Whats your scene name

Ask Reddit...

2008.01.25 04:52 Ask Reddit...

AskReddit is the place to ask and answer thought-provoking questions.
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2011.01.28 09:01 hokeydokey /r/rnb: for those who love to groove.

For any and all discussions, music, and news concerning R&B/Soul — past, present, and future. Share your thoughts and favorite songs! 🎶 🎤
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2008.06.09 18:46 Shoes? Shoes!!!

Shoes are so much more than a covering for a foot. Shoes are art and creativity. Shoes are distinction and class. Shoes can be an accessory or a lifestyle. Let's talk shoes!
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2024.05.19 22:07 g3thic [F4A][Literate] Jujutsu Kaisen: the Roleplay!

Hello again! I’m not sure if you've read or seen my other posts about roleplays but this one will purely be about Jujutsu Kaisen!
INTRODUCTION
My name is Hina. To know more about me, I was born and raised in Japan and I have been an avid writer ever since I moved to the States when I was 11. My second language is English but I believe it’s been pretty good these days. I recently turned 22 years old and I'm female. Talking about age, I would be comfortable with you being 17+ and preferably at least 20. Roleplaying with minors isn’t a big thing for me, I apologize. I’m in the west coast, PST timezone. Let’s see.. What other information can I give you? I would say I enjoy skating, basketball, watching tv shows and anime, and reading. My favorite anime is Nana and Death Note.
ROLEPLAY
For what i’m looking for, i’d have to say basically anything in the Jujutsu Kaisen universe. Perhaps something done in the Shibuya Arc, or even the Culling Games Arc where are our characters are participating. Or maybe something entirely different. I think it would be cool if our characters were strong on their own and everything was set up in the Culling Games Arc, them having to maybe ally or something. But we can also have it be basically them fighting together to make themselves stronger and then fight new enemies as well. I’m down for ideas!
I’m also down for a Modern AU roleplay with the original characters. Maybe an OC x CC or CC x CC in that case!
CHARACTERS
I tend to use character sheets to describe my character, these usually consist of names, background, and personality. More so on appearances, I prefer using animated or drawn references than real life people. I enjoy good enough references where I get the idea of how the character would look like.
The types of characters I write are either the lone wolf type that has some sad past which leads them to want to join someone for a redemption arc or the bubbly character who is the one that brings the mood up and is usually seen as trustworthy and of that kind.
I like all types of tropes, especially enemies to lovers or rivalry. I also really enjoy opposites attract as a whole from either opposite personality or something else they would be opposites in. Enemies to lovers takes my heart, though. I love seeing the characters go past the urge to ultimately hate each other and/or go past their usual way of disliking the others lineage or upcoming.
REQUIREMENT
I think this is my last paragraph on the roleplay. It’s the most important, at least. Requirements. All roleplay searches come with them. Or at least that’s what I heard! But don’t fret, there isn’t much.
I’ve seen this as one of the most used requirements, and I agree with it. As someone who’s first language wasn’t English, I understand that you may not be great at it. But please, I do require a partner that at least has proper use of grammar and punctuation. You don’t even have to use big words or anything, just at least know where to put your periods and the placement of your words.
My second requirement is for you to be LITERATE! Please. I’m a big writer, I tend to ramble on and tend to write more than what I thought I would. (like i’m doing right now) I write multiple paragraphs from the starter until the scene relaxes. I also understand that sometimes writing big blocks of words every response is tiring or boring so I don’t expect it all the time, at least after the starter has been made and in more important scenes. Dialogue also cuts my replies shorter.
Please please please be polite in OOC! We may just be role playing together but kindness goes all ways. If we do include OOC, I enjoy talking about many things. My day, movies, games, funny moments and stories, all of that!
I think that’s the end to this wonderful journey of an ad about my search. I hope you are still here, fellow writer! I would LOVE it if you reached out to me! This wasn’t all for nothing, right!
But don’t leave yet! I do have a passcode. I know this was a jumble of words and rambling but I still have to put one in. I heard that there’s a lot of people on here that don’t read things fully and miss out on rules or information! But.. Just because you read through this all, I’ll gladly give you options on the passcode! Also please put in an introduction of yourself! Don’t think “Oh maybe I shouldn’t bother this person with too much to read”! I like seeing big blocks.
PASSCODE:
What’s your dream country to travel to and why?
OR
Who’s your favorite TV show / Cartoon / Game / Anime character?
Feel free to pick both! Now, that’s all from me. Please don’t put your request as just “Wanna rp”!
submitted by g3thic to Roleplay [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 22:07 g3thic [F4A][Literate] Jujutsu Kaisen: the Roleplay!

Hello again! I’m not sure if you've read or seen my other posts about roleplays but this one will purely be about Jujutsu Kaisen!
INTRODUCTION
My name is Hina. To know more about me, I was born and raised in Japan and I have been an avid writer ever since I moved to the States when I was 11. My second language is English but I believe it’s been pretty good these days. I recently turned 22 years old and I'm female. Talking about age, I would be comfortable with you being 17+ and preferably at least 20. Roleplaying with minors isn’t a big thing for me, I apologize. I’m in the west coast, PST timezone. Let’s see.. What other information can I give you? I would say I enjoy skating, basketball, watching tv shows and anime, and reading. My favorite anime is Nana and Death Note.
ROLEPLAY
For what i’m looking for, i’d have to say basically anything in the Jujutsu Kaisen universe. Perhaps something done in the Shibuya Arc, or even the Culling Games Arc where are our characters are participating. Or maybe something entirely different. I think it would be cool if our characters were strong on their own and everything was set up in the Culling Games Arc, them having to maybe ally or something. But we can also have it be basically them fighting together to make themselves stronger and then fight new enemies as well. I’m down for ideas!
I’m also down for a Modern AU roleplay with the original characters. Maybe an OC x CC or CC x CC in that case!
CHARACTERS
I tend to use character sheets to describe my character, these usually consist of names, background, and personality. More so on appearances, I prefer using animated or drawn references than real life people. I enjoy good enough references where I get the idea of how the character would look like.
The types of characters I write are either the lone wolf type that has some sad past which leads them to want to join someone for a redemption arc or the bubbly character who is the one that brings the mood up and is usually seen as trustworthy and of that kind.
I like all types of tropes, especially enemies to lovers or rivalry. I also really enjoy opposites attract as a whole from either opposite personality or something else they would be opposites in. Enemies to lovers takes my heart, though. I love seeing the characters go past the urge to ultimately hate each other and/or go past their usual way of disliking the others lineage or upcoming.
REQUIREMENT
I think this is my last paragraph on the roleplay. It’s the most important, at least. Requirements. All roleplay searches come with them. Or at least that’s what I heard! But don’t fret, there isn’t much.
I’ve seen this as one of the most used requirements, and I agree with it. As someone who’s first language wasn’t English, I understand that you may not be great at it. But please, I do require a partner that at least has proper use of grammar and punctuation. You don’t even have to use big words or anything, just at least know where to put your periods and the placement of your words.
My second requirement is for you to be LITERATE! Please. I’m a big writer, I tend to ramble on and tend to write more than what I thought I would. (like i’m doing right now) I write multiple paragraphs from the starter until the scene relaxes. I also understand that sometimes writing big blocks of words every response is tiring or boring so I don’t expect it all the time, at least after the starter has been made and in more important scenes. Dialogue also cuts my replies shorter.
Please please please be polite in OOC! We may just be role playing together but kindness goes all ways. If we do include OOC, I enjoy talking about many things. My day, movies, games, funny moments and stories, all of that!
I think that’s the end to this wonderful journey of an ad about my search. I hope you are still here, fellow writer! I would LOVE it if you reached out to me! This wasn’t all for nothing, right!
But don’t leave yet! I do have a passcode. I know this was a jumble of words and rambling but I still have to put one in. I heard that there’s a lot of people on here that don’t read things fully and miss out on rules or information! But.. Just because you read through this all, I’ll gladly give you options on the passcode! Also please put in an introduction of yourself! Don’t think “Oh maybe I shouldn’t bother this person with too much to read”! I like seeing big blocks.
PASSCODE:
What’s your dream country to travel to and why?
OR
Who’s your favorite TV show / Cartoon / Game / Anime character?
Feel free to pick both! Now, that’s all from me. Please don’t put your request as just “Wanna rp”!
submitted by g3thic to roleplaying [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 21:45 HeadBitch_InCharge13 I just finished watching all 5 seasons of Prison Break!

It’s my first time posting here and ohmygod. I just wanna say that I love this show so much. I started watching during its peak back in covid season, I think at around 2020-2021 I guess, then only stopped mid-season 4 bc I was getting so bored when the plot took a turn and suddenly they were all “working for the company” and tbh the whole Scylla plotline is just meh. Then I only picked up right where I left off JUST THIS YEAR, exactly this month, and I have never been so happy coming back to a show I’ve abandoned. The love I have for the show, the characters, the plot, the actors and everything else was relived. It was SOOO good. I miss(ed) having a 10/10 show to look forward to 🥲
Anyway, this is just the list of thoughts and questions I have bc I personally think there are some stuff that went unanswered and/or was never given a proper ending to (?). So here goes:
  1. Whatever happened to the recurrence of Michael’s “being sick” plot and the return of his nosebleeds in the season finale of s04? I feel like that subplot just suddenly disappeared with no explanation cause suddenly he was battling it out in Yemen. YEMEN ffs 💀 one day he was having symptoms again and then poof! Suddenly he’s alive and stronger than he’s ever been. I wanted answers cause that was such a huge factor !!
  2. What happened with Gretchen? Lol I get that she stayed in prison but is that really it? I was also hoping Sara would somehow have a scene wherein she took the wood keychain to Emily.
  3. The Ending aka the very last episode. Omg. Had such HUGE potential. It was lacking. Where is LJ in the ending? And really? I don’t like that they wrote off Lincoln’s old girlfriend (forgot her name but she was Whistler’s gf) JUST LIKE THAT. They even had a scene in the surf shop. They seemed like a good team. She was there with him post-Michael’s death. The sheba-lincoln loveteam feels forced. And what even were they looking at in the park?!?? Honestly, it feels like it’s just another episode mid-season. PB fans and the characters deserved a better ending. The montage of the s04 finale, for example. That’s the standard. Made me cry and gave me chills.
  4. T-Bag deserved a better ending. Not having his son killed and him ending up in Fox River. AGAIN.
  5. Speaking of t-bag, I wanna know what was the reasoning behind the subplot of him getting his prosthetic hand fixed??? Like I was expecting to get answers at the end but was it really necessary??? It feels disconnected tbh. When the prosthetics came to light I even thought that it was a hint to michael faking his own death. But I got zero. Nada 💀 it was so unnecessary.
  6. Michael’s picture in Sanaa. Who took the damn picture and how??? Just another case of Left Unexplained 😭 I wanted to know the story behind it so bad. All of it.
  7. I don’t like the subplot that Sara remarried. Lol. So off-brand. That was the love of her life! The way I knew her the entire series, that’s something that she wouldn’t do idk. Feels forced.
  8. Speaking of, I had a bad gut feeling abt sara’s husband all along 😂💀
  9. The acting was lacking. I am speaking only in terms of the scenes wherein Sara was told that Michael might be alive, to the scene where it’s finally confirmed. I don’t know. I expected there to be heavy-drama, I wanted her to wail, to really go all out. I wanted her to be humanized for god’s sake! 7 years later u find out the dead love of your life whom you’ve never gotten to spend a lot of time with even before, COULD BE ALIVE??? Idk I wanted her to go nuts! I ROOTED for her to go crazy! As one should. Both of them actually, esp. when they finally reunited. Cry us a river! This feels like a dream but it isn’t! Where’s the tears of joy and confusion and also anger (esp. for Sara’s part)???
  10. The Explanation. I wanted the whole explanation to the whole faking the death and Kaniel Outis thing to be told at the end of the ep. Idk it’s just a huge bomb to be dropped on such a mid scene. But I do get lincoln’s sense of urgency though.
Might add more to the list when I remember it 😭 want answers to these sooo bad. But hey. PB still one of my fave tv shows of all time. GOATED 🤝🔥💯 pls suggest a tv show like this so I could cure my hangover 🥺
submitted by HeadBitch_InCharge13 to PrisonBreak [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 21:35 MadnessStream Sharing my experience (Godot 4 vs Godot 3)

Hello ! First of all, I know there have been a lot of similar posts, but I believe this type of content has endless discussion potential and it's fun sharing or debating stuff. I started to learn Godot around 2 months ago. Before that, I've used game frameworks such as PyGame, Love2D and MonoGame. But after I've realized that finishing a game is more important to me than reinventing the wheel, I've decided to give Godot a try. Godot 4.2.2 with C# I started with Godot 4 and I've played with it around. I can't say I finished something impressive up until now, but I've got an intuition of what Godot can or can't do based on my previous experience with game frameworks (as a Python/C# developer). Everything was nice, GDScript is very simple to use but personally I would've preferred Python directly. To a beginner I would say GDScript is good, but for experienced programmers or people who aspire to become programmers, C# is much more fit (it also opens doors to the entire C# ecosystem, so I believe this will easily allow you to integrate your game with a DB or use another physics engines without dabbling too much with plugins). So I started to use Godot 4.2.2 with C# and...for me, it's almost unusable. I've spent hours trying to fix errors and nothing works. I will start with the problems I've encountered : -Every time you create a new ".cs" script, the syntax of the script isn't highlighted in the editor's IDE. Most of the time you can fix that by closing all the scripts and reopening them, but sometimes an entire engine restart is required. -When you create more ".cs" scripts, the editor freezes and requires a process termination from the task manager (that happened to me more than 10 times in one hour). -If you name your scene "LevelOne", the editor will automatically name your ".tscn" file using the snake_case convention "level_one.tscn" (I don't know if this is intended but it's very annoying). -Sometimes, playing the scene simply fails due not finding the scene/scripts in the resource folder or not finding the .NET SDK (this happened even when my project was new and empty once, I had only one empty scene). It's impossible to recover a project that suffers from that (in my experience), you have to create a new project. Godot 3.5.3 with C# I've used Godot with GDScript before, but I want to ditch that in the favor of using C#. So I swapped to an older version. Here, every of the problems listed above disappeared completely. I truly feel Godot 3.5.3 (again, speaking of C#) is much more ready for being used in production than currently Godot 4.2.2 is. Yes, I am aware Godot 4 is bringing a lot of improvements and is still in development, especially on 3D, but I don't think it's ready with it's C# integration (GDScript worked fine on 4.2.2 though, but I can't say I tested it quite long). I think I've spent entire hours of trying to search for solutions of fixing Godot 4 without any success. Also, on a personal note, Godot 3.5.3 has a better feeling in terms of color scheme/UI than Godot 4 and is more smooth (Godot 4.2.2 has occasional "frame-drops"). What do you think? What is your experience? Personally, I would recommend to any beginner or team who wants to start a project to use Godot 3. Again, I might be wrong, and I am carefully considering your feedback and solutions you might provide for my problems, but based on my experience (and what I've read on other posts too), Godot 3 feels like an mature engine, whereas Godot 4 feels very buggy, a ticking bomb that could explode anytime without any warning.
submitted by MadnessStream to godot [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 21:24 StGauderic Today's sermon, from a Catholic church

Every Sunday, or whenever it is possible, I give a recap of the sermon I heard at church today. I am Orthodox but I visit Catholic and Protestant churches to learn about them when we don't do the Liturgy. Keep in mind that this is a recap of the sermon I heard; this does not necessarily mean I agree with it. This is to share what is actually being taught in Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches, which may challenge or perhaps strengthen preconceptions.
Today's readings:
Acts 2:1-11
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”
Galatians 5:16-25
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
John 15:26-27; 16:12-15
When the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
This evening, we celebrate the feast of Pentecost. The feast raises two questions for us: first, why does the Holy Spirit come upon the disciples only then? Why fifty days after the Resurrection, and ten days after the Ascension? Upon which conditions does He come? And second, why does the Holy Spirit, when He comes upon us, not produce the same extraordinary results? When He fell upon the apostles, they could evangelize the entire world, they were on fire for God. Why does the same effect not happen for us?
To address the first question: By the time of Pentecost, Christ had already left. The apostles' time spent with Him already felt like a distant memory. They were once full of certainty when He was with them, but now they are hiding in the upper room in fear and anticipation. Why does the Holy Spirit come upon them at that time? Because He can only fill up an empty heart; it is as with a cup of water, if it is full then adding a drop of anything else would cause it to overflow, and if it is not totally empty the new drink will only mix with the old, but it must be totally empty to be filled with the new drink.
The apostles abandoned any hope for worldly glory after the Ascension; at the Ascension itself, they still expected such a thing, asking Christ when He would restore the Kingdom of Israel, but His answer made them understand that one must not hope for a worldly kingdom, but for the heavenly Kingdom of God. Now, pride is no longer an obstacle preventing them from receiving the Spirit, for pride is the enemy of everything that is good.
Today's reading began like the scene of the Tower of Babel, as many men from around the world are gathered. Then, mankind hoped to reach up to the heavens and have its name inscribed in glory; the Tower of Babel was for the glory of man. But the gift of the Holy Spirit is for the glory of God. But, let us be careful about seeking the glory of man.
Let us look at this very church: the pillars were once as tall as those of the local cathedral, but human ambition and competition led to these pillars getting renovated to be even taller, messing up the intended proportions of the building... Also, there used to be frescoes depending the scene of Pentecost between the arcades, but the latter were modified in the baroque era: it was thought that the baroque style was more fashionable, and so these were renovated, but as a result the frescoes can no longer be seen. Likewise, pride is often hidden from ourselves, yet it truly prevents us from seeing what we should see!
So, it is when the apostles were freed from pride that they could be fitting recipients for the Holy Spirit. In fact, they were not only without pride, but they were even wounded, having before their eyes their own betrayal and abandonment of Christ. Yet sometimes, such a wound is a necessary condition to receive the Spirit as well. Here is an analogy: for a long time, we had no idea why some oysters had pearls and some did not. But it was finally discovered that an oyster generates a pearl as a defense mechanism, when it is wounded, such as when small rocks get inside their shell and hurt them. So likewise, our sin can be a necessary wound to cure us from pride.
To address the second question: When they received the Holy Spirit, the disciples began to speak in tongues and to proclaim the Gospel. But as for us, when we receive the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of confirmation, no such evident signs happen. So, what of it? Here is another analogy: When we get a car restored, we love to turn it on, to hear its engine purr, we may step on the accelerator and hear the car go “vroom”... but, the car is not actually moving, it is only making noise. One must activate the transmission manually for it to actually start. And for us Christians, there is no automatic transmission! We must connect the power of the Spirit with our own will.
Evil has nothing to do whatsoever with the Spirit, as St. Paul described in his epistle. We must actively make an effort to abstain from evil, and only then will the Holy Spirit empower us. This is not easy in the slightest, but we must find the motivation to do it! Imagine if your sins were openly published in the newspaper every day, would this not suffice to motivate you to no longer sin? Imagine if your good works were displayed to the angels in the world to come as a film for them to watch, would this not suffice to motivate you to obey the commandments?
Today, the Holy Spirit still comes upon us as He did upon the apostles. But He does not do so violently, He does not force our will; we must first align our will with Him and then He will come. If we do not speak in tongues, let us at least speak with the universal tongue known as “charity.” If we begin with this, by proclaiming the Gospel in such a manner to all those around us, not necessarily to people in another country speaking a foreign tongue but rather to the people immediately around us, then the Holy Spirit will, through ourselves, transform the world around us.
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit descends upon us, that His work may be efficacious in us. Amen.
submitted by StGauderic to TrueChristian [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 21:23 StGauderic Today's sermon, from a Catholic church

Every Sunday, or whenever it is possible, I give a recap of the sermon I heard at church today. I am Orthodox but I visit Catholic and Protestant churches to learn about them when we don't do the Liturgy. Keep in mind that this is a recap of the sermon I heard; this does not necessarily mean I agree with it. This is to share what is actually being taught in Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches, which may challenge or perhaps strengthen preconceptions.
Today's readings:
Acts 2:1-11
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”
Galatians 5:16-25
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
John 15:26-27; 16:12-15
When the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
This evening, we celebrate the feast of Pentecost. The feast raises two questions for us: first, why does the Holy Spirit come upon the disciples only then? Why fifty days after the Resurrection, and ten days after the Ascension? Upon which conditions does He come? And second, why does the Holy Spirit, when He comes upon us, not produce the same extraordinary results? When He fell upon the apostles, they could evangelize the entire world, they were on fire for God. Why does the same effect not happen for us?
To address the first question: By the time of Pentecost, Christ had already left. The apostles' time spent with Him already felt like a distant memory. They were once full of certainty when He was with them, but now they are hiding in the upper room in fear and anticipation. Why does the Holy Spirit come upon them at that time? Because He can only fill up an empty heart; it is as with a cup of water, if it is full then adding a drop of anything else would cause it to overflow, and if it is not totally empty the new drink will only mix with the old, but it must be totally empty to be filled with the new drink.
The apostles abandoned any hope for worldly glory after the Ascension; at the Ascension itself, they still expected such a thing, asking Christ when He would restore the Kingdom of Israel, but His answer made them understand that one must not hope for a worldly kingdom, but for the heavenly Kingdom of God. Now, pride is no longer an obstacle preventing them from receiving the Spirit, for pride is the enemy of everything that is good.
Today's reading began like the scene of the Tower of Babel, as many men from around the world are gathered. Then, mankind hoped to reach up to the heavens and have its name inscribed in glory; the Tower of Babel was for the glory of man. But the gift of the Holy Spirit is for the glory of God. But, let us be careful about seeking the glory of man.
Let us look at this very church: the pillars were once as tall as those of the local cathedral, but human ambition and competition led to these pillars getting renovated to be even taller, messing up the intended proportions of the building... Also, there used to be frescoes depending the scene of Pentecost between the arcades, but the latter were modified in the baroque era: it was thought that the baroque style was more fashionable, and so these were renovated, but as a result the frescoes can no longer be seen. Likewise, pride is often hidden from ourselves, yet it truly prevents us from seeing what we should see!
So, it is when the apostles were freed from pride that they could be fitting recipients for the Holy Spirit. In fact, they were not only without pride, but they were even wounded, having before their eyes their own betrayal and abandonment of Christ. Yet sometimes, such a wound is a necessary condition to receive the Spirit as well. Here is an analogy: for a long time, we had no idea why some oysters had pearls and some did not. But it was finally discovered that an oyster generates a pearl as a defense mechanism, when it is wounded, such as when small rocks get inside their shell and hurt them. So likewise, our sin can be a necessary wound to cure us from pride.
To address the second question: When they received the Holy Spirit, the disciples began to speak in tongues and to proclaim the Gospel. But as for us, when we receive the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of confirmation, no such evident signs happen. So, what of it? Here is another analogy: When we get a car restored, we love to turn it on, to hear its engine purr, we may step on the accelerator and hear the car go “vroom”... but, the car is not actually moving, it is only making noise. One must activate the transmission manually for it to actually start. And for us Christians, there is no automatic transmission! We must connect the power of the Spirit with our own will.
Evil has nothing to do whatsoever with the Spirit, as St. Paul described in his epistle. We must actively make an effort to abstain from evil, and only then will the Holy Spirit empower us. This is not easy in the slightest, but we must find the motivation to do it! Imagine if your sins were openly published in the newspaper every day, would this not suffice to motivate you to no longer sin? Imagine if your good works were displayed to the angels in the world to come as a film for them to watch, would this not suffice to motivate you to obey the commandments?
Today, the Holy Spirit still comes upon us as He did upon the apostles. But He does not do so violently, He does not force our will; we must first align our will with Him and then He will come. If we do not speak in tongues, let us at least speak with the universal tongue known as “charity.” If we begin with this, by proclaiming the Gospel in such a manner to all those around us, not necessarily to people in another country speaking a foreign tongue but rather to the people immediately around us, then the Holy Spirit will, through ourselves, transform the world around us.
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit descends upon us, that His work may be efficacious in us. Amen.
submitted by StGauderic to Christianity [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 21:23 StGauderic Today's sermon, from a Catholic church

Every Sunday, or whenever it is possible, I give a recap of the sermon I heard at church today. I am Orthodox but I visit Catholic and Protestant churches to learn about them when we don't do the Liturgy. Keep in mind that this is a recap of the sermon I heard; this does not necessarily mean I agree with it. This is to share what is actually being taught in Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches, which may challenge or perhaps strengthen preconceptions.
Today's readings:
Acts 2:1-11
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”
Galatians 5:16-25
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
John 15:26-27; 16:12-15
When the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
This evening, we celebrate the feast of Pentecost. The feast raises two questions for us: first, why does the Holy Spirit come upon the disciples only then? Why fifty days after the Resurrection, and ten days after the Ascension? Upon which conditions does He come? And second, why does the Holy Spirit, when He comes upon us, not produce the same extraordinary results? When He fell upon the apostles, they could evangelize the entire world, they were on fire for God. Why does the same effect not happen for us?
To address the first question: By the time of Pentecost, Christ had already left. The apostles' time spent with Him already felt like a distant memory. They were once full of certainty when He was with them, but now they are hiding in the upper room in fear and anticipation. Why does the Holy Spirit come upon them at that time? Because He can only fill up an empty heart; it is as with a cup of water, if it is full then adding a drop of anything else would cause it to overflow, and if it is not totally empty the new drink will only mix with the old, but it must be totally empty to be filled with the new drink.
The apostles abandoned any hope for worldly glory after the Ascension; at the Ascension itself, they still expected such a thing, asking Christ when He would restore the Kingdom of Israel, but His answer made them understand that one must not hope for a worldly kingdom, but for the heavenly Kingdom of God. Now, pride is no longer an obstacle preventing them from receiving the Spirit, for pride is the enemy of everything that is good.
Today's reading began like the scene of the Tower of Babel, as many men from around the world are gathered. Then, mankind hoped to reach up to the heavens and have its name inscribed in glory; the Tower of Babel was for the glory of man. But the gift of the Holy Spirit is for the glory of God. But, let us be careful about seeking the glory of man.
Let us look at this very church: the pillars were once as tall as those of the local cathedral, but human ambition and competition led to these pillars getting renovated to be even taller, messing up the intended proportions of the building... Also, there used to be frescoes depending the scene of Pentecost between the arcades, but the latter were modified in the baroque era: it was thought that the baroque style was more fashionable, and so these were renovated, but as a result the frescoes can no longer be seen. Likewise, pride is often hidden from ourselves, yet it truly prevents us from seeing what we should see!
So, it is when the apostles were freed from pride that they could be fitting recipients for the Holy Spirit. In fact, they were not only without pride, but they were even wounded, having before their eyes their own betrayal and abandonment of Christ. Yet sometimes, such a wound is a necessary condition to receive the Spirit as well. Here is an analogy: for a long time, we had no idea why some oysters had pearls and some did not. But it was finally discovered that an oyster generates a pearl as a defense mechanism, when it is wounded, such as when small rocks get inside their shell and hurt them. So likewise, our sin can be a necessary wound to cure us from pride.
To address the second question: When they received the Holy Spirit, the disciples began to speak in tongues and to proclaim the Gospel. But as for us, when we receive the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of confirmation, no such evident signs happen. So, what of it? Here is another analogy: When we get a car restored, we love to turn it on, to hear its engine purr, we may step on the accelerator and hear the car go “vroom”... but, the car is not actually moving, it is only making noise. One must activate the transmission manually for it to actually start. And for us Christians, there is no automatic transmission! We must connect the power of the Spirit with our own will.
Evil has nothing to do whatsoever with the Spirit, as St. Paul described in his epistle. We must actively make an effort to abstain from evil, and only then will the Holy Spirit empower us. This is not easy in the slightest, but we must find the motivation to do it! Imagine if your sins were openly published in the newspaper every day, would this not suffice to motivate you to no longer sin? Imagine if your good works were displayed to the angels in the world to come as a film for them to watch, would this not suffice to motivate you to obey the commandments?
Today, the Holy Spirit still comes upon us as He did upon the apostles. But He does not do so violently, He does not force our will; we must first align our will with Him and then He will come. If we do not speak in tongues, let us at least speak with the universal tongue known as “charity.” If we begin with this, by proclaiming the Gospel in such a manner to all those around us, not necessarily to people in another country speaking a foreign tongue but rather to the people immediately around us, then the Holy Spirit will, through ourselves, transform the world around us.
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit descends upon us, that His work may be efficacious in us. Amen.
submitted by StGauderic to Christendom [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 21:12 Chai_Ky The Case of Kate Blackwell: The Unknown Part 1

11/20/2017
Log book of Det. Ryan Snow
Case #2798: The Appalachian Murders
The past couple of days are events I pray no one else ever has to go through what Kate and I had. I had her and Mr. Raines cleared of all charges, having found the proof we all needed to end this case and find the true killer. Kate no longer has to go into witness protection and I had given the police a good enough lie to keep myself from looking insane in the eyes of my co-workers. I know no one will ever know the true story or believe it, but I’m writing it out here. It at least needs to be known written somewhere. Even if my and Kate’s eyes are the only ones that will ever read it written out and forever imprinted in our memories.
The morning Kate had run off to the mountains on her own, I had made my way to the Blackwell home where I was immediately met with Mr. Blackwell charging at me and wrapping his large hands around my neck. He was shaking me and blaming me for getting his daughter killed and not doing more to keep her safe. The police who had been called to examine the scene and read Kate’s letter had to sedate Mr. Blackwell to get him off of me, lying him down on the couch, his head resting on Mrs. Blackwell’s legs. Though the woman was distraught and begging the police to bring her daughter back, she still took the time to shoot that cold, death glare my way. The ice in my chest growing. I couldn’t tell these people that this thing had come after me to get to Kate. I knew it wouldn’t change anything. If anything they’d hate me even more for keeping it to myself.
The sheriff was there and he pulled me away from eye sight of the Blackwells, trying to tell me that this wasn’t my fault. But I couldn’t help but blame myself. I should have done everything I could to keep Kate as far from those mountains as possible.
There were no signs of a struggle in Kate’s room and the letter was definitely written in her hand writing. Her father’s rifle missing from the study, a backpack and some food and supplies gone as well. She had only grabbed one set of clothes from her drawers, showing she did indeed have plans on returning after only one night in the mountains to confront whoever or whatever the killer was.
I told the sheriff to keep any police from going up to the mountains without first allowing me to go up there first to find Kate. He of course argued, telling me that he couldn’t break protocol based on any hunches I may have had. However, I told him that I could get Kate back without her putting up much of a fight, whereas she may struggle with a group of cops who didn’t understand the situation she was in. I was close enough to this case to have built a trust with her after all. I was mentioned in her letter about ending this case for me.
It took a good hour to get the sheriff to eye the Blackwells, Mr. Blackwell beginning to stir from his sleep, and allow me to go to the mountains to find Kate. He didn’t bother to call off the search to the police that had already begun making their way to the mountains, but did radio to tell them to not try getting Kate home without first allowing me to speak to her. He then gave me twenty-four hours to find her to which I told him I’d only need at most ten.
Without telling him about the disturbing scratches on my car, I sped to the mountains, taking the same path Kate had that day she took her friends on their trip. The route, as the sun began to rise was scenic. A drive that may have been a sign of a bright future ahead with a beautiful week in the mountains of nothing but nature, was now a reddening sky of horror. I couldn’t understand how Kate felt, going down the same roads that led to her only friends’ fates to avenge them, but the feeling of guilt did weigh heavy on my chest as I saw the signs of the Appalachian Mountain trails grow bigger on the horizon. Guilt for not doing more to prove Kate was innocent, for allowing Mrs. Mayfield for getting killed right before my very eyes, and for Liam for not being lucky enough to save him.
When I finally arrived to the cabin, there didn’t seem to be any change since the first day I was called to the crime scene, the only thing out of place being Mr. Blackwell’s truck parked precariously near the cabin. The police tape was still up, the cars of Kate and Mr. Woolfe still left where they were, the tires still slashed, the door wide open from when Kate, Ms. Greymoore, and Mr. Woolfe ran out of the cabin upon Mr. Billings was killed by an unknown force. All the bodies had been found and were now being prepared by their families to be buried or cremated. Only one body of the five still roaming around to avenge each and every one of their deaths.
I called out for Kate as I made my way into the cabin. The Ouija board was still on the coffee table, the white line of where Mr. Billings had been found lying face first on the floor with his head bashed open remained on the spot. The planchette was still missing. I kept calling out for Kate as I made my way up to the attic, the door left unlocked, using my flashlight to shine down on the white outline where Mr. Steele had been found completely torn apart. To think Kate had done such a thing, I now realize made me look like a complete dumb ass for believing it.
When I couldn’t find Kate in the cabin, I made my way out the cabin, still calling for her. I called out to her, promising that she just needed to come back home with me and we could solve the murders together. I knew it was a lie and that the sheriff would immediately have her take away to some secluded place where the killer couldn’t find her, but it was all I could think of to try luring her out to meet me. Still, she never appeared.
The sun was soon beginning to set as I tried retracing the very steps Kate and Ms. Greymoore had taken to outrun the killer. I had passed the small shrine of flowers and the pictures of Mr. Woolfe where the boy had been found, his face permanently remaining nineteen forever in the photos of him with Kate and their friends. I kept going, trying my best to follow the same path to the cliff where Ms. Greymoore was found, calling for Kate along the way.
It wasn’t until I found the place Kate had buried her best friend that I found Kate. She was on her knees before the rock where she left her bloody handprint, sniffing as her head was lowered, her dad’s rifle in her hands.
“Ms. Blackwell-“ I began as I took a step toward her. I was immediately cut off as Kate jumped to her feet, raising her father’s rifle at my head. I jolted back, raising my hands up to show her I meant no harm to her. “Ms. Blackwell, it’s me, Det. Snow!”
“Detective…?” She gasped, slightly lowering the rifle, but keeping it on me. “P-Prove it!”
“I’m sorry?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I… I thought I saw Sonja…” Kate breathed between tears, the rifle shaking in her hands, “it… It was wearing her face… It had her voice… How… H-How do I know you’re really Det. Snow?”
“You… Saw Sonja?” I asked as gently as I could with a terrified woman pointing a gun my way. “She spoke to you?”
“Prove you’re Det. Snow!” Kate demanded as she stilled her arms, readying the rifle as she pointed straight between my eyes.
“Alright! Alright!” I kept my hands up, backing up slightly as I tried thinking of how I could prove to her I was really me. “I… I, ah… I have… Had a brother… We went to get ice cream together once and… I dropped a dime and went to grab it… I was five… I followed it out to the road and despite how trafficked it was, I didn’t get hit. I grabbed the dime just as a truck was speeding my way and it swerved just before hitting me… Seeing how close I was to death, I dropped the dime and it rolled into the sewer. My brother called me Lucky Dime since then… Saying the dime was lost to me because it did its job in protecting me… I haven’t seen my brother since I was seven and I haven’t spoken to my parents in…” I looked at my watch. “Five years… No one else calls me Lucky Dime… Not even the people at the station know that was my nickname.”
With this, Kate lowered the rifle, her eyes softening from her furious fear to a more melancholy terror. She looked to Ms. Greymoore’s grave marker, her hand print just barely visible In the approaching darkness.
“It… It looked just… Like her…” She sniffed, “it had her voice… Why did it have her voice… Why did it look like her…?”
“Ms. Blackwell,” I soothed, relaxing now that there was no weapon in my face, “we need to head back, your parents are worried about you and the police are looking for-“
“I can’t go back yet!” She snapped at me as she spun to look at me, tears in her eyes. “That thing is still out there and will kill again unless I end it!” She held up her dad’s rifle as if to show me how she meant to “end it.” “I’m not leaving until I end that… Thing that had the balls to wear Sonja’s face and have her voice!”
“Ms. Blackwell, we will catch the killer, I promise, but right now, we need to get you home before your dad ends up killing a police officer for keeping him from looking for you.”
“I told him in my letter I’d be back tomorrow! I’m twenty-years-old, he can’t force me back home if I don’t want to! I just want to stop this thing before it-“
A howling in the distance cut Kate off. Coyote from what I could hear. If I couldn’t get Kate home, I’d have to get her somewhere safe. I turned to begin talking her down and taking her to one of the other two cabins for shelter. However, when I looked back at her, her face had turned to a bone chilling terror I’d never seen on a person before. She looked like hunted prey that had been found by its predator. She gripped her dad’s rifle to her chest tightly, her hand reaching for the trigger.
“Ms. Blackwell, it’s just a pack of coyote,” I tried telling her calmly, “let’s get to one of the other cabins and-“
“No, no, no,” She stopped me as she stepped back, looking around for where the howling was coming from, “I… Heard that same howling just before I saw Sonja! I thought it was far away, but she… She was right in front of me… She… Something was off, but it looked just like her!”
“Ms. Blackwell, you didn’t see Sonja,” I assured her, “I don’t know what you think you saw, but it wasn’t-“
“Lucky… Dime…”
I froze. My blood turned to ice. The fear on Kate’s face grew as she began backing away, her back hitting the grave marker. I spun around to see a figure in the darkness limp toward us, a scratched and garbled familiar voice coming from it.
“Lucky… Dime…” It wheezed, “You brought her… Back… Give her… To me…”
I whipped out my gun, pointing it at this thing that had his voice. I stepped back to stand directly between this thing and Kate.
“Stay back!” I demanded. “Don’t come any closer!”
“Lucky… Di-“
“Shut up! Stop calling me that! Who are you? Not another step or I’ll shoot!”
The thing stopped limping toward us, its body shuddering in place as it stared us down. I took the safety off of my Glock, ready to blow this thing’s head off if it got any closer or even dared using that voice on me again.
“Kate…” It turned its attention to Kate, a completely different voice coming from it, another male’s voice. “Kate… I’m cold…”
“J-Jasper…” Kate began to sob, “Please, stop using their voices… Please stop!”
“Kate… Kate why did… Did you leave me…?” Another male voice asked. “I… I was in so much… Pain…”
“Shut up!” Kate cried out.
“I thought we… Were friends… Kate…” A female voice. “You said you… Loved me… Why won’t… You let me have… Your warmth…?”
“I said shut up!” Kate screamed as she pointed her rifle and shooting at the creature. She had missed, but the thing still let out an ear piercing shriek as it dodged out of the way of the bullets Kate was shooting. It ran off into the darkness, but Kate kept pulling the trigger of her rifle.
“Stop!” I shouted as I snatched the barrel of her rifle, shoving it to the ground before us. “It’s gone, you scared it off, get to the cabins, I’m right here with you!”
I began shoving Kate back toward where the cabins were, the sounds of that thing screaming out in a symphony of different voices ringing out throughout the woods. I shoved Kate into the first cabin we had arrived to, Cabin #1 I could only assume as I slammed the door shut behind us. It smelled God awful, like the smell of the corpse I found on my first murder case, and it was getting darker as the sun began to sink behind the trees outside.
“Detective, it smell terrible in here!” Kate cried out, covering her mouth and nose, but the tears still falling from her eyes were still visible as they rolled down her cheeks.
I pulled her close and kept her behind me as I took my gun and flashlight out. “Stay close to me,” I ordered, leading the way through the cabin, “do not run off or use that rifle without may say so, understood?”
Kate didn’t answer, but I could feel the heat from her body following after me as I made my toward the smell. It was getting worse as we inched closer to a closet door in a hallway that connected the living room to the kitchen. The door was locked, but after a couple of kicks I was able to get the door to swing open, the smell blasting us in our faces making us gag and nearly throw up on the floor. I fumbled around the sides inside the room to find a light switch that I was able to find to the side of the entryway. A yellow light flickered on, revealing the door led to a staircase. I led the way down the creaking steps, Kate close by as she kept her mouth covered with her shirt.
Once we had made our way to the bottom, Kate dropped her dad’s rifle and let out a scream as we stared at what was waiting for us at the bottom of the steps. In a large pile at the corner of this basement room were nothing but skin and bones of humans and animals covered in maggots and flies. Some of the human bodies being small and child-like in size. The missing people who were never found after vanishing when they came to Cabin #2.
I grabbed Kate’s rifle off the floor and began pushing her back up the stairs, her screaming and sobbing all the way back up to the cabin. I slammed the door shut behind us and pushed Kate to the front door.
“We need to leave,” I had told her, trying to calm her down as we made it outside, “we need to get you home and away from here as soon as possible.”
“N-No… No!” She began fighting me, trying to escape my grasp on her. “No! That… That thing is still out there! You saw it! You can’t say you don’t believe me now! It even called you Lucky Dime! It said you brought me back!”
“I’m not saying I don’t believe you!” I shot back. “I do, I saw exactly what you saw, but it’s way too dangerous for you to be out here while you’re the one it’s after!”
“I escaped it once, I can do it again!” Kate pointed out as she struggled against me while I tried getting her into my car. “I’m not running away this time, I want to kill it!”
“God damn it, Blackwell, we’ll let the police handle it! Just because you have a weapon doesn’t make you safe or ready to handle something like… Like that… That thing!”
“It killed my friends! It wants me! I’m going straight to it so I can blow its head off! It’ll come right for me!”
“I came here to bring you back home, not let you accomplish some stupid ass revenge plot! Get in the fucking car, unless you want to end up like those bodies down that-“
“D… De… Detect… Detective…”
A scratched and moaning voice cut me off. Kate and I both froze at the sound of something approaching. I turned to see a police officer stagger toward us from the tree line. I could barely tell who he was or who he used to be, his head held low and blue uniform covered in blood.
“H… Hel… Hel… Help… Help me…" It croaked as it stumbled closer.
I held up Kate's rifle. "Stay back!" I barked. "Not another step!"
The thing that stood before us wearing the cop like a full-bodied suit stopped in place. It swayed where it stood, blood water falling from its head and down to its chest.
"It… It… It's inside… Inside me…" It breathed painfully. "I… I can't… Help… Me…" Its voice then changed to that familiar voice that made my skin crawl. "Lucky… Dime… I… I'm so… Hungry… Give her… To… Me…"
I pulled the trigger of the rifle, hitting the creature in the head, the rest of it staggering backward from the blow. Still though, it remained on its feet, turning itself to look toward us once again.
"Give… Her… To… Me…" It wheeze, blood and brain pouring from where I had shot it, it beginning to stumble toward us once again. I continued shooting, hitting it in the shoulder, the arm, the leg, the head again, but it just kept coming toward us faster, demanding I give Kate to it.
I was about ready to ram it with the rifle, having run out of bullets, when a voice off in the distance made the creature freeze just an inch before us.
"I'm here! I'm here!" It called out in an almost sing-songy way, using the voice of a little girl. "I'm here! I'm here!"
"I'm… Here…" The creature repeated as it jerked its body to look to where the voice was coming from. "I'm here… I'm here… I'm here! I'm here! I'm here!" It began shrieking in a high pitch wail. It sounded like a mixture of different voices ranging from child, to woman, to man. Keeping flat on its feet, its upper body fell forward onto its hands before speedily crawling off like a spider.
We stood in shaking silence for a moment, Kate digging her fingers into my arm while I was too numb from shock to care about the pain she was unknowingly inflicting. It wasn’t until the radio from my car buzzed to life that jolted us back to whatever reality was at this point. I scrambled to the driver’s side, swinging the door open as I fell inside to grab the intercom to respond to the voice yelling for me over the receiver.
“Det. Snow, what the hell is going on up there?” The sheriff’s scratched voice called out over the receiver when I could barely get my name out of my mouth.
“Sh-Sh-Sheriff…?” Was all I could respond with, still trying to wrap my head around what I had just seen.
“Y-Y-Yeah,” he responded in mock shudder, “what the hell is going on up there? I’ve tried radioing every man I’ve got up there and am constantly being left on red! Do I need to send back-up?”
“No!” Immediately, I returned to full reality, finally understanding the severity of the moment and putting that knowledge into my tone. “Landon, do not send any more men up here, call everyone back immediately! I don’t know what this thing is, but it’s too dangerous! Call everyone back, we’re heading back to the Blackwell house now!”
“We?” The sheriff questioned, skepticism in his voice.
“I found Ms. Blackwell, she’s here with me.”
I was met with statice before the voice of Mr. Blackwell blasted over the intercom.
“Bring my daughter home, right now, you son of a bitch!” Mr. Blackwell demanded. “You bring her home this instant before I decide to kick your teeth in!”
I opened my mouth to respond, but the radio was snatched from my hand from Kate. “I’m not coming home until I kill this thing!” She snapped into the radio. “I don’t know what it is, but I at least know I’m not crazy and that it needs to die before it kills anyone else!”
I grabbed the radio from Kate’s hand, beginning to tell her off when a agonized scream erupted from the intercom. I dropped the radio to cover my ears as Kate did, the scream piercing from my car to throughout the forest around us. The voice screaming and crying for help sounded male and it seemed to echo all around us.
“GIVE HER TO ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!” A mix of the screaming voice and Mr. Blackwell’s hissed out after a good five minutes of screaming before the radio short-circuited and puffs of smoke flowed out.
After allowing my ears to adjust to the sudden silence, I grabbed the radio once again and tried calling for the sheriff, for the cops with us in the mountains, for anyone. When I was met with more silence, I slammed the radio back down on the holder and cursed loudly, hitting the wheel as if it were the source of all my problems.
After a moment to take some deep breaths, I told Kate to get in the car as I placed her rifle in the back seat.
“Didn’t you hear me?” she shot back. “I’m not-“
“Damn it, Blackwell, we have no idea what we’re dealing with, it can mimic peoples’ voices, and it just ran off like a fucking black widow!” I snapped, stepping out of the driver’s seat to glare down at her. “The last thing I’m doing to leaving you here alone and I’m not staying here another second until I can wrap my head around what the fuck I just saw! So, you either get yourself killed out here while I try talking you down this hero complex high, or you’re going to do what I say and get in the damn car!”
We stood in heated silence, glaring each other down before Kate huffed and stormed over to the passenger side of my car and slamming the door shut as she climbed in. I jumped in after her and began driving away from this nutty nightmare I had found myself in.
We drove down the trail back to civilization in silence, Kate staring out the window and trying to keep her tearful sniffs quiet. I had finally begun calming down and was starting to feel bad for snapping at her. She had only gone there to avenge her friends by killing that thing that had most likely killed a whole bunch of cops to find her. However, I still couldn’t just let her stay to hunt it and I didn’t want to stay out in those mountains with some kind of creature that could take the form and voice of someone I knew. I still couldn’t understand what is was I had even seen.
“Wendigo,” Kate whispered, breaking the silence in the car first. She had said it as if she had just remembered something important.
“What?”
“A Wendigo,” She repeated, turning to look to me with wide scared eyes, “that’s what that thing is! It’s a Wendigo!”
“Slow down, what’s a Wendigo?”
“It’s… Oh, just forget it! You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
“Ms. Blackwell, I just saw a cop being used as a puppet and then run off at inhuman speed on all fours; I doubt I’m not going to believe a single word that comes out of your mouth now. What’s a Wendigo?”
Kate eyed me for a moment before releasing some of the tension from her face as she took a deep breath and began explaining to me. “They’re a Native American myth; it’s believed they’re the spirits of people who would lose themselves in the woods and would end up eating other people to satiate their hunger. I think that’s what that thing is. They can mimic the voices of people who died and use it to lure people to them, they can take the form of that person too.”
“Why does it want female hearts?” I asked, not realizing I had yet told her what my mysterious caller kept asking for when they called me.
“It… It wants my heart?” she asked shakily.
I cursed to myself before letting out a frustrated sigh. “I think this thing wants hearts, but it only wants female hearts. Why? I don’t know yet. But the only other person to be found after killing someone in those cabins was found with his partner’s heart missing to which he was blamed for taking out of her. Recently, I’ve been getting calls from some… Thing wanting me to bring you back here so it could take something from you. It would have taken Ms. Greymoore’s, but you hid her well enough that only the police could find her in time. Now, I’ve been getting calls asking for you and to get something from you.”
Kate looked to me in shock before a wave of guilt twisted her face in pain. “I… I’m so, so… So sorry, Detective!” She cried out. “I… I had… I had no idea you were being… Harassed by it! Had I known it wanted me back and was demanding you brought me here, I never… I didn’t… That’s why it said you brought me back! Oh, I’m such an idiot!” She pressed her hands to her face, grabbing at her hair between her fingers and tightening them around her eyes.
“No, no, no, stop, stop that!” I ordered, screeching the car to a halt, having to bring it to a crooked stop so I could stop her from hurting herself. I snatched her arms from her head and pinned them to her lap, tears flooding her face. “It’s my fault for not telling you sooner! I was too focused on trying to solve this case with the most efficient evidence I could, but that just kept me looking to you as a suspect. I should have stopped thinking you were the killer the moment I got that first call. There’s no way any of us could have seen… This coming… Except people who probably already believe in that kind of stuff or don’t stop to assume a more rational explanation like a cult… I’m… I’m sorry. But, I won’t let it take anything from you, not anymore. I’m going to get you home and then I’ll deal with this with the rest of the police department. You don’t have to deal with this thing anymore, it’ll be my burden from now on. You need time to finally get some rest and mourn your friends with your and their families. It’s already fucked your life up enough, I won’t let it go on making it worse.”
I stopped her before she could argue with me with a wave of my hand. “Your friends’ deaths shouldn’t be your burden to handle. I know you want to be the one who kills that thing and do right by them, but that’s not what they would want. They’d want you to remember them and continue living. They know you didn’t do it, so stop blaming yourself and stop acting like you’re the one who has to make it up to them. I will put an end to this die trying, but you need to go home and be with people who are happy you still get to live.”
Kate looked down at her hands that I kept down on her lap before nodding weakly and letting out a broken “okay.”
“Good, now let’s get you home before-“
My words were cut off when the honk of a car barreling toward us echoed through the woods. The headlights were fast approaching and I barely had time to grab the gear shift to put us back in drive as the other vehicle hit us, forcing us back and forth in one violent motion. It took me a moment to check myself to be sure I hadn’t hit my head on anything or got whiplash from the crash before I immediately returned my full attention to Kate who was kneeling over holding her head. I gently grabbed her shoulder and pulled her up to examine her head. It didn’t appear to have been busted and bleeding, but she was holding the front side of her forehead.
“Are you okay?” I asked her, prying her hand away from the spot on her forehead, seeing that it was beginning to bruise. “Can you hear me? Blink twice if you can understand me!”
“I… I’m f-fine…” she mumbled as she looked to her hand to check if there was blood on her palm, “I… I think I just… Hit… Hit the w-window…” She then blinked twice in my direction before looking to the car that had rammed us.
I turned my attention as well to the car to see it was a police van, it’s front crushed into the left of my front. I quickly jumped out my vehicle and stormed to the van, yelling at who ever was driving the van to come out and explain what the hell they were doing.
The driver’s side of the van swung open once I was near enough and a man in an orange jumpsuit climbed out, staring familiar daggers at me. The moment realization set in, my mixed emotions of confusion, frustration, and fear turned to fury.
It was Leighton Raines.
“Jesus, you really are a shitty detective.” Was all he said to me before reaching into the can and retrieving a rifle out from the passenger seat.
[END OF PART 1]
Part 6
submitted by Chai_Ky to u/Chai_Ky [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 21:01 AutoModerator Welcome to the VIVIZ Subreddit! Here's a comprehensive group introduction for new fans.

Hello, welcome to our community dedicated to VIVIZ! Whether you're a long-time fan or a newcomer excited about their recent tour announcement, this is the place for you. Let's dive into what makes VIVIZ special and why we're all so passionate about them.

🌟 Who is VIVIZ?

VIVIZ is a South Korean girl group formed by BPM Entertainment. VIVIZ stands for “VIVId dayZ,” with the meaning of clear and intense, aiming to be artists who always proudly express their own colors in the world. The name also cleverly incorporates the members' names ('bibiji' = Eunbi + Eunbi + Umji). The fandom name is na.V (나비), which means “butterfly”. The group consists of three members:
Eunha (Jung Eunbi, 1997)
The main vocalist, known for her cute personality and emotive singing style. Eunha has contributed to many drama soundtracks. Noteworthy mentions include “Tell Me” and “Don't come with a bye”, as well as collaborations like “Inferiority Complex” and “Make U Dance”.
Sinb (Hwang Eunbi, 1998)
The main dancer who captivates with her incredible dance skills and cool personality. Sinb inspired the “Artist of the Month” segment from Studio Choom after the success of her video “Sweet but Psycho” with Mina Myoung. She also displays her singing abilities through covers like “산책” and “”.
Umji (Kim Yewon, 1998)
The all-rounder and youngest member, praised for her versatility and charming personality. Umji is known for her beautiful covers of songs like “Lemon” by Kenshi Yonezu, “Secret Garden” by IU, “Love Dive” by IVE as well as her original song “eve love” that she wrote and co-composed.

💫 A Brief History

VIVIZ debuted on February 9, 2022, with their first EP, Beam of Prism and title track “BOP BOP!”. Despite being a relatively new group, the members are no strangers to the K-pop scene. All three members were previously part of the popular girl group GFRIEND. VIVIZ's formation brought together their loyal fanbase and introduced them to new fans with a fresh start and an exciting new sound.

🎶 Music and Style

VIVIZ's music is a blend of various genres, combining elements of pop, R&B, and dance. According to the members, “GFRIEND's songs were mostly sentimental, and they often struck a chord with people, but VIVIZ's music allows people to shake their body to the rhythm as it is more bubbly and bouncy.”
Beam of Prism (2022)
Summer Vibe (2022)
VarioUS (2023)
VERSUS (2024)

🔖 Official Links

Stay connected with VIVIZ through their official channels!

📺 YouTube Content

VIVIZ offers a variety of content on their YouTube channel for fans to enjoy. You can explore these series to get to know VIVIZ better and enjoy their journey.

🏵️ Achievements and Recognition

Since their debut, VIVIZ has garnered significant attention. They are tied with IVE as the fastest girl group to win a music show just 7 days after their debut, a testament to their impact and loyal fanbase. The choreography for “Maniac” went viral both domestically and internationally, which contributed to an impressive chart reversal as they continue to gain a following both in South Korea and internationally.

🎫 The Upcoming Tour

With the announcement of their North American tour, excitement among fans has reached new heights. This tour is organized by Leo Presents and includes dates across the USA, with venues that promise a great experience with benefits like sound check party, hi touch, group photo and fansigns.
Despite the chaotic ticket buying process, which saw the site crash and tickets sell out quickly, fans are eagerly anticipating this tour. The ticket prices and benefits were great, adding to the excitement. We welcome suggestions on how we can improve the tour experience for the community.
---
If you have any questions, feel free to ask here, long-time fans can always share their knowledge and experiences. Additionally, fans are encouraged to contribute more information about the group in the comment section, don't be shy. Share your favorite performances, covers, variety show episodes etc.
Our subreddit is a place for fans to connect, share, and celebrate all things related to VIVIZ. So feel free to introduce yourself, share your favorite VIVIZ moments, join in on the conversations and be a subreddit collaborator. Let’s support VIVIZ together and spread the love for this amazing group!
submitted by AutoModerator to VIVIZ [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 20:57 OldBayJ [SerSun] Serial Sunday: Watch!

Welcome to Serial Sunday!

To those brand new to the feature and those returning from last week, welcome! Do you have a self-established universe you’ve been writing or planning to write in? Do you have an idea for a world that’s been itching to get out? This is the perfect place to explore that. Each week, I post a theme to inspire you, along with a related image and song. You have 500 - 1000 words to write your installment. You can jump in at any time; writing for previous weeks’ is not necessary in order to join. After you’ve posted, come back and provide feedback for at least 1 other writer on the thread. Please be sure to read the entire post for a full list of rules.

This Week’s Theme is Watch!

Image Song
Bonus Word List (each included word is worth 5 pts) - You must list which words you included at the end of your story. - wish - weaken - whiplash - wayward
The world is watching, or are your characters watching the world go by? Maybe they are standing watch over something important or waiting for a person to arrive or an event to unfold. Watching a favorite show can bring joy but to be watched often causes feelings of unease within those who are under observation. Perhaps a student or child has learned something valuable from what they have witnessed, or has a traumatic scene thrown the world of your character into chaos? In the primal sense, does the predator wait patiently for their prey, whatever that may be? The very nature of humanity is expressed in this simple yet complex task with a duality of purpose and meaning. Blurb provided by u/JKHmattox.
These are just a few things to get you started. Remember, the theme should be present within the story in some way, but its interpretation is completely up to you. For the bonus words (not required), you may change the tense, but the base word should remain the same. Please remember to follow all sub and post rules.
Don’t forget to sign up for Saturday Campfire here! We start at 1pm EST and provide live feedback!

Theme Schedule:

  • May 19 - Watch (this week)
  • May 26 - Yield
  • June 2 - Abandoned
  Previous Themes Serial Index  

Rankings for Void

Rules & How to Participate

Please read and follow all the rules listed below. This feature has requirements for participation!
  • Submit a story inspired by the weekly theme, written by you and set in your self-established universe that is 500 - 1000 words. No fanfics and no content created or altered by AI. (Use wordcounter.net to check your wordcount.) Stories should be posted as a top-level comment below. If you’re continuing an in-progress serial (not on Serial Sunday), please include links to your previous installments.
  • Your chapter must be submitted by Saturday at 9:00am EST. Late entries will be disqualified. All submissions should be given (at least) a basic editing pass before being posted!
  • Begin your post with the name of your serial between triangle brackets (e.g. ). When our bot is back up and running, this will allow it to recognize your serial and add each chapter to the SerSun catalog. Do not include anything in the brackets you don’t want in your title. (Please note: You must use this same title every week.)
  • Do not pre-write your serial. You’re welcome to do outlining and planning for your serial, but chapters should not be pre-written. All submissions should be written for this post, specifically.
  • Only one active serial per author at a time. This does not apply to serials written outside of Serial Sunday.
  • All Serial Sunday authors must leave feedback on at least one story on the thread each week. The feedback should be actionable and also include something the author has done well. When you include something the author should improve on, provide an example! You have until Saturday at 11:59pm EST to post your feedback. (Submitting late is not an exception to this rule.)
  • Missing your feedback requirement two or more consecutive weeks will disqualify you from rankings and Campfire readings the following week. If it becomes a habit, you may be asked to move your serial to the sub instead.
  • Serials must abide by subreddit content rules. You can view a full list of rules here. If you’re ever unsure if your story would cross the line, please modmail and ask!
 

Weekly Campfires & Voting:

  • On Saturdays at 1pm EST, I host a Serial Sunday Campfire in our Discord’s Voice Lounge. Join us to read your story aloud, hear others, and exchange feedback. We have a great time! You can even come to just listen, if that’s more your speed. Grab the “Serial Sunday” role on the Discord to get notified before it starts. You can sign up here
  • Nominations for your favorite stories can be submitted with this form. The form is open on Saturdays from 12:30pm to 11:59pm EST. You do not have to participate to make nominations!
  • Authors who complete their Serial Sunday serials with at least 12 installments, can host a SerialWorm in our Discord’s Voice Lounge, where you read aloud your finished and edited serials. Celebrate your accomplishment! Authors are eligible for this only if they have followed the weekly feedback requirement (and all other post rules). Visit us on the Discord for more information.  

Ranking System

Rankings are determined by the following point structure.
TASK POINTS ADDITIONAL NOTES
Use of weekly theme 75 pts Theme should be present, but the interpretation is up to you!
Including the bonus words 5 pts each (20 pts total) This is a bonus challenge, and not required!
Actionable Feedback 5 - 15 pts each (60 pt. max)* This includes thread and campfire critiques. (15 pt crits are those that go above & beyond.)
Nominations your story receives 10 - 60 pts 1st place - 60, 2nd place - 50, 3rd place - 40, 4th place - 30, 5th place - 20 / Regular Nominations - 10
Voting for others 15 pts You can now vote for up to 10 stories each week!
You are still required to leave at least 1 actionable feedback comment on the thread every week that you submit. This should include at least one specific thing the author has done well and one that could be improved. *Please remember that interacting with a story is not the same as providing feedback.** Low-effort crits will not receive credit.
 

Subreddit News

  • Join our Discord to chat with other authors and readers! We hold several weekly Campfires, monthly World-Building interviews and several other fun events!
  • Try your hand at micro-fic on Micro Monday!
  • Did you know you can post serials to Shortstories, outside of Serial Sunday? Check out this post to learn more!
  • Interested in being a part of our team? Apply to be a mod!  
submitted by OldBayJ to shortstories [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 20:51 2cool4ashe "The woman wanted to fuck the bee." A meme post about the Bee Movie (2007) in /r/memes gets abuzz when a redditor is downvoted for going against the meme hive mind.

The Bee Movie was released in 2007, with the main character, Barry (who is a bee), being voiced by Jerry Seinfeld. The plot is about Barry discovering that humans have been stealing and eating bee's honey for centuries, so he pairs up with a human florist named Vanessa to sue the human race for mistreatment and exploitation of bees.
During the week of the trial, Barry has dinner with Vanessa, when her boyfriend, Ken, shows up and basically accuses her of cheating on him with Barry, the bee. This scene has Ken infamously yelling, "Are there other bugs in your life???" when Vanessa explains its not like that. She also breaks up with Ken here and spends more time with Barry throughout the film, essentially making Ken the bad guy.
This brings us to the meme posted in memes, titled: "The older you get, the more you understand he was rightfully angry."
[The meme says, "When you were dumped for a literal insect but you were still viewed as a villain:", and shows Ken making an incredulous face]
Let's start with the main comment that spawns lots of memey replies: (commenters will be appreviated C1, C2, C3, etc.)
Main: Nah, bro should have left all of that shit behind. The woman wanted to fuck the bee. That's not someone you would want to associate with. C1: These hoes ain't loyal C2: He should have joined, then they could have a beesome. C3: bzzz bzzzzzzz bzzzzzzz "What's that buzzing? Do you have a vibrator on?" "Nah, I am being fucked by a bee" o face C4: is honeyfuckers still around Edit: yup sure is. Also very nsfw in case you really needed the warning for a subreddit called honeyfuckers.
Among the memes is one user who seems to get massively downvoted for their take: (this user will be nicknamed 'Mega' for clarity)
Mega: at what part of the movie did she ever show feelings for Barry? C1: When she started ignoring her human BF for a fucking bee. Mega: no she was busy with a big lawsuit, thats why she was a bit distant to him, and she broke up with him because he tried to light a sentient being on fire C2: cope + ratio Mega: i mean im not wrong, at no point did she ever show romantic feelings for Barry C3: They co-own the flower shop at the end, they went on picnics in the park together, she’s flirty with him, I just think you’re really bad at social cu- oh yeah, this is Reddit, my bad Mega: yk that was a dream sequence right... C3: 1. Yeah my bad, small detail but the picnic is a dream sequence 2. Why do you have such ready knowledge of small details about a shitpost of a movie yet don’t see the clear romantic relationship of the characters C4: some people call it autism. Mega: ablest C5: don't worry; we're two peas in a pot Mega [to C3]: i fully admit that Barry has a crush on her, im just saying its a 1 sided crush, a crush that Ken doesn't even know about and from what we've seen of the movie doesn't have enough evidence to come to that conclusion (at most maybe just a suspicion) edit: also i have this information since we actually studied the bee movie in my philosophy class since you can draw parallels between the Bee's situation and capitalism and you can draw the outcome of the lawsuit to if we just switched to communism (basically a critism on both sides) and during me watching it i realized how wrong the internet was about Ken since before then it was a while since i seen that movie C6: Ok now you're just intentionally trying to be a caricature of the reddit meme, and it's clear you've been putting on a show this whole time C3: snort while you were out studying at school snorts again I WAS STUDYING THE BEE
A user points out to Mega that a certain scene in the movie was removed for some countries:
C1: Fun fact, [the scene where Ken tries to light Barry on fire] is absent in certain releases. Mega: huh, that helps explain why people overwhelmingly side with him C2: So what if he did, its a fucking bee. Would you break up with ur partner if they stood on an ant?? Mega: if the ant had the same intelligence and sentience as a human and overall is just a human in an ant's body and i know this very well then yes i would break up with them since they willingly tried to commit murder C2: It is not murder to squish an ant Mega: thats if it was a normal ant, sure there isnt any laws saying "dont kill bees" but morally with how bees are portrayed in the film killing Barry is still a really bad thing C2: But at the time he was trying to kill the bee, nobody knew that it was so intelligent and able to communicate. The bees golden rule was not to interact with humans so the man had no idea. All he saw was a regular bee flying around his home, and considering he was allergic to them and a sting could kill him, him trying to kill the bee wasn't actually that outrageous. Mega: your talking about the 1st time he tried to kill Barry, im talking about the bathroom scene where he was aware of Barry's intelligence and even had a conversation with him
One redditor suggests Mega is projecting due to a similar life experience they had:
C1: I am taking this out of the air here… But it seem to me very clearly that there might have been some similar situation (hopefully not with a bee) in your life, and admitting she was indeed wrong would make it relate to your situation and admitting you might have been indeed wrong in flirting with that person or allowing them to do so … but yk, just making a lore here in my head… only way that it makes sense that you are so affected by a joke about a kids movie Mega: yeah your defo taking this out of the air, and im just saying that OP's joke doesnt work since thats just not what happened in the film, he might have an argument if that one picnic dream sequence wasnt a dream but it was and otherwise it was just a 1 sided crush on Barry's end C2: It's fucking BEE MOVIE it's not that deep my guy. You were definitely cucked at some point and this clearly hits to close to home. Mega: lot of assumptions here C3: You're way to invested in the relationship of an animated bee and his equally fictional woman girlfriend.
Lastly, a redditor links the picnic sequence in the movie:
C1: https://youtu.be/3LWSfasjuAs?si=WrwynQY1DgeYfHth She fucked that bee
Reminder the thread is still ongoing, so there is plenty for you to go through yourself!
Edit: formatting
submitted by 2cool4ashe to SubredditDrama [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 20:37 Shiirooo Exclusive interview with Famitsu and the devs

Exclusive interview with Famitsu and the devs
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202405/5194 (translated by DeepL: there are probably translation errors)

Shadows is the next step forward for Assassin's Creed

Mr. KARL ONNÉE, Producer
--First of all, let me say "Thank you" from us Japanese, as "Assassin's Creed" is finally coming out, which is set in Japan!
KARL: Thank you for coming here today. I have been wanting to do this work for years, so my dream has come true.
--Why did you choose the Azuchi-Momoyama period as the setting for this work?
KARL: I chose it because it is a very rich period in history. It was a time of war and political maneuvering, a time of change from rural to urban areas, and also the birth of art. I also chose it because it was the start of the unification of Japan. It was a pivotal moment for Japan. Together, these elements provided an excellent canvas on which to tell the story.
--What kind of image do you have of the Azuchi-Momoyama period?
KARL: This was a time when the feudal lords of the warring states were fighting for power in the name of unifying the country, but it was also a struggle for control of trade. Portuguese missionaries and merchants came to Japan together. The Portuguese missionaries and merchants came to Japan together, and people who wanted a beautiful country and peace. This is the kind of image we have, but I think there was a mixture of various cultures and people's thoughts. And of course, there were the warring feudal lords. These are great canvases for the story.
--What do you think should be inherited from "Assassin's Creed" and what are the unique aspects of this game?
KARL: When people think of "Assassin's Creed," they think of stealth, but shinobi fantasy is not only a perfect fit for an "Assassin's Creed" game, it also fits the DNA of the "Assassin" brand.
What we wanted to do with "Assassin's Creed Shadows" was to push stealth even further. We started this effort with the previous game, "Assassin's Creed Mirage," but we wanted to take it further with new features. Systems such as light and shadow, grappling ropes, prone, and a variety of tools available in the game provide a new experience.
The gameplay is also enriched by two characters, Naoe, a shinobi, and Yasuke, a samurai. Players will explore and discover Japan through the eyes of Naoe, a local, and one non-Japanese outsider. The game is more dynamic than ever before, pushing the limits of technology and offering an experience exclusive to current-gen consoles.
--The "Assassin's Creed: Valhalla," released in 2020, is based on the theme of "Vikings" and has been a huge sales success. As a Japanese, I feel that from a global perspective, the Japanese "shinobi" theme is even more niche, but what is your current response?
KARL: I would like to talk about how it compares to "Viking" fantasy. Both shinobi and samurai are exciting and celebrated as fantasy with power, and are widely discussed in pop culture, and we are very much inspired by them.
Shinobi were on our radar from the beginning because we thought they fit well with the "Assassins" brand, but we felt that incorporating a powerful samurai would create two different gameplay experiences and give us the opportunity to tell the story from two different perspectives. We feel that this is a powerful motif that can compete with the "Viking" motif.
--How did you like the setting of Japan as a subject matter for the latest model?
KARL: I think it was perfect. For example, the "Global Illumination" technology allowed us to explore the response of light and shadow. Some consoles are still called "Baked GI", but by using dynamic lighting and the power of the new hardware, we were able to explore the creativity.
We are now able to express not only light and shadow, but also the dynamism of nature in greater detail. Naturally, since it is set in Japan, we have never dealt with so many trees, and thus so much data, in previous works in the series. We also needed more data to seamlessly move various things at the same time because of the seasonal changes. The latest models have allowed us to realize our vision, and our ambition for this film and for "Assassin's Creed" will continue.
--Assassin's Creed Mirage marks the 15th anniversary of the game. Can we consider this work as the next step forward for the next generation of "Assassin's Creed"?
KARL: You are absolutely right. Mirage" was a tribute to existing works, but this film is the first step into a new era. We are in the era of modern equipment. With the new generation of our engine "Anvil", plus the opportunity to create a new era by using the power of the latest consoles, we are able to do what we wanted to do with "Assassin's Creed Shadows".
With technologies such as global illumination and dynamism, we are now making the game we really wanted to make.
--What are the four pillars you are focusing on in the development of this game?
KARL: We are focusing on four pillars.
  • The first is to create an authentic and dynamic world.
  • Second is the story, introducing a new form of storytelling to "Assassin's Creed" by introducing two characters with different stories and perspectives.
  • Third, there are two different action sequences. Samurai and Shinobi each have their own skills tree elements and unique weapons. For example, in castles, each has a different positioning that they excel at, which makes a big difference in how they play.
  • And finally, there is stealth. We are promoting the importance of stealth more than ever with new systems such as light and shadow, objects in the environment, depression, and grappling ropes.
-- The launch is scheduled for November 15, 2024. What is the current development status?
KARL: Development is going very well. We are proud to say that we have done a good job, but of course it is not finished and there are still glitches. This is the result of all the work we have done so far. We are very happy with how things are going right now, and we hope you will stay tuned for more news.
-- I understand that "Assassin's Creed Infinity" was announced at the previous Ubisoft Forward and that this title will be included in the game? Also, what is the development status of that game at ......?
KARL: "Assassin's Creed Infinity" is introduced as an Animus Hub (*a hub that will function in the future as an entry point for the series), which we will talk about at a later date.
--What is your message to your fans around the world and in Japan?
KARL: We are humbled that our dream of creating a game in this setting has come true. This is a setting that our fans have been anticipating for a long time, and for us it has been a wonderful experience to work on a game that we have always wanted to make.
This game is the result of our love. We hope you enjoy it. We look forward to talking more about it in the coming months.

The Shinobi Assassin and the Legendary Samurai. Experience the different fighting styles created by these two characters.

(left) Mr. JONATHAN DUMONT (Creative Director), (right) Mr. CHARLES BENOIT (Game Director)
--When did you start the development of this work?
JONATHAN: Development began about four years ago, and research into the time period in which the film is set began immediately. There were a number of cool subjects that brought us great characters and story plots. I had a gut feeling that this was going to be a very good game.
--Was the Azuchi-Momoyama period chosen as the period setting from the pre-development stage? Did you have an idea for a major point in Japanese history, such as the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate?
JONATHAN: I started from the beginning of my study of Japanese history, but I began reading with the feeling of a student. Following the Socratic principle, you took the attitude of knowing nothing. As I read on, I found some very interesting settings.
I focused on the Azuchi-Momoyama period because I felt it was an extremely important period for Japan. It was a time of warring states, the need to unify the country, and the need to defend itself against the growing influence of other countries.
It was a grand and complex period, and there are many stories that can be told from different angles. Among the heroes of the unification of Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Oda Nobunaga are best known among the outstanding characters in Japanese history.
Not only war, but also politics are involved, and they are moving toward the peace that will eventually come, with a good ending waiting somewhere in the middle. I strongly felt that this was a wonderful and interesting period that deserved to be featured.
It was also a time when the foundations of the arts were laid. Castle towns were built, the world changed, and people's relationships with each other and with art, as well as their inner lives, also changed. It was very interesting to explore this period, and I was strongly attracted to the characters who lived in this time.
-- Why did you choose the title "Shadows"?
CHARLES: From my point of view, there are two reasons. Shinobi hide in the shadows, so "Shadows" is of course inspired by that. In a way, this embraces the "Assassin" brand and shinobi.
There are other aspects to "Shadows" as well. There are "hidden things" in the game that must be discovered by the player, but they are hidden in the darkness in some way.
JONATHAN: Both characters are in a way connected to being shadowy heroes living in the underworld of this era. It's a cool title, if you can think of it this way.
--Why did you choose two main characters and two fighting styles? Also, what kind of combat action can the Shinobi and Samurai experience respectively?
JONATHAN: One of the reasons for the separation of the two styles is that from the beginning of development, we wanted to have two distinct and cool archetypes to play with: the samurai and the shinobi.
We also wanted to make sure that this fantasy was as close to reality and expectation as possible without being diluted. I also often felt the need to have two points of view in the development of the story, since history is rarely clearly black and white. The two protagonists provided interesting dynamics and perspectives on how to approach the game.
CHARLES: I think it is very interesting that in combat, both the samurai and the shinobi have special types of weapons. Therefore, the style of combat in this work is built on a more weapon-based approach.
There are weapons that only Samurai can use, and the same goes for Shinobi. The player can get a good feel for the two different fighting styles. And it is possible to switch between them.
--What weapons can Naoe and Yasuke use?
CHARLES: Both players have different types of weapons. For Naoe, we went for a more classic fantasy type shinobi. The chain scythe is a weapon that covers a wide area and can only be used by Naoe.
In addition, she also has a dagger used at close range, which can be combined with a hidden blade (Hidden Blade). Naoe can fight very quickly and efficiently with these.
On the other hand, Yasuke, who excels at overpowering with force, is given more types of weapons, some of which are firearms type weapons. They also have the typical samurai bow.
--Why did you choose to make the shinobi Naoe an original character and the samurai Yasuke a historical figure?
JONATHAN: Even though they are well known in Japan, at least in North America, not much is known about farmers, what happened to them, and where the Shinobi came from.
So we decided to introduce a figure from Iga who is shrouded in mystery. We considered historical figures from the region, but we preferred a sense of mystery, so we came up with Naoe as someone who may or may not have actually existed.
As for Yasuke, from the beginning we thought that a story about the arrival of the Portuguese would be a very good way to tell the story of the crisis in Japan. The team liked the character Yasuke, and we thought we could use him to show the promise of discovering Japan.
We thought that if we started with a samurai already in Japanese society, he would be a very interesting and intriguing character, with concepts that we don't necessarily know. And it would also be interesting to see what happened to him. He starts out as a character who is already rooted in history, and we are curious to find out what happens to him.
I thought they would make a cool team, complementing each other in terms of storytelling, physique, and family background.
--What did you keep in mind when creating the scenario where the two main characters switch? What were some of the challenges?
JONATHAN: I wanted the audience to feel that "both are the main characters," but this was more complicated than it seems. Their stories overlap in places, but I wanted to make sure that as the game progresses, you gradually discover more and more about both characters. They have similar goals and motivations, but they are not 100% the same, which made it complicated and difficult to maintain their individual personalities.
Naturally, the quest can be played by either character. If a quest needs to be started by one character and completed by the other, the settings must accommodate both play styles. Thus, although it can be complicated, there are many opportunities to tell the story from one of the two perspectives.
Having two different points of view is a lot of fun, but there were some complications, such as having to use new technology in the conversation tools. There were some cool things, however. It is interesting that in the conversational scenes, the player decides which of the two protagonists speaks and they ask for different things. This is cool in a way.
CHARLES: Both characters are attacking the castle and at some point the player is asked if they want to continue with Yasuke or Naoe, both are interesting. At various points the player must make these choices.
The stories are independent, so if you want to know more about Naoe's or Yasuke's past, you can play as one character and delve into that character's story.
--Are there areas of action that differ, such as places that only Naoe, a shinobi, is allowed to enter?
JONATHAN: There are areas where both Naoe and Yasuke have different areas of activity. I can't go into details because there are a few surprises, but since Naoe can use a hooked rope, there are places that are almost exclusively accessible to her.
The world is designed to be enjoyed by both characters, and players can switch between the two at will.
Of course, if you want to reach the final point of the world or reach the summit through the ruins, then perhaps Naoe is the better choice. However, if you want to break through the fort head-on alone and open the way, Yasuke seems like a better choice. Of course, you can play with either character.
CHARLES: Each character also has specific actions. Naoe can hook the hooked rope to a specific spot and move like a pendulum, or hook the hook to a high spot and climb the rope to get to where she wants to go faster than Yasuke. However, Yasuke can use a shoulder bash to break down reinforced doors.
Yasuke can also perform parkour very efficiently in a more daring way. What can be felt when Yasuke performs parkour is how the crowd reacts. Because Yasuke is a samurai and exudes dignity as a superior class, the crowd reacts accordingly. Naoe, on the other hand, gives the impression of being more integrated into the world.
--Can you both use the Hidden Blade, Hawk's Eye, and other Assassin abilities?
CHARLES: Without spoiling anything, the traditional skills of the Assassins are mainly for Naoe. However, there is another mechanism called "Kantori" (provisional name) that can be used when you want to find an enemy or target person, and this can be used by both of them.
You can use free aim to look around, but you cannot see through walls. Yasuke can also kill with stealth, but in a more direct and easier way. Even with stealth, there will be some sound, so it is a "stealth-like" approach.
JONATHAN: Kantori (provisional name) can be used to find many things in your current location. It is a very good guide for a certain area, but it does not take all the fun out of exploration. It is a good guide because you can learn a little more about where you want to go, but you are left with the surprise of discovering something.
-- Is there a skill tree that makes Naoe more combat-oriented or enhances Yasuke's stealth?
CHARLES: Both have skills that are more combat-oriented and stealth-oriented. Also, some equipment has effects such as increased resistance when attacked. We also offer perks that enhance your abilities in combat.
Naoe, enhanced to be more combat-oriented, has an advantage in melee combat compared to Naoe, enhanced to be more stealth-oriented. Both have a range, but cannot go in completely opposite directions. There is some overlap between the two, but we have made sure that the characteristics of each ability are properly felt.
--Please explain the skill system.
JONATHAN: Both characters share XP and level up together, but the rest of the system is a bit similar to that of "Assassin's Creed Odyssey".
XP and character abilities are available, weapons can be crafted to some degree, and various upgrades can be made as the game progresses. Weapons are not stand-alone, but for two, so each weapon has its own unique skill system. Players should not feel any discomfort, but this is a very different part of the game from the past.
CHARLES: There are two things that were very important to us in terms of skills.
First, we have to be very aware of archetypes. In Japan, there are distinct archetypes, such as the armor-clad samurai, the revolting monk, and the bandit, which are quite different. We try to make it clear to the player who is stronger, and we try to make that part of the leveling process as important as possible. Samurai are always stronger than bandits.
Secondly, player skill is added to the mix. The better you are at timing, reading attacks, understanding weapons, etc., the better you will be and the further ahead you will be.
--What is the volume of the map compared to past works? I would also like to know how you decided on the scale of this work.
JONATHAN: The biggest difference is the scale ratio. The mountains are not the actual size, but we wanted them to be true forests, consisting of trees of a certain size, so that you feel you are in a forest. To achieve this, we needed space.
We also decided to keep it close to a realistic scale, so we could feel the breath of many things. When we visited Japan and saw the castle, we were so glad we made this decision. Japanese castles are huge! Of course, we had seen pictures of castles before and thought they were big and magnificent, but when we saw them in person, they were astonishingly large.
And I wanted more space to explore the castle. Castles were built to be large battlegrounds, you know. You need space to build intricate walls for defense.
The overall scale of the map is similar to the size of the map in Origins. However, the scale ratio makes it feel more realistic. The open space leads to secluded areas throughout the game, which will be fun to explore. This sense of scale is a very interesting aspect of this film for us.
CHARLES: The story led us to choose which locations in Japan we would choose. The major events in Kyoto, around Osaka, and around Azuchi Castle took place in the same area, so we were able to focus on that.
JONATHAN: Of course, we had to choose a size that matched the game, but I think it was the perfect size for this story and type of game.
--Since the game is set in the Warring States period, is there a system that allows players to participate in battles?
JONATHAN: We see several battles in the story, and the battle at Iga is playable. There are other battles as well, but I can't talk about them right now. The game is set in the Warring States period, but it is not only about battles. It is a game that allows you to travel and discover that world.
--What challenges have you faced and what have you been able to achieve as a result?
JONATHAN: By making the big decision to go completely modern and demanding a very high level from the "Anvil" engine, we were able to increase the number of particles, create a more realistic atmosphere, and expand the graphical possibilities of the changing seasons.
This allowed us to work on a fresh new Assassin's Creed. This was a great opportunity for us to take a big leap forward in graphics.
CHARLES: Also, thanks to the new global illumination system, we were able to take advantage of light and shadow, which had a huge impact on the gameplay and stealth approach. For example, enemies became aware of our presence through our shadows, enemies gathered for warmth under a fire in the winter, or shadows through shoji screens depicted enemy presence, giving a new dimension to stealth.

By having two main characters, it is possible to show a wider range of angles and different perspectives.

(left) BROOKE DAVIES, Associate Narrative Director, (right) SACHI SCHMIDT-HORI, Narrative Consultant
--Did you choose the Azuchi-Momoyama period as the period setting from the pre-production stage?
BROOKE: I joined the project after the choice of period had been made, so the Azuchi-Momoyama period had already been chosen. This period offered so many wonderful opportunities from a narrative perspective. The complexity and duality of the period is well reflected in the characters of Naoe and Yasuke.
--What were you aware of and what were the challenges in creating a scenario where the two main characters switch?
BROOKE: From a storytelling perspective, I see it more as a wonderful opportunity than a challenge. When I write a story, I try to show rather than tell, and having two characters allows me to show what's going on from a wider range of angles and different perspectives. I hope this will encourage players to want to share their feelings with them.
--What do you think are the most important points in bringing original characters and historical figures into the game?
BROOKE: Both offer different and unique opportunities. With regard to Yasuke, I found him very interesting historically because we know some things about him, but there are many unknowns. So we needed to fill in the blanks in the story. It is important to note that Yasuke is a historical figure.
And in the case of Naoe, an original character, we were able to draw the story freely to some extent. The fact that she is a member of the Fujibayashi family and that her father is Masayasu Fujibayashi Nagato Mamoru allowed us to place her firmly within the setting. Because Yasuke is a real person but appears as a foreign-born samurai, the Japanese-born Naoe is on equal footing with Yasuke, although she has a different perspective.
--Will other historical figures appear besides Nobunaga Oda and Yasuke?
BROOKE: You will meet Luis Frois (a Jesuit missionary) at the meeting in Azuchi Castle. Also, Nene and Oichi will appear. The Japanese art renaissance that began in the Azuchi-Momoyama period blossomed in the Edo period, and you will also meet Sen no Rikyu, Kano Eitoku, and other important figures.
--Please tell us what year the story will be depicted.
BROOKE: I can't tell you what players will see, but I think it covers a part of the Azuchi-Momoyama period, from 1579 to 1584.
--I think the appeal of the series is to depict the struggle between the Assassin Order and the Templars while taking into account the history, but I would like to ask if there were any difficulties in putting the Azuchi-Momoyama period into it.
BROOKE: I don't want to mention the Knights Templar because I don't want to spoil anything, but the fascination and dynamics of this period are very interesting and provided wonderful opportunities for storytelling.
--How did you go about creating a world with a realistic feel of the Azuchi-Momoyama period?
BROOKE: We were very lucky to work with the Environment Team. The visuals they created for the game provided a great backdrop for the story.
The in-world experience added so much to the story. What we see from the stories and characters of this time period is complexity. I also believe that many of the people surrounding the World had their own struggles.
It was a very difficult time historically, and we see duality. Nothing is ever clear-cut and black and white. In warfare, two groups face each other and are confronted with different perspectives. But in the midst of it all, there are glimpses of hope for the future as we know it, which will later blossom.
--What advice did you actually give?
HORI: One scene that left a strong impression on me was the scene where Nobunaga's sister, Oichi, remarries Katsuie Shibata. In the original story we received, it was thought that the two families decided on their own without regard to Oichi's intentions, and Katsuie was portrayed negatively because he was more than 20 years older than Oichi.
So I spoke with BROOKE and the team and asked them to change it. Oichi had young children after the death of her husband Nagamasa Asai, so if her remarriage was to Katsuie, a trusted man who had served Nobunaga, she would have married him as a matter of course. When I explained that it was better to portray it in a positive light, it was a new discovery for the BROOKEs, and they were very moved by it. The rewritten version of the episode was very moving.
The other scene is the tea ceremony scene featuring Sen no Rikyu. Chanoyu is widely known to be translated as tea ceremony, but experts say it is a mistranslation. After researching the misunderstanding over here, I advised them, as far as I could understand, not to use a teapot or tea leaves, for example.
--Even we Japanese have a strong image of "ninja" as a fantasy. Did you encounter any difficulties with the theme of "ninja" in order to achieve a high level of fidelity to the historical reconstruction?
HORI: Ninja are certainly a fantasy, so I think it's a good thing that we can express ourselves creatively and without reservation. However, there are also dedicated ninja fans and communities around the world, and I am not sure to what extent they see the ninja as a real existence, or as an entity that existed in history.
Therefore, the extent to which ninja are represented in the game depends on the level of tolerance of the avid shinobi fans. I discussed this with the members of the development team. We did not have a specific policy on how much to express, but made decisions on a case-by-case basis. We would say, "This is an acceptable creative expression," or "This is stereotypical", so let's not do that.
--I'm sure there are many references, but which one left a particularly strong impression on you?
BROOKE: The first book I looked through was "Nobunaga no Kouki" by Ota Ushiichi (Azuchi-Momoyama period, military commander and military history author). I was impressed by his personal observations as he recounts the details. We can learn a lot of historical facts from reading history books, but this author incorporated his own views so that I felt I could understand even his character and what it was like to live in that era, and I was completely drawn in. I was thrilled to be able to portray this time period and the people in this book.
--The drama "Shogun" which is set in a similar time period, has been a hit, and I hope that this work will attract the same kind of attention from game fans. I understand that you have prepared a "Discovery Tour" that allows visitors to freely walk around the game world with historical explanations.
BROOKE: I can't answer about the Discovery Tour today, but I am glad to see that interest in the setting and time period of the game is growing. I look forward to the day when we can bring this to you.

Gathering a lot of information to recreate 16th century Japan and build a living world

(left) THIERRY DANSEREAU, Art Director, (right) STÉPHANIE-ANNE RUATTA, Historical Supervisor and World Director
--Please tell us what kind of materials you used as references to describe the field and the characters' costumes in the Azuchi-Momoyama period.
THIERRY: I have been working with experts and consultants for a long time, but for the characters, I referred to museum exhibits and books for their appearances and costumes. I visited several museums, did my research, and checked the materials with STÉPHANIE-ANNE.
Based on these, we created the characters. We also referred to descriptions in the books about the colors and the flags people carried. We used multiple sources, but we have checked them for historical accuracy.
STÉPHANIE-ANNE: For several years we had the help of experts, but we also did research with a Japanese studio and team. We used different kinds of sources to make sure the team got it right and had all the information they needed to reconstruct what Japan looked like in the 16th century.
We used museum databases, as THIERRY mentioned, but we also used inscriptions, scientific books, articles, and medieval depositions. For example, the Principles of Nobunaga has been translated into English, so we used that as a reference to describe 16th century Japan. I also referred to the documents of Luis Frois from the same period, which compare European and Japanese society.
--This period was also a time when there was a large influx of immigrants. Will you also depict the episodes, lifestyles, and culture of these people (missionaries, merchants, etc.) as well as Yasuke?
STÉPHANIE-ANNE: Yes, it is important to introduce the presence of Portuguese missionaries and merchants in the 16th century. They influenced the course of warfare during this period and the changing power of certain merchants in Japan.
--I am wondering what castles, shrines and temples that symbolize the Azuchi-Momoyama period will appear in the game. Although the game is set in the Kansai region, is the Osaka Castle built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi ......?
STÉPHANIE-ANNE: The era is represented by the construction of various castles and castle towns, so players will discover a wide variety of castle types and castles destroyed in battle. The Azuchi Castle, which is related to the name of the era, will also be featured.
THIERRY: Himeji Castle, Osaka Castle, and Takeda Castle are also available, and it is wonderful that players can visit and play in these castles. I think this is one of the strengths of the franchise, but all of the castles are based on actual historical blueprints, which I think is very unique, both as an experience and a learning opportunity.
The Koyasan Okunoin Cemetery is the oldest graveyard in Japan, which can also be seen in the game. There are too many to mention them all, but thanks to STÉPHANIE-ANNE and the experts, I think they are well described and it is wonderful that players will be able to travel to these places.
--The architectural style and decoration of the buildings is a different culture from the previous works in the series. What were you conscious of in recreating the culture and what were the challenges? I am also interested in the possibility of diving on the "Shachihoko".
STÉPHANIE-ANNE: The building team did a lot of research, and then we checked the results with experts and asked them to add the elements needed to build a great castle. We did research to recreate the decorations of not only the castle, but also the temples and shrines, and also to find out what materials were used to make them.
THIERRY: The colors also change over time, so we made adjustments to that as well. Of course, this is "Assassin's Creed," so you can climb anywhere and jump from almost anywhere. Exploring is fun.
--Japanese period games tend to be rather subdued, but were there any barriers to making it a worldwide production?
STÉPHANIE-ANNE: It's a game based on history, and we want players to have the opportunity to play with history. This period is so fascinating and celebrated, and has had such an impact on pop culture, that we were fortunate to have the help of renowned experts to make sure we had all the information we needed to faithfully recreate medieval Japan in the 16th century.
We maintained historical fidelity because it was a rich period with so much to talk about and we didn't feel the need to change it. There is an experience that goes into fantasy, but keeping it authentic was our primary goal.
--In the main storyline, can we experience famous episodes from the Azuchi-Momoyama period (such as the Battle of Nagashino, the Honnoji Incident, the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, etc.)?
STÉPHANIE-ANNE: You will have to wait a little longer for that.
--In the recent series, "Origins," "Odyssey," and "Valhalla," you can enjoy the connection to mythology and fantasy elements based on mythological themes. Will this work also contain elements based on Japanese mythology, yokai, and other fictional creatures?
STÉPHANIE-ANNE: That is a very good question, but I will answer this one later.
--This game also reproduces the four seasons of Japan. Which season did you start first? And which seasons were particularly difficult to express?
THIERRY: I started with spring. We all know about cherry blossoms, and I think they are the most symbolic Japanese element for foreigners. And the big difference is winter. I wouldn't say that winter is more complicated because it has many different expressions, but it was very different from spring, summer, and fall, and the challenges were also different.
--What was particular about the representation of water, such as waterfalls, rivers, lakes, etc.?
THIERRY: All of the water topics were very important to us. We knew that there is a Shinto belief in waterfalls and rivers, and that they are important places in the Japanese eco-system. Even the blueprints of the suburbs are lined with irrigation canals, and they even go into the houses. Thus, we knew that water is a key component of Japanese culture, especially for agriculture.
This is why we installed drains everywhere in this work. The presence of water in the Japanese landscape was different, so we took it seriously and treated it as an inviolable part of the Japanese landscape and way of life.
--What are some of your favorite places, castles, or cultures that appear in your work?
STÉPHANIE-ANNE: That's difficult.
THIERRY: My favorite is Takeda Castle. It is on top of a high mountain and is called the castle in the sky, and I like this location. I can't say it's fair because we built it ourselves, but there are many other great places to visit.
It was a lot of work to create the forest, but I really enjoy looking at the landscape. I also like how all the ecosystems interact with each other, such as the clouds in the weather system. It's not a location, but I enjoy it because it encompasses the whole game.
STÉPHANIE-ANNE: I was impressed by the "Rakuchu Rakugaizu," Japanese folding screens from this period. I was fascinated by the fact that just by looking at them, one could come into contact with the vivid world of this period.
The artistic touch is something special. I have never seen anything so full of art. I truly admire the artists of this era.
THIERRY: I also think the most striking thing for me was the harmony of nature and architecture. I visited the site and found many places, and I could see how everything was deliberately composed.
I was told that trees were planted while the chedi was being built at the time, but everything looked perfect. Also, the culture loves the age and values it, so they cherish moss and things that have taken root there. Japan has maintained these places so they still exist and are still in use.
I realized that we are dealing with a subject that has a long history. It is also a culture that values space, living space. These were the most exciting discoveries during my travels in Japan.
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Gosling plays seasoned stunt maestro Colt Seavers, utterly unafraid of any physical challenges, self-effacingly doubling for insufferably conceited star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who outrageously claims to do all his own stunts. Colt is having a passionate affair with beautiful, talented camera operator Jody Moreno (Blunt), but when he is involved in a catastrophic and career-ending failed stunt, he is overwhelmed with macho shame, thinking the accident was his fault because his infatuation with Jody made him take his eye off the ball. Colt self-pityingly disappears from view during physical rehab and cuts off all contact with Jody, who is deeply hurt. But then hard-faced producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham) persuades him to come back to work on Jody’s first film as a director, a sci-fi epic starring Ryder as a space cowboy doing an awful sub-Matthew-McConaughey Texas accent. Gail claims that Jody herself wanted him – but she and the unspeakable Ryder have their own wicked plans in mind.
David Leitch started as a stunt double, working with actors like Brad Pitt, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Matt Damon, and many more. His directorial debut was a little film called “John Wick,” and he parlayed that success into films like “Atomic Blonde” and “Bullet Train.” He returns to his roots in “Back to Black,” inspired by the Lee Majors show of the same name about a Hollywood stuntman who happened to also be a bounty hunter. Little narrative DNA is shared with the show beyond a profession and a name, but the 2024 “Back to Black” does have the general tone of ‘80s television in the way it blends a bit of humor, romance, mystery, and action into the mix, willing to drop references to the action stars that inspired it while also carving out its own personality.
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2024.05.19 20:16 Ok_ewrsedfgc Where to Watch The Fall Guy Online Free at Home Legally?

As of now, there is no information available about a "The Fall Guy" movie released in 2024. "The Fall Guy" is a TV series from the 1980s, The Fall Guy full movie available for free streaming online at home. You can watch episodes of the original TV series on various streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, or NBC's streaming service Peacock. However, for a 2024 movie version, you would need to wait for official announcements regarding its release and streaming availability.

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"The Fall Guy" (2024) is an action-comedy film that reimagines the 1980s television series with a modern twist. Directed by David Leitch, the movie stars Ryan Gosling as Colt Seavers, a seasoned stuntman who finds himself thrust back into the limelight under unusual circumstances.
The story begins as Colt is trying to step back from the stunt world to focus on his recovery from a serious on-set accident. His life takes an unexpected turn when he is called upon to help out on a blockbuster film directed by his ex-girlfriend, Jody Moreno, played by Emily Blunt. The plot thickens when the film's leading actor, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), mysteriously disappears.
As Colt fills in for the missing star, performing increasingly dangerous stunts, he also begins to unravel a deeper conspiracy surrounding Ryder's disappearance. Alongside his stunt work, Colt navigates his complicated relationships, particularly with Jody, and tries to charm his way back into her good graces.
The Fall Guy 2024 about and cast:
"The Fall Guy" (2024) is an action-comedy film directed by David Leitch, featuring a blend of humor, thrilling stunts, and romance. The movie is inspired by the 1980s TV series of the same name and centers around Colt Seavers, a skilled stuntman played by Ryan Gosling. After a significant accident, Colt steps away from stunt work to recover. However, he is drawn back into the fray when the leading actor of a major film disappears, prompting him to undertake the most dangerous stunts and unravel a criminal conspiracy all while trying to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend, Jody Moreno, played by Emily Blunt.
The film also stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Tom Ryder, the missing movie star, and features performances by Winston Duke, Stephanie Hsu, and Hannah Waddingham. The plot weaves elements of mystery and action, with Colt navigating the challenging dynamics of the film industry and his personal relationships.
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The Fall Guy (2024) FULLMOVIE on Amazon prime 1080p/720p HD:David Leitch, known for his work on films like "Deadpool 2" and "Atomic Blonde," brings his expertise in choreographing elaborate action sequences to "The Fall Guy," making it a tribute to the stunt community and an exploration of the unsung heroes of filmmaking. The movie combines the director’s flair for action with a poignant look at the people behind the scenes who make movies what they are.
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2024.05.19 20:15 ThisIsKeiKei [Excerpt: Tally of Slaughter] The Executioners chapter fight the first Vasthorr Space Marines

Context:The Ushmengar are a Chaos warband dedicated to Vashtorr. They were initially part of the Astral Claws, but when Huron was defeated during the Badab War, they ended up getting lost in the warp and they dedicated themselves to Vashtorr. These Space Marines in particular were some of the first Astral Claws that the Executioners slaughtered during the Badab War, and the Warband was formed by the survivors of their rampage.
In this short story, the Executioners, having just finished a Penitent Crusade, were hunting for the Ushmengar. They had managed to pinpoint them to a Mechanicum forgeworld, and the Death Speaker (Executioner's version of a Chaplain) of the chapter, an Astartes named Razel, a Librarian named Igikura, and a group of Bladeguard descended onto the planet. When they found the Chaos lord of the Ushmengar, named Kagal, this is what happened
The Chaos Space Marine cocked its head to one side, eyes boring into Razel’s. When the Death Speaker was within reach, it nodded and spread its arms wide. The Executioner swung his crozius. The fractal form of the Heretic Astartes shivered as Sharur connected with it. There was the roar of a vast furnace underscored by the shriek of overtaxed bellows, the clanking of gears and the hammering of pistons, and the Ushmengar vanished like smoke blown in the wind, leaving only a chorus of trailing screams.
After this, Razel and his men continued to go deeper into the Manufactorium and ended up fighting a bunch of Ushmengar
The Death Speaker swung his crozius, but the Chaos Space Marine dodged the attack. The strike went wide, cracking the side of the furnace. Razel punched out with his pistol and sent his opponent’s bolter flying off. Undeterred, the Ushmengar ripped off a piston hammer from a slain ogryn and arrested Razel’s downward swing. Muscles strained, his sinew coils contracted and he drove the Heretic Astartes onto one knee. The Ushmengar’s composure broke and he roared at the Death Speaker. With a burst of vigour he regained his footing and shook Razel off. Burst fire from the Executioner’s pistol stitched an arc across his helmet, which cracked, exposing his metallic face beneath. The delineation between the organic and inorganic had become blurred to the extent that they had become one and the same. Oil bled from ruined armour and unclean flesh-metal.
Razel swung the hammer, only to have it kicked from his hand. The Chaos Space Marine charged at Razel and tackled him from his midriff, pushing him backwards into the bulging blowpipes of the blast furnace. Wedging the absolver pistol in the seal between helmet and gorget, the Executioner emptied the magazine into the traitor’s neck. The Ushmengar’s grip slackened, and Razel pushed him backwards before gripping the crozius with both hands and bringing it down with all his might on his hated foe’s head. It burst in a shower of metal and burning blood oil.
After this, the Executioners then proceed to go deeper into the Manufactorium
A storm had broken out at the end of the hall. Lightning flashed, lancing out from furnace to furnace as a rain of brimstone fell. An unholy radiance pulsed in the penumbral gloom, accompanied by the skirling of bronze horns lining the altar. The light rose out of the chancel of the command fane and drifted towards the Death Speaker and the Epistolary, who had advanced ahead to the binary-etched plaza. Within the pulsing storm was Kalag.
Molten metal was siphoned off the blast furnaces, forming fiery wheels into an armillary sphere spinning around the floating Ushmengar. The skitarii shrieked in binharic as they were lifted from the raised walkways, torn towards the eye of the churning storm. They were disassembled, their flesh withering into ash whilst their bionics melded into the spinning rings upon which bleeding eyes had formed. As Kalag moved towards Razel and Igikura, a forge-vault vast beyond imagining spread out behind him, the hellish vision overlapping the reality of the manufactorum. There was the roar of colossal furnaces, the heave and gasp of monumental bellows, and the clang of countless hammers, thudding pistons and clanking gears, underpinned by the screaming of tortured souls fuelling the forges.
Whereas Kalag’s form had been ephemeral before, a charcoal sketch jumping in and out of focus, now it was wholly corporeal. His armour was burned black, running with unclean oils and unguents. Mechadendrites writhed from between the plates like fungal growths, straining for some dire unity with the emergent daemonic mechanism. Around him were the rings of the armillary sphere, which were both armour and a mechanism to unravel reality, spinning faster until they were a blur as the warpsmith approached them
Up ahead, Igikura stood alone, defiant. The crystalline matrix of his axe blazed, focusing his power before it lanced upwards into Kalag. For a moment, the spinning rings slowed and fire raged down upon the Epistolary, enveloping the Executioner. The apotropaic sigils upon his armour shone migraine-bright as they earthed the worst effects of the warpsmith’s attack. The Librarian’s mind was in the throes of a fever dream, the backwash of the Ushmengar’s barrage bruising his soul.
Sensing his brother’s agony, Razel rose and swung, striking again. A resonant peal shivered through the armillary sphere to no discernible effect.
Kalag, whose attention had been thoroughly upon Igikura, glanced at him, his quasar-like gaze boring into Razel’s own. A high-pitched screech preceded the obliteration of Razel’s helm display. His armour felt heavier. The fibre-bundle muscles tensed and servos halted, keeping him upright. Straining, he raised his hands and took off his helmet. When he beheld the ashes of penitence streaking down Razel’s defiant face, the warpsmith sneered. ‘Lapdog of the False Emperor.’ His voice thundered like the hammer of a god striking an anvil
Razel bared his teeth in response, glistening with blood. ‘You were supposed to die at Badab.’ ‘Oh but you see, I did die. We were marooned in the immaterium after our warp drives failed. Bereft, betrayed by a rotting Imperium and an unkind god bedecked in fool’s gold. Where was Lufgt Huron then? His promises and his lies? We no longer need him, nor your carrion god. We have a new divinity to serve!’ Kalag turned towards the growing portal behind him, his arms encompassing the hellish scene and the towering daemonic figure with scythe-like wings who was looking down at the Executioners with an amused interest. ‘Behold the Arkifane! Our salvation! We will deliver this forge-temple of Mars to him!’
"Brother…" Igikura’s voice was straining with titanic effort. "I will not make it to the end." The Death Speaker growled. The Librarian forestalled him. "Spare me your protestations. I will distract him and hold the rings, but I am not strong enough to make the final blow. That falls to you. May your own Penitent Crusade be over after this."
Igikura’s mind soared in the warp like the rising sun. He burned with immaterial energies. Coruscating lightning cascaded down his limbs and flared off him in streamer arcs, with a branching spark earthing itself in the Death Speaker’s crozius. One last parting gift from brother to brother.
Razel wasted no time. With the warpsmith’s attention upon the Epistolary, his armour was free. He trudged forward, pausing only to pick up Igikura’s axe whilst hefting his crozius. Breaking into a run, he leapt upon one of the stilled rings. Razel hurled the force axe. It spun, blazing, still saturated with Igikura’s psychic might and sacrifice. The blade wedged fast into Kalag’s breastplate, tendrils of darkness slithering out of the wound. A few moments later, Razel was upon him with Sharur, imbued with a shred of the Epistolary’s empyric strength. The warpsmith raged, blocking the Death Speaker’s strike with a cog-toothed, daemonic axe. Mechadendrites speared through Razel’s armour, biting deep into his flesh. Gurgling blood, the Executioner drew the mace back and slammed it forwards, again and again, shattering his foe’s armour in a frenzy until his corrupt essence could no longer be contained. The unravelling of Kalag was like that of a collapsing star. The death throes screamed out from his unwinding body, black flame rising between the plates, his flesh unmade into ash.
As far as I'm aware, since Vashtorr was introduced to the setting a year ago, this has been the first mention of an Astartes warband dedicated to him. This is a really cool depiction of them, and I hope we get to see more in the future
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2024.05.19 20:11 thatmozzie_ Created A CyberPunk Dystopian Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Novel Set In The Year 2124 In Los Angeles

Created A CyberPunk Dystopian Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Novel Set In The Year 2124 In Los Angeles
"The Neon District"
https://preview.redd.it/h6j5xnthef1d1.jpg?width=1792&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2dac28553adfcd5e9a5762f45cecd76ca2071491
I was inspired after reading another user's experience creating his own world, so I decided to give it a shot. I wanted to create a sort of interactive choose-your-own-adventure cyberpunk story set in 2124 Los Angeles. I prompted ChatGPT to essentially create a story and world that revolves around common themes within a typical CyberPunk setting such as rampant crime, corrupt cops and politicians, massive drug usage, mega-corporations out of control, poverty, and technology blurring the lines between humanity.
One of my favorite video games lately of all time is CyberPunk 2077, so I just wanted to create something similar that I could experience and live through in a different interactive way while also testing out ChatGPT out of boredom. Here are some of the results from the simulation.
I'll denote "USER INPUT" as anything I wrote or input, and "CHAT GPT" anytime it outputs anything.
Rules: I will use minimal intervention / altering and mainly allow the program to pretty much lead me through the story barring any world-breaking narratives or plots:
  • CHATGPT:

Setting: Los Angeles, 2124

General Environment

  • Skyline: The skyline is dominated by towering skyscrapers, neon signs, and massive holographic advertisements. The upper levels house the wealthy elite and powerful corporations, while the lower levels are grimy, chaotic, and densely populated.
  • Streets: The streets are teeming with life at all hours. Neon lights and electronic billboards illuminate the darkness, casting a perpetual artificial glow. The air is thick with pollution, making clean air a luxury.
  • Architecture: Buildings are a mix of high-tech designs with futuristic materials and dilapidated structures. Graffiti covers many walls, and it's not uncommon to see makeshift shelters and slums in the shadow of corporate headquarters.
  • Technology: Advanced technology is integrated into everyday life. People have cybernetic enhancements, AI assistants, and immersive virtual reality systems. However, the gap between those who can afford cutting-edge tech and those who can't is vast.

Society

  • Crime and Law Enforcement: Crime is rampant. Gang wars and turf battles are common. The police are corrupt, often working for the highest bidder, whether it's a corporation or a crime syndicate. Justice is a commodity, and the wealthy can buy their way out of trouble.
  • Economy: The economy is dominated by a few mega-corporations that control everything from food and water to security and healthcare. Small businesses struggle to survive. Basic necessities are expensive, and clean water is a luxury.
  • Culture: The culture is a blend of hedonism and despair. Nightclubs, brothels, and underground fight clubs offer temporary escape from harsh realities. Art and music are heavily influenced by the cyberpunk aesthetic, with neon colors, dark themes, and digital elements.

Key Locations

  • The Underground: A labyrinth of tunnels, abandoned subway stations, and hidden passages used by criminals, hackers, and those avoiding the authorities. This is where Zoe feels most at home.
  • Corporate Towers: Massive skyscrapers where powerful corporations operate. They are heavily guarded, both physically and digitally, but hold valuable data and resources for skilled netrunners like Zoe.
  • Black Markets: Hidden marketplaces where anything can be bought or sold, from illegal tech and drugs to human organs and stolen data. Zoe frequents these markets to find jobs and acquire tools for her hacks.

Main Character: Zoe

Background

  • Early Life: Zoe grew up on the streets, learning to fend for herself from a young age. She quickly became skilled at navigating the dangerous urban environment and developed a talent for hacking and stealth.
  • Skills and Abilities: Zoe is a netrunner, capable of hacking into secure systems using her neural augmentations. She is also proficient with small arms and knives, and excels in stealth, disguise, acting, and manipulation.
  • Personality: Zoe is resourceful, intelligent, and determined. She has a sharp wit and a knack for thinking on her feet. While she can be cynical and distrusting, she also has a strong sense of loyalty to those she cares about.

Appearance

  • Height and Build: Zoe stands at 5'6" with a slim, athletic build. Her frame allows her to move quickly and silently.
  • Features: She has sharp features, piercing eyes, and a distinctive look that she can easily alter with makeup and disguises. Her hair is usually styled in a practical yet edgy way, fitting the cyberpunk aesthetic.
  • Augmentations: Zoe has several cybernetic enhancements, including neural implants for hacking, enhanced vision, and a subdermal interface for interacting with digital systems.

Plot Elements

Conflict

  • Corporate Rivalries: The mega-corporations are constantly vying for power, using any means necessary to sabotage their rivals. Zoe often finds herself caught in the crossfire, hired by one corporation to hack another.
  • Underground Power Struggles: Crime syndicates and gangs are in a constant state of flux, battling for control of territory and resources. Zoe's connections to these groups provide her with both opportunities and dangers.
  • Personal Stakes: Zoe's ultimate goal is to uncover the truth behind her parents' mysterious deaths, which she believes were orchestrated by one of the powerful corporations. This quest drives many of her actions and decisions.

Themes

  • Humanity vs. Technology: The story explores the tension between human identity and technological augmentation. Zoe struggles with maintaining her humanity as she becomes more reliant on her cybernetic enhancements.
  • Survival and Loyalty: In a world where trust is scarce and betrayal is common, Zoe must navigate complex relationships and alliances. Her loyalty to her friends and allies is both a strength and a vulnerability.
  • Power and Corruption: The pervasive corruption in both the corporate and criminal worlds serves as a backdrop for Zoe's journey. She constantly grapples with the moral complexities of her actions and their consequences.
USER INPUT
Lets create some additional characters to the story and more world building, starting with her childhood best friend. He's trustworthy, loveable character type. Strong, loyal to a fault, pure, but also an amazing fighter and can be mean to those that do him or his family wrong as quick as any common thug on the streets. What should his name be?
CHATGPT
Let's name Zoe's childhood best friend Lucas. Here's a detailed character profile and additional world-building elements:

Character Profile: Lucas

Name: Lucas "Luc" Raines

Background:

  • Age: 20
  • Height: 6'2"
  • Build: Muscular and athletic
  • Appearance: Lucas has short, dark hair and piercing blue eyes. His face is usually adorned with a friendly smile, but he can turn fierce in an instant when provoked. He has several tattoos, each symbolizing different aspects of his life and struggles.
  • Personality: Lucas is trustworthy and lovable, known for his unwavering loyalty and pure heart. Despite the harsh realities of their world, he maintains a strong moral compass. He's always ready to stand up for his friends and protect those he cares about, even if it means getting his hands dirty.

Skills and Abilities:

  • Combat: Lucas is an exceptional fighter, trained in various martial arts and street fighting techniques. His strength and combat skills make him a formidable opponent.
  • Loyalty: His loyalty to Zoe and their close-knit group of friends is unshakeable. He would go to great lengths to ensure their safety and well-being.
  • Strategic Thinking: While Lucas may come across as a brawler, he's also a strategic thinker, able to plan and execute complex operations when needed.

Relationships:

  • Zoe: Lucas and Zoe have been best friends since childhood. They share a deep bond, built on years of mutual trust and shared experiences. Lucas is fiercely protective of Zoe and often acts as her guardian in dangerous situations.
  • Family: Lucas has a younger sister whom he cares for deeply. His parents were victims of corporate exploitation, fueling his disdain for the mega-corporations that dominate their world.

Additional World-Building Elements:

Key Factions:

  1. The Vanguard Syndicate:
    • Overview: A powerful crime syndicate that controls much of the underground economy in Los Angeles. They deal in everything from illegal augmentations to black-market goods.
    • Leader: Damien "The Viper" Valdez, a ruthless and cunning leader known for his strategic mind and brutal enforcement tactics.
    • Conflict: The Vanguard Syndicate often hires netrunners like Zoe for high-risk hacking jobs, while also clashing with rival gangs and corporations.
  2. NeoCore Corporation:
    • Overview: One of the largest and most influential mega-corporations in the city. They specialize in advanced cybernetic enhancements, AI development, and data security.
    • Public Image: NeoCore presents itself as a benevolent entity, promising technological advancements and prosperity. However, beneath the surface, they are involved in unethical experiments and corporate espionage.
    • Objective: They are always seeking to expand their influence and eliminate any threats to their dominance, making them a constant antagonist in the story.

Key Locations:

  1. The Neon District:
    • Description: The heart of the city's nightlife, filled with clubs, bars, and entertainment venues. It's a place where people go to forget their troubles, at least for a while.
    • Atmosphere: The district is always buzzing with energy, illuminated by neon lights and holographic advertisements. It's a haven for both thrill-seekers and those looking to make shady deals.
    • Significance: This is where Zoe and her friends often gather, blending in with the crowds and keeping their ears to the ground for potential jobs.
  2. The Wastes:
    • Description: The outskirts of the city, where pollution and neglect have turned the landscape into a desolate wasteland. The Wastes are home to the city's poorest residents, who live in makeshift shelters and struggle to survive.
    • Danger: The area is lawless, ruled by scavengers and rogue gangs. It's a place where only the strong or well-armed dare to venture.
    • Connection: Zoe occasionally visits the Wastes to help those in need or to hide from the authorities when necessary.
  3. The Vault:
    • Description: An underground bunker and safe haven for netrunners. It's a hidden, secure location equipped with the latest hacking tools and technology.
    • Community: The Vault is a tight-knit community of hackers and tech enthusiasts who share information, resources, and protection.
    • Importance: This is where Zoe refines her skills, plans her heists, and collaborates with other netrunners on large-scale operations.

Plot Hooks and Story Arcs:

  1. The Heist:
    • Synopsis: Zoe and Lucas are hired by a mysterious client to infiltrate a NeoCore facility and steal valuable data. The heist requires meticulous planning and flawless execution, with high stakes and unexpected twists.
    • Challenges: They must navigate through tight security, betrayals, and unforeseen dangers. The job tests their skills and loyalty to each other.
  2. The Rescue:
    • Synopsis: Lucas's younger sister is kidnapped by a rival gang seeking leverage against him. Zoe and Lucas must track down the kidnappers and rescue her before it's too late.
    • Emotional Stakes: This mission is deeply personal for Lucas, and his rage and determination drive the story forward. Zoe must balance her tactical mind with supporting her friend through this ordeal.
  3. The Conspiracy:
    • Synopsis: Zoe uncovers clues about her parents' deaths, leading her to a massive conspiracy involving NeoCore and the Vanguard Syndicate. As she digs deeper, she realizes the scale of corruption and danger she faces.
    • Revelations: The story arc delves into Zoe's past, her parents' secrets, and the true extent of corporate manipulation. It sets the stage for a climactic showdown against the forces that have shaped her life.
These elements add depth to your story, creating a vivid and engaging world for Zoe and her companions.
USER INPUT
Can you generate an image in an anime/cyberpunk style reminiscant of the style of Ghost In The Shell. Generate our main character Zoe
CHAPTGPT
ZOE
  • USER INPUT
let's develop more scenes and characters as well. It would be interesting to have a sort of old underground father type figure to both Zoe and Lucas, someone not related to them but someone that took them in to the underground at a young age and taught them everything they know. He looks after them like family, but he is also a criminal type in the underground world so a mix of good to them, but can be evil to others. Feel free to create other interesting characters and scenes / locations / etc as well
CHATGPT

New Character: Marcus "Iron Hand" Kane

Role: Father Figure to Zoe and Lucas
Background:
  • Age: 55
  • Height: 6'0"
  • Build: Stocky and strong, with a presence that commands respect
  • Appearance: Marcus has a rugged, weathered face with deep-set eyes that have seen the worst of the city. His hair is a mix of grey and black, often tied back. His most distinctive feature is his cybernetic right arm, known as the "Iron Hand," which is both a powerful weapon and a symbol of his status in the underground.
  • Personality: Marcus is a complex character, blending kindness and brutality. To Zoe and Lucas, he is a protective and caring father figure, offering wisdom, guidance, and training. To others, he is a feared criminal, ruthless in his dealings and unwavering in his pursuit of power.
  • Skills and Abilities: Marcus is a master tactician, skilled in combat and cyber warfare. His "Iron Hand" cybernetic arm has multiple functionalities, including enhanced strength, weapon capabilities, and hacking tools. He is also a shrewd negotiator and leader.
History:
  • Marcus took in Zoe and Lucas when they were just children, recognizing their potential and providing them with a home in the underground. He trained them in survival, hacking, and combat, instilling in them the skills they needed to thrive in the harsh realities of their world.
  • He has a dark past, having been involved in numerous criminal activities and power struggles. Despite his ruthless nature, he has a strong sense of loyalty to those he considers family.

Additional Characters:

1. Lila "Viper" Santos
  • Role: Underground Information Broker
  • Age: 28
  • Appearance: Lila is a striking figure with sharp, green eyes and sleek black hair. She has a slender build and often dresses in stylish, high-tech attire. Her cybernetic enhancements include a neural interface that allows her to access and process vast amounts of information quickly.
  • Personality: Lila is cunning, resourceful, and always a step ahead. She has a network of informants and is known for her ability to find out anything about anyone. Despite her aloof demeanor, she has a soft spot for Zoe and Lucas, often providing them with critical information.
  • Skills: Expert in data retrieval, espionage, and manipulation. Her cybernetic enhancements give her an edge in accessing secure networks and uncovering secrets.
2. Riko "Ghost" Tanaka
  • Role: Elite Netrunner and Rival
  • Age: 22
  • Appearance: Riko is an enigmatic figure with short, spiky white hair and cybernetic eyes that glow faintly blue. He has a lean, agile build and is known for his stealth and speed.
  • Personality: Riko is a lone wolf, fiercely independent and highly competitive. He respects Zoe's skills but also sees her as a rival. He is driven by a desire to be the best netrunner in the city.
  • Skills: Master hacker with advanced cybernetic enhancements that allow him to move through digital networks undetected. He is also skilled in parkour and close-quarters combat.

New Locations:

1. The Hub
  • Description: The Hub is a massive underground complex that serves as the central meeting place for the city's netrunners and tech enthusiasts. It's filled with advanced tech, servers, and hacking terminals. The atmosphere is a blend of chaos and order, with people constantly exchanging information and working on new projects.
  • Significance: This is where Zoe and Lucas often go to gather information, meet contacts, and plan their operations. The Hub is also a place of relative safety, where violence is strictly forbidden.
2. The Sprawl
  • Description: A sprawling slum area on the outskirts of the city, characterized by makeshift shelters, narrow alleys, and rampant poverty. Despite its dire conditions, the Sprawl is a vibrant community where people band together to survive.
  • Atmosphere: The Sprawl is always bustling with activity, from street vendors selling homemade goods to children playing amidst the ruins. It's a place of both danger and resilience, where the inhabitants have learned to adapt to their harsh environment.
  • Connection: Zoe often visits the Sprawl to help those in need and to stay connected with her roots. It's also a place where she can move around relatively unnoticed.
3. NeoCore Headquarters
  • Description: A towering skyscraper in the heart of the city, NeoCore's headquarters is a symbol of corporate power and technological advancement. The building is sleek and modern, with state-of-the-art security systems and heavily guarded entrances.
  • Significance: NeoCore Headquarters is often the target of Zoe's hacking missions, as it houses valuable data and cutting-edge tech. The building's imposing presence is a constant reminder of the corporation's influence over the city.

New Scenes:

1. The Heist
  • Setting: NeoCore Headquarters
  • Description: Zoe and Lucas undertake a daring heist to steal critical data from NeoCore. The scene is filled with tension as they navigate through tight security, avoid detection, and hack into the corporation's mainframe.
  • Key Moments: Zoe uses her hacking skills to disable security systems, while Lucas provides physical protection and deals with any guards they encounter. The heist culminates in a high-stakes escape, with the duo narrowly avoiding capture.
2. The Rescue
  • Setting: The Sprawl
  • Description: Lucas's younger sister is kidnapped by a rival gang, and Zoe and Lucas must infiltrate the gang's hideout in the Sprawl to rescue her. The scene showcases the gritty, dangerous environment of the slums and the close-quarters combat skills of the protagonists.
  • Key Moments: The rescue mission is fraught with challenges, from navigating the labyrinthine alleys of the Sprawl to engaging in fierce hand-to-hand combat with gang members. The scene highlights Lucas's protective nature and Zoe's quick thinking.
3. The Confrontation
  • Setting: The Hub
  • Description: Tensions rise as Riko "Ghost" Tanaka confronts Zoe, accusing her of stealing a job from him. The scene is set in the bustling environment of the Hub, with onlookers gathering to watch the showdown.
  • Key Moments: The confrontation escalates into a heated argument, showcasing the rivalry between Zoe and Riko. Despite their differences, the scene hints at a potential alliance in the face of a greater threat.
USER INPUT
can you create images in the same style as the original image for the new Characters Marcus Iron Hand, Lila Viper Santos, and Riko Ghost Tanaka, Lucas, etc? Also generate additional images of some of the new locations etc separately.
CHATGPT
LUCAS
MARCUS \"IRON HAND\"
RIKO \"GHOST\" TANAKA
LILA \"VIPER\" SANTOS
THE HUB
THE SPAWL
NEOCORE HEADQUARTERS
"THE VAULT"
https://preview.redd.it/anol60qpef1d1.jpg?width=1792&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fcfb76dc6ac42f816de6148e66d3f3f60f442d64
  • USER INPUT
Awesome. Lets start the story now. The story begins with Zoe waking up on a typical Saturday late morning. Friday night was a big night celebrating her childhood friends birthday drinking and partying at their favorite club. She wakes up with a slight hangover and is hungry. she notices several missed calls and messages
  • CHATGPT

Scene: Zoe's Apartment - Late Saturday Morning

The dim light filtering through the grime-covered windows of Zoe's apartment barely illuminates the cluttered room. The remnants of last night's celebration are scattered everywhere—empty bottles, discarded clothes, and the faint hum of old electronic music playing in the background. Zoe groans and sits up in bed, rubbing her temples to ease the throbbing in her head.

Narration:

Narrator: Zoe squinted at the holographic display, her vision still slightly blurry. The notifications were a mix of urgent messages and missed calls, each vying for her attention. She quickly scanned through them, her fingers moving with practiced ease over the interface.
Zoe: (mumbling to herself) "Great, just what I need. More problems to deal with..."
She swings her legs over the edge of the bed, stretching and wincing at the persistent hangover. With a sigh, she picks up her cybernetic arm from the nightstand and attaches it, feeling the familiar click as it integrates with her neural network. She taps her wristband, bringing up the missed messages and calls.

Dialogue:

Zoe: (talking to herself) "Let's see... job offers, updates from the underground... and what's this? 'Urgent Opportunity – High Reward.' Sounds promising."
Her stomach growls, reminding her of her hunger. She heads to the small kitchenette, grabbing a protein bar and some instant coffee. As she munches on her makeshift breakfast, she taps the message to read the details.
Zoe: (reading aloud) "High-risk, high-reward job, requiring a skilled netrunner. Substantial payout. Meet at The Hub tonight. Perfect."
Her thoughts are interrupted by a knock at the door. She frowns, not expecting visitors this early. Cautiously, she approaches and peers through the peephole. Recognizing the familiar figure on the other side, she relaxes and opens the door.
Lucas: (with a grin) "Morning, sunshine. You look like hell."
Zoe: (rolling her eyes) "Thanks, Lucas. You’re a real charmer. Come in."
Lucas steps inside, looking as rugged as ever with his scruff and tattoos. He drops a bag on the table and takes a seat.
Lucas: "I brought breakfast. Figured you’d need it after last night."
Zoe: "You’re a lifesaver. So, what’s up?"
Lucas: "Got a tip about a job. Sounds like it could be worth our while. But first, you need to get your head straight. Eat up and let’s talk."
They share a quick meal, discussing the potential job and catching up on recent events in the underground.

Choice Point 1: Zoe's Response to the Job Offer

Option A: Agree immediately and start planning. Option B: Ask for more details and express caution. Option C: Refuse the job and suggest looking for something safer.
Please choose an option by typing "Option A," "Option B," or "Option C."
  • USER INPUT
Option B
  • CHATGPT

Choice: Option B - Ask for More Details and Express Caution

Zoe: (taking a sip of her coffee) "Hold on, Lucas. Before we jump in headfirst, I need to know more about this job. What exactly are we dealing with here?"
Lucas: (nodding) "Fair enough. It's a high-stakes heist at NeoCore Headquarters. Our client wants us to steal some sensitive data from their secure servers. The payout is massive, but so are the risks. We'll need to get past top-tier security, both physical and digital."
Zoe: (raising an eyebrow) "NeoCore, huh? That place is a fortress. Who's the client?"
Lucas: "No name, just an anonymous contact. But they seem legit. They've provided detailed blueprints and security protocols. Still, I get it if you’re hesitant. This one's big."

Choice Point 2: Zoe's Next Action

Option A: Accept the job but suggest taking extra precautions and planning thoroughly. Option B: Contact Marcus "Iron Hand" Kane for his advice and see if he has any additional information or support. Option C: Investigate the client further to ensure their legitimacy before making a decision.
That's all i have so far but this was a super cool way to pass some time on a Sunday. I am considering starting a parallel story similar to this but a horror-survival one, similar to something like the original Silent Hill etc.
What do you guys think - Anyone interested in seeing how this develops?!
submitted by thatmozzie_ to ChatGPT [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 20:10 Mike_v_E The Fifth Seal asks a moral question to both the characters in the film and the viewer

A watchmaker, a bookseller and a carpenter are drinking in a bar with the owner... This might sound like the beginning of a joke, but it is the complete opposite. The Fifth Seal is a philosophical film set during World War II that asks a moral question that unfolds itself in a myriad of thoughts, with each thought being a new piece of a never-ending puzzle.
The Fifth Seal is a film about good vs evil, and the conscious awareness of being good or evil. In the first 40 minutes, we are being introduced to the four men. Interestingly, the men are recognized by their profession and not their names—something which reminded me of the characters in Stalker. A fifth man, the photographer, walks in and joins them. What I liked about the characters is that you first get to know them by how they react and respond to the moral questions that are being asked, with the moral question about two hypothetical characters being the most impactful to the characters—a question where the entire film revolves around.
Tomóceusz Katatiki was the leader of an imaginary island, and Gyugyu was his slave. The powerful and careless Katatiki treated the poor Gyugyu with extreme brutality, but never felt any remorse, as he lived by the barbarian morality of his age. Gyugyu lived in misery and suffering but found comfort in the fact that whatever cruelty happens to him, it is never caused by him, and he is still a guiltless person with a clean conscience. What would he choose, if he had to die and reincarnate as one of them?
After this question is asked, the photographer is the only one that says he would reincarnate as Gyugyu, but the other men don't believe him and go home—this is where we really get to know the lives of these men and see how they get consumed by the moral question.
Not only that, it also started asking myself the same question. Would I reincarnate as Tomóceusz Katatiki or Gyugyu? I don't think I can answer this question. I might think I have an answer, or I might try to give an answer, but I simply don't know whether I am self-conscious enough to choose one that is genuine. Maybe this is a question the people close to you could better answer, or a question you can only truly answer when you are close to the end of your life? Maybe this is when you are reaching your highest potential of being self-conscious—like a person reflecting on life when lying in their deathbed or when their life is in danger... as seen in the final scene of this film.
In the end, we see the men being forced to make a decision—a decision to slap the photographer for reporting them to the Arrow Cross Party. Regardless of what the men said or did throughout the film, none of them wanted to hurt the photographer, and the person who did—although being the only free person in the end—felt miserable. This tells us that all the men would rather have a clean conscience and would choose to reincarnate as Gyugyu, except for the photographer—the only person that said he would reincarnate as Gyugyu, and also the only person that ended up being like Tomóceusz Hatatiki. The entire situation raises the questions whether we are evil if we are being forced to do evil things, and whether we are evil if we have a different opinion of what is good or evil? And to what extent does all this apply?
With this film being set during World War II, it is fitting to try and look deeper into this question from that perspective. Innocent men being forced to make evil decisions happened a lot during the Second World War... any war for that matter. Whether these are the men from the film being forced to slap the photographer, or German people being forced to fight in the German army. It is easy to say that every Axis soldier doing evil things is an evil person, but I don't think this is necessarily the case.
"Just like in the army, if they say 'lick the floor clean', you have to do it. We are nothing, gentlemen. We must do as our masters say."
A story my Dutch grandma told me was that during the Second World War, when she was just a little girl, there was a young German soldier that regularly checked up at their house—something they were supposed to do. The soldier, who was forced to be in the army, always brought my grandma chocolates and was a very nice young man according to my grandma. But what if this soldier was being attacked by the Allied Forces and had to kill people to defend himself? Would that make him an evil person because he did something evil... because he was on the wrong side of history? From the perspective of the Allied Forces he would've been like Tomóceusz Katatiki, because he was the enemy and he ultimately made the decision to shoot back at them... but from the perspective of that Axis soldier, he is being forced to do evil things. First he is forced by Germany to join the army, then he might have been forced to shoot back at the Allied Forces in order to defend himself and survive. In this case, would the Axis soldier be good, evil... or neither? And would he choose to reincarnate as Tomóceusz Katatiki or Gyugyu?
A detail I loved was the religious allegory throughout the film, something that is well-known in philosophical films. With the title of this film being The Fifth Seal, it is not surprising that there are religious connections.
"When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given."-Revelation 6:9
The fifth seal reveals the prayers of martyrs, pleading with God to avenge their deaths. These martyrs believe that Jesus is their savior and their bodies awaited resurrection at the return of Jesus.
In the final scene, we see the shirtless photographer hanging from two ropes around his wrists, and his face and chest covered in blood. This is an allegory of Jesus hanging on the cross. We even hear the carpenter repeatedly say "Jesus Christ" when he walks towards the photographer, who is surrounded by a bright light shining from behind him. Combine this, with the photographer being placed slightly higher than everyone else and the men standing in front of him, and you have a very strong allegory of the crucifixion of Jesus.
Just like the return of Jesus resurrecting the bodies of the bodies, the photographer is the reason that the four other men know they want to resurrect as Gyugyu. At one point in the film we hear the bookseller's wife, Erzsi, say "Where were you, for God's sake?" and the very next shot is of the photographer. Later in the film, during the bookseller's dream, we see Erzsi again, and she says the exact same thing: "Where have you been, for God's sake?". But this time we see her in a purple robe, with her head surrounded by circular colored light from the stained-glass behind her. This is of course an allegory of Lady Mary.
One of the reasons Jesus was crucified was blasphemy—he made claims about himself that people didn't believe. This is exactly what the photographer did when he said he would reincarnate as Gyugyu. Another reason why he was crucified was because the Roman governor wanted to keep the peace. This is what the leader of the Arrow Cross Party tried to do by having the men slap the photographer, so that they would despise themselves and wouldn't dare to do anything against the Arrow Cross Party.
Overall, The Fifth Seal was an unexpected film. Simple in its plot, but very complex in its philosophy. This film was a pleasant surprise I am definitely going to watch again.
Read this review on Letterboxd
submitted by Mike_v_E to TrueFilm [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 19:52 TheHarlequinInBlack [Online][PF2E][Wednesday 7PM BST] The Eastland Expedition - Looking for 1-2 Players to Join a Newly-Started Campaign

I sought oblivion and calm respite, my path forged through sensation and blinding excess. I explored depravity, ventured into the darkness never mapped, until I swept past Experience witnessed only by the gods.
Thus became I a voyager upon delights unknown, my ship named only, 'Sweet Departure.'
Erasma, the One we Forgot
It begins with hope...
An escape from the Kinstrife and the Fall of Cyr'Cairn. Refuge from the Wyrm Hunt and the retribution it brings on wings of fire. Safety from the Gallow Night - safety from the hell created piece by piece from our own hands. Something different, a chance for change amidst a world trapped in its clockwork permenance; forever onwards, forever forwards, no rest nor peace for the engine.
And it begins with hope, but by its very nature it cannot end the same way - hope either comes true...
Or it does not.
The ships have brought to sail - the great winds brings us ever further from the madness of our home caught in self-inflicted self-annihilation, and we march towards the great unknown knowing whatever secrets it hold must be better than the certainty of our past lives. Even in death we will bring discovery and new fortune, excitement, and most importantly...
We will bring hope - that the sins of our fathers are not the sins of the son. That the madness we flee is not carried within our every waking breath. Hope... Hope eternal that we are different than from what we were forged. Always hope...
Because only time will tell if it is true.
Welcome to The Eastland Expedition, a Pathfinder 2nd Edition Campaign for 4-5 Players set in the Homebrew setting of Clockworld that has recently started and is in need of new players due to scheduling conflicts discovered early on. We are welcoming group who enjoy the social interaction, humour, and general companionship of the game - as much as we enjoy a serious story with well-defined characters taking part in an epic struggle of exploration and survival against the bleak unknown.
This campaign features our party, freshly set sail from the distant west of Amilyn - voyaging to a new world across the Ashuran Ocean in search of... Wealth? Power? Glory? A chance to be part of something great? The character's motives are as varied as the novelities we shall discover, from blackguards of bitter repute to knights in shining armour and gallant repose to mercenaries and thrill-seekers without a care for anything but the chance to make it somewhere else.
The story will take us across the breadth of the New World in discovery of where it is you have landed - feature the political difficulties of bridging your patron's desires with the necessity of surviving in a realm that does not welcome you, and more important - the freedom to not just build your nation and settlement as you see fit, but to impact the very story of Clockworld itself.
This game is welcoming to players new to the system, as we as a group ourselves have only recently started to learn the game - and we are happy to learn alongside you. I am a relaxed and patient Storyteller who enjoys the social fabric of OOC conversation as much as the in-game narrative - provided it does not serve to derail the campaign too much. I am happy to answer questions as often as needed, and provided any explanations regarding the rules or lore as required; no matter how simple the request might be.
My door is always open - and I am happy to field any feedback, criticisms or complaints that you may have. I do my utmost to ensure this is a safe game where everyone can have fun and relax. As part of this, we are entirely LGBTQ+ Friendly, and the setting itself is free for characters of all persuasions, creeds, and ethnicities. This is a Flat-World Fantasy set upon a Giant Clock - as long as the characters fit within the general fabric of the setting, there will be no complaints.
Since I do put a lot of effort into my campaings - from the World Anvil I maintain to the battlemaps and the effort required to create a story as wide-reaching and free as this; I do expect a certain modicum of respect in return. Primarily, while real life must always come first - repeated lateness and missed sessions without a good reason can cause me great difficulty in keeping the rhythm and momentum of the story, and will not be appreciated over any extended period. The same can be said to rudeness aimed at other players, and while I understand humour can take a while to get used to, and come in many different styles - targeted harrassment will not be tolerated in the slightest, and you will be removed from the game.
Lastly - the game will detail violence and graphic content. Concepts such as homophobia, transphobia, and sexisim do not exist within the setting as I do not feel I could give them due deference with the story I am telling, and while mental illness and addiction may feature - I will only do so when I feel I can treat them with the respect and seriousness the conditions deserve. Any limits provided to me by players however, will be respected immediately; without any explanation required - and a red card system is utilised should a scene stray too close to a previous-stated limit, or steps upon something that was not discussed prior but is causing distress. At any point this is happening, you may message either me or the server and we will immediately end the scene and discuss where we went wrong - so that we can avoid such a thing occuring again.
If this rambling wall of text did not put you off - then please feel free to leave a comment or send me a DM with your interest in the campaign. The application is mostly up for you to determine - though at least a vague concept of a character and a reason this campaign drew you to apply would be appreciated. You may send a Reddit Chat - but I cannot guarantee I will see the message quickly.
Should I like what I see, I will send an invitation for a brief interview to see how we get along as player and storyteller. There is nothing to prepare, just a simple chat with a few questions to get a baseline for each other and whether we'll be a good fit.
The game will be taking place on Discord and Foundry - Characters will be starting at Level Two in line with the rest of the party, and all classes are available to be played. Where possible we will be sticking with Player Core Content, but where Legacy Options exist that have not yet been updated, we will be open to including them as well.
Thank you all very much for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.
World Map
Player Guide
submitted by TheHarlequinInBlack to LFG_Europe [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 19:33 TheHarlequinInBlack [Online][PF2E][Wednesday 7PM BST] The Eastland Expedition - Looking for 1-2 Players to Join a Newly-Started Campaign

I sought oblivion and calm respite, my path forged through sensation and blinding excess. I explored depravity, ventured into the darkness never mapped, until I swept past Experience witnessed only by the gods.
Thus became I a voyager upon delights unknown, my ship named only, 'Sweet Departure.'
Erasma, the One we Forgot
It begins with hope...
An escape from the Kinstrife and the Fall of Cyr'Cairn. Refuge from the Wyrm Hunt and the retribution it brings on wings of fire. Safety from the Gallow Night - safety from the hell created piece by piece from our own hands. Something different, a chance for change amidst a world trapped in its clockwork permenance; forever onwards, forever forwards, no rest nor peace for the engine.
And it begins with hope, but by its very nature it cannot end the same way - hope either comes true...
Or it does not.
The ships have brought to sail - the great winds brings us ever further from the madness of our home caught in self-inflicted self-annihilation, and we march towards the great unknown knowing whatever secrets it hold must be better than the certainty of our past lives. Even in death we will bring discovery and new fortune, excitement, and most importantly...
We will bring hope - that the sins of our fathers are not the sins of the son. That the madness we flee is not carried within our every waking breath. Hope... Hope eternal that we are different than from what we were forged. Always hope...
Because only time will tell if it is true.
Welcome to The Eastland Expedition, a Pathfinder 2nd Edition Campaign for 4-5 Players set in the Homebrew setting of Clockworld that has recently started and is in need of new players due to scheduling conflicts discovered early on. We are welcoming group who enjoy the social interaction, humour, and general companionship of the game - as much as we enjoy a serious story with well-defined characters taking part in an epic struggle of exploration and survival against the bleak unknown.
This campaign features our party, freshly set sail from the distant west of Amilyn - voyaging to a new world across the Ashuran Ocean in search of... Wealth? Power? Glory? A chance to be part of something great? The character's motives are as varied as the novelities we shall discover, from blackguards of bitter repute to knights in shining armour and gallant repose to mercenaries and thrill-seekers without a care for anything but the chance to make it somewhere else.
The story will take us across the breadth of the New World in discovery of where it is you have landed - feature the political difficulties of bridging your patron's desires with the necessity of surviving in a realm that does not welcome you, and more important - the freedom to not just build your nation and settlement as you see fit, but to impact the very story of Clockworld itself.
This game is welcoming to players new to the system, as we as a group ourselves have only recently started to learn the game - and we are happy to learn alongside you. I am a relaxed and patient Storyteller who enjoys the social fabric of OOC conversation as much as the in-game narrative - provided it does not serve to derail the campaign too much. I am happy to answer questions as often as needed, and provided any explanations regarding the rules or lore as required; no matter how simple the request might be.
My door is always open - and I am happy to field any feedback, criticisms or complaints that you may have. I do my utmost to ensure this is a safe game where everyone can have fun and relax. As part of this, we are entirely LGBTQ+ Friendly, and the setting itself is free for characters of all persuasions, creeds, and ethnicities. This is a Flat-World Fantasy set upon a Giant Clock - as long as the characters fit within the general fabric of the setting, there will be no complaints.
Since I do put a lot of effort into my campaings - from the World Anvil I maintain to the battlemaps and the effort required to create a story as wide-reaching and free as this; I do expect a certain modicum of respect in return. Primarily, while real life must always come first - repeated lateness and missed sessions without a good reason can cause me great difficulty in keeping the rhythm and momentum of the story, and will not be appreciated over any extended period. The same can be said to rudeness aimed at other players, and while I understand humour can take a while to get used to, and come in many different styles - targeted harrassment will not be tolerated in the slightest, and you will be removed from the game.
Lastly - the game will detail violence and graphic content. Concepts such as homophobia, transphobia, and sexisim do not exist within the setting as I do not feel I could give them due deference with the story I am telling, and while mental illness and addiction may feature - I will only do so when I feel I can treat them with the respect and seriousness the conditions deserve. Any limits provided to me by players however, will be respected immediately; without any explanation required - and a red card system is utilised should a scene stray too close to a previous-stated limit, or steps upon something that was not discussed prior but is causing distress. At any point this is happening, you may message either me or the server and we will immediately end the scene and discuss where we went wrong - so that we can avoid such a thing occuring again.
If this rambling wall of text did not put you off - then please feel free to leave a comment or send me a DM with your interest in the campaign. The application is mostly up for you to determine - though at least a vague concept of a character and a reason this campaign drew you to apply would be appreciated. You may send a Reddit Chat - but I cannot guarantee I will see the message quickly.
Should I like what I see, I will send an invitation for a brief interview to see how we get along as player and storyteller. There is nothing to prepare, just a simple chat with a few questions to get a baseline for each other and whether we'll be a good fit.
The game will be taking place on Discord and Foundry - Characters will be starting at Level Two in line with the rest of the party, and all classes are available to be played. Where possible we will be sticking with Player Core Content, but where Legacy Options exist that have not yet been updated, we will be open to including them as well.
Thank you all very much for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.
World Map
Player Guide
submitted by TheHarlequinInBlack to lfg [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 19:15 jinx800 Brothers MIL tests all boundaries and my running shoes during SIL's delivery.

I (f31) have a wonderful little brother (m28) he had found the love of his life and not soon after they got engaged they also got pregnant (Yay) super fast and they are very happy.
Anyway as time passes the due date comes closer and closer. I was ready to help if they needed someone or anything. We got to know SIL and her family. A bit strange especially her mom. I mean just very obsessed with her daughter. SIL is the only and youngest girl so i figured MIL was simply very protective. But some things I still found odd. She was always trying to have her daughter sit on her lap, push my brother to the side in pictures and worst of all, she would always try to kiss my brother straight on the lips after he kissed SIL. It got intense with the pregnancy, always kissing SILs belly and talking about her little girl still being her baby. Just strange.
Well the day comes, the baby is about to be born a month early so we were all nervous, a bit of panic. My brother asked me to come to the hospital with some of his stuff because they would have to stay long for the little premie baby. I get the stuff he asked for and arrive at the hospital, i sit and wait outside the delivery department and i didn't mind waiting. My husband was with me and our baby as well. My brother has texted me which room they were in but said he would come out when they were settled. I'm sitting and waiting hoping the baby is Okey. When I hear screaming at the delivery department reception. It's my brother's MIL she wants in now. The nurse says that the room is not to be disturbed and the delivery is not complete yet. That sends MIL over the edge and the following scene happens.
MIL: my only daughter is giving birth! I want to be there for her!
Nurse: that's nice. But we have been told specifically not to let anyone in yet.
MIL: BUT I AM HER MOTHER!
ME: Hey MIL. calm down we will see the baby when he is out. Bros name will be out soon enough to greet us.
Mill turns to me relived MIL: AHH OP. there you are, plz tell this lady that I am the mother of SIL. They won't let me in.
ME: we aren't going in MIL. (She didn't hear a word of what I was saying)
MIL: cries and screams MY CHILD NEEDS ME!
Nurse: please calm yourself. We have others here trying to rest. You will be escorted out if -
the nurse doesn't get further because someone comes out of the delivery department door and MIL sees this as an opportunity. I have not seen someone run as fast as she did in that moment. From 0 to a 100! Bolted through. I don't know what happened to me but I just ran after with the nurse who were yelling for MIL to stop.
I see the room where brother and SIL are in and I see that's MIL has noticed as well. I run to the door, she is older than me and I'm in better shape so even with her headstart I get to the door and block it.
MIL: * Calls SILs name!
Me: what is wrong with you! Stop!
MIL: move out of the way!
Me: you are acting like a fucking child!
*MIL tries to push past me, but I stand my ground.
Me: I will not let you in that room! Stop yourself! You arent helping your daughter.
MIL: *screams again for SIL.
the nurse has at this point gotten security. They are grabbing MIL by her arms and kaftan. My brother pokes his head out the door behind me and MIL begins howling as she is dragged away.
Brother: what the actual fuck..?
Me: I'm so sorry man. Could you hear her?
Brother: how could we not. The screaming was unreal. We thought at first it was another pregnant woman giving birth or something.
We share a look and I give him a quick hug. He thanks me for helping out but that it had really stressed out his poor fiancé trying to push out the after birth when she realised her mother was right outside the door. I went back out to my shocked husband that has taken our baby out to be changed only to be greeted by a screaming MIL being escorted out. We calmed down, just sat in amazement and 30 min later we could give my brother his stuff. This happened 4 days ago and i have just been in today to see my nephew. He is strong and lovely.
They told me that MIL tried to come back but was not let in. They are now thinking of no contact for a while. SIL is very upset by the whole thing. So fucking sad. I am just shocked that a grown woman in her 60's could act so absolutely batshit crazy.
submitted by jinx800 to motherinlawsfromhell [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 19:10 VauntedSapient Did paying out appearance fees to WaW players sour Survivor on future returnee seasons?

We're apparently getting one for 50 after none through the rest of the 40s. There were so few returnee seasons during this stretch that many worthy players in the 30s will now probably never get a chance to return.
In addition to the placement money starting at a minimum of $25,000 (+10k for the reunion), there were also several WaW players who got paid extra appearance money, rumored to be in the six figure range. There's more solid confirmation for these appearance fees than there ever were for previous Survivor seasons. Rob, Amber, Parv, and Sandra are said to have been offered 100k just to show up. It's possible that even more winners negotiated fees.
Winners at War was an expensive season to produce. If this was the first time Survivor paid out these kinds of fees, or rather the first time that there was really solid confirmation that these fees were paid out, then subsequent returnee seasons could also run into this sort of trouble.
Production was ultimately right about holding off on an All-Winners season for as long as they could. Because even with Edge of Extinction they still didn't get their money's worth for these four players. They were all huge targets and eliminated early.
Appearance fees in Survivor mean a different thing than appearance fees in other contexts. What an appearance fee is supposed to mean outside of Survivor is something like "hey I'm a big deal, you have to pay me for my time so here's my asking price." That's not really what it meant in S40. When Survivor pays BR and Amber 100k each just to show up, they really are paying them just to show up, because that's all the time they'll be getting them for. They're going to get eliminated quickly. So Survivor can say "hey that's not worth it for us, lower your ask" but the player is going to balk at that because as far as they're concerned, they're doing 39 days of work out there. They're surrendering themselves to CBS's control for 39 days, they're leaving family, friends, and opportunities behind for 39 days. Survivor isn't making money off of those 39 days but that's not their problem!
It's like you're paying a guest star on your sitcom $3,000 a day for two weeks of work but you also have to continue paying them for another three weeks in order to preserve the integrity of their performance.
So appearance fees don't make any sense for Survivor, which is why they were probably so resistant to doing an All-Winners season for so long. They knew marquee names were always going to ask for more money even with the placement bump ("why should I get paid at the same rate at these people who actually have a chance to win?"). They ended up doing it with the same unbalanced cast that Jeff always said was going to be unworkable.
Survivor could probably find 20 people who wouldn't ask for money but given the way production seems to react to things, I'm not surprised that they've held out for this long. It's season 50, of course they have to do something, but just like how SJDS1 soured them on the great Blood vs. Water concept because they made some bad decisions with casting, WaW and probably Game-Changers as well seems to have soured them on returnee seasons.
And it's unfortunate, but you can see how it happened.
1 SJDS was almost a disaster when several couples made it to the merge intact and various threats to the Missy-Jon power alliance were slowly eliminated. Basically you could have an alliance of 5 or even 6 lock down the game at 9 or 10 because so long as each couple had one of their partners guaranteed an endgame chair, there was no real reason to rock the boat. Survivor walked into this near-disaster, there are ways they could head it off for future seasons, but I wonder if more happened behind the scenes to prevent it than we are privy to. Remember that Natalie still had a guaranteed ticket to F3, even after Jeremy's elimination. And it's not like Jeremy being in the game was good for her anyway. They were an alliance, not a couple. The genesis of the CI rumors was Survivor staring down the barrel of a disastrous, all-white endgame, after all. F2s, returning players, and the modern game with all of its twists, randomness, and chaotic metastrategy would prevent another almost-disaster but Survivor probably believes that BvW itself just has this inherent risk always present, and it could have happened in S27 as well.
submitted by VauntedSapient to survivor [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 19:01 UnnaturalGeek First quiz to be hosted in the sub! Big news as well, this is last time I will be hosting the quiz, after today it will be handed over to the very capable u/Phildog28 🥜🥜

First quiz to be hosted in the sub! Big news as well, this is last time I will be hosting the quiz, after today it will be handed over to the very capable u/Phildog28 🥜🥜
Disclaimer: Can't edit the post so will comment once all questions are answered! Please read the rules before commenting! Want this to be fun but fair!
Welcome to The Naturally Unknown Quizventure!
The prize pool will stay as it is because over in TNU we want to maintain as much of our resources as possible for our future token NUTS. If any questions remain unanswered then the Cone will be added into the next prize pool!
Rules
Only ONE question per person and you can only have ONE attempt.
Make sure you put the number of the question you are guessing in your comment.
Each question is first come first serve with the correct answer.
Rewards
Each question is worth 12663 Cones
Every comment will have a chance to win a copy of "An Emerging Coo D'etat" in 24-hours time! So, even when all the questions have been answered still comment!
The Quiz
Good luck!
  1. The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is on display in which Paris museum?
  2. In which century did da Vinci paint The Last Supper?
  3. Florence's Accademia Gallery houses which well-known Michelangelo renaissance sculpture?
  4. The Creation of Adam is one of nine scenes featured on the ceiling of which Rome landmark?
  5. The bronze sculpture 'The Thinker' was created by which French sculptor in the early twentieth century?
  6. Which Vincent van Gogh painting was the inspiration for the Don McLean song 'Vincent'?
  7. What was the surname of Edvard, the creator of The Scream, a name which also features in a well-known brand of crisps?
  8. The Aphrodite of Milos, the Greek statue believed to be the work of Alexandros of Antioch, is better known by which name?
  9. Which famous artist best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work was born in Figueres, Catalonia in May 1904?
  10. Complete the name of the world-famous Greek sculpture completed in approximately 450 BC - The Diskobolus of...?
submitted by UnnaturalGeek to TheNaturallyUnknown [link] [comments]


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