#zesty take

[skin-slave]

I wanna say something and all I ask is that you read the whole thing before burning me at the stake.

There are always horrible things happening. There are always ppl who are suffering and dying. There are always corrupt politicians. There are always human rights violations. There are always tragedies. There is always misinformation and exploitation. War is always looming on the horizon or busting in the back gate. The world is always fucked up.

That fact does not mean that the lives affected matter any less than our own. It does not mean that we don't do what we can to help. It does mean that we cannot afford to put our lives on hold while a horrible thing consumes us.

I'm sure that, if your parent/sibling/partner/best friend had a medical emergency, you would gladly do whatever you needed to do to be there. I'm sure that you would sacrifice sleep, skip meals, call in to work, and be by their side until they were stable. You can afford to do that when those emergencies are infrequent and relatively brief.

You cannot do that with the world's emergencies. They are not infrequent. They are not relatively brief. You have to sleep, eat and shower. You have to pay your bills. You have to survive.

Daily life goes on.

It feels unjust. Of course it does. How can you possibly go about the mundane like nothing's going on? You Don't. You go about the mundane like there are horrible things happening. You make the adjustments you can sustain without sacrificing your well-being. You make drastic changes for as long as you can, when you simply can't take it anymore, and then you step back, take a breath, and go grocery shopping. You have to. If you don't, you won't survive the horrible thing.

No one who is going thru a horrible thing wants you to self-destruct. There's so much good you can do over the course of your life if you maintain that life. Adding your name to the list of casualties will prevent all of that good from happening. You have to survive.

And that includes the things that seem optional, bc those things aren't actually optional at all. You need to laugh. You need to watch movies and love your pets and go for walks. You need food that tastes good and clothes that make you feel confident. You need that show you'll regret not seeing. You need to get takeout and take naps. You need to have the weight lifted frequently, so you can heal the parts of you that get worn.

If you aren't living as well as you can, while making adjustments you can afford to make, you will not survive.

Please survive.

[xamiipholia]

okay y'all seemed to like the last one so here's a few more Horizon 3 thoughts:

Aloy won’t die. It would completely upend the series’ themes and just be really nihilistic.

Since Nemesis is a gestalt entity I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll see Sam Witwer, Carrie-Anne Moss, etc again. I’m curious how they’re going to do it because at least structurally, it’s basically a reaper. Maybe it’ll use different Avatars when communicating like the Leviathan in ME3. 

It's gonna take some work to make a flashback/dream/vision not contrived but I would love to see Varl and Rost again. I think we deserve that.

Minerva is gonna have its work cut out for it blocking access to both the dormant Faro Swarm and the ZD terraforming system. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Nemesis has some sort of corruption function that becomes the equivalent of the corruption in HZD. It would be a really fun tech showcase if GG uses Zenith nanotech for machine corruption and leans into mechanical body horror.

If we’re going to Ban-Ur I really really hope they do the work to make the Banuk less problematic and more fleshed out as a culture. A quasi-Spartan society absolutely would not survive in an extreme environment, *especially* without megafauna to hunt. The Banuk characters are lovely and well-written; they deserve a society as well thought out as the Utaru or Carja. I’m honestly fine if there’s retcons or revamps to the cultural lore because the whole “outsider barges in and becomes chief” is rooted in racist, colonial tropes and we just don’t really need that imo.

The most recent footage of Death Stranding 2 (also running on Decima) has me SO excited for the visuals. GG’s gonna knock it out. The facial rendering and animation that Kojima Productions are doing looks industry-peak and I’m sure GG’s gonna match that. Aloy’s Gay Panic™️ scene on the beach in HBS is already top-tier nonverbal storytelling through animation. Digital Foundry actually just posted a really cool tech breakdown of the current Decima engine. I’m especially excited about the environmental stuff. The ocean simulations in HFW are already incredible and I hope they increase verticality in the world. I can’t wait to see the Sacred Lands in current gen graphics. 

I really love Kotallo’s DIY arm and it’s so so important to his development but Beta and Gaia now have access to Zenith nanotech, maybe give your buddy a sick upgrade hmm?

Speaking of, I can’t wait to see Beta come into her own. She’s one of the best parts of HFW and Aloy’s character absolutely shines in a sibling dynamic. 

I wouldn’t get your hopes up for a romance mechanic. Everyone’s feelings on that aside, it would be really odd from a game development perspective to just overhaul part of how the narrative develops Aloy’s character in the last act of the story. Yeah, there are flashpoints but I would argue that the presence of choice in Horizon is smoke and mirrors- cosmetic at best. Kentucky Route Zero (which you should play) does something similar where the player is given a certain amount of control over the substance of individual conversations and scenarios and it does absolutely nothing to alter the plot, by design. I think it’s the same here - this isn’t really a choice-based RPG, the flashpoints don’t really affect anything plot-wise or for Aloy’s character development. Olin is still out of the story, Nil lives, Regalla still dies one way or another. Aloy’s character development is pretty firmly on rails (think Jin Sakai, not Shepard - you get to guide some momentary character reactions but that’s it). I don’t think HBS is a testing ground either - If they were gonna introduce a romance mechanic I think they’d just do it, and not spend two years making a direct continuation of HFW’s main quest and establishing a specific romance hard-baked into the plot, complete with multiple leitmotifs for the character relationship (which is something they haven’t done before afaik) just to introduce a side quest mechanic coming in 5 years. I genuinely can’t think of any game or dev that has beta tested a major alteration to upcoming game mechanics that way - it doesn’t really make any sense in terms of developer resources, and these games are extremely time-consuming to make. I know this is a thing a bunch of people want and I can totally empathize with that! I just think it’s probably not on the table. 

I would bet money the series will bookend itself and the epilogue will involve a) the naming of Zo and Varl’s kid and b) Lis’ pendant. 

Mostly I'm just looking forward to being surprised. One of my favorite things that Horizon does is use carefully established elements in the world to pull the plot in unexpected directions and keeping the world grounded while they lean into speculative science fiction. I can't wait to see what Guerrilla is cooking up

[zzzzzestforlife]

🌼 working student diaries // i like my life neatly wrapped 🥟

i spent the whole day tired, but i somehow also had the capacity for stress ↘️, relief ↗️, boredom ↘️, dread ↘️, excitement ↗️, happiness ↗️, and satisfaction ↗️ — maybe that means i'm getting better at coping with my constant low energy?? i can tell you for certain though: it DOESN'T mean that i did everything i planned to today 🤡

taking care of business 👩‍💻

👀 peer-review code

🤝 meeting with our product manager

🚀 deployment!!

💻 coding~

🗃️ documentation

taking care of me ❤️

🏥 paperwork~

📒 journal

🛒 grocery shopping

🧠 psychology quiz

🇰🇷 Korean lesson

💌: 💝

[executorscloak]

due to high demand (apparently), here's some more Miitopia Dankovsky

[krasytoonz]

I was wondering how they’d interact with each other’s alternate versions compared to their normal dynamic shiwmssdkk idk I’m rambling

[beatricesleftthrowingknife]

Unpopular take, but I just cannot see Ava’s look here as anything but frustration

In any other context, I would wholeheartedly get behind saucy Ava but here?

She had the balcony rejection from Bea, she has all but resigned herself to what feels like inevitable death - she is trying desperately to reconnect with Beatrice in what she believes are their final hours. So, she asked a question to start a conversation, she cracked a small joke, and Beatrice absolutely did not engage. Her walls are UP, from pain and fear and all the other things going on in her mind. We’ve never seen her fidget with her weapons before a mission before- she trusts Camila and is always well-prepared - she’s trying to distract herself.

She shuts Ava’s attempt at reconnection down because she’s scared - and Ava knows but maybe doesn’t understand, and is frustrated. That’s her look and her response- we can see her smile fade and her chest burn a little. We’re too close to the endgame.

[kyuuuu]

There's a similarity between these two and it's not their names

[starlooove]

[infernalexistence]

“gender is a playground” you’re wearing a leather jacket and pants wdym 💀

*sees a literal cryptid “man” wearing thigh highs, booty shorts, and a buttoned down shirt with nothing underneath

“Seems pretty gender conforming to me 🤷‍♂️”

[skin-slave]

Zesty Take #6668

Adults have the right to harm themselves.

This is a facet of bodily autonomy and must be defended with the same vigor as any other facet. If you believe that a thing is harmful to a person doing it, you must still defend their right to do it.

Feeling bad bc someone is harming themselves is not harm being done to you. Emotions are involuntary, internal, and no one else's responsibility. If you believe that a thing is harmful to a person doing it, and its effect on you is that it makes you feel bad, you must still defend their right to do it.

Here's some stuff I recommend:

Remind yourself that it's not about you. You cannot control others. Force will not affect change. Ultimatums will not affect change. You cannot affect change.

Encourage education and risk awareness. Make materials available. Support sources of information.

Seek out education and risk awareness. Approach the subject like a blank page. Allow yourself to learn without bias.

Break out your coping mechanisms to handle your discomfort. Take care of you.

Set and keep boundaries. Be clear about what you can handle, what you need, and what will happen if the boundaries are not respected. An ultimatum is not a boundary. Do not give ultimatums.

Bring it up once. It's fair and reasonable to have a calm discussion about it. State your concern, and know that they have no obligation to act on it. Ask your questions about risk mitigation, and know that they have no obligation to answer. It's a good time to set boundaries if needed, too.

Resist the urge to come up with new angles to push from. It will only damage your relationship. Remind yourself that they already know your thoughts and feelings. If they choose not to act on it, the only thing you can do is accept that.

Adults have the right to harm themselves.

This is true for all kinds of harm, real or imagined. Body modification, sexual or kink or social activities, self-harm, substance use, medical decisions, career choices, personal habits, life changes, religious practice, etc, etc.

I see you making your, "yeah, but," face. Stop.

Adults have the right to harm themselves.

[shadebloopnik]

Making small notes to remember lessons bc the exam is literally in an hour and i have not reviewed shit.

Then i read St Peter and brain immediately went Hazbin Hotel-

Hahahhahahhaaaaaaaaaahhhh i am so failing religion classes-

Clearer focus for the fruity gateboiii

[zzzzzestforlife]

Mid-Week Self Care Day 💛🌻

when you don't feel like you have time to take care of yourself, that's often when you most need it ❤️‍🩹 stay hydrated and warm!! ☕

Step 1: Eat something delicious 🥐

Step 2: Go for a walk 🚶‍♀️

Step 3: Do laundry 🎶

Step 4: Refresh bedding!! 💤

Step 5: Whatever you want right now!! ❤️

💌: i've been inspired by @mochademic's posts for a long time, and now i finally have (some) multilingual abilities, so onto the translations under the cut!

한국어

주가운데 멘탈 케이어 날 💛🌻

첫번째: 맛있어는 것 먹어요 🥐

두번째: 산책은 가요 🚶‍♀️

세번째: 빨래를 하다 🎶

네번째: 침대 시트 청소해!! 💤

다섯째: 지금 원해 대로!! ❤️

中文

星期中间精神健康天 💛🌻

第一： 吃了好的东西 🥐

第二： 去走走了 🚶‍♀️

第三： 洗衣服 🎶

第四： 干净的床单！！ 💤

第五： 现在随你喜欢！！❤️

[zestyderg]

"He's going to RUIN them... to take their planet from them and annihilate them like Guhnash did to us."

[sohotthateveryonedied]

Dinah: Let's make a sanctuary for heroes to work on their mental health! :)

Those of us who read the comics:

[thetiberisthetiger]

The opposite of a fruit is a vegetable. Homesexual people are commonly called 'fruity'. This implies straight people are vegetables. In this essay i will

[morticry]

revelations 666.

'part ii: trick or treat?' + 'how to exorcise demons from your local priest'