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Edited by WaveOfWire
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Two days… It had been two days that Tracy had gone to sleep while Harrison was working, only to come back in the morning to see him still in the workshop. She knew he was damn productive, sure, but that really couldn’t be healthy. Apparently, it had something to do with the weird bowl of orange… soup… that Cera gave him. No way was it just caffeine; any amount of the stuff would have been filtered out of his system by now. He mentioned a tingling feeling too…
Damn, she did not know enough about drugs to even start assuming what that massive alien had Harrison fucked up on. At least the scanner said he was ‘fine’—if you ignore the other glaring issues the machine brought up. Plus, he said he didn’t mind it. Either way, he managed to complete the weaving component and a few other electrical backbones of the fabricator last night, so the project was practically done, and after seeing the engineer work himself half to death, she was dead-set on finishing it.
She was currently tits-deep into the upper manufacturing portion of the towering machine. It took a tall step-stool—on top of the nearby desk—for her to push her small shoulders through the even smaller access panels high on the everything-printer. It was difficult to fit her torso in, but she managed, holding a flashlight between her teeth as she fiddled with a stubborn series of mechanical ‘hands.’ Nothing new. The situation reminded her of the ‘shop back on Mars; it had the same ever-present scent of copper and industrial sealant. All that was missing was her dad’s ancient tunes blasting through some shitty speakers… Hold on…
The modular component in her grip was successfully attached with a resonating thock. Tracy squirmed out of the dim wire-filled crevice, trying her best to not rip her only tank-top on any bolts or corners, and getting a face-full of the bright flood-lights illuminating the workshop. She scowled and blocked out the searing light with a hand, but she was a bit too late to avoid going half-blind.
“Are the mechanical manipulators in?” Harrison grunted, poking his head out underneath the printer’s floor-adjacent maintenance hatch. She looked down at him as she tried to blink off the spots in her vision. His hair was messy, barely kept in line by his habit of combing through it with his fingers. The areas around his eyes were dark and sunken… Guess that’s what two all-nighters did to a man. He’d be seeing the hat man or start hallucinating if he didn’t get any sleep soon… but then again, the two of them were so close to finishing the fabricator…
“You bet.” She gave him a thumbs up, slamming the panel cover closed. “Feel free to test it.”
He nodded and slid back underneath the machine. “Gotcha”
She gently stepped off the stool and slid off the side of the desk, stretching herself out. If her piss-poor sitting posture or her tank-top puppies hadn’t already fucked her spine up, bending over backward to build this fabricator sure as hell would. She sat down next to the panel where Harrison resided, resting her back against the fabrication tower. Her excited voice broke the muffled noises of the engineer’s work. “So… Harrison?”
“Hmm—”
“—Mind if I play some music?”
The sounds from the hatch stopped, followed by his muffled, shocked tone echoing from beneath the fabricator. “You have music!?”
She smirked at seeing the expression on his face when his head popped out again. “I sure do… Did you seriously not download any to your data pad?”
He slipped out from beneath the fabricator fully, huffing as he took a knee beside her. The scent of melded rubber, wire, and his liquid labor reached her nose not-so-unpleasantly. “You would not believe how much of a pain it is to repair an entire barracks without it… So, yeah, I didn’t.”
“Sooooooooo, whatcha wanna listen to? I’ve got almost everything on here—besides the super niche, of course.” She pulled her data pad out, swiping to the massive music folder
“You wouldn’t like the kinda music I listen to; It’s ancient.”
She gave him a lighthearted, annoyed glare. “Welcome to the club… Now what’ll it be?”
“It’s Old Earth kind of ancient… but alright” He looked up at the ceiling in thought, lips pursed. “Do you have anything from Styx or Sweet?”
She stared at him incredulously, her smirk turning into a fully-fledged smile. “Oh my God. You are an absolute dork! You actually listen to Golden Age music?”
His brows raised, accusatory. “And you somehow know exactly who those bands were and what age of Old Earth music they came from?”
She smugly leaned in closer. “That’s because I’m just as much of a nerd with that kinda music as you apparently are.” She quickly looked upward, addressing the workshop AI. “Sebas, connect nearby speakers to my data pad’s audio.” Tracy elbowed the engineer lightly as the PA system chirped its affirmation. “Now, Mr. Golden Age music, which albums do ya want me to queue up?”
- - - - -
The two of them listened to music for hours, tossing on songs they liked as they came to mind while they worked. Harrison had a ton of recommendations that spanned all over the Golden Ages and some twenty-first century classics. She didn’t even know half of them, but she was vibing either way, adding on her own taste by intermingling some older rock tracks and newer electronic beats. The playlist was steadily built up as the day went on. Thank God her dad showed her a vast array of tunes; she might not have been able to keep up with the engineer if her old man hadn't.
It made the work go by so fast, their conversations blurring as they jumped from topic to topic. They discussed whatever came to mind—old hobbies, old jobs, and old interests. A lot was left behind in Sol… At least she knew that the only other human on the planet was more interesting than a soulless workaholic. It turned out that he was a pretty big history buff, and he apparently read a lot about the colonization of the Sol system and the various wars of independence thereafter. Curious, she asked where the interest stemmed from, and he explained that his grandfather was an admiral in the Slavic-Europan deep-ice submarine fleet, which explained how Harrison’s mother was able to afford to immigrate to Mars from Europa.
He could also play an acoustic guitar, and, unfortunately for Tracy, he wasn’t even the slightest bit interested in printing one out, citing that it was a waste of time and material that would be better used elsewhere. That didn’t stop her from writing a note on her data pad to do so later, though. She hadn’t seen someone play one of those in years—the last time was probably in some old music video from the early twenty-second century. What a shame. She would have liked to hear some of the Europan songs his grandmother taught him.
On the bright side, the man seemed to take an interest in her odd hobbies. He brought up the folder of 3D models that she accidentally uploaded to the inter-module system and asked where she got the inspiration for what was in it. Boy, was he not ready for her ‘WarHalberd40k’ lore dump. Props to the guy for not standing up and leaving the workshop throughout her rambling. He even asked questions about the different factions and their weapons, which she was more than happy to talk about.
She also ended up going over the other franchises and hobbies she was interested in, such as robotics and the like. The only interruptions to their chat were the occasional Akula or Craftsman asking for insight regarding the various tasks he had allotted to them, or Shar coming in to check up on Harrison between guard shifts.
The new dynamic of the group was pretty interesting, to say the least. Tracy hadn’t been out to interact with the whole lot of Malkrin, but she definitely noticed how they treated the engineer. They’d started to look up to him in a way ever since he started showing off technology. In a little over two days, the man had shown them that he could provide the materials for a brick house, fine clothing—especially by the alien’s standards—armor, and delicious food. That wasn’t even mentioning the other benefits the technician heard a few of the ‘banished’ talking about over their meals: heating, electric lights, and other assorted machines.
She’d be feeling pretty happy about herself if she was in his position, having so many look up to him and be grateful at the same time. He seemed to view it a lot more robotically, however, only striving to get the basics done. Luckily for him, his basics were their luxury.
That wasn’t all there was to the topic; the engineer lamented about how the colony was going through food just as quickly as materials. The meals weren’t the direct issue he had, more that he had to start focusing on long-term resource harvesting rather than directly preparing for a literal horde of monsters—which wasn’t exactly ideal. It was a good thing that they just so happened to take on an influx of Malkrin then…
Either way, they finally finished the ‘totally legal modification’ for the fabricator, meaning they could at least partially address the latter half of his worries. The whole process of ripping out an old printer and replacing the parts for a new one felt a lot easier than she imagined… even if it took her at least forty-eight hours to complete it… with help from Harrison. Maybe that was why it felt so easy… She supposed the colony overseers didn’t choose the man for no reason, so his skills made sense.
“So… what do we want to print out first?” Tracy questioned, having finished testing the last major component.
The engineer stretched his arms up into the air and rotated his shoulders, then pulled back the desk’s chair and took a seat. “I’ve had just one thing in mind since the start of this whole project.”
Her brows raised in a mix of excitement and curiosity. She leaned forward, looking at the computer monitor from over his shoulder. “Oh? What’s that, then?”
A smirk formed along his cheek, the computer mouse rapidly clicking through the blueprint folder. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about what kind of firearm we need since I started dabbling in belt-fed weapon systems.” He opened one final file, a short loading bar preceding the exploded assembly view of… “An M2 Browning machine gun. It’s more than powerful enough to kill in one shot, while also being capable of fully-automatic fire, with a capacity of however many rounds we want in a belt-box.”
“Uh…huh…” She gave a skeptical nod and took a step back, not exactly sold on the idea. “It looks ancient. It’s kinetic, right? Why aren’t we using energy-based weapons? Don’t we have a gunpowder shortage coming up?”
He moved his chair off to the side to look back at her. “We just can’t; Simple as. We’ll need who knows how many more AI cores before we can get started on that level of equipment, Trace,” he huffed, returning his gaze to the specifications of the firearm. “This isn’t the most ‘modern’ weapon we can make, but its twenty-first century counterpart helps with an improved design… somewhat. And, as I said before, it should be more than capable of killing a bug in one shot, so Shar can just tap-fire it to save ammunition.”
Her head tilted quizzically. “Shar?”
“Yup,” he returned confidently. “It’s the perfect weapon for her.”
She raised a brow. “How so?”
He held his hand up, counting his reasons on his fingers. “She’s always on the front line with a shield, she can absolutely handle the weight and recoil, her four arms make reloading it simple, plus she’ll need something with range and power that isn’t a spear. So, why not? And, if for some reason, she doesn’t want to use it, we can just convert it into a turret—which is something I was planning on doing anyways with however more M2s we print out later.”
“I doubt she’ll say no to any gun you give her,” Tracy chuckled while shaking her head, inadvertently causing her bangs to cover her eyes.
“Fair enough,” he conceded with a bob of his head. “What do you think, then? What kinda weapons do you have in mind?”
She reapplied her goggles into an impromptu hairband, feeling a smirk cross her face. “Thought you’d never ask. What purpose do we need these guns to fulfill? Hordes I’m guessing?”
“That’s the idea, yeah. That doesn’t mean they all need to be machine guns, though.” He tapped the belt-fed shotgun beside him.
“Well, lemme see what we’re working with first.” She suddenly stepped forward, leaning over Harrison’s seat to access the keyboard and mouse. Her arms briefly rubbed against him, forcing him to roll his chair backward. She suppressed a giggle at seeing his incredulous frown.
Her eyes quickly traced the hundreds of individual files, clicking through all sorts of folders, each arranged from pre-twenty-first century ‘antiques,’ to more modern iterations of kinetics and particle weaponry. There was… a lot on there—almost too much to reasonably comb through. Why? Did the colony overseers just say ‘fuck it’ and put whatever they could find on here? Were they expecting the pioneers to make a museum of everything?
She sighed, standing up straight and facing Harrison. “Y’know, I’m actually impressed you managed to find that M2-whatever in there…”
He shifted in his seat, resting an elbow on the desk. “Yup, there’s a lot. I’m almost tempted to just make several of those machine guns and just call it a day, but I feel like that’d be too much of a strain on resources, no?”
“I don’t really know enough about how you fight those spider-crab things, or how to get more gunpowder, so… maybe?” She shrugged, biting her cheek in contemplation. “You might just wanna make a few smaller caliber weapons… like, uh… those old kinetic service rifles. If your pump-action shotgun works fine, I’m sure some normal guns would work just fine for now, right?”
He hardily gripped his firearm, hauling it up to his lap. “Depends on what you mean by ‘smaller caliber.’ The whole reason why the KS-23 here works—” he pulled out a massive shell from the ammo belt, displaying it on his palm. “—is because the twenty-three-millimeter round has enough energy transfer to mess up any bug's shell and insides. I’d say the smallest rounds we could use would be point-two-forty-three caliber to get any similar results.”
Brief flickers of grungy orange shells and gnashing teeth marred Tracy’s sight. She forcibly suppressed them, distracting herself with dry humor and a strained laugh. “Guess those fuckers can really take a punch, huh?”
He shook his head somberly. “I couldn’t imagine going up against them without a gun… Anyway, I like your idea of a standard rifle for now. Then, when we have some product lines up, we can go a little more in depth into personal weapons.”
“So are you gonna take one?” She hopped up on the desk, letting her legs swing off the side.
“Don’t think so, no. I’ll stick with my shotty.” The internals of the heavily modified weapon rattled as he held it up and inspected it. “Doesn’t mean I’ll keep it as is. I’m thinking of printing a laser aiming module so I can point-fire it accurately, and maybe a melee-oriented muzzle brake or a lighter chassis to reduce weight… Not sure though.”
She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, her cheeks in her palms. “Melee-oriented? Oooooh, like a chain-sword or something?”
His short chuckle coerced a smirk to her face. “No, not like that. More something to use as a bludgeoning tool. Right before the blood-moon, I ended up getting just as much use out of this shotgun as a hammer than as a… well, a shotgun.”
“That’s pretty fuckin’ metal. So are you just gonna make the barrel into a giant bayonet?”
He nodded. “Not exactly a bayonet, but something more like a door-breaching break.”
A short silence settled on their conversation, the faint sounds of the fabricator’s hum and distant woodwork coming to light. Right, there was an outside world… She’d been too caught up talking to Harrison for however many hours it had been. She wondered how successful the fisherwomen were in collecting, and how things had been for the others working on the wood storage shack. Maybe it was already completed? The sun peered through the cargo bay door, proving that it was only about midday. What else would they work on today?
“Hey,” she ventured.
“Hm?” the engineer hummed, his eyes focused on the monitor beside the technician.
She scooted closer to his keyboard. “What’re we doing after this?”
“What do you mean?”
She leaned backward, propping herself up on two hands. “Project wise; what’s the next big thing?”
“Uhmmm…” he muttered, interacting with the computer for a few more seconds before finally meeting her gaze. “Well, I’ve just allocated the fabricator to print out the M2, three FALs—wood furniture, of course—then there’s the magazines and ammunition, so we’ve got a lot of time to kill. The next big thing is definitely going to be metal procurement, and— Oh, right!” Harrison stopped mid-sentence, reaching into his backpack and pulling out several finger-sized metallic cubes, a sudden fire in his eyes. “Okay, so a while ago, during an encounter with three colossi, Shar and Akula found a cave with some ‘surface’ metal deposits. I took a piece off to analyze, but never got the chance to until last night. Anyway, we don’t have any machines to examine the ore, so I made use of the recycler and broke it down to its baser components.”
She nodded along, seeing where he was going with his explanation. “I’m guessing those shiny cubes are the metals from the ore?”
“Sure is. So, as it turns out, we have a pretty damn close supply of not only iron, but also, zinc, sulfur, and a small amount of cadmium. I talked with Sebas about it and did a little research. We believe it’s something akin to sphalerite, given its composition and looks, which implies it’s a sedimentary exhalative deposit. That means there must have been some volcanic…”
Harrison continued talking about underwater deposits and ancient rock formations, bringing up some theories brought forward by the now 4-AI-core-powered Sebas, delving into the current land mass’ history and possible ore output. A lot of it went over the tradewoman’s head, but she still listened intently… Honestly, she could have listened to the man talk about finding metals for hours. It was sort of like the podcasts she used to listen to while completing colonist training, but even more personal and somehow easier to get lost in…
“…find some other minerals further down like silver, but it also might be an active lava zone. Again, these are all theories and this world could just throw the fundamentals of geology away as it does for physics. Anyway, sorry for going on for so long about that, just thought it’d be important for getting some metals in the future.”
“No, no,” Tracy assured, alleviating him of concern with a wave of her hand. “If there’s anything the colony overseers emphasized, it was farming and mineral acquisition. Don’t worry.” She smiled, pointing a thumb to herself. “I just wanna know how I can help.”
“Actually, I’ve a few things only you can do. I’d like to make use of your impressive drone-making expertise for a few applications, if you don’t mind.”
The task of keeping eye contact slipped into an impossible feat in the span of a singular second, planting a pang of embarrassment on her reddened face, forcing her to inspect her fidgeting hands. “I-I wouldn’t say ‘impressive’… b-but what do you have in mind?”
She could see him raise a brow out of the corner of her vision. “Well, after what you’ve shown me with the reconnaissance flyers, I’d like your help in setting up a more permanent ‘net’ of them to scour the meadow and parts of the nearby forest to look out for any approaching hordes. I don’t want to be snuck up on… again…”
‘Again.’
She noted his small frown and sunken eyes, both a little more exaggerated than they already were. It wasn’t like she’d deny his request, but the pangs of empathy over their shared situation all but solidified her resolve. It was the least she could do. She could help him. She would help him.
The technician exhaled slowly, taking on a more serious and understanding tone than before. “I… can do that. For sure. What else?”
“I appreciate it.” He gave a wane smile. “I’ll help you with whatever you need for the project. For the other drones, I’m thinking about a small exploration vehicle to map out caves around us and mark any minerals, as well as a submersible to look for potassium deposits in the ocean.”
“So… search bots?” She crossed her arms, confidence growing; those were her specialty. “Depending on how long the fabricators take and what kind of base drones are in the blueprint folders, I should be able to get those done in no time. All I need to know are the search cues for potassium and how many drones you want.”
He quickly shuffled a few folders on the computer, turning the monitor for her to see some scientific documents with various images and walls upon walls of text. “There’re plenty of resources for that on here for what to look for, and there’s always Sebas, so feel free to ask him since he can just sort through the data for you anyway. If you can, I’d like it if you could focus on the submersible after the reconnaissance drones.”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll be right on it, then.” She gave him a thumbs up, slipping off his desk and toward her own.
“I’ll bring you lunch in a bit. Imma go check on the others,” he called.
Her stomach grumbled at the mention, her head turning to give him an appreciative smile. “Oh! Thanks!”
\= = = = =
Avian creatures chirped from their perches in the trees nearby. The wind softly rustled red leaves as grass gently gave way to calculated footfalls. A warm sun laid its light on Shar’khee’s neck. It was surprisingly pleasant, were one to take the time to notice. The mainland was a confusing place for the paladin, with its disparate representations of nature contrasting so heavily. Some days were filled with blood and ravenous beasts, while others were left within the domain of simplicity and beauty. She was content to have the latter, yet it felt like a facade veiling the former—a soft exterior covering the maliciously spiked interior. Never could she leave herself to carelessness, no matter how welcoming it might be.
Hence why she worked to ensure the safety of the star-sent’s castles and their inhabitants, her days largely spent patrolling for any roaming swarms that may wish to cause them harm. She typically used the routine to think, but today offered little in the way of solitude. This time, she was accompanied by the previously banished guardswoman, and was tasked with instructing the new one, though the specifics of what such lessons should entail were vague. Still, Shar’khee did all that she could so as not to disappoint Harrison, so she could only attempt to meet his expectations of her.
She told the yellow-skinned female of the threats that the settlement faced, how one was to defeat them, and what to expect from the beasts. The guardswoman was directed to practice her form with the spear in both thrusts and throwing for some time afterward, proving herself to be well-built. Such was expected of her profession after all.
It was pleasing to have another capable of patrolling the settlement’s outskirts for swarms, as it would greatly impact how effectively the colony could react to such a threat. If her routine was to suffer for the colony’s well-being, she was happy to show the new one her patrol route and note what to look out for.
The guardswoman was not a perfect student, however. Shar’khee never addressed it directly, but the yellow-skinned female obviously discredited the danger posed by the abhorrent, not-so-subtly shrugging off any warnings.
…That was until they stumbled upon the ‘hyena-boars,’ as Harrison called them.
The beasts resided in a clearing not too far from the castles, carelessly meandering across the sea of tall grass. Shar’khee quickly crouched, dragging the guardswoman down with her. Once she assessed that the creatures were not an imminent danger, she decided it would be an excellent opportunity to show the new one how to properly engage a threat. She was about to propose the idea, yet her speech was silenced just as swiftly.
Orange flashes darted through the trees around the glade. Taloned feet and gnashing teeth tore across the ground toward the unsuspecting beasts at the center. It was much too late for them. They were slow. Surrounded. Unaware. It was as quick as it was vicious, the forest’s reds turning a deeper crimson hue in a moment's notice underneath the abhorrent’s brutality.
Gangly monstrosities gnawed and ripped at the dead creatures, brief glimpses of raw flesh and white bone protruding from the small spaces between the clumped-up beasts. Repulsive wet splatters of blood and gore overlapped the calm noises of the forest, the grisly scene serenaded by the softest of nature’s symphonies. It was a sickening juxtaposition.
Shar’khee bit back the unease and steeled herself. They were within twenty paces—close enough to smell the abhorrent’s vile stench of rot and bile, yet far enough so as not to be noticed. She briefly considered backing away and retreating, her focus bouncing between the different avenues of escape, or how to cover her footst—
Crack.
Several sets of feral, eyeless maws snapped in their direction, the blood dripping off freshly dampened teeth. The guardswoman gasped, Shar’khee’s gaze following to see the mistake: a singular broken branch crinkled as a yellow-colored foot raised off the splintering twig.
The paladin exhaled sharply and smoothly stood up, brandishing two spears and her shield. Her glare settled on the still crouching guardswoman. “You are to stay behind my shield and let them appr—ch. Rem—ber what I have told you. Aim for their maws when you thrust y—r lance.”
The other female nodded, shakily pulling out her own weapons with unsteady placement hampering her grip. There was an obvious nervousness to her gaze. Hesitance. That would not do.
Shar’khee faced the prowling abhorrent her knuckles shifting hue as she prepared for their advance, for there was no chance that they wouldn’t. True to her experience, the stalking turned to a gallop with several clicks of grotesque tongues, the swarm bolting toward her as one. She snarled and slammed her bulwark into the ground, letting the approaching beasts skewer themselves amongst its spikes.
There were only ten—a paltry amount. She had defended against magnitudes more, and yet she still stood. What is more, they were mindless. Uncoordinated. They would be but stains in the cloth she used to clean her armor. Perhaps, if they were fortunate, they might leave a furrow in her shield to remember them by. Her arms tensed as the first leapt.
One by one, the abhorrent fell, their repulsive green blood splattering under her thrusts. Each awaiting corpse tore across the grove’s grass, lunging to their deaths with gaping maws and unfeeling hunger, yet she did not yield. Their shells were crushed by her shield and impaled by her Goddess-blessed spears, becoming but one more smear across their surface. Ten motionless lumps lay before her, seeping their ichor into the soil, none having passed the barrier she became. Dead, just as the Creator intended. She remained vigilant for a few moments longer, watching for any more of the disgusting creatures.
None showed themselves, finally allowing blood to flow to her fingers once again. The shield’s heavy presence weighed down her back, the blood flicked off of her spears before she returned them to their place.
“Are y–u well?” Shar’khee addressed the frozen Malkrin, wiping away the splatter on her bracers. The guardswoman stared at the small pile of deceased creatures, her heavy breaths and widened eyes moving from the spear from her singular kill. The paladin huffed. “We are fort—ate that there were so few.”
“F-Few? God help us…” Her horrified, stunned gaze slowly met the paladin’s. “Y-You said there were hundreds on the crimson nights? H-How do you… They were s-so fast.”*
”As I h–ve warned,” Shar’khee affirmed.
“You are a paladin! You all exaggerate your feats… I thought it was just a facade!”
“I have no r—son to lie,” she returned tersely, shrugging off the insult to her station and shaking her head. “The mainl—d is far more dangerous than ten gnash—g beasts; more so than that of your island hamlet. Pick yourself up. We m—t inform the others of this incursion.”
The yellow-skinned female snarled, furrowing her brows at the ground in frustration. At whom…? Shar’khee? Herself? Regardless, the female promptly gathered her composure, pushing air through clenched jaws. A step forward had her feet splash in the small pool of blood, the Malkrin nodding toward the paladin to continue back to the castles.
“…for the village.”
Shar’khee paused in her stride and faced her, frowning at the determination and anger leaking through the intent. “W—t was that?”
Her question was returned with honesty, a huffed voice marred by vexation. “Paladin, how am I to defend my village-mates as I am now?”
“‘As you are now?’ What do you m—n?”
The guardswoman stared down at her spear, wood creaking under her grip. “I have faltered before what you deem a paltry threat, and the thought of an even greater one sows dread deep within my bones. I wish… I wish to be better prepared to defend those of my village. I cannot help but see their faces on those of the furred creature in the clearing, and yet, even if I am so close, I am just as unable to protect them.”
Shar’khee stared down the yellow female, a long gaze taking in a rare showing of sincerity. “Y—r fears are one we all share, new one. Do not be ashamed of them. All t—t matters is that you do not let them rem—n mere fear, but make them your strength. So tell me, do you wish to impr—e? To ensure they do not fall while you are support—g them?”
The yellow-skinned female released a shuddering breath that bled off the worst of her indecision, a newly invoked flame flaring within her visage. “I do, paladin. I seek to protect and to be of use.”
“Then, if you wish to make y—rself resilient in the face of all that opposes us, it would be my undertak—g to forge you anew. Fortunately, Harrison has ordered such already, and his guidance shall prove ever useful, should you pursue it.”
The guardswoman shuffled in place at the star-sent’s mention, her eyes slipping downwards. “He is of a great many resources, but I would rather receive your teachings than those of a craftsman… or that of a male, deity-sent he might be.”
She placed a palm on the female’s shoulder. “He is far more than you might ever k—w. Regardless of if you ac—pt his guidance, I commend your conviction. However—” Her hand gripped tighter, though not enough to instill hostility. “—understand that you are protecting more than just your vi—age-mates.”
The new one nodded, staring up at the paladin with stallwart resolve. “Of course. I shall be in your tutelage, then.”
Shar’khee smiled. “T—n let us begin.”
\= = = = =
Akula was becoming increasingly certain that she knew how her parents once felt. The green-skinned fisherwoman was currently rotating between the many tasks placed upon her, guiding the newcomers through the minutia of their tasks so they might live up to the potential Harrison saw within them. She was gratified to have her own talents recognized by the Creator, but it also placed a great many responsibilities in her talons. Of course, she handled each new addition with finesse befitting her heritage, never once balking from the increasing demands. If anything, she felt validated; it was required of her as a female anyway, was it not? The more feminine-appropriate labor and management one undertakes, the higher authority they were granted.
It began with a simple assignment to oversee the chef’s introduction to the star-sent’s provided cooking appliances. As fascinating and convenient as utilities were, she held no interest in preparing any more food than she already had, but teaching another to operate the machines would alleviate such requirements of her. She reluctantly accepted the task when it was proposed, especially considering the fact that Harrison was much too busy with his other projects to bother with something as benign as cooking. His work was more valuable elsewhere.
The task itself went well, and the pink-skinned chef was quick to pick up on the use of the various kitchen devices, as well as the smoker. A grin had grown when she considered the possibility of all males understanding such domestic things readily, yet her mirth at removing the masculine job required of her was short-lived. Despite the newly initiated Malkrin’s success, Harrison had Akula frequently return to oversee the numerous cooking operations being conducted. That was in tandem with the back-to-back fishing trips made by both herself and the newly acquired females.
…Which was something else the green-skinned cycle-worshipper was ordered to oversee.
She had left the chef to his devices after producing another batch of partially seasoned meals, returning to the Creator with hopes of a break. He applauded her efforts with a nod and tersely spoken appreciation, then quickly pushed two spearguns into her hand and directed her to the ocean, where the twins were ‘working with jack shit,’ as the busy male said. She was to give the fisherwomen the tools and make sure they were used properly, and offer additional assistance in acquiring ‘enough fish to have us fed for a little bit.’
So, she left to complete the given task, feeling somewhat appreciative that her speargun was of superior quality to those she would be delivering—the newcomers were only afforded the lesser, roped-bolt version. It was only natural that she was in possession of their greatest assets, of course; the star-sent saw her as the only one capable of wielding such fantastic ammunition, showing trust that was rightfully placed in her. That did not mean the gray-skinned females were unsatisfied with their own gifts, however. The twins were swiftly caught up on the ‘manual of arms’ and sent to work, somehow managing to keep up with Akula in spite of their land-based origins. The two were fast enough to outpace the cycle-worshipper in sheer speed, but their lack of numerous winters spent traversing deeper waters meant they required frequent rests, breaking the ocean’s surface after every third captured fish or so.
Still, she had to appreciate their dedication to their task. They never complained about Akula pushing them further to reach the star-sent’s vague objective. Such a task was entrusted to her—and by proxy, the other two—and thus it would be completed, no matter how much her comfortable bed… couch called her tiring muscles.
The group of three hauled net after full net of fresh meat to the chef—and sewist, who later joined him—forcing him to relegate much of the catch to long-term storage as the kitchen simply could not deal with the surplus. At least three-quarters of the fish were put to slow cook in the now Malkrin-sized smoker. The craftsman had upgraded it with a kit provided by Harrison, who had recycled much of the dining room and workshop furniture to accommodate it. The Creator’s showcased urgency to gather materials was clearly not unfounded… It was admirable how he used what little he had left to ensure food would not be scarce. Additionally, the apparatus exuded an excellent scent for all the survivors to enjoy, the earthy aroma drawing in some of the other Malkrin for their breaks or meals.
Those were not the end of the cycle-worshiper’s tasks, however. She was also required to report on Shar’khee’s progress in training the guardswoman—helping to recycle the small swarm of abhorrent they cleared earlier—as well as the wood storage building’s progress. Indeed, she was advising and assisting however and wherever applicable. To say she was seen all around the settlement would be an understatement.
Nevertheless, she was appreciative to see her efforts bearing fruit by sundown. The processing of their meals from sea to plate was quite efficient, and those that Akula taught were now well-practiced in their duties. The twin fisherwomen dove from wave to wave, bringing fish back to the barracks, where the cook and sewist swiftly worked to transfer the meat to pans and smoker hooks alike. Then, the remnants of the Sea Goddess’ aquatic gifts would be subsequently recycled and given purpose anew as biofuel or perhaps future fertilizer.
The endless onslaught of duties and responsibilities had enlightened her, in a way. She could see where Harrison came from now; having a working project go from one point to another without input nor difficulty was a sight to behold, and it made her swell with pride. It was a surmountable feat to teach the barbaric ground-worshippers to do something properly.
…Well, they were not horrible Malkrin, so perhaps simply calling them ‘uninitiated’ was a more apt descriptor…
No matter the tribulations faced, and no matter how draining her new authority might be, her rest at the end of the day would be one that was well-earned, and it would be had with a sense of satisfaction. She deserved it, and perhaps that extended to the rest of the settlement as well.
- - - - -
[First] [Previous] [Next]
Next time on Total Drama Anomaly Island - Mine! Mine! Mine!

I've gone through the manual but this entire structure confuses me. On the old Gear Box app, if I plug a momentary switch pedal into 'Footswitch 1' then it will operate as on/off for a distortion pedal. Simple.
With Pod Farm I cannot figure out how this is supposed to work.
I've imported all my presets from Gear Box & they sound OK, but just won't toggle the stomp. I'm trying to future-proof myself for upgrading to a modern Mac. I've been using Gear Box for nearly 2 decades, but have a license for Pod Farm 2, so I'm trying to transition. Here's a pic of my settings -
https://preview.redd.it/2vkev3kcrc1d1.jpg?width=1567&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=140630390ad7969117403b133df8e85c21d0391e

Hi everyone,
I'm having an issue with my guitar where I get a small shock when I touch the bridge, and sometimes when I tap the strings. Has anyone experienced this before or know what might be causing it?
Details:

• The shocks are small but noticeable.
• They happen when I touch the bridge or sometimes when I tap the strings.
• After I get a shock, it doesn't happen again for a few more minutes.
• It only happens when the guitar is plugged into my Vox Pathfinder 10 amp.
• The shocks do not happen when plugged into my mini Marshall amp.
• The amp buzzes sometimes.
• I play barefoot and on my bed.
• I have my MacBook open nearby.
• The amp is plugged into a power board because of my room's layout.
• I use a JOYO Classic Chorus pedal.

Additional Information:

• My guitar is a Telecaster.
• My Vox Pathfinder 10 amp is brand new.
• I've checked the cables and connections, and they seem fine.

I'd really appreciate any advice or suggestions on what might be causing this and how to fix it.
Thanks in advance for your help!

Now I was just playing some Sabbath riffs on my guitar when I had a random thought which guitarist is better Randy or Tony is it Randy Rhodes with his two handed tapping Tremolo Bar Dive Bombs and intricate scale patterns or is it Tommy Iommi with his signature blues like guitar solos and dark minor key riffing with a revolutionary high gain heavily distorted tone with his use of power chords for me personally I can’t decide this is why I have asked you guys for your opinion

Authors note: sorry about the long as all hell wait for this one. I work in retail management and the start of the spring is always a massive rush.
[First]/[Previous]
Memory transcription subject: Zevek, deeply moved Venlil
Standard date: September 4th 2136
I blubbered weakly, whimpering to myself in the weak light of my room. Overcome with a level of raw emotion that came a from a source that I would've never imagine.
wrong...everything we've been told about the humans was wrong...they are so much more than beasts..so much more than just some...curious quirk of biology...no more than a true people could craft a story so...moving.
I wiped away the last of my tears credits for the human movie BladeRunner slowly scrolled up the screen. "He...just wanted to be a person.." I whined in the dark, still trying to wrestle with my own about the past claw. I had been arrogant, foolishly confident in myself when I had first started. The humans had a level o cultural diversity that was head spinning merely on the surface. So much to just, and so much I simply just lacked the perspective to fully understand. The sight of their raw, unmolested eyes at the beginning had me a shaking wreck in my seat, but soon the events that unfolded simply had me too enamored. The pride I felt from braving such a hurtle was quickly drowned by the tale that unfolded...But once I was working into the depths of their media was when things truly began to spiral into an utter journey, one that had only begun. I had begun with simply searches that went along with my own expertise. Mainly engineering and machine learning tech, and promptly into a treasure trove of stories and media that kept following this trend that kept coming up with these apes.
Duality. so much hate, yet raw love, so much violence, yet so many tales of peace and empathy. This species was utterly madness, one moment is brutality, mercy, forgiveness..it simply made no sense..I...have to know more, not enough data...
"Ok." I huffed to myself as I slid the movie application out of the way. "Let's see how else these humans entertain themselves." I began to work away at my interface, punching in simply 'games' into the search bar. Naturally a veritable wall ran into me and I began to move my way through it with a care, until I came across a video...of some kind...battle simulation...My tail curled in confusion as one human was visible in some kind of smaller box, judging from features the human seemed young. My spine still try to rattle out of my back at those bright green pools that were blazing with an almost manic focus. I took another long breath, paws balling up on my desk, biting down on the instant reflex to dive under the desk. Sure...I've learned to brave it...sort of. The main screen of the footage, show some kind of heads up display. The long powerful arms of a human clutching a weapon that bobbed with the gait of the bouncing view. Clearly thi-
"Got a guy on your left main hall!!" I jump at the sudden urgent bark of another human voice, nearly falling out of my chair. The human on screen seemed to barely react, but this...simulated human he was controlling suddenly whirled in the given direction. The firearm snapped up to the sights with blinding speed, the weapon barked, cutting down another virtual human in mere seconds. There was some kind of odd chime and above the body a human set of numbers popped above the head, adding to the score at another corner. "Good tap, dude was trash..."The worlds were lightning, the choppy and quick barks between hunters on the move, the human not even breaking his stride as he piloted his avatar. I sat by in my seat, ears flicking at the sounds, enamored I let this video play. Watching how the human so efficiently and rapidly maneuvered through structures and streets with ease, slaying other digital humans. it was brief but the context was clear.With shaking paws I type into the search bar again, the words smashed out with ease.
-[Strategy, combat simulation game]-
There was another flood of entries, several of them showing many such titles...trailers, and vids. Claws slipped by as I watched humans not only against programs but each other, contesting in grand games of resource management and strategy. Simulated nations as small as pre space flight fiefdoms to interstellar empires, jockeying for power and dominance. I sat there in silence, can of sprunk going warm as enormous interstellar fleets, coordinated by a human juvenile, roll over other human star empires. Deftly maneuvering fleets, cycling exhausted and damaged ones back to shipyards in time with fresh vessels. They sent the heaviest out to key assets, intentionally bracketing the other's to crush they're strongest. My tail hung limply as I took a drag from the can, which landed in the bin to join the others.
these are entertainment, they play these for fun....combat sims of all kinds they play for fun...I'm starting to think that Tarva was wise to side with these creatures, if this is what they're younglings are capable of in their pastimes, then they are showing incredible restraint in their martial prowess...more data...another entry..
I cracked opened another can, and gave a cabinet below my desk a kick, it slid open, full of various local nuts. The paw full was stuffed in my mouth as my claws flew across my interface.
-[non violent digital games]-
As if this search was mocking me another utter wall of returns washed across my interface, was there anything these human *don't d-*My train of thought feel face first into the pavement as a video came on, another of these digital games but...The sound of gushing water rippled through my ear pieces as a human gabbed on about some nonsense on a stream. While on screen they were..washing a construction vehicle. From the little avatar that was wielding a power-washer, blasting away at the mud and grime caked on the machine. I wrack my brain for what kind of reason of why any creature would engage in such a thing for anything but training. It simply made no sense, illogical towards enjoyment....and yet. My eyes tracked the flowing water, watching as mud and filth was blasted away to reveal its hardy finish I..I felt a satisfaction. That kind of sensation where you take your first bite into a fruit, that same feeling when something you've made slides into its planned place.I didn't know how long I watched the massive construction machine be washed..but it was downright hypnotic to watch.Something tells me I've only barely scratched the surface of these creatures....
Standard Date September 5th 2136
I slinked back into my apartment after my work claw, sighing as I hung up my cloak. Work had been fine, it got rather funny when management had come to down to check on our progress and pretended to know what the brahk he was talking about. But such thoughts were lost on me while I went back to my terminal sitting back down and loading my earth search engine. My secret researched continued, this time I decided to take a far more broad approach with my work, and went for history.
-[Human history]-
[Memory subject time lapse: 3 standard hours][Resuming playback, subject brainwave patterns at low stability]
I lay there in my chair, I just didn't know..how to feel at this point. Several times I had to stop, several times I nearly heaved my lunch into my garbage. Several times I was moved by the words of human hearts. Several times I was taught horrible lessons that have to be learned in horrible times. I was shown the mountains of bodies it takes to truly fight against those who would do evil. They're stories told me of how people despite all this could forgive, how...they fought for those we would put down without a second thought.
I've truly gone off the deep end haven't I..because every time I think I've come to some kind of understanding of these human's, they break the pattern, so they've done so much, come to far..I'm not sure what to even be afraid of anymore..I still don't have enough..
Across my screen, a man a truly ancient human that seemed to be naught but skin and bone, but his terrible predator eyes shone. Those blue pools gleamed with an ironclad conviction that despite his decades of retirement. He was telling his story among a lengthy documentary of the human's second world war, which even with its age was still the most brutal conflict they're species ever knew. It was such calculated savagery, the utter destruction, the ruthless genocide, everything that I would come to expect from a predator species. But then more of the footage came along with the old humans talking.
"Ya..ya see..we have been pushing a'way over inta' paris for the better'parta fiave weeks.." The ancient male rumbled in his seat towards the camera, his hellish eyes making my pelt want to leap off my bones, but his words had me mystified. "I was just about smoked five steps ta'hell after pushin through them lines, only thing keepin me goin was thinkin about not being killed by no damn nazi boys..." The human worked his strange and loose lips for a moment, sharp gaze sliding away from the camera."When ah wus out there, pushing inta paris, we had a stop, and my busted up ass was so dog chewed t'hell out I just leaned on a corner pole and didn't give much of'a damn, but den.." His words slowed, a certain something gleamed in his eyes, was it guilt, determination, the species was still too alien for me to tell. "I saw dis lil girl out there, walking down tha street our way all dusty and looking like the devil had took'a swipe at'er..she sidled on up'ta me..gave me a half toothed little smiled and thanked me, since she lived in the part of city we had cleaned out for'em..Her name wus Noelle it was.." I felt my throat tighten along with the long dead human in the footage as he fought to keep up the words."then she walked on away, an all of tha'sudden..Ah weren't tired no more..."
The man's words rung deep within me while the documentary went on. So much agony, so much destruction, met headlong with conviction, forgiveness and determination. How could creatures so vicious and lethal and the same time show such grief and almost mad drive to aid their fellow being?
At every turn they seem to jump between the actions of prey and predator, banding together, seeking to defend themselves from danger, fleeing and submitting in the face of death and danger. Yet in the very same moment some humans act like true predators, instantly reacting to perceived threats with determined, relentless force. Then..in so many instances this bloodthirsty rage they seem to summon is at its strongest when they're kin are threatened..These creatures only grow more complex the more I research..
I rub my face as I slip into bed, sliding onto the mattress, paws coming to my face. Despite the long paw, sleep couldn't come. My glasses stayed on, the display flitting as I kept up my reading into human histories..seeing their story.
I'm done for..Brahk..I'm done for...I have to keep this a secret, because I'm starting to understand these predators...
Memory transcription Subject: Zevek, Distracted Venlil Standard Date: September 6th, 2136
I can research and work all I like, but a venlil still needed to eat and get to all the little drudges of life. This rest paw was going to be expended on errands. Sure I'm a herd and family of great affluence and I could easily have everything I needed delivered directly to my apartment on my hefty salary. I decided against such a practice, seeing as a waste of credits when I had paws where such tasks could be taken to. Besides...I was thinking sometime outside would do me a bit of good.
Mind still in awash from my research, I connected my glasses to my pad, clipped it to my belt, and slipped my cloak on my shoulders. After a momentary pause, I quickly snatch up my pair of wireless ear buds. Flicking the doc open, I push them into my ears as they connect to my interface into them, and keying my pad into my terran connection.
Slipping into the cold biting air of BlackRock I set up the browser yet again in an off box in my vision as I walked, grocery bag folded under an arm and out the door. My paws worked along the road towards the small tram station stop at the center of my hab block. I began to slip into the pedestrian traffic, small groups of venlil moving together made then easier to slip around. My searching through the countless song lists gave so many options, so I simple threw caution to the wind and picked something at random as I stopped at the platform. I let the music player shuffle
Stairway to heaven-Lead Zeppelin
For what I was expecting for the music of the humans it was far gentler in its beginning. It began with a low and soft kind of string instrument that I recall was a 'guitar' from my studies. I leaned back in the cheap plastic seat of the tram, barely noticing I was in it how hypnotized I was by such sounds. Then the human began to sing, its rumble growl so oddly melodic, as he began to sing me a song about a stairway to heaven. There was something so melancholic about it, some cultural points weren't hitting, but even someone as socially inept as myself could pick it up. By the time I was slipping off the tram I felt an odd spring in my gait as the song picked up, despite its screeching notes there was something about this electric guitar that scratched an urge I didn't know was there. The song was at full swing towards its in when I entered the simple market nearby my home, I found my tail swaying and bobbing to the alien yet bewitching rhythm.
And she's buuuying a stairway to heeavaan..~
The incredible voice of the human tapered off into a soft silence while I was picking out some proper snacks. Venlil music was often very gentle and easy on the ears, but even this oddly mellow human song had a certain spark the my own people's simply lacked. While I stuffed a fruit back and another case of drinks in my bag my search for another song was far less timid that before. A small moment of memory slipped in..going about my brother's and fathers constant talk about the taint of predators, how it would corrupt all it touched. It sent a small spike of..guilt..maybe remorse while I stood at an end-cap.
Well..I've already delved into their history and entertainment for several paws now, your already down the mine shaft Zevek, might as well see the bottom..Besides, its not like they're culture will infect me that badly will it?
[Time lapse: 1 hour of shopping and music surfing later]
I never been one for dancing, in fact I'm sure I couldn't dance to save my life. Additionally, I've never had much motivation, or the raw confidence to do so..
That is until I starting hearing songs like this...
For some reason the beat just had me moving, I didn't realize how much I was moving until I was a few stops on the train, and by the time I was off the train I was dancing my way home. Perhaps something had my mood high, perhaps..with my predator disease having gone so deep I lacked the concern. A full bag of groceries hanging from the crook of my elbow as I went along.
Nor did I care about the looks I was getting as I came bouncing off my train and into my neighborhood. In my gyrating, grooving walk I gave an utterly perturbed mother and gave her a jovial tail flick as I passed her up the stairs.
I found myself swaying to the human's voice as I idled in the elevator, something about the tenor and melody. The beat making my paws sway and bounce, head swaying as the music began to grow. The peak rolling through my ears as I all but flowed through the door, arms spread wide as I slid through my door.
STAY WITH MEEEEEEEE..~
I didn't even realize I was singing along as I bounce along in my room. Arms rolling in ways I never would have never done in public, my tail wrote patterns in the air that even I didn't know. Her voice was simply incredible..how could I not move..I could feel it in my soul..I was on my bed at one point e- bling-bling! The sound of the specific chime tone I had set up for Dayna's message suddenly sounded out. After giving the floor a perfect exterminators tackle I scrambled, face blooming as I snatched my pad. Gaze rapidly scanning over the new message.
-hey Zevek, how's it going?-
I swallowed a little at the message, clearly I couldn't tell her about my highly incriminating research into her species completely. Yet, my heart ached at the very concept of lying to her, it was a foolish impulse. But I did my best to get something on the screen.
-its been going great Dayna, I've been looking a lot into human culture, why didn't you tell me that your species had such a huge range of music?!-
Half truths we're the finest lies, as father would always say.
-it what happens when your culture is constantly shifting and changing, human tribal nature causes a lot diversification, but more importantly, I've got some awesome news Zev!-
My ears perk forward, my fingers flying over the keyboard.
-what kind of news, do tell?-
-they gonna push my program forwards, I'm packing for my trip to Venlil prime as we speak-
In that moment, alone in the dark, my heart leaped for more reasons than I'll ever know.

I played these games up until Guitar Hero 4 World Tour. Always wanted to get back into it but the controller situation was daunting. Anyway I got Rock Band 4 and managed to snag a Riffmaster a few weeks ago, I have a bunch of questions and figured I'd throw it in one thread (I play on Hard/Expert fwiw):

1. I accidentally realized you can tap every solo section. Since when? Has that always been a thing?
2. What's the point of the smaller frets near the bottom of the fret board? I get it's for solo'ing, but I can never move my hand down there fast enough without missing notes. Does it affect your score? Sometimes I just play full songs down there, though, it's a bit easier. Why don't most pros just play on those frets?
3. How the hell do I alternate pick without messing up in this game? Any tips? I've been playing guitar for well over a decade but in this game alternate picking ruins me.
4. Does the DLC ever go on sale? $1.99/song is still a steal compared to Fortnite, but I'm patient and love a deal.
5. Any good DLC variety packs besides the full album ones? (Already downloaded all the free ones) I like a good variety of lead guitar songs with fun solo sections vs just simple power chord rhythms. My one complaint about this game is the library is clearly geared towards full band songs obviously. It makes sense. But coming from Guitar Hero 1-4, I feel like there's not a lot of great guitar-centered songs here. Like Buckethead, Dragonforce, Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, etc.
6. Is there any way to use a wireless mic with this game? Like if I plug one into a PS5 controller or the guitar itself? I wonder if this game could help me practice playing real guitar and singing at the same time lol.
7. I can't turn on my PlayStation 5 with just the Riffmaster. I have to turn it on using my PS5 controller then I can control my PS5 with the Riffmaster. Is that normal or is there any way I can turn it on with the Riffmaster.

Thanks!

Playing By Ear
Bloodhound Saga
Wakeup Super
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First Prev Next
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Memory transcription subject: Bonti, Yotul Pre-Med Student (Second Term) White Hill University
Date [standardized human time]: November 5th, 2136
My eyes felt dry as I stared at my pad. Once more, I read over the words in front of me, and once more, I felt lost.
I just don’t understand what it’s saying here. It’s reverse osmosis, but which part of the cell is undergoing the reaction here? They could have phrased this better.
I flipped between the virtual textbook and my notes. My brain was starting to feel like mush after everything I'd put it through over the last claw. I didn’t expect the work to be so extensive, and I regretted putting it off with each new thing I jotted down.
At least I made sure she was alright. It was worth the inconvenience.
I'd stayed with Lanyd for a couple paws after the broadcast, waiting for everything outside to calm down. It was a little strange to be back on her couch again. I couldn’t help but feel like I spent just as much time sleeping there as I did in my own bed. It wasn’t my intention to impose on her so much; I had an apartment of my own, but, unfortunately, crazy shit seemed to just pop up like clockwork.
I probably should have gone home sooner, but she got nervous when I suggested it was safe enough for me to leave…
We passed the time listening to Human music, trying to push the chaos of the reveal to the back of our minds. I wished that I had my guitar to play along, but I'd brought nothing but my pad along with me. Instead, I listened as Lanyd accompanied with both her flytser and her keyboard. Her skills never ceased to amaze me, and I found myself distracted more often than not…ignoring my responsibilities…
Enlek certainly didn't slow down even a little. Not that I really expected him to. That old bastard really doesn't waste any time.
All my other classes had dialed the workload back after the broadcast, giving the students a chance to process everything. It wasn't just my classes either. Lanyd’s courses were the same. Professor Haeli recorded some mini-lectures, but that was all she did.
Professor Enlek, however, took the world-shattering news in stride, and he seemed to expect everyone else to do the same.
That man won’t let a single damn thing get in the way of his teaching process.
So, after being less than productive during all the chaos, I now had catching up to do. Finally, I was starting to near the end of Enlek’s assignments. Or, rather, I was trying. The last few chapters were a slog, and when I messaged the prof to ask for clarification on certain topics, he only repeated that it was already covered in the reading.
Ah, yes, of course. I simply forgot to try and comprehend what I was reading! Silly me. I was just letting the words imprint themselves on my eyeballs.
Then again, my sarcasm was probably pretty damn close to reality. I doubted the subject was as complex as I made it out to be, but, by that point, my brain was barely functional. The fatigue was no doubt obscuring the obvious. I’d been going at it pretty much nonstop since I got back to my apartment, no time for breaks.
It was a shame, too. Brad was in town just the paw before, but I couldn’t make the time to see him without putting off my schoolwork even longer than I already had. I knew there would be more opportunities to see him in the future, but I still kicked myself for missing that one.
I wouldn’t be so behind if I’d kept track of my work. Lanyd was fine, but I was focused on her the entire time instead of my assignments…
Of course, I didn’t blame Lanyd for my predicament. It was my own decision to go check on her, my own decision to stay, and my own decision to fret over her when she was actually okay. In truth, I was glad that my worrying wasn’t needed. She’d been a little out of sorts lately, and I was afraid that the broadcast would make things worse. All was well, however, and I should’ve focused on my own responsibilities sooner.
I continued to stare at the text in front of me. I’d been wall-eyed at it for the last few minutes, yet I hadn’t processed any of it.
Honestly, this whole chapter has felt like gibberish to me. I didn’t expect molecular biology to be easy by any means, but sheesh. Is it fatigue, or am I just not understanding it? An extra pair of eyes on this would be nice…
Just then, I realized how stupid I was. There was an extra set of eyes I could use. I swiped the virtual textbook away and looked for Tenseli's contact. The Zurulian was supposed to be my study buddy, but I hadn't talked to him at all since the broadcast. The whole thing had me more frazzled than Lanyd I supposed.
I found Tenseli’s contact and tapped to give him a call. Part of me wondered if he’d even pick up. I had no idea how he might have taken the news. To be honest, I didn’t really know much about the guy. He seemed nice enough, but he kind of approached me out of nowhere.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to speculate for long. The Zurulian’s face appeared on my pad. His ears were perked up and he seemed in high spirits.
“Hey, Tenseli,” I greeted. “What’s up?”
“Nothing much with all the lectures still canceled,” he chuckled. “I finished trudging through Enlek’s assignments last paw, though I’m guessing you haven’t?”
“Nope,” I admitted. “I was keeping tabs on a friend after the broadcast and…I might have put off my schoolwork.”
“I can’t really blame you. Do you need a helping paw?”
“Yeah, I’m feeling stumped here on chapter six. I get the process with the cells’ reverse osmosis, but I don’t really get the phrasing on this part. Which compound is undergoing the reaction?”
“Hold on. Let me get the text pulled up. Which section are you looking at?”
“Section 6.1.2.”
There was a pause as Tenseli moved to the specified text. Once he got there, understanding flashed through his features.
“Oh yeah. This part felt unclear to me as well. I ended up sending a message to Professor Enlek about it. He was able to explain it better.”
That gave me a bit of pause.
“Really? When I messaged him, he just told me it was in the text. You actually got some clarification out of him?”
Telensi gave me a look of confusion.
“Yes, he was quite thorough. Enlek has been very helpful in my experience. I’ve been asking him to elaborate on topics since the course began. He’s always given me an in-depth answer.”
“Huh. Well, this is the first time I’ve contacted him. Maybe I just caught him at a bad time. If both of us were confused by that part, I bet a lot of others were too. He probably got tired of answering the same questions over and over again.”
“That makes sense,” Telensi agreed. “Especially since you’re likely one of the last ones to ask.”
Once again, I internally kicked myself for not starting on my assignments sooner.
Damn my procrastination.
“Well, it’s a good thing I have you,” I chuckled. “Think you could walk me through this?”
“Of course! But…it might be kind of hard to do it over a call like this. Do you want to meet up in person? I can show you some of the diagrams I drew.”
“That works,” I replied. “I’ll send you my address.”
I tapped out a message and waited to make sure he received it. After a moment, I heard the ping of his pad, and his ears perked up in response.
“Got it. Alright, I’ll head right over.”
“Sweet. Sorry to drag you out for this.”
“Ah, it’s no issue. It’s not like I have anything worthwhile to do right now anyway. Not with so many businesses still closed. See you in a bit.”
With that, the call disconnected and I set my pad back down on the table. Hopefully, with Tenseli’s help, I could finally get through this roadblock in my work. Since I had to wait for him anyway, I decided it would be a good time for a break. I’d have an easier time learning if I was fully present when he arrived.
With a tired sigh, I stood up from my seat and started stretching each part of my body.
Ugh, I’ve been sitting too long. I’m so stiff. Maybe I should do something a little more tactile.
I turned my attention to the case that held my new guitar. I’d barely had a chance to play it since Kila gave it to me. Between the start of my classes, the campus tours, and, most recently, Cilany’s broadcast, I was extremely short on free time.
Even now, I couldn’t play it for long, but it was better than sitting there doing nothing.
I picked the case up, placed it on the table, flipped up the latches, and slowly opened it wide. The matte black body of the instrument stared up at me from inside. Light glistened off the silver pickups. It was a beautiful instrument, and I once again found myself impressed with Kila’s craftsmanship.
I pulled the guitar out of the case and tossed the strap over my shoulder. It handled a little differently from a plehr, but it was actually very similar to the Yotul glesta as well as the Letian yilik. The former was actually fretted like a guitar, but it pertained to the thirty-one tone division of the ‘octave’, unlike the Human’s twelve tone system or the Venlil’s twenty-four tone system. The yilik was fretless, but it had an almost identical body shape to the guitar. I had both a glesta and yilik in my collection, though neither were as well-built as what Kila had made.
I plucked out a few notes, just one at a time to get my claws moving. Once they were loose, I ran up and down a few scales, then started switching between chord shapes.
Without the instrument being plugged into the amp, it wasn’t very loud or imposing, but I could still hear the distorted sound in my mind. My claws moved up and down the fretboard, ‘calibrating’ themselves to the space between each fret. After learning so many similar instruments, I always took a moment during my warmup to acclimate myself to the way everything was spaced out.
Once I felt loose, I started picking my way through some simple songs, passing the time until Tenseli arrived.
-
Memory transcription subject: Lanyd, Venlil Music Student (Second Term) White Hill University
Date [standardized human time]: November 5th, 2136
I tapped at the keys of my keyboard, feeling my claws gradually acclimate to the device. It felt familiar to the flytser, yet different. When I played them in close succession, it was like stepping into an anti-grav chamber, as though my whole way of thinking had to adjust.
That wasn't the only thing making me feel that way.
It felt quiet without Bonti around. Actually, it seemed that way ever since he stayed with me over the break. But, now that he'd stayed here again, the feeling returned in full.
What's more, that weird sensation of off-ness hadn't gone away either. It wasn't any more prominent than before, nor was it lessened. The same void continued to haunt me all the same.
Oddly enough, Cilany’s broadcast seemed almost unimportant to me. All my distractions came from within. And yet, they weren't the kind of thoughts that left me quivering with anxiety. everything just felt…confusing…
It's like a piece is missing, but I just can't tell what it is.
I cringed as I struck a wrong tone and sighed. My next session with Dr. Jacobson was about to begin, but I didn't really know what to say to him. We'd talked about this feeling the last time, as well as the time before, yet we never came any closer to determining the cause.
My anxious spirals were much easier to recognize. At least, they became more recognizable once I started writing down my experiences. I could tell where they originated from, and I could follow them back to the source. Sometimes the bad thoughts still got the better of me, but at least I was more aware of them.
This feeling, on the other paw, was more of an absence. There was a gap somewhere, and I couldn't figure out what was supposed to fill it. It nagged at me no matter where I was or who I was with. Some part of me was always unfulfilled.
I wish my brain came with an instruction manual. It shouldn't be this difficult to process my own thoughts.
As if to reply to reassure me, my pad began to ring. I knew it was Dr. Jacobson before I even looked at the screen. The time for our session had finally rolled around. The human therapist wasn’t a brain instruction manual, but he did give me more direction than I’d ever had before. I owed him a lot, much more than what he charged monetarily.
Maybe I could ship him a gift at some point, just something to show my appreciation.
I tapped to accept the call and Dr. Jacobson’s face appeared on the screen.
“Good paw, Lanyd,” he greeted. “It seems a lot has happened since our last session.”
I supposed that was an understatement. We hadn’t spoken since Cilany’s broadcast, and that was large enough that even Humans on Earth knew what had transpired.
“It’s certainly been eventful,” I agreed. “Though, to be honest, it…didn’t really affect me much. Something has always felt wrong to me, so I guess I wasn’t all that surprised. Things still feel wrong, but I know that’s just how I normally think anyway.”
“Ideally, we’ll be able to remedy that,” Dr. Jacobson replied. “We can at least make the doubt feel less everpresent. Though, by the sounds of things, you’re still feeling that emptiness?”
“I don’t know if I can even call it that,” I sighed. “There’s something lacking, but…I don’t know. Can I even call it emptiness if there’s never been anything there before? I d-don’t know what to make of m-my own thoughts and feelings. I just know that s-something’s missing.”
I focused on the feeling of my paws on the keyboard. It was slowly becoming as effective as the flytser in anchoring me. I liked to think that it meant I was getting comfortable with the instrument, one positive in the sea of unsurity.
“There’s been no recent changes then?” Dr. Jacobson asked.
“No.”
“Hmmm…Is there a chance it might be a physical ailment? I’m unfamiliar with Venlil biology. Perhaps your body expresses problems in a way that doesn’t pertain to Humans?”
“Well…” I pondered the question. “I could probably stand to eat better, but Bonti cooked when he stayed here for a short while. Those meals were plenty nutritious, and I still felt the same way then. Maybe it could be all the walking from the tours? I would think that would improve my health though. I don’t have shortlung…”
“You may want to undergo a physical checkup just in case,” Dr. Jacobson suggested. “At least we can rule it out then.”
I flicked my ears in agreement. His practical approach always surprised me with its simplicity. In times where I got wrapped up in my internal struggles, he had a way of focusing me on present action. Truth be told, I didn’t think the problem stemmed from my physical health, but I hadn’t even considered it until he mentioned it.
That’s the difference, the motion that keeps me from stagnating.
“Is there anything else on your mind?” Dr. Jacobson snapped me from my introspection.
“Well…I agreed to p-play at the new jazz lounge. I’m a little n-nervous about it.”
“Oh? That sounds quite nice, actually! Why don’t you tell me about it?”
And so, the session continued on…
-
Memory transcription subject: Bonti, Yotul Pre-Med Student (Second Term) White Hill University
Date [standardized human time]: November 5th, 2136
My song was interrupted by a knock on the door. As much as I dreaded throwing myself back to my schoolwork, I was equally happy to know Tenseli had arrived. Hopefully, I could get past the trouble areas and catch back up before lectures resumed.
I set my guitar to the side and moved to open the door. As it swung open, I had to tilt my head down to look at the Zurulian.
I swear, I always expect them to be just a little taller.
“I’m here!” he gave a little hop in place. “Sorry for the wait!”
“No problem. I’m just glad you were available. Come on in.”
Tenseli obliged, zipping inside without hesitation.
“The campus is starting to get more active,” he slung his bag off of his shoulder. “It’s still kind of eerie though. Those first few paws after the broadcast were just…”
He shuddered in place of that last word.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’ve never seen White Hill so…dead, even during the break.”
“Well, classes are starting again soon. Hopefully it breathes life back into this-.”
Tenseli stopped as he rounded the edge of the couch, one eye focused on the guitar seated upon it.
“This is a guitar,” his voice was softer. “A Human instrument…”
“Yeah, I’ve been learning,” I replied. “A Human friend of mine has been teaching me. You know, the woman that played guitar and sang in the concert last term? I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to string instruments. Plucked strings, anyway.”
Tenseli’s focus remained on the instrument, unwavering.
“I actually thought about getting one of these from that engineering club, but I don’t know that I could even reach my way down the whole neck. It would be nice to see for myself though.”
“You can try your paw at playing that one,” I offered. “We should study first, of course, but you can totally take a crack at it after the fact.”
“I think I’ll take you up on that,” Tenseli signed agreement. “We’ll consider it payment for me coming over here to help you.”
I scoffed and shook my head.
“You didn’t mention a need for payment before!”
“I didn’t know you had a guitar before!”
“Pfft, whatever. Study first, music later.”
“Right!” the Zurulian unzipped his bag and drew his pad from within. “Let’s get started then!”
-
First Prev Next

Hello everybody,
I have been using my Marshall origin 50 for a couple of years now with no problems (apart from a speak needing replaced) and the other day I went to turn it on and it wasn’t working at all, only a small hum. Me and my friend took the amp section out and found a fuse had blown, so I bought some matching ones on Amazon replaced it and it was fine until I turned it to the 50 watt mode and it made a huge crack and then stopped working again.
I tried looking at the back again to see if the fuse had gone but they were all fine. I’m just using a standard IED lead to power my amp with nothing in the FX loop.
When I play I plug my board in though for testing I was just using a cable straight to the amp. I have tested the speaker by plugging my amp into my friends cabinet and it was still not working so I assume the speaker is fine.
When I turn my amp on it sounds like a small ambient hum but no volume change when I increase the master or gain, this is the same for the 5 and 10 watt channels, then when I switch to 50 watt mode the hum gets crazy loud and there is like dipping in the noise and crackling(it’s hard to explain what it sounds like) there is no sounds at all through my guitar and when I tap the end of the guitar cable it doesn’t even make a crackle like when you are plugging it in.
Sorry for the long details but if you have any suggestions or a hint as to what it might be that would be great! Thank you!

As the title says, I'm thinking of making some mods to my Surfliner. I am getting the humbucker coil tapped, pretty straightforward. I was also thinking of adding a Seymour Duncan SSL-4 Quarter Pound Flat Pole Middle (RWRP) to the middle and a Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Jag pickup in the neck. The reasoning for the Jag pickup is that the buzz I'm getting from the neck pickup is a bit much and it feeds back a ton with any distortion. Does anyone have any tips or feedback as far as the idea or how to approach? I believe they should fit because the single coils in the guitar right now are a standard size single coil. Thank you!

I've already had clone hero for a while and tapped the usual spreadsheets people always link. I used to get some music from chorus, and then c3. But when c3 became rhythmverse, I guess they lost a ton of content. I can't find stuff I def once got from C3, and alot of stuff just shows as charted for guitar. Any leads for new content would he appreciated. I play guitar, but like my drums more

Been getting into WSP and really enjoy Mike’s stuff. Am I wrong in saying that his guitar playing isn’t that insane? Not to say he isn’t an amazing guitarist, but I have yet to hear him play anything that comes across as super shreddy or technical. His playing comes across a stream or flow or the right stuff in the right spots. Super cool to hear. Anyone have any shows/songs/setlists where I can hear his style really well? Or any guitarists wanna tap in and explain? Thanks!

https://a.co/d/6HrgT0s
Link is to the official Boss Store.
Boss Katana Gen 3 100W 1x12" Guitar Combo Amplifier Bundle with Instrument Cable and Picks The Katana-100 offers commanding tones with its 100 watts of power and custom 12-inch speaker, making it ideal for gigs. Its innovative Power Control ensures inspiring sound and response even at low volumes, making it equally suitable for home practice sessions. Experience the unparalleled performance of Katana Gen 3, where superior sound meets cutting-edge technology!

• Rated Power Output: 100 W
• Nominal Input Level INPUT: -10 dBu (1 M ohms), AUX IN: -10 dBu (20 k ohms), RETURN IN: -10 dBu (100 k ohms)
• Speaker: 30 cm (12 inches) x 1

EFFECT BOOSTER button MOD button FX button DELAY button REVERB button TAP button BOOSTER knob MOD knob FX knob DELAY knob REVERB knob
TONE SETTING: CH1 button, CH2 button, CH3 button, CH4 button, PANEL button STEREO EXPAND STEREO EXPAND switch

• Connectors INPUT jack: 1/4-inch phone type POWER AMP IN jack: 1/4-inch phone type LINE OUT jack: 1/4-inch phone type SEND jack: 1/4-inch phone type RETURN jack: 1/4-inch phone type STEREO PHONES jack: Stereo 1/4-inch phone type EXP PEDAL jack: 1/4-inch TRS phone type GA-FC/CTL CH1/CH2 SOLO jack: 1/4-inch TRS phone type AUX IN jack: Stereo miniature phone type USB port: USB C type BLUETOOTH ADAPTOR SLOT: Bluetooth Audio MIDI Dual Adaptor AC IN jack
  
• Power Consumption: 77 W
  
• Dimensions (Include handle and rubber feets): 530 (W) x 248(D) x 484(H) mm
  
• Weight: 32 lbs 11 oz
  

I've got a Disaster Area smart.Clock, a Morningstar MC6, a Ditto X4 looper, and a Line 6 M13. Working on my setup for live looping guitar.
I can run the MC6 into the Ditto, and my presets all work. I can run the smart.Clock into the Ditto, and it gets the clock and passes the clock to the M13 to act as tap tempo. Both of those work fine.
When I try to get it all together, something stops working. Either I put the clock first, and the MC6 still controls the Ditto, but doesn't pass the clock, or I put the MC6 first and it's commands don't make it through the clock.
All the firmware is updated, and I'm out of different settings I can think to try. Any advice is appreciated.

Hey - I’m kind of an old guard goth kid, and a lot of the music I still listen to is what I was dancing to at the Batcave in NYC around 1998 or so. I’m also a rock and metal fan, and I’ve recently discovered a few goth bands that have a rock influence (live drums, distorted guitar, etc), and I’m looking for some recommendations for more of the same.
Bands I’m already listening to: Fields of the Nephilim, Eden House, Tapping the Vein

Ivaxa has been well known for his high BPM stream plays along with his obscene singletapping skills over the course of a few weeks at the time of writing. His most notable achievement is his S rank on Deceit [pishi’s Extra] +DT (Score) (Replay). However there is some unusual behavior that Ivaxa has that should be looked into. This thread will look into quite a few cases of these weird findings.
As of the current date, May 16th, 2024, we have collected enough information to submit our public review of Ivaxa’s activity. We are asking the osu! staff and other independent researchers to validate our information and proof-check every single aspect of it. If our findings would be proven to be incorrect and/or not substantial - that's completely fine. Our goal is not to just blindly accuse but to establish the truth.
This document contains currently collected information about Ivaxa, his scores, profiles, and potential connections to other “alt” accounts in the game. We, as an independent team, are trying to establish the legitimacy or lack thereof of said player.
As always, harassment of any of the people mentioned/involved in the report is inappropriate. Please be civil when partaking in the discussion.
Replays, and VODs can be found in a google drive at the end of the thread so you can investigate and see moments listed in the thread yourself.
But first, here's a few things to consider:

1. Ivaxa’s mouse is a HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2, he allegedly plays on 800 DPI with a 0.62x sens multiplier on osu!. The only reason as to why it’s alleged is because of his recent streams, his sensitivity seems higher than it actually is.
2. He plays with a Sayu O3C keypad that runs at 8000hz (Peripheral information can be found from Ivaxa’s Twitch channel.)
3. He is able to singletap 191 BPM streams consistently.
4. Ivaxa used to be a DT aim player, not much of a stream player until recently.
5. The player does have skill, however he may be using some sort of outside assistance software-wise like aim assist or relax hacks.
6. All replays in this thread were inspected using Circleguard.
7. Most of the information down below was conducted in the empirical (perceived) sense, so take all of it with a grain of salt.

Section one: Replays

There are a few moments within Ivaxa’s recent replays that felt unusual or very strange; mostly unusual edge hits, but also weird UR bar behavior.
The Deceit +DT
There are a few things to mention about this score. The first is an unusual UR bar behavior from 91076 ms (~1 minute 31 seconds) to 93123 ms (~1 minute 33 seconds). The UR bar looks like this in the end. This type of UR bar behavior is often found in 125 hz keyboards with a map that has a BPM that is a multiple of 125 (125 BPM, 250 BPM, 375 BPM, etc.). However, Ivaxa doesn’t use a 125hz keyboard or keypad, he uses one that is rated at 8000hz. This is rather unusual since this type of UR is only found in this section of the map only. Also, if he were to play on a 125hz keyboard/keypad, the type of UR that was shown above would be all over the map since the Deceit with DT is mostly 375 BPM.
The second would be his aim, particularly at around 1885 combo, his cursor shakes at an abnormal magnitude from the rest of the map. This shake can be caused by nerves, tapping strain of the left hand, or a mix of both. But, Ivaxa’s alleged sensitivity is so low that the shake that has been shown in the replay is either really hard to do or impossible.
Gotta go Fast +DTSO
This score has one thing that is quite suspicious. at 47582 ms (~48 seconds) into the map, an awkward edge hit is found where he over-aimed and seemingly snapped back to the circle. This kind of edge hit is something that a normal osu! player wouldn’t be able to hit entirely, especially at the speed at which the map is being played at. Another edge hit can be found in the same map at 28852 ms (~29 seconds), where the cursor doesn’t naturally curve at the end, instead snapping to the edge of the circle. Both cases may allude to the usage of some sort of aim assist.
Metal Crusher +DT
There are two things to note about this score, the first is some unusual cursor movement at the ending section of the map. Ivaxa’s cursor slightly follows the slider at 59128 ms (~59 seconds), and another right after at 60400 ms (~one minute). Movement like this paired with the speed at which the map is being played at just seems unusual/suspicious.
There are also five edge hits within the map, four out of the five edge hits are at the very edge of a circle. The probability of hitting these types of edge hits is rather low, especially when there are four of them in one map.
Edge Hit #1: https://i.imgur.com/g3VlDoz.png
Edge Hit #2: https://i.imgur.com/vpTKuw7.png
Edge Hit #3: https://i.imgur.com/oQiEwVR.png
Edge Hit #4: https://i.imgur.com/nJyVbiq.png
Edge Hit #5: https://i.imgur.com/MN9MfwN.png
Sendan Life +DTHD
There is something to be said about some of the 100’s that Ivaxa is hitting. More specifically some 100’s within a few of the maps that have been observed so far are very near the barrier of being a 300 hit regardless of whether the note is early or late (https://i.imgur.com/cxFSdjf.png, https://i.imgur.com/bHLurZn.png). The sayu is precise enough to actually hit these types of 100’s, however it feels like these have occurred too often, so much so that this play has half of the 100’s in the map has these “edge 100’s,” for a lack of a better term. There are also two 100’s (100 #1 and 100 #2) that have been hit at exactly the same lateness/timing.
100 #1: https://i.imgur.com/KR4BhWe.png
100 #2: https://i.imgur.com/pzg7zMn.png
100 #3: https://i.imgur.com/z5qIocV.png
100 #4: https://i.imgur.com/pgEBsKK.png
100 #5: https://i.imgur.com/rQ50Uhs.png
100 #6: https://i.imgur.com/oMkQ3O5.png

Section Two: Twitch Streams

The two pieces of information down below are more focused on his single tapping skills, along with some weird/suspicious moments during his stream.
Stream title: #18 #2PL we back boys PL/ENG
At 15:37, Ivaxa is seen to be double tapping 270 bpm streams even though he S ranked the Deceit with DT around three days after said stream (390 BPM). At 49:15 mins of the same stream: he is seen to singletap 191 BPM streams, probably because he was warm when playing at his point.
Stream title: #17 #2PL Yomi yori 3 mod pass happening right now wtf,
On March 31st, 2024, on the VOD where he S ranked The Deceit +DT, at the end of the VOD at 2:58:42 Ivaxa is seen singletapping a 390 BPM burst. After which he paused the game and blamed Steam notifications. Despite the bottom half of his monitor being visible on stream through the webcam, where no steam notifications or pop-ups are visible, he then opened Steam to "change notifications settings.'' After allegedly changing the settings, his cursor trajectory on the visible parts of the monitor on stream tells us that he moved the mouse from the top most left corner, while usually Steam settings are located in a pop-up window at the center of the screen. Afterwards His stream allegedly "crashed."
To see the moment, play the following .mp4 file: 20240331 #17 #2PL Yomi yori 3 mod pass happening right now wtf Part 3 and go to the near end.
Stream title: #9 #2PL if i want to i'll farm req closed
On April 7th, 2024 Ivaxa showed on the osu! Game discord server that he is able to singletap 191 BPM (better picture of the graph), however six days later after the message, on his stream on April 13th, 2024 Ivaxa showed that he was able to singletap PoNo’s Yomi Yori 220 BPM streams at the end. This type of BPM jump in such a short amount of time can only be reasoned with by hardware abuse via rapid trigger. Either that, or some sort of relax hack that assists the player in tapping.

Section Three: Multiaccounting

There are many pieces of information that suspect that Ivaxa is multiaccounting, however there is currently no concrete evidence on whether or not he is indeed multiaccounting. Please keep this in mind when reading this section of the thread.
The Mulitiaccount & Play Count Graphs
Pipecat is the suspected multiaccount. First of all, both Pipecat and Ivaxa are placed 1st and 2nd on the osu!mania leaderboard in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland (This is done by using osu! subdivide nations). Both play count graphs also seem to compensate for each other as of 2024, April 4th (the graph for Ivaxa has been warped in order to have a better visualization).
Time-pp Scatter Chart & Best Performances
The same thing happens with their Best Performance Time-pp Scatter Chart from ameobea/osu!track (Pipecat's Mania Chart and Ivaxa's Mania Chart non warped). Both graphs seem to compensate for each other, especially at around the month of March, as of 2024, April 5th (again, Ivaxa's chart has been warped for better visualization of score submissions).
Speaking of pp, both accounts have similar maps in their best performances list (Ivaxa is on the left, Pipecat on the right). If you want to see more, just check their mania profiles.
This may ask the reason as to why Ivaxa hasn’t played any vsrg (Vertical Scrolling Rhythm Game), and yet his performance in mania is abnormal for his time played. As seen from the play count graph from above, Ivaxa would’ve most likely played mania first on the Pipecat account, and then proceeded to play mania again on the other.
Names/Naming Scheme & Last Seen
Their naming scheme can also be taken into account as, Ivaxa’s name was inspired by Vaxei, and Pipecat was inspired by Whitecat.
It is also worth noting that Ivaxa and Pipecat’s Last Seen times are near each other, being more or less one hour apart from each other.
https://i.imgur.com/uVucqXr.png
https://i.imgur.com/lYh4Gbb.png

Section Four: Misc, additional “facts,” and Speculations

This section is dedicated to the additional miscellaneous information and our speculation formed from the data we discovered during the process of the investigation. These entries are not verbosely written due to us not finding enough evidence/information to make them included in the previous sections.
For ease of understanding the entry's level of absurdity, we marked them with color tags. The marking process for each entry was completely subjective so even the most absurd ones could be a potential aid for independent investigators/osu! staff as an additional lead where we “hit the wall.”
Fact: Could be used as a potential lead
Fact + Assumption: Not substantial enough to be included in previous sections/Assumption
Pure Speculation: Completely speculative fact/information
Fact: BayOfEvil (Ivaxa’s old username), does have an osu!report on it, although the report isn’t very helpful. One of the thread's replies includes a Discord recording with Ivaxa playing as “proof” of him being legit. This should be investigated further (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVQDdw1SSLs).
Fact: Ivaxa’s Mania score on Ne uchi +DT was set 22 days after his no-mod score.
Fact: In Pipecat's osu profile a discord server can be found (https://discord.gg/jkMydV3PTB), upon searching "Ivaxa" the only two mentions of the name is from the user Pipecat (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/577365869949354025/1225631393820708914/image0.jpg?ex=6621d52f&is=660f602f&hm=e3589cb93e9ffb2b7c0ef7ffbdedcc3b09df919a7082d11468035ff4f4f6e65e&).
Fact: Guitar to Kodou to Aoi Hoshi: Edge hit at the very edge at 202358 ms (~3 minutes 22 seconds) (https://i.imgur.com/PAWsyh7.png) Similar to the edge hit on FUCK YOU.
Fact + Assumption: FUCK YOU: Very erratic cursor movement at 4485 ms (~4.5 seconds) (https://i.imgur.com/mkRw4Ki.png) combined with his sensitivity and the map’s speed, this is basically impossible. Also he's been under-aiming a lot in this map but that might just be me. There is also an edge hit at the very edge at 60301 ms (~1 min) (https://i.imgur.com/GFxZctS.png), which can be questioned.
Fact + Assumption: Gotta go Fast HDDTHR: The UR bar is acting the same way that was observed with the deceit score from above (Gotta go Fast: https://i.imgur.com/ywA8XAu.png, Deceit: https://imgur.com/cbUtzya). With both maps being 375 BPM with DT, Ivaxa may or may not have used the same method of cheating if he is.
Fact + Assumption: Stream title: #18 #2PL we back boys PL/ENG, at 15:37 mins, Ivaxa is seen to be double tapping 270 bpm streams even though he S ranked the Deceit with DT around three days after said stream (390 BPM).
Fact + Assumption: A Thread created by sampierat on twitter: https://vxtwitter.com/sampierat/status/1775216723743875457?s=20

• https://imgur.com/pC3DBMq

Pure Speculation: During a congregation, several people have noted/proposed that Ivaxa may or may not be using three keys in order to stream higher bpm’s, using a software that alternates the middle key (since he plays ring-index) between key 1 and key 2 to insure that nothing is suspicious with his tapping count.
Pure Speculation: We condone an anonymous survey inside the mania community, including some of the top players, regular 4k, 7k, and 8k players, and some tournament organizers. Most of the participants agree that Ivaxa’s progression and improvement curve is abnormal.
Pure Speculation: Stream title: #18 #2PL we back boys PL/ENG, within the first hour of the stream, Ivaxa is seen to have completely lost his aim (44:46 min), even though he nearly fc'd Brazil on Fiery's Extreme with HDHRDT ten days prior to the stream. Although this evidence may not be as substantial as the others because of retry spamming Brazil.
Pure Speculation: The earliest known screenshots of Ivaxa grinding The Deceit Pishi's Extra, was on 2023, December 22nd (https://twitter.com/Ivaxaosu/status/1738245663631024453, https://twitter.com/Ivaxaosu/status/1738268599129632811, He later achieved an S rank on 2024, March 31st. He would've grinded the map for the past 3 months, however his play count seems to not reflect the grind, only having 237 plays as of 2024, April 5th (https://i.imgur.com/dg4HdSl.png).
Pure Speculation: https://youtu.be/Isp233epRAA the hands, and tapping technique may be similar to Ivaxa.
Pure Speculation: Potential lead/connection between Ivaxa and Pipecat could be found via steam accounts.
Ivaxa’s has two steam accounts (Both Steam profiles were sent to aknzx at one point):

• Main account https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199027517248
• Alt (thanks for Ivaxa posting it on one of the discord servers) https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199081700184
  • Has a VAC ban on it
• Pipecat’s steam account:
  • “Main account” https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199389486073

Pure Speculation: Additional platforms related to Pipecat:

• Their youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@pipe_cat (We tried to use it compare Ivaxa’s voice and Pipecat’s voices already, not enough information)
• Their GD (GeometryDash) profile: https://gdbrowser.comNotPipeCat

Pure Speculation: Pipecat’s Windows username https://imgur.com/a/DCgtC82 (from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNTTpSl1hHo ) If it could be proven that Ivaxa’s real name is Krzys, it could be a potential lead (despite it being a very popular name in Poland).
Pure Speculation: Pipecat is recording videos on his Youtube channel using both a PC and a Laptop. The PC is running Windows 11, and the Laptop is running Windows 10. This Could be a potential lead.

Verdict

Ivaxa’s single tapping speed is very abnormal, especially considering that he was able to stream 220 BPM in just six days, starting from 191 BPM, all singletapped. His aim on some maps feels weird, and some edge hits are questionable in terms of legitimacy. The incident on his stream on March 31st of this year also felt suspicious and weirdly timed, as if he was covering something up. And Pipecat’s graphs line up in such a way that it seemingly compensated for Ivaxa’s play count, and pp-scatter chart. From the information that was gathered about Ivaxa, there is a likelihood that the player is cheating, via aim assist, partial relax, or a mix of both.
It is suggested/encouraged that you look into this yourself.

Files and Documents

For Ivaxa stream mp4’s, each “part” is in one hour segments (because untwitch). So part 1 would be the first hour of a stream, part 2 would be the second hour of a stream, etc. There are some parts where it didn’t download the full hour, so be aware of that.
We’ve also included one of the “VOD analyzer” test result files, which includes cursor positions from an analyzed stream segment (#11 #2PL 1.3k pp achieved). It was a completely custom-coded solution that analyzed the video frame by frame but it wasn’t used during the investigation, so we are unsure about the accuracy of the cursor detection.
Input data:
Approximate osu! playfield area on a 1920x1080 monitor:

-Top left of playfield area: (384, 126) -Bottom right of playfield area: (1536, 990) 

Ivaxa's Approximate playfield area on stream:

-Top left of playfield area: (329, 120) -Bottom right of playfield area: (1283, 835) 

Analyzed segment: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UOceGo6udbGH0p7jbZKvst4wqsIVWIWF/view?usp=drive_link
Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LTDABXcFHSJnk5KNfHWdH1XPJwcdf4S1?usp=sharing
Streams Timeline

Date	Stream Title	VOD Links
March 20th 2024	we back boys	https://drive.google.com/drive5/folders/1xFtwoU82d_qAKPyp7qEm2v4JVd8m-PDF
March 31st 2024	Yomi Yori 3 mod pass	https://drive.google.com/drive5/folders/1PJQOhrao4CFsaeLg4wcwFPtBybdocAnB
March 31st 2024	1.3k pp achieved	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UOceGo6udbGH0p7jbZKvst4wqsIVWIWF/view
April 1st 2024	play game and then deceit farming	https://drive.google.com/drive5/folders/1TsTmiNzDRIMpFn4lmUzwzS6n3AjyE3rY
April 9th 2024	Yomi Yori DT Farming Right now	N/A
April 13th 2024	singletap practice	N/A

So i want to try piano, I've played guitar and although i like it. I'm really struggling to practice and in recent years I've been loving piano in music more and im always tapping with my fingers to music, so I felt it made sence to atleast give it a shot.
I'm very anxious about my hand coordination tho, my hands are either both doing the same or they are doing nothing and I fear that's not something you can really get better at. But I'm 22 so I'm hoping that's still young enough lol.
Does anybody know how i can get more control over my hands, anything i can practice?
Ps. If there is any other general info on learning piano besides my question, feel free to drop it aswell. Like a thing you wish you knew or had when you started?
Thanks for reading and have a good day🤙

I'm looking for suggestions for a small pedal or device that accepts a MIDI program change messages to control volume level--basically, I've got a pickup installed that outputs a normal guitar signal as well as a separate bass signal to send to a bass amp. I'm trying to avoid having to tap dance on stage at points where there's only guitar or bass. My guitar amp is MIDI controlled and can send program change messages, so I'd like to be able to use its footswitch to control the bass side as well and have a preset for both guitar and bass, one for just guitar, and one just for bass. I bought a super cheapy Behringer Bass V-Amp, which does the job, but not well, as there's about a half second of silence while changing presets, which doesn't work with the music I play. Do you know of anything that can accomplish the same thing but do it better? On the cheap would be preferred--I'd prefer not to go above ~$200 for something seemingly so simple. Any ideas?

Hey! I play guitar and have always wanted to play the drums - I don’t quite understand how to „name“ different polyrhythms yet.
I recently noticed how much it lights up a solo to play 4 repeating sets of 3 notes within a simple backing in 4 (because after 4 sets of 3 the backing will have progressed the same 12 beats, within 3 bars). The same goes for a line of 6 notes played twice. That worked super well for me, jamming to a backing track.
Then, I tried to tap a 3 with my left and a 4 with my right hand at the same time. What automatically happened was: I managed to squeeze 3 evenly spaced notes (left hand) in the same time span as 4 evenly spaced notes (right hand), which created a bouncy rhythm, perfectly resolving after each bar.
So, I assume these two are very different things, right? It confuses me a lot because I only now notice how different they are… help!

My Steam Deck arrived a few days ago, and I've been able to configure everything pretty nicely. However, there have been some points in which I've struggled a bit and I've spent some time searching for the answer, so I hope I can sum everything up here for any new Steam Deck Clone Hero players.
Everything I'll explain here is posted on the internet, so you could find it on your own, but having no previous experience with Steam Deck (nor Linux) has made some things harder than I expected, so I hope it helps!

Installing Clone Hero

This really has no mistery. I followed this video on Youtube, but basically the steps to follow are:

1. Put Steam Deck in Desktop mode (hold Steam button > Power > Switch to Desktop).
2. Open your browser (you'll have to install it first, if you haven't yet) and go to Clone Hero page.
3. Click Download and it will download the Linux version.
4. Extract the downloaded package in your Downloads folder, and then move it wherever you want it to be (SD card or Home directory).

Adding it as a Non-Steam Game

You can select the clonehero executable file in the folder you just extracted, and right click (L2 button) and select "Add to Steam".
If it gives you an error, you will have to execute it first from Desktop mode (just tap into it and let the game load). After that, close the game and try again, and there should be no issues.
Keep in mind that you will need to press Start and select Guest player to be able to control the game, for example, to be able to select "Quit game".

Installing custom songs: using Bridge in Steam Deck

Your default songs folder will be at Home directory, inside .clonehero folder (make sure to "display hidden files" in your folder settings), in a folder called Songs. You can download your songs and move the downloaded song's folder in there.
My recommendation is to create a folder called Custom Songs there, just in case you want to download songs from older GH games (this way, you can sort them later by Playlist/Folder and keep everything organized by game or path).
Bridge is one of the best additions for your CH installation. If you want to use it, just go to their releases page and download the AppImage file.
Once downloaded, you'll be able to execute it in Desktop mode (it's not possible to execute it as a non-steam game, since it will open the "game" but it will not load anything, at least in my case). There, make sure to go to the Settings inside Bridge and set your songs path to the Custom Songs folder, so everything you download goes there.
Everytime you add new songs, you'll have to go to your CH settings and hit "Scan songs" for they to appear in the game.
Unfortunatelly, I've been trying without luck to set up some songs in an external SD card, formatted using the Steam Deck. The formatted micro SD is not readable in Windows, so it defeats its purpose. Furthermore, after setting a way to transfer files from PC to Steam Deck to make it easier to manage songs, and setting an additional song path in CH's Settings, it seems is not scanning that additional directory (don't know the cause), so we're stuck with the default .clonehero/Songs folder at the moment.

But you want all your old GH games' songs, don't you?

In the right bar of this sub you have an Excel with the links to all the packages containing all the songs for old GH (and RB) games. However, they are quite a few, and most of them give a "quota exceeded" error. In PC, it might be easy to solve. For Steam Deck, well, it isn't so straight forward.
However, you can find this post where a user wrapped all the songs from all GH games in one single (50GB) zip file. It's not perfect, it has some duplicates, but it's just Download > Extract > Select what games you want to have in your CH > Move to your .clonehero/Songs folder.
It may give you an error when trying to unzip it: it's because Ark's settings (the software used to decompress files). You'll have to open the Ark software on its own, go to settings and disable "Libzip" from the plugins selected. Then you'll be able to extract everything without issues.

Configuring your Wii guitar to play

(First, make sure to leave Desktop mode by pressing the "Return to Gaming mode" in your desktop)
This is where my nightmare kicked in. I connected my Wiimote to the Steam Deck via Bluetooth (Steam Deck menu > Bluetooth) by hitting the red sync button in the controller and... it connected but it was not working.
Furthermore, connecting it with the guitar made it completely useless, unable to even map the buttons, and even worse, the only thing working was the "strum up", which opened the Steam menu. Not good.
If you're having problems with it, just follow these steps. Apart from the Steam Input interface, you can actually overwrite your controller native mapping in the Steam Deck menu > Controllers section.
If you connected your guitar with your Wiimote, you may see two Wii controlllers appear: one is for the guitar, the other is for the Wiimote alone. I recommend you to change the Guitar controller's name in this page (connect and disconnect the Wiimote from the guitar to guess which one is which).
You don't actually need to map the exact same buttons as the ones mentioned in the link, just make sure to register the following buttons inputs to a "logical" key (where they will have sense):

• All colored buttons, of course, to be able to play.
• Strum bar up and down, also obvious.
• Joystick / whatever your guitar has for directional input directions, as you will need left and right in the game if you want to practice and be able to speed down or up the song.
• Whammy bar (the long thing to distort sustained notes), up and down, map each direction in a different button.
• Start (of course) and Select (star power).

Once you have your "A" button mapped, you will be able to skip any other inputs you don't want to register by pressing that same "A" button you just mapped.
And now you will be able to open CH, however, nothing will work, because you haven't mapped your controller in game (yet).

Mapping your guitar keys ingame

With your guitar turned on, grab your Steam Deck and press the Steam button + X. This will open the keyboard, and then you can press the Space bar to open the mapping menu.
Now press the "Assign controller" button (for me, I can do this only with the touchscreen) and hit any button in your guitar. This will change to your guitar as main controller.
If you cannot do any of these, it may be because you haven't selected a player. Make sure to press Start and select the Guest player. If you cannot do so with your guitar, start the game with a normal controller, press Start, select Guest, and then repeat the steps above.
And now, just click the keys you want to map and press the corresponding guitar buttons (you should make sure to map the controls described in the previous step).
Once you finish, just hit "Done", and that's it! You can already play to CH in your Steam Deck!
I hope this guide is not too complicated. I know this is a very simple process that anyone can do, but I hope it can help someone if they struggle with some steps of it.
Have fun playing and remembering old times!