What am I doing? Dominick Mason asked himself for the hundredth time that night. It was late on a rainy Sunday evening and Dom, a tall, lanky man-boy of twenty-five with a prominent Adam’s apple and too big eyes, stared out the rain-slicked window of the 905. The big bus swayed and jostled as it lumbered down Central Avenue, the movements strangely comforting, conducive to reflection…and self-doubt.
As if on cue, his phone buzzed, and a pit opened up in his stomach. He fumbled it out with long fingers and read the text. Are u almost here
His thumb hovered over the screen, but he did not reply. Part of him wanted to block the number, slink back home with his tail between his legs, and forget the whole thing. He could boot up his PS4 and play Red Dead Redemption or GTA V like always. Safe. Familiar. The thought, however, stirred a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach.
It was dread.
Every night, he did the same thing. He came home from work to his tiny prison cell apartment. He had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He played video games until it was time to go to bed. The worst part of the whole night was when he turned off the TV and saw his murky reflection in the screen. Plaid. Scrawny. Disgusting. He hated being locked in that apartment, with its old smells and white walls, but he hated going out even more. At least in his hole, he was safe, like a mouse. No one hurt or lied to him there. No one gave him funny looks. No one rejected him. He was completely safe in his solitude, a wounded animal hiding in its den and licking its wounds.
He was wounded and he knew it.
And he hated himself for it. Hated that he wasn’t stronger or better. Hated that even though he tried so hard, everything he did fell apart…if it even came together in the first place, which it rarely did.
The phone buzzed again.
Just a question mark this time.
His heart began to race and a steely fist slowly closed around his lungs. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and took a deep breath. He pictured himself alone in his little apartment. He loved the image, but he hated it too. Most nights, he didn’t mind being alone. He had to not mind it, because he didn’t have a choice. Some nights…some nights he didn’t want to be alone. Some nights he wanted warmth, he wanted tenderness…some nights, he wanted to be human.
Every so often, Dom would get the urge to find those things. They came less frequently than they did before, but unfortunately, they still came. He would create an account on Plenty of Fish and OKCupid, maybe some of the other sites as well. He would agonize over his stupid intro and his stupid list of hobbies. He would spend hours - literally hours - writing and rewriting them, trying at first to be serious, then light and funny, then cool, then aloof, then vulnerable. He would take the best possible pictures from the best possible angles, then upload them, never lingering over them because he hated the way he looked. He didn’t think he was ugly - mid was more like it - but apparently, he was ugly. Too ugly for love, too ugly even to talk to.
The ugly barnacle. So ugly that everyone died. The end.
All of Dom’s pictures were all selfies, of course. Guys he listened to on YouTube said he needed action shots, shots with friends, shots that showed women he had a life, was valued by those around him, and knew how to have fun. Too bad for him, he had no friends and no one valued him, not even his own mother. On the surface, maybe, but she had hurt him so many times over the years in so many ways that even the most devout son would stop and think.
It had to be selfies.
When his profile was in order - or as much in order as he could get it - he would start to browse. Dom knew his place and never messaged women who were too beautiful. He used to, but they never responded. He eventually began to skip their profiles with a pang of loss and a quiet what if? Now, he barely noticed them. Blonde. Petite. Blue eyes. Maybe she was a cheerleader at one time, maybe she was the type of girl who looked down her nose at guys like him. Maybe she was a sweetheart. In any case, he would never find out, so who cares?
He went for women he could realistically obtain…the type of women he’d dated and hooked up with in the past. Some were attractive in their own way, others were hard to look at, he wasn’t picky; he couldn’t afford to be picky. One woman he saw was a good three hundred pounds. She was nice and he liked her enough, but he lapsed into depression while they were dating and he never messaged her back…not that she made a huge effort to message him. Another was a pre-K teacher in her mid-thirties. Overweight with a big nose, glasses, and a plain face when she wasn’t wearing make-up. He liked her a lot and wanted to be with her, but after a month of weekend hookups, she said she didn’t love him. She told him she wanted a family - three kids, to be exact - but “changed her mind.” No, she didn’t. She just didn’t want those things with him.
Now she was in her late thirties, single, and having regrets.
She still wouldn’t settle for him, though.
Another woman he’d seen recently (six months ago) was fifty, but not unattractive. They texted for weeks, hot and heavy. She outright told him that she wanted to have sex with him. Said all sorts of nasty and sexual things. Their first (and only date) was her coming to his apartment. Instead of tender kisses, loving caresses, and intense emotions, they shared an awkward two hours on his couch. When he tried to hold her hand and put his arm around her, she stiffened. Not much, just a little. She said she “wasn’t ready.” He sat there and watched the flowers he’d gotten her wilt as she talked about her ex for an hour and a half, his arms pointedly crossed. He even leaned as far away from her as humanly possible, trying to communicate with his body language what he didn’t have the guts to communicate with his words: I’m uncomfortable, please leave. He planned to take her to a nice restaurant after they made love. Instead, he ordered something after she finally got the hint and left, eating alone like always.
After her, he deleted his profile (again) and resolved to never bother with dating again. Obviously there was something wrong with him. He saw guys who were uglier and more awkward than him with girlfriends, some actually stunning, but there was something about him in particular, something that repelled women…and men too.
Everyone.
It repelled everyone.
Maybe it was his self-loathing. After all, no one likes a sad sack. But that’s the thing: He was like this because of those experiences. It was a what came first, the chicken or the egg situation. Looking back, he had almost normal confidence at one point. Then all of this happened. The hundreds of messages he sent on the dating apps staying on read, unanswered, like he never sent them at all, like he was garbage unworthy of even a hello. The awkward dates. The occasional “success” that eventually fell apart…sometimes because of him, and sometimes because of them. The one girl who ran away from him when he tried to walk her to her car after a date. They didn’t click, he knew that, but he didn’t say or do anything creepy. Why did she do that? The girls who lead him on, talking about sex and sometimes even love but always had a reason they couldn’t meet.
There were other examples - many others - but it was all the same. Who cared?
Dom wanted to crawl back into his hole and stay there, to stop poking his head out and getting hurt. He wanted it so bad…but he was only human. Deep down, buried beneath layer after layer of scar tissue, there was still hope. Hope for love, for companionship, for acceptance, for intimacy and human touch. It was only an ember now, but even an ember is enough to spark a fire.
Some nights, he wanted to be safe. Other nights, he wanted to take a risk.
And this night was one of the latter.
Be there soon, he texted. He swallowed hard and wetted his lips. His heart was pounding faster and his bowels were loose. He really hoped this worked out. He didn’t think he could handle another rejection. If she turned him down, he’d probably go home and kill himself. Why go on like this?
He’d had that thought before…but he never followed through.
Maybe one day he’d actually shut the fuck up and do it already.
Maybe.
Ok :)
Her name was Heather and she was fat. She was not unattractive in the face and she wore her weight well, not that that mattered - he would take what he could get. They started talking on OKCupid last week and very soon, the conversation became sexual. He didn’t start it, though, she did. She was ahem very excited, she said. He liked to think that she was lonely, desperate, and wanted intimacy - any intimacy - just like him.
That really turned him on.
They agreed to meet, and now here he was, on the bus to her apartment on the other side of the city, hoping against hope that she didn’t hurt him too.
He put the phone away and stared straight ahead. The bus was nearly deserted, save for an old bag lady up front and a few Mexican guys in the back. Lights lined the bus’s roof, providing a cold, impersonal light. Dom took a deep breath and forced his dark emotions away. It was all on him to make this work. He would accept her fat, ugly, poor, and crippled, but he had to work to earn her love. He could do it.
When the bus finally reached his stop, he yanked the cord and got off. There was a plexiglass shelter lit by a single, lonely bulb. Trash littered the ground. Beyond the shelter, a park lay in darkness. Behind him, on the other side of the road, a housing project not unlike his own towered into the sky, lit up like a ship at sail. Dom swallowed his nerves and crossed the street. He found the door that she had directed him to use, and climbed the stairs. He expected trash, graffiti, and winos passed out on every landing. Instead, the stairwell was clean and deserted. His nerves welled as he climbed but he forced them down again. On the ninth floor, he went down the hall, battered on all sides by the stale smells of cooking and the murmur of TVs and voices coming from every apartment.
Dom paused at Apartment 237.
Heather’s.
You got this, he told himself.
And really, he did. Their plan - well, Heather’s, really - was simple and straightforward. She told him that she would leave the door unlocked. He was to come in, go to the bedroom, and she would be waiting for him. She said it was a fantasy of hers.
On some level, he knew all along that the whole setup sounded fishy. Was he being set up to get robbed? Would he walk in and get jumped by a bunch of Crips? He hesitated, but his need for love - and, yes, release - pushed him on.
He opened the door.
Inside, the apartment was small and messy, a living room to the right and a tiny kitchen to the left. The only light on was the one above the stove.
Everything else was in shadows.
Dom’s heart skipped a beat.
This didn’t feel right.
That thought was overpowered by the smell, a sickly sweet odor that suddenly seemed to be everywhere. His stomach twisted and he turned his head slightly to one side, as if to spare his nose. It smelled like something spoiled.
A voice spoke from the darkness, startling him. “I’m in here.”
It was light, airy, and cute.
For the last time, Dom hesitated. Some primal sense told him to turn around and leave…
…but he wanted to be loved.
Dom entered and shut the door behind him.
The smell was stronger. The atmosphere darker.
Ahead, he could barely make out an open doorway in the shadows.
He crossed to it.
The smell was overpowering here and Dom felt like he was going to puke. Any desire he had felt was gone, replaced only by revulsion and claustrophobia. It was cold, he realized, so cold that his teeth chattered.
Okay, fuck this.
He started to turn around, intent on leaving, but a small, white hand reached from the darkness. Icy fingertips brushed his cheek and his heart blasted into his throat.
Then she was there, her body pressing against his and her lips fused with his. The smell, the freezer chill, both stronger than ever.
They were both coming from her.
Her tongue hungrily lashed his own, and she pushed him against the wall. Her hands slipped under his shirt and pressed flat against his chest. They were so cold that he almost cried out.
Dom wanted to push her away, to run, but he didn’t. Instead, he froze up and allowed her to push him onto the bed. Was he too gutless to tell her no, the way he’d been too gutless to tell the woman who went on and on about her ex to shut up and leave? Did he secretly want to go through with this? He didn’t know, and he didn’t have time to figure it out. She was on top of him now, straddling him, his legs caged between her ample thighs. She grabbed his hands and pressed them to her bare breasts.
They were as cold as the rest of her.
She leaned down and kissed him again. He hadn’t noticed it before, but her tongue was…dry. Her mouth itself tasted strange. Off.
Heather broke from his lips and peppered kisses on his cheek and forehead, assaulting him with an intimacy that Dom no longer wanted.
Through it all, she was as silent as a tomb. She wasn’t panting or rasping with excitement. In fact, he didn’t think she was even breathing.
She brushed her lips along the exposed curve of his throat, and tingles of revulsion shot down his spine. She found his pulse and kissed it. Trembles of excitement raced through her body and she started to lap his neck like a dog.
Without warning, a fiery pinprick of pain exploded over him and Heather began to shake and pant. Dom cried out and tried to fight her off, but she was too heavy, too much.
With a tiny, mouse-like squeak - a sound of pitiable fear and resignation - Dom blacked out.

Quilted auto upholstery question
Hi all. I am currently just starting a project on a classic BMW. The rear bench seat wants to be quilted/pleated. I have done pleats before on my classic vw, but only shallow ones. The guy wants quite deep pleats, so I mocked up a sample with some 16mm scrim foam, but I’m not getting the effect I want. It’s pulling the foam to the material instead of the other way round. Does anyone have experience with this and can provide any suggestions. Many thanks in advance

I’m a relatively new licensed landscape contractor and have a client I’ve been working with on mostly planting design and plant procurement, purchasing of planters, etc. I haven’t ventured into hardscape installation yet because it is SO expensive to hire employees. Anyway, my client has a some unlicensed guys working for her on various unrelated side projects. She asked me if I have an account with a particular (I won’t name) local large supplier because she wanted to order pavers there. I had intended to open an account there soon anyway, so I told her yes, I would open an account and help her order materials. About a week ago, I told her that I had opened my business account with this supplier, and to let me know what she’d like to order. I planned to mark up her materials, but still give her a good deal off retail prices. Well, yesterday I met with her and she mentioned the pavers she had picked out. I asked if she was ready to order, and she then told me that she took care of it and ordered directly with the supplier, using my business account!!! I was completely floored and didn’t say anything about it during our visit. After, I called this supplier, who said that my client was “very convincing” that I said it was ok for her to use my business account. I asked how much her invoice was with my account vs retail and she had saved herself $2100! They apologized and canceled her order. She then called me and said she had no idea that she couldn’t do this, and that she wouldn’t dream of going around me. Has this happened to any of you? What would you have done?

From what I can find, Supernote doesn't have excel. Have they indicated any desire to possibly have that in the future? Or is there a good way to suggest it?
Long story: I am an estimator and have been working on a way to import take-offs into our software via an excel sheet. We had a very large bid a couple of years that we didn't get started until the day the bid was due. They happened to have a material list on a PDF, so I converted it to an excel sheet and did some tweeking so it could be imported, which shaved off several hours of "punch in" time. I also have a couple of coworkers who solely do takeoffs on the computer and have been punching in all of the material and labor on an excel sheet, then punching them into our software. I almost perfected my excel sheet and gave it to them to save punching it on twice. It works super well.
I am still a pencil and paper guy, so I've been trying to find a way to be able to write my take-offs and have it converted to excel. After sifting through all kinds of E-ink pens and tablets, I landed on supernote as something that would be great for my personal use and for work, but it lacks the one thing that would make it an absolute must have for me. Sometimes I have up to 35 take off pages to punch in and that itself can take a whole shift. If it could convert my writing into cells in excel, that would be amazing.
Anyway, I'm patient and can wait for technology to progress. Looking at what they have made so far, it looks like they are capable of making something like that a reality, but it probably hasn't been touched on yet. Any other estimators and/or students have a similar desire for that ability?

Dear everyone, I'm an experienced sewist and I'm thinking about making myself a nice latex dress for dance performance and other adventures. I have never used a latex before but after seeing lots of tutorials and using my experience from other crafts (leather, wood, clay, painting, design, tailoring etc) I'm pretty confident I could pull it off. It would be my first latex project, but again, it's not the first time I pull off a super ambitious random project on the first try (ADHD helps). My question is about the designs, as I'm not super familiar with the material (I only use sheets for insulation in my art restoration job). Since I requiere mobility on my legs to dance, I have two options: making variations of a circle or half circle skirt, or going into the pencil skirt direction but adding a slit. I prefer the body hugging figure as it makes me feel more confident about myself, specially with heels. Now the question comes into the construction. Does anyone have experience adding high slits to latex skirts? I'm talking groin height, either right over my thigh in the front, or back up to the butt. Now, if I was to make this on fabric, I would make different panels and use the seam for the slit. Do I need to do the same on latex or can I just cut up to wherever I want the slit to go and add a reinforcement so it doesn't rip? Another option to have mobility but still have my butt tight and looking amazing would be to make a pencil skirt and add a fishtail (either as an insert in the back slit, or I could make a mermaid cut with different panels) When I do this designs in fabric I like to use lycra, stretch Velvet or other stretchy fabrics I find (almost Always theta are a 4 way Stretch). With this fabrics I've done all kinds of designs, including ruching (all variations, one side, two sides, butt, shoulder etc etc) so im curious about what the design possibilities are. The thinner the material, the stretchier but I wonder if it will have enough weight. Has anyone here done something like this before? I did have a look at some shops with already made clothes but I didn't find anything I liked.
Looking forward for any information/pictures/ideas/tips!!

DATE: Thursday, May 16th, 2024 TIME: 5pm – 9pm LOCATION: 401 Riverside Dr. W, Windsor, ON
COST:

• Current AWE and/or Museum Windsor Members: Free admission to both Art Windsor-Essex and the Chimczuk Museum
• Non-Members: $13.25 – Admission to both Art Windsor-Essex and the Chimczuk Museum

Accessibility: Accessibility and accommodation requests must be made at least two weeks in advance of the event. Please contact [shinch@artwindsoressex.ca](mailto:shinch@artwindsoressex.ca) for questions.

Save the date! On May 16th, Art Windsor-Essex is open late for an evening of art activities, community conversations, guided tours, and good vibes.

Art Activity: Creative Ecologies with Garvin Chinnia ⎮ 5pm – 9pm, 2nd floor Education Studio

Join us for the Creative Ecologies Workshop, hosted by the SMArt Communications program at the University of Windsor! This workshop is for students and community members who want to learn about how drawing can connect us with nature. Participants will make circular drawings of plants and materials found on the gallery’s Green Roof Terrace, using small microscopes. Through observational drawing, participants will exemplify the inherent fragility and subjectivity of our local ecology as it relates to the degrees of change in species abundance, composition, and environmental disturbances.
Participants are encouraged to display their drawings as part of a display in the WFCU Eco Lounge on AWE’s Third Floor.

Teen Tour: Waawiiatanong Forever with Jace Pillon ⎮ 5pm – 5:30pm, AWE, 2nd floor galleries

Join co-curator Jace Pillon for a guided tour of Waawiiatanong Forever. Complete a bingo treasure hunt for a chance to win prizes! Waawiiatanong Forever is a photography and postcard project that celebrates the representation of women and two-spirit folks and their families within our vibrant community.
Jace Pillon is AWE’s Indigenous Youth Mentee. Jace is from Thessalon First Nation, and currently attends F.J. Brennan Catholic High School. Ever since a young age, he has been interested in all forms of art from paintings, to literature and music. Other interests are cars, computers, & giving back in any he can. Jace plans to attend St. Clair College for a degree in Indigenous community work.

Guided Tour: Chariots of Fire: A History of Windsor’s Firefighting Equipment⎮ 5:30pm – 6pm, Chimczuk Museum, main floor

Join guest curators Walter McCall and Jeff Topliffe for a guided tour of their exhibit Chariots of Fire: A History of Windsor’s Firefighting Equipment. The exhibit explores the history of the Windsor Fire Department (W.F.D.) through some of the unique and innovative pieces of firefighting equipment and machinery that were used in the past. The exhibition features historical photographs, firefighting equipment, badges, and other unique items rarely seen by the public.

Artist Talk: Tony Mosna ⎮ 6pm – 6:30pm, 3rd floor galleries

Join artist Tony Mosna and Emily McKibbon, Head of Exhibitions and Collections at AWE, for an artist talk. Mosna’s work is currently on display in The Once and Future City, co-curated by Shanthi Senthe and Anneke Smit (Windsor Law’s Centre for Cities) and Emily McKibbon.

Safety in the Downtown Core: A Community Conversation ⎮ 6:30pm – 7pm, 3rd floor galleries

Join us for this month’s community conversation, Safety in the Downtown Core: A Community conversation. A panel of local voices will address the struggles, successes and promised initiatives aimed at revitalizing downtown Windsor. What barriers keep you from visiting downtown? What makes you feel safe in our community? With speakers Sarah Dewar (Maiden Lane Wine & Spirits), Shane Lyon (Culture Shock Bead Co.) and Chris MacLeod (Chair, Downtown Windsor, BIA), moderated by Dan MacDonald.

Art Windsor-Essex App Presentation⎮ 7pm – 7:30pm, 3rd floor galleries

In partnership with St Clair College’s Mobile App Development program, AWE is excited to demonstrate our new interactive app for Look Again! Outside St Clair College. Students Chris Green and Yash Pindiwala created this app to enrich student experience on campus by providing information on the installed reproductions as well as a collaborative platform that invites the campus community to contribute their own creative works!
The project was recently awarded second place at St Clair College’s Ford Innovation Showcase. Hear from the students and St Clair faculty members about the power of partnership and collaboration driving innovation in our region.

Music, food, and drink ⎮ 7pm – 9pm, 3rd floor

Let’s celebrate! Head up to the third floor to join us for music, food and drinks by Windsor Eats, and good vibes.

I'm working on a worldbuilding project where the "planet" is in fact a very large and shallow bowl (think something like this) on the table of the gods, who plan to eventually feast upon the waters, plants, animals, and humans residing upon it. While obviously there's room for a lot of magic-driven conceits here, within and around those conceits I want to aim for at least semi-realism.
This world has a single ocean in the center, where the bowl becomes steeper, and a static sun that hangs over the ocean (because this sun is also kind of a spirit, there are ways of calling it down at night and sending it back up during the day, with the warmth of distant lights from the hall of the gods making up for the "extinguished" sun). What I've been trying to figure out is how this will affect the single main wind cell on this world, and how that in turn will shape the climate. My initial thought was that during the day, hot air would rise in the center and cool as it reached the edges, returning as winds that blow towards the oceans—but from what I can tell this is unlikely, since the coastal land will heat up faster than the water does, and I'm not sure how this will change at night. What might happen here on a broad scale—or might it be better to add in wind spirits that get me the "tropical coasts fading into temperate zones and ultimately into deserts at the edges" climate distribution I've been picturing?
ETA: Lol, didn't realize that link would just embed a picture of a soup bowl in the post.

Hey guys. I've created a list of the 100 best tools for spatial computing builders that I use. Each tool has been carefully curated, tested and validated.

🤵‍♂️ Best entrepreneurs spatial tools

Great White(board): Great White(board) is a simple, uncomplicated working tool. Take a note, sketch an idea, diagram a process, or think through the details of a complex idea.
Immersed: Immersed offers a virtual reality workspace where users can create multiple virtual monitors without additional hardware. This app excels in enabling focused solo work and efficient remote collaboration, allowing users to share screens and engage in virtual whiteboarding.
Fluid: Virtual workstation, wherever you are. Fluid turns your VR headset into a spatial computer that you can use for work, media streaming, gaming, and more.
Warp VR: Transform your training with immersive 360° scenarios, outperforming traditional e-learning and live actor simulations in engagement and retention.
Zoom for Vision Pro: Zoom’s Apple Vision Pro app banks on a future where virtual meetings will feel like real ones, already offering immersive meeting experiences from wherever you are.
PowerPoint for Vision Pro: You can use Microsoft PowerPoint on Vision Pro to create and update presentations. One unique feature is the “Immersive Environment” feature, which allows you to practice your presentation as if you were presenting it to an audience.
Arthur: Arthur enables your organization to meet, collaborate and manage work
Navi: Navi adds subtitles to your conversations! Perfect for business meetings abroad. Connect directly to other Navi-enabled devices around you, and what they say will be displayed directly on your Mac screen.
Lenslist: Amplify Your Marketing Using AR Filters.
SAP Analytics Cloud: SAP Analytics Cloud on Apple Vision Pro lets users arrange their most critical business workflows and apps in their physical space while using contextual 3D maps and graphics to gain new insights.
Mozilla Hubs: The go-to virtual platform for educators, teams, and organizations. Powered by Mozilla, we’ve designed our platform to make virtual collaboration and learning effortless.
Mindesk: Mindesk is a real-time CAD and VR software that allows designers to create and edit 3D models directly in virtual reality, providing a more intuitive and immersive design experience.

📟 Best spatial developers tools

Tilt Brush: Developed by Google, Tilt Brush is a VR painting application that allows artists and developers to create 3D artwork in virtual reality, making it a valuable tool for prototyping and visualization.
Gravity Sketch: Gravity Sketch is a 3D design tool that enables designers and developers to create immersive 3D models and environments in VR, facilitating collaboration and rapid prototyping.
Substance Painter: Substance Painter is a texturing tool that supports VR painting, allowing developers to create high-quality textures and materials directly in VR for use in their VR applications.
Unity: One of the most popular game engines, Unity offers robust support for VR development with its built-in VR support and extensive asset store.
Unreal Engine: Another powerful game engine, Unreal Engine provides advanced tools for creating high-quality VR experiences, including built-in VR support and Blueprint visual scripting.
Google VR SDK: Google VR SDK provides developers with the tools and APIs for building VR applications for Android devices, including Google Cardboard and Daydream.
VRTK: VRTK is a popular open-source toolkit for Unity that simplifies VR development by providing a collection of scripts and prefabs for common VR interactions and mechanics.
NVIDIA VRWorks: NVIDIA VRWorks provides developers with a suite of tools and APIs for optimizing VR performance on NVIDIA GPUs, including features like Multi-Res Shading and Lens Matched Shading.

🖼️ Best spatial designers tools

Spatial Icon: Download Free Spatial Icons for your Spatial Apps.
ShapesXR: ShapesXR helps you design spatial experience together.
JigSpace: JigSpace helps you create spatial presentations, combining 3D content, audio, video and text in an interactive, step-by-step experience that energizes the communication of complex ideas, products or processes.
SwiftXR: A powerful 3D and immersive design tool that is easy to use
SketchAR: SketchAR is an AR drawing app that enables designers to sketch and visualize their ideas in augmented reality, allowing for immersive and interactive design processes.
Adobe Aero: Adobe Aero is an AR authoring tool that allows designers to create interactive AR experiences using 2D and 3D assets from Adobe Creative Cloud applications like Photoshop and Illustrator.
Blender: Blender is a free and open-source 3D modeling and animation software that supports AR and VR content creation, making it a valuable tool for designers to create 3D assets for their projects.
Reality Composer: Easily prototype and produce AR experiences directly in AR with no prior 3D experience.
Reality Composer: Reality Composer is an AR authoring tool developed by Apple for creating interactive AR experiences without writing any code, making it accessible to designers and artists.
Reality Converter beta: The Reality Converter app makes it easy to convert, view, and customize USDZ 3D objects on Mac. Simply drag-and-drop common 3D file formats, such as .obj, .gltf and .usd, to view the converted USDZ result, customize material properties with your own textures, and edit file metadata.
Adobe Lightroom: Lightroom for Vision Pro lets you edit photos on a truly big screen. It’s been redesigned for the VisionOS, so it’s easier to navigate with hand gestures than the desktop version, which has many more features.

👩‍🎤 Best content creators spatial tools

QuestCam: A system for third person recording that imposes minimal performance constraints and unlocks maximum creativity. QuestCam.
Liv: LIV is your complete toolset for VTubing, Mixed Reality Capture and VR native utilities like in-headset stream chat, alerts and notifications!
XCode + Reality Composer: Record 4K video in Apple Vision Pro using the Reality Composer kit on Xcode. Click here for the full tutorial.
The list is gradually being added to, and all 100 tools will be present by June 2024 (progressive updating).

🤵‍♂️ Best entrepreneurs spatial tools

Great White(board): Great White(board) is a simple, uncomplicated working tool. Take a note, sketch an idea, diagram a process, or think through the details of a complex idea.
Immersed: Immersed offers a virtual reality workspace where users can create multiple virtual monitors without additional hardware. This app excels in enabling focused solo work and efficient remote collaboration, allowing users to share screens and engage in virtual whiteboarding.
Fluid: Virtual workstation, wherever you are. Fluid turns your VR headset into a spatial computer that you can use for work, media streaming, gaming, and more.
Warp VR: Transform your training with immersive 360° scenarios, outperforming traditional e-learning and live actor simulations in engagement and retention.
Zoom for Vision Pro: Zoom’s Apple Vision Pro app banks on a future where virtual meetings will feel like real ones, already offering immersive meeting experiences from wherever you are.
PowerPoint for Vision Pro: You can use Microsoft PowerPoint on Vision Pro to create and update presentations. One unique feature is the “Immersive Environment” feature, which allows you to practice your presentation as if you were presenting it to an audience.
Arthur: Arthur enables your organization to meet, collaborate and manage work
Navi: Navi adds subtitles to your conversations! Perfect for business meetings abroad. Connect directly to other Navi-enabled devices around you, and what they say will be displayed directly on your Mac screen.
Lenslist: Amplify Your Marketing Using AR Filters.
SAP Analytics Cloud: SAP Analytics Cloud on Apple Vision Pro lets users arrange their most critical business workflows and apps in their physical space while using contextual 3D maps and graphics to gain new insights.
Mozilla Hubs: The go-to virtual platform for educators, teams, and organizations. Powered by Mozilla, we’ve designed our platform to make virtual collaboration and learning effortless.
Mindesk: Mindesk is a real-time CAD and VR software that allows designers to create and edit 3D models directly in virtual reality, providing a more intuitive and immersive design experience.

📟 Best spatial developers tools

Tilt Brush: Developed by Google, Tilt Brush is a VR painting application that allows artists and developers to create 3D artwork in virtual reality, making it a valuable tool for prototyping and visualization.
Gravity Sketch: Gravity Sketch is a 3D design tool that enables designers and developers to create immersive 3D models and environments in VR, facilitating collaboration and rapid prototyping.
Substance Painter: Substance Painter is a texturing tool that supports VR painting, allowing developers to create high-quality textures and materials directly in VR for use in their VR applications.
Unity: One of the most popular game engines, Unity offers robust support for VR development with its built-in VR support and extensive asset store.
Unreal Engine: Another powerful game engine, Unreal Engine provides advanced tools for creating high-quality VR experiences, including built-in VR support and Blueprint visual scripting.
Google VR SDK: Google VR SDK provides developers with the tools and APIs for building VR applications for Android devices, including Google Cardboard and Daydream.
VRTK: VRTK is a popular open-source toolkit for Unity that simplifies VR development by providing a collection of scripts and prefabs for common VR interactions and mechanics.
NVIDIA VRWorks: NVIDIA VRWorks provides developers with a suite of tools and APIs for optimizing VR performance on NVIDIA GPUs, including features like Multi-Res Shading and Lens Matched Shading.

🖼️ Best spatial designers tools

Spatial Icon: Download Free Spatial Icons for your Spatial Apps.
ShapesXR: ShapesXR helps you design spatial experience together.
JigSpace: JigSpace helps you create spatial presentations, combining 3D content, audio, video and text in an interactive, step-by-step experience that energizes the communication of complex ideas, products or processes.
SwiftXR: A powerful 3D and immersive design tool that is easy to use
SketchAR: SketchAR is an AR drawing app that enables designers to sketch and visualize their ideas in augmented reality, allowing for immersive and interactive design processes.
Adobe Aero: Adobe Aero is an AR authoring tool that allows designers to create interactive AR experiences using 2D and 3D assets from Adobe Creative Cloud applications like Photoshop and Illustrator.
Blender: Blender is a free and open-source 3D modeling and animation software that supports AR and VR content creation, making it a valuable tool for designers to create 3D assets for their projects.
Reality Composer: Easily prototype and produce AR experiences directly in AR with no prior 3D experience.
Reality Composer: Reality Composer is an AR authoring tool developed by Apple for creating interactive AR experiences without writing any code, making it accessible to designers and artists.
Reality Converter beta: The Reality Converter app makes it easy to convert, view, and customize USDZ 3D objects on Mac. Simply drag-and-drop common 3D file formats, such as .obj, .gltf and .usd, to view the converted USDZ result, customize material properties with your own textures, and edit file metadata.
Adobe Lightroom: Lightroom for Vision Pro lets you edit photos on a truly big screen. It’s been redesigned for the VisionOS, so it’s easier to navigate with hand gestures than the desktop version, which has many more features.

👩‍🎤 Best content creators spatial tools

QuestCam: A system for third person recording that imposes minimal performance constraints and unlocks maximum creativity. QuestCam.
Liv: LIV is your complete toolset for VTubing, Mixed Reality Capture and VR native utilities like in-headset stream chat, alerts and notifications!
XCode + Reality Composer: Record 4K video in Apple Vision Pro using the Reality Composer kit on Xcode. Click here for the full tutorial.
The list is gradually being added to, and all 100 tools will be present by June 2024 (progressive updating).

Hey guys. I've created a list of the 100 best tools for spatial computing builders that I use. Each tool has been carefully curated, tested and validated.

🤵‍♂️ Best entrepreneurs spatial tools

Great White(board): Great White(board) is a simple, uncomplicated working tool. Take a note, sketch an idea, diagram a process, or think through the details of a complex idea.
Immersed: Immersed offers a virtual reality workspace where users can create multiple virtual monitors without additional hardware. This app excels in enabling focused solo work and efficient remote collaboration, allowing users to share screens and engage in virtual whiteboarding.
Fluid: Virtual workstation, wherever you are. Fluid turns your VR headset into a spatial computer that you can use for work, media streaming, gaming, and more.
Warp VR: Transform your training with immersive 360° scenarios, outperforming traditional e-learning and live actor simulations in engagement and retention.
Zoom for Vision Pro: Zoom’s Apple Vision Pro app banks on a future where virtual meetings will feel like real ones, already offering immersive meeting experiences from wherever you are.
PowerPoint for Vision Pro: You can use Microsoft PowerPoint on Vision Pro to create and update presentations. One unique feature is the “Immersive Environment” feature, which allows you to practice your presentation as if you were presenting it to an audience.
Arthur: Arthur enables your organization to meet, collaborate and manage work
Navi: Navi adds subtitles to your conversations! Perfect for business meetings abroad. Connect directly to other Navi-enabled devices around you, and what they say will be displayed directly on your Mac screen.
Lenslist: Amplify Your Marketing Using AR Filters.
SAP Analytics Cloud: SAP Analytics Cloud on Apple Vision Pro lets users arrange their most critical business workflows and apps in their physical space while using contextual 3D maps and graphics to gain new insights.
Mozilla Hubs: The go-to virtual platform for educators, teams, and organizations. Powered by Mozilla, we’ve designed our platform to make virtual collaboration and learning effortless.
Mindesk: Mindesk is a real-time CAD and VR software that allows designers to create and edit 3D models directly in virtual reality, providing a more intuitive and immersive design experience.

📟 Best spatial developers tools

Tilt Brush: Developed by Google, Tilt Brush is a VR painting application that allows artists and developers to create 3D artwork in virtual reality, making it a valuable tool for prototyping and visualization.
Gravity Sketch: Gravity Sketch is a 3D design tool that enables designers and developers to create immersive 3D models and environments in VR, facilitating collaboration and rapid prototyping.
Substance Painter: Substance Painter is a texturing tool that supports VR painting, allowing developers to create high-quality textures and materials directly in VR for use in their VR applications.
Unity: One of the most popular game engines, Unity offers robust support for VR development with its built-in VR support and extensive asset store.
Unreal Engine: Another powerful game engine, Unreal Engine provides advanced tools for creating high-quality VR experiences, including built-in VR support and Blueprint visual scripting.
Google VR SDK: Google VR SDK provides developers with the tools and APIs for building VR applications for Android devices, including Google Cardboard and Daydream.
VRTK: VRTK is a popular open-source toolkit for Unity that simplifies VR development by providing a collection of scripts and prefabs for common VR interactions and mechanics.
NVIDIA VRWorks: NVIDIA VRWorks provides developers with a suite of tools and APIs for optimizing VR performance on NVIDIA GPUs, including features like Multi-Res Shading and Lens Matched Shading.

🖼️ Best spatial designers tools

Spatial Icon: Download Free Spatial Icons for your Spatial Apps.
ShapesXR: ShapesXR helps you design spatial experience together.
JigSpace: JigSpace helps you create spatial presentations, combining 3D content, audio, video and text in an interactive, step-by-step experience that energizes the communication of complex ideas, products or processes.
SwiftXR: A powerful 3D and immersive design tool that is easy to use
SketchAR: SketchAR is an AR drawing app that enables designers to sketch and visualize their ideas in augmented reality, allowing for immersive and interactive design processes.
Adobe Aero: Adobe Aero is an AR authoring tool that allows designers to create interactive AR experiences using 2D and 3D assets from Adobe Creative Cloud applications like Photoshop and Illustrator.
Blender: Blender is a free and open-source 3D modeling and animation software that supports AR and VR content creation, making it a valuable tool for designers to create 3D assets for their projects.
Reality Composer: Easily prototype and produce AR experiences directly in AR with no prior 3D experience.
Reality Composer: Reality Composer is an AR authoring tool developed by Apple for creating interactive AR experiences without writing any code, making it accessible to designers and artists.
Reality Converter beta: The Reality Converter app makes it easy to convert, view, and customize USDZ 3D objects on Mac. Simply drag-and-drop common 3D file formats, such as .obj, .gltf and .usd, to view the converted USDZ result, customize material properties with your own textures, and edit file metadata.
Adobe Lightroom: Lightroom for Vision Pro lets you edit photos on a truly big screen. It’s been redesigned for the VisionOS, so it’s easier to navigate with hand gestures than the desktop version, which has many more features.

👩‍🎤 Best content creators spatial tools

QuestCam: A system for third person recording that imposes minimal performance constraints and unlocks maximum creativity. QuestCam.
Liv: LIV is your complete toolset for VTubing, Mixed Reality Capture and VR native utilities like in-headset stream chat, alerts and notifications!
XCode + Reality Composer: Record 4K video in Apple Vision Pro using the Reality Composer kit on Xcode. Click here for the full tutorial.
The list is gradually being added to, and all 100 tools will be present by June 2024 (progressive updating).

🤵‍♂️ Best entrepreneurs spatial tools

Great White(board): Great White(board) is a simple, uncomplicated working tool. Take a note, sketch an idea, diagram a process, or think through the details of a complex idea.
Immersed: Immersed offers a virtual reality workspace where users can create multiple virtual monitors without additional hardware. This app excels in enabling focused solo work and efficient remote collaboration, allowing users to share screens and engage in virtual whiteboarding.
Fluid: Virtual workstation, wherever you are. Fluid turns your VR headset into a spatial computer that you can use for work, media streaming, gaming, and more.
Warp VR: Transform your training with immersive 360° scenarios, outperforming traditional e-learning and live actor simulations in engagement and retention.
Zoom for Vision Pro: Zoom’s Apple Vision Pro app banks on a future where virtual meetings will feel like real ones, already offering immersive meeting experiences from wherever you are.
PowerPoint for Vision Pro: You can use Microsoft PowerPoint on Vision Pro to create and update presentations. One unique feature is the “Immersive Environment” feature, which allows you to practice your presentation as if you were presenting it to an audience.
Arthur: Arthur enables your organization to meet, collaborate and manage work
Navi: Navi adds subtitles to your conversations! Perfect for business meetings abroad. Connect directly to other Navi-enabled devices around you, and what they say will be displayed directly on your Mac screen.
Lenslist: Amplify Your Marketing Using AR Filters.
SAP Analytics Cloud: SAP Analytics Cloud on Apple Vision Pro lets users arrange their most critical business workflows and apps in their physical space while using contextual 3D maps and graphics to gain new insights.
Mozilla Hubs: The go-to virtual platform for educators, teams, and organizations. Powered by Mozilla, we’ve designed our platform to make virtual collaboration and learning effortless.
Mindesk: Mindesk is a real-time CAD and VR software that allows designers to create and edit 3D models directly in virtual reality, providing a more intuitive and immersive design experience.

📟 Best spatial developers tools

Tilt Brush: Developed by Google, Tilt Brush is a VR painting application that allows artists and developers to create 3D artwork in virtual reality, making it a valuable tool for prototyping and visualization.
Gravity Sketch: Gravity Sketch is a 3D design tool that enables designers and developers to create immersive 3D models and environments in VR, facilitating collaboration and rapid prototyping.
Substance Painter: Substance Painter is a texturing tool that supports VR painting, allowing developers to create high-quality textures and materials directly in VR for use in their VR applications.
Unity: One of the most popular game engines, Unity offers robust support for VR development with its built-in VR support and extensive asset store.
Unreal Engine: Another powerful game engine, Unreal Engine provides advanced tools for creating high-quality VR experiences, including built-in VR support and Blueprint visual scripting.
Google VR SDK: Google VR SDK provides developers with the tools and APIs for building VR applications for Android devices, including Google Cardboard and Daydream.
VRTK: VRTK is a popular open-source toolkit for Unity that simplifies VR development by providing a collection of scripts and prefabs for common VR interactions and mechanics.
NVIDIA VRWorks: NVIDIA VRWorks provides developers with a suite of tools and APIs for optimizing VR performance on NVIDIA GPUs, including features like Multi-Res Shading and Lens Matched Shading.

🖼️ Best spatial designers tools

Spatial Icon: Download Free Spatial Icons for your Spatial Apps.
ShapesXR: ShapesXR helps you design spatial experience together.
JigSpace: JigSpace helps you create spatial presentations, combining 3D content, audio, video and text in an interactive, step-by-step experience that energizes the communication of complex ideas, products or processes.
SwiftXR: A powerful 3D and immersive design tool that is easy to use
SketchAR: SketchAR is an AR drawing app that enables designers to sketch and visualize their ideas in augmented reality, allowing for immersive and interactive design processes.
Adobe Aero: Adobe Aero is an AR authoring tool that allows designers to create interactive AR experiences using 2D and 3D assets from Adobe Creative Cloud applications like Photoshop and Illustrator.
Blender: Blender is a free and open-source 3D modeling and animation software that supports AR and VR content creation, making it a valuable tool for designers to create 3D assets for their projects.
Reality Composer: Easily prototype and produce AR experiences directly in AR with no prior 3D experience.
Reality Composer: Reality Composer is an AR authoring tool developed by Apple for creating interactive AR experiences without writing any code, making it accessible to designers and artists.
Reality Converter beta: The Reality Converter app makes it easy to convert, view, and customize USDZ 3D objects on Mac. Simply drag-and-drop common 3D file formats, such as .obj, .gltf and .usd, to view the converted USDZ result, customize material properties with your own textures, and edit file metadata.
Adobe Lightroom: Lightroom for Vision Pro lets you edit photos on a truly big screen. It’s been redesigned for the VisionOS, so it’s easier to navigate with hand gestures than the desktop version, which has many more features.

👩‍🎤 Best content creators spatial tools

QuestCam: A system for third person recording that imposes minimal performance constraints and unlocks maximum creativity. QuestCam.
Liv: LIV is your complete toolset for VTubing, Mixed Reality Capture and VR native utilities like in-headset stream chat, alerts and notifications!
XCode + Reality Composer: Record 4K video in Apple Vision Pro using the Reality Composer kit on Xcode. Click here for the full tutorial.
The list is gradually being added to, and all 100 tools will be present by June 2024 (progressive updating).

My wife and want to have a multiple bathroom remodel project done (~$65k), but since the house is a Summer rental we will not be able to clear the calendar for the renovation until Jan/Feb of 2025. The contractor will not be ordering any materials until probably Oct, but were originally asking for a 50% deposit. I expressed my discomfort with that and they came back with a 25% deposit. I still don't want to have $15k just sitting in their bank account (if indeed that is where it would be) until making the rest of the deposit in Oct so they can order materials. I really just want to hold that spot in their calendar so that I get it done in Jan/Feb. My question is: what is a reasonable deposit for them to ask for (for me to suggest) in this case?

Hello - I’m in the planning stages for a 4th grade curriculum for next year. I went to a learning store recently and found lots of spelling workbooks, reading comprehension workbooks, writing workbooks, and one that has daily grammar exercises. If combined with regular book reading and vocabulary, is this enough? I do want to make sure I’m keeping mostly on track with what would be covered in public school but also don’t want it to be super repetitive. I also would maybe occasionally include a reading or writing project that ties in with whatever we’re doing in science, social studies, or a field trip to add in some variation. So maybe 75% workbooks and 25% other materials/projects.
Edit: I do want to add that I don’t think literary-based curriculum would be a good fit for us due to this child’s interests and learning style. Loved MBTP for one of my other children but don’t think it would be a good fit for this one.
Looking at Beast Academy for math and currently undecided on science and social studies.

Only recent to the PARA methodology. However, I have one question that I continue to debate and so thought I'd ask the more experienced among us.
Where do you retain your documents (Excel files, Word files, pdf, etc.)? Of course for years, I stored them on my computer hard drive and I currently have my file system set up to mirror my PARA setup in my Notes App. But the question I have is if I have a document that belongs to a Project, do I save it to the corresponding folder in my Notes App or should I continue to save to my computer file system? And similarly for reference material, to the Resource area of my Notes app or to my hard drive?
Does anyone have a strong argument in favor of one or the other location?

Genocide looked to the sky. He thought of his mentor. The one who had saved him. He remembered his childhood. How powerless he was. He remembered the anger. He never wanted to hurt anybody. He thought of all the times he showed compassion. How much they hurt him for it. He saw the world before him, a graveyard. Humans. People that were supposed to be made in the image of some divine creator. They were but maggots feasting upon his remains. They ate away at his very being until nothing human remained. His thoughts were no longer his own. He had no joys in life that mattered. He hated humanity more than he could love anything about himself. He remember his first killing spree. Being gunned down by police. Left for dead. He remembered a hooded figure moving towards him. Getting closer the more he neared his death. He saw its pale face. Its impossibly black eyes. It was a man. This figure in question appeared to be of Japanese nationality with long, straight, loose hair. It emanated extreme malice. It offered him a choice. A purpose. Power. He thought the figure a reaper but it identified itself as Amakusa Masataka. Masataka guided him on how to kill and gave him specific locations to kill people in. In a sense, he became a hitman for quotas of people. He inquired what Masataka was. The presence of evil, his ability to appear and disappear at will, how he could control what people could see him and what people couldn't. While vague, years of killing for this being offered some insight. Amakusa Masataka belonged to a group of people not of this world. His people had been corrupted by a dark force long ago and had aligned themselves with the warlord who had subjugated their version of Japan. Their dark high priest assisted the warlord along with two others. These four rulers in turn served a larger order. The four were tasked with bringing about the end of the current world as an act of retribution for some fallen deity. Masataka's people acted as covert operatives for this empire. They were feared across the land and were collectively referred to as "Shinigami". An agent of the coming apocalypse, a servant of evil possessed by the will of those gods of death, Genocide would walk the earth.
Genocide stepped toward the station. A police cruiser rammed into him. He pulled out a knife and stabbed the hood of the car. The inhuman force of the knife created sparks which burst the engine into flames. The car crashed into a streetlight and exploded. A second cruiser neared the scene. No way a man could have done this. Yet still, out of the fires Genocide strode forth. It set upon the second vehicle, shooting out it's tires while jumping 9 feet into the air. The car tries to reverse but crashes into a wall. Genocide lands on the hood and kicks through the front window. Glass shatters under its boot, blinding the two officers inside. Genocide shoots one of the officers with a shotgun, killing him. The second officer in the passenger seat readies his pistol and takes aim. Only two shots fired, both directed at Genocide's head. It casually cocks its neck to avoid them. Then it grabs the officer's arm, breaking it. Genocide uses its free hand to grab the officer's head and bangs it into the dashboard no less than 5 times. The skull is shattered on the final impact. Genocide jumps off the car and continues on his mission.
Detective Evans speaks through a megaphone," This is your first and final warning. Stand down or we will use any and all means at our disposal to put you down." Genocide dropped its shotgun and raised its hands. A group of five SWAT team members rushed out the station, surrounding Genocide with riot shields. An officer accompanies them, edging behind the figure to apply handcuffs. Suddenly, Genocide springs to life , grabbing the officer behind him. He flips the officer over his head, slamming him into the pavement at his feet. Then Genocide stomps his head causing it to burst. Genocide drops a flash bomb from his coat sleeve, blinding the SWAT team as he draws his knife. He drives it into one SWAT member, the knife puncturing the shield and piercing his chest. Genocide kicks the corpse away withdrawing his knife. He goes to another, this time using the end of his boot toe in a rising kick to disarm their shield. He grabs them by the throat and drives the knife slowly into their eye socket. Another is tackled to the ground and beaten to death despite still being under the shield. Another is picked up and thrown into the fires still burning from the first auto incident. In no time, Genocide stood before an indistinguishable mass of gore, blood streaking across his black leather outfit. He laughed" So this is all you can give me. I'm not entertained." Officers took aim from the station windows, and snipers did so from other rooftops. Genocide laughed maniacally as he was rained down upon from all sides by a hailstorm of bullets. His body convulsed, but he did not fall. Moments more and he was on his knees. Still though, their efforts were futile. Gracia looked out and saw a black mist coalescing around the man in black. His blood. Blood erupted from his body only to transform into this dark mist that reentered his wounds. Genocide screamed. No. It was just an elevated pitch in his laughter. Optimism failed everyone yet again. Gracia saw Genocide holding something in his right hand. She could only make out a beeping red light. Genocide pushed the button triggering the carefully concealed explosives he laid in preparation for this event. C4 explosives went off in all the places he saw fit. The sniping posts he couldn't reach. The assault of lead lightened. Then Genocide drew an RPG from...somewhere. He collected himself and fired at the station's entrance. The explosion shook the station. From inside, the lights began to flicker. Communications were down on all fronts. Had he modified the rocket with some type of EMP? Not good. Amisdst the confusion Genocide entered using smoke bombs to mask his presence. Moving like a shadow, he killed everyone in the lobby silently with his knife. He made his way to the holding cells. Still they chanted. Still they praised. Still they raved for the arrival of genocide. Genocide shot the lock opening the cell. Jim Jimenez walked out and bowed before his master. Genocide smiled. He couldn't have imagined how proficient he had gotten with possession. Well, not quite possession. He had known of the Shinigami's ability to share their thoughts and emotions with humans. Shinigami like his mentor were ancient. They had so many years of memories, such strong a hatred for life that they overwhelmed the personality of the victim. The victim sees themselves as one of them. Shinigami can't force the will of the victim, so they find those who are already similar to them in some way. Genocide found the collective universal distrust of police to be a prime sentiment to capitalize on. He armed the inmates, infecting them with samples of his own dark essence.One particular inmate caught Genocide's eye. He knew the man's work. An arsonist. The one whom he recalls was responsible for blowing up his first car way back in high school. Rather than a standard firearm, Genocide gave the man a random assortment of grenades containing a special surprise. Genocide showed them visions of anarchy, of sending a message to a society that used and disregarded them. While this was also true of how he felt, years of living in darkness had changed him. He needed no purpose. No end goal. No justification. He just wanted to watch the world burn.
Genocide's small army broke off to engage several different wings of the station. Genocide went to the security room. He found Wayne, his informant, playing some FPS on one of the monitors. Wayne took of his headphones and asked," You kill everyone yet?" Genocide responded," No. You should get going before that happens. Your life becomes fair game if I run out of pigs to cook." Wayne clapped his hands, "Aight, GC my man, say less." He packed his things and left. Genocide drew a twin pair of handguns and laid waste to the station. He followed a group that took cover in the men's restroom. Kicking open multiple stalls he was surprised to find...nothing. Where had they gone? He turned around and saw his mentor, Masataka, smiling at him. It looked like him. Long, dark hair, black clothing, and soulless, empty eyes. But it wasn't. It was Genocide's own reflection in the mirror. Genocide smiled. He didn't notice the changes at first. They must have happened gradually. Subconsciously. From the final stall, an officer sprung into action, rushing Genocide, hitting him point blank with a shockgun round. Genocide felt the tingling sensation electrifying his body and grew numb. In spite of the pain, he took a single step. Then, another. He came within striking range of the officer and snatched the shockgun. Two more officers erupted from another stall, battering him with baton strikes. Genocide felt nothing. He clutched the shockgun in his hand like a bat and went to work pulverizing his attackers. An officer kicked in the bathroom door, a woman holding a pistol. She fired multiple times to no effect. Genocide stood covered in blood. He even let her reload. Twice. He wanted to see her despair. Her hopelessness. He walked towards her, shrugging off bullets as they pierced his body. His wounds healed nigh instantly due to the dark essence he had been imbued with. He held her face with both hands, lifting her body off the ground. As she screamed, he used her head to shatter the restroom mirror, running down the full length of it while smashing her into it at several points. He dropped the remains of what he held, washed his hands with soap, dried them, then exited the restroom.
The inmates that rallied for the cause of genocide attacked the station. Fortunately, they were nowhere near Genocide in terms of power and only carried one type of firearm each. They shared his healing ability but could be killed quite easily. Gracia encountered a sniper on the end or a west wing hallway. Other officers waited behind corners unable to get close. Gracia noticed the faulty lighting. In this hallway, the lights flickered in intervals of 3 seconds. Finding a pattern and timing her movements, she rushed the sniper at the exact moment the lights went out. Running the length of the hall, Gracia zigzagged, dodging the sniper inmate's bullets. She jumped on a wall, ran 3 feet on it, then kicked off it, pouncing on the assailant. She fired five shots into him, making sure to hit the brain and the heart. Two severe injuries that were impossible for Shinigami essence to heal simultaneously. Elsewhere, Evans took on another escaped inmate. A vehicular arsonist named Carson. Carson had a bag filled with an assortment of different grenades and was happily giving them out like candy on Halloween. "A flash bang here, a bit of tear gas there. Oh. Wait! Was that an ice grenade? Did the explosion freeze your leg to the floor? Whoops. Maybe a fire grenade will melt that for you. Hold on let me get one fore you," Carson rambled gleefully. Evans looked at the carnage before him. Officers burning. Officers partially frozen in blocks of ice. He took a breath and aimed his wristgun. He steadied his right forearm. Carson readied to throw a random grenade. Evans shot it the moment it left Carson's hand. The grenade exploded directly in front of Carson. Both Evans and Carson looked at each other in shock. Confetti. A party grenade? Carson quickly fumbled for another but was tackled and restrained by several officers. Meanwhile in the South wing, Lary had some colleagues set a trap for another shotgun toting inmate. He had them bait the inmate and flee. Giving chase he turned a corner and ran straight into Lary's fist. The inmate recovered and motioned to shoot Lary. "Let's tango. " Lary gave the code word. Nearby officers activated a device. A signal jammer of sorts. The inmate shoved the barrel of his gun into Lary's gut and pulled the trigger. Nothing. The special signal jammer in question was designed for firearms. It was a last resort as it left officers just as defenseless. Lary was having fun. He boxed the inmate in hand to hand combat. Despite the inmate's enhanced strength, Lary's technique pulled through. Lary ducked under one of the inmate's wide punches and did some type of rising uppercut where he jumped off the ground while spinning. One of the other officers whispered" The rising dragon." Lary smiled giving a thumbs up" Yeah, it was a rising dragon uppercut. Saw it in one O my kid's vidya games. Thought I'd try it out while I'm jacked on adrenaline".
Jim Jimenez looked long and hard at himself in the mirror. He was in the women's restroom. Some brainless woman had broken the men's restroom mirror with her face. For the first time in a long while Jim could think clearly. He was becoming sane. At the least he was no longer a raving lunatic. The life essence of the dark gods had healed the wounds to both his body and his mind. He saw his face, his scraggly dirty beard. He found a razor and shaved. He trimmed his beard somewhat. He liked it. He washed his hair. It fell down his face like silk, no longer greasy. His bloodshot eyes once burning with crazed intensity had cooled. He blinked. Just for a second, he saw the man known as Genocide. The man that attacked him. The one that killed him and gave him new life. The drug dealers. The police. They were all the same in his eyes now. They were all to blame for the world being what it is. Jim wanted to hate them. He wanted to take revenge, but he felt nothing. It didn't matter. He knew he was wronged, could logically justify acting against them, but he just didn't care anymore. About anything. He was finally free. Sensing his presence was no longer needed here, Jim vanished into the night. He needed to find someone who had had the answers he needed. Himself. Who had he been? Who was he now? Who could he become? Where was he going? So many questions to ponder indefinitely. So much time left in the rest of his life.
Genocide ran down the station's halls raining hailstorms of bullets upon its occupants. He had a handgun in each hand as well as a wristgun on each wrist. This effectively gave him 4 separate firearms that he could use simultaneously. Lary regrouped with Gracia, Evans, and a handful of others. They radioed all surviving officers near Genocide to flee to the roof. This plan had been set in motion days before the assault and had been kept hidden from most of the force. The plan involved scheduling flights for several helicopters to arrive at some point after Genocide arrived. There would be no way for him to prepare for them and pre-scheduling their arrival ensured they arrived regardless of if they were called or not. Lary and the others set about preparing the second jamming device. Genocide stood among a hallway of bodies. He saw one man clinging to life trying to crawl away. He decided on trying that other thing he saw his master do. He grabbed the dying man and pinned him to the wall. Slowly he drove a knife into his chest. As the man's life slipped away, something else entered his body. Genocide channeled a small amount of his essence into the vessel. He had steadily done this with other casualties around the station whose bodies were somewhat salvageable. He dropped the body he was holding and looked upon the others. He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, his eyed were black, both sclera and iris. The scene before him changed. Genocide had a vision. He saw a dead gray wasteland littered with bodies. These people however weren't cops and wore traditional Japanese attire. In his hand wasn't a gun or knife but a short sickle akin to a farming tool. He heard a dark voice call out to him. Slowly, the corpses around him began to rise, now mere puppets bound eternally to their master's whim. The bodies sold to the reaper who had claimed their lives. Genocide's vision ended. His eyes had returned normal. Around him, dead cops began to rise. His dark essence had entered their bodies and reanimated them. He sent his dead army to attack the officers fleeing to the roof of the station. These zombies swarmed the stairwell giving chase to the few survivors. There were five of them. They had two flights of stairs to climb and a horde of their former colleagues close behind them. One officer tripped and was set upon by the horde. The zombies didn't bite them but held them firmly in place. The other four officers stared down wondering what to do. They could hear Genocide chuckling. They could hear humming. They could feel the temperature rising. Their colleague and the two zombies holding him were hit by an enormous green fireball. Genocide had fired a Magnum Opus and had charged the bullet to level 3. The Magnum Opus was simply a magnum that shot fireballs, with bullets that could be charged by holding down the trigger. It had three levels of charges. Level 1 was a small reddish ball of plasma. Level 2 was slightly larger and yellow. Level 3 was the maximum charge and resulted in a large slow moving green blast of energy. The officer was ignited and Genocide watched gleefully as the force of the blast sent him flying through a wall. The four officers continued up firing occasionally to slow down the zombies. Soon they made it to a door leading to the roof. Before one officer could reach it, he was sniped by Genocide, a bullet to the head killing him instantly. The remaining three made it out. They regrouped with the others already there, 12 in total, including Lary, Evans, and Gracia. This would be their final stand. They just had to hold out until Genocide made it up there. They just had to keep Genocide occupied until the helicopters arrived. Genocide slowly ascended the stairs behind his horde. On the roof, the remaining survivors faced off against waves of the undead. Evans recognized the attackers. These zombies were being controlled by nanomachines. He heard the stories of several weapons encountered by soldiers on the battlefield. These creatures were called Metaldeads as they were reanimated via machines. They had been officially banned by most of the worlds' governments for being unethical. However, this did not stop the technology from being spread still between shady organizations, terrorists, etc. Evans wondered how Genocide got this form of nanotechnology. Evans long speculated that the dark essence used by most of the killers they encountered was a a form of nanotech however it was different from anything else he had seen or heard about. The dark essence seemed to be an amalgamation of other types of nanotech. Evans had to save his inquiries for later. He reloaded his wristgun and took aim at the approaching group of Metaldeads. Gracia steadied her handgun and shot two Metaldeads in the head. From the single door countless arms seemed to spill forth from the darkness. The other officers took turns firing in intervals. this allowed them to create a steady stream of fire where no more that three guns needed to be reloaded at once. The horde seemed to thin out over time as if they were making progress. In actuality, the Metaldeads were just making room for Genocide to enter. Genocide exploded in a sprint from the door. Everyone fired upon the killer. Genocide had now chosen a wrist mounted mini flamethrower to use as his weapon. He stormed past the oncoming bullets taking some damage, but refused to slow down. He unleashed a stream of fire that caught five of the officers in one fell swoop. Gracia fired five rounds into Genocide's face. He stumbled back. Lary took the chance to fire several mine gun bullets at Genocide's feet. The mines quickly detected his movement and exploded. In seconds, Genocide was on his back.
Staring at the night sky Genocide saw the moon. He reached for it. He called for the darkness to give him more power. His wounds began healing. In the sky he could hear the whirl of propellers. There were six helicopters in total. The first two had evacuated the survivors while the others stayed to engage Genocide. Genocide got up and unstrapped the sniper rifle from his back. He stood before the searchlights as a black silhouette, cornered but unwilling to back down. Lary stared down at him smiling. "Okay!" He shouted, "Let's Tango!" Upon this declaration the second jamming device was activated. Now, isolated on the roof, Genocide's guns couldn't be fired and the helicopters were out of range of the device. Now Genocide stood like a sitting duck. A helicopter fired a rocket. Genocide side stepped and grabbed it. He turned his body redirecting the rocket to hit another helicopter. As it exploded Genocide drew his knife and threw it at another helicopter. Behind the knife was such force that it shattered the helicopter window's glass, embedding itself in the pilot. This helicopter too went down where it exploded. "Holy clucknuggets!Did you see that!?" Lary said dumbfounded. Evans looked out the helicopter door he was in jaw open in shock. "There's no way." He collected himself quickly and radioed the remaining two helicopters to keep moving and to use their machineguns as much as possible. The helicopters reigned down upon Genocide tearing apart his body. Shreds of leather and darkened blood sprayed across the pavement of the roof. Gracia watched as Genocide's body was destroyed repeatedly as it tried to heal. Surely he had to stop at some point. After 10 minutes the helicopters had exhausted their cache of ammunition and soldiers opted to fire their own rifles and occasionally throw grenades. After about six minutes, they too had run out of bullets. Genocide stood unfazed. He had long since healed himself and now appeared intangible with gunfire seeming to pass through his body. His coat once ripped , now appeared whole though on closer inspection seemed to writhe. Gracia looked in horror as she remembered the tales her adopted father had told her. Tales he had in turn heard from his predecessors. Every so often officers had reported encounters with ghost like beings cloaked in a cloud of living dark mist. The beings were rumored to be responsible for the deaths of multiple people ranging from scientists, veterans, mafia, politicians, etc. They were seen near such crime scenes and even more shockingly appeared around several sites where suicides were committed. These beings were reportedly impervious to bullets and filled anyone who got near with an impending sense of dread. If Genocide was connected to them or somehow turning into one , there was little chance they would be able to defeat him. Gracia's fears were confirmed when she saw that Genocide's leather coat had been destroyed and he had replaced it with the dark mist coalescing from his own spilled blood. The dark mist, swirling, grew larger and several tendrils sprouted out from it. Gracia could briefly make out a figure standing next to Genocide. A hooded figure cloaked in the same black substance. The figure stared up at her with soulless, blackened eyes which seemed to beckon her to jump from the aircraft she was standing in. Compelling her to give in to the death that plagued the earth. Genocide kneeled to his master. The Shinigami, Masataka stared down at his disciple. "You have done a great service to us. Even now the sealed god stirs in its slumber. Its...Awakening will soon be upon us. It calls out for war. It begs for famine. It longs to continue its conquest. We are the death it so desires. The death that is necessary for this civilization to grow. Use the power that I have bestowed upon you. Finish the mission as you see fit." The Shinigami vanished and Genocide stood.Genocide stared at his hands. He remembered the first killing spree. He was on a bus. It stopped. A woman got on the bus and walked to the back smiling as she passed him. Something about her eyes unnerved him. They were so bright but something dark reflected inside them. He ignored the thought and put in his headphones. In minutes he had dozed off. He jumped awake. He looked around and froze in panic. All around him, everyone had been hacked to pieces. He saw the driver, actively being stabbed by a masked assailant. The mask, painted white with black eyeholes, stared back at him. It raised a finger over where its lips would be. Even under the expressionless visage, he could feel that same smile. He ran home that morning. He went to his room to find it destroyed. His posters, his computer, his tv, everything, had been ruined. He turned around and saw a man at the end of the hallway holding a sledge hammer. "The hell you been, boy?", his stepdad sneered. The man dropped his hammer and walked closer, veins pulsing with rage. He tried to explain how his car had caught fire forcing him to walk 4 miles to the nearest bus stop, but the man's fist was faster than his words. "Boy!Answer me when I talk to you!!" the man says as he backhands the taste out of the would be Genocide's mouth. He took that beating for several minutes before being left to stare at his ransacked room. He hated how his stepdad went out of his way to destroy the things he loved. Soon, another set of footsteps could be heard. It was his mother standing behind his locked door. She didn't knock, or say anything. She just stood there, doing nothing as always. He never knew if she came to talk to him or apologize. All he knew was that she could never bring herself to speak to or even acknowledge him. Maybe out of guilt or perhaps shame. A year or two later after he had had enough he ran away from home. Living out on the streets alone, without friends, or family, he would embark on countless killing sprees. These killings weren't of his own volition however. He was coerced by some corrupt officers from The Unit. They made him kill on their behalf. Sometimes they were protesters, sometimes they were drug dealers, other times, petty criminals they couldn't be bothered to process. It was routine for him to be used to kill entire houses of drug riddled addicts. During one such venture he entered a drug den, killing the dealer as instructed. He took out several junkies before turning to leave. A woman who survived her injuries clung to his heel begging him to stop. Looking down he aimed the handgun he was carrying at her head of long disheveled brown hair and fired. Feeling nothing, he kicked her body aside like trash when it hit him. Her face. This woman had been his mother. What was she doing in a place like this? He felt a shock of emotion. He wondered if she had always been like this, or had she changed after he left. He never made amends, but decided to stop killing from then on. The unit did not like that. Once it became apparent that he was no longer of use to them they started a manhunt to apprehend him with lethal force. They found him. They killed him. But he survived.
He remembered the girl on the bus. He remembered her eyes. Those of a sadistic killer. Still there was something else inside them. Something faint but deeper. So. Much. Sadness. Just like him. He felt the hatred begin to spread. His purpose, he decided, was to make all humans rot in the hell they created for him.
These people, he thought to himself, these living diseases, all needed to die. Their struggles, their problems, they spread like cancer to others. The only cure for humanity's sin, its collective wrongdoings, was genocide.
Around him, dark tendrils continued to form and expand, spinning in a vortex. Genocide pulled out two pistols. He squeezed the triggers to no effect. "As I see fit, huh? Hehe." He squeezed both guns in his hands, breaking them into pieces. He concentrated. In his hands, two more guns materialized now completely black due to being forged from the dark essence. Forged by his will. Immune to the jamming device that shut down conventional firearms. He raised his arms at each remaining helicopter and opened fire. Countless tendrils whipped out and slashed at his targets joining the dark essence bullets. It was chaos. Dark tendrils and bullets tore through every direction as Genocide spun and swirled around in 360 degrees firing randomly with purpose. A tendril pierced Gracia's right arm, another, her abdomen. She was however, fortunate, as the other passengers of her helicopter were dismembered. She barely had time to jump from the vehicle before it crashed. She fell 2 yards onto solid concrete. She felt immense pain as her right shoulder shattered on impact. She looked up to see Genocide's blade like appendages ripping through the other escape helicopters. She rolled onto her back and tried to steady herself. Within seconds her body began to repair itself. The nanocells inside her had saved her life but were now depleted. She would need another supplement lest she receive another fatal injury. The standard nanocells she and the others had were much less potent than those of the killers they faced. In truth, they had only minimal strength boosts being able to lift 5-8 more pounds than before and healing being limited to one or two fatal injuries so long as death didn't occur instantly. Gracia blacked out. She awoke the next morning in a hospital. There the doctors refilled her nanocells. She learned that the station had been left in ruins. Genocide had detonated some type of minature nuke following his rampage. He always blew up the stations as if to send a message. Gracia looked out the window thinking about why she became a cop. Twice her family had been murdered by them. Her biological family had been killed in an on record drug raid committed by a group of corrupt officers called The Unit. She had been adopted by another officer that arrived at the scene who found her as a child hiding in a closed. Sadly, he too was killed for trying to expose the activities of The Unit. Gracia joined the force to avenge both losses and bring justice to the killers that disguised themselves as normal people. Law enforcement was neither good, nor bad. It depended upon the people that made it up. In the dying corrupt world Gracia lived in, she vowed to be a beacon of light. Evans laid in a bed adjacent to Lary. "That damn Genocide's somethin else in' he?Like the stories you told us were understatements. That man could legit not die at this point in the story. Like he has friggin plot armor or somthin.'' Evans cut him off" I get it. We all got our asses handed to us. But did you see that ..thing that appeared next to him. Right before he created that black vortex that wiped us out. That must have something to do with his power. Maybe there's a still a way to stop him."Lary chimed in," That fella looked like he was on the way to a black metal concert wit all the black facepaint he was wearin' Creeped me out to be honest." As the survivors mulled over their predicament, the cycle of evil continued to spread elsewhere.
Budley flips through the pages of a magazine. He checks his watch. He looks around the gas station and doesn't see any customers. Seizing the opportunity, he puts in his headphones and begins playing an imaginary guitar as he jams to a progressive deathcore album. Oblivious to the screams coming from outside, the store clerk moves on to thumping two candy bars on the counter to simulate drums. Budley sees that his shift has ended and begins locking up the store. He sweeps the aisles and jumps as a shadow appears behind him. He turns and sees a well groomed bearded man dressed in a black hoodie, black shirt, and black and gray camo pants. The man holds out his hand and smiles. Budley rings up the pack of nicotine substitute gum. "Tryin to kick the habit huh?" Budley asks. The man replies, "Somethin like that. Gotta get my priorities back in check. Focus on the things that really matter. That damn KonCreep's a hell of a band aren't they?" He nods to the playlist on Budley's phone. "Yeah, they're killer. just got into them a month back." Budley answers. "You know, I'm something of a musician myself. Maybe you'll hear of me on the news someday." Jim Jimenez says as he sees himself out. He walks to the back of the building and passes an ominous form of graffiti. A woman lays unmoving and above her, written on concrete in red is a message that simply says "Genocide Reigns".

I have Animal Crossing. Stardew Valley, Wylde Flowers, Palia, Terraria, My Time at Portia, Sprout Valley, Graveyard Keeper and Cozy Grove.
I don't like that you have to give the materials to somebody else to craft in Cozy Grove. I'd like to do the crafting myself.
Something like Stardew Valley or Wylde Flowers has somebody build the bigger stuff, which is fine if somebody crafts the bigger stuff.
I would like to do different kinds of cooking, maybe making clothes, tools, etc. Doesn't have to have everything just to give you an idea.
I have PC, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo DS Lite, Nintendo 64, and an Android cell.
Can be from anywhere around the world. I just need an English option.
Fighting in the game is okay. I just didn't want survival games.
Eventually being able to upgrade things would be nice, but not a mandatory thing to have.

My car's transmission is on the fritz, so it's in the shop and I'm working from home for at least today. Thank goodness I can even work from home, or things would be a lot more complicated. Anyways, that's just a bit of a vent. I've also decided that I might do little lore-esque prechapter bits for some extra flavor. Hope you guys enjoy them! I find them to be fun little thought experiments on how people might perceive the world I've created from within vs from my own perspective. Enjoy some crafting and some romance!
First Previous Next
We know that the spots that are caused by looking at a source of light are, in fact, damage of some sort to the eye. This is confirmed by the spots rapidly disappearing should someone be healed whilst experiencing them. But why? Is there a divinity within light, beyond what our mortal eyes can withstand? Is there some sort of invisible emanation that comes alongside the light that damages us in some way? The discovery of light damaging the eye has opened more questions for me than it has closed.
-Musings on the Relations of Light and Fire, by Jarwic Leftun
\***
Xander carefully opened the door, finding Gabrelle already asleep, and sat down on a chair. Maybe he could get that adaptive camouflage to work right on bright colors. Surely he had some colorful things in his inventory.
He did in fact have a few colorful things in his inventory, and he whiled the rest of the night away making small adjustments to the runic array that was embroidered into the cloth. He was satisfied before dawn, the cloth now performing as well with light colors as it had with darker colors. Now he just needed to make a cloak out of it. He briefly considered coating his armor with the array, but discarded it. There might be times where he’d want to be seen. Besides, a hooded cloak would better break up the outline of his figure, the ripples of fabric, especially if he were to crouch or lay prone, obscuring his outline even more. In little time at all, he had a long, deep hooded cloak of the color shifting, runed cloth in his hands. He stashed it in his inventory for now, as he had no particular need to sneak up on something right now. The rest of the time before dawn he spent silently sitting in the chair he’d chosen, trying to keep his thoughts to a minimum, just daydreaming. Night dreaming? He couldn’t sleep anymore, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try to let his mind wander.
As the dawn came and the sun began to shine through the window of the room, Gabrelle slowly awoke, once more finding Xander sitting in a chair rather than in bed.
“Mmf,” She grunted as she stretched. “Morning, Xander. You got back late.”
“Morning, yourself,” Xander said, turning his head to look at Gabrelle. “Yeah... Yeah, I guess I did.”
“What were you doing, anyway?” She asked, curious. “You didn’t mention that you’d be out late, just that you were going to go to see Valteria at her shop.”
“I uh... went on a date.”
“I knew it! ‘Comparing notes’ was a date!” Gabrelle exclaimed triumphantly.
“It was not!” Xander complained. “But we went to a tavern in the evening and it sort of... turned into a date on the way there.”
“Awhh, that’s so cute,” Gabrelle said. “Did it go well? Is she nice? Did you kiss?”
“I think it went well. We talked a lot about different projects and ideas we had. I also got to meet another [Godsmarked] - he owns the tavern we went to. I think she’s nice. Maybe a little shy. I think she’s gotten used to being treated differently by people. I don’t think she really believed that I wanted to go on a date with her, at first. ...And yes. We kissed.”
“Ooooh, look at you! You’re growing up so fast!” Gabrelle teased.
“Oh hush. I’m older than you!” Xander huffed, then returned to seriousness. “But ah, if I’m going to be dating someone... we need to have a conversation, Gabrelle.”
“We need to stop sleeping together?” Gabrelle quickly deduced before Xander could say it himself.
“Yeah... It doesn’t feel right, even though it’s just platonic between us. I don’t think I would appreciate being in Valteria’s situation and knowing that the person I was seeing was sleeping with someone else at night.”
“Well, I figured this would happen eventually,” Gabrelle said. “Either you or I were bound to find someone eventually. Don’t worry, I’m not upset. Don’t get me wrong, the snuggles were nice, but like I told you a while ago, I don’t have nearly as much trouble sleeping when I’m with the team.”
“Thanks for not being upset, Gabrelle.”
“You know this means you have to start paying for your own room, though, right?”
“Ah, shit, you’re right. I forgot.”
Xander left the room to allow Gabrelle some privacy to get dressed and meandered back down the stairs to see if any other members of the team were already up. Looking around, he spied Graffus eating breakfast at at table and moved to sit with the dwarf.
“Mornin’” Graffus greeted Xander through a mouthful of bread.
“Morning,” Xander greeted back.
“Glad to see you made it back, we were wondering if you’d be out all night,” Graffus told him, after swallowing his bread.
“I was out a bit late, I suppose. I let the time get away from me.” Xander said, not really wanted to be teased again about going out on a date. “So what are you planning to do today?”
“Bah, Frazay has roped me into helping her do research for the drakeling. So reading is what’s in store for me.” Graffus tore himself off another piece of bread from his plate and slathered it with jam. “You going to be going back to that [Tinker] you’ve been spending time with lately?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan. I’m supposed to learn more about converting mana types today, and also help her fix the suit of armor that I wrecked.”
“Welp,” Graffus said, now on his last piece of bread, “I hope ya learn something new. Never had much to do with [Tinker]s – not saying I dislike them, just that I haven’t had much experience with them – so it don’t make much sense to me. Using a hammer is about the only overlap in our professions.”
“I think your hammer is significantly larger than the one most [Tinker]s would use,” Xander chuckled. Thinking about what he should be doing before he headed to Valteria’s, he asked Graffus, “Hey, I might need to buy some monster parts or elemental cores, something like that, for practice. You know where I would go to find stuff like that?”
Graffus shrugged. “Dunno. My guess would be an alchemy and reagents shop. That’s generally what we’ve sold monster parts to that didn’t go to a smith or leatherworker.”
“Thanks, Graffus.”
The two of them chatted for a while longer, catching up on what each other had been doing. Graffus excused himself to finish getting ready for the day, saying he needed to tend to his beard, leaving Xander downstairs. Deciding to be productive and proactive, Xander stood as well and headed out of the inn to find an alchemy shop.
It wasn’t long before he found one, a familiar scene of an eclectic collection of powders, liquids, crystals, and strange organic things floating in jars inside the building. The proprietor was a dwarf, seated at a workbench. They were grinding something into a powder as Xander entered. He received a distracted greeting before the dwarf returned to his work.
Xander wandered about the shop for a few minutes, looking at the various materials throughout the shop. He identified what he thought might be an elemental core, a jagged piece of crystal looking material that seemed to have an inner flame. As for the monster parts in jars, Xander had no idea what was what. He finally felt he’d waited long enough and moved closer to the worktable that the dwarf was still sitting at, working away at the mortar and pestle.
“Excuse me,” Xander said, grabbing the shopkeep’s attention.
“Mm?” The dwarf said questioningly. “Can I help you find something?”
“I was wondering if you had any elemental cores. Something small, I just need one to practice with.”
“Aye, I’ve a few of them around the shop. You want something to practice with? So a relatively weak core, then – not all the small ones are weak. Do you need any particular type?” The dwarf stood up and stretched, moving to one of the shelves.
“Uhm no, just whatever is cost effective, I suppose.”
The alchemist rifled through the various bits and bobs on one of the shelves nearby before producing a small chip of what looked to be a semi-translucent stone. It was tinged slightly yellow with streaks of white. “This here is a chip off a lightning attuned core. Pretty weak, but it does still produce mana.”
Xander could see the dwarf’s arm hair standing up as if from static electicity as he held up the stone. “How much?” He asked.
“Twenty gold.”
Xander shrugged. Twenty gold wasn’t an issue for him anymore, and he didn’t feel like haggling. He always hated haggling. “Sure.” He fished out the coin and handed it over to the dwarf.
The dwarf handed over the stone to Xander and the pop of a static electric shock could be heard as a tiny arc passed between the two of them. The dwarf grunted and shook his hand. “Thanks for the business,” he told Xander. “Anything else you find yourself in need of?”
“Not at the moment, but thanks for asking.” Xander waved goodbye to the dwarf and pocketed the tiny elemental core. He continued down the street in the direction of Valteria’s shop, thinking about how he was going to undo the welding job he’d done on Valteria’s armor. He’d need her to guide his repair efforts.
Xander returned to the inn momentarily to grab one of his golems. He settled on Atlas for now, as it was the most basic of the humanoid forms he’d created. No extra arms or weird feet on him, no sir.
Arriving at the building that contained Valteria’s home and shop, Xander knocked before opening the door. “Morning,” he called out.
“Xander! Hello!” Valteria called out. She was at the same work bench she’d been at yesterday. Jarrett didn’t seem to be in the shop at the moment, as Xander wasn’t able to spot the man.
Commanding Atlas to follow him in and closing the door behind him, Xander started walking towards Valteria. “How’s it going?” He asked.
“Good, it’s going good,” Valteria responded as Xander brought a stool over to her workbench. “How about yourself?”
“Not bad. The upside of not sleeping is that I never struggle in the mornings now. I used to hate waking up.” Xander laughed. “I even ran an errand before I came here! Picked up this.” Xander fished around in his pocket until he found the small chip of elemental core and held it up for Valteria to see.
“Core?” She asked distractedly, staring at Atlas. She tore her eyes away and looked closely at the small crystalline stone. “Lightning attuned?”
“That’s what the [Alchemist] at the shop said,” Xander affirmed. “Said it was a very weak one, but that it did still produce mana.”
“Mmm, a good practice piece, then.”
“I thought it would be, too. Not that I know what to do with it, yet.”
“Well, how about this: I teach you to set the stone and make some conduit, and then you can help me fix my armor. All the glue has turned to dust by now, thank the gods.”
“Sounds fair enough. So, how do mana conduits work?”
“Well, the concept is simple enough. It’s a tube which conducts mana,” Valteria began to explain.
“Mmhm.” Xander nodded along.
“What you need is a setting – usually of silver, as it has good mana conductivity – which will be the first step of conduction, taking the mana from the stone. Simply wrapping the core in silver wire can work well enough, drawing in the mana that the core puts out through its surface, but for a more effecient setting, small holes are usually drilled into the core to set the wire into as well, giving more surface area to draw from.”
“So we care about the mana conductivity of the material, then? That makes sense, I just hadn’t thought about it. I actually did a little experiment with my rune work to test which fillings were the most conductive.”
“Oh really?” Valteria said, interested. “What were your results?”
“Well, gold and silver were high up there in conductivity, and probably make the most sense for someone who has to physically manipulate material without use of a skill – both for a core setting and for inlaying a rune – but I did find that sapphires and rubies were even more efficient at transferring mana than gold and silver.”
“Mmm... interesting. I’ve heard of gemstones being used in very high-grade settings, as well as various other exotic materials. I read an account of one [Mechanist] who used tubes of mercury to conduct mana, though the relative effectiveness compared to silver wasn’t mentioned.” Valteria cleared her throat. “Uhm, now, where was I? Right, basic settings. Once you have your core – or monster organ, if you’re going that route – you connect it to the conduit. Usually, this is also silver wiring. I like to braid several smaller wires together, personally. I find it to be sturdier and hold up to flexing better. From there, it needs to be tied into a device. Which is a topic for tomorrow.” Looking around the shop, Valteria seemed to identify something on one of the shelves nearby. “I have a core that you could watch me set, and then you could try setting your own, if you’d like.”
“That sounds good to me,” Xander said. “I always love to see a master as work,” he added, opting for a little flattery.
“Follow me, then.” Valteria said, standing up from her stool and waving for Xander to follow.
Xander followed Valteria as she walked over to the shelf she’d been looking at earlier and took a palm sized, bright green stone from it. “Nature attuned core,” She explained, holding it for Xander to see. “I’m told it was taken from some kind of moving tree.” Valteria then moved to another worktable, on which were several of what looked to be drill bits to Xander. There was also an apparatus that look like it was designed to hold the bits, which was confirmed for him when Valteria slotted one of the small drill heads into the device. “This thing,” Valteria said, waving the drill a little bit, “is a life saver. I used to have to drill holes with a hand cranked one. Worth every single coin I paid for it to get an enchanted one.” She turned a dial on one side of the handheld device, which Xander was coming to think of as a magic dremel tool, and it began to come to life, the drill bit beginning to spin with a quiet whirring sound.
“Neat.” Xander commented. He watched patiently as Valteria drilled a series of shallow holes in the stone, the distinct screeching of metal on stone echoing through the shop floor. “So where’s Jarrett today?” He asked.
“Oh, he has the day off today. He asked for it about a week ago, not sure what for, though,” Valteria said distractedly. Soon she was finished with the holes she was drilling into the core, and moved to another workbench. “Now we create a setting for the core. This is a fairly simple way of doing it, mind you, but it is effective.”
Xander watched as she took sections of pre-braided silver wire and fitted the ends into the holes she had drilled. Once each hole was filled with a section of wire, Valteria began to pull wire from a spool, wrapping the stone until it was completely covered with silver wire and binding the braided sections to the stone in the process. “There,” she said, setting the stone down on the workbench. “A perfectly serviceable setting."
“So, if I understand correctly, you coat the core in a mana conductive material – the more surface area, the better, hence the holes – to create a setting?”
“Mmhmm,” Valteria said, nodding.
“Seems fairly straighforward. And then you connect the silver wiring that’s wrapped around it to more wiring, and attach that to your device? Why the distance? Why not just connect the setting directly to the device?”
“You absolutely can, if space isn’t an issue. Technically, the connection between the mana battery and the device, even if it’s just a single point with no distance, is still referred to as a conduit, though, so it’s considered a three part creation.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Do you want to try making your own, now? I don’t mind lending you a little wire.”
“Sure, but I should be good on material, I can produce it with my skills. Doesn’t last without a source of mana, but I guess the core itself might provide enough. Think this little chip is a bit small to put holes in, though.”
Xander looked at the small piece of crystal in his hand. If he just need as much contact as possible with a mana conductive material, his best bet would be to embed it into a sapphire or ruby. He decided on ruby, for no particular reason. Still holding the chip of core in his hand, he concentrated on his [Creation] ability. Valteria watched, amazed, as a ruby began to take form and grow around the piece of core until it was completely coated in a thin layer of gemstone.
“So, you can just... make things?” Valteria asked, sounding jealous.
“Well, it costs mana, and anything I make that isn’t provided a source of mana that leaves my person disintegrates in a day, but, yes. I can just make things with my skills. But,” he added, cutting off Valteria’s complaint of unfairness, “I have never received a skill that actually lets me improve a material. Sure, I have runes, which generally makes up the difference, but I don’t have any skills that improve the things I make. So, if you made a mana battery, and I made a mana battery the same way with identical materials, yours is going to be better, I assume, because you have skills that passively improve the things that you make, am I right?”
“Okayyy,” Valteria huffed. “I guess that does make it a little less unfair. But ugh! It would be so nice not having to source materials.” She looked at the ruby with a piece of core set inside it that Xander had made. “Well, I guess that about does it for making a setting... I thought it might have taken you longer to make one. I guess we can move on to fixing my armor even sooner! It’ll be nice to have it up and moving again.”
“Sure, sure, we can do that. Where is it, anyway?” Xander asked, looking around the shop again like he somehow would have missed the eight foot tall suit of armor.
“It’s in a shed behind the house,” Valteria explained. “I have it on a hoist so I can work on it.”
“Ah, that would explain why I haven’t seen it around.”
Exiting the shop, stopping for Valteria to put a small ‘closed’ sign on the door, the two of them made their way around the building, where Xander saw the small shed that presumably held Valteria’s armor. It looked like it could just barely hold the armor and one person – two, if they were comfortable with each other – inside it.
“So this is where the magic happens?” Xander asked.
“If by ‘magic’ you mean maintenance and upgrades, then yes,” Valteria agreed. She opened the door of the shed, which comprised most of the front of the tiny little building, revealing her suit of armor, which was currently hanging from several chains attached to pulleys on the ceiling. Plates of armor were laying strewn about the suite, leaving the joints and inner workings more exposed.
Xander whistled, looking at the inner workings of the suit. He could see gears, cogs, and joints, and throughout the entirety of the armor were running filaments of silver wire, which he assumed were mana conduits running to and from elemental cores and the various mana powered aspects of the suit. “This thing really is impressive. Almost as impressive as the woman who made it,” he said.
Valteria giggled, “Stop it! You’re supposed to be fixing this mess, not flirting with me!”
“Awh, can’t I do both?” Xander asked, trying to sound as saccharine as possible.
“Mmm, I suppose that if you are sufficiently skilled at multitasking, I might allow it,” Valteria said in a mockingly thoughtful tone.
“Well, I just so happen to be an expert, so flirt away I shall,” Xander replied. “Now, how about the beauty in front of me shows me exactly where the other beauty in front of me needs some repairs?”
Valteria sighed at Xander’s antics, but he could see the slight flush in her face. “Well, you welded the wrist joints, elbows, and knees. They aren’t welded all the way round, it’s more like you smoothed over a portion of it like it was wet clay. So if you could just... put it back? Shape it back to how it was, that’s should be all that’s needed.”
“Pretty straightforward,” Xander said, standing behind Valteria as she pointed out each joint. He could see the misshapen parts where he’d slapped a weld onto the metal. He leaned over her and put his hands on the elbow joint that they were closest to and began to shape the metal back to its original form.
“You’re... very close,” Valteria murmured to him as he formed the metal.
“Would you like me not to be?” He asked, carefully.
Valteria was silent for a moment before answering, “No...” quietly.
Xander carefully shifted to be a little closer, but still not quite touching, as he moved on to the wrist joint of the same arm. The process itself was simple, but he was enjoying taking his time. As he finished the wrist, he turned to look at Valteria. He found himself looking right into her eyes, as she was staring back at him. Unable to resist the temptation he leaned in a little closer, gauging Valteria’s reaction. When she, too, leaned towards him, he closed the small gap between them, drawing her into another kiss. Valteria pressed herself against him, the shed hiding them from any prying eyes on the street, and let out a small noise as Xander squeezed her tight. She was breathing a little bit harder than before the kiss as they separated again.
Valteria let out a breath. “You’re… a really good kisser.”
“Yeah?” Xander said, pleased with himself. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“And you’re a tease, looming over me like that in this tiny little shed,” Valteria continued. “Now you’ve got me all flustered, how am I supposed to work now?” She mock complained.
Xander was glad to see that Valteria was comfortable enough with him to joke like that. “Forgive me,” he said formally, making a deep bow, “How ever can I make it up to the lady?”
“Oh stop it, I will tolerate no bowing and scraping, even in jest,” Valteria said, slapping him lightly on the shoulder, as he was still holding the bow. “You can make it up to me by fixing the rest of these joints! And by taking me out to dinner?” She added, hopefully.
“I think that can be arranged,” Xander said. “Is there anywhere you have in mind? I will admit, I haven’t become very familiar with the local restaurant scene, what with my… dietary restrictions.”
“It doesn’t… make you feel bad to go out to a restaurant, does it?” Valteria asked softly, watching his face for a reaction.
“Nah, don’t worry,” Xander said, waving off the question with one hand. “It doesn’t bother me too much. Sure, I miss the taste of a good cut of steak, but I was never that into food. Eating was more of a thing I did because I had to, so I’m not completely devastated by the loss. And I can still get some vicarious enjoyment out of watching someone else enjoy their food. Really the worst part is awkwardly having to refuse ordering anything,” he said with a laugh.
“Alright, if you say so,” Valteria said, letting out a slight breath of relief. “I was just worried that it might be upsetting to you, is all. I know I would miss eating.” She paused for a moment, something clearly on her mind. “What do you miss? If you don’t mind my asking. I just… well, I’m curious what it’s like for you.”
“Mmm, in a lot of ways, life is still the same, and in other ways, I’m technically doing better than I was before. I’m incredibly resistant to damage now, even without my armor. I do miss sleeping, though. I try to give my mind a rest and just sort of daydream and let my thoughts wander or do some meditation during the nights, but it’s just not the same. Also means I’m the one that pulls guard duty through the night,” he grumbled. “Let’s see, what else, what else. Ah, right. I can’t smell anything. Or taste. I haven’t worked out how to recreate those senses, yet. Though no sense of smell can be handy sometimes, I suppose. I don’t know if you’ve done much merc work – you mentioned being surprised that I’m not just moonlighting – but uh… the smells that you encounter on a battlefield are… unpleasant. To say the least. It was weird not having a sense of touch either, but I’ve resolved that. It’s a little bit different than my previous, natural sense of touch, but I’ve become accustomed to it to the point that I don’t much think about the difference anymore. I think I’ve even got the density of receptors down in certain areas compared to others, so I'm more sensitive in some areas than others now, just like I used to be. I’m still immune to being tickled though, so don’t even think about it – that’s a fight you’ll lose.” Growing a bit more somber, Xander continued on. “I think… the biggest thing I miss is just the feeling that I fit in more. Now I always worry about being different, there’s that nagging fear that anyone I get to know well is going to reject me once they find out what I am. Like I’m secretly lying to everyone around me with this façade I have going on.”
Valteria nodded sadly. “I get that. I’ve been… rejected before, too. At least it happens or not right from the beginning for me. I get to know if they look down on me for being different immediately instead of fearing they might later down the road.”
“Yeah,” Xander said. “People can really suck sometimes. But at least I can just, like, not tell people what I am if I so chose. You, my teammates, and the guild, since it’s on my status sheet, are really the only people who know. I keep it pretty private. You can’t do that, so I think you probably have to deal with a lot worse than I do. Not that I’d want you to hide what or who you are,” he added. “I happen to be quite enamored with who you are,” he said, teasing a smile from Valteria’s sad face.
“Sorry to bring up such a dour topic,” Valteria apologized. “I didn’t think much on it before I asked.”
“No worries,” Xander told her. “Honestly, I think it’s good to be able to talk about it with someone. It’s healthy to be able to get you feelings out there. And it helps that I feel like you understand where I’m coming from with it, though from a slightly different perspective.”
“You’re surprisingly thoughtful sometimes,” Valteria said, only half teasing.
“Only sometimes?” Xander asked with a faux expression of hurt on his face. “By the way, you didn’t react much to my comment about moonlighting as a merc. Do you ever go on contracts?”
Valteria shrugged. “I certainly wouldn’t describe myself as a professional mercenary. Moonlighter is an apt descriptor, for me, I think. I have gone on a couple, here and there, mostly on kill contracts that would net me a core or organ that would be useful for my work.”
“Mm, that makes sense. I suppose it could be handy having access to the ability to take contracts that would give you access to specialty materials,” Xander said.
“It’s also good for business,” Valteria explained. “Mercs tend to like to buy from someone who has at least been out on a contract or two before.”
“Ah, that makes sense. What kind of things do you sell to mercenaries, anyways? I saw Jarrett with a crossbow yesterday, but I imagine you make other things, too.”
“Oh all kinds of little things. Portable, flameless heaters for cooking. Water purification sieves. Mm, let’s see… I’ve made a few custom order devices, too. One customer wanted to be able to shoot a jet of flame from their gauntlet, that was a fun one.”
“Ooh, that does sound fun… reminds me of my flamethrower.”
“Your flamethrower?”
“Yeah, it’s basically a big tank with a hose attached to it. At the end of the hose is a pump that causes the flammable liquid – I use dragon’s tar – to shoot out. Add a flame that the tar passes over and bam! You’ve got a giant stream of flame that will coat anything it hits with sticky, flammable tar,” Xander said, excitedly describing the device.
“That’s… impressive. And kind of horrifying,” Valteria responded.
“Mm… I guess you’re right. I mostly use it on giant spiders. Blugh,” Xander shuddered. “But yeah, I suppose it’s not the nicest of ways to go. Very effective for area denial, though. Ah, actually I have an idea for crossbow bolt head that would ignite when it shatters! We should make that sometime and see if it sells.”
“Hmm, I think that would draw some buyers. A flaming bolt head you didn’t have to light first could be desirable to certain buyers.”
“Put that on the list and we’ll get around to it sometime.”
“We have a list?” Valteria said confusedly.
“We should!” Xander said with a laugh. “Now let’s get the rest of these joints done.”
The repair of the other arm and the leg joints that Xander had locked into position during the tournament was a short affair. Looking over the bare metal frame of the armor still hanging from the ceiling, Xander clapped his hands together, mimicking dusting them off. “Good as new!” He exclaimed. Looking over to Valteria he asked concernedly, “It is good as new, right?”
Valteria had been staring at the armor as well, lost in thought about how she was going to improve it next. “Hmm? Oh, yes. It’s right as rain again, ready for use. Thank you, by the way. For fixing it,” She said awkwardly.
“Well I’m the one who broke it, so it’s only fair that I fix it. So what do you want to work on next?” Xander asked. “I could do some rune work for you. Orrr… we could kiss some more?”
Valteria flushed at the question, but didn’t immediately say no.
A few minutes later, she found herself on her tip toes and lightly pressed against the interior wall of the shed, her lips pressed against Xanders.
Once the two of them were done acting like teenagers parked in a secluded parking lot, they made their way back into the shop. Stepping inside and closing the door behind them, Valteria let out a breath. “I think… you are going to have to do a lot of rune work to make up for how much you just kissed me, Xander.”
“What, you didn’t like it?” He said with a raised eyebrow.
“I didn’t say that,” Valteria said with a smirk.

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My very first project/task was to paint a banner for a shop.
I had to write "Thermocol Sheets available here" on a banner so that the shopkeeper would hang that banner outside his shop to boost sales.
I quoted the shopkeeper INR 50.00 for that task.
I was in college that time (Final year of Applied Arts).
I asked the shopkeeper for the materials: brush, colour. He said I will have to pay for the materials.
If I would have taken that task today I would have not paid for the materials, instead would have told him to provide me the materials itself.
But, that was a business lesson for me. More than that it is a memory that has carved into my mind forever.
It’s amazing to see how learning’s in those days comes handy in today’s time.