#again each design I draw different from the past (99% of the time) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

writingquestionsanswered · 3 years

Text

Tattoo Shop AU - a quick, practical guide for writers

Guest Post by lebanon-hangover

lebanon-hangover said: this is based on my personal experience with the industry only, so depending on the era and country you are portraying, it may not be 100% accurate for your setting.

Hygiene

It may not be obvious at first glance, but most tattooists are clean freaks. We work with human blood every day, and we get clients from all ages, ethnic and social economic backgrounds, with all sorts of medical conditions.

We usually mop frequently, bleach the sinks, wipe down everything, and use cling film or bags to wrap everything. I mean fucking everything. We also scrub in, and sanitise the area on the person we work on.

Needles are collected in a sharps bin, and handled very carefully. Medical waste goes in yellow bags, and both are collected by a professional service.

Used ink caps may look full, but the ink gets diluted by blood. Like you dip the inky needle into the person, but you also dip the person’s blood into your ink. These are medical waste too.

Cleaning up must be done promptly after the session. Bin everything disposable, put things through the ultrasonic and the autoclave, and sanitise the area. We may take machines apart, but more for maintenance than cleaning, sometimes we swap parts in them too.

We have two sinks, one for hand washing, one for cleaning.

All inks and needles have use by dates.

The internal dynamics of a studio

Depending on the country, some tattoo shops tend to have ties to biker gangs, and some of those internal dynamics and unwritten rules are often present.

There’s a pecking order and it’s dead serious. Basically the longer you’ve been in a shop, the higher ‘rank’ you are, you get the better positioned stations, first pick of walk-ins, etc (Unless the client is asking for someone by name). Regardless of your actual experience in the industry, like if you move into your old apprentice’s shop, they are still senior to you. If the owner or their partner is an artist, obviously they are on top of the chain by default.

We are self employed, but we have a boss. You are only making money if you are working, but you still have set work hours.

We get paid by the clients, and we pay the studio a cut. In return, there are some items provided by them, and some we buy for ourselves. Usually the chairs, tattoo beds, gloves, cleaning products, clip cord covers, masks, aprons, ink caps, vaseline, green soap, and some basic ink is provided by the shop. We buy our own machines, arm rests, stations, pedals, power supplies, clipcords, tips and grips, needles, special colours, stencil fluid…these are a personal preference, and often depend on the artists’ style.

We totally ask to try out each other’s equipment sometimes, or ask for a certain type of needle if we ran out.

The receptionist is usually just one of us, maybe a piercer, but it also can be a hired person in top studios.

The apprentice in the traditional system is often mistreated, and they have to pay for their education, have to be there multiple days a week and don’t make any money. It’s kind of like a tear them down, build them back up again thing to see if they are really serious about the job. Times are slowly changing, but 99% of them will always need a second job. Most of them are working as bar staff.

When you open a new studio, you must visit all the existing local ones and introduce yourself, otherwise you may get a brick through the window. Otherwise there’s not much beef among individual artists, they are often friends, go to conventions together and party after, etc.

The Artists

Tattooing is a fairly physical job, stretching skin is very important. We have to also keep our clients safely still, so we often use positions to pin them down a bit. Sometimes you hit a reflex point on the foot or under a knee, and you don’t want to get kicked. Sometimes you have to pull away super fast, cos they are sneezing, yawning or giggling.

Most tattooists drink a lot of coffee, tea or energy drinks.

Some people are all rounders, some have specific styles, but we recognise each other’s art styles. Sometimes we delegate work to each other, if we think our coworkers style fits the concept better. For example if there’s a person who does script well, we give them those projects.

We don’t like when people come in with designs from other artists. Art theft is frowned upon, and we work best with our own drawings.

Most apprentices practice on their own legs, and sometimes we tattoo each other when it’s quiet. Most people have cover ups, or bad pieces from their early days. The artists’ own tattoos sometimes are in a different style than what they do, but we like to collect ink from friends or colleagues we admire.

In the first 1-2 years one is an apprentice, then junior artist. At 5-8 years of tattooing, you have earned your stripes and are considered an experienced artist.

Conventions are really fun, but can be stressful. You can make good money working at one, and sometimes get awarded for it too. We can also spend a lot at a convention.

Sometimes we poke our fingers by accident, and it’s a scary thing. Good case scenario is just some random dots on your fingers. Let’s not go into the bad case scenario.

We do guest spots sometimes, just to meet new clients, and change it up a bit.

We spend a lot of time drawing up things, and designs are meant to fall on specific muscles, stretch with the skin a certain way, so they are tailored to the body proportions of the client. A good tattoo is also an optical illusion, complimenting the body shape.

Social media presence is like a second job, you need good photos, and you need to market yourself.

Tattoo ink does not wash out, so some stains are inevitable when pouring it out. Those ink bottles get stuck so easily, and we wrestle them a lot. We try to avoid it, but wearing all dark colours is a thing for a reason.

The Clients

Tattooists need to have a good ‘bedside manners’ too. We get nervous or self conscious people, and we are told personal things during long sessions. For example scar coverups and memorial pieces can be very emotional.

We have pretty good poker faces and first aid trainings. People can faint, get shaky, throw up, some have seizures, have b.o., get sweaty, etc the same way as at a blood donation event? It’s no big deal really. We sit them down, give them some water and some sugar, and re-book them if necessary. Most artists keep some wet wipes, mouth wash, deodorant, sweets, maybe even some clean clothes at work, just in case.

If someone comes in with a wild idea for a jobstopper, we would sit down and have a long talk. If they haven’t got many tattoos, we usually try to stir them towards more safe choices, offering them creative ideas. It’s like those jedi mind tricks sometimes.

If someone is undecided, we show them our own hand drawn flash sheets. Once its gone, its gone tho, we don’t use the designs twice.

Pinterest is full of photoshopped fake tattoos, some that won’t even work as real ink. Many people also touch up their work digitally on photos, so some clients have really unrealistic expectations.

We can totally tell if someone is intoxicated or hangover. It thins the blood, and they bleed out the ink, and it’s super annoying. if it’s bad, they will be sent home and rebooked.

Some folks are self conscious about body hair, their size, stretch marks and scars. Chances are, we have seen similar, and we aren’t bothered by it, because it’s work. Surgery scars, scars from accidents, self harm scars, burns, we see it all the time. We shave some really hairy dudes all the time girl, your legs are fine. Seriously. If something makes tattooing you dangerous we will tell you.

Fit, muscular people are harder to tattoo because they are really firm. Its a workout for us.

Everyone gets midnight messages about the aftercare from nervous clients, and drunken booty calls about getting inked right at this second. We have copy paste replies…

We get creeps sometimes. Stalking, weird conversations, tmi info dumps etc.

Other things to include (for fun, or for plot reasons)

We sometimes have those “oh fuck” moments. We all do, but mistakes can be fixed, and we play it cool.

Tattooing takes time. Usually 30 minutes to multiple sessions though years and years.

Healing tattoos takes about 2-4ish weeks, and your characters shouldn’t go roll around in dirt, sunbathe, swim, pick at the scabs. Nasty infections, and messed up tattoos would be the results.

If you have a strong immune system, and you get a lot of work done in one sitting, you may get a brief bit of a temperature. It’s normal, and will go away.

Its a lot easier to get seriously drunk after getting a tattoo. Be careful.

We sometimes draw on each other for practice with our marker pens.

Tattoos are inside the skin, not on top of it. Imagine a low opacity, skin toned layer over the ink, adding to the healed tattoos’ colour. Please stop making your characters skin fully transparent.

Heavy blackwork and palms are done in multiple sessions.

You can’t cover up moles, because if they develop skin cancer, the dermatologist can’t see the signs.

There’s a stereotype about piercers having blacked out sleeves.

Stencil fluid looks just like cum.

You get that annoying itch on your face when you scrubbed in, put on gloves and finally ready to go.

Some artists have a strong preference for coil or rotary machines, and they bicker about it a lot. Coils are louder, more punchy, and more traditional, perfect for lineart. They can be customised, and they last forever. They are also called glorified doorbells by people who prefer rotaries. Rotary machines are smoother, lighter, and often use needles that are pulled back into the cartridges for safety. They are better for shading and delicate line work. Older tattooists often say they are dildo or butt plug shaped, overly delicate and are for “soft millennials” only.

Every artist owns like 5 to 20 machines, and they have specific machine builders they are loyal to.

The “which cable is broken and cutting out” guessing game. Clip cords and pedal cables get worn out easily, and that results in your machine running really jerky.

Walk-in always show up 10 minutes before closing.

We often look quite silly at work. Sleeves rolled up, folks use all sorts of plastic ppe, headlamps, and we tie up our hair. Add couple of purple smears from carbon paper, and we aren’t scary at all.

#writing guide #writing tips #writing advice #writer's guide #writeblr #writing community #writing #writing help #submission

372 notes · View notes

dweetwise · 4 years

Note

Felix and Ace having met before. Ace won a grand prize at the table and got an executive suite. Though his next door neighbor was Felix who was here on a business meeting to design a similar casino. (I am sorry I love imagining people meeting people before the fog)

this isn’t exactly what you asked for buuuut i needed to write something for waiter ace and you blessed me with this ask uwu also if you didn’t want a ship i’m sorry but that’s what i assumed! warning for closeted felix and mentions of the s3x but nothing nsfw actually happens

word count: 1860

Felix X Ace: Strictly Business

Felix wasn’t exactly prepared for the fog to transport him into another dimension. He'd read some theories, sure, and he'd seen his father disappear into thin air all those years ago, but to experience it first-hand was another thing entirely.

He also didn't expect the world in question to be controlled by an eldritch being that forced its captured victims into a gruesome game of hide and seek, killing and resurrecting him and others at will.

But he sure as hell didn't expect to come face to face with the biggest mistake of his life.

It takes Felix a minute to recognize the man, the small camp having so many new faces and names to memorize and they’re all speaking over each other—it's a lot to take in. But then he spots a familiar face, and everything the ginger woman is trying to explain to him becomes white noise as the man he focuses on laughs at something a boy in a beanie says.

Felix’s thoughts drift back to what feels like a lifetime ago, when he was on a business trip in Austria, staying at a luxurious casino.

Him and a couple of other junior architects were invited to design an expansion to the building, and the best idea would be hired. Felix hated competition, he hated having to work on the field, and he hated the lavish, over-the-top style of the casino. But he was only starting to get his name out there, and couldn't afford to turn down any opportunities—if he played his cards right, this could be his stepping stone into more high-profile projects. Maybe he'd get to design an entire casino next time, without the twenty fake fountains and fuck-awful gold trims.

They were waited on like VIP:s while attending meetings in lavish conference rooms and bullshit marketing presentations about the brand. It was basically an all-inclusive stay, but Felix still despised it. He would have given anything to skip the unnecessary pleasantries and stay at home to draw the designs in peace.

He hated it right up until one of the waiters serving their mid-presentation coffees caught him suppressing a yawn and gave him a cheeky wink and a smirk. Felix had blinked, thinking he imagined it, but the more he kept staring, the more the waiter's smile seemed to widen.

Felix wasn't gay, but being an architect, he could appreciate aesthetically pleasing things in life. Like the waiter's symmetrical face, high cheekbones and good hairline. And eyes that sparkled with mischief even while he was outwardly completely professional.

And the way his work pants clung to his perky ass.

The waiter was suddenly a hundred times more interesting to him than the entire project. The project was predictable, and Felix once again found himself drawn to the unknown.

It wasn't a challenge to get the man's attention. He only had to linger behind after a dinner, and soon enough, there was a gloved hand brushing fleetingly against his neck as the man collected his plate. With the rest of the group having moved on, and Felix having had more than a few drinks, he'd asked if there was any possibility for room service. He was rewarded a lopsided grin and warm eyes shimmering with promise.

He always was much smoother when drunk off his ass.

He doesn't even remember what he'd designed by the end of his five-day-stay in the casino. He only remembers fucking the cute waiter against the tacky gold-trimmed headboard of the king-sized bed in his suite. And in the hot tub. And in a supply closet. It was a long week, okay?

His companion was named Luca. He'd only been working in the casino for a few months and was thinking of moving back to Italy, not being a fan of gambling or the over-the-top establishment. He had a charming accent and only spoke a couple of words of German, forcing Felix to use his own shaky English.

It was a shallow thing. Felix tried to keep his personal life private, and he definitely left out the part where he had a girlfriend back home. He'd ended up exaggerating his professional success, but wasn’t that what people did? He was just trying to make a good impression,

After the week, Felix never talked to the other man again. He got home, unpacked his bags, and freaked out. He didn't even want to think about how unprofessional he'd been and how risky it was.

And definitely not about how much he'd enjoyed it.

The more he tried suppressing the thoughts, the more insistent they got. His brain was periodically invaded by images of warm brown eyes, expressive lips twisting into a hundred different smiles, and a laugh resonating in his ear, rich like his favorite double-roast coffee. The memories had haunted him for close to a decade, and he thought he'd finally gotten past them, ready to be a good father that had his shit together.

But here he is, seeing the same brown eyes light up with the same carefree smile and the sound of the same damn laugh echoing through the air and all the memories come flooding back.

The woman next to him hollers something to the group, and the familiar face looks his way. Even with the now grey hair and added wrinkles, Felix still finds himself just as transfixed as he'd been ten years ago.

He's introduced to the group, but he only really remembers one name and the overwhelming sense of wrongness that follows it; Ace. The revelation isn’t made any easier when he notices there isn't even a flicker of recognition in the eyes he remembers so fondly.

In the following couple of trials, Felix is only disappointed further. “Ace” doesn’t have an Italian accent anymore, in fact Felix catches him instead saying something in Spanish to the woman in a blazer. He’s also very keen on gambling, and the shiny satin smoker jacket he wears in one trial could have been straight from the tacky casino they met in. Was anything he told Felix about himself true?

It takes him a while to confront the man, debating back and forth inside his head. All of his focus should be on finding his father, and he needs to keep these people at arm’s length. Ace not remembering him is the best possible outcome of their brief past together, he tries to rationalize.

But in the end, curiosity wins over rationality, and when the opportunity presents itself, Felix is unable to resist.

“You really don't remember me, do you?” Felix asks, alone in the camp until Ace returns from a trial. The man pauses, eyebrows pinching together in confusion “I didn't leave you to die on hook, did I?” Ace asks. “That happens sometimes.” “No, I mean back in the other world,” Felix explains. “We've… met?” Ace asks.

Well. If that's what you want to call it.

“Yes,” Felix simply says and immediately, Ace cringes. “I'm sorry?” he offers. “Excuse me?” “I can count on one hand the people I've encountered who remember me fondly. There's a 99% chance you hate my guts, so I figured I'd get it over with quickly," Ace explains, seeming a little wary. “I don't hate you, I just can't believe you'd forget and… lie.” “Oh, I… I do that. Did—whatever. Nothing personal,” Ace shrugs. “I really don’t remember you, sorry.” “Casino in Vienna. 2011. I stayed at the hotel for a week. You were a waiter. You said your name was Luca. We—” Felix hesitates. “…'met'.”

Multiple times on multiple surfaces.

“Vienna, huh? Hmm... Oh!” Ace's face suddenly lights up. “You were one of the suits, right? Some kind of… lawyer?” "Architect,” Felix corrects, a little miffed. “Same deal,” Ace dismisses with a wave of his hand. “So, are you still neck-deep in the closet?” “What?” Felix recoils. “That's—I'm not gay. It was a one-time-thing.” “That would be a yes,” Ace muses, almost as to himself. “So you do remember? All of it?” Felix prods. “Guess so. What, you want a repeat performance?” Ace asks, raising an eyebrow. “No! I just…” Felix falters.

‘Wanted to make sure you didn't forget me because I’ve been thinking about you for the past ten years’? No way he’s admitting to any of that, so he puts on his business face.

“Wanted to come clean. So we're on the same page. To avoid any awkwardness,” Felix says instead, and it’s definitely not as smooth as he would have liked. “Right…” Ace says, regarding him skeptically.

There's a few seconds of extremely awkward silence while Ace just stares at him and Felix looks into the fire, trying to keep his face neutral and not sweat bullets. Eventually Ace sighs.

“Look, can I give you some friendly advice?” he asks. “I… I guess so," Felix says, a little confused. “Drop the act,” Ace says, looking him dead in the eye. “The manly man, excited father, respectable lawyer—” “Architect,” Felix, again, corrects in annoyance. “—suit guy thing, whatever. It's not going to serve you any purpose in here. These people see right through any bullshit, trust me on that one,” Ace adds with a knowing smile that Felix has never seen before.

He doesn't have any time to think of a reply before they're interrupted, the girl with a beanie cussing up a storm while a young guy in a sailor uniform sits down in front of Ace expectantly and the man cracks a joke and immediately starts tending to the bloody gash in the kid's shoulder.

The wound is bleeding heavily but the duo keeps chatting without a care in the world. Felix remembers he got a gauze roll from the… blood web?—and he rifles through his meager belongings before approaching the two.

“You… um,” Felix stammers, holding out the item to Ace. “Would this help?” “Cool!" the teen chirps while Ace takes the offered item silently, regarding Felix with an unreadable expression. "Thanks—uhh, what was your name again?" the kid grins sheepishly. “Felix,” he says. “And… yours?” he asks, swallowing his pride and now hesitantly curious to learn more about his companions. “I'm Steve! This is Ace, and the moping bitch over there is Nea!” Steve exclaims with a bright smile that shows his bloodied teeth. “Dude, fuck off!" the girl, Nea, calls. “Hey Felix, anyone teach you how to use a flashlight yet?" “No, not really," Felix confesses, cautiously approaching the girl. “I understand the need for tools and medical supplies, but… what would you use a torch for?” ------------------ “So how's the new guy holding up?” Steve asks. Ace looks over to where Felix is sitting with Nea. “Allvarligt—förstår du mig inte?” Nea has apparently moved on from flashlight training to Swedish lessons. “For the last time, your Swedish sounds like gibberish to me," Felix explains. "Just because the languages are related—" “Sheiße,” Nea interrupts with a grin, moving to swear in German. “A multilingual genius, I see,” Felix deadpans. “He's learning,” Ace says, hiding his own hopeful smile behind the fluffy hair of the boy he's patching up.

(nea’s line: “seriously, you don’t understand me?”) i’m not 100% happy w this fic, esp since it’s about a new character but it’s a start at least! i also really wanted to throw in a “sure you’re hot but you were so boring i forgot all about you” line but it didn’t fit and now you just have to imagine that’s what ace was thinking

#felix richter #ace visconti #felix richter x ace visconti #dbd fanfic #dbd #dead by daylight #dweetwrites #request

46 notes · View notes

satoshi-mochida · 4 years

Link

Tobyfox has provided a status update on the second chapter and beyond of Undertale sequel Deltarune in celebration of Undertale‘s fifth anniversary today.

First, here are the latest screenshots from Deltarune‘s second chapter:

Get the full update below.

Introduction

Hi everyone.

If you’re reading this, you must have been sticking around for about five years.*

I want to express my gratitude for everyone that has supported and encouraged me over this time.

Thank you.

I’ve said it many many times before, but I didn’t expect the simple game I made to receive so much attention. Because of that, many interesting things have happened, and now I can even spend my time making another game.

It seems both of us received a lot of happiness from this occurrence.

If it’s okay, I would like to keep striving to do things that make both of us happy.

Let me know what you think about that.

*Since the Undertale demo released in 2013, the game has really existed for 7 years. It’s already been more than 25% of my life…

Deltarune

I will make another.

I am making a game called “Deltarune.” It is the second game in the Undertale series.

The game will be released in many “Chapters,” the first of which I released two years ago on Halloween. Since that time, I’ve been working hard to figure out the rest of the game.

However, it’s a game that’s much harder to make than Undertale.

Graphics are more complicated and several times more involved.

Systems are more complicated.

Exposes the weak points of my creative and artistic ability.

Plot is much harder to tie together (more characters, more important locations).

Significantly more content than Undertale in one playthrough (especially cutscenes).

I have only made one game ever.

Unlike Undertale, this is the type of game that would normally have many designers working on each aspect of the game.

A story writer, a composer, an audio director, a map designer, a battle designer, a minigame designer, and an overall director. Instead, all of those roles end up handled by me.

The good news is that a few months ago, I completed a significant milestone regarding the game’s design. I completed readable outlines for every chapter in the game, including first-pass dialogue for almost all the cutscenes, examples of the music, etc.

Although certain details are still hazy, the flow of the game and all major events and battles that take place are now clear.

In summary, I largely spent the past two years writing, composing, designing, and drawing. However, that’s not the whole story.

We had actually attempted to develop the game since the time too. Development started around March 2019 and a 99% work was spent on investigating engines alternate to GameMaker, which I used for Chapter 1.

Without getting into the details, I decided a few months ago to go back to GameMaker after all. It still felt like the best fit for the project. So using Chapter 1 as a base, we’ve started creating Chapter 2 since May 2020.

A lot of progress has been made since that time. I believe we can complete this chapter, content-wise, before the end of the year (not accounting for translation, bugtesting, and porting).

I feel very confident. And the strange thing is, even though we ended up using the original engine, I don’t regret the lost time, either. Not only was I still busy designing the game, but during that long period, I was able to think of many ideas that make the game’s story and characters better.

I’m glad that I’m making the Deltarune that I have now and that we are making healthy progress.

Deltarune Status Estimate

■ Chapter 2 (04.15.20 – 08.13.20)

Phase 1: Design

Main Design: 100% (dialogue, etc.)

Initial Setup: 100% (stuff involved setting up people to make the game, adding debug tools, documentation, etc.)

Phase 2: Implementation (05.01.20 ~ 08.13.20)

Art: 90%

Cutscenes: 80% (90% are started, needs 2nd pass)

Bullet Patterns: 70% (enemies are mostly completed, bosses are about 40% done, needs 2nd pass)

Non-Bullet Battle Elements: 30% (Some ACTs are done and enemies are fightable, but interactive ACTs need to be completed and polished and the bosses aren’t programmed outside of bullet patterns)

Audio: 80%

Maps: ??% most are started or placeholder, most need 2nd pass. NPC interactions are completed in all spots where written.

Other: 65%

Phase 3: Finishing

Balancing: 0%

Bugfixing: 0%

Translation: 0%

Porting: 0%

(Honestly, a lot of stuff FEELS like 80% to me, but the truth is that what’s there is quite rough now. Polish ends up taking a lot of time, so the real actual time value may be around 50% done…? We’ll see what happens. It’ll be a lesson for everybody.)

■ Chapters 3 and Beyond

Phase 1: Design

Story and General Game Progression (first-pass): 100%

Cutscene Dialogue (first-pass, lacking cutscene instructions): 95%

Map Design (textual): 70% (varies per chapter, earlier chapters totally completed)

Map Design (drawn): 0% (this takes a lot of wrist energy so I don’t do it until we start programming)

Enemy Design (conceptual): 90% (all bosses are known)

Enemy Design (bullets / visual): 80% (varies per chapter, earlier chapters totally completed)

Music (concept): 95%

Music (completed): 50%

Visual Design:BG Concept (first-pass): 75%, Important Character, Bosses (first-pass): 100%

Phase 2

Sprite Art: 20%?

Other Content Creation: 0%

Phase 3

Release Readiness: 0%

(These numbers can be somewhat deceptive though. My true design style is to reach the moment where we have to make something, then suddenly think of something different at the last minute. This is always how it’s been with me and my work. It feels like no matter how much I plan, everything comes down to what I think of at the last second…)

Team and Disability

You may have noticed from my phrasing, but yes, there is a team helping me create the game. Other than me, there are about three active team members working day-to-day, with a few other people pitching in from time to time.

Their roles of the main members are overall content implementation and organization, bullet pattern implementation (part-time), and art (Temmie). Other than designing, I still have the role of system programmer.

I’m extremely grateful to have a team helping me carry out my design especially because of my disabilities, which have also made development more difficult.

Although I have long suffered from wrist and hand pain, about five months ago my wrist was the worst it’s ever been. I could not play the piano, use the mouse, and barely could use the keyboard. I navigated everything through voice to text.

Through weightlifting, exercise, and various equipment I have been able to somewhat increase the stamina of my wrist to an extent. Various solutions have included trackball mice for each hand, using voice to text whenever possible, using a foot pedal to click the mouse, etc.

Now I can use the mouse and keyboard for a certain amount each day provided I take frequent breaks. I wish I could work without stopping. Once the world situation improves I would really like to take physical therapy again and/or investigate surgery to repair my wrist.

Future Plans

Once we finish Chapter 2, I would like to use it as the base to create future chapters from. After gaining experience from this chapter, I think making future chapters will be easier.

Part of me wonders if we could make the game faster if we increased the size of the team and did something insane like create multiple chapters in parallel. However, another part of me understands that, adding more people doesn’t guarantee that the game will be created faster if it’s not done properly. I’m already just barely avoiding becoming a bottleneck on development even with a team of this size, due to my physical limitations.

To that end, I am interested in making a list of people that could potentially help me make the game. I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to ask anyone to help, but I think if I could find just 1 person that works well with me, it’s worth asking.

Chapter 2 is proceeding at a good pace, so if we do take anyone on, it will probably only be for Chapter 3 onward. So please understand that anything you send in may not have an immediate result.

People I Am Looking For

Feel free to send in your portfolio if you have the following qualifications:

Worked in the game industry before

Worked under NDA before

Have professional references

A degree of creativity while also being okay with just following directions

Fluent in English

People I Might Actually Use

Music Transcription / Basic Arrangement (Part-Time)

I usually start making songs by playing the piano and singing. An important step after this is to take this basic outline and transcribe it into melodies and chords. Though there are not too many remaining songs to transcribe, it would still help my wrist to have someone else start this process for me. Although I know many musicians, I’m sheepish to ask for help to them, because the main role is actually just to help me compose my own music…

Helpful qualities:

Good at transcription.

Can stand listening to me sing.

Optional: can use an old version of Fruity Loops.

Bullet Pattern Programming (Part-Time)

I’m looking for someone to help me program bullet patterns into the game. These people will work from text and visual designs to create fun battles that match the feeling of the game. I already have one person helping with this, but I think a second person would help a lot. You have to be able to use Gamemaker Studio 2 to manipulate objects on the screen / okay with using pre-existing scripts to accomplish this.

Helpful qualities:

Sense of fun and understanding of player perspective and gameplay balance. This aspect is [many times] more important than programming ability.

Reliable.

Able to make patterns based off of visual/text instructions.

Fine working with a poorly made battle system.

Able to sprite bullets.

Good visual / timing sense.

Minigame Programming (Part-Time)

There are a few minigames and small interactive events in the game, which appear in and outside of battles. These could take any kind of form… who knows what I’m thinking! Have you made a game before?

Helpful qualities:

Same sense of humor as me.

Some level of spriting ability is useful.

You have to have made a game that is fun.

Ability to work together with me.

Unlikely to Hire, But Send Me Your Information Just In Case

Cutscene Programming (Part-Time)

Besides the battles, the largest amount of content in the game is definitely the cut scenes. You will have to understand Gamemaker Studio 2, but the majority of the work is simply using a scripting system that I created to make characters move around the screen. The most important quality you can have here is not programming ability but the ability to efficiently use the system in order to create scenes with a good sense of humor, timing, and emotion.

I’d strongly prefer to hire someone I know to do this because it involves the story. So I most likely won’t hire anyone else.

Helpful qualities:

Can take text instructions and impart a proper sense of timing, humor, and weight to them.

Fine working with a custom scripting system (or smart enough to make something better that makes the game easier to make).

Art (Part-Time)

Sprite art—Temmie has already drawn a massive amount of art for the game, and continues to do so. And I actually already have a few other artists that have helped me that I’m more than happy to keep working with if things become more overwhelming. So currently I actually don’t need any more artists.

However, personally, I’d really like to build up a portfolio of available pixel artists and even concept artists. It’s not as if this is the only game I will make during my life. Anyone chosen for this game needs to be able to match the style of the game, but I’m interested in seeing people with different styles as well. Knowing that I have different options can open my mind up to different creative pathways.

Helpful qualities:

Can take bad looking sketches and turn them into art that looks good (magic).

Don’t mind if your work gets completely drawn over or thrown out.

Anyone that can draw cute or cool poses is good.

Uninterested in seeing people that have an art style outside of the scope of the game.

Write (Full-Time)

Someone needs to transform into a new wrist for me.

Helpful qualities:

Flexible.

Doesn’t hurt.

Musical sense.

That’s everyone I’m looking for. The only other kind of person I might hire would be a single jack-of-all-trades type that can do any sort of things such as cutscenes, bullets, or even system programming, with a good degree of visual flair. (But if you can do those sorts of things, aren’t you busy making your own game already!?)

Anyway, I’ll show you the e-mail now. Just make sure you read these rules first:

Don’t send in e-mails about anything else!

Don’t send to other team members, Fangamer, etc. about helping out!

Got it? Then please send your information to this e-mail address:

[email protected]

Since Fangamer will be sorting through the e-mails for me, we’ll stop taking e-mails at the end of September so they don’t get overwhelmed. Ultimately, I’m only looking for one or two people, and to make a list of the rest of the potentially helpful people in the world.

Undertale is available now for PlayStation 4, Switch, PS Vita, and PC via Steam and GOG. Deltarune Chapter 1 is availble for PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC via Deltarune.com.

#Deltarune Chapter 2 #Deltarune #Undertale #Tobyfox #RPG #Gematsu #long post

27 notes · View notes

scottymcgeesterwrites · 3 years

Text

Final Fantasy VIII Review

(A serious review this time, without spoilers.)

Year: 1999

Original Platform: PlayStation One

Also available on: PC, PlayStation Store

Version I Played: PlayStation One

Synopsis:

Squall Leonhart is a new recruit of SeeD, a mercenary team protecting the world. Rinoa is a resistance fighter against the Republic of Galbadia, led by the Sorceress Edea who is suddenly hellbent on conquering the neighboring nations. Squall and his team attempt to assassinate Edea, but the mission goes awry.

Gameplay:

Final Fantasy VIII throws nearly every previous battle system out of the window. It’s nearly as radical as Final Fantasy II’s battle system. Enemies around the world map average their levels according to your average level among your characters. You only need 1,000 EXP (experience points) to rise to each level, unlike the other games where the EXP needed rises after each level. But that doesn’t mean your character levels up all their stats – that all depends on the summons, known in this game as Guardian Forces.

Unlike other games, summons are crucial to the gameplay, despite not being crucial to the story itself. The Junction System has you “junction” each character with a GF, allowing you to assign different battle commands (Item, Draw, Magic, GF, etc). If you don’t assign a character a GF, all they can do in battle is “Attack.”

That gets super annoying when you’re moving around GFs between characters a lot but you forget to assign that one character a summon right before a major boss battle, so then they can’t do shit.

The drawing system is my favorite aspect of Final Fantasy VIII’s gameplay. Instead of harnessing magic by a points system (such as MP), you draw magic from enemies. Magic is only limited by the number of spells. For example, you fight an enemy and draw 5 Curas from them. You now have 5 Cura spells. You can hold up to 99 of any spell. You don’t have to worry about ethers or running out of MP. I guess it’s an incentive to battle enemies, as they are resources for magic.

But the way the GFs work annoy me the most. You to call upon GFs at any time in any battle for an infinite number of times. This doesn’t give you any incentive to even try battling. If something annoyed me, I just said, “Fuck it” and spammed GFs. Not only that, but you have to sit through the short cinematic sequence of your summon every time you call them. I must have viewed Shiva’s summoning sequence ten-thousand fucking times before finishing the game. This makes battling feel repetitive, tedious, and unenjoyable. Battling was a chore.

The Junction System overall is so complicated that you have to go through a tutorial within the first twenty minutes of the game. It’s aggravating enough already to sit through Quistis going, “Blah, blah. blah” but it’s actually super important because if you don’t pay attention then this game will be tedious.

The final battle though? That shit was epic. Hard. But epic. One of the best final battles.

Graphics:

This game took a different route in giving realistic proportions to its characters. While that’s a cool idea on paper, the overall effect is. . .boring? Almost every other Final Fantasy game has a cast of very distinct characters, like various species, age groups, or wildly different clothing. To suddenly play a Final Fantasy game with what looks like real people – like Bob, Joe and Jill – seems drab. Selphie by far has been the least interesting character to me. When your characters look and feel like NPCs, it’s hard to become invested in them.

I wasn’t a fan of many of the backdrops because for whatever reason I had trouble discerning some doors. I couldn’t tell what I was looking at in the background sometimes, like if there was a switch or button that I had to press.

The cinematics are great though – some of the best in the series. It has the most memorable opening sequence of any game – the duel between Squall and his rival Seifer. The cinematics were a MAJOR step up from Final Fantasy VII.

Story:

Oh hey, so here’s a serious, non-spoiler, non-inflammatory review of Final Fantasy VIII.

Put this story side-by-side with Final Fantasy VII and you can see how they carried on the inspirations. Once again, the story is set in a more modern setting with cars, trains, etc. Squall is Cloud. Rinoa is Aerith. Etc., etc.

Squall Leonhart is the epitome of angst. You will spend the entire game rolling your eyes at Squall’s angsty introspective thoughts about the situations he’s in and people around him. Squall is essentially a bad version of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII. Take Cloud but only take his cool design and angsty responses. That’s Squall Leonhart. Squall literally has no interesting qualities about him other than his physical design. He can rock that jacket and that scar on his face. Squall’s “romance” with Rinoa Heartilly is also a cardboard copy of Cloud and Aerith’s romance. Squall meets Rinoa by a chance meeting at a military ball. She serves as the optimistic, lively counterweight to Squall’s stoicism. But there’s hardly any depth other than Squall finding her pretty and Rinoa thinking he’s cute and handsome.

The cast of characters is bland, to say the least. They are composed of other students (Quistis being an instructor though) at Balamb Garden (except Irvine, who is a student of another Garden). They look boring. Their introductions are boring. Balamb Garden sounds like a cool idea – a mercenary school – except it plays off more like a poorly written high school anime drama, which is lame. At one point, Squall’s friends – Zell, Selphie, Irvine and Quistis – all try to conspire to get him to talk to Rinoa. You actually have to play through that of the plot and watch it unfold. But Squall tries to understand Rinoa’s upbeat attitude with lots of question marks in his thought bubbles and mumbling, “Whatever”. It’s jarring to sit through four discs of this over and over.

The plot is a butchered mess. After Disc 1 is when the plot gets strange like a fever dream. Plot twists happen left and right after Disc 1 without any rhyme or reason. Very little is explained and many twists are too convenient. Seifer is introduced as Squall’s rival and Rinoa’s original love interest, but then he inexplicably turns evil. In no dialogue or plot points do we ever learn why Seifer switches sides. None at all.

There’s a particular interesting fan theory that actually makes infinitely more sense than the story that Square gave us. Here’s a hot tip – when fan theories start making perfect sense, you probably didn’t write a good story.

The best part of Final Fantasy VIII is actually Laguna Loire. Throughout the story, Squall and his friends pass out for mysterious reasons and you are introduced to Laguna Loire and his two buddies, Ward and Kiros (who are reminiscent of Biggs and Wedge from Final Fantasy VII). They partake in events set in the past. Laguna Loire hearkens back to the pre-Final Fantasy VII heroes – heroes like Bartz and Locke. He’s funny and charming. I wish the game was about him and his friends instead of angsty Squall and his cardboard friends.

So, for four discs you play through these parallel plots and then they merge by the end. The payoff isn’t so amazing. I expected something better. Time travel is involved, albeit in a way that doesn’t make sense. Time compression! The ability to compress time into a singularity because . . . because why again? I guess you don’t have to wait for the next season of Game of Thrones anymore. Is that what that means?

Other notes I want to mention – Balamb Garden is an awful, clunky airship and the world map is the least interesting world map in the entire series. The only remotely interesting place is Fisherman’s Horizon.

Final Fantasy VIII’s story is the second most radical departure from the series, the first being Final Fantasy X, which I will get to later. However, Final Fantasy VII lacks any meaningful depth or existential crisis for its main character to explore. There’s no grand critique on the meaning or life or anything like that. There’s one slight existential question that Rinoa faces near the end but it’s practically nothing. I admire what they tried to do but it fell flat on its face. It’s dull and insipid with its characters and the plot doesn’t steer in a clear direction.

Overall, I admire what they were trying to do by adding time travel to the story. But it became such a warbled mess that it failed to deliver. They took all the cool parts of Final Fantasy VII but didn’t bother to give them depth.

Music:

The music is the biggest highlight of Final Fantasy VIII. Laguna Loire’s battle theme is sexy as hell. It made me so sad to return to Squall’s timeline, because I wouldn’t get to hear that music again for a while. The world map theme irritated me. It has a jingle that didn’t jive well with wandering around. It probably also didn’t help that the world map is dull to run around in.

The game’s theme, Liberi Fatali, is damn epic. Liberi Fatali does have actual lyrics but the famous lines “Fithos lusec wecos vinosec” is actually nonsense. Maybe that nonsense reflects the nonsense that is the actual story. It would have been nice if they had actually incorporated those words into the story somehow, like some magic spell like “abracadabra”.

The love theme is Eyes on Me, performed by Faye Wong. It’s the first time that Uematsu composed a pop song for a Final Fantasy game. Its lyrics are nice and of course fitting for the love story. I like hearing it.

There are no other character themes in this score. The focus was all on Squall and Rinoa having their silly angsty romance.

The final boss theme is actually one of my favorites. It starts out eerie with the chorus singing “Fithos lusec wecos vinosec” but in this drawn out, ghost-like manner. Then the music picks up sounding like a typical Final Fantasy battle theme, then goes crazy from there on out.

Notable Score:

Liberi Fatali.

youtube

Verdict:

My least favorite Final Fantasy game. I would place it right at the bottom tier. The story is absolute gibberish. The gameplay could be fun once you wrap your head around it, which I didn’t and so it was a pain in the ass for me. Finding all the Guardian Forces can be fun. Laguna Loire is the best part of the story, and that’s really it. At the end of the day, probably put this one off until you play the better, more important Final Fantasy games. You are not missing anything if you never play this game.

Direct Sequel?

No.

Keep it that way.

#final fantasy #final fantasy viii #final fantasy 8 #squall leonhart #squall x rinoa #rinoa heartilly #video games #onvideogames #fantasy rpg #sci-fi rpg #science fiction #balamb garden #quistis trepe

5 notes · View notes

voidingintotheshout · 3 years

Text

For those looking for any silver lining they can during this election, may be a distraction from the vote count; I would like to share the story of how Mississippi got rid of the confederate symbol on their flag and replaced it with the above flag, which I think is one of the more beautiful state flags. Don’t get me wrong, they’re always going to be a red state but I feel like the story below is an image of what advocacy and political action can do. Keep up the faith, we’re gonna make sure every vote is counted it’ll just take persistence and patience.

From: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Mississippi

A proposal floated by several members of the Legislature was to create a new Mississippi flag. This flag, with a yet-to-be-determined design that did not include any Confederate images, would be used alongside the current flag. This plan was soundly rejected by Governor Tate Reeves who compared it to the separate but equal doctrine, stating that if implemented it wouldn't "satisfy either side of this debate".[67]

Response Edit

On June 18, 2020, the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, Greg Sankey, announced the SEC would consider banning championship events in Mississippi until the flag is changed. The SEC is the athletic conference for the two largest universities in Mississippi, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.[68] The announcement by the conference was followed by support of changing the flag from Chancellor Glenn Boyce of The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) and President Mark E. Keenum of Mississippi State University.[69][70] The athletic directors of the universities, Keith Carter (Ole Miss) and John Cohen (Mississippi State), also supported changing the flag, along with various coaches from the universities.[71][72][73][74] On June 19, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) banned all post-season play from occurring in Mississippi until the flag is changed. The NCAA had previously banned predetermined events such as football bowl games and men's basketball tournament games in 2001 from occurring in the state. The new rule also bans merit-based championship sites, such as baseball regionals, softball regionals, women's basketball tournament games and tennis tournament games. Ole Miss hosted both baseball and softball regionals in 2019. Mississippi State hosted a baseball regional, men's tennis tournament games and women's basketball tournament games in 2019.[75]

Also on June 19, the leaders of the eight public universities in Mississippi (Alcorn State University, Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, Mississippi University for Women, Mississippi Valley State University, University of Mississippi and University of Southern Mississippi) issued a joint statement calling for a new state flag.[76] On June 22, Conference USA banned all postseason play in Mississippi until the removal of the Confederate emblem from the state flag.[77] Conference USA is home to the state's third largest university, Southern Miss, and has hosted its annual baseball tournament in Mississippi for eight of the past nine years. On June 23, presidents of the fifteen community colleges in Mississippi issued a joint statement showing their support for a new flag.[78]

The Mississippi Baptist Convention condemned the current state flag on June 23, 2020. In a statement, Baptist leaders said: "The racial overtones of the flag's appearance make this discussion a moral issue. Since the principal teachings of Scripture are opposed to racism, a stand against such is a matter of biblical morality."[79]

Walmart announced that it would cease displaying the state flag at its 85 Mississippi store locations on June 23, 2020.[80] The retailer normally displays the applicable state flag alongside the U.S. national flag at its locations in the U.S.[81]

Legislative action Edit

On June 27, 2020, the Mississippi Legislature passed a resolution, House Concurrent Resolution 79, that suspended rules in the legislative chambers in order to debate and vote on a bill to remove and replace the state flag. The motion was passed with the House approving by a vote of 85–34 and the Senate approving by a vote of 36–14.[82][83][84][85]

On June 28, 2020, the Legislature passed a bill, House Bill 1796, that would relinquish the state flag, remove the state flag from public buildings within 15 days of the bill's effective date, and constitute a nine-member commission to design a new flag that would be put to voters in a referendum to be held in November 2020.[86][13] The bill required that the Confederate battle flag not be included on the proposed design, and the motto "In God We Trust" be included,[87] as Georgia did when it removed the Confederate emblem from its state flag in 2003. In the House, the bill was passed by 91 in favor and 23 against.[65] In the Senate, the bill was passed with 37 in favor and 14 against.[88]

Earlier that weekend, Governor Tate Reeves had stated that he would sign any flag bill passed that weekend by the Legislature into law.[89] Subsequently, after the Legislature passed the bill, a spokesperson for the governor stated: "The governor does not want to rush this moment in history for our state. Once ... he's had the opportunity to review it, Gov. Reeves will sign the bill in the coming days."[65] Reeves then signed the flag bill into law on June 30, 2020. As the legislation repealed the sections of the Mississippi State Code which made provisions for a state flag, namely Section 3-3-16, Mississippi ceased once again to have an official state flag at this point.[15][90]

Flag commission and referendum Edit

Under the terms of House Bill 1796 (approved by Governor on June 30, 2020), a body known as the Commission to Redesign the Mississippi State Flag would be constituted to suggest a design for a new state flag no later than September 14, 2020. The act stipulated that any design proposed by the commission must include the words "In God We Trust" and must not contain the Confederate battle flag. The commission consists of nine members, three of which were appointed by the Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, three members appointed by the Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi, and three by the Governor. Former state Supreme Court Justice Reuben V. Anderson was elected as the commission's chairman at its first meeting on July 22.

The proposed design will then be subject to a referendum to be held concurrently with the general election on November 3, 2020. Should the referendum result in a "yes" vote for the proposed design, then the design will be officially adopted as the new state flag of Mississippi during the next regular legislative session. Should the referendum result in a "no" vote for the proposed design, the commission will reconvene and propose different designs. The legislation states that further referenda can then be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of a year in which the commission makes a new recommendation until a "yes" vote is achieved. Mississippi will remain without an official state flag until a new one is adopted through this process.[92]

Controversy in new flag requirements Edit

The act stipulated that the new flag must include the words "In God We Trust." The Satanic Temple has threatened to sue Mississippi if the controversial phrase[93] is included on the flag.[94][95] Americans United for Separation of Church and State declared the state's actions as trading "a white nationalist symbol for a Christian nationalist one."[96] Both The American Humanist Association and Americans United for Separation of Church and State have published their own editorials decrying the use of the phrase on a new flag.[97][98]

Call for public submissions Edit

The commission invited public submissions for ideas for a new state flag in mid-July 2020. In accordance with the rules imposed by House Bill 1796, designs would only be accepted if they contained the words "In God We Trust" and not include the Confederate battle flag. The commission also added that suggestions would need to be unique and adhere to principles of the North American Vexillological Association: that the design should use only two or three basic colors, be simple enough for a child to draw, and have meaningful symbolism. Entries were to be submitted by email or by post and be received by the commission by August 13, 2020 to be considered.[99] The deadline was moved to August 1st to allow time for the commission to complete the selection process.

More than 2000 submissions (other estimates put this figure at 2800 images but a few images were erroneously repeated) meeting the legislative criteria were received and displayed on a public gallery website.[101] Each of the 9 commission members picked 25 flags, narrowing the list down to 147.[102] While a modified Hospitality flag did not proceed beyond the first round, a similar-looking "Mosquito flag" briefly did,[103] apparently due to a commissioner's typographical error.[104] At an August 14 meeting, the commission announced that they had selected nine finalists. These finalists, depicting various elements including a representation of the Mississippi River, magnolias, and stars composed of diamonds significant to the Choctaw nation, had either red, white, and blue or green and white color schemes. The commission announced that they would narrow these designs down to five finalists at its next meeting on August 18.[105][106] Five finalists were published on August 18,[107] and this was reduced to two flags on August 25.[108][109]

The final two flags were the "Great River Flag"[110] designed by Micah Whitson and the "The New Magnolia" designed by Rocky Vaughan, Sue Anna Joe, and Kara Giles.[111]

On September 2, the commission voted 8–1 to put the New Magnolia flag on the November ballot. Slight modifications were made to the original design, including making the text bolder and the red and gold bars thicker. The flag will officially be referred to as the "In God We Trust Flag".[17] Rocky Vaughan is credited with designing the flag's overall layout, with design support provided by Kara Giles, Dominique Pugh, and Sue Anna Joe (who created the magnolia illustration featured in the center). Micah Whitson was also given credit for the appearance of the first nations star.[112] [113] The flag was officially adopted by a vote of the people on November 3, 2020.

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Mississippi

#mississippi #flag of Mississippi #Mississippi magnolia #keep the faith #election 2020 #persistence and patience #wikipedia #I love the Mississippi mosquito flag though

3 notes · View notes

hip-young-beamslinger · 4 years

Text

Stupid Ask List, feel free to answer these questions yourself

1. What’s one animal you wish you could have as a pet but can’t? Probably one of those huge Frisian horses? I can’t have them because I have no money and horses intimidate me.

2. Favorite thing to wear to sleep? When I’m cold I wear a long nightgown. I love long nightgowns

3. What song really gets you going? That is actually a song I came across on tumblr once: Mahishasura Mardini (Droplex Remix) - Shanti People https://open.spotify.com/track/3NWXBvMdXaoEvW8Tvw8qk3?si=XlTRbI01TPu1K11kiPRZbg

4. Where do you usually eat your meals? On the couch, in front of the tv

5. Favorite meal: breakfast, lunch, or dinner? Dinner!

6. Most embarrassing habit? I pick at scabs a lot. And I sniff my fingers.

7. Chocolate or fruity candy? Chocolate 1000%

8. Soft or hard tacos? Soft ones!

9. Worst way to break up a fight? Getting punched?

10. Best thing to say in an elevator of strangers? NOTHING.

11. What color/design are your bedsheets? Something IKEA. I believe it’s the purple one with a Baroque pattern.

12. Any hidden talents? Can sleep everywhere.

13. Favorite thing to drink out of (mug, glass, etc.)? Mugs for everything and I like to drink my tea out of small cups (like the Japanese type of cups)

14. Socks or bare feet around the house? Feetsies!

15. Favorite board game? Rummikub (I hate board games)

16. Do you sleep with the fan on or off? On, I am super bad at regulating my body temperature.

17. Heat on or keep it cold with lots of layers? Keep it cold, I get warm very easily.

18. Do you sing in the shower? Nope.

19. Favorite song to belt out at the top of your lungs when you’re alone? Love me Wrong by Allie X & Bad Romance by Lady Gaga

20. Last thing you cried about? I wrote a sad RP tag

21. At what age did you first have alcohol? Sixteen, Fifteen? It was Baileys.

22. Relationship status? Single with cats

23. What’s the most amount of money you’ve spent on a single item of clothing? Nike Air Max shoes for 250 Dutch guilders.

24. What do you typically wear to formal events? Fancy dress

25. Favorite memory? My trip to China and Tibet in 2013.

26. Gum or breath mints? None.

27. Favorite shoes? I love my Dr. Martens boots. They’re high boots with embroidery on the side.

28. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My nose.

29. What is the natural state of your hair? Straight and uninteresting.

30. Have you ever had braces? I think in total for at least 10 years, yeah

31. Most dangerous thing you’ve ever done? Jumped from a boat into the sea

32. Most embarrassing thing your parents have caught you doing? Probably finding my collection of sex ads. I collected sex ads from the newspaper which were mostly texts like ‘my ____ are so big and your ___ is huge’

33. Last time you had an orgasm? A week ago? I don’t know, don’t keep up.

34. Celebrity crush(es)? Richard Madden

35. Windows or Mac? Mac!

36. How old were you when you learned to ride a bike? Six or seven.

37. Makeup or natural? Both.

38. What color do you wear the most? Yellow and black, but also blue.

39. Favorite season? Spring

40. Umbrella or rain coat? Umbrella

41. Have you ever fallen out of a tree? Nope

42. First car you ever owned? None.

43. What time do you usually go to bed? Midnight

44. Are you a competitive person? A little.

45. Least favorite color? Bright fluorescent things

46. First pet you’ve ever owned? A bunch of fish

47. Sweet or salty? Salty

48. Favorite pasta dish? Chicken with pesto

49. Favorite kind of chips? Ringlings!

50. Talk about something you’re passionate about. I am deep into Fate hell recently, won’t recommend it. 0/10, won’t do ever again.

51. What are some of your hobbies? Drawing, embroidery, online roleplay, being a goddamn boring hermit

52. Caffeine? If so, what kind? Tea and sweet iced coffee (frappuchinos)

53. Favorite kind of pizza? The truffle pizza from New York Pizza. Also 4 cheeses.

54. Fast food or sit-down restaurant? Sit down 100%

55. Lots of acquaintances or a handful of close friends? Handful of friends

56. Something that ruins your appetite? Bugs.

57. Favorite labels about you? I don’t get this question. Define labels?

58. Are you a religious person? Oh no. Noooo.

59. Night out with a bunch of friends in public or night in with one friend having deep conversations? I’m too old to go out so deep conversations it is

60. What size shoe do you wear? European size 40

61. Favorite thing about yourself? I’m creative??

62. Have you ever told someone you loved them first? Nope.

63. Have you ever had sex on the first date? I have had 2 dates in my entire life, come on.

64. Heroes or villains? Villains

65. Favorite fruit? Banana and apple

66. Least favorite fruit? Not too wild about melon

67. Favorite vegetable? Spinach

68. Least favorite vegetable? Celery and cauliflower

69. How many plates can you eat at a buffet? One well filled one

70. Favorite dessert? Ice

71. Do you play any sports? Not currently, no

72. Age you learned how to swim? The moment we got swimminglessons at school. I was 5 or 6

73. Tell a funny story. I was once in New York together with my friend. We were attending NYCC and who do we encounter? An old friend I haven’t seen in ages. Like this Dutch dude just being there after 8 years. That was funny.

74. What’s one interesting thing about your culture? Idek, really.

75. What’s one annoying thing about your culture? Probably Black Pete

76. What job would you be terrible at? Anything with children. I don’t like kids.

77. Would you rather watch a TV show or a movie? TV show

78. What’s your favorite compliment to give? Any compliment.

79. What’s your favorite compliment to receive? That my art is good.

80. Has your opinion changed on something recently? Yep.

81. Do you always order the same thing at a restaurant or order something different each time? I’m an adventurer

82. What’s something you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t yet? Going to the gym. I really need to do something about my stamina.

83. If you could learn to do anything right now, what would it be? Probably proper digital coloring

84. Favorite physical feature about yourself? I have an hourglass figure?

85. Least favorite physical feature about yourself? I have a big butt and there’s this extra lump on it that makes me an L on the top and an XL on the bottom. My nose.

86. What’s one amazing thing you did that nobody was around to see? I scuba dived

87. If you could change your height, would you? Nope

88. What’s something you would rate 10/10? My ability to eat large amounts of food in a short time.

89. Heels or flats? Flats!

90. What’s something you wish you had more knowledge about? Programming

91. Would you want to be famous? Never! :D

92. What’s something you would get arrested for? I jaywalked.

93. What’s your spirit animal? A sloth

94. What’s the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to you? That the previous owner of my apartment accepted my offer instead of the other two.

95. Are you the type to have an organized mess, or no mess at all? Organized mess.

96. Do you tend to make decisions based on the past, present, or future? Future

97. Are you a planner or a more spontaneous person? Planner

98. Thoughts on the oxford comma? It’s a comma and it has to do with English grammar and I’m Dutch.

99. What do you hope never changes? I hope my family will be alive for a long time.

100. How would you celebrate your 100th birthday? Alone in a nursing home

#about me

3 notes · View notes

somethingpoeticiguess · 5 years

Text

Ohshc Au Idea

- Ohshc Au where they all go to art school (both performing and drawing and stuff y’know (is it called visual??))

- Sort of like the same vibe as that show on Netflix called Backstage

- The school would be one of those super prestigious art schools like the Juilliard of their universe

- Tamaki would obviously be there to study piano

- he’d spend hours in the practice rooms and all of the other pianists hate him because he’s got some sort of superhuman power when it comes to booking practice rooms before anyone else

- Kyoya would be vocal performance with a minor in Broadway type acting (help I don’t know the actual terms)

- here I go again rambling about my Kyoya can sing headcanon that I will go down with

-Babey boy would probably be known as one of those people who can sing anything throughout the school

- Everyone from school can tell his voice apart from everyone else’s

- like if they walk past a practice room and hear him singing inside they can tell instantly that it’s him

- like picture this: a senior is giving a freshman a tour of the college and they walk past the practice rooms and inside practice room 3 the Freshman can hear someone singing in the best voice that they have ever heard. The freshman says to the senior with starstruck eyes “Who’s that??” “Ahh” the senior says “That’s Kyoya Ootori, he’s kind of a legend around here”

- Hikaru would be a Shakespearean type actor

- Like he has whole ass monologues on the tip of his tongue at any given moment

- He’s a super good actor however he can’t sing for shit so he could never be in a musical

- He’s secretly jealous because Kyoya can sing so well

- They’re secretly jealous of each other

-Kyoya wishes he could act as well as Hikaru and Hikaru wishes he could sing as well as Kyoya

- Kaoru would be the one to take over their mother’s business and would study fashion and clothing design

- Even though Hikaru is the eldest he had no interest in the family business and decided to pursue acting instead

- Luckily for the Hitachiin family Kaoru took to clothing design from a very early age

- He makes clothes for the rest of the hosts on a regular basis

-He makes all of the clothes that the hosts wear for their performances and art galleries and whatnot

- The drama department loves him because he makes all of their costumes

- Mori would be a sketch artist, a painter, and a sculptor

- He’d basically do everything in the art department from drawing to welding metal figures

- he doesn’t talk much so he communicates through his art as cheesy as that sounds

- He constantly has either paint on his clothes, clay under his nails, or both at the same time

- People in the general public are slightly concerned when he opens his bag and they see a blowtorch inside

- His metal sculptures are littered all across campus

- Some of these sculptures include but are not limited to: A giant replica of Mary Poppins, Patti Lupone (Kyoya legit cried when he saw this one), and a giant metal spider that the students have so aptly named Kenneth

- Kenneth lives on top of the Art building

- Despite the fact that he’s an art student he really loves showtunes and gets really excited to see/hear Kyoya sing them

- Honey is a culinary arts student

- His specialty is (obviously) desserts

- He makes the prettiest cakes and the most delicious meals

- He has to stand on a step ladder to make those giant wedding type cakes

- He constantly smells like a bakery... like constantly

- Haruhi is a violinist

- she treats her violin like a baby. She even keeps it in the child seat part of the cart when she goes to the grocery store

- She goes to the school on a violin scholarship

- She plays a cheap violin she got from a small music store when she was ten with her birthday/Christmas money that she had been saving for years

- The way she plays that cheap little violin you’d think it was a super nice expensive one

- She’s mostly self taught

- When she was young she couldn’t afford lessons so she taught herself to play

- She only began to take lessons when she got to high school

- I imagine when she isn’t playing classical for school her playing sounds a lot like Ada Pasternak

- Ada Pasternak Video: https://youtu.be/YQSzk44hBmk

undefined

youtube

- when they don’t live in the dorms they rent a fairly large house that they all live in together (like that house that Sam Golbach, Colby Brock, Corey Scherer, Aaron Doh, Devyn Lundy, Jake Webber, and Elton Castee lived in together)

- Tamaki has a whole ass grand piano in his room

- Nobody’s really sure how he got it in there

- He also has a keyboard that he brings around the house for jam sessions with the other hosts

- They have jam sessions in the living room

- Tamaki brings down his keyboard or he plays the little theatre piano that sits in their living room

- Haruhi brings down her little violin that she loves with all of her heart Kyoya would sing with them

- They’d do stuff like that Ada Pasternak video I put earlier in this post except instead of Haruhi singing it would be Kyoya

- Mori’s room legitimately would not be a bedroom

- It would be an art studio with a Mori sized bed in the corner and a theatre style clothing rack next to it

- he has like four easels all around the room and a desk covered in drawing pads, pencils, ink markers, colored pencils, oil paint, and random multicolored stains

- In the middle of the room he has a raised platform with whatever sculpture he’s currently working on sitting on top of it

- He has a shelf with all sorts of supplies in it

- He has like three different blowtorches, a huge array of paint brushes, different sharp things for his clay sculptures, hammers, a bunch of books on the history of art, and a dirty paint and clay covered apron with random burn holes in it

- Kyoya has like a whole arsenal of throat coat teas and herbal things in his room as well as a kettle and a hot plate

- In the corner he built a small room that only has room for one average sized person to go inside and coated the inside with sound proof padding and that’s where he practices belting and other different vocal techniques

- Kyoya absolutely loves their giant bathroom

- The acoustic qualities make him really excited he loves to sing in there

- Kyoya, Tamaki, and Haruhi sometimes jam in their fantastically acoustic bathroom because they are attracted to good acoustics the same way a moth is attracted to a bright light

- Hikaru has a whole library of scripts in his room

- like his bookshelves are just overflowing with scripts from all the plays he’s been in

- Some books on Shakespeare and the ins and outs of acting are scattered around the bookshelf too but it’s mostly scripts

- On his desk he keeps the script from the show that he’s currently in right in the middle of his desk with a pencil cup in the corner full of pens and highlighters

- He has a huge bulletin board in his room filled with pictures from different shows and different print outs of his favorite monologues and whatnot

- Kaoru’s room is similar to Mori’s in the sense that it’s barely a bedroom at all

- He has a small bed and a small dresser and the rest of the space is filled with his work

- He has a huge desk that is covered in scraps of fabric, scissors, and measuring tape

- He has a HUGE pin cushion in the corner that would be an absolute hazard if it fell to the ground

- Above his desk is a giant bulletin board similar to Hikaru’s except his is less of a collage and more of an idea board

- It’s full of sketches for new designs and has the occasional magazine clipping or inspirational quote

- Honey basically lives in the kitchen

- His room only has a bed and a dresser and a few ginormous bookshelves

- on these bookshelves are countless numbers of cookbooks

- 90% of what’s on these bookshelves is actually just regular notebooks and journal type things full of recipes that Honey has come up with himself

- The kitchen is HIS domain none of the other hosts ever use it other than to get the occasional glass of water or snack here and there

- They basically eat gourmet every night

- He cooks all of their meals and uses them as his guinea pigs

- Luckily for them 99% of the time his food is absolutely delicious

- Their house is full of just bits and pieces of what they do

- Mori’s artwork decorates the entire place

- The centerpiece for their table is a bouquet of metal flowers that Mori made

- His paintings decorate the walls and some of his sculptures sit as decorations in some of the different rooms

- There is sheet music literally all over the house

- nobody bats an eye when hey find the crescendo piece of a classical violin song on the kitchen table

- or when they find the lyrics to a classical opera song jammed in between the couch cushions

- Kaoru will often use Haruhi as his model for his dresses

- he’ll have her put on a tank top and bike shorts and literally build a dress onto her body and by the end she’s walking around the house in a whole ass Victorian style ballgown

- God help their house if Kyoya gets sick before a performance

- The amount of throat coat tea he consumes is absolutely unreal

- He has a little table with shelves behind it in his room with a tea kettle and a hot plate on it

- on the shelves behind it are boxes upon boxes of throat coat and herbal tea and a whole arsenal of mugs

- The house always smells like cooking food because Honey lives in the kitchen and is always cooking something or other

-When it doesn’t smell like food it smells like burning metal because Mori is always working on some sort of metal sculpture with one of his countless blowtorches

- This boy legit keeps a fire extinguisher in his bedroom in case he sets something on fire with said blowtorch

- Christmas season is absolutely wonderful in their house

- Tamaki and Haruhi are playing Christmas songs

- Kyoya is singing them

- Honey is making all sorts of festive dishes (You should see him on Thanksgiving he goes absolutely ham (pun intended))

- Kaoru is making festive outfits

- Mori makes each and every one of their Christmas decorations

- and Hikaru is practicing his lines for the production of A Christmas Carol that he’s in every year (This is his fourth time playing Scrooge!)

- But all in all this is a house where creativity flourishes and they all boost each other’s creativity to the max

- and of course they all graduate and become extremely successful and stay close knit forever

BONUS:

- Renge is also a vocalist she performs with Kyoya very often

- Kasanoda is a ballet student

- People are surprised he does something so graceful and elegant because he looks scary but when you really think about it it fits his personality

- Nekozawa is a poet (Edgar Allan Poe 2.0)

#ouran high school host club #ouran headcanons #kyoya ootori #tamaki suoh #hikaru hitachiin #kaoru hitachiin #takashi morinozuka #mitsukuni haninozuka #ohshc au #art school au #renge houshakuji #ritsu kasanoda #umehito nekozawa #haruhi fujioka

110 notes · View notes

fauzhee10069 · 4 years

Text

The Wildest Theories of Caato (JoJolion)

This might be my last post about analyzing and debunking the hype of Caato. Maybe some of you are also getting tired, though I myself am also tired with those Caatofags who still appear occasionally. Back to the topic, here are the theories I mean:

”Caato is a rock human with an agenda”

Due to the strange shadow in her eyes during her first intro, the readers were theorizing about the possibility whether Caato is a fusion-human like Josuke or a rock-human.

But according to the colored manga, she doesn't have two different eye colors like Josuke. Besides, I noticed that Caato's eyes do not have the small cracks that signaled a fusion like him, only weird dark shadows.

I have also explained further about this issue in my previous post below:

How the manga coloring team determined that Caato doesn’t have split eyes

So I will skip this and immediately explain the theory of her as a rock-human. If the basis of this theory is her so called splitted-eyes, this is less acceptable, because it is not part of the rock-human’s characteristic.

Yagiyama Yotsuyu

Dainenjiyama Aishou

Damo Tamaki

a rock-woman

Moreover, it also contradicts the need for rock-humans to blend with ordinary human.

The other basis of the theory is the youthful looking Caato had, especially when she was compared to Holy's first appearance. It has been explained that rock-humans don’t age gradually, instead they grow by molting and changing their form all at once. They have longer life span than ordinary human and can look much younger than their actual age.

Even so, her youthful looking had little relevance to the plot. I think Araki simply likes to draw hot milf as callback to Lisa Lisa.

This theory also continues with the notion that Caato has an agenda… or mission, either as an agent or the mastermind herself. Whatever the agenda is, it is also associated with Higashikata family curse, the hereditary rock disease. Readers have thought about the theory of how the Higashikata got the rock disease curse, one of them speculated that they were cursed by the rock-humans. I also believe that this has something to do with the rock-humans (hopefully Tooru will reveal it in the future).

From this speculation, a crazy idea emerged from a reader that there was a forbidden love relationship between a rock-human and a Higashikata (as a mere human), born of the fruit of love from them who since then passed on the rock disease.

Then the connection with Caato as a rock-human is that she had a role in Johnny Joestar's death and the birth of equivalent exchange ability in Higashikata’s land, perhaps the rock-humans also needed to obtain the Holy Corpse.

In her current mission, Caato approached the Higashikata and successfully married to Norisuke IV, which should have made it easier for her to complete the whatever mission. But on the way, she made mistake and accidentally ended up having four children with him. Hmmm… that sounds intriguing- nah, THIS SOUNDS STUPID!

Why would you make this mistake by accidentally having kids… repeatedly?? It would make sense if it is only once (like Diavolo->Trish’s case), but four times? I doubt they were accidents, of course they were planned as it was implied in the family tree.

In addition, this reader must have missed a crucial fact about rock-humans: they could not have children with ordinary humans as they are biologically incompatible.

JJL chapter 46: Love Love Deluxe - part 4

If Caato is a rock-human, it is impossible to her to bear a single Norisuke IV’s child, let alone four- NO, it’s still possible actually.

!!! Spoiler of chapter 99 !!!

The most recent chapter of JoJolion (ch 99) added more information about rock-humans that:

JJL chapter 99: Endless Calamity – part 5

Therefore, if Caato a rock-human, it’s still possible for her to have child with an ordinary human (Norisuke IV). Theories regarding rock disease curse as a result of “this relationship” have also become increasingly possible. However:

The rock-women don’t have strong affection or bond to the child they gave birth and Caato certainly has affection and strong bond to her children as it was shown in her flashback.

Besides, the rock-baby at birth is only as big as beetles.

And we have seen how big Caato was when she was pregnant.

We’ve also seen baby Daiya in the flashback as well and how her children grew up like any normal human in contrast to the rock-human who lived as parasites in a wasp hive for 17 years until they began to venture into the outside world.

Wise non-Caatofag readers have said:

I like how the chapter 99 raises the theory that Caato is a rock-woman, with the fact that only rock-women and humans can have children, and AT THE SAME TIME disproves it by literally showing us how rock-women give birth to their children.

If Caato was a rock-human then that would've meant everyone except Norisuke IV and Mitsuba were rock-humans, and Tsurugi wouldn't have existed.

Moreover, if Caato was the reason for the curse upon the Higashikata, what about Rina who also contracted long before Norisuke IV and his children were born?

JJL chapter 21: Shakedown Road – part 4

If indeed the Higashikata family was hit by a curse due to forbidden relationship with a rock-human, rather than Caato, I think it is more appropriate to suspect Teru (Norisuke I's wife) that she could be a rock-human.

Caato was created as a comparison between Higashikata mothers’ role regarding of their decision and action in dealing with rock-disease and the knowledge of equivalent exchange as shown in JJL chapter 64 (her infamous flashback).

It is acceptable if this theory was created before chapter 64 was released, but pretty dumb if it came after the chapter was released.

There are still a lot of forced arguments issued by her supporters that you can read further here: Is Caato a Rock-Woman?

”Caato is descendant of Funny Valentine”

WHAT THE- How? I believe this is just a pure crack theory, there is absolutely no basis to strengthen this theory… other than their sorta similar hair curls:

The second one kinda reminds of Valentine’s under the effect of Tusk Act 4

And a silly word play in which the connection between Valentine and Caato would form the word: "Valentine Card." If you want to use puns, I recommend learning Japanese first! Because the explanation of the name "Caato" as a reference to "Card" is much more complicated than you might think.

Other than that, their links are very far away, one is American and the other is Japanese, one is blonde and the other is dark haired, etc (it is still possible though, considering the generation gap).

Hair curls aside, the hype of Caato’s Stand which often compared to D4C due to the similarity of their theme and mechanism (dimension-based and caught-in-between) might strengthen the relation of her as Valentine’s descendant.

But I think this should not be considered, given that some Stand users with blood relations such as Joseph-Josuke-Jotaro-Jolyne, DIO-Giorno, and Diavolo-Trish, even Caato and her own children (etc), each have Stands whose mechanism, design and theme are very different to each other.

Perhaps this theory was created to validate Caato's relation with the Holy Corpse and her hype as the main villain. However, the main villains in JoJo never had blood relationship between them. Their relationship is only “causal connection”:

and it should have been connected to “Dio” instead (LOL)

Besides, the curls in Caato's hair are also inconsistent, often not visible or even ignored.

her hair resembles more like bee abdomen

Also, don’t forget how her hair looked in her first intro:

where’s the curl? her hair looked very straight

She also has different hairstyle in the past.

It is not her curls that are consistent, but her “twin buns”. Of course, based on her hairstyle, it will make much more sense to regard her as an AU version of Jolyne than to link her as Valentine’s descendant. Moreover, Araki also put some call-backs such as the name of the prison where she was incarcerated (Stone Ocean), the duration of her sentence (15 years, the initial sentence of Jolyne) and the reason of her incarceration (murder).

And last, this reader again missed (I'm more sure that he deliberately ignored) an obvious fact that Valentine and his wife had no children.

SBR chapter 61: Both Sides Now - part 2

Maybe this reader used the argument that some characters in JoJo such as Joseph and DIO have illegitimate children they didn't know about. Considering Valentine's willingness to have sex with other woman and his relationship with his wife which implied not so harmonious (he didn't really mind his wife’s death & his wife was a cheater as well), he might accidentally sired bastard child.

But this possibility is not confirmed yet and it will be more ridiculous to use this unproven theory over the canon statement Valentine said in SBR chapter 61!

The idea of Caato as Valentine’s descendant is too silly and ridiculous, I’m gonna laugh my ass off.

These theories are too far-fetched and extremely forced.

#jojolion theory #kaato higashikata #jojo spoilers #my thoughts #jojo meta #jjba part 8 #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo's bizarre analysis #caato #rock humans jojo #funny valentine #stfu caatofags

2 notes · View notes

obliviouskind · 4 years

Text

7 PEOPLE I’D LIKE TO KNOW BETTER.

rules: fill this up and then tag people you’d like to know better !

---

Tagged by: @harmonicrecord <3

Tagging: @saffronseer, @mercenaryrocket, @magonumberfive

---

one / ( alias / name ): Platinum, but really you can just call me Erik.

two / ( date of birth ): 20th of March, 99.

three / ( zodiac sign ): Pisces.

four / ( height ): 170cm (5’6?)

five / ( hobbies ): Reading, writing, games… Recently been drawing a lot more, so that as well. Y’know, your typical internet nerd stuff.

six / ( favorite color ): Green.

seven / ( favorite books ): Awakening and Blaze by Stephen King are defiantly my most recent of favorites. My younger self quite enjoyed The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, as silly as it may sound… Then, of course, Oyasumi Punpun – though that’s a manga.

eight / ( last song listened to ): How Could You Leave US - NF

nine / ( last film or show watched ): I believe… The Secret World of Arrietty?

ten / ( story behind url ): Starting with Hikari (X) as I made her first… It was really as simple as googling ‘different names for platinum’ and I was told that it’s at times referred to as ‘little silver’. So, LittlesilverPlatinum just became the thing.

As for Cyrus here; I wanted to give a little nod towards the fact that Cyrus is, and always will be, nothing but simply human. He’s faulty, he’s wrong, despite his attempts to be anything but. He’s oblivious to his humanity, until it comes crashing down on him. --So, he’s an Oblivious Kind of man.

eleven / ( inspiration for muse ):

There’s a longwinded answer down below (what else is new from me, though), not really edited or the like but the faster and more simple answer is that I really don’t have but one easy place I can pinpoint my inspiration for either Cyrus or Hikari from.

Hikari is truly a mixture of a lot of media that I have consumed over the years, a mismatch of character faults, personalities and designs that I have found myself enjoying; taking inspiration from places like the source of her face claim, to simply art depicting the average life of a schoolgirl in japan. There… Isn’t exactly one point where I draw inspiration from with her – there are traits within past muses of mine that filter into her mannerisms and ‘otherness’ in some regards, while also keeping in mind what I personally find interesting within people and stories I consume. Oftentimes, it’s the little things that inspire me for her – be it simply the way she could sit with an umbrella upon her shoulder on the side of the road, or how she flickers from emotion to emotion within seconds as her thoughts wander. I take more inspiration from feelings and nostalgia, rather than new media.

Cyrus is similarly a mismatch of media I have enjoyed throughout the years, as well as having been birthed from new interests. I will admit that I never have written antagonist characters before, merely morally grey or… Wrong ones, in many different lights. Perhaps it shines through with the fact that I don’t think Cyrus truly is an antagonist at heart, and had the chance in life to be a good man had certain things not falling into place the way they did. He’s a play of how circumstances can change your outcome in life; he’s a try for myself to build something bigger, though I’m not really managing it as well as I would’ve hoped to I suppose. I never grew up religious, so hes a challenge in that regard; but I find the stories of faith to be interesting like no other. --When I ready myself to write him, oftentimes for longer threats or drabbles that touch upon the faith he comes from… I often listen to retellings of biblical stories, and simply lectures that attempt to dissect them and find the meaning behind each word. It’s fascinating, despite the fact that I have no regard for ever involving myself in believing in God or anything of the like. I find inspiration in the stories of people desperately wanting to do what, in their mind, was the right thing to do… Yet everything fell through right before their eyes because of it.

Really, I suppose, for both of them; I take inspiration from the sadder parts of real life. There’s a melancholy to my writing that I never truly understand where it comes from, but it brings me nostalgia to depict the world in such a way that I simply can’t help myself but to. I take inspiration from the parts of life that you perhaps never talk about, like how one might think they walk funny and suddenly find it hard to walk normal – or the feeling of scratching your arm too many times and wondering if you would be viewed as odd if you did so again. I take inspiration from the moments where you think you’re right to have done something, and later see the side you refused to acknowledge because your own pride was more important.

#(ooc - mun)#-games-#i havent partaken in memes in sooo long #and everyones already done this i would imagine but if you havent #feel free to steal this and tag me in it #will i regret the stuff below and be embarrassed? most likely!#but i dont care right now so whatever

4 notes · View notes

level99games · 4 years

Text

Five Top 4's

I was asked by a friend to share some of my favorite media, so this post is a list of my personal favorite Books, Video Games, Board Games, Movies, and etc. Perhaps this will give you some insight into my creative tendencies, or perhaps it will just be a good opportunity for you to comment and agree/disagree/discuss with me!

Originally this was going to be a top 5 list, but I found myself with 4 obvious answers, and struggling to name a fifth in each category. So I just made it top 4—if it didn’t come to mind immediately, then it doesn’t really deserve that recognition, after all. Without further ado, here goes!

Top 4 Books

Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures - I love all of Walter Moers’ books, and if you haven’t read this author’s work before, you’re really missing out. The Zamonia series builds a wonderland-like world where whimsical species live in harmony with one another.

Good to Great - My favorite business manual. Good to Great showcases what specific elements of leadership, discipline, focus, and culture contribute to success. It’s something I’ve worked tirelessly to replicate in the offices of Level 99 Games.

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius - One of the most influential philosophy books for me, the Meditations is a classic that instructs the reader in a calm, measured approach to life and its challenges. Much of the book deals with overcoming fear and the internal challenges that are formative to us all in growing up.

Blazing Aces: A Fistful of Family Card Games - Perhaps the best game-related book I own. Reiner Knizia turns a standard deck of playing cards on its head and uses it to play 15 stunningly original games, all based around the evaluation of Poker hands. If you want to see a real master of the game design genre at work, this is the book to get.

Top 4 Board Games

Libertalia - This game is an incredible feat of design, and it combines the simultaneous selection of games like BattleCON and Exceed with a clean resolution system and mechanics that make it appropriate for up to 6 players. The style of the game is excellent, and the mechanics lead to interesting, loaded choices every single turn. This is one game I always want to show my friends, and its something that I would recommend to players of any skill level.

Magical Athlete - Magical Athlete is not at all what we would define as a “modern” game. However, I never fail to have fun with friends when I pull this out and bring it to the table. I keep a copy in the office to remind myself that it’s important not to get too caught up on high-concept mechanics and high-budget art—all this is merely in service to fun, which can be achieved just as easily with simple mechanics and whimsical gameplay.

Dominion - Dominion is one of the most influential board games on my own personal style, and is the game that, to me, signals the temporal and stylistic break between the classic hobby games and modern ones. The incredible amount of modular content generated by shifting setups inspired the many variables present in games like BattleCON and Exceed.

Unlock Adventures - Evocative and interesting without being overwrought, Space Cowboy’s Unlock Adventure series is just the right size for a game you can only play once. I’ve got the whole collection, and eagerly watch for any new ones that drop. I love playing these with my wife and with friends, and they take only a few minutes to teach with the built-in tutorial.

Top 4 Music Artists

Scooter - Spotify tells me that Scooter is my most-listened-to artist of 2019, and a few past years to. I really enjoy the personality and character of these tracks—a Scooter album is always a bit more than an ordinary techno/trance album.

Masterplan - Classic Power Metal. I enjoy their work just a little bit better than Symphony X, Jag Panzer, and Helloween. The characters presented in the songs are a bit more interesting, and songs have a kind of progression of story that you don’t see in a lot of other outfits.

Avantasia - I’m a huge fan of Tobias Sammet’s Edguy, which is more of a traditional Power Metal outfit. Avantasia’s tunes are more orchestral and fall squarely into the Fantasy Metal genre. I love the long epics such as “Raven Child” and “The Scarecrow.”

Electric Six - Electric Six is somewhere between comedy and irony. I enjoy the catchy lyrics and tunes, with some tracks being quite nuanced, others being pure nonsense, and some simply self-aware schlock peddled for laughs.

Top 4 Video Games

Legend of Mana - A game that I’ve idolized since I first played it nearly two decades ago. There’s so much happening in this game, and so many different systems—magic, crafting, golem making, farming, music—that all feel like they fit seamlessly into the universe. On top of that, I love the world with its fantastic races. Far more than a typical “fantasy world” with a bunch of human-like peoples, Legend of Mana presents a wonderland of mythological creatures, animated objects, and talking animals as its cast.

Crono Trigger - While many games have come after it, Crono Trigger still holds a special place. It takes an incredible feat of writing to make such a well-interlaced and cohesive series of parallel worlds. I still hum the tunes from its soundtrack to this day, and the game’s most memorable moments have inspired hundreds of later games. I also enjoyed Crono Cross. I don’t care what you think.

Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky - I’ve played a large number of the games in the Atelier series. I love the aesthetics of it, and I really enjoy the puzzle of making items. I’m one of those people who plays an MMO just for the gathering and crafting systems. If you’re anything like me, you’ll likely enjoy this series. Escha & Logy has a great balance of combat and crafting, and is an excellent entry point to the series.

Danganronpa - Say what you like about it, this dark, closed-room mystery series defines the visual novel genre for me. Danganronpa’s cast and situations are wild, but it really draws you in. It has a great pacing and character development that will make you love or hate every member of the cast individually, and the mysteries always take a surprising turn.

Top 4 Movies

The Lighthouse - My favorite film of 2019. Masterful film work and character acting make this CGI-free Black & White picture a modern masterpiece of suspenseful storytelling. The Lighthouse establishes Robert Eggers as the true modern successor to Hitchcock.

Wild Tales - It’s impossible to sum up this movie in just a short paragraph, so go watch it instead. This is a vignette film about revenge and human emotion, and the lengths we will go to settle the score against perceived injustice. It’s also just fun.

The Rocketeer - Between a beautiful soundtrack, high adventure in the early age of aviation, and memorable villains, there’s a lot to love in this classic. Even more than Indiana Jones, I consider this to be the quintessential pulp-action film.

Tampopo - A classic Japanese film that remains interesting time and again. Like Wild Tales, this is a vignette film consisting of several interlaced stories about our relationship with food and with each other, all tied together by a central thread.

Anyway, there’s my list! If you have checked out any of my favorites, or if you check them out due to reading about them on this list, please leave a comment and let me know! I’m curious to hear your opinions as well!

About the Author

D. Brad Talton Jr. is the President of Level 99 Games, as well as the designer of BattleCON, Millennium Blades, Pixel Tactics, Exceed, and many more games. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his wife Lynda and daughter Kathryn.

3 notes · View notes

lemondice · 5 years

Text

There are many people who play Magic: the Gathering as either a casual or competitive hobby, and there are many people similarly who play a great deal of board games, but despite both testing similar areas of strategy, there’s less crossover than you would expect. Magic players are often so invested in the many facets of the game that they would rather play more Magic than play a different game, while board game players see Magic as expensive and inaccessible compared to the games they play. Personally, I’ve played a lot of magic, having continuously played casually since I was 9 and having competitively played once or twice a week for a 2-3 year period in my early 20s. I’ve also played a ton of Euro-style board games over the past decade and developed quite a collection. So I thought it would be interesting to write about Magic from a board gamer’s perspective - how would it hold up if viewed as just another board game? I’ll be writing this assuming you know nothing about Magic aside from a general idea of what a collectible card game is.

First, I’m going to explain why Magic has been so successful and why it has lasting appeal. Second, I’m going to touch on a few of the most notorious negative aspects of the game of Magic, such as the financial cost and the luck factor. Finally, I’m going to list a few accessible ways to play Magic and describe how they would hold up as standalone board games.

Strengths

Magic: The Gathering has continued to release new content several times a year, every year for 26 years, and is currently selling more product than ever. Why has it been so successful? There are a few main answers. For one thing, there’s a great deal of strategic depth in any given game. If playing 1v1, almost every game features a huge number of decision points, any one of which might not matter but the collective whole of which will determine the winner. A multiplayer setting is similar, but adds in significant political elements and dealmaking. Even more importantly, with all those years of content, there’s a massive amount of strategic diversity. Hundreds of thousands of cards have been made, and the vast majority have been designed in an open-ended enough fashion that there are constantly new combinations that can be put together and played with. In addition, any one given 2-player game of Magic will typically last less than half an hour, giving it a big strategic punch in a short length of time. I’ve played more hours of Magic by far than any other game, and it’s precisely because of that incredible depth.

Barriers to Entry

This section is going to ignore things that might dissuade someone from playing competitive Magic in, for example, a store, since it’s beyond the scope of this article. I’m assuming you have a regular group of board game players or regular opponent and you’re wondering if Magic could be a fun experience for you.

Rules Knowledge

Magic has a reputation as a very complex game, which I think is partially deserved and partially undeserved. It is deep to the extent that because of the constant release of new material and the sheer number of decisions encountered in the course of any one turn or any one game, even players who make their living playing Magic frequently find themselves faced with challenging choices. On the other hand, compared to a heavy euro or a wargame, it’s very easy to pick up a starter deck, learn the basic rules of Magic, and play a simple deck at a solid level of skill. I think if you are teaching just the core rules of the game with simple training decks, I would give Magic a weight of about 2.0 on the Boardgamegeek weight scale. On the other hand, if playing a more complicated, full variant, I would increase that weight accordingly, but never going above a 3.0 or so - I think a couple that can handle Twilight Struggle can certainly handle learning Magic at its most intricate. Magic also has a reasonably good depth payoff for its complexity.

Luck Factor

The way you play cards in Magic requires you to draw the correct land cards from your deck. Because of this, if you draw too many land cards and not enough creatures and other spells, you will likely lose, and the reverse is true as well. As a result, even in a 2 player match between an incredibly skilled player and a fairly unskilled player, the unskilled player will have at least a 10-15% winrate. This might be anathema to a euro player where games feature minimal luck and player interaction, and the most skilled player wins 99% of the time, but it is also easy to work around in a non-tournament setting. Encouraging people to redraw their hands until they have a reasonable mix of lands and cards they can play would be infeasible in competitive, tournament play of Magic, but there’s no reason that something like it can’t be used for a group that trust no one’s going to use it to unfair advantage. Alternatively, especially when playing 1v1, it can help to view the game like poker, where any one hand can come down to luck but the overall win percentage never lies.

Financial Cost

Competitive players who enter a ‘Standard’ tournament (playing an optimized deck, but only using cards printed in the last 2 years that are generally relatively cheap) will often have spent $300-500 on their deck, and that isn’t even the most expensive format! Compared to a typical board game costing $40-80 dollars, a cost that only 1 person has to pay, that seems exorbitant - and it is. However, we’ll see in my next section that many of the ways to play will cost much less than this and will more approach the cost of a standard board game.

Ways to Play

I’m going to break down a few accessible ways to play Magic without necessarily needing to compete in a financial arms race - I’ll describe each and explain the cost, complexity, replay value, and preparation needed for each.

Pre-Made Decks

Wizards of the Coast has several lines of products that contain either a pair of decks or a set of several decks, all designed to interact well with each other and lead to a balanced, competitive game. You can buy however many of these as you have players, take them out of the box, and immediately play, either 1v1 or multiplayer.

Cost: $10-$30 per player, depending on the product line.

Complexity: 2.0-2.5, depending on the product line.

Replay value: Medium - you could certainly play many games and have each play out differently, especially with something like the Commander line of products. However, if you only play with your own deck, you may get bored of the specific playstyle of that deck after 5-10 plays, depending on the product.

Preparation needed: Minimal - 1 person needs to pick up a set of the decks and bring them.

Drafting

The way a booster draft works is that 3 booster packs are needed for each player. Much like 7 Wonders, the cards in the packs are drafted (each person is looking at a pack, then everyone simultaneously, secretly picks a card to keep and passes the remaining ones), so with 15 card packs everyone ends up with 45 cards each by the end. They use approximately half of those cards, along with some provided basic lands, to build a 40 card deck, after which you can pair off with various people and play a series of 1v1 games or best-of-3 1v1 matches.

Cost: $10-15 per player per draft.

Complexity: 2.5

Replay value: Low - after an evening of playing with one draft deck, you’re probably going to be ready to move on and draft again, so this can be an expensive form of Magic.

Preparation needed: Minimal - you just need 3 booster packs per player and about 100 basic lands for everyone, which you can buy for $10 or less and re-use each time.

Cube Drafting

The actual gameplay of cube drafting is identical to drafting. However, the biggest difference is that rather than each player opening 3 booster packs, each player forms their ‘booster packs’ by drawing 15 cards from a large common pool of cards (typically, the common pool contains around 360-720 cards). After the entire cube draft is over, all of those cards return to the common pool, so a cube is much more like a traditional board game - only one person needs to own a cube, and it can be replayed over and over unlike a traditional booster draft.

Cost: $100-300 to construct a reasonable, fun cube (there are infinitely many places to spend more money throughout this process of course) This is a total cost, unlike the others which had per-player costs - if you build a 360-card cube this way, it will work for up to 8 people.

Complexity: 2.5-3.0 (a cube will often end up containing a higher frequency of complicated cards with complicated interactions than a booster or premade product will)

Replay value: Very high - even a normal cube can be played over and over, and it’s incredibly easy to swap a small number of cards in or out of the common pool and completely change the player experience.

Preparation needed: A great deal - one person needs to foot the initial expense (or split it), research which cards they want to include, find and purchase all of those cards, and provide basic lands and possibly sleeves (if they have valuable cards they want to protect).

Hopefully this has encouraged some people who might be reluctant to dip their toes into the world of Magic. It’s got some drawbacks, but overall it certainly is an incredibly rewarding and deep game.

#gamedesign #mtg

2 notes · View notes

iamnotadamnedmonkey · 5 years

Text

A guide to the Detroit Wastes.

The year is, most likely, unimportant. I can tell you that it has been 300 years since the merging of magic and science resulted in a golden age of mankind, unparrelled progress and expansion. This advancement resulted in people going heavy duty into genetic modification, both of the world around them, resulting in fantastical beasts abounding, and their own bodies, creating new races of men, some with very little connections to the originals.

I can also tell you that you were in stasis for centuries before that, how many exactly, I’m not sure.

It has been 200 years since mankind delved where it should not have. There are some things man is not meant to know. The Foundation, a clandestine organization charged with keeping the world safe from otherworldly menaces, had been containing disturbing creatures, places, items and events for centuries previous to the golden age. 200 years ago, something went wrong. It is unknown if this was done on purpose, or even what happened, but the skies boiled, the very air shattered, as things from other worlds broke into ours, and laid waste to it. This is commonly referred to as the Breach. The governments of the world retaliated, with nuclear weapons.

It didn’t work.

It was at this point that the Contained rose up and rebelled, escaping to become the Thousand Demons of the Waste. Many people were saved by quick retreat into Vault-Tech brand fallout shelters. Communication systems were shattered by the vast release of magical energies. Those humans left outside have struggled to continue their lives, but it’s hard going.

Major Features of the Detroit Wastes

Vault 72- Your home, for better or worse. When I worked here, it was not just a containment site, but a research site, dedicated to extending peoples lives. One of those projects was Experiment 3172, which I believe you and intimately familiar with. It was designed to induce a stasis field, effectively securing people from the ravages of time, by keeping them from living through it. I have disengaged this field, although, with the destruction of the main computer, it would have been hard to activate again anyways. I have taken the liberty of locking down your suite, and making it inaccessible from the outside. Save points should keep you, heh, safe. I will warn you, the generator beneath your new home is only good for another thousand years, it wasn’t meant to be used to actually power the apartment for long periods of time.

Vault 5- Devoted to the research of genetics, and the breeding of stable races. There has been no contact with Vault 5 since the Breach. The Sea of Fire is DANGEROUS. Creatures that have become relatively stable in the rest of the waste mutate horribly there. Vault 5 is also the only place where any possible documentation from before the Breach exists.

Vault 99- Heavy weapons research. Last known message from them indicated that they were locking themselves in the vault, and the world could handle itself.

Vault 1- Research dealing with other planes of existence, and time travel. My home vault. I advise against visiting, there have been some… issues. Temporal portals, spots of slow and fast time… It’s not nice.

Vault 13- Devoted to medical research. Opened itself to public use roughly 100 years ago, now serves as the center of the town known as Vaultillion, and has been turned into a temple to Teej.

Freedom City- Built on the remains of the city you know as Detroit, ex-slaves from The Pit have made this a home for any who wish to be free. The entire city acts as a Temple to David.

Mutant Town- A full town of Super Mutants. Not fun. Contains a temple to Jaeger.

Ghoul Town- Go ahead. Guess. Major temple to Luminous.

Necropolis- For all the feral ghouls who don’t fit in with Ghoul Town.

The Zoo Zoo Zoo- No one has been inside for 200 years. Well. That’s not true. Plenty of people have entered. No one has left. A temple to Velyn has been established in the old parking structure.

Weirdville- A collection of settlers and normalish people, trying to survive the apocalypse. Contains a major temple to Old Aggie.

Creatures and Others of the Waste

Super Mutants: Over large humanoid creatures. Said to have stemmed from illegal genetic alterations pre-Breach, the majority of Super Mutants have a greenish tone to their skin. They are largely dumber than their smaller humanoid cousins, but make up for it with tremendous strength. Super Mutants that exhibit intelligence swiftly rise to leadership positions, and learn magical tricks from their patron god, Jaeger. Some rare Super Mutants are known to follow Drac, and these are friendly towards humans and the like.

Ghouls: Deceased spirits haunting their own bodies. Ghouls are souls that have refused to die, and continue living by animating dead flesh. Ghouls come in two main varieties. Feral Ghouls have lost their memories, or simply their will, and are mindless monsters, seeking only to consume flesh. Non-Feral Ghouls appear as wrecked, decomposing bodies, but can still talk and interact as humans. You can generally tell the difference from a distance because Non-Ferals will still be trying to wear good clothing, not the rags and tatters ferals do. When a Non-Feral ghoul is killed, their soul finds the nearest non-souled body to jump into. Some Ghouls have learned how to gain power in doing this, making them effectively immortal. It is believed that Feral Ghouls cannot inhabit a body by themselves, requiring outside help to do so.

Mirelurks: Giant, shelled, lobster like humanoids, that first rose out of the Great Lakes a hundred years ago. While they seem to have some kind of internal command structure, they do not like talking with humans. Rumor has it they are a result of something leaking from the rifts the Breach caused.

Deathclaws: Originally bred as security forces, during the years post-Breach, Deathclaws have thrived in the magical fallout. Growing bigger, and more intelligent, these reptilian monsters would be the rulers of the waste… if they didn’t hate each other. Appearing in a multitude of colors, and capable of expelling a variety of dangerous energy from their mouths, the older they get, the bigger they become, the biggest one recorded being well over 200 feet tall. They are all hoarders, each of them deciding in adult hood what they will horde, everything from gold, to weapons, to some reports of Deathclaws hoarding people. They are very intelligent, to the point that the eldest of them seem capable of casting spells.

Raiders: Other humans and humanoids, who seek to get the most out of the Waste, by taking it from other people. A unique breed, they practice a form of magic that allows them to jury rig weaponry. Mostly they follow All Tok or Drak, with some few venerating Jaeger.

Brotherhood of Steel: A legion of Knight warriors, devoted to Strelnik, who seek to save and restore the technology and magic of the past. They also host a more scholarly branch knows as Scribes, who venerate Luminous.

Casers Legion: Slavers and bully boys, devoted to their leader Caesar. They seek to put the world under their thumb, and have succeeded in a good chunk of it in the southern states. They follow Lament, and think he has blessed their cause.

Gods of the Waste

Shakka Brigit, The Many Bodied One

Domain: Madness, Fire

Symbols: A silver pendant with a red ruby in the middle

Weapon: Mace

About: Shakka Brigit is not a god anyone often admits to worshipping. Anyone who wears his amulet is, in effect, a part of the god, and while they can largely work on their own, at any time, he can focus his will through them to manifest within them. It is said that to even touch his symbol is to become a part of the greater whole. When pictured, Shakka is shown with red hair, and a white robe. It is said he was tricked into the amulet by Yoric and All Toc, over a debate about who should marry Aggie. Shakka is most often shown in opposition to Jaeger, eternal foes. He is also said to be brother to Teej.

The Broken God, Machine Lord

Domain: Artifice, Darkness, Void, Anything to do with Machines or Robots.

Symbols: The broken gear, creeping ivy.

About: The Broken God is often blamed for the Breach, stories tell of it trying to enter our reality being what broke everything so wide. It is most often pictured as a mass of broken machinery, with steam escaping. There are many secret worshippers of the Broken God, hoping to appease it, and find the pieces it needs to be put back together. Many Synths, Gearforged, and sapient machines follows the Broken God, in hopes of being made human, or at least souled. All of the other gods strive against the Broken God, it has no ties to any of them.

Jaeger/ Jaeger Mann, The Hunter

Domain: Evil, Destruction, Murder

Symbols: A horned boars skull/head, a gear wrapped in red vines, a blue x.

About: The worst of the gods, he himself has claimed to be the one who caused the Breach. He is a god of everything wrong in the world. No one knowingly admits to following him, as it is the equivalent of publicly admitting to cannibalism, or worse. He is said to move beside the world, instead of in it, watching for the point to push just the right pressure to cause a second Breach, that will allow him to shatter the world. While The Shining One combats Jaeger wherever he may dwell, it is Shakka Brigit that seems to draws Jaegers true ire.

Old Aggie, Granny of the Waste

Domain: Luck, Protection, Children, and the Lost

Symbols: Traditional fertility goddess imagery, the rotund woman. Apples. Dildos, although no one knows why.

Weapon: Whip

About: Old Aggie is generally depicted in stories and drawings as an eldery woman with a ribald sense of humor. While she cares most for children, entertainers, fools, and the just plain unlucky can often times feel her gaze upon them. She is generally followed by women and kids, mainly because she sees nothing wrong with pranking her male followers. Aggie is known to be tolerant of Yoric, trading jokes with him, and watches over Teej. Shrines to Old Aggie can be found anywhere someone needs a bit of luck, and thus often turn up in the oddest places.

Poor Yoric, the Man of Infinite Jest

Domain: Charm, Travel

Symbols: A white trilby, snakes, and rolled bedding, oft seen atop travelers packs.

Weapon: Walking cane

About: Yoric is the travelers god, a happy go lucky fellow who always seems delighted to hear peoples stories. Anyone who dons all three of his symbols is seen as a Hermit of Yoric, and, as long as they offer no violence, is to be given safe passage in all lands. In the tales, he is often inserted as a foil to Jaeger and Shakka, distracting those two from their fighting in order to steal away humans they meant to kill, or otherwise leading them from their goals. Yoric is followed largely by traders, and anyone else who makes a living traveling the vast Waste. Even Deathclaws are wary of attacking a pilgrim of Yoric. While not the most worshipped, Shrines to Yoric are likely the most populous in the Waste.

Strelnik, Commandant of the Eternal Armies

Domain: War, Law

Symbols: A shield, baton and helmet, a sword in an anvil, chickens.

Weapon: Sword

About: Strelnik is a strident, angry god. He believes in the rule of law, a place for everything, and everything in its place. He is almost always shown as shorter than the other gods, but wider. It is given to him to watch over the endless wars that plague the land, and he is very happy with it all. He is often linked romantically with Old Aggie, but despises Drak and Lament, for focusing on the wrong parts of battle. He is followed mostly by fighters, soldiers, and officers of the law. Shrines to Strelnik are rare, being set up on battlefields, or at any local law buildings. These shrines are often used for administering oaths, or proving the truth of statements.

All Tok, the Trickster

Domain: Trickery, Rune

Symbols: Ukelele, straw hat, hawiian shirt, third eye, cream pies.

Weapon: Crossbow

About: All Tok is the laughing god of the waste, always ready with a quick joke and an open palm. His sense of humor is more upper class than Yorics, being more of the type of joke that makes you think, or the prank that makes you realize you dun fucked up, than something just for the joke of it. All Tok is ALWAYS three steps ahead, and will gladly lead you off a cliff, while he snags the hidden rope to swing to safety. He’s the cool uncle of the gods, or maybe the goofy uncle, he hasn’t quite decided. While he has a history of trading pranks with Yoric, usually getting the better end of the deal, he is deadly rivals with Drac, neither of them respecting the other. He is devoted to the cause of ridding Shakka Brigit from this world. He is often followed by people who should know better, and delights in opening his followers minds, sometimes painfully wide. He is often shown with his symbols, the hat pulled over his face. It is said that none may know the true face of All Tok, as he is constantly changing it. Many people follow All Toc, all for their own reasons. There are no shrines to All Tok, as any that have tried to be built end up being destroyed, ‘accidentally.’

Drak, the Dragon King

Domain: Glory, Air, Weather, Wealth, Deathclaws

Symbols: A dragon clutching its own tail, cameras, four diagonal slashes as if from a deathclaw, butterflies.

Weapon: Long Bow

About: Drak is a humorless, dour god, who desires to always be the most respected, and powerful. He is the self-styled King of the gods, and while the others may not respect him, they do not debate it. Those who disparage him title him ‘King of the Butterflies.’ He is often portrayed as watching important events unfold, camera in hand. All Deathclaws bow their head to him, and, sometimes, to his servants. He has a running rivalry with All Tok, and is romantically connected to the Shining One, as his co-leader. People who follow Drak are known to be glory seekers, people who are out to make themselves look good, and rich. He is often pictured as a dark haired man on a throne, accompanied by both a pet deathclaw, and a horde of butterflies.

The Shining One, Beacon in the Darkness

Domain: Good, Water, Mirelurks

Symbols: A golden Halo, cephalopods

Weapon: Trident

About: She is the light in the night, the one true way. The Shining One is only ever portrayed as a mass of light. Although the patron of all things good, she is a distant deity, rarely appearing to her multitude of followers. She is the second most revered deity, with shrines to her popping up anywhere that there is water. The mirelurks claim her as their creator, but whether this means they are good is up for debate. She is a distant wife to Drak, and generally keeps out of the usual sniping of the others gods. Many people confuse her and Luminous, but the gods seem not to mind.

Lament, the Raging Bull

Domain: Strength, Nobility.

Symbols: Bulls horns, the hand with two middle fingers touching thumb and two outer fingers extended, weights.

Weapon: Battle axe

About: Lament is seen as the bruiser of the Gods. When a god needs a mortal leaned on, or monsters removed from a holy site, they may send Lament to clear things up. It was Lament who stopped the dreaded plague of Peanut from wiping out all human life, and it was he who wrestled Great Lizard to a stalemate, trapping the beast far underground, in a vat of acid. He is often pictured as a man with bulls horns. He is followed mostly by warriors who seek personal advancement. His shrines are few. He is romantically involved with Serra Pho, and rivals with Drac and Strelnik.

Serra Pho, the Returning Green

Domain: Plants, Earth, Sun

Symbols: A newly sprouting tree, the sun

Weapon: Quarterstaff

About: Serra Pho is depicted as a two faced goddess, to show that nature can be bother a blessing and a curse. She is invoked as Serra in her antagonistic aspect, and as Pho in her beneficial form. She is said to be the wife of Lament, and it is he that keep her eternally pregnant, with new species of plant life to unleash upon the world. She is rarely followed directly, except by farmers and forest dwellers. Shrines to Serra Pho can be found in many woodland glades, and sometime in the oddest places where life has found a way.

Teej, God of the Gaps

Domains: Healing, Death

Symbols: A red cross

Weapon: Mace

About: Teej is supposedly one of the thousand demons of the waste, ascended to god hood by the will of the other gods. He is a healer and … well, that’s about it. Teej is known as the God of the Gaps, because he shows no interest in the modern world. When his mind touches his worshippers, it is always with the feeling that they have drawn his attention to them, but he doesn’t really seem to be paying attention. He is most often depicted as a red haired youth, in a blue gown. His followers are everywhere, seeking to bring health and aid to the suffering… or to ease them into death, if that is the more charitable option. His shrines are mostly small and personal, in the homes of those who need him. It is claimed that he is the child of Velyn, and brother to Shaka Brigit, Luminous and Queen Madb.

Luminous, the Three In One

Domains: Knowledge, Magic, The Future

Symbols: Triangle, computers, crystal balls

Weapon: Magic

About: Portrayed as a trio of feminine shapes beneath a single voluminous cloak, one head old, one middle aged, one teen, Luminous is the fortune teller of the gods. They see all, They knows all, and they rarely says anything about it. There are few shrines to Luminous, mostly in far out of the way places, that require a great trek to get to. They rarely communicate with anyone outside of the shrines, but has been known to manifest briefly to get pretentious people on the right track. Any female in purple robes is assumed to be at least influenced by them, if not an aspect of them.

Velyn, Mother of Monsters

Domains: Chaos, Animals, Mutation, Change

Symbols: A ball of tentacles, dna spiral, playing cards.

Weapons: Warhammer, but any weapon you’ve made improvements to will work.

About: Velyn is the goddess of change. She is constantly shifting, growing, making herself better. Many claim that the many mutations of the waste have sprung from her womb, as several of the gods and Demons have. Very few worship her, but those who do purposefully expose themselves to radiation and fluxing magical energies, hoping to become closer to her. She is often seen as an antagonist to the other gods, creating beasts and things that require their intervention. There is one shrine to Velyn, no one else would dare. She is served by four Demons known as Jacks.

David, the Loving

Domains: Community, Liberation, Repose

Symbol: Sunglasses, a stick with a red tip, peace symbol

Weapon: Clubs

About: David is the most human seeming of the gods. He is a god of peace and love, and the most revered of the new pantheon. David walks amongst his flock, a black man who appears to be blind, and gives his blessing frequently. It is rare to find a human settlement that does not have a shrine to David. He tends to ignore the rest of the pantheon, having no time for their endless bickering, when he can do something to help the world.

Kohg, The Godfather

Domains: Knowledge, Technology

Symbol: A pristine unbroken gear, an open book

Weapon: automatic crossbow

About: It is said that Kohg made the Gods of the Waste so that humankind would have someone else to bother while he went about the important business of learning. He was the first god, and raised the others up, and then… walked away. He is still worshipped, but it is often unknown if worship of him is in any way effective. He often chooses his worshippers from the smartest of researchers, wizards, and the like, and demands that they follow him and help him learn how to fix things. His primary servant is the demi-god of Time, Joey.

Demons of the Waste

(A small sampling of the 1000 Demons)

Peanut: An invisible demon, capable of living only in statues. While it is in this world, it animates inanimate, humanoid shaped objects. When observed, it cannot move, but when it is not watched, it can move at phenomenal speed., seeking to grab any nearby humans, and break their necks. Several times, influence of other Demons has cause it to be able to animate more than one body at a time, resulting in plagues of statues upon the land, which usually requires the direct intervention of Lament to stop.

Tonin: Called the Daughter of Darkness, Tonin is a female Demon capable of clouding mens minds, and forcing them to her will. She seeks the death of all that lives, claiming that only that will bring her mother back to life. She is most often foiled by Serra Pho.

The Jacks: Three male and one female Demon, bound to the service of Velyn, who created them. They each seek to breed with humankind, creating offspring that appear human until they reach puberty, when they begin to show the traits of their sires, and run off to join them. Joh is a goatlike humanoid, a seducer of virgins, and defiler of maidens. Jos is a human with squid features, who procreates through forcing his attentions on the unknowing. Joc is most likely some form of werewolf, who spreads his seed amongst those who will accept him. Jod, or Jackie, is a female with spider features, who breeds by inserting her eggs in criminals and defilers. Their packs of children roam the wastes, doing the Jacks bidding, and whatever Velyn demands of them.

Queen Madb: Queen, not of the demons, but of an otherworldly race of fae, she is an unnaturally tall, horribly thin, gray skinned female. She is often seen garbed in a raiment of sparkling light, wielding a spear made of cold iron. Her and her people are found in the dark places, where men fear to tread.

The Piper: The human who holds a pipe carved from the bone of a Demon, there have been many Pipers over the years, but always there will be another. The mystic pipe allows him to control animals and children, and the Piper uses this to his advantage.

The Great Lizard: The dreaded king of the Demons, a vast reptilian figure, capable of coming back from any wound dealt it, it is only the combined might of the gods that can wrestle it back into the acid pit that constrains it, when it breaks free.

The Doctor: If you see a man wearing a beak shaped mask, run.

There are a multitude of other Demons in the waste. I ask if you do run into any others, you document them. I should note that not all Demons are mobile, some are items, or too big to move. But, you should be able to know them when you find them.

With much love,

J. Tamlin, Level 5

(An IC guide my players found in their home. Feel free to make suggestions! Yoric has already granted them Fast Travel to certain places they’ve been before... Yay pip boys!) (Also also, feel free to comment! I like to know what people think) (Last also: Yes, it’s Bright family focused, duh.)

82 notes · View notes

michaelteeuw · 6 years

Text

What time is it? Father's Day!

My technical enthusiasm is probably 99% inherited from my dad. So whenever I come across something fascinating, he is usually the first person to forward the link to. A little over a year, I came across some really awesome volt meter clocks. And due to his fascination of analog meters, he liked it even more than I did. Wouldn't it be awesome to make one as a Father's Day present?

Once again, my main supplier AliExpress had exactly what I needed. So for a few bucks, I was the proud new owner of three analog volt meters ...

Unfortunately my time was fully seized by a few other projects. Of which some of them were for my dad anyway.

Luckily, It's Father's Day every year. So this year I had a second chance to finish up the project on time! The first step was to replace the voltage plate with a new face plate and make it work on 5 volt.

With the help of Adobe Illustrator and some patience, I managed to draw a face plate which had the right scale and fitted perfectly. I replaced the original 180K resistor with a 5.6K resistor. It turned out this was the perfect value to use the full scale on 5V. No math was used in finding this value. I just tried a whole bunch of resistors. I also simply removed the diode and capacitor that were in the meter, since we'll be using DC power.

After some copy & paste work, and a few minor adjustments, I had three different plates: hours, minutes and seconds. By printing the plates on adhesive paper, I only needed some scissors to finish up this part of the project.

The result was what I hoped for, but I did come to the conclusion that it lacked THE essential element for any project: it needed some LEDs!

So after reopening the meters, and heating up my hot glue gun, the meters were provided with some bright white LEDs.

That's starting to look great! Time to design a case!

My initial idea was to design one simple case that holds 3 meters next to each other. Unfortunately, the minimum size of the case would have been at leas 16cm width. Which exceeds the maximum print size of my Lulzbot Mini ...

Time for a different approach: 3 separate meter holders that will be attached to each other with a 3D-printed spacer and 2 bolts.

In the middle of the spacer I have an extra hole for the wires. All the wires go to the middle unit in which they will be connected to an Arduino Nano.

The meters are mounted using some 4MM hex bolts under supervision of my oldest son. He'd better take notes. I expect a similar Father's Day present from him and his little brother.

The next step is to create the electronics. Since an Arduino is not particularly great in keeping track of time, I used a TinyRTC as a real time clock. The added benefit is that this TinyRTC includes a battery so even when the Arduino is powered off, the time will continue running.

I must say I had a lot of issues getting this setup up and running. Caused by two factors: 1. The first TinyRTC I tried was dead (so when you order these units, make sure to order a few extra). 2. The supplied library did not work. Luckily once again the awesome folks of Adafruit made a great working Library.

In addition to the real time clock, I added two simple buttons to allow me to set the time.

After I had the real time clock up and running a tested using the serial connection, it was time to connect the meters. The moment of truth!

By converting the hours, minutes and seconds to PWM signals, the meters are able to display the time:

analogWrite(METER_MINUTE_PIN, map(now.minute(), 0, 60, METER_MINUTE_MINIMUM_VALUE, METER_MINUTE_MAXIMUM_MAXIMUM));

If you are interested in the full code, check out the GitHub repository.

After everything was working as intended, I once again used the hot glue gun to keep it all nice and tidy ...

And while I was at it, I used a few dabs of glue to keep the buttons in place on the back plates.

The backplates contain a MIJA'18 logo. The surface finish could have been a bit better, but since it was almost Father's Day, I went for the impromptu "urban look and feel".

To make the clock just a little bit more exciting, I added a small power-on self test sequence. And with that in place, I think I've managed to finish up my most original Father's Day present in years!

Happy Father's Day dad! Thanks for teaching me the fun of tinkering! <3

Looking for the full source code? Check out the GitHub repository! Want to print the enclosure yourself? Get the STL files on Thingiverse!

#fathersday #dad #clock #volt #meter #analog #time #arduino #rtc #tinyrtc #electronics #3dprinting #3Ddesign #lulzbot #fusion360 #aliexpress #present

22 notes · View notes

royal-writer · 6 years

Text

Memories 2

ooOF the more I write these the more I realize I am a Terrible Mother... But like 99% of these things are stuff I’ve already written/played into Ess’ lore when I was designing her the first month or so so??? it’s not like it’s really news...

Essätha leaned over the edge of the counter with a playful grin. She offered a wink with her light chestnut eyes; extending a hand across the distance of the bar. The very tips of her fingers brushed the side of the lady’s hand while a curious hum echoed in her throat.

“What time do you get off?” she sang quietly.

The barmaid turned a searching gaze upon her. She had rather pleasant eyes; a curious dark green and lips slightly pursed. Very kissable. A lovely dark skintone that nearly matched the color of her hair with pointed ears sticking out.

“In less than an hour, sweetheart,” the barmaid coolly responded. She didn’t bother to remove her hand from Essie’s touch.

She whistled softly, speaking with a purr, “Were you planning on rushing straight home?”

The young lass lowered her gaze. She looked Essätha over with a slow smile creeping over her features.

“I think I can spare a wee bit of time…”

Just the response she was hoping for.

Pulling back her hand, Essätha leaned away from the bar top. The maiden slowly pulled her hand back to grab something under the bar, and stepped away. Her eyes, however, continued to remain locked on Essie’s as she swayed her hips with each step.

Essie passed her a dangerously flirty smile. Fangs peeked out from her lips as she ran her tongue across her lower lip.

Blushing, the barmaid turned her gaze away shyly.

With a smug little grin, Essie plopped her elbow up on the bar. She placed her chin upon her hand and watched with growing delight. At least her evening was going to prove eventful.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Oh, gross! You didn’t really kiss him, did you?”

“Uh, yeah, I did. He didn’t even know how to do it; he slobbered on me like a dog.”

“Oh, that’s disgusting,” Essätha laughed, clutching her chest. “Poor you!”

A sour complexion, the tiefling crossed her arms. She rolled her eyes; the disturbing jet-black coloring reflecting little to no lot.

“It kept him from reporting to the guard that I stole his damn family antiques and sold it.”

Still giggling, Essie covered her mouth with her hand. What a dummy! Exchanging a simple kiss for an heirloom. She wouldn’t give up what little she had that reminded her of her mom for all the money in the world.

“What did he say he was going to tell his family about the missing relic?” Ess’ finally managed to snicker.

“Psst, don’t know, don’t care,” the dark red lady stated with a wave of her hand. “It’s not my problem.”

“Oooh Solace, you heartless witch.”

“Coming from the local snake witch? I’ve heard worse.”

The two burst into a fit of giggles.

“Is that where you got this new outfit from?” Essätha asked with awe, gesturing to the soft, pink, frilly blouse and new slacks. She had a brand new choker and earrings, and if she wasn’t mistaken, that hue of makeup wasn’t one she’d had before.

“Noooo,” Solace drew out with smugness. “I got this out of that bitch Clara’s Winfelds wardrobe. She recently got a delivery of a shitload of new clothes from another region. I figured she wouldn’t miss some of her old stuff.”

“And you got me nothing? You sly bitch.”

“You wouldn’t fit in any of it anyway!” Solace stated, placing an offended hand to her chest. “You’re thinner than a twig.”

Essie crossed her arms. “I’m not as lucky sneaking food, you know.”

“I’ll grab some grub if you can get us some a place to safely settle for the night and scrounge up a new bedroll for me? Mine was confiscated a few days ago. Got caught in the abandoned warehouse in the shopping district.”

“Oh, that’ll be easy.”

“I’m sure it will be for a snake. Less conspicuous than a 6-foot serpent around the stalls.”

A red hue burned in Essätha’s cheeks as she puffed them out. Reaching out, she shoved at her confident with a loud hiss.

“You sssuck.”

Solace gave a proud raise of her eyebrows. She attempted a hiss; the sound gruntled nonsense.

“Your yuan-ti is still terrible,” Essie joked, giving a sad smile.

“Why- what did I say?”

“Out of all that, the only word that was actually a word was ‘bite’.”

“Well-” Solace attempted to mock the same hissing sound as before- “me then.”

“Now you’re just saying bullshit again,” the yuan-ti remarked with amusement.

“Well fuck you and your hissing language, you large noodle.”

Howling laughter escaped them both. A few people in the nearest area cried out to ‘keep it down’, but they were too busy, sprawled over each other, lost in laughter to care. Tears in their eyes, hands clutching their aching chests.

A single raven, irritated by the noise as well, flew by with an irritated cry.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stars exploded in front of Essätha’s eyes. She gasped, fingers clawed desperately for freedom at the hands around her throat.

Her head came lurching painfully forward, only to come crashing back down.

Blood was running from the back of her head to her wet hair.

She couldn’t breath. The body on her chest was too heavy; the hands around her neck firm. The thumbs pressed into her esophagus roughly, blocking the remains of her airflow.

A convulsion ran through her. Tears in her eyes, she grabbed for anything, anything at all.

“I’ll finally be rid of your nuisances,” the man laughed; a horrifying, mad sound. “Your crimes won’t taunt me further. I’ll finally be free of you. Finally.”

Her fingers trembled, snatching at his face. Her fingernails dug into his cheek weakly, but he only throttled her further.

“Quit touching me you disgusting vermin.”

Panic roared into Essätha’s ears. Or maybe that was just the lack of oxygen getting to her. She tried looking around, hoping someone would hear this. Praying someone would help.

The setting sun’s rays barely trickled into the collapsing building’s boarded windows. No one outside was going to hear her. She was going to die her.

Wheezing painfully, she tried slapping his face, to no avail.

This was it. This was where she ran herself into the end of the road. Her felonies had built up not in the court of law, but it raged a fire in captain of the guard. He couldn’t put up with another day of chasing her. It no longer mattered to him that the justice system saw her petty offenses as just another slap on the wrist, or another beating, nights in jail.

She wasn’t worth the time or thought to the courts. A nuisance, but not a mastermind felon.

Another convulsion ran through her and she felt her body growing limp.

Her arm dropped, hitting something sharp and hard.

Eyes rolling up, she gripped her fingers as tightly as she could against the rough surface.

A piece of stone from the decaying building’s walls.

Flinging her arm with what strength remained within her, the piece of cobblestone hit the guardman directly in the temple of his head.

He fell off of her with a startled cry of pain.

Air suddenly filled Essätha’s lungs in a rush. She gagged. It hurt to breathe now. Damn near unbearable. Her chest shook and heaved as she released a shaky, half-whispered sob. Tears collected in the corners of her eyes slipped past and dropped to the floor whilst she rolled to her side.

The captain lay on his side. A hand to his bloody temple; a pained grimace.

Fear drove her to action.

If she didn’t attack first, he was going to come for her again.

She crawled on top of him as he slapped and shoved at her. Cursing with bloody hands smearing across her clothes and face.

The heavy stone in her hand came down with a furious, broken cry.

Blood splattered on the floor in ever direction.

Essätha found her rhythm; bringing the rock down again and again. Her hoarse, painful weeping making her already raw and aching body throb with more pain.

She finally dropped the stone. Looking down at the mangled, shattered skull lacking a face. Pieces of his brain flecked the floor and as she looked down slowly with horror, the realization struck her. Blood and brain matter; flayed pieces of skin and bone fragments were stuck to her face, in her hair, on her clothes.

She’d only just barely leaned away from him when she vomited on the floor. It stung her throat even worse.

What had she done?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Her own blood and vomit as well as the captain’s still covered her from head to toe in dappled stains of brown. It left dirt sticking to her frame, and curious bugs flying around her filthy form.

She darted free from cover, making a beeline for the treeline.

Brush rustled and came back to smack her in the fact. Essätha spat and hissed unpleasantly in a croaked, harsh whisper. Her voice was barely with her. It felt like she’d swallowed shattered glass.

With her own stomping and movement, she hadn’t even heard the man until they’d nearly collided.

“You!” he barked furiously.

Jumping back, Essie brought up her hands defensively; her wrists moving, arms drawing an image in her mind without thinking. Barely uttered words escaped her as the man reached for her.

This time, he jumped back, alarmed at the fireworks of lights that disoriented his retinas.

She brought up her knee between his legs. Lucky for her, this was only a scout without chainmail but merely a leather holster.

He whimpered and fell down.

She fled further into the trees. No point in waiting for him to recover.

Another man came running from a different direction. Essätha gave a quiet murmur and curled her hand; wisps of smoke moving along her digits in tendrils

He froze instantly as a phantom-like mage hand appeared before him. It jabbed at his eyes and he cursed, throwing his sword out wildly as he charged forward.

The blade came up, drawing a line against Essie’s shoulder that bubbled up with blood as it kissed her skin.

Side-stepping, her hand twisted; a black-ish violet shadow coiling around her hand and up her arm. The mage-hand suddenly flickered. It evaporated mostly only to reform; a thicker, more defined ghastly shape of a skeletal hand.

It strangled the man in a mimicked motion of Essie’s tightly gripped hand.

He shook with alarm, trying to grab the hand but finding it impossible to do. The whites; or more like reds from being previously poked, eyes turned to look at her as the chill touch drained him of life.

He moved closer and Essie squeezed her hand into a tighter fist, flinching.

His eyes rolled back into his head as he fell, dead. Blisters and decayed skin wrapped around his neck.

Oh gods, she hadn’t meant to. She just wanted him to stop, all she wanted was for them to stop and leave her alone!

With fangs sinking into her lip to prevent herself from crying, Essätha took to the woods. Crashing wildly through the growth and shrubs. Pushing her way further and further away from Miamooragyte, the only place she’d ever known.

Sharp, agonizing pain hit her shoulder and she wailed faintly, turning her head to see the arrow embedded in her.

Where had it come from? Her heart was beating like thunder in her chest as she darted her gaze around for signs of the attacker.

A cry of alarm, followed by a thud.

From the shadows, a familiar figure began to approach her swiftly, hands raised.

“Sssolace?” Essätha rasped.

“Ess’!” the tiefling cried out with shock, dashing to her.

The arms that wrapped around her intensely were arguably, the most painful and blissful she’d ever felt.

“Oh by Shar’s name Ess’, are you alright?” Solace asked, pulling away to look her over. “I’d heard the guards were looking for you. They were saying that you’d killed Lionel. Is it true?”

Numbly, Essätha only gave a nod of her head.

“Oh Essie,” the tiefling breathed, her eyes watering. “Are you okay?”

Slowly, Essätha shook her head. Her lips wobbled, and a tired whimper escaped her. Her chest rose and fell quickly as she tried to resist the urge to cry.

“It’s okay, Ess’,” her ally soothed, bringing her in for a hug as she held her head. “It’s okay, Ess’, it’s okay.”

Tears trickled slowly down her face. It didn’t matter if she said she didn’t mean to. It didn’t matter what she said at all. No one was going to listen to her; a yuan-ti, a monster. No one wanted to hear what she had to say. Some had been tolerant enough to let her live, but now…

She exhaled in a rush as the arrow was suddenly pulled from her shoulder.

“That looks like it’s pretty deep,” the tiefling murmured. She stepped back, looking her over for a moment before giving an ‘aha’.

A packback dropped from her shoulders. She dug through it briefly before pulling out a large green cape with golden trim hand-sewn in a whimsical pattern along the edges.

“Just hold still,” Solace warned, stepping forward.

Biting her lip, Essätha look away as her acquaintance began wrapping the length of the cape along her like a sling, tightening it around the wound and knotting it off.

“There,” that should help for a while, until you can get some help.”

Essie looked back to the tiefling’s abyssal dark eyes.

“I… can’t stay,” she croaked in a whisper.

Sadness entered Solace’s gaze.

“I know, Ess’. I’ll try leading them off you. You go, okay?”

As she continued, Solace took hold of her hands, “Get as far away from here as you can. Go find your place in the world.”

“But… you?”

“Oh, I’ll be fine!” Solace assured her with a laugh. “I never liked this hellhole anyway. I’ll be leaving too… Maybe we’ll run into each other again some day.”

A sniffle escaped the yuan-ti. Her aching chest felt even heavier now.

“Now don’t go getting soggy eyes,” Solace choked, tearing up herself now. “It’ll be fine.”

Essätha took a step forward. Her forehead rested against the tiefling’s shoulder as she dipped her head.

Solace wrapped her arms around her softly. Essie went instinctively to return the gesture with further tears running down her splotchy face.

“I’ll miss… you,” Essie hardly managed to speak.

“You too, Ess’. You’ve been the only family I’ve had,” Solace stated, rubbing her back before yanking herself back, eyes shining with tears.

“Now get out of here.”

Releasing each other, Essätha turned. She hesitated, looking back over her shoulder.

Solace gave a gesture with her hand. “Go; I got this. Go find an adventure that leads you to somewhere, maybe someone, special.”

In a single lifeless display, Essie gave a sharp nod of her head. It hurt to do so. Stupid idea.

Her boots thudded against the hard earth as she took off. Behind her, shouting and cursing began to fade into her ears but it was too far to identify.

She broke into an opening, staring up to see a few of the larger, more grand buildings of Miamooragyte standing like pillars reaching to the sky.

Sadness, anger, hurt. She glared, conflicted.

Another cry in the woods, this time closer.

Spooked, she darted back into the wilds. The very last sight she’d glimpse to her hometown fading behind her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Can I buy you a drink?”

She looked up through half-lidded, seductive eyes. Twirling her finger around the rim of her currently empty glass, Essätha raised an eyebrow up to the gentleman.

“You sure can,” she purred, looking him up and down.

Embarrassed, he rubbed the back of his head as he said, “S-Sorry I- I thought you’d been staring at me from across the bar-”

“Oh, I was.”

His face turned beet red.

Reaching across to the stool next to her, Essie patted the empty seat.

“Care to share your time with that drink?” she offered, an enticing aura of charm oozing from her.

Jaw dropping down, the lad instantly dropped to his ass on the indicated stool. He was practically drooling just staring at her.

In the back of her mind, the words played over and over again from a time and place she still tried to out-run.

No one truly wanted her. No one truly could want what she was; who she was. A person could easily be fooled by a gorgeous smile and confidence; softened eyes and teasing glances. But no one would ever care enough to get beyond the facade layer. No one wanted to know more than what they wanted to see.

And she was fine with that.

… Right?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Ye’ yuan-ti bitch! Ye’ plac a curse on these lands if ye’ stay ‘ere!”

The man spat on her as she lay in the mud, cringing away from him.

Her hand flexed, but she resisted the urge to fight back. For now.

“Filthy little cultist, all ye’ lot is! Stay away from ‘ere; I don’t allow ye’ type in me tavern or near me girls or ‘maids or servants, ye’ hear! Now get out here, before I decide to mount ye’ head as a warning on top of my bar.”

Horrified, Essätha scrambled backwards before the man’s boot could strike her. She found her footing and scrambled up, darting down the nearest road.

“Don’t ye’ ever show ye’ face ‘round here again!” The man roared after her, spitting mad and face red.

He didn’t need to worry. She had no intentions on returning there again.

This was no place for her.

No place would ever be for her very long.

#eci artz #Essie rw #mild trigger-y stuff mostly in gore department

2 notes · View notes