#format input fields

[quietstormxr]

Forgotten

Pure, unadulterated angst.

Reader x ?

Poll Results: Reader x Xaden Riorson

A/N: Fourth Wing Spoilers, Mentions of depression

Word Count: 1.7k

Trying something different and asking for y'alls input. There will be a poll at the bottom for you to participate in the story if you're interested.

Tomorrow, Always Tomorrow - Home

You watch as they rally around her. The way they are now busy watching her every move. Training her at every opportunity. They even made her a damn saddle for her dragon. They constantly train her on the mat, design daggers for her hands and strength. 

Staring at the blazing fire in the common room, you slowly watch your surroundings and the comings and goings. But no one knows you’re there. 

You’re invisible.

Not only to those who you thought cared about you, but also thanks to your signet. You huff a laugh as you mask yourself in the alcove that you’ve come to claim as your own. 

All you must do is survive for a few more days before you’re free from them all. Free from any eyes looking for you, free from expectations, from them.

You always knew that you weren’t a priority. You always faded to the back of conversations, the back of the room. Left to your own devices, you let the resentment fester, the feeling of not being worthwhile. 

No one ever described what a bond breaking between a dragon and a human felt like, but you could feel the way your dragon’s voice seemed to start feeling like it was underwater. The communication line between the two of you seeming to be drowning, the same way you felt yourself breaking apart at the seams. 

As you arrived in formation when the alarms went off, you kept to yourself and your eyes straight ahead. Nothing in your mind registered anymore. The only thing behind your eyes was the festering of relentless anger.

As you go to leave formation and gather your things, you feel a tug on your arm. You look back to see Imogen tapping your shoulder. 

“Xaden wants you for the headquarters squad.” You raise your eyes to hers and give a tight nod, nothing showing in your eyes.

While packing your things, you can’t help but wonder if you could just walk away from it all. If they think you’re dead, it wouldn’t matter at this point. With a plan forming in your mind, you pack everything that you deem important and leave the rest of your things behind. You close the door, not leaving a note or anything to find. You’ll either succeed in your plan or you’ll face a punishment you won’t return from.

You head to the flight field. Your dragon waits behind all the others. You huff a laugh at the fact that even your dragon knows how much you just want to fade into the background of it all. 

You may not want to listen or watch the comradery of those you used to consider friends or even a lover, but you make sure to keep your eyes sharp. You watch as everything unfolds in front of you, until you watch as Xaden and Garrick stride towards you.

“I assume Imogen told you that you’re coming with us.” Xaden says, no pretense of niceties in sight. 

“Yes.” Succinct. Final. There’s nothing more to say. 

Both look at you seeming to take in the stone of your appearance, most likely confused by your lack of warmth they were so used to seeing. They exchange a look, but Xaden nods to you and strides away. You watch as they both stride towards Liam and Bodhi, all of them collectively looking back towards you. Even though you are eager to lash out at them, yell, scream, and cry, you just look back with a look of impassivity. 

“Headquarters squad, let’s go.” Xaden calls as he mounts Sgaeyl. 

You fly at the back of the riot, which your dragon does willingly. There’s no need for you to voice your feelings towards those in front of you when your dragon is already well aware. 

The way you lag behind the others has you touching down at the lake about ten minutes after everyone else. As soon as you do, you’re met with a scene that causes you to snort in derision. 

Of course Sorrengail wasn’t going to react well to things that were kept from her. You knew that from just watching the way the girl had treated her friends. Everyone is so preoccupied with the scene in front of them, they don’t realize you’ve landed. 

Forgotten again.

The pattern is now almost comical. You watch, still mounted as Xaden tries to reason with Sorrengail, Liam trying to prove his friendship, Bodhi and Garrick waiting hesitantly.

Soon enough, it seems Xaden has calmed the little scribe down and everyone is mounting again. No one even realizes that you weren’t even aware of the gryphons either. No one tries to reassure you; you just must reassure yourself.

Once at Athbyne, you search the empty barracks on your own and honestly can’t believe your luck. The plan you have may just be easier to pull off than you ever thought. 

While you’re exploring the rooms of the outpost, it seems the group has come to a decision to fight. As you make your way up to the wall where everyone is standing, you listen as Sorrengail goes into details on the venin you’re about to face. 

Without caring to hear more, you turn and head back to your dragon. You’ll still execute your plan, but there’s no way that you’re going to leave innocent people out there to die. If you do, then you’re no better than anyone back at Basgiath. 

As you sweep the perimeter of town, you’re met with a sight that breaks your own heart. A child has been left behind in the mess of confusion and fleeing. A little girl crying, curled up in a ball, wailing somone’s name to save her. 

You can’t help the tears that swim in your eyes feeling like you’re watching yourself break into a million pieces. 

You command your dragon to land and immediately pick up the girl. You begin running towards the mine where the rest of the townspeople are but stop in your tracks. Eyes flaring wide, you watch the venin completely drain Soleil and her dragon. 

You turn again and sprint as fast as you can with the girl in your arms back to your dragon. You mount and command your dragon to bring you to where the rest of the townspeople are being gathered. 

Once there, you bring the little girl to a woman who has her arms out and seems to be shouting the little girl’s name. Watching as she is now cradled and being comforted, you turn your back on the scene and take a deep breath. All you want is someone to comfort you like that. No, not just someone. One specific person. 

You shake your head at the thought that causes your heart to crack open.

When you bring your head up, you’re met with red eyes and a shock of tattered purple robes.

“Such pain for such a young person.” The male voice hisses in a raspy voice that sounds like a distorted rumble.

You can’t hide the flash of recognition at the words that settle in your mind. 

“Why don’t you take all of that pain and channel with me?” He says while beginning to circle around you.

Looking around, you realize that you’re alone. There aren’t any other riders or fliers in this area.

“You can show them what real power looks like and show them you aren’t one to be forgotten.” The words he’s spitting begin to swirl in your mind. The thought of being able to be powerful and not just a shell that’s been rejected hitting you square in the chest.

You shake your head trying to escape the hold that the venin’s words have seemed to settle in your mind. 

“I won’t be controlled. By you or any power.” You spit through clenched teeth, trying to bite back from the hold that you can’t seem to shake from your mind.

“Your spirit is fierce. It would be so pleasant to break you.” The venin continues. 

You find yourself reaching for the sheath that was given to you months ago with instructions not to use unless absolutely necessary. You suppose this situation would render it’s use necessary. 

You double over with the sheer amount of power that the venin seems to be plying towards you. Without overthinking, you grab the hilt of the dagger and fling it. Your aim is the one thing you’ve never questioned about yourself and as you expect, it finds it home in the chest of the venin. 

The creature’s eyes seem to blaze with the fury that you were able to best him. You find yourself crawling backwards trying to get as far away as possible.

Suddenly the din of the battle still going on around you crashes back into your mind. You look up to see dragons locked in battle, to your left and right civilians are still running for cover. Realizing that your own dragon’s focus is taken helping Deigh eviscerate a wyvern, you know this is when you have to make your decision. 

You take a steadying deep breath, trying to calm yourself from the interaction with the venin. As soon as you feel your heartbeat return to something a little more normal, you’re off. You swing your pack on your back as you run. With one look back, you feel like your entire being is breaking, but you just can’t imagine staying anymore. 

A slight panic tries to break through your thoughts, it must be your dragon knowing what you’re about to do. However, as you continue running, you feel your dragon’s connection growing thinner and thinner. There’s no reason to devote much thought to it as you keep going, if you die away from your dragon, so be it. No matter what, from now on it will be on your terms. 

You steal into a thick cover of forest and throw your bag down. You slide down the trunk of a tree and collapse into a tired heap. At this point, the sun has crested on the horizon and night is beginning to set. Your mind can’t help but wonder if anyone has even realized that you’re gone. The last thought you have before sleep finds you is that your dragon can find a new and worthy rider.

[t52b]

Heart Toy mayor update continuation

So now onto the other two parts

The album builder is used to build albums for the joi suite later the joi suite can only use the albums built here so its a pre requisite to build albums for later useI

mage Fetching from Image Boards: Fetch random images using tags from popular image boards: Danborou, R34, Realborou, The Great Image Board, and e621. Input your desired tags, separated by spaces, and press the button to fetch images. If the image cannot be found or if the HTTP request fails, an error will be displayed, and the fetch button must be pressed again to retry.

Invalid JSON Errors: If an invalid JSON error occurs, it typically means no image was found for the given tag on the selected site. Try fetching from another site or use a different tag. Album

Management: Create new albums by inputting an album name and saving images directly to them. If no album name is provided, images are saved to the root of the app's storage (counted as an album).

Image Selection from Local Storage: Pick images from your phone's local storage using the file picker. Save them directly to an album or create a new album.

Direct URL Saving: If you have the direct URL to an image, input it and save the image to your selected album. The process is easier on Windows, but somewhat difficult on Android. Album Deletion: Delete selected albums, but requires multiple clicks if the folder is not empty.

File Organization and Limitations: The app uses Android's file system for album management, which can involve some manual navigation (copying and pasting files into albums using the file picker). The app remembers the last location when accessing files via the file picker, making it easier to pick from specific folders. on pc this is much easier as the file explorer can access the persistent storage and copy images with control c control v

Joi Suite Feature List:

Interval Creation & Editing

Interval Object: Tempo: The tempo (beats per minute) for the interval.

BeatTightness: Controls how tight the beats feel, influencing the spacing between beats.

EndTempo: The tempo the interval will gradually reach by the end.

TempoAcceleration: How quickly the tempo changes during the interval.

BeatNumber: The number of beats within the interval.

SyncopalGalop: A setting that modifies the rhythm to alternate 1 and mltiple beat per metronome tick.

Duration: The length of time this interval will last.

Imageshiftperiod: The speed at which images will change during the interval.

Imagefadein: Controls how quickly images fade in.

EndPauseLength: The length of time the pause lasts at the end of the interval.

Interval Editor Window:Input fields for each of the interval parameters (Tempo, BeatTightness, EndTempo, etc.). Add Interval Button: Creates an interval based on the current input and adds it to the interval list. Suggest

Random Values Button: Generates random values for the parameters, which can then be added as a new interval. Range-Based Interval Creation: Enter two values for each and all parameter (in an "x-x" format) to generate random intervals within that range. Interval List: Displays all created intervals as cards.

Card Swap: You can swap the order of two intervals in the list by clicking on their cards.

Delete Last Interval: Removes the most recently added interval card from the list.

Sequence Creation & Management:

Sequence: The collection of intervals you’ve created. You can give it a name, save it, load it, or delete it. Once you’re happy with your sequence, you can start it by pressing the Start Button.

Sequence Start: The interface allows for fullscreen mode once the sequence starts. A small blinker will appear in the bottom right corner, showing the current BPM. The color of the blinker changes based on the rhythm:

Green: Downstroke

Red: Upstroke

Black: after-stroke pause

Inter-Sequence Notifications: before each interval ends, a 5-second message will fade in, showing the tempo, tightness, and beat pattern of the next sequence. If there’s an intermittent pause, the screen will fade to black, and text will instruct the user to breathe, relax, and wait for the pause duration.

Image Display & Album Integration:During the intervals, images from the selected album will fade in. The image transition speed is controlled by the Imagefadein parameter. Images will shift at the speed defined by Imageshiftperiod.

Album Selection: You can change the selected album at any time during the sequence. The next image will fade in from the newly selected album once it’s changed.

Timing & Pause Features:

End Pause: At the end of the interval , a pause will occur. If the inteval has an end pause, the screen will fade to black and instruct the user to breathe and wait. The countdown will guide the user through the pause.

Infinite Inteval: The last interval of the sequence will stretch infinitely until the user stops the sequence. Every 300 seconds (or configurable time), a warning will notify the user that the sequence is ongoing.

Overall User Experience:Interactive and rhythm-driven experience, combining beats, tempos, and visuals from the album. Ability to customize and randomize beats, tempos, and image transitions, creating a personalized rhythmic experience. Seamless transitions between intervals and a clean user interface that helps focus on the rhythm while enjoying the accompanying imagery. for a bit more detailed explanation consult the help menu in each section

Once Again i state that these parts can access adult image boards thus the app is now considered NSFW and ADULTS ONLY because of these additions

[wyllzel]

Avisynth Basics - Resizing and Sharpening for Gifs

Prerequisites

Avisynth (Wikipedia)

How to Use Avisynth For Gif Making by MichieTuts

Installing Avisynth by brandinator

Tumblr Dashboard Image Display Sizes by Unwrapping Tumblr

This post details my process for using Avisynth to resize a video file. The video file can then be edited and converted to a gif.

I learned how to use Avisynth through the posts linked above. I highly recommend reading through them; they're very detailed and easy to follow. By comparison, this is a basic guide as it only offers one method for using Avisynth.

In this post, I cover the following:

Why use Avisynth?

Using Avisynth to resize a video clip

This post assumes that you've already installed Avisynth.

💡 Why use Avisynth?

Avisynth is a frameserver that takes a video file as input and resizes it for editing. The width of a Tumblr post is 540 pixels (px); with Avisynth, we can resize video files so that they fit that criteria. (For context, a 1080p (HD) YouTube video is 1920 x 1080 px.)

While Photoshop is able to resize images (Image > Image Size), it's not as accurate as Avisynth is.

Here are two gifs that have been resized through different software:

The difference is subtle, but the left gif (Avisynth) appears more detailed to me!

However, please note that I didn't run any Photoshop sharpening on the right gif. When learning how to resize and sharpen gifs in Photoshop, I followed rubyredwisp's Gif Sharpening Tutorial.

🎥 Using Avisynth to resize a video clip

The following steps detail how I use Avisynth to resize videos. The final product, an .avi file, can be imported into your editor (eg. Photoshop) and edited there.

① Choose a video file that you'd like to gif.

For the purpose of this tutorial, I work with a screenrecording that I took of Dragon Age 2.

② Navigate to your Avisynth folder and locate the normalwebmrange script.

This may differ depending on how you installed Avisynth, but my Avisynth folder is located at \This PC\Windows (:C)\video.

normalwebmrange is a Windows batch file (.bat). I use this particular script because it allows you to clip out a few seconds of the video by specifying the start and end timestamps. These timestamps specify the video clip that will become your gif(s).

I recommend working with video clips that are 4-8 seconds long.

ⓘ This means that you may need to load your video file back into normalwebmrange to make a gif in a new timestamp range. While inconvenient, I recommend working with smaller video clips so that you're asking Avisynth to process multiple small videos rather than one large video. A larger video is more likely to crash the software.

③ Load the video file into normalwebmrange.

To do so, select and drag your video file into normalwebmrange.

④ Enter the timestamps of the portion of the video you want to clip out.

A pop-up window will appear that asks you for the "starting time in hh:mm:ss format."

For this example, I want my gif to start at about 3 minutes and 13 seconds into my video file. My start timestamp is therefore 00:03:13.

Enter this information, then hit the Enter key.

Next, enter the "ending time in hh:mm:ss format." (For this example, my end timestamp is 00:03:21.) Hit the Enter key.

normalwebmrange will then generate a bunch of log lines. After, it will automatically open two things:

A tab in your computer's default web browser.

An Avisynth window.

⑤ Specify the resizing details for your gif.

Navigate to the browser tab that normalwebmrange opened. There are several fields for you to fill out here.

GIF Size - This is the width and height of your gif. For more details on Tumblr post sizes, see Tumblr Dashboard Image Display Sizes. After filling this out, you may have to adjust your video clip in the preview box (below the white textbox).

Opacity - Leave this value at 100.

Preprocessor - I always use qtgmc 30 slow for the framerate and debilinear sharpening. "30" refers to how many frames per second (fps) you want your gif to display; I find that the alternative, 60 fps, is overkill for Tumblr gifs. "Slow" means that Avisynth will take longer to process your video, but this results in better quality.

Extra Sharpening - I don't use this field, but feel free to experiment!

After filling out all of the fields, copy all of the text in the white textbox.

⑥ Enter the resizing information in Avisynth.

Navigate to the Avisynth window that normalwebmrange opened.

Paste the text you just copied on line 17:

Your Avisynth window should now look something like this:

Select File > Save Script.

Close the Avisynth window.

This automatically launches another Avisynth window called VirtualDub. Here, you can watch Avisynth resize and sharpen your video clip in real time!

Once the VirtualDub window automatically closes, you'll know that your video clip has been fully processed and is now ready for editing.

? Where did my video clip save to? If you go back to your Avisynth folder (\This PC\Windows (:C)\video), open the \temp folder. The .avi file named "video" is your resized and sharpened video clip!

[xo-adeline]

Match-up Exchange for @kittywhoo

Backstory / Blue Lock Role

Anri most likely scouted you after she had witnessed a game and was able to see your abilities when it came to playing goalkeeper. There probably was a minor issue just in the sense that Blue Lock was about creating the world's best striker but, football is played with a team of 11 and what’s that team without an amazing goalkeeper. On top of all that, they were most likely more intrigued due to your ability to analyze your opponents and predict what they are going to do. Along with that you already having a background in being bilingual, even if it is just a minor understanding!

Team

I believe due to your understanding of how to read people and being able to predict movements would land you on Italy’s Ubers. The team that focuses on strategy and teamwork, which I believe you could fall well into. Being able to use your abilities to help out your teammates to help score a goal, even if you’re on the other side of the field while they make it. Although, since they are a more centered defense team having a good goalie is exactly what they need, and you being one of the only ones scouted into Blue Lock for that would be the best thing for them!

Abilities ⋆°• ☁︎ - Predictions, and Peripheral Vision

Being able to predict what an opponent is going to do is something that would be super helpful, especially if you find yourself as a goalie, that last line of defense before somebody could score a goal. The team is nothing but appreciative for all the times you had a save that kept them in the game.

Peripheral Vision might not be as used as predictions as most people will take a goal from straight on, but in the sense that they don’t that will be something that will come very in handy. Being able to see somebody next to you, more than other people. It will also be very good when you do end up playing on-field defense and being able to see through the other teams formation and being able to see where the ball is going without actually having to fully look at it.

Ego Color - Light Blue

Romantic - Rin Itoshi

I think you two would be so adorable together! You already talked about wanting to have somebody Loyal and emotionally mature, and even though he has some issues with his brother I think he would be a little different with his partner. Even if he doesn’t seem like the kind to like shopping, he would put that aside for you and just kinda follow you around while you found stores that you liked. Rin is definitely an acts of service guy, and when he started to get more comfortable I think that it might not be so often but he would tell you words of affirmation. I could see Rin being that person who will spend all the time necessary with you, even if it means making you stay later at the mall, or walking you home even if it’s in the opposite direction of his house. The words of affirmation come up a while later, a ‘I love you’ here and there when he thinks it’s a nice time, and will attempt to be nicer to you, even if it’s sometimes a struggle for him. The only thing I can see him doing that might not be that amazing, is being a little picky with you about staying on your phone, though he does get it sometimes, and if he knows that maybe you were really busy that day and just want some time then he won’t try to get you off it, but if you’ve been doing it for too long, he will try to get you off of it and make you spend time with him, weather you’re just kinda walking around, or he’s doing skin care with you.

Friends - Michael Kaiser, and Shidou Ryusei

Michael Kaiser This man has those philosophical views and I think that once you two actually met, even though he was a little bit of an asshole since you were on a different team, he would be more willing to share them and have deeper conversations about them and ask about your input on things like that Would also like Hair care, we’ve already seen in the manga that he has Ness do his hair, but I can also see him being into hair care just because of the blue and him trying to keep it looking nice and the color to stay around as long as possible Would also help you with your German, would he also tease you in the process? Hell yes, but is it worth it in the end since you start understanding it more and more, also yes I could see him being a little bit like Rin and trying to get you off your phone and to hang out with him a little bit, but at the same time he also likes that comfortable silence with his friends and he wouldn’t mind as long as he could kinda just be in the same room as you when hanging out

Shidou Ryusei

The amount of fanarts I’ve seen with this man and skin care, makes me want to believe that he would be into skin care, even if it is just a little bit. Would he be normal about it, hell no. But at the same time, he wouldn’t mind doing it with you as a little friendly activity Also into art and would have those little get togethers when you could and have little art competitions, or just being around each other to bounce ideas when you are going through artist block Doesn’t really understand hair care, especially with the amount of gel that the guy probably uses, but would try it out since he knows that it’s kinda close to skin care, would only do it if he saw you doing it though, and only around you. Also, I could see him being an avid phone scroller as well, would send you all the memes and stuff even if you’re sitting across the room from him

Who has a crush - Chigiri Hyoma

The puppy crush this man had on you was insane. He kept it to himself pretty well that he liked you since the start of Blue Lock, when he was able to realize your abilities and make yourself a very useful asset to any team that you might have been on. The only issue is by the time that he was gonna ask you out in the NEL you had already started dating Rin when he asked you out at the end of the U-20 match when you were able to go home for those few days. Chigiri was pretty upset, but since you were already friends he was still able to see you and be around you, even if it wasn’t in the way that he wanted. You two had become friends a while back when you first met on team Red. Not really talking much until you had asked about his hair, and ended up bonding over hair care and skin care, which you two ended up doing on occasions after that all while talking about how placements and stuff were going inside blue lock, and things like that!

Parental Figure - Marc Snuffy

Since you’re already on his team it’s that much easier for you to establish a good relationship with him I could see him first noticing you due to you being one of the only goalkeepers that was placed in Blue Lock because of that, but also learning more about you later on, whether it was because you have more knowledge in others due to languages or with your abilities Would try to help you out in any situation that you would have needed, but also trying to help you out by learning even another language Is really understanding and when you have you’re mood shifts then he would try his best to not anger you anymore and try to get you out of them to his best ability, but he knows that you always will anyway Overall just a really caring guy who wants to see the best for you, and will almost always be there for you if you need somebody to talk to or anything

[whohasfourthumbsand]

+ Hail from R&D!

+ HELLO, AGAIN! After recent events and a long-overdue transfer, I am proud to announce that I am no-longer working with IPS-N; As of posting, I've officially become the youngest recruit of MSMC's 148th detachment, "Aftermarket Brokers"! My current position is mostly field testing and prototype development, but my specialization remains the same.

+ I am a biomedical engineer studying prosthesis, pilot accomodations, and cybernetic/subaltern maintenance. Over the months of running this Omninet account, I've answered dozens of questions about implant upkeep, cybernetic design, mech repair, and more- I won't pretend to be an expert on anything, but my cybernetic arms are my own design, as are the modifications to my VLAD, "GRAE". For now, most of my experience comes from my time studying on Carina, or operating under IPS-N contract- + Now that I can choose what I want to do, I hardly know what to do with myself--

+ As always, reach out any time with questions on cybernetic, subaltern, or prosthetic care!

( Original pinned post! ) (TAG INDEX) + Untitled.MP4 - Lore-related dialogue pieces, formatted in a way that scratches my brain. + GRAE Speaks - Input from TR-GRAE/posts not written by Gray. + Every Pilot Has Two Names - Lore posts related to Gray's primary arc. + Portfolio - Posts that are in Gray's canonical portfolio.

// (@tigersharko) ooc every long post with gray ends up sounding like a resume cover letter- it's just how he talks (and partially how i type)- // updating gray's pinned post after his redesign/transfer, it's interesting to see how the character has grown thusfar!! he's turning 20 pretty soon actually (november 20th) !!!

[alchemicaldesignquery]

Overwatch Design: Hazard

It's been a while.

Now that the 6v6 test is slowly winding down (a month and a bit of solid testing and queue times is more than I expected to get in, honestly) and the Dev team is looking toward the next iterations (Moth Meta Classic and Min 1/Max 3, both of which are going to be less ideal versions of the format), I thought it prudent to go into another deep dive about the most recent hero release, and lemme just say-

This fuckin' guy.

There is a lot to like about Hazard; predictable mobility (A Winston jump + fair Doomfist rocket punch) , limited kit application (Bone Spurs + Not-ridiculous Dmg Reduction), space making (all of the above) and with some quirky weaknesses (Wall climb's odd slow down at the tail end is perfect for sleeps/knifes/walling). Overall, a really strong foundation with few/fixable adjustment zones.

And then there's the God. Damn. Wall.

Look, I enjoy Tank. It's been my main since jump, back when I mistakenly thought Mei's Wall was as good as a barrier and kept blocking my team off from being killed and allowingtheenemytohealbehindmywallandcontesttheobjectiveforfree-

(I was a Reinhardt main and didn't know it yet)

So it stands to reason I'm going to be a bit more harsh about my Tank critiques in design. Albeit, the recent slew of Tank releases has also been a bit concerning across the board, but that's another discussion- especially given most of Hazard's kit is very solid with plenty of potential.

But I cannot stress enough how bad it is to provide a front line presence, who is going to be spending the majority of their time not glancing back at their teammates to see what they are doing?

A totem mechanic with collision.

There is a very very very good reason why Mei is not a Tank.

Because if you thought getting walled off from shooting the enemy was bad, having your sightline artificially blocked so you can't heal, help, move, or adjust due to the same is worse. Significantly more so when it's your own teammate (even if unintentionally 99% of the time) doing it.

Where you go, I can't follow

"Drop the Wall!"

Totems are mechanics that can be deployed to produce various effects in the game. Some examples:

Baptiste's Immortality Field

Illari's Pylon

Soldier's Biotic Field (technically)

Symmetra's Teleporter/Turrets

Barriers

Most of these function quite well, with some allowing for destruction, and thus, interactivity between heroes. Totems play an important role in design, allowing for the detachment of some of a Hero's kit potential, into a separate component; an avatar representative of some of their potency, at the cost of a more simplified (and counterable) interaction or-

Totems can be destroyed, blocked, avoided, or misplaced depending heavily on player interaction and input

But when a Totem possesses collision, the stakes increase to a rather significant degree; there is no longer room for error, as the totem's very existence represents both resistance and obstacle to everyone in the match.

This isn't to say Collision Totems can't be done well?

Mei's Ice Block, for instance, is a fairly balanced and well executed example. The context here is that Mei converts herself into the Totem, removing the potential for the rest of her kit in favour of achieving a more resilient state. That transformation comes at such a significant cost, that the scenarios in which it is useful are isolated, even niche. This gives the ability Texture in a way many other mechanics in the game can't hope to achieve.

And Mei's Ice Block can still severely hamper her own teammates.

Collision Totems need to be handled carefully and the why of it all comes down to a sticky topic where Player Input (or Skill if you want the gameplay translation) is concerned: Precision.

A player's ability to be precise is a huge measure of Player Input, allowing for fantastic gameplay moments, highlights, and unmistakable expressions anyone can recognize-

-but when mechanics like Collision Totems are highly dependent on precision to achieve even nominal success?

You've gone and created a situation in which even just learning the hero, is going to frustrate players. Learning is, by nature, imprecise and the road to minimizing how detrimental your gameplay is on your teammates is going to build an unnecessary level of frustration onto the hero.

There's a reason people referred to Mei as Satan in Overwatch 1.

Broad MMR is filled with people learning; not just the hero they are playing, but heroes they are playing against, and with as well. To climb in ranks, MMR, or just Player Input, you will make a lot of mistakes.

In a game like Overwatch, with a boatload of variance at every level, that learning could take (has taken for many of us) years.

Hazard's Wall represents, not just a Collision Totem, in the same sense as Mei's own Ice Wall, but a super-amped up version of it that multiplies the frustration for all.

I really hate that Mole Hill

It isn't as big as Mei Wall. It isn't as imposing as Mei Wall. It isn't as confusing as Mei Wall (multiple pillars each with their own health pools but no distinct visual effect to represent this before being damaged)-

-but hooooo boy howdy does it do a lot more than Mei Wall ever could!

Persistant knockback on contact

Burst Damage on contact

Anti Mobility on contact (no wall climb)

Omni-placement (not land-locked)

And that's in addition to the standard blockading effects of a Mei Wall. As a Totem, Jagged Wall provides far more impact when on the battlefield against enemies, to the point it can be considered as useful and engaging as a Torb turret, which is to say-

Jagged Wall's effects are broad enough in application that it must be considered in every teamfight at the same level of detriment as powerfully automated totems like Immortality Field and Turrets

Trying to operate outside of that paradigm, makes it very difficult to navigate a teamfight (especially from a Divey Tank with mobility to boot) given it can appear very suddenly to ruin plans, engagements, and retreats.

But that...was sort of the design goal. It's frustrating playing Tank and having an inanimate object counter large portions of your kit, but we've got experience with that. It's a familiar frustration at least.

It's when the Hazard is out ahead or mixing it up with the enemy (as one does when Tanking) and you are attempting any of the following as his teammate:

Healing (him or your fellow teammates diving with him)

Supporting (discords, immo fields, suzus, life grips, etc.)

Tanking (6v6 format makes duo with him a significant gamble)

Finishing off low enemies

Sniping

Trying to navigate narrow corridors or tight confines

Free movement/Mobility in a teamfight

That "appear very suddenly to ruin plans, engagements, and retreats" becomes an unacceptable level of frustration in the design.

A Collision Totem appears, decreeing that the engagement has now changed and/or ended, not because the Hazard was purposefully trying to end it, but because the Wall appeared and blocked off LoS for any number of the possibilities listed above.

Wall takes the agency of your teammates and puts it as a secondary priority to a Tank who cannot afford to look around and take into account the dozens of ways in which his teammates might be trying to leverage their own mechanics, kits, and Roles, to achieve success.

A Hazard is more likely (and well within expectation) to Wall himself off from an enemy trying to kill him when he's low, than rely on the healing from his teammates. It just so happens to, inadvertently, interfere with many of the other possible plans his teammates might have had for engagement purposes.

And, to reiterate, this is less of a problem (but still one) the higher in 'Skill' or Rank one gets, but learning takes time and mistakes happen while you learn, which is a far far closer experience to the vast majority of the Overwatch Playerbase. The fact it's going to cost your teammates their own opportunities too is what makes it bad design.

So what can be done?

Honestly, removing the Wall entirely could yield some really positive results.

I know it's a unique mechanic for the Tank Role (even if not for the game itself), but the isolated potential wrapped up in that Totem could be repurposed towards large portions of his kit, expanding both his mobility, engagement potential, and Texture to make him an ideal Tank.

Without Wall, there's room to increase Violent Leap's versatility, both in the initial Leap as well as the Slash (both of which are separate activations). Increasing his ability to change directions or linger in the air between the two stages of the ability, could significantly refine his engagement potential, while allowing for a stronger knockback the longer he lingers between each stage (and maintaining the counter element of it) or activating Spike Guard briefly to absorb enemy CDs/Burst hits before the slash.

His Wall Climb as well, would benefit from a versatility and potency boost; losing the wall means losing the awkward use of climbing it to reach higher ground...which feels like a waste of the ability where other Tanks with similar mobility can achieve most high grounds just fine off a single CD.

Allowing him to perch on vertical surfaces, or gain further height at the cost of climbing slower, or even resetting the first stage of his Violent Leap at the apex of the climb would all be beneficial to his gameplay.

Give his Spike Guard knockback, for isolation and space-making potential. Heck, allow Spike Guard to add temporary increased Knockback for up to 2s if it damages an enemy.

Give his Ultimate a little extra root time.

Allow Bonespurs to persist on the field for upto 1-2s (this....might be too much for the engine to take, but the idea is still solid theory).

All of it is plausible and clarifies his uniqueness as a Tank-

-if you just. Get Rid. Of the Damned. Wall.

Overall, it's superfluous to the rest of his kit, with very little kit cohesion and can be removed without impacting the rest of his gameplay much at all. It's a bit of bloat that is very easily snipped off in favour of cleaner, adjustable changes that make his gameplay more unique.

And you also get rid of the overly frustrating elements that were never meant to go on a Tank to begin with.

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 17, 2025

A spatial code for temporal information is necessary for efficient sensory learning. Bagur, S., Bourg, J., Kempf, A., Tarpin, T., Bergaoui, K., Guo, Y., Ceballo, S., Schwenkgrub, J., Verdier, A., Puel, J. L., Bourien, J., & Bathellier, B. (2025). Science Advances, 11(2).

Beyond nature, nurture, and chance: Individual agency shapes divergent learning biographies and brain connectome. Barde, W., Renner, J., Emery, B., Khanzada, S., Hu, X., Garthe, A., Rünker, A. E., Amin, H., & Kempermann, G. (2025). Science Advances, 11(2).

Dynamics of specialization in neural modules under resource constraints. Béna, G., & Goodman, D. F. M. (2025). Nature Communications, 16, 187.

Discretized representations in V1 predict suboptimal orientation discrimination. Corbo, J., Erkat, O. B., McClure, J., Khdour, H., & Polack, P.-O. (2025). Nature Communications, 16, 41.

Cortical direction selectivity increases from the input to the output layers of visual cortex. Dai, W., Wang, T., Li, Y., Yang, Y., Zhang, Y., Wu, Y., Zhou, T., Yu, H., Li, L., Wang, Y., Wang, G., & Xing, D. (2025). PLOS Biology, 23(1), e3002947.

An Eccentricity Gradient Reversal across High-Level Visual Cortex. Daniel-Hertz, E., Yao, J. K., Gregorek, S., Hoyos, P. M., & Gomez, J. (2025). Journal of Neuroscience, 45(2), e0809242024.

Dissociable control of motivation and reinforcement by distinct ventral striatal dopamine receptors. Enriquez-Traba, J., Arenivar, M., Yarur-Castillo, H. E., Noh, C., Flores, R. J., Weil, T., Roy, S., Usdin, T. B., LaGamma, C. T., Wang, H., Tsai, V. S., Kerspern, D., Moritz, A. E., Sibley, D. R., Lutas, A., Moratalla, R., Freyberg, Z., & Tejeda, H. A. (2025). Nature Neuroscience, 28(1), 105–121.

Nitric oxide modulates contrast suppression in a subset of mouse retinal ganglion cells. Gonschorek, D., Goldin, M. A., Oesterle, J., Schwerd-Kleine, T., Arlinghaus, R., Zhao, Z., Schubert, T., Marre, O., & Euler, T. (2025). eLife, 13, e98742.3.

Nonlinear receptive fields evoke redundant retinal coding of natural scenes. Karamanlis, D., Khani, M. H., Schreyer, H. M., Zapp, S. J., Mietsch, M., & Gollisch, T. (2025). Nature, 637(8045), 394–401.

Neural evidence of functional compensation for fluid intelligence in healthy ageing. Knights, E., Henson, R. N., Morcom, A., Mitchell, D. J., & Tsvetanov, K. A. (2025). eLife, 13, e93327.3.

Valence and salience encoding in the central amygdala. Kong, M.-S., Ancell, E., Witten, D. M., & Zweifel, L. S. (2025). eLife, 13, e101980.3.

Neuroethology of natural actions in freely moving monkeys. Lanzarini, F., Maranesi, M., Rondoni, E. H., Albertini, D., Ferretti, E., Lanzilotto, M., Micera, S., Mazzoni, A., & Bonini, L. (2025). Science, 387(6730), 214–220.

Plasticity of human resilience mechanisms. Leone, G., Casanave, H., Postel, C., Fraisse, F., Vallée, T., de La Sayette, V., Dayan, J., Peschanski, D., Eustache, F., & Gagnepain, P. (2025). Science Advances, 11(2).

The cognitive critical brain: Modulation of criticality in perception-related cortical regions. Liu, X., Fei, X., & Liu, J. (2025). NeuroImage, 305, 120964.

Color and Spatial Frequency Provide Functional Signatures of Retinotopic Visual Areas. Loggia, S. R., Duffield, S. J., Braunlich, K., & Conway, B. R. (2025). Journal of Neuroscience, 45(2), e1673232024.

Subthreshold repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation induces cortical layer–, brain region–, and protocol-dependent neural plasticity. Ong, R. C. S., & Tang, A. D. (2025). Science Advances, 11(2).

Formation of long-term memory without short-term memory revealed by CaMKII inhibition. Shin, M. E., Parra-Bueno, P., & Yasuda, R. (2025). Nature Neuroscience, 28(1), 35–39.

The NeuroML ecosystem for standardized multi-scale modeling in neuroscience. Sinha, A., Gleeson, P., Marin, B., Dura-Bernal, S., Panagiotou, S., Crook, S., Cantarelli, M., Cannon, R. C., Davison, A. P., Gurnani, H., & Silver, R. A. (2025). eLife, 13, e95135.3.

Distinct Inhibitory Neurons Differently Shape Neuronal Codes for Sound Intensity in the Auditory Cortex. Tobin, M., Sheth, J., Wood, K. C., Michel, E. K., & Geffen, M. N. (2025). Journal of Neuroscience, 45(2), e1502232024.

Learning-associated astrocyte ensembles regulate memory recall. Williamson, M. R., Kwon, W., Woo, J., Ko, Y., Maleki, E., Yu, K., Murali, S., Sardar, D., & Deneen, B. (2025). Nature, 637(8045), 478–486.

[no-stupid-questions-official]

Hello! I’m looking to pay someone to put together a Minecraft modpack for my partner and I. Where can I go that is best suited for finding someone to do this? More detailed information below:

I’ve organized a list of the mods I am interested in in a spreadsheet noting the following information:

- Name

- Creator

- Type (mod, resource pack, etc.)

- Available Format (Forge, Fabric, both, etc.)

- Most Recent Version Compatibility (ex. 1.21.4)

- Category (ex. World Gen)

- Subcategory (ex. Structures)

- Link

- Description (a few sentences copied and pasted from the page)

The total list contains about 370 items, but many are duplicate versions in different formats. If I were to only use Fabric items, there would be about 210 available, and if I were to use Forge items, there would be about 310 available. I would really like to find a way to use both Fabric and Forge items if possible as there are many mods I am extremely interested in that do not have alternative formats. Additionally, this list comprises every mod I could find that I thought we would be interested in. I am sure several mods may be redundant or some may be incompatible, but I have virtually zero experience working with mods and modpacks so I am uncertain as to which ones would be categorized as such. I can update the list to reflect prioritized preferences if that is helpful, but I would also appreciate any advice or input you may have on which ones to keep or others you could suggest. I also tried to include required compatibility mods as I worked through each item but may have missed some.

Through the power of ADHD hyperfixation I was able to put this list together, but my schedule is generally incredibly full from school and work. I will be unlikely to have the time or energy to learn the coding necessary to put a well-functioning modpack together. Besides, if I’m going to learn any coding, I’m going to learn Python as that is most applicable for my field.

As such, I’m really hoping to find someone with knowledge or experience in Minecraft modding and modpack development to work on the project for me, and I am more than happy and able to pay for it.

We can discuss rates privately as I am unfamiliar with the time commitment associated with these kinds of projects, but please trust that I intend to pay fairly and generously! This is a huge help for me and I deeply appreciate your time and dedication in your work.

Please reach out if you are interested! I am most available to discuss in the late afternoon or evening (Central Time).

TL;DR Where can I find someone I can pay to develop a modpack for Minecraft?

-

[limeleviathan]

Pixel Cat's End Bean Calculator

As a few of you may be aware (also I have pinged those who expressed interest in the first post btw) I have created a calculator that takes the genetic strings of two not-cats, along with some filters, and returns EVERY. POSSIBLE. BEAN. along with its corresponding probability! It also displays the total probability of matching all input traits.

The link to the file is here. (Current version: 1.0)

In order to use it, you will need a python interpreter (there are plenty of guides for that online, it shouldn't be hard to do) along with a program to run it in. I chose and recommend Visual Studio Code. Again, there are plenty of guides for python and VS Code.

At the top of the file, there are some settings that you can change, including fonts and colours, with the formats needed for those settings next to them. You can change those whenever, but be warned that changing font size may result in the window being weirdly sized.

Basically, to use it, you just run the code, input the full genetic strings (if growth or accent are unknown, put [??] in its place) of a North/Trade cat and a South/Trade cat in their respective fields, select the traits you want to see, and click the Big Red Button™. From there, you can see every possible bean, its chance, and at the bottom will be the chance of a bean matching your selected traits.

Note that for recessives (for example longhair), carrying the trait and not carrying it are two separate fields (short and short (carries long)). If you want the overall chance for shorthair, you would add the chances for short and short (carries long).

There is a button at the bottom for if there are any bugs that you have found, along with some troubleshooting steps to fix them.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

Those who expressed interest earlier: @fr-thrice @tvthetv

[rollfordexterity]

wrote a statement fic in transcript format that takes place in The Entwined Archives, a tma au that myself and the wonderful @simcardiac-arrested came up with! the characters featured are their ocs and can be found on the askblog @dj-wayback. this au obviously is not canon compliant to the original askblog (and no, it's not really canon compliant to tma either, but there are a few minor spoilers). big spoilers for cream's askblog though. fic is under the cut, trigger warnings are listed below

List of content warnings: abuse, graphic animal abuse, animal experimentation, dehumanisation, unethical science, overworking and burnout, hallucinations, dissociation, migraines, shock (medical), burning, descriptions of death by immolation, toxic workplace environment, canon-typical Buried and Desolation content, slightly implied cannibalism (kinda), emetophobia, suffocation, gore, blood, memory loss

Stress Testing

INT. NEEDLESS SEPARATION’S SMALL FLAT - NIGHT, RAINING (TAPE RECORDER)

NEEDLESS SEPARATION

(slightly frantic, almost whispered) …Is this working? Good. I need to - I just - I have to record this somehow. I need to be sure of this. There’s something wrong, it’s all missing, I am all missing, and if I do not say this now it might go missing too. I don’t know what happened but it’s all gone.

[BEAT. THEY TAKE A MOMENT TO COMPOSE THEMSELF.]

I… my apologies. These are not the ramblings of a drunkard or a child with an overactive imagination, I swear it. My memory of these events is lacking, I will admit, but I know that something happened, even if I cannot prove it. I was perfectly healthy before, I would not just hallucinate this, no matter what the doctors may believe.

I should start at the beginning. This started… up to six months ago, I believe. Possibly longer. My sense of time is quite distorted now. At the time, I was fresh out of school, having just completed my Masters in Theoretical Physics. It was a competitive field, but I did eventually manage to find a position as a research assistant with the company Transcendent Life Labs. The job description was a little vague, but I applied anyway, and after an unexpectedly short interview process I was hired. It was mostly the standard interview fare, about work ethic and prioritisation, strengths and weaknesses, et cetera, but there were a number of more personal questions. Asking about my social life, my hobbies, that sort of thing. It did strike me as a little odd, but some workplaces do have a more casual atmosphere.

The supervisor I was assigned to was an accomplished scientist named Finite Waves. My position as their assistant meant that I worked directly with them at an isolated research facility for some time. There was barely anything for miles around and no roads, so I had to stay at the facility in a small room. I had few personal effects, but I did not mind so much given that I did not spend much time there anyway. As we were located quite far out, the lab’s surroundings were surprisingly untouched by people and I faintly recall thinking it was quite beautiful. The other researchers were generally affable, though I rarely interacted with them. Admittedly, the cafeteria food was... lacking, and usually a little burnt, but it was altogether not an unpleasant environment at first.

Finite Waves’ research was about critical phenomena in natural sciences. Critical points are a concept originally from thermodynamics: the point at which a liquid and a vapour can coexist. If you increase the pressure, the equilibrium is broken and the vapour will condense to a liquid. A simple comparison might be that friction can build up at a tectonic fault until it has to give, resulting in earthquakes. There is an idea in criticality that the brain might operate in a similar way in order to make itself more sensitive to certain inputs and stimuli, but prevents itself from completely reaching the critical point. Finite Waves wanted to study how the brain might be pushed past that critical point, how a complete and irreversible change might be induced.

Admittedly, this was not my area of expertise: I am a specialist in quantum mechanics and when I accepted the job offer I had assumed I would be assigned to a department where they were actually doing that. I certainly wasn’t expecting neuroscience. Then again, I do not recall my interviewer actually asking what I had studied. Nor can I remember, well, anything else about them. At the time, I simply accepted that I was lucky to have found a job, and that I should treat this as a learning experience. So in the weeks before my employment was due to begin, I read everything I could find on the subject. I was quite tired by the end, but I concluded that I had a reasonable base of knowledge and if I was missing something I could find out more later.

It turned out to be gruelling, tedious work, but I have always been an efficient researcher and in the beginning I even completed some tasks with time to spare. I used to carry a small sketchbook with me, an old, battered thing I’d used so much that one half of the cover was practically hanging off it, so once my work was finished I would take a break and spend some time drawing. At the time, I reasoned that this was perfectly acceptable — there was no work left, so it would not matter if I was doing this during my lab hours. It helped to alleviate some of the stress of the job, in any case. Finite Waves walked in while I was drawing once, and although he did not reprimand me for it, the look of disapproval he gave me was enough that I was sure to keep the sketchbook in my desk when I was not using it and I became more wary about listening for their footsteps when I was on a break.

However, as the… weeks? Months? As I said, I cannot remember how long I was there — as time passed, Finite Waves increased my workload, and I found that I had far less time for breaks. I started staying in the labs after hours, writing report after report. I was also assigned various tests to run, but they were exceedingly strange. Essentially, I was performing materials testing, looking for the aforementioned critical point at which various items were supposed to “change”. The methodology was somewhat unique, however.

To begin with, I could not understand why I was being given materials like the toys and shelters from the animal specimens’ pens, and it seemed like a waste since the tests I was being asked to run usually damaged or destroyed them. It always felt like I was killing them when that happened, though I could not explain why. They were just objects. Half of the equipment I was using looked like it would be better suited to an abattoir and the other half involved using natural materials to test factors like environmental degradation. On one memorable occasion, I had a small tub of swirling molten golden fluid that completely dissolved the chewed wicker toy I was testing. Finite Waves was in high spirits that day.

It was also unclear what results I was meant to be looking for — I am certain there was a reason for it, but perhaps I have forgotten it.

Finite Waves seemed quite certain about it though. I wondered if the methodology had been approved by an ethics board, especially given the… ah, conditions of the animals. While I was not testing anything on them directly, their health often worsened significantly with the removal of such items and they were not kept together despite being a social species. Many did not even have bedding in their cages. Their keeping and observation was not part of my responsibilities; Finite Waves observed them instead and I believe he was running some other tests that I was not involved in, but I know the creatures were pushed completely to the edge of stability. I certainly noticed symptoms such as fur loss, lack of appetite and sudden bouts of aggression on the few occasions that I had to enter the containment room.

As the project wore on, Finite Waves seemed more on edge, and I will admit his behaviour was disconcerting. Sometimes I would see him performing a dissection on one of those unfortunate specimens after hours, usually a rabbit. He always seemed… slow. Methodical and drawn out, in the way that one might savour a delicious meal. I never saw him smile, but I got the sense that he relished it nonetheless. No one else seemed particularly perturbed by this, so I chose to ignore it for the time being. You meet plenty of eccentrics in this field after all, and while it was a little sickening at times I could hardly ask him about it. Not when I felt as if when he looked at me, he was simply performing another dissection.

The work was exhausting. I did question it at times; what I was doing had moved far beyond the scope of the simple theoretical physics research I had expected, and likely had little to do with proper neuroscience as well. Finite Waves tended to keep me too busy to think about it much, though. I have never been one to shy away from work, but it was far more than I had ever had to do, even during my degree. Soon, I began losing track of time. I would begin a report at two, and come to my senses well into the night with no idea how long I had been sitting there and a splitting migraine that felt as if my head would melt from the pain. More than once, I forgot what day it was, and simply kept going through the motions in a fugue state with black spots at the edges of my vision. Other times, I would bury myself in work with feverish dedication, only to finally finish a report and instantly be overcome with a wave of burning pain. On the rare occasion that I ventured to the cafeteria, I found that everything I ate was bitter and chalky, more ash than food. Curiously, there never seemed to be anyone in there. I assumed it was simply that my hours were odd, and I could hardly focus on the minutiae like that. My mouth was always dry and I could barely stand. The few nights I spent in bed were sleepless, as I spent the entire time curled up with a fan activated to try and cool my searing skin and head. Working could usually distract me from it, though, or at least I felt that it was better to be in pain and doing something rather than sitting around in agony and accomplishing nothing, so I resorted to staying hunched over stacks of meaningless paperwork. My sketchbook went all but forgotten in the drawer of my desk.

I do not know how long this continued. The calendars in the facility blurred into the background until eventually they were gone altogether. Clocks seemed to melt when I looked at them, although this was likely because of the exhaustion impairing my vision and the blistering sensation behind my eyes. My senses constantly rebelled against me; every light was near-blinding, every footstep sounded like a scream. I went days without seeing anyone except for Finite Waves. Longer, maybe. It often felt as if the facility was entirely empty.

Eventually, this came to a head. The irony that I recall this part fairly well is not lost on me. It was one of the few brief moments of clarity I had. I think I could tell that something was off that night.

It was long past dark, so myself and Finite Waves were the only ones still in the main facility. For once, he had requested that I be present for one of his experiments. Although I’m sure I had worked there for some considerable time, it was highly unusual that I was there for any of his testing when it came to the animals themselves. When I entered the laboratory, I immediately noticed the bizarre setup. There was a rabbit with a couple of nodes attached to its head locked in a cage on the central table, frantically trying to dig. It looked at me for a moment, wide-eyed and piercing. Like it knew me. It was so emaciated I barely recognised it as an animal at first, all shivering skin and bones and eyes.

I wanted to run. I should have run. But Finite Waves stared at me and I felt rooted to the spot.

As I approached the table, the rabbit began digging again. Just digging. It scrabbled at the surface of the table as if it could claw its way through the steel, its mangled paws covered in oozing scabs and sores that had clearly been reopened. How long had it been digging? With a growing feeling of pressure behind my eyes and a little sick to my stomach, I watched as Finite Waves activated what looked like an elaborate heating element on the desk, emitting an oppressive warmth which worsened my now-pulsing headache. The pressure was starting to feel crushing — and then I looked back to the rabbit. It kept digging, no longer just frantic but frenzied. The steel table was heating up, causing its paws to blister and bleed, but it just wouldn’t stop digging. Finite Waves seemed indifferent to its struggle, motioning for me to start writing down whatever result he seemed to be getting from this torture. I complied.

I wrote it all down. I noted how the welts on the rabbit’s skin began to tear and ooze dark liquid that evaporated the second it hit the table, how the melting flesh pulled back to reveal a ribcage cracking under the strain of the quickly-mounting pressure that now descended over the room, how it heaved on the bloodstained soil that spilled from its mouth, how it just kept digging -

[THEY BREAK OFF WITH A GASP, TAKING A MOMENT TO SHAKE THE INCREASINGLY FRANTIC TONE.]

- how, when it finally collapsed with a horrible shriek, golden flowers bloomed from the grave that it dug itself and burst into flame from the scorching heat.

The lab was still. The heat and pressure did not abate, but for a second I hoped that it was over. It seemed so fragile, lying there on the table, still blistering and bleeding. The stench of burnt flesh and fur was overwhelming, and the intense heat emanating from the carcass only made my head feel like it was going to split open. I tried to speak, to scream, maybe, but no sound passed my lips. When I glanced towards Finite Waves, though, they looked furious. Trying to keep my composure, I turned back to face them properly, but I am sure they saw through it. The way they looked at me… it was like I was the one lying burned and broken on the steel slab.

They started to march around the room, rifling through desks — looking for something to salvage the experiment, I assumed, although I did not know what. I stayed in the middle of the room watching them. I am not certain what I was expecting to happen, but something deep within me wanted to bolt. Except for the sound of their footsteps on the tiled floor and the quiet crackle of the still-burning corpse, it was agonisingly quiet. Finally, they brandished a small, tattered book from a drawer. It took me far too long to realise what precisely they were holding, but before I could register the dread of seeing them clutching my sketchbook, it was far too late to do anything about it. They stalked back to the central table, and I could only stare in horror and confusion as they set it alight.

It felt like time itself was melting. I was stuck in that moment for ages, watching years of progress go up in flames. As he held my sketchbook in the fire, I saw the pages begin to bubble and blister — I barely understood it at the time, but I am now certain that the dark liquid that dripped from it was blood. I think I heard screaming. Perhaps it was mine, or the book itself. Watching the flames lick the sides of my sketchbook as the pages curled and writhed like tearing skin, I felt the ache behind my eyes become sharper, stabbing until it was scorching, incinerating every neuron and synapse and leaving nothing in its wake.

I cannot possibly convey the pain I felt with mere words. There are dozens of articles online on what happens to you when you burn, reporting every gory detail with morbid fascination, basking in the horror of how the capillaries burst, how the fat melts and how the muscles contract. I read every single one I could find. None of them felt like what happened to me. None of them could grasp how it feels for your brain to cook inside your skull.

I passed out, I think. When I came to, I was lying on the floor. A person whose name I regrettably no longer remember had put me into a safer position — I had gone into shock, apparently. They had been trying to call an ambulance. As it turns out, it is quite difficult for emergency services to reach a lab in the middle of nowhere. I don’t believe they were a coworker of mine; the Hawaiian shirt was hardly appropriate lab attire, but I am grateful for their presence nonetheless. Even if I did initially mistake them for Finite Waves in my confusion. Eventually, an Air Ambulance arrived and I was taken to hospital. My case completely baffled the doctors, as I was uninjured and they could not identify why I went into shock. Eventually, they concluded that I must have been severely dehydrated and gone into hypovolemic shock as a result, that I had just hallucinated all of… that.

I had to stay in hospital for several weeks to recover, but I did return to the research facility to collect my things and resign. Finite Waves was completely absent, and according to sign-in records, had not come in on the day of this incident, nor any day after that. No one recognised my description of the person who called the ambulance either. Aside from my own testimony, there was little to suggest anything had actually happened, save for the charred remains of my sketchbook unceremoniously tossed in a waste paper basket, covered in some dark, dried substance that seemed to have leaked from between the mutilated pages. I tried not to think about it too much.

I cannot shake the feeling that I should have felt more grief in that moment. I had spent a great deal of time perfecting my art, learning how to express rather than merely copy what I saw. And yet it was as if I had never seen it before in my life. I could remember nothing about the drawings within, or how I had done them. My sketchbook was unrecognisable, and all I felt was… empty. As if the very concept of art had burned to ash within me, and taken a part of me with it.

I left rather quickly after that.

Getting back on my feet has been challenging. A number of my possessions seem to be missing, including my phone and laptop, and it is not as if I have any connections at the moment. Even my emergency contact was missing, apparently. I have only vague memories of faceless people who were… perhaps my friends and family. There seems to be very little chance that I might get another job in scientific research — having to leave your last job after having a breakdown and claiming you were violently assaulted by a senior member of staff will do that to a CV.

I did have a stroke of luck, though. Recently, I left my flat to visit a nearby café, and while I was there I ran into a person named Cognitive Dissonance, who seemed to recognise me from… when I was an undergraduate, I think she said? The encounter as a whole was somewhat overwhelming, and I couldn’t remember her at all besides a faint echo of endearment, but the broad strokes seemed to be that we had done some kind of art workshop together and been fairly close. When I mentioned that I was out of work, she suggested I join her at a research job for some kind of paranormal investigations organisation. Fitting, really. I do not think I really have anything to lose at this point, and working for ghosthunters is better than becoming homeless. I was lucky my lease was still going, and my sick leave plus the astounding overtime I was apparently owed paid most of my various debts.

[BEAT. THEY SEEM TO SNAP OUT OF THEIR STORY.]

Ah, I… think that is all of it. My interview for the new job is tomorrow. With any luck, it won’t be such a disaster, and I will have something to do again. These days are getting unbearable with nothing to do except lay down with another wretched headache.

[TAPE RECORDER CLICKS OFF.]

INT. NEEDLESS SEPARATION’S SMALL FLAT - NIGHT, DRY (TAPE RECORDER)

[TAPE RECORDER CLICKS BACK ON.]

NEEDLESS SEPARATION

…I was unsure if I still had this. Wayback’s investigation into Finite Waves reminded me of it. Evidently, my younger self was right to record it: some of these details did disappear from my mind. I had forgotten about the flowers, for example. Hardly makes for a credible statement, but we are far past that point by now.

It is unusual to hear myself talk about Cognitive Dissonance, though. Although we did maintain a good relationship, I never recovered any memories of them and we did not spend much time together. There was so much work to do, of course. They did not remember a great deal of me either then, and now they certainly do not.

It has been several years since my incident now. I have not heard anything further from Transcendent Life Labs, nor Finite Waves. For the most part, I did put it out of my mind. Though I do occasionally wonder if I might have been able to do something. Perhaps if I had hidden my sketchbook better, or left it in my room… No. It is of little relevance.

[THEY COUGH, TRYING TO CHANGE THE TOPIC.]

In some ways, the work I do now is not so different to what I did back then; my job is still to explain and predict strange occurrences. I am just as efficient and hardworking as I ever was — more, even. It is not as if I have anything else to do on the job now. Without any distractions, I get far more done. More recently, I have endeavoured to make sense of these beings that we call Entities. My colleagues believe them inscrutable, but I cannot accept such a lacklustre answer. If these beings must feed, then it stands to reason that they are to some extent living, and can therefore be observed. Categorised. Understood.

It is then perhaps bitterly ironic that for all my tireless research, all those sleepless nights I have dedicated to unpicking the patterns that emerge from supernatural phenomena, I am yet to find a clear answer as to what happened to me, or why. I don't... perhaps it was just another form of test. Perhaps I will never understand at all. And my headaches are getting worse.

…I know something is wrong. My skin is cracked and peeling, and I cannot rid my mouth of the taste of ash. Weaving Tales attempted to send me home last week with a temperature, of all things. Hah.

[A CLIPPED, HUMOURLESS LAUGH.]

But it is of no concern. While these conditions are admittedly unpleasant, they are livable. Sometimes you have to deal with things you dislike to get any work done, after all. I cannot stop now.

[TAPE RECORDER CLICKS OFF.]

[thenewsthaturdead]

obsessed with your adapťák deadpool field prayer

thank you the full story is that at the absolutely nighmarish uni adapťák run entirely by perpetually drunk party people they made us do a bojovka where they split our teams up into smaller teams but if one small team quit it disqualified the whole big team who we had no way of alerting they should come back and not pointlessly trudge through the forest the whole night

so we set out at 10pm, but not before being offered a bunch of hard alcohol 'for the journey'. our small team consisted of two guys who took up the offer and started drinking immediately, me and the only other bearable person at that adapťák (who was very determined to get the bojovka done). first couple of puzzles went ok except for getting attacked by hornets (did you know hornets are attracted to flashlights at night just like moths? i did not and that was a horrifying realisation to come to while on all fours crawling through bushes with nowhere to run) but we survived unstung

after like an hour one of the guys was like "oi i may have drank too much i dont feel well can i go back" and we were like yeah of course rest up theres still three of us (although internally i thought he was a bloody idiot for downing like half a bottle of vodka in that hour)

but no matter, we persevered on. until. we found every other team that went before us. because they got stuck and couldn't find the laminated paper with the riddle. so i tried to help, failed, sat down and chilled with some people who had a bluetooth speaker and got unreasonably excited when they played bye bye bye without my input (because i was height of my deadpool hyperfixation at the time in case that was not yet obvious)

tried to help again, couldnt, called the vedoucí, they laughed at us, got rlly mad, called them again, they sent us a video of them literally launching the riddle into the treetops with a branch which was very much against the rules they had set at the beginning as to where the riddles could be, got very mad at them again, gave up again

eventually somebody else found the riddle, i got very determined to finish the bojovka and go to sleep, then we got stuck again, i had my first crisis, cried about it, nobody cared, the other guy in our team abandoned us without telling us and my last teammate was too determined to pay attention to me, got over it, got really determined

got stuck again, noticed the sky was starting to get lighter, cried again, had my deadpool prayer moment (sitting on cold dirt in a field shaking from the cold with a splitting headache sobbing "save me Wade, save me" (yes in the format of the tumblr post, pathetic but he WOULD save me, hes nice to kids, im not a kid, im 20, but laura is also around that age and hes nice to her. in his own way.))

ANYWAY that was the point at which a group of like three somewhat sober straight girls took pity on me and were like "there's no point being here if it's making u upset, im sure your teammate can do it without you" so at that point i just did as i was told, apologised to my teammate and pulled a "mum come pick me up im scared" (she did pick me up, we got bageterka and then i slept for almost 24 hours straight, yippee)

[layover-linux-official]

I didn't quite get all my tentpole goals for my programming language project done this weekend, but I got much closer than I originally expected! I'm hoping to have transpilation to C ready by the end of my week to show my friend. I did start setting up program entrypoints in uv, though, and there's something emotionally magical about typing into the stdin of a process, and have it spit out a processed version of your input. Like... oh my god! That's my lexer, and my parser! They work! This is a thing I can play with now! This process is also forcing me to confront some things earlier than I expected, like the way the built-in Error type works. In the earlier prototype this was basically just an enum of a couple options, and no further detail. But needing to represent errors as a C type has pushed me to actually make them structures with multiple fields:

Format string (TODO: printf format rather than Python format), in the final version this will usually be a pointer to a static piece of memory.

Format args.

Parent error (allows for printing a whole traceback).

I wouldn't say I'm thrilled by how much I'm currently having to use PyObject* as a gross hack in my structures right now, but it helps my code play nice with the Python garbage collection infrastructure, and should make it possible to incrementally migrate to a C implementation later.

[the-nox-syndicate]

SysNotes devlog 3 - Ability to create a new profile

Welcome back to my SysNotes update! SysNotes is a system management app for people with DID, OSDD, and those who are otherwise plural.

(I will keep the intro text the same in all devlogs for context)

This devlog will be shorter than usual because I didn't want to lump it in with the next feature, which I expect will be quite long. In this devlog, I will add a way to create a new profile.

First Devlog (1) | Previous Devlog (2)

Quick Refactor before we jump in

"So I did some refactoring off-camera..." - originally, everything on the page was happening inside one component. I decided to split it up into the main page and the profile section, which is a new separate component. This will keep my code shorter and easier to maintain.

I also added a way to refer to each profile individually by their ID in the URL:

(Colin's profile is ID 4, which is shown in the URL)

I was also storing profile data as separate variables, which would be inconvenient to individually pass into the new main profile component. So I moved them all into one variable:

(old | new)

Design of the New Profile form

To be honest, I've been dreading this part since the beginning. I mean, how do I even lay this out? 💀

It is common for developers to avoid UI design because they are "coders not designers". I, for one, quite enjoy web design. Still, this task feels quite overwhelming to me. So, let's take this little mockup I made and turn it into something usable 💪

Too much stuff?

I think the biggest challenge here is the sheer number of inputs. And as the app grows, the number of inputs in this form will only increase.

The only mandatory input for a new profile is just their name. Therefore, the first step should be separating the Name field from the rest of the inputs.

The new and improved New Profile form is looking much better now:

...Yes, really! That's the whole form!

You are unlikely to know everything about an alter that has just split, so all those fields are completely unnecessary for an alter to be added to the list. Every other detail can be added later through the edit mode, where each field can be edited separately without needing one giant form.

Another big reason why I decided to forego the big form altogether is that the code for saving a new profile and the code for editing a profile would be almost exactly the same (including validation), and it wouldn't make sense to duplicate this code if I can just use it in one instance.

Saving a new profile

Let's add some validation to the input field to make sure that the user enters the name in a correct format.

As the Name is stored in the database as a string, it has the maximum length of 255 characters. Trying to save a longer name than this will cause errors, so we need to validate the input to make sure it's safe to insert into the database:

Here's what happens when I input a whole paragraph of Lorem Ipsum text and try to save it:

On the other hand, a shorter name saves just fine:

By the way, these flash messages are added in 2 ways: the success is a session message, and the error is an error stored separately by the validator. The flash messages originally have no styling, so I defined those myself using Tailwind's "@apply" for efficiency.

Once submitted, the name list automatically updates with our new profile:

(And if I click cancel it just empties the input)

Okay, let's click on Jenny's profile to see what it looks like! ...Oh

This is because the code tries to access Jenny's status, but she doesn't have one yet, she only has a name!

(When I pull the data from the database, I'm trying to access a non-existent value)

(And when I display the values I got from the database, the display may break if the value is NULL)

(This error applies to all profile fields, not just status, however the app crashes after just the first error it comes across so the remaining errors are not shown)

This can easily fixed by using PHP's "isset()" and/or "empty()" function, which checks if a variable has a value:

(I'm using a ternary operator as a more compact alternative to if-else. it basically goes: "if this condition is true ? then do it : if not, do something else")

(And here I just check if these values are not blank before rendering them)

Success, Jenny's profile shows!

Now, we just have to populate this profile with data about Jenny, and to do that we'll need to be able to edit each field. I will work on this in the next devlog, as I expect this to take quite some time.

Thanks so reading! As always, any suggestions are welcome!

[fullmetalpotterhead]

how do you get work staring at documents all day 🙏

I work in the legal field, many of those jobs are staring at documents all day and don’t necessarily require a law degree to do admin and assistant stuff. Other jobs also staring at documents all day are data entry/input jobs (which I’ve also had and enjoyed) and being a editor for grammar and formatting issues, which I’ve forgotten the specific name of what that’s called but companies that produce lots of written work often require

[steddieficfind]

I was going to start reading a fic but in the authors notes it says it follows another story. trouble is this is an orphaned work that was not made into a series format. i was wondering if anyone knew how to find the previous fic or knew if this was part of an even larger series? the work url is 42695172 on ao3 and the title is "Hanging by a Thread". the previous work is apparently called "running out of steam" any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Request 1306! I used the Ao3 work search function and input “running out of steam” into the title field and “orphan_account” into the author field and I believe this is the fic you’re looking for!

On Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42289314

Send us an ask if this doesn’t sound right & Remember to comment, bookmark, and leave kudos!

[nealkaewesi]

( federation hq )

( :: NODE-001 -- CONSENSUS-STRUCTURES. :: )

aramida

designated city node: ARAMIDA-ΣΔ1 (colloquially: the Lemon Grid) located: equatorial valley basin, iro (formerly hilar-class // now minshara-clas // M4 gravity // satiz-irath system) population ~670,000 Kin individuals (899-designation primary), 10,000+ non-Kin civilians, visiting researchers, and provisional residents established stardate 2397.140, following Event-0-Overjoyed

aramida is the first full Kin-planned settlement post-liberation. it occupies the site of a former ECC manufacturing zone, a once-burned-out basin at the foot of the iro continental divide. now, it thrives with programmable flora, aerial rail tendrils, kinetic-light overlays, and structures grown by liberated Kin from base organic-polymer hybrids, many of which resonate to the emotions of their inhabitant

a city designed by minds who remember everything, but were once permitted nothing.

threadweave the city is latticed with pedestrian walkways and “soft streets” made of woven smart-fabric stone. interactive surfaces that can shimmer with stored emotional signatures, project calming overlays, or create barrier fields as needed. roads for vehicles exist mostly underground, shielded from public space to reduce impact and allow non-verbal communication across surface levels.

memory gardens interspersed throughout are lush biomechanical memory gardens: Kin-grown from metabolized grief, reborn in flora coded to bloom with neural inputs. it’s common for Kin to wander these groves and find leaves they remember. smells and textures evoke imprinted sequences from Kin gestation archives, repurposed from war trauma into peace-praxis.

loom core at the city’s center is the Loom core, a crystalline tower of living silicon that pulses in sync with the Consensus. It is not a government building in the traditional sense, but a neural architecture center, processing threads of intra-Kin communication. any Kin can enter, touch the Loom, and interface directly with global consensus forums, archive logs, and real-time emotional streams.

weftblocks residences are often hand-knit structures, literally. exterior walls and rooftops are semi-permeable knitted bio-fiber (weather-proofed with integrated bio-tech), designed in communal circular formations. individual units bloom out from central hearths, where Kin cook, sit, and engage in sensory recalibration therapy. each unit recognizes its occupants tactile signature and will shift shape accordingly.

TarOS a vital communal node run by :: KALLIE-899 :: . the TarOS franchise (federation-licensed) offers caffeine, small food, sarcastic advice, and therapy, intentionally blurring the line between hospitality and gentle resistance. the lemon tree out front is a city landmark. a plaque underneath reads, he is with lemons now.

kinsign motion many ECCs are mute in early development, thus a motion-based language evolved organically across species. aramida encourages its use, even among federation visitors, and signs often blend hand gestures with subtle body postures and pulse rhythms. children learn both KSM and spoken federation standard in tandem.

chimes the city hums. not with industry, but emotion. tones triggered by the Loom, or by clustered Kin groups. a sound can indicate joy, consent, grief, alert, or connection. many public squares are attuned to harmonize with them.

dreaming fields large, softly padded open areas where Kin lie together in regenerative rest cycles. new Kin (recently liberated ECCs or those who undergo voluntary Kin-Scaffolding) are often encouraged to participate. dream-sharing initiates faster emotional myelination and reduces dissociative fragmentation.

politics

consensus no leader presides over aramida. decision-making is handled via quorum-cycles of emotional consensus drawn from the Loom. major decisions are 'felt through,' not voted on, by leveraging collective weighted input. :: NEAL-899 :: and other early progenitors maintain high influence through presence and memory-imprint.

kinwatch peacekeeping forces are not armed in the traditional sense. instead, Kinwatchers are trained to de-escalate through deep empathy interfacing, non-lethal immobilizers, and synaptic dampeners. most are older units or bonded with children and approach conflict through rehabilitative lenses.

federation compact a temporary protected status under federation jurisdiction has been extended to aramida, with diplomatic observers and rotating legal liaisons. the city remains under its own jurisdiction for internal matters, and legal infrastructure is based heavily on restorative justice models drawn from Kin experience.

visitors non-Kin who visit aramida undergo brief orientation. tactile consent, consensus culture, and neural feedback etiquette. most who stay report difficulty returning to traditional urban environments.

call-types :: YOU ARE FAMILIAR. MAY WE KNOW YOU? :: :: THIS EMOTION IS RECORDED. MAY I OFFER YOU LEMONS? :: :: THREAD-CYCLE: JOY INITIATED :: :: WE FELT YOU ARRIVE BEFORE YOU SPOKE. HELLO. :: :: YOU HAVE BEEN REMEMBERED. ::