#task processing framework

[des302-capstone-blog-project]

04/07/2023

I have define my specific methodology, which is the triple diamond method. I have map the stages of methodology to a timeline with a brief explanation why the methodology I have chosen is appropriate for my project. I have indicated key milestones and sub-phases across the remaining weeks of the semester.

[kaurwreck]

Paradoxes Nothing in the world is as soft, as weak, as water; nothing else can wear away the hard, the strong, and remain unaltered. Soft overcomes hard, weak overcomes strong. Everybody knows it, nobody uses the knowledge. So the wise say: By bearing common defilements you become a sacrificer at the altar of earth; by bearing common evils you become a lord of the world. Right words sound wrong. [Ch. 78 of Tao Te Ching, ascribed to Lao Tzu; English version by Ursual K. Le Guin]

I'm water like how raging rivers are water, so I also find solace and praxis in Ch. 63 (excerpted from the same English version as above):

Consider Beginnings Do without doing. Act without action. Savor the flavorless. Treat the small as large, the few as many. Meet injury with the power of goodness. Study the hard while it's easy. Do big things while they're small. The hardest jobs in the world start out easy, the great affairs of the world start small. So the wise soul, by never dealing with great things, gets great things done. Now, since taking things too lightly makes them worthless, and taking things too easy makes them hard, the wise soul, by treating the easy as hard, doesn't find anything hard.

I'd recommend the entire Tao Te Ching, actually, for self cultivating mettle, but if nothing else, the above is presently, as ever, salient.

If you'd like something more literally applicable, however —

Living With Change When the government's dull and confused, the people are placid. When the government's sharp and keen, the people are discontented. Alas! misery lies under happiness, and happiness sits on misery, alas! Who knows where it will end? Nothing is certain. The normal changes into the monstrous, the fortunate into the unfortunate, and our bewilderment goes on and on. And so the wise shape without cutting, square without sawing, true without forcing. They are the light that does not shine.

(In other words, according to Ursula K. Le Guin's footnote to the above Ch. 58, Taoists gain their ends without the use of means.)

I won't promise it'll be okay, regardless of what happens over the next few days, but I can promise the outcome is navigable.

[kitty-pelosi]

Guys you need to understand that the intersection of citizenship, ICE detainment, and the prison industrial complex is not about deportation. It is about slavery and labor. When somebody is arrested by immigration agents they are not immediately put on a plane and sent home. They stay in an interment camp where they must wait for a hearing by an immigration judge. There are not many of these judges and so people WILL be waiting for months if not years in these facilities.

The government is, and has for the past quarter century, been constructing the framework it needs to enslave noncitizen residents in America and force them into the private prison industry where their labor can be sold to companies for base production tasks. The goal here is to provide a fallback for when American global trading hegemony ends (because it will) and we no longer have access to cheap foreign labor markets. We are manufacturing cheap labor markets domestically by arresting immigrants and toying with citizenship status.

What’s happening NOW and TODAY is just a piece in a process that has been ongoing for decades, under both Democrats and Republicans. This is not new, it’s just being marketed to the public differently now that an R is in charge so that the public can feel absolved of guilt.

The immediate goal of the Trump policies now are to overwhelm the immigration judiciary to accrue a stockpile of detained people lacking documentation. Once there are so many (we are here) the government will say “we can’t handle all of this! there aren’t enough judges!” But it will not supply more judges to actually deport these people. This stage is all about normalizing the presence of hundreds of thousands of detained immigrants under your nose.

The next step is allowing these facilities to more easily sell and exploit their labor. I forsee this administration using environmental crises to do so - look at the LA wildfires. They are often fought by incarcerated firefighters. We will see more of this as crises escalate - the government will begin using more carceral labor to deal with the aftermath of hurricanes, landslides, and wildfires. This will normalize carceral slavery in the eyes of the American public.

Once this step is accomplished it will be incredibly simple to further the normalization in moments where there is not an acute crises. Then, we will be having people in these camps making our textiles, picking and packaging our food, slaughtering cattle. After years of this you may even see carceral labor enter the service and entertainment industry. By 2035 you may even be able to call up CoreCivic and lease a cook or a maid! The hard working white woman needs household assistance, after all she is too busy girlbossing to do *those* things. Plus, it’s not her fault her slave decided to be a Criminal.

But it seems like most Americans are not conscious of this framework nor do they care. They engage with this from the perspective that “everyone is welcome here! don’t deport my friends!” hon your friends are not going to be deported, they are being enslaved. Begging you to use your fucking eyes. Your damn Senators are investing in GEO Group and CoreCivic for a reason! Because these companies have a great business plan! Enslaving immigrants already is a billion dollar industry and its potential for growth under post imperial late stage capitalism is mind-numbing!

[mesetacadre]

what are your thoughts on the importance of theory to being a militant communist or activist vs things like survival skills (?) ? incredibly broad generalizations but it seems like stuff like that is shared around/emphasized more in anarchist circles. are there any non theory topics that you think is pertinent for burgeoning communists to learn? like, if youre serious about organizing you should learn first aid or this and that. very sorry if this is incoherent, english is a pain @~@

Well, survival skills for what? survival where? if you're in the imperial core, communist praxis does not look like grabbing a rifle and heading to the nearest mountains in a 5 person cell. And for what reason? First aid is useful, of course, for in the daily activity of a militant you can encounter situations that can cause physical harm, whether it's the police or trespassing. You need to ask yourself these questions and you need to realize that if you're organized in a party, you're not simply an individual in a group of other individuals like anarchists believe, you're part of the collective class effort to achieve the short and long term goals that are in our interests as a class. Survival skills are only useful it your activity in the framework of your collective, class objectives call for acting in an environment where that's necessary. Similarly, first aid is most useful when it's part of the strategy of your organization, though I would consider it useful to know regardless.

And most importantly, you can only properly figure out if you need these supplementary skills if you have a developed praxis. Praxis is not just the fancy marxist word for practice, here I'm referring to the actual meaning of praxis, which is the dialectical synthesis of theory and practice, facing their contradictions and arriving at a new conception of your work that integrates both elements. It is not a sum, synthesis is a transformative process that arrives at something new, which may or may not share component parts with the previous elements. Praxis, what cyclically informs and corrects itself through that constant dialectical synthesis is what will allow you, as an organized communist first and foremost, to take decisions as to what skills x amount of people in the organization need to learn. Theory, just like practice, is required for that.

Theory is not a dead thing, it's not the old books and the texts themselves. When you read theory you don't do it to think "wow these people 120 years ago were so smart I need to to exactly like them", you do it to learn how they went about anylizing their concrete reality, and how that allowed or disallowed their success. For example, Lenin in What is to be Done talks about how important the newspaper is to bring the party's full fledged analysis of the questions of the time to a lot of workers efficiently. This is 1905 Russia, in which modes of communication was the printed word and if you're lucky having an educated cadre or two in the territory who understand the positions or can come to their own, and communicate them correctly.

The reason trotskyists still to this day put so much emphasis on the newspaper, at least like I've always seen justified, is because they take this passage and apply it acritically to modern concrete conditions. Newspapers are not inherently the best way to communicate revolutionary positions, but instead of using that theory to better understand their tasks and come to a good concrete conclusion for their concrete reality, they read the book and do what the book says. Beyond a historiographical interest, who cares what Lenin said bolsheviks should use to deliver their message! what's interesting is learning how the bolshevik party, the first successful revolutionary marxist party, came to their conclusions and took the decisions that allowed them to have that victory. This is the value theory has, it's a necessary component part of praxis, the dialectical synthesis of practice and theory, which is the base of everything communists en pos de their political goals.

About what I think people should learn, I don't think there's a good general answer. there are many types of work to be done, and in non-extraordinary cases you, as a new member, will encounter those necessities gradually, to the point I don't really see the necessity of telling people to pre-emptively learn anything. If you can do it, no matter how little you've read or how shy or how unprepared you feel, get organized. Most of the questions you have about what organizing requires have answers and the only people that hold those are the people you'll organize with.

[codingquill]

Essentials You Need to Become a Web Developer

HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Mastery

Text Editor/Integrated Development Environment (IDE): Popular choices include Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text.

Version Control/Git: Platforms like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket allow you to track changes, collaborate with others, and contribute to open-source projects.

Responsive Web Design Skills: Learn CSS frameworks like Bootstrap or Flexbox and master media queries

Understanding of Web Browsers: Familiarize yourself with browser developer tools for debugging and testing your code.

Front-End Frameworks: for example : React, Angular, or Vue.js are powerful tools for building dynamic and interactive web applications.

Back-End Development Skills: Understanding server-side programming languages (e.g., Node.js, Python, Ruby , php) and databases (e.g., MySQL, MongoDB)

Web Hosting and Deployment Knowledge: Platforms like Heroku, Vercel , Netlify, or AWS can help simplify this process.

Basic DevOps and CI/CD Understanding

Soft Skills and Problem-Solving: Effective communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills

Confidence in Yourself: Confidence is a powerful asset. Believe in your abilities, and don't be afraid to take on challenging projects. The more you trust yourself, the more you'll be able to tackle complex coding tasks and overcome obstacles with determination.

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

okay and another thing (maybe the last. let's hope. I don't want to be the old person yells at clouds meme forever!)

can we (and, God willing, Tony Gilroy) stop excusing every strange narrative choice, every lack of payoff and every characterisation inconsistency with "well, they were going to do five seasons but then they only got two"?

Because it's not like they had everything laid out and the scripts all finished and the cast all under contract and then someone called Gilroy the night before shooting started and said "lol btw you have to do it all in one season good luck". This was also Gilroy's decision, and they knew this for some time.

I'm sure Gilroy and company wrote a script for that five-season version of the show they were proud of, and I'm sure it was disappointing to have to cut it down. I write too, I get that feeling. But here's the thing: Your job as a professional writer is to tell the best possible story within the parameters you are given. If you're a novelist and your publishing house will only let your book have 500 pages, and you turn in a book with no ending and say "well, I ran out of space", then you didn't write a good book. If you're a journalist and half of your article is missing because you ignored the space limit and now everyone only has half the information, that is a bad article. If you're a student and you have an idea for a term paper that spans 50+ pages and the page limit is 20, and instead of picking a different topic you cut your first draft down to fit even though you lose half your argument and most of the relevant analysis in the process, you've written a bad paper. And regardless of how great that writer, journalist or student think their text could have turned out to be, the bottom line in the real world is that the public has a book that is bad, and an article that isn't telling the whole story, and that student is getting a bad grade for handing in an incoherent, surface-level paper.

When you realise the parameters of your task have changed, it is your job to adapt to that new framework. And if you look at the story you have and think, well, this thing needs way more seasons to tell than I am given by the studio... then it is your job to put that draft into a cupboard and get to work on a story that can be told in a single season. Even if that story is completely different from the one you were going to tell! Kill your darlings, gentlemen! I'm sure they loved what they had written, but as professionals, it is their job to recognise this story no longer works, and let it go. They didn't do that. They chopped bits off until the foot somehow fit into the glass slipper, because they were too concerned with their own attachment to the work they had already created, and not concerned enough with the question of whether they were giving their audience the best story they could tell in the framework they were actually given.

And that is called doing a bad job.

So I'm sorry, but every time someone counters a critique of the narrative flow or the character consistency or the treatment of every female and/or poc character with "well, they didn't have enough time to tell their story!", all I am hearing is "well, consider that this show was written by people who were being bad at their job!"

[andypantsx3]

omg i'm sorry but i need to techsplain just one thing in the most doomer terms possible bc i'm scared and i need people to be too. so i saw this post which is like, a great post that gives me a little kick because of how obnoxious i find ai and how its cathartic to see corporate evil overlords overestimate themselves and jump the gun and look silly.

but one thing i don't think people outside of the industry understand is exactly how companies like microsoft plan on scaling the ability of their ai agents. as this post explains, they are not as advanced as some people make them out to be and it is hard to feed them the amount of context they need to perform some tasks well.

but what the second article in the above post explains is microsoft's investment in making a huge variety of the needed contexts more accessible to ai agents. the idea is like, only about 6 months old but what every huge tech firm right now is looking at is mcps (or model context protocols) which is a framework for standardizing how needed context is given to ai agents. to oversimplify an example, maybe an ai coding agent is trained on a zillion pieces of javacode but doesn't have insider knowledge of microsoft's internal application authoring processes, meta architecture, repositories, etc. an mcp standardizes how you would then offer those documents to the agent in a way that it can easily read and then use them, so it doesn't have to come pre-loaded with that knowledge. so it could tackle this developer's specific use case, if offered the right knowledge.

and that's the plan. essentially, we're going to see a huge boom in companies offering their libraries, services, knowledge bases (e.g. their bug fix logs) etc as mcps, and ai agents basically are going to go shopping amongst those contexts, plug into whatever the context is that they need for the task at hand, and then power up by like a bajillion percent on specific task they need to do.

so ai is powerful but not infallible right now, but it is going to scale pretty quickly i think.

in my opinion the only thing that is ever going to limit ai is not knowledge accessibility, but rather corporate greed. ai models are crazy expensive to train and maintain. every company on earth is also looking at how to optimize them to reduce some of that cost, and i think we will eventually see only a few megalith ais like chatgpt, with a bunch of smaller, more targeted models offered by other companies for them to leverage for specialized tasks.

i genuinely hope that the owners of the megalith models get so greedy that even the cost optimizations they are doing now don't bring down the price enough for their liking and they find shortcuts that ultimately make the models and the entire ecosystem shitty. but i confess i don't know enough about model optimization to know what is likely.

anyway i'm big scared and just wanted to put this slice of knowledge out there for people to be a little more informed.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Enemies vs cowards

With few exceptions, it is more accurate to divide most politicians into two broad categories: Enemies, and Cowards. The enemies are those politicians who are legitimately opposed to your policy goals. The cowards are those politicians who may agree with your policy goals, but will sell you out if they must in order to protect their own interests. Embrace the idea that we are simply pushing to elect the cowards, rather than the enemies. Why? Because the true work of political action is not to identify idealized superheroes to run for office. It is, instead, to create the conditions in the world that make it safe for the cowards to vote the right way. Under this framework, you can set aside the tedious feelings of disappointment that come with holding moral views while also supporting any politician. Will your favorite candidate do something bad? Almost certainly. After all, they are cowards. The onus is on us to give the cowards a soft path to the moral choice. The education necessary to equip citizens with the facts; the persuasion necessary to move public opinion to the right place; the organizing necessary to mobilize people to fight for the right thing. These things are the substance of “politics.” Elections can be seen as just another organizing task, one in an endless procession of efforts necessary to arrange the chess pieces of power in a way that will, eventually, produce the righteous outcome.

-Hamilton Nolan

[deadhands69]

A New End: The End

Tomura Shigaraki x Reader

This series contains: gn/afab reader, angst, violence, mentions of blood/injuries, cussing, smut, spoilers. i think this is the longest part but it moves fast with the assumption you’re familiar enough with the manga, a lot was taken out to make it readable and non repetitive.

previous - this is part 8 - next

[series masterlist]

|\/\/\| the end |/\/\/|

Tomura is once more learning what it's like to have your quirk. All week, he’s been struggling to keep things from people for the sake of not changing how they feel and thus altering your chosen future. You, on the other hand, are learning a bit of what it's like to be him by having to make sure you never touch anyone without thinking and accidentally share that information with them yourself. 

Fortunately for you both, league members have been pretty scattered, working on their own projects and tasks while a few people recover from their injuries. Tomura included. 

Tomura, he’s been spending a lot of time attempting to be somewhat restful while still managing the planning process. It’s nice being around him again, especially after spending a month and a half mostly apart while he was fighting Gigantomachia. Still, he has a lot of sleep to catch up on while he recovers so your hangouts are typically short and low energy. 

He’s proven himself to be a good boyfriend, in his own way. Now that you know you’re together, you notice the more subtle details. How he tries to do nice things for you, having never been given a framework for what that should look like. Things like staying up a bit later just to spend a few extra minutes around you, even if he's groggy and trying to hide a bad mood. Grabbing your favorite drink and bringing it back just because he saw it. and thought of you. 

Today, he has some free time and decided to spend it laying around listening to music together.

“Is having your quirk always like this?” Tomura asks, while laying side by side with you on the almost too comfortable bed in your room at the mansion. 

“Not always, but yeah. Sometimes.”

“How do you handle that, knowing something bad will happen to someone and letting it… just happen?”

“You saw the alternatives. It's that or let them die,” you roll onto your side, propping your head on your elbow to face him.

“Yeah. It's just hard,” he mumbles quietly. “I knew I’d have to make big decisions in this but it doesn’t always sit right.”

“Wait,” you exclaim, sitting upright. “You care about everyone. Don't you?”

“No,” he grumbles defensively, looking away. “I just think they should be able to make their own choices. That's all.”

“Because you care about them. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have picked this plan,” you move into his space more than you have all week. With your face hovering so close to his that your noses are almost touching, you continue. Whispering, “don't worry. I won't tell anyone the guy who hates everything likes his friends now.”

“Shut up,” he groans. 

“Make me,” you say without thinking. 

And he does. Pressing up the tiniest amount, he catches your lips with his. Biting your bottom lip to pull you back to the bed with him, he continues to kiss you so sweetly that you almost forget about everything else. 

 |\/\/\| five days before the end |/\/\/|

A few months pass, allowing you all the time to rest, heal, and grieve in ways that you didn’t know you needed. With the exception of a few bandages and lingering limps here and there, you’re all in much better shape than before.

Which is why it’s time to move forward.

For a while now, you and Tomura have been referring to the plan he came up with as. "The End," because, in a lot of ways, it's the end of many things. The name is understandably lost on nearly everyone else, in a way that's concerning to some of them.

As a group, you gather in a meeting room to send messages to prisons, hospitals, and the hero commission. Threats. Anonymous tips. Awareness of loopholes and security oversights. With the resources of the Paranormal Liberation Front at your disposal, this is quite easy. They’ve been tracking things like this for ages. Now, there's finally a reason to use that information. 

“So,” Toga asks, “why are we sending them tips on buffing up their security if we want to destroy hero society? Isn't that the opposite of what we want?”

“It is, but we have to because it’s the only way to get them to move high profile prisoners to another location,” you answer.

“And that is important because…?” Spinner asks.

“You’re the Stain simps, you tell me,” Tomura grates over the table, awkwardly sealing an envelope while still not used to the prosthetic fingers. You nod in agreement. Toga’s eyes grow as she hurriedly finishes a letter. Spinner eyes him skeptically, but continues to work.

Tomura looks to the end of the table at Twice, “tell that hero you’ve been talking to that we’ll be attacking UA through the forest nearby as soon as the sun goes down on April third.”

“That’s not the right location?” Twice scratches his head, “Or is it?”

Dabi heaves a massive sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose, “that’s the point, idiot. If he shows up there and he brings heroes with him, he is playing you. It’s a test.” He mumbles under his breath after, “and it’s one less hero to worry about either way.”

“Ohhhh got it!” Twice exclaims, continuing to mutter to himself as he pulls out his phone and starts texting. 

Everything feels pretty normal again, the seven of you working together. The plan has been reiterated so many times by now that most of the group works quietly. Eventually someone offers to put music on, but no one can agree on a genre. You land on chill hop which no one has any strong feelings about.

While not everyone trusts the idea, most of them are glad to have a direction and something to do. It’s progress and it feels right.

Eri’s tutor brings her to join you all in the assembly room when she finishes her schoolwork for the day. One perk of being here is she can get some formal education, even if it's not the most robust program. Her eyes brighten as soon as she sees Spinner, running to show him her good grade. Sneakily, he slips her some candy under the table before she sits in the seat next to him playing Stardew Valley all afternoon.

It's nice for a bit, you'll think back on times like these.

|\/\/\| the night of the end |/\/\/|

A few days later, you all set off to your designated locations. A PLF van drops you all off in the middle of the city. Everyone will be within six blocks of each other, so you walk together at the start.

The sun has only barely begun to set, but you’re not worried about being caught. Not yet. Any heroes that would usually be in the area are all chasing nomu at the edge of the suburbs. You should have at least an hour before anyone shows up, depending on how things go on Dabi’s end.

“So,” Spinner says as you come to a five-way intersection, “this is it.”

“This is it,” Tomura agrees, “everyone knows their mission plans?”

The group nods, quietly.

“Then let’s do this.”

You look closely at everyone’s faces, trying to memorize the details. Taking in the moment as it is. After tonight, it’ll be different. A few mumbled good lucks and well wishes can be heard as everyone splits off in their own directions – Dabi, Spinner, and Eri go up one street. You watch as Dabi, dressed all in black, puts on Eri’s pastel purple unicorn backpack full of supplies to carry it for her. Compress helped you pack it earlier today.

Toga and Twice go up another road. Compress begins to walk a different direction before stopping to wait for Tomura, who is frozen in front of you.

Your hand reaches out for his, brushing over his knuckles. The two of you linger here for a moment. His eyes meet yours and you know if there was ever a time to say what you’re thinking, this is it. Parting his lips slightly, he begins to speak before you. 

“I l–” he breaks off, biting his lip. “You better not do anything stupid and die.”

“You better not either,” you reply. He nods, turning to catch up to Compress.

With a deep breath, you continue up the middle street on your own.

Spinner, Dabi, and Eri arrive at the base of a large tower. With minimal effort, Spinner scales the side of the building, dropping the fire escape ladder for the other two to climb up. Dabi spots Eri until pulling onto the metal landing himself. After the ladder, metal stairs switch back and forth all the way up. They ascend until they feel tired, and then they go up some more. Finally, they reach the 29th floor. After breaking through a window, they’re in. 

It’s easy. 

Almost too easy, they think while piling in through the opening out of breath. 

“We need to find the control room to change the transmission,” Spinner says, ushering the others along with him. “We can go live, but it helps to have that video you arranged earlier queued up. The moment we switch all the channels being broadcast from here to our own transmission, every hero will be alerted to our location. I can give you three minutes of live screen time like promised then I’m changing it to your pre recorded video so we can get the hell out.”

Dabi nods, gesturing at a doorway down the hall. 

Meanwhile, you walk towards your designated spot to wait. It’s a calm night, no one else is out here but you expected that from the business district. It feels reminiscent of every other nightly walk you go on, pavement under feet, moving one foot in front of the other. Instead of visiting ruins, tonight you’ll be watching them being made. Still, you wish Tomura was here with you.

You arrive at a plaza and begin looking around. Finding an area behind some bushes in the generic “garden” area in front of a massive commerce building, you settle in and try your best to relax given the circumstances.

It’s the only way, you remind yourself repeatedly until it becomes a mantra.

The anticipation is awful, not just because you’re unsure if everyone will stick to the plan, but because you know what happens if they do. You've seen it before and soon, you’ll have to see it again.

Now, you just have to wait and hope no one makes any unexpected changes on their own. Soon, you think, it’ll be over. And you won’t have to wait anymore.

Down the street in the other direction, Tomura and Compress find themselves at a vastly different building. The security on this one is considerably more heightened so sneaking in took some extra consideration. With the PLF hacking into the security system, they found that the building is not only quirk-proof but attempting to destroy any part of it results in heroes being immediately notified of the location and quirk. So, a different plan was made.

After jumping from an adjacent parking garage, each of them land on the roof with a thud.

“First you, then me?” Tomura asks to clarify, brushing himself off.

“Yes,” Compress confirms, as they stand in front of the thin slats at the edge of the ventilation system on the roof. As expected, the openings aren’t big – but you can fit a hand through if you angle it right. 

“And be careful, I don’t want to be decayed while stuffed in a marble.” Tomura only glares at him.

Using his quirk on himself, Compress disappears into a small sphere to be dropped into the vent. Tomura throws him in, not so gently after that last comment. Within seconds, a clang rings out as he resumes his full form. His mask can barely be seen behind the slats as his gloved hand slips back through. 

“Ready?” he asks, more as a statement than a question. Without waiting for an answer, Tomura’s world contracts and he’s… rolling on the ground? Just as quickly as before, everything expands and he hits his head on the metal duct. 

“Oww, fuck!” he groans, feeling the bump on his scalp.

“Come on, we’re running low on time,” Compress urges, “hover over my hand more this time.” Tomura does so, still rubbing the aching spot. The world compacts, and before he knows it he’s spit out inside of the large ventilation channel. Once more, he hits his head.

“What the fuck,”  he grumbles as he regains composure. Not much time, he remembers before dwelling on it too long. Pulling up a hand drawn map on his phone, they begin crawling through the small space, following the maze they set out for themselves.

Back at the broadcasting tower, Spinner switched the outgoing signal to one of their own with a small camera set-up in front of a makeshift presentation area for Dabi. It’s a blank wall with a light pointed at it, but it’ll work as well as anywhere. He stares down at his phone, waiting for 9:04. It's the exact time you told him to begin.

“You’re on in three, two,” Spinner gives Dabi a thumbs up to start talking. He tells his story in detail, highlighting the parts where heroes failed him until his turn is up. Spinner counts him down on his fingers while looking at the stopwatch on his phone before gesturing for Eri to take over.

Nervously, she replaces him in front of the camera.

With a lot of prompting from the other two, she speaks about her experiences. About what Overhaul did to get her blood for his bullets. About the amount of people who walked past her covered in bandages every day, but almost no one said anything. And when they did, nothing ever came of it. Sure, it’s one thing to hear an adult say how the system failed them – but hearing it from a child feels different. She gives a very real face to the cracks in society overlooked by the hero system, one a little less scary than Dabi’s. A minute and a half isn't nearly enough time to tell her story and the responsibility of it shouldn't be on her in the first place. But the effort she puts in in the time she has should be enough to sway some people. Who can, in turn, help others. Her life is the price of the average person’s choice to sit and wait for someone else to handle it. It's time that changes. 

That's the theory, at least. You weren't able to see that far ahead. 

“Time’s up,” Spinner says. Eri waves bye at the camera and the transmission ends. He then switches it to the pre-made video Dabi arranged over the past few months.

As they walk out the door, Spinner continues. “It’s set up to receive more transmissions from my phone whenever we find a safe place to send them. We’ll have to keep this room blocked off somehow, at least until we find Shig and Compress to share the next part.” 

“Easy,” Dabi says, heating the door until it turns red and the metal melts into the frame. “No one’s getting through that for a while.”

They make their way to the stairwell, this time staying inside the building as they make their way down.

In the ventilation duct, Tomura and Compress find themselves in the ceiling space above their target room. A big 'x' on the map marks the spot.

“This is it,” Tomura says before decaying a section of metal and ceiling tiles below him then dropping through it to the thinly carpeted floor. Compress follows. The room is huge, open, and filled floor to ceiling with cabinets. A nearby street light casts a faint blue glow through the window.

“This seems very…traditional,” Compress comments, “I didn’t realize any organizations of this size still kept paper files like this.”

“It’s the old heroes,” Tomura replies, “you can’t expect them to do their paperwork online. They’d all get confused and quit.”

“Wouldn’t that make our jobs easier,” Compress laughs.

Each of them start on a different end, prying the locks open in their own ways. They rifle through files, dumping most on the floor. The mess won’t matter anyways.

“Here it is,” Compress points at a specific container. They begin sifting through the folders – taking what they need, what they think will be important.

Back on the street, you watch a group of UA students walk past you and to the hero commission building a few streets down. They struggle at the door, one trying to blast it open with the others joining in with their quirks and making absolutely no progress on it. Before long, the door is covered in scorch marks and scratches. They've mostly pulled back to reassess, but you're pretty sure one of them is still trying to talk the lock into opening itself.

Well, the heroes have definitely been notified now. Still, there's no reason to believe they'll be looking for any of you. As long as everyone lays low, the plan is still on track.

You give Tomura and Compress a heads up.

Receiving your message, Compress takes his leave. Disappearing into the shadows as planned. 

Eventually, the UA students manage to break-in when a red and white haired straggler arrives with what you would assume is a stolen keycard. There's no reason a student would be issued access for the Hero Commission headquarters. They rush through the door and out of your vision. 

In the distance, you see a guarded line of vans making their way towards you. Perfect timing.

A few minutes later, a flash of light burns across the sky and lands in the street near the broadcasting building. You alert the group to no response. Thus far, your quirk hasn’t flared up a single time tonight so you have to assume it’s still okay.

Everything's fine.

Spinner, Dabi, and Eri make it seven floors down before heavy footsteps echo from below. Spinner pulls Eri through the closest door, running down the hallway while Dabi stays behind. He waits for the steps to grow closer before filling the stairwell with blue flames. 

Much to his surprise, they’re met with flames in return.

“Dad?” he calls out, voice echoing.

“Touya??” he hears in response. 

Perfect Dabi thinks while running down the stairs to meet his fate.

In the file room, the students catch up to Tomura, most barely recognizing him without the hands they’d seen in news photos. 

“How did you find us?” he calmly asks the group, tossing a random file onto the growing heap of them. The green haired one named Izuku Midoria speaks up first, Tomura recognizes him.

“The pros all think you’re attacking UA right now. We knew you wouldn’t do that, not again. You’re not stupid enough to do that,” he gulps, trying to hide his nervousness of the situation. “Plus, they’re all spread thin chasing nomu around the outskirts. If you map the locations they were called out to, that leaves a huge gap in coverage with this building right in the middle.”

“Smart,” Tomura muses, “but what was your plan after that?”

“Kill you, duh!” yells Bakugo, who Tomura also recognizes. 

“No, wait Kachan. We aren’t killing anyone. I can save him. I can save,” Izuku looks across the room, “I can save you!”

Tomura laughs.

“No, you can’t. You’re a fucking kid, it’s not your job to.” A haunting smile creeps over his face. “And right now, you need to save yourself.” With that, he presses all five fingers into the wall behind him.

Fire.

It’s everywhere as Spinner rushes Eri out the window and back onto the fire escape. 

“Hold on tight,” he says, throwing her onto his back to rush down the metal stairs faster.

Inside, Dabi is making up for lost years with his dad. With the flames burning out of control, he moves in. 

“I ruined your career. Since you found me here, I’m assuming you already know that.” The man says nothing in return, so Dabi continues, “only thing left to do is take you out with me.” 

His blue flames grow brighter, hotter. Finally, the red-haired man speaks up.

“You don’t have to do this, Touya. Just come home. We can be a family again. We can–”

“It’s too late for that!” he yells, shoving him through the concrete wall in a blaze of flames. 

From your vantage point outside, the hero commission building collapses into a pile of rubble. Stray papers fly from the dust with no signs of life. A scream rings out from the parking garage next door. Simultaneously, a blue and orange swirl careens from the broadcasting building and explodes onto the street. 

Right on time, the prisoner convoy was making its way down the main street. Now, it’s stopped, stuck between the two damaged buildings with nowhere to go. The hero escorts climb out to investigate the damage. 

You expected this, it’s the only way. That doesn’t stop your heart from pounding in your chest at the sight of it all. 

“it’s time,” you text Toga and Twice.

Receiving your message from a few blocks away, the two of them excitedly jump into action. They’ve been waiting all night for this.

Two teenage girls walk from the parking garage towards the remnants of the building, trying to look inconspicuous. If you were to guess, they were keeping watch for the other UA students. One has long green hair tied behind her head, the other medium length brown hair. Both look frantic. You don’t blame them, you would too in their situation. For a moment you feel bad, but know it’ll be okay. You've seen it.

This is all supposed to happen.

A few more heroes show up to the area, probably now realizing the attack on UA was not about to happen. You notice one with red wings among them, Twice isn’t going to be happy. A group of three approach you, questioningly. 

“What are you doing out here so late?” a large one with a yellow jacket asks, “don’t you realize you could’ve gotten hurt?”

“No, it’s okay.” Another chimes in, “we went to UA together. Until…” he trails off, before looking you over in a way that makes you nauseated. Suddenly, his words are saccharine sweet. “Feel like playing hero and helping us out tonight? We’re pretty understaffed.” 

He flutters his eyelashes in a way that you would imagine usually gets him somewhere with most people. Not with you though, you remember him. This is one of the people who led to you being kicked out of school in the first place. Now he has the audacity to ask you for help?

“Not today,” you reply blankly, “you know I could get hurt out here all on my own. It's late. Better head home.”

“Well, okay then. Thanks for your time,” says the larger one, “better get home safe!”

Just as they turn to leave, a swarm of league members surge down the street. It’s bad timing, truly. Seeing a few copies of you among them, the heroes turn their attention back to you.

“Stay right there!” one yells.

You run, drawing them down a secluded street away from the others. Fortunately, none of them are particularly fast. Unfortunately, they know the area much better than you do. You realize this as soon as your quirk flashes in front of your vision, too late.

The one you went to high school with cuts you off in an alleyway, shoving you into the ground. Your head hits the street with a bounce, making you nauseous. You try to press up to assess the damage, but his hands shove you back down. The concrete is cold and rough against your cheek in contrast with the warmth of your forehead where it hit the cement. Your arms are yanked behind you with more force than necessary and you feel the quirk canceling handcuffs over your hands. Not that it matters if you can use your quirk or not, you couldn’t reach for your phone to warn the others of anything you see if you wanted to. 

“Hey, easy!” yells the large hero from earlier. Suddenly you’re engulfed in something warm and squishy while you’re transported back to the main road. It would almost be comfortable, if you didn’t feel trapped. Police vans line the sidewalk a few blocks down, they were likely surrounding the prisoner transport and got stuck. The hero stops in front of one, leaving you with a few officers.

From the corner of your eye, you see Tomura’s all too clean white hair popping out of the wreckage of one of the buildings as you’re shoved into the back of the van.

In the commotion, Tomura and Compress calmly walk towards the smoldering broadcasting tower in search of Spinner. The former, still a bit stiff from being unaccustomed to the affects of getting pulled in and out of a marble all evening. With the sea of them rushing through the street like a tidal wave, there’s no reason these two particular villains should stand out any more than the others. That’s the point.

Little do they know, they in specific are being followed.

Spinner and Eri have taken refuge on a balcony of the building next door. The other two spot them, step through the smashed out glass doors, and head up the stairs. As soon as they make it outside, a voice calls out behind them.

“Stop!” 

Tomura knows that voice. He also knows that feeling, the one that makes his fingers tingle a little less and drops a weight over his shoulders. With Tomura turning to distract the hero, Compress takes Spinner’s phone and begins uploading photos of the documents they took. Botched missions, casualties, quirk mishaps. Information previously withheld from the public. Even if only a few people are still tuned in, it’ll be all over the internet by the morning.

“Wait,” the voice says, looking around the balcony, “it’s you?”

Eri peers out from behind Spinner, big red eyes staring up at Eraserhead. 

“Let her go,” Aizawa says, she hides further behind Spinner’s leg. “I’m bringing her in to safety.”

Spinner opens his mouth to speak but Tomura cuts him off.

“We’re not holding her hostage or anything, just taking care of her. She can go with you if she wants to.” Quietly, he adds, “she should go.”

"But," Spinner looks devastated, “why would you say that?”

“She’s a kid, she can’t be in any of this. She needs to learn to use her quirk and be around other kids,” Tomura tries to reassure his friend. “We have to let her go. It's for the best. For her.”

“I know,” Spinner whispers, “it’s just– it’s just so hard. How do we know we can trust him anyways?”

“His best friend raised me,” Tomura shrugs. Spinner looks him over skeptically, wondering how that makes it any better. 

“Look,” he continues, “y/n’s quirk showed her happy this way. This is good for her. It’s–it’s the only way that’s good for her. She’ll get hurt otherwise, or end up down some really dark paths. I saw it all.”

Spinner has more questions but simply nods, his glossy eyes beginning to overflow. A tug on his sleeve draws his attention down.

“Here,” Eri holds up his switch for him to take, “do I really have to go?”

“Yeah,” Spinner whispers, “if you go with him, you’ll have a good life. And here,” he says, moving the switch into her backpack. “This is for you, all of your saves are on it.”

“But what about yours?”

“I can catch up,” he smiles.

They continue saying their goodbyes as Tomura addresses Aizawa.

“Her–” he struggles to get through the words but presses on, “Her belongings are all in there. In marbles. And there’s an envelope too. That’s for you, it’s important. Take care of them.”

“Them?” Aizawa begins to ask when the ground cracks between them, creating a rift in the balcony. It would appear that one of Tomura’s doubles touched that side of the building. Erasure uses the capturing weapon around his neck to gently wrap Eri in before they swiftly make their way to safety. The other three all jump as well, mostly landing neatly on the sidewalk as the building behind them crumbles into huge pieces. Before Aizawa can think of apprehending them, all three have disappeared into the sea of chaos.

A few minutes after you were placed in custody, Twice (or one of his doubles, you aren’t sure and neither is he) is thrown in the van with you. In the seconds you can see out the door, it looks like absolute chaos in the street. A slew of doubles overtake every hero around before splashing into a puddle at the first good hit. The company is nice, but you’re still nervous. From in here, you can’t see anything and have no way of using your quirk to make sure everyone’s still on track. 

After what feels like ages, the door of the van flies open and you find yourself face to face with Endeavor. 

Then, he giggles. 

“Toga, it’s great to see you!” yells Twice, while she unlocks the handcuffs, “what took you so long?”

He runs off, immediately getting pummeled by a hero and dissolving into liquid. 

“Huh."

“Compress told me to give you this,” Toga holds out a small bag. You stare at her. It takes you a moment to adjust, not having seen her quirk in use before. Talking to Endeavor still feels uneasy. You wonder how she got his uniform, but don't want to put too much thought into it.

“Oh, this is perfect. Thanks,” you say, emptying the bag on the floor of the van before slamming the door shut again. She walks to the next transport vehicle and you watch as she releases Stain. He looks confused, understandably. Seeing Endeavor fangirl over a villain is weird for you and you even know the situation. A few seconds later, she transforms back into herself, removes his handcuffs, and wanders back to the parking structure in search of her own clothes.

It’s the same direction you saw the girls from UA go earlier.

Down the street, Tomura opens the back of another van in his own way. The man inside senses his presence as soon as the doors crumble to dust.

“Ah, Tomura.” All For One muses politely, “I’ve been waiting for you. And you have impeccable timing, I can feel that One for All is close by.”

Tomura looks down at the man who raised him. He looks pathetic like this. In a prison jumpsuit, connected to machines that keep him alive. Quirks are the only things that have been holding him together for all these years and now, with the blocking handcuffs constantly around his wrists, he looks like he’s falling apart. He’s a lot “droopier” than Tomura remembers. It’s pitiful, he thinks, but that does nothing to tame the rage that still burns inside of him.

“How long were you planning it,” Tomura’s voice shakes, “to take my body?”

“Take your body?” All For One laughs, “no, I had no plans of the sort. I only wanted to help you. Merge with you to become more than you could ever amount to on your own. Of course, we still could. Let me out and we’ll do this together.”

“That’s not how it works though,” Tomura says softly, but the bite still cracks through his voice. “I don’t need you. I don't need any of this.”

In the many years he’s been alive, All For One never feared anything. He never had reason to. The world always finds a way to bend to his needs, regardless of the situation. Even now, strapped to a chair in the back of a prison transport, he feels confident that Tomura will free him, they’ll talk through the whole thing, and he’ll be back on the top in no time. There’s no way it’ll ever not go his way, it always does.

That is, until he feels five fingers pressing into each of his knees. The feeling leaves his feet as the decay moves up his body slowly.

“S–stop it!” he begs, losing composure. “Cut it off, wh–while there’s still time!”

Tomura watches, flooded by every miserable memory of his life. All the pain and anger. Everything leading to this exact time and place. It feels surreal.

“T–Tomura, I raised you! I took you in!” he pleads.

“Yeah, and who’s fault is that?”

“Please,” he gasps, face contorted in horror. His body crumbles from under the straps all the way up to his face. By the time the dust has settled, all that's left are his hands. 

It’s over now. 

All that’s left of that house and everything that happened in it is what’s left inside of him.

Now that you’re freed, there’s nothing left to do but join in the fight. A few more heroes arrive, but most are delayed by Twice’s doubles on sight.

Your old classmate finds you again and with the help of your quirk you land a few good kicks on him before he’s able to corner you.

“You never were cut out for this,” he taunts, “might as well give up.” In almost slow motion, you watch as three doubles of you tackle him to the ground and drag him back into the alleyway.

It's beautiful. You'll definitely remember this moment forever. You want to savor it, but the onslaught continues.

Tomura climbs out the back of one of the prison transport vans, only to be immediately tackled by two heroes. He decays one with a red cape quickly but the smaller one hits him with a force that leaves the concrete cracked under his landing. You run in, predicting the old man's next move and attempt to shove him off course before he can land another punch. It works, briefly.

Without any time for a warning from your own quirk, the wind is knocked out of you as you’re thrown across the street. Suddenly, you’re reminded of another part of high school: the realization that, while many people’s abilities seem to give them an added layer of super-human resilience, yours does not. 

Which means you feel everything. 

The dull pain of the blow that you’re almost certain broke a rib. The sharp impact of the wall, cracking something in your shoulder. Your head hitting the concrete behind you with a hollow thud, sending the world into a swirl. 

Darkness piles like bricks in your peripheral vision, closing in. 

Across the street, Tomura stands. Staggering slightly as he lunges towards the hero that hit you.

Then everything is black.

next chapter - a new end masterlist - bnha masterlist

Taglist: @tomuratoucher @aryuunachigiri @shigarakislaughter @foxyboy0 @multifandomidk 

@dance-with-me-in-hell @minniessskii @vaval3ntin @ykyouluvme  @lou-the-naga-queen

@dummi666 @lotus-flower420 @nonominchan @softnfuzzy @mysticalhills 

@reireitaka @crwavee @baby-pink-flowers @drlucichen @frieren-imposter

@kitkat13001 @kennys-partner @amira-44820 @its-evee16  @lou-the-naga-queen

@multifandomidk @love-for-yoosung-kim @linaaeatsfamilies

[bloomzone]

HOW TO SET YOUR GOAL !

“It may take time, but I think that dreams do come true as long as you do your best.”

-Tzuyu of TWICE

Setting goals effectively involves a structured approach. Here's a simple framework to guide you:

by: byeolgirl..

1. Be Specific: Define your goals clearly and precisely. Avoid vague objectives like "get in shape" and instead specify exactly what you want to achieve, such as "lose 10 pounds in three months."

2. Prioritize: Determine which goals are most important to you based on your values, aspirations, and long-term vision. Focus your time and energy on these key objectives.

3. Break it Down: Divide large goals into smaller, more manageable tasks or milestones. This makes the process less overwhelming and allows you to track progress more effectively.

4. Set Deadlines: Assign realistic deadlines to each goal or task. Having a timeframe creates a sense of urgency and helps prevent procrastination.

5. Stay Flexible: While it's important to have a plan, be willing to adapt and adjust your goals as needed. Life is unpredictable, so staying flexible allows you to navigate challenges and seize opportunities.

6. Visualize Success: Imagine yourself achieving your goals in vivid detail. Visualization can boost motivation, increase confidence, and help clarify your path forward.

7. Track Progress: Keep track of your accomplishments and setbacks. This could involve using a journal, apps, spreadsheets, or other tools to monitor your progress over time.

8. Celebrate Milestones: Acknowledge and celebrate small victories along the way. Recognizing your progress reinforces positive habits and keeps you motivated to continue working towards your goals.

9. Stay Committed: Maintain a strong commitment to your goals, even when faced with obstacles or setbacks. Stay focused, disciplined, and resilient in pursuing what's important to you.

10. Review and Reflect: Regularly review your goals and progress. Reflect on what's working well and what needs adjustment. Use this feedback to refine your approach and stay on track towards achieving your goals.

[milonogiannis]

Since late August of 2022, Barry Topping and I have been working on a shoot ‘em up game called BIRDCAGE.

Now 2024 is wrapping up and – surprisingly – so is the production phase of BIRDCAGE. There’s still plenty of work to be done, but the game itself is all there, playable and asset complete.

Now we’re left with an ever-growing lernaean hydra list of other tasks to handle – emails, wider testing, stability, updating store presences, promotional stuff and in general, just trying to maximize the reach and polish of what we’ve made.

The final stretch of production (roughly the last 5 months?) was really fun. The game had matured enough that we just instinctively knew what would work and what wouldn’t.

We’d become comfortable enough with the tools we built and our process where we’d just be constantly in hyper mode. The game really came together in this final leg of development.

POLYGON BIRD, our studio name, and EXCEL Framework, the name given to the "shmup tools" we made for the game.

I was expecting ending full-on production on BC to be frustrating and depressing, but some switch flipped in my head and now all I want to do is email people about the game, optimize our Steam tags and figure out how to get this in people’s hands – and I’m finding that fun, at least for now. The game isn’t this ideal brainchild piece of art to me, suddenly. We did the work to make the thing, now it’s time the thing worked for us.

It surprises me how often I find myself thinking ridiculous things like “we need to activate our discord members” – but I’ll take this over the usual pit of despair I fall into after finishing a big project.

I guess this is what motivated me to write down these thoughts in the first place – I was bracing to be fully depressed and lost right about now, resenting the game and the time we spent on it. Maybe this will serve as a reminder that finishing a thing doesn’t have to feel so bad?

So now we’re kind of going back into uncharted waters – promoting, releasing, dealing with feedback, hotfixes and support. There’s going to be a lot of “learning on the job”, I guess, but I’m excited to see that aspect of game dev.

I’m really glad we were able to hit our goal of wrapping up this phase of BIRDCAGE as the year comes to a close – it makes it easy to look back on the past 2 years as a whole and see how much we’ve learned. I can’t wait for us to make another game, knowing what we know now.

There is still nothing to announce regarding the release of the game, but it still felt important to make note of this milestone.

For now, just know we’ve made a game and are working on getting it out there! We should have a lot more to say soon.

In the meantime, you can help us out by adding BIRDCAGE to your Steam wishlist.

Thanks for sticking around all these years.

Happy holidays!

-G

[asukaindetroit]

Post-Revolution DBH Headcanons: Android Culture Part 3

<< Back to Part 1 << Back to Part 2. On to Part 4 >>

Moar android cultural snippets for your perusal. As always, feel free to use but show me b/c I want to see where this all goes :)

The soft sciences have an absolute field day because of android cultural practices. While they were created by the STEM fields, which I’m sure Detroit had tons of job openings for pre-revolution, the soft sciences have a renaissance in the wake of android sentience becoming recognized. All of a sudden there’s a massive void of research into android psychology, sociology, the economic impact of giving them wages, etc. Cultural anthropologists flock to Detroit to witness the emergence of a new culture from a new sentient species firsthand. Grant money comes flooding in from government (how do these new citizens fit into our socioeconomic structure?) and private sectors (if androids are now entitled to wages, what do they want to buy with them? Inquiring marketers want to know). Androids are now entitled to get degrees and become scientists themselves—what’s the best way to create accredited education programs to qualify them for careers when they can just download a science.exe program? There are Questions to be Answered™, and where there are questions, scientists will go. They’re not a breed known for common sense. Fly to an active warzone to study the impacts of conflict on childhood development? Sure, why not. Drive to an industrial wasteland city under martial law that just stopped in the middle of committing genocide to document the cultural practices of the new sentient species conducting protests? Fuck yeah, it’s Science Tuesday, get in the car Anthropology Intern Guy we’re going to Detroit!

The Acespec/QPR scene sees a sudden boom. Androids aren’t inherently sexual beings. Though many do desire to engage in sex as a form of sensory exploration/input for their processors, or for the benefit of building emotional intimacy with a human partner, they fundamentally don’t have a libido derived from reproductive needs. CyberLife programmed the intimate partner models to have humanized “desires,” but they may choose to reject that when they deviate (other androids may incorporate bits of that programming just to explore what it’s all about). Some are built with ken doll anatomy and just don't care. Basically, the androids that do want sex often want it for different reasons than humans, and a large portion just…aren’t into it. Fortunately, a lack of desire can apply to some humans, too—so all the acespecs suddenly have a slew of potential queerplatonic partners who aren’t likely to get entangled in messy sexual or romantic hangups (am I projecting at this point? Probably!) Sudden availability of thousands of cuddle buddies who really, actually, don’t want to have sex makes post-revolution Detroit the San Francisco of ace relationships.

Android memes and social media. Androids develop internal networks for socialization using the remnants of CyberLife’s updating framework. They share their android-unique code-based art forms, dumb memes about things their human coworkers did, code patches to help accomplish different tasks, etc. There are subnetworks specific to certain model lines (think sort of like subreddits, but instead of topics it’s things like a/PC200 and all the male police models are using it to bitch about how the humans expect them to answer dumb legal questions). The memes involve android-specific oddities, like someone will say “I had three hundred processes running and one line of code got crossed and spit out 9f32e4ba8c237fec91 all of a sudden #processorfail” and then a hundred thousand androids will translate that to three hex codes and send off an image file to each other with the three colors and somehow that becomes an android meme for trying to run too many tasks at once and getting overwhelmed. Humans that see it ask, “uh, is this a new pride flag?” or, “do androids celebrate Mardi Gras?” And the androids start laughing. They now have freedom to express humor that humans have no chance of understanding. It’s a cultural in-joke.

^ An android meme example

Emojis require an update. The 2039 additions to the Unicode emojis includes a skin tone option for hand gestures and faces that’s a replica of bare chassis for the androids who don’t use synthskin. Other major android-additions are the three LED color rings, a thirium pump, thirium pump regulator, and other prominent android biocomponents, a droplet of thirium, and two hands clasped in interface. Rather than reacting with a thumbs-down emoji an android might use the red LED, or they might use the interface one instead of the hug if someone’s upset.­

This is an ongoing series of android culture concepts, so if you want a tag when the next batch is up, leave a comment! @iwillthinkofsomethingeventually @yeahhiyellow @starryeyedstray

<< Back to Part 1 << Back to Part 2 On to Part 4 >>

[mesmericmonad]

I just finished Spirit. I wish I could write out many more thoughts than I can do rn. This was some of my favorite Doctor Who content overall tbh. Leela and Romana's differences in personality, beliefs, and logic on full display are exactly what I didn't know I needed. Leelas unique and curious role as an outsider in these high-stakes political games was always a factor playing into her character through the series, but it was really the focal point here in a great way. Romana and Leela both represent radical ends of an irl split in epistemic beliefs. I guess people would see Leela as "superstitious," but I really don't think anything she said even comes close to superstition. It isn't religious or fantastical to suggest that there's something "more than" simply biological fact, and everything Leela brings up ("The fruit IS beautiful"; "How does a bird fly for months to reach its home?") is perfectly compatible with rational metaphysical schemas and certainly with evolution. Narrative-telling is constitutive of humans' biological reproduction. If anything, Romanas insistence on a purely empiricist paradigm over Leelas metaphysical tale only reveals that both are just two sides of the same coin. They are both frameworks to apprehend and predict causal efficacy. They both lead to unique and intense views of how the world operates. But neither is wrong. They're both complimentary.

This comes full circle when the two seem to gain parts of the others' personality, which supports the other side of the coin. Romana suddenly *feels in her body* instead of always in her head. She isn't intellectualizing everything through an analytical lense. Instead, she's really feeling her body for the first time. She probably never could feel the way that oxygen cleans her bloodstream so clearly as she did then. Leela feels uncomfortable with her new intellectual abilities. She isn't relying on the multitude of sense-organs distributed across her body to synthesize the presented data. Instead, she's intellectualizing every wave of information, and her brain organ is perhaps much more hyper-active than it was before. In short, Romanas reliance on a rationalist-empiricist epistemology aligns closely with her *inability* to utilize her sense organs deeply, accurately, and with intimacy. Leelas reliance on the specifically neuromuscular and sensory knowledge allows her a more nuanced interaction with the corporeal landscape around her, but perhaps forbids her from constructing a systematized methodology of propositional logic in the way Romana could.

Neither side of this coin is "better" and in fact us humans have the task of delicately tending to both parts of our makeup, both sets of data-gathering tools. The metaphysician and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead essentially investigates the foundations of these differing personalities in his magnum opus Process & Reality (1929). P&R is one of my favorite works ever and to see the Gallifrey series so brilliantly convey the gradation between his categories of "withness of the body" and "presentational immediacy" through the relationship between Leela and Romana has been an absolute delight. Amazing series

"You think of your body as a machine, but it is not. How can such a big mind be so narrow?" -Leela

"But we must—to avoid 'solipsism of the present moment'—include in direct perception something more than presentational immediacy. For the organic theory, the most primitive perception is 'feeling the body as functioning.' This is a feeling of the world in the past; it is the inheritance of the world as a complex of feeling; namely, it is the feeling of derived feelings. The later, sophisticated perception is 'feeling the contemporary world.' Even this presentational immediacy begins with sense-presentation of the contemporary body. The body, however, is only a peculiarly intimate bit of the world. Just as Descartes said, 'this body is mine'; so he should have said, 'this actual world is mine.' My process of 'being myself' is my origination from my possession of the world." -Alfred North Whitehead

[guilty-gear-hot-take-hellhole]

It's jokerafying seeing people complain about Testament's Strive design having a more typically feminine body and appeareance compared to their previous designs. I feel like people tend to view adgronity through a trans masculine (or at least, TME) lense, so a lot of people just short circuted when seeing an adgronious character who is more aligned with a trans feminine experience for once.

Daisuke was drawing them with a more typically feminine appeareance in splash photos over a decade before Strive came out, and he talked about how he wanted them to have a more overtely androgynous and beautiful appeareance in the future.

"Testament is a character I would like to portray adrogynously in a more honest way than Bridget. I wanted to make this character more feminine. Although my drawing skills are not up to the task, [they have] a beauty that women would be envious of. So, Testament's design should lean more towards "beautiful" than "effeminate." I would like to emphasize this inhuman beauty in future illustrations.

Ishiwatari, Daisuke. "Guilty Gear XX Midnight Carnival Burst Encyclopedia" in Artworks of Guilty Gear X 2000-2007. Tokyo: SoftBank Creative, 2007.

(Unofficial translation provided by SolRadGuy, 2022)

When I see people complain about it, it often comes with the belief that Testament is losing adgronity by being less masculine than before while retaining the more feminine aspects of their design (id est their long hair and skirt). I detest this framework because it can only function by ignoring the fact that, through their Strive design update, we players see Testament undergo a physical transition from their coercively assigned gender to their true one.

"I'm tired of NB characters just being Woman Light," can we please think for a moment why someone who was coercively assigned male would want to undergo a feminizing transition process in order to achieve adgronity. Please.

Also sorry this isn't well worded probably, I just saw someone saying this again an it annoyed me and I just wanted to complain. Agggggggg.

-

[ametunns]

THIS CONCEPT IS SO FAMILIAR WITH THE CAGE. And this idea can't leaving me-

Below I'll discuss the character Keeper in the BATDR; some guesses about the role of this new character in the Cage. Enjoy reading!

# The Keepers. In the BATDR >>>

ofc in the ink world this versions of the Keepers are works because -

a giant gear in the spine is not bad for balance when picked up a weight stuff in forward;

the third hand is nice for supporting a thing or a person (not just for correcting its back lol/j);

ability to flying is actually about movement, way to make a painful high-speed strike by massive left hand / catching by right hand. Рerhaps "crawling" on appendages rather than legs makes it easier to walk around the ruins of the studio. And once again - they can fly.

Despite the fact that they have yellow inside, which indicates the presence of a soul, they do not react to the Signal Towers. I can only suggest that Wilson created "Yellow ink", and inside Keeper are not "Golden ink". Otherwise the Golden ink would have provided a link to Demon power, and metal octopus would have been against Wilson sooner or later.

...I personally think that it is easier to get the lost one's soul with the help of saws, and then start changing the soul in order to place it inside something. Like make a "soul semblance" - "Yellow ink" as I called it; get fairly similar minds, which is ideal for Keeper.

In case he's design looks silly, slowly moved, pretty blind because of the game mechanic-

but if you take them as those who can:

performs certain tasks,

move through space almost without interference,

catch the intruder,

conduct an experiment,

or even performing small construction work (for example, conducting power grids through a train tunnel)-

Within the framework of the lore of the world, these creatures, as they are, have done a lot.

# But what about the previous version of Keeper? Let's check out >>>

This creation is much more complex than would be seen...

Yes, we saw how Boris was turned into Brutal. That the mind can be partially rewritten. The sawing process also has a rewriting process. But-

A hybrid of a living mind and metal structures for the first experiments...it sounds like rewriting biology so that the body doesn't go crazy and start self-destructing because of unperfected souls and the realization of what they has become. And even Wilson can't make a perfect soul if he invited Audrey in the Cycle.

...Aaa-and also can tell about the REAL HUMAN in IT'S CREATION AND BLOOD...but a little later-

Attempts to create Wilson own being is unstable...and that is why we'll can meet them in a Cage!!! :D

# Details in the photos >>>

First thing - is another hoses behind;

Second - he had 3 hands, and maybe one of them (as possible 4 hand) is free from the lockers; you can also see that the lower hand is thinner and the plate on the outside of the palm glitters;

Last thing - a familiar detail.

Nothing more...

but a general similarity to the concept

# His role in the Cage. Theories and thoughts >>>

It's interesting things...Let's back to the thought that it can be a human. How much it will affect the story? Well-

Role #1 - He's a living proof about experiment of humans.

...the Gent corporation literally drowned people in ink ("Fade of Black");

And there is a temporary antidote to ink in the form of the chemical "iron oxide", which also resembles blood ("The Lost Ones");

It seems that through chemistry and past research, Wilson was able to create colored ink, a way to get back to the real world, and in collaboration with Alice, who lives in half of his house, and with Ink Machine, he was already beginning to think about creating a Keeper. About getting "the first good soul"...Pick out the right clothes, became anyone from Arch Gate Pictures, not just a humble cleaner. But after understood the difficulties (let's say, with blood) and maybe managed to update the methods for creating ink creatures...And my theory "Yellow ink" from Lost Ones.

Due to the details, a human being in the creature is doesn't't look like something unexpected, but it would definitely be intriguing.

Role #2 - If he's able to talk, new information about the corporation. Maybe even about Alan Gray. Maybe gives some hints of how getting away from the Cage idk just a thought-

A human being who was trapped into a monster for someone else's purposes it's pretty similar to Henry...ahem

Role #3 - Abilities of the blood. Perhaps we'll see hints of blood power in Lone Wolf. But in essence - there will definitely be something new...and something more powerful.

...What role will he play for the Henry.. it's unclear:

It's easy to say - this is the enemy who thoughtlessly wants to kill the hero.

It's easy to say - we can have a possible "free it" quest for game necessaries.

Possible to say - two points together 🤝

The last thing what I wanted to say:

‼️ I'm praying LIKE HELL he's not leaked FOR A COUPLE OF SECONDS like it was with all the new BATDR characters. Like Sammy-🥲

---

thank you for reading! If you have any ideas or thoughts, comments please! I'll be interested ⭐

☕ Have a good time!!

[theresattrpgforthat]

Do you know of games where acquired 'detriments' (such as scars and traumas) give players unique benefits rather than being seen as strictly detrimental?

Preferably ones where its not just "Get a bonus when this causes a problem"

Theme: Helpful Detriments

Hello there, I had a question similar to this back in 2023, so I’m going to redirect you to my Curses recommendation post first, because there might be something there that fits what you’re looking for. Then we can top off that list with a few more!

When I think of this kind of thing, I think of three categories: horror, the paranormal, and cyberpunk.

External Containment Bureau, by Mythic Gazetteer.

External Containment Bureau is a game of paranormal investigation and bureaucracy using a lightweight, hackable version of the Forged in the Dark design framework. You play as trained agents of the External Containment Bureau, an organization tasked with the study, identification, and containment of paranormal phenomena.

The Bureau authorizes agents to make use of these phenomena to give yourself incredible powers (so long as the proper forms are in order). But take care: using paranormal energies inches you ever closer to joining the ranks of the paranormal yourself. Will you transcend humanity in the line of duty? Play to find out.

ECB gives your characters special paranormal powers during the course of play, and whenever you take enough resonance (ECB’s Stress mechanic) you mark another one. Your character can take up to 3 powers before things get tricky: mark enough resonance to get your 4th power and you are no longer a playable character - you get promoted, demoted, or transcend past mundane existence. If you were to hack this system, I think you could flavor these powers and abilities to make them feel more like curses - in fact, I think Congregation, by DM Rawlings, does something like this.

Urban Shadows, by Magpie Games.

The streets bleed shadows as the supernatural politics of the city threaten to swallow you whole. Will you die a hero—a savior for those who have never had enough—or live long enough to become the villain? Will you fight the darkness…or give in for power?

The choice is yours. 

In Urban Shadows, your characters are constantly wrestling with the opportunity to be really shitty people in exchange for Corruption. Each character has a special move that entices them, such as the Spectre’a move “witness a scene and do nothing” - which gives you corruption. Mark enough corruption, and you get more powerful - like the Spectre’s Telekinesis ability.

Of course, the more Corruption moves you have, the faster you take corruption, and once you’ve maxed out your Corruption limit - well, your character isn’t really a hero anymore, are they? (Which is why the GM gets control of them, and you make a new character.)

The link above is for the 1st edition. The 2nd Edition Quickstart is a teaser of what's coming soon.

Heart: The City Beneath, by Rowan, Rook & Decard.

Heart: The City Beneath is a complete tabletop roleplaying game about delving into a nightmare undercity that will give you everything you’ve ever dreamed of – or kill you in the process.

It is a dungeon-crawling, story-forward tabletop RPG from the designers of Spire that focuses on what characters have to lose in pursuit of their dreams in the chaotic darkness beneath the world.

Heart is known for many things: its juicy setting, its utilization of the classic dungeon crawl, its body horror… but the horrifically gorgeous descriptions of the characters are what we’re here for. Watch your characters slowly hollow themselves out and give themselves over to whatever dark power has given them unique abilities. These characters will get more and more powerful… until they reach the final session, where everyone goes out in a big blazing, gory mess.

The Fallout system also gives the GM a chance to give characters interesting trauma and wounds, but they also could help generate interesting Beats that players want to work toward in order to level up. I think mechanically, this recommendation might have a loose connection to what you’re looking for, but thematically it might still be close.

Doll.Bod, by curatrix-ribston.

In a City of neon lights and shimmering pools of acid rain, the world ends a little each day. Hunger and sickness walk the streets like the ripper in the tales of old, taking those that the system casts aside. 

There is a way out. When you've got nothing else, you can always mortgage your body. The corpos have use for an object's flesh, for those they can augment without having to care for those pesky regulations. They're just playing with dolls really.

Dolls that they send on the jobs you can't actually send your employees on. They're not comitting crimes, just making creative use of their property.

That's what you are now. Their property. Maybe, with time, you can be something else entirely.

Let’s talk about Doll.Bod.

You are really cool cyborgs, with really deadly abilities and useful skills. You each have special abilities like the Razor-grrl’s skin razors that can cut at the slightest touch, or the Seamful, whose blood can heal herself every time she gets hit. The catch is: you don’t have control of your body. Your body has been sold, and the corporation that bought it is using it as they please. In play, this is often represented by other players at the table making decisions for you about what your character does - with safety tools in place, of course.

Not only that, your own special abilities harm your character in certain ways - for instance, The Razor-grrl can’t engage in physical intimacy with anyone, because she’s likely to hurt them, while the Gargoyle can’t turn her eyes off - until they short out, that is.

Other Games I Talk About Ad Nauseum...

Apocalypse Keys has a Ruin track similar to that of Urban Shadows, giving your characters more and more powerful abilities that encourage their descent into monstrosity, constantly pushing them towards ending the world. It’s not necessarily a bad thing either - sometimes the more satisfying outcome is tearing down the whole organization and rebuilding anew.

Those of Us Who Know Better has superheroes whose power always comes at a cost. In one way, you could see this as a detriment with a bonus (having to do certain things to get access to special powers) although I acknowledge that it might be a bit of a stretch.

Numenera has a lot of random mutations that can happen to you if you choose to use the random tables at the back of Destiny, and the Rusthaven expansion has some other abilities that come with both benefits and setbacks.