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Music So, it's been a while since we've really had a big statement put out or anything. We're almost at 2 years of NCM, and that's incredible! For a splinter community, that really stands out. All because people chose to take a chance and break away from simple numbers and the past itself. A sense of community that is more one of togetherness than obligation. I'm proud of us. Our little community. Sure, it's a quiet little corner of the internet, but it's far from dead. I'd almost go so far as to say that it's just right. Not too big, not too small, not too soft, not too hard. I just... really wanted to take the time, as a member of the staff and the community at large, to thank all of you. I know not everything is perfect. People have fights. Petty feelings can get in the way and blind us. Life gets in the way. People say things they don't mean. People don't say things that they mean to. Even so, there is a sense of community. Grudges don't seem to hold for long. Workarounds are found. Careless words are fixed, and overthought words eventually find their way to where they need to go. Our little home away from home isn't perfect, but it's a damn sight better than what it could have become if we hadn't had stood together. It's so different from what I remember, in general. I feel like I'm an old person looking at the forums and servers, even among people I actually talk to. So much history. So much time. But here you all are. People have come. People have gone. But the community is still here. And while I feel like a fossil, I still look forward to seeing you "younguns" a lot. So, thank you, NCM. For nothing other than being yourselves. Your kindness, your creativity, your intelligence, your humor, all of it. This quiet community means the absolute world to me. I can't speak for the team, in and of itself, but I can at least let you know how much all of you matter to me. And, as an absolutely personal note, I just want to say... if anyone is suffering. If anyone needs a shoulder to cry on. If anyone just needs to express something they don't feel safe to other places... I'm here. I'll listen. I'll give you my Discord if you want it. After all, life isn't easy. 2020 showed us that, if absolutely nothing else. But that doesn't mean you have to be alone. I see you. I'm with you. I'm sure a couple of you know who you are, and I hope you take this to heart... Yet I also hope anyone else who needs this right now sees it as well, and takes it as an opportunity. I love this place. And I love you guys. Thanks for two years, and I hope the third is great, too.

I hope you all like this (especially Dae) as I have poured countless painful hours into making this as perfect as the real Dae is.

I had already given a like to this in the morning but I gotta say I am extra grateful to this little speech as one of the only beacons of positivity after all the events that have transpired today online. Thought it'd be good to let this thought out. To be honest back in the mod thread of the other site I let myself get annoyed by Horu's randomness and as a result I ended up venting out a private matter for a user that was just... there, with no votes or influences or much else to do with anything. An ad hominem that Dae was right to call out on along with all the hell breaking loose over there. Contributing to all that ruckus is something I still regret, and this time around I'd rather not go back in the gutter again. I don't even care I didn't win anymore, as I think I stopped deserving to the moment I did what I did anyways. Coming back to this thread relaxes me a bit so I'm using it as a sort of confessionary while I'm at it. It reminds me that there is this spot of the internet we have here, and although I wish it had the same traffic as the other place, it is still a space to be thankful for. It makes the issues and drama on the other side look smaller, and for members that came from YCM to make themselves a place over here, NCM should be "it" right? As much as I think YCMaker is pretty questionable to say the least, we should be able to look at things from a distance and with a more calm and collected approach. After all, Neo is home now, not YCM, isn't it? Now, I say this as somebody that has kept lurking on both sides and is dragged most to where my art buddies hang out (which has been like 90% YCM and discord this year) so I don't believe I deserve to include myself in this, but I do really wholeheartedly wish this place flourished a lot more and I could convince my friends to come here... Sorry for the aimless ranting, and let's hope we have a brighter year ahead of us....

Make of this what you will, guys.

This is a quick forewarning but this particular brand of chatter is going to be considered unnecessary chattel in the near future and onwards. I wanted to be kind and courteous and give this warning so you would not be caught off guard. If you would care to make an rebuttal for why I should or should not continue to operate in this fashion onwards, please contant me via the means of private conversations and we can continue this dialogue then.

(previously) [LORD COWCOW] radio414, there’s going to be a lot of competition at the RP Awards. You, Skaia, Giga, there are a lot of great RPers out there. What are you doing to put yourself above the rest? [RADIO414] You know, they say all RPers are created equal, but you look at me, and you look at Skaia, and you see that that statement is not true! See, normally, when you’re comparing posts with another RPer, you’ve got a fifty-fifty chance of writing a better one! But I’m a genetic freak, and I’m not normal! So you got a twenty-five percent at best at beat me! And then you add everyone else to the mix, the chances of winning drastic go down! Skaia's chances for the the “Best RPer” Award, you probably got a thirty-three and a third chance of winning! But I, I have a sixty-six and two-thirds chance of winning, ‘cause nobody else is confident they can beat me, and they’re not even going to try! So, Skaia, you take your thirty-three and a third chance of winning minus my twenty-five percent chance and you’ve got an eight and a third chance of winning at the RP Awards! But then you take my seventy-five chance of winning (if we was to go one-on-one) and then add sixty-six and two thirds percents… I got a hundred and forty-one and two thirds chance of winning the Best RPer award! Look, Skaia, the numbers don’t lie, and they spell DISASTER for you at the RP Awards!

ycmaker is just making it into a place where he decides what anyone can say; his literal words were "I get that it's going to hurt, and feel like I'm being a dictator, that I'm out of touch, etc. That's all fine, and you're entitled to feel that way. Just as I am entitled to run the forum as I see fit. " given he gave himself absolute control and even removed some power from the mods there's no real "revolt" that can happen since everything he doesn't like he just removes guess we were lucky for all those years he was absent

This is literally the exact opposite of anarchy

bedroom community He woke up that morning just the same as he did every other morning, his eyes snapping open to the sound of a bird call somewhere in the distance. After that was his morning prayer -- always the same words, always the same rhythm, just as he had been taught, not to mention the numerous trainees who had been under him. “Your steel is my body, your fire, my blood. Help me forge a pathway to understanding and cleave through uncertainty. I am the bone of your sword, you are the Master Forger.” Facing Mount Vermeer was never compulsory, but he still did it whenever he remembered to. Was Taros’ realm not a similar molten world? It gave the prayer immediacy, he thought, narrowing the distance between him and the gods. Of course, his rational side found it a silly notion -- the gods would hear him the same no matter where on Corpus he prayed. It wasn’t like there was an altar on the island (not one devoted to Taros, anyway), or a suitable forge ready to serve as a substitute. He couldn’t sense the forge-god’s presence like he used to. Not that that bothered him. That was how things were supposed to go. And besides, meandering on the past was not part of the schedule. No, instead he had to go check on Old Man Jones first thing, then go and keep Eilis from - Someone was calling him from the doorway. “Headman?” It was a young voice, but more importantly, it was a surprise. He hadn’t been surprised in countless days, actually, and the shock sent him wheeling around perhaps much faster than he should have, only just managing to catch himself before going completely off-balance. At his door was David, a young boy who, as an infant, had pulled at his beard when he had first arrived on Corpus and they had been fast friends ever since. A pleasant surprise, then. “You don’t have to call me ‘Headman,’” he said. “We’ve known each other for longer than I’ve been headman here.” He exaggerated a beard stroke. “Unless you’re telling me you’ve forgotten my name?” “I’d never forget your name, Mister Flynt,” David said, grinning. “But you said you’d give me a coin if I saw a ship coming in and there’s a ship coming in so I thought I’d come and ask for that coin. ‘Cause there’s a ship.” Flynt stroked his beard again, for real this time. “Now, when did I say that?” he said. “Just yesterday when we were over by the port. You said, ‘This is important, David: you have to let me know if you see a ship coming in. There’s a coin in it for you if you do.’ Pfeifer was there too but he wasn’t there this morning so I saw it first which means I should get the coin, right?” David put on a faux old-man voice when quoting Flynt. He wasn’t that old was he? Still, it got him grinning again, and he turned back around, heading over to beside his bed where an old, aged knapsack hung almost enshrined against the wall. He had his old tools in there -- he couldn’t bear looking at them left unused, yet he dared not discard them either. More importantly for the moment, though, were the little talismans he had stashed away in one of its many pockets, (even if it took him a moment to remember which one). He drew out one with a flourish and returned to the doorway where David stood, arm outstretched, waiting in anticipation. He placed the talisman in David’s open palm. “Don’t lose it,” he said. “Only the gods know what will happen if you do. But let’s go see about that ship.” soft!!!!!! Captain Helmsley laughed a deep laugh, both at Kitt’s prescience and at his offer. “I appreciate it,” he said, “and I’ll be very glad you’re here if things get salty. But, as a rule, I don’t let the guests do the shipwork. Don’t want us mortals to become too reliant on the gods, you understand? Besides, I doubt it’ll take us longer than a day to get ‘er shaped back to something workable at least. That’s what the ship engineer tells me, anyway.” He was about to continue rambling on, but even he stumbled as his precious Swallow Tail made its landing -- it was a bit heavier than he had been expecting. When he tried again, a familiar voice called out from the dock, “The Swallow Tail! Is Helmsley still your captain, or did the old fart finally pass on?” That got another laugh out of Helmsley. “Who’s he calling a fart?” he said. He turned around and exited the cabin, calling down the hall to Olive as well. “Alright, you two, disembarking time. Let’s go see an old friend.” OOC

──── ⋆⋅✦⋅⋆ ──── Rika had probably come overprepared. Unlike everyone else, she didn't have a chance to submit costume ideas, she had plenty of time to refine her costume as a result, but... This did mean she wasn't really going to be able to use it in time for this particular assignment. That meant... She was back to her old reliable strategy. She dragged a small trunk behind her as she glanced around the environment they were going to be working with, it all looked... Modern. "I was told to promise you all that there won't be any robots in this exam. I am not really sure what that means, but Glory said it would make more sense to you all." That didn't make sense to her. But, that was probably a good thing. As long as whoever they were up against couldn't read heat signatures then, she should be totally fine to crawl around without having to worry about being spotted. Even if it would be a bit... Well, she would have to be careful either way. She had been expecting something a little more... Nature-y. Though maybe that wasn't the right way to say it. She had been hoping for something a little more green. It was easier to camouflage yourself in bushes, in grass, in trees. With this, she would have to use colors that just... Sorta matched. Grays, whites... And any building that wasn't a color like that, she would have to pray she didn't get spotted crossing. Hopefully her teammates could handle that. She dug through the trunk rapidly, sorting through the obvious non-matching colors, her skin cycling through shades of white and gray as she compared the clothing to it, mumbling as she did. "Mom always said to pay attention to her about color theory, but I thought 'Hey! They have costumes for that now, I'll just get one of those made!' Well, look where you are now, Rika. Caught without the tool you need and a mom who's definitely gonna make a point of it later if she ever hears of this..." Her voice trailed off as her skin started to turn a shade of green and red, swirled about as she worked to pull out some colors that could, at least, blend in with the cityscape they were going to be in... It would require some distraction on the teacher's part, but... Well, hopefully that would work out alright. It took a bit, swapping her clothes around without taking things off in front of the others wasn't a quick skill, but it was something she had worked on streamlining to make sure there were no slip ups over time. It didn't take long and she had on a fairly minimal outfit that could blend in with the city. She took a deep breath, closing up the trunk as she stood up. "So, do any of you have questions before this starts?" Rika's thoughts started to race as she considered any questions she might have. She couldn't ask anything too specific, honestly. It's not likely they would give any real hints on how to handle their teacher here. No... But... Her hand was in the air anyway, the red and green swirls there seeming to become more chaotic, squiggly as she spoke, "Uh... Yeah, what's the alternate 'win' condition, exactly? Since we haven't really been able to plan around it, I'm just... Curious on if it's even realistic to think about achieving it." "I'm glad you asked! If i didn't cover this i might have gotten in some trouble!" The substitute teacher pulled out some crumpled notes from his pocket, "So... Basically... Each teacher will have a briefcase near their person as the exam starts. Inside the briefcase is a keypad, and if you enter 4 3 7 6, your team sill automatically win!" Rika paused as she heard him speak up, that... That could be something very easy for them to accomplish. Ben's spiders... Maybe they'd be strong enough to input that? She didn't know if they were capable of putting enough force on the keypad. That left her. If she could sneak her way to the briefcase and she acted quick enough, maybe she could get it open and... Right. "Do... Can I ask a follow up question?" She paused there, before continuing, "I'm asking anyway. Is the briefcase locked? Do we need to, like, fish a key away from the enemy or is it already unlocked? Is that too much info?" She bit her tongue there, she was gonna follow that up with 'Do you know the answer to that?', but she had a strange feeling that might not get a positive response. "I mean... it doesn't say here that it is. It is probably just one of those little clicky latches. You what I mean?" He made an awkward motion as if operating the latch on a briefcase, "CLICK. Yeah, like one of those ones." Oh. Well, that solved part of her problem, maybe. Hopefully it was just one of those clicky latches, as he put it. If the case was locked, that was a whole different matter... And things would get a lot more difficult. ──── ⋆⋅✦⋅⋆ ────

"...How far away can they be from you? The spiders, I mean... Obviously. If they can go far enough away, I can smuggle them around, you'd never even know that I have one or two on me if I'm careful about how I move, I can sneak them around the field to try and give them good spots to set traps. I can even hide them from sight while they do it. A capture could be possible." At this...yet again...Benjamin's spiders freaked out and the young man had to rub his temples some. "I-I'm sorry Rika. Give me one moment...my spiders are...a-a bit...freaked out. But they'll get over it...won't they?!" he spoke in a stern tone, directing it to his spiders and finally the freak out subsided. "As to answer your question...well, if they're in my nearby vicinity, I can give a telepathic orders via my work...yeah I have a mental link with them and can control them like that and they also respond to me with it. Otherwise, I give them an order and they'll carry that out, without me having to rely on my mental link. So if I give them the order and have them stick with you...they'll follow those orders." "And that's class for today! I guess I didn't really teach you guys anything, but uh...haHA! I am the homeroom teacher! I don't to teach you brats anything!" Benjamin overheard this and nodded, standing up and looking at his team. "Guess we'll reconvene on this...but I think so far this is a good start to all this. We can talk more about it over the next few days...really hammer the plan to fruition." he said with a smile. The next two days came and went like a flash...but the plan seemed to go over well, just for the most part. Plus, Benjamin even took the time to do his best to brush up on Xionglauhu, or as much as he could. The internet was a great learning tool if anything. Nevertheless, even with all their planning...Friday came too soon...and the big day had arrived. And what was more...this moment they were in costume...the Hero Costumes they had sent in during the application process... As Benjamin entered the locker room to change into the costume of his that now resided in a brief case, he thought back on the day... Benjamin sat in his room, his feet propped up on his desk, scrolling through page after page on his computer screen. In his lap lay an open notebook with a few sketches, scribbles and even some notes. His pencil laid behind his ear as he glanced between his computer screen and the TV screen over on the other side of his room. Right now, he was working on the most important thing he could: his Hero costume. A Hero’s costume was their identity, their calling card...something that would possibly inspire others to be like them. But what would truly encapsulate the heroic persona of Arachnid Hero - Multi-Threader? From what he saw, most of the Hero costumes seemed a bit too much for him...so what could he do. “Ugh...” he grumbled, leaning his head back, looking up at his ceiling as he watched a few of his spiders running around on a small web that they made. “...so glad you guys are having fun while I’m working.” Benjamin rolled his eyes some, with a sigh. “Still, guess one of us should be taking it easy on this.” Benjamin closed his eyes, trying to focus on what to truly do with this design. All he could see in his head right now was just a blurry figure. No bright ideas, nothing. Another sigh escaped his lips, until he heard one thing in his head: “Vigilantes...” His eyes shot open, as the young man sat up quickly. He looked up at the spiders and pointed at them. “Okay, fess up...which one of you said that?” Benjamin asked, seeing the farthest spider raise a leg. “...you’re a GENIUS!!!” With a swift bit of speed, Benjamin started looking up things for ‘vigilantes’ and he saw types of costumes he thought actually looked cool. “Hmm...that might be it! At least, for the very first costume anyway.” he nodded firmly, now taking the pencil and putting it to the notebook. Soon he had a general sketch up and running with this idea...and he was truly impressed with it. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, according to Da Vinci...and this might just be my ticket.” Benjamin placed the pencil down, looking at his masterpiece of a design... Taking his first steps at training ground Epsilon, Benjamin...no...Arachnid Hero: Multi-Threader stood tall, donned in his costume. It might've not been as grandiose as many others, but for what he wanted...like he said before, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. He left his hood down and the goggles remained on top of his forehead for the time being. Nevertheless, he could feel himself have a bit of the jitters...worse than usual...even the spiders were a bit jittery. This here was a big moment... "I was told to promise you all that there won't be any robots in this exam. I am not really sure what that means, but Glory said it would make more sense to you all. This is the field you will be using for the exam. Each of your teams will be squared off against a mock-villain, AKA your own teacher! All four tests will be conducted simultaneously, but don't worry, we won't miss anything. There are cameras planted all over the testing area so that we can better evaluate your performance. Orikami and I will be observing over the cameras, though she declined to meet with you all today. She emailed me something about having lost her voice? Pretty funny for a lady so soft-spoken, eh? GAHAAAHAAHAHA! So, do any of you have questions before this starts?" Multi-Threader fiddled with two bracelet devices on his wrists for a moment, before raising a hand for a moment. "Dreadbolt sir, I have one." he spoke up, clearing his throat. He could've asked about something else...but he wanted to ask this first. "...what exactly would happen to us if we happen to fail this exam?" The teacher's face appeared to change from steel to stone as he said flatly, "You will no longer be allowed to attend U.A." After a few seconds of silence, he let out a huge laugh, "Nah, it's nothing like that. I dunno kid, maybe your parents will take away your Wintendo Stitch after seeing your report card? Gaaahahaaha!!" He was...for lack of a better word, worried now. Whether this idle threat was real or not...it put him on edge. He just prayed that this worst case scenario was 100% just a joke.

Best RPer: I would say... Skaia! His posts in both of the RPs I've been in have always been some of the best.Best Host: This is a bit difficult for me to do a vote for, since the host I would have voted for I'm not sure if they're still here? So I guess I'll say Skaia again, since he's been super understanding of a host.Best Character Design: Best World Design: Again, who I would normally vote for, I'm not sure if they're here...? But, I can still cast a vote for LordCowCow, for the world-building I've seen in many of his RPs that I've watched, but never joined. Best Writer: Controversial, I know, but I'll say Hakima, of all people, for the work I saw in Fire Emblem. His depiction of things like PTSD and whatnot were really well researched.Best Reliable: I would say LordCowCow, since no matter what he's always able to post. Always.Best Cooperative: Yui I would say was one of the most cooperative writers, especially for when a post needed to be Collab on. Best Helpful: LordCowCow, hands down, since he always seemed to have input on what needed to be changed or fixed whenever I had a question about something. Best in Chat: Chaos Sonic, since he always keeps the chats he's in well-stocked with memes.Best RP: Sorry, can't really cast a vote for this one since I've only been in two?Best Character: Same issue as the above.