#the last solder

[malamiteltd]

Graphite's Infernal State

The excess energy of Teijru, and all fervals in general, is known as "fervor." Often displaying properties of fire and electricity, it typically clings close to most fervals and can be manipulated via extrasensory abilities. If all the fervor is forced within the ferval's body, it can lead to the inner workings of the body going much faster. This allows the ferval to become stronger and faster, and can help the body heal significant wounds in seconds. But this can stress the body when used for prolonged periods of time, potentially leading to hyperventilation, seizures, and heart and/or brain damage, among other things. This is officially referred to as self-induced hyperfervor; to some, it's called an Infernal State.

This illustration shows Graphite in the Infernal State. He utilizes it the most out of anyone on Kheji, and is the driving force behind his Sforzando technique -- striking "suddenly with great force." He can perform complex, powerful moves almost instantly, one after another, by inducing the Infernal State in very brief instances. With the amount of fervor he possesses, he can perform several powerful attacks and still stand steady. That doesn't mean he's fully avoiding the dangerous risks of hyperfervor, but considering he's accepted death as a constant possibility in his line of work, he's not so worried about his well-being so long as he can defeat threats effectively.

[ms-demeanor]

Since some people might want a Mac, I'll offer a Mac equivalent of your laptop guide from the perspective of a Mac/Linux person.

Even the cheapest Macs cost more than Windows laptops, but part of that is Apple not making anything for the low end of the tech spectrum. There is no equivalent Mac to an Intel i3 with 4 gigabytes of RAM. This makes it a lot easier to find the laptop you need.

That said, it is possible to buy the wrong Mac for you, and the wrong Mac for you is the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar. Get literally anything else. If it has an M2 chip in it, it's the most recent model and will serve you well for several years. Any new MacBook Air is a good pick.

(You could wait for new Macs with M3, but I wouldn't bother. If you are reading these guides the M3 isn't going to do anything you need done that a M2 couldn't.)

Macs now have integrated storage and memory, so you should be aware that whatever internal storage and RAM you get, you'll be stuck with. But if you would be willing to get a 256 gig SSD in a Windows laptop, the Mac laptop with 256 gigs of storage will be just as good, and if you'd be willing to get 8 gigs of RAM in a Windows laptop the Mac will perform slightly better with the same amount of memory.

Buy a small external hard drive and hook it up so Time Machine can make daily backups of your laptop. Turn on iCloud Drive so your documents are available anywhere you can use a web browser. And get AppleCare because it will almost certainly be a waste of money but wooooooow will you be glad it's there if you need it.

I get that you are trying to help and I am not trying to be mean to you specifically, but people shouldn't buy apple computers. That's why I didn't provide specs for them. Apple is a company that is absolutely terrible to its customers and its customers deserve better than what apple is willing to offer.

Apple charges $800 to upgrade the onboard storage from a 256GB SSD to a 2TB SSD.

A 2TB SSD costs between $75-100.

I maintain that any company that would charge you more than half the cost of a new device to install a $100 part on day one is a company making the wrong computer for you.

The point of being willing to tolerate a 256GB SSD or 8GB RAM in a Windows laptop is that you're deferring some of the cost to save money at the time of purchase so that you can spend a little bit in three years instead of having to replace the entire computer. Because, you see, many people cannot afford to pay $1000 for a computer and need to buy a computer that costs $650 and will add $200 worth of hardware at a later date.

My minimum specs recommendations for a mac would be to configure one with the max possible RAM and SSD, look at the cost, and choose to go buy three i7 windows laptops with the same storage and RAM for less than the sticker price of the macs.

So let's say you want to get a 14" Macbook pro with the lowest-level processor. That's $2000. Now let's bump that from 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD to 32GB and 2TB. That gets you to $3000. (The SSD is $200 less than on the lower model, and they'll let you put in an 8TB SSD for $1800 on this model; that's not available on the 13" because apple's product development team is entirely staffed by assholes who think you deserve a shitty computer if you can't afford to pay the cost of two 1991 Jeep Cherokee Laredos for a single laptop).

For $3000 you can get 3 Lenovo Workstation laptops with i7 processors, 32GB RAM, and a 2TB SSD.

And look, for just $200 more I could go up to 48GB RAM and get a 4TB SSD - it costs $600 to upgrade the 14" mac from a 2TB SSD to a 4TB SSD so you could still get three laptops with more ram and the same amount of storage for the cost of one macbook.

I get that some people need to use Final Cut and Logic Pro, but hoo boy they sure are charging you through the nose to use products that have become industry standard. The words "capture" and "monopoly" come to mind even though they don't quite apply here.

"Hostile" does, though, especially since Mac users end up locked into the ecosystem through software and cloud services and become uncertain how to leave it behind if they ever decide that a computer should cost less than a month's rent on a shitty studio apartment in LA.

There's a very good reason I didn't give mac advice and that's because my mac advice is "DON'T."

[thecryptidart1st]

No, I was absolutely caught off-guard by John Oliver explaining how Chuck E. Cheese used to be sketchy as hell, almost as if two guys from the 1970s made it through a ton of ABBA, drugs, and sleepless nights

(Also Hello Minerva)

[darewolfcreates]

lost wax casting

Behold the sweatshop

[vhalesa]

Decided Claudine's birthday is the perfect opportunity to make a Kuro ema too. Now they're finally together :>

[guysonroblox]

[theyellowhue]

Plerng: Nong Sky, its still not too late to run away with me. Your marriage certificate hasnt reached the judge yet, im sure we can intercept it Prapai: is2g Plerng, i will take you off the family register and exclude you from the will Rain: P'Phayu is on standby with the getaway car, Sky Prapai: Sky 🥺 they're being mean to me on our wedding day 🥺🥺 Sky: guys, quit making my husband pout. its our special day

[sspacegodd]

Laura Keeble

[wuggen]

Oh yeah I opened up my mouse to clean out some gunk yesterday and uh

Fuckin whoops

[hazelplaysgames]

error code 2002-2039...

ah. SD card thing is starting to have issues. here i thought the first thing to cause problems would be the battery! this does explain why sometimes, clipping just started to not work on me. getting a new Switch is gonna be a post-fest concern, it seems like i'll be able to play up to royal rank with the occasional crash. i'm actually pretty excited for Springfest, after all, though i might just ditch on playing Tri-colour matches to make sure i get there in time.

the SD card is kind of a cornerstone to my whole system, so this is kind of an unignorable issue.

[malamiteltd]

Day 18 – A Powerful Presence Arrives

Sketch and Heather started out their morning watching TV in their living room. Things seemed particularly normal. Suddenly they both felt something strange…a strong, unexplainable feeling in the air. Their ears perked, and they quickly looked at each other.

“Do you feel that?” asked Sketch.

Heather nodded. “Yeah…that’s a powerful aura. I never felt an outside aura from within the house before.”

Sketch got up from the couch. “We should go investigate.”

They both went outside and started looking around. Pretty soon they heard a voice not too far away.

“This isn’t Crimson City…This isn’t even Kheji!”

They turned to find a tall figure down the street, looking around frantically. They noticed his long tail and thick antennae – two details that looked very familiar.

“Is that another Teijru?” asked Sketch.

Suddenly the figure turned his head to look in their direction. His light green eyes caught sight of the Tokarus.

“He’s staring right at us…” said Heather, shivering a bit.

“You!” the Teijru shouted, walking towards them. “Both of you! I want answers.”

Sketch nodded and approached the Teijru. “Sure, we’ll do our best to answer them.” Heather followed Sketch to see the Teijru up close. He wore a black tanktop with a strange purple symbol emblazoned on it, and long black pants. His hair looked a bit frazzled compared to Copper’s. but all his fur was completely white.

The Teijru looked angry. “Alright. Where am I, and how did I get here?”

Sketch shrugged his shoulders. “Well, we’ve been calling this place the Blocks since we got here.”

“Hmm,” he responded, stroking his chin. “So you aren’t native to this world?”

“None of us are,” added Heather.

The Teijru raised his eyebrows. “You mean there are others?”

Sketch nodded. “Yes, and from other dimensions. As for how you got here…did you recently travel through a dimensional portal?”

“I think so… there was a natural rift in my world that was being investigated. It normally would whisk any person who entered it into some random destination. Recently some visioneers were trying to control its intended course by making an artificial rift to match. I volunteered to test it out, but…I guess things didn’t work out.”

“Well, if it’s anything like our dimensional travel,” said Heather, “chances are there’s another you that actually made it to the other rift.”

The Teijru was confused. “What do you mean?”

“I suppose we should fill you in on The Situation™…”

. . . . .

The Teijru mulled over what he just heard. “So I was split in two, and the other me arrived there safely.”

“He probably ended up as tired as you were when you arrived here,” Heather replied, “but yes.”

“And I managed to end up in someone’s dollhouse universe, with a bunch of other carbon copies?”

Sketch shrugged. “Basically.”

The Teijru shook his head. “I suppose I should be relieved that Kheji still has a protector, but I’m not really sure how to feel about being stuck here…”

“Incidentally, I don’t think we got your name. I’m Sketch Tucker, and this is my wife, Heather Britannia.”

“Hello!” she said, waving.

The Teijru nodded. “Good to meet you. My name’s–”

“Graphite?!”

The three turned to where the voice came from. It was Broom, looking shocked at the new arrival.

The Teijru was also surprised at hearing his name, but eventually regained his stern expression and nodded. “That’s right. How do you know my name?”

Broom looked confused. “What do you mean? We’ve met before, after the Apparatus tried to invade your planet.”

Graphite looked confused. “What’s the Apparatus?”

Broom was stunned. “How do you not remember the Apparatus?! You went into space to destroy it!”

“Broom, hang on,” said Sketch. “There’s a good chance this Graphite might be from either a different time or different universe…or both.”

Broom stopped to think about this. “Well, even if he isn't the Graphite I know, he definitely has the level of fervor I remember.”

“Yeah, it’s almost overwhelming!” said Heather, looking over to Graphite. “The kinds of stories I’ve heard about you make you sound like an unstoppable warrior!”

Graphite looked away.

Broom walked up to Graphite. “I’m curious to see what your experiences were like, Graphite! Would it be okay to perform Clarity with you?”

Graphite looked uncertain as Broom held his hand out to him. “I…I don’t…”

“Have you not done Clarity before? It doesn’t hurt or anything. We’ll get to know each other better this way!”

Graphite looked to Broom’s hand, then to his gentle smile. He hesitantly reached for Broom’s hand. “A-alright.”

Broom locked his fingers between Graphite’s. “Okay! This will only take a few seconds. Just close your eyes.”

Graphite did as Broom said. Then he felt a rush of Broom’s memories flashing through his mind. When it stopped, Graphite opened his eyes and looked at his hand. “Huh. That wasn’t so…”

He looked to Broom, who had a horrified look on his face. Graphite became concerned.

“You okay?”

Broom shivered a bit. “E…excuse me…” 

Then he quickly ran in the direction of Copper’s house. Graphite was confused at first, but began to realize something, which made him look ashamed. Sketch and Heather were very confused.

“What happened?” asked Sketch. “Did he…manage to find a particularly bad memory of yours?”

“I mean, I’ve heard Graphite’s had to fight some tough customers with that strong power,” Heather replied. “Maybe some of the sights were too much to bear.”

Graphite didn’t respond. He looked to the house Broom ran to, and noticed someone coming out. He squinted his eyes to make out the figure, but as the figure approached with Broom, Graphite’s eyes grew wide. Now he was starting to shiver.

“...C…Copper?!”

Copper looked confused. “Graphite?”

Graphite struggled to speak, let alone move. Sketch and Heather looked at the two of them, trying to figure out what was going on.

“You okay?” asked Copper.

Graphite tried to regain his composure. “I…you…the…” He held his forehead. “Hang on…you ARE Copper, right?”

“Yyyyeah…?” Copper was baffled. “Are you…actually Graphite?”

“Well, we suspect this Graphite might be from a different universe,” Sketch replied.

Graphite nodded, though still looking stressed. “R-right. That sounds right.” He took a deep breath. “Sorry. I thought you were the Copper from my world. You couldn’t be.”

“What do you mean?” asked Copper.

“Yeah, what’s up with the Copper from your world?” added Sketch.

Graphite paused. “The Copper from my world is dead.”

Copper was taken slightly aback.

“Oh…” Heather replied, her hand almost covering her mouth. “I’m sorry, Graphite. I suppose seeing him alive would be a shock.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” said Sketch, “how did he die? Was he ill? Did he get caught in some kind of accident?”

Graphite closed his eyes. “He was killed.”

Sketch and Heather looked shocked. Copper’s eyebrows were raised.

“That’s terrible!!” Heather shouted. “What kind of horrible person would DO that?!”

Graphite turned away as he slowly raised his hand.

Sketch and Heather were even more shocked. “YOU?!”

Copper looked surprised as well. Broom covered his face with his hands.

“WHY?!” Heather growled. “Why would you kill him?!”

Graphite opened his eyes, turning his gaze to Heather. “He asked for it.”

Heather crossed her arms, looking more upset. “That’s a HORRIBLE thing to say!”

“You misunderstand,” Graphite replied in desperation. “He LITERALLY asked me to do it.”

“I find that very hard to believe!” she replied.

Copper raised his hand. “I believe it.”

Everyone looked at Copper when he said this. He looked fairly calm, unlike the stunned expressions of others.

Heather shook her head. “Could you just…tell us what happened that led to you doing this?”

Graphite breathed in slowly. “Alright…I was in Crimson City, looking into the new army that was being assembled there. When that was done, I headed for the train station to go home. But I was passing by the park and noticed Copper sitting alone, looking sad and distressed. I decided to investigate – it was very late, and it was odd to see anyone out at that hour. I asked him what was up, and he was afraid to talk about it at first. But eventually he told me his struggle…how his mind was making him think horrible thoughts, and how it became hard for him to sleep…and he had no way to make it stop.”

Copper pondered about the scene. Sketch did as well.

Graphite continued. “He was frustrated, with tears in his eyes, wishing it would all end. He was convinced the only way the intrusive thoughts would stop was to end it all. And…then he had an idea. He began begging me to help him with that. He wanted me to put him out of his misery.”

“And you said yes?!” Heather asked, sounding upset.

He shook his head. “Not initially, no. I didn’t think it was right. But he kept insisting…he was really convinced this was the answer. And…I kinda understood how he was feeling. I could see his pain. So… I eventually agreed to help him. I tried to come up with the most humane way to do it. I first told him to lay on the ground.” He held up his hands. “Then I used my fervor to put him into a deep sleep. Pretty soon he was out cold, but not before sleepily telling me…’Thank you.’”

He closed his eyes. 

“And then…I formed blades from my fervor…and pierced both his hearts. He stopped breathing less than a minute after…”

Sketch and Heather were speechless.

“I took him to his home and buried him in the backyard,” Graphite continued. “I did my best to be respectful about it all. And…at the time, I felt like I did him a big favor. Despite how unorthodox it was…I thought I really did help him.”

Broom grabbed Copper by his legs, holding them tight. He seemed upset about the story. Copper placed his hand on Broom’s head and patted it a few times.

Graphite sighed. “But then, the following day I was approached by Copper’s friends. They said they were looking for him everywhere and found no sign of him. They asked around all of Crimson City, but no one knew where he was. So they decided to come to me in the hopes that I could help. I felt a chill down my spine as I heard their story. But…I told them what had happened. And…unsurprisingly, they were very sad…and furious. They yelled at me for doing what I did, saying I could’ve approached the problem differently. They were sad Copper didn’t try to reach out to them before he got to the point of desperation. Nothing I tried to say helped ease anything.”

He rubbed his forehead, starting to look distressed.

“And pretty soon, the word got out…people started to see me as a murderer, someone willing to kill off an innocent civilian. Everyone considered me incredibly dangerous, and they wanted nothing to do with me. Even Zoi…the Teijru I had feelings for…she didn’t wish to see me ever again. I was lucky to at least have Choram’s support and comfort, or I would’ve ended it all myself.”

“Choram?” asked Sketch.

“A fellow from the planet Byra. A few of his kind tried to invade Kheji…I managed to defeat all the invading army, except his brother Teusen, who surrendered once I found him. Because he was the one that had the blueprints for the spaceship they used to get to Kheji, we chose to make him stay so the Byrans couldn’t make another ship. Choram traveled to Kheji to make sure his brother was okay, and then he decided to stay and protect him. We ended up becoming good friends over time. And…well, eventually he became my only friend.”

“So I guess you didn’t end up as big of a hero as we heard,” said Sketch.

“Well, I kept trying my best to help keep people safe. Other invading races arrived, and I stepped in to prevent their influence from hurting anyone. I worked very hard, despite the negativity around me, to regain a lot of the public’s trust. But Copper’s friends…they would never forgive me…”

Graphite made a pained expression, which he quickly covered with his hands.

“...I wish I never did it…I really, genuinely thought I did the right thing for him…Now…I have the same intrusive thoughts Copper wanted to escape…his ‘gift’ to me…and there’s no one more deserving…”

Copper walked up to Graphite and placed a hand on his shoulder. 

“I’m sorry…”

Graphile looked over to Copper, who looked concerned. “I…No, this…this isn’t your fault. You’re not the Copper that was begging to die.” But he quickly regained his composure, his face looking stern. “Listen. I’m not sure what your current outlook on life might be, but I can’t do that again. I swear to you, I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe. This all feels like my second chance…and I’m not going to squander it.”

Copper was silent for a few seconds. Then he nodded. “...I understand.”

Graphite looked to the others. “And I promise to keep the rest of you safe too. I’m not flawless, obviously…but I want to at least prove I can be trusted.”

“We…appreciate that, Graphite,” Sketch said. “I know what you did wasn’t…the best choice. But I know I’m willing to give you this chance.”

Heather hesitated, but eventually nodded in agreement. “I really don’t sense a bad soul in you.”

Graphite looked to Broom. “You’re angry at me for what I did, aren’t you…”

Broom looked away. “I understand you wanted to help him. But…it doesn’t seem like you really know how to do that.”

Graphite slowly nodded. “Yeah…I need to work on that.”

Sketch looked around. “You’re going to need a home. A couple of these places are still vacant…” He looked to Heather. “Think you can show him around? I…need to talk to Copper about something.”

Copper looked at Sketch, confused.

Heather nodded. “Alright.” She turned to Copper. “Come on. Let’s find you a place to stay.”

Graphite followed behind Heather as they walked down the street. Sketch looked over to Copper and took a deep breath.

“So,” he started. “That was quite a story he told. You alright?”

Copper nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You’re not mad at him?”

“Not really, no.”

“Hm.” Sketch scratched his head. “I do have to say, the way he described the scene…it sounded kinda familiar.”

Copper looked a bit puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“The scene of you sitting alone in the park late at night…struggling with your recurring trauma…You’ve been there before.”

Copper thought about this. Then his eyes grew wide. He quickly turned to Sketch.

“Y-you KNOW?!” he suddenly shouted, panicking. “But HOW? Did Holly tell you about–”

“You remember that failed Tokaru Bond I had with you a few days ago?” Sketch asked.

“...Yeah, why?”

“While I was trapped in your mind, I was practically surrounded by your thoughts and memories. And…well, that was one of them.”

Copper began to shake. “I…I…”

Sketch got closer, placing his hands on Copper’s shoulders. “Relax. I don’t think any differently of you. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Copper looked away in shame. “...Does Heather know?”

“She needs to,” he replied. “But I don’t think she’ll see you any differently either. Just remember, you have friends to lean on here. And Graphite…well, he sounds like he could use just as much help. Maybe more. And I’m not sure why, but for some reason, I feel like you’ll be the one he needs most to help him cope.”

Copper nodded hesitantly. “I’ll…try.”

Sketch suddenly noticed Broom standing not too far off. He looked uncomfortable.

“I suppose you saw that event play out firsthand through Clarity, huh?” asked Sketch. “You gonna be alright?”

“It was…a horrifying memory,” Broom replied, shivering. “The imagery of Copper with two burnt holes in his chest, partly buried in the ground… I wasn’t sure what to do after I saw that, so I ended up running to Copper’s house just to make sure he was okay.”

“It’s okay,” Sketch replied. “It doesn’t sound like that’ll happen again.”

Broom looked in Graphite’s direction. “I really hope you’re right…”

[tetranymous]

I have no idea why people send parts that don't match the listing. "aaaah looks close enough" my brother in christ it does not fit what I bought it for and is unsuitable as a replacement part! It's not likely that the buyer won't notice!

[thedragonagelesbian]

@hexblooddruid replied to your post “setting myself up for such immeasurable pain with...”:

Nooo not planning to propose after they defeat Corypheus 😢

​i have to make this as painful as possible for everyone involved, including myself.

[bitchfitch]

this will mean nothing to Anyone but I'm proud of it:

the new pieces i needed to cut for this all slotted in on the first try, no reshaping or extensive grinding needed

[slopmaster9000]

r8 tha setup

[pallases]

ourgejjg