#samples of feedback forms

[modmad]

I need you to know I have the script for the first episode of this long form Lux comic series written, as well as a summary of the overall plot and the whole of the finale. I need to not start making it as a fan comic (which is why these are disjointed sample scenes) bc I don't have the strength and I'd lose all my other projects, so sadly I don't think it'll ever get made... UNLESS... RTD ARE YOU OUT THERE

(btw thanks to Lizz and Michael for feedback on the Doctor I'm not great at real human beens and drawing the most handsome man in history is quite frankly a bit intimidating)

[brandyschillace]

The Forgotten History of the World’s First Transgender Clinic

I finished the first round of edits on my nonfiction history of trans rights today. It will publish with Norton in 2025, but I decided, because I feel so much of my community is here, to provide a bit of the introduction.

[begin sample]

The Institute for Sexual Sciences had offered safe haven to homosexuals and those we today consider transgender for nearly two decades. It had been built on scientific and humanitarian principles established at the end of the 19th century and which blossomed into the sexology of the early 20th. Founded by Magnus Hirschfeld, a Jewish homosexual, the Institute supported tolerance, feminism, diversity, and science. As a result, it became a chief target for Nazi destruction: “It is our pride,” they declared, to strike a blow against the Institute. As for Magnus Hirschfeld, Hitler would label him the “most dangerous Jew in Germany.”6 It was his face Hitler put on his antisemitic propaganda; his likeness that became a target; his bust committed to the flames on the Opernplatz. You have seen the images. You have watched the towering inferno that roared into the night. The burning of Hirschfeld’s library has been immortalized on film reels and in photographs, representative of the Nazi imperative, symbolic of all they would destroy. Yet few remember what they were burning—or why.

Magnus Hirschfeld had built his Institute on powerful ideas, yet in their infancy: that sex and gender characteristics existed upon a vast spectrum, that people could be born this way, and that, as with any other diversity of nature, these identities should be accepted. He would call them Intermediaries.

Intermediaries carried no stigma and no shame; these sexual and Gender nonconformists had a right to live, a right to thrive. They also had a right to joy. Science would lead the way, but this history unfolds as an interwar thriller—patients and physicians risking their lives to be seen and heard even as Hitler began his rise to power. Many weren’t famous; their lives haven’t been celebrated in fiction or film. Born into a late-nineteenth-century world steeped in the “deep anxieties of men about the shifting work, social roles, and power of men over women,” they came into her own just as sexual science entered the crosshairs of prejudice and hate. The Institute’s own community faced abuse, blackmail, and political machinations; they responded with secret publishing campaigns, leaflet drops, pro-homosexual propaganda, and alignments with rebel factions of Berlin’s literati. They also developed groundbreaking gender affirmation surgeries and the first hormone cocktail for supportive gender therapy.

Nothing like the Institute for Sexual Sciences had ever existed before it opened its doors—and despite a hundred years of progress, there has been nothing like it since. Retrieving this tale has been an exercise in pursuing history at its edges and fringes, in ephemera and letters, in medal texts, in translations. Understanding why it became such a target for hatred tells us everything about our present moment, about a world that has not made peace with difference, that still refuses the light of scientific evidence most especially as it concerns sexual and reproductive rights.

[end sample]

I wanted to add a note here: so many people have come together to make this possible. Like Ralf Dose of the Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft (Magnus Hirschfeld Archive), Berlin, and Erin Reed, American journalist and transgender rights activist—Katie Sutton, Heike Bauer. I am also deeply indebted to historian, filmmaker and formative theorist Susan Stryker for her feedback, scholarship, and encouragement all along the way. And Laura Helmuth, editor of Scientific American, whose enthusiasm for a short article helped bring the book into being. So many LGBTQ+ historians, archivists, librarians, and activists made the work possible, that its publication testifies to the power of the queer community and its dedication to preserving and celebrating history. But I ALSO want to mention you, folks here on tumblr who have watched and encouraged and supported over the 18 months it took to write it (among other books and projects). @neil-gaiman has been especially wonderful, and @always-coffee too: thank you.

The support of this community has been important as I’ve faced backlash in other quarters. Thank you, all.

NOTE: they are attempting to rebuild the lost library, and you can help: https://magnus-hirschfeld.de/archivzentrum/archive-center/

[goawaypopup]

It's time for some Look Outside posting. Are you ready?

I'll be analyzing the mechanics of the Visitor's effects a bit. Sam meets most everyone in the apartment building, and often gets firsthand accounts from them too, so we have a pretty good set of samples to draw from. Yay!

Part 1: The Why

First up is my personal theory for why being observed by the Visitor affects humans the way it does.

Here's what we know about it: (Spoilers, kind of.)

Being perceived by the Visitor causes humans to transform into unique monsters, on varying timescales. Its perception inherently changes things when it observes them, but humans and other animals are especially affected. What it does to them is "communicating... in a way".

Humans that transform tend to have a "theme" related to what they were near or what they were thinking about when contact occurred.

The Visitor only perceives living things when it, itself, is perceived by them in some manner. This is why looking at a photo or drawing of it will also cause a person to change.

The Visitor's interstellar size means that it takes time for the rest of its body to be aware of what each part is seeing.

The Visitor, prior to meeting Sam, had no concept of itself as distinct from other beings, as it has never met another living entity before, and it's used to independent things that it communicates with just being other portions of itself.

Now here's my thoughts:

When the Visitor looks at someone, it's assuming this is an unfamiliar piece of itself, and it forms a connection with them in the same way it would a neighboring chunk of its own nervous system that isn't physically connected closely enough for signals to travel all the way between them quickly.

The bond forged by the Visitor starting to perceive through someone puts their whole body in a volatile, changeable state due to having a steady portion of its attention.

When it does this, it can barely make sense of the human thoughts and concepts coming from the new "neuron". When a new one is especially salient to it, it reinforces the concept, trying to think about what that is - often through (what it thinks is) the node of itself that's picking up that idea. The human.

Think of it as rotating a cow in your mind, except to do this, you turn someone else into a cow. And then rotate them.

And of course, the human body isn't an alien monster neuron, so when it gets beamed with one of the person's own thoughts reflected from the confused Visitor, in its volatile state, it starts to distort.

The people whose new forms reflect a clear concept are products of this. Consider the case of Rana, who resembles a spider. In her story, she's an arachnophobe, and was worried about a spider she lost track of back in her house.

She's not a realistic spider, though - she's black, and hairy, and prominently fanged, with way more than eight glowing red eyes haphazardly arranged all over her head. She's an arachnophobe's idea of a frightening spider.

The monsters who sort of just resemble monsters more than any idea in particular, like Lokjaw, Stretchface, or the wacky creatures seen on the roof, could be products of more abstract thoughts, but they could also be the few that received an alien thought from the Visitor rather than having one of their own fed back to them, resulting in an unpredictable change.

When a witness goes back inside, and the Visitor can't back up the signals it's getting from them with its own perception of the area, its attention eventually wanes, and they're set aside in favor of other nodes whose feedback makes more sense to it, concluding the peak period of mutation.

Next time: a little on "contagious" transformations.

[clowncontroldev]

Joker's Trip Patreon Release - v0.1.4: The Drink Update

What a month. I could really use...a drink? ,':^)

Seriously, I'm happy to get this update out for y'all! The gist of it is Joker now has a couple of proper game overs, and we now have an ability system! It's kind of a prototype of what I want to do in the future, but it's nice to have it here, now, to get feedback on balancing and the like. Like before, if you find anything funky, here's a link to the bug report form.

-Leo G

Up next, we'll be overhauling the gallery system and how CGs are displayed. That should be the last structural update before we're able to start focusing on new content. You'll get a preview of the new look for CGs with the Game Over Joker/Suits scenes. Good luck losing!

-TT

Patreon Link: Click here! Public Demo Link: Click here!

0.1.4 - Changelog

Additions

Joker x Jacks and Joker x Queens CGs unlockable by losing.

Joker page added to the gallery.

Ability system, now you can choose from 5 special powers! And water.

Chat history for the blackjack table and CGs.

150 new lines of dialogue.

Added Winner/Loser/Tie animation to make game results clearer.

Changes

Changed how status effects work. Ex. Instead of always hitting, "Hot" always hits on hit taunts.

Gambler logic tweaks.

Gamblers start with more money to balance new abilities.

Gamblers now have specific lines for betting clothes.

Made some alterations to the Blackjack room background.

Changed hide chat window symbol and placement.

Changed Queen voice sample.

Fixes

Character facial expressions don't disappear.

Various of typos.

Prill’s ability will now only activate once per turn.

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

✨ FREE CRITIQUE ✨ | EDITING SERVICE

okay so. i’m officially soft-launching my beta reader + editing service and i want to offer a few free 5-page critiques to test things out!

📂 you send me the first 5 pages of your manuscript 🖋️ i send you a 3-page feedback letter with: — analysis of voice, hook, pacing, flow — advice on revision + clarity — thoughts on your opening vibe and strength as a writer

💌 it’s free. just fill this form → right here 🧪 i’m only choosing a few, so if you’ve got a WIP you wanna polish, send it in!

[peakyrain]

activities to do w/ your s/o!

˚➶┊｡˚ poisonous candy!

lay out a handful of candies—it could be skittles, m&m or whatever candy you prefer—and secretly choose one candy each to "poison" w/o the other person seeing. don’t forget which one you picked.

once you've both picked, take turns eating one candy at a time trying not to eat the poisonous one! after each candy, the other person says "safe" if it wasn't the poisoned one.

you continue back and forth until one of you eats the "poisoned" candy and loses the game.

˚➶┊｡˚ wedding cake taste test!

buy samples of different wedding cakes and rate them together from 1-10, because why not! it's a fun way to learn about your partner's likes and dislikes when it comes to sweets.

and if you're not having a big wedding, like me, you can still have fun and instead spend your (very unlimited) money on cute experiences like this!

˚➶┊｡˚ customized t-shirts!

get two plain t-shirts and fabric paint. paint each other's arms and carefully hug each other while pressing your painted arms onto the shirts to leave a print. then gently remove your arms and let the paint dry.

you can leave it at that, or add cute finishing touches—like writing each other's names or initials on the shirts :P

˚➶┊｡˚ workout competition!

compete to see which one of you are able to complete certain activities while carrying the other person. if you manage to do it—you get one point for each completed move! the challenge includes:

a hip thrust with your partner sitting sideways on your lap.

a squat, with your s/o climbing on your back and wrapping their arms around your neck and legs around your waist.

a deadlift, with your s/o lying down sideways while forming "handles" with one arm and leg for you to lift from

and a push up, basically just a normal push-up with your lover balanced on your back.

then you switch roles and see who gets the most points! maybe even choose a prize for the winner before starting to raise the stakes :)

˚➶┊｡˚ pros and cons list!

grab notebooks and pens. start writing everything you love and appreciate about each other—this would be the pros list. include things you admire, little habits you adore, and what you wouldn't want them to change for the world.

then, move on to the cons list. this part is for constructive criticism or feedback—things the other person does that might bug you or you'd like them to be more mindful of. the point is to be kind and thoughtful, not mean.

once you're done writing, take turns sharing you lists. promise to listen and be understanding. don't get defensive, and use it as a way to grow closer and improving your relationship!

that's it for now, maybe i'll make a part two :D

[wings-of-ink]

Status Report and things to come...

Hello all! I wanted to check in and give some updates and links and all that jazz.

Things are cooking! I'll probably be fairly quiet off and on in the next month or so, but that will change. I just have a lot of stuff to do and get through before I'm at a stage where I can unleash hell. I am also planning on opening up asks more after I get adjusted (perhaps mid July).

The last couple of weeks were super busy for my personal life. Nothing terrible, just a lot of things all at once that needed to be done ASAP. There isn't much news on the production front, other than the May subscriber extras were posted today. The spicy one features male Rune and a new MC customization which I am testing for implementation into the the main game. The side story features a gender selectable Rune but is a fairly streamline cute story. Links are at the bottom if you are interested!

As I said before, I'll be kicking up another project as soon as time allows this season. And I've had an idea...

Subscribers this month also got access to what was essentially a prologue for another IF. If you've been kicking around a bit, I did a poll a while back where I spun different ideas and everyone voted for their favorites. Number 1 stole the show, but all ideas had an outpouring of support. The prologue mentioned is actually for #3. I started writing it just for fun to play with how that IF could start (I was in a mood, lol). I got some good feedback on it, so then I got another idea.

I think I want to do this for each of the new project ideas that I have and want to run with. Writing an intro for them will help me form them in my mind and give them some life and structure. As I get these done, subscribers will have the first crack at them, but they'll eventually go public. And then...then we vote. This gives me a chance to know if I am just not going to enjoy one idea or the another and such, and it gives you a chance to sample new stories to see what interests you the most in practice.

I will be doing one for each story idea from the poll PLUS one more. They will be very plain. Using no templates and just super basic coding to give the idea and feel of the actual project. The pretty stuff will come later. I don't know how long they will be. My guess is from 6k-10k words. I will work on them when I can but for the rest of May and all of June, Chapter 6 of GC is my priority. I would really like to have it done soon. This year has been obnoxiously busy so far, but things are going to slow down soon so my schedule opens up more.

Also to come are more character portraits! Subscribers get the first look and then a week later, they will go public. I'm a bit behind on that, and will have some super secret art to post after this!

Other than that - I'm hanging in there, I see some things in my Tumblr inbox I will get to soon, my shoulder is the same and I'm still doing therapy, and my kitty cats are great!

That's all for now! Take care!

~Lunan ^_^

Patreon

Ko-fi

[flightyalrighty]

Hey you got an advices for a newbie who thinks about doing commissions? :>

And did you have any bad experiences? (You don't have to answer if it is too private)

I won't go into detail for any bad commission experiences, but I can at least tell you what I learned from em in the form of the advice you asked for:

PRICING! When figuring out pricing, ask yourself the following:

What is an hour of my work worth? This question helps you avoid underselling yourself aka selling under minimum wage. You're definitely worth more than that. $20 is a pretty good starting point for folks who aren't too confident in their own stuff.

How long does it take to complete an art piece? Create one sample of every type of commission you want to sell. Time yourself when you make them. Whatever amount of time it takes to create each piece multiplied by the hourly wage you've set for yourself is going to be your base price for each thing ($20 x 2 hours for a full body sketch = $40). You can also use the samples you've made to help advertise in your commission post and show your potential clients what it is they can expect from you!

How should I charge for add-ons? Once again, figure how long something takes, and shoot for something that seems both fair for you and the client. For extra characters or something like a background, for example, I charge an extra 50% of the base price.

PROBLEMATIC CLIENTS! Got a client that doesn't know what they actually want? Too wishy washy? Too nitpicky? There's a solution! Offer a limited amount of revisions. I offer two free ones, personally. Once the client is out of revisions, I charge them 20% for each additional revision, and I MAKE SURE THEY CAN SEE THAT ON THE FORM THEY FILL OUT. That way, clients are encouraged to get their WHOLE idea in order before going to you. No one wants to be charged extra for a mistake they made, after all -- And it's definitely their mistake if they leave out any details they later deem important and want you to fix.

THE AFOREMENTIONED FORM TO BE FILLED! I used Google Forms, personally. It makes your little business look a bit more professional AND it helps you keep track of multiple projects at once, while prompting the clients to give you the info you specifically need (like reference images). It's good!

BE PROFESSIONAL! You're more likely to get repeat customers if you maintain a professional customer service attitude while handling clients, and deliver your work as promptly as you can. Delivering work PROMPTLY is definitely something you need to imagine me circling and underlining. Please do your best to not take, like, a year? To complete a commission? It's a really bad look. Treat it like homework. Give yourself your own little due date to work with.

While we're on that! DEFINITELY send your clients WIPs while you work! Showing that you're making progress is a great way to get feedback from the client before it's too late to change anything, PLUS it keeps their mind at ease about the possibility of you potentially taking their money and running.

KEEP YOURSELF SAFE! Speaking of taking money and running, set up a system that works when it comes to charging clients and delivering the goods. I have been burned in the past and have learned from this. Some artists charge their clients upfront before delivering anything at all. Personally, I'm not a fan of this, because then it leaves the client open to feeling uneasy about possibly getting scammed. Obviously I'm not a scammer, but to lift the weight of that possibility on the minds of my clients, I charge half upfront and half upon completion. This way, I already have SOME money so the client isn't gonna "dine-and-dash" me, and the client, likewise, is holding the other half of the pay in a friendly self-imposed hostage situation. I do recommend this!

I also use Paypal to INVOICE my clients. This way, I have full control over the nature of what I'm charging and can avoid the client accidentally (or maliciously) sending a payment with something in there meant to get my Paypal account shut down. DO NOT WRITE JOKES ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE CHARGING YOUR CLIENT FOR. DO NOT GET YOURSELF IN TROUBLE FOR SOMETHING STUPID.

And this is all the advice I currently have on me! I hope it helps!

[fanauthorworkshop]

Applications now open!

The Fall 2024 Fanauthor Workshop is a 7-week writing course led by Betts (@bettsfic). The workshop lends a supportive space to writers who identify as fans to receive constructive feedback on fanfiction, original fiction, or creative nonfiction.

Art by @emimayooo 💖

Where & When

We meet weekly over Zoom. You can apply for one of two sessions:

Group A: Wednesdays from Oct. 9 - Nov. 20, 12-2pm EST

Group B: Mondays from Oct. 7 - Nov. 18, 6-8pm EST

What

FAW is a feedback-oriented workshop with the occasional generative session. This means that each week we read 2 pieces submitted by participants, offer written feedback, and discuss them over Zoom. You'll be able to sign up for the week you would like to workshop your own piece, which can be anything under 6k words.

There may be weeks where, in lieu of workshopping, I present external readings and writing exercises. These sessions will be dependent on the number of participants. For example, if we have 10 participants and 6 workshop weeks, that means one week will be devoted to a reading discussion and generative activity.

I developed a workshop model that focuses mostly on affirmations and positivity, as well as descriptive over prescriptive feedback, which is to say, describing one's experience of reading rather than prescribing solutions to perceived problems. We also present improvement-oriented feedback, but avoid negativity, judgment, and pedantry. Week 1 is spent going over the model and how to give feedback.

About FAW

The first FAW was held in 2017 as an independent study in my MFA. I restarted it in 2022 and since then have led 9 sessions with a total of over 50 participants, about half of whom have participated in the workshop more than once.

Participation in the workshop includes entrance into the FAW community, an active Discord server where we host:

Ongoing accountability meetings, where we chat over Zoom about our projects and set goals for ourselves every other week

A monthly longform writing workshop, where writers can workshop any story between 6k and 100k words

A short story club, where we read and chat about original short form works

Events and activities like movie nights and co-op gaming

Scheduled write-ins and impromptu writing sprints

We also chat about writing and craft, offer resources, and share many, many pet photos.

In addition, participants of the workshop receive:

A one-hour consultation with me to go over your workshop feedback, come up with a plan for revision and/or publication, or anything else you’d like to discuss regarding your writing

Open enrollment in future workshops

Priority sign-ups for WTFS (Write the Fucking Story), WIP Cleanout, and other one-off generative sessions

Eligibility

Anyone over the age of 18 who considers themselves a participant of fandom and who is familiar with fanfiction may apply. A stable internet connection is also required.

Cost

The cost of the workshop is "pay what you can" with the recommended amount of $300. To be as inclusive as possible, I don't want money to be a deterrent for anyone interested in participating.

Payment (or notification of nonpayment) will be requested prior to the start of workshop via PayPal, Venmo, or Wise. You can also pay in installments.

Application requirements

To apply, you will need:

An informal cover letter discussing your fan history and goals as a (fan)writer (more specific instructions on submittable)

A short sample of your writing, either original work or fanfiction. This may be previously published/posted

You can apply via submittable. Applications close September 15.

FAQ under the cut

FAQ

Are there any content restrictions to what I can workshop?

The only restriction is word count (max 6k), with the following caveats:

If you workshop a piece in a form other than prose (for example, a script), your peers may not be able to offer constructive feedback on that aspect of the work. Participants are asked only to have a familiarity with prose.

Content warnings are required for each piece (if applicable), and participants who are uncomfortable reading certain subject matter may abstain from your workshop.

What is the time commitment of the workshop?

As a participant of the workshop, you'll be asked to:

Workshop any piece of your own prose up to 6k words, which will need to be uploaded to the group folder one week before your workshop.

Read 2 pieces per week, write out your individual crit, and attend the workshop itself.

What is the timeline of the workshop?

In week 1, we go over the syllabus and do a writing exercise. Weeks 2 through 7 will be a workshop, a discussion of an external reading, or a writing activity. Prior to the start of workshop, you'll be able to sign up for the week you would like to workshop your piece.

Structure of the sessions:

Question of the day

First workshop

Short break

Second workshop

We'll go over my workshop model and the syllabus in week 1.

Do I have to participate in the Zoom meetings (camera and mic on)?

Attending the workshop itself is required, and everyone is asked to offer at least one note of positive feedback on each piece, so mics are necessary. Cameras are preferred but not required.

You can't asynchronously participate, i.e. read the pieces and offer written feedback without attending the sessions.

Can workshop participants submit to OFIC Magazine?

Yes! Part of the reason I run the workshop is to inspire and promote the original work of fanwriters. You can follow us on tumblr @oficmag.

Who is running the workshop?

@bettsfic! In short, I lived a dreary cubicle life as a banker until I found fanfiction at 24. I loved it so much that I quit my job to get an MFA in creative writing. I loved the MFA so much that I became a writing teacher. I have some publications, awards, an agent, and 2 million words of fic on ao3. I don't have a book out yet but I'm getting there.

Currently I'm a writing coach and freelance editor. I also have a lowkey writing-related newsletter. And I've been answering writing advice asks on my blog for 10 years.

If you want an idea of the kind of writing activities I create, last summer I worked with @books on a workshop series which includes craft essays and some fun prompts.

If you're interested in my original work, my short story "Not If, When" is a good representation of my writing. For something darker, check out "Shut Up and Kill Me."

What is the workshop like?

Check out G's experience of attending the workshop. And here's some feedback from previous participants.

One final note: I'm working on updating the copy about the workshop on my website and move it over to OFIC's website. This post and Submittable has the most updated information on the workshop. If you have questions about discrepancies (or anything at all), you can shoot me an ask, DM me, or add me on Discord (I'm bettsfic there too). Or you can email me at ekweeks@gmail.com.

[mariacallous]

On Saturday, an Associated Press investigation revealed that OpenAI's Whisper transcription tool creates fabricated text in medical and business settings despite warnings against such use. The AP interviewed more than 12 software engineers, developers, and researchers who found the model regularly invents text that speakers never said, a phenomenon often called a “confabulation” or “hallucination” in the AI field.

Upon its release in 2022, OpenAI claimed that Whisper approached “human level robustness” in audio transcription accuracy. However, a University of Michigan researcher told the AP that Whisper created false text in 80 percent of public meeting transcripts examined. Another developer, unnamed in the AP report, claimed to have found invented content in almost all of his 26,000 test transcriptions.

The fabrications pose particular risks in health care settings. Despite OpenAI’s warnings against using Whisper for “high-risk domains,” over 30,000 medical workers now use Whisper-based tools to transcribe patient visits, according to the AP report. The Mankato Clinic in Minnesota and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles are among 40 health systems using a Whisper-powered AI copilot service from medical tech company Nabla that is fine-tuned on medical terminology.

Nabla acknowledges that Whisper can confabulate, but it also reportedly erases original audio recordings “for data safety reasons.” This could cause additional issues, since doctors cannot verify accuracy against the source material. And deaf patients may be highly impacted by mistaken transcripts since they would have no way to know if medical transcript audio is accurate or not.

The potential problems with Whisper extend beyond health care. Researchers from Cornell University and the University of Virginia studied thousands of audio samples and found Whisper adding nonexistent violent content and racial commentary to neutral speech. They found that 1 percent of samples included “entire hallucinated phrases or sentences which did not exist in any form in the underlying audio” and that 38 percent of those included “explicit harms such as perpetuating violence, making up inaccurate associations, or implying false authority.”

In one case from the study cited by AP, when a speaker described “two other girls and one lady,” Whisper added fictional text specifying that they “were Black.” In another, the audio said, “He, the boy, was going to, I’m not sure exactly, take the umbrella.” Whisper transcribed it to, “He took a big piece of a cross, a teeny, small piece … I’m sure he didn’t have a terror knife so he killed a number of people.”

An OpenAI spokesperson told the AP that the company appreciates the researchers’ findings and that it actively studies how to reduce fabrications and incorporates feedback in updates to the model.

Why Whisper Confabulates

The key to Whisper’s unsuitability in high-risk domains comes from its propensity to sometimes confabulate, or plausibly make up, inaccurate outputs. The AP report says, "Researchers aren’t certain why Whisper and similar tools hallucinate," but that isn't true. We know exactly why Transformer-based AI models like Whisper behave this way.

Whisper is based on technology that is designed to predict the next most likely token (chunk of data) that should appear after a sequence of tokens provided by a user. In the case of ChatGPT, the input tokens come in the form of a text prompt. In the case of Whisper, the input is tokenized audio data.

The transcription output from Whisper is a prediction of what is most likely, not what is most accurate. Accuracy in Transformer-based outputs is typically proportional to the presence of relevant accurate data in the training dataset, but it is never guaranteed. If there is ever a case where there isn't enough contextual information in its neural network for Whisper to make an accurate prediction about how to transcribe a particular segment of audio, the model will fall back on what it “knows” about the relationships between sounds and words it has learned from its training data.

According to OpenAI in 2022, Whisper learned those statistical relationships from “680,000 hours of multilingual and multitask supervised data collected from the web.” But we now know a little more about the source. Given Whisper's well-known tendency to produce certain outputs like "thank you for watching," "like and subscribe," or "drop a comment in the section below" when provided silent or garbled inputs, it's likely that OpenAI trained Whisper on thousands of hours of captioned audio scraped from YouTube videos. (The researchers needed audio paired with existing captions to train the model.)

There's also a phenomenon called “overfitting” in AI models where information (in this case, text found in audio transcriptions) encountered more frequently in the training data is more likely to be reproduced in an output. In cases where Whisper encounters poor-quality audio in medical notes, the AI model will produce what its neural network predicts is the most likely output, even if it is incorrect. And the most likely output for any given YouTube video, since so many people say it, is “thanks for watching.”

In other cases, Whisper seems to draw on the context of the conversation to fill in what should come next, which can lead to problems because its training data could include racist commentary or inaccurate medical information. For example, if many examples of training data featured speakers saying the phrase “crimes by Black criminals,” when Whisper encounters a “crimes by [garbled audio] criminals” audio sample, it will be more likely to fill in the transcription with “Black."

In the original Whisper model card, OpenAI researchers wrote about this very phenomenon: "Because the models are trained in a weakly supervised manner using large-scale noisy data, the predictions may include texts that are not actually spoken in the audio input (i.e. hallucination). We hypothesize that this happens because, given their general knowledge of language, the models combine trying to predict the next word in audio with trying to transcribe the audio itself."

So in that sense, Whisper "knows" something about the content of what is being said and keeps track of the context of the conversation, which can lead to issues like the one where Whisper identified two women as being Black even though that information was not contained in the original audio. Theoretically, this erroneous scenario could be reduced by using a second AI model trained to pick out areas of confusing audio where the Whisper model is likely to confabulate and flag the transcript in that location, so a human could manually check those instances for accuracy later.

Clearly, OpenAI's advice not to use Whisper in high-risk domains, such as critical medical records, was a good one. But health care companies are constantly driven by a need to decrease costs by using seemingly "good enough" AI tools—as we've seen with Epic Systems using GPT-4 for medical records and UnitedHealth using a flawed AI model for insurance decisions. It's entirely possible that people are already suffering negative outcomes due to AI mistakes, and fixing them will likely involve some sort of regulation and certification of AI tools used in the medical field.

[byjillianmaria]

Seeking Beta Readers

It's time!!! A Colder Home is ready for beta readers. This YA horror novel follows Cleo and her friends, a group of amateur filmmakers snowed in at a haunted house. While there's some blood and guts, the horror is mainly emotional... think like the works of Mike Flanagan, with a hint of that specific genre of horror game like P.T. and Devotion.

We're in the final round of developmental edits, which means I'm pretty specific about what kind of feedback I'm looking for. While I do have "guide" questions for each section, overall I'm looking for feedback on pacing, character arcs, scares... basically, making sure everything lands the way it needs to. I am not looking for proofreading, line edits, or anything similar — that comes after developmental edits.

For more information, including trigger warnings and sample chapter, read on!

Title: A Colder Home Age Range: Young Adult Genre: Horror Length: Approx. 70k Deadline for Application: February 7, 2025 at 5 PM EST Deadline for Reading: April 30, 2025

Plot Description:

THE WIDOW GHOST is the first film that amateur scriptwriter and cinematographer Cleo Moss has tried to make since her father's death three years ago. Her cousin and co-director Noah finds the perfect filming location: a home with a real life tragic past to rival Cleo's horror-filled script.

At first, production goes well in spite of a dangerous blizzard and the surprise casting of Isobel, Cleo's not-so-former crush. But as snow traps cast and crew in the house overnight, Cleo discovers that tragedy has left its mark on this place — and the real ghosts that haunt the hallways bear an uncanny resemblance to her own past...

Trigger Warnings:

Suicide*

Hanging

Addiction/Alcoholism**

Drunk Driving

Grief

Disturbing Imagery

Major Character Death

* Suicide is both referenced in backstory and shown on-page. ** Some characters in this book have opinions on addiction that may be harmful. This is not always refuted on page, depending on the mental state of the POV character.

This book features one fade-to-black, YA-appropriate sex scene.

If you're interested in beta reading, please read the first chapter and fill out this form.

[sixeyescurseuser]

Thinking about figure skater Gojo who tirelessly trains to qualify and compete at the next Olympic Games.

Gojo is such a legend in the skating world, very well known for his jaw-dropping, difficult performances, handsome looks, and charming personality! He was built for the spotlight.

Naturally, he has many global fans, fan accounts, and ordinary people who follow his career.

People who meet Gojo in-person after having only seen him on tv are shocked at how tall he is, yet manages to skate so well. All those triple and quad axels? And the amount of grace and power he skates with is insane considering his build. 

Once, an interviewer asks Gojo what other skaters he admires? Gojo talks about a few current big names, then sneaks in a mention of, “Oh, Suguru is also in my list , hehe.”

The interviewer chuckles alongside him, yet can’t help but ask, “Suguru…who?”

Later, Geto Suguru nearly spits out his water while watching the interview posted on Youtube. He doesn’t hesitate to text his boyfriend.

Geto: “Why do you keep bringing me up? I literally just skated in high school 😭”

Gojo sends back an old video of Geto’s skating routine from a regional competition: ❤️❤️

Geto: “WHY DO YOU STILL HAVE THIS?”

Gojo: “heyyy >:(“

Gojo: “It makes me happy 🥰 I loved watching you”

***

Growing up, Gojo and Geto skated at the same club.  But while Gojo continued skating as his professional career after, Geto dropped skating in order to focus on his academics in college.

Gojo often reminisces on the long practices they had where they would watch each other run through their routines and give each other feedback, when they would mess around and throw the craziest combinations just for shits and giggles.

He didn’t realize their time together on the rink would be so short in the long run, but they began dating when they were only sixteen, and have been going strong together since.

Gojo is still lucky to have Suguru to come home to after his long days at the rink.  

After college, Geto went on to become a marine biologist, where he does a lot of work in ocean wildlife conservation. He’s either on a boat collecting data for research or in the lab analyzing his sample results. 

Gojo is not only busy training in Japan, but he also frequently travels to train in different countries. Gojo receives lots of updates from Suguru in the form of selfies and blurry photos with ocean wildlife or results from the lab.

Suguru in the lab with his ppe (personal protection equipment). Suguru wearing his wet suit while investigating algae farms. Suguru smiling while holding a crab.  

Gojo makes the last one his lock screen. Suguru just looks so cute with his hair pulled back, and when Gojo holds his finger down on the live photo, he can hear Suguru’s voice talking in baby to the crab.

(Geto’s wallpaper is a selfie of them when they were teens.)

Geto gets super excited telling Gojo about his new findings, taking the time to explain different facts and technical terms. Gojo eagerly nods along on the phone and asks questions, commenting, “No way! The algae increased nearly double the amount with your XXX solution? That’s amazing!”

***

Gojo loves what he does, but it’s always a relief to come back home and find his comfort place in Suguru’s arms. 

Nothing beats taking a shower and raiding Suguru’s closet after, cooking dinner with his boyfriend, and then cuddles on the couch.

The first thing they see when they turn on the tv is a sports reporter announcing Gojo Satoru's third national championship title, and what it means for the road to the Olympics.

“Oh wow, this guy is on a roll. He should train for the Olympics or something,” Geto says.

Gojo simply buries face in Suguru’s neck and snickers: “Or something.”

***

Once, while getting ready to sleep one night, Gojo whispers in Geto’s: “Remember that one time you ripped your pants during the Junior Grand Prix?”

Geto doesn’t react at first.

Then, without warning, he tries to smother his boyfriend with his pillow.

***

One of the best memories is when Geto surprised Gojo by showing up in-person to one of the abroad competitions. 

In the middle of his post-win interview, still in his competition suit, makeup dewey and hair fluffy, Gojo suddenly spots a familiar face behind one of the paparazzi. 

Gojo is literally mid-answer when he locks in and SPRINTS to get his boyfriend in his arms.

“Suguru!!” Gojo shouts. He’s already leaping and oh, Suguru’s arms readily catch him. 

Geto laughs with his whole chest, squeezing tightly around Gojo’s middle.

“Hello, darling.”

Gojo has to finish the interview but he’s so bubbly now because teehee Suguru is right there and watching proudly. 

Gojo needs him in his bed immediately.

After the interview, Geto explains he got his lab assistants to cover their project for the next week so he could fly out and visit Gojo in Australia!

Gojo happily drags Geto back to his hotel room,  giggling and babbling about the plans they could have for the next week. The couple excitedly discuss outings to art and performance events, to the beach, even the zoo - which Geto is ecstatic for. 

Upon entering the hotel room, Geto quickly drops his luggage off in the corner. Gojo is still yapping when Geto suddenly walks him backwards to the bed. 

The back of Gojo’s knees hit the edge and he falls back with an “oof!”

Geto smoothly crawls on top to lay his whole body weight on his boyfriend’s. 

Gojo chuckles. He combs through Suguru’s hair and continues his talking, knowing Suguru is tired from traveling and this will help them both relax.

Gojo gradually runs out of things to say, and the soft breaths against his neck tell him yep, he unfortunately needs to poke his boyfriend awake so they can both shower and freshen up before bed.

Gojo pats Geto’s lower back. “Suguru, wakey wakey.”

No response.

Pat pat on the lower back again, then smoothing his hands up to pat the upper-back.

“Babyyy, wake up. We need to shower. And eat.”

Geto offers a protesting grunt, then nuzzles against Gojo’s neck.

This leaves Gojo no choice.

He sneaks a hand down to pinch Geto’s ass.

“Ouch- hey what the fuck?”

Gojo yelps when he feels Suguru pinch his nipple in retaliation, then rolls off Gojo’s body to head toward the bathroom.

Five minutes later, the couple shower together while casually recapping the results of the skating event.

“Any feedback for me today?” Gojo asks. Geto hums, more focused on massaging the shampoo into Gojo’s hair. He applies the perfect amount of pressure that makes Gojo moan in appreciation.

“The only feedback I have is that you look amazing out there, Satoru. All the hard work you put into training clearly pays off. I am so so proud of you,” Geto says, dropping a kiss to Gojo’s nape.

Gojo preens, and completely surrenders himself to his boyfriend's tender touches.

[ideas-of-immortality]

Almost Human!AU

[Cover Page for Prologue of Comic]

[Previews for Pages 3-4]

@aimlovesmusic guess who spent the last 4 hours drawing and coloring these dang things and came up with an AU for once. Also snagged your idea that Rook has a tail, fuck it we altering the basics, they lose their baby tail but grow an adult one like fucking antlers or something 👍

In this verse after Malware fucked up Feedback he legitimately infected the watch with a bio-tech virus. As the watch was removed shortly afterwards by Ben, the virus only made a few small markings.

When Ben put the watch back on at 15, the markings kept spreading, they would cause glitches in the watch resulting in Ben's human form developing more alien like qualities. Eyes that are just shy of being too green, sharper teeth, in a smile that's just wide enough to be unnerving, nails that are sharper than usual, ears that appear pointed. Boy got borderline Jaundice from it too. His hair will pull up when startled or angry.

When Ben gets the Ultimatrix the watch fully wigs out and screws with his personality as well (even with the updated omnitrix he's prone to significantly more extreme mood swings); the bio tech virus leading to the ultimate forms developing sentience and independence. As a result Azmuth later on forced a temporary fix that returned the watch to default settings and delayed the spread of the virus. The markings now only glowed when Ben has activating the watch or is messing around with it.

After the Ultimatrix got removed and the new updated Omnitrix gets added, Ben discovers he's actually able to transform without the watch at all. The bio-tech virus had seemingly fused the data from the watch into his very DNA. However in order to keep up appearances he continues to wear it.

After Kevin and Gwen leave him, he kinda goes feral for a bit, and Rook ends up being called in to deal with his crash out and also act as a calming presence (and cause Max absolutely knows Ben has 0 friends and damn his grandson needs to socialize). Ben still gets irrationally snippy and bite-y if Kevin or Gwen show up unannounced.

Rook remains the only person who knows that the watch is functionally useless as he found out when he walked in on Ben without the watch transforming different parts of himself into his aliens. The only reason he keeps it a secret is cause he's worried one of Ben's standard villains is gonna kidnap him for experiments. Otherwise he has multiple times mentioned Ben should at least tell Azmuth the virus allows him to partially transform.

If Ben stays in life form lock for too long it becomes a high risk that he'll forget who he is, and start behaving feral again. After the Incursean invasion where he was in a life form lock to Bullfrag, to his horror he actually was craving Grandpa Max's cooking and bugs.

Albedo is unaffected by the biotech virus as the watch had already downloaded Ben's human DNA for the default prior to the infection, but suspects that Ben is lying about something, and alongside trying to return to his Galvan form, has a side quest to get a sample of Ben's blood to do tests on. Rook has been thus far quite successful at preventing that from happening.

Ben has above average night vision, and his eyes do that refraction thing, and as a result of his tendency to midnight binge in plumber HQ, he's become something of a cryptid to newby plumbers and frequently terrorizes them in the early hours. His nails are strong enough to allow him to scale walls and such, but they're only really able to cut human skin, and aren't great for offensive attacks. His teeth however can break through quite a bit of organic material. His hearing interesting enough remains normal, much to his relief. The markings look more like faint scars most of the time, but if he's feeling any emotion particularly strongly they tend to glow or move around. He's described the sensation as the feeling of water running along your skin.

While Max, his parents, Kevin, Gwen, and Azmuth are aware of the virus, no one really knows how far it'll progress. Azmuth's best guess is Ben either becomes fully corrupted losing his humanity and conscience altogether, or the virus simply turns him into a more humanoid variant of a Galvanic Mechamorph.

Hopefully I'll get a comic showing some of the major progressions pre-Omniverse up for background :3

[felassan]

Snippets from shinobi602, cut for length.

Comment made after the character trailer, before the gameplay reveal:

"I know I sound like a broken record at this point but I'd really wait for the gameplay footage before writing it off. I agree that the tone of the trailer isn't how I would have personally revealed the game lol. But it's definitely a mature story...(with classic DA humor of course) I think people will come around when they see it in motion." [source]

Comment made before the gameplay reveal:

"I just got a sneak peak at the gameplay being shown on Tuesday. A small sample, but enough to get a good taste. It feels like a much better Inquisition to me. Absolutely not Fortnite or Overwatch." [source]

Comment made before the gameplay reveal:

User: "Maybe this gameplay showcase is going to show us all the character creator options, the RPG mechanics and skill trees, the expansive dialogue choices you can make, the minute to minute gameplay and how the world works." Shinobi: "You won't get all of that. But it's a solid chunk. This is just the first step in a long several months ahead. They have to save stuff for more beats down the road too or else you run out of gas lol." [source]

Comment made before the gameplay reveal:

User: "Very excited to see a glimpse into that for the gameplay reveal, hoping the game's beginning is as memorable as the other entries" Shinobi: "It is a massive boost in quality for the series. I'm not talking art style or anything, but just in terms of sheer quality and technical fidelity. Really hard to keep my tongue bitten lol, but I'm excited to see what everyone thinks tomorrow." [source]

Comment made after the gameplay reveal was teased:

"Yup, that's what it looks like, but there's so much more goodness. Looks amazing imo." [source]

Comment made before the gameplay reveal:

"it feels like the ME2 of Dragon Age." [source]

Comment made before the gameplay reveal:

"Oh just wait. The hair tech is phenomenal in this. Even I was thinking "aye is this a Bioware game!?" lol." [source]

Comment made before the gameplay reveal:

"They look different but to be honest the more you see them, the more you get used to it. I love the way Harding looks now. It's more stylized, but also a huge boost in technical fidelity in Frostbite." [source]

Comment made after the gameplay reveal, before the press who saw the demos at SGF shared about what they saw:

"Pretty much every person I've talked to across a dozen different media outlets, ~95%'ish, has walked out of the private demo sessions with glowing praise." [source]

-

"I don't mean there aren't any open ended areas to explore. But it's a tight game, with a focus on not wasting the player's time with bloat. They took a lot of that feedback from Inquisition." [source] [re: the game not being open world in design]

-

One preview from a large outlet basically boils down to 'Bioware is back'. [source]

-

"I'm optimistic. From conversations I've had, they are genuinely serious in trying to make a Bioware classic here. They do not want a repeat of Andromeda or Anthem. I can only go based off what I've heard obviously - haven't played it. We all have our opinions on the combat, but they learned a lot of hard lessons since Inquisition, taken a lot of feedback to heart, and want this to feel like that tight, structured high quality experience we used to get from them. Andromeda and Anthem came in hot at launch. I felt some warning signs before those came out, but here? Right now they're just polishing. It's all polish from here to release. I'm really hoping this is the start of their return to form. That team's been through a lot, I hope it works out for the best." [source]

-

User: "I think there certainly is a decent contingent of legitimate dissatisfaction or concern around the game, but I'm not sure that that's an overwhelming segment, but I do think it's something BioWare in EA should not and cannot ignore." Shinobi: "They've definitely taken notice. There's a lot more to show between now and launch." [source]

-

"One thing I'm particularly happy about and can't get over is how much better the hair rendering is. It might be a small thing to some but it looks incredible. It's in another stratosphere compared to DAI." [source]

-

"Everyone in the previews was gushing about how robust the CC is in Veilguard so there might be a decent chance to make some wild Qunari designs." [source]

On the Next Mass Effect:

"ME will look very, very good. Don't worry." [source]

[bardic-tales]

The Silence Between Screams - FF VII / FWC Alternate AU Fic

Summary: A clinical, soulless encounter between two scientists is overshadowed by the haunting presence of an experimental subject who refuses to break.

Pairing: Diana Ravenscroft (f!oc) / Professor Hojo

Other Characters: N01 (Bianca Moore), Zack Fair, Cloud Strife, Sephiroth (mentioned)

Possible Trigger Warnings: Abuse (medical), body horror, blood, captivity, coercion, experimental torture, graphic medical procedures, gaslighting, loss of bodily autonomy, medical trauma, non-consensual experimentation, psychological manipulation, sedation, sexual content (clinical, detached), torture, vivisection.

1.

The silence that followed was surgical. Not awkward, not bashful. Simply . . . done.

The rustle of fabric as Diana Ravenscroft pulled her white coat back over her bare shoulders was louder than the tapping of her boots across the cold, blood-flecked tiles. She moved with the same mechanical efficiency she used to vivisect spinal cords and catalogue the reactions of degraded clones. Clinical. Controlled.

Hojo hadn’t bothered to redress completely. He stood near a steel table stacked with corrupted Sephiroth Clone tissue samples. His lab coat was open, shirt partially untucked. His posture was still hunched. His long fingers hovered over a scalpel as if debating whether to pick it up or whether it might betray something messy if he did.

Neither of them said anything for several moments. That was the way of scientists who’d reduced even human intimacy to data.

“I expected something . . . more,” Diana said finally, adjusting the rubber gloves onto her hands with a sharp snap. Her tone wasn’t judgmental. It was just factual, as though commenting on the acidity of a blood sample left unrefrigerated too long.

Hojo let out a dry chuckle. “I don’t perform for your satisfaction, Ravenscroft.”

She raised a brow as she tightened the belt around her coat. “And yet you seem quite invested in your reputation with the Costa del Sol interns.”

“Ah, yes. A crude population, easily impressed by confidence and a doctorate.” Hojo picked up the scalpel, examining its reflective edge with a disturbing fondness. “But I wasn’t interested in impressing you. I thought you might learn something.”

“I did,” she said, tucking a strand of copper-red hair behind her left ear. “That it’s a highly inefficient and overhyped biological process with excessive perspiration and no clear purpose outside of reproduction and temporary chemical feedback.”

“Ah,” Hojo murmured, “there it is. The dispassionate prodigy strikes again.” His smile was skeletal, as if his lips stretched thinly over his face. “You know, most people at least lie to themselves about needing connection.”

“Most people don’t watch their test subjects scream for dead lovers while their nerves are flayed open,” she said evenly. “That tends to adjust one’s expectations about the value of sentiment.”

Almost on cue from across the lab-

CLANG. SLAM.

A containment tank rattled violently against its metal restraints. The sound echoed through the suffocating, dusty corridors. Diana didn’t even flinch. She checked her clipboard.

N01 again.

The subject’s pale form spasmed violently in the green-tinged fluid. Mako and blood threaded through her veins like rivers of mercury. Her indigo eyes were squeezed shut, as her lips moved, sending bubbles up through the liquid she was submerged in.

Sephiroth . . .

The words was more of an exhalation than speech. Her vocal cords strained against the breathing tube that had been sutured in post-laryngeal insertion.

Hojo’s attention drifted lazily toward the tank. “Her vocal cords are regenerating faster than expected.”

“No,” Diana said, noting it. “She’s compensating. Trauma-induced vocal plasticity. Something about Sephiroth’s name triggers a spike in her theta wave patterns. Possibly just desperation.”

Hojo moved to the tank like a man greeting a particularly beautiful cadaver. His fingertips tapped the glass near N01’s head. “She calls for him even under sedation. What do you suppose that implies?”

“That her psychological tether has exceeded the cellular one. We’re beyond degradation timelines now,” Diana said. “She’s more will than flesh.”

Hojo’s grin deepened. “Delightful.”

Diana turned to check the other chambers: Zack Fair and Cloud Strife. Both were floating in their tanks, green light bathing their still faces.

Zack’s eyes fluttered. That one was fighting.

“Subject Fair is resisting the infusion protocols again,” she said, already stepping toward the monitor banks. “Jenova cell uptake is 32% lower than last week. You overdosed the mako.”

“No such thing,” Hojo said. He approached behind her. “He’ll break. They all do.”

Diana leaned close to the screen. “Except when they don’t. And then we have another Hollander problem on our hands.”

Behind them, N01 convulsed again. Blood seeped from her tear ducts and beneath her fingertips. Her back arched within the tube like she were fighting invisible restraints. Black and indigo wings rattled against the rigging pining them in place. She was fighting not just the containment gear but something older. A memory. A name.

Sephiroth. Again.

Diana tapped her stylus against the tank’s control screen, lowering the adrenaline stimulation by half a point. Her lips barely moved. “Interesting.”

Hojo watched her with a glint of suspicion beneath his glasses. “You’ve grown unusually preoccupied with N01.”

"She’s my assignment,” Diana replied coolly. “I’m invested in results. Her celestial genotype is the only one surviving cellular breakdown past the seven-month degradation mark.”

“Is that all?” Hojo asked. His voice was like a scalpel sliding under the skin: invasive and precise.

She didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, she stepped back and adjusted the settings on Cloud’s tank.

“I’ve noticed something curious,” she said. “Subject Strife is showing sporadic memory flash loops. I believe N01’s psychic field is affecting him.”

“Fascinating,” Hojo drawled. “Perhaps proximity-based empathic leakage.”

“Or perhaps,” she said softly, “we’ve underestimated the metaphysical overlap.”

Hojo tilted his head, peering at her like she was one of his own specimens. That was how he looked at everyone: like they were part of one never-ending test.

“You’ve always worshipped control, Diana. Cold fingers on the scalpel. So what is it about this girl?” he asked, voice growing quieter. “The way she fights even after her flesh is torn. The way she still calls for him. Are you envious?”

Diana looked at him then: sharp, green eyes flat. “You confuse obsession for admiration. What I see in her is possibility.”

“She’s not divine. She’s not Jenova”

“No,” Diana said. “But she was touched by something that is.”

They both stared at N01 for a moment longer, watching the bubbles escape her lungs in pulses, as if she were counting the seconds until she could scream for him again for the fluid to silence the name.

Hojo turned away first. “We’ll need to do another biopsy. Harvest from the lower spine this time. That’s where the demonic markers spike.”

“I’ll prep the restraints.”

She walked to the surgical table and hummed a tune under her breath. When she passed the semen-stained sheets still crumpled from their earlier liaison, she didn’t look at them once. There was no afterglow. No fondness. Just data to log and a subject to bleed.

2.

Sometime Later

The labs fell quiet, smothered in the sterile hush of fluorescent light. Only the low, rhythmic hum of containment units broke the silence. The machines pulsed like mechanical lungs in the hollow underground lab. Dim green light filtered from massive cylindrical tanks, casting sickly patterns on the steel floor.

Zack Fair floated within one of them, motionless but twitching: a muscle in his jaw twitching every few seconds, like a dreamer caught in the throes of a nightmare he couldn’t wake from as he reached for a figure that had passed on.

Next to his tank, Cloud's eyes fluttered open for a breath of a moment: unfocused, pale blue irises drowning in the mako-saturated liquid. He didn’t seem to see anything. Then they shut again, sinking back into whatever coma Shinra had drugged him into.

In the furthest corner of the chamber, where the green light faded into nothingness and even the machinery dared not breathe too loud, a figure hung suspended in another tank. Isolated and restrained.

N01.

Unlike the others, she was half-curled, floating as though the containment fluid embraced her more tightly than gravity ever could. Her bare skin shimmered beneath the green hue, ethereal and bruised.

Shinra had stripped her bare, as if peeling away her last defense, her last dignity. But even so, she remained unbowed, a figure of tragic defiance suspended in silence.

Long black hair streaked with iridescent purples drifted around her like ink in water. Her eyes were closed.

A deep curved scar glowed faintly along her stomach, pulsing in sync with something ancient and wrong. The taint of Jenova had not been silenced. The cells only slept, tainting her blood and bonding with something far more ancient than them.

A ripple stirred the stillness.

Without warning, her fingers twitched, just a little, and her lips parted. Not wide. But the word that slipped through was undeniable, unyielding, carved from something deeper than consciousness. Still, the solution muffled the name.

"Sephiroth . . ."

There was no desperation. No sob or scream. It wasn’t a plea. It was a calling. Certain. Unshakable. An unbroken promise that he would come.

And then, an almost imperceptible sound pulsed around the tank. The tiniest of fractures spread like a vein through the glass of her tube, branching out from her right hand, where her clawed fingers now pressed faintly against the inside surface.

A slow tremor moved through the steel base of the chamber. The lights above flickered once. The containment fluid pulsed, as globes of air palpitated like the thudding of a heart through her containment unit. Somewhere, beyond the lab, a spirit stirred in a body that was not his.

And N01 barely smiled. Her expression was neutral, unreadable, but behind her eyelids and in the depths of blackness, memories bloomed like fire consuming a village: a ceiling ripped open by cosmic purpose, a ladder of splintered wood, and blood soaking silver hair.

The thread around her wrist was still there. Glowing. Binding. Unbroken. And in that moment, though she was still submerged, still locked in Shinra’s man-made tomb, the air around her changed.

Because something had heard her. He was coming.

@themaradwrites @craftyhal @megandaisy9 @watermeezer

@prehistoric-creatures @creativechaosqueen @chickensarentcheap

@inkandimpressions @arrthurpendragon

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Jacobites - Hearts Are Like Flowers

It's December — scarf season! And that means it's time to listen to the Scarf Kings Nikki Sudden and Dave Kusworth. Thanks to americanslimeweasel for digitizing a rare cassette to give all of us our necessary Jacobites fix. Side A captures a loose and lovely Italian radio broadcast in 1985, with Epic Soundtracks along for the ride; Epic sounds like he's hitting ... a phonebook with chopsticks? Side B lets us eavesdrop on an even looser/even lovelier rehearsal from that same year. Neil Young may have named an album Ragged Glory, but these guys are the ones who lived raggedly and gloriously.

Also included with the DL — a scan of a very detailed, very entertaining tour zine from '85. A sampling from the Cologne show: "This was probably the funniest gig. Beer and bottles of wine on stage. The wine got kicked over. The beer got drunk. Feedback from Nikki's acoustic guitar. Lots of animation. Nikki ran around the stage with his guitar unplugged. I was too shy to go on stage. Nikki broke guitar strings. With the help of my technical consultant Briggi we changed strings and tuned the guitar. Nikki plays the newly tuned guitar. It is totally out of tune. He uses another instrument which refuses to work for the next 3 songs. Sometimes the newly formed band even knew what songs they were playing. Sometimes it didn't matter."