#i apologize deeply

[crocchompers]

the magma was fun

Also do you have any tips on making aus?

I wanna work on this autism

I absolutely love your little guy <3 Personally I think you should just go for whatever you have in mind for an au (probably not helpful) but backstories always go well with a character or au, lore is always fun even if it doesn't make sense but everything will come together when you think about the main idea of the whole thing I don't know if this was helpful or not I'm not good at explaining things, sorry if this wasn't the kinda answer you were looking for 😭

[ultralazycreatorfan]

oaky what is Lovise’s personality like in cannon? and what do you think she’s like headcannon wise?

i’m writing a fic and she’s gonna be in it and it would be nice if she had a bit of a personality other than quiet mom vibes? idk what even doing with her honesty 

ohmygodohmygodphmygodkeepcoolkeepcoolohm-

“Quiet mom vibes” honestly might be the best way to describe her personality a bit actually! She (in canon) often seems to disagree with things the group- mainly Dex given that he’s her charge- does, but does still goes along with it. My favorite example of that might be in Legacy when Dex asked to get on her shoulders and she very clearly Did Not Like That Idea, but allowed it anyways. She really took that one like a champ.

Though, something I feel like everyone forgets because it was mentioned once in her Unlocked files is that she had the opportunity to lead her own squadron, but ultimately chose not to for the reason that she prefers less social assignments. In fact, the wording used in Unlocked is, “… she prefers assignments that are more solitary” (414). She’s extremely talented when it comes to fighting, but she prefers to be in the background. On top of that, she actually has the most battle experience of the bodyguards I’m pretty sure given that she’s the oldest of them all (and, again, could’ve lead her own squadron!).

The other thing it states in Unlocked is that she’s incredibly patient, which makes sense given the elf she was assigned to- or, more specifically, the elf’s family she was assigned to. Half of her job isn’t even fighting anymore, it’s just babysitting.

As for headcanons, I think with all the information we have it’s pretty fair to think she’s a bit of a recluse who has more trouble stating her emotions than most. However, she’s probably better at showing rather than telling. For example, I like to think that when Dex is working for a long time she’d show her care by bringing him food from the kitchen. Just those casual acts of love and care! On that note I also do like to think she’s pretty loving just because of her name. I mean, come on, her name is practically love. Her parents must’ve loved her a lot to have given her that name, and she’s probably learned quite a bit form them!

I will end this mess with a quote from her Unlocked files because it brings me the utmost of joy: “She then returned to Gildingham for proper treatment, and while she was there, Queen Hilda gave her the option of being reassigned. But Lovise has grown quite fond of Dex and chose to remain with her charge.”

[doriangrayreboot]

Every time I see someone call The Powers in TMA “the dread powers” I think of The Dread Pirate Roberts.

Dread Power Roberts.

[dcptcnx]

Catastrophe

pairing: No real pairing, but Soap x Reader ?? Graves is there too LOL

warning(s): character death, point-blank shot to the face

word count: 764

a/n: i think this is bad, the idea was better in my head lmao but this song inspired it

Frantic, you woke from a recurring nightmare. It's not unusual to have them when deployed in the force, but to have the same one constantly, was a different breed. And Soap understood it all. 2am and you would be carefully trekking through the base towards the mess hall in hopes to find a quick snack to clear the mind. 

"'Notha one, yeah?" His groggy voice startled you, only for you to calm once you knew it to be Soap. His thick Scottish accent lighting the flame inside your heart. 

"I don't know what to do. It's happening frequently now." Your voice broke, tears welling up in your eyes. Taking a seat next to the Sergeant, you placed your head in your hands, light sniffles becoming apparent. "Johnny, I need to deal with it.."

"That's dangerous, Bonnie. An' you know that'" He dipped his head lower to lean closer towards you, a hand reaching to your back to gently rub circles on it to ease you. "We can't lose you.”

And you knew that. And it was a risk you were ready to take. You needed to end this nightmare. Needed to show Graves who was boss.

It all started when you were helping the Shadow Company on a mission. 

“Alright, Shadows. This is our help for the day, treat them with respect; Shepherd is watching.” Graves points at you, directing his team’s attention to you. You felt uneasiness from everyone’s gazes, even from Graves himself, but you rolled your eyes to yourself, before introducing yourself to the team. 

The job was easy enough. More of a confirmation job. Sneak in, gather information, and get out. On the outside, everyone seemed to have respect for you, following Graves’ orders to a T. Luckily for you, the job was done quick and easy, with no major hiccups.

That was, until the flight back to base.

Graves had no respect for you, and Shepherd gave orders to get you off the helo, no matter the plan. And that is exactly what he did. Took a pistol, shot your shoulder, and kicked you off the Helicopter, not caring if you survived or not. You did survive, and luckily enough, 141, specifically Soap, was quick to bring you to medical.

Fast forward to present time, when the unfortunate team up with the Shadow Company goes awry once again. But this time, you were prepared, and you were going to end his reign. He took over Alejandro’s base, and that was the final stop for destruction. 

“Whatever happens, I am getting the final Kill on Graves.” You radio in, advancing towards where he would be holed up, alongside Soap. Grenades, flashbangs, bullets all whizzed everywhere while you and Soap advanced further and further. 

“GRAVES, YOU BASTARD, YOU’RE GONNA DIE FOR WHAT YOU DID!”  you yelled out, catching his figure running along a balcony before disappearing into a garage, only to hear the start up of a large tank.

“Now now, you have it backwards, you’re gonna be my trophy to show Shepherd when we’re done here.” You could feel the smirk in his voice, as he rolled around in the tank, destroying anything and everything in his path, hoping to hit and kill you.

“The only trophy you deserve; Catastrophe.” you grit your teeth as you loaded the RPG before target locking onto his machinery, destroying the cannon atop the tank. After the dust settled, you saw the hatch pop open, Graves crawling out, gun in hand.

“You, son of a BITCH. You know I only wished you well with that farewell. Can’t take southern hospitality huh?” He looks around, aiming his suppressed weapon everywhere, hoping to locate you or Soap within the field. He saw a flash bang roll towards him, only to slowly react, and get caught in the flash. Quickly thinking, Soap runs and tackles him to the ground, kicking his gun and removing his strapped pistol, to limit his access.

“You wished me well?” You saunterned over, loading your own pistol, before placing your boot upon his neck, aiming the gun above the bridge of his nose.

“I wish you hell, Phillip.” Cocking the gun, you pulled the trigger, bullet sinking through his skull, into the ground below him. Tears start rushing down your face, realization hitting you as you tossed the gun away, falling to your knees. Soap quickly caught you before you face planted, letting you cry into his shoulder.

“You did it, bonnie. Nightmare’s over.” His embrace squeezed harder just a little bit more, before reaching towards his radio, alerting of the KIA.

[antidotesprout]

When you realize autocorrect fucked up two characters names in the role call fuck

Deepest apologies @outoutdamnspark I fixed it as soon as I could if you see the typo version running around 🙃🙃🙃🙃

[too-fond-to-be-fearful]

Been thinking recently about the goings-on with Duolingo & AI, and I do want to throw my two cents in, actually.

There are ways in which computers can help us with languages, certainly. They absolutely should not be the be-all and end-all, and particularly for any sort of professional work I am wholly in favour of actually employing qualified translators & interpreters, because there's a lot of important nuances to language and translation (e.g. context, ambiguity, implied meaning, authorial intent, target audience, etc.) that a computer generally does not handle well. But translation software has made casual communication across language barriers accessible to the average person, and that's something that is incredibly valuable to have, I think.

Duolingo, however, is not translation software. Duolingo's purpose is to teach languages. And I do not think you can be effectively taught a language by something that does not understand it itself; or rather, that does not go about comprehending and producing language in the way that a person would.

Whilst a language model might be able to use probability & statistics to put together an output that is grammatically correct and contextually appropriate, it lacks an understanding of why, beyond "statistically speaking, this element is likely to come next". There is no communicative intent behind the output it produces; its only goal is mimicking the input it has been trained on. And whilst that can produce some very natural-seeming output, it does not capture the reality of language use in the real world.

Because language is not just a set of probabilities - there are an infinite array of other factors at play. And we do not set out only to mimic what we have seen or heard; we intend to communicate with the wider world, using the tools we have available, and that might require deviating from the realm of the expected.

Often, the most probable output is not actually what you're likely to encounter in practice. Ungrammatical or contextually inappropriate utterances can be used for dramatic or humorous effect, for example; or nonstandard linguistic styles may be used to indicate one's relationship to the community those styles are associated with. Social and cultural context might be needed to understand a reference, or a linguistic feature might seem extraneous or confusing when removed from its original environment.

To put it briefly, even without knowing exactly how the human brain processes and produces language (which we certainly don't), it's readily apparent that boiling it down to a statistical model is entirely misrepresentative of the reality of language.

And thus a statistical model is unlikely to be able to comprehend and assist with many of the difficulties of learning a language.

A statistical model might identify that a learner misuses some vocabulary more often than others; what it may not notice is that the vocabulary in question are similar in form, or in their meaning in translation. It might register that you consistently struggle with a particular grammar form; but not identify that the root cause of the struggle is that a comparable grammatical structure in your native language is either radically different or nonexistent. It might note that you have trouble recalling a common saying, but not that you lack the cultural background needed to understand why it has that meaning. And so it can identify points of weakness; but it is incapable of addressing them effectively, because it does not understand how people think.

This is all without considering the consequences of only having a singular source of very formal, very rigid input to learn from, unable to account for linguistic variation due to social factors. Without considering the errors still apparent in the output of most language models, and the biases they are prone to reproducing. Without considering the source of their data, and the ethical considerations regarding where and how such a substantial sample was collected.

I understand that Duolingo wants to introduce more interactivity and adaptability to their courses (and, I suspect, to improve their bottom line). But I genuinely think that going about it in this way is more likely to hinder than to help, and wrongfully prioritises the convenience of AI over the quality and expertise that their existing translators and course designers bring.

[kyouka-supremacy]

One last thread. Hoshikawa illustrations that reference other Harukawa bsd illustrations (1/3)

[kaiiyoshii]

I silly i draw silly nilly

[anatomical-puppet]

EIGHT FOOT VERTICAL STRETCH

[thatswhatsushesaid]

[voilaammayi]

when john and sherlock start accidentally but blatantly flirting with each other at the end of the 12th episode and I can sense the faint smell of building up romance:

[blotomical]

bottom text

[squeakadeeks]

i havent seen another human being in 7 days

[peacockrulz]

Ok just wanted to drop an idea for a nuzi art. N but with roller skates while Uzi is on his back pointing at where he should skate to, he is holding her by her legs,they are just zooming past suprised Khan with angry heart Nori on his head.

(Alao what if N uses his wings to gain speed with the rollers?? 🤔)

he was a sk8r boi,,,,, (Bonus doodle under the cut)

[Requests are closed (while I catch up!)]

I have NO CLUE how to draw these wings KLSDJFSLKDJF

[phonoix]

Me, now that the Shadow and Bone season 2 teaser trailer came out:

[theaceofarrows]