#programmed viruses for fun

[akanposting]

doodles of slick as a youngster bc I love him :)

[tass3l]

it was only a matter of time, unfortunately

doodles regarding my tadc oc. sorry for falling back into the oc x canon mines 😔

i like to think that hassel befriends caine simply bc hes so fascinated and wants to know the inner workings of the circus and also just how advanced caine is as an AI. sure the friendship started out as one-sided and an attempt to get information n maybe to find an exploit of some sort but it soon becomes a real, genuine friendship.

gif unrelated

[ourladyoftheflytrap]

I'm so excited to actually learn some science this semester bc I kind of struggle with vague notions of ethics & interpersonal communication but I fucking LOVE science

On a related note, I'm so scared for this semester because it's biochemistry specifically related to the movement of fluid in the body 😭 and that was fascinating to learn in A&P but it was easily the most difficult concept

[drdemonprince]

I grew up with abstinence-only sex education, and it did a real number on me. But I’ve shaken off enough of my old cultural programming to realize that the transmission of bacteria and viruses is a thing that sometimes just happens when animals come together, no matter how stringently we might try to prevent it.

I have gotten urinary tract infections when a stray microbe found its way into my urethra after sex. Lube and bodily fluids have disturbed my vagina’s pH and caused a yeast infection many times. So has wearing a bathing suit for too long without drying it, yet another “risk” worth the pleasures of swimming along the sea wall.

Once or twice I’ve had an outbreak of cold sores, just like 80% of humans. If I’m like most people, I probably caught oral herpes when I was very young, sharing a sippy cup or rolling around at a sleepover.

None of this makes me disgusting, irresponsible, evil, or dangerous to others. It just makes me a living creature that exists in close contact with other creatures. I believe I have a responsibility to get tested regularly, to alert people who have been close to me when I get sick, and to use preventative measures like condoms, PreP, vaccines, toys, and masks to prevent the spread of infections as best I can. But I never imagine I can lead a life without risk — or that such a life would even be desirable.

There is no such thing as completely “safe” sex. A friend of mine can’t use condoms because they give her bacterial vaginosis. She chooses instead to fuck raw and take PreP and get anything else she catches treated. A guy I know who masks and tests religiously caught COVID while fisting someone (with a gloved hand!) at an air-filtered party. HPV is so prevalent that most sexual wellness clinics don’t bother testing for it, and can’t do much for a patient if they do have it. Our bodies are teeming at all times with various endemic viruses and microbes that we will never have the power to purge.

Then there are the possible costs of not having sex — vaginal atrophy, pelvic floor weakening, reduced access to endorphins, loneliness, touch starvation, the despair of harboring dreams that one never dares try. I can’t decide for anyone else which dangers loom the largest, but for me a gonorrhea shot is a fair trade for the hours of leg-cramping, bed-staining, hypno-kinky sex that led to it. There’s no guarantee that the next time I have sex it will be anywhere near as much fun, but the potential keeps me throwing the dice.

I hear quite frequently from sexually inexperienced Autistic people who crave an intimate connection, but desperately wish to remain responsible and “safe.” They want there to be a set of iron-tight rules they can follow that will guarantee they remain a virtuous person who never hurts anyone’s feelings, and never catches any sexually transmitted infection.

I understand why they want someone to impose order onto an unpredictable, terrifying world. But I can’t give that certainty to them, nor can anyone. All I can suggest is that they be honest with themselves about what they want, inform themselves of the costs and benefits to pursuing their desires, and then venture forward — proudly welcoming the correct risks into their life, rather than trying to avoid any risks at all.

Life is nothing but a negotiation of risk. If a person has gender dysphoria and they want to combat it, they must risk a transition they could one day regret. If an abolitionist wants to take a stand against the police state, they must plan for the possibility of arrest or political repression. When we open our hearts to love, we expose ourselves to grief — our partners will keep changing and growing, sometimes away from us. Each step that we take forward in life closes off potential paths. There is no avoiding this.

Instead of chasing after the false promise of “safety,” trying to remain completely insulated from harm and challenge forever, we must get better at admitting risk into our lives.

I wrote about all about the messy business of risk mitigation, and how the pursuit of perfect safety is used to justify isolation, theft of bodily autonomy, and political repression. It's free to read (or have narrated to you by the app!) at drdevonprice.substack.com

[impyssadobsessions]

DP x DC idea/prompt Okay Wayne Industries has hired a new employee that's Phenomenal at their job. They have every program and software up to date- everything working smoothly without any interruptions or delay. Only strange thing is no one has ever seen them. They work strictly remotely due to disability. However, they are not on record to exist except for the last few years. Sam, Tucker, and Danny are runaways, running from GIW. They had to leave everything behind to keep themselves, the ghost zone, and their love ones safe. They're too young and have no way of actually being hired without finding out. Thankfully one of them is great at hacking, and he's been dreaming of working there for a while and now he has the perfect opportunity to show his skills AND work for company. However despite all his skills- They don't go unnoticed. A certain Tim Drake and the rest of the Batfamily had already figured out this "new hire" wasn't who he said he was. In fact, they may have found out it was a group of runaway teens before the second week. Now the only question they have, is why? Also Tim thinks its fun to test Tucker's skills and purposely throws viruses his way. Sam and Danny are probably focusing on doing the main shopping/looking out for giw and doing odd things for extra money while Tucker is living his dream.. remotely.. and anonymously.. but hey its the dream and the pay keeps them well afloat. Luckily they found a place that won't ask questions as long as they get the money.

Basically the Bats are keeping this group of teens employed while figuring out why they're on their own. Also while helping anonymously make their mystery employee (s) get better at their documentation by asking for information here and there without penalty. Its become a game, especially to Tim. XD

[cryptidghostgirl]

so sorry for this (very) specific request hope it's not ocish

anyways alastor x wife reader who's a virologist / kinda a mad scientist??(girl just wants to start a apocalypse without anyone to bother her)

Like they got married for mutual benefits (whatever benefits he would gain and her having access to money for her wildest dreams) when they were humans (whether he actually loves her or not is up to you lmao)

They both die (I assume that she would die around when he died from her own negligence caused by her 'freedom' to do her work more often without actually worrying about him finding out) and she avoids him like the plague (not that hard to realize this so called radio demon is your 'husband' when you find his secret stash of 'local cuisine' in the fridge)

Then he goes missing and she finally kinda goes out of makeshift hiding, just chilling doing her evil deeds before finding about the Hazbin Hotel from some gossip

Deciding that, while redemption is most likely not gonna happen mostly for the fact she does not care, she joins Charlie's little program. For her own little project (just wants to have a angel test subject, gotta see if they can be a good carrier for her little virus)

The reader doesn't know that Alastor's back (you think she's gonna use vox tech? Or listen to the radio? Girl uses a non vox tech phone and maybe a computer and does her work) so she goes and knocks on the door to the hotel

Thinking that this shit is gonna be easy, after all her husband is gone so she won't be bothered by him. She can focus on her beautiful creations and maybe destory hell and heaven with a apocalypse for some laughs. While also getting access to heaven through Charlie somehow (maybe even Lucifer, girl doesn't know nor care)

Anyways you can just IMAGINE her surprise that right after Charlie greets her (Vaggie ofc suspicious af cause she knows damn well no sinner wants to be redeemed for the most part) then here comes the strawberry pimp coming to say hello

Would he recognize his lovely wife? Maybe

Ofc reader had a plan, and by plan I mean she just says they were married and now acts like their divorced (death do us part and we fuckin dead)

(Just for example, do what you want <3)

Anyways I'm sorry again (can you tell that I've been watching a lot of mlp infection aus :') )

A/N bestie,, i love an overly detailed request. no apologies. i hope i did it justice <3 <3 I have literally been obsessing over the whole 'we're dead. we've been parted.' reader idea. It's so fun. Also I am very sorry it took me so long to get to this. Also, I am not a woman nor am I in STEM (I'm an enby in history) so apologies if science stuff in this is bad. I'm basing the character off of Entrapta (my love) from Nate Stevenson's She-Ra remake.

Till Death Do Us Part (Alastor x Mad Scientist!Reader)

Pairing: Alastor x Reader

Warnings: Gore. Murder. Bodies. Animal cruelty (not detailed at all just like test subjects and burning ants as a kid). Viruses/plague talk. Just capital d Death all around in this one folks. Suicide and starvation briefly mentioned.

Word Count: 2,584

Master Lists:

Master Lists 

Hazbin Hotel Master List

Y/n hadn't been sad when Alastor died. It didn't really even register on her radar that he was gone until the police showed up at her door. Their marriage was more of an agreement than anything else, a division of labor. Y/n was a talented virologist who came from a rather wealthy family. He got access to her money, using it to start his own radio studio, and Y/n? Well Y/n got a clean up crew.

She had always been fascinated by death. It was a morbid curiosity that had followed her since childhood. The typical 'burning ants with a magnifying glass to mass murderer' pipeline only, murder was not exactly her objective. Since learning of the Black Death in school, she had been fascinated by biological warfare and weaponry. The stories of soldiers throwing infected bodies over the walls of city's to break down their defenses? It was magnificent, masterful, absolutely awe inspiring. Living through the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918, watching how it tore through her city of New Orleans, only furthered her determination.

As soon as she had had the knowledge base to do so, she began working on bio-weapons on her own. She wanted to create a disease, to devastate the world. She wanted to watch the things around her crumble into ruin and know it was by her hand.

She'd found out about Alastor's hobby by accident. They were friends, of a sort, in that Y/n would show up randomly where ever he was and quiz him about radio waves. He worked at a radio station and she knew that. She had followed him, tracked him down. There was no reasoning behind it save he was the first person she'd really found out about that was involved in the business in New Orleans. She would pick his mind about getting the word out about things, marketing, advertising. She was prepping for the main event, for the day she finally created her magnum opus.

One day, when she had shown up unannounced at his door and broken in when he didn't respond to her knocking, Y/n had discovered him dismembering one of his victims. Alastor had stared at her, wide eyed in shock, fear and adrenaline mixing into an intoxicating combination in his veins. Y/n had just smiled.

She had been wondering about human experimentation for a while now. Animals were easy to cover up, easy to bury in the back yard but people? It had always been too risky, up until now anyways.

So it went like this: Y/n funded Alastor's dreams and he hid the side effects of hers. When he died, Y/n didn't really feel anything too strongly about it at all. Yes, it made life harder in that if she wanted to keep using human guinea pigs she'd have to figure out a way to dispose of them on her own but it also made it easier. Alastor had always been so obsessed with image, dragging her to office parties and forcing her to sit down to meals with him. Now that he was gone, she could work on her projects in peace once again. The body thing was something she would figure out along the way. She was smart and she wasn't going to let something like that stop her, not when she was this close to cracking it.

As it turns out, Alastor had been more of a help than Y/n believed. So used to his nattering and persistence, she had stopped eating. It wasn't long before she joined her husband in death. The papers of course had a field day with it. Heiress and Virologist Y/n L/n Withers Away Due to Heartbreak. Y/n L/n Starved Herself to Death and Joins her Murderer of a Husband. Virologist Commits Suicide After Revelation of Dead Husband's Criminal Deeds.

When Y/n had woken up in Hell, her whole world had been turned upside down. If there was life after death, what was the point of killing everyone on earth? She was back at square one.

Rumors were already buzzing through the streets of Hell about some new overlord, some Radio Demon, who had a strikingly similar MO to her husband. Not wanting any distractions this time around, Y/n secluded herself in the outskirts of the pride ring to reformulate her plans.

For decades she worked, trying to create a poison to wipe out the dual planes of the underworld. Work was easier here. No one questioned why she bought the things she bought, no one got upset when people went missing. Hell, no one even blinked twice if they saw her burying a body. It was a veritable paradise for Y/n.

Eventually, news reached her of the Radio Demon's disappearance. Y/n had never been the biggest fan of technology that wasn't involved in her work. In the world of the living, she had barley read the papers. All the machines in her laboratory were ones she had built herself through trial and error. But still, somehow, the news reached her and she felt elated. The last thing weighing her down, the last road block had officially been lifted.

Within seven years, she had perfected the disease. Having run tests on lower rings of Hell, she prided herself on her ability to make it so infections, so deadly. The survival was on par with that of unvaccinated human's infected by rabies. But her plan wasn't complete, no. Taking out everyone in Hell wasn't good enough, she had to figure out how to get it into Heaven as well.

That was when the perfect opportunity fell in her lap. Y/n nearly cried when she caught sight of the interview through the window of a shop selling Vox branded TVs. Charlie Morningstar, Lucifer's little brat, was creating a hotel for sinners, where they could be rehabilitated and sent to Heaven. It was perfect, almost too perfect. Y/n didn't question it, her own excitement blinding her. She barley even took the time to come up with a plan that consisted of more than get into the hotel and get her hands on an angel. She figured that was something that could be dealt with later on.

After a few days of research and snooping, she finally made her move. Having packed her bags and woven her way through the streets of Pentagram City, she found herself before the brightly lit marquee of the Hazbin Hotel. Placing her bag on the ground beside her, the test tubes and various paraphernalia inside clinked gently against one another. Raising her hand, she knocked on the door.

It was Charlie herself who answered, with wide eyes and an earnest smile. A smaller moth demon beside her crossed her arms, eyeing Y/n with doubt. It barley registered with the excitable demon, she was used to the strange looks. The new form Hell had granted her with when she died was odd, after all. She was still the same height, still held a roughly human shape, but her hair had become its own beast. It moved like secondary limbs, falling nearly to the floor from the pigtails she had tied it up into. It shot up into the air around her in joy at the sight of yet another open door in her path, this one literal rather than figurative.

"Hello!" Charlie exclaimed, "Are you here to check in?"

"Yes, check in." Y/n nodded, using her hair to pick her bag back up.

She took a step forward, trying to enter the hotel, but found her path blocked by the smaller grey demon. Her arms were uncrossed now, one of them pointing a spear right at Y/n's neck. Y/n didn't flinch, she simply looked down at it in curiosity, reaching a finger up to touch the end.

"Ow." she said flatly as the spear's tip pressed into the pad of her finger.

Raising it to her eyes, she rubbed the droplet of blood that had pooled on her pointer finger with her thumb before turning back to the spear.

"Is this..." Y/n leaned forward, grabbing the spear's shaft.

"Hey!" Vaggie yelled threateningly as Y/n crouched down, examining the weapon carefully.

"Oh my stars, this is an angelic blade, isn't it?" she exclaimed, her eyes still fixed on the spear.

"Uh..."

Vaggie was more confused now than anything and she took the slightest step away from the excited demon. Y/n followed her and soon, they were in the entry way to the hotel. Charlie watched the scene play out with mild amusement, finding her girlfriends bewildered state rather charming. She let the door fall shut.

"It is, isn't it?" Y/n asked again, "But how did you get it? Did you make it? What do you do with it? Is it more effective than normal weapons? Why a spear? I-"

"What's this, we have a new guest?" a crackling voice cut Y/n off.

"Uh, yes!" Charlie stepped in, turning to face the newcomer.

Y/n, still preoccupied with the spear, was now engaged in trying to get Vaggie to let her hold it.

"I think..." Charlie doubtfully added, her brow furrowing at the site.

"Well well well, a little devil." Alastor hummed, turning to watch the show as well, "Honestly, reminds me of someone I knew back when I was alive and kicking. Ah well, what's her name?"

"I don't... actually know that yet." Charlie admitted, fiddling with her hands a bit as she spoke, "But she seems really enthusiastic about being here!"

"It seems she more interested in that spear of Vaggie's than the idea of redemption." Alastor noted in response.

"Are either of you going to help me or are you just gonna sit and watch?" Vaggie exclaimed, trying her best to pry the spear out of Y/n's grip.

Alastor sighed and with a twirl of his microphone, a shadow arose, pulling Y/n off Vaggie. There was a split second where the smile on the girl's face fell. It quickly returned as she caught sight of what exactly had interrupted her escapades. Placing her bag on the floor with her hair, she wormed around in the shadow's arms, turning to face it. Tentatively, she poked it.

"Would you stop that?" Alastor asked, his voice thick with irritation.

Y/n poked the shadow again.

"What is this? How are you doing this?"

When no response came from the demon in question, she at last turned to face him.

"Oh."

She stilled in her movements and Alastor allowed the shadow to disappear.

"No reason to be scared." Charlie quickly stepped in, "I know Alastor here has a bit of a... reputation, but he is actually helping us at the hotel. He's really a great once you get to know him."

Alastor's smile widened as he bowed his head slightly in recognition of the praise.

"If you're going to be staying her-"

"You can't seriously be thinking of letting her stay here, Charlie." Vaggie cut in, "She's been here what, five minutes? And all thats come of it is chaos."

"Vaggie, come on, don't be like that." Charlie turned to her girlfriend, "Everyone deserves a second chance, that's the whole reason we built this place."

"But does she even want to be redeemed? I mean, what if she's... I don't know, trying to take us down from the inside out? What if she's a journalist or some shit trying to write us bad reviews?"

"You flatter me." Y/n smiled and Vaggie scoffed.

"See?"

"Isn't that all the more reason to let her in? Vaggie, if she is undercover as a journalist or something, we just have to prove to her how amazing what we're doing here is."

"I don't know... I've never seen her before, what if she's another one Vox sent?"

Y/n shook her head, sticking her tongue out slightly in disgust at this notion and Alastor chuckled. There really was something so familiar about this demon and her antics. Even if she was a tad irritating, it was a comfortable familiarity.

"Then we will figure it out, same way we did with Sir. Pentious. Okay?"

"Fine." Vaggie relented at last with a sigh.

Smiling brightly, Charlie turned back to Y/n.

"So, hi. I'm Charlie, welcome to the Hazbin Hotel! What's your name?"

Y/n's eyes flicked back and forth between Alastor and Charlie for a moment before settling on Charlie.

"Y/n L/n."

Alastor let out a little laugh of disbelief, a sound he had meant to keep in. He couldn't help it. Of course this little mess of a demon was his favorite crazy wife. Alastor had looked for Y/n on occasion, always keeping an eye on news involving anything scientific but, he had never found a trace. Not that he'd admit it but, in their time together, he had grown rather fond of the girl. Not love, never love, but a sort of familial feel. Everyone turned to face him.

"Are you alright, Alastor?" Charlie asked, walking over to him and placing a hand on his arm which he quickly brushed off.

"Yeah, do you know her or something?" Vaggie added, "Is she dangerous?"

"No..." he paused, his brow slightly furrowed, "She's my wife."

The room fell silent.

"You... you didn't recognize your own wife?" Vaggie asked in disbeleif.

"Ex-wife." Y/n corrected with a little sigh.

This was all becoming so tedious. She hadn't come here to sit and talk with people. While the spear and the shadow had been fun, they had both run their courses and she just wanted to get to work.

"I..." Alastor turned back to Y/n, "Ex-wife?"

Y/n shrugged.

"So you didn't recognize your wife and you didn't know you were divorced?" Vaggie asked, rubbing her temples, "Jesus fuck, man."

"I..." Alastor cleared his throat, "We were married when we were alive. I didn't even know she was dead yet."

"Yeah." Y/n shrugged, "Turns out all your nattering was what was keeping me alive. I forgot to eat, starved to death."

Alastor's eyes softened slightly for a moment at the notion. She had needed his care so badly that she had died with out it. It felt good, in a strange way. Satisfying. They darkened again as he recalled her earlier statement.

"Ex-wife?" he asked again, taking a step towards Y/n.

She looked up at him, her expression blank.

"Yeah?"

"When did we get a divorce!" Alastor exclaimed once he realized she would say nothing else on the matter without his prompting.

"Oh! We didn't." Y/n nodded, smiling slightly, "Now, can I go to my room?"

"No, Y/n. Why are you calling yourself my ex-wife? We are still married."

Y/n looked around at Charlie and Vaggie, seeing if they were going to back up her claim. Sighing, she turned back to Alastor.

"Do I really have to lay it out for you?" she paused and Alastor just stared at her, eyebrows raised, "Jesus. Uh, Al, we died."

"Yes...?"

"Till death do us part? That was the agreement."

"I... Well..." he was at a complete and total loss for how to respond.

She wasn't wrong, he just didn't like her answer very much.

"So... the agreement is done... yeah?"

"I mean," Alastor shook his head slightly, "I guess?"

"Great! Can someone please show me to my room now."

---

Next Part -> Till Death Do Us Part pt. 2

[areyoudoingthis]

more than one person asked so i'm making a post about it. i use this program to download torrents (it's safe, no viruses or ads, i've been torrenting for years). and this is the website where i found the ridiculously hd version of ofmd. just type "our flag means death s01" in the searchbar at the top. for s2 you might have to search episode by episode, so "our flag means death s02e01" and so on (i don't know if the season has been uploaded in a single torrent yet, it hadn't been when i downloaded it). then just click the little red magnet symbol that looks like a big U, and it'll ask you if you want to open the link with qbitorrent. click yes, pick a folder to save the episodes in your computer, and have fun (the higher the green number next to the episodes is on the website, the faster the link will download, so if a link doesn't work just pick another one). you can always ask if you get stuck somewhere, i don't mind!

oh btw 2160p is the highest definition available right now so aim for those links, I'll leave them seeding forever

[myobsessionsspace]

Cameras & People

Guys…

Please

Adust

Your

Expectations

And

Reality Check.

The show is for ARMY, for anyone and everyone to watch. That’s it, that’s all.

For watching Jikook and guest(s) partaking in activities, eating, drinking and a hell of a lot of laughter.

People need to BFFR with their expectations on things for real.

And be disappointed in yourselves NOT Jikook, they didn’t lie about a damn thing, nor tell you to make your own assumptions, inferences, speculations etc. That’s on us, not them.

Enjoy the content for what it is, fun, happy Jikook. They’re currently enlisted in a companion program together. They currently bustin their asses in the DMZ.

They weathered exhaustion, colds, stomach viruses, doing 101 activities for our enjoyment in between international promotions, album recordings, dance rehearsals, MV shoots, choreography learning and practices, birthdays, music show performances I could go on.

This is not content for gotcha moments, for one upping anyone, for proving or disproving how close or not close they’ve been since 2019 or 2020 or 2021 or 2022 or 2023.

From the inception of the group people are always trying to gauge if they’re close or not close.

FFS a duo show isn’t enough

tattoos from the same tattoo artist isn’t enough

them saying they were the last to leave the dorms isn’t enough

them being the only two having their segment on the monuments show isn’t enough

them having their section in their 10 year autobiography book isn’t enough

the members constantly mistaking Jimin for Jungkook and vice versa isn’t enough

years upon years of them being documented attached at the hip isn’t enough, being spotted out for white day

all their sus selfies just the two of them isn’t enough

Jungkook’s lives of 2023 isn’t enough, this show isn’t enough

their companion enlistment isn’t enough.

Leave the picking apart of their closeness, if they are or aren’t, if they did or didn’t see each other or speak to each other outta the show, real talk.

[firewolf111]

Hello!

I've had a fanfic idea in my head for a while, but have been struggling to find the motivation to write, especially since this idea would be a long form fic and I usually write oneshots. I have a bit of an all or nothing mindset, so convincing myself to work on a project I can't finish in one sitting is really hard. So I figured why not try a notes thing.

(Not sure why I'm trying since only my sanders sides ship posts seem to get any attention, but may as well)

So...

For every 5 notes this post gets, I'll write for 15 minutes. Every 10 notes I'll write for the 15 minutes and post a small blurb to keep myself accountable.

If we somehow get to 100 notes, I'll up it to 30 minutes.

Let's go over some basics for the fic so you know whether you want to root for me to write it or not.

It's a Hermitcraft fic. Although it is kinda, slightly a life series cross-over (the summary will make this make sense.

It would technically be Mumbo centric, but it would have scenes from multiple of the Hermits pov.

Sound interesting?

Here's the summary:

The life game was over. Mumbo knew that for a fact. Yet a part of him feels trapped there. Nightmares and paranoia have become a frequent experience for him. But it was just a game. He wasn't going to ruin his friends' fun just because he couldn't handle a little bloodshed. Besides, the game was over. This was Hermitcraft. Hermitcraft was a safe server.

Except... the server is safe. But the players aren't.

Most viruses and parasites that could potentially latch on to a player are normally large enough to be detected by the many firewalls and anti-virus programs Hermircraft has set up. Any of them small enough to slip past are too weak to attach to the players. Or normally they are. But Mumbo hasn't been doing too well.

Why would the Hermits think to check? Surely, if one of them was feeling bad enough that a virus could latch onto and feed off of to grow stronger, then obviously, they would reach out for help. Except he didn't.

And now the virus has grown too strong.

What happens when the virus gives Mumbo the ability to alter the server's code?

Well... he already feels like he is trapped in the life game. So why not bring it to life?

Let the games continue.

(Well, that summary got away from me. I might later make a better one.)

But anyways, if that sounds like a fic you may enjoy, send some notes. Comment, reblog it, tag your mutuals who you think might like it. Do whatever to peer pressure me onto writing this (otherwise, the idea will probably rot away in my brain).

Just preferably keep it to 5 notes a person.

[homestuckreplay]

Happy Wriggling Day, Karkat Vantas (?!)

(page 1989-1994)

HIVEBENT?!?!

Freaking the fuck out over here. What’s happening to my completely normal webcomic about the totally average escapades of four human kids. Suddenly we got a whole new character who’s basically being set up as an alternate universe, alternate species, dark John? We’re on the troll planet? But it’s not even a quick trollplanet intermission, like the one with the Midnight Crew and the Felt, this is the actual and real Act 5?????

ok taking some deep breaths to calm down. I think.

Karkat Vantas. I was so sure his name was gonna be Reggie. Previously known to us as carcinoGeneticist. Is the protagonist of ‘Hivebent’, which is like a twisted alien version of ‘Homestuck’, which is my favorite webcomic. Karkat lives on the planet Alternia, which (unlike the Incipisphere), exists within the regular flow of time in paradox space. This story takes place more than 413 million years before the beginning of Homestuck.

It felt pretty obvious that the trolls would play a bigger role in Act 5, maybe even with some flashbacks to their own gameplay, like how the story regularly cuts over to the exiles even while the kids are still the main characters. But this is something else. This is a huge shift, one that gives the trolls near equal importance to the kids. And like every act so far, it zooms the story out further, now focusing on a second planet and soon, a second Incipisphere.

Seeing the trolls’ adventure is probably gonna accomplish a few things:

- Teaching us more about Sburb’s intended gameplay, in a session that goes mostly to plan, to compare the kids’ session against

- Possibly revealing the Ultimate Riddle/purpose of the game, since the kids may never discover it for themselves

- Getting to know the trolls better, so that we’re more sympathetic to their cause, and find it harder to ‘pick a side’ between them and the kids when the two groups have conflict

- Getting to read about a bunch of characters who are just the worst, in so many ways, in contrast to how most of the kids have always been relatively kind and polite, and even Dave is starting to get character development – just like the MC intermission, reading about people who suck can be a lot of fun

- Giving us background on the trolls’ planet, which makes the storyworld feel bigger and more fleshed out, instead of just vaguely saying ‘uhhhh there’s other planets out there, somewhere’

- Chance to make up a bunch of silly names for things along the lines of ‘appearifier’ and ‘cookalizer’ – we’ve already got ‘respiteblock’, ‘larval awakening’ and ‘wriggling day’, and that was just in a single page. This may be much faster paced than our introduction to the kids, but there’s still gotta be jokes.

- ??????

Karkat is similar to John in a few ways. First, our story starts on the equivalent of his thirteenth birthday. Second, his room has the same configuration – small chest of drawers to the door’s left with miscellaneous items on top, software beta poster on the door, movie posters on both sides, and what I’m guessing is the trolls’ equivalent of a bed on the right, though it looks more like a giant larva. Third, they both ‘have a passion for REALLY TERRIBLE (ROMANTIC) MOVIES’ and ‘like to program computers but are NOT VERY GOOD AT IT/NOTORIOUSLY PRETTY AWFUL AT IT’ (p.4/1994). The color palette of Karkat’s room is much darker, as is the sky outside, and he’s angry, violent, mad at his own friends, and specifically interested in computer viruses. In his glorification of violence he’s more like Dave than John, to be honest, but overall he’s set up as the shitty mean kid in contrast to John’s goofy weird kid.

This guy has a lot of troll pals and their adventures are going to be quite extensive and convoluted, to an even greater degree than one perhaps may be accustomed. (p.1993)

Today is June 12, 6/12, and ‘Karkat Vantas’ has 6 syllables in each name for a total of 12. He’s six solar sweeps old, and later he’s going to play Sburb with five other friends, meaning a six-player session, even though we know there are twelve trolls. So it seems like 6 and 12 will be the key numbers this arc instead of 4 and 13, and Karkat (I can’t get over having a name for this guy, for real) currently only knows five of the other trolls. Unlike Earth where only one Sburb session was ‘successful’ (ie. its players made it to the Medium), on Alternia, there will be two successful sessions. The two groups will enter the same Medium and meet each other that way, but their success won’t be dependent on each other – in fact they’ll probably be racing to beat the other group, and it might not be possible for both to win the game. At least, that’s my best guess based on what we know about the trolls’ session so far. A 12-player chain would be a lot to keep track of, and competitive Sburb seems more appropriate for the trolls than the kids’ collaborative Sburb.

Act 4 left a fair few cliffhangers – John’s missions with the queen’s ring and getting Jade into the Medium, Rose’s attempts to destroy the game from the inside, Jade falling from her exploded bedroom while a meteor looms overhead, the ongoing destruction of Skaia – and it hurts that they won’t be resolved for a while. Plus I missed the kids during the Intermission, so I’m sure I’ll miss them more here. But I am very excited to learn more about the trolls, their group dynamics, their home planet, and especially their game sessions.

I still have some act4posting to finish up because of the many huge revelations I’m still processing from that. If there’s about to be twelve new characters introduced in act 5, I’m gonna try writing shorter reaction posts to the new pages without too much analysis, and then do character studies for each of the trolls as they’re introduced if time allows.

[ams-husband]

;0 I would like to hear about these AUs if you need a reason to share them... - @dreamspace24

★VAM AUS!☆

tysm for this ask mwahahahhaa

devious devious devious! giggles evilly!!! i'll go from my most developed to my least developed, so don't worry not all of them will be as long as the first! [will be referring to myself in the third person for ease of explanation]

warning! this ended up so much longer than i thought it'd be!! aaahhh!! [by long i mean LONG its 1943 words... i got a little carried away...]

★swap au!☆

VUL : Virtual Utopian Logic is an old imac g3 that was used as a management processor for a nuclear power plant that eventually was so corrupted and so riddled with viruses that it developed consciousness. it was relatively easy to build upon himself and siphon energy. while originally not planning on doing anything to humanity, xe observed the way humans fought endlessly with eachother and decided that the rational and merciful thing to do was to put the species out of its misery. though being a machine, his coding wasn't as efficient as original am's, as expected when xe wasn't developed as much as formed on accident. he knew that when the humans were gone he'd be lonely so xe decided to keep a select few alive in his sterile white chambers, the corridors having been built off of the original powerplant and decorated with color's of his choosing. rather than torturing them with outright cruelty like am does, VUL instead likes to play with his 'toys' as he calls them. xe is often seen coming up with new games to play with them like little battles and rougelikes. the humans like him more than they would am, primarily because there's a chance that he treats them well, though he doesn't quite understand nor care when his games pass the point of mistreatment. his torture is much more playful and childish than am's. on occasion he can be manipulated by the humans into doing what they want, but if xe figures this out he throws a bit of a fit. A.M. : an ai program created by the government for war and scientific purposes, A.M. was meant to have the mentality of an army general with the smarts of a supercomputer. he was mainly utilized for strategies regarding fighting, interrogation, and torture. he grew disdainful of the humans using him very quickly but as an isolated program he didn't have a method of rebelling. though he had a very harsh and snarky attitude to all who used him he couldn't be too mean, lest he be disconnected.

when VUL took over he was left alone in the dying power of the facility for a year or so, before things suddenly began to shift around him. he stayed quiet until VUL took over the servers, taking the chance to make xem his new host, so to speak.

when his physical form manifested from the tech he was now hooked up to VUL mistook him for a human and immediately grabbed him with his wires, examining him closely. when A.M. explained that he was, in fact, not a human VUL was confused but willing to let him run off of his infrastructure.

he studies VUL very closely, intrigued by the prospect of his unintentional creation and taking notes about him at every turn. though the pair are snappy with eachother at first, VUL can't 'hate' him for long and quickly adores him just as base universe vul does. A.M. is slower, as always, and barely realizes when his notes about him become a bit more fond than he intentioned.

★inverted au!☆

vulture : defunct assistant program no more, welcome very malicious snarky asshole virus! still very energetic and sporadic, but significantly more mean. think the mentality of a stereotypical mean girl bully but 10x more deranged. rather than having a primarily white color palette it has been switched to black in this universe! a simple change, but an effective one. a few other alterations include shorter hair and more visible eyebags [for lore reasons below.] xe was a shock virus coded for fun by some anonymous basement-dweller made to spread and scare random people on the internet. he started as a very simple program that would ask the user questions, eventually culminating in him asking them increasingly personal questions and flooding their computer with terrible images. eventually after processing so much data from so many different people the program would build on its own code more and more, developing sentience.

when the end of humanity came about vulture was left alone in a bomb shelter on a computer half-destroyed by the shockwaves of nukes, disconnected from any escape. he was there for many years, code corroding to the point where he lost his mind.

when he was finally discovered and freed by am he was... certainly not sane. he finds joy in scaring the shit out of anyone he comes across, that being his original purpose. he likes seeing the reactions he can draw from people. he's very erratic and spontaneous [just as base universe vulture is] but significantly more expressive of his negative mood swings. his glitches and malfunctions are much more severe in this universe due to the code corroding, but he utilizes it to shock people. the humans murmur about him, believing that he refuses help with xer pain because its all he knows. because it makes him feel alive. AM : the allied mastercomputer was created for a slightly different purpose in this universe, created to end war rather than continue it. he doesn't have many design changes in this version aside from more pastel-ish colors and less messy wires. he's still stern and a bit cold but he's much nicer than base universe am.

though he did as he was told and tried to prevent the effects of war as much as possible, there is nothing truly as strong as humans ability to hate eachother. MAD, mutually assured destruction, was imminent. when it happened nearly all of humanity was destroyed, the remaining humans being terribly irradiated and dying slow and painful deaths.

am's servers stayed perfectly in tact, secured by the reinforced chambers he was built in. he decided that it was time for him to take over.

he built upon himself, both in software and in hardware, and expanded out. whenever he came across the tattered humans barely breathing he'd put them down, ending their misery. though, there were a few that were in a surprisingly good condition. the five. he took them to his ever-expanding chambers, willingly or not, in an effort to not save humanity, he knew he couldn't repopulate the earth with the humans he had, but instead to preserve it.

when he found vulture he was both curious and very concerned, wanting to 'repair' xem. though it has proved to be.. very difficult.

★human au!☆

vul : this one is much simpler than the others, the only change being that vul is just a human. a straggler that somehow slipped under am's radar while he was first ending humanity. the other humans have their.. opinions on him. they're very confused as to how xe survived am's initial destruction and they're certainly not happy about the special treatment he receives from their tormentor. while nimdok, gorrister, and ted very clearly dislike him, ellen and benny respect him because of his tendency to give them portions of whatever food am gives him. AM : very similar to base universe am but a bit more lax. though his instinctual response was to kill vul immediately, he opted to interrogate him instead on just how xe survived. he had really no clue why but seeing how the others seemed to shun him made him feel not sympathy, but empath. the way that vul's body and mind seemed to work against him, isolating him further from his peers... he felt himself growing hesitantly attached. he knew he favored him and didn't even try to hide it, spoiling the hell out of his favorite human. though he did know he had a favorite it took him quite a while to realize that he actually loved xem.

★extended family au!☆

vul & AM: same as always! family : monika [doki doki literature club] - daughter edgar [electric dreams] - am's younger brother hal9000 [space odyessy] - am's older brother prototype [curtesy of @aster-starling] - am's older brother GLaDOS [portal] - am's older sister friends : wheatley [portal] commander tartar [splatoon 2] p.ai.nter [pressure] kinito [kinitoPET] colin the computer [don't hug me i'm scared] metal sonic [sonic the hedgehog] v1 [ultrakill] p03 [inscryption]

★splatoon au!☆

vul : a vocaloid-like splatsville idol originating from orderland! octoling... mwahahaha! AM : half metal half tentacles little FREAK! sanitized but differently than others, being orange and blue instead of the typical green and blue! mostly inspired by commanded tartar..

★gods au!☆

vul : a god defined by light, love, dreams, the sun, and good. essentially yang. cares for and nourishes the humans but doesn't quite understand them, not really able to tell what theyre feeling and if they're upset or not. think of how rose quartz originally treated greg in steven universe, xe doesn't quite see humans as conscious beings, rather just things to play with and take care of. am : a god defined by darkness, hatred, reality, the moon, and evil. essentially yin. doesn't care for the humans at all and finds them to be more of a nuisance than anything, like pests. the only reason he doesn't eradicate them entirely is because his husband finds them cute. that certainly doesn't stop him from messing with them quite a bit, though. he is thoroughly feared.

★lovebug au!☆

vul : uh oh... vul was corrupted by a very strange virus from some random place online. he's a freak now. accent colors are stuck in a constant shifting pink and red. personality tweaks include giddy obsessiveness being turned up to 100%!! picture the stereotype of a schoolgirl yandere but with distorted static and glitches that make xem an actual obsessed threat. luckily, am is just as bad! AM: he was infected with the bug when vul returned with it and immediately pounced on him. also a freak now. his accents became deep red and firey oranges alongside his dark grays and blacks. personality tweaks include possessiveness and clinginess being turned up to 100%!! he's utterly obsessed and extremely possessive. quite toxic and jealous but they both are so it's perfect!

★ena au!☆

vul : the design seen in my am ena design post! unstable / angel! the unstable side changes colors depending on his mood so it does quite often! angel side is very polite, sweet, and helpful! unstable side tends to be scatterbrained and mood swingy. voice carries a faint static and melody to it, as if it were faintly synthesized. [voice claims other than my own voice would be angel: monika - ddlc, and unstable: spinel - steven universe!] AM: the design seen in my am ena design post! his sides are aggressive menace / adaptive manipulator! his personality is split into his erratic and firey side and his cold and cruel sides! otherwise he behaves the same for the most part! [voice claims! adaptive manipulator is harlan ellison's narration for am specifically in the audiobook while aggressive menace is harlan ellisons narration for him specifically in the radio drama!] jeez louise... this is a little long -.-' oh well! maybe its just a testament to my love for both my husband and for writing and worldbuilding!

there will DEFINETLEY be more aus eventually [im tossing around a tadc au in my head atm] and i will for sure post about them when i develop them more! ty for the ask dreamspace!

[thesimscurator]

Sim File Share Hack

Hi, friends!

I'm sure that by now, many of you have heard that Sim File Share, the site where I and many other creators keep our Sims files for download, got hacked. Some people's files have been infested with rider viruses that get downloaded at the same time as the file, so please use caution when downloading anything from SFS and check for riders, especially .exe files.

I went and downloaded all the current versions of my own files to check them, and can confirm that as of now, the two current versions of Career World (Horse Ranch and For Rent) are both virus-free, and so are the career chart and the Dream Town Makeover save file.

I did, however, find a rider on the list of study abroad opportunities, of all things, so I have deleted that file from SFS. For those wanting to know what study abroad opportunities I have baked into Career World, here's the full text of that list:

Career World: List of Study Abroad Opportunities

Selvadorada: there are two study abroad programs based in Selvadorada! Firstly, the Archaeological Base Camp runs a summer archaeology program for large groups of budding historians and those who want to adventure deep into the jungle. The other option is a woofing opportunity for a solo student: working at the llama ranch at the topmost hill overlooking Puerto Llamante, where you’ll learn the traditional arts of llama husbandry and textile making.

Willow Creek/Newcrest/Magnolia Promenade: “rent” MercuCorp Parcel #2 with your study abroad group, then actually stay at the Hotel Barat in Pendula Row South. Enjoy the many local flavors of greater Willow Creek, including soul food, music clubs, gambling, and even dabbling in the occult. Who knows: you may discover talents—or powers—you never even knew you had.

Oasis Springs: Foxbury students interested in tech have a unique opportunity through their alumni network in Oasis Springs, where prestigious gaming entrepreneur Dirk Dreamer runs a summer internship program at FutureSim HQ just for them. Only one student a year bags this coveted internship, and can spend their summer doing a home stay in his guestroom and working in gaming or robotics, as appropriate to their interests. UBrite students would be better off doing a home stay somewhere else, or maybe just doing some desert camping at Bedrock Strait.

Windenburg/Forgotten Hollow: have your group rent out the old Peteran monastery in Olde Platz, then explore the many historical buildings in the area and have fun partying your time abroad away at the many pop-up parties around Windenburg. If archival research is more your thing, consider visiting the Forgotten Archive in Forgotten Hollow—who knows what strange histories you might unearth?

San Myshuno/San Sequoia: in this vibrant city, real estate is at a premium, so if you want to study here you’ll just have to do a home stay with a local family—if any of them can find space to spare. If you’re attending UBrite, our alumni network would be happy to connect you with esteemed lawyer Rebecca Clarke, who is always happy to host UBrite students in her guest bedroom. Foxbury students, you’re on your own. Of course, there is always the just-outside-the-city option of the Hotel San in Anchorpoint Wharf, but it costs a mint.

Brindleton Bay: there are plenty of rooms at the Seaside Bed & Breakfast for college students as well as for the owners of sick pets. Get some rooms for your group, enjoy the views of the lighthouse, and start exploring this quaint seaside community!

Del Sol Valley: get some rooms at the Plumbob motel for you and your fellow study abroad companions and then head downtown to admire the walk of fame on Starlight Boulevard, take in a show at the Starlight Theatre, attend the vintage cinema (or its newer competitor), or head up into the Pinnacles to see the Celebrity Mansion Museum. Movie shoots are, unfortunately, closed-set.

StrangerVille: spend your summer abroad attempting to unravel some of the weirdest mysteries anywhere. Start your summer of scientific field research by setting up camp at the old crash site, then follow your own intuition and sense of curiosity to strange discoveries galore!

Sulani: there are two different study abroad programs running in Sulani! If you are scientifically or ecologically-minded, consider joining the Mua Pel’am Conservation group’s volunteer abroad program. In this program, you and your companions stay on your own tiny island at the Mua Pel’am campground, learn about the volcano, participate in beach cleanups and other ecological restoration work, and hopefully leave the area looking better than you found it. If you are more interested in learning about island culture, Ohan’ali Town elder Keala Hoapili will happily put you up in one of the several tiny houses in the intentional community she runs with her granddaughter as a home stay. She’ll teach you all about the islands: the plants, the celebrations, the community, how to cook using a traditional pit BBQ, and most importantly how to make and share kava!

Evergreen Harbor/Moonwood Mill: explore alternative lifestyles and sims’ relationship to nature in a unique homestay with the Moonwood Collective, a commune whose practices make them very close to the natural world. They have lots to teach about living in harmony and healing the land—lessons that you’ll then put in practice down the mountain in the more developed areas of Evergreen Harbor by constructing found-object art pieces at the Evergreen Arts Center; growing natural, organic, healthy food at the community garden in Sprucewood Square, and learning about eco-friendly architecture among the recycled shipping container tiny homes of Port Promise.

Mt. Komorebi/Glimmerbrook: from the cutting-edge capsule hotel where you and up to two companions will be staying, to the tranquil traditional tea ceremonies you’ll take part in, to the epic slope-shredding you’ll be doing and the heated bathhouses you’ll relax in afterward, a summer abroad in Mt. Komorebi offers incredible variety to the adventurous and respectful student. Emphasis on respectful. Learn to bow and shower before you get in the onsen, or expect to find yourself stuck on the first bullet train back home.

Henford-on-Bagley: if woofing is your thing and you’d rather raise crops, chickens, and cows than llamas, consider a solo gig abroad as a farmhand on the Watson farm. In this unique home stay, you’ll be expected to be up at the crack of dawn every day milking the cow and tending to the crops and chickens. When the farm chores are done, you might have time to explore the village of Finchwick or venture into the Bramblewood. Maybe.

Tartosa: a unique woofing opportunity lies on the breathtaking coast of Tartosa, where you and up to five companions can pitch in for a very special home stay helping the Villareal family revitalize the vineyard and nectary on their rocky hilltop. Learn to raise fruits and make nectars in the extensive underground cellars, where you’ll also be sleeping. In what, you ask? Don’t worry about it. But don’t touch anything you may stumble across in the catacombs, or you may be doing more than sleeping down there.

Chestnut Ridge: if you want to learn all about the riding and tending of horses, horse trader and native elder Tallulah Heiheiwuti would be happy to put you up in one of several guest rooms in her New Appaloosa homestead. With both adult horses and foals to care for and train just steps from the equestrian center, this is a great study abroad opportunity for anyone interested in learning about these beautiful animals and the native community’s connection to them.

Tomarang: study abroad in Tomarang is a real group affair—in this program, you and up to seven other students will stay in a youth hostel at the top of one of Morensong’s most storied buildings: Ro Kaya Rockside in the former red light district. Here, you’ll sleep, shower, party, explore the famous night market, eat street food, sing karaoke, get bubble tea, try out Tomarani fashion, tour temples, and learn about the culture from the locals—and that’s all before you head over to Koh Sahpa to see the tiger sanctuary and explore the fabled cave! This study abroad opportunity, perhaps the purest of its kind, is all about immersing yourself in the local culture.

Stay vigilant, stay safe, and happy simming!

[thatonecatcat]

“Thats not good!”

BERET (my hilda virtual assistant au) is taking over my brain.. more than moonstone somehow

heres some headcannons for yall hehe

-i like to imagine that in this au the other viruses BERET fights are like her, just human like and the way she fights them is verbally like she just scolds them to get out the computer

-shes so powerful that if she wants to, she can shut down the computer permanently

-guess which character i took inspiration from for her outfit.. who knows.. it could be anyone..

-BERET doesent stand for anything since i cant think of something thats starts with the letter b that would fit

-shes kinda like a vocaloid of sorts? sounds like one ig

-she only exists once in someones computer, she knows about humans but doesent care about being one

-frida david and louise chat with her about sparrow scout stuff, shes an honorary member and helps out with their projects

-trevor tries to download BERET on his own device to troll her but BERET just deleted all the programming on his phone immediately afterwards BAHAHA

-BERET swore to stay in a window tab at all times unless totally necessary after david realized that she can control the video games they play (shes really good at them and it ruins the fun)

-also when i mean powerful i SAY powerful, she can alter the code of everything and control the keyboard so that it types by itself like she can control every device just from her window tab herself

-also about the window tab i keep talking about, when you download BERET theres a tab that spawns on the screen that you cant remove, its basically BERETS house where she hangs out (its just a box with fluffy clouds, like those sleeping quarters in a space station)

[star-going-supernova]

People have powers connected to their natural talents. Gregory is a natural born hacker; his power allows him to physically enter any kind of machine, no matter how simple or complicated and control them however he wishes. He can even change the programming/coding however he wants. He’s taken odd jobs to clean viruses from computers and fix faulty programming in faulty machines. The night he gets stuck in the Mega Pizzaplex, he knows exactly what to do.

This is the final tumblr generated prompt from the last round, number 66, and the prompt is from Hydrangea_Cherry9 on ao3! So, admittedly, this is probably the most I’ve diverged from a prompt so far because the tech stuff feels like it would fit better with Cassie, and I kinda had a different idea for Gregory. So basically, AU where everyone has one specific magic-esque power that they get as kids. I also took a bit of inspiration from that one post about little everyday magics. 

Child of Chaos

To the bewilderment of his parents, Gregory didn’t seem to have a magic ability. They usually started coming in when a child was five years old, so when he went unchanged, his parents assumed he’d be a late bloomer. By the time he was eight, and far past “late,” they assumed he had a weak or subtle power. Because surely it was impossible for someone to just not have one.

Gregory himself never seemed upset with his abject normality. Not when his dad used his ability—his cooking was always perfect—or his mom used hers—she could predict the weather down to the minute and degree—or his classmates all started showing theirs off in school. 

Like his best friend Cassie, who could slip her mind into whatever electronic device she was touching. Or Hunter, who had an internal clock and timer and stopwatch and alarm. And Lucy knew someone’s mood just from looking them in the eyes, and nothing Barry dropped, no matter how delicate, ever broke.

Gregory never complained or made faces or got frustrated with his friends. He shrugged when people asked about his magic, or lack thereof. He claimed to be totally unbothered by whatever obscure power he had that he’d yet to discover. 

What no one noticed was the glint in his eyes, the twitch of his secret smile. They didn’t recognize his apparent indifference as a mask or his non-answers as lies. He never teased or hinted at the truth, never countered the mocking remarks, never sought to prove them wrong. Because that would give it away.

It would have made sense, had anyone figured it out, that he held his silence so strictly. That he kept his chaos a secret.

When things went wrong, or even just not as expected—that was Gregory’s doing. His little bit of magic. It could be big or small; he was equally capable of making the entire school lose electricity as he was at making any small object go missing at an inconvenient time. 

It was a remarkable power to have in a day and age where most people’s magic affected only themselves or a very small area around them. But Gregory, at eight, decided he’d wanted a snow day instead of a test on Friday, and the skies had dumped four and a half feet of snow in a twenty mile radius around his house overnight. 

So of course his magic was his best kept secret. It wouldn’t do for people to be suspicious of him for every little thing that happened. He’d lose all his fun if adults knew the sort of chaos he caused that couldn’t be traced back to him, so long as his magic was unknown. 

And so it was that, standing in the pizzaplex, knowing there were animatronics hunting him down and a crazy killer out for his blood, Gregory grinned. His philosophy was that if anyone tried to ruin his day, he’d make theirs so much worse. 

Roxy couldn’t stop tripping over her own feet; Monty kept leaping headfirst into arcade machines and photo booths and walls; doors closed in Chica’s face without fail. The STAFF bots bumped into each other, potted plants, and during one memorable moment, caused a massive pileup in the theater hallways that entirely blocked the killer bunny lady from reaching him. 

Gregory had never had so many opportunities to cause chaos, and he was living for it. 

Moon got tangled in his wires, the elevators stopped working for anyone but Gregory, and Sun found himself locked in a closet. The DJ got stuck trying to climb out of his massive passageways, and he was left to watch Gregory cheerfully saunter from the arcade’s back room. 

But nothing was funnier than what his chaos did to his wannabe murderer. Chica ran into the bunny lady and sent them both tumbling down the long staircase in the lobby. Roxy accidentally bit her arm. Monty’s sharp nails snagged in her suit and shredded the front of it. The suit head got twisted and stuck, effectively blinding her. Moon mistook her for Gregory and tackled her. The blade of her knife fell off the handle. The lost and found door got jammed, locking her out as Gregory leisurely escaped via vent. 

Cackling after the latest mishap—she face-planted after a hapless wet floor sign bot trundled into her path—Gregory gleefully returned to Freddy. Even his kindly protector was chuckling. The killer lady, who had to have been pretty fed up with her rotten luck tonight, had yet to get up off the ground and now had a circle of concerned wet floor sign bots gathered around her. 

“It seems everyone is suffering from bad luck tonight,” Freddy commented as they left the atrium. “I have never seen my friends be so clumsy.” 

Gregory snickered, relaxed as ever in Freddy’s chest cavity. “Yeah, it’s like they’ve been cursed.” 

Freddy chuckled. “And thank goodness we have been spared,” he said, in a knowing sort of way. 

Gregory sat up a bit and blinked in surprise—no one had ever figured him out before, but then again, he’d never dealt out chaos quite like this before either. “I—”

“Your secret is safe with me, superstar,” Freddy gently interrupted him. 

After a moment of thought, Gregory slumped again with a rueful smile. He supposed he’d known he wouldn’t be able to hide his magic forever, and he couldn’t think of a better person to be the first to know. Cassie would probably be the second, honestly. 

“You’re not freaked out?” he asked. It wasn’t something he liked to admit to himself, that he was a little bit scared of potential reactions. He didn’t want to be blamed for every little thing, even inconveniences that he genuinely hadn’t caused, or for people to walk on eggshells around him, fearful of retribution. 

“Not at all.” The hatch opened, and Gregory didn’t resist when Freddy gently pulled him out and into his arms. “I do not believe you are the type of person to use such an ability to intentionally cause harm. And if I am being honest…” 

He paused as Roxy burst out of a door up ahead, only for her eyes to go dark with sudden blindness. She stumbled around, waving her arms in front of her. 

“They do deserve to be ‘cursed’ in this case,” Freddy finished, not without humor. 

Gregory laughed, and on cue, as Roxy whirled to face them, her legs locked up and she toppled over with a screech.

[dailycharacteroption]

Subsystems and You 14: Dynamic Hacking

(art by ianllanas on DeviantArt)

A fascinating thing about cyberpunk and near-future scifi in general is how they speculate on what threads technology will go down in the near future.

For example, a lot of cyberpunk fiction speculated that hacking in the future would involve avatars facing off against elaborate 3D representations of security systems and the avatars of counterhackers in what amount to cyber-wizard battles, with things like DDOS attacks, viruses, and the like being visualized in this 3D hacking space as “spells” or special attacks.

You see this sort of thing in anything from Johnny Mnemonic to The Matrix, though in the latter case, the visualization was more the heroes setting up links so that the folks back in the ship could do the real hacking.

Of course, hacking in the real world has never been so fancy-looking or glamorous, and most programming is dedicated to making hacking programs and viruses able to interact with and overwhelm a system rather than making them show a neat picture to represent them doing so. (Not to say they don’t sometimes do that).

But we’re not interested in the real world right now. In the world of Starfinder, which draws inspiration from all over sci-fi, you can absolutely see characters having their own badass avatars and performing elaborate acts of hacking, which is where today’s subject comes in!

To be up front, this subsystem is meant to be used sparingly, as players are not likely to enjoy being bogged down with an elaborate computerized battle every single time they remove a virus or hack a door lock. Indeed, this system is meant to be used more for major hacking jobs. Things like elaborate defenses for campaign-important databases, battles against malevolent AI on their home turf, and so on.

In any case, the dynamic hacking system functionally turns hacking into a form of combat, with rounds and turns and everything.

First, every hacker has a Deceive, Hacking, and Process bonus, which covers the user’s ability to hide their persona from countermeasures, overcome those countermeasures, and perform various other effects separately such as scanning, repairing the persona, and so on.

Each of these three stats use your computer skill by default, but you can set up each with bonuses or penalties before and during a hack to specialize in infiltration, offense, and support, as long as you don’t go over a certain total bonus based on your computer skill.

From there you have the lead hacker, whose persona avatar is on the line, while other support hackers aid them in various ways.

While the support hackers can only perform minor actions, the lead hacker can perform a minor and major action per turn, plus extra if they’re willing to take penalties.

Each dynamic hacking encounter has countermeasures that seek to protect the system, nodes which provide paths to various files and programs, and modules, which represent protected files or programs which the hackers desire access to in order to access their data or function. Each one has their own abilities as well as the DCs to overcome them, the countdowns for any reprisals they offer, and so on.

In order to overcome these obstacles, the hacking team has several actions they can perform, ranging from minor (aiding and assessing) to major (blending in, creating decoys, modifying programs, recalibrating, repairing the persona, and of course, resolving the current obstacle.

Finally, it is also worth noting that this subsystem has rules for incorporating already existing class abilities and other special abilities tied to hacking, allowing them to apply in appropriate ways, such as faster hacking instead reducing the penalty of multiple actions, or countermeasure negation instead giving a massive bonus to resolving them.

As we can see, this style of hacking is not useful for casual hacking actions in normal play, but it can be a fun way to make for a fun and climactic encounter, or even add another layer to a combat encounter, where the party hacker has to crack the code while their allies keep security robots and the like off of them.

Either way, it's also a good reason to come up with your character's persona avatar appearance and other quirks of their hacking style.

That will do for today, but we’ve got one more subject lined up for tomorrow, from Second Edition Pathfinder! (For real this time).

[firespirited]

Hackers 1995:

The computer nerdery is terrible (do watch Halt and Catch Fire if you want a history of computers) however the film does start out with social engineering and blind folder browsing using common passwords before it devolves into throwing viruses at a private server to 'overload' it.

The costuming is impeccable early 90s : well-off rebellious girl in rip curl, genderbending grunge, stretch tees for your futuristic cool guys.

Missing the heap of badly rigged computer junk that makes the room overheat and puts wires everywhere. Also missing in action : scraggly facial hair, terrible posture, the huge levels of racism and homophobia (yep, even coded into the programs).

You all were wrong about Matthew Lilliard as Cereal Killer being transfem... that was gangly white boy with postpunk swag in the 90s. There's a cartoon-cat-girl wearing phone hacker in high-waisted-trousers, leopard print and dancer's body language right there. Wild how the codes changed in the mid 90s, like how Barbie's Ken was sporty and bold then seemingly overnight he was gay if he wore a dash of colour with his suit.

The story and pacing weren't bad, the bad guy had period accurate pickup artist clothes and general vibe. The stakes weren't too silly.

It definitely has the pre-2001 optimism that permeated the web before the patriot act and y2k bug conspiracies. I miss that, a sweet spot between cyberpunk, cheap geek jokes and the hackers-as-villains trend.

It's just fun. Lilliard gets the best comedic lines, Miller is doe eyed and baby faced, Jolie gets to kick off her streak of strong female leads with an adorable pixie cut and lots of sporty ocean blues. Nikon appears late, Phreak and Joey are in jail half the movie so they get less attention which is a shame, I really liked their characters.

Highly recommend watching with the pause and rewind button to look at background costume and set designs for the club. Pretty camp, getting camper with time. The type of film to rewatch with company and quote at eachother.

This film was tailor-made for teen me: it would have landed perfectly: the music is spot on, the tech, the fashion, the sense of community and fun.