If JIT (Jeopardy Invitational Tournament) is going to be an annual show, then I think it should be part of the Masters programming, and air concurrently to regular jeopardy the way masters is currently airing.
The last tournament break was way too long, and it seems like the extra tournaments are going to be here to stay, so in the future, I think the tournaments that replace regular jeopardy games should only be for the contestants in that past year, while the tournaments that invite players from far back should just be part 1 of the Masters tournament.

I have almost 4 month old sons named Ronald Adam and Alistair Elijah. The meanings behind the names: Ronald was my husband's grandfather's name who he was very close with. Adam is from a video game character he likes. Alistair is a video game character I like and I just love the name. Elijah is an honor name for my nana. Well my big sister who is 9 years older than me and who I have always been extremely close to said she had a list of names she didn't want me naming our boys and Ronald was on that list. Even when I explained why that name was chosen, she made a face and put her nose up in the air.
My sister "gives nicknames for everyone". She was calling Ronald "Ari" and Alistair "Eli". I had mentioned probably we would call Alistair "Ali" as he got older. My sister said Ali was too girly.
She kept writing Ari and Eli and it just was driving me crazy. I finally asked her to please start calling them by their given names, I know she doesn't like them but for now we would like her to use their given names at least in our company. This was all said over text. I wasn't rude. She said "okay but I'm just going to say one thing" and I see a wall of text. I didn't read it. I didn't want to fight.
Is this wrong of me? I know they're just nicknames. Maybe it would have been okay if she wasn't so against their given names. But my sister was so against me having boys... "You know this is your husband's fault right? Maybe your twin sister will get pregnant now and give us girls" and even told some lady we just met "Yeah she's having twins, they're boys and we are upset about that" Did I want girls? Absolutely..but I wouldn't have told a random stranger that.
Since getting pregnant, my whole perception of my childhood changed. I thought my mom and my big sister were the best... That they truly loved me. But now my big sister will not talk to me because I asked her to use my son's names correctly. The sad thing is... I don't even miss her.

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America

Unique Ability

Founding Fathers

• (Base Game only) Accumulate Government legacy bonuses in half the usual number of turns
• (R&F, GS) All Diplomatic policy slots are converted into Wildcard policy slots
• (GS only) +1 Diplomatic Favor per turn for each Wildcard policy slot in the current government

Starting Bias: Grassland & Plains Mountains (Tier 3); Desert & Tundra Mountains (Tier 5)

• Starting Bias only applies when Teddy Roosevelt Persona Pack is enabled

Unique Unit

P-51 Mustang

• Basic Attributes
  • Unit type: Air Fighter
  • Requirement: Advanced Flight tech
  • Replaces: Fighter
• Cost
  • 520 Production cost (Standard Speed)
  • (GS) 1 Aluminum resource
• Maintenance
  • 7 Gold per turn
  • (GS) 1 Aluminum resource per turn
• Base Stats
  • 105 Combat Strength
  • 105 Ranged Strength
  • 5 Attack Range
  • 10 Movement
  • 4 Sight Range
• Unique Attributes
  • +5 Combat Strength against Air Fighters
  • Earns +50% more experience points
• Differences from Replaced Unit
  • +5 Combat Strength and Ranged Strength
  • +2 Movement
  • Unique attributes

Rough Rider
(Only available to certain leaders)

• Basic Attributes
  • Unit type: Heavy Cavalry
  • Requirement: Rifling tech
  • Replaces: Cuirassier
• Cost
  • 385 Production (Standard Speed)
• Maintenance
  • 2 Gold per turn
• Base Stats
  • 67 Combat Strength
  • 5 Movement
  • 2 Sight range
• Bonus Stats
  • Ignores enemy zone of control
• Unique Attributes
  • +10 Combat Strength when fighting on Hills
  • Earns Culture from kills while in the same continent as the Capital
• Differences from Replaced Unit
  • +55 Production cost (Standard Speed)
  • Does not require resources
  • -3 Gold maintenance per turn
  • Unique attributes

Unique Infrastructure

Film Studio

• Basic Attributes
  • Infrastructure type: Building
  • Requirement: Radio tech
  • Replaces: Broadcast Center
• Cost
  • (Base Game, R&F) 580 Production cost (Standard Speed)
  • (GS) 440 Production cost (Standard Speed)
• Maintenance
  • 3 Gold per turn
• Base Effects
  • (Base Game, R&F) +4 Culture
  • (GS) +2 Culture
  • +1 Great Artist points per turn
  • +2 Great Musician points per turn
  • +1 Citizen slot
  • +1 Great Work of Music slot
• (GS) Powered Effects
  • Base Load: 3 Power
  • +4 Culture when Powered
• Unique Attributes
  • +100% Tourism pressure from this city towards other civilizations starting from the Modern Era onwards
• Restrictions
  • Must be buit on a Theater Square district with an Arts Museum or Archaeological Museum
• Differences from Replaced Infrastructure
  • Unique attributes

Leader: Teddy Roosevelt (Default)

• Replaced by Bull Moose and Rough Rider personas when Teddy Roosevelt Persona Pack is enabled

Leader Ability

Roosevelt Corollary

• Units gain +5 Combat Strength in the same continent as the Capital
• +1 Appeal to all tiles in a city with a National Park
• Gain the Rough Rider unique unit

Agenda

Big Stick Policy

• Likes civilizations that have a city in his home continent
• Dislikes civilizations that start wars in his home continent

Leader: Teddy Roosevelt (Bull Moose)

• Required DLC: New Frontier Pass or Teddy Roosevelt Persona Pack

Leader Ability

Antiquities and Parks

• Breathtaking tiles gain additional bonuses when adjacent to specific tiles
  • +2 Science when adjacent to a Natural Wonder or Mountain tiles
  • +2 Culture when adjacent to a World Wonder or Woods tiles
• +1 Appeal to all tiles in a city with a National Park

Agenda

The Bull Moose

• Attempts to settle near tiles with high Appeal and build districts and wonders to maximize Appeal
• Likes civilizations with many high Appeal territories
• Dislikes civilizations with many low Appeal territories

Leader: Teddy Roosevelt (Rough Rider)

Leader Ability

• Required DLC: New Frontier Pass or Teddy Roosevelt Persona Pack

Roosevelt Corollary

• Units gain +5 Combat Strength in the same continent as the Capital
• Each Envoy sent to city-states that has a Trade Route with America counts as two Envoys
• Gain the Rough Rider unique unit

Agenda

Big Stick Policy

• Likes civilizations that have a city in his home continent
• Dislikes civilizations that start wars in his home continent

Leader: Abraham Lincoln

Leader Ability

• Required DLC: Great Negotiators Pack or Leader Pass

Emancipation Proclamation

• Industrial Zones grant +2 Amenities
• (R&F, GS) Industrial Zones grant +3 Loyalty per turn
• (R&F, GS) Plantation improvements reduce 2 Loyalty per turn
• Receive a free Melee unit upon constructing Industrial Zones and their buildings
  • Free units do not require resources to create or maintain
  • Free units receive +5 Combat Strength

Agenda

Preserver of the Union

• Likes civilizations that have the same government as him
• Dislikes civilizations that have a different government as him, especially governments forms of the same era

Civilization-related Achievements

• Let Teddy Win — Win a regular game as Teddy Roosevelt
• Addressing Gettysburg — Win a regular game as Abraham Lincoln
• 100th Anniversary — As America, make a National Park each of Crater Lake, and both tiles of Yosemite in one game
• A Man A Plan A Canal Panama — Build the Panama Canal as Teddy Roosevelt
• Pizza Party — Activate Leonardo da Vinci in New York housing Great Works from Michelangelo and Donatello, and a Sewer built in the city

Useful Topics for Discussion

• What do you like or dislike about this civilization?
• How easy or difficult is this civ to use for new players?
• What are the victory paths you can go for with this civ?
• What are your assessments regarding the civ's abilities?
  • How well do they synergize with each other?
  • How well do they compare to other similar civ abilities, if any?
  • Do you often use their unique units and infrastructure?
• Can this civ be played tall or should it always go wide?
• What map types, game mode, or setting does this civ shine in?
• What synergizes well with this civ? You may include the following:
  • Terrain, resources and natural wonders
  • World wonders
  • Government type, legacy bonuses and policies
  • City-state type and suzerain bonuses
  • Governors
  • Great people
  • Secret societies
  • Heroes & legends
  • Corporations
• Have the civ's general strategy changed since the latest update(s)?
• How do you deal against this civ if controlled by the player or the AI?
• Are there any mods that can make playing this civ more interesting?
• Do you have any stories regarding this civ that you would like to share?

Hello Twitch subreddit,
As stated in title I'm a sort of a Manager in her online livestreaming career and lately she's been getting more and more traction. She's been on a regular schedule for a year now and I've always kinda known she has a nice personality and I directed her to a gaming category where she eventually found "home" and the start of success.
Now, watching all of this from the sidelines and talking to her daily, she really enjoys streaming and she's taken a few right steps when deciding who to be online. But with all of the attention and potential I'm sometimes lost on who to ask questions to. With so many streams behind her and an establisheed regular audience, comes lots of data and when planing for future we sometimes have questions we are unable to answer other than just quess. Who to turn to? Someone who could advise, look from outside the "bubble" and direct or even manage.
Hope I expressed myself well enough and am looking forward to the discussion.

I always play on deity and my games always come down to winning in the modern era because the ai is dumb and cant handle planes and nukes. Its seems always necessary to prevent one civ winning science or culture by deleting them or severely weakening them. However i get really bored from lategame civ because of several reasons: - any turn takes way too long - micromanagement for your thousand cities feels unnecessary as it wont really impact the outcome of the game anyway - moving/attacking with planes is a pain in the *** since civ always wants to move your camera to a different spot. - war is not really interesting/challenging and your just slowly bombarding them with planes or nuking them. - it feels like my win con got outscaled and i have to warmonger to save myself.
I always somehow force myself to finish the run because i spend so much time on it and came to love my empire. But the wins dont feel earned as it wasnt my strategy or decision making that won and rather me abusing the ai.
I saw videos of people finishing way earlier than turn 300 with several different strategies. Is that still possible? Am i doing smth wrong? Do you guys try to keep up with the AI in science or do you just pivot into another strategy. How do you use spies?

I try not to post in forums without a strong understanding of the lay of the land and how the community likes to run things. From what I can tell this subreddit is mostly dedicated to news articles and a thread about the current week’s show. I’m going to take a dare and start this broader thread in hopes that it won’t be too far out of character.
It seems like the show’s audience is expanding a lot recently and perhaps there are people who, like me, would like to express the how and why they are so attracted to this show.
I’m not much of a podcast listener, and though I listened to a few episodes of TWiR v1.0, it wasn’t until the middle of last year that I became a regular listener. For this kind of program format, I’m inclined to listen, not watch on YouTube.
My love for TWiR surrounds an important weekly event. My son has a job out in the country every Sunday. We’re up at 5:30 am to make the 40 minute commute to his workplace (that’s frigid zero dark thirty five or six months of the year). This sounds like a real hassle, right? It could be - but I prefer not to frame things that way, and as such this has become what might be my favorite part of the week.
I live in New Jersey - and if you are only familiar with the state from TV and film, you are only aware of a tiny (and mostly negative) aspect of the state and the people who live here. In southern New Jersey where we live (think Philadelphia not New York), picture beautiful rolling farmland, not the highways, industrial stations, big box stores, and mini-mansions you see on The Sopranos. New Jersey is not known as the “Garden State” for nothing. Long county routes that link a few small tows with farms in-between. It’s a beautiful drive, and if you are someone who likes to drive like I do, a very fun one if you avoid the wildlife. For parts of the year, I even get to witness the sunrise on my way to or from his workplace in the morning.
There's one catch... the little jerk sleeps on the ride in! I was 17 once, I get it.
This is where TWiR comes in. Before I pull out of the driveway, I press play and my early Sunday mornings are filled the intellectual stimulation of hearing Neil, Dave, and sometimes Chris go on about all things retro. The show makes me think, it makes me laugh, and it sparks my interest in heading home and researching or looking something up that they discuss.
When I retrieve my son in the afternoon, I have him trapped - we know that we’ll have 40 solid minutes a week where we can talk about life, school, work, and more frequently than you’d expect, vintage and modern video games and computer systems.
I will forever have these memories, and This Week in Retro will forever be a part of it. Until the sad day my son gets his own drivers license and I'm released from this task, I won't even listen to TWiR outside of this ritual... I don't want to spoil the feelings and association. Just hearing the intro of the show fills me with warm and fuzzies - nostalgia in the present. I wouldn’t have stuck with the show if it weren’t so damned good, and for me, it’s all about the presenters. I could listen to Neil and Dave (and Chris) talk about anything, to be honest. I think you’ll find when it comes to any podcast or radio show, it’s that chemistry that builds affection with the audience far more than the content, and these gentlemen have that charisma in spades. I’ll confess, I even get a little excited when there is no guest. Though none have ever detracted from the show, I like the pure experience the best.
I’m done carrying on - do any of you have a similar relationship to the show?

My PC currently has two RTX 2060 cards running three monitors each. Exact card details:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NYKD5FT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
My current monitors are smallish and not used for gaming, so the workload is very benign. That said, I am considering building a flight simulator that will be far more GPU-intensive (besides being a totally different physical set-up). I have already tried running X-plane of all 6 screens at once and it's not great... my idea is to have a separate set-up with one ultrawide monitor for the environment and a second, smaller screen for instruments. I will shamelessly borrow Th3Man0nTh3M00n's post below to give an idea of the set-up:
https://www.reddit.com/MicrosoftFlightSim/comments/14ul6m3/g1000_to_gns_530_transition_air_manager_and/
In summary, I need to be able to toggle six DP inputs (three for each card) to just two (one for each card). I would love to be able to just flick a switch and transfer all video output to the flight sim rig... and then toggle back to my workstation. Any ideas?

Warning: This post contains spoilers for every mascot horror that ever was and will be
One day, I woke up from my eternal slumber which is now not so eternal. Saw my favourite soulless youtuber upload a video about the 2583579th mascot horror, but this one was furry. Delicious, finally some good fucking food!
After finishing the video I started looking into the story of the game and found it started life as a...
Garten of Banban remake.
What the fuck?! Why would anyone want to remake that? Doesn't matter, why is the cast so fucking high-effort? This feels like running away from someone's exe-fied fursona. Oh look, it's Molly Macaw! Her hobby is building and crashing the Zelenskyy plane!
​
https://preview.redd.it/0ccmdjoy9d1d1.jpg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d2a3ac71f1555bac2497b2dcd9aa8b1381064bf
I'd say the first chapter is as high-effort as it gets, albeit it still can't escape the curse of mascot horror walking simulators where the core gameplay loop is walk from point A to B at varying speeds based on whether the best bird is chasing you or not, also collect the extremely marketable plushies in the downtime. One is a low-key dig at Bendy's the other is an insult to Golden Freddy. Very nice!
My fingers are a bit still crossed because this is, well, the first chapter and we all know the slow-motion plane crash that was Poppy's first chapter and how it sort of redeemed itself later. Same story with Banban except that game went on the trajectory of absolute batshit insanity. I never thought I'd hear a russian alien in a mascot horror game.
We barely know anything about which OSHA violations went down, and most of the hidden lore is either recreating the canon ending of Security Breach, or telling us in descriptions about the protag's childhood memories with Rambley. Apparently their mom always liked Molly the most. Based and birdpilled. Shame Molly's screen time was getting Poppy Playtime-d by the security door. Not even in mascot horror can you escape the French revolution.
Now, apparently this game, some say, is the renaissance of mascot horror. I mean, I do want this to succeed but here is the deal:
We did already sort of have a giant middle finger and "solution" to mascot horror in the form of My Friendly Neighborhood. To make a long story short, it's about the muppets trying to cope with the aftermath of Vietnam. It's all wrapped in a classic survival horror package. Think like... Resident Evil(?) It's a good game.
While hidden lore and horror is good for generating some engagement, as many, MANY failed mascot horrors have shown, that's just the window dressing to the meat and potatoes of the games which actually make them worth playing. Neighborhood had a solid resource management and combat, coupled with a decent story. Poppy hand the grab-pack puzzles and even a wave-defense (?) section with the purple chloroform cat, which did help in not making it a total snooze fest.
Indigo Park seems to be taking the route of making this a character-driven story of Rambley, the resident Wheatley core and ambiguously overdeveloped AGI, and the hardened undertaker protagonist who already systematically exterminated the followers of the Prototype before, one heavy-machinery incident at a time.
That's not hopeless, but should be supplemented, both in gameplay and maybe with some additional... media? I mean, the books panned out for fnaf pretty well. Takes some effort though. Short comics seem like a better immediate option.

Hey, can someone please tell me if I'm missing something.
I did had a PC in the past but I didn't build it myself, so its a first time.
CPU:
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 8C/16T, 4.20-5.00GHz, boxed
GPU:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER FE (already got this one)

Motherboard:
MSI Motherbaord B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI
Memory:
SILICON POWER 16GB DDR5 5600MHZ XPOWER ZENITH RGB GAMING
Case:
Endorfy Arx 700 Air (already got this one)
Power Supply:
supermicro pws-903-pq 900w (got it from a friend, so its free not sure if it will work tho)
Storage:
got some laying around hdd & ssd

Nature of Humanity Ch 67 A NoP fic
Under Pressure Part 10
A Fanfic of u/SpacePaladin15’s work “The Nature of Predators.” Thank you for the story!
___
Memory transcription subject: Silvera, Factory 13 Manager
Date [standardized human time]: November 4th, 2136
If it wasn't for the clearly artificial sky above my head someone could possibly convince me I was outside in a new park. The neon blue screen with a white dot to represent the sun was nothing like the actual pale gray visage a mile above. Yet, it did have an enjoyable warmth to it.
A smooth artificial wind swept through the saplings ensuring that they would develop healthy stress wood. It also pleasantly cooled the fur of anyone in here, providing a nice little respite from the heater simulating the sun's unbearable hatred of us. Fuck you fake sun!
Any flora used to decorate the park would be exotic to Frozen Mountain, even if it came from the nearby tundra, but my humans decided to do something interesting. While they had covered most of the ground with a soft short-growing Terran clover, they chose to make the rest of the decorative plants functional. All of the saplings were different types of fruit trees that, when mature, would be free for anyone to harvest as much as they want. Even the decorative topiary isn't hardy tasteless plants, but berry bushes that would provide a variety of sweet treats relatively soon.
Agurcorp was more than happy to allow its failed startup out here to be turned into a local park. Well, so long as they didn't have to pay for this expensive mistake of theirs. The Mayor was all too happy with this, especially since my humans were happy to let him have all the credit so long as they got to design the park. With voting season right around the corner, the Mayor that ‘Brought life to this blighted land’ was a shoo-in to get re-elected. Or would be if he also wasn't ‘The idiot who allowed predators into the city.’
With everything that's happened I am still a bit surprised at everyone currently enjoying the park. A small herd of Venlil are exercising in the open field. A family of Gojids are walking along the cobblestone path. All the while, some humans are playing a very weird game of throwing a round plastic plate into chain nets. It's almost as if this city didn't have two separate riots on the same day.
The sound of wheels traveling across a bumpy path caught my attention. I glanced across the way to see an embarrassed-looking John driving an electric wheelchair over to me. His eyes locked onto mine before quickly switching to the ground. He tried to laze in a chair designed to enforce good posture and looked rather silly as he adjusted himself.
He came to a stop just a foot away from where I sat, “Hey Silv… I, uh… I don't actually need the wheelchair but Mikvia threatened to break my legs if I didn't use it, so I'm just humoring her.”
Oh, don't freaking tell me. Why are humans like this… “John… you were hospitalized with a punctured lung. Sure, doctors have some miracles they can perform these days, but you know you shouldn't be stressing yourself by walking.”
He huffed, “Please, I'm fine. Really. It wasn't as serious as everyone is making it out to be.”
I thumped my hind paw against the ground, “John.”
He threw his hands into the air with a huff, “I'm in the damn wheelchair ain't I? Gawd…”
He grasped his nose before calming down, “I apologize. Shouldn't have raised my voice like that. I mean… I am using the wheelchair and not lifting stuff. Doctor's orders. They even said getting out in this park would be fine. Said it might even help!”
We let out a deep sigh together. I hopped down from my bench and back up onto his lap, “Let's go for a ride… while we figure… us out…”
I could see John's guard drop as the exhaustion crept back onto his face, “...alright...” He pressed his controls forward, and we slowly began our first lap of the park.
John wrapped one of his lanky ape arms around me like a fleshy seatbelt and I laid my head on his chest appreciating the contrast of his warmth with the cool artificial breeze. I could have slept like this. The beating of his heart was rhythmic, and his deep breaths sounded a bit like waves washing up on a shore.
I even heard his heart quicken as I cleared my throat, “So… we aren't really dating are we?”
His exhaustion was quickly replaced with unease as he started to fidget a little, “I'm sorry…”
I held his hand and stared into the ocean blue eyes of his, “Don't be sorry. I think we were both drunk when we agreed to go on a date…”
He shook his head, “I still should have said something before then.”
It wasn't like I couldn't have taken the initiative and talked to him sooner too, “I know you were going through a lot. Actually, I know you still are… I'm really only able to guess but… Are you one of the types that thinks Xeno-dating is weird?”
He looked ashamed as he scrambled to smooth things over, “I- No- well, yes- but- it's just… ok. Let me start over… alright… yeah… so… uhm… the thing is… how do I put this… it sounds bad… well, it is bad… it’s just…”
My tail wagged involuntarily at the rather cute display of embarrassment radiating from John. I leaned in and let him have a doey-eyed look to help heap the embarrassment on.
It felt like John tried to stop the next words from rolling out of his mouth, “Sometimes I have trouble thinking of you all as people.”
John came to a complete stop as I just stared at him wide-eyed. My brain struggled to grasp what he was saying and the implications of it. He cringed and covered his face with his hands, “Gawd, that sounds horrible. It's just… It's not as bad with you and the others… I talk to y’all a lot. It's easier for it to click that you are people too.”
I was desperately trying to see this from his angle, “Wha- why does this happen in the first place?”
His hands drug down his face trying to drag the flesh with it, “I think it’s cause you are always naked. Like your back brace helps a little bit, but still everything else is… That and I hear your voice and the chip in my head then gives it meaning. Like its disjointed. Then it's the way your body language works and- and- fuck. Just…. Fuck me man. I don't even think that's all that's wrong with me. It’s just… like you look, sound, and smell like animals. It's just not really what my mind had in place for aliens. So- like- ugh! Why can't I just explain it!?”
It's difficult to explain, but his words connected to a deep sad memory, “It's like everything is just too… slightly wrong…”
It felt like I had been whisked back decades to my own childhood. I could still smell the bleached halls of the Venlil orphanage on Nevis. My heart whimpered when the Sivkits who came to adopt me shuddered with fear and disgust. Their strange voices sounded slow as they spoke a strange version of Klipic. Like hearing a pale imitation of yourself, try and pretend to be just like you.
My eyes locked with his as I carried on “It’s like you look at them and a part of you knows what they are, but your brain just snaps back to… to what you think reality is.”
I could see a glimmer of hope well up with his tears, “Y-you know? I-Iv've felt like such a monster! How can I- How can I look them in the eyes when they took me in and say- say- that I can't see them as people sometimes!? After everything they've done for me?! They want to adopt me and I- I- I can't even!”
I wrapped my arms around his neck as he buried his face in mine. It felt like he could crush me with his arms, yet they held me gently. What was causing me pain was this damn back brace. The blasted thing was trying to force my arms down while it hunched me over. I wiggled out of John's embrace and ripped the freaking thing off and chucked it as far as I could before burying myself in his embrace again.
We held each other as he drew in shuddering breaths and let his emotions flow out. John’s grip eventually began to loosen and we both took a moment to calm down. I gently tugged at the shirt covering John's torso, “So… Us not wearing clothes constantly is… disconnecting for you?”
He nodded his head, “Y-yeah… It’s like… every person I have ever known wears clothes. Animals never wear clothes and at most wear like a collar or harness if someone owns them. Then a few months ago, a bunch of nudist aliens show up and… well, my brain lops them into the animal category and the translator isn't helping.”
I glanced down at my body and suddenly felt… exposed, “So now that I am no longer wearing clothes…”
He cringed, “You look more like a large rabbit thing than a person… when you had the brace on it helped a little, but you were on all fours… When you were wearing your weather suit and had your hood off, It felt like you were a person, just different.”
An idea crossed into my skull, “Ok then… so your brain attaches personhood with a level of nudity, body plan, and familiarity… take your shirt off and give it to me- Don't give me that look! I know you’re male and are far less sensitive about people seeing your nipples. So gimme.”
He begrudgingly took off his shirt, revealing a pelt of fur that caught me off guard. I shook off the confusion as I slipped his shirt overhead and stuck my arms through the sleeves. It immediately tried to slip down my body and off. Mostly due to how large the hole for his head is, but also due to my utter lack of true shoulders. Another gift of my freak mutation. The ability to walk upright as well as sprint on all fours like a fucking Arxur.
I bunched up the collar and knotted it on itself, solving the slipping issue. With a small twirl, I spun in a circle, “So how is this?”
A smile formed on his face, “You look adorable!”
I happily flicked my tail, “Is that girlfriend adorable or pet animal adorable?”
His grin beamed with happy, mischievous energy, “Little sister adorable.”
I stomped my hind paw again, “Wha- why?!”
He held out his arms and I hopped back into his embrace, “Its cause it's my shirt. Jamie would wear my clothes sometimes, and they were so baggy on him, and well… on you that's practically a sundress! … you’d look really nice in like… a yellow sundress with like a straw hat.”
My mind tried and failed to make an image to match his description, “Hrm… well… I wouldn't know where to even start getting a… sundress.”
John carried on like clothes shopping was a normal intergalactic thing, “You would have to go to a tailor and have it custom-made. Like you already had to adjust my shirt cause you don't have shoulders like we or the Gojids do.”
We sat in a comfortable silence as John started the wheelchair back on its path. I almost fell asleep in his arms before I asked, “So… Are we dating?”
John didn't hesitate to bend over and freaking bite the top of my head! I, rather fruitlessly, slapped my paws against his face as fast as I could and only managed to elicit a laugh from him. Jumping up, I got a mouth full of his cheek in my teeth.
I made sure not to crush as I mimicked what he had done to me back, “Ah! The turns! They've tabled! I'm sorry! We're dating! Augh!” I spit out the lump of flesh between my teeth and sat down rather proudly.
It was only then I looked around to see most of the nearby groups staring at us. As well as three silver suited flame whack jobs walking our way. One of them held up his paws to try and seem as big as possible, “YOU! PREDATORS! DON'T MOVE!”
John growled at them, “YOU FUCKING IDIOTS. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?”
The trio froze in their steps and reached for weapons they didn't have. The boldest one took another step forward and shouted, “SHUT UP PREDATOR!”
John held his issued jacket up, letting the reflective emblem of the guild shine for all to see, “I WORK WITH YOU NUMB NUTS! I'M JOHN! ADOPTED SON OF YOUR FUCKING CHIEF! RING ANY BELLS?”
The trio halted in their tracks and the most skittish of them turned a one-eighty on their paws and began to walk away. The boldest one’s paws slowly dropped, “J-John?! I- I've never seen you without the mask or artificial pelt… wait! You're supposed to be in the hospital!”
Johns voice grew cold, “They said I could go out around the park so long as I mostly stayed in the chair. If it pleases you, you can talk to Loke. He's right over there with his wife and two kids. I bet he'd be thrilled to learn you three are going around accusing people of being predators.”
The bold moron took a fearful half step back, “D-d-d-d-don't twist my words! You bit her and she bit you back! I have witnesses! That's predatory!”
John leaned back and stroked the fur on my cheek, “No, it’s erotic.”
I could see the gears turning in the bold one's head grind, “What.”
John pressed his lips into my neck, “Ya know… sexy. It’s like… gently grooming your significant other's neck from behind but more playful.”
They looked revolted, “That's disgusting.”
John cocked his head to the side like a confused Gojid, “That’s odd.”
The look of revulsion quickly transitioned back to confusion, “What?”
A smirk grew on John's face as his fingers massaged into the sore muscles on my back, “It's just, that’s exactly what your mom said last night, but she grew to like it.”
I slapped my paws to my mouth to avoid laughing as the rage flared up in the bold one's eyes, “WHAT!?”
I let out a happy purr as John began to work at my sore muscles and utterly humiliate the idiot bothering us, “Yeeeeah. You weren't supposed to find out like this, but I'm your dad now.”
Their ears pinned back in rage, “You're lying to me.”
John waved a hand at our surroundings, “We are in a hermetically sealed park. There is no way for any significantly threatening animal to get in here. You are only here looking for trouble and I assure you, this will be looked into. Go clean your nose and keep it clean. Understood?”
They both tucked their tails, “Understood, sir.”
John nodded his head and calmed his tone, “Dismissed.”
As the trio of troublemakers left, we sat in relative silence as John continued to work away at the stress in my muscles. If you proved this was how humans prepared their food before eating it, I would argue that it's still worth it.
His rough voice messaged my ears, “Hey Silv?”
I stretched and enjoyed the pops my spine made as it took its natural shape, “Hrm?”
A hint of curiosity hung in his voice, “Why did you understand what I meant? Shouldn't… You've lived with aliens being a part of everyday life for… Like… ever right?”
I slumped against John and thought. Dredging up old memories that I almost wished I didn't have, “It was… a very long time ago. My doctor told me I was making up false memories to cover up a traumatic event and make it to where I was normal and everyone around me were the weird ones…”
I could hear John doubt my doctor's claims, “That sounds… fishy.”
Despite John's odd word choice, the meaning still fit perfectly, “It feels like it, but I just have no proof. I swear to you, I remember running along a beach, with my parents on two legs. Every Sivkit I knew as a child walked on two legs. It’s like… well…”
I grabbed John's hand to stop it from distracting me, “One day I woke up, and I was unbelievably cold. I thought I was a corpse. There was this strange… tentacle thing with bulgy eyes standing above me. His words didn't match his lips, but I understood him. It was terrifying.”
“He scooped me up and started running. Said I was in grave danger, and he was going to keep me safe. I didn't trust him one bit. He jumped into some strange ship and told me I had to be very quiet. The bad people would attack us if they heard either of us talking.”
“Eventually, he crashed the ship into something and pulled me out of it. I was surprised to see we had been on a submarine that entire time. That and the sky was the wrong color. I didn't even have an opportunity to think about it as he carried me to a weird looking vehicle that once again surprised me as a giant wall turned into a window.”
“I had never even heard of spaceships before, and I watched as we went up and just moved into space like it was nothing. He tried to calm me down, but he told me my parents were dead. I- just remember sobbing in his tentacles for hours. Eventually, I calmed down enough for him to play with me.”
“For a few days it was just me and him. Then we met up with another ship, and he left that one to drift in the void. He said we were meeting his friend Aylin on Nevis… a Venlil colony not too far from here, actually. I got to meet more aliens on that ship but Kalova- sorry that was the name of the Kolshian who took me out here. Kalova didn't want me to talk about anything to anyone. Said to just say I was his adopted daughter, and he just got a job on Nevis managing the new colony.”
“He never saw it. I didn't know what they were at the time but the Arxur attacked. They were trying to raid the colony and the Gojids and Venlil where desperately trying to protect it. I remember the alarm going off the second the ship’s captain announced we were leaving FTL. Kalova sprinted through the ship carrying me. He placed me in an escape pod just before that terrible lizard spotted us. He pulled the lever and my pod jettisoned down to the surface.”
“I was in that pod for three days before the Venlil found me and put me in an orphanage. Every time I met other Sivkits… they made my skin crawl. There's something wrong with all of them. I swear to you, we Sivkits are supposed to walk on two legs. We also aren't supposed to be that… stupid. Between how they talk being just… off, and the fact what they said was often either retarded or downright wrong, I couldn't ever feel like one of the so-called Grand Herd.”
“Eventually, I aged out. Graduated college, top of my class. And started working out here when they began to rebuild my plant after it burned down. That’s all there… Well, there is more, but It's not actually relevant to your question.”
John leaned down and kissed the top of my head, “Thank you for sharing that with me.”
I groomed the tip of his nose in return, “You're welcome. … Hey John?”
I could see a small bit of… hope in the back of his eyes, “Yes Silv?”
“Can you tell me about your past?”
He frowned as memories came back to him, yet he smiled still. “Yeah… it’s not a happy story either.”
I pressed myself into him, “Well… we can both be sad together, at least.”
John's hands began to absentmindedly work through my fur again, “Yeah… That doesn't sound as bad.”
___/\___
Important question, do you want a chapter dedicated to John retelling his story? Or would you like it smash cut out in favor of more of their first real date? I am not sure how I want to do it and am happy with both, so please let me know.
John and Silvera finally had the relationship talk! Woooooo! John's confessed something he'd rather never bring up, but knows he needs to address to start living a happy life with his new family. Aaaaand, It's time for Silvera’s tragic backstory! (Trademark pending). Strange names though, right? Kalova… weird how John's old boss has a missing brother with the same name as an alien Ivan the Arxur knows! And Aylin… strange they share a name with Talen's dead wife! Man that's just weird!
Special thanks to u/JulianSkies for proofreading! Seriously it felt like my eyes were melting out of my skull and your feedback was everything I needed!
___/\___
Directory
Library of BiasMushroom contains every link for everything I have written! Check it out as some stuff related to Nature of Humanity may not appear on HFY! As well as my little side stories and Fanfics of other NoP fanfics!
The Nature of Humanity
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Under Pressure
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For anyone posting to HFY do NOT select HFY first. It bugs out and doesn't work nice with copy/paste from google docs.

Hi there, I'm trying to remember the name of a game I played lots and lots of in the 1990s and I am tearing my hair out trying to find the name of it.
In a nutshell, it was a 3D Cold War-era game where you controlled tanks, IFVs, helicopters and artillery at platoon level (but see below...). There were lots of scenarios ranging from the 1950s/60s to Desert Storm. You gave out orders on an overhead real-life map at (from memory) anything up to division/corps level. I can't remember if any air power other than helicopters was included.
When your unit bumped into an enemy unit you played out the skirmish on a 3D battlefield which was not super detailed (think grassy plains, deserts, with the odd tree/cactus). You controlled your units personally from a third person perspective. Infantry was also modelled and when they dismounted they would form a wedge formation in front of the vehicle but if their source vehicle was destroyed then the whole squad would be wiped out.
The AI was very good from what I remember, possibly too good as it could call on precision artillery strikes from miles away. Helicopters were under-powered and would get shot down in droves.
It had the vibe of a Microprose game but I think it was a much smaller studio. The instruction manual was a bit quirky and had photos of a team outing of the developers in it.

as the title suggests, I made a CRT shader for a game UI, and was wondering the best method of putting it in as the UI will constantly be changing. should I make the material transparent and then put it the UI behind it or is there some other soulution? thanks in advance and sorry if this doesnt fit the sub.
https://preview.redd.it/qxioiqxphd1d1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=484adc1242482eaa188feafd4ba3475d09f7f752

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I'm curious to what other people suggested for new skills to enter the game. I personally suggested two:

• Ecology: A reboot of dungeoneering where players can group up to find crevices all around the world and enter unarmed, discovering entire new ecosystems filled with new resources and creatures. Players would have to collect the new and weird materials to craft into usable items so that they can traverse and discover the cave system. At the end of the cave system they have to solve a puzzle or fight a boss to exit out of it.
• Astronomy: Peering at the skies to find all kinds of exciting discoveries, like new planes, realms, stars, planets or other astral objects. Not sure what the gameplay benefits would be, but it could have very interesting gameplay nonetheless.

What did the rest of the community come up with? Honestly, it is getting harder and harder to find skills to suggest. I feel like RS3 has covered pretty much everything except for very niche things.