#proc sort

[greatonlinetrainingsposts]

Mastering Data Wrangling in SAS: Best Practices and Techniques

Data wrangling, also known as data cleaning or data preparation, is a crucial part of the data analysis process. It involves transforming raw data into a format that's structured and ready for analysis. While building models and drawing insights are important tasks, the quality of the analysis often depends on how well the data has been prepared beforehand.

For anyone working with SAS, having a good grasp of the tools available for data wrangling is essential. Whether you're working with missing values, changing variable formats, or restructuring datasets, SAS offers a variety of techniques that can make data wrangling more efficient and error-free. In this article, we’ll cover the key practices and techniques for mastering data wrangling in SAS.

1. What Is Data Wrangling in SAS?

Before we dive into the techniques, it’s important to understand the role of data wrangling. Essentially, data wrangling is the process of cleaning, restructuring, and enriching raw data to prepare it for analysis. Datasets are often messy, incomplete, or inconsistent, so the task of wrangling them into a clean, usable format is essential for accurate analysis.

In SAS, you’ll use several tools for data wrangling. DATA steps, PROC SQL, and various procedures like PROC SORT and PROC TRANSPOSE are some of the most important tools for cleaning and structuring data effectively.

2. Key SAS Procedures for Data Wrangling

SAS offers several powerful tools to manipulate and clean data. Here are some of the most commonly used procedures:

- PROC SORT: Sorting is usually one of the first steps in data wrangling. This procedure organizes your dataset based on one or more variables. Sorting is especially useful when preparing to merge datasets or remove duplicates.

- PROC TRANSPOSE: This procedure reshapes your data by converting rows into columns or vice versa. It's particularly helpful when you have data in a "wide" format that you need to convert into a "long" format or vice versa.

- PROC SQL: PROC SQL enables you to write SQL queries directly within SAS, making it easier to filter, join, and aggregate data. It’s a great tool for working with large datasets and performing complex data wrangling tasks.

- DATA Step: The DATA step is the heart of SAS programming. It’s a versatile tool that allows you to perform a wide range of data wrangling operations, such as creating new variables, filtering data, merging datasets, and applying advanced transformations.

3. Handling Missing Data

Dealing with missing data is one of the most important aspects of data wrangling. Missing values can skew your analysis or lead to inaccurate results, so it’s crucial to address them before proceeding with deeper analysis.

There are several ways to manage missing data:

- Identifying Missing Values: In SAS, missing values can be detected using functions such as NMISS() for numeric data and CMISS() for character data. Identifying missing data early helps you decide how to handle it appropriately.

- Replacing Missing Values: In some cases, missing values can be replaced with estimates, such as the mean or median. This approach helps preserve the size of the dataset, but it should be used cautiously to avoid introducing bias.

- Deleting Missing Data: If missing data is not significant or only affects a small portion of the dataset, you might choose to remove rows containing missing values. This method is simple, but it can lead to data loss if not handled carefully.

4. Transforming Data for Better Analysis

Data transformation is another essential part of the wrangling process. It involves converting or modifying variables so they are better suited for analysis. Here are some common transformation techniques:

- Recoding Variables: Sometimes, you might want to recode variables into more meaningful categories. For instance, you could group continuous data into categories like low, medium, or high, depending on the values.

- Standardization or Normalization: When preparing data for machine learning or certain statistical analyses, it might be necessary to standardize or normalize variables. Standardizing ensures that all variables are on a similar scale, preventing those with larger ranges from disproportionately affecting the analysis.

- Handling Outliers: Outliers are extreme values that can skew analysis results. Identifying and addressing outliers is crucial. Depending on the nature of the outliers, you might choose to remove or transform them to reduce their impact.

5. Automating Tasks with SAS Macros

When working with large datasets or repetitive tasks, SAS macros can help automate the wrangling process. By using macros, you can write reusable code that performs the same transformations or checks on multiple datasets. Macros save time, reduce errors, and improve the consistency of your data wrangling.

For example, if you need to apply the same set of cleaning steps to multiple datasets, you can create a macro to perform those actions automatically, ensuring efficiency and uniformity across your work.

6. Working Efficiently with Large Datasets

As the size of datasets increases, the process of wrangling data can become slower and more resource-intensive. SAS provides several techniques to handle large datasets more efficiently:

- Indexing: One way to speed up data manipulation in large datasets is by creating indexes on frequently used variables. Indexes allow SAS to quickly locate and access specific records, which improves performance when working with large datasets.

- Optimizing Data Steps: Minimizing the number of iterations in your DATA steps is also crucial for efficiency. For example, combining multiple operations into a single DATA step reduces unnecessary reads and writes to disk.

7. Best Practices and Pitfalls to Avoid

When wrangling data, it’s easy to make mistakes that can derail the process. Here are some best practices and common pitfalls to watch out for:

- Check Data Types: Make sure your variables are the correct data type (numeric or character) before performing transformations. Inconsistent data types can lead to errors or inaccurate results.

- Be Cautious with Deleting Data: When removing missing values or outliers, always double-check that the data you're removing won’t significantly affect your analysis. It's important to understand the context of the missing data before deciding to delete it.

- Regularly Review Intermediate Results: Debugging is a key part of the wrangling process. As you apply transformations or filter data, regularly review your results to make sure everything is working as expected. This step can help catch errors early on and save time in the long run.

Conclusion

Mastering data wrangling in SAS is an essential skill for any data analyst or scientist. By taking advantage of SAS’s powerful tools like PROC SORT, PROC TRANSPOSE, PROC SQL, and the DATA step, you can clean, transform, and reshape your data to ensure it's ready for analysis. 

Following best practices for managing missing data, transforming variables, and optimizing for large datasets will make the wrangling process more efficient and lead to more accurate results. For those who are new to SAS or want to improve their data wrangling skills, enrolling in a SAS programming tutorial or taking a SAS programming full course can help you gain the knowledge and confidence to excel in this area. With the right approach, SAS can help you prepare high-quality, well-structured data for any analysis.

[valkyurii]

what the boss doin

[tarmac-rat]

Side note I find it really funny when I sometimes see posts of people discovering the Johnny mirror glitch and going "Oh wow I've played the game so much and I've never seen this before!" because I kid you not there was a point in time where I'd want to use the mirror to change up Riley's looks and there was a 50% chance I would proc the mirror glitch without wanting to

[izutsoupmi]

WAIT A SECOND THIS OPENS UP THE POSSIBILITY OF A CLASH BETWEEN LUST AND REASON (for haruka this time)

[alphynix]

Panochthus tuberculatus was a large glyptodont – a group of giant heavily-armored armadillos – that lived in central and southern South America during the late Pleistocene, about 800,000-12,000 years ago.

Around 3.5m long (~11.5') and 1.5m tall (~5'), it was similar in size to a modern rhino (or a small car), and its large domed "shell" made up of numerous small bony osteoderms made it resemble a mammalian tortoise. Its skull was short and deep, with ever-growing grinding teeth and downwards-flaring cheekbones that anchored powerful jaw muscles. A preserved hyoid apparatus indicates that Panochthus also had a more flexible tongue than some other glyptodonts.

The base of its tail was segmented into rings that allowed it to flex, while the end of the tail was fused into a solid bony tube that was probably studded with large keratinous knobs or spikes.

While these sort of tail weapons in glyptodonts have been proposed as being anti-predator defenses, biomechanical studies suggest they required precise aiming to be most effective and weren't well-suited to fending off fast-moving attackers. Instead they may have been more specialized for fighting each other in ritualized forms of combat – an idea supported by injuries in fossil carapaces that appear to have been caused by blows from opponents' tail clubs.

———

NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

References:

Blanco, R. Ernesto, Washington W. Jones, and Andrés Rinderknecht. "The sweet spot of a biological hammer: the centre of percussion of glyptodont (Mammalia: Xenarthra) tail clubs" Proc. R. Soc. B. 276 (2009): 3971–3978. https://www.academia.edu/download/71293979/The_sweet_spot_of_a_biological_hammer_th20211004-20926-1xg5uwp.pdf

Luna, Carlos A., et al. "Memories of the blows: severe soft-tissue injuries in caudal vertebrae of Panochthus Burmeister (Xenarthra, Glyptodontidae)." Journal of Mammalian Evolution 31.3 (2024): 29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-024-09729-0

Lima, F.C.G., Porpino, K. & Ribeiro, A.M. "Trauma-induced alterations in the exoskeleton of glyptodonts (Cingulata, Xenarthra) associated with fighting behavior." Journal of Mammalian Evolution 32, 9 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-025-09750-x

Wikipedia contributors. “Glyptodont” Wikipedia, 25 May 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptodont

Wikipedia contributors. “Panochthus” Wikipedia, 02 Jun. 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panochthus

Zamorano, Martín, and Richard A. Fariña. "Changes in form and function of the caudal tubes in Panochthus (Xenarthra; Glyptodontidae) along the Pleistocene." Historical Biology 34.12 (2022): 2265-2272. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357020158_Changes_in_form_and_function_of_the_caudal_tubes_in_Panochthus_Xenarthra_Glyptodontidae_along_the_Pleistocene

Zamorano, Martín, et al. "Hyoid apparatus of Panochthus sp. (Xenarthra; Glyptodontidae) from the Late Pleistocene of the Pampean Region (Argentina). Comparative description and muscle reconstruction." (2018). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen 288.2 (2018): 205–219. https://ri.conicet.gov.ar/bitstream/handle/11336/97007/CONICET_Digital_Nro.bcac99f6-b327-435a-bca7-137dfd6af700_D.pdf?sequence=5

[miss-vanta-likes-to-write]

Maybe Simon Riley and famous reader?? Like the reader is a singer and dedicates a song to him and we get to see a sort of soft and proud side of him?

I had to actually go through my playlist to find the right vibe for this. Such a sweet request 🥹

Song on repeat while I wrote this is "Just the two of us" by Bill Withers and Grover Washington, Jr. Cover version by The Macarons Project. Listen to the gorgeous cover here

Pairing: Simon x famous!reader

pov: Simon's

Title: To my Love.

"Okay, Manchester, it's almost time for me to close out for the night!" Her voice rings out above the cheering of the stadium. People are chanting encore and begging for another song. She laughs into the microphone, "I love you all, but I most certainly promised someone that I would try and wrap up on time."

There's a shout from somewhere closer to the stage for just one more song, please. She relents with a soft laugh, "Fine, but I'm thinking a new song for the city that has my heart."

There's more cheering and backstage, Simon tilts his head to the side because he understands the double meaning. His girl is always saying in interviews and on hot mics that her heart is in Manchester, England. She's not even from here, and when people ask about her own hometown, her smiles turn shy and sweet. She never says what or who she means, choosing to keep their relationship private. It's for her safety and his peace at mind.

Sure, he doesn't do the award shows, the public facing red carpets, and he blends in as one of her body guards; but her inner circle knows who he is and sees the two of them behind closed doors. He's a little shocked at the mention of a new song. He knows every lyric that gets written down in the little song book he got for her.

She looks off stage towards him and bless the smile she gives him. It makes his stomach flip and flop, and he knows that he is smiling like a love struck fool. The corners of his eyes crinkle, and the surgical mask on his face shifts, a clear indication that he is smiling back. This woman makes him feel things he hasn't in years. She kisses his scars, holds his hand with a grin, and every time she says his name, it's like hearing an angel whisper to him. He's not a praying man, does not believe in God or karma, he's lived too bloody a life for those thoughts, so finding someone to love him was never a possibility.

Yet here she is getting ready to debut a new song that she just told him was written with only him in mind. No other hands have touched this song, and it was written for him, and she's singing it as a public declaration of her love for him. The sentiment makes him ache in the best ways, turns him into puddy.

"What is that girl doing?" Her manager hisses, "did we approve of this?" She's fussing with a stage hand demanding to know what track is about to be played. The DJ cues up the music. It's a sweet swell of music. Light on the ears, there's no producer tag, no booming base, or 808s. The flip from high energy to sweet melodies instantly calms the crowd to silence.

Yeah, this wasn't planned. It's in the same vein as their relationship, unplanned and sweet. Simon didn't mean to fall in love with her. It sorta just happened. What was supposed to be a favor for a friend of John's, just the team providing extra security for some starlet, turned into a miracle.

She sings about him, sweetly. A true love song. She sings about loving someone at their best. She sings about loving the ugliest parts of someone. She belts her heart out on the bridge, words about finding true love and knowing that it won't always be easy. Her voice cracks, warbling on lines about broken people and loving them and slowly putting them together again, pretty gold holding the pieces together.

By the time the song is over, the longest and shortest four minutes in his life. And to think, someone wrote about how they loved loving him for four minutes, him of all people, he's got tears in his eyes. His body is moving before he can process it. There are people calling for him to stay backstage. He thinks he hears one of his teammates, and he doesn't know or care. All Simon Riley can see is his girl, his song bird, the mask is off and he's pulling her into a kiss.

There's distant cheering he is sure of that. The audience probably thinks that this is staged. It's not. Her manager will probably try to spin some silly narrative to the press and all of her fans. Whoever is on lights earns their paycheck because every light except the spotlight on them goes out.

And then slowly even that light fades, too, to the sound of thunderous applause.

ngl...I'm crying. Thank you anon.

[abigailovesz]

“HI OFFICER” synopsis: after jj's plan goes wrong, you have too watch the two boys tackle like children after an argument.

pairing: jj maybank x quiet!pogue!reader

warnings: harmless fighting, swearing, and mentions of drugs.

a/n: based off this scene and this scene! also, not much talking from reader idk it just turned out that way, i actually do not really like this one, honestly- i could do better, i wrote this at 12 am last night and i dont wanna rewrite it soo.

"YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT'S IN THE BACK OF THIS TRUCK?" John b asked, staring out of the U-Haul's windshield. You on the other hand? Your head faced forward, jaw clenched and eyes looking at JJ like he'd just ruined every single thing in one hour! which he did, actually. last time you checked.

yes, he did just get offered to drive a u-haul that is currently full of drugs.  no cops have come blaring his lights at the vehicle, yet. the whole situation was that we, as in pogues, had to find a way to get to South Africa without passports, airplanes, and money to get John b's kidnapped dad and maybe a few bits of gold.

Luke used to work for a drug smuggler, that man he worked for did happen to have a plane that could transport everyone to South Africa, but it's not that easy. It takes a whole lot of convincing while you sit there and listen to the conversation. but, jj was very persuasive as always. 'we'll help you unload the plane' was basically what he was saying from what you heard.

the Mike dude changed plans when you all got there. Mike asked all of you to deliver the drugs in the  u-haul, so that's how you got here. "yes John b, I know what's in the back of the truck right now, it's gonna be fine, it's gonna work out okay?" JJ spoke, trying to convince him that it-would-be-fine, wasn't really working for neither you or John b, but JJ never listens. No point in trying.

you sighed audibly, looking at JJ with narrowed eyes. This job is dangerous, risky and you three are already in danger, well, with a few cops and kooks after John b sorta knocked topper unconscious. yeah.

"I am so sick of your bullshit plans, JJ" John b says while leaning forward to look at the side of JJ’s face, his eyes connected to the road. "goddamn" JJ gritted through his teeth, your eyes flicking between him and John b. you looked forward and wondered, where in motherfucking hell are we going?

"JJ, do you even know where we’re fucking going?" you asked in confusion and disbelief. He opened his mouth to speak, hesitating before John b reached behind you and grabbed the paper map. "ah, yeah- get the map out, uh- can ya hold it, baby?" JJ said and looked at your hands holding the map then the road again.

You sighed and cleared your throat, holding up the map so he could see it without crashing the car. John b peeked over your shoulder. "alright, we needa get to one fifty eight." JJ squinted his eyes and looked at the roading on the map.

"oh Jesus, there's a cop." John b said while looking ahead towards the cop, the tall man stood outside of an anonymous cars window, notepad in hand. "shit, be cool, okay?- cool." You said like he didn't know the world cool, honestly? he pretty much didn't. didn't know how to act cool in these situations. "shit," he whispered, eyes trained on the officer. Once again, you had drugs in the vehicle, amazing.

"I'm- I'm as cool as it gets, alright?" JJ picked his two fingers up, hesitantly trying to find out a situation, you raised a brow but leaned back into your chair like you totally weren't in a vehicle filled with illegal items.

"what are you doing?- don't, don't do that" you whispered shouted  and looked at the cop, begging his head to not turn when you pass. "I'm- yeah, m'just gonna wave." your eyes widen, "no!" but quickly shut up when you got too loud. Cops could hear you. The car inched closer and he waved his hand with a smile. "hi officer."

"JJ." John b spoke firmly, like some sort of dad. his hand reached towards JJ, nearly hitting your face in the process. the car took a swerve and hit a hanging tree branch, barely skimming off the road for a moment, and you reached for anything- JJ's hand. but, thank god, the car continued to drive down the streets.

"Why'd you touch me?" He nearly screamed at John b, his hand still in yours when he raises it. "well, don't wave at cops! Rule number one of driving in a U-Haul!" You sighed, "okay, okay-shut up! The cop isn't behind us.”

finally, they shut up and JJ continues to drive down the street; but you were wrong, the cop is behind you! Amazing, once again. "he's coming! he's coming, shit!" you tensed up when the sirens blared and the car trailed behind the 3 of you.

"shit! damnit, okay, goblin mode alright?" jj shouted in panic. you squeezed his hand and closed your eyes, head tilting up at the ceiling as the boys yelled at the top of their lungs. "goblin mode, what does that even mean?!" John b said while his eyes flickered to the lights and then to the windshield.

"it's what we gotta do. hang on, hang on!" he tightens his hold on your hand and surprisingly, with one hand- he manages to turn the wheel and pull into the green forest, the sirens still blaring behind. he stopped at the entrance and the cop didn't see you, wow. "alright, get out! Go, go" he rushed, not letting go of your clammy hand while sliding out of the vehicle with you trailing behind. all 3 of you ran into the trees and through the bushes. "dude, I swear if we get caught, l'm gonna kill you." John b pants, running behind you and JJ.

"well, ya probably won't have to because very soon, mikes gonna kill us first," JJ rasps, running with your hand. when you reach an opening, you all stop to get a breath. "okay, what the fuck? what just happened?" You nearly yell, snapping at the two after you'd been keeping it all in that whole car ride.

"listen, ba-" jjs panting voice gets cut off by john bs rant, "my dad- is probably in South America, with a knife to his through right now." He speaks through ragged breaths. "like, what are we doing?we gotta wait? In goblin mode? What-" he throws his hands in the air and you watched them while panting, legs sore from running and sitting all that time.

" how many times do i have to- I'm trying to help you save your dad!" JJ shouts mid sentence, his hand in front of him while looking straight as John b. you rolled your eyes, leaning down to grab a piece of grass, toying with it while watching them argue, not like you haven't many times, too many times.

"help is the exact opposite of what your doing right now!" John b shouts right back and JJ sighs deeply, and long. "Y'know what your right, your absolutely right, you know who's fault that is?" He takes a few steps toward him, his jaw clenched. "you and your treasure- obsessed father.”he finishes, looking straight at his eyes, you knew what was gonna happen when he speaks about his father.

Push.

John b's hands connect with his chest, pushing him back a few steps, JJ breathes out a chuckle, a bit humor, not too much. "Ohh, okay, that's where we're goin'?"

"yeah, that's where we're goin'" John b said, jaw clenched while he looked straight at jis eyes, then his stupid smirk. "yeah, and it looks like we just went there too," he pushed John b back, and you groaned, looking up at the sky, god help me.

you didn't really know who was pushing who, but they eventually ended up tackling eachother onto the grass floor, JJ speaking words of encouragement while they rolled around like pathetic animals. "y'know im right here?" you speak calmly, but irritably and JJ does hear it but doesn't respond, too focused on John b. you started humming a song while your feet dragged toward them, grunting and sounds of hitting heard, crickets chirping.

you rolled your eyes and lifted your foot, kicking him in the side, not to hurt to bad, but it made him flinch. "stop acting like children and get your asses up, or I'm gonna walk out into the woods and walk my way back to Kildare, so l don't end up in jail." Your lying, you wouldn't leave them. and, Kildare is miles from here and you know JJ would do anything to make you stay, or would stop whatever he was doing to get you to keep 'your cute self' in his sight.

JJ groaned and rolled to the side of John b, both of them panting, not just because of the run- but the immature tackling too. "fine." He grumbled and stood up, looking at you with annoyed eyes but they always soften. Like, no matter what.

"Y'know I think you'll both be fighting like that until you get all wrinkly" you grumbled and John b got up, hitting JJ's shoulder, not enough to make him fall over, but he didn't do it back- thankfully.

they both don't respond to your comment and instead- shoupe shows up! That is just great, could the day get any better?

[virtuallovemoon]

Wayne Family Adventures season 3 rant

Ok this is rant/critique of my feelings on this season of WAF which TL;DR I did not like it. this will also contain spoilers for this season so if you haven't read it be warned

My first problem is that this whole Joker arc was way to long it should've have been way shorter, because it drags on gets repetitive very fast. For example most of season is just Bruce pushing away the bat family one of the members gets hurt either psychically or emotionally Bruce feels bad apologies then procced to pushed away again. it's only when Damian gets hurt and the family has pillow fight does Bruce allow them to help. Even afterwards it's still very repetitive.

The season goes down hill the more it goes on. I personally think this arc should've ended after Dick and Bruce's fight with the joker and having a few chapters focusing on the aftermath, then return to the slice of life formula the series is known for. let's be real we don't need a arc about family drama the mainline comics already have that covered.

Just to add on the repetitive aspect the season starts the same season 2 ended with Duke being kidnapped and Bat family coming to help him.

an other aspect I hate is they feel the need to give mostly everyone arc/focus this season it was fine at the start with Duke, Barbara, Jason, Bruce and sort of Tim but then get pushed to side, or in Tim's case get chapter then get tossed aside.

The part that bugs me the most about it at the end where Tim leads the bat family which I was excited for since Tim is my favorite but it goes nowhere. what should have been was make one of the Batgirls lead the Bat family since they get a lot of focus in the end.

the last part I want to bring up is that there's to many damn characters in Bat family and Non Bats Like Luke, Kate and Helena do nothing at all and Azrael who finally gets introduced does nothing at all. I also hated that Starfire wasn't introduced sooner she was just there to remind people she was a part of the outlaws.

So an other TL;DR it was to long, repetitive unfocused and boring and my least favorite season of WAF I will probably write a review for each of WAF to make thoughts more clear

[thebomb-thebird-andtheburntbitch]

w.count: 1.7k - i am such a pile of mush for this guy

kaeya has always been the type to never admit what he wants. not to the people around him: his friends or family at the winery, not to the wind when he's by himself leaning on the sturdy stone bridge leading into the city, and especially not to himself. or maybe, it's not that he doesn't want to admit he wants something, but more so he firmly believes he deserves less than 'wanting'.

too many things had piled up since he was younger that his conscience had dulled and yearning for things was an action he couldn't bring himself to do. but there are things kaeya alberich wants- yearns for so deeply it makes him anxious.

a stable relationship with his brother. a break from the ever-pressuring uncertainty of his role in this life. a clean break from his homeland he hardly remembers and hardly cares about. hell, sometimes he even wanted to throw his whole surname away. kaeya alberich wants-

"kaeya!"

-you.

kaeya had finished up his tasks for the day and his head was so clouded that some fresh air would do him some good. he found himself leaning over the stone wall of the bridge connecting mondstadt to the wilds of the nation. one of his arms lay across the stone barrier with his hand dangling off the edge. his other propped up to hold his chin as he lazily zones out, shutting his mind off while the wind brushed his hair across his face, and neck, and chest.

then, your voice calling his name zoned him back in, brought him back into the here and now as you jogged up the slope of the bridge. he had to fully twist his body since the obstacle of his eyepatch kept him from giving you his fully brought back attention. his arm still rested on the stone of the bridge, and his back was fully straightened by the time you came to a stop in front of him with your hands on your hips. your lips were pursed, cheeks puffed like a fish. he had to contain his snickering- which he failed at by his twitching mouth you noticed.

"what's with the face, sweetcheeks?" opening your mouth in offense, you swat at his arm. he flinches away, not in fear or in pain but in jesting fun before laughing at your huffing. he could see puffs of smoke with each exhale of your nostrils in his imagination. finally letting go of the bridge, his arms come to rest on his own hips, mirroring you.

"kaeya!" the way you could say his name in all sorts of tones- it all rivals his favorite songs. this one... this one was definitely agitated.

"alright, alright." he relaxes his body and crosses his arms over his chest instead of mimicking you. "what's the urgency about?" kaeya watches you speak with body your body and mouth. he's not entirely focused on what you're saying- something you'll probably scold him for- but more so focused on your whole presence.

"kaeya," you hiss and he blinks before leaning his hip against the side of the sturdy stone. this tone was a warning- a light one. his eyebrows lift before he shuts his eye and nods like he is agreeing with whatever you had just said. "you didn't hear me, did you?" you accuse.

"mm," he tilts his head mockingly before he chuckles with a shake of his head. "not entirely."

"you're unbelievable."

"oh? complimenting me are you?"

with a huff, you take a half step closer to him and miss the quick intake of breath he does at the loss of proximity. reaching up, you shift through the thick, blue hair on the left side of his head and find his ear before pulling on it. jumping away from the wall he was leaning on, his knees instinctively bent- his hands coming up to hover over your grasp- to follow the downward direction his head was taking as you pull.

"owow-!"

"timmie came running into the city gate huffing and puffing that you coming out here and just standing in the middle of the bridge scared off his birds." you nag before releasing his ear. his hand comes up to rub the side of his head, palm cupping the small limb and his hair tangling between his knuckles in the process.

"i don't see how that's my fault," he whines. "those birds would fly away at the faintest gust of wind."

"i know that," you sigh before pinching the bridge of your nose. with your face hidden under your hand, kaeya couldn't see you well. you were still well within his bubble, but he didn't mind. leaning down, he tried to look under your hand to find your eyes again. when he's about what he guesses is eye level, your hand falls away from your face and you're smirking. "i just told timmie i'd scold you for it."

kaeya's stuck in bewilderment for a moment before he starts snickering, snickering that soon evolves into laughing that has him wrapping his arms across his gut. you stand in front of him proud at both your performance and the jolly laugh you pulled from the captain.

calming down, he witnesses you huffing in pride. your hands are on your hips again and although it's the same pose as your irritated expression from before, this version is so very different. you were like a coin of mora that had been flipped from heads to tails.

"oh!" your hands come up in front of you as one of your fists land softly into the palm of your other. "i did come to find you for something though."

"oh?" he mirrors. "curious minds want to know."

digging around in the small pouch you kept slung over your belt- a gift he got you a long time ago- you come to stand beside him. squeezing yourself between his right side and the bridge, your shoulder pushes just lightly into his arm and his body experiences a wave of warmth at the sensation. from your pouch, you provide his one good eye with two small cut-out cards.

"which one do you think klee would like more?" kaeya blinks his eye before looking at you.

"for klee?" his voice cracks lightly in confused and curiousity. "is there a reason... or?"

"no," you shake your head, "not really. getting her a little something from time to time isn't a crime though. kids need enrichment- plus it'll distract her from getting too bored for a while at least." you bring his attention back to the cards. one depicts a pryo and cryo slime stacked on top of one another. the other is a classic dodoco card. they had clearly been hand drawn and kaeaya wonders if you asked lisa for pointers. "now, help me choose."

kaeya crosses his arms again and leans in to get a better look.

"wouldn't it be a no brainer with dodoco in the running?"

"see, i thought that too. but like... isn't that too predictable?"

"sweetcheeks, she's 8."

"okay? and?"

kaeya sighs before taking the slime card from you and moving it up and away from your grasp.

"ah-! hey!"

"just go with that one. trust me, the fact you're thinking of her 'bestest friend' will absolutely thrill her." with an unoriginal sigh, you yield to his words. you gently place the winning card into your pouch again, careful not to wrinkle it. you offer your closest hand palm up towards him and kaeya just stares at it. when you don't feel anything put in your palm, you look at him expectantly.

"the other one, please."

"hmm," his arm moves to bring the card down behind his back. " no, i don't think so. i'll personally take this one as my payment."

"wha-?" your brow wrinkles at him as he pockets the slime card before you can start some sort of counter to get it back.

"my services can't always be free you know," he teases. "the unpicked option has to go to someone after all."

you let out a defeated sigh with a wave of your hand to signal he can have his way this time. flowers could've bloomed around his head at the glee of winning so easily and taking something you had made in the process.

your arm falls back to your side and suddenly your spine freezes your whole body when a weight pushes against your shoulder. twisting your neck, you feel kaeya's hair against your cheek before you see it. straightening up a little against his weight, his head wobbles where his forehead rests on your shoulder.

"kaeya?" that tone was sweet. sweet yet softly wondering what he was doing. hearing it so close to his ear sent a shiver down into his very core. his hand searches for your dangling one and he locks his pinkie with yours.

kaeya can't bring himself to hold your whole hand, but he can make himself lock your promise fingers together in this moment where it was just you and him. he lets a deep breath out of his body that feels like it came from the bottom of his feet all the way up his limbs. it was heavy.

kaeya's eye shuts softly when he feels your pinke link tighter against his a silent permission that what he's doing is okay- even if you don't understand fully. chances are you just think he's exhausted- and in a way, you're correct.

you were too sweet for your own good. god, you were so bad for his fractured conscience and heart.

kaeya has always been the type to never admit what he wants. but just this once, just with you, he can admit wholly to himself that kaeya alberich wants you so badly.

"mx. y/n!" little timmie on the bridge calls for you the next morning. "did you scold captain kaeya like you promised?" his little fists were balled in front of him like he was asking for some sort of secret information. you kneel and look playfully side to side as if looking for overlistening gossipers before waving him closer.

"just between you and me, captain kaeya was properly scolded by yours truly."

"good! he needs to be more careful!" you chuckle and while timmie runs off to feed his pigeons, you stand and feel kaeya's stare on your back before you see him, feel him grabbing onto your pinkie again and bringing your hand up into the air between you both.

"promise to take it easier on me next time, oh-harsh-scolder."

[niko-aspin]

★ FINALLY SCHOOL IS OVER !!!!!! that means more upcoming TDT stuff :D (cough cough the redesigns uhm)

★ with that said. lroe stuff.

★ after D2 and D3, and having to deal with the fact that his two friends (Brad & Seriph) got manipulated by the voices, in a row, I think Elios would be left with some sort of survivor's guilt.

★ I do see him as the more emotional of the three. He tries to bottle it up to not worry others but ultimately breaks down one time or another.

★ also! Lil thing, I think that the sword holders would have been their rightful wielders anyways if it wasn't for the voices. So for those who are allies, they can wield those swords if you have a card called Deaf Ears! Name is a ref to like... blocking out the voices.

★ with it you can give the swords to the wielders. And they have some dialogue if you give them the wrong one! No this is not an excuse to write dialogue and give characterization what are you talking about hehehahhe heh uagha

★ ALSO SOME NOTES B4 THE DIALOGUE; Seriph and CK refuse the Flare Dagger and Devilwalker respectively and cannot be summoned in a fight where the other is present, nor can they be summoned against the other. When present in a fight with eachother as allies, Seriph and Brad get +2 atk and +1 def ("Mutual Agreement" buff)

CK

Magmashank

"Poison only seeps through the veins of the naive. I do not require this."

"How silly of you to give me this sword."

"Longing for recognition... does not belong to me."

Devilwalker

"..."

"Seriph, she... no. I cannot take this."

Firebrand

"How can one wield this..?"

"...Are thou trying to tell me something?"

Seriph

Magmashank

"tsk. What's this for?"

"I'm gonna take this as a personal insult."

"Wa wa wa, plants. How stupid."

Flare Dagger

"Don't... don't you dare."

"Cursed, cursed sword..."

"I..."

Firebrand

"how... interesting...?"

"...I kindly ask you to take this back. The background noise is bothering me." (the background noise is Captain Trotter in the sword.)

"This isn't going to affect the Sun's Sky, right..?"

Seriph's hands are numb to sensation from the experience with the Devilwalker, she can't feel how hot the firebrand is lol

Griefer

Flare Dagger

"WH4T D0 I D0 WITH TH1S??"

"BLEE3GH."

"."

Devilwalker

"B0R1NG!"

"D0 I LOOK L1KE A G1RL TO Y0U?!!"

"IF Y0U D0N'T L1KE ME Y0U C0ULDA L4FT ME AL0NE."

Firebrand

"WHY 1S IT S0 H0T?!!"

"EE3K-"

"1T BURNS!!"

★ also. Seriph's moveset, stats n stuff :3 because I CAN!!

HP: 50

DEF: 1

MOVESET:

Curse - Seriph opens her spellbook and gives all players & allies a random debuff. Defense Down (3 turns), Silenced (3 turns), Confusion (when ally or player has been hit), very low chance of Frozen (2 turns)

Blessing - Seriph opens her spellbook and gives herself a random buff. Defense Up (3 turns), Fine (2 turns), Stinky (3 turns)

Quick Swing - Seriph swings the Devilwalker, dealing 8 damage and giving the target Dizzy for four turns.

Slow Swing - Seriph swings the Devilwalker with a slow windup, dealing 4 damage and giving the target Dizzy for two turns. *Used only if HP <50% or more than two debuffs are applied.

PROCS:

Burn: 100%

Slow: 50%

Dizzy: 25%

Frozen: 45%

Sleep: 25% *93% if HP <50%

Small: 25%

Poison: 10%

Confusion: 0%

DROPS:

Onion Ring 24%

Ice Storm 12%

Hot Chocolate 12%

Brownie 6%

Glue 5%

Lime 5%

Bitten Brownie 3%

Smoked Trout 1%

★ As an ally, her moveset is mostly the same, but Curse and Blessing's the pool of effects is narrowed down (Defense Down, Frozen ) (Defense Up, Stinky), besides from ofc switching who they affect (Curse on target, Blessing on team). Also, Slow Swing is replaced by Breezy Night which heals all allies by 10 HP. Swing has a normal sword like the one Loyal Knights use if Seriph does not have the Devilwalker.

★ aughh that was a lot, I've been typing for a while...

★ anyhow. all for naoaw... byae!!

• omg

[cerastes]

Could you help me with which one to spark in Arknights? I don't have anybody from the shop yet, and the short list, I think, is Texas2, Virtuosa, Skadi2. Texas2: I've been using Projekt Red since day 1 and would prefer something novel, but if Texas is truly game-breakingly strong... Is she? Virtuosa: is there a point if I have Logos? Skadi2: no real competition, only purely aesthetic regret that she would logically take Silence2's spot.

Taxes: I'll be real, she blows Red out of the water, it's not even close. Yes, she is indeed that broken. For regular content, she lets you press the I Win button, for high end content, she is an extremely strong member of the team that provides huge damage and equally huge utility with either constant stuns or amplifying Arts damage dealt to a target. I would say this is the best choice if you don't want to think much of it and just have nitrogen bomb you can drop on people over and over.

Arturia: In regular content, Logos can be a replacement for her in terms of "things die fast and if they don't die as fast, they get Ligma and then they die fast", but when you start getting on higher end content, then it starts being evident that Arturia is the best of the best at what she does -- Necrosis -- without any real competition. The thing with Arturia is that she has extreme control over Necrosis with her Skills in a way no one else does: S1 needs 2 charges maximum to Ligma anything in the game no matter what and will always exclusively target units without Ligma so it never wastes charges, she passively deals miniSlows that are deceptively strong to enemies in range, S3 is a massive range of practically insta-Ligma that will proc twice on any enemy in the game provided they were in range when it was activated, and it comes with nice buffs to boot, and even S2, the underlooked skill, has a pretty good niche in long range AoE Ligma application when paired with Horn or Firewhistle, for example, to infect enemies from long range. The thing is, Logos, out of skill, takes a bit to Ligma someone, and Arturia always instaLigmas anyone, at most taking two blasts to do so. Another thing is that Arturia can be slotted in practically any team whatsoever, and excels in all game modes -- regular, IS, SSS, RA2 -- because of how universally useful it is to be able to very quickly Ligma anything, providing you with both practically True damage and a hefty -50% ATK debuff for afflicted enemies. I would say, just like Taxes, she can be slotted in any team but does require a bit more thought (though not much) than Taxes.

Red Didi: A common thing about these three units is that you really can just slot them in any team and they just work. The Corrupting Heart Simply Works, most people like S2 because it gives a really, really significant boost to stat heft to units: At M3, it makes 3* Centurion Popukar have roughly the same Attack stat as 6* Centurion Blaze off-skill. That's huge! Imagine what that kind of boost that gives 3*s a 6* statline, does to actual 6*s! That's why she's so extremely useful, in addition to giving passive healing to units in range that affects usually non-healable units, and being able to drop an extension to her range on a pretty generous timer. S3 is also really good with a mix of True Damage and an even bigger Attack boost. Again, an extremely flexible unit that goes in any sort of composition and always adds to it very tangibly. I'd say she's braindead to use on S2 and requires a bit more planning to S3, but not much.

I don't know the rest of your roster and your playstyle, so I can't really say "pick this one" but this should help you come to your own decision. In terms of ease of use, Taxes > Didi > Arturia, but these are three easy to use units, so see what fits your needs and/or tastes.

[falling-components]

someone should make a teledildonics mod for caves of qud where it activates a vibrator whenever you score a hit. more intense based on how many penetrations you get. get very intense and have some sort of pattern when you use or proc skills like rejoinder, dismember or decapitate

[blood-red-hummingbee]

Beastfolk Rose Picrews :3

Links utc:

[vexwerewolf]

Hey, do you have suggestions on a stealthy, shoot'n'scoot build for the Pegasus? I'm really, really new, but I like the idea of this thing that can always hit you and fades away until the next attack.

-- HORUS Pegasus @ LL6 -- [ LICENSES ] HORUS Pegasus 3, SSC Metalmark 3 [ CORE BONUSES ] Overpower Caliber, The Lesson of the Open Door [ TALENTS ] Infiltrator 3, Skirmisher 3, Crack Shot 3 [ STATS ] HULL:2 AGI:2 SYS:0 ENGI:4 STRUCTURE:4 HP:17 ARMOR:0 STRESS:4 HEATCAP:10 REPAIR:4 TECH ATK:+1 LIMITED:+2 SPD:5 EVA:10 EDEF:10 SENSE:10 SAVE:15 [ WEAPONS ] FLEX MOUNT: Smartgun FLEX MOUNT: Smartgun HEAVY MOUNT: Anti-Materiel Rifle // Overpower Caliber [ SYSTEMS ] Personalizations, Active Camouflage, Pattern-A Smoke Charges x5

So this is a very simple build.

What we're doing here is creeping around the edges of the battlefield, looking for a good opening. We use our Active Camouflage to remain Hidden even when it isn't our turn, and we look for a good firing position.

Our ideal turn start has us Hidden and in hard cover. We activate Crack Shot protocol and Active Camouflage if our heat's looking okay, line up on our intended target and shoot them with the AMR, hopefully hitting and hopefully critting. We don't bother rolling dice for our AMR - we just use By The Way, I Know Everything to set our damage to 11, or 14 if we crit. Having hit an enemy with an attack from Hidden, we proc Ambush, plus Watch This if we crit. With Lesson of the Open Door buffing our Save Target, we're well-positioned to inflict a horrid array of status effects on our target.

That was our first quick action. We spend the next quick action to Hide again, rendering us untargetable.

Next turn, Immobilized from Crack Shot goes away and we only need to keep Active Camouflage up if we're in immediate danger. We have various options:

If we want supreme mobility (or if there's someone close to us) we can exploit the extra movement from Mastermind: using Boost breaks Hidden after it resolves, so we can Boost, use the slide from Mastermind and then move normally, allowing us to move up to 15 spaces, 5 of it reactionless. If we're feeling really spicy, we could even Boost adjacent to an enemy, use the flashbomb clause of Mastermind and then run 10 away from them.

We can Skirmish with a Smartgun and proc all the same effects as last turn. If we want to apply more damage and don't need to be Hidden next turn, we can even Barrage with both.

Occasionally we'll need to Stabilize to deal with the heat build up from Active Camouflage, but that's great because it also allows us to reload our AMR.

This mech only has 17 HP, so with 0 Armor and 10 Evasion its survivability is fairly low, but this is aided by the fact that it spends most of its time Invisible, and due to the absurd range of its AMR (and the fact that its Smartguns don't even need line of sight) it often won't even be in range for enemies to hit at all. Skirmisher III also means that the first reaction attack taken against us each round will miss automatically, and if we're smart, enemies won't get an opportunity to make a second one.

The largest dangers to this build:

Enemies that have AoE attacks and thus they can get around their inability to target you by targetting an area that they think contains you, although Invisible will still protect you from this by providing a 50% miss chance. In particular, Bombards can just dispense with trying to narrow down your location and shell your entire zipcode instead.

Enemies with abilities that deal damage but aren't attacks. This completely bypasses Invisibility, and since this sort of ability tends to be AoE, they can also ignore Hidden if they have a reasonable idea of where you are. A great example is the Assault's optional Micro-Missile Barrage trait.

Enemies that are themselves also Invisible. Because we have no Reliable damage and there wasn't room on this mech for Eye of Horus, we have no reliable way of penetrating Invisible. This means our ability to engage with such enemies are completely at the mercy of the dice.

SCOUTS. They ignore Hidden and Invisible entirely, and have multiple tools that strip Hidden and Invisible from us, completely negating the main survivability tools of our build. Worse, they have excellent Evasion, decent E-Defence and can become Invisible themselves. Prioritize their destruction, or better yet - get your allies to do it.

[moyloi]

I want MORE scenes with gale (Act 1 spoilers)

OK OK OK SO I am currently going through a playthrough romancing Gale and I have a few thoughts! Only gone through Act 1 so far and I'm on my way to the Creche, so things might change, but hear me out. (Act 1 spoilers (????))

With his romance I kind of wanted... more during act 1??? I know, I know.. Mystra and all that and maybe I've missed something but listen:

There's only two romantic scenes with him; - One with the weave - One during tiefling celebrations

and then there's nothing until act 2 apparently.

BUT what if he got TWO more flirtacious scenes as well?

NUMBERO UNO:

After him showing us the weave, there should be a scene where he is sitting infront of his tent, reading a book (like he's doing while idle, but this might be different book or not idk) and he is so inveloped in the book that he doesn't hear Tav approaching. Lines that Tav could be saying:

"What are you reading?"

2. "(Cough to make your presence known)"

3. Leave him to his book (end scene)

Or something similar.

He is a bit startled but goes on about telling you what kind of book he's reading and insinuates that you might not find it interesting. The two first lines are bringing the conversations forward, to his surprise:

" Sounds interesting, tell me more! / do go on!" (approval)

" Go on..." (approval)

"Those sort of books doesn't interest me" (disapproval, end conversation)

And your Tav sits down next to him while he rambles on and shows you the book if you picked either the first two lines.

Your Tav can ask questions for him to answer but there should be an option that says:

"Stay silent, let him continue"

He will eventually realise he is rambling and says:

"Ah, I do apologise. I must've rambled on about my interests about this book and I'm sorry if I bored you".

Tav could answer something like:

"No please, do continue. I find you ramblings quite amusing/cute." (Flirt)

"Don't worry. You're a good storyteller. Please, do go on." (Flirt)

"hmm? Oh, I must've dozed off" (disapproval, end scene)

AND IF YOU CHOOSE FLIRT-LINES, HE THEN GOES ON ABOUT THAT BOOK AND HIS INTERESTS AND THE NARRATOR COULD SAY SOMETHING LIKE: "And with you telling him to go on, Gale continues to talk about (whatever the book might be). You become more and more enveloped in his storytelling that none of you realise that night has turned to dawn, and a new day awaits."

Both of you could get a debuff, something like: Sleep deprived. -1 to saving throws (Until long rest) OR -1 to intellect and wisdom saving throws (Until long rest) HOW CUTE WOULDN'T THAT BE LIKE OMG

OKOKOK NUMBER TWO:

This happens after the celebrations with the tieflings. This can be a hidden scene that won't proc unless you actively talk to him before and after a long rest (Like with astarion and getting the sex scene before the party.. well he didn't have an exclamationmark above his head).

BUT

this scene is more guided towards the romatic, non-sexual part.

Here, it depends on if you are playing a Durge or an original Tav. Just a few or one line might be added or changed.

Gale will say something like:

"you know, I feel like I haven't gotten to know you properly."

And Tav can answer with:

"Oh? what would you like to know?"

"Well.. I don't remember much.." (This will be a coninuation and he will ask: well what do you remember? (Durge only))

"And there's a reason why." (Rejection, disapproval. End of conversation)

Gale could then be giving examples of Waterdeep, more about his life before the orb etc etc.)

Now

Your Tav can tell him about:

"A happy memory" (approval)

"A loving memory" (approval)

"A sad/somber memory" (approval, because your Tav trusts him enough to talk about sad shit (????))

"No... I don't need to tell you anything!" (disapproval, end of conversation)

He will repsond accordingly and THEN it will cut to your Tav and Gales faces being mere INCHES from each other.

If you have recruited Scratch, he will interrupt when they were about to kiss. While Scratch is barking after dropping a ball, wanting to play (or talking - Speak with animals activated) and is distractiv Tav, Gale can look at them lovingly, smiling. maybe laughing??

IF you haven't recruited Scratch before this scene, Gale will stop himself. Being hesitant but reassures that wants to kiss tav but he needs to sort himself out first (with the orb and stuff). and maybe Tav can kiss him on the forehead or something.

SO NO SMOOCHES BUT AT LEAST SOME RRRRRRRRROMANCE

Thanks for coming to my tedTalk.

[akantorrr]

Gerione (Ultrakill OC) reference masterpost just cause I don't know where else to post it :'>

I know there's a ton of problems with the info, especially knowing how Violence will generally look, but I came up with this boi before we got a single snapshot so uhhhhh I'm still keeping em as my dream 7-4 boss lmao

(Copy-pasted from its ArtFight page)

ULTRAKILL OC, a Hell Mass chimera and Supreme Demon, inspired by Dante's Inferno's Geryon, or Gerione in Italian. (it/they/him) From Wikipedia cause I'm lazy and words are hard: "Dante's Geryon is an image of fraud, combining human, bestial, and reptilian elements: Geryon is a "monster with the general shape of a wyvern but with the tail of a scorpion, hairy arms, a gaudily-marked reptilian body, and the face of a just and honest man". The pleasant human face on this grotesque body evokes the insincere fraudster whose intentions "behind the face" are all monstrous, cold-blooded, and stinging with poison.", but its purpose in the Divine Comedy is to transport Dante and Virgil from Violence to Fraud, by jumping on its back and it bringing them down the cliff/crater that separates the two layers. - Gerione is one of, if not the only hell mass demon capable of some sort of vocalization, being able to hiss, gurgle, and to some extent roar. - The inspirations for this... thing... were the Leviathan and Hideous Mass from Ultrakill, the Bell Gargoyles from Dark Souls 1, and for the sounds I imagined it would make, the Kaiwhekea from Path Of Titans (specifically when out of the water) - I classified it as Supreme Demon since it's the same class as Leviathan, and I imagined Gerione being the final boss of Violence, in 7-4. - The arena where Gerione awaits the player is an amphitheatre/semi-circle shaped cave on the edge of a dark pit. Said pit is shrouded in darkness, and somewhere in there lies the elevator shaft to the Fraud layer. Beating (or befriending) Gerione is the only way to gain access to the 8th layer. - Its fight is optional (like the Ferryman's). To fight it, one must simply shoot it (punching or slamming it doesn't trigger the fight) To avoid the fight, one the player has to jump onto Gerione's back and stand on its hip, where there's a stone seat/saddle. This will lock the player's movement, Gerione will then stand up, turn around, roar once, after which the darkness in the pit will dissipate enough to reveal the red door to the next layer, and Gerione will jump into it, with the player on its back. This will end the fight and the level, and will also complete the challenge for the level. - In fight, Gerione is really agile and often zips and jumps around, taking stabs at the player to then back away. Its signature attack is a charged tail thrust, where if the hit connects, it'll deal 25 damage on hit and proc the Bleeding effect, where the player will recieve 4, 10 damage hits in the span of 3 seconds. The attack can be dodged with a well timed dash, and is parriable. Other attacks include a 3-hit combo of slash-slash-bite (last bite is parriable), a downwards slam/slash with its front paw (parriable), a tail swipe (parriable), a quick series of 3 charges that cover the majority of the arena (not parriable), and an attack in which Gerione moves in a semi-circle (clock-wise), attacking first with a bite, then with a quick kick leading into a hop, setting some distance from the player. Parrying the first bite cancels the attack and makes Gerione flinch. - Gabriel is very fond of it and treats it like a big puppy, Gerione heccin loves it and is all for it (chuff chuffs when it gets pat pats) - it name jerryy