#way) but i do hope for like some more types of spawn in formations and then more animals. pipe dream is zoom in spots but idk how possible | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

twiststreet · 3 years

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Stuff done in 2020

Work: I’m a little worried how this year’s chaos reverberates for the next few years. Rough, strange, rough year. But it was at least nice to be classified as “Essential labor” though throughout all this-- I’d have fallen apart completely if I’d been stuck at home-- I really don’t know how people have managed.

Politics Stuff: I did more this year than I have since high school-- going door-to-door, calling people on the phone, etc., which meant I spent the middle of the year drinking and taking pills and I don’t know what, trying to do stuff to feel okay when it all went how it went. (Like, the whole world shutting down in some ways was good for me not getting weirder with it... I’d have misbehaved...)

Not that I was super-convinced it could work out, even when things were going well-- I was cynical enough to know it could go badly-- it wasn’t like “Oh I got my hopes up” because I’m not a child but... The alternative was so obviously going to be (and is) so awful. You could see so much of this coming. The alternative was just so ghastly that I hoped we could push against it.

Anyways: couldn’t.

There were points in trying that at least felt really good, at least. A lot / most of the DSA-type candidates I donated to did well-- I had a pretty good track record on donations! You can already see the District Attorney race in LA meaning something; winning at the City Council level felt meaningful; there are people out there who seem to get that the establishment has abandoned them that are building their own thing-- it’s not hard to find good charities lately haha oh wait.

But boy, things got kind of dark around March-to-August and/or March-to-Next-March.

Write ‘Em Ups: Oh god. So. Haha. So, yeah: I started the year in January writing about Scott Adams for the Comics Journal print edition. I think I’m okay with how that turned out-- I think it could’ve been clearer in the point of the architecture of the piece, and I think using a world event as a pivot point was a mistake in retrospect. But given the limits on space and how much craziness there was to talk about, I can live with how it turned out. Not a fun one, on the process side. It’s weird to spend all January writing about civilization disintegrating and then have the rest of 2020 happen. And an absolute misery on the research side-- all the research plus I read four years worth of Dilbert comics on top of that.

Bringing us to the summer! Hhhhh. I don’t know. I wrote five days of essays (four? five?) and conducted a series of interviews, for the Journal on the online side, which came out shortly after a brief spate during the summer where people wanted to talk about abusive and unprofessional conduct in various nerd industries. That one was an experience, though one that was not entirely unanticipated, so. (Though there are always surprises haha oh god!). There’s not a lot I would allow myself to say there. I’m a believer in “don’t engage in the subsequent conversation” as a rule-- I think there’s no good that can come of it, regardless of what you agree with or what you disagree with, how kindly you might see something, how valid, or how much under-diagnosed mental illness is transparently being manifested (.... *wink*); you put out whatever you put out and, then let people have at it. It’s the only way to do things, even if I think it has its consequences.

I like some of the work itself (loved and am grateful for the interviews); the process was not a good time (spending that much time just thinking about how people are is baseline not-healty); there is a core of it that I feel was necessary; not a lot I will allow myself to say besides that.

Special Projects: Bringing us to the fall and the Kickstarter for Gangland Allstars, comics I helped make with other people in 2019. Money was lost; laughs were had; people were hired and paid to do things that I had to tell them we weren’t going to do because I didn’t want them to get mixed-up in all my crazy, after the Journal stuff happened (there was more planned, not a ton, but). I still have to re-format the comics for a Comixology release which is taking me a while (Comixology, it turns out, has standards!). And i have a behind-the-scenes financial bit I have to finish up on. But: I think that went well...? The comics could be better written (or when I did the colors, colored) but when I look at them, I think I can say, they were as interesting as I could make them when I made them. I don’t see a lot of What If’s there.

And then the Kickstarter itself was a really joyous thing, just that as many people were willing to give it a chance as gave it a chance. God only knows how many people looked at what they got, but no one complained. Though I did kinda feel like I was doing a bait-and-switch because... you know: the comics present as “normal genre comics” and I talked about them in that way, but I don’t think that’s what they’re actually built to be. It’s just you can’t tell people that without giving away the game and spoiling them. I don’t know-- I had my head up my own ass on the project a little-- I got pretty high-falutin’ in terms of what I wanted to do, but when it came time on the sale side, it was like “oh, people just want to hear it’s about a robot solving a mystery and then you give them a robot solving a mystery and then they’re happy”-- it felt a little bad that I wasn’t doing that. I kept the money, though. Vegas after the vaccine,baby!

Anyways: in the “now what” place again after that wrapped up, even with finishing touches. The “now what” place is never any good. I could make more comics like Gangland Allstars but I already made Gangland Allstars, so what’s the point? Or making comics is already negative-rewarding in so many ways, that after the Journal thing, making more comics or just being comic-facing, when I know the audience online is a certain way... I don’t know about that. Obviously most dudes just put that out of their heads but I’m not there yet. I still want to try to make a computer game but I really don’t understand the language of those-- I’m not a writer on top of that, so that makes making anything hard because you always need something written, to start with. I don’t know. Struggling there. Feels bad! I do have another special project, though, kind of, but that one’s just for me and kind of not really the same thing and that’s going along slowly...

This time last year, I thought having the Adams thing wrapped up and GA out in 2020 would make this year feel like a really fun one. I guess... I guess it didn’t hurt, but. It added at least some color. All the “good parts” just kind of felt muted though just, which I think is given ... everything else. Or I hope... Otherwise I am very depressed, ha ha. Ha. Hrm.

Cooking: I feel like everyone got better at cooking during quarantine and I got better at ordering food, and spent all my money this year doing that. Can everyone bake things now??? I don’t know how to bake anything-- I was scared of grocery stores-- this is bullshit.

Physical Self: I was getting in shape in 2018, then 2019 kind of went wrong on me because liberals were like “your expensive gym does bad politics” and I stupidly was like “I guess I should care about that” and cancelled my gym but then those same exact people were like “Me Too doesn’t matter if it’s Joe Biden, and people who want their student loans cancelled are selfish” so it’s like I should’ve kept giving that expensive gym all my money. But they’d have been closed anyways, so anyways, I’m a shambles. My whole body area is basically a shambles. Sometimes I still see hot people on the street though because Los Angeles, and that’s... pretty remarkabe to me... I guess people are doing body things off Youtube?? I just watch video essays about Metal Gear-- there’s not a lot of workout tips in those...

Being a Jock: I decided to be a jock who read all the Spawn comics in 2020. I didn’t manage to read all the Spawn comics, but both my teams won their respective world series. Being a jock is easy and fun! 10/10.

Consumer of Culture: I feel like everyone in quarantine started watching all the Criterion movies but I’m not welcome with Criterion after I said a bunch of R-rated angry things at them one time (I snapped after a long day once), so I’m watching, like, Dark Shadows reruns on Tubi, and am almost through the first season of the hit CW show Hart of Dixie, which I’m watching slowly because I’m “savoring” it. Things are not going great. I just paid for the extremely-broken HBO Max though so I might end up watching Weird Science again at 2 in the morning; I got that to look forward to. HBO Max has both Casablanca and Meatballs 4 on the service-- for a man for all seasons.

I also started taking photographs inside videogames, which is slightly less acceptable behavior for a man of my age (or success!) than running through an elementary school naked. (I liked the Last of Us 2, I was really happy KR0 ended in a satisfying way, and I didn’t think the Keanu game was good at all even past the breaking constantly-- the pretty-racist game that inexplicably has a lot of Jesus Christ-related content that somehow went unremarked upon also has very messed up ideas about sex, though I did like riding the Akira bike a lot).

I tried to make a Top 10 movies of the year list and it was just an embarrassing collection of movies. I’ll try again after I watch some prestige movies this week. Every movie I’ve really liked has been an old movie this year that I hadn’t seen-- and even there, like, I really liked Adam Sandler’s The Week Of, but I’m not sure it’s a classic end-of-the-year list choice. (The worst movie was I’m Thinking of Ending Things-- I didn’t fuck with that). I sent a best list for comics to the Journal for their year-end wrap up (it was Stages of Rot, though, easy); worst comic for me was ... I didn’t really dig the Department of Truth but I didn’t hate it-- I just thought it was very boring; nothing else coming to mind, really. Maybe I’ll try a TV list but I don’t even remember anything sticking out. The best thing I saw this year was a Helder Guimaraes magic show on Zoom-- but magic’s weird and those tricks still fuck me up to think about...

I mostly spent the year doomscrolling. There was a lot to doomscroll.

I’m not expecting much of 2021.

#year in review

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megaboy335 · 3 years

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Mega’s Top 2020 Anime

The year 2020 is finally coming to an end. It’s been an unusual year to say the least. Coronavirus more or less almost cancelled the entire spring anime season, which lead to a strange anime schedule for the rest of the year since delays have trickle down effects to what was in the pipeline. To be completely honest, this was not a good year for anime. I watched only a handful of very good shows, and the rest were mediocre at best. The top 5 shows I talk about here are definitely worth watching at least.

So with the introduction out of the way, lets get into this. As usual this list is just my opinions. Don’t take it too seriously.

1) Kaguya-sama Love is War? (Season 2)

The second season of Kaguya-sama took everything from season 1 and brought it up a level. The visual gags became more impressive, the voice acting was just as good, and the show is delivering sharper writing as we get deeper into the manga.

Season 2 added two new notable aspects to the show. First, a new member to the main cast by the name of Iino. She adds a new angle to exploit for the skits as someone who adheres strictly to the rules. This often means Iino and Kaguya frequently bump heads. In fact how they interpret a situation can be entirely different, which creates numerous misunderstandings between them. Second, Kaguya-sama began expanding the skits into long form stories. There were a series of skits that form an arc spanning an entire episode, or in some cases multiple episodes. Episode 11 was the highlight of the season where Ishigami confronted his past to overcome the bad stigma surrounding his character. Additionally, the story added depth to his connection with Shirogane while making us realize there was more to Ishigami than meets the eye. Kaguya and Shirogane also both became a little closer as the tangled web of their schemes yielded unexpected results at times.

Kaguya-Sama has an ova and season 3 planned. I eagerly look forward to seeing what new crazy situations the characters find themselves in.

2) A Certain Scientific Railgun T (Season 3)

After waiting 6 years since the conclusion of season 2, the Railgun anime finally returned to adapt two more arcs from the manga.

The first half was a Railgun version of the Daissheisai Festival arc. This version focuses on a completely different event in the arc with a story involving Misaki, Misaka, and Dolly. It pulls us deeper into the story threads established in the Level Upper and Sisters arc of what the scientists were doing out of the public eye. We meet the original Misaka clone and how Misaki came to meet her which adds a new layer to the current Misaka and Misaki relationship that we never knew. We see how Misaki is also a victim of the dark experiments occurring behind the scenes in Academy City. The experiment to turn Misaka into a level 6 was a very hype moment. Railgun’s Daissheisai Festival arc definiely hit all the right notes.

The second half of Railgun season 3 was the Dream Ranker arc. Like in previous seasons, I found the 2nd cour arc to be weaker than the first half. Indian Poker is a fun concept, but didn’t cleanly tie into the overall story. I also found it weird how special cards that can exchange dreams suddenly exist out of nowhere. Additionally, this arc brought it characters from the Accelerator spin-off which I wasn’t familiar with. It had a few cool and funny moments scattered throughout. The final fight at least brought the conflict to a satisfying conclusion. The only thing holding back Railgun for me like always is my lack of knowledge of the greater Raildex universe. Hopefully this won’t be the last we see of Railgun in animated form because I picked up the manga and the next arc is pretty neat.

3) The Journey of Elaina

The Journey of Elania is an anthology-centric anime where we follow Elania on her adventures. The first episode is a prologue to how she became a witch and the origins of her ambitions. Episode 2-onwards follow a fairly straightforward template of Elania arriving at a new location. She notices something isn’t quite right or learns about something from a local. As the story unfolds, Elania often takes a backseat role and opts to watch things playout. An anime of this style always brings a mixed bag to the table with the kind of stories that are told within the universe. Each episode/adventure is only loosely connected through the main character Elania traveling to a new location, but otherwise they are mostly independent besides a handful of recurring characters.

Naturally this format means there are both great and not so good episodes. There are bitter sweet tales, comedic, and even a few darker entries mixed within this show. In particular, there were a few standout episodes that cemented this show as something worth watching. Episode 7 was a comedy episode split into two halves. One half showed how two towns divided by a wall were ironically doing the same thing to the wall on each side. The second half recalled how Elania accidentally started a grape stomping tradition in a tiny village. Then there was episode 9, the darkest entry of the show so far, when Elania went back in time to help someone save their childhood friend. However, this person came to realize she hardly knew what her childhood friend was really like. Lastly, the last episode was unexpectedly deep where Elania met various alternate versions of herself and had to confront a dark version spawn from the events in episode 8. It showed how her journey can take all sorts of directions if events had transpired even a little differently.

A high part of the appeal to me was never knowing what kind of story we would get each week. Was it going to be light-hearted? Serious? Would it focus on Elania or not? Her adventures were certainly full of unexpected happenings. The light novels are 17 volumes in and still going. I wouldn’t mind seeing more if they ever wanted to make another season.

4) Tonikaku Kawaii

From the prolific author Kenjiro Hata comes an anime adaptation of his newest work under the “Crunchyroll Originals” label. The story is simply about a guy who is head over heels for his new wife and can’t get over how awesome it is living with her. Tonikaku Kawaii is a simple show that chooses to highlight the little moments between our main couple Nasa and Tsukasa. We go through all sorts of everyday events with them such as the act of buying a ring, a new television, bedding, and meeting each other’s family. All the characters are so earnest you can’t help but enjoy their silly banter. There is little to no drama here to drive the story forward. You just get to enjoy a newlywed couple discovering new things about each other as they go through everyday life.

However, at the end of the day Tonikaku Kawaii is far from complete and is honestly the type of show that likely wouldn’t make my list most years. It hardly scratched its overarching story during the 1 cour run. The thing that put it over the top for me was simply how likable each of its characters were. They all present their emotions like an open book and you come to enjoy the little quirks of each one. I was slightly confused at how this show became a “Crunchyroll Original” when anything by Hata would have probably gotten an anime sooner or later. There are plenty of other Weekly Shonen Sunday series that could really use an outside force to help them get animated. I can only hope it did well enough for Crunchyroll to consider investing into more from the magazine .

5) Ahiru no Sora

As usual, my list usually contains at least 1 show that began in the previous year. Ahiru no Sora is an anime that not a lot of people watched, but became one of my favorites each week. This is a 4 cour basketball series about a main character named Sora who is too short for basketball. Despite this set-back, he has a deep passion for the game imparted from his mother and wishes to someday find the same success as she did at the sport. The story begins when he enrolls in a new school and has to build the basketball club from scratch. However, the catch is the basketball team is basically non-existent. He ends up creating a team from a group of unlikely people: the ones who were bullying him. Ahiru no Sora presents a down to earth human side to the sport. There are no fantasy or supernatural elements found in this story. It follows a group of rough around the edges guys whose lives gets back in order through playing basketball together.

All of the main characters go through a decent amount of growth as their personal stories are explored, and Sora especially is taken through a series of events that allow his character to grow more than anyone. I was pleasantly surprised at how emotional it got at times. There was some real heart put into this series. In the middle of the show it genuinely felt the team had hit rock bottom. They lost a major game, the club room was lit on fire, and Sora lost his mother all right in a row. It was the recovery from that period and how each member matured from their experiences that solidified Ahiru no Sora as one of the top shows this year. The only thing holding back the show is that it's left incomplete since the manga is on-going (and actually on hiatus at the moment). I hope there will be an opportunity down the road to have more episodes.

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Disappointments of 2020

1) Deca Dence

I enjoyed Death Parade, Mob Psycho 100, and Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer was pretty good too. So I figured another original anime from Tachikawa Yuzuru would be something I would like, and yet Deca Dence barely resonated with me. I could never wrap my mind around the setting of the show where robots would enter an alternate world called “Deca Dence” for sport or how these robots had a human persona in the game. The humans were effectively NPCs in the game to the eyes of the robots. The show no doubt had a story it wanted to tell, and it certainly went through the plot beats it wanted to hit, yet I could never get invested in the show. I’m still looking forward to whatever Tachikawa Yuzuru does next. I’ll just consider this as something was not for me.

2) The Day I Became God

This show marks Jun Meada’s 3rd anime original project with P.A. Works. I understand that Angel Beats and Charlotte are flawed shows, but that did not stop them from being enjoyable for me. This unfortunately did not apply to The Day I Became God. At a base level it has many of the usual troupes you would expect from a Jun Meada title: the humor, baseball, an emotionally driven story. The place where this shows failed hard was having no backbone to back up the story it was trying to present. I enjoyed the comedy in the early episodes quite a bit and was somewhat intrigued by a subplot in the background that was slowly creeping up on the main plot. Ending each episode on a countdown to the end of the world helped to keep a looming sense of unease during the early part of the show.

Then in typical Jun Meada fashion, the plot of the show hit all at once. Episode 9 was the big climax where the subplot and main plot collided to send the show into its “true” storyline. The hacker kid who uncovered everything about Hina in the early part was poorly utilized and underdeveloped. So when he joins our main group in episode 10 for a short period of time, his presence makes very little sense. I can only describe that part as a 10 hour VN plot condensed into 10 minutes. The male lead Narukami has almost no personal stake in the story. Hina is hilarious in the comedy episodes, but lacks any sufficient character arc built up to carry her into the final section. Jun Meada is trying to sell this as a love story between Narukami and Hina, but I just don’t see it. Narukami spent at least half the summer trying to wow his childhood friend only to suddenly change at the last minute. It felt so haphazardly put together.

The Day I Became God is an extremely bare bones Jun Meada story. It goes through the motions of similar elements to his previous works, but comes out feeling emotionally hollow. While Angel Beats and Charlotte also felt rushed in the grand scheme, I can at least say he got the emotional aspect right. This will be remembered as one of, if not Jun Meada’s weakest title.

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Top OPs/EDs of the Year

1) Jujutsu Kaisen Opening 1 - The song is great, but it’s the visuals that really sell this opening. Each shot is brilliantly connected to showcase how everything in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen is layered. There is far more than what meets in the eye in our surroundings. Curses and humans co-mingle more than you might think.

2) A Certain Scientific Railgun T Opening 1 - There still hasn’t been a bad Railgun opening yet. Flipside once again delivers a song that once again never failed gets me in the mood for the episode each week. The visuals highlight some of the best action moments in the arc too.

3) Black Clover Opening 10 - Unlike the other songs on the list this year, this a slower somber song. It always makes me think of Nero’s backstory and how the story was leading up to the fight versus the devil. The black and white aesthetic with rain conveys how everything is laid bare for this major story climax.

4) Kaguya-Sama Love is War? Opening - Just like how this season is more character focused, the opening animation is basically a 90 second skit. It never fails to get to get me in the mindset for the hijinks that are ahead in the episode. The song itself is also a great follow up to the previous opening.

5) Rent-a-Girlfriend Opening - It’s a colorful opening that highlights the best aspects of each character. It completely conveys what the show is about with some nice music. I love how fun and upbeat this opening is. It definitely helped to set the tone for the episodes each week.

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....and so, that brings 2020 to a close. The North American anime scene is shifting once again with Sony buying out Crunchyroll. Hopefully the result of the merger keeps Crunchyroll as an entity alive. I’ll be curious to see how everything shakes out. In the coming year I am most looking forward to Chainsaw Man’s anime. The manga is quite an experience and anime viewers will be spinning their heads over learning how such a series was published in Weekly Shonen Jump. I think it has a good chance of being one of the most talked about shows in the new year.

Lets hope 2021 is a good one.

#Mega's Words

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haikyupid · 4 years

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hello!! your concept is so so cute omg :")) can i request for a dalgona matchup latte please? i'm an intj-a with a 3w4/8w7 enneagram (it fluctuates D:) i love music/art/literature a lot and studied music in high school but at the same time i take STEM subjects! i'm quite a logical/rational person but i love spending my time daydreaming/crafting scenarios in my head hahaha. i might be quiet/scary at first but when i open up i'm super warm and affectionate with all my friends!! (1/2)

Thank you very, very much for ordering and being patient with Kyupid’s Love Shop. One Dalgona Matchup Latte coming right up! Whew, here comes the side effects: I matcha up with ˚₊·͟͟͟͟͟͟͞͞͞͞͞͞➳❥

➞ this just screamed sugawara to me; i legit heard his singing after reading your order 🥺👉👈

➞ on the topic of singing, can you imagine how beautiful it sounds when he sings while you play the piano? legit every gathering (doesn’t matter if it’s with friends or family) will never be complete unless the two of you have performed for everyone while they just stare in pure awe ‘cause duh, very talented couple over here

➞ this isn’t how i usually format orders (this would usually be at the last part) but omg, you two would be such cute parents! argh, this is too adorable for me— ik you don’t particularly like kids, but i just had to put this in!

➞ he once brought you at work during lunch since you dropped by to give him a bento box, and omg, now the children think that you two are their second parents; he asked you to play the keyboard while he sang, and lich rally the kids thought you two were angels sent from above and i mean, they aren’t wrong

➞ he jokes about the fact that you’re dating him, an elementary school teacher, even though you’re not very fond of kids; lowkey kinda sad about it since he does daydream about having a lil’ family with you, i mean he is surrounded by children all the time so he can’t help it

➞ n e ways, speaking of your daydreaming habit, koushi seems to be the type to do so as well (so it won’t bother him by any means; sometimes you two would even just cuddle in silence and let each other daydream)... except you’re always in it — what’s happening in those vivid daydreams of his is up to you ;D

➞ loooves the fact that you’re mature, it’s literally what he wants (maybe even needs since the cutie may be affected too much by his students childishness) in a long-term partner

➞ i’m not sure if you’ve seen korean fashion, but you two would legit fit their whole aesthetic; like the soft, neutral and calm, coffee shop and ceramic arts type of vibes— what i’m trying to say is, you two have now become the epitome of this soft aesthetic

➞ he has a lil’ garden, and whenever you visit and stay the night, you wake up to breakfast in bed with one of the flowers from the garden on the side of the tray and i— now i want a suga

➞ loves, and i mean loves, doing domesticated things with you! he cherishes the moments where you two just go grocery shopping together, make dinner together, go on late-night food raids at each other’s kitchens, taking care of the plants, quite mornings where you two just enjoy each other’s presence and be reminded that you two are so lucky to have found and fallen in love with each other

➞ bby, imagine this: you visit his house for a surprise dinner, and you just see him with only his pyjama pants and glasses on; he walks over and gives you the softest hug with a soft peck on your nose, then he tells you that he’s been grading his students’ art assignments all day and that he’ll love it if you could help him a bit with it; now you two are sitting with takeout for dinner in his dimly lit apartment while you two laugh at the kids’ spelling mistakes, having the best times of your lives — he won’t say it, but it was during that simple and domesticated moment, he realized that you were the one he wanted to spend forever with

➞ i’m not sure if this makes sense, but this relationship gives off pastel pinks and yellows—

➞ ngl, i didn’t specify this topic with you... but i headcanon that children don’t particularly like you in beginning while suga automatically becomes their prince charming whom they’re just so drawn to

➞ sooo you may get a lil’ jealous when kiyoko’s newborn was so calm when with him, but turned into a lil’ spawn of satan when he passed the baby to you; but don’t worry, with a lil’ help from your beau, the baby learned to be calm with you — you may or may not have been thinking of having suga’s children right when you two get back to his apartment, after the baby reached out and grabbed your pointer finger which was booping its lil’ nose, and the baby just pulled it so gently close to its chest and fell asleep with it and—

➞ since you tend to strive for success for almost every aspect in life, he does see that it takes a toll on you sometimes; so when he thinks that you need even just the littlest amount of cheering up, he’ll pull out his iconic ‘negativity begone’ but this time it’s with an aggressive hug and the softest kiss on the forehead, to the tip of your nose, then finally, your lips

➞ on valentine’s day, his students presented him with a picture of you two during a school field trip (who took it? i guess we’ll never know), and now it’s his most favourite thing to look — it just gives him energy, y’know; the kids may or may not make fun of him since he sometimes just gets so lost when looking at it, like mans is whipped

“look, sugawara-sensei’s daydreaming again...”

“maybe we could make a life-size photo of miss pretty! that’ll make him more hap—“

“no, that’s a bad idea! sugawara-sensei will end up forgetting about us, and he’ll just keep staring at the photo.”

“yeah! and look, he’s drooling a little bit. imagine if it was a bigger picture! there’d be a puddle of drool everyday! he’s like a doggie.”

➞ he gives you a lot of small gifts; even if they’re just erasers that he found to be almost as cute as you, a dainty necklace that he thought would look amazing only if you wore it, or a cup of coffee from you two’s favourite coffee shop; koushi will end up spoiling you even if you tell him not to; if he could he’d literally catch one of the stars of just for you

➞ all in all, this is the type of relationship that everyone just says is so perfect; you two will just be the type of couple that every blogger wants to be in real life; not only are you two so in love that you don’t have to fake it like they do, but you two are also so pleasing to look at, so perfect couple alert? yes, yes indeed.

I hope you liked your Dalgona Matchup Latte! Here’s a little visual of your soft aesthetic relationship with Sugawara Koushi: as I’ve said before, karaokes all day ‘eryday, baby; he can be a lil’... how do you put it nicely?... a lil’ shit sometimes, so expect some teasing when it’s your turn to cook (he doesn’t mean any of it, he just loves getting you all riled up, he thinks it’s the most adorable thing on Earth); you two always end up running into stray animals, so that’s how he looks at you when he asks if you two could get a puppy, whether you end up getting a pet or not is up to you; I don’t know why, but I see you vibing real well with Nishi, so that’s you after drinking with Nishi — expect him to record a video of your drunken state and tease you with it the morning after (he watches it every morning for a lil’ boost of happiness, but he won’t tell you that); piggyback rides forever, and you wanna know his reasoning? He says it’s to prepare when you two finally have kids and he has to carry them!

Thank you very much for ordering at Kyupid’s, babe. I really hope to see you again! Have a very, very negative-free day ♡⋆.ೃ࿔*

lmao, ik you said you don’t particularly like children but like i just couldn’t get the thought out while making this for you and now your order’s filled with children and i—

i hope you still like it though 🤣 but if you don’t, then do message me, i’ll fix it for you. also, thank you for the concept compliment! i made it as original as i possibly could, so this means a lot, bby 🥺 ur so nice.

but legit, you two would be so cute, like your married life with him is just perfect! don’t forget to invite cupid and i!

#kyupid’s love shop #dalgona matchup latte #sugawara koushi #haikyuu sugawara #hq sugawara #haikyuu matchups #hq matchups

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dangersam · 4 years

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Part alignments and slider rails

Greetings all, I think it's time for an update on what's been happening for the past few weeks! I got back up and running on a newly built PC after the old one gave up the ghost, and I've been working on task management stuff, making various improvements to the game, and fixing bugs.

Trello

During the down time while waiting for parts to arrive for my new PC, I couldn't make much development progress, so I took the opportunity to get set up on Trello for task tracking. All of my tasks are on there now, as well as feature requests and suggestions from the GearBlocks community. Many of the tasks still need fleshing out more and perhaps breaking up into sub-tasks, but it's a decent start.

The great thing about Trello is that it gives people the opportunity to comment and vote on tasks. Currently it's set up as invite only, so if you'd like access, email me at: [email protected]

Part alignments

I've been making improvements to how part alignment works, specifically how alignment positions & orientations are defined and processed.

Previously, a part's alignment grids could be specified from a local origin + width & depth values, saving the need to specify each alignment point individually. Now, these grids have been extended to optionally have a height value, allowing for alignment "columns" to be more compactly represented (useful for axles for example).

Also, the alignment grid setup and search code has now been refactored to be simpler, easier to debug, and easier to extend.

All this was a prelude to the main change, which was to make part attachments (fixed, rotary bearing, etc.) refer to the alignment grids that they were created from. An attachment now gets its orientation and allowed attachment types directly from the alignment grid, saving the need to store them separately. The main reason for doing all this though was to address a problem with linear bearings which I'll come to in a moment, but having access to the alignment grids this way has other advantages too, for example it allows for retrieving the alignment type when displaying attachment indicators (e.g. surface vs. interior could be shown differently). This is something I'll hopefully get to make use of in the future.

As attachments now index into their source alignment grids, I had to change the save format to store these indices. I've implemented code to convert old saved games / constructions upon load so that their attachments reference valid alignment grids.

Sliding distances

When setting up the physics constraint for a linear bearing attachment, a sliding distance and anchor offset need to be calculated. Previously this was done by simply using the bounds of the part, i.e. its outer dimension along the sliding direction. However this only works for simple "convex" parts (e.g. blocks and axles), for anything more complex, the sliding distance may need to be less than the size of its bounds.

So to solve this, the sliding distance and offset for a linear bearing attachment is now calculated based on the dimensions of its source alignment grids, which it has access to due to the changes I mentioned earlier.

The slider rail parts are limited to 25 units in length, I don't want to make them any bigger than this as I think it would be rather unmanageable to build with. However, it seems reasonable to be able to create effectively longer slider rails by placing them end-to-end, so I made some modifications to allow parts to appear to slide from one rail to another. To do this, I implemented code in the slider rail part behaviour to find its adjacent neighbours, and then calculate a new total sliding distance and offset for any linear bearing attachments associated with it.

Here's an example of this in action:-

Other stuff

I've also been working on some other improvements. For example, constructions are now spawned frozen and positioned on the ground in front of the player. Previously one of the parts in the construction would have been selected by the player after spawning, resulting in the construction potentially being oriented weirdly, poking through the ground, player, etc. This made spawning constructions awkward and confusing, and I think the new way is a lot better.

Player character free flight movement has been modified to have different acceleration and a higher top speed when holding shift. This helps to quickly navigate larger distances around the map.

All of this, plus various bug fixes will be in the next demo update, which I'm hoping to release very soon!

#gearblocks #Unity3D #physics #game development #indie games

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maddiviner · 5 years

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Dzień dobry and merry meet!

We’re all different. What works well for one witch might be a disaster for another. I believe keeping a notebook is useful for most witches, though!

I’ve written a lot about why a grimoire and keeping one can supercharge your magical practice.

It’s always going to be something I recommend. While not everyone can or does keep one, it’s always worth trying because for many of us it is so helpful.

The question becomes, though: how? What format should you use for your grimoire or Book of Shadows?

I’ve got an article about different types of grimoires here. Regardless of what style you choose, it can be helpful to keep it organized!

There are many advantages to keeping a binder-type notebook for a grimoire. It allows you to add and remove pages with ease! This means you can create tabbed sections for each Craft-related topic.

You can then add to each as you see fit, without disturbing the rest. It’s also very easy to find information in your grimoire when you need it!

In the past, I used hardbound notebooks. I loved the Peter Pauper Press line of journals, and the Leuchtturm 1917. Over the past few years, though, I’ve come to appreciate the advantages of the binder system.

I still use a normal Leuchtturm for my bullet journal. It doubles as my general magical diary and record.

When it comes to making notes on my research and gathering Craft information, I’ve begun using a binder. It's so easy! You might want to try a similar setup. I definitely recommend it!

Supplies

To start, I purchased a six-ring A5 binder. I chose a coral-colored Carpe Diem binder, because it wasn’t too expensive and I liked the color.

I chose A5 because it fits the size of my hands and my style of handwriting pretty well. If your hands are bigger or smaller, a different size might work for you. I also like A5 because it is quite portable. A three-ring letter-size binder could work, or even a small personal sized folio.

I filled the binder with dot grid paper. I chose the dot grid because of its versatility. If you’re sketching, making diagrams, or drawing, the dots make measurement on the page easy. If you’re only writing, they function as lines to keep your handwriting straight and neat on the page, too.

The dots are subtle and not intrusive, too, making any art you might want to do on the pages very clean and visible. Most A5 dot grid paper is prepunched with the six ring holes, and despite this, you can even print on it!

This is good, because it allows me to print longer bits of information or diagrams. Granted, most files aren’t designed for A5 size. Yet, it’s very, very easy to resize something for that format, even if it includes images.

Organization

I added some blank tabbed dividers, labeling them with different Craft-related subjects. There’s one for Tarot, astrology, spellcraft, spiritwork, etc.

If you do this, your dividers would reflect whatever interests you. I recommend sticking to four or five different topics to start with. Any more than that can be overwhelming.

I've written a bit of study tips for the self-taught here. If you’re a virtuoso who can juggle eight or nine topics without getting overwhelmed, go for it!

I keep the dot grid paper in the very back of the binder. I add pages from that to the different sections as I finished them.

What to include?

Your grimoire is your own; you can include anything and everything that you want! I included the following different sections in mine so far.

Blessings, Divination, and Spiritwork

First, I invoked celestial forces to bless this grimoire. Blessing your tools (including grimoire) can be very advantageous. You can ask the spirits and any deities you follow to bless your work. I used to have one of these at the front of mine, but recently ended up writing a separate blessing for each section.

You could devote a section to poetry or prose inspired by the spirits - I do, though I haven’t written much in it recently. Don’t ask me to ever share any of my poems, though - it ended up being very personal!

I devote a sizable part of my binder to writing about the divinatory exercises I do on my own. In other words, it's for notes on my personal Tarot, Lenormand, and scrying sessions. If you do divination, I recommend keeping such a record of your exploits! I also sometimes keep a dream journal.

Spellcraft Details

Without a doubt, it’s useful to record your own spells and their ensuing results. If you’re starting in spellcraft, you can jot down ideas and brainstorm.

Then, you have a record of the spell’s development from start to finish! This is helpful for refining your approach to spellcraft. It helps you become more effective with it.

If you’re casting spells another witch developed, you can record those, too! Whenever I cast a spell from a book or website, I record it by hand. I include my own notes on it, and any modifications I’ve made.

Of course, I also include a citation explaining where I found the spell and who wrote it, too. Credit where credit is due!

The biggest thing, though? Remember to go back and record the results as they manifest. I recommend doing this in as much detail as possible, too. Keeping track of how your magic flows can help you to develop greater finesse.

Print Information

I also print out public domain texts from the Internet to add to my growing trove of information in the binder. If you’re using an A5 binder, you may have to fiddle with formatting on anything you’re printing so that it’ll fit the page. It’s not hard, though!

Many older translations of Classical texts are public domain now. So, you might include that sort of thing! And yes, most printers will print on prepunched A5 paper!

Some witchblr folks will also allow you to print their work, and add it to your personal grimoire. Be sure to check with the person in question first, though! Always keep track of where each piece of information comes from!

For the record, it’s always okay to include spells <INSERT LINK HERE> I’ve written on this blog in your personal grimoire. That is, as long as a) it’s only for personal use, and b) you credit me, even if you’re only printing it for yourself.

Personal Notes on Books, etc

I’m a big fan of taking notes when I read a book, be it a Craft-related one, or even something else. Everyone has a different way of taking notes! My notes synthesize my readings from several different books on the subject.

I took inspiration from studyblr in formatting my notes. That particular tag on here offers lot of great tips for taking notes that are effective, neat, legible and even aesthetic.

I realize the studyblr “aesthetic” isn’t quite the type of thing you’d expect from a grimoire. I like it. I can find things in my notes with ease, they’re readable, and fun to make.

Spawning

This system works well enough for a while. Soon, you’ll find that the binder gets full, unwieldy, and bursting with information. What do you do then?

When it first happened with mine, I wasn’t sure. I tried taking the pages out, tying them with string, and stacking them on my shelf. This turned out to be awful and messy, and some of them got torn.

The trick here is simply to get another binder. Look through the sections in your main binder and find which one is largest. Then, get another binder and transplant that section into it.

Keep doing this as your main binder fills up again and again. You end up with two or three different binders dedicated to different subjects. This is, to me, an excellent way of organizing things, provided you label the binders! It’s wild binder mitosis!

Thus far, my main binder has “spawned” two more - one for astrology, and one for spiritwork. I suspect other sections in the main binder will someday need to move into new binders, too.

In Conclusion

Keeping a grimoire is fun! I definitely recommend it! This article only gives one way of organizing such a grimoire, the one I use. Your methods will no doubt be different. I hope my suggestions above are inspiring and helpful, though.

Stay magical, and blessed be!

#magick #witchblr #witch #witchcraft #grimoire #book of shadows #studyblr #occult #spellcraft #divination #eliza.txt

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abundantchewtoys · 5 years

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Homestuck Epilogues Prologue, Page 2 reaction

The next part of the epilogue prologue. :P I wonder if Andrew has committed to this format for the entire piece, or if we'll shift to something else. I'd like at least one panel showing the author avatar typing this, but then again, he's dead like everyone else, and so, stuck in the bubbles. Speaking of, how could Aranea, Meenah and the other A2 trolls survive this? Will Jane use her revive powers on them to spare them a double death? As an aside, I'm glad the ==> arrows remain a thing even after the end of the story. Even though they're now mixed with simple >'s in the in-line commands. (We're mixing the story format up from the get-go, here.) I hope Rose's new apartment gets a detailed described. I'm expecting a lot of knitted ware lying around, for one. I also wonder how long it'll be until an OC is mentioned, and how much longer after until they get some sort of dialogue. Presumably it'll be the intermission-like dialogue, I mean us being shown what they say by John's or another's inner narration.

---

==>

"When you arrive at Rose’s apartment, you find her asleep on the couch. You slide the balcony door open, quietly."

If this was a fairy tale, John would kiss her awake. :P

But I fear the migraines might be exhausting her.

"Her eyes flutter open. She looks like a ghost, and not the kind of ghost that looks and acts exactly like an alive person."

Grim implications not withstanding, I'm reminded of Kanaya's first assessment of seeing her. "Skin as pale as a ghost!"

Wow, okay, so her condition is really nothing to sneeze at.

"All I’m trying to say is, I’m not backsliding, if that’s what you’re wondering."

So I guess the substance abuse, post-retcon, was still a thing, not just nipped in the bud by Vriska.

Well, it WAS a way for her to cope with her mom's death, that isn't something that just goes away by a slap on the wrist, even if it was on date night.

"ROSE: I struggled with substance abuse for a while, years ago. Remember?

JOHN: rose, jesus. i wasn’t going to accuse you of being a drug addict, and i didn’t fly over here to give you an intervention.

JOHN: it sounded like you had some important stuff to tell me, and the fact that you also seem to be sick is more than a little alarming!

ROSE: I wouldn’t say I’m sick.

ROSE: Just having spectacularly debilitating headaches as a result of my visions becoming more frequent.

JOHN: oh yeah.

JOHN: what are these visions you’re having?

ROSE: I’m a Seer of Light, John.

JOHN: i know."

I'm happy to see how mature John is being about all this. He's really grown into a proper adult.

Also, that they can still exchange sarcastic remarks shows the base of their friendship hasn't changed over the years.

"What are these visions you're having?", it's like John just became Rose's therapist. :P

"JOHN: so you mean like, your standard psychic visions about the future and stuff?

JOHN: what’s going to happen? should we be worried?

ROSE: It doesn’t technically pertain to the future. Well, not our future."

A potential future then? Or the future of the dead ghosts, their doubledeath?

I mean, I thought Rose's powers were meant to show the best possible future and how to get there.

That hopefully isn't implying that they're not... the main timeline anymore.

"ROSE: My abilities have broadened considerably beyond their previous horizon. They shed light on many unseen events. Past, present, future, in realities and frames of reference that have no intersection with ours at all."

And then Rose could see us, and all the fiction our universe has spawned. Including stuff about their clique! :P

"ROSE: It seems to be an unfortunate side effect of god tier abilities. They can advance at a rate beyond one’s physical ability to keep up with.

ROSE: Fortunately it doesn’t seem to be happening to anyone other than me."

So... what, could that mean Sollux & Mituna's psychic problems were explainable by a surplus of Doom powers, even though they weren't god tier?

... In other news, can they overload Lord English with Time?

"JOHN: yeah, can’t say i’ve noticed anything like that.

JOHN: or improvement in my powers for that matter."

He hasn't been practicing them either, I suppose. Then again, after you've drilled a hole to a planet core and moved an entire different planet to another dimension, as well as rewrote your own timeline, there's few plateaus left to grow towards.

"ROSE: It’s not about gaining additional power, so much as the gradual dissolving of the boundaries between your own awareness and that of your many doomed selves who perished in other timelines."

D'aaaahhhhh, that sounds a lot like what the sprites^2 experienced!

Actually, Davepeta mentioned something about this, didn't they? Something about become their best version through this process?

Didn't it have something to do with the Ultimate Riddle as well? Well, that would certainly quantify as something to know about "to learn what it all means".

But, I got to say, why would John be any less affected? He had doomed selves too, and this isn't just a Light thing, just because it has similarities to Rose's powers.

"ROSE: It’s a slow and apparently rather uncomfortable accretion of knowledge. Perhaps I’m the only one to notice any change, since my aspect explicitly relates to knowledge."

Mulling it over, I think the reasoning here is that, since there's so much knowledge to go around between the Roses of all timelines, she's getting more crammed inside her than anyone else.

So even if they don't just 'merge' into her, just increase the knowledge she can fall back on, and one point she'll reach a limit.

Sounds really painful and I don't want to imagine the migraines now.

Way to get screwed over by an otherwise very useful skill to have. That's Paradox Space for ya!

"ROSE: But in totality, I have pieced together a greater understanding of our present situation and all the events that led us here."

She has become self aware to an extent then. Useful, if they're going to have to fight English.

"ROSE: There’s a different scale I’ve come to understand. Another dichotomy that’s less... emotional, I guess?

ROSE: Consider, instead of the word “good,” using the word “essential.”

ROSE: And what exists at the opposite polarity from essential is...

ROSE: Something that is best not to contemplate."

Yeah, Paradox Space is much more impersonal than is 'good' for anyone.

The Horrorterrors are a good example, their game is a long and incomprehensible one.

And, if you don't fulfill your role in the timeline, you're basically fodder to use against LE. :/

It sounds to me, Paradox Space might be forcing them to join the cause or become doomed.

"ROSE: I really should cut it out, and just start from the beginning."

Once upon a time, in Paradox Space...

Blaperile has a theory she may know LE's backstory now, that would be a good story to tell here, but John already knows parts of it.

So maybe there's something new we'll learn.

"She points with purpose, as if to say, there. Right there, precisely, is where the green sun would be, if it still existed.

ROSE: The green sun is gone.

JOHN: what??"

Last time Rose pointed in a context with the Green Sun, she pointed away from it.

Oh yeah, they couldn't have known about Alternate Calliope changing the Green Sun into the Black Hole!!!

"ROSE: It has been destroyed. At least, from the current frame of reference it has.

ROSE: It still existed, and therefore in a way that’s hard to explain, currently exists, over a nearly infinite span of time, presiding over the birth and death of countless universes."

It's interesting how Universe C's timeline overlaps with the death of the Green Sun.

Does that mean Jade lost her First Guardian powers? (And GCATavrosprite too, I guess.)

Would she regain them, if she were to travel back to an earlier point in the timeline?

"ROSE: But this universe, our universe, is not one of them."

Oh, if Jade didn't have her FG powers, she would've noticed so, by now.

Unless the Green Sun's influence does something else. Well, for one, Earth C won't have its own First Guardian.

"JOHN: you saw this in a vision?

ROSE: No. Jade told me.

JOHN: she did?

JOHN: how does she know?

ROSE: She can’t draw from its power anymore. She no longer has the ability of a First Guardian.

ROSE: It has been this way for several years. I suspect she has kept this fact on the downlow, however."

... Oh, so she kept it secret for seven years. That's... huh.

Well, you know, they are friends, but even between friends secrets can exist.

She might not have wanted distress to grow, since the others wouldn't enjoy their Ultime Reward otherwise.

"JOHN: that’s...

JOHN: surprising, i guess?

JOHN: or maybe not. i dunno, it’s not like she tells me a whole lot these days."

Adults don't share as much as children... That's a sad fact for many.

"ROSE: It’s also not like she’s had any particular need to unleash the full fury of the green sun, not while she’s been gallivanting around with Dave and Karkat under whatever perplexing social arrangement they have settled on."

Heheh, confirmed for opacity! Just like how Dave & Karkat's initial "thing" never got assigned to a quadrant.

"JOHN: how did that happen?

ROSE: It doesn’t matter much, for our purposes."

Alternate Calliope confirmed for not appearing in this epilogue.

"ROSE: There was a cataclysmic event. A suicide strike by a very powerful being. Much like the one Dave and I attempted, once upon a time."

Remember that time, John? Can't believe Cascade could ever qualify for "simpler times", but here we are.

"ROSE: The entire sun was swallowed by a supermassive black hole.

ROSE: I digress though.

You press your eyes shut, just for a moment. Behind them you see a black hole so supermassive that it spans the width of eternity."

John is adding things up faster than usual!

I have to wonder whether his 'dream' was actually the memory of a doomed John, being swallowed by the black hole.

"ROSE: There’s really no route through this expository garden path that will adequately cushion you from the bottom line, John.

ROSE: You will need to travel back into canon and defeat Lord English."

'canon', pfffffff. I guess you could say, canon is everything inside the Green Sun's reach.

But oh boy, the implications of someone travelling back from beyond the end of the story!

I mean, I know we've been shown the path this'll probably take, ending with the kids inside the plot hole, and then Vriska using it on LE, after which... Something something.

But still, I can now imagine John travelling back to other places in canon.

Probably this time around, the panels in question won't be altered. I guess?

"> Shrug and try to look casual.

You pull off the most casual shrug that a guy has ever shrugged when being presented with the inevitability of his own fate. If Rose were looking at you right now, she would be totally convinced that you are approaching this topic with a level of nonchalance that is entirely plausible and genuine. You’re sure of it.

JOHN: yeah, i had a feeling that was going to come up again someday."

Classic John. Perfect response.

Can you imagine Frodo giving Gandalf the shrug like this?

... It's like Young K in MiB3. "M'Okay."

You know, if they were travelling back into canon, you could wonder how they ended up fighting Caliborn, since that was in a timeline outside the Green Sun's reach.

At least, I figure, since Universe C begetted the cherub session.

But then I thought of this: when Caliborn took over the narration, he made those things canon, and thus also the 'future scene' rendered with clay figurines where he defeats the kids!

"JOHN: when exactly is the point of no return?

ROSE: Today."

... Way to postpone this, Rose. I guess after today, the Black Hole swallows Universe C???

I can understand John trying his best not to think about having to fight LE, since semi-forced obliviousness is his forté, though.

"JOHN: why?

ROSE: Why what?

JOHN: why do i need to go back and beat him?

JOHN: i mean, sorry if this is a stupid question. i guess he’s a huge awful monster, and that’s just what you’re supposed to do with huge awful monsters. take them down for their crimes, and such.

JOHN: but why does he actually need to be defeated at all?"

Valid question, since LE made himself a staple of spacetime and all.

"to be honest, it’s been years since we’ve even bothered thinking about any of this, and everything seems...

> Take a look around and survey the current status of all life on Earth, which is totally possible to do from the vantage point of a single apartment balcony."

Ah, impossible command prompts, how I missed you.

Everything seems fine, until the black hole opens up in the sky and eats a frog that is your universe.

"JOHN: fine?

ROSE: Of course everything is fine here.

ROSE: We’re outside of canon now.

JOHN: yeah, i know. what does that actually MEAN though?

JOHN: are you saying this isn’t really happening?

ROSE: Of course it’s happening.

ROSE: Just because certain events take place outside of canon, it doesn’t mean those events are non-canon.

JOHN: oh."

I guess this is a way of saying: little is ever going to happen in Universe C that has effects in the parts of the multiverse that the Green Sun touches.

And vice versa.

Also, in a meta sense, for people not enamoured with Homestuck ending and writing their own endings, those efforts are not being discredited here.

"ROSE: In other words, there is an important distinction between events which can be considered to occur inside canon, outside canon, and those which are not canon at all.

ROSE: The day we went through that door and claimed our reward, we passed a threshold between continua marked by differing degrees of relevance, truth, and essentiality.

ROSE: Those are the three pillars of canon.

JOHN: what?"

Ah yes, a scientific exposition on the nature of fanfiction seems in good order right about now. :P

I'm taking a guess that the epilogues are "essential" to wrap up the huge dangling plotline about LE, but that doesn't mean they are THE truth about post-ending Homestuck.

Or even that the events in this story are really relevant to enjoy Homestuck proper.

"ROSE: Any event said to take place inside canon will have nonzero values of relevance and essentiality, while maintaining an absolute foundation in truth, by definition.

ROSE: Whereas events outside canon have diminished values of relevance and essentiality. Or, for the most part, can be considered neither relevant nor essential at all.

ROSE: But such events can’t be said to be untrue either. Instead, it’s better to regard their truth value as highly conditional.

ROSE: Are you still following?

> Say “oh, yeah. totally.”"

This is Andrew's version of the M3KYT mantra. "Just enjoy this story, folks!"

"JOHN: oh, yeah. totally.

ROSE: So to be clear, everything that’s taken place here on Earth C since we exited canon can be considered completely irrelevant, and for the most part, absolutely inessential. Yet none of it can be called untrue.

ROSE: At least, up until precisely today. "

So, yeah, they're going to become relevant to the story again, but that doesn't have to mean that Jane having usurped the Felt, as well as other events from the snaps and things we haven't even seen happen, are going to be given even a passing mention, hahah.

"ROSE: Events that are formally non-canon have no truth whatsoever, by definition.

ROSE: They may have relevance and essentiality values that are nonzero, or even quite high, but only as projections along an imaginary axis, resulting from highly subjective frames of reference.

ROSE: But due to those events having no truth, and thus carrying no real weight, the other properties are basically rendered meaningless."

Aka, fan fiction is not something to dismiss out of hand, but it isn't, like, a holy text.

"You can feel your eyes go wide as the gears in your head slow to a stop. The implications of what Rose is saying are as vast as they are completely incomprehensible. Your mind has just been BLOWN.

ROSE: John?

ROSE: Are you okay? Your pupils have gone quite wide, thereby facilitating the appearance that your mind has just been blown."

Ah John, he hasn't changed.

"JOHN: i just wouldn’t have thought to put all of this in such a jargony way.

ROSE: Sorry. That’s kind of what I do.

JOHN: it’s fine. i’m just a bit rusty is all.

JOHN: it feels like it’s been so long since i did, or even thought about... anything that mattered at all.

ROSE: Yes, the longer we live outside of canon, the more tenuous our relationship with canon becomes."

Aka, the fans are growing up and moving on, so additional stories in the same universe become less likely to be accepted as canon as time goes by. :D

"ROSE: As long as we live outside canon, everything that happens will technically be “real,” but only conditionally.

ROSE: There are certain crucial events inside canon which must happen in order to continue to prop up the legitimacy of events here on Earth C. "

Ooooooh, so Rose's saying they need to go back and fill up some plotholes, hahahahahahah. Glorious.

"ROSE: And you specifically, John, have a responsibility to make sure those events take place.

JOHN: and i take it that means going back and killing lord english?

ROSE: Yes.

ROSE: His defeat is the keystone to this entire continuity.

ROSE: Much like his life, in some sick way, governed the overall design of the bridge which that keystone was holding up.

ROSE: But without it, all of this falls apart. Every thing we’ve been through, in a way that’s impossible for a single mind to fully comprehend, becomes retroactively discredited."

They can't both have entered the Universe AND not have gone back to fight Caliborn at some point. Otherwise, their nature as being "the alpha selves" is cast into doubt.

Especially since John led them to Caliborn with retcon powers.

Of course there could be space retJohns flying about, but that's speculation, not (yet) truth.

"JOHN: so... reality will be destroyed, or something?

JOHN: hasn’t that already sort of happened?

JOHN: i mean, when all the black space started cracking?

ROSE: No, this consequence isn’t physical, or even a disruption of the timeline. It’s more of a conceptual unraveling.

ROSE: If you miss the chance to authenticate canon events, something will take place that’s a bit difficult to describe, but I’ve encountered a term for it.

ROSE: It’s called “dissipation.”

ROSE: Like, a notional fading. As if something, somewhere, is undergoing a process of “forgetting,” and we are what is being forgotten."

So I am definitely thinking this refers to the fandom, in subtext.

But does Rose refer to what happens in doomed timelines, to the folks that don't die but are erased with the timeline ending?

... "Dissipation Island" would suck as a reality tv concept.

ROSE: All ideas, people and their full potentialities, possible outcomes and their specific unfolding, all these things live inside conscious frameworks.

ROSE: The further removed we get from authentication of canon events, the less relevant they become, and they slowly fade from the conscious frameworks which kept them stable."

DEFINITELY a reference to the fandom.

"JOHN: so i just retcon-poof back to english and start like...

JOHN: brawling with the dude?

ROSE: Don’t be ridiculous. You wouldn’t last a second."

You're not the fisticuffs kind of guy, John, those genes went to Jade.

"ROSE: You’ll need a team.

ROSE: Also, you don’t want to just dive headlong into a battle with his hulking adult form. That would be tactically foolish, and furthermore, would skip over some very important steps needed to authenticate canon."

So yeah, Rose is definitely in the process of skimming important details, like she did during the session.

She definitely seems to have a grasp on the requirements for success, but people being in the know hardly ever seems to be one of them.

"JOHN: like what?

ROSE: I mentioned that English’s defeat was the keystone to the continuity. But this is an oversimplification.

JOHN: yikes. well, we sure as fuck wouldn’t want to simplify anything."

Insta-Classic.

"ROSE: The true keystone, which is a necessary component of his defeat, is the juju."

Cal then? Blaperile thinks the Plot Hole. Or is it the sucker perhaps?

Cal needs to be filled with Caliborn's essence for LE to even exist in the first place, so...

"ROSE: The house-shaped object you stuck your hand in to gain your retcon powers.

JOHN: oh yeah.

ROSE: While empty, it resembles a gap. Like a hole in canon, whose only purpose is to be filled."

Oh. I stand corrected.

"ROSE: In serving that purpose, it grants one with the radical canon-altering powers that would be needed to fill it.

ROSE: Once filled, it becomes solid. No longer a gap, but a serviceable, load-bearing wedge in our continuity.

ROSE: Like a keystone."

So, nice term, but a house-shaped keystone isn't that servicable. :P Neither is a mousepointer-shaped one, and the Sburb logo is both.

"ROSE: And once delivered to English and directed his way, it empties itself again, releasing its narrative-bridging payload."

Aww yeah, so they WILL be set free. Glad to have that out of the way.

"It functions as a weapon, and in some manner will bring about his demise.

JOHN: in some manner?

ROSE: It’s a complicated artifact. As old and unfathomable as anything else in Paradox Space, like the green sun, or English himself. Don’t worry about it for now.

ROSE: The important thing is that, in the due course of your travels, you end up loading and unloading this weapon."

So, will nothing be done with Scratch's gun anymore then, & the cueball analogy that might have been able to defeat Lord English?

Are all other items rumored to be able to kill him real red herrings... Or will John need to travel back to the places we last saw them & collect them?

"JOHN: how am i going to do that?

ROSE: Once you set things in motion, it should just happen naturally through the narrative momentum of your journey. I’m really just warning you about it, rather than instructing you.

JOHN: ok. thanks??

ROSE: You’re welcome."

He won't be thankful after the fact, that's for sure. :P

"Rose looks at her phone. You recognize Kanaya’s distinct typing style in the window. Rose’s thumbs begin to fly across the keypad. She continues to text as she talks."

I'm guessing Kanaya is at work at this time, at the Mother Grub's cavern.

"JOHN: so if we’re going to go back and kill him in time to “authenticate canon,” i guess we have to get going soon.

JOHN: like today?

ROSE: Yes.

JOHN: are you sure you’re actually up for a fight though? no offense, but you’re looking a little worse for the wear.

ROSE: I’m not going."

I don't think that's possible, since Rose should be there for the fight.

They can't very well replace with Jasprosesprite^2, that's for sure!

"JOHN: oh.

ROSE: None of us are. Only you.

JOHN: what?? but you said... "

Uuuuhhhmm, but where could John even pick up living versions of his friends!

... Also, it would be rather awkward for a 23-year-old John to meet up with 8-to-10-years younger versions of his friends alone, wouldn't it?

"ROSE: John, this is the victory state.

JOHN: what the hell does that even mean."

Pfff, she means this is the 'good ending'.

"ROSE: When we went through the door, and passed beyond the threshold of canon, we effectively retired from bearing any responsibility for influencing canon events. We’ve all been sort of decommissioned as active players on the cosmic stage, with severely diminished relevance attributes."

Hah, so none except for John with his retcon powers can be expected to hold relevance to canon?

... Blaperile has a good point that this doesn't hold true for Terezi then.

Neither does it for Aranea, Meenah and Vriska!

But still, Vriska immediately went after LE... Even if Terezi has aged as much as John, that is just... Is John going to find 23-year-old doomed versions of his human friends somewhere?

"JOHN: but... couldn’t you all just come along anyway?

ROSE: We could. But it wouldn’t serve any purpose.

ROSE: It wouldn’t plug up the remaining dark spots in canon."

Yes, but, the commentary. Rose, think of all the things Dave could be commenting on!! Don't deprive us of that!

"ROSE: You’ll need a group of active players. Those still stuck inside the stream of canonic karma."

Like OCs? I mean, or the people I mentioned earlier.

Though Blaperile has a point, maybe he'll revisit LOMAX and pick his friends up there. Still, age difference!

"ROSE: Nothing too extravagant. Just different versions of us.

ROSE: Younger versions, from a particularly dysfunctional impasse in our journey.

ROSE: I can point out the exact moment in canon you should be disrupting, and how you should disrupt it.

ROSE: In fact, I’ve already written it down to spare you the trouble of remembering."

... I don't think he'll go and 'save' the people from the Game Over timeline, but then again...

Hah, Blaperile points out how this must be like Terezi's scarf, all over again. :P Nice.

... Wait just a goddamned minute. If he goes back and changes the Game Over timeline, there's an errant Aranea Serket he'll surely encounter!

Wow.

That.

Hah, that's actually very fitting, since it's John's native timeline.

Roxy's too, though. So he might just have her tagging along! :D

Blaperile's right, Game Over went as it did because of the absence of John!

I think that, if he can return and re-relevant all those doomed selves, a lot of people would really, REALLY like that development!

JOHN: huh.

ROSE: Is anything confusing about my instructions?

JOHN: no, i remember all this. it shouldn’t be a problem.

JOHN: it’s just weird to think about revisiting this. it seems like an eternity. like... we were all completely different people back then.

ROSE: I assure you we are all still fundamentally the same bunch of losers."

Heheheheh, that you are.

"Rose is ultimately right about that, the way she is about most things. You continue to scan the letter, and grimace slightly.

JOHN: should i really punch her in the face?"

That would be just so sweet, for Rose to get that kind of comeuppance through John. After all, she might have Jasprosesprite^2's memories from when she still lived now, too.

And Aranea killed her.

That would be the second time John comes in retconning a timeline, punching a Serket.

"JOHN: i felt kinda bad about it, last time i did that to someone.

ROSE: Yes. You absolutely should, and must, punch her in the face."

Oh yes, so essential. I'm just casually going to ignore John punching a younger woman. For one, she was at least 1 sweep older than the A2 trolls, and a millenia-old ghost besides.

"You exhale and turn the paper over in your hands. The other side is blank. You flip it back over, having fully processed the instructions drafted in the polished purple handwriting. You like how Rose still writes in purple, after all these years. Some things never change."

Awww.

"JOHN: alright. this seems straightforward enough.

JOHN: i mean, aside from the part where we all have to fight an invincible monster.

ROSE: He isn’t entirely invincible. He will be vulnerable to Dave’s weapon. I believe other gambits should present themselves as well."

Return of the eggsword! Nice!

And okay, the other supposedly "ultimate" weapons to kill LE with will still play a part too, cool!

(Spades Slick has dips.)

"ROSE: I don’t think it would serve the mission well for me to tell you exactly how it will go.

ROSE: But at least I can offer this bit of encouragement.

ROSE: If you follow my instructions, English will be defeated.

ROSE: It is an absolutely essential outcome.

ROSE: And essential, if you’ll remember, is the word we should be using instead of good."

So... What, LE won't really make a heel face turn, but does that mean that... :/ The fate of the other kids might not be pretty, is what I'm getting from this.

Quick John, engage your Dad mode! Protect them!

"JOHN: i see you’re advising we go after him when he’s young...

JOHN: i guess that makes sense.

JOHN: go get him before he gets all big and strong.

JOHN: like, kind of a surprise attack?

ROSE: Sure."

Let's go with that, says Rose.

"JOHN: that dude sucks.

JOHN: he was taunting me a while back.

JOHN: like, i think he WANTS me to come fight him?

JOHN: anyway, i just ignored him obviously, because i’m not a stupid idiot.

JOHN: but i guess today will be his lucky day."

So, if we assume Caliborn spent the same amount of time waiting for John, he's already an adult, but a scrawny one.

"Her eyes are closed and her hands are folded in her lap. She’s not asleep, but she looks wasted—like all the life in her has been sucked out through a straw. Like she’s insubstantial."

"You can’t believe how sick she looks. How did this happen to her?"

I'm... getting some very worrying signals here.

"JOHN: i should probably get going and let you rest.

JOHN: we can talk all about it when i get back. i’ll fill you in on how it went, hopefully you’ll be feeling better by then.

ROSE: Oh. Um."

:/ I hope she isn't going to die on him now, this is supposed to be the victory state!

Blaperile thinks John might not come back, but that would be a dick move for Rose to pull on him. Even if he can force another victory state from all this!

"ROSE: Yeah.

JOHN: is something wrong?

Rose opens her eyes and looks at you, but she says nothing. Just looks.

JOHN: i’m not scared, if that’s what you’re worried about.

JOHN: you already said we’re going to defeat him. so, nothing to fret over, right?

ROSE: Yes. You...

Something flickers through her eyes, almost too quick to catch. When she smiles at you, it’s warm and sincere.

ROSE: You’re going to do great.

Rose slides her arms around you. After a while, she releases you from the embrace and gets up to fetch her bottle of pills. She pauses at the bedroom door to look at you one more time.

ROSE: Goodbye, John.

She closes the door behind her."

... That is REALLY not comforting.

Bathrooms & pills are NOT a good combination in any type of fiction.

"> Look at the letter.

Your run your thumbs along the edge of the paper. Is this really it? One hug from Rose and you’re off to face your destiny? The instructions in the letter are clear, but you aren’t sure precisely what to do next. Inertia and indecision keep your feet planted firmly on the carpet.

Then, as if directly answering your quandary, your phone buzzes in your pocket. It’s a text from Roxy."

So, I'm going to park how I feel about Rose's... condition, and what she might think to do with it.

And I'm going to go and be glad that Roxy texts John at this time, as I hope that she, at least, will join him on the journey.

"> Read text.

It sounds important. You get up to go without even thinking about it. You exit through the sliding glass door and leave it open behind you."

Eep, so the situation at her end is dangerous to? ... Don't tell me that it has only now just happened that Jane was kidnapped by the Felt, and Roxy & Calliope went out to get her.

---

So, this chapter definitely wasn't all shits 'n giggles, that's for sure.

I'm going to have to process this a little.

At least it was great to have Rose & John interact again.

#homestuck #homestuck epilogues #homestuck liveblog #john egbert #rose lalonde #lord english #upd8 #reaction #spoiler alert

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quixol · 5 years

Text

11/5/2018 - 1/11/2019: QuixolMC Changelog #25

Good afternoon, and happy 2019 to you!

It’s been over two months since our last changelog post- we put this off for a long time. Now it’s a whole year later!!!!! haha...

Anyways, A lot has happened since our previous changelog post. Most crucially, as you all know, was our long-awaited update to minecraft 1.13! Really, we should’ve done this post shortly after that, as the update alone accounted for months and months of effort from the staff all coming to a head in just one week. Seriously, we put a tremendous amount of work into making sure this update went as smoothly as it possibly could, and it really showed off!

Since then, we’ve gained hundreds of new faces in our community, and even rolled over into a new calendar year... So, yeah. These past two months have been big for us! As such, there’s a ton to cover in this changelog post. So much so, that we’ve decided on introducing a new format to these changelog posts, which should hopefully help somewhat in the readability of this long, long post... It’s still gonna be a lot of information to take in, regardless. We hope you’ll understand!

Anyhow, enough exposition, let’s get into it. Here’s everything that’s changed since before the update!

Changes are separated into one of four categories: Gameplay, Server Builds / Locations, Technical / Bug fixes, and Plugin / Software updates. They are sorted chronologically within these categories, from oldest to most recent. Dates are formatted mm/dd/yy.

Key:

+ Feature added - Feature removed % Feature changed/bug fix ^ Feature updated (usually plugin updates) # Comment (for… comments.)

Notable changes from 11/5/2018 to 1/11/2019:

- Gameplay -

+ [11/05/18] Updated server to Minecraft 1.13.2 % [11/05/18] Spawn limits for water-animals upped from 5 -> 15 # This matches vanilla values for 1.13+. Affects mob cap of squids, fish, etc. % [11/05/18] mob-spawn-range value changed from 4 -> 8 # This value is used in determining the mob cap for a world. # 8 is the “vanilla” value, although it’s a bit more complicated than that. % [11/05/18] dragon-death-sound-radius changed to 128 blocks % [11/05/18] sound effect of thunder will only play within a radius of 256 blocks of players % [11/06/18] Disabled teleport safety in essentials # any act of teleporting will now take you to the exact coordinates you were to teleport to, even if it is unsafe to do so % [11/06/18] Compasses will no longer point to your first essentials /home + [11/06/18] Added plugin: FactionsUUID 0.2.3-b123 # A fork of an old factions version, updated to support name changes. This version of factions has a lot of differences from the "modern" factions, also known as "mcore factions". % [11/06/18] "power per hour" is now "power per minute". you gain 0.1 power per minute, or 6 power per hour. % [11/06/18] power loss on death is now 6. % [11/06/18] Faction roles are different. The hierarchy is now as follows: Recruit -> Normal -> Mod -> Coleader -> Admin % [11/06/18] Creating a faction now costs 500 shells % [11/06/18] Changing faction tag (faction name) now costs 400 shells % [11/06/18] You can no longer claim land right up next to allied factions, you need a distance of 6 chunks from each others' claims just as you normally would a neutral faction % [11/07/18] Sending items or mobs through nether or end portals no longer works in Protos + [11/07/18] Introduced updated 1.13 head drops datapack! Version: 1.0 # % Parrots' default loot table now contains all parrot head types. that way, if the mob sub-type module is not working, you can still get heads from parrots, you just won't (usually) get the head corresponding to the type of parrot you killed. this matches the loot tables zombie villagers, llamas, etc have. # % Rabbits' default loot tables also now contain all (natural) rabbit head types. does not contain toast or killer bunny heads. # % Shulker heads are now called "Mini Shulker" (consistency w/ guardian head drop) # % Slime heads are now called "Mini Slime" # % Magma Cube heads are now called "Mini Magma Cube" # % Ghast heads are now called "Mini Ghast" # % Snowman heads are now called "Snow Golem Head" # % White sheep heads are now called "White Sheep Head" instead of just "Sheep Head" # % For some reason, Zombie Villagers were twice as likely to drop rare drops such as iron ingots, carrots, potatos. Changed this back to vanilla values. (previously it was a 5% chance, w/ +2% per looting lvl, vanilla is 2.5% w/ +1% per looting lvl) # + Cod head: 10% head drop, +1% per looting lvl # + Dolphin head: 25% head drop, +2% per looting lvl # + Drowned head: 2% head drop, +2% per looting lvl # + Phantom head: 10% head drop, +1% per looting lvl # + Pufferfish head: 15% head drop, +1% per looting lvl # + Salmon head: 10% head drop, +1% per looting lvl # + Tropical fish head: 10% head drop, +1% per looting lvl # + Turtle head: 10% head drop, +1% per looting lvl + [11/07/18] Introduced QuixolMC's custom datapack version 0.1! # I don't have a better name for it, so deal with it! # % Changed saddle recipe slightly (see summary for the updated recipe) # % Changed Shulker Shell recipe to contain Phantom Membrane instead of ender pearl. # made custom advancements for granting recipes: # + unlock cobble recipe when picking up furnace # + unlock horse armor recipes when picking up their respective ingot/gem # + unlock enchanted golden apple recipe when picking up gold block # + unlock nether wart recipe when picking up nether wart block # + unlock saddle recipe when picking up leather # + unlock shulker shell recipe when picking up purpur block # + unlock totem of undying recipe when picking up nether star # added a few other custom advancements: # + Added a challenge advancement for killing a charged creeper # + Added an advancement for getting a cactus # + Added a challenge advancement for being killed by a villager % [11/07/18] Changes to alchemy skill # They've basically been doubled... leveling this was a pain # + Potion_Stage_1: 15 -> 30 # + Potion_Stage_2: 30 -> 60 # + Potion_Stage_3: 60 -> 120 # + Potion_Stage_4: 120 -> 240 % [11/07/18] Changes to woodcutting skill # These are just the new blocks for 1.13 # + Stripped_Oak_Log: 70 # + Stripped_Spruce_Log: 80 # + Stripped_Birch_Log: 90 # + Stripped_Jungle_Log: 90 # + Stripped_Acacia_Log: 90 # + Stripped_Dark_Oak_Log: 90 % [11/07/18] Changes to blast mining: # - Blast mining was nerfed a bit. The level you have to reach to reach the next "rank" was doubled, so it will take longer to unlock the benefits of each "rank" within blast mining % [11/07/18] Buffed taming skill slightly: # The level needed to unlock a few abilities was reduced. # + Fast Food: 50 -> 35 # + Environmentally Aware: 100 -> 75 # + Thick Fur: 250 -> 225 # + Holy Hound: 375 -> 350 % [11/07/18] Nerfed unarmed skill: # - BonusMin is now 0.0 (you start out with no boost to unarmed attacks) # - BonusMax is now 7.0 (down from 8.0) % [11/07/18] Nerfed axes skill: # - Max attack bonus (+4) is now reached at level 600 instead of level 400 # - Damage modifier for critical hits when PVPing is now 1.25 instead of 1.5 % [11/08/18] Reset mcMMO, Economy, Jobs, Factions data % [11/08/18] if you’re in a job that pays for smelting, you’re limited to 20 furnaces at a time max + [11/08/18] Introduced the brand-new Explorer job! Gain money by exploring the world. # Each time you enter a newly discovered chunk (one nobody has been in before), you get paid! # Even if you aren't the first to discover an area, you still get paid if you are the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th. The amount paid out depends on how many others found it before you. + [11/09/18] Added Faction Extras 1.0.0! # A custom script, coded by admin Vivian. Adds a little bit of additional functionality to Factions, such as faction warps and the ability to buy more faction power for your faction. % [11/09/18] Faction powerboosts now give you a PERMANENT boost to your power- not just your maxpower. # So, if you have a powerboost of +5, and you have 5 power left and die, you won't go below 5 power. # This can't be configured w/ factionsUUID. So... guess we'll have to just accept it!! % [11/09/18] Exp loss on death reduced to 1/3rd (prev. 1/2) + [11/09/18] QUIXOLMC: Now 1.13.2 Public Beta! # Full changelog for minecraft 1.13 here. % [11/10/18] Nerfed explorer job # - first: inc/exp: 5 -> 4 # - second: inc/exp: 2.5 -> 2.25 # - third: inc/exp: 1.0 -> 0.8 # - fourth: inc/exp: 0.5 -> 0.35 # - fifth: inc/exp: 0.1 -> 0.05 % [11/10/18] bumped up unarmed skill a bit # + bonusmin changed to 1 instead of 0 # unarmed attacks should start out with a +1 attack boost instead of +0 now % [11/10/18] Reduced mob-spawn-range to 6 # This should reduce the mob cap/mob spawns. Done for performance. % [11/11/18] Further reduced mob-spawn-range to 4 # We’re back to where it was before the update. Also for performance. % [11/12/18] Fixed builder job for 1.13 # + Bark: 1.0 inc, 0.75 exp # + Glass: 1.5 inc/exp # + Sandstone: 1.5 inc/exp % [11/13/18] Changed thunder sound radius to 512 blocks % [11/14/18] Nerfed explorer job again # - first: inc/exp: 4.0 -> 3.5 # - second: inc/exp: 2.25 -> 1.75 # - third: inc/exp: 0.8 -> 0.75 # - fourth: inc/exp: 0.35 -> 0.25 # - fifth: exp: 0.05 -> 0.02 % [11/15/18] Added more to Woodcutter job # + Stripped logs (all types): inc: 0.75 , exp: 0.25 % [11/15/18] Added more to Miner job # + Coral blocks (all types): inc: 2.0, exp: 3.0 # + Cobble/mossy cobble wall: inc/exp: 2.5 # + Stained terracotta (only naturally generated variants): inc: 0.15, exp: 0.2 # - Emerald ore (on place): -15 inc, -30 exp % [11/15/18] Added more to Builder job # + Coral blocks (all variants): inc: 2, exp: 3 # + Dead coral blocks (all variants): inc: 1, exp: 2 # + Dried kelp block: inc: 1.5, exp: 2 % [11/15/18] Added more to Engineer job # + All new button types: inc/exp: 0.5 # + All new pressure plate types: inc/exp: 0.8 % [11/15/18] Changes/additions to Digger job # - removed pay for digging red sandstone # - removed pay for digging stained terracotta # % coarse dirt: inc: 0.25 -> 0.5 , exp: 0.25 -> 1.0 # + podzol: inc: 0.25 -> 0.5 , exp: 0.25 -> 1.0 # % red sand: exp: 0.5 -> 1.0 # % clay: inc/exp: 1.0 -> 1.2 # + mycelium: inc: 1.0 , exp: 1.25 # + soul sand: inc/exp: 1.0 % [11/15/18] Additions to Farmer job # + Taming parrot: inc/exp: 5.0 # + Taming ocelot: inc/exp: 5.0 # + Taming llama: inc/exp: 5.0 # + Breeding mooshroom: inc: 4.0 , exp: 5.0 # + Breeding llama: inc: 4.0 , exp: 5.0 # + Breeding turtle: inc: 4.0 , exp: 5.0 # + Coral fans (all variants): inc: 2.0 , exp: 2.5 # + Kelp: inc/exp: 0.5 # + Seagrass/tall seagrass: inc/exp: 0.2 # + Sea pickle: inc/exp: 1.0 # + Planting Cocoa beans: inc/exp: 1.5 # + Planting pumpkin/melon seeds: inc/exp: 1.5 % [11/15/18] Slightly nerfed Farmer job in other ways # - planting wheat/potatos/carrots/beetroot: inc/exp: 2.0 -> 1.5 % [11/16/18] Additions to Hunter job # + Drowned: inc: 10.0 , exp: 20.0 # + Phantom: inc: 15.0 , exp: 20.0 % [11/16/18] Changes/additions to Crafter job # + Oak fence gate: inc/exp: 0.5 # + Oak fence: inc/exp: 0.5 # + Spruce, birch, jungle, acacia, dark oak doors: inc/exp: 0.15 -> 0.5 # + All bed types: inc/exp: 3.0 # + Terracotta: inc/exp: 1.5 # + Glass: inc/exp: 0.3 # % Stone brick stairs: inc: 0.5 -> 2.5 , exp: 0.5 -> 3.0 # + All stairs: inc: 2.5 , exp: 3.0 # % Heavy weighted pressure plate: inc/exp: 2.5 -> 3.0 # + All pressure plates: inc/exp: 3.0 % [11/17/18] Additions to Weaponsmith job # + Craft Turtle helmet: inc: 20.0 , exp: 40.0 % [11/17/18] Additions to Brewer job # + Gunpowder: inc/exp: 6.0 # + Dragon's breath: inc/exp: 25.0 # + Turtle helmet: inc/exp: 16.0 # + Phantom membrane: inc/exp: 12.0 % [11/17/18] Additions to Enchanter job # + Frost walker 1: inc/exp: 10.0 # + Frost walker 2: inc/exp: 20.0 # + Sweeping edge 1: inc: 15 , exp: 20 # + Sweeping edge 2: inc: 25 , exp: 30 # + Sweeping edge 3: inc: 35 , exp: 40 # + Curse of binding: inc/exp: 5.0 # + Curse of vanishing: inc/exp: 5.0 # + Mending: inc: 100.0 , exp: 300.0 # + Impaling 1: inc/exp: 10.0 # + Impaling 2: inc/exp: 20.0 # + Impaling 3: inc/exp: 30.0 # + Impaling 4: inc/exp: 40.0 # + Impaling 5: inc/exp: 50.0 # + Loyalty 1: inc/exp: 10.0 # + Loyalty 2: inc/exp: 20.0 # + Loyalty 3: inc/exp: 30.0 # + Riptide 1: inc/exp: 20.0 # + Riptide 2: inc/exp: 30.0 # + Riptide 3: inc/exp: 40.0 # + Channeling: inc/exp: 25.0 % [11/18/18] Nerfed endermen payment in Hunter job # - Enderman: inc: 15.0 -> 5.0 , exp: 30.0 -> 2.5 % [11/18/18] Nerfed Explorer job (3rd time's the charm?) # - 1st: inc: 3.5 -> 3.0 , exp: 3.5 -> 3.0 # - 2nd: inc: 1.75 -> 1.5 , exp: 1.75 -> 1.5 # - 3rd: exp: 0.75 -> 0.7 # + 4th: exp: 0.25 -> 0.3 # + 5th: exp: 0.02 -> 0.1

- Server Builds / Locations -

+ [11/07/18] Added a BRAND NEW WORLD for 1.13.2: Ghalea! + [11/07/18] Render distance for ghalea: 8 + [11/07/18] Render distance for ghalea's nether/end: 7 # Ghalea is (currently) not pre-generated. All chunks loaded in the world are player-generated. % [11/07/18] Spawnpoint changed to Ghalea + [11/07/18] Completely revamped and updated our server spawnpoint, Orsus! % [11/08/18] Moved the tutorial to Ghalea % [11/08/18] Made the Pool of Resurrection less... bubbly % [11/08/18] Spawn world for new players is now Ghalea % [11/09/18] Far warps were updated for Ghalea, they are all /warp North/East/South/West % [11/09/18] all protos far warps have been renamed /warp OldNorth/OldEast etc % [11/09/18] Info center signs are also updated, warps to protos specify that on the sign % [11/09/18] Tutorial has been tweaked, the only sign to change was the factions plugin sign - [11/09/18] Removed warps: smaench, lotl, dinnerparty # /warp minigames will still take you to the first two % [11/09/18] Returning players are now sent to Ghalea when joining + [11/09/18] Added new warp, NoobisLand , where new players can get started in Ghalea! % [11/11/18] moved "void" jail to ghalea + [11/18/18] Released the Ghalean end world! + [12/21/18] Added /warp CandyLand , a new server warp for the festive season!

- Technical / Bug fixes -

+ [11/05/18] async chunks enabled for both loading and chunk generation # major performance improvement here % [11/06/18] Changed login/logout messages to include username % [11/07/18] staff can no longer use /ride on non-living entities (paintings, armor stands, etc)... sorry!! % [11/07/18] Ghalea changed to default world % [11/07/18] Transferred player files, map files to Ghalea's folder % [11/07/18] Changed keep-spawn-loaded radius to 5 chunks, down from 8. % [11/07/18] Messages from LWC (regarding registering/unregestering proections) now send in action bar % Protected region around Orsus (where no mobs may spawn) expanded to 600x600 (previously 500x500) # it goes from coords -300, 0, -300 to 300, 255, 300 % [11/07/18] made it so all mcmmo party members are informed when their party levels up, bc why not % [11/08/18] Renamed Fisherman job to Fisher - [11/08/18] Sitting in chairs is disabled right now, due to bugs + [11/09/18] Added new kit, /kit ghalea, given to returning players upon entering ghalea % [11/10/18] Fixed /msg not working + [11/12/18] Gave players permission to use /f status % [11/12/18] Fixed permissions for using /f perm, /f promote, or /f demote % [11/12/18] coleader role should now be able to use /fx commands % [11/12/18] coleader role should no longer show up as "?" in qchat % [11/13/18] Thunder should now make sound outside of the immediate vicinity of the lightning strike once again % [11/13/18] When respawning, players with no bed spawn/faction home will now be sent to the world spawn once again, instead of the origin of whatever world they were in # The order of respawn priority is now: spawnpoint -> bed spawn -> faction home % [11/13/18] Reduced entity activation range slightly # - Animals: 32 -> 24 # - Monsters: 32 -> 30 % [11/18/18] Re-added worldborder plugin, because apparently we didn't have that for a whole week, WOOPS % [11/22/18] made celebratory fireworks for each 100 mcmmo skill levels a smaller firework... hopefully less laggy? % [11/22/18] Set a maximum limit for factions claiming land to 750 chunks. Factions cannot claim more than this amount of chunks % [11/23/18] Fixed some false-positives in the word filter again % [11/23/18] Also made the word filter a bit more lax with certain phrases % [11/25/18] Fixed bug where zombies in death animation could be converted to drowned % [11/25/18] Fixed dupe glitch with sea pickles + sponges (possibly other underwater plants?) % [11/25/18] Large improvements to redstone performance % [11/25/18] Reduced entity activation range for hostile mobs to 24 blocks % [11/29/18] fix for entity dismounting being weird % [12/02/18] You can now pet sheeps with an empty main hand once again! % [12/09/18] Novices should be able to chop the tree in the tutorial once again % [12/21/18] Fix issue where you’d be kicked for “Book too large!” when writing even rather short books % [12/21/18] Fixes relating to alchemy skill sometimes not getting xp for a brew(?) % [12/21/18] Fixed issue with mcmmo double drop items sometimes clipping into other blocks, and floating away due to item elevator effect - [01/03/19] Removed permissions for /recipe command due to a nasty exploit with it % [01/07/19] Fixed some blocks in LWC not being able to be protected + [01/07/19] Player usernames will now reflect their afk status in the tab list % [01/07/19] Updated tablist footer. it has more tridents! % [01/07/19] Upgraded the server to a more modern machine, should help performance % [01/07/19] Tweaked the motd format again, slightly more compact now % [01/11/19] Fixed not being able to place double half-slabs at y:255 % [01/11/19] disconnecting from the server while you are the passenger of another entity will now forcibly dismount you from that entity # This differs from vanilla behavior, whereas before if you logged out while riding an entity (like a horse, pig, etc) your vehicle would disappear along with you, and reappear once you logged in again % [01/11/19] Fixed bug with factions overclaiming!!! # This was a pretty serious bug; previously any person could claim as many chunks as they wanted to for their faction, regardless of their faction’s power. # In spite of this being fixed, any faction who still has more land claimed than their power permits will still have that land claimed. So, please be courteous and unclaim your excess chunks if you have any. (you can see with /f show)

- Plugin / Software Updates -

^ [11/05/18] LuckPerms -> 4.3.17 ^ [11/06/18] PerWorldInventory -> 2.2.1 ^ [11/06/18] EssentialsX -> dev-31.157 ^ [11/06/18] Quixol-framework -> 1.1.0 ^ [11/06/18] Biography -> 1.7.0 # + Technically not new, but you can now use color/format codes in your bio depending on your permissions. ^ [11/06/18] playtime -> 0.6.0 ^ [11/06/18] pronouns -> 2.7.2 ^ [11/06/18] LWC -> ModernLWC 2.1.2-dev63 ^ [11/07/18] easycommands -> 1.9.0 ^ [11/07/18] mcMMO -> 1.6.0-b51 ^ [11/08/18] AreaShop -> 2.5.0 ^ [11/08/18] Jobs -> 4.9.1 ^ [11/08/18] Craftbook -> 3.9-b4452 ^ [11/09/18] Orchid -> 0.4.1 ^ [11/09/18] easyalias -> 1.8.0 ^ [11/09/18] Deathpenalty -> 1.1.1 + [11/09/18] Added Faction Extras 1.0.0 - [11/09/18] Removed randomtp plugin (it's broken) + [11/09/18] Added Mineable spawners 1.4 # replacement for silkspawners plugin ^ [11/12/18] faction extras -> 1.0.1 ^ [11/17/18] Jobs -> 4.9.3 ^ [11/25/18] Updated server .jar, Paper 1.13.2 b428 -> Paper 1.13.2 b461 ^ [11/25/18] EssentialsX -> dev-39.182 ^ [11/29/18] Updated server .jar, Paper 1.13.2 b461 -> Paper 1.13.2 b469 ^ [11/29/18] Craftbook -> 3.10 beta-01 ^ [12/21/18] Updated server .jar, Paper 1.13.2 b469 -> Paper 1.13.2 b486 ^ [12/21/18] FactionsUUID -> U0.2.3-b124 ^ [12/21/18] mcMMO -> 1.6.0-b56 ^ [01/07/19] AreaShop -> 2.5.0-b275 ^ [01/07/19] DiscordSRV -> 1.16.6 ^ [01/07/19] ModernLWC -> 2.1.2 ^ [01/07/19] PerWorldInventory -> 2.2.2 ^ [01/07/19] EssentialsX -> 2.16.0.3 ^ [01/11/19] Updated server .jar, Paper 1.13.2 b486 -> Paper 1.13.2 b498 ^ [01/11/19] Faction extras -> 1.0.2 # % simple hotfix for faction powerboosts not being properly applied due to how FactionsUUID handles powerboosts

List of known bugs/issues:

! Inventories saved in 1.11 - 1.12 (in the world Protos) may have shulker box data corrupted. undyed shulker boxes turn into purple shulker boxes, and any items inside shulker boxes may lose all of their NBT data. ! when you are killed by a mob you recently hurt, the death message just says you were killed by [a bunch of hearts], due to a mcMMO bug ! mcMMO doesn't give you alchemy exp for making slow falling potions ! /f show will not show offline players ! Changing factions permissions for containers / doors does not seem to work ! several other bugs in Factions ! Exploration job does not work properly ! Peculiar bug with items in cursor slot disappearing in the inventory? Has only been reported once; unable to reproduce ! Being killed by another player counts as a "killed by [mob]" in statistics, but killing another player will not increase this statistic, only dying to other players counts ! Peculiar bug with mobs (usually animals) held in pens suffocating in surrounding blocks. Potentially related to mob pathfinding ! Standing still on top of a boat in water will deplete your hunger very quickly for some reason(???) ! New players will occasionally not get teleported by the pressure plate at the end of the tutorial, and report that they can’t see anything (i.e., the chunks they are in just turn invisible, despite still being able to walk around and move and such) ! New player sound is broken

Things to come:

• A new market for Ghalea! • Releasing more custom advancements • Other updates to QuixolMC’s custom datapack • Fixing bugs, hopefully... • Updates to qChat, other custom scripts

last changelog post (#24)

about changelogs

Yikes, that was long. Possibly our longest changelog ever! Did you get all of that? It’s ok if you didn’t, but we like to provide all the relevant stuff for anyone who’s curious.

The staff collectively spent several months preparing for all of these 1.13 changes before the fact, as stated before. The project to revamp all of Orsus was going on behind the scenes since at least may of 2018... a whole half year before we finally updated! We were also making preparations for technical changes and testing out plugins and software and all the other preparations since around that time, as well. We hope you all can see that effort shine through in what you’ve experienced for yourself on the server.

If you were wondering about the change to the saddle’s crafting recipe, or any other custom crafting recipe on the server, the crafting page on our blog is properly updated. Here’s what it looks like if you don’t wanna click, though:

With all of that in mind, let us know what you think of this new format for the changelogs! Is it easier to navigate? Or does it just leave you feeling more overwhelmed? Obviously, the length of this changelog wouldn’t help it either way, but we tried our best to separate stuff into neat categories for you all. We always appreciate hearing your feedback.

Thanks for reading, and we hope you have a great 2019!

- Quixol Staff

#Quixol #QuixolMC #QuixolMC Changelog

4 notes · View notes

minrcrafter · 5 years

Photo

VersedMC [SMP] { 1.13.2 } { PlayerShops } { LWC } { mcMMO } { Jobs } { Achievements } { Tags } { RTP } { Villages }

Versed MC - 1.13.2 SMP

Discord link: https://discord.gg/kEyvVnK

IP: 158.69.118.88

We are a community of friends that share a common goal of creating a unique SMP experience. We are inviting players with that common goal in mind to join our community and help grow our server together, as we believe we have something really special for this server. Join our Discord to get whitelisted or post a quick bit here with the following format. For simplicity and clarity, I have provided an example (it wont take long, I will be frequently on Discord and this thread)

** If you post this in Discord, please post this under the #beta-app channel, thanks! **

IGN: InverseHD

Age: 19

Tell me something about you: I have played MC since 1.8 Beta and love SMP. I like RPG games as well, and am a web developer in the time whenever I want to be. I am friendly and easy to get to know, hope to see you around!

Suggestions (if any): Get a website!

Can you be a decent human being and just have fun with others alike you? Yes

Have you joined our Discord (if not will you)?: No and yes

Took me 20 seconds to type that, and that is an application I would accept.

P.S. if you didn't see our Discord link is https://discord.gg/kEyvVnK

Staff

Owner - InverseHD (thats me)

Admin - Tyrillian

Mod - (we are currently looking for one active player to be moderator)

Rules

You'll get the same rules if you type /rules in game, if you ever forget.

Most importantly, have fun

Be respectful and use common sense

Swearing in moderation

No advertising, including another server's (this does not include asking your buddy to go play mineplex, this is more don't come spam join this server, or come join my discord etc. Its just bad taste, get your own advertising):

Discord

Website

Thats it, we like to keep it short and simple. If you're confused about these rules then this server may just be above your head and you should move along. If you were able to follow that, congratulations you're a competent person with common sense.

tl;dr the rules, don't be a stuck up moron and you'll have a good time.

Remember the reddit rules, and stick to them in-game too. It wont hurt you to treat other humans like humans and to behave with some respect.

When you first join....

You start with logs and food, plus $250 to buy and sell goods with other players. You may join up to one job at a time, managing these jobs with /jobs. You may set up to 3 homes, not including your separate village home. Village creation costs $1,000 and will allow for land claiming. Type /help or /inform if you have any questions, or message a staff member.

Typing /rtp or approaching the dock facing the boat in spawn will allow you to randomly teleport to the wild and you are free to begin your journey.

Current Features

Villages - /help villages

This is a more lightweight, casual land claiming plugin than Factions or Towny, which is why it was an obvious choice for us. Villages can have up to 25 land claims (currently, obviously this will change as needed) and a village home as well.

Random Teleport - /inform villages

The first time you join, you will go to the dock and click the random teleport sign. This will teleport you in a radius around the (0, 0) coordinate, so as to encourage community play as well as letting people go off on their own.

Jobs - /inform jobs

Players can join a plethora of jobs to earn money, and level up at their job to receive more income. It is a very lightweight but powerful plugin and an obvious choice for a server of this kind.

mcMMO - /inform mcmmo

mcMMO was an obvious choice, as it allows for abilities and skill building outside of jobs and achievements. It comes with many modifications that most seasoned Minecraft players are quite familiar with, such as repairing, salvaging, acrobatics, etc. It has a lot to do, and if you have any questions please ask! We will always be happy to help!

Custom Achievements - /inform achievements

In the new version of Minecraft, we are able to use the same interface as Minecraft's default achievements, and we sure did. We have added several starting achievements with plenty more to be added on the way. Rewards include money, experience, tags, and more as time moves on. Simply press ESC and click Advancements, finally clicking the Custom Achievments tab. This is where you are able to track your achievements.

PlayerLevels - /inform playerlevels

This is more of a simple indication of how much a player has played on the server. XP can be gained many ways such as completing achievements and more will be added soon.

LWC - /inform lwc

LWC allows players to have private chests, furnaces and other containers that only are accessible by the owner, and anyone chosen to have access. This also prevents players from destroying other players containers, as you can only break your own containers.

PlayerShops - /inform playershops

Our economy is solely based on bartering and trading. Players may buy and sell from other players shops, at prices set by the seller. To create a player shop, simply place a chest on the ground, place a sign on the chest, or one block away from the chest. On the sign, write:

* line 1 stays empty *

B <buy\_price> : <sell\_price> S

? (or you can put in the name of the item, but the question mark will autofill it. Type /iteminfo for the itemid)

Now players may buy and sell at your shop, and you can start to build your fortune!

Tags - /inform tags

Everyone knows about chat tags and our server is no exception. To go along with achievements, we have paired chat tags as well. More things will merit chat tags as time moves on so if you think something is worth it let us know and it just might make the cut!

Planned Features - Subject to change

dynmap

This will allow our server to host a live view of the entire map, so that you can explore where you would like to go or see other players villages.

RPG Campaigns

This is a very large undertaking and we understand the scale, and we hope you will understand that this will take time to develop. We are planning the first campaign right now, and it will have Quests, Dungeons, and MythicMobs that will be spread throughout the regular world. We will not rush perfection so this will be a more dedicated project in the future.

Voting

This is a more immediate change, and is just something to tick off of a todo list. Voting will give rewards such as money, items, playerlevels, experience, and in the future just maybe a rare questline.

Marketplace

Players will be able to rent out market spaces to buy and sell goods, with the added advantage of PvP being disabled there.

#Minecraft servers #minecraft

1 note · View note

texanredrose · 6 years

Text

Did You Know?

-Today, 0317- (214) 13-170-9: Did you know that "hamburger" is two words combined, but it's not "ham" and "burger", but "hamburg" and "er"? No idea what "er" means, though. Or “Hamburg” really. English is weird. You: Who are you and how did you get this number? (214) 13-170-9: Shit, is this not Blake? You: No. I am not Blake. (214) 13-170-9: Ah fuck, sorry, must've fat fingered the number! You: It's four in the morning here. (214) 13-170-9: Oh, cool, same timezone. Still, sorry about that. You: It's fine. You: And, for the record, -er is an Atlesian suffix that roughly means "from" and Hamburg is a city in Atlas. "Hamburger" means, quite literally, "from Hamburg". You: I grew up not too far from there. (214) 13-170-9: Oh, that's so cool! My name's Yang! You: Noted. Now, may I return to slumber or do you have any other useless trivia to impart upon me? (214) 13-170-9: Right, sorry! Again! (214) 13-170-9: Night! Sweet dreams!

-Today, 1034- You: Now that it’s a somewhat respectable hour, I’d like to apologize for being curt last night. (214) 13-170-9: Hey, I get it! I’d be a little cranky if someone woke me up, too. (214) 13-170-9: Really, no harm, no foul. (214) 13-170-9: But if you’re ever in need of useless trivia, I’m here! You: That was... harsh of me. (214) 13-170-9: I mean, you’re not exactly wrong. Most of this stuff isn’t really that useful. But it can be food for thought or even a little funny! Like, did you know the electric chair was invented by a dentist? Sounds weirdly appropriate, doesn’t it? (214) 13-170-9: Guess he got his patients confused with chickens; THOSE are the ones where you pull out all the white things and THEN fry ‘em. You: That was dark. You: I’ll admit it made me laugh out loud, but still dark. (214) 13-170-9: Okay, look, I work with what material’s available to me, and that was the first one that popped into my head. (214) 13-170-9: Also, did you really type out ‘laugh out loud’? lol, really? You: What do you have against properly spelling out words? (214) 13-170-9: Okay, you know what, in hindsight, you’re right. It just caught me off guard. Most people use abbreviations. (214) 13-170-9: Or emojis. You: I honestly hate the sight of that stupid word. You: Also, I spend all day trapped in an alphabet soup hell. I don’t need more abbreviations, thank you. (214) 13-170-9: But they make things so much quicker! btw, ofc I could spell it all out, but rn I’m using one hand, other’s occupied. (214) 13-170-9: I swear that’s not as dirty as it sounds. You: At EOD, I meet with my POC for a SITREP, then CM to the DFAC. (214) 13-170-9: I respectfully withdraw my argument, have a good day.

-Today, 1425- (214) 13-170-9: Um. I might be overstepping here and maybe you’re busy but either way I hope I didn’t upset you or insult you earlier. You: You said “have a good day”; I assumed that was the end of the conversation. (214) 13-170-9: Do you even meme?! You: I realize I implied and now am outright stating that English isn’t my primary language but you don’t have to make up words. (214) 13-170-9: Oml have you never seen a meme before? Hold on. (214) 13-170-9: [MyHairIsABird.jpeg][open][save] You: What.The. Fuck. (214) 13-170-9: You’ve never seen that before? You: I have and am now wondering why I allowed myself to be teleported back a decade. You: At least. It’s probably closer to two at this point. (214) 13-170-9: That’s a meme. It’s short for mimetic mutation I think? Where a joke gets so far removed from the source that it loses all connection but it’s still somehow funny? You: No. (214) 13-170-9: Look, I’ve never had to explain a meme before! You: I’m not saying “no” to your explanation; I’m saying “no” to that meme, as you call it. (214) 13-170-9: That’s what it’s called! You: Of course it is. (214) 13-170-9: Okay, fine, how about this one? (214) 13-170-9: [loss.jpeg][open][save] You: Now you’re tormenting me. You: Wait. I recognize this format. You: This is the stupid joke the idiots I call my subordinates are giggling about like school children? You: It’s not even a joke. This is a serious matter. (214) 13-170-9: I mean, I agree, I’m not sure how it became a joke but it did? (214) 13-170-9: I swear I’m not as dark as I’ve been sounding. (214) 13-170-9: Like, this whole conversation is kinda atypical for me, I swear. You: You’re putting in a lot of effort to convince a stranger that you’re not exactly as you’ve been acting. (214) 13-170-9: Well, you got me there. Sorry.

-Today, 1832- You: You’ve gone quiet. I suppose both of your hands were required? (214) 13-170-9: I just figured you probably had a point and I should just stop digging a bigger hole for myself. You: You don’t have any more trivia? (214) 13-170-9: Did you know a shark’s top speed is 96 km/h? You: Which species? (214) 13-170-9: Uh, Mako shark, I think. You: You are correct. I have a certain affinity for sharks. You: They aren’t as terrible as people make them out to be, you know. Yang: Actually, more people die from being struck on the head with a coconut than from shark attacks every year. They’re mostly fine if you leave them alone. Unprovoked attacks aren’t as common as people think, I mean. It’s mostly just one species responsible for them, too, but people lump all sharks together. You: They do. Sharks are dangerous, yes, but most creatures are. Sharks just get a bad reputation for essentially no reason. Yang: Actually, the movie Jaws spawned a lot of the social stigma around sharks. Yang: Do you have a favorite shark? You: The catshark. There’s several species all over Remnant; they’re deep sea creatures, living below what most people fish at, but they’re occasionally spotted by research vessels. They have beautiful skins with wonderful patterns but very little is known about them, and each subspecies is unique in its own way. You: They’re truly fascinating creatures. Yang: They sound really cool! You: I have a question for you. Yang: Shoot. You: You’ve given me your name yet you haven’t ask me mine. Why? Yang: Well, let’s start from the top. Yang: I messaged you in the middle of the night on accident, which you weren’t very happy about. Then when you apologized, I made a bad joke and you took it literally. THEN, I apologized again, and we talked about memes, and that entire discussion didn’t go anywhere good, I think we’re on the same page on that one. Yang: So, from my perspective, I really don’t have any right to ask your name. I gave you mine so you’d know who to specifically curse if you’re religiously inclined. Yang: Or, like, you just want the satisfaction of specifically cursing me, because like, mood. You: How thoughtful. You: It’s Winter. Yang: I’m pretty sure it’s spring? You: You boob. My name is Winter. Yang: OH Yang: IT’S A GOOD NAME You: ... really? Yang: Absolutely! It’s a beautiful name! You: That wasn’t me looking for reassurance; that was me being... surprised by your response. Yang: It makes me think of Atlas, kinda, cause it’s so cold up there. Yang: Oh. Yang: I am just a series of “open mouth, insert foot” examples today. You: Are you on something? Alcohol? Weed? Nicotine? Yang: NO! You: Admittedly, that last one wouldn’t lead to such a lapse in judgement as you’ve currently displayed. You: Are you lying to me? Yang: FUCKING NO, I’M NOT ON ANYTHING! Yang: I just haven’t been sleeping well recently and my head’s a little fuzzy. That’s all. You: That would explain the middle-of-the-night trivia session. Yang: I said I was sorry about that. You: I believe you but I also believe that a good night’s rest in fundamentally important. You: Tonight, you’re going to sleep at a reasonable hour. Yang: You can’t just command me to go to sleep! You: I just did. Yang: Wait a minute, the acronyms, the orders, “subordinates”- you’re military, aren’t you? You: Yes. Yang: That’s awesome! I’m just a mechanic. I like working on engines. You: Riveting, truly, but those are topics for tomorrow. Tonight, you sleep. Yang: lmao, nice pun! You: I didn’t make a pun. Yang: I said I’m a mechanic, you said “riveting”, how was that not a pun? You: You’re deflecting. Yang: My shields are up. You: I’m not engaging in a pun war when you should be going to bed. Yang: I’m not going to bed, so I guess we’re at a stalemate. You: Fine. Here’s the deal. Make me a promise. Yang: Wow, we’re hardly on first name basis and now we’re making promises? You move fast. You: Promise me you’ll text me whatever piece of trivia comes to mind whenever you’re having trouble sleeping. Yang: I don’t get it. I’d be waking you up at all hours. You: Exactly. You seem like the sort of person to care very much about others so I doubt you’d compromise my sleep intentionally. Now that you have a clear purpose of going to sleep to help someone else sleep, you’ll have an easier time accomplishing the task. Yang: What are you, some kinda quack psychologist? Yang: You’re playing dirty. You: I’m military. What did you honestly expect? Yang: Touche. Yang: Fine. I’ll try to sleep tonight. But just know! I have a whole bunch of factoids for ya! Get ready cause neither of us is sleeping tonight! You: Usually, I’d insist someone buy me dinner first. Yang: Now you’re flirting. You: I’m merely stating fact. You: How about one more “factoid” before bed? Yang: Did you know a shark’s teeth are literally hard as steel? You: Playing to my interests, I see. Yang: I have my moments of brilliance. You: Indeed you do. Now, good night, Yang. Get some sleep. Yang: Good night Winter. Sweet dreams. You: And to you the same.

-Today, 0947- Yang: I hate you. You: Care to elaborate? Yang: Somehow, it worked, and I just woke up from the sleep of the dead. My body feels like mush sloshing around a hollow lead cylinder. You: What you’re feeling is the side effects of your body getting both too little and too much rest at the same time. If you establish a better sleep schedule, you’ll avoid this feeling in the future. Yang: Thank you, Doctor Winter. Do I get a lollipop? You: Continue being this cheeky; I assure you it’s doing nothing but improving my perception of you. Yang: Harsh. You: That was teasing. Yang: Oh. You really should add, like, an lol or something when you're joking. I'm not awake enough to find context clues. You: Aside from the lethargy, how are you feeling? Yang: Hungry. I finally dragged myself out of bed to cook breakfast and it turns out my sister already made me some. I’ve taught her well. You: Older or younger? Yang: I’m older by two years. Sometimes, it feels longer than that, though; I practically raised her. You: Interesting. I’m glad she made some food for you. Yang: Yeah. Now that I think about it, probably worried her pretty bad the last few weeks. You: Is that how long you’ve been having trouble sleeping?” Yang: About that. Yang: These pancakes taste fucking delicious btw. Yang: Did you know that, for most people, their right lung takes in more air than their left? You: We need to have a talk about priorities because I highly doubt you’ve inhaled your food that quickly. Yang: Sorry, my sis had to leave, so it’s a quiet breakfast over here. You: I don’t see that as something that needs to be corrected. You: However, I find myself wondering if you know the reason behind the lung trivia. Yang: I do! It’s because, for most people, your heart is just to the left of the center of your chest. So, since the heart takes up space, there’s only two sacs in your left lung, as opposed to three in your right. Yang: *sacks? Idek You: Idek? Yang: I Don’t Even Know- not sure what the difference between “sacs” and “sacks” is. You: This is why acronyms and abbreviations are more trouble than they’re worth. Yang: Okay, so basically, a sac is biological and a sack is manufactured. Like, sacs are things naturally occurring that fill with air or liquid, either in the body or outside it. Sacks are made for carrying things like groceries. Yang: Meanwhile, “sack” as a verb means either getting hit or getting laid off. Or maybe both, I guess, depending on your job. You: You went and looked it up? Yang: What, you think I was born with all these random things preprogrammed? Yang: I have a really good retention rate and I'm curious a lot. Yang: Google is my friend. You: Obviously. I suppose the appropriate follow-up question would be: you kept highlighting “most people”. Why? Yang: Well, there are a lot of medical reasons that makes it not applicable to everyone. Dextrocardia, for instance, in its mildest form causes the heart to face the opposite way, so the lungs usually fill differently because of that. More severe cases mean that more visceral organs are mirrored, too. You: Okay, so, language, sharks, the electric chair, and now medical trivia. The breadth of your subjects of interest is impressive. Yang: Thanks! Yang: Did you know that the cracking sound made by a whip is caused by the tip breaking the sound barrier? Yang: I’m pretty sure this counts as physics. You: I’ll add physics to the list. You: Now finish your breakfast and do something small. Take a nap in a few hours or whenever you feel tired. Yang: Do you have any siblings? Yang: You don't have to answer right away! Yang: Or at all. Yang: Guess you're busy? Eating breakfast maybe?

-Today, 1036- You: Actually, I was in formation. It's usually at 0930 but there were... complications this morning, so they pushed it back half an hour. Yang: Huh. For some reason, I always thought the military would be, like, SUPER punctual. You: And I have a younger sister and a younger brother, in that order. You: I'm going to tell you a secret: the military is always late. We just never admit it. Yang: So, you're like a bunch of cats? You: Given what constitutes my workday, yes, I would say that's accurate. "Herding cats" is the most accurate description of my job title. Yang: lmao, that's wild. Your siblings here in Vale too? Or back home in Atlas? You: My sister is here; she moved here to study at Beacon and then decided to stay. I suspect her girlfriend might factor into that decision but she's remaining tight lipped about it. My brother is at home, in Atlas. You: Now explain “lmao”. Yang: Laughing My As Off Yang: You really don’t know any chat abbreviations? You: Has it occurred to you that abbreviations is a very long word to describe the shortening of words and is, in itself, evidence that it’s all very silly? Yang: I know this is going to sound very grade school but you’re kinda cute when you’re annoyed. You: You’re right; that does sound very grade school. You: And you only say that because you can’t see me. Yang: Oh, so you don’t go all broody, kinda constipated, pursed lips when you’re annoyed by something? You: I understand those words individually but, combined, I’m lost. What would that even look like? Yang: Here. Yang: [photo][open][save] You: First, I want to assure you that you’re a very beautiful individual. You: Next, you look absolutely ridiculous. Yang: Hey, that’s how I think you look when you’re annoyed! You: I do not. Yang: Okay, I’ll take your word for it! You: [photo][open][save] Yang: Oh Yang: Wow You: That is what I look like when annoyed. You: And, not to wound your ego, but that annoyance isn’t inspired by you. A subordinate just asked me for fucking grid squares. You: At this point, one would think that joke’s too tired to work, but one would be wrong. Yang: Did you know that the winter of 392 was so cold, all of Beacon Falls froze over? You: Back to trivia? Yang: It’s my default response when higher brain function shuts down. You: I’ll admit, this is the first time in a long while I’ve felt flattery to be entirely sincere. Yang: This isn’t flattery; this is cold, hard facts. You: I see. Yang: Hey, I, uh, just realized the time, I gotta get to work. Yang: See if I still have a job, at any rate. You: I understand. Good luck. Yang: Thanks! Hope your work day gets better!

-Today, 1236- You: I assume the radio silence to be a good sign.

-Today, 1428- Yang: Yeah! Turns out, the shop kept a spot for me. My boss is being really understanding. Yang: Kinda... babying me, too, but... I’m getting used to it. Yang: At least he fired the idiot that started this whole mess. You: Am I permitted to inquire as to what happened? Yang: I don’t wanna go into details. You: That’s understandable. You: I’m glad they kept a spot for you. Are you going to return to work full time or ease into it? Yang: Give me a minute. You: Very well.

-Today, 1513- Yang: A few months ago, there was an accident at the shop. We do body work too and this guy tried using a machine he had no business using. Freaked out, caused a scene, I tried going over to help, ended up with my right arm caught in the damn thing. Mangled it pretty bad. So bad the docs had to take it. I got fitted for a prosthetic and I’m just trying to find normal again. Yang: I know I said I didn’t wanna go into the details but I’m actually shit at lying. Yang: Except in, like, weirdly specific circumstances. You: Thank you. Yang: Ok. Gotta admit. Not the response I expected. You: It must be very difficult to discuss and think about the accident. You didn’t have to go into it, yet you did, and I thank you for trusting me with that. You: That being said, is this a contributing factor to your insomnia? Yang: It’s not insomnia. I’m just not sleeping well. Yang: But yeah, idk, maybe it’s related. I liked sleeping on my right side and I can’t anymore. Anchor digs into my ribs. You: Establishing a new routine can be tricky at first. Everything is just a painful reminder of the incident. Yang: Sounds like you have experience with this. You: A bit. A superior of mine whom I respect greatly lost most of his body a few years back. He speaks very frankly about the challenges he faced when returning to the line. Yang: Wait, you mean General Ironwood? You: You know him? Yang: Who in Remnant doesn’t? He’s basically a celebrity. I mean, not just for the prosthetic body thing; he’s also the youngest commanding General of the Atlesian military. Yang: Which... tbh, is kinda weird. Isn’t he pushing fifty? You: Age takes on a whole new concept in the military. Yang: I’d say. Yang: They talked about him when I started my physical therapy. Supposed to inspire me, I guess. You: For what it’s worth, he actually dislikes when people do that. He says that each individual case is a war all unto itself. Comparisons are detrimental to the individual’s recovery. Yang: I like him better already. I’ve been over here trying to just “suck it up” I mean, not like I lost anything more than an arm, what do I have to complain about? You: Hold that thought. Yang: Okay?

-Today, 1558- You: Miss Yang? This is General Ironwood. Yang: Look, I’m all for practical jokes, but this isn’t a good one. You: [photo][open][save] Yang: This is not a joke. You: No, it is not. You: Miss Yang, I’d like to extend my deepest, sincerest sympathies to you for your loss. Having your life upended in such a way can be extremely disorienting. However, the measure of your strength does not come from what you can or can’t do in comparison to before. It comes from your desire to continue fighting, to find a new balance to your life. Asymmetry is a measure of beauty, strength, and courage in its own right. Yang: Thank you, sir. Yang: *Sir. You: I’d like to extend an invitation to a support group I host. It’s mostly military members from all over Remnant but, if you don’t mind a bit of morbidly crass humor- a habit I’m attempting to break the lot of them from, with limited results- we’d be honored with your presence. Yang: No offense, but I doubt a bunch of soldiers would be “honored” by a mechanic. You: The first thing I teach is to see similarities instead of differences. You saw something dangerous and, rather than run away, you ran towards it. All of us share that experience. You: Except Carl. Yang: What happened to him? You: I apologize; it’s a military specific meme. Winter mentioned you’re rather fond of memes. Yang: Oh, so you know what a meme is, but she doesn’t? You: Don’t tell her I said so- she’s a very good soldier- but she’s always had a stick up her ass. She could use more memes in her life. Yang: Should I take that as an order? You: Absolutely. Yang: Can do. And, uh, sure. About the support group. You: Excellent! I’ll give Winter the details so she can pass them onto you. It was wonderful taking to you, Miss Yang. Yang: Yeah, you too, Sir. You: It’s Winter again. I hope that helped. Yang: Did you literally walk into the office of the commanding General of Atlas’ military, just to hand him your scroll and say ‘talk to this bitch’? You: I didn’t use those words; I told him I had a friend who recently attended physical therapy post amputation and I thought some words of encouragement from him would be a good idea. You: Wait, did he literally say I have a stick up my ass? Yang: WOOOW, meme savvy he might be, but apparently he doesn’t know how to delete a text message. You: I can’t believe he’d say that. You: I most certainly do not have a stick lodged in my posterior, figurative or otherwise. Yang: I’d offer to check but that’s a bit too fast too soon, so I’ll just say you seem alright to me. You: Thank you, Yang. Yang: Cranky when I wake you up at the asscrack of dawn, though. That might be when ass and stick are firm friends. You: Do not make me take it back. Yang: I’m just kidding! Yang: Seriously, though, thanks. You didn’t have to do that. You: You’re welcome.

-Today, 0233- Yang: Did you know it takes the average person seven minutes to fall asleep? You: I sincerely thought you’d be asleep by now. Yang: I did. Woke up. Yang: Sorry. You: Do you know what a contact truck is? Yang: Uh, no, no idea. You: It’s the military vehicle utilized by mechanics, outfitted with tools, so they can drive out and repair other vehicles. Do you know why it’s called that? Yang: Hit me with it. You: That was an actual question. Yang: Huh? You: I’ve been asking for as long as I’ve been in. Not even General Ironwood knows why it’s called that. It just is. Yang: omg that’s hilarious You: It’s that, too. Also incredibly vexing. You: I just want to know why it’s called that. Yang: Heh. If I find out, I’ll let you know. You: Go back to sleep, Yang. Yang: I’ll try. Night. You: And sweet dream. Yang: lol, same to you.

#TRR writes #Elderburn #Texting AU

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blizzweirdo · 6 years

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StarCraft Fanfiction: “No Omen, No Country’s Cause”

A few months ago, during the StarCraft 20th anniversary celebration, I created a blog for the sole purpose of remedying a great injustice: according to an infographic I saw here on Tumblr, fanfiction involving my favorite character, Vice Adm. Alexei Stukov, comprised only 1% of StarCraft fanfiction (in English, I’m assuming).

And so I embarked on a months-long odyssey, putting together what I thought would be a short story about how Stukov would react to the UED returning to the Koprulu sector. What it turned into is a multi-perspective, most likely novella- length text that I think would work well as a serial.

In “No Omen, No Country’s Cause,” I seek to reconcile discordant parts of Stukov’s personality, give him something to live for, flesh out his backstory, make him to engage in some badassery, and get him back to where he was in SC: Brood War (personality wise). Along the way, expect a lot of battles, new characters, and interactions with other canon characters like Adm. Matt Horner, Valerian Mengsk, Alarak, Zagara, and others.

This teaser is rated T, but expect some chapters to be M for language, violence, sexual content, and zergy squish-squish. I’ll probably post small bits once or twice a week, releasing what I’ve written so far and giving me a chance to write more. I do see myself finishing it (I’ve already written the ending but not the middle) unless there’s just zero interest.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated. If you’d like to view this in a different format, it is also available on FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, and Wattpad under the same username.

Note: someone pointed out this sounds like it’s going to get political. I promise it is not.

“No Omen, No Country’s Cause”

TARSONIS CITY, TARSONIS: 09:55

"Five minutes to air time, people. Let's get moving!" Kate Lockwell paced behind Adm. Matthew Horner as he stood at his podium. From the side of the makeshift stage, she shouted at a few people in the wings. "Tim! Where's Kallie with the other camera?"

"The replacement lens didn't come in. Wasn't a 'priority' shipment and didn't make it through customs. She knows a guy uptown and she's going to borrow one. She'll be back in fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen?!"

"We'll start without her! It'll be fine. No one will notice we're down a camera."

"They'll notice if we're down two presidential debaters... Where're my challenger candidates?" Kim Lockwell stopped on her heel and put her hand on the shoulder of Horner's blue suit.

"Well, if there's one thing that I can say for you military types, at least you're punctual, Mr. President." She winked at him, and before he could respond, she was gone.

Horner leaned over the podium and looked into the "audience." In the makeshift broadcast room, there were about two-dozen seats, all of which were full of journalists from around the sector-Umoja, Moria, and even some of the outlying colonies. All were there to see the beginning of Tarsonis's new government as it shifted from the Terran Dominion to the Terran Republic. After defeating Amon and negotiating peace with the zerg under Zagara, Valerian Mengsk had begun focusing on rebuilding Tarsonis and Korhal, and that's when the political shitstorm started. The Dominion needed the Umojan Protectorate's help, but they refused to acknowledge a "medieval monarchy spawned by a dictator" as a valid government even though it was constitutional. The Umojans also released more information about Valerian that was potentially damaging-that the labs run by Mobius Corp. had been more closely supervised by him than he had originally said. Skygeirr Station was the most egregious. Horner had asked him, man-to-man, what he actually knew. He had told him that he was only aware they were performing experiments on zerg and xel'naga tissues-he didn't know about the hybrid breeding program. But he did know about what they were doing to UED POW Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov. Valerian said that he willingly turned a blind eye to what they did to him because he thought it vital, at the time, to finding a way to neutralize Sara Kerrigan. Whether it was because he was UED or because he was infested and technically zerg, news reports focused on the hybrids and glossed over the torture of someone he knew to be a decent man. If it bothered Valerian, it was hard to see, which made Horner watchful of him now, waiting for more of his father to emerge. The Umojan Protectorate has a point, Horner thought.

Valerian was forced to step down, and his cabinet named Horner as his interim successor until the Terran Republic could build its infrastructure enough to hold an election. The Umojan Protectorate began helping Tarsonis pick up the pieces of the coup against Arcturus Mengsk and the invasion by the Queen of Blades. It had been five years, and Horner was just now thinking that he had the hang of governing-and now he would have to publicly debate other candidates and run for the position to keep it for another five years. Even so, Horner had doubts about his leadership capabilities. Raynor should be up here-not me, he thought. But he knew that would never have worked. Jim Raynor had not wanted to lead even when he was with the Raiders. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them, he thought, Valerian was the first, Raynor the second... But Valerian was disgraced and Raynor had vanished. Hopefully I'm the third... After Valerian stepped down and the smoke cleared, there weren't many other options.

Horner took a deep breath and thumbed again through his notes on the datapad in front of him. His main talking points were those of national security. They had been burned before by outside threats. Other than a few outlying factions, the protoss were their allies, but on the other hand, the zerg, even with Zagara leading them, could be fractured by a new leader-just as Abathur almost had done. Worse, if Horner had learned anything, it was the threat that could not be predicted that always ...bites you in the ass. Restructuring was also critical. The military needed its academies back online, and the education system-especially on Tarsonis-needed new buildings, updated materials, and staff that were not praising the "glory of the Dominion." Trade deals with the Kel-Morians and the Umojan Protectorate to bring food and other resources to people who needed it were his other sticking points. Things we can all agree on, not too detailed, and enough to talk about but not enough to make me look like a boring, stuffed uniform-I hope.

Finally, one of the other candidates entered the studio. The journalists all stood at once, their cameras flashing as she strode in. He recognized her; It was Dr. Joan Slavens, a philosophy professor at Tarsonis City Colonial University, the largest and most prestigious public universities on Tarsonis-before it was shut down by the Dominion. She had settled into being a nuisance via private broadcasts during the war. Horner had watched a few of them. Dr. Slavens was a good speaker, and she had the air of a rumpled intellectual with her barely-tamed blonde curls and wrinkled tweed jacket. She waved warmly to the journalists. This made him even more nervous. Dr. Slavens was a well-known personality and respected. She already had a following, and it would be easy for her to build a bloc of voters. He, on the other hand, had name recognition, and was known as a war hero on one hand but a compatriot of the now-controversial Valerian Mengsk on the other-his alliances could make someone's decision either way.

Dr. Slavens took her place at the podium next to his and adjusted her microphone, tapping on it to test it. She put her hand over it and turned to Horner, giving him a rueful smile.

"Of course, Mr. Marinakis isn't here yet. I hope his freighters are timelier than he is."

"You have some experience with Marcos Marinakis?"

"Unfortunately, yes. He told me he would let me interview him for my vids a half a dozen times... He was a no-show on half of them and more than an hour late on the rest. We could be here a while. I mean, this only a presidential debate, after all. I'm sure his business brunch was much more pressing."

"Well, if he's much later, we'll have to start without him."

Marcos Marinakis was a shipping magnate-one of the few that wasn't Kel-Morian. He had a reputation of being loud, obnoxious, but shrewd in business. Some people would believe that would make him good at guiding the Republic, but Horner didn't really see him as a threat. Because of his manner and what inevitably comes out about anyone who runs a large company, he was by far a long shot.

Horner's thoughts were interrupted by a low rumble far in the distance. It shook the building, and a little bit of plaster rained from the ceiling.

"What the hell was that?" Lockwell said. Horner's security detail, two marines in street combat gear, came in from outside the room.

"Mr. President, we have reports of an attack on the outskirts of town heading inward to our position. We need to get you all to a secure location."

"Where?" Horner said quickly.

"The basement of this building is a nuclear bunker. We should be able to hide out there."

Horner sprung into action.

"All right everyone, listen," Horner said into the microphone. "We're all going to do this quietly and without panicking. Please follow these gentlemen downstairs. Keep aware of your surroundings..."

There was another rumble and the power went out. Horner shouted over the din of fighting and the journalists talking nervously among themselves.

"And don't panic."

The journalists filed out of the room with Horner taking up the rear. He paused to look out the window. Republic troops had began flooding into the streets, and before them, a nydus canal had opened. The infested crawled from its maw, waves of them flooding over abandoned hovercars and the makeshift barriers troops had constructed along the way. In the distance, a siege tank and a platoon of Terran Republic troops began firing at them, but were overwhelmed by the sea of flesh and claws almost instantly. With dread, Horner realized there could be only one person responsible: Stukov.

And there's the threat we didn't anticipate.

#starcraft #fanfic #fanfiction #alexei stukov #stukov #matt horner #no omen no country's cause

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hunterartemis · 7 years

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Angel of Music (Jack Kline X Reader)

Prompt: Jack is trying hard to impress Dean with his Biblical talents, but instead he achieves something else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK98eBpw9yM click on this and minimize before you read this. This was my inspiration for this oneshot

‘Here... this will be all the books covering Biblical and pre-Biblical knowledge‘ I handed the new guy all the books we had about the Biblical lores. ‘I would suggest emphasizing on Book of Enoch though.‘ I added, ‘it sort of mentions and says what you are.‘

‘What I am? Really?‘ his face brightened up with hope, ‘I wouldn’t be that happy just yet buddy. Things got dirty in there. That is why it’s called The Forbidden Book of Enoch‘ I said, patted his back and left, ‘call me if you need anything.‘

‘_...‘ he called me at my back, ‘yes?‘ I answered with ease, ‘do you think it will help me to show Dean that I don’t intend to hurt any of you?‘

‘Look Jack,‘ I grimaced, and it was hard for me to give him false hope, yet I was not ready yet to crack him the cold hard truth, ‘I can’t ensure that yet. Dean is not the most open person in the world, and right now, he is in mourning.‘ i clarified, ‘but if you follow what he wanted for you... he might come around.‘ I patted his back and left.

I went to the sitting room where Dean was abjectly sitting and Sam looking like he would do anything to make Dean happy. I sat down with some lorebooks, rather nasty ones too, with a Jerome’s Bible sprawled open at the side next to King James’ like you would do to dictionaries while you are reading a difficult book.

‘Dean... ‘ I called him softly, and looked at him square, ‘I think I have something about the Shedims...‘ he shifted on his seat and forwarded his face, ready to hear me, ‘it’s been three days Dean, stop with that.’

‘So you don’t have anything on the Shedims...‘ Dean huffed and slammed his palm on the glass-top, while Sam was ready to follow him to calm him down, ‘just-just... Dean, listen to me!‘ I stood up and grabbed his shoulder and with my two fingers angled his face towards me, ‘stop doing this okay... it’s not healthy!’ I sat him down and cupped his face, ‘I know...‘ a tear leaked from my eyes ‘how sad you are, and how... everything is not according to anything we have seen! But you gotta hold on Dean, please.‘ I said, ‘and... I have some good news.‘

‘Please... by all means!‘ Dean added sarcastically.

‘I think I have found something that could be good for both of us and Jack. I have dug every forbidden book on biblical lores, especially those which had been rejected from the canon.‘ I finally saw a flicker of intrigued hope in Dean’s face, ‘remember... how you told me how Death told you Genesis was sketchy? Well, canonically it is. There is a whole book middle of Genesis 6-11, the Book of Enoch, it has all the hot knowledge of Nephilims and Princes of Hell. I left it with Jack.‘

‘What the hell did you do that?‘ Dean almost broke the table with his fist-slamming, ‘Dean... relax...‘ I sat him down again, ‘think about it! all the vile deeds of angels and demons are recorded there, names of every rotten son of bitch, crowning prince of hell, everything... He could be alerted, and well equipped against them!‘

‘Or against us!‘ Dean’s voice rose, ‘_, that might be the stupidest thing you have ever done! You left the grenade with him... WITH FREAKING SON OF LUCIFER!‘

‘Oh yeah, and flinging Songs of Solomon was a pretty good idea I am guessing!‘ I answered, ‘the kid started stabbing himself after that! even for Lucifer’s son, that tore my heart into pieces Dean...‘ I was almost tearful, ‘You raised a shapeshifter kid once... a freaking baby... Jack might look 16, but he is a freaking baby Dean! would you have let that baby stab himself?‘

‘Uh guys...‘ Sam called from behind, and pointed around him, ‘am I drunk or the lights are too bright.‘

Sam was right. the warm white light bulbs from the 1950′s was burning like neon-lights, and it hurt the eyes. We were all used to the air-pressure in the subterranean bunker, but the air was surprising light and queerly, fresh, like outside world in springtime.

‘Please don’t tell me nobody called in those air fresheners again‘ Dean exasperatedly called again.I was very baffled by the entire existence of our bunker, the lights burned in such a way that every corner of the bunker was illuminated without shadows. Suddenly we all stopped in our tracks.

‘Guys... you hear that?‘ Sam almost whispered, and went forward ahead of us

‘Yeah... oh god!‘ I panicked, ‘please don’t tell me Jack is stabbing himself again!‘

‘Uh... I wouldn’t worry about that yet,’ Sam beckoned us to the corridor where mine and Jack’s rooms were. As we entered there, a beautiful sound flew towards our direction, and even Dean was stopped by its tracks. It wasn’t the type of sounds we hear from day to day, or in radio, it had some kind of ecclesiastical feeling.

‘Sounds like...‘ Dean answered, ‘church...‘

‘It’s definitely does...‘ i said, ‘and it’s coming from Jack’s room.‘

Sam gently pushed Jack’s door open, and we were almost blasted by a blinding golden light emitting from his room. When our vision adjusted, we saw something that wasn’t near anything we saw or experienced so far.

Jack was sitting on the floor, with a book opened on his lap, upon which his right palm was pressed. The vein on his hands glowed golden and following the formation of blood vessels it flew towards his throat and emitted as the most beautiful chant I had ever heard anyone singing. His eyes were closed, not in the agonized manner when he heard the angel radio, but it appeared that he was in peace, well, almost in bliss. He was ‘singing’ and the more he ‘sang’ the more the air lightened around us. It sounded vaguely familiar, and as I started to make out the lyrics, I understood what he sang.

‘It’s Jean Baptiste Racine’s Cantique, Opus 11.’ I hoarsely spoke, my knees was weak with the magnitude of the melody that was flowing through him. Even Dean couldn’t make anything to say.

‘How’s he doing that?‘ Sam asked curiously, and perhaps with his voice, Jack broke from his trance, and looked at us apologetically.

‘I-I am sorry... I didn’t mean to do that...‘ Jack especially looked at Dean and me. ‘It’s okay Jack...‘ Sam spoke and sniffed subtly, wiping his eyes slightly, ‘that was beautiful... beautiful.‘

I sat down to match he eye level, ‘yes... Jack, you have a beautiful gift.’

‘I do?‘ Jack asked, his eyes lit up with innocent happiness, ‘you’re not angry at me?‘ I smiled and grabbed his hand, ‘no-no... not mad! How can we be mad when you have the voice of an angel.‘ With my words, his smile faltered, ‘I don’t think that is something to be proud of.‘

My eyes softened, ‘Oh no, no... no... It means, your voice brings people joy.’ I said, ‘did your mother teach you to sing?’

‘No...‘ Jack said, ‘No... after I was finished with the book of enoch you told me to read, I found this in the pile you left me. It was in a language I never saw, although it looked like English. Then when I opened this page‘ he gave me the Book of Jean Baptiste Racine, ‘the words did not seemed strange anymore... like they were whispering to me. It was like hearing my mother when I was in her belly. I thought it was something for me... then when I touched the page, it happened.‘

‘What happened Jack?‘ Sam joined the team.

‘I saw paradise...‘ Jack said, ‘like its written in Bible... garden, light, angels. All of them peaceful and happy. Nothing like that thing the man told me to free from Hell.‘ he furrowed his brows, ‘they told me to sing... so I sang.‘

‘Why did you sing Jack? what was the song meant to You?‘ I asked earnestly. ‘They told me I can sing... and it will make me feel better about myself. Not scared anymore... like‘ he touched his heart ‘is warm here...‘

We felt Dean abruptly leaving the place.

...

Extended Ending

After dinner, I came to check in the living room to see if all the lights were off. I saw Dean sitting in the table with books opened before him. I tried to close them off, but he grabbed my hand.

‘_, do you believe him?‘ he asked me.

‘I have no reason not to... he is three days old. He hasn’t learnt lying.‘ I said, ‘even Lucifer developed inequity millinias after he was created.‘ Dean gently sat me down and flung me the Book of Job

“Job 38:7 �� When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy“

“Maybe Bieber gets em from the daddy...“ Dean sardonically answered, and my brows furrowed at him. ‘You’ve been to hell Dean, weren’t you?‘

‘Damn straight...‘ He answered, and I caressed his cheek. ‘You said there was a part of you which was destroyed in Hell, didn’t you... Hell burns the goodness in you doesn’t it?‘ Dean looked at me incredulously.

‘What do you mean _?‘ Dean looked at me confusingly.

‘Long ago, my mother used to tell me a story. It was about a boy who was assumed by everyone as ‘devil’s spawn.‘ I traced the veins in Dean’s hand, and lost myself in my past. ‘His fault was he didn’t knew where he came from. But there was a girl he loved, from a very young age, and she was the one who accepted him wholeheartedly. But the brutality on him by everyone made him so angry and frustrated that not even Cathy’s love could save Heathcliff.‘ I tried to be all mysterious, but failed as I was reminded of the story so bad. ‘Dean... when you assume someone evil for too long, even the person starts to believe that he is evil. He kills the goodness inside him.‘

Dean looked at me without blinking, his eyes were moistened.

‘For millennia, Lucifer was caged. He was blamed, hated and feared for so long that people forgot that it was through him Heaven heard its music. Maybe Lucifer forgot himself‘ I said, as my heart wrenched in pain at that thought, ‘that he was born with music in his veins... maybe you too have forgotten the happiness you felt before Hell.‘

Dean opened his mouth to speak, his lips quivered, but no words came.

‘Let him try Dean...‘ I said, grabbing his hands gently ‘Lucifer’s son or not, let him try. Let them both try-- father and son. Satan or not, there is no greater tragedy than knowing the Angel of Music forgot about the melody inside him.‘

#supernatural imagines #supernatural imagine #dean winchester imagine #jack kline imagine #lucifer imagine #angel of music #tragic #beautiful

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bestfriendforhire · 3 years

Text

Children of BFFH, Entry 73

“Care if I do some scouting now that we’re away from Ashengarde City?” asked Rona hopefully. Having a character name that matched her actual name was convenient, but I still had her on my list. When she had asked me to join her and some friends on a quest, I didn’t really expect anything as grandiose as this, nor as time-consuming.

“Good plan. I’ll cover the ground.” replied Holly Wood, who appeared to be a River Elf. She had a bow and several types of swords. Though Forest Elves were constantly fighting my people for land, River Elves were too far away to care about Muckbluck Goblins.

I scanned my list for the player name that Rona had provided me. “Doc” was what she had told me. Was she actually named that? If not, why would they call her a doc?

“Anyone willing to carry my pack?” questioned Rona. “Gets in the way if something attacks me.”

“I’ll take it. Perseverance can carry a lot.” I told her, having my character accept the moment she offered. On one hand, a Paladin was guaranteed to be the most trustworthy ally, but handing over these ridiculously expensive packs with their even more expensive contents was insane. Though Rona and I have been texting, we only met two days ago.

My jaw dropped open as Rona changed into a black bird and flew away. I’d have never guessed that her character was a shapeshifter. Was that racial or a spell she knew? Actually, I didn’t have a clue what any of these people could do.

“Where’s Holly?” I questioned, realizing I couldn’t see her. “I was going to assist her, since my stealth is decent, despite my armor.”

Damien’s laughter was easy to recognize, despite being muffled from the coffin he was in. “You’d never keep up.” he insisted. I certainly hadn’t expected several characters to be vampires. They all had very stereotypical coffins, hauled in a wagon covered by a canvas.

“What Greythorn is trying to tell you is that Holly is a Ranger, as in the title. She’s the best tracker and scout among us in the wilds.” explained Peredur, a tall fairy-like boy brown hair and gossamer wings. He looked like a type of melee combatant with several weapons strapped to him.

According to my list, that was… Four? I really hoped his parents hadn’t numbered him. I was fairly sure my clan had a NPC Ranger, but I didn’t have a clue what a player had to go through to get the title.

“That does sound advantageous.” I admitted, wishing I knew more than that these were Four’s friends. None of them sounded like adults, but did they all know Damien in person? “If you don’t mind my asking, how did all of you meet?” I questioned.

There was a brief pause before anyone replied. Then Anima said, “Excluding Rona, we’re the children of Best Friend For Hire. We all grew up playing this together where our parents work. Since you’re going to see some strange things from my character anyway, I might as well tell you that my mom is the game’s developer, giving my character a unique inheritance.”

Anima looked like a human priest. She wore a perfectly white robe with silver trim and a black belt that held her morningstar and a dagger, so I assumed she was a healer, though most people focused on healing also carried a shield.

“She means to say we inherited some admin-like abilities.” asserted Justine, sounding giddy. Justine was probably human, though her skin and hair were perfectly white. She wore a short skirt and a tight-fitting top, both in black. The gold stripes on them made her look like some sort of superhero. Lifting the enormous hammer strapped to her back would take inhuman strength outside of the game.

Messy and Crazy were the supposed names of these two. Was Rona just messing with me, or did they really call one another that?

“So you’re sisters?” I asked, trying not to say anything embarrassing as my brain struggled with the idea that I was playing Ancient Tribes of Earth with the creator’s daughters.

As Justine laughed, Anima said, “No. Technically, she’s my niece, but we’re about the same age. My sister is older.”

“When you say admin-like, what sort of abilities do you have?” I asked hopefully. Realizing she might not want to tell me, I quickly said, “Sorry. I am curious, but you don’t have to say, though knowing what all of you can do might help if we get into a fight.”

“Just listen to Ella or Four. Ella probably remembers you exist by now. She’s our de facto battle master when Four doesn’t take charge. He’s our leader.” explained Kyduan, whom Rona named Aid.

“Remembers I exist?” I prodded, not sure what to think of that.

“Ella has very poor short-term memory.” explained Anima. “As for my abilities, I can do things like this.” she stated just as an elephant appeared next to me. “I ran into some trouble a few months ago, so I’ve been working at leveling my unique skills. I can summon a large variety of the game’s creatures now.”

“I spawn weapons, not creatures.” asserted Justine, using the shrug emote.

“Okay… so Anima is a healer with beast summoning, and Justine is a fighter?” I asked to confirm.

“Yes, I primarily heal, so good way to think of us.” replied Anima.

“I’m working on a Wizard title, so I have a very large number of diverse spells.” supplied Kyduan.

“What’s that one give you?” I asked, feeling curious.

“A flat twenty-five percent off on spell cost, twenty-five percent increased effect, and a number of unique spells. The real trick to getting it is keeping all spell skills balanced for an extended period. I have to do non-combat spells constantly to keep them on par with my other spells.” he explained.

“If we explain what we can do, will you be able to remember which is which?” questioned Ada, who was walking by Adele, Adeline, and Adelaide. The only distinct difference between the Elven girls were their weapons.

I wasn’t even certain what type of Elves they were. “I’ll certainly try, but… why did you make your characters so similar?”

“We’re quadruplets.” stated Adeline, though she sounded exactly the same to me.

Then Adelaide said, “Identical quadruplets.”

“We’re used to matching.” added Adele.

“I go to school with identical twins, but I haven’t met quadruplets before.” I admitted.

Before I could say more, Holly came running toward us, calling “Hármann raiding party coming our way on blighthounds.”

“How many?” asked Peredur immediately.

“Around thirty. I didn’t take the time for an accurate count, but I didn’t see any Pride Marks.” she replied.

If I remembered right, Hármann painted their bodies as displays of their previous victories.

“I took count!” exclaimed Rona as she came swooping down to land on Peredur’s shoulder. “Thirty-three of them.”

“Can you control your minions from the air?” asked Four.

“You bet!” she exclaimed.

“Try to get them around to flank while flying circles over the Hármann party.” ordered Four. “We’ll move to intercept, so Megwrn can see what we can do. Ella, ambush plan.”

Seemingly without even needing time to think, Ella said, “Right. Mounted Hármann. Aid stay with the cart and give the vampires cover on my mark. They’ll charge in from the side after we engage. Doc will create a trench in front of their charge, aiming to trip their mounts. Then standard wall and assault formation. Rona, use your magic to keep them funneled after the trench is deployed. Some might try to escape the open side of our formation. Messy, summon something ferocious if any get through the walls. Layla, you’re part of the wall, so front line on the left, please.”

“Wait. My duty is to first try to make peace first. As violent as they are, Hármann are intelligent.” I explained, knowing my new friends weren’t experienced at playing with a Paladin in their party. “Also, what minions?”

“Rona’s a Necromancer. Don’t worry. They’re not inherently evil.” supplied Justine.

I had no experience with necromancers at all, so I had to take her word for it. I was a little disturbed that I missed the fact we had Undead following us somewhere nearby.

“In that case, hurry off to meet them. When diplomacy fails, charge toward that thicket.” ordered Ella as she made her character point. “We’ll reach there in time to hide.”

I replied with the nod emote and hurried off. This wasn’t how I was used to playing, but the experience would be good. Small parties of my Goblin brethren rarely accomplished much compared with guilds like The Garde, and my solo play was largely just role-playing with the game’s NPCs.

Spotting the raiding party, I rode out toward them, reigning Perseverance in a good fifty meters from them and casting Divine Presence to make me more noticeable while increasing my voice range. Then I activated diplomacy and called “Please, stop and speak with me!”

The riders turned as a group toward me and started speeding up.

“If you do not slow yourselves, I’ll take that as a sign that you’re looking to fight.” I told them, frowning when there wasn’t a reaction. With a sigh, I charged toward the thicket. Diplomacy rarely worked on raiding parties, but I still hoped to pull it off eventually. As I rode, careful not to outpace the raiders by too much, I pulled Hamchopper to the ready.

When my mom decided to retire from the game, she had gifted me her giant cleaver, Hamchopper, as well as her armor and other gear. Nekopawpaw had made Hamchopper a couple years ago as a special order through Uncle Mick, and the cleaver had proven its worth through countless fights. Without the great gear, I probably wouldn’t have managed becoming a Paladin.

Hearing the sounds of Hármann screaming behind me, I glanced back to see the back lines crashing into the front as a large pit opened in the ground. By the time I was looking ahead again, spells and arrows were flying past me. I hurried around to take my place, jumping off Perseverance as I reached the end of the line.

A moving cloud of darkness charged into the Hármann raiders from the side, and the screams intensified. When a zombie leaped onto the back of a Hármann who had attempted to flee, I realized that the fight wouldn’t even reach me. I had seen some similar one-sided victories from the great warriors of my clan, but I never expected such a feat from other kids.

#Children of BFFH #Children #of #BFFH #Jovial Times #Jovial #Times #Fantasy #Fiction #Story

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