rawliverandcigarettes

[rawliverandcigarettes]

WIP Meme

I was tagged by @illusivesoul, thank you so much (and I'm sorry about your previous tags, they just fell down the depths of my mentions and I forgot them forever ;; )

Tagging... @crapeaucrapeau, @bloobluebloo, and I genuinely do not know who want to be tagged in things like these so I won't bother anyone, but feel free to join up (or don't if you don't feel like doing it of course!)

But!! What a great excuse to share with you all... the very first paragraph of The Empire of Preys. 👀🐸🌿

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Her krogan of a father used to tell her this before he vanished from her life: don’t look where the sun sets. Look anywhere else. Get your head-start. Gear up while everyone else is blinded.

So Rhanda T’selvi did just that, and went to work that day expecting to be fired.

She got the notice at 4. No surprise there. Najarat Forum was already half empty, most of her turian colleagues long gone by then. She dragged herself off the security desk on an empty stomach and punched the elevator to the last level of the egg-shaped, crisscrossed tenement —her back pointedly turned to the city view. She was tugging at the trigger of the assault rifle strapped to her shoulder, out of habit, when the Virtual Intelligence chimed: floor thirty-seven, directorial center. Rhanda extracted herself from the glass box and took her plated boots towards the empty atrium. At first, she was polite and waited for movement: a secretary, a greeting, another soul waiting for dismissal as well. Anyone. Something. Nobody came. She invited herself deeper in.

#tags #my writing #the empire of preys #rhanda t'selvi #this is probably exactly what the first paragraphs will be like!! #I'm fairly certain chapter 1 will stay almost exactly as is #you'll be pleased to know rhanda is *immediately* fucking unhinged #this is chapter one (1) and she already: #steals candies from their boss' secretary desk #topples cold coffee on the carpet just to be a pain about being fired #and scams a guy by using illium's bureaucratic reputation to confuse him enough to coerce him into helping her out #vOv #go off butch queen #or something #(every character in this story is Like This u_u) #(I really love all of them but: they really are all Like This) #(rhanda is among the least chaotic of them *somehow*)

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I hate work I should be at the (remembers I don't want to go to the club) the imagination

#I want to be at the imaginary club in my head that is good and not shitty and we're all having fun together there

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Cocaine was a stimulant used by a priestly caste of the middle period United States called businessmen in order to commune with The Market. [1]

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#very shlee coded to me

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sign brendan saw last night

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#and yeah for shlee (and anetha) it's for SURE a heartfelt apology from ALL of his parents #some actual acknowledgment and responsibility for how their little schemes and little whatever and little mental breakdowns fucked him over #it's not enough to fix him --what he actually needs is: #1) papers so he becomes an actual citizen and can have actual independance #2) so much therapy and medication + an actual plan to help him cope with stuff that doesn't rely on substance abuse #3) a support system that prioritizes *him* and what *he* wants #4) a grant for him to study astrophysics once he is mentally stable enough to do so #oh and 5) no more reapers and 6) NO MORE BEEFING WITH SPACE MAFIAS SHLEE STOP IT

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I. I do miss Shlee and Anetha quite a lot, it turns out. ;;

#halfway home #shlee #anetha #I'm trying to work on some material for teop #and I *adore* teop's cast #but shlee and anetha have just been hanging around for a while and I have such tenderness for these two #(yes in spite of the *gestures at everything*) #(their arc in override has me curled in a ball of feels forever) #(they deserve that I pull myself together and complete their stories honestly) #(I don't know I love them so much ;;) #(the Siblings of all time)

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happy -130th birthday, babe

#mass effect #rip #I mean #pre-rip

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Get attacked!! ✨🌈SEND THIS TO OTHER BLOGGERS YOU THINK ARE WONDERFUL. KEEP THE GAME GOING🌈✨

<33

#asks #hope you're doing well!!

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y’all played mass effect?

#mass effect #salarian #drell #quarian #batarian #asari #they're so cute!! #gorgeous art

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Replaying Mass Effect 1's intro because I'm doing a technical analysis of how the original Jenkins/Chakwas dialogue is constructed for an example in a Branching Dialogue class, and damn Bioware is *so* efficient during this introduction, it's quite remarkable.

Not only does it introduce two whole NPCs, the immediate intrigue and offer up information about the world and dynamics of power within this world (okay it does veer towards "as you know, [stuff everybody knows about]" territory, but given the density of that world and the fact that it's optional information the player has to voluntarily seek, I think it's as fine as they could get away with honestly), but it introduces Shepard as a player-character and a concept pretty wonderfully too. It's a great tutorial for how the conversation system works, what is Renegade and Paragon behavior and how NPCs will react to that, how choices will be recorded and reacted to (aka: Jenkins reacting to your background, AND you're given a chance to personalize your Shepard's reaction to the public perception of your life events), and on top of that, your role as a commander.

I know Jenkins is a joke character, but he does a very efficient job as a tutorial for the way NPCs will look up to you, how you might influence them, and how you are responsible for them --foreshadowing more complicated moments later down the line with Wrex, Ash, Kaidan and even Garrus for example.

This dialogue takes between 1'30 to 4' tops if you explore every option, and it demands the player to engage actively with the system almost the entire time. The efficiency on display is seriously impressive. It's deceivingly simple-looking too, while actually hiding a non-negligeable number of little checks under the hood for what appears to be very straightforward conversation.

Anyway. Some long overdue Mass Effect Appreciation moment! The writers/system designers sure knew what they were doing here.

#mass effect #mass effect 1 #karin chakwas #jenkins #thinking of releasing my very long little flowchart just for the funsies once I'm done with it #but it's an amazing dialogue to dissect as an introduction to the subject of branching narrative honestly #ME1's intro is mind-boggingly efficient in delivering it's setting and tone imo --the best in the series by a long long mile

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👀 Based on GBTQ by @sigmalied

#mass effect #aria t'loak #asari #yeah it still rules #gorgeous art

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Constant mistakes (which I always practice because apparently I like to make my life more difficult): 1) do not work on the subject, separating it from the background and global illumination 2) work out the detail of the linear drawing as much as possible, respecting proportions and perspective (otherwise you will suffer)

Estimated process time - 8 hours 22 minutes

Music: League of Legends, Cailin Russo, Chrissy Costanza — Phoenix (Instrumental)

#aria t'loak #asari oc #hot damn that looks amazing #gorgeous art

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The Undateables™

#mass effect #mordin solus #zaeed #james vega #that's such a funny prompt for a badass poster hahaha #but to Reject shepard is honestly so very badass of them good on them #(gently ignoring the weird thing that happens to poor vega in the citadel dlc) #gorgeous art

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Ok gang!!!

It's been a while, and I think it's time to come clear about a plan I used to have, and how I am very unsure about whether or not it's worth doing.

I technically have the first chapter of The Empire of Preys ready to go. I have basically only that. I did plan to release it on the birthday of Halfway Home's last released chapter, but the truth is: it's happening smack in the middle of an incredibly busy time for me, so I have basically nothing ready as far as promotional material goes.

Also, and it was my plan for a little while, I don't think I can sustain the one chapter per week release schedule I once had with Halfway Home --and I had to come to terms with the fact that I do not have it in me to polish that story nearly as much as I did Halfway Home. I still love it, I still want it out... but I think I'll take it much slower and at a more regular "fanfic" pace for me than what I did with HH. The story of TEoP is not completed yet. I am not completely sure on how to go about certain PoV characters. But, I feel like I can't wait for a "perfect" version like I did with HH, or I will never release this story.

So, while I'm not sure whether or not I'll actually post the first chapter on the 20th of April, I will try to begin posting it relatively soon, and make no promises on when the next one will come out.

I have, however, character portraits in the work! It's coming!! At some point!! Maybe this week if I can finish my work by then!!

Anyway, I hope you are all doing fine, and stuff is doing good, and all of the things. <3

#mass effect #halfway home #the empire of preys #once my HUGE pile of work is somewhat behind me #I plan to return to the routine of going to work in cafés to try and power through the edits + what's left #because it isn't that much tbh! #but yeah it's complicated because it's a project that is very much... not at the forefront of my mind anymore #and interest for it has dwindled overall #and there's also this thing with HH and TEoP is that I feel that because I take so much time working on it #it kind of misses the moment where it would echo the best #I think TEoP was a story for 2017-2018 it would have been *perfect* then in the sociopolitical osmosis #in 2024 it feels redundant and obvious in many ways #2024 would be a year for override #but we're not there yet #so yeah it's a weird set of project and a weird trilogy #I still deeply love the characters and settings but it's just *so much* so I need to find ways to keep myself motivated #maybe if I have time I'll replay the trilogy at some point #might help

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1 hour (+10 min.......) painting study of Altaaya, my favorite unlandable planet in Mass Effect. Reference screenshot on the right with codex included. Wonder what happened to her... She's so mysterious.

#mass effect #gorgeous art

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new phone who

#mass effect #how have I never seen that before