#testing out the queue feature with this one

[tillytherandomfanficwriter]

A thought I've had while reading the last four How to Train Your Dragon books-

Wow, Cressida Cowell really just said "let's just traumatize the absolute shit out of this random ass 14-year-old" huh

[frnknstin]

// i'm trying to make a timeline for Victor and my dyscalculia is screaming crying throwing up

[seventh-district]

oh nice! the Matt fic posted itself at the correct time

[cyberhughes]

SHORT N' SWEET.

PAIRING quinn hughes x fem!reader

SUMMARY yours and quinn's relationship as told by songs from sabrina carpenters album, short n' sweet.

NOTE this is dedicated to my wife, @isaadore the number one quinn hughes enjoyer<3 always spoiling me so here's me returning the favor heh i hope you enjoy bbg. juni comeback era okay now i promise i’m gonna post for my au sorry chat

WARNINGS lowkey out of character quinn i don't think he's this bold, swearing, casual drinking, suggestive but no smut, cheating, manipulation, i think that's it!

word count: 3.8k

TRACK 01. BUSY WOMAN ♬⋆.˚

the echoing sound of your heels clicking filled the hallway of your apartment, a coffee in hand and a confidence holding your head up high. your hair fell and swayed softly against your back, entrancing anyone who preceded your steps.

you didn't pay any mind to the familiar faces of your neighbors as you breezed past them in a hurry, and you didn't pay any mind to the grey orbs that burned into your skin the second you stepped into the elevator. you pressed the main floor button with a light hand, before stepping back and checking your wrist watch.

shit.

the hum of the elevator as well as the consistent stopping of floors began to test your patience. you sighed as you glanced at the floor indicator, why are there so many floors? seeing movement in your peripheral vision, your gaze naturally fell onto the unfamiliar face who had been standing in the elevator before you.

an unfamiliar face that looked at you like he had seen you in another lifetime. you gave him a tight lipped smile before looking back to the floor indicator, avoiding any possible awkward interaction.

though you had looked away, you didn't fail to notice the way his lips quirked up into a smile as he scanned your features.

you turned your head to him, hair whipping around your shoulder, "got a staring problem?" your eyes burned with annoyance, a contrast to the smile on your face.

"woah, a guy can't admire a pretty girl?" his response caught you off guard, any other guy would have muttered a quick sorry before staring at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

you furrowed your brows as you scoffed, typical man. though, you could admit that his confidence was intriguing. your eyes fell over his messy brown hair, some stray strands falling to the front of his face, but not enough to cover the enticing gleam in his eyes.

"who's got a staring problem now?" he spoke and you rolled your eyes, huffing and turning to face the reflective steel of the elevator door.

the final ding of the elevator sent relief over your body, and you instantly rushed out. your steps quick as you glanced at your watch for the thousandth time that morning.

you groaned when you heard the same voice that challenged you in the elevator call out, and though you wanted to continue your pace and look ahead, something in you made you stop and look back.

"hey," he jogged five steps towards you, keys clinking in his pocket. "i uh, i'm sorry."

you narrowed your eyes at his words, "sorry for what?"

"if i made you uncomfortable in the elevator, i promise i'm not usually a douchebag." he rubbed his nape, a small blush tinting his cheeks before he continued, "i just thought you were really pretty, hence the staring."

you nodded your head slowly, poking the inside of your cheek with your tongue. he did sound like a douchebag, but in all fairness, you were the one who started the hostile interaction.

"it's fine. and thank you, i guess." you gave him a tight lipped smile, ready to turn on your heels and continue on with your morning.

"could i grab your number?" he blurted out quickly, the blush on his cheeks growing darker.

he was handsome, and seemed to be witty; you'd give him that. but there was no room for dating in your routine, a man was out of the question.

"i'm sorry..." you dragged out your words and he got the queue.

"quinn. quinn hughes."

"quinn." you nodded. "i'm sorry but," you glanced at your watch before looking back up to him with a sheepish smile on your face. "i'm a busy woman."

he chuckled and nodded, putting his hands in his pockets. "don't be sorry. guess i'll see you around," he cracked a cheesy smile, "busy woman."

it was your turn to blush. you didn't get a chance to admire his smile for too long before he turned around to walk away.

you didn't know it yet, but quinn hughes would wiggle his way into your schedule.

TRACK 02. 15 MINUTES ♬⋆.˚

the floor was sticky and the air was warm as you took down a shot of tequila, your face scrunching in disgust as your friends cheered and clapped.

you weren't a huge drinker, but loved the way the tequila spread a warmth through your chest, letting the stress of work projects and unanswered emails leave your body.

one of your friends, sydney, had stood up clapping her hands together in a swift motion, catching everyone’s attention. she feigned a serious expression before she let a toothy grin take over her face.

“let’s go dance!”

the dance floor was cramped and hot, and there shouldn’t have been such little space between bodies as you all moved with the music to the center of the floor, but with the smiles on your friends faces and the beat flowing through your body—as well as the alcohol—you couldn’t find any reason to care with your hands in your hair and your hips swaying to the rhythm as if no one was watching.

one of your friends had tapped your shoulder before leaning in to speak into your ear, the music being far too loud to hear anything properly. “what?” you yelled, asking for confirmation at her words.

“that guy over there is staring at you!”

your head turned over your shoulder to see who she was talking about.

there was no way.

from across the floor you stared into those fiery eyes you had seen in the elevator two weeks ago, the fiery eyes that had been lingering in the back of your mind—unwillingly. there weren’t enough hours in a day, yet you found yourself wasting every one thinking back to the first man to leave you dumbfounded.

you wanted him to look away. you thought you wanted him to look away. but as his eyes trailed down your body you couldn’t help the small smirk that formed on your lips.

stop it.

maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was the fact that you denied yourself any fun for the past year and secretly yearned to get back in the game. either way, you couldn’t fight the excitement that bubbled in your chest as you turned back to your friend, whispering in her ear and leaving a grin on her face, “i’ll be right back.”

you didn’t look back to him as you made your way to the bar, leaning your weight onto your elbows as you rested on the counter while slightly jutting your ass out, waiting for the bar tender. you fought the smile that tried to form as you saw him approaching in the corner of your eye.

you quirked a brow with feigned shock, “you again?”

he chuckled as he set down his glass onto counter, shrugging his shoulders with a nonchalant smile on his face, “didn’t i tell you i’d see you around?” you nearly cracked a smile, it wasn’t often you’d find someone who’d tease just as much as you did.

he shifted his posture so the his side was leaning against the bar, hands finding his way into the front pockets of his jeans in a calm manner, “so what are you doing here?”

“what do you mean?” your hair fell to the side side as you tilted your head, his eyes watching the way you batted your eyelashes.

“I mean, didn’t you say you’re a busy woman? didn’t think you’re the type to spend your time in sticky bars.”

“been thinking about me?” you teased, smirking.

“how could i not?”

you felt the heat spreading on your cheeks, it was the alcohol you’d tell yourself, but from across the bar your friends would see that a man was beginning to beat you at your own game, that you had finally found yourself in a situation where you had no comeback.

you watched his eyes flicker to your lips before you regained your composure, standing upright. “you’re bold, quinn hughes.”

he didn’t say anything, just smiling and nodding at you with hooded eyes.

after a moment of tension he spoke, “never got your name.” he said almost as a question.

“no? i think you’re gonna have to earn it.” you giggled before pulling your phone out of your back pocket, checking the time. “aw man, I’m so sorry quinn,” teasingly emphasizing that you had his name, and he didn’t have a clue as to who you were, “but my friends and i are leaving soon.”

he stepped closer, “give me fifteen.” you didn’t back away as you looked up at him, your confidence growing by the second. “only fifteen?” you pouted in false disappointment.

your breath hitched as he leaned down, lips almost grazing your ear, “I can do a lot with fifteen minutes."

you were lying of course, you weren’t planning on leaving any time soon—and you had definitely given him more than fifteen minutes when you found yourself in a cramped bathroom stall, your hands tangled in his shaggy brown hair while his lips left hot kisses down the column of your neck.

the heat of his hands shifting from your hips to the exposed skin of your waist was more intoxicating than anything you had to drink that night, and the way his lips molded against yours would leave you drunker than ever.

“y/n.” you muttered out, eyes fluttering closed at his ministrations that he soon stopped after your words, looking back to you with hooded eyes blown with want.

“what?” he breathed out and you smiled softly, cocking your head to the side, “my name.”

his eyes glistened as he repeated it softly, you felt his heartbeat thumping against your hands as you smoothed them down his chest.

he broke into a boyish grin before finding your lips again, kissing you for what wouldn’t be the last time that night.

TRACK 03. BAD REVIEWS ♬⋆.˚

quinn hughes had managed to worm his way into your life completely. stolen glances and sneaking away together at the bar, risky flirting in the elevator and coming over to your apartment at ungodly hours of the night.

he had managed to break down your walls, your once uptight and anxious demeanor fading away and being replaced with something more care free and relaxed.

your friends noticed it, your family noticed it, even your coworkers noticed it.

you had been officially dating for four months, after him taking you on a proper date just the week after your heated second encounter at the bar.

though four months wasn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things, you found every moment of your spare time being spent with him, like you were a clingly teenager.

of course, you didn’t let this new relationship completely distract you from your work and goals—though sometimes it did.

that happens to everyone in a relationship though, right?

your tongue burned at the heat of your coffee as you caught up with an old friend in a local cafe, her going on about her girlfriend’s family issues as you nodded, listening intently.

“and what about you, back in the dating scene?” she wiggled her brows and you chuckled, setting down the warm mug.

“i am, it’s still pretty new though.” you replied and she nodded with a smile as you went on about your first interaction in the elevator, and how you felt even more confident with him around.

“what’s his name?” she questioned.

“quinn.” she smiled at the name, “aw, that’s a cute name. what’s the last?”

you watched her smile falter as you told her.

letting out a confused chuckle, you furrowed your brows, “what’s with the face?”

“i just…i think I’ve heard of him.” you felt your stomach twist at her words.

“how so?” you questioned, sipping your drink to calm yourself down. you didn’t like the way she frowned as she adjusted her posture, like she was getting ready to tell you definitely didn’t want to hear.

“one of my friends uh,” your eyes narrowed as you watched her search for her words. “well they dated a while back, and apparently he was super manipulative and also a…cheater. i’m not too sure about specifics, but generally just some bad reviews.”

you felt sick at her words. that wasn’t the quinn you knew, but that’s probably what every girl thinks when they get told that their boyfriend isn't who they think he is.

she watched the way you fell silent, lips quivering as a million thoughts raced through your head.

placing a hand on yours she spoke, “i’m sorry,” she looked at you with sympathetic eyes. “i don’t know what he’s like now, but i really don’t want you to get hurt.”

you nodded, putting on a small but fake smile. you glaced at your watch, something you did far too often. you weren't even looking at the time, but rather trying to not seem awkward. “i uhm, i need to go.” you got out of your chair, the bottom screeching against the floor louder than you intended to, earing some looks from the other patrons.

“it was nice seeing you.” you said as you pulled her into a hug, her mumbling another apology before letting you go.

you didn’t head straight for your car, but opted to go for a quick walk around the block to clear your head.

you were never the type to make excuses for a man, and you were never the type to lose sight of your worth.

but the way your heart thumped rapidly against your ribcage and anxiety bubbled in your chest proved that you weren’t that type anymore.

he wasn’t that type of man anymore, you thought.

that’s not the same man who’d pull you back into the warmth of your sheets in the morning as you tried to get ready.

that’s not the same man who’d pepper your face with kisses and ‘i love you’s as you tried to leave for work in the morning.

that’s not the same man who’d bring you food when you didn’t have time to cook, shutting your laptop as he told you to relax with him on the couch.

but it was.

and though you knew you should’ve confronted him the second your friend told you the rumors, but you bit your tongue, and chose to stay in love with him.

quinn hughes had broken down your walls, breaking down who you were without you even knowing it.

TRACK 04. COINCIDENCE ♬⋆.˚

you let out an exasperated sigh as you rolled off of his body and onto your back, letting him kiss your sweaty hairline and pull the sheets over your body, fingers brushing over your sensitive skin.

“so beautiful,” he whispered leaning over you to place a gentle kiss to your lips before he stood up, throwing his pyjama pants on. “i’ll get you water, just wait here baby.”

you nodded as your eyes fluttered closed. they didn’t remain closed for long though, your peaceful state interrupted by the vibration of his phone on the side table.

you wouldn’t have minded, but it was buzzing quite a bit.

your thoughts immediately went back to the conversation you had with your friend two weeks ago.

you had tried to fight the sore feeling in your chest as you ignored the truth.

he made his way back into your room, glass of water with five ice cubes in hand, just how you liked it.

“thank you.” you took the glass from his warm hands. “uhm, your phone’s kinda blowing up.” you eyed the back of his phone case and he raised his brows, “oh, really?”

he walked over to the other side of the bed, and you attempted to hide the way your eyes tried to see the notifications on his home screen, his home screen that was a picture of the two of you.

you couldn’t catch a glimpse.

“oh, it’s just my mom.” the boyish grin you loved falling over his face. “i’m gonna step out to take this, seems important. drink your water.” he winked before walking out the door, and you didn’t fail to notice his steps get quicker after exiting your bedroom, making his way out and into the hallway of your apartment.

you hated the way you continued to push away the gut feeling that it wasn’t just his mom, and you hated the way you told yourself that you were simply paranoid from some stories you had heard that took place in the past.

the paranoia that kept growing when he’d stop showing you things on his phone, always leaving it screen down on the table.

the paranoia that kept growing when the two of you ran into an old friend of his while on a date, claiming that she was in the city for the week.

the paranoia that kept growing as you watched the way she’d make quinn’s group of friends laugh harder than you ever had.

the paranoia that grew as you kissed him, trying to ignore that his mind was clearly on something, or someone else.

you tried and you tried to fight the feeling, but you knew you were right.

you should have put the pieces together the second your friend revealed his past. you should have known that all this time he wasn’t trying to help you or shape you into a better person.

he was carefully sabotaging your life in every possible way.

his slender fingers danced along the skin of your back as you cuddled into his chest that night, nothing but the sound of the breeze brushing through the curtains filling the room.

that damn phone buzzed again, and you felt his warmth leave you as he shifted to grab it.

he thought you were asleep as he whispered words you couldn’t quite hear into his phone.

he thought you were asleep as he threw on a hoodie before gently pulling the covers over your body.

he thought you were asleep when he quietly tip toed out of your bedroom, careful to not step on any of the spots of your floor that creaked.

you definitely weren’t asleep when you heard the sound of your front door lock at three am.

for the past week that she had been in town, he’d leave you cold and alone in your bed during the hours where he should have been cuddled up next to you.

what a coincidence.

TRACK 05. DUMB AND POETIC ♬⋆.˚

you couldn’t fight the lump in your throat as you sat on your couch, the living room only illuminated by a single lamp.

you felt your stomach twist and turn as you listened to his keys jangle on the other side of your door, a key he’d soon return to you.

you felt defeated as he walked in, a calm smile on his face and a box of pizza in hand, like nothing was wrong in the world.

like nothing was wrong when your intuition told you to check his messages last night while he gently snored. messages that were filled with planned dates and sweet nothings that weren’t intended for you. you felt queasy as you looked at the pictures she had shared with him, wearing less and less as they got more recent.

“hey, why do you look so glum baby?” he gently rested the pizza on your kitchen counted before walking towards you, eyes narrowing in confusion when he saw the cardboard box rested on your coffee table.

“what’s that?” he questioned with a smile, peering over and looking inside.

his clothes that you once wore, his self help book that found a home on your nightstand, his beanies that you’d beg him to take off, and the picture frame holding the two of you together.

“why…why is this all here?” he laughed uncomfortably as searched your eyes, but there was nothing there.

he kneeled down to your position, taking your hands in yours as you stared at him with a blend of disappointment and pity.

you averted his eyes, turning your head and trying to hide the tears that formed. it hurt, you weren’t enough for him. he had pursued you first, you weren’t even looking for love, it wasn't on the table for you. but in the end it was you that wasn’t enough.

“is it…is this about jessica?” he asked gently and you scoffed, wiping a tear that slipped.

“that stupid name.” you muttered. “you found out something is wrong, and the first thing on your mind is her?”

“what are you taking about? if this is...baby i’ve never cheated on you!" he looked pathetic, groveling and begging for forgiveness for something that you hadn't even confirmed.

“i never said that you did." pulling your hands away from his for what would your hands away and his mouth dropped open, wanting to speak word’s but they wouldn’t come out. his reaction was truth enough.

and for the first time, quinn didn't have anything to say.

“you’ve got it all wrong.” he brushed a hand through his hair “i only love you, i think i’ve loved you since the day i saw you in the elevator.”

“you think?”

“don’t do that.” he shook his head as he stood up, running his palm over his face as he tried to calm himself.

“why are you getting so mad? you’re the one who put us in this situation.”

“fuck, y/n.” he paced around your living room, "you're putting words in my mouth." he looked at you sternly, like a dad scolding his child. "i didn't fucking do anything, okay?" your body turned itself away from him as he raised his voice, he had never talked to you in such a way.

he always talked to you with a gentle tone, always so soft and well spoken.

maybe the quinn you knew, wasn't him at all.

"i think you should go, quinn." your voice was hushed, barely above a whisper as you grabbed the box, raising it in front of you for him to take.

"y/n...please..." you hated the way his expression instantly flipped as he pleaded. "you love me, don't you?"

you felt sick. he was grasping for straws, trying to manipulate you into feeling bad, to make you feel like you'd be nothing without him.

but you were nothing with him, and everything without him.

"go." you repeated, tears slipping down your cheeks.

he scoffed, any sign of remorse gone just as fast as it appeared. you couldn't believe you were so blind to it before. acting all kind and protective when you needed him, but now looking at you with hatred in his eyes when you didn't.

he didn't take the box, instead shaking his head and walking out of your apartment, and your relationship.

a relationship built on performative empathy and false sensitivity.

how dumb and poetic.

©cyberhughes; do not copy, translate or repost my work without permission.

[d4isywhims]

generation one || isabella cavaliere 🍳 glutton, animal enthusiast + outgoing

isabella spent her childhood in the peaceful countryside of tartosa, raised by her beloved grandmother. while other children in her neighborhood enjoyed playing outside, isabella found herself in the warmth of the kitchen, learning to cook alongside her grandmother. the dishes her grandmother crafted were nothing short of magical, and she often shared them with neighbors, spreading joy with every meal. it was from her grandmother that isabella learned not just the techniques, but the deep love and care that went into every dish. after her grandmother’s passing, isabella felt the pull of change. she longed for a new beginning, a way to honor the memory of the woman who had shaped her life. determined to follow her dream, isabella moved to san sequoia with a clear goal in mind: to open a restaurant where she could share her grandmother’s recipes and the passion for cooking that had been passed down to her. embark on this journey with Isabella as she pursues her dream, one dish at a time.

i rolled red bean for this generation’s topping!

goals 🌟

get your restaurant to at least 3 stars

quit your job as an adult and then move to chestnut ridge

marry a sim with the rancher trait

adopt atleast 1 ranch animal

complete half of the master chef aspiration

complete expert nectar maker aspiration

max out cooking, gardening and nectar making

have 3 kids

i tested the restaurant owner feature that came with dine out, but it was too buggy for my liking (even with carl’s dine out reloaded!) so i think i will omit that from the goals for this generation and just have isabella work in the culinary career until she reaches level 5 or turns into an adult, whichever comes first, and then have her quit and move to chestnut ridge :)

*queue starts tomorrow!

here’s my founder for @malixa’s boba tea tales legacy! i miss my old gameplays so much so here is my final attempt at falling in love with a sim like i how i fell for the colebrooks :') with that being said, tjol will be put to a halt because i can't bring myself to play in that save (iykyk) BUT i do have something coming up along with my boba tea tales legacy hehe

[heathensimmer]

Hello Simmers! Do you play the Sims 2? Do you play with 3t2 traits by the legend Hexagonal Bipyramid themselves?

Good news!

I have been steadily working on learning how to modify BHAVS and it has resulted in several edits of Sims 3t2 trait mods and some of my own trait mods! They’re still in testing while I play through one of my hoods.

However, I’d like to share some of the mods/edits I have made that do seem function well in the game, and also ask for help/thoughts on where I fall short. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you want to see in trait mods for the future.

—Cowards no longer autonomously stomp on roach infestations. Considering making two versions: one where Cowards don’t have the pie menu option at all, or where they still have the option but can’t do it autonomously.

—Edit of “MeanInteractionsToAnyAge” by Hexagonal Bipyramid plus compatibility with “fightwhilepregnant” by kestrellyn at MTS. Evil Sims always have the pie menu option to insult, attack, etc. regardless of fury or relationship level. Mean-Spirited have the same thing, except the option to always attack. Insane Sims I managed to add a 3% chance that they will randomly attack someone, given they are grouchy enough. Hotheads will autonomously argue if they’re furious. Other tiny tweaks. It tends to throw occasional errors because I believe it is conflicting with either Simler’s Fight Mod (which I am testing a patch for right now) or ShadowEFX’s Deadlier Werewolves.

—Adventurous, Eccentric, Gatherer, Genius, and Frugal Sims will autonomously dig for treasure if they’re bored plus they have creativity skill.

—Dramatic Sims can potentially “Fake Pass Out”, directly from the Sims 3, only problem I have is getting the emitter-energy failure to function properly.

—Absent-minded Sims have a chance of their actions dropping from their queue, simulating Sims 3’s feature where these Sims would walk into rooms and forget why they went in there.

—I have barely started an attempt to let technophobes sabotage electronics but it’s not at the top of my list.

Let me know what you think! Happy Simming!!

[the-aleator]

endeavour musings

Featuring: Fred Thursday's Traumatic Backstory and the War

In "Rocket" (s1e3), in the second half of the episode, we get the discovery of the rocket guidance schematics in Lenny Frost's pocket, which Thursday notices, looks at, and goes "huh" eyebrow. Then we get another scene with Dr Volk, our very German engineer, who Morse questions about the source of the documents, and Thursday...has other questions in mind.

THURSDAY: "Volk, What's that? German, is it? Worked long at British Imperial?" VOLK: "18 years." THURSDAY: "When would that be? Early '47? [switches to German] Where were you before? Kiel, Peenemunde, Nordhausen?" VOLK: [German] "I was a young Engineer. It was a long time ago." THURSDAY: "Yeah. [German] But some of us have a good memory."

The triple layer of conversation (yay! intertextuality) going on here is brilliant: Morse is looking confused, from one to the other, Thursday is using fluent German to confront Volk over the War (on his own territory, so to speak), and Volk is hugely on the defensive.

I'm pretty sure Volk uses the word "Zeit" when he says it was a long time ago, implying that that's both ancient history and also nothing to do with him, and Thursday rebuts him that he has a "good memory." Also, I wish had the screenshots for the venom on Thursday's face.

MORSE: What was that all about? THURSDAY: It was him and a load more like him flattened my street. MORSE: I'm sure it wasn't personal. THURSDAY: Wasn't it? You're too young to remember.

Then Thursday accuses of him excusing Vexin because she's a "looker" and in return Morse accuses him of him being xenophobic, ("I based it more on the fact that she isn't German") and then sort of apologises, with a reluctant, "Sir."

There are a lot of implications here to tease out. The first being that many German scientists were transported, mostly to the US, but some to the UK, (Operation Paperclip) regardless of what they may or may not have done during the war. Even at the time, the ethical implications of that were...messy. It's pretty clear that what's Thursday is accusing Volk of. Then the list of places: 1. Kiel, which was a major port for the Kriegsmarine, had a bunker to build and repair u-boats 2. Peenemunde, which was a factory for V-1 missiles until 1943 and a German testing facility and factory for both the V-2 and the Wasserfall missile. 3. Nordhausen, which was a factory for the V-2 missiles.

Kiel and Peenemunde used forced labor of POWs.

But Nordhausen was an offshoot of Mittelbau-Dora and was specifically built to be a V-2 factory fueled by the concentration camp. An estimated 60,000 people passed through the camp, although the precise number of people who died isn't possible to determine, but figures range from 15,000 up to 25,000.

Volk's response is to deny responsibility based on his age, just as, interestingly, Thursday absolves Morse of responsibility of remembering or understanding because "he's too young."

Thursday says that it's personal because Volk / German engineers flattened his street, but there's something more to it:

THURSDAY to GULL: "Oh, I've looked into the eyes of far worse than you. People who've committed real atrocities. And they were sane. Next to them, you're nothing more than a third-rate freak show. A bearded lady with glue running down her chin." (Fugue, S1E2, my emphasis)

Justice is a personal thing for Thursday, as in, it's about the individual (unlike Morse, "The truth will be buried"), it's Thursday who rejects with force the idea that Olive Rix is a "gold-digger," to Henry Bloom Sr. ("She might not have had the best start in life, but at the time she went missing, she was working hard to make something of herself.") It's hard not to hear Thursday himself in that sentence. The implications buried here, I think, are that Thursday, as a sergeant with the Eighth Army, who speaks fluent German, probably did liberate, or participate in the liberation of a concentration camp. Which: queue more traumatic backstory for Thursday. I think one of the things that the interchange with Volk shows is that Thursday has long learned the lesson, for himself, personally, that justice doesn't always happen. He can't do anything about Volk: all he can do is remember what happened. And thus, MORSE: "That's not enough." THURSDAY: "Sometimes it has to be. Not every question gets an answer. Learning to live with that is the hardest lesson there is." The whole of Morseverse in two lines of dialogue.

[tales-of-wocdes]

Demo update 2.5: Heritage Features overhaul

Guess what? The post about the heritage features overhaul was in the post queue for a good few days :D I have been working on it.

The demo has been updated:

There is no new story content. Instead this update is about the heritage feature system.

By popular demand, I have overhauled the heritage feature system to allow for multiple features (at the moment, up to 4 which may be too much). This also allows for mixing of different features from different races.

There is one new heritage feature: face fins. And a pretty beefy codex entry for races (WIP like everything) of about 3.5 k words. The codex etc. have not been included in word counts. In total the codex entries are ~ 5k words so this new one makes up most of it :D

This required the editing of all instances of a feature being mentioned! So I am sure I missed some. Therefore, I would like to ask for people to test it out, and report instances of odd behavior to me with details of their choices! This is why I am making this a separate update instead of just waiting until I have more story content! If this is not properly implemented now, then it will be a huge pain in the future.

To see the most amount of heritage feature mentions, when looking in the mirror in C2, do the feature customization before focusing on just your face!

Being able to choose a number of features may result in clunky text where there is a sentence about each feature in a row. For example

This I have no idea how to do any other way, I cannot write combination specific text, that would require far too much fiddling. Also with the amount of individual features, that would be an eternity project since there are dozens of combinations.

Other things/specific notes:

Questions at the end of C1 can now only be asked once. A bug relating to if a question has been asked has been fixed which could affect flavor text in C2.

C1 bug fixed (Havard infinite approval)

Some typos fixed all over the place.

Word count: Slight increase in total new words ~600+ due to new heritage feature, but I also edited out about ~500 words worth of repetitive bits from inspecting them in the mirror so I don't think this does much. I am not changing the total word count.

However, the word count per play through will have gone up slightly since each feature has their own inspection scene, that now you can do up to 4 times instead of just one.

The beastkin heritages are the most complicated since they need also the type of animal specified. In the previous version, at least the horns were bugged and the choice did not register correctly. I have implemented a solution but it is clumsy and requires the player to click on an extra bit of text. I may return to this, I think a widget could make this easier.

The menu after choosing your features has been overhauled since it needed to work entirely differently.

[gallusrostromegalus]

You ohhhandedly mentioned tessai livong through ww2 and… wow thats true there were a lot of characters that got a first row seat to both conflicts, even if only the second was really impactful on japans history. Does urahara, yoruichi, tessai, the vizored or any of the shinigami have any specific feelings on ww2/the nuclear bombs? I know its a wild fucking question but it literally just occurred to me and i cant stop thinking about it.

Yeah WW2 is an entire 5-chapter arc in the fic because apparently Kubo is from Hiroshima, and Karakura town is based on his memories growing up there. Stuff that happens during that arc:

The Soul Society's sole warning that something catastrophic might be coming is the arrival of an irradiated and enraged Coyote spirit from the Trinidad test site. It's up to Newly-appointed captain Komamura to calm it down and explain what happened, and Mayuri is able to work out that atomic weapons are real from it's descriptions. He gives Soul Society about a month before the humans drop one on a city.

Unfortunately, he's correct.

***

Urahara and the Visoreds use the fact that they're already dead to mitigate some of the damage from the bombing by walking into the epicenter and shoving carbon rods into the most radioactive points, stemming much of the radiation damage, but there's nothing they can do for the initial wave of destruction.

It involves going through a new gigai every trip and learning what if feels like to have the flesh actually melt off your bones, but Hirako Shinji and the other Visored are no cowards, least of all about Hard and Dirty Work.

Tessai makes Ururu and Jinta out of spare parts from Urahara's Gigai experiments to house a heavily damage Kitsune and Tanuki spirit pair from a shrine that was destroyed. Ururu is the Tankuki, and the older one- Jinta seems a bit more 'organic' because Tessai learned a lot making his sister, and because as a Kitsune, he's a better actor.

***

Soul Society is in major trouble though.

with the sudden influx of souls- first from the bombing, but then from the radiation sickness and the famine that followed, the living and spirit worlds are in danger of becoming unbalanced.

It's a Major Crisis!

Fortunately for them, people with sociopathy tend to operate really well during Crises, and I realized the reason Mayuri hasn't been fired or killed by the time Ichigo shows up is that when shit hits the fan, Mayuri's lack of emotional response to the suffering of others means he can buckle down and fucking DELIVER.

Expansions to the pocket dimension that the queue of incoming souls is housed in? He didn't sleep for two weeks to get it done on time, but there was more than enough room when the bomb dropped and for the few months after as casualties continued.

Emergency rations for all these incoming factory workers that know nothing about farming? Behold, Nutritionally complete meals that you can eat right out of the box! And smaller, friendlier ones for the kiddies!

Hell, the 12th division even makes instructional propaganda videos about how safe and tasty these new foods are, featuring The Grand Clown Himself, and distribution centers featuring his likeness, so Mayuri enjoys a peculiar popularity in the Rukongai, not unlike an off-brand and sometimes educational Krusty The Clown.

Just ah. Stop asking questions about the ingredients list.

***

"I'm not fucking killing civillians." Says Kenpachi when Yamamoto begins to bring up the historical method that the Shinigami have used to balance out sudden influxes of souls from the living world.

"Oh?" Yamamoto glares at him. "You have a better idea?"

"What's them big fuckers that come outta tears sometimes? Hundred feet tall, black, bird faces?" He asks, waving as he tries to remember the names.

"...Menos Grande?" asks Ukitake, who has gotten remarkably good at interpreting for the man next to him at meetings.

"Yeah!" Zaraki grins, patting his six-foot-tall colleague on the head like a small child. "You said they're like... combination creatures of a thousand souls each right?"

"Zaraki is correct." Pipes up Tousen, who is also extremely eager to not murder civilians and even more eager to absolutely fuck up the army of Menos Aizen has been gathering in Hueco Mundo. "-It wouldn't be *easy* but dispatching approximately Five hundred Menos in the next week seems much more doable and much, much more morally sound than killing five hundred thousand civillians. Sir."

Kaname can feel the curse nails on his back starting to bleed from Aizen's glare but he presses on.

"-There appears to be a significant population of them gathered on the far eastern edge of Hueco Mundo. It would probably take most of the 11th Division's forces but-"

"IKKAKU!" Zaraki is already bellowing out the door to his lieutenant. "TELL EVERYONE TO PACK AN EXTRA PAIR OF PANTIES, WE'RE GOING ON A HOLLOW HUNT!"

There is a distant but enthusiastic whoop form Ikkaku in reply.

"An excursion into Hueco Mundo is exceptionally dangerous." Unohana notes, voice placid as he returns to the table.

"-and? I don't do this job because it's safe 'n' easy." Zaraki shrugs.

Her neutral expression softens just a bit into a small, affectionate and perhaps ever-so-slightly lascivious smile. "May I suggest that a detachment of the 4th Division accompany the 11th? It won't make the work easier, but it will mitigate some of the risk."

Yamamoto groans, aware that the decision has been made for him.

"Fine." He grunts. "Take a detachment of the Ninth too, you can use that newfangled radiodar whatsit to keep me updated."

"Pardon?" Mumbles Kaname, slightly woozy from blood loss.

His circulatory situation is not helped when an illusion-blind-to-the-blood Zaraki grabs him about the middle and starts carrying him off under his arm in exactly the direction the 9th and 11th are not like a particularly bewildered purse Chihuahua.

***

Aizen... almost strays from his path.

The Hogyoku is slow and tiresome, his first plan to barrage Karakura with Menos to create the Oken is being trashed and actually being forced to work his job of Rukongai Management is- Well, it's reminding him just why he started this quest to Dethrone God.

What loving creator would make an afterlife of squalor, where the 'lucky' are cursed to outlive everyone they know and love? Not one worth worshiping, surely.

But actually being out here, setting up emergency food distribution, implementing the latest in civil engineering from the newly arrived and seeing it immediately improve the quality of life, uniting families and... actually helping people? it's making him question his path. Perhaps- Perhaps God is not some uncaring regent on a distant throne. Perhaps God is something that lives in all souls, a kindness and goodwill towards one's fellow man, and to spread the will of a loving creator, one must Act to Enact God's Will...

Gin Panics.

He has not spent the last 300-odd years dangling the Hogyoku in front of Aizen, stuffing him full of spiritual energy to feed to the machine that generates reality like he was fattening up a goose for Pate, only to have him give up his quest for divinity NOW.

He's gonna have to do something drastic.

He's gonna have to convince Aizen he was right all along, and that he needs to keep using the Hogyoku.

He's going to need to use Aizen's own Illusions against him, and convince Aizen that the souls of the citizens of the rukongai aren't worth playing a Benevolent God for. That the whole thing needs to come out and be replaced.

Sure, it's a dick move

but those are his specialty.

***

It's the night before the 11th and the two detachments are supposed to leave for Hueco Mundo, and Yamamoto's been doing some thinking.

He is also in Zaraki's quarters at midnight sharp. "Captain-General." Nods Unohana, pausing mid-activity to acknowledge him. "Bruh." Zaraki grunts to indicate they were busy. "I need to borrow Zaraki for an hour or so, and then you may continue." he says, and then steps back outside so the man can get untied and dressed.

"This better be good old man, I know you haven't been married for a few centuries but REALLY-" Zaraki grumbles, emerging and putting his sandals on. "Don’t worry, it’ll take twenty minutes tops, all you have to do is stand behind me and don’t hide your rage." Yamamoto explains. "-We'’re going to go see the central 46." Zaraki pauses mid-sandal, slowly looking up at him with an intrigued arch to his brow. "Yes, it’s forbidden." Yamamoto says, not tearing his gaze away from the moon above them. "-But I've received reports that the Central 46 has acquired blueprints of the... Device. Used in the living world earlier this month and I'm nipping this at the damn bud." Zaraki grins, and finishes putting his sandals on.

The Central 46 are alerted to the Presence of Yamamoto and Zaraki by the main gate to their district being kicked through the wall of the council chambers.

"Hello, Sages and Wise Councilors of the Soul Society!" The Old Man greets them as he steps through the hole he just made, and The Barbarian squeezing through after, sword casually over his shoulder. "Well isn't this a surprise, everyone here in a full meeting at One in the Morning on a Teusday!"

"Wh-What is the meaning of this?" one of the head councilmen sputters, mustache bristling. "Shinigami are forbidden form this place, I'll have you both execu-!"

"Shut up." Yamamoto glares, and sparks fly from the corner of his eye. The hem of his Haori is starting to smolder and singe as well as he approaches the table the councilors are crowded around the blueprints from the living world.

"Now, we are all good and honorable people here." Yamamoto says, casually waving a hand in what would normally be a placating gesture but now only made his sleeve flicker as Ryujin Jakka grew hungrier. "-But I've been around long enough to know how Power corrupts."

"And we've all been exposed to a new, horrific level of Power."

"Oh, of course, you would never! It's unthinkable to sink to such a level!"

"...but it's been a few weeks. The initial shock has faded, and you're starting to understand the full toll of the destruction." he explains, strolling up, the diamond insignia on his back spreading across his shoulders as the Haori singes. Behind him, Zaraki is following with an unpleasantly carnivorous stroll, yellow eye lazily moving from face to face, taking stock of all those present. "...and you are perhaps developing a new standard of devastation and suffering to wish upon your enemies."

There is some muttering, some protesting, and worse, some agreeing. They are silenced by a sudden electric crackle of Energy from Zaraki.

"I’m just here to tell you all-" Yamamoto continues, unperturbed. Or perhaps so perturbed he's warped all the way around to a deep, ruthless peace.

"If I hear any ONE of you has taken steps to develop a weapon like this-" he points a finger at the blueprints, which singe and then burn, a low, slow flame that reduces them completely to ash.

"-I’m going to kill all of you."

"Actually," he explains, as the blueprints finish burning and the table catches as well, fire blooming and crackling, lighting him from beneath. "I’m going to kill all of you and your families. By which I mean, I’m figuring out who all your ancestors were going back Five generations, Kill them, and kill all their descendants."

The table burns, and the floor is threatening to catch, but nobody can move to ring the fire alarm or grab a bucket of water.

"-Because that’s the kind of indiscriminate destruction these things cause." he explains. "It's a damn shame to say this, but this is the first time we've been able to settle whole families in the same town- because five, six, even seven generations of families, from great-great grandmother to the newest infants were burnt together in an instant."

"So if you want to wield that kind of destruction, you best be prepared to deal with those kinds of consequences." he growls, and suddenly sweeps his hand over the fire, which snuffs out immediately.

Slowly he turns to go, and regards Zaraki behind him.

"Oh, and just in case any of you had thoughts of hastening my retirement in regards to this matter-" he speaks up, and points to Zaraki "-Near as I can tell, this asshole is immortal and indestructible, so if I happen to be dead, he'll do it for me, won't you?"

"Yes, sir." Zaraki Nods, eye fixed on the head councilor, committing his face to memory, blade and crackling eagerly.

"-and he's nowhere near as speedy and clean a killer as I am, so I suggest you don't test either of us." Yamamoto grins, and Ryujin Jakka can't help but flicker off his brow for emphasis.

"Goodnight, and go fuck yourselves." Yamamoto bows, and exits through the same hole he entered.

The walk back to the 11th is largely silent, but Yamamot can feel the pleased-yet-curious thrum of reiatsu from Zaraki.

"Question, boss-" he suddenly speaks as they approach the 11th.

"You're not supposed to question orders, Zaraki." He sighs. He'll make a proper shinigami out of him. Eventually.

"...Request for clarification, Boss-" Zaraki tries again, and Yamamoto nods. "-Why me?"

Yamamoto arches an overgrown brow at him.

"Not complainin'-" Zaraki explains, pointedly looking up at the moon and scratching his neck in deferment. "-But Byakuya's got more sway with them and Gin's definitely better at terrifying first impressions."

"Hm." Yamamoto nods. "It's in the follow-up, not the impression, you see."

"I do not." Zaraki says. For all his faults and frustrations, Zaraki sure keeps Yamamoto on his toes about not being lazy and actually explaining himself.

"-I am very serious about you killing them and their descendants if they ever think about making one of those devices." he sighs and Zaraki nods, waving a hand for him to continue. "-So I picked the Shinigami most invested in a peaceful future to make sure my orders would be carried out."

Zaraki still looks confused.

"You're my only captain with children, Zaraki." Yamamoto explains. "I know you only give half a rat's ass about the court guard, but I've seen what you'll do for Yachiru."

Zaraki nods understanding now, and a few more paces of silence pass between them.

"...Thank you, Sir." Zaraki mutters, bowing his head and using the honorific with genuine intent for the first time since Yamamoto had known him. "-For understanding."

"Thank you, Captain Zaraki." Yamamoto nodded slightly, stopping before the gate to the 11th. "-For understanding as well."

"-Now get back to Captain Unohana before she schedules some sort of blood test of a thousand needles for me!" Yamamoto grunted, prodding at Zaraki with his cane, and the man didn't need to be told twice.

[thejohnlockedfemboy]

OK OK SO

(Actual request in green like before)

Basically you’re a member of the 141, probably a rookie or just kinda new and young. Doesn’t matter too much. But you’re close enough with the main four, so you guys hang out together and all that. Once close enough, soap gets comfortable enough enough with you to start joking and… well, making fun of you. But as a friend, of course.

Well one of these jokes was that you were Price’s kid. Whether that be saying that’s why Price let you sleep in, or talking about how much you’re basically a mirror version of him (same hair, eyes, similar features), or a joke about you even swearing similarly.

It was all played off by both you and Price. You had a good childhood with a good mom and dad (who you were never told was your stepdad), and the only time Price did anything that might’ve resulted in that was years ago. It was a good joke, but got slightly annoying sometimes.

Anyway one night it was a game night for the 141. Price slipped away for the “bathroom” but he had secretly done a DNA test to shut Soap up about it. Planning on just grabbing them and shoving Soap off of him, he was… more than surprised when it showed you actually were there.

Not that he wants to bring it up.

He just quietly goes back to the game night and tries to just.. not really think of anything. Eventually soap finds the folded up results on the floor, fallen out of Price’s back pocket. Of course, he starts celebrating and joyous Scottish swearing fills the room and he proceeds to shout out that you are Prices kid. He was right! Leaving price frozen and you stunned

You can change the ending or really tweak anything you’d like. Hope you like the idea and do it whenever!

-���

AAAAAAAA THAT'S SO GOOD!!! please lemme be price's kid universe i beg 😭🙏

i'm definitely adding it to the queue! :D Soap being a little shit 🤣 little Scottish asshole, I love him. Price got those hibernating paternal instincts.

[slugdragoon]

Devlog #1

Ok, I've been working super hard on my game this week, and I have something to show off. Generally, I did not want to start doing Devlogs until I had what I considered a working prototype, and that's what this is. I think I'm at the point where a lot of basic things work, and I will be able to focus on building it out, which will make for more interesting regular updates.

So, what we're seeing in this clip is:

SPLASH SCREEN - just a test of animation and the flow of booting up the game, it will not be in there for long, I just threw random assets in.

SAVING & LOADING - The title screen is plain, the "Settings" option doesn't do anything yet, but the "New Game" and "Load Game" do! They currently go off of one filepath and save games are stored as JSON so I can edit them easily for testing, and they don't yet prompt "are you sure?", they just do it, and the functions work. I can save my game and all the party and player stats and values load in properly. [Not shown: there is a save button in the Pause menu, but that menu is very basic]

BATTLE UI - All is placeholder, and ugly, but I focused down on getting it to work. That means, while I was throwing buttons in there for testing early on, I spent major time reworking menus to work with controller instead. I may do KB&M support later, once the UIs are actually fully designed, but doing them in parallel while I'm changing things would not be nice. We can attack, you don't have to click "Confirm" anymore, just a controller button, we have spells/skill and items which can target either enemies or allies, and both single-target an multitarget skills exist and flash up corresponding selector arrows, after which you can confirm your target. Party members have an HP/MP display and the character whose turn it is will be highlighted on their turn

MESSAGE OVERLAY - As you can see, I've worked out the system to have messages give the player feedback in-battle which can also be used for dialogue out-of-battle. It works off of a queue containing both messages that auto-play and messages that you have to confirm before moving on, so I can mix-and-match as appropriate. I wanted to have this in place so I can soon implement NPCs and shops, and the battles make sense to both me and the player as I add more features to it.

When we load into this test dungeon, we see the old sprite for a demon, I redrew them, as you can see in the first random encounter. None of this is final though, these were also pretty quick I just wanted to discard the really lazy MS Paint-looking sprites If I'm going to be showing the game off more, I want it to be in a better light. I'm not even sure Demons and Bats will be common enemy types in the game, it's just for testing. Nothing that you're seeing is final, or even really fits the vibe in my, mind yet, but it's approaching something that looks like it has the potential to be a game.

After all all of this I haven't added any new enemy types, items, or skills yet, the assets aren't anywhere near what they will be like, no levels have been created yet, but I think what I have is a lot of the "structure" of a basic RPG. I ate my vegetables, the boring parts are functional, and it opens up a lot of doors for what I can develop next.

NEXT GOALS -

NPCs in the overworld (+Shops, need to have a way to acquire items, currently the inventory is hardcoded into a New Game)

Implement a method to recruit and dismiss new Party Members, they are also currently hardcoded for testing purposes

There are still lingering menu navigation bugs, but nothing that can't be fixed relatively quickly

Move the starting area to a safe-zone that can be built out as the main hub and create multiple dungeon rooms with different testing conditions

More visual feedback. Having enemies flash on taking damage and displaying damage numbers would be a good start, more complex animations can come later, including spell animations.

[therealdragonpost-generator]

I am remembering things about this generator. First off:

FinalRelationshipValue="{} {} (a {} {} {}), {} (a {} {}) and {} (a {}). One time, {} {} {}, who {} it. "

I'm remembering how silly strings look without their added data in them. Like, yep, that sure is a statement :) Such a valid sentence.

Also, with the disorders, I forgot that I researched statistics for things like "percentage of people missing an arm" and used that in the generator. Your guy has a 4 in 10,000 chance to be missing an arm, and a 28 in 1000 chance to have ADHD. Where did I get this data from? I don't remember. I googled something and found numbers and called it good enough I guess. Anyways there are only three disorders, those two and "Sleepy Bitch Disorder" Which is :\ well that's not a lot. But! I remember asking a few times for things to add, and no one submitted things, and those were just the three I added in to test the feature out. BTW your dragon could potentially have all disorders at once. It's not very probable but it could happen.

Also I absolutely had bias stuff in some of the results, such as for common pronouns and creatures. I have removed all those biases for v2.0.0 👍

Looking at the Hydra code and 😬 that's a lot. Like, it's not hard to understand, there's just a lot with it. Every time a head is added, it cuts the percentage in 1/2 for the next head, and then the final head count needs personalities for each head. But not every thing is multiplied either. Hydras are in v1.1.0 tho, and I never finished them 😔 In fact v2.0.0 might not include them, we'll see how that goes.

Anyways I've started on cleaning up v1.0.2 so that I can understand things easier for when I make the web version. Until then . ..

It'll still be one every 3 hours, so 8 Dragons a day. All the old copyright rules still apply, anyone can use any creature that spits out. I have a .bat file that'll run the Python program 250 times in about 5 seconds, which'll make 31.25 days, basically lasting us until 2025

Also I'll be setting up a bunch of proper blog tags over the next week or two, and update the pinned content as well. Reviving an abandoned blog is a lot of work :P

[luna-wing-cns274]

@ocram-station-admin-and-records

< Alright, let’s fuck around with Ocramite. >

[ Video feed from the surface of a barren, lifeless moon. Above, set against the black of space, is the disk of a nearby planet. Visual conditions are too poor to make out any of the planet’s surface features; only a narrow crescent of the world is illuminated.

An open field of gray regolith extends to the horizon, illuminated by harsh sunlight. Solid boulders are scattered among the dust, ejecta from meteorite impacts. One of them stands in the distance, centered in frame. It’s difficult to judge the scale of the object by visuals alone, but HUD elements have been added to provide information. ]

TARGET RANGE: 40.6M

COMPOSITION: BASALT ROCK

APPROX. MASS: 27.3 TONNES

[ A combat subaltern moves into view, facing away from the camera. It makes long strides through the low-gravity environment, and clouds of dust billow up around its feet with each step. In one hand, it holds an anti-materiel railgun, slung at its side by a strap over its shoulders.

With slow, deliberate motions, it falls into a low stance and slides to a halt. Raising the railgun to its shoulder, it sights the boulder in the distance. As it looks through the scope, the subaltern reaches up to make a small adjustment before lowering the weapon and turning to look at the camera. Rather than any humanlike features, the subaltern’s face has eight optical sensors arranged in double rows, protected by plates of sloped armor. ]

< Yo. It’s Garm, if you can’t tell. >

The subaltern reaches to a pouch at its belt and extracts an object which fits neatly in its palm, holding it up. As if on queue, the camera zooms in to view the object in detail: a small, precisely-machined dart of black material, encased in a squarish metallic shell.

< Alright, so, this is what I’m here to fuck around with. If you’ve never seen a railgun round, quick crash course. That little dart in there is the actual bullet, and the casing around it is called an armature, sometimes a sabot. Whole thing gets loaded into the gun. When current runs through one rail, it travels into the armature, through it, and into the other rail. That makes the armature accelerate real quick. When it leaves the barrel, the armature discards, and the round itself goes out to hit the target. Simple.

Now, usually, this dart would be made of tungsten or depleted uranium. This one is special. It’s made of Ocramite, which means it’ll soak up electrical current and radiate it all away as heat with perfect efficiency, which is flat-out insane. So, if I loaded this thing up into a normal armature and let ‘er rip, the Ocramite would just turn all that electricity into heat. Bullet goes nowhere, gun melts in my subaltern’s hands.

That’s why we aren’t going to use a normal armature. Took a sec to figure out how to get it to work, but this one should make it so the Ocramite itself only gets a little bit of the current, and only when it’s near the end of the barrel. Just enough to get it spitting out enough heat to really do some damage when it hits our target rock over there.

Since the Ocramite is going to drink up some of our current, we’re going to fire this thing at higher power than normal to make up for the difference. We don’t want the Ocramite sticking around in the barrel for a nanosecond longer than it has to, so we need that extra current.

If I took everything into account and did my math right, this should work. >

[ Garmr’s subaltern turns, raises the railgun, and loads it in the same motion. It kneels, preparing for low-G recoil, and brings the scope up to one of its optical sensors. Tiny flickers of motion can be seen across the synthetic muscles of its arms and torso as it corrects its aim—then, it stands perfectly still.

A change in the quality of the footage—the fighter’s camera begins gathering thousands upon thousands of frames per second, preparing for post-test analysis. ]

< Let’s see if I’m any good at R&D. Charge ready, and…firing. >

[ The surface of the moon is in vacuum, so there’s no sound when the gun explodes.

A flash of orange and blue flares up in the center of the screen. Sparks of molten metal bloom away from the railgun’s barrel, and the entire forward half of the weapon is blasted apart.

Hurled to one side, away from the blast, Garmr’s subaltern scrambles to catch itself as a cloud of shrapnel pelts its armor plating. Pieces of debris spin away into space: the gun’s external components, bits of metal casing, and the remnants of the subaltern’s right forearm, sheared off when the conductive rails came apart.

The subaltern stumbles to its feet. All around it, plumes of fine regolith are rising into space, kicked up by the wave of shrapnel. Still clutching the remnants of a grip and rifle stock in one hand, the subaltern glances down, examining the damage to itself. It inspects the stump of its right arm; black, glistening threads of frayed synthetic muscle dangle from the severed elbow joint. ]

< …ow. Goddammit. >

[ For a long while, the subaltern stands motionless. Garmr growls. ]

< Okay, I fucked something up. Let’s go see if it did anything, at least. >

[ Dropping its destroyed railgun, Garmr’s subaltern begins loping along towards the target boulder. The video feed shifts to the subaltern’s own optics, a composite image generated from its optical sensors. At the far right-hand side of the image, sections of footage are discolored, stuttering and skipping every so often.

HUD elements flash onscreen: MALFUNCTION DETECTED - OPTICS 6, 8. ]

< Yeah. I know. >

[ Coming closer to the boulder, Garmr pushes his subaltern to move faster. Something catches his attention. ]

< Wait, wait…yo, hold on. >

[ Carved into one face of the boulder is a small crater. In its center, a hole has been neatly punched in the rock. As Garmr adjusts his subaltern’s optics to look into the hole, the interior can be seen glowing dull red with residual heat.

And on the other end of the hole, sunlight. ]

< Y’ALL, IT WORKED >

[appledotcodotuk]

vertigo: an aminori drabble

yet another little drabble courtesy of the yuri shipping olympics! the prompt this time was 'I can't believe you talked me into this'. I'm bringing back an old favourite to appease my 16 year old self, and basically nobody else. aminori enjoyers if you are out there...

summary: minori is certain that she can finally see a crack in ami's cool facade; and all it'll take is a ride on whimsiville's supersonic rollercoaster: Vertigo! a flawless scheme which will certainly not backfire. not at all...

banner: screencap from Toradora ep. 6 "True Self"

pairing: minori kushieda / ami kawashima

no warnings required!

1,423 words!

'I cannot believe you talked me into this' Ami Kawashima, model student, model model, and model melodramaist huffs.

It does not surprise Minori - at least not a great deal - that the way in which her face scrunches with distaste is still beautiful; the sort of righteous disdain you'd see in a fancy book of fancy artpieces that cost an arm and a leg and weighed about as much too, and all without running the risk of a lasting wrinkle.

There's a hint of the unimpeachable to her which promised any attempt to test this stoic unrufflability would yield nothing but frustration.

Perhaps, were she one of those rational types, Minori would recognise this as the omen of futility that it was. It would be better, really, for everyone if she did.

But Minori was dedicated, and all she could see in those finely crafted features was a provocation. Ami was a challenge, or she was issuing a challenge, and Minori didn't stop to mull over the distinctions between the two. She was a bit more preoccupied with attempting to pry loose an expression which hadn't been made for TV from Ami's habitual smirk.

'What's wrong Amin? Scared of a bit of height?' She asks, opting to accentuate the extent to which she too, was entirely cool-headed and unbothered by the other's presence by slinging an arm over her shoulder.

Ami had opted for a breezy summer dress that day, with thin straps, and thus no fabric to shield her from Minori's totally casual arm-slinging. There was nothing to prevent her from feeling the way her exposed shoulder hardened into a taut tension under the skin.

Woah. Had she developed inadvertant powers of petrification in the last minute? Before she could inspect Ami's shoulder for any stray pieces of stone, however, her arm was smacking limply into her side; a consequence of its unceremonious dislodgement from its resting place. 'Ow!' She says, as if it had hurt, 'What gives?'

'I am not Taiga, I don't need to be encumbered with any extra limbs.' She says, and there's a familiar flash in her eyes and ah geez, she's totally about to- 'Whilst I'm sure that little terror could benefit from the additional weapon when she inevitably has another tantrum, I prefer words to brute force.' There it was.

Why did she always turn to Taiga? More importantly, how come she knew, with a precision that frankly unsettled Minori, just what to say to send an indignant blush a-blazing in her cheeks, and as an adendum to that, what malicious God had perfected her in the art of setting Minori's heart pumping anyway?

On second thought, perhaps a God was too pure a boon-granter for someone like her. A deal with the devil for quick wit, unshakeable smarminess, and perfect hair was decidedly not off the table. She wouldn't put anything past Ami.

Instead of responding with something that would have been, no doubt, utterly devastating, Minori opts to take the moral high ground and pictures the way that smug self-assurance would melt away soon - in approximately 3-5 minutes time, if the sign posted outside the start of the queue was anything to go by.

Ooh, maybe she'd even scream! Perfect, beautiful Ami Kawashima, shrieking as she hurtled across the track at world-record-creating speeds.

'What's the stupid smile for?'

'Hmm...?'

'Hey, snap out of it fluff-for-brains, we're nearly at the front.'

Curses! She'd been so caught up in envisioning her victory over Ami's snide professionalism that she'd almost forgotten to be present for the main event! Get your head in the game Kushieda - you're playing for keeps here!

'Aw, oopsie! I must've gotten distracted.'

They were nearly at the front now, which meant a first-class view of terrified fairgoers being lowered into Vertigo, screaming as they were whipped past at speeds that made Minori dizzy, just from looking, and sickly aftermaths: the victims of Whimisiville's finest, fastest rollercoaster.

Taiga had flatly refused. Takasu had muttered something about 'winning Inko-chan' from a stall that contained a bunch of slightly squashed looking bird plushies and disappeared. Kitamura was long-lost. It was just the two of them. Minori, Ami, and the terrifying rollercoaster. She had to make the most of it.

Especially when it had been so easy to convince Ami to come along with her for the ride. Who knew when this sudden fit of good-will would strike Her Imperious Majesty next? All it had taken was a few insinuations of cowardice here, a sprinkle of guilt tripping there…!

She was almost disappointed that she hadn’t been called upon to deploy her patented ‘Please-I-Have-Never-Wanted-Something-More-in-My-Life-and-if-You-Say-No-I-Will-Hold-You-Personally-Responsible-for-the-Lack-of-Fulfillment-that-Will-Plague-My-Every-Waking-Hour’ eyes! Although, perhaps that was for the best. She didn’t know if her heart could take her special-est of special moves quailing under Ami’s cold disapproval.

Better to just be thankful for the chance to absolutely squander whatever warm feeling had prompted this agreement as quickly as possible, right? She almost felt bad, meeting what could well be an olive branch with this. Almost.

‘Heeeey Ami.’ She turns to her victim, attempting to stifle a giggle. Really, it was all her fault: she should never have let slip to Minori that this was her first time in Whimsiville when they’d run into her by the shooting gallery.

Taiga had been less than pleased by the chance encounter but Minori was nothing if not optimistic. Or was that opportunistic? The possibility of getting a reaction out of a brick wall in the body of a high school student was just too tempting! ‘Did I mention that this thing can go 200 km/h and has three loop-de-loops?’

‘You did not.’ Ami says, glaring. Having made it past the barrier now, they're scoping out a free cart in tandem with the portion of the crowd who have finally escaped the drudge of the queue. They settle unanimously for a carriage towards the back. It’s neon yellow, with flaking flames painted on the side and there isn’t enough space for them to sit entirely apart from each other.

Instead, their knees keep grazing each other, and Minori jumps each time it happens, sending their legs flying away from each other like two magnets stuck facing identical poles. ‘But don’t worry, I’m used to compensating for your particularly severe case of scatterbrain.’

‘Hey!’ Minori leaps to her own defense, and it seems her knee also has something to say because it leaps too - settling firmly next to Ami’s who continues on, apparently unaffected.

‘For instance, I do know that you tend to get motion-sick.’

Huh? Since when had Ami been keeping such close tabs on her? That was confidential information, which required a Taiga-level clearance, and she referenced it as easily as if she had been there on that lazy afternoon when she’d been regailing Taiga with the misadventures of her family trip to Kyoto! Well, she supposed that technically she had been there, it had taken place in the classroom, but that was even more shocking!

Had she, Ami Kawashima, been eavesdropping? Surely not! The only eaves that were supposed to be dropped around here were by Minori, the super-sleuth!

Really, was there no integrity to be found in the subtle art of getting one over on someone? At least Minori, in her schemes, was willing to put her own body on the line - she was sacrificing her stomach so she could see Ami’s smug expression get turned inside out by this high-speed death trap!

‘And,’ Ami whispers - whispers! - as she draws closer to Minori, her breath warming the outside of her ear - what was that bit called again, the shell? Minori finds in that moment that she doesn’t really like the comparison. Shells were so hollow, a pale imitation of the setting which formed them, a memory of something distant, and displaced. Ears were much less nostalgic, surely. They didn’t hear only what they wanted to hear, right? - Ami was being very quiet all of a sudden. Minori bites down the urge to yell at her. What, what?!

‘Did you know that before we’d met, I had ridden Vertigo five times over? I’m a big fan of the part with the 50 meter drop!’

Click.

The bar that would keep their bodies from slamming into the ground below as they were shot along at really, very high speeds (and Minori, in all her arch genius knew that this speed was 200km/h precisely) snapped into place with the finality of a death sentence.

Oh.

She was totally screwed.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Astronomers discover a 'hot Neptune' in a tight orbit

A Neptune-sized planet, TOI-3261 b, makes a scorchingly close orbit around its host star. Only the fourth object of its kind ever found, the planet could reveal clues as to how planets such as these form.

An international team of scientists used the NASA space telescope, TESS (the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), to discover the exoplanet (a planet outside our solar system), then made further observations with ground-based telescopes in Australia, Chile, and South Africa. The measurements placed the new planet squarely in the "hot Neptune desert"—a category of planets with so few members that their scarcity evokes a deserted landscape.

The team, led by astronomer Emma Nabbie of the University of Southern Queensland, published their paper on the discovery, "Surviving in the Hot Neptune Desert: The Discovery of the Ultrahot Neptune TOI-3261 b," in The Astronomical Journal in August 2024.

This variety of exoplanet is similar to our own Neptune in size and composition, but orbits extremely closely to its star. In this case, a "year" on TOI-3261 b is only 21 hours long. Such a tight orbit earns this planet its place in an exclusive group with, so far, only three other members: ultra-short-period hot Neptunes whose masses have been precisely measured.

Planet TOI-3261 b proves to be an ideal candidate to test new computer models of planet formation. Part of the reason hot Neptunes are so rare is that it is difficult to retain a thick gaseous atmosphere so close to a star.

Stars are massive, and so exert a large gravitational force on the things around them, which can strip the layers of gas surrounding a nearby planet. They also emit huge amounts of energy, which blow the gas layers away.

Both of these factors mean that hot Neptunes such as TOI-3261 b might have started out as much larger, Jupiter-sized planets, and have since lost a large portion of their mass.

By modeling different starting points and development scenarios, the science team determined that the star and planet system is about 6.5 billion years old, and that the planet started out as a much larger gas giant.

It likely lost mass, however, in two ways: photoevaporation, when energy from the star causes gas particles to dissipate, and tidal stripping, when the gravitational force from the star strips layers of gas from the planet. The planet also might have formed farther away from its star, where both of these effects would be less intense, allowing it to retain its atmosphere.

The remaining atmosphere of the planet, one of its most interesting features, will likely invite further atmospheric analysis, perhaps helping to unravel the formation history of this denizen of the "hot Neptune desert."

Planet TOI-3261 b is about twice as dense as Neptune, indicating that the lighter parts of its atmosphere have been stripped away over time, leaving only the heavier components. This shows that the planet must have started out with a variety of different elements in its atmosphere, but at this stage, it is hard to tell exactly what.

This mystery could be solved by observing the planet in infrared light, perhaps using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope—an ideal way to see the identifying fingerprints of the different molecules in the planet's atmosphere. This will not just help astronomers understand the past of TOI-3261 b, but also begin to uncover the physical processes behind all hot, giant planets.

Fun facts

The first-ever discovery of an ultra-short-period hot Neptune, LTT-9779 b, came in 2020. Since then, TESS discoveries TOI-849 b and TOI-332 b have also joined the elite ultra-short-period hot-Neptune club (with masses that have been precisely measured).

Both LTT-9779 b and TOI-849 b are in the queue for infrared observations with the James Webb Space Telescope, potentially broadening our understanding of these planets' atmospheres in the coming years.

IMAGE: Artist's concept of "hot Neptune" TOI-3261 b. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/K. Miller (Caltech/IPAC)

[karaloza]

Legend of Zelda Theme Park - Death Mountain (UPDATED)

Death Mountain is to the north of Castle Town (just as it is usually in the north on the game map). The whole area is sculpted as a reddish-brown canyon landscape, with walkways gently sloping upward toward the artificial volcano which dominates the scene, “erupting” every half hour with a display of pyrotechnics and smoke effects. The volcano in turn is the upper portion of a massive show building which occupies roughly half the area’s footprint and houses several of its attractions. Interior spaces are designed as rocky caves lit by torches and glowing crystals. The exterior background music highlights various iterations of Death Mountain and other mountainous areas in the games, as well as music associated with the Gorons. However, the interior queue space for the two big rides has its own music loop, drawing from fire and volcano-themed dungeons.

Attractions

Spirit Train (Mountain Station)

Crystal Caverns: A very simple attraction, more like a scenic view. The pathways through the Death Mountain area include side branches that veer through short stretches of tunnel lined with multicolored glowing crystals and gemstone veins. (These are marked on the detailed map with squiggly shading.) Make a habit of following these side paths, and you will find one that heads a little deeper into the mountainside, culminating in a spectacular cavern of exotic stone formations and massive crystal clusters that make soft chiming music as their colors shift through the spectrum.

Goro-Gondolas: Not an intense ride, but still exciting on its own terms, the Goro-Gondolas are boats in a flume…but the water is continuously under-lit with warm-toned lights, giving it the appearance of a glowing lava river! The ten to twelve-minute circuit includes lifts and gentle drops, and in the meantime, the boat passes by numerous detailed scenes of Gorons going about their daily lives—mining for choice rocks to eat, tending Bomb Flower gardens, soaking in hot springs, engaging in athletic competitions, rolling from place to place, etc. At other points, similarly lit “leaping” fountains send streams of “lava” arcing over the flume. From time to time, the flume even exits the interior of the mountain, giving riders a view of the area, and at other points, it shares a scene with the Dodongo Dive-Bomb track.

Gut Check Challenge Arena: A play area, but more…advanced than the Picori Picnic Park in the Lost Woods. Named after the Goron-hosted mini-games in Breath of the Wild, this attraction features rock-climbing walls, obstacle courses, and other stamina-testing activities. The especially bold can sign up for the Gut Check Challenge itself, a rock-climbing event held several times a day on the big wall, with real medals awarded to the winners.

Sworn Brothers Meeting Hall: A meet-and-greet location for favorite Goron characters, including Ocarina of Time’s Darunia, Majora’s Mask’s Darmani, and Breath of the Wild’s Daruk and Yunobo.

Dodongo Dive-Bomb: The number just marks the queue entrance–this ride is a big one! Arguably the biggest thrill in the park, it is a mag-launched roller coaster with cars designed to resemble a chain of minecarts. It takes place mostly inside the cinder cone of the volcano, twisting through lava-lit caverns infested with fire-breathing Dodongo lizards, occasionally breaking out into the open before diving right back into the mountain. The climax takes place in a spacious cavern inhabited by a ferocious dragon, and the train makes a loop around its head and neck in order to escape!

Shops

7. From Mine to Yours: A rock and mineral shop offering all sorts of tumbled semiprecious stones, crystals, carved charms and figurines, geodes (with an option to have them cut open on-site), Himalayan salt lamps, stone-based knickknacks, and books about minerals and gems. For those with fancier tastes, there’s even a special sales counter where precious jewelry is available for purchase. In the center of the store is a fountain mimicking a sluice full of gem-bearing slurry, the employees wear overalls and hard hats with mounted headlights, and the shop slogan “Ore and More!” derives from the name of a similar business in Breath of the Wild.

8. Forged in Fire: Being rooted in a medieval(-ish) fantasy franchise is likely to give this theme park some appeal for historical weapons enthusiasts, and this shop is for them, offering a selection of sturdy, functional swords, daggers, axes, and shields, including some replicas of famous designs. (Naturally, various noteworthy swords from the games themselves are among them.) Modern camping/hunting knives are also available, and every purchase of a blade includes a fine hardened leather sheath. However, we can’t have people walking around a theme park with real weapons, so all purchases will be either held at the front of the park for pickup upon exiting, or shipped to the guest for an additional fee. (This is true of any retail location in the park that sells metal weapons, even if they aren’t made to be functional.)

9. Goron Spice Rack: “A spicy nook for spicy cooks” declares the sign out front. Lovers of herbs and seasonings will find much to love in here, with a wide selection of culinary flavorings. Pick a jar or bottle off the shelf or have a mix blended to order! We especially recommend the various types of “Goron Spice” (mostly curry powder and paprika, with assorted variations), made famous by Breath of the Wild.

10. Ripped and Shredded: A shop for sporting goods and memorabilia located next to the Gut Check Challenge Arena. Includes lines of tongue-in-cheek jerseys, caps, and other items referencing peoples, groups, and locations in the LoZ franchise as if they were sports teams. Named after the Goron armor shop in Breath of the Wild.

Eateries

11. Magma Munchies: Adventurous foodies will love this place, where everything on the menu—meat, veggies, fries, and more—is hot and spicy. The intensity ranges widely, from “Hawaiian” (mild curry) all the way up to “Ultra-Plinian” (ghost peppers). Hot sauces are available for purchase at the Goron Spice Rack.

12. Rock Candy Stand: Pretty much exactly what it says: an outdoor kiosk with various colors of traditional rock candy (i.e. sugar crystals on a stick), chocolate “pebbles,” Ring Pops and Pop Rocks, and other mineral-themed sweet treats.

13. Protein Palace: They say the rocky ground of Death Mountain is so hot, you can drop food to cook right on it! That may or may not be true, but this Mongolian BBQ buffet uses a more conventional stainless steel hibachi. Choose a protein (beef, chicken, or tofu) and a selection of vegetables, noodles, sauces, and other ingredients, and your food is cooked up while you watch!