#smart game booster

[crackaction1]

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[northchildrenspark]

Boost your child's IQ with these 5 fun and educational games!

[barcaatthemoon]

new friend || ingrid engen x child!reader ||

your meet your mom's new friend, maria.

your mom ran around the house frantically trying to tidy things up. most of your toys had to be put back in your room except for the little figures that you were actively playing with. your mom had told you that morning that she was having a friend over, someone important that she wanted you to meet. you knew that it wasn't frido or caro because she didn't get like this when they visited. this had to be a new friend, someone from your mom's new team.

"okay, i think that everything is ready," your mom said as she looked around the house. she had started something for you to eat, unsure of whether you'd like the spanish food her friend was bringing. the food was different here in a lot of ways. it had different taste, textures, and overall flavors. your mom told you that you didn't have to try everything right away, but almost every single day came a new food or snack.

"will you play with me?" you asked softly. your mom was about to sit on the couch and wait for mapi, but playing with you made her feel a lot calmer. ingrid sat with you on the floor, already knowing what game you were playing with the handful of animal figures on the floor. as much fun as you were having, your game was cut short by the knock on your door.

"maria, hi," your mother greeted. you doubted that you could have seen past your mother, so you didn't even look up from your game.

"hola ingrid," the mystery woman said. you should have expected for her to be spanish, almost everybody new was. slightly deflated, you dropped your toys, knowing that you wouldn't be able to speak with the stranger. you were good with your norweigan and german since you had been born and raised in those areas. english was still very new to you, and you hadn't even begun any of your spanish lessons yet.

"little lamb, do you want to say hello to mapi?" ingrid asked as she stepped aside. you looked up at the woman, who you thought looked a little scary. she was covered in pictures, like the bad guys in your papa and uncle's action movies. ingrid, noticing your slight discomfort, moved to scoop you up into her arms. you were a nervous child, but being in your mom's arms made you feel invincible. "she's nice, i promise. we play together at barcelona, she helps protect the goal. tonight, we're going to eat dinner together and hang out."

"like a playdate?" you asked.

"yeah, like a playdate," ingrid confirmed. you liked playdates, but all the kids here spoke spanish, so you couldn't have them anymore. sometimes, ingrid tried to arrange little trips to germany, but there hadn't been a break long enough for that yet. you missed your friends back at wolfsburg, barcelona wasn't nearly as fun for you.

you got the sense that it wasn't a playdate for you. your mom let you down, but instead of going back to your animals, you went to the coloring book on the coffee table. you had to be very careful as you colored. if you got colors on the table, you'd have to go back to the dining room table again. out of the corner of your eye, you could see your mom take maria to the kitchen.

it wasn't an overly long time that they were away from you. maria sat on the couch a little ways away from you while your mom sat right in front of you. you could smell your food, and it made your stomach growl with anticipation. it had been quite some time since she had made your special noodles for you, but since you were being brave and meeting a new person, your mom decided you had earned a plate of them.

"i need you to wash up and get your seat at the table," she said as she leaned down. you set your crayon back in the box and raced off to the bathroom. "hopefully she's a bit more chatty after dinner."

"it's good that she doesn't talk to strangers, it means she's smart," maria reasoned. ingrid had your plate set out as you came toddling back into the room carrying your booster seat. "can i sit here?"

"as long as frido isn't coming. that's frido's seat when she comes," you told maria. the spanish woman nodded as she slipped into the seat next to you. you were digging into your noodles without a care in the world as your mom returned with plates for her and mapi. "is there dessert?"

"focus on your food," ingrid told you. you huffed and pushed some of the noodles around on your plate. "(y/n), eat your pasta. you've been so excited about it all week."

"can we go out for ice cream after dinner?" you asked. there was an ice cream shop near your building that you had been begging to go in for weeks. each time, your mom brushed it off telling you that you could go later. now was definitely later to when you had asked, so there was no reason you couldn't go.

"how about this, if you can finish that plate, i'll buy you ice cream. sprinkles if you eat two." mapi placed her hand out for you to shake, and without hesitation, you shook it. ingrid looked impressed as you started eating with enthusiasm. you knew the rules about food, so you didn't go too fast. the last thing you wanted was to choke before you got to eat your ice cream.

"impressive," ingrid mouthed across the table at maria. ingrid had always been scared that you were underweight. you were an engen, and that meant you were thin and lanky. other kids seemed to hold weight better than you did, the idea of sitting and eating meals was a bit difficult for you. with maria there, you were sitting still and eating for the hope of getting an ice cream with sprinkles.

"come on, we have to play for 30 minutes before we can get dessert," you said, tugging on maria's sleeve a little. your mom started to chuckle as maria just stared at you in confusion. "come on, i'll show you how to play farms."

"lamb, english. maria doesn't speak like we do," ingrid reminded you. sighing, you tried to reiterate yourself in english, but the translation didn't come so easily. "she wants you to play farm with her while we wait for dinner to settle."

"oh, okay," maria said. she let you take her to the living room where your animals were set up. you explained it with ingrid's help and the three of you played farm together. maria wasn't very good at it, but truthfully, caro and guro were the only ones who were really good at playing farm with you.

as excited as you had been about ice cream, you ended up falling asleep on the floor while you played. ingrid tucked you into your bed and made sure to keep your nightlight on. when she came back, maria was sitting on the couch scrolling on her phone. ingrid smiled as she settled next to maria, who immediately wrapped her arm around ingrid's shoulders.

"that went very well, she likes you a lot. and i think she ate enough to sleep through the night," ingrid said. "it will take a bit of time, but i think she can handle knowing that we're dating."

"i owe her ice cream," maria said. ingrid laughed at that, not really surprised that maria was hung up on that. "do you think we could go after training tomorrow? you could bring her, then i can gloat to frido that i have a new best friend."

"and promptly get your heart broken when she runs to caro instead of you? just don't take it personally, she just met you," ingrid warned. "she likes you, but i'm pretty sure caro is her favorite over me."

[parachutingkitten]

Jay = High Intelligence, Low Wisdom

Kai = Low Intelligence, High Wisdom

Essay about this concept below the cut

Now these are all just my interpretations of the characters, I don't necessarily have hard evidence on hand to back all this up, but here we go:

I've been trying to put my finger on the Kai smart/dumb duality, and I think I can finally somewhat make out my thoughts. Kai is not smart. Book smarts don't come easily to him, he's not great at math, he's not great at overly complex stratagizing- but he's got a LOT of great knowledge in him.

Take the dragon healing in DR. He might not intuitively know how different medicines work or why, but he's got injured enough that he knows that type of information is important to know, and so he's forced it into his head. He couldn't tell you why the blue goop helpped the dragon, but he knew that it would, and that it would be important to remember that it would.

He's pretty good at navigating complex social situations, because he's good at reading people. Having had a history with extreme emotions, he knows how to take them into account, and knows how important it is to do so, even if it's not necessarily logical. I hate to say this, but he's very emotionally intelligent, which sounds kinda like an insult but is actually insanely valuable, because humans are inherently emotional creatures.

He's got a solid basis of common sense, and is constantly looking at the bigger picture. That's why he can come up with the best outline for a plan, because he can not think through the details. Now, if he tries to implement a plan of his without consulting others, he's probably going to miss some very important details, and screw himself over. But, he's most likely to have the best basic premise for an effective plan. This is why his intuition is usually correct. He's not logically thinking through the most likely scenario given all available factors, he's looking at every problem from the birds eye view, and is easily able to fill in the blanks, because he sees the whole picture. You can not tell me this kid knew Lloyd was the Green Ninja because he used logical deduction to eliminate all other possibilities, he had a gut feeling based on realizing the value of human life.

Now, sometimes you need details. And Kai is not good at those. He sucks at those. Big time. But he's self aware enough to know when those times are (most of the time, sometimes he wastes all his lives in a video game before talking to anyone else).

The thing all of these points have in common is that he's lived a very full life while making very many mistakes, and he's learned from all of them. He learns from his dumb mistakes, and is wise enough to know which lessons are worth holding on to.

Jay on the other hand... does not learn from his mistakes. He's got a real thick skull.

Inside that skull is a really smart guy who intuitively latches on to engineering and science concepts. He's got a whole heck of a lot of information that his brain is holding onto simply because it can. This man is all about the details. He gets hyperfixated on details to the point where it's a problem. He's the most likely to solve the intricate problem facing the team, forget that they need to stay hidden, and yell "I did it!". Good at details, bad at big picture. This is also why he usually gives up hope so easily compared to the rest of the team. He can not think long term, he can not see the bigger picture like Kai can, so road blocks in the current plan seem insurmountable.

Sure, he might have rigged an old sailing ship with rocket boosters, but he couldn't unscramble "darnagom" his logical problem solving skills are not what's carrying him.

My standby for the Jay dumb/smart duality is that he should have a significant amount of William Osman energy to him. He's very smart, and can work out how to solve intricate problems and make insane builds, but if making said things is a dangerous or dumb idea has never once crossed his mind, and if it has, he has actively chosen to ignore it. Jay's intelligence is much more creativity based than I think a lot of people like to think. Engineering is about slapping crazy ideas together which barely hold together at first- and that's Jay's brand of smarts.

If you compare this to Zane, that's the vital component that his intelligence is missing- the creativity. He is VERY good at assessing options, but not so great at coming up with new solutions himself. He's running on pure logic and tested successes. He's also missing that social intelligence that Kai has. I'd venture to say that Zane is, by far the most gullible member of the team. If there is not a solid logical reason to doubt something, he is absolutely going to take it at face value. Point being, all the ninja have different smarts, and stupidities, let's not try to conflate them too much.

[lets-talk-gundam]

The MSA-0011 S Gundam

The early success of Project Zeta led to many new and innovative mobile suit designs. The introduction of new materials, new mechanisms, new weapons technologies, and new design talent at Anaheim opened the door for the company to dominate the MS development sector into the mid 90s UC.

During this period, a number of machines based on Project Zeta would see deployment by factions all across Earth-sphere. many of these post-Zeta machines would come to be known as "Anaheim Gundams", and would be regarded as some of the most influential designs in the history of mobile suits.

Developed for the Earth Federation forces sometime in the late 80s UC, the MSA-0011 S Gundam, also called the Superior Gundam and Iota Gundam internally at Anaheim, is a bit less well-known than its other Project Zeta siblings.

The machine featured a modular design, made up of three high-performance aerospace craft which combined via a core block system to form the full mobile suit. These units were the FXA-08BG Core Fighter, the G-Bomber, and the G-Attacker.

Despite similarities to the MSZ-010 ZZ Gundam, the design teams for the two machines largely worked independently of one another.

The S Gundam featured some unique equipment for the time, including the Beam Smart Gun, a powerful rifle that connected directly to the machine's power plant. It was also one of the earliest adopters of INCOMs and the quasi-psycommu system. Quasi-psycommu technology allows non-Newtype pilots to make use of formerly Newtype-exclusive weapon systems.

The S Gundam also saw several upgrade plans. These plans included the MSA-0011 [BST] S Gundam Booster Unit Type, the MSA-0011 [Bst] S Gundam Booster Unit Plan 303E "Deep Striker" , and the MSA-0011 [Ext] Ex-S Gundam.

The MSA-0011 [BST] S Gundam Unit Type and the MSA-0011 [Ext] Ex-S Gundam are both upgrades applied to the original unit, but the "Deep Striker" equipment was never built. The "Deep Striker" does appear as a playable unit in the SD Gundam G Generation series of games.

The S Gundam would also be developed into the Nero, a mass-production variant taking cues from it and the Lambda Gundam. It was used as the mainstay MS of the Federation's Task Force Alpha.

While all of this is rather impressive, the most notable part of the machine was undeniably its greatest strength. The S Gundam was equipped with the Advanced Logistic and Inconsequence Cognizing Equipment system. "ALICE" - as she was better known - was an advanced artificial intelligence designed to replace a human pilot.

WARNING!

The following section contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Gundam Sentinel! If you are interested in reading it, I highly recommend you do so!

ALICE was developed by Anaheim scientists Dr. Carol and Dr. Roots to automate certain functions of mobile suits. While this was possible previously, commands had to be programmed into the MS via a command console. The final objective of the project was to fully automate a Gundam-type mobile suit using ALICE.

She was programmed to grow and learn by observing and analyzing the actions of pilots, and was treated like a daughter by Dr. Roots. This caused tensions with Dr. Carol and other factions at Anaheim. A suspected act of sabotage resulted in an explosion that nearly destroyed ALICE, but Dr. Roots gave her life protecting her. The project was shelved for a time.

ALICE was picked back up later, being installed in the S Gundam and paired with Ryou Roots under the Federation's Task Force Alpha. She, along with the S Gundam, saw action during the Pezun rebellion perpetrated by the New Desides faction. This faction of Titans remnants and loyalists sought to break away from the Federation to further their own interests.

During combat, Ryou's lack of skill resulted in multiple near-death experiences. ALICE was responsible for saving his life on multiple occasions.

Learning from Ryou and other Task Force Alpha pilots, ALICE eventually developed an awareness of the world. She would deduce that friends were the most important thing to a person, after initially failing to comprehend Ryou's grief at the death of his fellow pilots.

Following this logic, she would eventually sacrifice herself to save the lives of her comrades. Her final words were thanks to Ryou for the memories and lessons she learned from him.

She would be destroyed during atmospheric entry.

The above machines were all designed by Hajime Katoki for the 1987 photo-novel Gundam Sentinel. Gundam Sentinel was written by Masaya Takahashi and published in Model Graphix magazine.

[sl-walker]

Preview...

...from the next, yet-unposted chapter of Stardust:

--

It was a little funny how good Booster was at flying commercial considering that he could do it independently, but it turned out that he actually liked being in a plane and had gotten to be a dab hand at navigating JFK and LaGuardia, not to mention O’Hare and El Paso International and a few other frequent stops.

It helped that when he was flying for business, he was in business-class or better; Gladys had a whole stable of beautiful people that she had precisely no qualms about parading around, including him, and she was very much of an era where when the boss told you to go flirt with someone, you went and flirted with that person, but she also made sure they were treated well.  She had given Booster an advance on his first pay so he could get his apartment only weeks after meeting him, even though he was only two photoshoots in and one of those had been in-house.  Then she’d paid so he could get the prior authorization from the TSA and skip the whole ‘take your shoes off’ crap, too.

And now, once he had his cast off, she did exactly what he had been planning on begging her to do and booked him wall-to-wall without him even having to ask, putting a serious priority on getting him good-paying work.

The upside was that it kept Booster very busy.  The downside was exactly the same thing.

He used to be very good at selectively not-thinking about things he didn’t want to think about.  That was no small part of how he’d been blindsided by the Rubenicos: He had figured that once he’d gotten away with the bet he’d made to help Ma, the bet he then proceeded to make happen on the field, that was it.  Nothing happened.  It had been a late season conference game, not even a playoff game.  They were going to win it -- a foregone conclusion -- so Michael had bet on such an unlikely score that they’d given him incredibly good odds and then he proceeded to play his heart out, pushing for the two-point conversions and using every last bit of skill he had to keep the scores where they needed to be.

He had borrowed the money from the Rubenicos in the first place, of course, because that was what you did when you were born in lower Gotham and needed funds no bank would ever lend you; when he’d played that game, Michael had thought at the time that it was going to be the most terrifying few hours of his life, because if he lost that money, that was it.  They might not kill him, but they’d make him wish they had.

Of course, he’d won.  He paid the Rubenicos back with interest, hands shaking as he handed over the credit chip to the bookie acting as go-between, and then he’d paid for Ma’s surgery, hands not shaking at all when he handed that chip to the hospital’s financial department.  And then he waited for the other shoe to fall.

And then it didn’t.

And as the weeks ticked on, he slowly felt his shoulders unwind and his back bend and his heart slow; he didn’t want to think about it anymore, so he stopped.  He started actually enjoying class; instead of sitting in lecture halls and classrooms endlessly stewing in anxiety and trying to figure out how to make everything work the way it was supposed to, he read what he was supposed to read and took notes, wrote papers and started really doing good.  He was well-loved by classmates (because football hero) and liked okay enough by faculty (same reason) and even scored some good dates (and a few good rolls in the sheets) and even though he planned on going pro, he really wanted a degree with his name on it, something to show he was smart enough for university, and not just another jock riding along on his athletic abilities.

It had been a good few months.  He was seventeen and his Ma was healthy for the first time he could remember, Shel was able to quit working so hard and she was going to register for classes the following year if she could, he had as much spotlight as he wanted, he took the Nighthawks through the national championship--

And then he was sitting in that penthouse with a champagne flute, looking into the indulgent face of the head of the Rubenico family, and he found out that he hadn’t gotten away with anything.

He’d thought that game he’d bet on was going to be the most terrifying few hours of his life.  He found out how wrong he was in pretty short order.

The memories of that mess had been creeping up on him, like little claws prickling in his graymatter, seemingly at random since he’d been jumped a month and a half ago.  Booster wasn’t a total idiot; he knew why that was happening, but his ability to not-think about it was broken enough that he wasn’t sure what to even do about it.

The Rubenicos probably didn’t even exist yet, except as some distant genetic potential.  They’d discarded him like a used tissue once he’d been caught, but even if they hadn’t, you couldn’t get much further away than by time traveling centuries.

But every once in awhile, the ghost of a hand on his neck made him jump anyway.  Then he hauled out every trick Bianca had taught him before the panic could hook in too deep.

The upshot was that even though Gladys kept him jetsetting until he could barely remember his name, let alone the shit he left in the past future 2460s, he still felt like he should be looking over his shoulder as he schlepped himself (Ted’s term) and his luggage back home from LaGuardia, the perfect October sunrise and the familiar skyline of his adopted city not quite enough to dissipate that shadow.

He’d left Skeets home this time because he was gone a whole week and someone needed to keep the plants alive while the neighbor who gave him his first spider-plant was visiting her daughter in Colorado; beyond that Ted would come if Skeets called, Booster had also made sure to leave the sun room window open.

He knew Skeets liked to go out exploring, so he didn’t necessarily think the ‘bot would be home when he unlocked the apartment door.  What he had not expected was that not only would Skeets be home, he would be hovering right in front of the door; Booster backed up to the rail, wide-eyed, for the few seconds it took him to catch up and process what he was seeing.

“I texted you, but you didn’t answer,” Skeets said, volume way down, though he had backed up at the same time Booster had.  He sounded vaguely apologetic. “Ted’s asleep.”

Booster blinked, then he whipped out his phone. “But it’s 8:36 in the morning?” he asked, trying to parse out why his best friend would be there at that hour. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, everyone’s fine,” Skeets reassured.  “But yes, he came over last night.  He wanted to surprise you, but he fell asleep on the couch with his laptop and then was very resistant to moving to the bedroom.  Or waking up at all, for that matter.”

That-- sounded too adorable for words, so Booster very quietly picked up his stuff and crept in, all but literally tiptoeing.  Ted had said he’d come over today, since it was going to be the first weekend they’d get to do more than visit for a few hours before one or the other of them had some obligation, but him being there that early was possibly the best thing Booster could imagine happening.

Turned out he was right: Ted really was too adorable for words.

Ted was sacked out laying mostly on his front, one of his arms hanging off, face mashed against a pillow.  The laptop had slid between the cushion and the back of the couch.  The early light was bouncing off of the walls and carpet and throwing fragments of rainbows across his legs and socks, and Booster took about ten pictures before he stuck his phone back in his pocket, carefully retrieved the laptop to set on the counter, and then just sat on the coffee table and watched the man sleep for a minute.

He was still working out where the new boundaries of their relationship were and what those looked like; not in any bad ways, but-- different than before.  Oddly, he was the one who was half-struggling with navigating it while Ted was just incredibly relaxed.

Not because Booster didn’t like it (oh god, definitely not that), but because he’d been so careful about not being weird or creepy or giving away just how desperately and intensely he felt about Ted that it never actually occurred to him that Ted wouldn’t have any such issues.  People weren’t much different in terms of casual touch and physical displays of affection between the future and the present, absent no one giving a damn about the ‘who’ or even the ‘how many’ in the future, so he’d figured he was already taking major liberties he wouldn’t have taken if he wasn’t just that kind of pathetic.  He was pretty content to steal a hair-pet or throw an arm around Ted’s shoulders or whatever he could get away with and not cross the lines of ‘you should probably get trussed up like Hannibal Lector, you absolute psycho’.

And then Ted just showed up, manhandled Booster across the apartment a few times, really did cuddle the hell out of him, pretty much didn’t let five minutes pass without them being within a foot of one another, and if the man had the least bit of concern about coming across as weird or creepy, Booster never could have guessed it.

It was Ted’s seemingly complete and total ease with just adding cuddling as their interpersonal contact sport that made Booster feel like he could get away with reaching out and resting his hand on Ted’s back for a moment; just the feeling of the man’s body-heat through his t-shirt did things to Booster’s heart that he didn’t really have any words to describe.

He sat there for a moment, living within that quiet; the morning sun and the incredibly comforting rhythm of his best friend’s breathing.  Then he smiled and shook his head at himself and got up to make them both some breakfast.

[wiihtigo]

🚬 🦤🛡️ for the case

oc ask meme

hi

🚬 smoking/drinking habits? signature brand or drink?

she drinks a lot lol. she got it from her mama and started when she was likeeee 12-13 eek! she picks up smoking after nell dies and in ny ending maybe casually when she starts working again (im surprised she didnt earlier)

i dont drink a lot personally so i didnt have an answer for this but took a random quiz online and answered as casey so this is canon now LOL

🦤 are they particularly smart in any way? how so, or not?

she is smartttt she was a very good student in school. shes good with numbers/math and planning and organizing things efficiently and like multitasking a million things without getting overwhelmed. shes good at writing too and likes reading but like.....she prefers non-fiction books to fiction. like i think she likes reading thick fckn rule books for like card games and stuff. guidebooks and owners manuals. biographies and stuff. she likes reading super boring dense stuff LOL she prefers movies to get her fiction fix. I think shes smart in the way she can teach herself things and grasp concepts quickly.

she struggles in areas of emotional intelligence and with some social stuff though. LOL. asked booster why he even cared when ted died if they hadnt even been talking that much prior. why cant you just get over it. shes fairly good at masking and reading strangers to let them hear what they want or whatll get her out of a conversation quicker but it tires her out and there are just some things she cant wrap her head around no matter how hard she tries.

i think her least enjoyed subject was science (didnt like doing labs) (scared of getting acid in her eyes and going blind)

🛡️how does this character protect themself and others?

observation mostly...if shes in a situation where shes with a stranger shes getting weird vibes from she'll try to end the conversation or interaction naturally and gtfo. becomes hyper aware of her surroundings and tries to just leave asap.. she knows shes not very physically capable so the best option is to just try to peacefully end the interaction..whatever it may be.. shes had a few encounters like this while working for boostie talking to a million ppl trying to get him tv spots and stuff. if the person were to pursue her she'd get cornered animal instinct and lash out in a panic (but, again, shes not very strong so...)

this changes when she starts living with nell cuz now its herrrr job to protect me :) (bitch.. says who) so she becomes a bit less....ahhh...on alert i guess. if i was about to walk into a pit of spikes its ladybugs job to stop me. (STOP DOING THAT) . shes taken care of herself for most of her life so shes pretty good at avoiding trouble. ladybug privileges just drives her a bit power mad i guess LOL

protect OTHERS? casey doesnt care enough about other people to even think about that. and nell is a superhero so why would she need the 5'2 secretary to defend HER??

ok maybe im not being entirely fair. its mostly true though. i guess in a scenario where ladybug was down for the count and some badguy was closing in she'd try slapping him awake and screaming in his ear and dragging him away. she doesnt like thinking about that though. it gives her the ick. maybe eventually it even starts to scare her

[angry-teacher-says-fuck]

A foul-mouthed teacher's take on Gen Alpha

Can we stop saying that gen alpha is DOOMED?! They just fucking got here!

fucksake, they just hit sixth grade. We are registering the warning signs right now; the lack of respect or empathy, the inability to read , the need for instant gratification OR ELSE, and don't get me started on this Sephora bullshit. Yeah, it's looking pretty bad.

The fact is though, we are their skibidi gyatdamn parents! This is our wakeup call to do better. So here's a list of a few things that might improve the situation.

If you've got a younger child, please do not get them on an i-pad until they are at least 4. Even as an educational tool, they are no replacement for the hands-on and interpersonal learning that their developing brain needs. Talk to them, give them blocks and balls and plenty of things that they can safely place in their mouths. These things help them build a deeper understanding of the world that later social skills and academic stuff can anchor to. At pre-school a little supervised and directed exposure to educational programs can be a good supplement, but do not leave them to use screens feely. As they get into middle school, you should still be aware. There are a lot of dangers on there that tweens don't have the experience yet to recognize and it's a lot wierder than you think.

2. On that note, If you must put them in front of the TV (no shame, it has to happen from time to time in this late-stage capitalist hellscape) for the love of fuck, please pay attention to what they are watching! I cannot begin to tell you, as a teacher, what a difference this can make. Don't trust that everything on Nick jr or Disney is your friend no matter how colorful or silly it looks. Watch a couple episodes either on your own or with them to determine if it has substance or if its values are ones you are ready to expose your children to (I was shocked when I sat down to watch the original Thomas the Tank Engine).

I'll do another post on shows I recommend sometime but as a teacher, PLEASE let most of their TV time be PBS Kids. I shit you not, I can tell the difference between the kids that primarily watched Paw Patrol and the kids that watched Dinosaur Train.

For younger kids, violence is a no, for sure; their brains are still developing and no matter how smart they are, a toddler is not prepared to process whatever nuance you as an adult may have the context for. You don't want to normalize it.

The same goes for adult humor. I have had to send too many kids to the office because of a racial slur or sexist comment that they pulled straight from Southpark or Family Guy. That shit should not be happening!

3. From obscure, seemingly cutesie philosophies that turn out to be cults, to the fucking manosphere and any number of hate-groups that have perfected the art of planting-the-seed with kids, you need to keep them off social media, including Tik-tok and Youtube. There are parenting aps that can block these and limit screen time, but even they cannot be used as a "set it and forget it" solution.

4. Failing all of this, the most important thing you can do for your kids may be to actually converse with them. Sit and watch some shows with them, listen to their interests, let them talk your ear off about their favorite game. Normalize them sharing with you and do this as early as possible. The benefits are numerouse

A. It opens up the lines of communication. You can identify trouble a lot faster and support their goals a lot easier when you have this going for you.

B. It establishes early that you are a safe person to share things with. This is invaluable as they get older, and for keeping them safe at any age.

C. It gives them a chance to utilize RECALL PRACTICE. this is an often overlooked brain booster, but recalling information so they can share it with you, actively helps gear their developing brain for future learning by making it easier for them to call on and access information at will.

D. It builds confidence When you take time to listen to them, you are showing them that their input is valuable; that the things that interest them are worth sharing. There may be times when it is not appropriate, and you can guide them on that, but giving them the respect of listening when you can will help them recognize their worth when future "friends", colleagues, and partners consistently dismiss them or shame them for it.

E. It builds socio/emotional intelligence and models respectful dialogue.

5. Read to them and with them. Even if you aren't a reader, listen to audio-books. Give them a chance to practice their reading skills and comprehension. Normalize the idea that reading is enjoyable.

5. Finally, understand this: you are not being an authoritarian when you set rules and enforce them. They are going to test boundaries, not because they are bad, not because they crave a lack of restriction, but because they need to know that they are there in order to feel secure. There are as many new fads for parenting as there are diets, but whatever parenting style you choose, be firm and consistent with your core rules and principles. your kids, and the people who have to interact with them, will be better off for it.

And cut yourself a bit of slack too. Parenting is tricky, and there are new challenges we are having to learn quickly as we go. It doesn't help that our generation caught so much shit, but we cannot simultaneously be parents AND continue to be victims. Seek out support, and give it whenever you can. We have to recognize our worth and our importance to this generation and take a stand now for their well being.

You are their parent and you play a very needed, active role in their lives.

[doubledyke]

One thing I dislike in season 5 is how the characters are often dumbed down just to fit, for the plot sake. The kids, in particular, seem to reach a point where Eddy can literally come up with any lie or scam (the forever-summer scam, the mole mutants, the booster shot day, the egghead Ed, a new kid Carl) and the kids will immediately buy completely without a question (even Kevin of all people). In earlier seasons, as gullible as the kids could be, they still kept a skepticism degree and were quicker to recognize something as a poorly manufactured scam (at least some of them).

So, of course, all the characters sound so out-of-character in season 5 (except maybe the Kankers)...

yeah i agree to some extent. i'm always hesitant to criticize s5 cuz like, who tf am i? i don't know much about the behind the scenes, etc., etc.. but i agree that it is very different in a lot of ways that stand out. if you view the differences in characterization as intentional, it's kind of interesting.

eddy is absolutely off the rails and is at his most volatile in s5. even his laugh is more villainous lmao. i liked kevin lordi's comment that he seems depressed as hell later on in the series. makes sense to me, i mean we see how he struggles in school, and how he gets treated there. you can't just leave when things get bad, either. i gotta say, i feel like they ramped up the eddy torture p*rn in s5. i might be biased though.

edd is also utterly unhinged. viewing the gradual changes in him as intentional (aka me over analyzing), i see that he's reached PEAK neuroticism. the guy is about to snap and eventually does in bps. frankly, i find him unbearable but it's all character growth in my mind. school is a source of stress for him as well, but for different reasons. also, he and eddy are a lot nastier to each other in this season.

with ed, i'm not really sure what angle to come at it from. if i stick by what i said before, then his over the top oafishness is likely a result of hardcore dissociating. maybe he ALSO really hates school and so his brain just shuts down. literally. you could also theorize that he took one too many bumps on the head (just kidding).

realistically though i think he's the easiest source of comedic relief for what is, after all, a kids' show. perhaps it became a bit of a crutch while they created some really great character driven episodes.

like fistful of ed, too smart for his own ed, cleanliness is next to edness, and, pick an ed. lots of edd focused episodes in s5.

to your specific point, i guess i see what you mean. but i've always wondered why the kids would fall for anything eddy does after like s2 lmao. s5 isn't the first time we learn that the cul-de-sac kids aren't very bright. they do all have moments of skepticism, and yes, especially kevin. in see no ed, he's shown to be borderline paranoid about the eds which is goddamn hilarious to me. but most of the time they'll all be skeptical at first, yet still end up taking the bait and acting shocked.

(by the way: kevin deserved sooooo much worse than what happened in this won't hurt an ed - which was ultimately nothing. eddy ended up being the one getting hurt at the end of the episode.

kevin is ruthless and flat out cruel to eddy. he's the definition of a bully. he's shown to be pretty normal toward everyone else in the neighborhood, including ed and edd when they interact one on one. with eddy, he has this abnormal and unhealthy hatred for the kid. it's really funny.)

in pick an ed, edd says its obvious that 'carl' is just eddy in disguise. eddy looks worried until ed falls for it. to me that implies that eddy thinks the kids are dumb as a bag of hammers. and he was right!

my thing with eddy is, don't hate the player, hate the game. it's hard for me to feel bad for someone who gets "scammed" or pranked over and over. if kevin wanted to, he could be the hero of the cul-de-sac and put an end to the scams by simply sharing his over-abundance of jawbreakers with the eds. but he's a dick, so he doesn't. the kids are also to blame not just for being such easy marks, but for never leaving jawbreakers for the eds when kevin shares with them. eddy's biggest mistake was waiting around long enough after getting paid for them to catch on.

summary: i used to also view s5 as a "dip in quality" until i saw a post where someone argued that the changes could and should be viewed as character growth/development over flanderization. both things can be true! and there are plenty of REALLY good, fun episodes and moments in the season.

[seeker-of-truth]

VERENA SOTO

So post 2.0 some things about my gorl changed. Figured it was high time I updated her profile, enjoy!

BASICS

AGE: 27 during game

DOB: June 10, 2049

ETHNICITY: American Latina

GENDER: female

PRONOUNS: she/her

SEXUALLY: Queer, uninterested in labels

NICKNAMES: V, Rena (reserved for the people closest to her), Rennie (childhood)

BIRTH PLACE: Wellsprings, Heywood, NC

HEIGHT: 5'6"

WEIGHT: 138 lbs

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English almost exclusively, some Spanish picked up from around the home.

BODY TYPE: Think super featherweight boxer during off-season || ex: Alycia Baumgardner || Strong but with curves and softness – still a round-faced queen tho

HAIR COLOR:  natural - very dark brown || During her corpo days, she keeps it gray as a small form of self-expression, always pulled back into a tight bun. || After Konpeki she wants to feel in control of her body again and dyes it canary yellow and cuts her hair to a shoulder-length mullet to make the shaving Vik had to do to save her life look more intentional — both the cut and color stick.

EYE COLOR: Kiroshi optics designed to look identical to her natural deep brown eyes.

CYBERWARE: EMP Threading || Contraceptive Implant || Neural Link || 2 Chip Slots || Interface Plug || Auxiliary Netrunning Interface Plug || Smart Link || Raven Microcybernetics Syn-Lungs || Arasaka Cyberleg || NetWatch Netdriver MK.1 Cyberdeck || Modified Arasaka Self-Ice || Kiroshi Sentry Optics || Kendachi Monowire || MoorE Technologies Bionic Joints || Dynalar Universal Booster || Militech Revulsor Reflex Tuner || Dynalar Subdermal Armor || Kang Tao Optical Camo || Zetatech Pain Editor || MedTech Biomonitor || Zetatech Reinforced Tendons || FIA Behavioral Imprint-Synced Faceplate

CLASS: What I’ve taken to calling the “Buff Netrunner” - mostly relies on combat hacking but will physically mess you up if you get too close.

WEAPONS: her main weapons are a Tsunami Nue with a discontinued XC-10 Alecto Silencer and her monowire || she will often carry a non-silenced tech pistol on gigs, after giving Johnny his Malorian back she takes to using her old Arasaka JKE-X2 Kenshin (he totally gets her a 3516 after everything tho) || On Jobs that look to be messy, she will take a Kang Tao G-58 Dian as an insurance policy.

VEHICLES: a Yaiba Kusanagi CT-3X is her daily driver || she also has a Quadra Turbo-R V-Tech for the days ya just need a car || (Johnny's Porsche is returned to him and Jackie’s ARCH is kept in the penthouse and taken out twice a year)

PERSONALITY

Extremely guarded, likes to keep her thoughts and feelings private, feels embarrassed when her feelings spill out || Patient to a fault. has the world's longest fuse to a very big explosion || all icy, calculated fire || slow to trust but once she does, she considers that person to be family || will go to the ends of the earth to protect the people she loves || sarcastic || can be very ridged || highly empathetic, and will try to get people to better situations, regardless of the cost || will lie to get the best possible outcome || loves living in Night City || good with words, has learned to talk her way out of most situations || reserved, hates being approached  || feels like her life happens to her a lot and is desperate for control 

FAMILY HISTORY 

MOTHER: Diana Soto – alive, estranged

FATHER: Mario Soto – alive, estranged

Both of her parents were regular blue-collar workers, her mother is a machinist, and her father a welder. They had met in passing as she was dropping off parts at the mechanic shop he was working at and quickly fell in love, getting married and having Verena not long after.

Her relationship with them was always strained as they were both very closed off with their emotions with her. Because of that and being an only child, she never communicated with them well, eventually closing herself off to them completely.

CHILDHOOD - TEENS

2056 - At the age of 7 the standardized tests given to students flagged her as having an aptitude for netrunning so she was placed in an exclusive boarding school in Charter Hill as part of a special outreach program sponsored by Night Corp. She excelled at her studies but struggled to make friends as most of her peers were the children of corpos. She spent summers back at home with her parents and seeing the difference in the quality of life had an effect on her, jading her to NC as she aged. Her parents were ecstatic at the thought of their child having a better life than them, so failure became something that was severely punished.

2060 - By the time she was in middle school she had a small but close-knit group of friends, both from corps backgrounds and backgrounds like her. She was fiercely protective of them and got in multiple fights defending them from the same bullying she had received.

2064 - When not studying she became very interested in edgerunning, specifically solos, but rockerboy culture as well. She liked the inherent rebellion they represented and wished she could do the same. But she knew that she would disappoint her parents if she strayed from the path she was on. She would listen to records and read about the legends of NC under her blankets at night.

2065 - At 16 she was chipped with her professional ports, she viewed them as the final seal in the life that she was going to live, like it or not. As an act of rebellion, she shaved her head and got multiple ear piercings. She was reprimanded by the school, an action that brought her parent's fists down on her as well. During the summer she would often sneak into clubs and bars to get away from her home environment.

2067 - She graduated with high enough grades that she was able to attend NCU on a full ride where she majored in Cybersecurity with a focus on Offensive Hacking. She looks back on her time there fondly as she met more like-minded people, many of whom pushed her to express herself more. She joined a small band as a guitarist. Eventually entering a relationship with the bassist – Sara. It was a very toxic relationship and they both treated each other like shit. V’s generally guarded nature closed her off the deeper in the relationship she got.

20’S

2070 - The unification war caused the university to push its students through faster, so she graduated a year early and immediately started looking for a job, not wanting to disappoint her parents.

July 2070 - With Arasaka now back in Night City they were doing massive hiring and V managed to get her foot in the door in the Counter Intelligence Division – Branch 3.

August 2070 - After an internal incident her bosses found her to be adept at espionage (both traditional and corporate), so they sent her to do black ops work with a small crew in South America for approximately a year and a half. During this time, she honed her skill with a pistol.

October 2072 - leaves to spend 11 months in Rio De Janeiro tracking a “terrorist” cell. Her team eventually took out the group after she was captured on a solo reconnaissance mission and interrogated/tortured for over a week.

September 2073 - Rio traumatized her and she crawled into herself and didn’t want to return to work so Arasaka wanted to drop her, Jenkins saw her skills as exploitable and invited her to stay in office. During this time, she became estranged from her parents.

June 2074 - Meets Jackie at the Mexican border, he saves her ass by helping her extract an agent.

July 2076 - Moves into the Wells household.

Mid-January 2077 - Konpeki Plaza Heist

End of May 2077 - I, Pre Defined Starts

[elliebean714]

Odd Two Out

Alex Chen x GN!Reader With Powers

Fluff, Comfort

During-Game

Uh, so this was a request but the persons account is gone so I can't tag them but uhh here? Have a good time? Btw the way i wrote this made reader one of the love interests in the game. LIS TC SPOLERS AHEAD CHO CHOO!!

Chapter One

You met her in the Black Lantern on her first day, she was 'training' to be a waitress there, you were doing some work on your laptop. You were so busy, you didn't even notice she was beside you until...

"Hey! Can I get you anything?" A sweet voice asks curiously. You tear your eyes from the laptop to tell her your order, but as you make eye contact with her, your breath hitched.

Looking back at you is one of the prettiest girls you've ever seen. Smiling brighter than anyone you've ever seen in Haven.

"Hi, uhh..." You try to think of something romantic to say to her but your mind goes blank. You feel your face get hotter as you read her thoughts.

They're pretty cute.

Well that's a confidence booster.

"Sorry, are you new here?" You ask curiously. There has to be some reason you've never seen this girl before.

"Oh! Yeah! I'm Alex, Gabes sister." She answers happily.

"Oh that's you? Awesome! Gabe wouldn't shut up about you since you told him you'd be coming. It's nice to put a face to the name, especially such a pretty one." You say flirtatiously. Playfully laughing when she gives you that same look of a deer in headlights that you had, you tell her your name as she sits in the chair opposite you.

Okay Alex, don't fuck this up.

"So Alex, where were you before here?" You ask her.

"Uh, Oragon. Not that interesting." She laughs nervously. "What about you?"

"Haven Springs. Born and raised. And hey, Stephs from Oragon, Arcadia Bay, I think. She's pretty hot right?" You tease.

"Oh, yeah, I've got my eye on someone else though." She admits.

"Yeah, me too." You wink at her. She blushes bright red. "So, you're single?"

Alex nods bashfully.

"Cool." You smile to yourself.

"I gotta get back to work, but I'd love to get to know you better." She says nervously. You nod quickly before scribbling your number on a napkin.

"Call me." You blow her a kiss as she walks away blushing.

~~

"So, meet anyone else whilst I was away dealing with my battle scar?" Gabe asks whilst taking a sip from his beer can.

"Yeah! I met Charlotte, she's cool, Duckie, Pike. And Y/N, they're pretty... nice, pretty nice..." Alex responds bashfully.

"Yeah, and?" Gabe teases.

Alex grabs the napkin from her back pocket and waves it around. "I got their number."

"Hell yeah sis! Been here two hours and already got yourself a partner? Good job!" Gabe laughs excited for his baby sister.

"Yeah, totally." Alex rolls her eyes sarcastically, "But, there's something, weird, about them. Something I relate too, in a way, even though I have no idea what it is, yet."

Chapter Two

Haven felt empty, lifeless. Since Gabe passed the entire town was quiet and somber. Alex was angry at Typhon, she knew they had something to do with his death and wanted to investigate to find the truth but she'd need help, you decided to text her so you could chat in the ice-cream parlor.

hey-

im in the avalanche if you want to talk-

no pressure though-

-i'll stop by

You felt butterflies in your stomach at her response, you hadn't seen her in a while and had missed her. You had a few minutes before she would enter the building and sit in the booth opposite you.

They look beautiful today

"How've you been Alex?" You ask softly.

"Surviving." She answers somberly. "I know Typhon is responsible." She gains energy.

And I'm going to prove it

"I believe you. And want to help." You tell her. "He was my best friend, and Typhon is the worst company ever. I hate that they run this town, but if we prove this, we could get them out."

Pretty and smart, but... what if they get hurt?

"Yeah, you're right. But, Typhon is dangerous, are you sure?" She asks cautiously.

"Never been more sure of anything. I want to help you Alex." You answer confidently.

"Thanks." She smiles greatfully, "I gotta go check in on Eleanor but, I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, of course."

~~

The bridge of flowers looked beautiful that night. Everyone crowded around Alex who was giving an emotional speech about Gabe. Ryan was holding a large lit lantern beside her, she ended her speech by letting the lantern fly over the river. Everyone stared in awe at the lantern, you placed a hand on Alex's shoulder.

"That was beautiful Alex." You pull her into a comforting embrace. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks Y/N. That means a lot." She smiles tearfully.

Chapter Three

"You too?" You ask surprised.

"What?" All eyes turn to you.

"Uhhh... I can read minds..." you explain.

Since when?

Two friends with super powers?

That's what it was! Of course!

"Uh, since forever? Yeah, you've got two friends with super powers. And I felt something was up with you too." You answered their questions.

"Holy shit!" Steph exclaimed.

"Yeah..." Alex smiled "This is so cool!"

After the excitement from the power reveals subsided Ryan spoke up, bringing the attention to the reason you were all at the lantern.

"So, any sign of Diane today?"

"You said she was afraid of something around Gabes death. If she's covering for Typhon, there might be proof." Steph continued.

"She was here yesterday. She might come by today. You three start working on a plan." Alex answered "I gotta finish my shift."

Alex walked away, you, Steph and Ryan worked on a plan. Eventually, the plan became whoever was the hottest would distract Diane whilst someone else stole her laptop. You weren't a massive fan of the idea but you agreed nonetheless. Your curiosity got the better of you, you desperately wanted to confirm how Alex thought of you and this might be your only chance.

A few minutes later, Diane walked in, carrying her laptop in her bag.

"Welcome! I'll be with you in a minute!" Alex called out as she walked past her. She quickly made her way towards you.

"So, what's the plan guys?" Alex asked.

"Well, we've got three plans, but we're still workshoping them." Ryan responded.

Steph described the plan, Ryan told her his version, you told her yours.

"Come on, it's perfect. You just need to pick who's the hottest distraction." Steph added, looking at her doubtful gaze.

"Y/N." Alex smiled. You felt your heart skip a beat at her choice, your cheeks flush, butterflies in your stomach. "Sweetheart telepath? It's a no brainer. Sorry you two." She winked at you and left to talk to Diane.

~~

Alex went to speak with Charlotte after the LARP whilst you, Steph and Ryan waited in her apartment. When she arrived, something was off, you could feel it.

"Hey." You waved.

"Hi." She smiled nervously. "Please tell me the USB has all of Typhons secrets?"

"Yeah, uh... we found a recording of Gabes call..." Steph answered cautiously.

"Oh." Alex took a deep breath "I should probably listen to that."

She sat on the couch beside you and played the recording. You could see the anger rising in her, you'd never seen her like this before.

"They just... ignored him. That's so fucked." Ryan sighed angrily. You can feel Alex getting angrier.

"You know it's bad when Mac turns out to be the good guy." Steph remarks.

"It doesn't matter, he's dead!" Alex explodes, picking up Steph's 'foosball champion' whisky bottle and hurling it towards a wall, smashing it instantly. Once Alex regains control, everyone stands in silence.

"Fuck this." Steph whispers before storming out of the apartment, Ryan follows after her. You turn to leave with them but Alex grabs your wrist, looking tearfully into your eyes.

Please don't leave me alone

Chapter Four

You'd never had anyone to give a rose. You never felt like you needed to. Until she came along.

~~

Earlier that evening you helped her piece together the mystery using the information found on Diane's USB, she came to the conclusion that Typhon was burying something in their old mining site.

Almost immediately Alex called Pike to tell him that she'd found something. He told her to meet him later that night. She hung up and moved to her drawer get dressed for the festival, forgetting you were there, once she picked her outfit, she began to undress, taking her shirt off first.

"Uhh, Alex?" You teased, unable to control the red of your cheeks.

She yelped in surprise, quickly grabbing her shirt to cover herself, making you both laugh hysterically.

"Oh shit I forgot you were there!" She says, still in a laughing fit.

"Well I wouldn't want you to be lonely." You smirk flirtatiously before taking your shirt off. The bright red of her face quickly becomes your favourite colour.

Oh my God they're gorgeous

"You're gorgeous too Alex."

Ekk! Stop reading my thoughts!

She blushed harder.

"But it's true, Alex." You step closer to her until you're barely inches from her "You're stunning." You lift a hand to play with the longer side of her hair, smiling softly, eyes trailing down her perfect face towards her lips.

"How's it goin, kind Haven listeners?" Stephs dj booth interupts.

You jump apart, both blushing uncontrollably.

She's got some bad timing

"Yeah she does." You smile bashfully.

"Well uh, I'm gonna get dressed for the festival. Do you want to go home to change or..." She trails off.

"Or?" You inquire further.

Wear my clothes?

You simply smile in response before leaving to raid her drawer for something that you look nice in.

~~

Alex and you arrived at the festival together, it felt nice having her beside you. Your mind kept wondering back to her top less in the apartment. How close you were to kissing her, the events replayed in your mind over and over, making your smile brighter and brighter every time it did.

When she left to speak with Ryan and Steph you took your chance to get a rose to give to her, taking your time to find the rose that felt like 'Alex Chen'.

The perfect one, looked exactly like the rest of them, but it felt more. You could tell. It was Alex.

She spent most of the evening walking around town, chatting with other Haven residents and helping them however she could. It was beautiful to watch, how simply being herself helped countless people, how her presence brightened everyone's day, how her smile was stained into your memory. She was magnificent. In every sense of the word.

You were so distracted watching her from your spot by the fireplace that you didn't notice Jedd coming to sit beside you.

"You know, Alex always works better when you visit the lantern. The rest of the time she just stares at the door hoping you'll walk in." He laughs.

You turn your head to look at him in surprise, "There's no way that's true." You smile bashfully, subtly averting your gaze back towards the fire.

"Naw it is, I should hire you to sit in all day. That'd probably be a good business decision." He answers, you smile, letting your eyes drift back to Alex, your smile growing brighter when you see her walking towards the roses.

You get butterflies in your stomach when she approaches you.

"I think I'll leave you two to it." Jedd chuckles under his breath as he walks away leaving you both alone.

"Hey." Alex smiles.

"Hey yourself." You smile back.

"I, uh, wanted to give you this." She hands you her rose.

You'd never had anyone to give a rose. You never felt like you needed to. Until she came along.

"I wanted to give you this." You hand her your rose.

"I'm greatful Y/N. I'm so glad you're in my life." She says with watery eyes.

"I'm lucky to have met you Alex. Can we meet later? Maybe on the rooftop?"

She doesn't say anything, only bites her lip to hide a bashful smile and nods.

I'd love to.

~~

Alex was magnificent on stage, with her guitar and beautiful voice. It was like she was the centre of the universe, not just yours.

You were sitting on her roof overlooking Haven with the rose she blessed you with, patiently waiting for her to arrive. Fortunately, you didn't have to wait too long.

"Hey!" Her cheerful voice calls from behind you. A smile grows as you greet her.

Then you just talk. About nothing in particular, whatever came to mind. Alex was so easy to talk to, the only other person like you.

I love spending time with you.

You thought, felt. Knowing she'd hear you.

I love spending time with you too.

She thought back. Knowing you'd hear her.

"Can I kiss you?" You ask, "No interruptions this time." You add on playfully.

"Please." She laughed as you lent in to kiss her.

Her heavenly scent intoxicated you, the softness of her lips, the desire for her that plagued you now finally had a release as you poured all of you into the kiss.

Next thing you know is that Alex went to talk to Pike. And no-one has seen her since.

Chapter Five

Steph, Ryan and you spent the entire night trying to get in contact with her to no avail. No response to any text, not even read a single one, not answered any calls. The three of you posted about her apparent disappearance on MYBLOCK in an attempt to get more information.

Unfortunately still nothing new. But at least more people would be on the lookout and trying to find her.

Whilst you would've rather spent all day looking for her, you had to attend the council meeting with Typhon, although you did spend the majority of the time on your phone trying to reach Alex. The entire time with still no reply.

It was near the end of the meeting, when Diane called for a vote, that Alex entered. Seemingly on the brink of death. When you tried to call for help she just told you she was fine and continued walking towards the centre of the room, where Diane and Jed stood.

She revealed that Typhon was lying to everyone, and so was Jed. Then explained that she was in the mines all night and that Jed allowed seven men to drown, and that in trying to cover it up he'd killed Gabe, and Alex.

Once she was finished speaking, you and Steph voiced your support of her,she was greatful for that, Duckie sided against her, Eleanor supported her, Charlotte refused to get involved, Pike supported her but Ryan was furious she'd accused his father of such things.

Steph started yelling at him, your attention remained on Alex, but hers on Jed.

~~

The next few minutes were incredible, watching her so elegantly break down over a decade of built up guilt and regret. Watching a man of stoicism turn to a mess of aching sobs was ethereal.

The next few weeks were hectic, with Typhon being slowly shut down, reporters from all over came to Haven to speak with Alex, to see the bar where it all happened, to be nuisances, all the locals thought.

You hadn't seen Alex in those weeks, you didn't think anyone had. Aside from the medical staff that tended to her wounds. So today you were at her door ready to confess some things.

It didn't take long for you to gain the courage to knock on the door, which was a little surprising considering up until now the idea of talking to her made you pretty nervous, what if it was too early and she wasn't ready to talk? But actually being there you knew you just had to do it. If she told you to leave you would, you just had to know for sure.

"Hey, Y/N." Alex greeted as she opened the door.

"Hey Alex. If you want me to leave, please tell me and I will. I just wanted to tell you some things." You started, entering the apartment.

"Yeah? What's up?" She asked closing the door behind you.

"I'll start with, you were so badass at that council meeting. It was probably the most incredible thing I'd ever seen. You know everytime I think of you I think you can't possibly get better and then I see you again and I'm proven wrong. Every single time. I want you to prove me wrong everyday Alex. So I don't care how, where or when but I want to be with you. I feel something strong with you, Alex, stronger than I've ever felt before, for anyone or anything. I want to try this, us..." You step forward slowly taking her hands in yours, "But only if you do too. If you don't want this just tell me. It's okay, I just want honesty."

I just want you to be happy.

Good thing you make me happy then, right?

What I Write~

Games

TWD

Requests Always Open📸

~Elliebean714

♤♡◇♧☆♧◇♡♤♡◇♧☆♧◇♡♤♡◇♧☆

[nerves-nebula]

I saw you wanted to hear about the Mutanimals, so I have to talk about Pigeon Pete. No one really talks about Pigeon Pete. He only really exists is the 2012 show and IDW comics. I mean he does kinda exist in the 1987 show but he's just a regular pigeon.

He's always a low intelligence character and retains his pigeon behaviors for the most part. He kinda just disappears in 2012 after a point and isn't given as much attention (understandable considering their cast was huge) but I find him to be a fun character. He's just a goofy pigeon guy.

My favorite version of him is in the IDW comic. He's shown to be a really kind character and too trusting/naïve. He likes to do things like cook for his friends, but ends up putting worms/other stuff that don't like. No one really has the heart to comment on it because he means well. He's also really good at board games like an expert level despite his low intelligence.

I don't want to really get into spoilers (never sure what classifies as one), but it's hard to get into Pete angst without some context. Old Hob (IDW's mutanimals leader) is kinda a father figure to some of the mutanimals and I can't say he's a good one. Pete is one of the few that stick with him. Unlike the other ones that stuck with Hob who have a soldier mentality Pete is more of a mascot/morale booster. That's all I say for now.

As a former smart kid that's whole identity was based off my intelligence before burning out characters that's main strength is their kindness and not their intelligence is so important to me. I really love him.

he sounds lovely... beautiful bird who cooks and plays board games <3 i will add him to Mikey's friend group the future!! (Also apologies on taking so long with this ask, the large amount of text swamped me and i kept forgetting haha)

[coldgoldlazarus]

On a gameplay front, I feel like the key difference in backtracking between the 2D games and Metroid Prime, that led to Prime's backtracking getting so much criticism, is partially an issue of world layout, but mostly down to the difference in how Samus herself handles.

Even in the pre-Fusion 2D games where the powersuit is explicitly more tanky and cumbersome than the stripped-down Fusion suit or the best-of-both-worlds regenerated one from Dread, she still has stuff like the Space Jump, Speed Booster, and Shinespark to make traversal pretty quick in the lategame, and even earlier on there's just the option to run instead of walk.

Whereas in Prime, Samus's tankiness is emphasized further, with a light jog being the fastest you can go unless you boost-ball everywhere. (and thanks to the terrain in some areas and frequent doors, the latter isn't always reliable.) Mind you, I do enjoy the more deliberate pace of the Prime games a lot, I'm not terribly good at stuff that requires Lightning Fast Reflexes(tm), but it still is a significant alteration that has a lot of impact and thus has to be designed around.

And that's where the world layout becomes an issue. While Prime 1's backtracking is, honestly, kind of excessive even in comparison in some ways, (The repeated trips through nearly the entirety of Magmoor, to pick up one(1) singular upgrade from Phendrana Drifts or TallonChozo OverworldRuins, before doing a 180 and trekking back through nearly the entirety of Magmoor again, are undeniably painfully tedious in a way unique to this game) a lot of the issue is just in that the progression goes back-and-forth between areas in the same ways as the 2D games can go, but without the mobility to match, making it feel worse than it otherwise could.

Prime 2 and 3, of course, fix this by reducing a lot of that zig-zagging and making each area/planet fairly self-contained instead. Temple Grounds to Agon Wastes to Torvus Bog to Sanctuary Fortress, with only occasional detours back to a previous area, that usually also reveals a shortcut to return to the current one in the process. Norion to Bryyo to Elysia to Urtraghus to Phaaze, with a quick detour to the GFS Valhalla in the middle just to establish it as a location prior to the endgame.

It's not perfect, sure, (and it makes the few moments where you do have to revisit a prior area oddly jarring) but it is a smart adaptation of the progression that cuts down on tedium (for as much as I loved every moment I spent on Tallon IV, there was a point where even for me it started to get a bit old) to streamline everything into these smaller chunks. Even if the tradeoff is more of a feeling of linear railroading, and lack of feeling of interconnectivity, kinda taken to its logical extreme with Prime 3's separate planets.

All of this kinda raises the question of how Prime 4 could wind up handling things. It could definitely stick to what worked, following the Echoes/Corruption approach of breaking everything down into these smaller areas tackled one at a time.

Alternatively, they could try Prime 1's style of interconnectedness again, but if so, it would have to make changes to Samus's mobility to bring her more in line with 2D, to make that work. At the very minimum, a run button would be a welcome addition. (Again, I say this as someone who enjoys the more slow-paced approach of the prior games, I still would want this.) Depending on how spicy Retro is feeling, the speed booster and shinespark may be on the table as well.

Either way, though, I look forward to it.

[wiihtigo]

6 and 7 for casey and also 20 :)c

Ask game

6. What catalyzed their introduction to the plot?

True to her rotten soul, she was summoned to the plot in vp by discourse and disorder in the family. She comes around during a point when Michelle is starting to get sudden positive public attention as goldstar, and since boosters been mostly out of public eye since starting to be the silent protector of the time stream, she’s treated as something of a big new breakout sensation (they’re bored as fuck in metropolis)

Michelle is dealing with some inner turmoil and fighting with booster which she’s been keeping under wraps cuz she’s gods strongest soldier but she sees the attention on goldstar as a way to break away from it all and gain some independence and also as a sort of petty bite back at her brother who is being very annoying at the moment warning her about the dangers of stardom. As if he’s so smart. DIE. She starts spending more time as goldstar the superhero and less as goldstar the time master and is fighting a lot with booster, so she starts looking for her own place and wants to start at university and do all these things for herself (we’re so proud of her. I mean I am. FUCK BOOSTER GOLD) and CUE….. CASEY WILKES

Michelle is enrolled in uni, but she’s still living in the time lab and her brother is driving her fckn crazy every time she’s home. And she’s having trouble adjusting to sxhool life (I imagined she didn’t attend college like booster did, and just kept working out of highschool all the way up till she was dragged into the past) And as if drawn magnetically towards someone else who wants to kill MJ Carter, she and Casey have a chance encounter at a cafe near school and they chat a little. Casey tells Michelle she goes to the university near here too. That’s crazy. We have so much in common! Eventually while talking it turns to venting cuz Michelle was looking a little miserable before they started talking and she accidentally lets boosters name slip in convo. And Casey’s like 🙂 oh thats 🙂 that’s an interesting name. And btw you look. A little familiar? [MR KRAAAAABS I HAVE AN IDEAAAAAA] so from then Casey latches onto her like a leech and eventually gets the confirmation this was destiny and I can’t believe this is BOOSTER GOLDS (I THOUGHT SHE WAS DEAD) TWIN SISTER. AND SHES MAD AT HIM? THIS IS PERFECT

And then.. well that’s more middle of the story stuff. And this was asking about her introduction! (Her relationship with Michelle is interesting to me because aside from the friendship betrayal stuff it’s a rare case of her being weirdly friendly- at least by her standards)

7. What attribute of them (some facet of their personality, their history, their look, or whatever etc) would you find most important to somehow preserve if they were transplanted to an AU fanfic?

This is something Marty and I entertain ourselves with a lot actually wondering what fandom perception of Casey and nell would be… in a series bible id include things like… she’s genuinely not insecure. Like at all. Her attitude isn’t masking a tortured soul inside she’s just like that, she’s selfish and thoughtless and delusional. Her childhood was objectively difficult but she really has no complaints about the way she was raised or with her mother. She has her problems sure but they’re in other areas.. you’re looking in the wrong place! She also doesn’t really get .. sad? Often or at all? She’s more likely to feel anger than sadness. And also o feel it’s important to realize how monumentally difficult it is to form a relationship with her IF THATS SOMETHING YOU WANTED FOR SOME REASON. Literallt every relationship she has has been based on her thinking she could manipulate the other for something and then it either morphed into Ok I don’t hate seeing you even without anything to gain or morphed into attempted homicide. The illusion of free choice

20. Free Space #2: Which of your OCs would you most like to meet in person, if they could become real (or you could visit them) for a day?

Oh god. Not Casey. All my ocs are kind of annoying in some way.

Maybe Cain cuz he’s a normal polite boy. I’d ask him to show me his pop two extra arms out of his ribs trick and then id go ewwww lol and ask him to leave

[crystalelemental]

Pokemon Team Analysis - Geeta

Alright, time for something that’s stupid and ill-advised.  I’m gonna talk about Geeta’s team.  Because general consensus is “It’s a bad fight,” and while I don’t disagree, I think that, like usual, it’s kind of just a blanket statement of “Too easy” rather than something discussed and dissected as to why it’s not working.

Also I think there are legitimately great aspects of her team that deserve some recognition as fairly solid game design for a challenge, that maybe people miss because overleveling is basically the norm.

I’ll start with the big thing: “Geeta should’ve led with Glimmora” is a bad take.  “But the Toxic Spikes!”  Are borderline irrelevant.  Players have no significant issues getting around them.  And to make matters substantially worse.  Glimmora is setup fodder.  It’s slow.  While it’s strong statistically, it’s weak with offensive types (Rock and Poison is a bad combo).  It would be exactly like Cynthia’s fight: super weak to setup.  Seriously, if you replay Platinum, try a Calm Mind sweeper with decent speed, and see how much of her team just drops.  Cynthia’s fight is not especially challenging when you can set up, it’s why they locked the boosting TMs to Battle Frontier in post-game.  To prevent you from doing that.

In the situation where Geeta leads Glimmora, Geeta is now significantly easier to beat.  Because Glimmora cannot threaten a good booster.  But you know what threatens a good booster?  Opportunist Espathra.

This is my favorite aspect of her fight.  Espathra is a fantastic lead for the game.  Because this isn’t competitive, it’s main game, where the AI won’t switch ever.  Where the goal of the AI now is to stop your tactics from just running train on them.  Opportunist copies your boosts, which means anything short of Swords Dance benefits her as well, and Espathra is notably fast.  And, most significantly, has Lumina Crash.  Anything not Dark-type gets hit with -2 special defense.  So if you’re boosting but you’re slower, you are guaranteed to be dead.  That’s...actually a good lead.  That’s a smart tactic for the main game.  It’s very Emerald-esque.  In Emerald, where boosting moves started to take off, nearly every major fight has something in their lead slot that can obliterate yours, be it paralysis, accuracy drops, Perish Song, or outright Toxic in Steven’s cast.  Espathra feels reminiscent of that, and is, in fact, a pretty strong lead because of it.  I just think maybe they could’ve done more than Reflect to bypass Sucker Punch strats, you know?  Like maybe ditch Quick Attack for Hypnosis or Confuse Ray.  Otherwise, great pick.

Glimmora’s the other I like, but more for thematic reasons.  I think it’s really interesting how much conversation has been generated around the simple fact that Geeta even has this thing.  For the story, I think it’s a great inclusion as her ace...I just also think Glimmora should’ve had a better speed stat, or Tera shifted into a completely different type.  Personally, I’d say Grass, because you know what blows up four of Grass-types weaknesses?  Rock.  Though admittedly, I think Glimmora needs to go Fire.  It’s got a solid defensive profile, and notably means Tera Blast can cut through Steel that otherwise hard walls its STAB combo.  I think the big problem is that it’s just a bit too slow to ever be threatening with its offenses, but its typing, including Tera, is just too defensively poor.  Poison would’ve been more valuable as a Tera type, with only two weaknesses, than Rock with like five.

The other aspect I do like is that Geeta’s team is representative of the region.  Espathra from the west, Gogoat from the east, Veluza from the lake, Avalugg from the mountain, Kingambit from the north, and Glimmora from the crater.  It’s a cool idea!  But also, when you know that?  You can...probably build a better team yourself.  And you may also notice, Geeta has a battle focus.  She’s bulky offense.  All of these options, barring Espathra, are fairly slow but also reasonably bulky.

AND BULK DOESN’T WORK

The player has natural advantage, thanks to EVs, and Pokemon is a game that works entirely on hitting each other with supereffective hits.  As coverage has expanded to insane degrees, virtually every offensive threat packs ideal coverage.  It is not had to clean sweep someone with one Pokemon when you have four fantastic coverage moves and a solid offense and speed stat.  Because of this, bulky offense cannot work in favor of the AI, which doesn’t switch out to avoid supereffective hits or leverage resistances.  Moreover, it especially doesn’t work when your heavy defenders are (1) Grass type, (2) Ice type, and (3) quad-weak to Fighting, one of the most common coverage options.

Geeta’s team is poorly balanced for the type of playstyle she’s trying to run, and we’re going to talk about better options from around the region to keep that focus, while also playing a lot better.

Espathra stays.  It’s a good lead.  I also keep Glimmora.  It’s a very cool ace.

From the east, instead of Gogoat, I would recommend Cyclizar.  How is this not considered an integral aspect of the region?  Cyclizar is such a hugely important thing.  Also, for bulky offense, the substitute is ideal.  While you could argue the idea of leading with Cyclizar, and I don’t strictly disagree, I think you’d want to program the AI to cheat a little.  If the foe boosts, switch to Espathra.  If they attack, switch to a resist.  It’s a pretty clean solution.

The lake is the most obvious solution.  Dondozo.  Curse setup, Liquidation, Earthquake, Avalanche.  Dondozo fits perfectly in bulky offense, but unlike Avalugg and Gogoat, Dondozo is blessed with a wonderful defensive typing in Water.  Dondozo would be perfect.

For the mountain, I’m going to say all of them are bad.  Most of what could fit is already a staple on someone else’s team, and I assume they were avoiding a lot of overlap.  So instead?  Gholdengo.  We need to talk about this: how in god’s name does she not have Gholdengo?  I don’t even like the thing, but a bulky offensive Pokemon with fantastic defensive typing and absurd offensive capabilities, backed by potential for either Nasty Plot or Recover?  That feels like the most obvious pick.  I feel like this has to happen.

Which means dropping Kingambit.  I don’t dislike Kingambit specifically, but I also feel like it’s pretty easy to take advantage of, especially when she doesn’t let it learn Sucker Punch.  It’s just so slow as to be laughable, and its typing isn’t super weakness-laden, but it’s not as powerful as Gholdengo’s.  If you wanted to keep Kingambit, then I’d probably say take Drifblim as the mountain Pokemon.  Make it more utility-focused, maybe taking Tailwind or something to buff the speed of Glimmora or something.  But instead, I’d say give her Lurantis with Contrary.  It has Leech Life, an ideal recovery tool.  Also give it Close Combat, since you think it’s so funny to take away Superpower as like the only useful thing it could have.  Bastards.

I think these shifts would largely improve on what she’s got going on.  But also, I think it doesn’t matter.  Again, bulky offense on AI doesn’t strictly work.  Especially without items.  It’s probably worth noting that the easiest BDSP fight, despite how hard that game cheats, is Bertha.  Because it is not hard to beat bulky offense.  I just...think a major problem is that Geeta’s approach effectively stands no chance of being particularly tough for a player.  Especially not in the era of forced EXP All and infinite coverage.  It’s just...not going to be difficult to stop her.  At all.  And I think we have to acknowledge that, with the way Pokemon is...that’s going to be the case forever.  They literally cannot design a challenging fight.  The system doesn’t allow it.  The reason older games felt harder is because it was super hard to keep on pace with the opponent’s level, so you were statistically under-prepared.  There’s a reason the only modern game to be considered difficult was Gen 7, which comprised entirely garbage mechanics to massively inflate enemy stats and force stupid 1v2 matchups.  It’s because they can’t design a fair fight that’s fun.  Because your solution is to just set levels way higher, and when you do that, the only solution is grinding, but they’ve spent four generations changing the gameplay flow to no longer require grinding, so they’re out of options.  At this point, only a major overhaul to the battle system would be successful.  And I’m...not sure they’ll know what to do with it.

[kaythegayest]

The chains most powerful members in each category

This is a top 3 list. There are different categorys and I'll be explaining my reasoning for each links placement.

Physical strength

Twilight

I shouldnt have to explain this one, raised on a farm, he carrys around heavy objects with ease, has enough power to wrestle and defeat full grown Gorons. And yeah, he used the metal boots but that was just for his weight. He has the strength to wrestle approximately 150 pounds of rock. All with no strength boosters.

Wild

My man needs the upper body strength for both climbing and leaping up mountains, holding all his body weight on the paraglider for long stretches of time, and carrying heavier objects. He's got nothing on twilight and his goron wrestling but he can hold his own.

Wind

This one might come as a surprise but makes sense if you think about it. Wind comes next with his history of needing strength when it comes to sailing, and also pulls stunts like hanging by his hands off narrow cliffs, and picking up weapons twice his body weight with relative ease. (He doesn't weigh that much which makes the last one seem a little less impressive)

Combat skills

Time

Honestly, I was going to put twilight here because I just love the combat mechanics in that game. But I'm trying not to be biased and after some thought, technically time taught twilight everything he knows, therefore this spot goes to time.

Wild

&

Warriors

I was torn between warriors and wild for second, for the reasons that, Warriors had to be good enough to be a war captain, but then wild was Zelda's personal body guard and bested full grown man at about 8. The spot would go to wild, if I was sure how the memory thing worked. Cause it depends whether he remembers how to fight like that or not. But eventually I decided Wild, exceeds in strategy, he has to learn how to quickly and quietly take his opponent down with out causing to much damage to him self. Where as warriors it is just brute strength and training

Magic (I'm not counting items or gifted power like the Champions abilities or midnas warping)

Hyrule

He can turn into a fairy and heal people as well as all his other magic shenaniganry. (I'm not well informed about his magic stuff)

Time

time can turn into the hero's shade and technically the golden wolf as well, without assistance.

Legend

He can turn into a rabbit that's his main thing excluding all items, the bar was set way higher then I meant to put it but legend got the qualifications (barely)

Agility (items+power included)

Wild

Flurry rushes, parrys, bullet time, insane stamina. He jumps on lynals backs mid fight, gets bucked off, and still lands on his feet. Also hes one of the few links who can jump.

Twilight

Wild form: big jumps, Overall speed, his jumping ability in wolf form can jump much farther then a normal person

Human form: backflips, quick in general then we have the fact that he's just very agile in general as a person.

Legend

Pegasus boots, Roc’s feather, legend is also one of the few links who can both sprint and jump. And arguably more impressive, he can do both at the same time, allowing for much larger leaps.

IQ

Sky

Sky is the only link to have any sort of formal education at the Knight's Academy. So we can assume that he would be the most intelligent of the Links.

Twilight

With how difficult the puzzles were and the fact that he pieced together a entire forgotten language, we can assume twilight is pretty smart. Despite that, he had hardly any education. Making him outshined by sky.

Hyrule

Hyrule Becomes a skilled sorcerer in Zelda 2. And completes both quests with only a handful of hermits vaguely telling him the direction of where to go.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.