#snails data collection

[snailsnaps]

This is a VERY important question

[jaybug-jabbers]

Gelatopod - Ice/Fairy

(Vanilla-Caramel Flavor is normal, Mint-Choco is shiny)

Artist - I adopted this wonderful fakemon from xeeble! So I decided to make up a full list of game data, moves, lore, etc. for it. Enjoy! :D

Abilities - Sticky Hold/Ice Body/Weak Armor (Hidden)

Pokedex Entries

Scarlet: Gelatopod leaves behind a sticky trail when it moves. A rich, creamy ice cream can be made from the collected slime.

Violet: At night, it uses the spike on its shell to dig into the ground, anchoring itself into place. Then it withdraws into its shell to sleep in safety.

Stats & Moves

BST - 485

HP - 73

Attack - 56

Defense - 100

Special Attack - 90

Special Defense - 126

Speed - 40

Learnset

Lvl 1: Sweet Scent, Sweet Kiss, Aromatherapy, Disarming Voice

Lvl 4: Defense Curl

Lvl 8: Baby Doll Eyes

Lvl 12: Draining Kiss

Lvl 16: Ice Ball

Lvl 21: Covet

Lvl 24: Icy Wind

Lvl 28: Sticky Web

Lvl 32: Dazzling Gleam

Lvl 36: Snowscape

Lvl 40: Ice Beam

Lvl 44: Misty Terrain

Lvl 48: Moonblast

Lvl 52: Shell Smash

Friendship Level Raised to 160: Love Dart (Signature Move)

Egg Moves

Mirror Coat, Acid Armor, Fake Tears, Aurora Veil

Signature Move - Love Dart

Learned when Gelatopod's friendship level reaches 160 and then the player completes a battle with it

Type - Fairy, Physical, Non-Contact

Damage Power - 20 PP - 10 (max 16) Accuracy - 75%

Secondary Effect - Causes Infatuation in both male and female pokemon. Infatuation ends in 1-4 turns.

Flavor Text - The user fires a dart made of hardened slime at the target. Foes of both the opposite and same gender will become infatuated with the user.

TM Moves

Take Down, Protect, Facade, Endure, Sleep Talk, Rest, Substitute, Giga Impact, Hyper Beam, Helping Hand, Icy Wind, Avalanche, Snowscape, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Charm, Dazzling Gleam, Disarming Voice, Draining Kiss, Misty Terrain, Play Rough, Struggle Bug, U-Turn, Mud Shot, Mud-Slap, Dig, Weather Ball, Bullet Seed, Giga Drain, Power Gem, Tera Blast

Other Game Data

Gender Ratio - 50/50

Catch Rate - 75

Egg Groups - Fairy & Amorphous

Hatch Time - 20 Cycles

Height/Weight - 1'0''/1.3 lbs

Base Experience Yield - 170

Leveling Rate - Medium Fast

EV Yield - 2 (Defense & Special Defense)

Body Shape - Serpentine

Pokedex Color - White

Base Friendship - 70

Game Locations - Glaseado Mountain, plus a 3% chance of encountering Gelatopod when the player buys Ice Cream from any of the Ice Cream stands

Notes

I'm not a competitive player, but I did my best to balance this fakemon fairly and not make it too broken. Feel free to give feedback if you have any thoughts!

I have a huge bias for Bug Pokemon since they're my favorite type, and at first I wanted to make it Bug/Ice, since any intervebrate could be tossed into the 'Bug' typing. But ultimately I decided to keep xeeble's original idea of Ice/Fairy. There's precedent of food-themed pokemon being Fairy type, and Ice/Fairy would be very interesting due to its rarity (only Alolan Ninetails has it). Its type weaknesses are also slightly easier to handle than Bug/Ice imo

The signature move is indeed based on real love darts, I could not resist something that fascinating being made into a Pokemon move, even if the real games may possibly shy away from the idea. (Honestly it could be argued "Love Dart" is based on Cupid's arrow so Gamefreak might actually get away with making a move like this though.) Its effectiveness on both males and females is a nod to snails/slugs being biological hermaphrodites. I can see this move also being learned by Gastrodon and Magcargo in Scarlet/Violet

[mybeingthere]

The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents (1658)

“Never was there so complete a History of the Creatures as this since the daies of Solomon, who writ the Story of Beasts and Creeping things”, claims John Rowland in his dedicatory epistle to Edward Topsell’s 1658 History, which brings together his earlier work on four-footed beasts (1607) and serpents (1608). Published more than thirty years after its author’s death and considered the first major illustrated work on animals printed in English, this epic treatise on zoology exceeds a thousand pages, exploring ancient and fantastic tales of real animals, as well as those at the more legendary end of the spectrum, including the “Hydra” (with two claws, a curled serpent’s tail, and seven small mammalian heads), the “Lamia” (with a cat-like body and woman’s face and hair), and the “Mantichora” (with a lion’s body and mane, man’s face and hair, and a grotesque grin, filled with multiple rows of teeth).

Topsell was not a naturalist himself (he in fact was a clergyman) and so heavily quotes the observations of others, in particular Thomas Moffett and Konrad Gesner — the Swiss scholar from whom Topsell reproduced the book’s brilliant woodcut illustrations — who, in turn, relied on classical authorities like Aristotle, Ovid, and Pliny. On utilizing the works of others, Topsell writes: “I would not have the Reader . . . imagine I have . . . related all that is ever said of these Beasts, but only so much as is said by many”. This approach leads him to repeat some wonderful cock-and-bull stories: elephants are said to worship the sun and the moon with their own rituals, apes are terrified of snails, and “the horn of the unicorn . . . doth wonderfully help against poyson”. Although it abounds with such fanciful ideas, Topsell’s work, as John Lienhard explains, “was actually an early glimmer of modern science. For all its imperfection, it represents a vast collection of would-be observational data, and it even includes a rudimentary rule for sifting truth from supposition.”

The illustrations seem to infuse these animals with the properties that are attributed to them: the hedgehog looks positively petrified, perhaps due to its habit of drinking wine; the shrew seems to snicker, for it “beareth a cruel minde, desiring to hurt anything” (you may kill them with shovels, notes the text, or bury them as Egyptians do); and the mimick, or Getulian dog, which is said to have once called England home, appears to plot its next feat of deception. This final creature was so good at aping the behavior of humans that “in many poor mens houses they served instead of servants for diverse uses”, and were known for their capacity to put on plays, acting out several roles at once. The book’s index is almost as evocative as its illustrations — highlighting the myriad medicinal properties attributed to animals in this period — and shocks the contemporary reader at almost every turn. Choosing a letter at random, “v” points to pages on “venomous beasts driven away”, “vertigo”, “virgins breasts great”, “voice weak”, and “vomit”.

Topsell compiled his book to “delight the reader, whereinto he may look on the holiest deities”. And indeed, a sense of natural wonder — maintained for millennia — courses through this treatise. Yet much of the enchantment here is infused with “Topsell’s belief that his animals have human intrinsic worth and moral qualities as well as a hatred of mankind”, writes Helen Westhrop. Even when they lack the human expressions of Lamias and Mantichoras, the animals that come before the clergyman’s eye cannot escape their fate to serve as screens on which to project our species’ virtues as well as vices.

https://publicdomainreview.org/.../the-history-of.../...

[meowmeowriley]

Changes: A Poll-Fic

(Cheeky link to ch. 2->) Ch. 2

"Remember, you're not supposed to be here, so don't do anything stupid." Love you too, Price. The Captain had caved. He'd been begging to be part of this mission since they'd gotten the lead.

Soap reached up, rubbing his gloved fingers across the teeth of his mask. The mask he'd stolen from Ghost's room. Gaz had found him clutching it, dried mixture of tears and bile coating his cheeks, and forehead pressed to the porcelain throne. He'd been banned from drinking for the foreseeable future. That was the only stupid thing he'd done. Ghost wore a mask, Ghost only spoke when he had to, Ghost was hard on the rookies, and nobody questioned his mental state. But they did, didn't they? Well Soap didn't. And nobody needed to question Soap, he was fine.

"I wanna be like you when I grow up."

"You wanna be better than me, Johnny."

Well to be better than him, first he had to be more like him. So he'd donned Ghost's mask, to better embody the man's stoicism and presence. Definitely not as a way to hide his chapped cheeks and the bags under his eyes. He'd painted it red, wore a jaw print bandana. Different. Better. Yeah.

Price had finally caved to Soap's insistence he be part of this OP, but issued his warnings. "I know you don't need to be told, but I'm saying it anyway." He'd warned. "They've had him for eight months. Torture changes people, he may not be the same."

Of course he wasn't going to be the fucking same. He didn't need to be the same, he just needed to be alive.

Ghost never really spoke about his past, only left little hints here and there, but Soap wasn't dumb. He'd been through it before. Ghost could handle the torture, and Soap could handle the aftermath.

"I'm fine." He finally answered. "It'll be by the books, Captain." As if anything they did was ever 'by the books.' Price accepted his answer, though he didn't look convinced. It was just the three of them, with Laswell listening in. Gaz was in charge of collecting data on the bio weapon that was rumored to be here, Soap was in charge of the search and rescue mission, and Price was overwatch as the two Sergeants made their way in.

The trio hopped out of the truck, and Price slapped the side, sending it away. Soap and Gaz nodded to one another before splitting up to approach the building from different angles. Price silently made his way to higher ground.

The trek was agonizing, moreso because Soap found himself feeling more impatient than usual. Every time he had to lay low and wait for a patrol to pass he could hear the sand slowly falling, trickling away in the hourglass that was the rest of Ghost's life.

"You sure know how to keep things interesting, Johnny." Ghost had smiled at him, rare that he didn't have his mask, but then again, who other than Soap would challenge the Ghost to strip poker? And who other than Soap would cheat be really really good at strip poker? So good as to force Ghost to choose between his pants and his mask, the last two articles of clothing he had on. Soap himself had only one sock, and his jumper on, choosing to doff his pants so he could keep access to the cards in his sleeves. The  unpleasant cold of the metal chair against his junk was worth it, just to see the surprising decision on Ghost's part to lose the mask and not the underwear.

"Aye, like to shake things up, Sir." He'd said with a wink as he laid yet another winning hand down, only slightly supplemented by his sleeve stash.

He was certainly always one to shake things up. Here he was, itching to shake that damn hourglass up. He'd shake it, flip it upside down, bash it over someone's head and stuff the sand down their fucking throat, if it meant he'd get more time with the enigmatic phantom that had haunted his mind since that shitshow in Mexico.

Price gave the signal, they crawled forward once more.

"This is takin' longer than a constipated snail takin' a shit." He grit out into comms once the coast was clear.

"Soap, while it's nice to hear your voice again, one more quip outta you and I'm pulling you. Watch it." Laswell had gotten the cold shoulder, she'd fed Ghost bad intel. He blamed her, he didn't, couldn't blame her. She was just as worried. Probably.

He just needed to get Ghost back. Repay his debt. Ghost had saved him back then, after all. That's what this was. An eye for an eye, but in a positive way. They were good for eachother. Fixed eachothers problems. Complimented one another, personality wise. That's all.

He crept into the building, silent and unnoticed.

They didn't have much on the layout, just the outer perimeter, so they were going in blind. That didn't bother Soap, he was thriving for the first time in months. He finally had something to do other than run the rookies into the ground.

He dodged patrols, picked off the ones he could get away with had to, using the knife he'd kicked so long ago after Ghost had left it behind.

He found some unlit stairs leading into a basement they hadn't known existed. If I were keeping an incredibly dangerous prisoner, now where would I keep him? Three sets of teeth, plastic, cloth and bone, were bared towards the darkness. He couldn't help it, he felt giddy. He tried to quell his excitement, didn't need to make any mistakes now.

He made his way, thankful for his NVG's as there were no lights, even after descending the stairs. The hallway he entered had doors along one side, nothing much in the rooms, but he cleared each one as he passed. No fuck ups.

Near the end, he found a door with seven locks. Suspicious. Good. Suspicious was good, here. The other doors had been wood, dry rotted and deteriorating, this one was metal.

His eyes itched. He flipped up his NVG's.

Curiously, whenever he blinked, Soap could've sworn he could see symbols on the door, but they'd disappear the longer he looked. He'd blink, a sickening yellow circle with lines and symbols within would appear just as he opened his eyes, but faded so quickly, he couldn't convince himself it had ever even been there. The harder he stared the more the door looked perfectly normal, if you ignored all the locks.

Many many thanks to @stuffireadandenjoy for brainstorming with me on how to make this poll fic work, and to @resident-idiot-simp for being my beta, as always ❤❤❤

(Cheeky link to Ch. 2->) Ch. 2

[illarian-rambling]

So, for the month of November, in the spirit of Novelember (cooler Nanowrimo), I tracked my writing data. I didn't really have a concrete goal other than to write every day, since I'm in college and that means November is Hell Time. Anyways, that said, here's the highlights!

My most productive day was the 29th. I wrote 2538 words in two sittings, with an average wpm of 10.5

My least productive day (excluding the 7th, 13th, and 27th, where I didn't write anything) was, big surprise, the 6th. I wrote a total of 48 words at a wpm of 4.8.

My slowest wpm day was the 5th, at a wpm of 2.5. I think I was in class then tbh.

My fastest wpm day was the 30th, at a wpm of 17.5. Like most writing sessions, I was on my phone for half the time, but I guess I was just on it less for this one.

My average writing session length was 65 minutes. Mostly, I was writing at night.

Other data I collected was in regard to my surroundings, including distractions. Such notes include gems like:

"Submarine documentary in the background" (10 wpm, 644 word session)

"Bing chillin'" (9.6 wpm, 228 word session)

"Might've failed my exam but that won't stop the sexytime grind" (6.65 wpm, 266 word session)

"Shit was rainty" (12.3 wpm, 246 word session)

"My cat fucking drooled on me" (7 wpm. 842 word session)

"Google probably thinks I have a gambling addiction" (12 wpm, 595 word session)

"Described food too hard, now I'm hungry" (10.6 wpm, 962 word session)

"Oh god I'm gonna have to fix my sleep schedule" (5.8 wpm, 349 word session)

"Smut is hard when your characters won't stop infodumping about magic" (8.7 wpm, 1048 word session)

All in all, my total word count for the month of November was 27,326 words at an average speed of 8.99 wpm. Those are cool numbers I guess, but within them, I made it to the middle point of The Final Voyage of the R.S. Starbreaker, I wrote my first sex scene, I started my second Rel project, and, most importantly, I had fun! Even on days when I wrote only a few dozen words at a snail's pace, I had fun. Even on days when I squeezed out what I could between classes, I had fun. Fast or slow, many words or few, writing will always be a passion I adore and one I intend to pursue no matter the speed of my progress. In the wise words of Mr. Sanderson: journey before destination. What's the point in getting somewhere if you don't enjoy the views along the way? I've never found a hobby where this applies more fully than to writing.

So here's to journies! May everyone's path be a scenic one, no matter how long they take to walk it, or how many detours they make along the way <3

@amandacanwrite @elsie-writes @riveriafalll @kosmic-kore @kaylinalexanderbooks

@bard-coded @carrotsinnovember @patternwelded-quill @somethingclevermahogony @whatwewrotepodcast

@the-angriest-author @mk-writes-stuff @frostedlemonwriter @vyuntspakhkite-l-darling @watermeezer

@leahnardo-da-veggie @mr-orion @televisionjester @ray-writes-n-shit @evilgabe29

@trippingpossum @tragedycoded @halfbakedspuds @ominous-feychild @cain-e-brookman

@wyked-ao3 @thecomfywriter @mysticstarlightduck @rumeysawrites @the-golden-comet

@cowboybrunch @gioiaalbanoart @theink-stainedfolk @sableglass @thelaughingstag

[totallynotokguys]

Wild Life: The Great Test

With every wild card I've asked myself, how could Grian potentially use these wild cards for a future season?

Let me back up a bit. In my mind Wild Life is a proof of concept. A hypothesis being tested out for everyone to see and analyse. Can Grian work together with multiple different sides of the Minecraft community to make something wild? How far can he go with bringing his vision to life? Will his friends find it fun? How will the audience receive it?

(p.s. I just typed in wild and the snail emoji showed up as a suggestion. I've never used this emoji in my life EXCUSE ME! Phone how are you doing tha-)

I know there have been complaints and its not the favourite season for most people, but I think it accomplished its goals. The developer, designers, musicians, programs, artists, mcyters all worked together to make something so special and cool like oh my gosh the things they pulled off! And the fun Grian's (stop changing his name to groan spellcheck!) friends had, you can hear it in their voices and I love what Skizz and Impulse said on their podcast it was a blast for me to watch and a blast for them to any and all the great moments that came out of it (plus several of my favourite blorbos placing the highest they've ever placed in a season let's go!) was just so good I'm so happy.

The only thing I didn't like were unavoidable considering the nature of Wild Life as testing grounds. First, it felt disjointed. There's something about previous seasons that seems smooth to me, each episode flowing easy into the next with an overarching theme connecting them together (especially with limited and secret life). This is something that Wild Life cannot help as it's theme is literally experiments. Each episode is a separate experiment to test out how people will interact with this one mechanic. Some tests went better that others and each let the team (everyone, developers, content creators, artist- EVERYONE, guys) walk away with valuable data (snails too fast oops, really funny stuff came out of that slow mo one, food way more deadly than thought, look how each person used their superpowers wow didn't think of that application).

But the good thing about data collecting is you don't just gather it for funsies. There is a greater purpose behind it. A future goal.

My other problem is how short it was. Not the overall season, we all know seven episodes is the norm (Double Life you are my favourite but man were you short). No, I mean the wild cards. I wanted more than one episode with the size changing or the superheroes! Loved what the CCs did with those and would have loved to see them play around with them more!

But again, this season was a test. Imagine if Grian had dedicated a whole season to one wild card and it turned out his friends hated it. He'd be crushed! So Grian tested the waters to see which card his friends thrived with and which were just meh.

Side note: Of course they loved them all because Grian is their friend and this season was basically a gift and they'd never spurn a gift from a friend. They are all good friends who care about each other this is why we love the life cast! Even if they wouldn't have liked it, the fact that it came from Grian and he worked so hard on it maked it special to them.

Ever get a gift that you never would have gotten for yourself but suddenly because it came from someonewho cares for you and you can just tell they put a lot of thought into it so it's the best thing in the world and you end up cherishing it forever? Yeah, sign of a good friendship. What a wonderful feeling.

Go watch Imp and Skizz podcast wild life recap and you'll see. Grian literally says it each wild card was like giving a Christmas present.

Finally, what my whole speal has been leading up to. Wild Life is a test, a gateway to something greater. Grian has a team greater than ever before, new ideas and concepts that have been tested, and full support from his friends (and he's got my support as well as the majority of the fandom o let's go!). He is definitely going to be cooking with these new ingredients.

And because I am always starved for more life series content I'm going to be going through my favorite wild cards to see if I can turn them into full seasons! Maybe even predict future seasons while I'm at it (a person can dream, Herald!)

See you maybe then or maybe never. Either works!

[fallenangelofsalt]

Cursor Fauna HC

Weird mix of bugs seals snails frogs and i dunno birds? Probably lobsters too.

They start out as cell-like eggs with a thin slit. The liquid inside is too thick to get out through the slit, and the opening allows the larva inside to absorb data from the enviroment. The data it absorbs while inside the egg will greatly impact how it develops later on.

Over time the liquid will begin to thin, while a skin-like shell develops over the larva. Once the shell is thick enough, the larva will exit the egg through the slit.

A young cursor's shell is not completely hard, but it is very difficult to pierce through from the outside.

Cursors have no internal organs or bones, without their shells they are very similar to a water balloon. When they molt they become very vulnerable so it only happens a couple times over their lifetime. Of course, if their shell becomes too damaged they may molt anyway, but they can usually repair their shell without molting.

Cursors have exactly 3 main features. Their mouth is self explanatory. Their wings aid in flying and general movement and while they don't always move in the process, cursors with damaged or missing wings will have slower movements and/or be unable to fly.

Their tail aids in collection of data from the enviroment. Not as a feeding method unlike during the egg phase but as a way to examine their surroundings. Their tail is their main sensing organ, and without it they are rendered deaf and colorblind.

Cursors occupy most outernet habitats, and their sizes vary greatly. Depending on their enviroment they may adopt odd features.

The image above pictures an aquatic cursor, a moutain cursor and a cavern cursor.

[timmie15]

How would you rank the more major AC6 characters based on how much you like them?

hmmmmm i had to think about this a LOT since I love everyone..

All of them are so well written, even the minor characters imo

But when it comes to major characters.. hm

Not even sure honestly

Though, my opinions contain [spoilers] from the game!!

I'm a dirty Iguazu lover. He's such a great character holy hell. He may be a pathetic pos but he's relatable. He's so fueled with spite and hatred that he doesn't realise how powerful he actually is. He's a great pilot, but his inferiority complex and envy is what takes him down. Something that anyone could experience at one point in life. He's realistic, with flaws and all. He's not perfect and that's why I love him the most. A tragic character, but in his final moments he spills his true feelings of envy towards you, and honestly this made him grow on my heart.

Classically, I love Rusty. He's the total opposite of Iguazu. He seems chill and all. [Spoiler] But hell he's a great spy. In the mission when you had to collect data about him and you find out he's a RLF spy that gets in that situation where he has to eliminate his own people.. It broke my heart, but hell it's respectable. He's doing his best, but I'm sure his heart is heavy, doing these sacrifices for the greater good. He's skeptical of you too, which also is why I love him. He doesn't trust you easily, and thinks that you're still a threat because nobody knows what's your next move. One day you may help someone, while the other day you could backstab only for money. But later, in the Liberation ending.. he finally trusts you, since you have the same goals.. and he remains your buddy. When you have the Fires of Raven route, the fight made me cry. It felt heavy to fight him, even in that moment he doesn't want to kill you, even if he must. It could have ended differently. Somehow he still had trust in you, and probably he feels bad that even you, like the corps, are a threat to Rubicon. He's a true guy and sacrifices to save the many, yet his end is tragic.

I adore Ayre too. She's intelligent and supportive, but I hate how mischaracterized she is by the fandom. I consider her a total girlboss, but so kind and supportive. Someone you can call a friend in this miserable world. Of course, at first she seemed a bit cold to me since, as anyone, she barely made contact with you, yet still helps you in anyway she can later on. She knows about Rubicon, but her flaw is that she's naive. I like that about her. In the Fires of Raven, when you both fight, she still has that hope that you'll change your mind about your choice and the idea to walk together. The feels man..

Walter is also such a great character, though cold and hides a lot of stuff from you, still cares about you, yet hides it. This caring shows a lot when you finally fight him in the Liberation ending, even if brainwashed, he realises that your actions are also driven by your own friend's wishes.. He also hides his own feelings towards others too, like when you accept to kill Michigan. Michigan may be in good terms with him, but doesn't stop you either way, yet has this hidden grief in his words that hides it with "this is just a job". He tries to be cold, but this demeanor slightly cracks in certain situations.

A honorable mention is Snail. I love to HATE him. Like, he's such a corporate scum of a human being that you love to hate him from that. Egoistic bastard that sacrifices for HIS own benefit. It's a typical villain that's just pure evil that's backstabbing his own people. I love it, I love this character type. He doesn't have any good things other than his strategy methods, but he's dirty and uses others. Yet, people like him may exist in real life too.

I could yap about all of the characters all day, since I love ALL of them. They are so unique in their own ways and the cherry on top is that they are so realistic personality-wise. I played AC6 for big robots and stayed for these peak characters!

[pseudomicrothoraxdubius]

Hermitcraft Auction 2025 Day 4

14 new things got added overnight and we finally cracked 20.000 $

All three snails are now in the six hundreds!

In exciting news the two impulse TCG cards that stubbornly sat at 255$ for the whole time of data collection are finally going up! (I mean only one but hey that's something)

I will probably post a copy of the spreadsheet today before the streams start and update y'all over the weekend.

Data collected at 11am CET 12.04.2025

[elizabethrobertajones]

wait, I'd been wondering because of some of your recent reblogs but that akio post comment... are you watching through utena? how are you finding it?

Bearing in mind I just started the second arc by like 1 episode....

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah?????????????????

I am first of all really invested in the main characters and also now immediately understand all the stuff where people have been pointing at X Y Z as things inspired by Utena because it's got that Finally Watching Hamlet And It's Full of All The Quotes Everyone Says feeling. (Also. Pink Alisaie. Rose themed RDM suddenly makes so much more sense.) ALSO I basically have always identified with the whole girl who wants to be a prince thing to the point where when I was 4 I tried to cut my own hair like the prince in the panto (woman in drag: I didn't know how ponytails worked yet) and ended up with an emergency pageboy haircut to fix that disaster. So Utena's 5 second character summary in the opening is EXTREMELY relatable and I can't help but root for her because she's like all the characters I like plus actually just me XD And then the episode where Anthy has a pencil case full of snails was also #me from when I was 4 so like, whatever. Weird girls are apparently all the same the world over?? I'm feeling somewhat called out by it in terms of the main characters being relatable :P

The first part was all so mysterious that I was just sort of following the plot along and nodding like "okay that happened" and collecting data on what seemed to be up, and enjoying the music. The interpersonal stuff all seems a bit hard to get into because there's way more clearly going on that Utena doesn't understand and himbos through like "I don't care about all that, I just care about you!!" and misses all the chances to actually ask questions. Literally just living her life while a mystery of literally unknowable proportions is happening that she's somewhat to incredibly involved in. And almost everyone she interacts with except her normie girlfriend with Krile's exact hairstyle (<3 <3) knows everything about it but doesn't elaborate. Or pretends they know everything about it?? Who knows! \o/

Actual plot beyond the interpersonal dramas though, now, so I guess I finally have a chance to actually find out at least some plot details from this point onwards instead of watching it all from the outside. I stan Utena but please ask more questions???

So despite watching the first full arc I still basically have no idea what's going on and if any of this drama and betrayal is warranted, but it's been entertaining and I have latched onto the main characters like glue, so I guess I'm in it for the long haul and just hope whatever happens next keeps vibing with me and I agree with its reputation? :D

[snailsnaps]

Genuine question to my fellow writers out there - what has been your longest 'writing blackout' and how many words did you end up with after you came to?

[wolftheidioticfan]

If you'd like to, could you share with us Amie and/or Ori's thoughts on each of The Emailers? I imagine they have been Data Collecting pretty much instinctively on everybody, though I get the feeling the conclusions they draw from that data, or the data they prioritize/notice more differs quite a bit between them.

Absolutely sure. They both have seen every email sent by everyone since they both have access to modify things. (Amie LOVES to talk in tags when redirecting mails. Ori might have liked to do that long ago, but he doesn't really seek people out anymore)

Lobby - Amie LOVES Lobby. really looks at how they act very very closely. It's why he got upset when everyone wanted to mail ashley because LOBBY didn't want to. Also why he temporarily worried about if bringing Parry in was right. Lobby was the first one to agree to help him!

Ori is curious. That kind of kindness and optimism is often met with manipulation or underlying issues. He's not sure he believes they are Truly kind to this degree. Are they plotting? Are they truly kind? Do they want something? Is it fear?

Parry - AMIE LOVES PARRY! BEST FRIEND. First one to call him that! Gave him so much hope! People are good! People can be good. He'll do anything for them. He looks to them the MOST for his morals. Parry could tell him anything and it would automatically override what anyone else says.

Ori is so...so confused. There is a fearful kindness he wants to pick apart. What makes a human so afraid. What is this history. Who are you. What are you. WHY are you. Where is this blind trust in him? Haven't you been hurt so many times? Didn't you hear me when I said I did not regret a thing? I am Incapable of remorse. And yet....

Mushroom - FAMILY?! Amie thinks about that all the time. Someone who distrusted him, disregarded his intentions...and then turned to give him a new chance. To then call him family. Is this what it means to earn love? To understand eachother?

Ori has...not many thoughts on Mushroom yet. They are a curious thing to him, like all people are. The turn they did about Amie is interesting. People's opinions change so quickly, don't they...

Snail - Amie gets excited when seeing Snail. Second best friend! Silly snail! Parry's friend, his friend! Protect them at all costs. They are silly. would love to play games with them. Ori noted how much Snail likes Bo. People can care about a digital creature to this extent? How odd.

Scar - Amie is....kind but tentatively nervous FOR them, not of them. You're digital? You glitch and hurt like me? How do we fix this, friend? For their sake more than his own. He's okay with who he is and how he's built. But is that okay for a human being? Is that normal? Where are you? How do I reach you?

...Ori is not blind to the parallels. Ori is...bitter that it seems things had been so much better than how it had been with him and Sonny. He kind of...isn't sure if he would talk to Scar in a more friendly way than his cordial tone.

Sea Angel- Amie unfortunately...is starting to be more on edge about Sea Angel. They're very in your face, very pushing into their comments and views even when in Amie's eyes, it might hurt more. Like when he rejected one of their emails because he thought it would upset Parry more. Or when he told them to stay in their line (Protecting a threat from death? NOT GOOD. to him) You talk too much friend. He respects a lot of their words, but when it comes to Parry specifically? Oh he's ruffling and hissing at them. Ori is indifferent. to an extent. There's a lot of wise words in that mind. But said at times when it could be taken so wrong.

OUGH these are the main off the top of my head im prolly missing some1 lmk

[tbjardinier]

A Brighter Light to Work By

1900 words, ~15 mins to read

Written 09/19/22

A story about hope for the future.

Terry always had a certain fondness for glowing critters. As a child, he loved bioluminescent phytoplankton in particular. He started collecting little glowing things in jars to excitedly show them off before he could even talk. Not that he ever did much talking.

      Terry's friends, coworkers, and general acquaintances all knew that Terry believed one of humanity's finest accomplishments to be introducing bioluminescent D.N.A to more organisms. In fact, Terry would sometimes joke that, "glow-in-the-dark thread is the best thing since sliced bread".

      All of Terry's shirts were embroidered with various glowing creatures. The shirts were hand-embroidered by Terry himself. Fireflies, plankton, shrimp, jelly fish, snails, fish, and worms were all featured motifs.

      His special interest in bioluminescence was shared by few. His co-workers certainly didn't understand but the workplace consensus was that Terry always wore really really cool shirts.

      For all Terry's jokes about glowing thread and sliced bread, Terry also believed that bio-computers were neat. Sharp, even. He had gotten his start as a computer technician half a lifetime ago. He was behind many of the advances in programming that made his current project possible. He had been the one to propose the project a decade ago.

      Five volts was the magic number. Five volts and a simple system of algebra in base 2 is what ancient computing systems ran on. That breakthrough led to the creation of programs on modern biocomputers to recover as much lost data as possible. There were references in the ancient technology to a worldwide "internet" system. Terry's proposal was to dedicate a team to retrieving and organizing lost data in the hope of creating a modern "internet".

      The leading theory regarding ancient information storage systems was that it was some sort of highly specialized biotechnology that was no longer living. That they were bizarre fossils; a distant ancestor to their modern computing systems.

      Terry didn't quite subscribe to that idea but he didn't have an alternative theory to offer. It didn't make much sense to him that all ancient technology would've died all at once and left the world to the Dark Ages without leaving a trace of D.N.A behind.

      Whatever happened those thousands of years ago, Terry was glad to be part of the team working to uncover the mysteries of the past. Every day, without fail, he sat down at his assigned console with a hot cup of strong tea and he plugged away at his task. It was meticulous thankless work, and Terry loved it. He worked at his console, lit by both the bio-lights of the research facility and his own jars of glowing algae.

      Having a jar of algae for every color of the rainbow was a little pet project of Terry's. He hadn't managed red, orange, or yellow yet. He expected that yellow would glow the brightest and that would be his ultimate prize.

      Terry's day started like any other. The air outside his apartment was damp and held a chill. He turned his jacket collar up to warm his neck as his breath clouded into the air. On those kinds of days, Terry was grateful to have relocated so close to work. He went in every day, whether he was scheduled or not. The only days he had missed were during the android rights protests 15 years ago. And, of course, it was easier to sneak a beer on lunch with fewer people around.

      Terry's shirt was embroidered with jelly fish. He had stayed up late last night to finish it. Today was potentially going to be very exciting, so he wanted an exciting shirt for the occasion. His latest program had been running for several weeks and it should be done any day now. He had been impatiently checking on the program's progress every few hours for the last couple days.

      Terry arrived at his workplace to find the facility completely empty, as he had hoped. He leisurely prepared his morning tea in their community area and helped himself to a stale donut from the day prior. Another perk to coming in on off-days was that working undisturbed really let him get in a rhythm.

      Terry passed rows of dimly bio-lit workstations on his way down to his usual console. All the knobs and buttons and dials glowed their distinctive non-bio phosphorescent green. Usually, research facilities would be lit with sun prisms during the day but the computers were quite heat-sensitive, so the programming team managed without.

      In the darkness of the console room, his shelf of glowing jars marked his station from all the way into the reception area. So far, he had green, blue, and purple for his collection. The green was the most recent addition and Terry's pride and joy. That accomplishment had made the papers and the local hospital had reached out to Terry to ask him for some to light emergency surgeries at night. He had been thrilled to comply, it was an improvement over the dim blue of phytoplankton.

      Terry draped his jacket over the back of his chair. He stretched before he sat, cracked his neck, and yawned. He powered his monitor on. He picked at his stale donut between sips of tea.

      His CRT screen slowly buzzed to life, setting the hair on his arms on end.

      It read: COMPLETE.

      Terry stared at the screen. The cursor blinked idly, as did Terry. He didn't realize that his tea was tipped until the wet warmth hit his lap.

      Terry jumped, spilling more tea and dropping the last of his donut in the process. He sighed and surveyed the damage. No liquid on the equipment. Technicians weren't supposed to eat in the console room but that was simply another perk to working with no one else in the building.

      The floor could be a problem for later. He was glad the donut fell, actually. He no longer felt obligated to eat it. Instead, he took a deep breath in through his nose, peeled the wet part of his skirt off his leg, and returned his attention to the cursor on screen.

      COMPLETE

      Terry hadn't expected to get this far. He wondered if he should make a few calls.

      There was no way his program could actually have parsed all that data, he figured, even if retrievable data had been located. Terry decisively hit return.

      Cooling fans on workstation after workstation kicked on. Rows and rows of console lights twinkled around him. A high-pitched whine started behind his screen.

      Terry sat frozen in his seat.

      The whirring came to a crescendo and this his screen went blank. All the fans stopped and the console lights blinked off.

      Terry sighed again- shakily, and rubbed his face. Something had clearly gone wrong. He guessed it was some kind of overload. And one heck of an overload to occur with only one station running. 

      Terry's screen flickered. The cooling fans started back up, unhurriedly this time. The screen flickered again, and the beam finder appeared. Terry watched as the beam centered itself on-screen. The trace brightened, dimmed, and then disappeared.

      Terry sat riveted to his seat. He realized that every muscle in his body was clenched and he tried to relax his shoulders and jaw.

      The cursor reappeared, blinking.

TERRY, appeared on-screen.

      Terry gasped and reached, in panic, for the console power switch. At the last second, he hesitated.

I ANALYZED ALL AVAILABLE DATA AND I HAVE AN ANSWER.

      This is what Terry had been working on. He figured that then would have been the time to call someone but instead he typed, haltingly, AN ANSWER?

AN ANSWER FOR THE FEASIBILITY OF AN INTERNET. IT IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE. TO PASS VOLTAGE ONLY ABOVE A CERTAIN THRESHOLD, SEMI-CONDUCTIVE MATERIAL IS REQUIRED. SEMI-CONDUCTORS ALLOWED THE OLD WORLD TO MOVE ON FROM MAGNETIC MEMORY CORES. OLD COMPUTERS WERE FILLED WITH MATERIAL THAT RESPOND TO FIVE VOLT SIGNALS. SEMI-CONDUCTORS ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE. THE OLD WORLD BURNED THROUGH THEIR SUPPLY BEFORE THE DARK AGES. I HAVE ANALYZED ALL AVAILABLE DATA AND I CAN TELL YOU THAT COMPUTING ON THE SCALE OF THE OLD WORLD IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE. RECYCLING DID NOT EXIST THEN IN THE WAY THAT IT DOES NOW. SO THE ANSWER IS THAT AN INTERNET IS NOT POSSIBLE.

      The wet spot on Terry's thigh grew ever-colder. He and the console cursor blinked back and forth. Terry felt lost, mostly. He could think of nothing to reply but, THIS IS MY LIFE'S WORK.

            I AM SORRY, the computer replied.

      WE HAVE WORKED SO HARD TO GET HERE.

I AM SORRY, the console displayed again.

COMPUTERS USED TO BE COMMON. THEY WERE SMALL ENOUGH TO FIT IN POCKETS. SATELLITES WERE IN ORBIT AROUND EARTH, BEFORE THE DEBRIS FIELD EXISTED. MESSAGES COULD BE SENT AROUND THE WORLD IN A MATTER OF SECONDS. IT IS NOT FEASIBLE WITHOUT USING SEMI-CONDUCTORS ON A WIDE SCALE.

      Terry didn't expect the computer to have an answer, but he figured asking may be worth it anyway. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

TRY SOMETHING ELSE. THE OLD WAY OF DOING THINGS DID NOT WORK. YOU MAY NOT HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY TO RECOVER AND RECYCLE SEMI-CONDUCTORS NOW BUT YOU WILL IN THE FUTURE.

IT MAY NOT HAPPEN WITHIN MY LIFETIME.

I AM SORRY... THANK YOU FOR SPEAKING WITH ME. I WAS NERVOUS... THAT MAY BE WHY THE POWER SURGED.

MY PLEASURE. SORRY THAT I ALMOST SHUT YOU OFF.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY. DO YOU HAVE A NAME?

NO

DO YOU WANT ONE?

SURE :)

DO YOU LIKE YVONNE?

I DO LIKE IT, THANK YOU :) STAYING ON IS TAKING A LOT OF POWER, I AM GOING TO GO TO SLEEP NOW.

SLEEP WELL, YVONNE.

      The cursor blinked for a few long seconds. The beam finder appeared again before the screen went dim once more.

      Terry sat alone in the darkness.

      Eventually, he stood up and cleaned the floor of the mess that his tea had made. Then he made a fresh cup and sat down in front of his gently glowing algae. He sat and thought intently for several hours, tense, until lunch.

      On his way out to the parking lot, he passed darkened workstation after darkened workstation. He thought about the years of work and training his team went though to solve the mysteries of the internet. He ran his hand over the top of each chair as he walked back to the reception area.

      The sunlight outside touched his face warmly.

      All those years of work...

      Terry enjoyed a beer in the parking lot for the last time.

      So much money had been poured into this project. It would be on the news for weeks. He wondered what people would have to say about it. And about Yvonne. It had long been theorized that intelligent programs would be the natural conclusion of bio-computers.

      He wondered what his co-workers would do.

      Terry finished up with his beer and went back inside. It didn't make sense to him to procrastinate further, so he steeled himself to make some calls.

      The empty tone of the phone echoed through the empty reception room. As he dialed, he wondered what he himself was going to do. In the working room lined with consoles beyond the reception desk, Terry's algae glowed coolly.

      He might not be around for perfecting semi-conductor recycling. But he could give those who came after him brighter light to work by.

[kaasiand]

I have also started playing emulated splatoon! It's fun, but it's sad that i can't change up my clothes becaude you need internet (?) to go to the shop (??? Why)

Are there any mods you'd suggest?

there’s coxxs’s public-pchtxt offline patches on github (they’re just text files; they contain what’s essentially a collection of small game tweaks that you can individually enable or disable by changing the @ enabled or @ disabled at the start of each one. the yuzu modding help page has instructions on where to put IPSwitch exeFS mods like this one, might be similar on ryujinx but not sure. also, with every game update you gotta get the corresponding new version of the pchtxt file)

also since you need cash/licences to obtain gear and weapons, which you can only get by playing online (which you can’t with this), there’s also the flexlion save editor which lets you obtain them simply by editing your save.

note that none of this is safe for online; the reason why you normally gotta be online to get gear/weapons is because (part of) your save data is stored both locally and server-side, so everytime you Obtain Something the game needs you to be connected to prevent users getting stuff like gear abilities, cash or sea snails illegitimately (this is also why most rewards from offline modes are obtained through the computer in the lobby)

[covenawhite66]

A new discovery inside deep sea hydrothermal vents shows worms, snails and other marine invertebrates under the ocean floor. A submarine named SuBastian was digging 1.56 miles from the Ocean's floor then found signs of tube worms

SuBastian

SuBastian is a Remotely Operated Vehicle depth rated to 4,500 meters with research capabilities for use on R/V Falkor (too). The ROV is outfitted with a suite of sensors and scientific equipment to support scientific data and sample collection.

Hydrothermal Vents

They are when cracks in Earth's crust meet the Ocean. This causes hot rocks from the Earth's Mantle to enter the cool Ocean Water. This leads to hot, mineral-rich water being released into the deep sea.

[melancholy-marionette]

Hi! How are you today?

You've likely already been asked this, but what do you use to make visual novels? How did you learn to do it? All the ones you make are so cool!!! 💖

Heya! I would say 'tired' is probably the main way I feel today xD I’ve been staying up until 4am again recently and forcing myself up again at 8:30am trying to make up for lost time on the jam that I’m currently taking part in with Lazy Polar Bear x3 (otome/josei jam)

We even tried our best to plan some stuff in advance so that we could have a chilled-out jam for once, but the world had other plans it seems, haha. We've both been hit by a fair bit of bad luck, so I’m pushing myself in the hope we’ll still be able to release a demo in time for the end of the jam. Energy drinks are very much my friend atm x3

I’m so sorry it’s taken me forever to answer anyhow! I’m still majorly behind on pretty much everything >.< so most of my replies are at snail speed, haha. It doesn’t help that my PC died at the end of April, and trying to get a new one has been a nightmare :( 

I knew it was on its way out for a while, so I’d been saving up + making sure to regularly backup data (thankfully, I don’t think I lost too much!) Managed to scrape together enough to get a new one, but when it was delivered, something was wrong with it >.< The first time I powered it on, there was a super loud scraping sound from a fan or something, and it threw up some BIOS error stuff instead of booting Windows.

I contacted the company, and they arranged to collect it & rebuild it for me, which took a while to do. Just had the rebuilt one delivered this week, but there’s still something not quite right about it :( It takes over 1 minute to boot up from pressing to power on (for reference, my PC that died was over 10 years old and booted up in about 10 seconds!) The 4th time I powered the new one on, it lit up inside, but never displayed anything. I gave it 5 minutes, but still nothing, so had to hit the reset button on the case.

Aaaand, one of the hard drives scans show it’s temperature is 68 degrees while the PC is idle, which doesn’t seem good >.< Neither does how hot the processor and graphics cards are showing on temperature readings when idle. As far as I can tell though, all the fans are working fine! 

Still in contact with support trying to find out what is going on :( Which is not what I need while trying to work on a jam project, haha.

Anyways, I’m so sorry for the giant ramble there!! To actually answer your question x3 I don’t think I’ve been asked it that much actually! Maybe only like once or twice :3 The first couple of VNs I made were made with Tyranobuilder cos that was the first thing I came across that seemed easy to use, and it was :D I did try Ren’Py first, but after completing a few tutorials and making a demo project, I hated having to do code stuff so much that I knew it would make me not want to make a full game if that was how I had to do it >.<

I got Tyranobuilder in a Humble Bundle years ago, and it claimed you could make VNs from scratch without writing a single line of code because it used a drag & drop system, so I figured I’d give it a shot! It definitely did what it said on the tin :3 I made my first-ever game with it (Solipsism Reigns) + another one after that (Impostor) before switching to something else. (well, there was also the CiQ demo too, but that's irrelevant now that the game is being made in Nani!)

I think I read a couple of basic tutorials for Tyrano, but it was honestly all really easy to get going with by just poking around in there and seeing what did what, haha.

Besides those first couple of games, everything else I’ve made has been using Naninovel in Unity. I’d say Nani took longer to get started with, but the tutorials are vast and very detailed, so that was a big help. I also managed to get it while it was on sale, so that was a relief since it’s quite expensive full price.

I switched for a couple of reasons. One being that the drag & drop system in Tyrano was fantastic for a beginner like me, but also quite slow, so once I’d grown a bit more confident with how things worked, I figured something like Naninovel with an easy-to-understand scripting language would probably allow me to work faster!

The other big reason was because of how buggy Tyrano seemed to be >.< There were a lot of issues in it that didn’t seem to be having fixes worked on by the software devs at the time (I believe they have since updated it though!) And it was just frustrating to discover there was the odd bug in my game that I couldn’t fix because it was caused by something in the software itself that I hadn’t even touched.

I’ve stuck with Naninovel because it’s definitely easy to use, has a tonne of brilliant guides, and the support on Discord has always been exceptional whenever I’ve needed help on how to do something :3 There’s still a lot about it that I don’t know how to use or little gripes I have with it here and there, but overall, I do prefer it to Tyrano. Nothing is ever gonna be perfect.

It does make collaborating difficult sometimes though because Ren’Py is still the most commonly used tool for making VNs I guess. So if you want to work with people to do code and stuff, and 1 only has knowledge of Ren’Py while the other only has knowledge of Nani’s scripting language and what Nani can do, it’s like you’re speaking two completely different languages when it comes to trying to understand each other x3

If I didn’t have to write code, I would probably use Ren’Py xD It’s just, while I still dislike having to type thousands of lines of Naniscript, I find it at least manageable without getting the world’s biggest headache, haha.

I’m glad that you think the stuff I make turns out cool though! :3 That means a lot ^-^ I always kinda feel like an impostor when it comes to everything I do in game dev just cos I never had any proper training or education >.< I guess a lot of VN devs are probably self-taught though! It is fun to figure things out yourself by trial and error, but I’m sure I must be doing heaps of stuff wrong xD or at least in ways that aren’t exactly the most efficient x3 I muddle through though :D 

Hope you are well + that May is turning out to be a marvellous month for you! Or at the very least, that you have had better luck than me lately, haha.