Normally, I was more careful than this. I stayed alert, I didn't check my displays, I didn't play music. I drew in the bitter night air, stinging with winter chill and salt, and it sharpened me. If someone came up too close or followed me for more than a couple blocks, I took detours. I ducked into shops or through an alley; I wasn't above flagging down a stranger and pretending to ask directions while knowing exactly where I was and where I meant to go. I hated this option, but it's worked before. Tonight, I was sloppy. I was thinking about how I couldn't miss the train, because there wouldn't be another one for anywhere between ten and twenty minutes - depending on what was broken this week - and that would be disastrous. Worse, I wasn't keeping an eye on my immediate surroundings. I was looking up at the fog-soaked spires of the city, watching as the mist began to thin and disperse. Slowly, so slowly as to be almost imperceptible, but I knew that soon light and color would pierce through the storm veil for the first time in six months. As a consequence, I didn't notice the trouble I was in until it was too late.

A MARK LIKE MINE - a machine sympathy story, in which adra finds out cheats is not simply an unassuming human man:

write.ellipsus.com/edit/2fb8172...

This district, built on civilization’s edge, teems with dive bars and gambling dens, with clandestine markets and brazen enterprise. Chop and mod shops dot the dingy streets, their fluorescent signs promising a transcendent experience for all. Warehouses stocked with merchandise both legal and less so surround dilapidated buildings with crumbling facades and sardine can apartments, making the whole district ideal for what’s done in the dark. In these smoky borderlands, the night is a wolf’s mouth, and a single person could be swallowed up without anyone else ever noticing. But that was why Adra was here. Why they had run here, far from the glittering center of the city, far from the lights that overwhelmed and surveilled them, from the eyes that they know search for them even now. Caught between two predators, they’ll take the one that doesn’t know their name.

realized i never even posted the original machine sympathy story in full, so here it is!

ft. adra & criticality

#writing #machinesympathy

LINK ▶️ write.ellipsus.com/edit/ab5caab...

Sitting ☼

weehh i love this so much

Panel 1: A silhouette with an umbrella stands on the other side of an iron gate at the top of a stairwell. The hall is lit a deep red, leaving the cool blues that comprise the rainy outdoors to spill down the concrete steps. Panel 2: They close the umbrella, water droplets shaking off. Panel 3: A closer shot of Adra, who sighs as they go down the steps.

coming home

#machinesympathy

Afternoon Encounters 🌴

The image is of Wrathion and Anduin from World of Warcraft. It's a commission done by @riotbones for @ClaretAsh. The image is a 'poster' style piece, depicting several different images. At the top is Wrathion in profile. He's in shadow, being lit by a Titan prison level with his chest. Around his head are planets - in the front is Azeroth, then Argus, then a planet being devoured by void right at the back. Interestingly, around his neck are two rings on a necklace chain. In the foreground is Anduin in his current TWW/Midnight appearance. His head is haloed in light, and in his left hand, he holds Wrathion's ruby necklace. His pose is reminiscent of the 'sacred heart' devotion. His cloak flares out, and under it, it depicts two scenes. The first is Anduin and Wrathion as boys in Pandaria reading a large tome together. Beneath is a darker image of Wrathion in front of Ny'alotha, looking worriedly over his shoulder at Anduin, holding Shalamayne, surrounded by Alliance banners and war. Golden cracks run between them, as if Azeroth herself was breaking apart... ...You know I'm getting this printed as a poster! :3c

🔸 Convergence of threads. 🔸

(Commission by the brilliant @riotbones.bsky.social ✨)

#Warcraft #wranduin

thinking ab how M highlanders are so rare that criticality (who uses the M highlander body) has more than once been mistaken for other races

unearthed this good screenshot that @raadst.bsky.social took of meridian in the old pvp gear

darkly lit screenshot of meridian in heavy armor

ain't no grave can hold my body down

i took lili to the vet yday (for her annual checkup) and she was so traumatized that she spent half this morning hiding in the closet, convinced that she would once again be forced to briefly experience Weather

One voidy guy.

A poster for Undergrowth's Spring Festival. There is a dark green leafy background, but the text is on an offwhite page with gold scroll trim. It reads: The Undergrowth Presents The Spring Festival. April 19th 2026 6P-10P ET on Maduin, Lavender Beds, Ward 14 Plot 36. Website link is undergrowthevents.carrd.co. Games, prizes, arts & crafts, food, drink, and music! Featuring performances by Martin Freepaw, Lady de Holes, Siobhan Kavanagh, Mimi Fujimori, and Swallowtail.

Today's the day!

Come celebrate spring and enjoy the evergreen weather of the Shroud with your friends at the Undergrowth, with food, music, games, and more!

[ #ffxivrp | MADUIN LAVBEDS W14 P36 | undergrowthevents.carrd.co | cytu.be/r/undergrowthevents ]

i would not even call this new; the sphene trial was the original end of dawntrail which was like. a year ago now SDJGH

and yaa; we've already been thru once! just catchin up on the other characters :>

anyway we did the yuweyawata field station which would be a very difficult experience for meridian IC. like full on flying into a rage and destroying what was left of the place unless someone calmed him down sort of catastrophe

i get so flustered when someone is randomly rude to me in trial / raid / whatever groups. like me and saren are just trying to finish MSQ on tal and meridian and someone felt the need to be snarky ab me dying during the sphene trial ... can you back off dude i just wanna get thru this 😭

tumblr post that says 'sometimes you just gotta go "man i actually don't give a shit" and keep scrolling. online survival skill 101'

modern day proverbs

a panel of meridian looking down and saying 'One of these days, I'm not gonna be able to control myself anymore.'

bless my soul, my time is coming
oh lord, gonna bury me alive
'CAUSE EVERYBODY WANTS TO GO TO HEAVEN
BUT NOBODY EVER WANTS TO DIE

(art @sarenstone.com)

a panel of meridian looking down and saying 'One of these days, I'm not gonna be able to control myself anymore.'

bless my soul, my time is coming
oh lord, gonna bury me alive
'CAUSE EVERYBODY WANTS TO GO TO HEAVEN
BUT NOBODY EVER WANTS TO DIE

(art @sarenstone.com)

armored viera standing with his arms crossed over his chest

the smolder

i appreciate everyone who visits and lurks and chats in streams ... maybe one day i will be a cool kid and have a pngtuber

himst ...

terrible mans

thank yooou i also kind of liked it ...

let's make it happen (unless u got another plan which is also all good !!)

yes

armored viera standing with his arms crossed over his chest

the smolder

You and 7 clowns band together to clear an ultimate and eventually realize that there are, in fact, 9 clowns.

Two characters at a bar. The man on the left, Novalee, has has a striking jaw implant and a bowl of ramen. The man on the right, Book, is a bot in a hooded suit, and is blowing cigarette smoke in Novalee's face as he responds to the statement in the original post. "'Fraid not."

"I know your default setting is to be a prick, but I’m sure you can dial it down a smidge."

wait where are u seeing that ...