#going back to playing this game... i may have a problem

[deesseshesca]

PAC :What will his friend think of you ?

(SINGLE SINCE BIRTH - ERA ~5 )

No ... because I actually want to crash out !

PILE 1

Page swords (reverse), 5 swords, magician, 2 pentacles 

His friend is going to think of y’all as an old couple. Y’all would be the dad and mom of the group. Don’t be surprised but you will often have a third wheel between y’all. I also get a feeling that this is going to be an union between the dad and the mom of each respective group. Y’all may both be the oldest sibling in y’all respective household since you are unfazed by the people surrounding you constantly. If you need to bicker which you will, it will look like two old heads going at it. Y’all know the Bambi and Druski dynamic that’s exactly y’all. You guys have so many inside jokes. You guys are only this comfortable around each other. Both, you and him have past situationship/relationships … Yet it was the first time for his friend group to see him so comfortable in public. You guys may walk around in matching pjs, which he would never have done on his own not because he found it cringy but because of some kind of social anxiety. Also social anxiety stops him from being his authentic self way too often. So to see him express emotion, be talkative and affectionate with you is actually going to warm the heart of his bros. Little do they know how comfortable he makes you feel 2. To add on that, you are a safe place for his inner child. Not holding him to the high standard which he was born in because of his role as the oldest sibling. Y’all also act like you both can’t stand each other. Bickering and all while cuddling … lol. I see his friend looking around … like : ``Are these guys serious rn?``.You guys are very vulnerable with each other and you both put a lot of effort in this relationship. Your person would never expose y’all problem in the daylight but they are not ashamed to say : `` Damm y’all wish I could stay but little mama is on her period.``, ``Shit we argued yesterday, we are cool but I need to go check on her if everything is good frl frl`` or even `` Sorry for the bad play gang, my lady is mad at me … I am scared she will block me …``.They see the effort on your part 2, coming to his games, making his lunch box, walking around with his fav snack, playing with his hair and hugging him.  They really feel like you are wifey material, which is great because one of your goals in life in all seriousness is to be a MILF . They also know you are here to stay. 

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PILE 2

3 swords, King wands (reverse), Magician (reverse), Knight wands (reverse) 

You and your future person will take a break. No worries there no fuck up. I think this person got really scared of how deep the relationship was going and they respect and love you too much to hurt you. So they just sit you down and express their real feelings and you welcome them with no fight, letting them go. You work on yourself in the meantime. Did a lot of journaling and work on your standard & self concept. One day you will post and they will catch on after spending weeks off socials and they will run back with so much excitement. Not in the way, like : `` Damm nobody can have her but me …`` . Nah this person genuinely enjoys the chase. So they come as an evolved person. Knowing that you may be cuff or you just don't want them but they don't care because it was always supposed to be you. While all this is happening their friends are watching on the side lines. His friend will often remind him of the mistake he made by letting you go. Not in some sneaky way (me:believe me, you would be surprised how many of the friends of my situation were in my DM) but more on some real shit. They saw the happiness, joy and love that was pouring from y’all connection like sweet honey. They will probably help him get you back. Some will literally set up a christmas carol to get you back. Anyways regarding any specific thought… they think you are high maintenance. You are clingy and very sensitive. Like it matters to you the tone that he uses, the words that he uses or even the way he touches or even looks at you. You are quite an emotional woman. Is very easy for you to cry. They also think you are high maintenance, they saw their boy pay for your nails and hair more than once. They know damm well that when y’all become official, he’s going to pay for the trip and your shopping spree because of all that they will never hit on you because in their books, you are too demanding as a gf. 

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PILE 3

8 wands, King wands (reverse), 7 wands, Sun (reverse)  

Most of y’all reading this have a sagittarius rising. Since that came strong I decided to do my little search. Most of y’all may have a sleeper build (quite literally using their slang) or have a plus size/very curvy pear body. You know the body Doja Cat had. When she was way curvier, where she was very heavy down but less up. Also you may have big animated eyes like the character that Tim Burton wrote about. Is almost mystical. Y’all may play a sport, maybe cheer or volley. Some are runners whatever it is you are an athletic babe. Maybe you even play a more masculine sport like baseball or handball. You also have a specific feature in your face aside from your eyes that big, could be your lips or even ears. One last thing … you are a tall gyal. Minimum : 5’7,8 to even 6ft. All this to say is that your looks strike them. They also think you are a cool girl because they saw you do the first move with your future person. You were quite straightforward in what you wanted with them. They also think you are chill because even tho you have not played a boy sport, you are passionate about it so it is easy to build a connection with you. Since you share the same hobbies. You may be sharing the same soul tribe. Meaning there's a high chance that you and this person are friends rn.Y’all are just part of a big friend group which would make you sincere on the ease in which you connect with his friends. Since y’all are all friends ! I think your bff dont want y’all to be together because she knows how much you want a serious relationship and y’all know how much of a womanizer he is. How much he is afraid of commitment. I think you know why because y’all are quite close. Something to do with a father's wound. Unlike the other women, he allows you to see the boys hiding behind the mask but you don't know if he can hold up to a good relationship. Even tho he often voices that he will treat you verrrrrrrrry good. You know he can because the way he treats you is completely different (more gentle and loving) than the way he treats others. Like he treats you even better than the other girls in the group. Is giving everybody can see it  but y’all. Y’all both know  there's a tension and I think (looking at the cards) that you will be the first one making the move.

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[motherfuckinglanguages]

Truco in The Eternaut

I made a post about the dialogue about the storm in the first episode

I don't presume I'm going to explain truco here, but I think there's something beautiful here.

Truco is a card game where you bluff and attempt to make others believe and raise their stakes, just like in poker. These four men are playing in pairs here.

The man in the blue shirt is Lucas. He's playing with Favalli (el Tano, sitting opposite him), against Juan and Polsky (el Ruso), the other pair.

Finding this frame I thought it was interesting that Omar, the man in the red t-shirt, is there with them but is not part of the game, for now.

Each part of the pair is sitting across one another (if it was six people, the aim is that the companions are never sitting next to one another).

Like in poker, you may or may not have the cards to win, and the idea is to make the other believe your bluff.

In truco, there's two instances: the envido and the truco. You play in rounds, but you can rely on your companion across the table, except you don't know what cards they have. WHICH IS WHY YOU CAN SIGNAL.

There are a set of signals you can use when you have to play with strangers. The joke is signalling to your partner, without the others catching it. Of course there are partners who have their own secret code. These four men have known one another for decades. Only Omar (in the red shirt) is a stranger.

In this scene they play, Juan is rather rude to Omar who chips in the conversation asking if they are playing with Flor (flower, if you wish, is another instance of this game, played before envido, which you may choose not to include). Juan answers with a phrase about how he's an outsider and he should not speak at all.

They have the whole convo about the storm, and the power goes out, and the adventure starts.

Fast forward to the next time they are sitting at a table playing truco.

Spoilers below:

It's episode six. These men have been through A LOT.

Polsky is dead. Omar has been estranged from the group, and has been welcomed back. Lucas was missing for a while after getting drunk, and met the group again on their way to join the military in Campo de Mayo. They are now together killing time before going back after succeeding to send a radio message, and finding a lot of fucking weird stuff about this situation.

What we are about to find out, is that Lucas is not himself anymore. And he's been managing it quite sucessfully until now-

We don't see the beginning of the game. Omar is not where Polsky used to be. Omar is smiling in the middle of the game, and Lucas loses his temper. Juan congratulates his team mate over a good start.

The losing pair are upset. Lucas is about to serve the next round and Favalli asks him to show him what cards Lucas had in the lost game.

And this happens.

"You're not being a good team player," says Favalli. "I get mad, you know me"

Juan tries to remind them that they are there trying to take their minds off other problems, and this is not worth fighting over.

And Lucas goes

This means he had a good hand, he HAD to call envido. And he goes into detail. This is..... something's off here. Favalli is angry that Lucas is playing alone, Lucas is annoyed.

Omar, the only one who's there for the first time, asks are they always like this. Juan explains that he doesn't know what's happeneing, because these two have always been each other's soul mates.

The game goes on with Lucas pushing it, while Favalli looks on annoyed as fuck.

I'd say he's also seeing something that he doesn't quite get.

Omar has 28 points, and Lucas asks Favalli how much he has. Favalli hasn't got anything. Lucas goes, you made the signal.

And the argument explodes. Lucas wants Juan to say Favalli made the signal. Juan of course doesn't say a word. Favalli is upset. Omar laughs because he doesn't see that Lucas is acting very much out of character. By all means, they are still strangers.

Favalli, still talking about the game, pushes Lucas until Lucas snaps and declares he's not playing anymore.

And the moment Omar approaches him, Lucas stabbs Omar with a letter opener.

What happens after this is Lucas runs out of the apartment, Juan runs after him. He finds him on the roof, Favalli joins them, they see some more weird shit in the distance, and Lucas speaks some seemingly nonsense and jumps.

Next thing we find out is apparently the enemy has been taking over some people's minds and will. The suspicion is that Lucas was taken over when he went missing at the mall. And he's been playing along effectively until he was required to use a very intimate code. Since he was not himself anymore, he failed. And that made him snap and stab Omar, and ultimately commit suicide.

I think there's something beautiful here regarding The Eternaut's message that there's no salvation on our own, and that the only salvation is a collective one, that relies on the true bond between individuals.

GO WATCH THE ETERNAUT. It's on Netflix. GO!

[toasttt11]

cleared

July 15, 2024

Allison closed the door as she got into her car and she tossed her purse and a pile of papers onto the passenger seat.

Allison let out a sigh and rubbed her face, she just had her thirteen week appointment and she was fully cleared for everything now. She has been able to slightly work out the last almost two weeks but she was fully cleared now and could be back on the ice.

It was the news she wanted but it also meant seeing if she could still play the same, she was nervous to go back on the ice.

She obviously was so incredibly relieved to be cleared but the fear she would not be the same was still there.

She hasn’t even went to the rink since her accident, the closest she has been to the ice was going to four of Quinn’s playoff games but she has not stepped even close to the ice in over thirteen weeks.

She has never in her entire life went this long without being on the ice.

Allison ran her hands through her hair and shook her head, she turned her car on putting her music on and drove back home.

Her family was at at her parents house for dinner tonight and the lake house was empty right now besides the siblings.

Allison headed inside talking her shoes off and hanging her purse up seeing Quinn and Jack bringing food to the table.

“Alls!” Ellen smiled from the kitchen as she carried a couple glasses to the table setting them down and turning to her daughter, “How did it go?”

Allison let out a breath, “I’m cleared, i can skate whenever i want too.”

Ellen broke into an even bigger smile, “That is great!”

“Practice tomorrow then.” Jack ruffled her hair as he walked by.

Luke walked into the room hearing what Allison said and squeezed her shoulder giving her a smile.

Allison nodded softly seeing how everyone is excited for her, she is excited but she’s more nervous than excited.

July 16, 2024

Allison stood in front of the door at the bench starring at the ice, she has all of her hockey equipment on for the first time in months and she has her collarbone all taped up mostly for her mentally.

It was only her brothers on the ice for once which she was glad for, she really didn’t want anyone else here for her first time skating again. Quinn, Jack and Luke were all skating around waiting patiently for her.

Allison slowly put one skate one the ice and immediately all she could think of was crashing into the boards and the feeling of the excruciating pain from her appendix and the feeling of her bone snapping.

Allison’s breathing picked and she quickly jerked back putting both feet back on the floor and backed up for the ice hurrying down the tunnel and into the locker room.

Quinn, Jack and Luke shared a concerned look at her reaction and they all got off the ice heading right to the locker room seeing the sitting in her stall with her head in her hands.

“Hey.” Luke said calmly sitting next to her and setting his hand on her back.

“Hi.” Allison mumbled back.

“Having a hard time?” Quinn said knowing as he sat down on his stall and Jack stood in front of Allison.

“What if it happens again.” Allison mumbled slowly lifting her head.

“Well you can never have an appendix problem again.” Jack reminded her.

“And if i break it again?” Allison looked at her older brothers nervously.

“You might,” Luke said honestly, “But you might not, you can’t let that stop you from playing.”

Allison glanced back now fiddling siri she gloves.

“I have something that may help you.” Jack said walking over to his stall and grabbing something in his bag and walked back handing it to Allison.

Allison opened the package and realized what it was, “A collarbone guard?” She hasn’t even thought about using this.

“It may not protect you completely but will give you some extra padding and extra support.” Jack told her as he completely understands the fear that comes with coming back from an injury.

Allison’s face softened, “Thank you.” It was perfect idea and she quickly pulled off her jersey and shoulder pads and put the collarbone guard on.

She tightened it and sighed linking the way her collarbone felt snug and more protected. She put her equipment back on over.

“That was actually smart.” Luke commented giving Jack a surprised look.

“Don’t act so surprised Moose.” Jack deadpanned back as Allison rolled out her shoulders and stood back up.

“Ready?” Quinn gave her an encouraging look.
Allison nodded this time she felt a lot better.

The four of them walked back on the ice and Quinn, Jack and Luke stepped on first staying close by for Allison.

Allison clenched her jaw and let out a long breath and this time she quickly stopped onto the ice with both of her feet.

She felt her heart pick up but took a clamming breath her hands naturally curling around her stick as she started to move her feet.

She thought she would been more stiff getting back on the ice but she wasn’t and it was muscle memory. She lost more and more tension in her shoulders as she skated around the ice.

Allison slowly started to smile content, she felt more balanced right now than she has since the accident.

Quinn, Jack and Luke all watched fondly seeing Allison getting comfortable again and the smile on her face, she hasn’t smiled like this in a while.

Allison gave her brothers a bright grin as Luke hit her a puck and she easily started stick handling with the puck before passing back.

Allison closed her smiling, now it was time for her to start training and getting ready for the upcoming season, she had a lot of work to do with the rest of the off season.

[ssaalexblake]

I feel like one of the big differences between Katniss and Haymitch's narration is that Haymitch is aware from the get go that the careers are not his enemy. It takes Katniss a while, and while she's tertiarily aware that the capitol is the one at fault here, she still lets her hatred for the careers she's in the arena with make her forget her anger at the capitol.

The whole thing about the newcomers in sotr is an attempt to upset the status quo, and from Hatmitch at least it is not a projection of hatred towards the careers. I think the alliance was erased from the 50th games not Just because it fully reshaped Haymitch's narrative, but also because it was inherently rebellious even aside from the actual rebellion taking part in that arena.

Because yeah, the careers are allowed to be allies and it's apparently expected of them to do so, but they're also well trained enough to know that after the pack hunting and campfires, they have to kill each other, and they do kill each other. The status quo is not damaged by this shallow alliance that has no real feeling. In fact, portraying the districts as people who are friendly with each other but repeatedly murder each other for their own gain must be great for the propaganda machine.

The other districts, however, when they ally, tend to get attached and not want to kill each other, which is literally in the face of what the games are meant to portray. The kids in the 50th knew full well what'd happen if they killed all the careers before they were all dead, even poor tortured Lou Lou said it to their faces that they'd just murder them all.

(side note: I cannot imagine what kind of training and psychological conditioning they do to the career kids to prep them and make them ready and willing to play friends with other kids for a couple of weeks or so and then have to kill them. Yikes.)

But back to the point, Haymitch may think Panache is unhinged and personally dislike him, but he's inherently aware from the get go that Both of them are nothing but animals to the capitol citizens. During the interviews when Caesar makes a cruel comment towards Panache, Haymitch laughs for a second before he stops himself. He doesn't stop himself because he thinks that Panache is the smartest most honourable guy in the world, he does it because the capitol are laughing at him because they think he's a stupid animal, and the capitol sees no difference between the two of them.

He chose to have empathy with him, despite what he thought of him.

He's psychologically allying himself with the careers here, not out of affection, but out of an ability to differentiate with who is bigger enemy is. He's more than aware that they're just teenagers like him. It's wholly unsurprising that he shared their chocolate with Silka when he saw her crying. He recognised that she's just been through the exact thing he did and would have just watched Maritte die without being able to help.

And yes, Katniss gets here herself, but it is not an inherent awareness in her. She is learning as she goes, which is why her mentor gently reminds her who the real problem is.

[deiaiko]

#27.2 Shinsu contest

Horyang assessed the room quietly.

"Ah, this is boring." The annoying brat giggled. "I thought there'd be something special on the twentieth floor, but this is just a game for kids. This level is so lame. Are there only losers here?"

Horyang stole a glance at Goseng –her name was written on the scoreboard, not making it in the top eight. He noticed how she hugged herself tighter when the brat said that, and he felt his blood boil in her stead.

"Why don't we play a game?"

"Why not. But what game?"

"Well. For whoever comes in first. Um…let's see…" The brat turned to his girl, "Right." 

The girl looked uncomfortable. "...What?!"

"I'll give my Yeon."

"W-what do you mean?!"

"S-sir, that's…"

"I may owe you some money, but you're going too far!" 

Ah, so they were only bound by money, Horyang thought.

Honestly, he had no intention to stand up for the girl. Their problems were theirs alone to solve. But they were clearly making Goseng and everyone else uncomfortable with their banter, and he wanted to do something about it. 

Horyang waited until it was his turn so he wouldn't disturb the test. And when the time came, he stood up, easily drawing everyone's eyes. Then to make his point, he glared at the annoying brat as he passed him by. "Can't you be quiet?" 

The cocky brat didn't give him much of a reaction though, despite Horyang towering over him and trying to appear threatening.

Horyang deepened his frown. "Don't you get that you're making others uncomfortable?"

"Do you want me to care about regulars who are about to fail?" The brat glared back. "Don't ruin my day. Run off now, before I beat you up."

The nerve… Horyang pressed his lips together. Let's not get too worked up. He's not worth it. Horyang stomped away and muttered, "Brat."

"What?!"

Horyang stood in front of the punching machine, circulating the devil's power into his fist and felt as it morphed his right arm. "Sooner or later, you're going to fail, too." And he hit the punching bag with all his might, letting out his annoyance over that brat.

The machine rolled his number, and he wasn't surprised to see that his name was written as the first in rank. Six thousand three hundred and fifty huh…not bad.

As Horyang made his way back to sit, he passed by the brat again. "Your mom never taught you manners, huh?"

The brat still had the nerve to laugh. "...You're better than I expected. This won't be as boring as I thought." He flicked his fingers and the big guy beside him cracked his knuckles.

"Hey, pal. Have you ever seen the devil?"

Horyang didn't have time to mask his surprise. What?

"I'll show you." He passed him by and stood on the stage. His right hand began to transform, rigid and snappy. It was as if his bones were broken down so new ones could grow in.

Horyang wasn't expecting that there would be another person that was made to be an ignition weapon other than him and Cassano. And as if the transformation wasn't surprising enough, the guy –his name was written as Robdevil– scored almost twice higher than him.

The brat got even more cocky after that, so Horyang decided he'd just watch from the sidelines rather than wasting his energy to deal with someone like him.

The girl was next. And even though she tripped, her score was twice higher than Robdevil. So that's the power from a great family, huh.

That brat, however, was able to score three thousand more points than her. Is he actually that strong? Or is the machine broken? Horyang began to doubt.

The guy in black with the ponytail stood up from beside him, it seemed like he was the last on the queue. He strode to the stage, ignoring the brat who was still so full of himself.

Foil head –his name was Akraptor, Horyang tried to remember– cackled. It piqued Horyang's interest.

"Hey baldy, what's so funny?" The brat glared.

"Everything. You're all losers and you don't even know it."

"What?"

Akraptor pointed with his chin. "Look at him, he's the strongest regular here."

Horyang followed his gaze, noticing how the guy was equipping a black cotton mask over his nose and mouth, hiding his expression from view. He walked up to the stage and stood in front of the machine.

Calmly, he placed his palm in front of the gauger board and–

BOOM!

–a loud explosion shook the room.

After the smoke dissipated, Horyang saw that the stage wall was destroyed. The board beeped as it registered the score, and Horyang felt a chill on his skin.

The numbers reached seven digits, compared to the five digits that the brat had scored beforehand.

Damn, what a monstrous power!

Horyang spared a quick glance at Akraptor since his claim turned out to be true, and found out he also looked very shocked. Horyang would be wrong if he were to think that his pale skin couldn't be paler.

'Grace' was written as his name. Horyang would surely remember that. He was undoubtedly the strongest regular in the room.

Everyone parted ways when Grace walked back, even the administrator was glaring at him.

"The test is over now. All the regulars, please step forward." The administrator quickly announced. "First place, Grace. Please come up here."

Horyang heard a sob coming from his left. It was from the blonde guy– Wangnan, he recalled.

"Get it together. Stop crying." Goseng scolded him, though whispering.

"I'm not…crying." He said between hiccups.

"You're making Miseng cry…"

Wangnan sniffled.

True to her statement, Miseng cried along. It only made Wangnan cry harder, and so was Miseng.

Goseng eventually gave up, and it pained Horyang to see her sad. But he didn't know what to do, how to comfort someone. He could only stand there, watching her helplessly. The thought of passing the test without her also made his heart ache, but there was nothing he could do but to move on.

"Ok, now. Grace, what you should do…is…" The administrator paused, his gaze befall everyone in the room. Horyang got a bad feeling about this. "...choose seven teammates to take the test with."

Horyang blinked, and then the realization dawned. The whole room roared in unison. "What?!"

Masterlist

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[realbrickwall]

Hi, OP! I'm a longtime Exalted player, and I've gone on to write a couple sections of some of the newer game supplements. I'd love to tell you more about what it's like to play the game!

To start with, Exalted is a game with a lot of complicated subsystems. While you're not going to be cross-referencing giant tables or doing trigonometry, you can expect resolving big actions to be a multi-step process. The game line is currently divided into two rulesets that are being published concurrently for the same world. Exalted 3rd Edition is a hefty tome with many hefty supplements, perfect for those who like nuanced systems with lots of levers and dials. Exalted: Essence is somewhat more approachable, with approximately the same degree of complexity as the current version of Dungeons & Dragons. Apart from that distinction, everything below is applicable to both.

When you play Exalted, you are jumping right into the role of an extremely powerful hero, ordained by the highest of gods to fight their enemies and impose your will upon the mortal world. Your starting character will be able to effortlessly outclass most people, and casually brush off obstacles that would utterly annihilate the average human. As such, you spend your time tackling extremely big problems. Your first difficult fight might be against a lesser god or a few hundred zombies commanded by a necromancer. Your first difficult social encounter might be spurring a war of succession for a small kingdom or enticing a soulless chaos beast to allow safe passage for a group of delicious refugees. Your first difficult struggle with the environment might be averting a flood from a valley or crossing the world's most populated city entirely unseen and within minutes. And it only gets bigger from there. When these conflicts come up, you have incredible magic on your side, making you impossibly strong, fast, insightful, eloquent, and even capable of bending the fabric of reality to your will. And, if you build your character right, you may occasionally be putting so much magic into one action that you will have to roll more dice than you can physically hold in your hands without spillage. This is not an exaggeration.

Exalted is famous for its showy and complicated fights, but the game is really not all about fighting. Conversation and influence have deep systems with a lot of approaches, wherein you discover the beliefs and drives of people and use those to move them to action. You'll have a lot of occasion to solve problems by interacting with your environment. Lots of character options focus on such things as incredible feats of strength, attunement with the natural or spiritual world, crafting wondrous objects, and traversing the world's environs. It's pretty easy to have a game session with dozens of complex game interactions but not a single bit of violence. It's also pretty easy to have an epic fight that takes up your whole session with major back-and-forths.

So, in short, the play experience of Exalted is highlighted by complex systems with a lot of interactive elements, powerful and epic actions, and a lot of depth in social interaction and world exploration alongside a robust system of violent conflict. If that sounds interesting to you, I recommend you pick up the book Tomb of Memory, a quickstart version of Exalted: Essence designed to get you right into playing at the lowest possible price point.

I may have missed it somewhere but have you played and/or talked about Exalted? I remember hearing about it a long time ago and thinking it sounded cool but I can never seem to find anything on it, and I'd like to hear more about what its like to actually play ^-^

I only have limited play experience with Exalted, sadly! It does seem very cool but most of my experience with it is through reading it, and even then my experience is mostly with 1st and 2nd edition. I kind of miss when it was still billed as the mythic prehistory of the World of Darkness. Like, it was a stupid idea that didn't work and Exalted works a lot better as a standalone fantasy setting, but I'm still a sucker for big metasettings that span multiple game lines (like how Earthdawn was originally connected to Shadowrun and how Warhammer Fantasy used to canonically exist in the Warhammer 40k universe).

Anyway Exalted has some absolutely bonkers worldbuilding that gives it a lot of texture, but I don't have enough play experience to comment on its mechanics.

[rageflippedtables]

Gotta say I'm loving this game...

[ajastu]

there's a lot of posts in the DA tag criticizing veilguard, and like. Barring the fact that most of those feel like they're really not thought out OR they are not made in good faith...which is a whole another topic on its own...

I don't think that even if it WAS a bad game (which, it really is not), i personally could ever go on a criticism crusade against it. Just because of how...important it is, in regards to representation in these sorts of rpg games. The options it made available re: character creation.

Like, hear me out. I love Origins. I've replayed origins a million times. A lot of those times, i had to ignore large parts of how the game referred to my player character bcs i thought of them as nonbinary. Because it was just. Not An Option. And it was fine, i got pretty used to it, because i literally had to do that in EVERY game that let you create a character (and irl lets be real lol). Power of imagination and all that.

And then bg3 properly came out (obligatory 'i know its not the first big game to let you choose pronouns, its just the one i experienced first' disclaimer). And it let you just. have a nonbinary character. Which was refreshing! I remember how excited i was to learn about that. But ultimately, it didn't make much difference, because it never comes up after the CC screen. (and dont get me started on the same clothes changing depending on the body type lol) And sure, being trans isn't, like, the entirety of someones lived experience, but it does still come up? Like its still pretty relevant as far as personal characteristics go. It shapes your experiences in a certain way.

All that is to say, when I saw this pop up in veilguard, i damn near lost my mind abt the Novelty of it all

Like. You can do that??? YOU CAN JUST DO THAT???? IT COMES UP IN-GAME??? YOU CAN JUST. BRING IT UP WHEN RELEVANT??? YOU CAN TALK TO ANOTHER NONBINARY PERSON ABOUT IT, EVEN????

Suddenly, i no longer had to run a constant filter in my head. My character was just allowed to exist in the way i imagined them. And i did not think i needed that, but, hey. Turns out, its really nice being pandered to, sometimes <3

'oh but its worded so awkwardly-' i cannot express how much i don't care about that

'but its bad representation because it doesn't capture every trans experience at once' first of all bad take, second of all it gotta start Somewhere.

This is not something I would want to pick apart. Could I? Sure. But that is not the point here. It doesn't need to be perfect to be important. ESPECIALLY with the way things are right now. And hey, that said, it's still pretty damn good as far as these things go! like its not even bad!! it really isnt!!!

Point is, veilguard set a new standard for character creation in AAA games, for me personally. Now that I know what it's like, any new game of this type that comes out and doesn't take the same care in it's approach will be lacking. It's something so simple, in retrospect, and it's kind of incredible it took This Long to get there. But we did get here!! Veilguard got here, despite the development hell and EA handling it all in the worst way possible both pre n after release. And that is why datv will forever have a special place in my heart <3

TLDR VEILGUARD THEY CAN NEVER MAKE ME HATE YOU

[altruistic-meme]

i hate having executive dysfunction and decision paralysis cus i have shit i need to get done today but im staring at the list of things to do and going "idk where to start :( guess ill just Sit Here until i magically decide" and internally in like "NO YOU HAVE TO PICK SOMETHING. YOU WILL WASTE THE WHOLE DAY" but externally im just chilling.

[kirisclangen]

Zelda

She/her, 65 moons, cis molly

[batsplat]

Stoner also revealed that he had found it immensely difficult to miss the races, so much so that he couldn't bear to watch them on TV. "I didn't want to watch the races, I just wanted to find out the results, it was too hard to watch" he said. "Even now, it feels like I've missed out on so much." "We went off lactose, we went off gluten for two or three weeks, to try and get a reaction from that. Unfortunately, medical things take some time to understand them. You need to get things out of your system before you can get other things in your system to see if it works. We've found recently that I've had quite low blood pressure and low sodium levels so we're trying to increase that to see if that helps. We might have found something with lactose, a lactose intolerance to some degree, so I've gone off lactose to see if that helps." Stoner dismissed rumors that a bad diet may have contributed to his illness. "We haven't changed my diet because I already had a good diet before, but we're trying to change it to put things in my diet that will put something in my system to help me pick myself up again." "For the first month there was complete rest, there was no physical exercise at all. After that we started training lightly on the bike again, I was out there with my trainer, and we did a good week or so training. Basically just light stuff, just to keep the muscles working, because after so long off the bike, the muscles are going to be sore and tired. After the exercise, we still found the same problems, I was still running into that wall, and we couldn't fix it." Stoner mocked rumors of his retirement, saying that he had laughed at how quickly they had appeared. "I heard on day 3 of Brno that I was retiring," he said. "It's pretty immature of people to spread these rumors." His intention, he kept repeating, was only ever to take 3 races off. "I am looking forward to my future, especially if we can sort this out. I'm looking forward to this weekend, because it's been too hard to be away from racing. It only takes you a couple of weeks away from racing to realize that this is what you really want to do and what you want to get back to doing."

Stoner also dismissed rumors of problems between himself and Ducati. Stoner told the assembled media that it had been his decision to handle the situation as they did, and concentrate on getting better in Australia without assistance from Ducati. "It's difficult for people over here to understand that being away from the sport meant I had to be away from the sport. I had to sort this out on my own. If I'm not here racing, what reason would there be for me to be in contact with the media and everyone here?" Nor had he been upset by Ducati's approach to Jorge Lorenzo. "It's understandable," Stoner said. "It was no problem for me. There was an opportunity there, I'm sure a lot of riders were speaking to a lot of teams; it was that part of the season." But Stoner was clear on where he wanted to stay: "Ducati know I'm happy here, and they know I'm happy with the work they've been doing." He also explained that part of the lack of communication was down to the remoteness of Stoner's house in Australia. "Mobile phones don't work where I live," he said. "So I was out of contact with everyone until the doctors appointments." When asked whether his problems could have been caused by stress, Stoner replied that he did not believe this was the case. Any stress he may suffer, he said, was solely down to the pressure he puts on himself, one factor which the doctors did identify. "They said over-training, things like this. Maybe pushing myself too hard," Stoner conceded. "My biggest critic is myself. All the pressure comes from me, I don't feel pressure from elsewhere. If I'm not getting results, the biggest problem I have is myself. I'm disappointed in myself. This is what confuses some people; when I'm interviewed after the races, even when I win, when I don't look so happy it's not that I'm not happy, it's that I'm disappointed that I made a mistake or I don't believe I rode the best race I could. This is the only criticism that I could have. It's definitely not a problem of pressure."

Excerpts from Casey Stoner's Estoril 2009 media session (x)

[subaru-meteorlight]

the very incredible experience of scrolling phaidei thirst trap fanart and thinking “if anybody saw this on my phone im gonna get outed as gay” before realising that im perceived as a girl so. ??

[zaddyazula]

another one done

[eighteenoheight]

Unpopular opinion but I actually like Jessica’s diver outfit. I think it��s camp and tacky which is very much her personality. The one leg and the high heels are so stupid I can’t help but love it.

[ravenwolfie97]

i can't sleep and i want to fight youtube

[spacetrashpile]

i need to be able to be in my home and playing dragon age inqusition. right now. brigid trevelyan i need to make you real.