamper,” Kilian corrected, leaning down to brush a kiss across Emma’s lips, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she told him, brushing her nose against his.

They tramped downstairs, closing the door behind them, and Emma enjoyed her breakfast in the peace and coziness of her bed. Then she settled back under the covers to binge watch some episodes of Sherlock. She followed that with a few chapters from her well-worn copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

It was nice having time to herself, but when the clock read eleven, she was a little bored. She slipped out of bed and made her way downstairs. She paused before reaching the bottom, her heart flipping at the sight that greeted her from the living room.

The girls had made a tent out of blankets, pillows, and the kitchen chairs. Killian must have helped, however, because the top was suspended from the ceiling fan with fishing wire and fairy lights lined the edges. The entire thing looked like an enchanted teepee. The opening faced the stairs, so Emma could see Killian inside with the girls, propped up on pillows, reading to them.

“They were cozy and comfortable in their little house made of logs, with the snow drifted around it and the wind crying because it could not get in by the fire.” Killian’s voice was warm and lilting, and even Emma sighed hearing it.

Her sigh must have been louder than she thought, for Killian looked up at her with surprise on his face. “What are doing down here, love?” he asked, tossing aside the copy of Little House in the Big Woods. “I was just about to come up and draw you a bath.”

Emma shrugged and smiled as she made her way down the rest of the stairs. “It’s Mother’s Day. I wanted to be with my girls.” She got down on her knees and wriggled her way into the tent. All three girls jostled to get to her, and soon she was sprawled against the piles of pillows with little girls draped across her like a pile of puppies. Killian smiled down at her.

“Keep reading, Daddy!” Amy begged.

“Yes, Pa,” Emma teased, “keep reading about the little log cabin in the woods.”

The book series was Amy’s favorite, but Emma delighted in how much Killian seemed to enjoy them too. They weren’t stories from the Enchanted Forest, and he said it helped him understand the history of his new home a little better. He took her current teasing in stride, clearing his throat to continue. It wasn’t long before the three girls were softly snoring.

“I got them up early,” Killian explained, laying the book aside. He laid out on his back, his feet sticking out of the front of the blanket tent. Silence descended around them, filled with contentment.

Emma reached to trace his jaw. “Killian?”

“Hmmm?”

“I love that I get to be the one . . . “ she trailed off, her brow furrowing as she struggled to find the right words, “that I get to be the one to live this life with you.”

Killian turned his head to kiss her palm. “I feel the same, love.”

 I get to be the one to hold your hand. I get to be the one. Through birthdays and broken bones, I’ll be there to watch you grow. I get to be the one.

[racingtoaredlight]

BISDW4

More on how to spot a fake vintage Fender after the jump...

***

"Fake” Fenders are a cottage industry that should not be viewed as either good or bad, because there’s so much variance between the individual cases.

It’s hard to call a Nash or a Lull guitar or bass a poor imitation if you’ve ever played one.  They’re absolutely fantastic instruments designed for performance of those pre-CBS Fenders without the fragility and worry about damaging an increasingly rare instrument.  But make no mistake, they’re still fake Fenders.

G&L is arguably the greatest case of fake Fenders, largely due in part to the fact that Leo Fender himself started the company.  But as close to the Fender heritage as they are, even amateurs would be able to note that it ain’t a Fender, regardless if G&L’s are better instruments.

Again, not bad...

Even the low end manufacturers of Fender-style instruments aren’t bad.  They’re adjusting a proven, in-demand design to fit a niche or that particular company’s manufacturing ethos.  I’ve talked about how Squier instruments these days are on par with Fender’s own issue, but even further down the line, it’s almost impossible to fault a company like SX for making a Fender-style instrument and selling it for $200~.  Beginners deserve quality instruments no matter their economic situation.

***

But where things get dicey...REAL dicey...is when people pass off forged Fenders as the real deal.  Note I said forged instead of fake.  If someone makes a Fender-style instrument and changes the headstock and logoing to make it clear it’s not a Fender, no harm no foul.

Passing off a cheaply made copy as an authentic vintage or Custom Shop Fender is lucrative.  I’ve talked a lot about how these instruments were designed relatively cheaply and made from replaceable parts...the difference between a pre-CBS or Custom Shop Fender and a $500 made-in-Mexico equivalent is too subtle for 95% of musicians to appreciate.

Let alone those in the extremely foggy market of vintage instruments.

Remember how I said that Fenders frequently had parts swapped in and out?  Well, that makes the vintage market all the more confusing...therefore all the easier to scam potential buyers who aren’t quite sophisticated enough to spot these differences.  When you’re talking about $300 of parts, a forged logo on a laser printer, for a $2k+ windfall, you can see the financial incentive.

Now, I don’t expect anyone here to be in the market for a vintage Fender.  I’m not in that market, and never will be...newer instruments perform better, even if they’re designed like a guitar from the 50′s or 60′s.  But I think it’s interesting to see a scam in action, and look at how to pick it apart...

***

Here we have a Custom Shop “Jaco” JB.

Obviously we don’t...but what DO we have?  Is this a mis-labeled American Jaco JB?  Is it a Squier model with a different label?  Is it something else entirely, built out of Frankenstein parts?  Without the serial number, it’s legitimately impossible to tell any of that.  So what we have to rely on is the litany of context clues pointing us to the instrument’s likely real origin.

Custom Shop and vintage Fenders are collector’s items.  Regardless of superficial condition, they fetch over $3,500 on the extreme low end.  Their specs and accessories can change wildly, but there are things that you would never, EVER see from either vintage or CS Fenders that we see here...

***

Instrument companies fuse together blocks of wood to make bodies in order to save money on production.  Solid blocks of wood big enough to route a guitar out of are harder to find than smaller pieces you can fuse together.  First, they’d fuse two pieces of wood...but nowadays it can be more than 3.

Take a look at the grain of the wood on this bass...the top, middle, and bottom all have three distinct grain patterns.  This is a body built out of three fused pieces of wood, something that you would never see come out of Fender’s Custom Shop or from the 50′s and 60′s.

If I only saw this picture, I’d know this bass was a forgery.

Also note that there aren’t any pickguard holes drilled into the body.  There should be 10 holes, given the specs of the era, and given the models actually released by the Custom Shop.  Sure, there’s an off chance it might be intentional, but a later pic makes me not believe this for a second...

***

Fender used fret lines for their American (and other) lines of the Jaco/fretless JB, but not from their Custom Shop model.  Again, it might be a one-off...but it’s not.

Also, that wood on the fretboard is...I don’t even know what to say about it.  It would be thrown out of a Chinese or Indonesian factory, let alone the Custom Shop.  By now, we know it’s 100% a forgery, but lets keep going...

***

Note the aging on the tuning heads, but nowhere else on any of the hardware.  Either there was no attention to detail paid...unlikely, given it’s the Custom Shop...or they were parts thrown on carelessly.  This is why I don’t think it was inentional to ignore pickguard holes...more an overall sign that this forgery wasn’t given much special attention.

And while it’s not specifically a vintage reissue instrument, the 60′s style logo would indicate that’s what it was trying to be.  Below is a 1962 Jazz Bass logo...you can tell from a) where the logo is positioned, b) the fonts, c) the curvature of the “Jazz Bass” part and d) the complete misplacement of the “offset contour body” logo, that the first pic is a forgery.

Here’s another...

***

But here’s the biggest sign it’s a fake...

That Custom Shop logo hasn’t been used since the late 1980′s...every other part on this bass looks at least a decade old, at the very oldest...and the decal itself shows age and wear far beyond anything the bass’ neck has actually seen.  How can a decal age 20+ years more than the neck it was on?  How can a Custom Shop bass from the 1980′s have parts that look like they were ordered from All Parts in the last year?

The fretboard wood...back in the late 80′s they still had access to slabs of Brazilian rosewood...they wouldn’t use that swill.  I gotta post this tho because it’s coming up on 10:30...

So I found a serial number and i searched Fender’s database for it...

Yep.