#there really is just an attack on the art of human communication going on right now huh

[cats-in-the-clouds]

it’s important to try very hard to be as patient and understanding and reasonable as possible and i tell myself aw c’mon how hard can it really be to just chill out and be nice? but every now and it hits me again how we’re all being subjected to a mass gaslighting campaign and then i’m like ah that’s why i’m exhausted deep in my soul all the time. i’m being made to think i’m utterly insane for wanting words to have actual meanings so maybe that makes me a bit cranky y’know

[olderthannetfic]

I know ao3 is supposed to house transgressive works but like, what’s the value in hosting actual racist screeds? Like a racist can post racist fanfic on their own blog or whatever. But why do we need to protect the rights of racists to be hosted on ao3

--

It's the same question we ask everywhere about free speech vs. protecting community members.

The biggest issue is that it's hard to find clear cut-offs. On smaller sites, it makes sense to have a mod make the call. When you're small enough for human curation by a few people who can talk things over, it's easier to sort through the gray areas. Small forums can have taste-based curation, and they're often nicer for it. AO3 is way too large for this, however.

I know it seems obvious which things are just completely beyond the pale, but it's difficult to make clear rules that will hit only those and not other things. Like it or not, every rule on every site is instantly weaponized by assholes. In the case of fanfic content rules, that usually ends up as people reaching really hard in order to attack a rival ship or fandom or explicit fic or shipping in general. Often, readers attack a fic because they can't imagine anyone could have genuinely found it hot or could have written it to work through personal trauma... but it turns out the author was absolutely in earnest and this is just a failure of imagination. And this doesn't just go for majority groups having oppressive fantasies: often, minorities grappling with things that affect them more are the ones who make dark or contentious art and then get attacked for it.

Thinking it's simple to sort different types of art is the black and white thinking of a child.

If an author is calling people slurs in the comments, we can judge their intent by their behavior. If the work itself seems offensive, it's harder to tell what's going on.

[imitationgame77]

ART's Walls

For any network system with capabilities to communicate, it is very important that it has walls (basically, firewalls) to protect it from potential attack from the outside.

It is interesting to note how the way ART is controlling its walls between itself and Murderbot seems to demonstrate the level of its trust and their intimacy.

[Artificial Condition]

Super machine-intelligence like ART obviously needs to protect itself carefully from a potentially dangerous threat like a rogue SecUnit. So, when Murderbot first meets ART in Artificial Condition, it cannot see what ART really is. It only drops its wall for .00001 of a second - just to show how powerful it is.

They become close so that Murderbot can interpret ART's reactions in its feed quite well, but the walls are still there.

------------------------------

But the presence in the feed was too big and diffuse for a human or augmented human, I could tell that much even through the feed walls protecting it.

[...]

It said, You’re a rogue SecUnit, a bot/human construct, with a scrambled governor module. It poked me through the feed and I flinched. It said, Do not attempt to hack my systems, and for .00001 of a second it dropped its wall.

It was enough time for me to get a vivid image of what I was dealing with. Part of its function was extragalactic astronomic analysis and now all that processing power sat idle while it hauled cargo, waiting for its next mission. It could have squashed me like a bug through the feed, pushed through my wall and other defenses and stripped my memory. Probably while also plotting its wormhole jump, estimating the nutrition needs of a full crew complement for the next 66,000 hours, performing multiple neural surgeries in the medical suite, and beating the captain at tavla. I had never directly interacted with anything this powerful before.

------------------------------

[Network Effect]

In Network Effect, it was not explicitly referred to as walls, but I got the feeling that when ART allowed Murderbot access to all its cameras, it was at least dropping a large portion of its walls. Hidden cameras are a very important part of its security system after all.

It was ART's way to show its trust to Murderbot, and Murderbot understands this.

------------------------------

I suddenly had views all over the ship. ART had given me access to its cameras. I snarled, “Stop being nice to me!”

------------------------------

[System Collapse]

By the end of Network Effect, when Murderbot (implicitly) accepts ART's proposal of marriage to join the next mission, they have reached the level of intimacy where ART does not seem to think it is necessary to have a wall between them.

So, in System Collapse, when Murderbot decides to accept communication request from AdaCol2, it is Murderbot who suggests having a wall between them, to protect ART.

------------------------------

ART-drone threw out an extra comm- and feed-block wall between us and the shuttle and I said, Let’s do full containment protocol. Which was the protocol we’d come up with (we being ART, Martyn, and Matteo and me, before my incident when I effectively became useless) for dealing with potential contamination situations.

Let’s, ART-drone said, which was its way of being nice and not letting me know that it didn’t need my advice about which containment protocol to use. Then it made it worse by adding, Be careful. The wall went up and I was alone in the dark except for my two drones, both on standby now, and the Pre-CR system.

------------------------------

And ART cannot drop the wall fast enough at the first chance of excuse.

------------------------------

ART-drone dropped the wall between us, though not the one protecting the shuttle’s systems. Is that a good idea? I asked it. Is containment protocol for everybody but you?

After it sees the file it will either attack us or ask for further contact, ART-drone said. The wall will have to go down either way.

Right, fine, whatever.

------------------------------

Not to mention that ART is practically constantly inside Murderbot's walls throughout System Collapse, (ostentatiously) to monitor its stats, because of [redacted].

And considering how private Murderbot is, it is very significant that it seems completely okay with that. Murderbot has become more vulnerable with self-doubt with [redacted], but it really does not show a least sign of discomfort in having ART there at all times.

[disregardcanon]

i'm thinking about a npmd the good place au and HOO BOY the ideas

it's a season 1 setup, with tinky as the architect of the neighborhood.

... good janets are petes and bad janets are teds. OUR pete is the neighborhood's pete and he's just kinda. trying to get by. shit's weird, guys. he doesn't remember how he got here and all his protocols have been messed up and the guy that took him isn't very nice. but this is- it's fine. it has to fine (there's no other choice.)

grace chastity is still adjusting to the idea that the christian god isn't real. she is not enjoying that very much, but she IS validated by the idea that her actions as a christian got her into The Place Where Good People Go. her actual exploits like mission trips and getting dances canceled and running abstinence camp are what are brought up during the Look How Cool We Are Welcome to the Neighborhood gala.

steph has been assigned to be her soulmate. she isn't supposed to be here. she's not like, an ABSURDLY bad person for anything, she just. was raised by solomon lauter. so she got the hell out of dodge after graduation and MAYBE she did some scams to get by after that. and like maybe she knows how to make a molotov cocktail and has used one once or twice. she certainly isn't The Best Person Who Did All These Things To Help the World and Support Great Liberal Causes that they keep saying she is. (she... wishes she was. though.) and these bible studies that her soulmate (soulmate???? THE FUCK) grace chastity keeps trying to force her to do so not to out her to the authorities as A Mistake Who Should Not Be Here. really aren't helping. (like come on. grace still insists that it's bad to be bisexual but look who her soulmate is? STEPH! so maybe steph knows more about how to adjust to this new world that little miss evangelist does)

ruth fleming is the first recorded case (according to tinky) of a Human Without a Soulmate in the history of humanity. just her fucking luck. she can't even get the robot guy to fuck her. ughgggghhh. you spend your life writing high quality erotic for lonely people and it gets you into heaven! but it doesn't even get you a partner. fuckin' rude

max jagerman doesn't think that he did anything wrong. he was the king of hatchetfield high, and then hatchetfield community college, and then he managed to fight his way to a backup quarterback spot on the jacksonville jaguars (this is the good place it will be the jaguars). and then! he's the REAL quarterback! if patrick ma-fucking-homes would just drop dead he'd be the most famous quarterback in the united states, thank you!

but when he dies... the guy doesn't tell him congrats on all the success. he doesn't even recognize that this is MAXWELL JAGERMAN! the quarterback who should be the most famous and well-respected in the united states. he makes some weird references to how... ambition... is... bad? and that those that hurt other people are... bad? says something about being a channel of peace or whatever? and that if this was a mix up then max is free to go to "drowsy town"? whatever the fuck that means.

so when he says "but you're not an ambitious bully that hurt others to get where you were! you're a super nice silent catholic monk who promoted peace on earth, right?" and max just.... stares.

"do you want to keep up your vow of silence? you can just nod." and max... does. because what the fuck do you say to that? shit shit shit shit shit shit FUCK

his "soulmate" is richie lipschitz, warrior for the sanctity of other people's art. why, if his youtube channel that makes fun of other people's bad art and takes and uses his fan base to come after much smaller creators isn't a net positive in the world, then what IS? some loser who doesn't understand anything complaining about the fascist implications of attack on titan on the internet? HA! (richie is disappointed that his soulmate isn't someone better, who likes him, but it was never going to live up to rei or asuka anyway. so he'll live)

he's the only one who knows max, and they went to high school together. max was the exact sort of bully that he was in canon. and it takes a LOT of sweet talk about how richie's the one who's actually supposed to be here to get him to stay quiet about the Max Actually Being an Awful Football Player and Not That Cool Silent Monk thing.

ruth and richie become friends through a series of sitcom tomfoolery. the sitcom tomfoolery is mainly Dragging The Poor Robot Into Playing Games and then Getting Mad That He's Better At The Games Than They Are. also ruth getting frustrated that the robot does not want to fuck her. (it's not because the robot does not want to fuck she's just not his type)

steph knows that she recognizes that silent monk guy from somewhere but can't quite put her finger on it, and she knows that something is VERY wrong here.

grace is developing a crush on her soulmate and does not know how to do that. (does being a soulmate count as marriage? is it actually bad to be gay when god doesn't even properly exist? did her actions matter since she wasn't serving a real god? what do you do with an EXISTENTIAL CRISIS IN THE AFTERLIFE?!?!?! ugh stomachache.)

max wants to figure out how to go back to being The Coolest Guy Ever, FUCK YEAH (he can't even shout go nighthawks or jacksonville jaguars, because he can't talk! it sucks!) but he knows that his soulmate Will Not Help. the guy, unreasonably, is still holding high school against him. and also everything else that max has legitimately messed up since then. (ha, it's almost like. consequences to your actions-) and then he meets grace chastity, biggest prude and most Sure of Herself in This Entire Place.

and he's in love <3 he prostrates himself in front of her and BEGS her to help him become "a good person" so that he can stay here. and grace is like i really don't have time for that i have to teach my own Secretly Shitty Soulmate the bible. and steph's like uh you can just. stop doing that. i'm really not interested-

and grace is like NO YOU ARE NOT LEAVING ME YOU BEAUTIFUL CHARMING SEDUCTRESS! and steph's like ugh. did i finally cure this girl's internalized homophobia in time for her to just. not leave me the fuck alone? fuck

so a max who, in theory, wants to learn grace chastity's version of Good Personhood so that he can earn his spot here and become Coolest Guy in the Good Place, King of Good Place High, and mainly just wants to spend time with her and get her to like him, grace who is having a bisexual panic attack and also fighting off existential dread, and steph, who knows that there is something very very wrong here and that grace can't help her with morality but also. has not figured out what's wrong or who can. is just stuck here while the other two flirt and grace occassionally remembers to make googly eyes HER way instead of max jagerman's. who IS the famous football player. what a fuckin' world

steph starts trying to research What the Fuck Is Wrong Here, and realizes that max's soulmate, richie, and tragically unattached ruth are befriending the Robot with Godlike Knowledge. and she's like oh wow i could probably utilize that in my Research.

more sitcom shenanigans occur. grace and max stop noticing that their third wheel isn't attending bible studies and they become more and more them just dancing towards sexual encounters.

steph uses her con artist raised by a politician (other type of con artist) skills to notice more and more strange fuckery, as things with the world start spiraling further and further out of control.

"you're pretty funny. you know, for a robot."

"not a robot."

"then what are you, exactly?"

"... a spankoffski?" and steph feels really bad for laughing.

she gets figured out as Not Who She Appears to Be and has to go through this big long contrived process to get to stay in the good place instead of getting shipped off, and it just seems... like so much. they bring up reps from the bad place and the stakes seem so contrived.

ruth and richie shenanigan together by Trying to Find The Swinger Soulmate Pairs while steph tries to figure out why, exactly, nothing feels real. and it feels less real when the walls start to enclose and she might be getting removed from the good place entirely.

the bad place representatives show up: another weird guy with another weird name and his own robot.

the bad place even has their own version of pete- a weird, horny bastard who won't answer anyone's questions and just complains the whole time. but why would that demon that they brought up be... willing? to let them cut a deal? why does their architect seem... weirdly chummy with them? they act almost the same, treating their robot right hands with the same amount of... callous contempt. perhaps the Ted "deserves" it, but-

... why isn't tinky kind to pete? pete might not be HUMAN, but he's still... sentient. he has thoughts and feelings and he's her favorite company in this godforsaken place- and tinky is supposed to be the creator of a place that's good and just.

what exactly are their numbers indicating? why is everything so confusing and bullshit and-

she runs out to the lake, just to clear her head. sit by the water and watch. she pulls her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them.

"hey pete?" she asks. the well-dressed robot materializes beside her. sitting cross-legged.

"everyone has... points, right? that's how they figure out if you go to the good place or the bad place?"

"that's correct."

"who has the most points here?"

"you."

steph chuckles. "good one, spankoffski. i didn't know you could joke on purpose"

he tilts his head in confusion. "it wasn't a joke."

"i- what?"

"there are only 5 sets of numbers here. yours is the highest. it's been going up steadily ever since you got here."

steph just stares. "pete, there can't- there's hundreds of people here. why would only 5 of us have numbers?"

"only humans have numbers," he says simply. and oh god, oh fuck, oh shit-

"how did you get here?" she asks softly.

he looks thoughtful for a moment. "i... don't remember."

so steph gathers up the five other humans and they break their way into tinky's office, pete in tow.

and he's like "huh. what are you all doing here together?"

the other four humans are still confused, but steph is a forceful personality and convinced them this was the only way to fix things.

"go ahead and send me to the bad place," steph says, "i thought about it, and i don't want to keep making things so HARD on all of you. i was soooo selfish in life, but i don't want to keep that up."

tinky looks anxious. "oh steph, you aren't a burden."

she smiles. "but i thought i wasn't even supposed to be here?"

"we've made it work," tinky promises.

steph laughs. "i don't think so. this show reminds me what my dad would do, when he wanted to seem like he was fighting for something politically that he already had set up. it's all a show, right?"

tinky grins tightly. "i don't know what you mean."

"you're not sending me to the bad place, because i'm ALREADY THERE!" she declares. the other humans gasp. pete looks unfazed.

tinky blinks. "i don't know what you're talking about."

"there are only 5 sets of numbers here," steph says, "and guess whose is the highest? MINE! and i'm not even supposed to be here."

"two clerical errors? really?" steph demands.

"things happen," tinky says.

"and the three that got here fair and square?" steph asks, "we have a self-righteous church girl, a bullied youtuber who started bullying people himself, and an erotic writer. of teacher/student!" steph laughs, "come on, you're telling me that THOSE are the best humanity has to offer? and that max and i both just so happpenneeddd to end up here? in error?"

tinky grits his teeth. "no one else here is even human. if they were, they'd act like it. and they'd have numbers. but they don't."

"this is our own little nightmare realm that you cooked up to torture us."

then tinky laughs, maniacal and goat-like.

"wait," grace whispers, "i'm not... a good person?"

"NO!" tinky cackles, "that was the fun! but now... someone's ruined it for all of us. we're going to have to reset everything now. are you happy, stephanie?"

she frowns. "reset?" tinky snaps his fingers, and the humans pass out on his floor.

"i'm not supposed to be here," pete says, looking with wide eyes over to the passed out humans.

"ugh," tinky says, "RESET!" and not-a-robot not-a-boy spankoffski resets too.

he has another chance at this. and another. and another. and another. and another- however many it takes to get this right. and he WILL get this right, after all. he has all the time in the world.

[loggiepj]

FORBIDDEN

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Part 4

Warnings: Violence, Blood

Y/n had no idea how things escalated so quickly. It was supposed to be an easy rescue mission. Since it was already late, they could use the darkness as an advantage.

Deviants were slightly dimwitted, but they were known to have the best and strongest weapons the community could ever have. The Avengers used to steal from their weaponries during rescue missions until one of the first Avengers, Tony, learned the art of being a Blacksmith, and had by far crafted weapons that stood equally against Deviants' own.

The temporary camp the enemies had set up was already quiet, snorings and the crackling of fire filling the air. Bottles of  rum were strewn on the ground, giving the conclusion that they just did a whole night of celebration.

The Avengers that were captured by the Deviants earlier were placed inside man-made cells along with the witches.

Before infiltrating the site, Y/n learned that the Deviants had once again attacked a nearby village who had witches residing — witches who had disguised themselves as humans for years. Apparently, Deviants had begun sending out assets just to spy every village, pretending to be a citizen, be it a lone stranger looking for a place to sleep, or a group of individuals introducing themselves as a family.

Clint, the leader of the assigned Avengers sent for the mission, and a lot of others failed to evacuate the people during the attack when one of the witches hesitated to cooperate. They were short in arms when the battle started earlier. Some Avengers had managed to escape and brought the news back to the camp. Henceforth, backup was urgently requested — backup in which Y/n, her best friend Yelena, Pietro and some other volunteers joined.

"And there goes the last Deviant," Yelena whispered with a soft chuckle, watching the Deviant taking the nightwatch fall unconscious to the ground, the empty pint of beer slipping from his hands. "I think we're clear to go."

The blonde stood up from her crouching position and began her descent towards the camp. But before she could leave, Y/n held her wrist.

"Be careful," Y/n said, concerned for her best friend's safety.

"You be careful. Don't forget, I am better than you in real combat," Yelena replied, a smug smile on her face.

Shaking her head while laughing softly, Y/n let the blonde go.

"I'll signal you once done."

Y/n nodded, watching Yelena go forth. The human had her hands ready on her bow and arrow, ready to shoot if ever things go wrong.

Yelena was assigned to steal most of the Deviants' weapons within reach just to bide time in case all hell breaks loose. The blonde was an expert at being stealthy, quiet as a mouse.

"I'm sorry about my sister," Pietro spoke beside Y/n, making the human lose her focus. "W-Wanda can be stubborn when she wanted to be . . . But I swear she didn't mean to say those things to you earlier—"

"There's really no need for you to apologize on her behalf," Y/n cut him off, her eyes directed at Yelena picking up the fallen swords from the sleeping Deviants. "She has a right to her own opinion, to whom she'll give her trust. And if I'm not that person or any human for that matter, well, it's okay."

Pietro let out a sigh, loosening his hold around his sword. "Wanda has a traumatic past as much as me, with what happened to our parents and all. But she never got to go outside her own world, she never got to meet and know good humans like you and the Avengers growing up, so she pretty believed that all humans are Deviants in nature."

Y/n pursed her lips, remembering the witch that has been consuming most of her thoughts for the past few days. In all honesty, she had given up trying to make amends with Wanda the second she said those harsh things about her earlier. If the witch didn't want anything to do with Y/n, so be it.

She had other important things to worry about, such as the current mission.

Y/n was about to reply to Pietro when the first torch was put out by Yelena. Then the next, and the next, until the last one where Yelena finally gave her the look — the signal.

Clint was still wide awake when he noticed the torches suddenly went out. He was in one of the nearest cells from the entrance.

He could see Y/n and the others began creeping their way into the camp. He waved towards them, then gestured a hand signal warning that there were two sleeping Deviants guarding beside the cell.

Y/n immediately began to work, tiptoeing across sleeping Deviants just to get to the cells. And when she had finally reached where Clint was situated, she began to silently pick the lock to his cell.

One thing Y/n was also good at besides archery was picking at locks. She actually learned on her own when she was just a kid, what with a lot of experience being locked up in her bedroom by none other than her own brother whenever she wanted to go out with her friends for late night mischiefs.

Once opened, Clint nodded in gratitude towards her before he led the witches out the cell in an orderly quiet fashion.

Y/n moved towards the next man-made cells, carefully opening the locks without making any noise. The other Avengers assisted the rescued ones after the cells were opened. Terrified witches followed with haste, wanting to get away from the awful place.

Everything was going well so far. They had somehow managed to evacuate most of the captured until in one last remaining cell, Y/n was immediately attacked by one male witch who jumped and strangled her the moment she managed to open the doors.

"You normies are the reason for all this," he spat, nostrils flaring as he gripped Y/n's neck tight. "We were just peacefully going through our day and you humans came along and destroyed it, destroyed our homes."

Y/n held the witch's wrists, conserving oxygen. "S-Sir, this is certainly not the time for an argument, w-we're actually here to save all of you—"

"Why should I believe any lie coming of your mouth, human?"

"Vision, what the hell?" Pietro silently hissed behind them.

The male witch named Vision let Y/n go when Pietro pushed him off her. "Piet? You're one of them?"

"We've got to hurry—"

"Avengers!" Someone shouted through the air, causing a loud commotion as Deviants had awaken.

Y/n immediately ducked the three of them when three flying daggers almost hit their heads, going through the tree trunks behind of them instead. "Stay low and get the others to safety, Piet," Y/n ordered.

Pietro nodded as he led the other witches out from their cells, Vision following him behind with hesitation. Hopefully, he wouldn't cause any more trouble to the group.

Yelena hiding the enemies' weapons bought the Avengers some time for the others to escape and for Y/n to get to the best hiding spot where she could cover for them.

It didn't even take that long when the Deviants had already managed to get their weapons back or they seemed to have backups in hand.

Fighting then ensued.

Avengers fought against the Deviants, steel clashing against steel. Y/n stayed behind a bush as she helped. Arrows were quickly reloaded from her quiver, making its way to the targets in front of her. It was so easy, Y/n could literally smell victory when she had managed to shoot Deviants without them knowing where she was.

One of the Avengers was cornered when his sword was sent flying to the air, but Y/n was quick to hit the attacking enemy. It seemed all too good to be true.

Unaware that one of the Deviants had already found her hiding place, Y/n was not fast to avoid the dagger that went to her sides.

The human staggered backwards as she looked at the weapon lodged into her, slowly getting away from the enemy. Her only weapon fell from her clutch. But the Deviant only laughed, managing to corner her before taking the dagger off from her body. Like a wine bottle being unscrewed open, blood erupted from her skin, the blinding pain shooting through Y/n's entire body almost instantly.

That's a weird sensation, Y/n thought, her hand gripping the wound tight as she eventually fell to the ground.

Down her mask went and the Deviant abruptly stopped on his tracks, as if suddenly consumed with fear upon recognizing her face.

Another Deviant made an appearance behind him, wondering what was taking him so long.

"What have you done?" the man asked in disbelief.

"I didn't know it was her!" the attacker argued, his voice breaking.

After a moment, the man began shouting to the group, "Fall back! Deviants, fall back!"

Avengers were left in confusion as the retreating Deviants hurriedly left the area.

Pietro immediately went looking for Y/n, who he found already sprawling on the ground just a minute later, bleeding to death.

Kneeling before her, his hand instinctively went to put pressure on her wound as he tried to stop the bleeding. It was as if she was cut open for the amount of blood coming out of her.

"Y/n, hey, look at me," Pietro slapped her face, the human already losing consciousness. "Wake up, Y/n!"

With wide eyes upon seeing his friend sputtering blood from her mouth, he then began screaming for help.

WANDA hadn't slept since her brother left, waiting anxiously at the camp's entrance or in her brother's tent for their return. When one of humans suggested for her to get some sleep, she finally relented. She also couldn't handle another minute listening to Layla gossip about how Y/n courted her.

However, sleep didn't come naturally. Tossing and turning on her bed, she groaned in frustration, her mind filled with fake scenarios of Pietro getting hurt. Then came Y/n's face — her annoyingly adorable pretty face.

When Pietro told her about Y/n's family and that they were killed by witches like her, she couldn't extinguish the guilt she felt. Y/n was no different than Wanda and Pietro, yet Y/n was still nice to her. And if something happened to her during the mission, Wanda wouldn't be able to forgive herself.

Wanda didn't mean anything she had said to the human. Of course, Y/n was capable to fight and defend herself and the group. But why was Wanda still worried?

Wanda was able to get probably half an hour of sleep when she woke up suddenly to the sound of a commotion outside her tent.

When she hurriedly barged outside, Pietro was about to enter his own tent.

"Piet!" she called, making the twin look at her. She immediately ran towards him, arms looping around for a hug.

It was early dawn when the Avengers had returned safely to the camp. Or so Wanda thought before she pulled away from the hug and noticed the blood on her brother's tunic.

"Are you okay? You're bleeding." Wanda further checked to assess the damage but Pietro wasn't flinching at all. He held Wanda's wrists to stop her.

"It's not mine, sis," was all he said, his voice deflated.

"What do you mean it's not yours?"

Pietro hesitated for a moment, but Wanda knew her brother as if she could read his mind.

"Where's Y/n?"

"Wands, she's—"

But Wanda was already making her way towards the nurse's tent without waiting for a reply, Pietro calling and running after her.

The moment Wanda saw Y/n being tended by Pepper inside the tent, which was also filled with other injured individuals, she felt like fainting on the spot. She didn't know why a human could affect her this much.

Maybe Y/n had warmed her way into the witch's heart after all.

Wanda released a breath she didn't realize she was holding when she saw Y/n's chest rise and fall. Relief flooded her.

The witch instinctively went inside, just to be there for the normie, only to be stopped by someone with blonde hair she recognized as one of Y/n's friends or girlfriends.

"Visitors are not allowed inside while Pepper is at work," she warned.

"Is she going to be okay?" Wanda asked, worried.

"Y/n is a tough one," she replied, her voice softening. "Yeah, I think she'll be just fine. Your name's Wanda, right?"

Wanda could only nod, her eyes not straying away from you.

"I'm Yelena, Y/n's best friend. She told me a lot about you."

Her eyes averted to the blonde. "She did?"

Yelena smiled. "Yeah, she said you have the most angelic voice she has ever heard, maybe you could come sing during dinner serenades at the pavilion."

Wanda's heart rate accelerated as her face blushed. She was thankful that it was still dark, for it would have been too obvious.

When Wanda saw Pepper perform something more like a spell, she gasped in wonder. "Is Pepper a—"

Yelena nodded yes without waiting for her to finish.

Wanda had no idea Pepper was a witch. And if Y/n trusted a witch to be the healer of the entire camp, Wanda should also trust that not all humans were as ruthless as the Deviants.

MEANWHILE, in one of the Deviants' headquarters, a tall man with long dark hair was found eyeing the dark forest ahead the murky vast glass window. The place had a strange aura emanating towards the surroundings, with dead trees circling outside as if the soil was cursed and anything within reach would only succumb to death. Black crows were perched on dry twigs, watching the gates before them, acting either as guards or spies.

"I'm so sorry, Master, I didn't know it was her, it was all too fast," someone behind the man spoke in a hurry. The man, master, only let out a long sigh as he finally turned to look at the source. The accused man was kneeling before him, head bowed down just to avoid his eyes.

The master only pursed his lips, looking left to right, followers standing in front of him trembling in fear. After a moment, he said, "It's okay."

All the Deviants looked at him, confused. Until he went on further, "It's not your fault you're stupid."

Then he signaled to the one beside the kneeling man to proceed. The follower didn't hesitate another second before slicing the head off the sinned man with his sword.

Taglist: @bibliophilicbi @swiftie1-0-1 @whitewidowsbite @aliherreraaa

Author's note:

Follow me on my social media accounts. Thank you. ❤ Facebook : loggiepj | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089779552892&mibextid=ZbWKwL Instagram : loggiepj | https://instagram.com/loggiepj?igshid=NDk5N2NlZjQ= Twitter : loggiepj | https://twitter.com/loggiepj?t=EiFoKQyY1L-HCAMkBV2qCg&s=09

[joelletwo]

that little robot manga...?

i forgot how to do a casual rec writeup so im gonna do a stilted one, because i'd like it if you read this comic and enjoyed it like i did.

format: charming Form-y and expressive art style. 140 chapters which are all very short and more following a flow of time than a plot. easy to lose yourself and read 50 of 'em in a sitting. i've heard.

story: oh this one's easy. android girl Alpha runs a countryside cafe in place of her owner while she awaits their return. um, well it doesn't seem like they will, but she's a longliving android, so she can keep waiting. um, but life continues and is never the same twice, so is she really waiting as she goes out and experiences the world and the things it can discover and share with her? well but she's running a cafe. that's always true

and that world is a post-cataclysmic japan of unshown cause, except "post" isn't really the right phrasing... the consequences reach far and long and the world continues to change around the remaining people as the years go by, continuing to change them in turn, and vice versa. the past is in living memory, witnessed and passed on in stories and missed, but adapted from, by humans, by robots, by machines, by wildlife, by the landscape itself.

and the story very skillfully presents the liquid boundaries between all those categories, and between past history and memories and living-gaining-losing present and the future coming to settle over you gently. the way that any of those can coexist, or come together to forge a connection, or just share a space for a moment and see each other before continuing on.

this is all very metaphorical but also literal. the existence of robots came, scientifically, from a culmination of human experiences of things like Sounds, and Feelings Of Striving Desperation. they're an achievement but not a means, an existence in themselves, a new Being that gets to experience the world in all its possible senses

a world the story isn't really interested in Solving or Explaining... just... showing, and having you along. life continues, life finds a way, life shrugs and says, "ah, what can you do."

it gets a little Existentially Dreadful............. or it flirts right on the boundary of it, but none of its chars are really big enough to worry about such things, even the ones who will be there long after everything's done. they're concerned more with meeting someone new, and making a little conversation for a minute.

you may notice me running on long... i feel like i couldnt say everything this manga's so concisely, understatedly doing in words if i tried for a year. i didnt even get to, the robots have to lesbian-make out to share memories but its really so charming that they do and get flustered about it and feel weird in their friendships afterwards, well what can i say about that. its all so matter of fact, this manga, it's not important, look, now there's a chapter about the sensory feel of sitting just-shielded-from a torrential summer downpour as it comes and passes.

to close out, here's a palette of words i wrote down as i went.

life continuing. life happening. persistence. independence. sensory. passerby-intimate. ponderous. contemplative. invites you to experience. communal. disappearing.

and then here's some more words and pictures so i can make a couple comparisons.

-

-

well........................................... this one feels mean of me to make bc i have admitted im unfair about the Attack Helicopter short story. i dont enjoy the experience of reading it i feel Confronted by it, in a really skillful but unpleasant way. but it was unshakeable while reading this to draw the comparison. the Embodying the overlapping identities, the somewhat enforced and fraughtly militarized way you go thru life as a human born in a State, the sensuality of doing so. <- its. i havent found a better way to say it. such a glancingly sensual manga. it's very into what it feels like to be in a Body.

and well ive always been glad something out there is doing what AH story is doing. so now im glad there's Two.

long sequence v

[...]

well so i said i picked this manga up because of the green-haired robot with a job and a cameras-that-look-like-eyes focus i wanted to compare to tama, aye...? i still have the Eye Posts deep in my drafts.....................

but i do love cameras as, theoretically, a way to get around The Hole!!!!! (take an objective snapshot of an experience to be able to share it with someone outside your perspective in place and time and brain and eyes) except it's not actually...? the gap still cannot be crossed and a photo only serves to highlight and intensify that...? no man ever steps in the same river twice for its not the same river and he's not the same man...?

um. thats all............................ end post........

[fakeshibe]

the internet is so overtly hostile to kids and young people. commercialisation and profit margins killed off the places younger kids were safe and welcome to be in, creeps and those seeking to goad people towards extremism took over those spaces designated for teens.

There is no safe place. Every time i see a 14 year old on twitter, I see them being told to get off the platform. It’s not safe, it’s not for you. And that’s entirely correct, twitter is not a safe place for a 14 year old, but where is? Tumblr? not really. Club penguin? it’s dead. Community forums? not really a thing anymore. Discord? not without that teen being very aware of their safety and how to look after themselves, at which point they may as well have stuck to twitter.

Like it or not, it’s the job of every single one of us to make a space that is safe for teens. Doesn’t mean you have to be kid friendly, just means you need to take reasonable precautions that your not-kid-friendly content stays in your space, that they can’t accidentally come across it. Content warnings, censoring/spoilering posts, possibly avoiding the main tags for a thing if that topic is child friendly and your art is not. stuff like that. Like if young people are likely to search for stuff like lego, maybe don’t put your nsfw bionicle ship art into the general lego tag, stuff like that.

It’s your job to keep an eye out for your fellow humans. If you see a young person they you know displaying signs that they’re possibly being harassed/groomed/generally made uncomfortable/not doing well, make sure they have a safe person to speak to. You don’t have to be that safe person, you just need to make sure there’s someone who can listen to them.

If you see a kid doing something they really shouldn’t be, it’s on you to explain why they shouldn’t be doing that. Don’t berate them, don’t attack them for it. Explain, help them to understand why that’s concerning to you. We all know internet safety classes in schools are pretty rubbish, usually super outdated. I did a child safety course like two years ago that still included tips on building a safe myspace page. School isn’t going to teach kids about the immediate issues on todays internet, it’s on the community around them to guide them and look out for them.

Also playground humour is fine, just be aware when you’re joining in to not take it too far or make it weird. And bear in mind that even just by virtue of being a couple of years older than whatever young person you’re talking to, there’s a power imbalance in that conversation. Don’t encourage playground humour to the point of making it an entirely inappropriate topic. Your the one guiding this conversation, steer it in the right direction.

And if you see someone being weird towards any minor, wether you know them or not, call that shit out. Let it be known that someone is keeping an eye out, let that kid know that they’re welcome and they’re looked out for. Let that creep know that people see them, and people are very, very aware of what they’re doing. Make them feel unwelcome, run them out of your spaces, spread awareness of risky people. Keep your spaces safe.

This is all especially as important as IRL spaces become more hostile to potentially vulnerable young people. Queer teens especially are going to be looking for community and safety online more and more frequently. Make sure that the places they find will be a respite from the real world, not just a different set of threats to navigate.

Make sure young people feel safe on the internet, and make sure that those looking to take advantage of their presence, don’t.

Why am i writing all this? I’ve seen too many posts about people’s experiences as a young person online, and i talked to my brother the other day about him and his friend’s experiences and it’s terrifying that there’s really nowhere for young people to go. Also i’ve realised that i’m not doing enough to be part of the solution. so this is part of that, im gonna be far, far more aware of the issue and doing more to try and help.

[elilelibeli]

Happy Pride!

Happy Pride to everyone.

Happy pride to people who are struggling, who are scared, who are confused, who are mad.

Happy pride to people who live in homophobic countries and communities. I wish I didn’t understand what you are going through but unfortunately I do.

Today my government introduced a bill against LGBTQ+ community. The bill is long and ridiculous and very very angering. Apart from other horribly detrimental parts, It goes to existents of censoring any lgbtq+ related scenes from media and art. So Happy Pride to us I guess.

I had completely different attitude towards being part of the community last year, than I have this year. 2 years ago when I was asked something about my sexuality I felt uncomfortable and hesitant. Now, just couple weeks ago I was telling a story to people I had just met through a friend and when they asked about it I answered without giving it a thought, I realized afterwards how far of an attitude change it was within me. I have come a far way, tho that doesn’t mean I don’t have days when I am scared or confused. Just the other day I had a good mental breakdown over stuff, one of the reason was existing as a bi person in society. Remember even people who are way more “openly out” will be experiencing those mixed and negative feelings. You are not alone.

Last year in June, concert organized by LGBTQ+ community was raided by far right extremist group in my city. The concert was outside of the city where you couldn’t even accidentally end up if you didn’t go specifically. So the attack was organized in advance. They raided the festival grounds and I watched my friends evacuated with hidden busses to safety. Police didn’t stop it, nor punished people for extreme aggressions, destroying private property or physically abuse. With times like this, it is hard to stay positive. Or to be anything but angry and scared.

And even if we are living in utterly hateful world, And even if our governments, communities and people who are supposed to protect us or at least be decent human beings are doing opposite of just that, Pride month is reminder that we are not alone.

Queer people exist everywhere. Some have struggled with same issues as you did, some are still struggling now, some have other problems some have the same. And not even despite but actually with those struggles they are still brave, they are still colorful, they are still here to exist and to love. Imagine having so much powerful love within you to keep loving even if the whole world is against you.

If you are not out, if you are scared, confused, angry, if you are still deciding on where or how you fit, if you just need a little bit of courage from a girl who just rambles on social media please know this: bravery and courage exists alongside the love you have within you. I wish we didn’t need courage to love and be ourselves but we do and most importantly we have that.

You are what you want to be even if you don’t really think you fit anywhere. You can be what you want to be even if you are not there yet. If you say you are attracted to more genders than one but haven’t done anything with other genders than one, you are valid. You are valid if you haven’t done anything queer. You are valid if you do things quietly. You are valid if you are scared. Please remember this, there’s no straight road of becoming queer, I mean we aren’t straight, why the fuck would a journey of queerness be straight. The correct way is your way, way that makes the love you have within you shine.

Against everything ugly that comes with homophobia, there are so many beautiful things about being a part of LGBTQ+ community. There’s always unmeasurable strength of being yourself. Loving someone. Having queer friends. Boobs. (authors note: sorry for a long rant about boobs, that’s about to come lmao) Loving boobs on someone else and not loving them on you. Having no boobs. Boobs under binder. Nobody’s boobs ever near you. Everybody’s boobs near you. (these were a joke to lighten my own mood but you get the point) And so much more mesmerizing things that comes with being queer.

I so so strongly wish and hope that each and every one of you will get to see a beautiful side of being queer this Pride Month.

There are many people who are much better advice givers or know more about being lgbtq+ than me but please know that if you ever need to talk to someone I am always here.

[gamesception]

Sception Reads Cass Cain #9

Robin #73 story by Chuck Dixon, pencils by Steven Harris

Right up front, I'm not a big fan how Cass is depicted in this one. Like, it's not the complete train wreck that I felt it was on initial read, and I've gone back to tone down some of the excessive negativity in my initial write up. I still don't like how Harris draws Cass/Batgirl here, and I still think this issue is just a completely missed opportunity by Chuck Dixon to start building a relationship - working, family or otherwise - between Tim Drake and this new member of the Bat Clan. But it's not like, uniquely bad. Just frustrating.

The basic set up here is that Tim's dad, who left with his family before No Mans Land, and who I don't think knows that Tim is Robin? Though I'm not sure of that? has realized that Tim has returned to Gotham somehow. Afraid for his son's safety, has made a big stink with the press.

The American news media, who were big supporters of the 'nobody enters nobody leaves' No Mans Land policy when the people trapped in Gotham were poors and minorities and criminals, are suddenly screaming about the inhumanity of the policy now that they have an upper class white father afraid for the safety of his upper class white child. Tim feels guilty about more public concern being expressed by the national media over just him than over literally every other human being trapped in Gotham put together, but Bruce sees an opportunity to leverage the media circus to move political landscape towards ending No Mans Land altogether.

Meanwhile the government wants the story over as quickly as possible, so a one time exception is made to the NML policy for Tim and federal marshals meet with his dad to contact Tim and arrange a rescue by helicopter. I'm left wondering how there's still working cell reception almost a full year into No Man's Land - that's not just a Cinema Sins ding, the difficulty of getting communications and accurate reporting out of Gotham is a fundamental part of the set up, but whatever.

There's not really any safe places to carry out a helicopter rescue, and Tim won't be able to fight off threats as Robin while being rescued as Tim Drake, so he'll need a chaperone. That's where our girl comes in, looking cool and spooky in the window.

Once again we have Cass as the silent shadow / batman's enforcer, creepy and unknowable even to her allies. Cass is supposed to be like 16 in No Mans Land? And in her own stories she's very much a kid - giddy at the high of being a superhero, overconfident in her abilities, insecure in her place in the Bat Clan, desperate to please Batman. I don't object to Tim not knowing what to think of Cass to start, but It should not be difficult for a writer to find some level on which Tim can begin to relate to Cass, some way for them to begin to empathize with each other and move on from that starting point as strangers to start building a rapport between them.

So the next day they head over to the agreed on site, and... what's going on with Cass's proportions here? Ok ok, there's clearly supposed to be some foreshortening going on in this panel, lets cut Harris some slack and move on...

... no, no I'm sorry, there's no foreshortening here. Cass is 16. She's a kid. Who is that giant lady in the background?

Like... this isn't great. Not great art happens, so I'm not going to harp on for an extended paragraph of pure complaints, and definitely didn't write and delete such a paragraph. It's not worth getting hung up over.

A convenient breeze picks up to move Batgirl's cape for one pane. Because you gotta get that butt shot in there somehow, full length cape or no.

So anyway Tim gets changed and the marshals show up in their helicopter, and as expected a nearby gang notices and attacks.

Cass shows up to fight off the gang, and Tim stops the marshals from shooting while they might hit her. I mean, they said they were using rubber bullets, but are you really going to take their word for it.

The helicopter lifts off from the park with Tim and Cass as more reinforcements for the gang arrive, but the Marshals say they're only authorized to take Tim out of Gotham. Not that Batgirl would have left anyway, but she drops back down into the city, and Tim gets to leave - and make rounds on the news talking about how the real heroes are the ones still in Gotham.

A fine enough wrap up to Tim's participation in No Mans Land, and it gets him out of Gotham so his book doesn't have to involve the darker Joker threatening babies / killing Gordon's wife note the crossover ends on.

As a Cass fan though, this is a super frustrating issue, because for all that Batgirl features in the story, it doesn't really feel like Cass is here at all. The giant lady in the Batgirl suit doesn't look like Cass, but it's not just the art, she's not there in the writing or either. This book was an opportunity to start building a connection between Cass, this all new member of the Bat Family, and Tim, one of the key existing members. There were pages enough that we could have had a nice quiet moment between them, maybe with her mask off so we could see her face, where they connect on some level, establish the beginnings of some sort of friendship or at least working relationship. Like, Cass could maybe use drawings or pantomime to ask if Tim were Bruce's son, or he could notice how hard she's working to impress Batman and feel some sympathy for how difficult that is. Something. Anything.

To the extent that what we all like most about the Bat Family is the found family aspect, we want to see these two starting to build some sort of sibling relationship. Instead there's just nothing at all. They don't even feel like acquaintances or co-workers here. And it's hard not to read that as an implicit statement from Dixon that as far as he's concerned Cass isn't a real member of the bat family at all.

[nkgrimmie]

pinned post time

hi i'm grimmie but you can also call me linnl if you want

i need tone indicators so please remember, as i have gotten into conflicts directly due to not realising the tone of something, it's okay if you forget i'll probably just ask you what the tone if it was, don't feel bad

i'm probably mostly gonna be posting AVA/M and RW stuff, but i might also post HK or CJ content on occasion (if i post at all, that is)

i'll probably have an irregular posting schedule, since, y'know y'know school, job, all that (i may also post at odd hours, who knows)

i'm also pretty slow when it comes to art of humanoids, especially if it's before i've figured out their designs, so i'll probably be posting more shorthand designs, actual stick figures, and animals, sorry ^^'

you can message me if you like, i'm too scared to do it myself but will probably respond if you go first

also fyi i tend to speak in a very... strange way so if i seem cryptic or don't make any sense whatsoever just ask me what i mean and i'll clarify

more things under the cut

Do not interact if:

You're a conservative/right-winger

You're LGBTQ+phobic (including if you believe there's only two genders)

You're a MAP, zoo, pro-shipper/com-shipper, and a loli/shota

You're against kinning, AUs, shipping, or OC x canon (I'm not much of a shipper, but it does still happen)

You purposefully cause arguments, fights, etc.

You get mad at people for being sensitive

You don't respect other people's trauma

Everyone else, including otherkins and therians, are okay to interact, I promise :) /gen

Little things about me

I absolutely LOVE when people explore what happens directly after story events, such as moments after MT attacked those fair workers, or after HMS reaches wholeness! I don't see people explore things like those a lot, and it always makes me so excited when I do!

I love love LOVE it when people go into depth about the anatomies of seemingly-human or human-esque beings! Like giving HMS non-human traits or giving stick figures anatomical differences from humans, like digitigrade legs or sharp teeth!

I also really like isekais!! Especially HK isekais :3 (if you were around in the HK AO3 community a year or two ago, you would know why)

My fav characters for AVA/M are: c!Alan, MT, Victim, and TCO

My fav characters for RW are: The Gourmand, LTTM, and 5P

My fav character for CCCC is: every character except Heart

Tags will be made and shown here as needed :3

I hope you enjoy being on my page! And if not, that's okay too!

[anueutsuhos-touhou-profiles]

Hata no Kokoro:

Bottom left art by Zounose, bottom right art by Rihito

Hata no Kokoro is a unique kind of tsukumogami known as a menreiki: 66 different masks all coming to life with a single, shared identity.

These masks each represent a single emotion, and are all essential for her identity to function. If even one is damaged or missing, she'll go insane. To make matters worse, you can hypothetically change her mentally by adding different "masks" as substitutes.

Her face never changes from that stoic expression, but it's not that she's emotionless. Her masks and her body language communicate this well enough. Her personality also comes through with these masks: while she looks cold and stoic on the outside, she's very innocent and childish, and actually very perky. Though she does tend to announce how she feels, which kinda gives away how inhuman she is.

She's initially the main antagonist of Touhou 13.5: Hopeless Masquerade. It seems all the Human Villagers have lost all hope due to all the incidents happening beyond their control. However, it turns out it was really because Kokoro had lost her Mask of Hope, and subconsciously compensated by absorbing the hope from the surrounding area. All three major religions in Gensokyo: Shinto, as represented by Reimu (and only her, the Moriya Shrine sits this one out), Buddhism, as represented by the Myouren Temple, and Taoism, as represented by the Divine Spirit Mausoleum, all tried to take advantage of this hopelessness to expand their followers. Even Nitori invented her own Kappaism religion in order to pander to this!

At least Miko tried to solve the incident, however, by making a new Mask of Hope for Kokoro... that looks like Miko's own face. Truly a humble woman. Kokoro actually rejected this mask, though, worried that it would kill her, returning her to a set of inanimate masks.

Eventually, Kokoro learned to control her emotions outside of her masks, with a big help from Mamizou, and confronted the religious leaders on exploiting her issues. At once. She fought Reimu, Byakuren, and Miko all at the same time and won! She celebrated her victory by creating a play with Mamizou about the events of the game, called Shinkirou. Afterwards, it turned out nobody was really sincerely converted to any religion because of the incident: people were just interested in watching these women beating the crap out of each other and placing bets on who would win.

Kokoro later appeared in the manga Forbidden Scrollery, where the hopelessness incident was revealed to have affected Kosuzu back then. She also appeared in Hopeless Masquerade's sequels, 14.5: Urban Legend in Limbo and 15.5: Antinomy of Common Flowers.

In Urban Legend in Limbo, one of her masks is cracked, causing her to believe she's the Kuchisake-onna, a girl from urban legend wearing a facemask who goes around asking people if she's pretty, only to kill them regardless of their answer after taking off the mask and revealing a horrifying mass of eel-like teeth underneath. She tries to get it fixed, but everyone who could is too busy, and she eventually falls into the role completely, besides realizing the question is redundant and so just assaults people on sight. This is, of course, fixed offscreen between games, however.

She's usually seen around Gensokyo, performing Noh theater. Noh, if you're wondering, is a Japanese theater art from the 14th century. She sometimes even does it at the Hakurei Shrine, giving Reimu some much needed donations for once.

She has something of an arch-rivalry with Koishi Komeiji, which makes sense, since it turns out Koishi stole her Mask of Hope in the first place! They act as foils to each other: Kokoro may look emotionless, but she's actually full of emotion, she just communicates it differently than most. Koishi may look perpetually cheerful, but she's really dead on the inside.

In battle, Kokoro uses a surprisingly wide range of attacks, almost all of which involve her masks or the ghostly blue fire surrounding them. Usually she has three masks orbiting around her at a time, each representing happy, sad, and angry. She can propel her masks at her opponents, or cause them to grow in size at the screen like a jumpscare. Each of her masks have laser eyes with different colored beams depending on the emotion: green for happy, blue for sad, and red for angry. She's able to breath (regular-colored) fire out of a big chinese lion mask, she can spit webbing out of a spider mask, and she can bite people with a wolf mask. She also uses a blue laser naginata. She even has fans she uses for weaponized fan dances! And of course she can shoot large waves of that blue fire around her.

Since she had to slowly learn to control her emotions, she's become incredibly good at reading the emotions of others, to borderline psychic levels. It even extends to being able to control other people's emotions through her masks!

Her name means "Kokoro of the Hata clan". The name "Kokoro" means "heart and mind". Hata is the family name of Hata no Kawakatsu, a legendary theatre performer from the Asuka period who had 66 masks made for him by Shoutoku Taishi. He actually predated Noh theater by a long time, the theater he practiced was Kagura.

That's right! Miko made the masks that would become Kokoro!

Hopeless Masquerade is the last game in this "chain of events", and the end of Windows Generation 2. After this, the new antagonists are no longer created or enabled by the previous one. Except a few, but it's no longer a single unbroken chain.

[1stupidrat]

Learned Mortality | Night 1 (Part 2) | Art Thread + Behind the Scenes

Hey everyone! Another Learned Mortality session has come and gone, and with that I have a whole slew of artworks to share with you all! This episode was a wild ride, so let's get right to it.

As always, spoilers below for the episode ^-^

In case you haven't seen the episode yet, and want to check it out, watch it here on YouTube or follow @breaksequence

First off, the convoy that was seen travelling north in King's Pass. Not much is known about this frostbitten yet, so I will save that for when it's revealed ^-^

Where the WIld Things Are got dropped this session! I love these wolves, they have a very fun "Science Factoid" about them, the calls they make are the same sounds that reverberate through ice cores and on lakes when ice impacts ice. They use their mallet-like tongues to communicate battle strategies to each other and empower their own attacks.

They've also learned to create projectile-like ice shards by dipping their tails in water and using the collected mass like a bow.

These are the first frostbitten artworks I finished for this game and defined the style I would use going forward!

So now I'd like to get into the map assets I've created for this game. As the scenarios I want to create get more and more complicated, the limitations of Roll20's default map assets become greater. I've created an array of parts that are used to create The Lucky One's network of flesh which act as its ears and feelers throughout the Titanic dungeon.

Ice is also hard to come by. These ice assets were made by me.

The Lucky One!

The main "antagonist" of this episode, aside from our boi murph. The Lucky One was originally going to be Murphy's stand, with the idea that Murph would be a "Frostbitten Sympathizer". This idea was scrapped as I felt it would be more horrific for Murphy to be aware he's being controlled, but have completely given up fighting it because of his shit luck making it impossible to fight back against this Frostbitten's luck-negation ability.

The purpose of this frostbitten is unknown, but in the documentation notes it is referred to as "The Alchemist".

It was able to see through Murphy's infected eye, feel through its feelers, and "hear" through its ear extensions that are laid out throughout the titanic. Its hearing is very bad, as it relies on vibrations and its sense of touch more than something like a human's hearing.

Fun Fact: the party was able to discern that there was something weird in the air at the start of the dungeon, but I wanted to make it very difficult to tell that there was actually anything infecting them. The spores would have begun to take hold if the party had decided to spend the night in the Titanic before continuing on, for example.

Edit: Some additional thoughts I remembered to add; Its head is shaped like a Four Leaf Clover ( four hand clover lmao ). It has a heart on its stomach exposed externally, and it has a cape billowing in the wind to mock the classic "My Heart Will Go On" Titanic scene / song. Its one leg has a walky-talky wrapped around it to imply that Murphy can "talk" to it, before Murph even reveals that. Its feet are tied and there are ice shards jutting into them. The clawing hands coming out of the shards represent the deaths of all of those on the Titanic who couldn't do anything to escape their fate... just like Murphy.

My boi murph. Just ain't his lucky day...

Based on the concept of "Murphy's Law", and designed off of the Police Officers in the music video for Tooboe's "Shinzo".

Annnd the additional eyecatches that dropped this ep:

Lastly, while not exactly "art", the construction documents I wrote for the Eso-Tiller Shuttle Loop contain some really fun details ^-^ Have fun combing for secrets~

-Tali

[wildfoxes-spirit]

I already hate my highschool

I'm sorry but your only method of communication is Facebook unless there is a delay or nti day. My mom only found this because the middle/elementary school reposted it which means that a lot of parents aren't going to see it. At the end of 8th grade we had to sign up for classes, BY OURSELVES. We did not take the paper home and discuss it with parents we just signed up. And there wasn't a lot but still, we are MINORS our brains are not fully developed you can't expect us to sign up for things when you don't even have good choices. The arts were: comprehension visual arts ie: drawing, painting, that kinda thing, dance but not the dance team, general band for beginners, concert band for current band people, chorus, and percussion ensemble.

OF COURSE art fills up fast, that is the least shitty option for most people which means that some of the people who actually draw for a hobby and potentially a career someday may not be able to participate. And the electives were nothing special either, I mean really, you can go down a education pathway, administration, support or e-commerce, personal finance, JROTC 1, health science, and vocational.

I have a friend that wants to be a vet, she has to take to take health science for humans. I want to do something with art, digital literacy is the only one even close. And when we went to tour the school they had so many medical classes, which yeah there is a medical, optometry, and dental (eventually) school right there but your still boxing us in. The gym was way to bright, I have NEVER wanted to get out of a near empty room as much as I did then.

The building itself is basically 2 circles, but we don't even know where the student parking lot is. And here's the thing, the middle school was just as bad with communication, i officially started in 6th grade but that was with COVID so in 7th grade when we started 4-h I was so fucking confused and never got a good answer. I ended up having an anxiety attack over the project. Google told me nothing the project counselor told me nothing, the teacher told me nothing, not even my classmates could explain it. And when my sister started it in 4th grade they sent no information to the parents and she can't be trusted to tell the full story because she skips the context needed. But get this- we have to fill out a form for the project and put our parents phone number down, again we did all of this WITHOUT a guardian

Ive already been stressed about starting 9th grade and I can't do it if the school is going to be such a bitch. Please please please send in online school recommendations, preferably before the 8th

[spaceumbredoggos]

The state of things going forward

Let’s be clear. Despite Illegal bindings and spellings of fanfiction, I will not stop making fanfiction.

I have stopped using Character AI for a few reasons:

1. AI is getting out of control. Sora AI can perfectly replicate movies and television, removing the need for actors, streamers, influencers, film writers, directors ect. Basically, AI is endangering the entertainment industry as a whole. I have pulled out of the character AI community and will soon be pulling any mentions of AI from my tumblr, as I had already done so from my YouTube, TikTok, and Reddit. I apologize for using this technology, as it has no place in the entertainment industry period. AI is stealing jobs when it could really be used to cleaning our oceans, solving world hunger, and refreezing the poles. I have tried to refrain from making political statements on this blog, but when the arts are at risk, I cannot just stand by. Coupled with the recent attacks on fanfiction due to illegal sellers, character AI and other platforms could decimate the community.

2. I am pulling out of the character AI community and AI as a whole also because I feel like it was making me lazy with my own creativity. I would waste countless hours on Character AI writing less than (how can I put this… wholesome.) which includes a lot of iffy things that the average person would be canceled for. I won’t get into details, but it was pretty vulgar and disgusting. I was in a dark place mentally, and the only way I feel like I can move forward is to not use Character AI and other programs that are similar.

3. It also makes it easier for me to focus on creating a portfolio of content creation as a whole. I am planning on starting a Minecraft streaming career (along with Pokemon and whatever games I find.) on my YouTube starting March. My channel (which is the same as my tumblr name) will have gameplay, speedpaints, AU’s, and hopefully my own indie animated series that I am working on that’s based on Purgatory. I am planning on taking classes on animation and making animation memes as well as my own indie animated series. I will be writing my own Gravity Falls fanfiction along with headcanons and fanart of my self insert, as well as AU’s based on the self insert later on this summer. The first two chapters are available to read on my blog, which will be due for rewrites and drafting on my AO3 page as well as Quotev and Wattpad. I used to think of Character AI and other ai chat bots as a tool to write fanfictions. This is no longer the case, and I apologize for doing such for well over a year now.

I used to think that jobs in the arts would never be taken by AI because AI can’t create. Given the events of the past two years, I now know that that couldn’t be further from the truth. I now refuse to support any ai generated art, text, and video.

I may go as far as to call for another strike for writers, content creators, actors, and filmakers to protect the rights of all in the creative arts. However, this isn’t my place to say, and I am leading it up to the people to make their decision. Just know that the arts are at the greatest risk it has ever faced. I can’t bare to see a world where AI takes the one thing that makes us human; the ability to tell stories.

I will discuss this on my TikTok and YouTube channels with videos this weekend.

[oc-aita]

AITA for trying to get rid of this weird man who is obsessed with lawn gnomes?

(cw for discussion of slavery)

So I (32 F) run a small commune on a planet that was being terraformed into a theme park but got abandoned. A lot of us are genetically-modified humans or their descendants; it's rough being a xeno out in the galaxy so we're trying to make a more inclusive community, at the cost of ousting baseline humans unless they're extremely chill.

We located a vault near our base full of what we thought was loot but turned out to be people in cryosleep guarded by war robots; specifically they were a bunch of the research staff from the planet's attempted theme park phase. They holed up and went into cryo for 312 years because of an insectesoid invasion which was also what stopped the theme park plans, but that's beside the point.

Anyways. We woke these folks up out of cryo and it turned into a firefight. As in, many of them just rolled out of their pods and started shooting us before we had a chance to chat. Most of them died in the attack, except for two: A (27 F) and G (53 M). Both of them are baseline humans, and, since xenotyping is newer tech, were kind of freaked out by us.

A is cool. We nursed A back to health and she decided her best chance at survival was to stick with us. She's good with a gun and was an assistant veterinarian for the genetically-engineered fauna that was being added to the theme park. She likes our llamas a lot, but feels weird being only one of two baseline humans in the group (the other one, B, is planning to leave in the near future to start a new community).

G is. Hmm. So I've talked with him extensively but he's kind of impossible? My understanding is that he was grown in a lab to be a perfect scientist, discovered an obsession with sculpting lawn gnomes, escaped the lab, and grew up to become a geneticist who also ran an art gallery focused on lawn gnomes. This, by itself, sounds cool as hell. Unfortunately this guy is just really unpleasant to be around.

For starters, he hates sleeping. He claims to have insomnia but he literally just spends his nights wandering around his room, staring into middle distance with the lights on. Every...idk, 38 hours or so he passes out on the floor? He has a bed! We then have to haul him to his bed and he sleeps for 10+ hours. Weird schedules are fine but, man, at least attempt to get into bed instead of wandering about until you're exhausted. And, to be clear, he definitely stays awake until he's completely overtired and barely lucid. Talking to him in this state is...not good.

Also, I asked him how long it takes him to sculpt and paint a singular lawn gnome. He estimated sixty to eighty hours! That's kind of nuts. It sounds like they're beautiful gnomes but also, let's be honest, how much is the average rimworlder going to pay for a fucking lawn gnome? While we do have room for folks in the commune who aren't able to work full-time, we're concerned that he won't even really be making back his cost of materials.

Add that to the fact that he's a baseline human and a geneticist whose research helped lay the groundwork for human genetic modification (many of us have trauma around being genetically engineered against our will) it seemed like our commune isn't the right place for G. Our closest neighbors are a settlement called Love Town, which sounds horny or hippie but they're pretty boring tbh. Not bad trading partners, but definitely wary of xenos. They're part of a bigger network, so we introduced G to them. And, okay, yeah, "introduced" might not be the correct word. We essentially asked Love Town if they wanted to buy G from us in the hopes of recruiting him for their settlement. Since he's a pretty experienced scientist and artist they paid us...quite a bit of silver, which we desperately needed. I know they're anti-slavery, at least I'm pretty sure, so while he could wind up coerced into staying he'd at least be in a much bigger community that could better support him.

That was two months ago. Today, we spotted a drop pod being launched near our base and one of our new members reported an injured man was found inside. And who is it but fucking G. He's not conscious yet but we don't know what we're going to do with him. We radioed to Love Town and they're playing dumb, claiming that they never even bought G from us in the first place. At least they're not asking for their money back?

I don't think we can just kick this man out of the commune, because he won't survive in the wilds but... the other closest settlement to us is pro-slavery, so bringing G to them is also pretty awful. No one really likes this guy, even A who knew him 300 years ago. Our new member who found him, O, thinks it's terrible that we sold him to Love Town in the first place and is pretty mad with me about that. Her argument is that we should openly accept him as a community member to apologize, but I keep trying to convince her how much that won't work. I'm sure once she actually talks to him she'll understand.

But I have to wonder...AITA for selling G to Love Town in the first place? WIBTA if I try to get rid of him in some other way, either bringing him to the other town or just sending him out into the wilderness?

[sinister-faye]

Gamedev update

The good, the bad, and the revelation.

Hello my fellow artists, gamedevs, and other folk who stumbled upon this.

Tldr; I have to stop Armageddon ignition til I have more time and a team, but I have other things I want to release to help me get funds to help with both problems.

Here is the long version:

It's been a spell since the last update. The delays are complex and fairly personal. But the conclusions I've come to on the other side of my chaotic life are going to shape what this solo dev project will ultimately become.

The good

So for the longest time I kept hammering away at my game while having some blinders on. One core belief I held was that I was going to do this all solo. While writing and planning a game that I needed 12 voice actors for at a minimum. (The full weight of that dichotomy crashed over me later, don't worry.) Watching my first in game cutscenes and hearing either a soulless bot spit out the lines, or my own attempts at doing multiple voices, raised some flags in my mind. But I still pressed on. I just needed to work on the game every day.

I also wasn't seeing as much growth in followers with my various blogs or twitter. Sure I made posts. But they seem to blather about nothing and I never have anything other than a screenshots to hype my game.

Life then forced a large break on my time. A month and a half long break that was personal, and a little painful still. This forced break I took helped me see my process and allowed myself to do some introspection on my marketing, presentation, and my goals.

The good news is the game is still gonna happen, and I'm still going to develop it. But...

The bad

Because of this vague event in my life my time is now strained In a way that will prevent me from working on this game enough to make any meaningful progress. And this time constraint won't loosen for at least a year. I want to come back to it. And I have a plan to come back stronger.

During my month long interlude I had some time to think about each thing I could improve on.

1. Better content: guys I'm verbose. And I'm sorry I'm verbose. I really should have been a writer or a philosopher. The accounts I see with the most growth get that growth from .gifs. if I can't sell the idea in a gif I won't post it. Unless it's a bigger how to, or post mortem.

2. Solo development for a game is only good if the game I am making has 1 or less voice actors.

3. Art as a medium is under attack and we need to build groups to make it through. Solo dev only helps a solo person. Team efforts can help teams of people.

4. I talk a lot of talk. Boy do these words I say allude to a lot, without revealing a thing. Even this post assumes that there is a major audience clamoring to hear any small update. I need fans first.

Through all the navel gazing, the most important thing I Learned is that I need to start building a community, but the life event left me a little despondent . Most of my time was spent healing and getting back a good headspace. Now I'm refreshed and ready to use what little free time I have towards making a studio that is a group effort.

The revelation.

During my break I saw the writers strike, I saw the actors strike, I saw rights being pillaged from our livelihoods inch by inch. And I saw people win to get a fairer share. In order to complete Armageddon ignition I'm going to need money to properly pay some voice actors, I want to get more people involved. I finally started a game that I think will see the light of day. But I no longer want to be a hermit about it. And I want a team with more perspectives than my own to help me.

There are too many companies bleeding creative teams dry for "content", there are too many ceo's who look for tools or pipelines that completely remove humans to save a buck for the next quarterly earnings.

My goal has shifted from producing a game as a solo creative to building a company. A group of people who share in the earnings of their product, rather than some white dude who went to Yale and learned that slashing jobs makes the next quarterly earnings look a little better and gamed his own paycheck to give him more money than they ever "saved".

But I don't have the funds now, nor do I want borrowed equity for this thing. If I'm going to build up an organization that is more artistic focused, rather than profit focused. I can't do it on debt that can be leveraged to destroy a queer, story driven studio.

So in order to get a cash flow started I found something that I can do with my much leaner free time. This is going to be an animated project that can, on paper and not just in my head, be developed and maintained by a solo artist.

This time I'm going to release the videos and let the work speak for itself, rather than wax on before it's even done. Once I have some time back I'll try to make a post mortem.

So as far as timelines go. This is going to push back this game indefinitely. But I hope to utilize this time to actually build something that can benefit the game industry. And build a better game in general.

The next blog should be coming with enough detail to sell you on what I have cooking.

See you soon