#gambling tutorials

[priceperplayer]

How to Promote Your Sportsbook This 2025

Your sportsbook business has a lot of potential to give you a good profit margin. And as every year ends, and a new one begins, it’s the perfect time to look back and plan forward. Doing both will help you earn even more than the previous year. Today, we will give you a guide to help you promote your sportsbook this 2025. First, it will help a lot for you to look at your numbers from the previous…

[otiksimr]

I’m trying out Genshin again.

Ugh.

[unfriendlyamazon]

searching tags and it looks like sims 2 legacy collection is working for people... i've downloaded and installed everything and can't get my sims 2 ultimate collection to play on a large screen, but i can't drop $30 on a game from 2004 right now so i have time to mess around and see if i can fix it before throwing my hands up and giving ea their money

[making-you-in-spore]

pinned post/FAQ

TRANS RIGHTS!! TERFS GET THE FUCK OFF MY BLOG!!!!!!!

we have a source of income again, but if you like my work, donations are always appreciated!

who are you?

i'm just a guy who likes spore [2008]

why do this?

i just really like spore and making creatures in spore. it helps me practice my creature creation abilities.

can you make my oc in spore?

as of right now i do not take requests. i generally find characters and creatures i want to make by them appearing on my dashboard. refer to the Request Beast.

what is in your icon?

captain thunderhide, my main spore space stage captain.

what is peeling?

peeling is when i remove all detail parts from a creature and show the bare sculpt underneath - anything that is not eyes, mouth, hands, feet, or limbs will be removed. it is a tradition around these parts

what are "original spores"?

original spores are spore creations that aren't based on existing media - ocs, copyrighted characters, or otherwise. usually, they're just making things to make them in spore, or are based on simple prompts such as "a plate of spaghetti" or "a penis".

do you use mods?

i exclusively play this game with mods.

can i download the creatures you make?

only if the original creator of the design is okay with it and requests a png. please note that in order to successfully download the creatures, you will need to download every mod used to create them.

i will not always be able to say what mods i use to make something, so it's a gamble if you don't have all of the ones i use.

how do i mod spore/do advanced creature creation like you?

darkedgetv's FAQ is a very good resource to begin. i started there, and it's where i recommend you to start if you're interested in spore modding. it also contains many other mods i have not listed under the cut.

as much as i disagree with the process of using a discord server to contain vital information and resources, the davoonline spore modding community discord is also a good source of resources and mods that even i do not use.

have you heard of [in-development indie sporelike]?

yes. i have heard of all of them.

i hold no interest in any of the currently in development indie "sporelikes". i believe they are trying to reinvent the wheel and overall they do not interest me.

are there any other blogs like yours?

there's a few and ever growing! i refer to this as the ecosystem or the making-you ecosystem.

i have a masterpost of all known individuals in this ecosystem here.

what editor mods do you use?

a lot, so they'll be under the cut.

not mods, but highly recommended for enhanced playing experience

4GB patch - Tutorial - patches spore [and other 32bit programs] to be able to use 4gb of RAM. recommended if playing a highly modded copy, and makes the game more stable.

Reshade & ReSpore - post-processing injector & shader that alters the appearance of spore, giving it more detailed shading and vibrant colors. i use this for gameplay and screenshots. runs on GPU power, so excellent if you have a strong graphics card

HD graphics fix - this doesn't actually seem to work for my copy, but it alters the textures of base spore to be more high-quality.

mods that are absolute must-haves

these mods are ones that i use in almost every creation, and add a lot of QoL to the editors. if i forget a mod in a creature png i post, it will be one of these.

Dark injection - THE spore mod. it's likely a lot of other mods you'll download will mesh well with dark injection. you can turn off whatever you don't want to use through the installer.

Universal Property Enhancer - a library mod that many other mods require

The Smoother - a useful tool for building muscles and smoothing out your creatures' bodies

Enhanced Color Picker - a requirement for super detailed creations, enables hexcode color picking and color wheel selection beyond normal limits of spore

[UPE] Infinite Part Scaling - allows scaling of parts near-infinitely, beyond the limits of the original game

Project Skyncraft - adds new creature skinpaints

Unshackled - adds nodes and limbs for creating custom wings, heads, hands, etc. a little bit unstable, i mostly use this for wings.

Spore Stacker - allows stacking of any part

Subtle Rotations - reduces part rotation snapping

Advanced CE - adds building editor manipulators to the creature editor

Every Part Costs Nothing - self explanatory

Rotate Anything - lets you rotate anything, including feet and hands

Advanced Creature Paint - allows for individual coloring of parts on a creature, like in the building and vehicle editors

Ambient Occlusion Disabler - removes baked-on shadows for creatures

Delta Paints - adds new skinpaints

Valla's Skinpaint Switcheroo - adds duplicates of all vanilla, C&C, and GA creature coat and detail skinpaints into their opposite category

Valla's Vanilla Style Parts - adds several parts which mimic the vanilla style

Delimbiter - increases the amount you can scale limb parts, and allows for more crazy movements of certain limb parts

test drive related mods

these mods are not required to download the creatures i post, but are recommended for the test drive.

No More Creature Editor Animations - turns off the animations that play when you add eyes, mouth, feet/hands, etc

Sevan's TF2 editor animations - adds multiple animations from tf2 into the creature test drive.

Mx3's Dance Animations - adds a multitude of dance animations into the creature test drive.

Tenebris's Creature Test Drive Animations - adds many animations from within the game to the creature test drive.

EditorBG - adds extra editor backgrounds

Ramone Kemono's MMD Drag Ball - high-effort dance mod complete with special effects and a reverse engineered camera system

part mods

these mods add parts to the editors.

DroneParts 2017 - adds many mechanical and polygonal parts useful for machine creatures, i like to use it for building clothes and markings.

New Drone Parts - a sequel to droneparts 2017, compatible with the old version. install both at the same time if you want to be able to use creatures from the old droneparts mod.

Himeric Engine - adds horror-themed parts to the creature editor.

Spore Resurrection Next Steps - adds a few parts to the creature editor and several new textures to the building and vehicle editors.

Dinosaur Parts - adds parts based on dinosaurs and other animals. mostly heads.

Strange And Beautiful - a now-discontinued, reuploaded mod that adds unusual and unique parts to the creature editor

Bionicle parts - adds a few bionicle pieces to the creature editor

Little Box Of Horrors - adds many parts with an overall horror theme. some are animated.

Pandora's Toolbox [1.0] - adds a multitude of basic shapes and polygons to build with

Replicant - adds non-textured animating parts and non-animating parts in a separate tab. good for if you want to use hands, limbs, etc without them animating or adding stats

Armoured And Dangerous - adds a few high detail mechanical looking parts.

Wordsmith 2.1 - adds letters to the creature, building, and vehicle editors

Kaiju parts - adds several parts based on popular kaiju

Organic Help - adds many membrane pieces to the creature editor, for creating wing webbing among other things

Project: Mad Mannequins - adds many human body based parts. and a horse for some reason

A Mouth For All Seasons - adds alternate versions of all vanilla mouths [and all unused cell mouths] with alternate diets

Valla's Captain Badges - adds all space badge models into the captain outfitter and creature editor

Rock On! - adds rock props from spore into the building and creature editors

[cleapallea]

master list + More

𐙚 𝗘𝗠𝗣𝗧𝗬 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗘𝗧𝗦𐙚

& how you can make income! 🤑

Is empty house means empty wallet?

There are 12 sectors (zodiac sign + house) in astrology that reflect different aspects of your life. At this point, if you have planets in 12 houses, a planet being in that house as well as the rulers means you should have more focus in that area. For example, too many planets (2) in a tenth house with Venus aspects or rulers (Taurus and Libra) signifies that your career might be related to Venus qualities such as modeling, rebranding, or makeup (products, tutorials, etc.). Hence, I know some of you might ask: So what to do if none?

Empty Planet in 1st house

Aries: self image, rebranding and investing

Empty Planet in 2nd house

Taurus: depends on your own efforts. Kinda Similiar to 1st.

Empty Planet in 3rd House

Gemini: Person's activity, and investment (education, training and self development -professional)

Example: Graphic Designer, Artworks related, Freelance writer and etc

Empty Planet in 4th house

Cancer: Anything related to fostering homes, and building connections (social network)

Example: adopting a dog (female), and let them grow after that you can sell her puppies. Or you can build a pets/ poultry suppliers.

Empty Planet in 5th house

Leo: Anything related to pleasure, wholesome stuff, makes you happy and alive, self-expression, recreation, and innovation.

Example: Build a program (school, playground, or be a Yaya for a day) and alike

Empty Planet in 6th house

Virgo: anything related to health, wellness, and daily routines

Example: Be secretary, write a blog about health and wellness, Be a Yoga instructor, or Drugs Cashier in some malls, teacher and more.

Empty Planet in 7th house

Libra: anything related to partnership, business and interest in society as a whole.

Example: Be an event planner, teacher, or social media influencer starts to sell your self in social media.

Empty Planet in 8th house

Scorpio: money houses, long term success or growth career, real state investments and financial portfolios

Example: rentals of your personal collection like shoes, etc.

Empty Planet in 9th house

Sagittarius: Travel, higher learning, personal philosophy, exploration and intellect

Example: You may consider writing a story or list of quotes on a known website and look for a small publisher until you get recognized. You can also Teach foreign ppl in diff countries to use other languages.

Empty Planet in 10th house

Capricorn: public image, career aspiration and achievement, and more on ppl oriented.

Example: vlogger, streamer, content creator, YouTuber and alike

Empty Planet in 11th house

Aquarius: humanitarian and personal networks. Anything that may show your passion and interest in specific content.

Example: musician, or be friends with famous people (they can help you a lot), then let them see your talents. I've known a lot of Aquarius placements tend to be very talented. You just have to precise and be stick with good purpose cause double karma occurs if you're not.

Empty Planet in 12th house

Pisces: Mysterious side of humanity, mind, and life

Example: be a tarot reader, practice gambling, or any creative outlets.

✎ There are no such things as empty planets. The empty planets are ruled by the "lord" or "zodiac signs" inside them. Although I don't really believe it's not your main focus but more in IT'S YOUR HIDDEN GOAL AND SUCCESS, I've heard a lot of women who have their second house empty, but years later become rich due to partnerships, investments in education, and such. We have this called "transitting of each sign."

✎ take note that this is not a dynamic and astrology is about multifaceted interpretation. The question of where and what you can do to make money can vary depending on the whole system of your chart (aside from your energy). For me, I need to see the whole birth chart before I give the exact meaning of it. Every chart is different, so I can't provide full, detailed information about it.

✎You have to look for your MC (signs), Jupiter house +signs (power), Saturn (warnings/challenges occur) and Moon placed (for reminder why you started, why you need to work something like that) if you don't like your moon, then look for your south code. Or if you dont know how to start, look for the (Pluto). Find inspiration in everything :) God bless!

Plagiarism is A crime.

[sugarphoric]

personal zayne hc is that he does not know how to solve a rubix cube AT ALL like hes watched so many tutorials on youtube, reddit, you name it- and not only that, multiple times. hes even gone onto master cubist (?) champion forums to learn their tips and tricks but for some reason he can never solve it except for completing one face??

and its even worse knowing that he can easily win chess and checker games (not to mention both the chinese and japanese equivalent), nth number piece puzzles, and more as if it were second nature to him.

in highschool whenever hed have some free time, hed be completing minesweeper and tetris, breaking records nonchalantly. and in college, when his classmates would drag him out for the monthly department night out, he picked up tricks to winning poker, soon becoming the king of gambling making the night worth it (his stoic expressions were finally an object of envy (not to mention his fattening wallet, but we already knew that))

but damn that rainbow cube- one day he'll get it, but for now, he has to deal with a mini one stored somewhere in his desk to practice when he gets the chance, pulling up that same damn youtube tutorial for beginners on 0.25x speed, where 50% of the view count is from him.

[thegirlfromblackwater]

If the Van der Linde Gang lived in Modern Times (Modern Au)

Life gives you funny ideas...and I'm going to write them down

Arthur

Would live on a ranch in Montana or Wyoming as a rancher

Offers services like trail rides, lessons, and boarding

Has a herd of cattle

Spends every Sunday watching Rodeos on TV

Watches while sitting in his favorite worn-out armchair

Always has a cold beer and a snack or his dinner while watching

Has a pickup truck that's a bit filthy on the inside. Addresses his car as a "she."

Treats it like a horse: calls it a "good gurl."

Has a mounted Trout and some taxidermy on the walls

The Wifi at the ranch is spotty..doesnt understand why guests need it when they're surrounded by nature

Network Name: MorganRanch Password: Ynnel123

Tried to fix the router once but not exactly tech savvy. Ended up punching it

Texts Albert Mason sometimes

Dutch

Definitely lives in a city either Los Angeles or New York City

Lives in a Snazzy Penthouse in the clouds with a skyline

Works as a motivational speaker

Wears a lot of bling

Has a bar in at his place

Molly always tries to find a way in

Calls Hosea a lot

Has a weird fetish for black, red and white furniture.

Still loves reading books by Evelyn Miller despite that the writer is a nobody living in Idaho

John, Abigail & Jack

They probably live out west on a farm (very much like Beechers Hope)

John works on the ranch and also has side multiple side jobs (thanks to Abigail)

Jack spends his time in the school library

Abigail is obsessed with this one bakery

Molly

Lives in whatever city Dutch lives in

Tries to make herself at home in the penthouse

Famous on social media for her makeup tutorials

The neighbors can usually hear Molly & Dutch fighting

Dutch: "Not now Miss O'shea" Molly: "Pig!"

Bill

Lives somewhere in the Midwest

Works as a truck driver for Walmart

spends a lot of his life on the road

Has a bit of road rage

likes rest stops

when he's not working, he is a part of a biker gang

has a tattoo sleeve and wears a white wife beater

one of those bikers that wears a bandana with the American flag on it

Marybeth

Probably lives in a quaint town on the east coast

Works in a bookstore during the day and is a freelance writer in her free time

Lives in a cute townhouse with a small garden in the front full of flowers.

Her house is cozy

has a seating area with big windows that look out over the street

spends her time writing and reading there

likes to sit at cafes and drink coffee

Lenny

Is a full-time university student by day and bartender by night

Lives in Chicago or Atlanta

Probably double majoring in Business and literature (if that combination even exists)

Lives his single life to the fullest

Mostly an A student who goes full ham on the weekends when partying

Micah

Lives in Las Vegas

Sells illegal drugs

Has no money because he gambled too much

Stays in different hotels

Owns a pawn shop

Everything for sale there was smuggled across the border

Has dealings with the cartels & other shady characters

Hosea

Lives a quiet life out west

Goes to his lake house on the weekends to go fly fishing

Reads a lot of books

Also likes to go hunting

Is a part time English teacher who teaches children to read

Talks to Dutch by phone

Sometimes visits Arthur and stays at his Ranch

Uncle

Lives in a trailer park in Florida where the weather is always warm and the cold won't bother his illness

Sits on a folding chair outside his mobile home

Plays the Banjo

Drinks a beer

Is a complete mess inside

Doesn't own much furniture

Can't work because of the Lumbago

Sweats a lot

Naps and snores too loud

Lives next to a swamp

Javier

Lives in Arizona

Lives in the desert

Grows cactuses

Owns a Music shop

Travels around playing at local bars

Works part time as a music teacher at the local high school

Has a YouTube where he shows off his music

Sadie

Probably lives in a city like Dallas or Denver

Works as a cop

Likes to catch people for speeding and sits on the side of the highway

eats Chick-fil-A while waiting

Watches Dateline

Carries a Taser

Always looks sexy in her uniform

Charles

Definitely lives in a cabin out west

works as a conservationist

Likes National Parks

Goes fishing with Arthur

supports and donates to the Bison Sanctuary (if one even exists)

Likes Camping

Trelawny

Lives a wealthy life in Charleston, South Carolina

Lives in a large southern mansion

Wears a robe to sleep

Has a whole walk-in closet full of clothes and accessories

Has a sauna in the basement where he relaxes

Owns a bunch of fancy cars: He loves his Bentley

Reverend Swanson

Probably lives in Philadelphia

Still works part-time at the church

Mostly spends his time helping people with addictions

Hosts an AA meeting three times a week

Rescues crackheads from the street

Mostly sober

Wrote a memoir on his journey to recovery

Sean

Lives in Boston

Likes the university/young people vibe

works at a pub

Everyone's favorite Bartender

Makes customers laugh

goes back to Ireland once a year

Takes Karen with him sometimes

Karen

Lives in Portland, Oregon

Works at a bar as a bartender and a stripper

Good Pole Dancer

Her large tits are popular amongst the men

Puts on shows in the evening

Talks to Sean a lot

Gets Hammered

Strauss

Works in Finance in New York City

Is a Workaholic

Has no friends

Goes back to Austria every few years

Boring to talk to

Always on a work call

Listens to Classical Music

Tilly

Lives in Nashville, Tennessee

Visits Marybeth a lot

Wants to be a Nurse

Likes taking care of people

Wants to travel around the world

Pearson

Lives somewhere in New England

Owns a restaurant and catering business

The restaurant is interestingly enough called "Pearsons"

Probably has a wife and some kids

Loves Maine Lobster one of those people that wears a bib when eating it because he's messy

Is a good Butcher

Susan Grimshaw

Lives in Florida

Is a housekeeper

Cleans uncles' mobile home once a week

Tries to control Tilly and Marybeth from miles away

disgruntled

[adelarsims]

Thank you very much for the last overlay, you are a real wizard. It has a vibe similar to my former favorite, who was nice in everything, but covered almost all the details like wrinkles and freckles and was very frustrating. And now I am in absolutely rapture. Do you know, by the way, why such a problem can arise when creating this kind of CC?

yep, i know. good news: your favorite overlay is very easily fixable

each item has a sort layer number that defines which texture goes over/under of which. texture with bigger number covers texture with smaller number. when someone makes an overlay on a base of maxis genetic detail but doesn't lower the sort layer number, it ends up having the same priority as all other details, so it's a gamble which one will end up covering the other, i saw a face overlay where one swatch covered freckles but the other one didn't

sort layer number for all maxis details is 2200 the lowest which is acne is 2025 now, so i make my overlays 2100 or something like that they have to be 2000 now, to make sure it goes below other details

if you want to, you can follow this tutorial and fix your favorite overlay yourself, the process is absolutely the same, just the number you put in must be anything lower than 2200 lower than 2025 now. or you can reach out to me and i'll help you fix it.

[lizhly-writes]

thinking about transmigrators again.

we have our mc, reborn into a difficult childhood. he is a bastard son of a noble bloodline, desperate to prove himself and gain recognition. he's read this story before. it's one of those classic power fantasies where a downtrodden normal guy becomes awesome and gets the girl and destroys anyone who dares to doubt him. he's got a system and he's got a level up feature and he knows how this is supposed to go.

except... there is something wrong here.

the starting conditions are.... too hard? it's not like there was a system in the book, so he can't directly compare, but there are just too many quests in here. a couple of them, he recognizes as certain plot points, but the rest -- no. and the failure conditions for these...

why are the penalties so harsh?

he's the protagonist, he knows he has a good ending ready for him if he gets far enough. but of course, that's the problem: can he get far enough?

he's only level 1. he should be going through the starting tutorial. but almost all the penalties involve him suffering major injuries or nearly dying. the protagonist did not go through all of this in the beginning, he knows this. there's something really wrong.

he tries. he tries. he tries. get better faster strong, as quickly as he can, because he knows he won't survive if he doesn't. he gets desperate. he gets clever.

he isn't clever enough.

he loses one of his gambles and fails one of his quests. the penalty is getting tossed into the sea -- and he does not last long in the water.

boy drowns.

...well. almost.

[priceperplayer]

Adding Cryptocurrency Options to Your Bookie Business

As a business owner and manager, part of your job is to keep up with the times. Technology, after all, moves at a fast pace. And while it can seem expensive to keep up with these innovations, it will be worth it. Take the online sports betting industry, for instance. The latest tech improvements focus on increased efficiency, security, accessibility, convenience, and product offerings. Thus,…

[thecaduceusclay]

the basics of this stupid ass minecraft server au:

john kramer is like 19 and hes got a moderately successful redstone tutorial channel. he was well known on the server for making community warp farms

jill is his minecraft girlfriend. she saw a video once about the dangers of gambling and lootboxes and now she tries to go to servers with especially bad crate gambling systems to get kids to play on this server instead

amanda is like 13 and she was one of those kids with a crate problem, straight up stole her dad's credit card to buy crate keys

lawrence is some autistic 14 y/o whos special interest is medicine

john starts creating player traps after some disillusioning incident (im thinking base griefing where jill's minecraft dog died, jill's little brother got banned from the server, something like that)

tapp is one of the older kids on the server and his dad is a cop so hes pretty sure he knows a thing or two about investigations, thank you very much, so he starts a "police force" to track down jigsaw

sing is his irl bestie who agrees to help

adam is a guy notorious for finding base coords and finding exploits on the server that he sells off to others

[reinen5astro]

Your Income Indicators According to Your Natal Birth Chart

One of the indicators of income is your 2nd house, particularly your 2nd house ruler.

For Part 2: [Career/Legacy Indicators according to your 10th House Ruler] - go here

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tutorial:

~ First find the sign your 2nd house is in by pulling up your birth chart

As you can see their 2nd House is in Pisces [I circled it + pointed to the line that indicates what sign it's in]. If you don't feel like pulling up your birth chart right now, you can just think of the sign after your rising sign. For example, a Sagittarius rising has their 2nd house in Capricorn [the sign after Sagittarius], while an Aries rising has their 2nd house in Taurus.

~ Next, look at the ruler of that sign. This is the ruler of your second house. I've written them down below

Aries: Mars

Taurus: Venus

Gemini: Mercury

Cancer: Moon

Leo: Sun

Virgo: Mercury

Libra: Venus

Scorpio: Mars and Pluto

Sagittarius: Jupiter

Capricorn: Saturn

Aquarius: Uranus and Saturn

Pisces: Neptune and Jupiter

~ Lastly, find what sign your ruler/rulers are in. My interpretations are down below.

**********************************************************************

2nd House Ruler In The...

1st House:

You are the prime creator of your own wealth. If you don't work for it, you're not going to get it. So have confidence and work hard ;). Also, your profession/the way you earn income may be related to the expression of your talents or the utilization of your own body.

2nd House:

Rapid acquisition of wealth awaits you. It will be incredibly easy for you to gain wealth. You can earn money through your own industry/business and your practical and realistic sense will aid you in your professional activity. This is also an indicator of a wealthy marriage as well.

3rd House:

Your income may be derived from a job/career that involves verbal as well as written communication, studies, travel, and also by working with a brother or sister if you have any, or another close relative. You also may work in teaching, particularly early education. Your peers, community, and siblings will aid you/earn you income. This is also an indicator of an inheritance from a sibling.

4th House:

FAMILY!! Your family could be a prime source of income for you [including your ancestors [especially your father or paternal side]]. Your income is related to your home, the city where you reside, and also to real estate in general. You may work at home or in professions such as interior decorator, gardener, farmer, or real estate ventures. You may also earn income from serving your country, such as working in government affairs or in the military. This is also an indicator of an inheritance from family members.

5th House:

Your income is related to creative endeavors, publications, entertainment, sports or arts, investments that imply certain risk or speculation, education, or children. You are likely to earn money through some pursuit that will offer satisfaction and pleasure. Your children may even aid you in your business ventures. You may work in fertility, Obgyn matters or in surrogacy. Consider turning your hobbies into a business because you will earn considerable income from them. However, I don't recommend gambling or doing investments that imply risk or speculation if the 2nd house ruler is Mars or is conjunct/opposite/square to Mars, it will have an adverse effect.

6th House:

Your income is related to the fields of sanitation, diet, health, hygiene, and nursing. Or occupying a subordinate position and organization in important companies. You may earn income from work in animal care or as a life coach or fitness coach as well. Your coworkers, associates, and employees will aid you in your quest for financial security :). This is also an indicator of an inheritance from an uncle or aunt.

7th House:

MARRIAGE period. This is a great indicator of financial security through marriage. If not, then your income may be related to an activity related to the public, such as commercials. You could also earn money involving legal affairs, such as contracts and agreements. Also, a great indicator of earning income from one-on-one partnerships/friendships. This is also an indicator of an inheritance from a spouse.

8th House:

Your income is related to the administration of other people’s resources, joint investments, banking, brokerage, insurance, or politics. There is a possibility of receiving an inheritance after a death. This position also favors profit by marriage. Or it could be fortune after an emotionally inharmonious marriage [take this with a grain of salt]. You also may work in the occult, such as an astrologer ;). You may work in investigative fields as well; you'd do amazing as a detective! You also may work in the sex or death industry.

9th House:

You can earn money in foreign trade, import and export, travel, tourism, or a liberal profession, science, philosophy or religion, or teaching in a university. Indicator of earning money from a degree too. You will have very profitable voyages [long term travel], so travel the world dearie! You may earn income from blogging too! [I have this placement as well and I truly want to go to college no matter how much it costs because I feel like I won't regret it [Pisces moon tings; my intuition is on point]. I'm even adamant on studying abroad as well. AND I want to work a professor too.]

10th House:

It's your choice :). Your income is related to any career or profession that you choose. Thanks to your daily effort, you will be able to establish a sense of achievement. This position enables you to earn money in some government capacity or politics or to acquire a profession of great social status. You will have a comfortable worldly position and will rapidly acquire wealth.

11th House:

You will have MANY influential acquaintances and their support will help you improve your income. Your income is closely linked with those of friends, your relationships, or activities that you perform in certain social groups. There is a possibility of earning money through administrative or political positions in social organizations. It would be a good idea to join/participate in social groups/activities/organizations as it will bring you income. You may also work in humanitarian activities, such as in the environment or the United Nations.

12th House:

Your income is related to some kind of service in connection with healing and welfare or helping the less fortunate. You may have difficulties evaluating your self-worth, which will impinge on your level of income. Evaluating your natural talents would bring even better financial opportunities [so get on that ;)]. This influence could bring confidential financial support but also may lead to clandestine or illegal business. Avoid any easy business that may imply some risk or commitment. There may be numerous difficulties in establishing the position [doesn't mean that it won't happen; with astrology nothing is impossible, it's just an obstacle]. However, if the ruler is Venus/Jupiter you will gain through farming and leases and will avoid these difficulties.

**********************************************************************

Alrighty, I hope you enjoyed!!

For Part 2: [Career/Legacy Indicators according to your 10th House Ruler] - go here

Anyways bye bye ;)

[princessofghosts-posts]

Fandom view of Percy

Ok y'all,let's unpack this one too.

My last serious post was about Percy backstory and how his trauma is rarely acknowledged by the fandom and sometimes by Riordan himself. At the end of it I also wrote how the fandom is most at fault for this,and how it also inflicted on Rick writing of him.

And let me tell you why and how.

First of all the "Percy is dumb and can't do anything without Annabeth" stereotype. Fortunately this one is slowly fading away,but I tell you that in the PJO italian fandom it was something. Most of the ff I read had this,or a variant of this,stereotype. It got to the point that I also started to think about it too,before remembering how he was in the books. 2018/2019 was war on Wattpad for this.

Percy is extremely smart and has an high Battle IQ. We are talking about the same dude that fought Kronos and won (credit to Luke's help too) and kept the world from being destroyed twice. The only reason why people started to believe that was because Percy himself has loe self-esteem,so people often don't realize how much things he downplay of himself. Also,do I need to remember you all that most of the first 5 books no one explained things to him? They literally thrown him out there in the greek world,after a basis tutorial,and said "go figure out it yourself". Chiron and Annabeth never told him about his prophecy,so it was normal for him not understanding shit. He didn't know and nobody told him about it,and that's something I'm always mad about,but he isn't stupid for this. He actually adapts to a situation pretty quickly,even when he almost doesn't know anything,and that's impressive. He was the one to make the plan in TLO,he positioned the campers and went to help them right and left when he could. It was his plan,not Annabeth's. He does a lot of things without her,both in PJO and HoO,so he isn't confined to her and he can still function without her. Like she can without him. They have each other back and help each other,sure,but he was never depended of her.

Then we have the "silly guy obsessed with blue food",another popular one that I hated for how much it got redundant. This also is almost everywhere and I'm sick of it because people don't understand what really means for Percy blue food.

We are introduced to blue food in TLO,when Percy talked about how it all started because Gabe didn't believe the food could be blue,and that it was stupid. Sally went out of her way and made sure that the food was actually blue,and ever since then they had it as a sort of tradition. The blue food was born to oppose their abuser. And that's why for Percy is so special. Because it was the only thing that Gabe couldn't ruin for them and couldn't snatch away,and it's also one of the few things that Percy had controll over during his childhood. All of the other things? Gone,Gabe took them all with his gambling habit. But he couldn't break the blue food. And that was something that probably grounded them. In PJO he only talk about it in the TLO,but in HoO,during their stay on the Argo II,he always ate something blue. And again in this situation,blue food didn't changed meaning for him,because it's the only familiar thing he still have of himself while everything is going to shit. Like the seeds kept Nico alive in the jar,blue food grounded Percy to a small sense of comfort and controll in what was happening. It's more deep that what people thing.

The "joke/a frat boy that would stay out partying all night and make horrible jokes to his friends" after he got accepted at the College in New Rome. Not a very popular one but I saw a couple of them,and N O. That's not Percy. Percy personality is nothing like the "popular guy" troupe,he would stay in his and Annabeth apartment rather than staying out all night. He is extremely good at met others comfortable with him,but e is actually pretty awkward and shy around people he just met. The would spent his time with his friends or doing something he likes,rather than taking part in frat parties. He ain't a frat boy,he is one of the most kind and gentle character out there. We are talking about the same guy that turned down immortality and godhood (who actually does that??) because he wanted the gods to be better parents. He is everything except this.

"Percy was disappointed after Nico told him he wasn't his type anymore" is one of the worst probably. This actually is everyday and I'm sick of it because the jokes are old,overused and OOC. Fortunately some people actually get the memo and are aware of it,but most of the time the jokes are still there. Which sucks.

Percy was confused about Nico confession because for him it was so out of blue. It happened after the conflict and the newly fresh ended prophecy where he actively took part in,and untill 12 hours earlier was still fighting for his life. He has a low self-esteem,remember? So of course when it cames to relationship he doubts himself often and don't see himself handsome. This is the same guy that in MoA asked himself how could Annabeth still love him after knowing how and what he was. You think he thought that Nico got a crush on him? Nah. He is also pretty obvious when it cames to his own relationships (because he is pretty aware of other people's). BotL had the whole crew in love with him and he was clueless of it. He never took it on personal and was probably confused on how,why and when. So the "I'm not your type!" jokes are stupid and after a while not funny,and extremely repetitive.

"Percy is OP and could fight a god/overthrown the whole Olympus without a problem". Did we read the the same books? Apparently no because this is bullshit.

Most of this was born from the fact that Percy isn't afraid to call out wrong doings,especially the ones done by the Gods,and he can be quite disrespectful with them because tired of their games,and another part is because of the Akhlys scene in Tartarus. But half of those things are in his thoughts. They are still Gods and he is a demigods,those are things he can never change and can't go beyond. He is powerful but not that powerful. He can't overthrow the gods both for the difference of power and because it would go against Percy himself as a character. His fatal flaw is loyalty. His is loyal to his friends,his loved ones,Annabeth and his dad too. They have an ok father-son dynamic (I already talked about it in the other post),and going against the Olympians would be going against his father too. And again,he did all of that shit in the first serie because he didn't want to end up like Luke,and now people hc him that way? Naaah. That's crazy. And the "Dark Percy" everyone talk about is just the one that snapped in Hell,where he wanted to survive. Why does he have a fault at that and why people think it's a different Percy than usual? It's the same,only when he is pushed to his limit. There isn't a Dark Percy,it's just Percy that did everything and the gods still decided to use him again and again because they can. Which is depressing as fuck but put emphasis on the distances that there are between Gods and demigods.

There are probably more but I already covered the main/most popular ones. Of course if there are any others you want to discuss about feel free to comment, rebblog,ask,or something. I'm always open to deep talk and overanalyzing of characters.

Now,going on with the last part of this post,at the start I said that the fandom view of Percy influenced Rick writing of him. And I want to explain why.

You see,while some author are completely out of reach from their audience,there are some that are pretty familiar with it and like to mingle with the fans. It's not something bad actually,it means the writer take us in consideration and is aware of how the readers feel about his books. Constructive criticism really do wonders for a product. But it also has his negative effects too. When the author is too close to the fandom,they can assimilate some of their idea about a certain character.

Take the Rowling for example. That woman was out for Draco Malfoy fans since they put him on a pedistal,and went on about how "he is so misunderstood","he is an anti-hero","he isn't evil he just didn't have a choice","Draco is the best character ever,idk why people never talk about him","he is so underrated",and many more. She actually took part of a CG (acting like another reader) with some fans only to emphasize how bad he actually was,and not misunderstood,and those same fans kicked her out because she didn't understand his real character. She then proceeded to dislike him more and I think she published a couple of updates on Pottermore about him,and how the character wasn't an innocent guy everyone made him about. Crazy right? But put emphasis on how much shit can happen when an author gets too close with their readers.

Rick is also close with his readers,and he is quite loved by the fandom. He interact with the fans a lot between books and series updates,or when someone ask him a question on the books/characters. And again, that's quite ok and sweet and all,but it can also damage the author view of his own characters when the whole fandom decide to mischaracterized them.

I didn't read the new Percy Jackson serie and I probably never will because I'm going to stop at Nico serie. Rick showed that he values more quantity over quality,and at this point he is just writing books because he can. I stopped at HoO a couple of years ago,and I'll read TOA only to have a good picture of what happened before TSATS since I've wished for years to have a Nico centred serie.But I'll stop there. Anyway I'm not immune to spoiler and quite like to spoil myself,so I'm always updated. And this is why,I want to ask,what the fuck was Riordan thinking with the way he wrote Percy? Because apparently he is a totally idiot that needs Annabeth to say smart things for him to do something. Like he can't think with his brain and needs Annabeth for everything. And wait! Who else interpreted Percy that way? Oh right! The fandom. The fandom that Rick fairly interact with. You think that an author doesn't know what his readers think about his books or characters? Especially if it's something that almost everyone agree on about? That they don't know or care? Wrong.

They got people that frequently check social media for them and update them on the most big things. For years the fandom had a popular hc on Will (the one about how he could glow in the dark) and in TSATS he apparently can actually glow in the dark. The hc isn't an hc anymore because it's canon,and that's not a coincidence. Like how Percy got written like a stupid idiot. His own author mischaracterized him because the fandom has a different view of him,so he decied to stick around with it.

We are our own greatest enemy. We fear that new fans (especially the ones that will enter the fandom with the TV-show) will mischaracterized the characters once the future seasons will be out,but we ourselves have already done that. And this time it got so bad that Riordan himself decided to stick with it. As if he never wrote Percy like the genius fighter he was. And I'll never like this.

[esamastation]

Gamer girl gets transmigrated into a farm boy Chapter 4 [<<Prologue | <Chapter 3 || Chapter 5>>] Ao3 link

-

So, gambling turned out to be a bit of a bust. It's not a complete loss, though, Van did multiply his starting bid of five silver to seventy four silver pieces in total. Compared to using exploits it's nothing - Katie could've made that in her sleep, if the NPCs still worked like they do in the game. But seeing that it's still in the very early tutorial section… it could be worse.

And then there's the level up. Van's very first this time around. Cue the confetti…

[Farmboy] [Van] [Lvl. 2 Commoner]

It feels pretty good. And what's waiting below in the stats screen is even better.

[You have 2 unused Stat Points.] [You have 1 unused Skill Point]

The first ones always feel a bit special.

In Age of Tales you get two status points and one skill point each time you level up and can then allocate those points as you wish on your character screen. It's not the only way to get points - there are quests, special items and a couple of accessories that affect how you accrue points - but until you're making real money in the game, you're stuck with what level ups dish out. Which is fine - early levels until about lvl. 20 are pretty cheap.

Of course, Van doesn't have a class yet, and so no skill tree to assign his shiny new skill point to - but he can assign his stat points, if he wants to. Which brings up the question. 

What is he going to specialise in this time? 

Van's got the base stats for an easy start as a Paladin, obviously - but Katie just did a Paladin run, and while it was fun, she wouldn't say it was so great that she's eager to repeat the experience. Especially if this really is a transmigration isekai situation - which she's still not thinking about, thank you very much, that's an existential crisis that can wait until nightfall.

At any rate, getting stuck forever as a Paladin would be… well, it would probably be fine. It was alright, playing the goody two shoes lawful good himbo with a heart of gold. It went great with the whole cliché secret chosen one and the lost heir to a great house thing at least… not that there were more than, like, three characters in the whole game who even acknowledged the player character's class. Van got pretty much the same reaction from everyone regardless of whether he was a Rogue or a Wizard or Paladin - it was just the big black and white moral choices that affected those sorts of things.

Age of Tales is Age of Tales-ing, what can you do?

Anyway, going at it as a Paladin again would be easy… but boring. Katie would have to think about it carefully before committing to anything. Though she hasn't quite ruled out the use of cheats yet and is still hoping that Van might be able to use exploits to his benefit later, the gambler showed her that things are different here. Never mind the fact that some features of Age of Tales are just missing, like the passive Wisdom buff. What if she chose a class with features that just don't work anymore?

Yeah, Van's next class would take some careful consideration, and she wouldn't be assigning his status points until she knew, either. Class selection wouldn't be until Urgol's Camp in Chapter 2, anyway, so there's no point fretting about it now.

For now Van has some silver to spend and shopping to do.

He considers visiting the fortune teller first, just in case the duplication glitch is still possible… but he doesn't have a gold bar, and the glitch never worked with anything else, and beyond that the fortune teller doesn't really do much. Also, he has The Incident to prepare for, too, and a limited amount of money.

So, with a full coin purse in hand, Van turns his attention to the market instead. First things first - weapon and armour.

The smithy stands on the other end of the market square, with smoke chugging out of its chimney at steady puffs. There are some shields on display in the front and a big wooden sword on top of the building, advertising "Blakeley's Blades - in business for more than three generations!"

"Hello," Van calls, entering the place.

Inside the air is hot and thick, with the smell of smoke and metal hanging heavy in the room. In the background there's the steady clink-clink-clink of a hammer on an anvil - an apprentice, hammering out some nails in the back. 

"Welcome," an older teenager, eighteen at most, comes forward. "How can we help you?"

[Blacksmith's Apprentice] [Jaro Amagris] [Lvl. 15 Commoner]

"I'd like to see what you have for sale, please," Van says.

"Well, what we have ready is over there," the older apprentice says, pointing towards a table loaded with a number of wooden boxes and buckets full of different metal crafts - nails, candle holders, hinges… "But if you want something specific, you will have to wait until the master gets back - he's out on business."

"Thanks, I'll just take a look," Van says and moves to the table. 

Much to his delight, an Age of Tales shop menu pops up.

[Blakeley's Blades Blacksmith]

[Small Iron Nail - 10 copper pieces] [Small Iron Hook - 13 copper pieces] [Small Iron Clasp - 15 copper pieces] …

And so on, in a surprisingly long list from cheapest to the most expensive. It's a lot of small iron stuff, different types of nails, cloak pins, buckles and buttons, eating utensils, heads of farming tools, and so on and so on, ending with the most expensive items.

… [Cast Iron Skillet - 35 silver pieces] [Cast Iron Cooking Pot - 40 silver pieces] [Short Sword - 50 silver pieces] 

It's a lot more items than Van had been expecting - and yet, fewer weapons. There are plenty of knives - Cooking Knife, Lvl. 1, goes for a nice round 20 silver pieces while Whittling knife, Lvl. 1 goes for 25 - but there's no daggers or throwing knives or anything like that. There isn't even metal ammunition for a sling. There's just one short sword on sale.

And no armour whatsoever. 

"Do you not sell any armour?" Van asks, confused. 

"Er, no?" Jaro Amagris says, giving him a strange look. "We don't make armour, really, though I suppose we can give it a try, if you want to order some. Or you could try at the Madam Arbury's, they might have something."

Van blinks, confused. "Madam Arbury's?"

"The tailor," Jaro clarifies.

There's a tailor? "Oh, okay. Uh. Where is it?"

"It's just across from the church - big windows with dresses, you can't miss it," the apprentice says with a shrug. "I think they have some padded coats and stuff."

Huh. That's interesting. You could get some gambesons and the like in the game too, but all armour and weaponry was bought from blacksmiths. This is… different.

"What d'you need armour for?" the younger apprentice, a boy of maybe ten or eleven, asks from between his hammering. His eyes shine eagerly on his sweaty, soot-stained face. Van glances at the air above him.

[Blacksmith's Apprentice] [Denny Rivercross] [Lvl. 3 Commoner]

The kid squints at Van.  "Are you going to join the army or something?" he asks.

Yeah, eventually, unfortunately, if things follow game plot. "No, no, I just got a bit of money, and I always wanted to try it," Van says quickly and motions at himself. "I mean… I think I'd make a good warrior. What do you think?" He flexes an arm, just because he can. And because Van's biceps are massive.

The younger blacksmith's apprentice bounces a little, clearly full of barely contained kid energy. "Oh yeah! You could be a knight!"

The older apprentice snorts. "Yeah, I don't think size alone is enough to become a knight, Denny," he says, looking Van up and down. "Though it probably helps…"

Denny bounces again. "Jaro, can we make armour for him?" the kid asks eagerly. "I'm so tired of making nails!"

"Well, like I said, we could give it a try," Jaro answers dubiously, still eyeing Van. "If he can pay for it."

Van shrugs. "I might, I might not. How long would it take to make it?"

"Depends on what you want," Jaro answers, taking a hammer lying on a table nearby and swinging it thoughtfully. "Some things take longer to make. And whether you're fine with us trying our hand at it, or if you want a master to make it matters too. He'll be faster - but it will cost you more."

"Hmm… say I wanted a chest plate, a cuirass, and you made it - how long would it take you?" Van asks, rubbing his chin on thought.

Jaro shrugs. "I've never made one and we're pretty busy, so… maybe a week or two?"

… by which time, Van would be at Ulgor's Camp and Valthor's minions would've already torched Westbrook to the ground.

Assuming, of course, that events followed game plot.

"Hmm," Van hums, wondering. In the game there's nothing you can do to prevent the destruction of Westbrook and the Gylcross farm - no matter what choices the player made, a scripted event was a scripted event. But maybe here and now… maybe there is something he can do.

He'd know once the Rift was opened.

In either case, a week is too long - he needs the armour for the battle in town, and that's in three days - and after that, even if the town survived, he might not see Westbrook again in months, if not years. There's no point in ordering anything made here.

"Well, it was a nice dream," Van sighs, a bit disappointed. "I guess I'll try my luck at the tailor's."

"Uh-huh," Jaro the senior apprentice agrees, clearly unimpressed, and drops the hammer on the table. "Alright. Anything else we can do for you?"

With no weapon-worthy knives and the only sword on sale being prohibitively expensive with Van's meagre budget… "Any chance you might have any spears or something lying around in here?"

Jaro snorts at him, arching his brows. "Spears?"

"I just want something to practice being a warrior with!" Van says defensively. "Spears are cheap, right?"

The elder blacksmith's apprentice shakes his head, looking amused, and then thinks about it. "Actually," Jaro says slowly. "I might have something. If you're alright with the shoddy quality, I think we have some practice pieces left?"

He goes to rummage in the back of the smithy and comes back with three very rough looking spearheads made of pretty low quality iron, going by the little holes and pockmarks in them.

[Dull Spearhead, Lvl. 1] [Attack: 3] [Defence: 0] [Crafting material. Attach to a Wooden Pole for a Dull Spear Lvl. 1.]

Van studies the spearheads with interest. Huh. There was crafting in Age of Tales, of course - but the only weapons you could craft were different types of arrows, and those only if you played a Ranger. He'd never seen spearheads. Maybe with some crafting material, his crafting menu will unlock?

In the meanwhile, the younger apprentice has abandoned his nail and is coming to join them. "Jaro, did you make these?" Denny asks, poking at the spearheads interestedly.

"Yes - master was hoping to get commission from the Baron, so he had me learn how to make them," Jaro shrugs. "We didn't get the job, though, it went to a blacksmith in Elysia. Someone's relative." He rolls his eyes.

Denny bounces eagerly, looking up at him. "I want to learn how to make spearheads!"

"Figure out how to make straight nails first," Jaro snorts, pushing the kid back towards the anvil he'd abandoned. Then the elder apprentice turns to look at Van. "Anyway, you can have these for five silver apiece."

Van hums. They are pretty rough, but… they'll probably still be better than the tools back at the farm. "Throw in a sharpening stone and you got yourself a deal."

-

Things go a little better at the tailor. Emphasis on the little.

"Oh, dear me," huffs the very fashionable lady tailor holding the gambeson against Van's chest and tutting fretfully. "No, it won't do, this won't fit at all! I'm afraid it will never fit you."

[Tailor] [Alma Arbury] [lvl. 7 Commoner]

She's somewhere between her thirties and forties and quite pretty, as most female NPCs in this game are. She's dressed up like the NPCs in the crown city, in a multilayered, vaguely Victorian looking dress with many shiny buttons running in a neat line from her neck down to the very hem. She looks very much like someone who's well fit to catering for the rich and affluent.

It's pretty fascinating, since she wasn't in the game at all.

"Well?" Alma asks, squinting a little through her golden framed glasses.

Van looks down. Though the gambeson looks pretty legit, with thick quilting and metal clasps and everything… it also kind of looks like she's holding something made for a child, when compared to his torso. "Could you maybe… expand it?" he asks hopefully. 

"Oh, well," Alma frowns, leaning back a little to consider the issue. "I suppose I could add panels to the side… and the arms… and the shoulder…" she trails away and then tsks, folding the gambeson over her arm. "No, no, it won't do, it won't do at all, it would be a complete mess. No, the proper thing to do is to make a new coat from scratch. Yes, it will fit you perfectly and will be far less work for me!"

Van hums, watching her take the gambeson away. "Well, you're the tailor, I guess. How long would that take, though?" he asks worriedly.

Alma hums and waves a dismissive hand. "Oh, a day or two - it's not a terribly complicated piece of clothing to make, and I have some nice quilt ready."

Van sighs with disappointment. Yet another unexpected turn for realism, but at least it's better than a week or two. "I see," he says and mentally pokes at the System, in hopes that it might offer him a handy-dandy instant goods store.

It shows him the tailor's shop instead. 

[Madam Arbury's Boutique.]

[Handkerchief - 80 copper pieces] [Foot Wrap - 90 copper pieces] [Underwear - 1 silver pieces] …

And so on and so forth, all the way down to…

… [Men's Fancy Winter Coat - 67 copper pieces] [Fancy Evening Dress - 80 silver pieces] [Elaborate Wedding Dress - 1 gold and 10 silver pieces] 

Van mentally flicks through the store page with a sigh and then stops. What's this? Near the middle of the list there is, oh, is that A Leather Vest, lvl. 4? For meagre 20 silver pieces? Well-well-well…

He looks slyly towards the tailor. "You wouldn't happen to have anything else - like, say, a vest?" he asks and adds, leadingly. "Something that might offer a little bit of protection?"

"Oh, well," Alma huffs, adjusting her glasses, her lips pursing up in thought. "I suppose we can have a look at what I have in store, but I really don't think… no, maybe…"

She heads off, muttering to herself and leaving Van examining the boutique and the System's store window. 

It's interesting, and yet another proof of how much more… real things are here. While the building for this shop was in the game - and it had something like five identical clones in other towns and cities - it hadn't been something the player could interact with. Just window dressing, making towns feel more lived in.

Maybe it was in the cut content, and there'd been plans for a clothing shop NPC that hadn't been implemented. It wouldn't be the first time it happened, and there certainly were enough clothing items that there should've been a tailor NPC.

"Ah, here we go!" Alma calls. She's holding a brown leather vest up triumphantly. "Now, this, this is a tough piece of clothing, if I do say so myself! Nice and supple cowhide. Come here, let's see how it fits."

It doesn't, no matter how Alma tries to stretch it, the vest doesn't get anywhere near to closing properly. Van's chest is simply too big.

"Well, that's what you get for growing so big!" the tailor says, a little defensive, her face flushed with effort. 

"I didn't say anything?" Van mutters and then shakes his head, giving in to the inevitable and taking the vest off. Everything was so much easier in the game - because everything always fit the character perfectly. "I guess it was a bit much expect clothing to be ready made. Let's talk about the gambeson - how much would it cost to make it?"

Pretty much all the silver he has left, it turns it, and he wouldn't get the gambeson until the next time he was in town, but that's fine. He wouldn't need it until after the Rift, anyway. With haggling done - and belated introductions made - Alma moves to take his measurements

It's a bit of a new experience for Katie, who's never had anything tailored in her life. It's also somewhat eye-opening, because Madam Arbury's Boutique has something he's not encountered yet. 

A mirror.

"I'll get to work right away," Alma promises, pushing her glasses up again while Van stares at his reflection. "It will be ready by tomorrow evening, mark my words. Please extend your arm straight to the side."

"I'm sure it will be," Van says, tilting his head this way and that while holding his arm to the side. Katie spent something like two hours designing this face, but seeing it like this, in the mirror, moving when he moves, emoting when he does…

"May I ask what you need a gambeson for, anyway?" Alma asks. "I assume you work on a farm?"

"Yeah, the Gylcross farm - but I'm not planning to stay there forever," Van admits, making faces at his reflection. His teeth are so straight. And so white. Kind of weird.

"Ah, I see," Alma hums, thoughtful, writing something down in a little notebook. "Are you looking to join any military group in particular? Should I add heraldries?"

"No," Van says, shaking his head. "I just want some armour, no insignia or heraldry or anything."

"Very well. You can put your hand down now."

Van lowers his arm and tilts his head the other way. Damn, his jaw is… impressive. He's got comic book superhero levels of jaw going for himself. Which kind of makes sense - a certain farmboy superhero might've been an inspiration there, maybe. His hair is so much messier than he realised, though. Guess that's an effect of it not being just a thing made of polygons anymore.

Also, is that… a bit of stubble? A hint of a five o'clock shadow? 

Does he have to shave?

Alma finishes taking his measurements with professional finesse. Van pays for his order, signs the receipt,  weighs his now empty coin purse and then sighs. "Thank you very much, Ma'am."

"And thank you for your business, Mr. Van," Alma says, sniffing, and with a last slightly flustered glance at him, awkwardly waves him off. "Have a very good day now."

Shaking his head, Van heads out of the store.

So, instead of the usual armament of Long Sword, Reinforced Wooden Buckler, Studded Leather Armour, dozens of Draughts of Memory and bunch of healing potions on top of it, his shopping haul is… three shoddy spear points, sharpening stone and a receipt for an order from Madam Arbury's Boutique.

Yeah, Katie's usual approach to Age of Tales is not working here, at all, and reality is throwing some spanners in the works. Katie isn't sure how she likes it. Which is probably kinda ironic, after all the times she went on and on about how dumb and unrealistic Age of Tales was. 

She'd get used to it. 

-

"Ah, there you are, my boy," Mr. Gylcross says, spotting Van loitering about the marketplace, waiting for him. "Have you been enjoying your time in town?"

"It's been… interesting," Van admits, which it has. "All done with business, sir?"

"Yes, quite. I found a couple of buyers for our spring crops," Mr. Gylcross says, seeming satisfied. He's got a flushed look of a man who's had at least a couple of drinks and his moustache has somehow gotten bushier. Looks like he's had a good day. "And the doctor will come take a look at Geruth tomorrow," the landowner continues. "Now, go and fetch the cart, if you please - I've made some purchases, and it will be far easier to load them directly into the cart."

[Homeward bound, Lvl. 2.]

[Mr. Gylcross' shopping trip is drawing to a close and it's time to head back to the farm. Fetch Bell and the cart, and load Mr. Gylcross' purchases for the trip home.] [Quest reward:  20 exp, 3 Meat buns, 1 Bottle of Mead.]

"Right away," Van agrees and gets to it.

Together with Mr. Gylcross Van loads up the various sacks and barrels and other things the man had bought onto the cart, tying them down for a secure trip home. Then Mr. Gylcross takes a seat in the back again, now leaning against some flour sacks.

"Have you eaten anything, Van?" the man asks, rifling through his purchases.

"Ah, no, sir, I got… distracted," Van admits - and the moment it's mentioned, he realises that he's actually pretty hungry and thirsty. He hadn't even been thinking of food as something he needs, because, well… Age of Tales didn't have a hunger bar.

"Here," Mr. Gylcross says and hands him a clay bottle and a paper bag that doesn't quite fit the setting. "Eat up, my boy, it's a long way home."

"Thanks, Mr. Gylcross," Van says and peers into the bag - sure enough, meat buns. The bottle must be mead then. "I appreciate it."

"Got to keep my men fed, don't I, else you might run off to work for the likes of Drakner, and I can't have that " Mr. Gylcross chortles and settles down for the journey back.

Van hums, taking a bite of the meat bun and answering the System's prompt for [Start journey?] with [yes].

-

[<<Prologue | <Chapter 3 || Chapter 5>>]

Proofread by @nimadge

-

Reality is against Van but at least there's meat buns and mead

[anyataylorjoys]

I was asked to put together a demonstration on how I did the analog selection effect in the first gif of my Final Girl set which mostly involved elaborate keyframe work and was like a living hell. This will be a much more simplified version for comprehensive ease, but still very wordy.

This tutorial is for intermediate/experienced level gifmakers who are already familiar with gif-making, keyframes, and layer masks, and this will serve more as a guide than anything.

If you are not comfortably experienced with the above, this may be difficult to follow because I won't be elaborating on every detail, but if you're still interested in recreating something like this regardless, I suggest checking out the below tutorials first:

Giffing 101: A Comprehensive Guide by redbelles

Clipping masks vs. layer masks by kal-kestis on usergif

Shapes and putting gifs inside them by nobie

Create your canvas, make your shapes and align them in the positions you want them to be in. Then get the gifs you plan on filling your shapes with created on standby.

Things to keep in mind before starting: 1. Many of you may have already learned through experience that photoshop has a tendency to create duplicate frames when you are working with multiple gifs on one canvas. It typically occurs when you don't have the same number of frames in all the gifs that you're combining onto your canvas, or rather, your clips are not perfectly aligned. OR when you are working with keyframes, but this time we will have an exception to that rule for what're doing so I won't be discussing the 0.03-interval rule here but if you're curious, it's fully explained this this tutorial by nik on usergif.

To be on the safe side, load in the same number of frames for all gifs. I usually just load in however many frames for each, and then I trim the clips on both ends to be the same, but they have to be exact. If even a single integer is out of place in timeline, you could still risk getting duplicate frames at the end. 2. When making an edit like this, you have to consider the amount of time you have from start to end to make the transitions and rationally plan them out in the space you have available. The more shapes you use, the more frames your gifs will need to be composed of.

3. If you're trying to get the same effect as in my Final Girl edit, where the black & white is default, and the color phases in and out, my goal here is for the color to be visible for at least 10-15 frames each gif, so with 3 gifs, I figured around 65-70 frames would be a good range.

For my first gif, I intentionally loaded in my gamble of 68 frames. For the other two, I loaded in all that was capped in the folders, moved the clips into the positions I wanted them to be in, put them in their designated layer masks, and then trimmed the clips on both sides to match the initial 68-frame clip. ❗️Remember that they have to be exactly aligned like this and all other trimmed off clips deleted before you start your key-framing❗️

Next you wanna make a group for each gif (highlighted in yellow for visibility) to put your coloring adjustments into with a layer mask for their designated shapes, which should look like this in your layers, and like the below in timeline once aligned with the rest of the clips.

I also just tucked the shape layers into the coloring groups to clean it up. But if you plan on creating frames for the gifs, I suggest you move those layers to the bottom and keep them until the end when they can be used for borders, but if not you can make new shapes later.

Assign a black & white gradient map to each gif with a clipping mask on top of your coloring groups.

Now lets say you're not pleased with the outcome of the black & white like for mine, it desperately needs brighting and contrast.

Add your brighting adjustments as needed, and give every adjustment its corresponding layer mask like below.

Next, duplicate both your gif layer and your coloring group, then select both duplicates, as well as your new b&w color adjustments and convert them into a smart object together.

You should now have your original gif + original coloring group, and one single black & white gif on top.

Do this with the rest of the gifs! If you want, you can also combine your original gif and coloring group into a smart object so you have one colored gif, and one black & white counterpart for each.

Now we add the key frames!

You're going to be adding opacity keyframes to your black and white gif layers only. Decide which gif you want the color reveal to start with, and what your reveal pattern is going to be.

I chose to reveal the color of my first gif 11 marks in, which means I need to add a key frame at the 10th mark as well. This is because we don't want a literal "fade-out" effect, we want the change to be immediate. The first key should be at 100% opacity, and the second at 0%. You shouldn't have to worry about duplicate frames upon conversion because all keyframes will only be 1 integer apart.

Once you've decided where your next reveal will start on your second gif of choice, repeat the process.

Then you have to add more 2 more key frames to the prior gif to transition it back into black & white. This needs to occur simultaneously as the next gif transitions into color. Where one starts, another ends, and where one ends, another starts, etc.

Follow this process until you have 2 pairs of keyframes on all your gifs (your final gif should only have 1 pair). Whether you want the transitions to be evenly spaced is your choice and I think it looks cleaner that way. For my final girl set, I was trying to simulate an analog effect similar to making a player selection in an old video game so they were placed methodically to be "jumpy". But play with the keyframe intervals between each gif to get them to look the way you want.

Your keyframes should look like this in the end for reference:

Circling back to adding borders, it's the same keyframe process, but on new shape layers on 0% fill +stroke to serve as the border (if you deleted your shapes earlier). Try adding an "outer glow" blending option to make the border more prominent. Then, make sure the opacity keyframes on the shapes align with the keyframes on the gifs.

If you have any further questions on something not elaborated enough on, my dms are open!

[six-eyed-samurai]

hii i'm here to request another platonic fic as i look at you evilly except this time it's bsd

getting into the actual request, would you mind writing a kenji fic where reader is a boy his age also in the ada who likes to cook for him after missions? thank you so much if you do write this!

MORNING <333 I'm here to cook for both Kenji and you as I gaze into the horizon beyond the great distance with a faraway glint in my eyes while posing, heroically, on a rock.

In the beginning you were not as proficient in the culinary arts as you were now.

Cooking, despite what everyone says, is not simply washing rice and frying eggs and rinsing vegetables and chopping meat. Cooking is an experimental game between you and a slight deviation from the original recipe, a chemical gamble, a philosopher's inspiration for how much is too much and how little is too little. Celebrating what you think is edible turning out to be too salty. Reveling in your perfectly cooked meat only to flip it over and realize it's burnt. Discovering that in fact, spices really do matter and so does plating, because nobody wants to eat something that looks like the cat hawked up, no matter how delicious.

Or at least this was your explanation to Kunikida when he walked into another explosive disaster in the kitchen and demanded to know what's all that black stuff in the garbage, how is the new salt shaker half empty already, do you know how much it costs to buy plates these days thanks to inflation while they're on a right budget - ! You don't even get the chance to warn him off the rubbery egg remains on the floor - ah, oops, he's stepped onto it.

A sigh. Kunikida pinched the bridge of his nose and pushed his glasses. "Who are you even cooking for?"

"Oh, Kenji-kun, as thanks for his help on my last job!" You smiled almost as brightly as the sparks that had erupted from the stove earlier.

"Ehhh?? Kenji-kun gets a free meal??" The sing song voice is unmistakable and so is the freeloader sniffing out an opportunity. Dazai poked his head around the corner and sniffed. "Hey, why don't I get one?"

"You didn't help -"

"Dazai, all this, with no offense intended, is a health hazard to us all. You're better off increasing your tab at the cafe downstairs."

"Did you say health hazard?! Great, death by food, what an amazing suicide idea, Kunikida!"

They're still fighting by the time you cleaned up the kitchen and left, a bit put out by your failed attempt at doing something nice for your best friend. Perhaps Kunikida had been right, that you were better off buying a meal than poisoning him with that. You didn't even realize someone's been in your room before, not until you find a cookbook labelled "Bento for Dummies" lying on the table, with a sticky note inside inscribed "Good luck!"

Huh.

***

The next time you cook there's two major differences - three, if you count the end product.

One, Kunikida rushes in to stand guard and bark out potential safety hazard warnings and demands reassurances that you will clean up any mess you make. You're a little offended how completely he mistrusts you.

Two, the kitchen remained relatively in the same state. You didn't use up too much of anything or accidentally drop another egg (there was a very nice tutorial on the perfect way to crack eggs, recommended by Ranpo). The worst that happend was a slightly chipped plate. You considered that if not a success, then at least a major improvement.

As an extra, three: the Bento, though basic, doesn't look half bad. You managed the omurice pretty well and it doesn't taste that salty.

But it's not a success yet! Not a success until you give it to who it's intended for and he likes it - better yet, dare you hope, love it.

Kenji is supposed to be back from his mission soon. You don't know the details but from what you heard it sounds like there's a lot of heavy lifting involved, so the sunny blond was surely going to be very hungry. Not a I could eat a horse hungry, but a I will eat the whole farmyard and the barn hungry. With that in mind you make several more servings, thinking if there's any leftovers you could always just take up Dazai's request for free food. You're so caught up in the accidental spill of some dishwashing soap you don't even notice when Kenji sneaks up on you.

"Hey! Are you working a catering service now?"

"Ack, Kenji-kun!" You spill even more dishwashing soup and water. "Don't jump on me like that!"

"Oh, sorry!"

"Yeah, okay, whatever." He looks sorry enough - briefly. "And it's not a catering service. They're for you."

"What?" You can see the literal stars sparking to life in his eyes. "Real - really?"

"Yeah." An attempt to shrug nonchalantly. "I figured you'd be hungry after work so-"

He's already opening a bento to take a sniff, eagerly rummaging around for utensils; Kenji takes a seat and with an expression that indicates he might be drooling soon, clicks the chopsticks. "And they're all for me?"

"Yeah, if you want finish -"

How is he already halfway through - is that Kenji's third Bento already?! "And you cooked them yourself?"

"Um, yeah, I mean I had a cookbook and-"

Oh my god, you think. He ate it all. Every last crumb. Every box wiped clean.

"It was so good!" Kenji's eyelids droop slightly, sleep infecting his enthusiastic grin. His posture is getting a little affected by lethargy, and he's laying his head into his arms as the sated ability began to take its toll. "Thank you so much! You're the... you're the best...my best friend, heh."

You'll clean about a hundred more kitchens, cook several thousand more bentos and hear Kunikida fuss like a mother hen a million more times if it meant you'll see Kenji be so satisfied by a simple meal. Your best friend would do the same too, right?

For now you just sheepishly laugh it off and move to wipe the table.

***

"Nii-chan, which one should we buy next?" Naomi held up two books, eyeing them both critically. The basket is already heavy after a few minutes at the book clearance sale, but eh, whatever, Tanizaki was carrying anyway. "Beginner's Guide to Sushi or How To Make Temaki?"

"Eh, sushi looks better, but maybe Kenji likes Temaki more?" They're about the same price anyway, so Tanizaki doesn't really care. Naomi clicks her tongue in exasperation when he barely gives them a glance, continuing to look for something on the opposite shelf.

She checked the contents page. "Oh well, sushi then. There's a chapter on Temaki in it."

"Do you think he knows it's us leaving the cookbooks out for him yet?" Naomi wonders as they walk out of the store, Tanizaki groaning from the weight of their goods.

"Nah, it's been three months since he started cooking for Kenji and he hasn't said anything, so probably not."

"True. Let's go put this one on his desk this time - the last time you idiot put it on the kitchen counter top it nearly fell into the garbage disposal."