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It had been a few weeks since Altier was brought to the run-down shack that his black-scaled companion likely called home, and he could now comfortably say he was accustomed to the…household’s routine. The kobold typically left at the crack of dawn, returned a little after noon, and occasionally left again to forage until nightfall. When the weather was bad or there wasn’t a particular need for something, they half-heartedly chased their rabbit around for a bit, which usually ended with a bout of quiet petting while everyone got ready for the night. It was always amusing to see the energetic side of what he had come to know as a relatively lazy loaf of an animal. As for the routine of the ferrorabbit in question… Well…it was at least more interesting than expected.
Hoppit would begin his own series of activities as soon as his caretaker left—the first of which being a check of every nook and cranny in the shed. He sniffed at anything that caught his interest, varying from morning to morning, but he gave every object or corner its due attention. Once he was satisfied with that, he would eat some of the ragged plants that made up most of his diet, take a drink from his bowl, then jump onto the tro— table and plop himself down, his ears pivoting towards the door. It was hard to say if the lounging spot had been established before Altier’s arrival, but it was somewhat amusing to pretend that the little rabbit was standing guard over his core—if it wasn’t for one particular part of the morning ritual, that is.
Indeed, the ferrorabbit had a habit of licking the obsidian orb that sat in the middle of the room, which thankfully didn’t seem to perturb the system enough to give Altier a headache. He was confused when it first happened, but it was commonplace enough now that he barely acknowledged it. A part of him liked that he was getting attention as a core, even if it was delivered via a strange grooming method. The closest he got to being acknowledged as something other than ‘the dungeon’ was through an unfortunate misunderstanding that he could never properly rectify. He supposed that was hardly worth thinking about now, though; too much time had passed for there to be anyone left to correct. The little oddity of his mornings would have to suffice.
There wasn’t much to comment on as far as the rest of the day’s happenings. Hoppit would end his loafing by shaking his head and ears in a way that filled the silence with soft clacks, give the core a customary tongue bath, then jump off the table to nose his way out of the shed through a hole that was hidden by the storage cart against the wall. Where the rabbit went was anyone’s guess, but he always returned before anyone noticed he was gone, and often did so while covered in small cuts and scratches. Any blood from the lacerations was quickly licked off before it could be seen by the kobold, and in the event that the scaly caretaker happened to return earlier than expected, Hoppit would scurry over to the bundles of blankets to finish the cleanup in secret.
Today looked to be following the usual pattern. The kobold left bright and early with various gardening tools and a wooden pail, and Hoppit had since set off into the great unknown for one reason or another. Hopefully, he returned less injured than usual. It was frustrating to admit that Altier had begun to grow rather fond of the fluffy creature, and seeing the thing come back hurt was bothersome. Was it off looking for food? There wasn’t a whole lot given to it, so that was a possibility, and it could be getting into fights over whatever it found. That still didn’t explain why the animal was so thin, and Altier didn’t have enough to go off of to think of a potential solution. He wanted to help it in some way, like by summoning a creature to act as an escort, or maybe just by manifesting something edible like he once could. No, he could only stare at the ‘Synchronizing…’ that occupied his menu, wishing he had more information to work with.
He never thought he would miss the bombardment of notifications and their lingering presence that filled the edge of his mental vision; at least with that he could surmise enough to hazard some kind of action. Even knowing why the menu was acting the way it did would be a start. Yet, try as he might, there wasn’t a history for him to reference anymore, and he had nothing to work with. He was confident the last message had asked him to ‘accept’ something, then took his befuddled ponderance as an answer, but he was no closer to an explanation for what it wanted, nor why it prompted him in the first place. He just didn’t have another experience to compare against, since nothing like that had ever happened before. Not that he was ever in much of a position to allow it.
The entire purpose of having Altier inhabit a core was for him to become a dungeon of Decay, which entailed all the skeletons, poisons, acids, and whatever else came to mind when one pictured the concept. ‘Living’ creatures were something he only had the chance to experiment with near the beginning of his new existence, though he never dabbled past the first few insects before transitioning to the mindless undead. Having a thinking, feeling, breathing entity touch his core was a rite reserved only for the adventurers and soldiers that bested his trials, and that was usually a painful experience. Now, he had spent what he could only guess was hours being held by a kobold, followed by having a rabbit bump against him, and neither felt like what he came to expect. Instead, both had led to a completely novel reaction from the system. The strange circumstances put him at a bit of a loss as to what it all meant for him.
Sure, he could dismiss the deluge of errors from his companion’s involvement by pointing to the numerous ‘corrupted’ messages before it, and Hoppit was a part of mostly unexplored territory, but the lack of clarity nagged at the back of his mind constantly. Being exposed to activity after potential decades or centuries of unchanging solitude made him despise the informational dead end. If he couldn’t make sense of the rabbit’s circumstances, then he didn’t have much hope of deciphering the reason for why his system was misbehaving so terribly. He also didn't know much about the one who owned the decrepit holdings he was housed inside.
He still wasn’t sure what drove the kobold to take him from the cave. His suspicion of becoming traded goods fell flat after the first week or so, and he hadn’t noticed any cult-like behaviour, which was promising. Granted, a lack of nefarious behaviour didn’t mean there was a lack of nefarious intent, but he didn’t get the impression his companion held that either. The kobold itself didn’t seem quite settled on an opinion of his core, though it was up for debate if the hesitation was due to knowing what he was or not. They seemed to mull something over before bed each night, yet never reached a satisfactory conclusion, staring at the obsidian orb through weary grey eyes until they eventually forced themselves into sleep.
Whatever the underlying reasoning for his abduction was, he had observed enough to know that the kobold didn’t deserve to live in destitution. As beaten as the shed might be, they cared for it as best they could, and did so without a single groan or grimace of complaint. The floors were cleaned with a tattered rag and fresh water, dust was removed regularly, and any stray mess that Hoppit made was dealt with promptly. They even took the time to wipe off his core, which was possibly where the ferrorabbit got the idea to start licking him. The only time Altier had seen discontent from the kobold was when they didn’t find much during their foraging, and thus couldn’t give any treats to the excited and bouncy herbivore.
He wasn’t aware that a creature’s face could make such a painfully broken expression, and he was quick to decide that he never wanted to see it again.
Vexingly, his metaphorical hands were tied; a dungeon could only influence their Domain, and given the state of his system, not even that option was available to him. All he could do was glare at the rotting wooden beams that held up the roof and remember when such an issue didn’t exist. It would have taken a mere flicker of thought and a paltry sum of mana to mend the struts when he was a proper dungeon. He could even outright reinforce the structure by weaving in other materials, leaving the appearance as it was while making everything stronger than iron. Well, he once could. Working with other affinities was something that came to him after absorbing the coloured motes left behind by adventurers, and the accursed stone that stole his mana had taken that ability as well.
An attempt was made anyway, his will ordering the deteriorated wood to absorb any trace metals from the ground, but it was no use. He couldn’t feel the iron or stones beneath the shed like he would have been able to before, all but confirming his suspicion that his connection to the Earth element had slipped away. Nature was much the same; the only way he knew when Hoppit had returned most days was from the subtle noise and the essence of injury. The other attributes—Air, Flame, Luma, Shadow, and so on—were ones he never experimented with to any real extent, so it was less noticeable when he lost his grasp on them. Perhaps they faded early. Either way, all he had left was a waning cognizance of his own alignment, and that wasn’t of much use to him. If he had any appreciable mana income, then perhaps he could do something, but he wasn’t even sure what the upkeep of his current Domain might be. It was entirely possible that he was running on a deficit, which would offer a reason for why his system had been so—
[Do#$@n Ex@#d$%^&d! CRe@#r H-H-H-HoPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP—]
[Errrrrrr—]
[Sy$%^hroni%^$zing…]
[Creeee-tu— Hoppit ha@$ esttttb-hed terrrrrrr-ity f^#% t$e dun@&$n!]
- - - - -
“Well then,” he mumbled to himself, taking in the strange scene behind the shed. For one, he could actually view a small distance beyond the structure now, and two, there was a rather proud-looking Hoppit sitting on his haunches before a pair of significantly less prideful examples of the species. They looked quite a bit bigger than the lazy loaf Altier had come to know, yet they were more cut up and dejected than his furry friend. That answered where the injuries had been coming from, he supposed. Hoppit was probably running off to bash heads with whatever animal population existed here beforehand, and they had only just reached a consensus on who was in charge. Impressive.
One of Hoppit’s ears turned back towards the shed, his head following suit as he gave a lagomorph’s approximation of a ‘Look what I did!’ smile. Altier blanked out mentally, but didn’t have time to question anything before the new leader of the local rabbits imperiously pointed a paw towards the surrounding forest, which was equally surreal to witness. Most surprising of all, the…subordinates? The other ferrorabbits did as commanded, keeping their forms small as they took off into the foliage. Soft clacks came from Hoppit’s pleased shake of his head, then he too left the area with only a slightly lopsided bounce to his stride.
The man-turned-core could only gape at what he saw. Were animals always so…expressive? Had Hoppit heard him? What in the world was happening? Why had Hoppit’s personal conquest led to Altier’s Domain expanding?
He lamented not having fingers, nor temples to rub with them. His system was a garbled mess of errors and inconsistent messages, his residence was falling apart at the seams, his companion was someone who abducted him from the dungeon, yet never did anything past that, and his first real experience with an animal was turning out to be more confusing than he thought possible.
All of this was after an unknown amount of time spent commanding legions of undead to strengthen the very people who he would later learn had lied to and manipulated him, making him into a nightmarish entity just to bolster the power of their forces. He almost missed the days spent gazing out of a mossy window. At least then he knew what to expect.
Nothing made sense anymore.
= = = = =
The soft sound of roots ripping free from soil suddenly stopped, only to be followed by a dull thud of Ceele’s palm slapping against the ground to catch her fall before she landed on her rear. She righted herself with her tail and tossed the stubborn weed into a pile with the others. No matter how many mornings she did this, they always seemed to replace themselves faster than she could remove the pesky things. A sigh slipped from her muzzle as she set about grabbing the next one embedded in the vegetable garden.
Aches and spreading stiffness flared up, but went ignored as she neared the end of her duties, though she was well aware that they would come back with force once she tried to settle down for the day. The impending soreness was an inevitable byproduct of spending so much time working. Still, she knew that if it wasn’t for the kindly old couple that allowed her to call their shed home, she would still be sleeping beneath the stars while making sure nothing tried to get at her Hoppit. Even if it was just a part of the deal, they were owed this much in return, and she would see it done properly.
The sun bore down on her back as she did her usual tasks, which was a departure from the slightly overcast weather as of late. It looked somewhat promising when she checked in the wee hours of the morning, yet as her gardening duties dragged on, so too did the intensity of such a clear sky. A disappointed glance at the empty wooden bucket on the edge of the field was quickly corrected. She hadn’t thought to refill it at the river after watering the crops, and her parched throat was making its protests known, while also reminding her that there wasn’t much water left at home either. One more thing to take care of when she was done.
A gruff cough brought her attention towards the old kobold resting his back against a tree some distance away, safely shaded from the unforgiving rays beaming down. Her displeasure at having yet more to do was hastily wiped away. She was undecided on what to think of the detached audience, but looking so sour while upholding her side of the agreement wouldn’t reflect well on her. Hopefully, he hadn’t seen it. Not that she could tell if he did; he always had the same expression when he watched her work. The elder kobold’s arms were crossed, a finger tapping absently against his bicep, while his tail sat motionless on the grass, the muddy red colour of his scales standing out amongst the greens and browns. ‘Makis,’ was his name, assuming her memory served.
Makis had taken to observing her every so often, usually propping himself against this or that at a distance, the unwavering scowl being as unnerving as it was belying of his age. Somewhat loose skin sagged a bit around his jowls and neck, yet the rest of his face was still taut from how much time he spent examining red-hot metal, and his arms were marred with countless burns and cuts from his profession. He held an oppressive aura, though the crinkles around his eyes and muzzle suggested he smiled as frequently as he glowered, even if Ceele was yet to see the former. There was only the same judgmental expression aimed at her when he was around. She could only hope that he didn’t take offence to some unintended slight, but she didn’t know him well enough to say what might be considered one.
They hadn’t spoken since she took up residence on the outskirts of his land. His wife was the one to introduce them, but it was quickly established that he had no intention of being a chatty individual. He led Ceele to the shed hidden amongst the trees on the edge of the property, then dismissed her with only a grunt coming from the elderly kobold. She supposed that it was for the best. Her experience in socializing was centred around convincing others to employ her, and there hadn’t been much of an opportunity to expand her horizons while living a life on the road. If that had been the end of their interactions, she would have swiftly written the terseness off, but he appeared every few days, taking up residence beneath the shade as he watched her work, never speaking a single word. At least he didn’t openly protest her presence, yet she figured that would be easier to manage. He wouldn’t be such an enigma then.
There wasn’t a whole lot she knew about him besides his penchant for ‘supervision,’ and anything beyond that was what his wife had volunteered during the rare opportunity they had to chat. She was told that Makis worked the smithy out front, and although he had retired from doing so in an official capacity, she could still regularly hear his hammer as she tended to the garden, so she figured he kept himself busy most days. It made her wonder what was so interesting about a vagrant like herself, but when there was so little else to do, she could see how anything could be made worth the attention. It was just him and his wife living in the once bustling home, after all; the couple’s children had long since grown up and made families of their own.
She noticed his gaze shift elsewhere as she tugged yet another stubborn intruder from the soil, his arms falling from across his chest and the perpetually worn displeasure melting to that of curiosity. He wandered off shortly after, and she had to make an effort not to fall onto her tail as the pressure on her shoulders unexpectedly evaporated. Did something happen?
Ceele shook her head free of the distracting thought. It wasn’t her business if he grew bored with watching her work. As long as no one voiced any complaints, she could only assume that she was doing a satisfactory job. Maybe he finally decided that he didn’t need to be so watchful because she was doing well! That could be it, right?
A glance at the somewhat sloppily maintained garden erased the false confidence from her face, but she was just as quick to focus on finishing up, unwilling to allow darker musings to fester. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be anything else that needed her intervention. The weeds were all uprooted, the soil was appropriately dampened, and her check for pesky insects or wildlife turned up nothing to worry about. She was free for the rest of the day!
…Or she would be free—as soon as she finished the last of her tasks, anyway.
The black-scaled kobold got up from her crouch unsteadily, shivering and wincing from the pins and needles in her legs. She would have to remember to stretch more often; it was far too easy to forgo that kind of thing just to make the overall work go slightly faster. Her hand reached out to grab the pile of weeds and put them into the bucket as she ran through what needed to be done before she could properly relax. Hoppit’s food needed to be washed, she needed to bathe, and they were running low on water anyway, so she would have to visit the river. Just the thought of dragging herself into the forest again made her muscles protest, but she wouldn’t have the energy to do it later. She forced the smile that had started to fall and took the first of many steps.
- - - - -
The river wasn’t too far away, only taking a few minutes of traipsing through the dense woodlands until she reached her destination. It was an idyllic little spot. The trees thinned out to allow a grassy bank along the water, and there was an appreciably gentle slope from shallows to depths, making for a convenient place to take care of various needs. She had discovered this place during her travels, and it was where a kind older woman found her.
Ceele was washing off at the time, with Hoppit safely taking shelter from the outside underneath the bundled blankets while he waited. The trickle of the stream brushing against rocks covered the sound of footsteps, so she was rather surprised when an aged voice called out to ask if she was okay. Her first reaction was to distance herself and apologize—the why didn’t matter, but she had learned that most people were more lenient of her presence if she seemed apologetic for it, and she usually was. The elderly kobold just laughed at her scrambling, tacking on an assurance that there was no need for modesty. The woman was blind, apparently, which explained how Ceele’s blackened colours hadn’t deterred her.
Strangely enough, there was a comforting sense of ease around the one who introduced herself as Hira. It was a sort of presence that Ceele could only vaguely remember, and it drew her close enough to speak as she finished bathing. The conversation wasn’t anything profound, of course—they hardly delved deeper than surface-level small talk—but Hira lost her smile as she listened to the younger kobold. By the end of it, the old woman posed a series of questions with a dark inflection to her voice, and Ceele struggled to find an answer.
‘Are you tired of looking for something that only slips away? Are you tired of running? Do you really want to be scared and alone?’
If the silence bothered Hira, then it didn’t show. She had simply held out a hand and offered Ceele a way of life that didn’t involve wondering where she would be spending the night, nor entailed cowering in the brush while fearsome predators roamed freely. It would be a simple existence of few fortunes, but it was safe, and it was honest. All she had to do was say yes.
Ceele denied it at first, partially because she knew most people despised Hobbit's species, and partially because she couldn’t shake the offer being too good to be true. Hira was quick to propose a compromise; Ceele could take residence in the gardening shed that had fallen from use, and to satiate the nagging sense of an unfair deal, she would be put in charge of maintaining the garden itself. All Hira wanted was to ‘see’ her favourite space bloom again, since she couldn’t take care of it anymore. The black-scaled kobold stared longingly at where Hoppit was, his little body shivering from the prolonged cold and fear that he would be hurt if he left the blankets hiding him. It was with a heavy guilt that she accepted Hira’s offer, keeping quiet about her true reason for doing so.
That was in the past, however, though she thought about it every time she stopped by and saw the smooth rocks where she and Hira first met. Eventually, she might gather the courage to admit that she was housing a ‘pest’ and beg for forgiveness. Until then, she would just work her hardest to prove it wasn’t a mistake to give her a home. That her endless efforts weren’t meaningless. That Hoppit deserved to be more than a ‘pest.’
That Ceele was more than something she had no control over being.
She cleared her head a bit and started on the reason she came all this way. Her dress was rather easy to wash in the meandering water, and the trees provided a suitable place for it to dry in the sunlight and light breeze. The weeds were fine with a thorough rinse near in the shallows, but taking care of her own hygiene required her to wade farther in, though it only came up to her chest in the middle of the rill. Still, she could scrub off the soil and grime, which was all she really needed. Perhaps some simple soaps would help rid her of the pervasive black that stained her skin and scales, but that was beyond her meagre means for the time being, as well as being mere wishful thinking.
She worked past the dreary mindset that settled in when she allowed it, focusing on how serene the river was. The soft birdsong from the trees helped make for a peaceful experience, and she could feel the somewhat chilled liquid basically pour into the aches and pains throughout her body, washing away the stiffness from spending so long under the unerring sun. It was nice to escape reality and let thoughts drift while held buoyant by calmer waters.
Yet the bliss was short-lived. Even if winter was gone, spring was still far from warming the waters enough for her to laze about for too long. She dragged herself from the soft current and fetched her dress from the low-lying branch she left it to dry on. It was still a touch damp, but it wasn’t anything a bit of time in front of the fireplace wouldn’t fix.
Ceele was only a short distance away from home when she heard a gravelly male voice, but it was the flicker of sight between the trees that made her drop what was in her arms and lunge into a sprint.
Makis stood just outside the gardening shed, a ferrorabbit held at arm’s length by rusty crimson hands placed on the scruff and haunch, the rabbit’s little ears flattened as fear filled its tiny face. Her eyes widened further when she noticed the small stains of blood in his light brown fur. They found out about him. Ephemeral claws of blackness clutched at her soul, ripping the very fabric she was made of as an unseen beast smiled, eager to take yet one more thing from her. Her Hoppit. Her baby. Her everything.
“Hoppit!” she shrieked, her words all but tearing out of her throat in desperation. Frozen blood coursed through her veins, yet poured into exhausted limbs. She broke through the treeline with no regard for the branches slashing against her flesh, panic making each sting fade before it could be processed. The grizzled glare of the older kobold snapped towards her, his usual scowl picking up an actual air of intensity that she never thought could be absent, the promise of violence lurking in his eyes. She skidded to a stop a few paces away, the lump in her throat threatening to clog her airway. “S-stop hurting him!”
“Didn’t,” he barked back, his tone even yet firm. “Cuts ain’t me. I’d’a done worse if’a had ta mind ta.”
The blatant declaration snapped her from blind panic, although his apparent anger didn’t do her fear any favours. “B-but… Then how…”
“‘Hoppit.’ Named it, did’cha?” he grunted, ignoring her confusion and bobbing the rabbit to get her attention again. His gaze shifted back to the animal, the flames of ire cooling slightly. “I was wonderin’ why yer plots ain’t dead yet. Suppose this critter’s why.”
One of her hands hesitantly reached out until she pulled it back, while the other clutched at her chest to stop her heart from hammering against her ribs. She couldn’t act rashly. Not while her baby was in his arms. “I—”
“Soft thing, ain’t it,” the elder kobold commented curiously, cutting her off.
“Y-yes?” she returned reluctantly, struggling to stop herself from lashing out to reclaim the ferrorabbit in his grasp.
“Like fine silk.” Makis tipped and tilted the animal, inspecting this and that with a deep-seated frown, all while Hoppit silently looked to her for help. The pit in her stomach grew. She needed to get him back, but how?
Ceele swallowed the dense dread as she tried to formulate some sort of plan, stumbling over her words and forced smile. “I-it’s nice! Isn’t it nice?”
His eyes snapped back to burrow into her own with hatred. “Wasn’t a compliment, girly.”
“B-but you—”
He released Hoppit’s lower half to jab a claw at the various spikes around his body, plying them with minimal force. “Look. See this? These’r suppose ta break bone. ‘Specially when he’s stiff like this. Ain’t no way I should be able ta bend ‘em. He’s barely more than a walkin’ carcass—all skin ‘n stick. He’s gonna get picked up by a wandering pecker if he keeps pissin’ about out ‘ere. It’s a wonder he’s still kickin’. What’cha feeding ‘em?” His gaze dropped from her face to the rest of her, disgust curling his muzzle into a snarl. “N’ver mind. I can guess.”
She felt the dampness build at the edges of her vision, unprepared to not only worry for Hoppit's immediate health, but also to face such harsh criticism while she was so vulnerable. “I… I try to make sure he has…”
Makis crouched to release the ferrorabbit onto the ground, Ceele dropping to her knees the moment he did. The terrified lagomorph wasted no time, bolting towards his adoptive mother and leaping into her arms, shaking uncontrollably. The rust-coloured ‘bold stared as she started soothingly stroking the animal’s back.
“Yer given’ em the weeds, aren’t ya?” he stated rather than asked. She gave a teary nod when her voice wouldn’t respond for her. The old kobold drew a breath, letting it go in an exasperated sigh as he stood back up, his expression becoming more impatient than antagonistic. “What else?”
“I— Um…”
“What. Else?”
“W-whatever I c-can find!” she sputtered out. Hoppit tried to hide against her neck, prompting her to tighten her hold. She couldn’t stop herself from shrinking, the guilt and confusion pulling her head down. “R-roots, vegetables, fruits… I give them as often as I can.”
His glare continued unimpeded, his cadence cold. “That it?”
There were a million things Ceele wanted to say. A part of her wanted to beg him not to kick them out of the first safe place she had in longer than she could remember, but she couldn’t find the words. She wanted to deny the judgmental tone that stabbed into her insecurity surrounding how good of a job she was doing with Hoppit, but the deadened void in her chest swallowed her pride whole. She knew he was right to critique her. That she was failing in the only thing that mattered anymore. That the feeling of loss would return.
“I try,” she whispered through the beginnings of a sob. “I try to find more, but he needs someone around, and I have to work the garden, so there’s only so much time I can spend looking. He won’t even eat all of what I bring back…” Tears dripped off her cheeks as she aimed a desolate smile at her furry friend. “He wants to make sure I have some too.”
“Yer killin’ em,” Makis pointed out plainly, crossing his arms. “He’ll be dead ‘fore the summer at this rate.”
“I know!” she shouted, forcing back the memories of insidious murmurs that lurked in the back of her mind, eager to creep into her ears again. The hate-filled stares that followed her, the rumours that arrived in towns before she had the chance to make an impression, and the guilt that loomed over her like an executioner's axe… “I know I am… I just… I don’t know what he needs. I don’t know how to make him happy…but I try. I’m trying…”
“…Yer an idiot, girly.”
She looked up to see the elder kobold walking away without another word. Her eyes fell to Hoppit, the ferrorabbit pressing himself against her as much as he could. He was small, thin, soft, and growing weaker by the day, but he never let it keep him down for long. No, he always showed his best for her, giving her joy that wasn’t provided anywhere else. She saw the thin cuts and dried blood, though she didn’t know where they came from, nor how he got out of the shed in the first place. But that was okay. Hoppit was okay, and she had Hoppit, so everything was okay, right?
…But how much longer would everything stay okay? How much longer until her efforts weren’t enough, and she was left desperately reaching for fading memories of what once was? How much longer until she killed her baby too?
How much longer until she was alone again?
Soft footsteps drew near, pulling her from the spiralling thoughts that threatened to gnaw at her soul. Damp, blurry eyes fell on Makis returning with a small wooden crate, the older kobold stopping a few steps away. He dropped the box, a deep, rattling thud produced as it impacted the ground, making Hoppit flinch in her arms. Ceele blinked as she kept him calm, then blinked again, looking up at the man for answers.
“The name, girly,” he spat in irritation. “Ferrorabbit. Ther’ Earth aligned creatures; they need metals. They don’t care where they get it, but they need lots of it. Iron, copper, tin, lead—raw crystal, if they can find it. You name it, they’ll take a chunk out of it. It's why they bother farmers so much; the best soil’s usually top’a gem deposits, ‘n the little bastards have no issue burrowing deep to get it. Dries up the element’s energy ‘n makes the crops weak.”
Ceele’s mouth opened and closed, each unsuccessful attempt to speak making her feel smaller and smaller. More and more lost. Why was he telling her this? How did he know? What was in the—
He kicked the crate with the side of his foot. “Scraps. Don’t’cha look at me like that. I’m a smith, girly. I might be old and retired, but I still work a forge. Now, this ain’t anything pure—it’s just slag and hunks—but I’m sure the critter won’t mind. Your little gardenin’ project pays off, ‘n I’ll see which of my contacts can get in some better ore.”
She ripped her eyes away from the box and met the perpetual scowl of the old kobold, seeing a warmth behind the hostility that she had never noticed before. “…Why?”
He scoffed in amusement, which looked somewhat menacing on such a hardened expression. “Yer a touch stupid, girly, but the missus adores ya, ‘n yer a good worker.” A shadow of a smile formed on his face. “Hira spent more evenings asking ‘bout how the plots are doin’ than I got time in the day. She’d bite my head off if I noticed a critter like that sufferin’ and didn’t lend a hand. ‘Specially when it’s obvious you ain’t tryin’ ta hurt the thing.”
“B-but the garden… Isn’t he a problem?”
Makis rolled his eyes, turning with a dismissive wave of his hand. “If he was, he’da killed it by now. I’d say he’s been keepin’ the others clear ‘n got scratched up for the trouble. That’s more reason to feed ‘em right in my eyes; pay the poor bastard his dues.” He paused after a few steps, shooting her one last incredulous glance. “‘N the rabbit’s right. You’re not much better off than he is. Eat. Before the missus takes my head, preferably. I ain’t need ta hear her worryin’ over you more than I already do.”
And with that, he walked off back to the house, leaving Ceele to sit stunned on the ground with Hoppit quietly nuzzling into her.
“Hoppit…?”
The ferrorabbit perked an ear and gently licked her collar. Fresh tears ran rivulets down her face, yet they didn’t weigh her down. They felt freeing. She adjusted her hold on the rabbit and held him out, taking in the small cuts and numerous other injuries she had never noticed before. He stared back at her with worried eyes.
“You’ve been busy, huh?” she cooed quietly, doing her best to keep her voice from cracking. He shrunk in her hands. “I told you to stay home, baby. What if something happened to you? I wouldn’t know where you went, and…”
Her protests died out as she saw what was unmistakably guilt on his little face. She brought him back to her chest and cleared her throat.
“It’s alright, Hoppit. If… If you want to help momma, then we can work together, okay? Just…please don’t go off getting hurt… I don’t know what I’d do without you…” The rabbit didn’t reply, and she was pretty sure she had never heard him make any sounds that weren’t his happy little ear clacks, but she chose to interpret the nuzzling as an agreement. “Such a smart boy…”
She took a breath and wiped off the excess moisture from her cheeks, setting Hoppit down on the ground. “Let’s bring Mr. Makis’ gift in, and then I need to go get more water so we can clean you up, okay?”
He bounced his way to the door of their home, waiting patiently for her to lug the surprisingly heavy crate into the shed. He was even still behaving himself by the time she returned from picking up the things she dropped in her haste. There wasn’t a single protest from the ferrorabbit as she washed over his wounds with warm water, nor when she asked him to wait as she cut up a small salad for him using an extra portion of her rationed vegetables. Finally, once everything else was gone, she tentatively sifted through the box until she found a chunk of something that didn’t look so sharp, then offered it to Hoppit skeptically.
As startling as it was to see him bite through metal without issue, she couldn’t help but tear up again at how pleased he looked with the bizarre addition to his diet. He munched through the first piece, then stared at the box while pawing at the air, asking for more. She obliged through wet laughs, feeling lighter than she had since he first gazed at her from his burrow, alone and afraid, just like she was.
Her little baby was happy, and that made it okay.
Next
—
A/N: Thank you to my Patrons, new and returning! No Thanks, Emmanuel, and Megathor join the others who get to read 1 chap ahead!

Yes, I broke up with her.
Lost post ahead:
I just got out in a 2 and half year gxg (girl to girl) relationship. Nag install siya ng bumble, she told me directly by saying “Ang papanget ng mga babae sa bumble” “Wala ako mahanap na kasing ganda mo” through chat. I told her bat kasi siya naghahanap sa bumble eh andito pa ako. Then, I called her. Sabi ko bat siya nag install ng bumble eh hindi naman siya single then sabi niya friends lang daw hahanapin niya. Hindi lang naman daw hanapan ng jowa yun kasi pag nag install ka daw tatanungin sa bumble kung friends hanap mo o makikipag date. Lol. “nakaka antok daw yung pag swipe2” and curious lang siya. Sympre ako against ako. May history siya dati na nakipag landian na sa online game na nilalaro niya pero she stopped naman na ngayon lang ulit nagkaroon. She also told me hindi daw naman niya sasabihin sakin in the first place kung makikipag landian gagawin niya dun. Hinayaan ko siya. I KNOW ANG TANGA KO. I trusted her again. (Thursday niya sinabi sakin)
Fast forward ngayon (Sunday), habang nag uusap kami di ko na masyado maalala bat napunta sa bumble usapan namin kasi naglolokohan kami( naka video call kami) parang nasabi ko ata na may kausap ka sa bumble ano, sabi niya pa nung una wala so sabi ko “patingin” (nirerequest kong ishare screen niya) and sabi niya sa Wednesday nalang daw pag nagkita kami, pero kinulit ko siya kasi baka idelete niya sabi niya “hindi daw” edi ibig sabihin meron nga siyang ka chat, taliwas sa una niyang sinabi na wala siyang kausap. Hanggang sa napapayag ko siya and sabi pa niya dapat daw same padin treatment ko sakanya (not exactly the word she said pero ganun ang meaning)
So, while reading the convo ay mga bhe nag didirty talk ang dalawa (by the way, girl din kausap niya) kainan pa nga ang nais(Alam niyo na yun). While reading it sinabi ko sakanya “Hindi na pang friends ang usapan na ito ah”
I ended the call kasi umiiyak na nga ako. Sabi pa niya sa chat “Tuksuhan” lang daw yun hindi dirty lol hahahaha. Alam kong tanga ako pero alam ko kung ano mga nababasa ko. She would also say na “pinatulan ko ba?” “Kung feel mo mas maganda sya sayo, bahala ka na” Just to prove her point na hindi naman niya yun magugustuhan or jojowain. EH PUTANG INA WALA AKO PAKE KUNG MAS MAGANDA AKO KAYSA SA KALANDIAN NIYA. KUNG JOJOWAIN NIYA OR HINDI. The fact na nakipag landian siya is ALREADY NOT RIGHT. NOT NORMAL SA TAONG MAY JOWA. SHE LIED TO ME, SHE BROKE MY TRUST. I told her that and hindi lang yan mga bhe, she told me “she’s bored” kaya lang siya naghanap ng kausap. Gusto niya daw yung hindi siya kilala. LOL. PUTANG INANG RASON YAN. She also said na aalis din daw naman kasi ako( mag aabroad soon) and hindi ko siya maipagluto. HAHAHAHAHA. Again PUTANG INA. May mga kasalanan din naman ako sakanya like sa part na hindi ko siya mapakilala sa mama ko. Eh same lang din naman kami since Iglesia siya. I told her whatever man kung ano mali nagawa ko sakanya IT WILL NOT JUSTIFY YUNG PAKIKIPAG LANDIAN NIYA.
So, right now break na kami. She admitted na hindi siya makuntento. So, go. Landi all you want.
So, wag niyo ako gayahin!! If nag install ng dating site mga jowa niyo and “makikipag friends” lang. THAT’S A FUCKING LIE!!!!!

Hey all! Thought I'd share this tip, as I've just looked online and it seems there's at least one study to back up me personal experience (didn't look for anymore). [DISCLAIMER: This is not medical advice. Obviously this is my experience only and people should do their own research and what's right for them]
So this morning I woke up distressed, as per normal at the moment, because my eyes were dry and I had to treat them multiple times through the night. I've tried ointments taping etc. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Many months ago, when this all started I conveniently found that when I treated my cold symptoms with a menthol crystal steam, it made my eyes feel better. I'd put off doing it this time round because it does need a little prep and some time put aside to do. But today I was desperate - nothing was working. I'd used eye drops, heat mask, eye wash, washing my face - all things that usually help.
So I did the steam and immediately my eyes felt better. The reaction your eyes have is quite visceral. They still do right now. So I thought to myself, this can't be a coincidence. So I googled. And turns out there was a study done in 2017 on combining menthol with warm compresses. It's called "Effects of a warm compress containing menthol on the tear film in healthy subjects and dry eye patients" if you want to have a look.
The results were really good and showed both single and repeated use increased and prolonged the tear film and improved meibum condition. They even considered it a replacement for eye drops. I am not throwing my eye drops away any time soon but it was interesting to see such positive results.
As for me, I find immediate relief with it. I do it via a different method than they did, as I have menthol crystals and then pour a bowl of hot water and drop one in. Then using a towel I surround the bowl and put my head under and repeatedly open and close my eyes. Why? Well, if you're doing it right then you won't be able to keep your eyes open at first. At least not for long. It does sting. You do this for about 5 minutes. I got my menthol crystals at the local pharmacy.
This a old home treatment for colds btw and congestion in the lungs. My family have been doing it for a long time, as have many others. I understand it might not be for everyone but just wanted to share my experience as I've never seen people talk about menthol here. Maybe they do and I've missed it.

mkdir png 

ffmpeg -i "Roaring Kitty Live Stream - June 7, 2024-U1prSyyIco0.mp4" -vf "crop=80:30:160:240" png/dfv_%06d.png 

import os import cv2 import pandas as pd import pytesseract 

files = sorted(os.listdir("png")) results = [] for file in files: path = os.path.join("png", file) img = cv2.imread(path) text = pytesseract.image_to_string(img) results.append(text) 

raw = pd.Series(results) raw.to_csv("price_extraction_raw.csv", index=False) 

import numpy as np import pandas as pd # Loads the csv raw = pd.read_csv("price_extraction_raw.csv").squeeze() # Strips out unintended newline characters. raw=raw.str.replace(r"\n", "", regex=True) 

# Shows the rows with detected text. raw.dropna() 

# Eliminate any characters that are not numbers or decimals. cleaned = raw.str.replace(r"[^\d\.]", "", regex=True).str.strip().replace("", None) # Clear any rows that have less than 5 characters (two digits, a period, and two decimal places). cleaned = np.where(cleaned.str.len() < 5, None, cleaned) 

# Converts the single column Series into a multi-column DataFrame. cleaned = pd.DataFrame(cleaned, columns=["price"]) # Creates the time columns cleaned["m"] = cleaned.index//3600 # 60 frames * 60 seconds per minute cleaned["s"] = (cleaned.index // 60) % 60 cleaned["f"] = (cleaned.index % 3600) % 60 

cleaned[cleaned["price"].str.len() > 5] 

# Removes trailing characters when there are more than 5 of them. cleaned["price"] = np.where(cleaned["price"].str.len() > 5, cleaned["price"].str[:5], cleaned["price"]) # Changes the datatype to allow calculations to be made. cleaned["price"] = cleaned["price"].astype(float) 

# A list of the start and end of every trading halt in video (by price change). halts = [(10802, 19851), # Initial video halt (26933, 45977), # 2nd halt (61488, 80414), # 3rd halt (81325, 100411), # 4th halt (100778, 119680), # 5th halt (136992, 119680), # 6th halt (166473, 178210), # 7th halt ] # Uses the halt frames, to indicate halts in the dataset. cleaned["halted"] = np.where(cleaned["price"].isna(), None, False) # Assumes no unknown values for (start, end) in halts: cleaned["halted"] = np.where((cleaned.index >= start) & (cleaned.index < end), True, cleaned["halted"]) 

cleaned[cleaned["halted"] == True] 

def assess_halt(df, index): # The frame that is exactly 5 minutes before the frame examined. frame_offset = index - (5 * 60 * 60) # Since there will be no volume during a halt, we want to exclude # remove values where a halt is indicated. prices = df["price"].copy() prices = np.where(df["halted"] == True, np.nan, prices) # The price at the requested frame. halt_price = df["price"][index] # the frame right before (to rule out the halt suppressing the actual amount) price_before_halt = df["price"][index-1] # The average of all extractable prices in the five minute window. average = np.nanmean(prices[frame_offset:index]) # If there is insufficient at the specified frame, this ends calculations early. if np.isnan(average) or np.isnan(price_before_halt): return halt_price, price_before_halt, None, None, None, None, None # The count can help gauge robustness of the estimated average. count = np.count_nonzero(~np.isnan(prices[frame_offset:index])) seconds = count / 60 # The estimated bands are calculated by adding and subrtracting 5% from the average. band_low = average - .05 * average band_high = average + .05 * average # Logic to test whether the halt price or the price just before the halt is estimated to be beyond the 5% bands. outside = ((halt_price < band_low) or (halt_price > band_high)) or ((price_before_halt < band_low) or (price_before_halt > band_high)) return halt_price, price_before_halt, average, seconds, band_low, band_high, outside 

rows = [] for halt in halts: row = assess_halt(cleaned, halt[0]) rows.append(row) assessment = pd.DataFrame(rows, columns=["halt_price", "price_before_halt", "price_average", "seconds_of_data", "band_low", "band_high", "outside_bands"]) assessment 

I uploaded a game I wrote on itch.io and I'm getting feedback that when people run it, it's being flagged as insecure, and they do extra steps to get it to run. (It runs fine on my computer). Is there a setting in my visual studio to turn that off? Does windows not like the raw .EXE? It's a simple game that's written in C with Allegro. It's only a single statically linked .exe. The game itself is a "work toy" like a fidget spinner you have at your desk at work. It's a little micro RPG that plays itself, but you can poke at it when you are bored. The idea is you can play from anywhere-- I even included a "boss key" like in the old days that turns it into a little digital clock.. Do I really have to wrap it in an installer or something to make it secure? I really don't want to do that as I would like to keep it so you can run it from anywhere. (Also as it's a little work toy some companies don't let you install stuff!)

All the drives in my PC are full or nearly full and performance is really suffering: lots of app crashes and the occasional BSOD. I've run chkdsk, CrystalDisk, HDDScan, checked Event Viewer, ran MemDiag, did a stress test on the GPU and more, and everything showed as fine. No viruses or malware.
I installed a 2tb SSD to potentially clone my OS drive to, but I've got a couple questions before I do.

1. Should I buy a larger SSD drive to clone the 500gb OS drive to? Or will 2tb be fine?
   
2. The OS drive is PCIe M.2 and the new drive is M.2 NVMe - are there any issues I should know about before cloning? I think the OS drive is NTFS/FAT32 partitions, will that matter?
   
3. Macrium Reflect Free or EaseUS TODO Backup Free?
   

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Specs:
CASE: ThermalTake Core P3 TG (2016)
MOBO: MSI x470 GamingPro (MS-7B79) (2016)
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 1.D0 (9/26/2019)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 6-Core Processor, 3800 Mhz, 12 Logical Processors (2016)
GPU: GeForce RTX 3070 12gb (2023)
PSU: ThermalTake 700w (2016)
RAM: 64gb of single channel DDR4 @1199mhz, over two sticks (2023)
OS TYPE: Microsoft Windows 10 64bit Pro (Version 10.0.19045 Build 19045)
OS drive: SPCC 500gb PCIe M.2 SSD (2016)
Potential OS drive (installed): Western Digital WD_BLACK SN770 M.2 2280 2TB PCIe Gen4 16GT/s
Storage drives:
2gb Western Digital WD2002FAEX-007BA0 SATA (2016)
4gb Western Digital My Book 1230 USB SATA (2015)
6gb Western Digital My Book 25EE USB SATA (2020)

So, finally, my SO and I back home after an exciting Japanese Vacation. It was on our bucket list for years and we are so glad we did it and it went smoothly.
We landed at Narita Airport at 7 AM and finished our immigration and customs by 7.45 AM. We bought our Passmo Passport from Keisei Information Centre in literally two mins without a queue and were in the three persons queue at the Limousine Bus stop for our airport transfer to Shinjuku. I highly suggest the Limousine Bus Service as it was the most convenient and comfortable ride from NRT Airport to Shinjuku. The staff speaks English and put your luggage in the storage compartment, without you to have to worry about it. You can buy the tickets of limousine bus on KLOOK or at the arrivals hall of NRT airport.
From Shinjuku stop where the limousine bus dropped us and handed our luggage to us, we took a taxi to our hotel. It costed us 1200 yen and 10 mins to our hotel in Nishi Shinjuku. We had typed the hotel name and address in Japanese and printed it out. That piece of paper proved very useful after a 12 hour flight and 2 hour bus ride. We just handed out the printed paper to our taxi driver and he dropped us off at our hotel without a single word exchanged between us except thank you (arigato gozaimasu). It took away the anxiety of explaining our hotel address to taxi drivers in English and broken Japanese.
Our hotel was APA Hotel & Resort NishiShinjuku Gochome Eki Tower. We had booked an early check in for additional payment of 1000 yen per hour. We reached our double room on higher floor with city view and were shocked by the size of it. NO AMOUNT of research and reading up could mentally prepare us for the size of it. It was TINYYYYYYYY. But, very well appointed with night suits, kimono robes, room slippers, onsen slippers, huge TV, small bath tub, king size bed, working station with a chair, etc. We soon found our groove in the tiny room and found it to be very comfortable once the luggage was under the bed. I would highly recommend this hotel as it has an onsite onsen, swimming pool (payable), speedy WiFi, English speaking staff, vending machines, laundromat, luggage storage and transfer facility. But, its biggest plus point is that it’s 100 mts away from the NishiShinjuku Gochome Station with an elevator exit. That was the most convenient for us.
After relaxing in the tiny room for about 3 hours, we left the hotel at 2 PM for Meiji Jingu Shrine. We used the subway for it and it was very convenient. We thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful zen walk into the forest like atmosphere to reach the shrine. It was completely empty barring three more people about 1 km ahead of us. When we reached the Meiji Jingu Shrine we were greeted by a crowd. We spent maximum of 30 mins in the shrine and then walked to Takeshita Street. It was a 15 min relaxed walk and we enjoyed it. We LOVED the Takeshita Street and the hustle bustle there, spent around two hours, shopping for street wear fits and eating the crepes and tanghulu sweet treats. From there we walked the Cat Street, which was almost deserted and we didn’t even realise that we had already finished walking the iconic Cat Street until we asked a local. From Cat Street we walked to Shibuya, it was a 25 minutes walk and I had started to feel the tiredness by now. We found a Tully’s Cafe about 5 mins away from Shibuya crossing and chilled there for one hour having coffee and smoothies.
We reached the Shibuya Crossing by 6.30 PM and the excitement to see thousands of people crossing the iconic junction had pumped the energy back into me and I was ready for more exploring. We took a look at the Hachiku Statue and made our way up to Shibuya Sky for our entry slot of 7 PM. It was the most magical moment when we took the elevator up to the open observatory deck. The sky was turning red and rust and the Tokyo skyline lights were just firing up. We saw the sunset for about 15 minutes before the sky turned dark and then we enjoyed the night light views of Tokyo. It was absolutely STUNNING. Highly recommend booking the 6.45-7 PM slot for Shibuya Sky. We booked it via KLOOK about one month in advance.
We got down from Shibuya Sky by 8.30 PM and although we had a reservation at a vegan restaurant at Shinjuku for 9 PM, I personally couldn’t last any longer. I was extremely tired by that time so we took a subway back to our hotel. We rested in the hotel and had Seven Eleven ice cream and onigiri for dinner in our room and rested till about 11 PM.
At around 11 PM my FOMO kicked in and my partner and I took a cab to Omoide Yakucho drinking lane. It took us 8 mins by cab and 1000 yen. We had a local beer at the Albatross bar there and we loved the atmosphere and experience. We explored some more places in that lane but Albatross Bar was the best vibe. We then walked to Hotel Gracery to see the Godzilla head and Shinjuku neon billboards and lights. We found the area super greasy but it had a vibe of its own. We walked a bit further and found a nice beer brewery and bar and had a few beers there and it was amazing. We left that place by 12.30 AM and took a taxi back to the hotel. It costed us 900 yen. All in all it was the MOST FUN and ICONIC first day of a Tokyo trip. We had clocked 22,000 steps on Day 1.
Day 2:
We woke up by 8 AM and left the hotel by 10 AM. We first reached the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden and had breakfast at the traditional Japanese tea house at the national garden. We relaxed in the garden and explored till about 12.30 pm and we left for TeamLabs Planet. We reached there and booked ourself the lunch experience at Uzu Restaurant at Tokyolabs Planet. It was hands down the ABSOLUTE BEST lunch experience with the yummiest bowl of Vegan Ramen. We enjoyed the immersive experience and were ready for experiencing the main exhibit by 3.30 PM. We spent two hours in the exhibit and it was absolutely the highlight of our trip. We both lovedddddd TeamLabs Planet experience and can’t wait to be back.
At around 6 pm we left for Asakusa area from Teamlabs and reached the Senso Ji temple at around 6.45 pm. We explored the shopping streets around the temple and watched the sun go down behind the temple. It was just so so so so beautiful. We had dinner at a roadside restaurant there and they were plenty. My SO loved the area so much that he made me promise that we will stay in this area instead of Shibuya or Shinjuku on our next visit to Tokyo. The man has taste.
We were back to our hotel by 10 PM and had drinks at our hotel bar and slept off by 12 AM.
We had successfully used the subway system without getting lost but we had also successfully AVOIDED starting or ending our subway journeys from the terrifying Shinjuku Station for first two days and we highly recommend everyone to do the same.
Because on Day 3 we got lost at Shinjuku station and it was NOT FUN. On day 3 we checked out of our hotel by 10 am and took the subway to Don Qui store Shinjuku (our hotel stored our luggage for us post check out). We spent 2.5 hours in Donki and other Shinjuku shopping places and while returning with our shopping bags we got lost in Shinjuku station for about an hour and I personally felt super disoriented but my SO took over the navigation and somehow we reached our hotel by 2 pm.
We then took our bags and made our way to Tokyo International Cruise Terminal via subway and metro. A sweet local Japanese girl guided us to the metro stop which was two floors above from where we were and she very kindly travelled with us on the escalators two whole floors up. I had never experienced such kindness from a stranger and was truly grateful and overwhelmed by her kindness.
We then embarked on our cruise ship at 3.30 PM and I will write the cruise report in the next post.
But, I must say that these 2-2.5 days in Tokyo were genuinely I had dreamed of and more. Although it was tiring t walk 20k steps a day but it was more than worth it. I can’t wait to be back.

(OPEN & LOOKING)

Hello!
LONG POST! Image heavy (and shitty loading times). 5 Pages! Apologies for the length, trying to pre-empt your questions and show fixed scope.

Request:

One person with excellent, higher-order programming skills in Godot GDScript who could pair with my graphics and programming abilities for a highly popular 1990's game title, top down racer remake.

Game Synopsis:

Single player, Super Cars Clone but more realistic + crazy + more detailed and prettier graphics. With 1990’s styling and Roguelite-ish collect & combat precepts throughout.
Image set

Citing the Original Game:

Explanation video of Super Cars 2, 1990’s charm: Descriptive Video
Just flick through these next two videos, no need to watch to completion. This is to show you how dated they are.
Long Play video of original Game: Amiga Super Cars 2:
Earlier Super Cars 1: Long Play Video

Proof of Concept Test Video:

Here is a proof of concept video with artwork (no props except for road elevation).
Concept Video

Proof of Concept, Playable Game:

You can download and play it here. Do note: Road elevation changes marked by Red and Green rectangles on track, in case you’re confused about varying accelerations. AI is hypershit.
Playable Game Link
Some of the old video’s on there show the lo-res flippers, water cannons, pits, pins, rough roads, trains, etc, in working order.

Synopsis of Theme:

You are an up and coming racecar driver. It is the 1990's when flamboyant super cars, daring films(James Bond esq) and thrilling car races are all the buzz. Catching this excitement, a movie studio has noticed your driving talent. During a racing season, you'll be given access to 'unique' races at movie locations. Ie: "Blues Brothers Mall scene", or driving through a mine site with giant excavators and blasting of rock walls for that all important movie-shot. Or, many other weird and unusual prop-heavy locations, like a slime factory, or an industrial petrochemical plant complete with fiery explosions and other such spectacular events. To achieve access to these, you need to prove your worth on the daily race track. Many are non-ordinary tracks. They'll have things like giant water canons to push you around, wobbling roads, uneven rocky tracks, dips, jumps, giant pinball flippers, oil firing canons, trains and other devices all while in furious and intense competition with other NPC drivers.
Be forewarned, the video’s below show a distinct lack of polish. Ie: skidding-black level on packed dirt, no inertia correction in skid, no proper power to gear ratio etc, etc.
Mine Site and Prop Test Free Drive:
This one would be more or less representative of a special type track (due to location).
Katawarra mine
Plugin Functionality test:
Plug-In, Multi-Prop-Installations (shopping centre test), farmland, pushroads and cutaway view of mountains.
Plug In Building Test
And have another jungle track for good measure.
Jungle scene free-drive

Overview of Game ‘Chunks’:

Some Cars
Ok. in absolute brief: You start at ‘D’ category, have access to those cars and parts at that level. Above, cars on the left are ‘D’, then the next two are ‘C’, then next two are ‘B’, ‘A’, and the last two are ‘Ultra Class’ category. Each Category is an entire season of 10 tracks each. Including special event tracks.
On the roads, there are props, you plough into them for rewards, and special things called ‘chits’. Props are fences, oil drums, wood piles and anything that looks like it needs a good smashing.
Ultimately, Chits are used in a mini game (like Wheel of Fortune), to earn higher grade parts, cash prizes and even a better car than your current season’s level cap.
There’s a parts shop, a car shop, a Tv studio(for the WoF bit) and your assembly garage.
When you complete a season, if you make it into the top 3 racers at the end, you can upgrade to the next season D -> C. That means better and faster cars, higher grade engine parts, more challenging drivers, more tracks and bigger prizes on the Wheel of Fortune spin mini game. And you keep going until you reach Ultra class, where you’re driving monstrous hypercars against the best to win the entire full season.
It is meant to be a difficult game, just like the original. Practice makes Perfect.

Market Expectations:

Do note: Top down racers are NOT big money earners, so don't expect a huge audience. We would probably be lucky to fit just Below 'Make Way' at position 15.
Steam stats

What Happened and why am I doing this:

Me: Senior IT Manager. (BMech Eng.). + Hobby Artist (Pretty OK & particularly fast) + VB6 Coder (Strong skills). Was working on a BIG VB6 program for enjoyment. (https://nelfid.com/)
(https://www.reddit.com/roguelikedev/comments/1aeaoo8/2024_in_roguelikedev_monstergirl_resonance_call/ )
Had to stop. Looked at Godot for continuation, seriously impressed, started learning it, WOW. Decided to build a racer for shits and giggles and to learn from it. Ok, fun, easy, cool, and then decided to upgrade it with pretty graphics and decent gameplay. Game testers went nuts, I went nuts. Too much fun.
But, I’m long suffering from a sleep disorder. So re-re-re-learning Godot between medical hiatuses isn’t fun. However I can churn out art and Godot prop code no matter my condition.
I’m still a beginner at Godot, an advanced coder in VB6, I can prototype well. HOWEVER, I’m better at smashing out tracks worth of art, cars portraits, cars sprites, car cutaways and Godot track and props setup.
What I am NOT good at is the higher order setup of minimising repeat code and proper setout of node hierarchies (I haven’t learned it yet). I’m tired of bashing my head against, all the old vector math, engine math, gearing data and power curves. (I graduated that stuff at University too many years ago.)
I’m looking for someone who likes THAT, car-frictiony-enginey-handling-math. Someone who likes building car-part-shop-garage-drag-drop-thingy-interfaces. Someone who enjoys a good thrash and smash car game with a penchant for comedy and silliness. Someone who’ll also help with all the OTHER things needed to put a game on Steam and random marketing functions. Someone who knows how to handle multi-packed scenes and not build shit code.
As needed, I’ll be covering ALL the art, all the interface art, you-name-it, you just make it work. I’ll also be building and drawing all the tracks. Ideas and creation for silliness, wackiness, interesting tracks, cool props, etc, will be a duo effort for building them. If you have art skills too, great, join in.
Do note: I’m aiming at hand-drawing 50 tracks in grand total, their props and variants. This is an astronomical amount of work. I WILL get burnout, and the contingency is to ask the audience for fun and silly ideas too. This way, the track-select-bucket can be filled over time. Even after Steam’s Early Access commences. Seriously, you’ve got to go above and beyond to stand out nowadays.
Have SQLite skills? Good, because we will be using it.

Build Time:

Speculatively guessing for build time. Minimum time 3 months. Maximum time 6 months to complete.

Goal Post 1:

Schedule I'd like to do: Prep the game with a first stage demo. As per above, but with say 3 tracks, and 3 different user cars and proper NPC AI. Chuck that on Steam as a first port of call. This shouldn't take long as the shop/parts/Tv studio are not relevant here. Just racing and a simplistic track select menu. Car types can be basic hard coded engines and handling here (ie: no part swapping yet).

Goal Post 2:

Second stage demo: and with it, Early Access. Entire Season 1 Tracks ready. All stuff is here, shops, parts, Tv studio. Category 'D' racing is fully open here. The user can run through the whole 1'st stage, 10 tracks (with celebrity tracks included). However, more difficult grades C, B, A and Ultra cars, parts and other tracks are not available. This is so the users can get a 100% feeling for the game, and if they want to go to the next level (more difficult, more tracks, more parts, more cars, more excitement) they'll have the incentive to purchase the full game. Early access means we'll start dumping down new tracks and celebrity tracks as they get made so EA's can get them in the random bucket as we go along.

Goal Post 3:

Real Launch: Everything done, but tracks might not be fully complete yet (at least 50% done). Track selection is done from a diminishing pool randomly selected per each season. If short, it will select from the bucket again. At this stage the entire game should be coded in full, with the exception of new props for upcoming tracks. Which you'll be helping out with.

Marketing:

Marketing is informal at the moment, and happy to share ideas and discuss approaches accordingly. Currently I've been collecting relevant forum/group websites for those who love or may love this stuff.

Sound:

Music and sound effects assets will be from sites like Zapsplat and other affiliate style sites. (So we'll need to program in a car CD Player or Tape Deck, lol) If worthwhile to translate for other languages, we can do that as it's not a text heavy game.

Revshare:

Rev share will be pinned at 50/50 unless there is some other extenuating circumstances. Official company setup and final legals will occur immediately prior to Early Access -> pending interest level by users.
You won't be 'just' coding. Wherever we can both cover each other's backs to smash things out as fast as possible, you'll need to be flexible. Game's are not just coding and artwork.
I expect you to be proactive because I’ll have my hands full with art and technical props.
Let’s do our best to get it over the line.

Response:

I won’t be responding to Discord currently. My account seems to have been inactive-erased, I haven't ‘dug’ in my records for it, that’s a ‘later’ thing. DO NOT DM me, myself and others want to see and verify who you are first, exclusively write below.

Timezone:

East-coast Australia timezone, happy for any talent, anywhere. English language only.

About you:

If you are interested and have some seriously strong Godot skills, please introduce yourself, what you've done, programming background, any training or other videos you've made (please link them). Can you program caengine physics and road AI exceptionally well already? How do you avoid spaghetti code? How long have you been tackling Godot? Do you know shaders? What are your daily hours/location? What can you do for your 50/50 rev-share of this project?
Corso
^{Have some AI Generated art for theme and ideas fishing. Note: I won’t be using AI art anywhere, this is only for sticking into the ideas-box and to give you a feel for what the game is about.}
Coverart Ideas
^{Lastly, if you’re good and we work well together, I’m happy to discuss any future projects that require similar arrangements. There is a mountain of short-term, popular 90’s and similar games begging for modernisation and graphical updates.}

I've been using reshade for the past year now and I've only ever been able to load one preset with no problems. Recently, the creator of said preset deleted the link and I wiped my laptop believing I had the preset copied to my onedrive (it wasn't) and so I've resorted to trying new presets. So far not a single one has worked and my game (sims) crashes as soon as reshade loads. I always install the proper shaders and even go as far as to download the older versions some were made with to see if that works. The same issue occurs with gshade, so I have no clue what the problem is here.
Edit: I'll add that I already gave the bin folder special permissions.

Tried googling and found nothing. My question is simple. If I remote "download to console" from the xbox app, will I be able to play the game just by inserting my owned disc? I wont need to buy it digitally?
My copy of Mortal Kombat 1 refuses to install with the disc. It's 88gb but keeps stopping at 47gb. I've tried every single trouble shooting method. The digitally download from the app is 180gb (which seems absurd?!) But I'll take it if it means I can play the damn game. Dont want tk waste internet or space without first checking
Thanks!

Plan: (Majoria's?) Commerce Restaurant Hurricane Katrina Memorial City Park Sculpture Garden Parkway Poor Boys Audubon Park Exhibit at Federal Reserve Sidecar (for oysters) Vyonne's (it's a birthday dinner for her) At some point...buy a lottery ticket.
Commerce Restaurant was closed. Which is too bad, because it seemed like it woulda been exactly what we needed. But she had an early day anyway, and I happened to stumble into another unplanned gem.
Morning Call. Beignets and coffee. It was a great start to the day. I almost feel like it was magic, adding strength and luck and whatever I needed to have a good day.
The Hurricane Katrina Memorial was something I stumbled across in my Googling, and I'm really happy I went. It's just a quick public art installation, but it was an experience worth having. I've wandered the cemeteries in previous trips, so this really resonated. It's right there by Morning Call. If any visitor is going there anyway, it makes for a nice double play.
The sculpture garden at city park was open. YAY! If the weather wasn't so oppressive, I would have gone through it much slower. There was so much good stuff. Some of the pieces were very challenging, which was so refreshing to see in such a public place. The air conditioned pavilion was perfectly placed. Right before all the tourists pass out from the heat.
I got a lottery ticket at the Winn-Dixie on Carrollton! (And yes, I did actually pass by this Winn-Dixie every single day so far) Then down the greenway to Parkway.
I was told that I was lucky to stumble into the sandwich shop when "it wasn't busy". It was full of life. Roast beef. It was as good as I had hoped. I can only imagine what it would be like when the whole place is full.
I'll do the park on Thursday. I needed a nap.
Sidecar was ALSO closed. So we moved up our reservation to Vyonne's. It was so good. We didn't sit in the courtyard, but that must be really nice when the weather isn't like a dog's mouth. The cocktails were interesting. The food was so well executed. "How did you find this place?" she asked. I think it first landed on my long-range radar when I heard about it here. Thak you, Reddit.
This means that bar trivia is back on the table. 8pm at Turtle Bay, and I think I could just barely make it. I got there at 8:03. I was actually a little early. I gotta stop being a slave to the clock. Not stated anywhere is that the winner of each round of trivia gets a free shot. I might be too much of a lightweight to play bar trivia in New Orleans. The people were super fun, and I was glad to support an independent trivia company.
Activities: Morning Call Hurricane Katrina Memorial City Park Sculpture Garden Mega Millions lottery ticket! (we don't have the lottery where I live...this was fun) Parkway Poor Boys (via Laffite Greenway) Vyonne's Bon Temps Trivia (@Turtle Bay)
One last note: I know it doesn't exist, but I REALLY want a t-shirt that says "RTA has the right of way." That PSA that plays on the streetcar has infiltrated my brain. Also, the way the guy says "STAHHP! Requested." on the bus. So good.

Cold start in normal mode with a stock downpipe. Has a much deeper and throatier tone than stock with more burbles.

i'm used to brew on work mac. I'm new to chocolatey and trying to setup necessary software for reactJS development in personal windows system.
when i install any package, nodejs for example, i see two packages get installed. nodejs 22.2.0 and nodejs.install 22.2.0 I'm confused as to why. choco also prompts me for confirmation to uninstall nodejs.install when i try to uninstall nodejs. If both of these are installed for a single install command automatically, why do i want to keep one or the other when uninstalling?
When i install a software like git without using choco, is it possible to manage it using choco? i'm using open source version.

Think of all the cool shit that comes with being a fan of this team
• Our first two draft picks were first ballot HOFers
• We win a Super Bowl within 5 years of existence, with the greatest defense of all time
• We become a perennial winning team in the 2000s, with losing seasons only in 02, 05, and 07
• We draft the greatest FS of all time in Ed Reed and one of the greatest pass rushers in T-Sizzle
• the 06 defense nearly outdoes the 2000 defense
• We nearly knock off the undefeated Pats in 07 with KYLE BOLLER at QB, LOL
• We draft a QB from Delaware in 08 who starts day one and becomes the first rookie QB to lead his team to the AFC championship
• We Obliterate Tom Brady and the Patriots in their house in the 09 wild card, in spite of Flacco playing hurt and going 4/10 for 34 yards and an INT
• After 4 years of postseason heartbreak, we go on a storybook Super Bowl run which was almost stopped with 40 seconds left in Denver, when Flacco made arguably the greatest throw of all time, given the context
• After years of up and down seasons, we draft one of the greatest talents, and person in Lamar Jackson to lead our team for years to come
• After starting 2018 with a 4-5 record, we turn to Jackson who proceeds to go 6-1 while the 7-2-1 Steelers blow their division lead, and it's all capped off by their fans rooting for the Browns in their own stadium, while they watch us win the division on their own jumbotron
• In Lamars 2nd season, we go on a 12 game win streak, break the single season rushing record for a team in a 16 game season, and Lamar wins a unanimous MVP award
• After multiple up and down seasons with crazy games seemingly every week, Lamar is a free agent, and we go through one of the most agonizing contract negotiations in NFL history, between Lamar tweeting that he was leaving, and the Ken Francis stuff, It felt like we were living in a bizzaro world.
Then on draft night, Lamar puts out a video, letting us know he re-signed. It almost felt as good as winning the Super Bowl
•After all the drama of 21 and 22, we put together another historic regular season, toppling the NFL's best nearly week after week, and bringing back the elite defense we all once knew with a much improved passing offense, that led us all the way to the AFC championship, and even though we fell short, it was one of the best seasons in team history.
I am so grateful to have grown up watching this team, having been to many games and getting to experience some of the best moments in team history, I wouldn't have it any other way. Being a Ravens fan is truly a blessing

Planning to mod my Rascal and I am trying to learn as much I can before buying the components and going through with this. Never soldered before, I'm a complete beginner here. A friend left me a decent soldering station when he moved out of the country. Figured this would be a great way to finally use it.
The plan is to replace the pickup toggle switch with the tone knob and add a volume pot where the tone knob was (as inspired by this video). While the additional variety of tones this supposedly allows is nice, it's also out of concern that the switch will eventually break because of my Mono Vertigo bass case. When closed, the case's top seems to press down on the toggle switch without much cushioning or give. I've already observed that it can get stuck on either the neck or bridge pickup setting when I have the toggle in the middle position.
The jack socket on my Rascal is also a bit loose, despite having tightened it as much as it'll allow. The instrument cable has a bit of wiggle, and the signal has cut out a couple of times during practice. My previous bass had a Switchcraft jack and I had zero issues so I'm thinking of going the same route here.
I have some questions that I could use your help with.
What kind of pot should I get? I would prefer to get one that matches the Rascal's stock volume pot but can't seem to find much info on what type it is. Based on this video it seems to be some kind of 250K, but that's about all the info I can find. I feel like it'd be simpler to buy a new matched pair and install both, but I'd rather keep the stock pot since it works just fine.
Is there a better wiring diagram that I can follow? The one in the first YouTube video is very simplified, the guy says so himself. He also mentioned it's wired like a jazz bass. I've found this diagram for 2 jazz pickups + 2 volume pots + 1 tone pot. Should I follow this, even if my Rascal has 2 wide range humbuckers? Other diagrams I've found for 2 humbuckers on that website and elsewhere all seem to involve a toggle switch.
My shopping list currently looks like:

• Volume pot: metric 8mm diameter, 1/4" tall, linear taper, single or pair
• Output jack: Switchcraft 1/4" tall mono
• Wire: cloth sleeved, 2' length of white and black each

Please let me know if I've missed anything here. General advice for installing pickups and re-wiring a bass would also be much appreciated.
TLDR: I'm modding my Rascal and need help with choosing volume pots and finding a wiring diagram. General advice for installing pickups is cool too.

+ Golden Eagle G11 Front Sight + Trijicon Front Sight + Marlin Front Sight + U. S. 3-Dot Front Sight 

I have been putting a lot of hours into Blue Protocol lately (JP version obviously) and it is a bit of an odd duck. The game is quite good in some ways. It looks gorgeous, runs well enough, combat is fun (especially after the 8 skill update), and the story and characters are actually pretty good. But it is also deeply flawed in many ways. And the more time I put into it the more I get irritated with its faults, which mostly relate to the god awful endgame loop. I do sincerely believe that even if it got released globally now, it would not be received well.
So I thought I would make a list of things that need fixing...in no particular order.

• Bugs - There are still some significant bugs that absolutely need addressing. The most significant being when there's too much going on the whole instance freezes up and enemies won't even move or attack, they just turn into punching bags. This happens every single time in 'raids'. It has been an issue for months now and needs to be fixed. It turns these fights into a complete joke.
• The 'raid' system itself - I'm sorry but I want to punch whoever thought it was a good idea to have players repeat the exact same 'raid' over and over for an entire hour. Even if you fix the freezing bug and make the fight less of a joke this is still going to be boring. Take a hint from what PSO2 does for urgent quests (which is much closer to what these are): have a lockout so you can only complete the 'raid' once every time it's available. Increase rewards to compensate and make it available more than just a few times a day. And make the fights themselves take a bit longer at least (currently they can be finished in just a couple of minutes). Then they could at least be a fun diversion to mix things up, instead of feeling like a chore.
• Adventure boards suck - They could be OK if used more sparingly, but do they really need a unique adventure board for every single enhance imajin? These things are not interesting or engaging to complete, it just feels tedious. And why are they so inconsistent about what happens when they're not active? You can only have 10 active at a time (which may sound like a lot but it really isn't given how many of these damn things you end up with...), but some progress tracks even when they're not active...but not all progress. It's just annoying to keep track of. At least just make them all active all the time. But really, half of them should be eliminated entirely. There's no need to have this many.
• Grinding mobs like this will never be fun - Goddamn does BP want you to grind mobs though. Whether it's to complete an adventure board, a quest, or just because you need a particular drop, spawn camping mobs is a significant part of what you will do in this game. And it's as fun as that sounds...which is to say, not fun at all. I honestly think this is one of the biggest issues with the game, but also one of the hardest things to fix because so much is built around it. But they could at least try to make things more dynamic. Usually it's like the exact same mobs spawn in particular locations so you are literally just sitting in place waiting for things to spawn between kills. Moving around is literally a waste of time. If you compare this to something like combat zones in NGS (I can't believe I'm using that game as a positive example of anything, but here we are...) then spawns are much more dynamic and you're always moving around the field. Plus there are trials and stuff to mix things up. In BP you just stand in one spot and the only challenge is to get a hit in on the mob you want to kill before somebody else nukes it since you don't get any rewards if you don't hit it. And somebody else will nuke it if you hesitate...that's its own problem. And for real, this is a major part of what you will do in this game. It's mind numbing.
• Needs some actual challenging endgame content - This is something Bamco has at least made attempts to address, so I'll give them that. Some of their solutions are just weird though. Like OK, I'll grant them that the new SP stuff is hard but it's such an odd game mode and so different from what most people expect from an MMORPG endgame that it feels like something that should be a cool extra and not the only challenging endgame content. Advanced dungeons are moderately challenging but they're still primarily just stuff you grind for gear and they're really not that hard once you're used to them. Give us some proper team-based endgame challenges. Could be a raid (a real one I mean), could be something else, but we need something.
• There's too much gear - Odd complaint maybe, but hear me out. The pace they release new gear at is honestly too fast. I guess it's their way to keep people engaged or something, but there's more gear being added in literally every monthly update. To be clear, it's not interesting gear. Slightly better stats, sure, but nothing fundamentally new or different. It just feels empty. Most MMOs will limit new gear to more significant updates and acquiring that gear actually means something. In BP I don't even install plugs in most of my weapons because I know I'm just going to replace them soon anyway and it feels like a waste... (and besides there's nothing challenging enough to need them anyway, see above)
• Where is the social content? - BP defenders will sometimes say it's more of a casual, social game and so you shouldn't expect hardcore raids or something from it. But...it's extremely lacking as a social game as well. There just isn't much to actually do in the game outside of combat. How about some minigames, things to do in town, or actual life skills? I know they have talked about the housing stuff so that's something but it's still not here yet and what they did show was kind of underwhelming.
• There aren't enough ways to get cosmetics - But they need to monetize something, you say! Here's the thing, though; Even if you're willing to spend money if you don't like the handful of outfits in the current gacha then there isn't even anything to spend money on. I've spent enough time in the game I would be willing to send some money their way (assuming I can figure out how...) but then I look through the store and there's nothing I actually want. It's pretty weird. There's only one gacha banner available at any time, it lasts for a while, and the stuff in it can be very hit-or-miss frankly. I feel like BP needs more cosmetic options in general but it also needs more ways to get them. Maybe a premium store with a rotating selection or something. Usually we complain about games being over-monetized but BP's store is so underwhelming right now it's actually kind of under-monetized...not saying I want them to nickle and dime me for everything, just give me stuff I might actually want to buy. And the free cosmetic options you can get in game are also super limited. I just want more options...

There's probably more I didn't think of but that's enough for now...