#I don't own a single thing that saturated

[sachermorte]

literally having a huffy little moment because I was invited to a party at the end of the month with the dress code being kidcore. how am I supposed to pull that out of my wardrobe. I'm a deep winter, you utter buffoons. fucking crisis situation

#I don't own a single thing that saturated #maybe when I was 19 and still wore brights #calling for IMMEDIATE backup #shitpost nach sacher art

[drchucktingle]

Hi Dr. Tingle,

I just wanted to say, as someone who has been in the Homestuck fandom for a long time, that I'm so sorry people connected to the game and the comic have been so unnecessarily unkind to you, and that they've carried on this bit so far past the point of decency. Homestuck as a piece of media is deeply saturated with a very particular brand of early 2010s online irony, and there are some folks in the fandom who just refuse to let it go.

I think there are a lot of people out there who choose to take your sincerity as mockery, because to do otherwise would force them to confront their own cynicism and irony-poisoning and commit to self reflection in a way that they're not willing to do at this point in their lives. I'm not saying they're inherently bad people, because I don't believe that and (based only on the limited snapshot of yourself that you give to the world) I don't think you would either, only that they're making unkind decisions out of a fear of difference. Your work is both delightfully fun and incredibly meaningful, for me and a lot of others, and I just wanted to say that.

I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this, so I'll just say that I hope your day is going well if/when you're reading this.

Respectfully,

Ray/cultivating-saplings

P.S. I would classify Hussie as a light scoundrel, in a 'season 1 villain who you can tell is eventually going to move into the heroes' apartment later in the show and hang out eating all of their chips' sort of way.

P.P.S. I like your lab coat :]

i do not have a lot to respond with other than I LIKE THIS MESSAGE and i think you are correct not just with this way of a specific fandom but with a HUGE PORTION OF THE INTERNET and a certain age range who trotted up in online forums and various websites.

there is a deep deep deep irony poisoning going on with some of these buckaroos and i think my trot kind of short circuits that and it is difficult for these folks to grapple with it. i think when you are used to every single thing on the internet being drenched in irony and every big reveal of an online presence being some keyboard goofball 'trotting for the lulz' it can be very difficult to see chuck and just accept that i am sincere. i have empathy for this.

i should also add that, of course, not all irony is bad. too much can be very destructive though.

all i can do is keep creating my art and being sincere about it, and i think the longer that continues to more irony poisoning will drain from some of these veins. that is one way i can prove love is real i think.

#love is real #chuck tingle #tingleverse #irony poisoning

[theliteraryarchitect]

Hi! I wanted to say, I read that you are a professional editor, and think it's amazing! You also give very logical and well explained advice. I was wondering; would you say being an editor is a job you can support yourself with? I actually aspire to become one someday, but I'm not exactly sure if it's a good plan.

Thank you for your time, and I hope you have a good day/night

Hey there. Great question. It's totally possible to support yourself as an editor. I've done it, and so have other editors I know. However there are a few important things to consider before choosing editing as a career path.

Your chances of being a self-employed freelancer are extremely high. The number of in-house editing jobs in publishing are low and getting lower. While being self employed can give you a certain amount of flexibility, it also comes along with a lot of hustle and hassle, namely fluctuating income, a stupid amount of confusing tax paperwork, and the need to constantly promote yourself to clients in order to maintain steady work.

You probably won't make as much money as you'd think. Editing is one of the many skilled jobs that suffers from market saturation, which has sadly driven down the price the average client is willing to pay for editing services. I can't tell you the number of overqualified editors I know charging barely more than minimum wage for their work. Personally I've stuck to my guns about charging what I'm worth, but I've sometimes suffered by not having as much work as my colleagues who charge less.

Robots have already chipped away at the future of editing as a human occupation, and will continue to do so at exponential speed in the years ahead. They will never obliterate the job completely, as there will always be humans who prefer to work with humans instead of machines. But the outlook will become ever bleaker as more humans compete for fewer gigs, which in turn will drive down prices even further.

If you are also a writer, editing may adversely affect your writing. I don't mean that you'll become a worse writer, quite the opposite. My editing work has brought new depths to my writing, and I'm grateful for all I've learned by working with my clients. However, editing takes time, uses creative energy, and requires staring at a screen (or paper), and personally the more I edit, the less time/creativity/screen-staring capabilities I have left for my own writing.

If you mention you're an editor, someone will troll your post for a typo, grammatical error, or misused word, and then triumphantly point it out to you in the comments. This is mostly a joke. But it does happen every single time.

I hope this hasn't been too discouraging. If you feel a true passion for editing and really enjoy the work, none of the above should dissuade you. However, if you think you might be happy in any number of occupations, I'd honestly advise you to explore other options. Choosing a career path at this point in history is a gamble no matter what, but the outlook for editors is especially grim.

If you'd like to work with writers and aren't attached to being an editor, there are a few jobs (still freelance) that I believe will survive the coming robot apocalypse. Do a little Google research about "book coaches," "writing coaches," or "book doulas." These are people who act primarily as emotional supporters and logistical helpers for writers who are trying to get their book published or self published. Some of them do actual editing, but many do not, and due to the therapeutic nature of their work I believe they will flourish longer than editors in the coming robot apocalypse.

If you do explore editing as a path, the further away you can lean from spelling and grammar (e.g. proofreader or copyeditor), the longer your skills will be useful when competing with robots. AI still struggles to offer the same kind of nuanced, story-level feedback that a human can give. (Speaking from experience here--I'm a developmental editor and have yet to see a dent in my workload because of robots.) They'll catch up eventually, but it could be a while, and as long as there are human readers, there will always be humans who are willing to pay for a human perspective on their writing. Human spell checkers maybe not so much.

Hope this helps!

#writeblr #asks #op #editing

[lullabyes22-blog]

Snippet - In Trade - Mal de Mer

Mal de Mer on AO3

NSFW - Oral sex, oversensitivity, dirty talk.

Snippet:

Her voice comes huskier than she's heard it.  "And in trade?"

"What trade?"

"You never offer something for nothing. Not—not unless there's a catch."

"No catch." He eases her back onto the vanity. "Just a taste."

"Silco, I really can't..."

"Sssh. Just a taste, petal." His hands, parting her thighs, are as gentle as his voice. "You trust me, don't you?"

Her breath jitters. "...Yes."

She can see the effect of her words: the dark energy uncoiling in his body, making his good eyelid heavy, his prick stir. And Mel, her own body priming itself to a fever pitch, wonders if she's playing with fire—or ready to catch her death.

Then he's kissing her. Hungrily, yes. But with enough hot restraint to dizzy her. As if, after weeks of having her, a single night has unhinged him.

Or perhaps it's not the having, but the keeping. 

Keeping, and not letting go.

She lets him waltz her back against the wide sink. His body, crowding her, is a wall of sinew. A wall, and a door: somewhere she can slip in, and let the rest of the world, for a little while, slip away. He lifts her up against the basin, the marble a hard chill against her bare bottom. His palms, cupping her knees, coax her thighs apart. The kiss deepens: a slick suction, his teeth teasing her, her tongue curling against his.

Then he breaks the seal. She gasps—a little half-sob—as his mouth works its way down her body, tasting her flesh with unsparing relish.  Her bruises are a constellation of stars. He maps them, one by one, with lips and tongue, down between her thighs, where the throb is the headiest.

"Let's have a look," he breathes. "Open wide. There's my treasure."

His thumbs, spreading her carefully, reveal the swollen folds. Her breath escapes on a broken mewl. She's sore: a flush, like a bad sunburn, from the inside out. The wetness, though, is an endless pulse.

His touch is breathtakingly soft.

"My poor petal. Such a sweet little quim, and such a hard night."  The flat of his tongue, lapping the seam, draws a cry. "There. Is that better?"

"Silco…"

"Yes?" Another lick, slow and full and thorough. Mel's head falls back on a whimper. "Does it hurt?"

"No—I—oh—"

"Mmmm." His growl, reverberating through her flesh, is a liquid vibration. "Let me make it up to you, hm? I'd no business being so greedy last night. Taking this lovely cunt without mercy." His tongue tip, tracing circles, is a slick whisper. "No more of that. Only this. Only for you."

"Silco..."

"All day. All night. For however long it takes." Another lick, and Mel's hips, reflexively, roll to meet him. "That's it. Show me where you need it. Where's the ache?"

"Inside." Her voice wavers. "Deep."

"Deep, hm?" He suckles, openmouthed, and her thighs quiver, ankles crossing at his back. "Shall I kiss you there, too?"

"Yes, gods—"

"Sssh. Keep those legs open." His teeth close, with a tiny bite, on her inner thigh. "Let me make it better."

And, dark-eyed, he descends.

Mel's cry of rapture dissolves in the sunlight.

Last night, he'd been a man possessed with the need to lay claim. Today, in the golden glow, he is a man, laying his need at the altar.

He worships her: tongue curling deep; lips suckling wetly. The dark crown of his head, nestled between her thighs, imprints an indelible rhythm against her flesh. The pleasure is too saturated for Mel to bear. There is no climb; no climax. Only a continuous tide that rises, and swells, rises and swells.

She is his, and his alone, and her desire is the only language he speaks. The only thing, save for her unspooling cries, that is real.

"That's it," he breathes, eyes lifting to hers. "Let it out, petal."

She does. Threading her fingers into his hair, she lets it all go. The last vestiges of the empty space. The shame, the loss, the sorrow. The past: a distant island, receding from the horizon. Herself, laid bare, and breaking to the surface. Cresting, past her body, to the sea.

To the sun.

Gentleness, she learns, can cut the deepest of all. But also set the worst wound to rights.

Especially when it’s from a man who knows all the places where the ache resides.

#arcane league of legends #arcane #arcane silco #silco #forward but never forget/xoxo #forward (never forget)/xoxo #arcane mel #mel medarda #melco #silco x mel #mal de mer #snippet

[thowawayuntilfurthernotice]

Yeah, this show is gonna be a visual eyesore.

Viv, I'm begging you to hire someone who understands basic color theory, as the over saturation of reds, pinks, and yellows is out of control.

It’s kinda sad how even the worst adult animated shows have a better understanding of color theory than Viv does.

Also, while I'm the subject of the trailer, the animation quality looks cheap when compared to the pilot. You can tell that there's a lot of puppet rigging going on, which is understandable because traditional animation is so time consuming. But the fluid animation was the only decent thing about the pilot, and the main show doesn't even had that.

I honestly don't know how I'm going to be able to watch a single episode without feeling the urge to claw my own eyes out.

#Vivziepop Critical #Hazbin Hotel Critical #Helluva Boss Critical #Spindlehorse Critical #Adult Animation

[see-arcane]

"a century and a half of him being a cowardly weakling who sometimes cheats" - about Jonathan Harker in one of previous asks I'm sorry, but that's not even true. Jonathan wasn't always some cowardly weakling in media. He wasn't a cowardly weakling in 1970 Count Dracula adaptation or in 1977 BBC adaptation or in that Czechoslovakian 1971  adaptation or in 1953 Turkish one - he was brave and badass in those. And even if you don't like 1992 version, Jonathan was not weakling there either - he was brave, he was badass chasing Dracula across snowy Transylvania with others and even cut his throat, mortally wounding him. It's an exaggeration to claim Jonathan has always been a cowardly weaking in media.

I don't know what specific ask you're referring to and I don't like my odds of sifting through the pile to find the exact quote, but it's a sentiment that's appeared in a few of my rambles before, so I'll take your word that it's floating around somewhere.

First, thank you for bringing up four whole Dracula adaptations where Jonathan Harker is done some justice that have never crossed my radar. The 1970 version has Christopher Lee himself as the Count, so it seems like a promising watch on principle, and I think I vaguely recall the 1977 BBC being mentioned as a hidden gem adaptation that actually brushed closer to the book's canon. The Czechoslovakian and Turkish versions I will trust you on, as my media saturation is drowning in 'murrican schlock. I will even give the 1992 Jonathan credit for letting Keanu have a fraction of Jonathan's character in Coppola's laughably named 1992 fanfiction.

But the thing is, those are five movies. Five whole movies you could point to in a very very very long list of Dracula media. Five where Jonathan is allowed to possess one sliver of his canonical self's character, courage, strength, and ability. I will say the line you picked is one to be rightfully upset about, if only because it isn't right to be angry over 'a century and a half of him being a cowardly weakling.' Fear is part of Jonathan's character.

Jonathan Harker was terrified for his entire stay with the Count. That is in canon. Then he escapes, goes through his magical girl transformation in reaction to Mina being attacked, and winds up beheading the Count. Him starting out afraid is key to his character arc and the catharsis of the climax.

An arc that is--and I will bet money on this--almost entirely gutted even in the four adaptations I wasn't aware of. I know it for a fact in the 1992 film. Keanu was given the same acting directions and script in the movie as you'd give a slice of dry toast or a broom.

Because, as has been the case in far more movies, shows and books with Dracula as a starring role, Jonathan Harker may not necessarily become a coward, but he is always, always gutted. Dracula becomes the dark seducer, now with Coppola's rendition becoming the norm ala 'blaspheming for love,' courtesy of stealing Jonathan's driving passion in the third act. Van Helsing becomes Dracula's badass personal nemesis, courtesy of robbing Jonathan and Mina of that co-owned role.

Yes, Jonathan is sometimes remembered, but it's a coin toss as to whether he gets to A) Participate in the narrative beyond filling screen space, B) Be interesting, C) Be faithful (and not a cookie cutter Victorian Man (c) cliche to poor Mina who needs a REAL VAMPIRE MAN, D) Have any of his importance as one half of the protagonist team with Mina acknowledged without handing everything to Van Helsing. You can only ever have one. If you're lucky.

When people think of the Dracula media of today, or last decade, or the decade before that, and before that, who besides people who have actually read the book would think Jonathan Harker matters as a character? As the guy who opens and closes the story? As the guy who spent two months in captivity with Dracula, as the only person to have actual dialogue with him beyond a single villain rant? As the guy who did not just scratch Dracula's throat, but actively sent him running for his unlife in Piccadilly and ultimately chopped his head off?

The most he's gotten in recent years are the scraps that Moffat tossed him in his latest self insert OCified take on Dracula in his 2020 series, if we ignore the massive middle finger of a send off he gets in the first episode. Or we could look at the 2013 series' lovely depiction of Jonathan (now a jealous prick) and Lucy (an unfulfilled lesbian) having angry-cheating sex about Mina not being into them. Or 2022's The Invitation, featuring Count Ken Doll and his helpers, the elderly Harkers who are also his minions who attack and offer up an innocent girl to his Bride-cult. Or the 1999-2007 comic series of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan 'lol Jonathan Harker is a milksop' Moore, who wrote Mina has his own personal SA fetish stand-in while Jonathan is mercifully off-screen, having ditched Mina because he thought her vampire bite scars were ugly. Or we could give Anno Dracula a read and see Kim Newman's special warm welcome and farewell to the Harkers within the first few pages.

Or we could go back to the beginning. All the way to Tod Browning and F.W. Murnau.

Browning's Dracula of 1931 is, like Coppola's 1992 flick, one of, if not the most immediately recognized version of Dracula there is in cinema. Its climax features Jonathan Harker prancing around a crypt looking for Mina while Van Helsing stakes the Count. (I am being literal. The man is practically skipping. I know, I know, film acting wasn't at its peak back then, but come on.)

Murnau and the very definitely for sure not Dracula with its serial numbers filed off 1922 film, Nosferatu, has Orlok being appropriately menacing and weird at the Jonathan Harker stand-in of 'Thomas Hutter,' who is theatrically terrified--but at least one half of an earnestly loving couple with Mina Ellen Hutter!--and then gets sent away by Ellen on a ruse so she can die tricking Orlok into his death by sunrise.

Jonathan Harker mincing uselessly around while Van Helsing gets the work done.

Jonathan Harker quailing and afraid, contributing nothing to the Count's (or doppelganger thereof) destruction.

Jonathan Harker, however effete or earnest or able, loses the girl to the dark dramatic seducer.

This was the foundation people were given for this character well before anyone bothered to pick up the book. And much of that audience didn't bother. Same for the generations to follow. There's a reason the Dracula Daily wave has surprised, enthralled, and enraged so many new readers who thought that 126+ years of multiple mediums had to be working from some bedrock of comparison in the book, only to find how much had been erased or warped out of recognition.

I would be here all day if I threw myself into all the comic book adaptations. All the spinoff novels. The entire filmography and its neighboring heap of TV series. Even I'm not dedicated enough to comb through every single page and scene just to be reminded of how routinely snubbed or bastardized this character--and, honestly, the whole cast--is as time marches on and the writers and directors behind new Dracula media become increasingly detached from the actual content of the novel, relying only on pop culture osmosis and Wiki pages for Coppola's movie.

Anyway. I suppose it isn't perfectly fair to say Jonathan Harker has been portrayed as a coward through the century and a quarter of Dracula film, TV, and print in every single depiction.

But there is enough saturation in the trends of contemporary media that any crumbs the 20th century offered to him are drowned out to the point that we need a microscope to find them. And even if we're not talking contemporary?

I think it's telling that the examples you gave, bar what I can't not read as a hell of a stretch with 90's Keanu, form a list of four examples out of 126 years' worth of media.

#hope you guys like text walls #in all honesty I would love for some surprise Jonathan Harker-friendly recs to come out of the woodwork #I will try to find those four unknown examples if I can #or at least some synopses to see if I need to brace for some BS foisted on the rest of the cast #but yeah #I have Feelings about my good friend Jonathan Harker #jonathan harker #dracula #adaptation

[adobe-outdesign]

I know you've reviewed the Goodra line, but have you talked about Hisuian Sliggoo and Goodra?

While I don't like it more than the original, I do think Hisuian Sliggoo is pretty solid for a regional. The original line were mostly slugs with a few snail-like touches, so taking them and adding a shell to make them true snails makes logical sense thematically. Making the shell a result of increased iron in the line's diet and then making them part steel-type also works nicely.

In Sliggoo's case, while the body itself barely changes, the way it hides within its shell gives it a very different silhouette from the original and helps to instantly make the two unique. I wouldn't have minded more changes, but what we got is distinct enough, and cute to boot.

However, Hisuian Goodra is kind of a major step down from Sliggoo. What makes Hisuian Sliggoo work isn't just that it has a shell, it's that it has a shell that it stays in 24/7. Completely removing that element from H. Goodra makes it way too similar to the original. Sure, the shell itself is different, but it mostly feels like the same creature with one single design change. It actually has multiple changes—one less spot on its head and tail, the spots being desaturated, longer antennae, a different expression that doesn't really add anything—but everything else is so minor it's almost unnoticeable.

Off the top of my head, here were some things they could've changed about the body if they really didn't want to have it in its shell 24/7 (ideally, these would be applied to H. Sliggoo as well for consistency):

Change the colors (there are tons of snails out there to pick from)

Inverse the body so the darker color is on top and vice versa

Make the antennae curled up to mimic the shape of the shell

Change the position of the slime drips

Change the position of the spots, such as putting them on the shell or along the sides of the body

Change the face to look more like Sliggoo's

Change the feet to be more gastropod-ish

Etc. The shell itself is fine—but it's not enough to do all the heavy lifting on its own.

For the record, while I prefer regular Sliggoo slightly I do prefer Hisuian Goodra a bit over the original, just because I like the weight of that giant shell and the way it merges directly with the tail, as well as the more hunched-over posture. I do like the more saturated colors and happier expression of the original though, so it is what it is.

Overall, Hisuian Sligoo is a pretty good regional that puts a nice twist on the original design. Hisuian Goodra is fine, but it doesn't change enough to really feel like its own unique thing.

#sliggoo #goodra #hisuian sliggoo #hisuian goodra #pokemon #pokemon reviews

[jacquesthepigeon]

If you don't mind me asking, why do you hate the miracuclass?

This ancient ask came up while I was trying to find a post! So!

1) I’m not a fan of the dozen kids determined to be worthy of great power all “coincidentally” being in the same class. Sure, maybe two or three might have it in them, but not every single one. And, sure, there is a good message about how everyone could be a hero in there, but I personally think that it could be worked out in a more organic way, particularly as a one-time special event. If everyone in the class had been brought together because they’re a hero, then it would be a different story entirely.

2) It saturates the importance of the role and the powers. ML has a problem with trying to introduce more than its ready to and then doing nothing with it. It’s clear that half of the powers aren’t thought out and introducing even more miraculous beyond that box makes them feel common and unimpressive. The way some of the characters “earn” their miraculous is also ridiculous and lacking. Like, we have Marinette running into moving traffic to save an old man and meanwhile Sabrina gets hers for ?? liking soccer/football???? Talk about underwhelming. It just made it too obvious that they were trying to cram as many classmates as they could into the team without any consideration for whether they actually suited the role.

3) Too much, too soon, too gimmicky. There’re too many characters trying to have their time in the spotlight at the same time, none of them have been given a heroic journey, and the combination of these factors makes them unenjoyable to me. We’ve seen other franchises pull off big groups before, but they’re usually almost always divided into smaller groups and dynamics so everyone gets attention and development and don’t get lost in all the moving parts. I’ve seen it suggested that they could’ve been organized into smaller teams like in Naruto, with each team facing their own villain compatible with their individual powers and occasionally working with other teams. I love that. That could’ve worked. But alas, we’re only allowed one supervillain, one uncohesive superhero group, all stuffed in one class.

I hope this made sense but yeah. I think the miracuclass could’ve worked as a one-time thing where they all come together to help LB and CN during a particularly dire situation or as smaller groups from different schools that work independently but cooperatively.

#anon #ask #ml

[phoenixspencer]

Hello! I love your gifs! How do you make yours so clear and high quality/What's your process? <3

Hi!! Thank you so much!! I've never really had to explain out my process to anyone and I don't know how much detail you need, but I'll try my best and try to be as thorough as possible just in case!!

For my D:BH gifs, the process starts out with recording my own game play. I have a gaming computer that already had the GeForce Experience app downloaded, so I use that to record my game play. It records at 1920 × 1080p, 60 frames per second, so the files can get... rather large 😅 The video of my playthrough of the Russian Roulette chapter (~11 minutes long) was just under 4 GB. So its not light...

From there, I figure out what in particular I want to gif (for the timestamp roulette series, I let a random number generator figure out whereabouts I'm looking). Once I know that, I open up VLC and use it to isolate that particular shot + a little more on either end.

After I have the shot(s) I want to gif isolated, I open up Photoshop. I use "File" > "Import" > "Video Frames to Layers" and choose the video I want. You can do this straight from the video of your playthough, but I find that the shorter the video is, the easier it is to work with in this step. I trim my video more, to about a click or two outside of the specific shot I want. Like so:

From there I delete any extraneous frames from the "timeline" section that comes up.

Then is cropping: my go-to crop uses the "W x H x Resolution" option - I put 540 px in the first box, 300 px in the second and leave the third blank.

After that, I have an action in Photoshop that does the next steps for me (to make things quicker), but what it does is sets the frame rate (which will have to be done again after saving the gif because Photoshop hates everyone apparently), converts all the layers into a single object, and sharpens the gif. I've only been gif-ing for about a year and a half, and before that I had exactly zero experience with Photoshop at all, so all the numbers from these steps are still the same as the numbers I pulled from the tutorial I used when trying to figure everything out. For those, you can look at this absolutely AMAZING tutorial, by hayaosmiyazaki, specifically steps 7. gif speed and 8. sharpening.

From there, I start adjusting the colors. From what I've noticed, I seem to do a good bit less color adjustment than some, or maybe even most, other gif makers. It's honestly all about personal preference, so play around with it and find what you like! I personally like to stick as close as possible to the original colors, while still brightening the image up enough to make it clearer and more legible. So, for a majority of my gifs, I only apply an "Exposure" layer, a "Brightness/Contrast" layer, and a "Hue/Saturation" layer (from the "Layer" > "New Adjustment Layer" menu.) The numbers here change dependent upon the lighting in the shot.

For example, here's a before and after of this shot I just did so I could type this out and make sure I got every step 😅 For this one, I did Exposure +1.0 (no change to Offset or Gamma Correction), Brightness +20, Contrast +10, and Saturation +5 (no change to Hue or Lightness).

Once I'm satisfied with my coloring, I go to "File" > "Export" > "Save for Web (Legacy)". I watch the gif there to make sure it looks how I want, maybe go back and do a few tweaks to the coloring if I'm not quite happy, check the file size and then save it!

Tumblr's maximum file size is 10MB so if your gif is over that, you won't be able to use it on tumblr - in order to fix that, you may have to delete a few more frames. Or you can crop it to so there's less pixels in the "Save for Web" pop-up by changing the numbers in the "Image Size" section

And now, once I have my gif named and saved. I go back to "File" > "Open" and open up that gif. From there, I go to the little three lines icon in the top right corner of my "Timeline" section, click "Select All Frames" and then click the three dots on one of the frames and change the frame delay. For my DBH gifs, I do 0.02 seconds cause it looks best to me. Depending on how many frames per second your recording software does/what you personally like speed wise, this may be different for you. This is also different for gifs from live action or other media (for those, I prefer 0.05 seconds - it looks the most realistic to me.)

Then, I just save again, overriding the file from before I changed the speed, and voila! That's my process!

I hope this helps; if you have any more questions, my ask box is always open!! And again, thank you so so much 🥰 I'm so glad you like my gifs!!

#so yeah that's the process #gif making #phoenixspencer gifs

[vyl3tpwny]

A thought about the Music Process®

Prophet V Synthesizer, one of my favourite synthesizers ever. Ironically, this isn't about synthesizers, though. You'll see

—

I'm not actually sure what the most in depth way of saying any of this is. So I'd just like to consider it from my limited lexicon (pun intended, for my vintage reverb fans out there).

But the ways i think of it are like this:

Writing / Composition — The act of actually conceptualizing the music, composing it melodically, establishing parts for instruments, writing lyrics, etc.

Recording — Capturing any live performances such as guitars, vocals, drums, etc.

Sound Design — Depending on the genre, this may not be a thing. But for me, it's designing instruments from scratch, curating interesting instruments (possibly paired with some effect chains that sound cool), experimenting with sounds and musical phrases independently of a song's context, etc.

Production — Kind of a blend of the first three, but a sort of higher level of polish is involved and often involves taking each smaller idea and concept to a interesting and pristine level. Usually includes stuff like instrumentation as well.

Arranging — Deciding where all the elements go, when they come in, how they make their exit, etc.

Mixing — Using tools like EQ's, compressors, saturation, and other tools to make individual tracks/instruments/sounds work together in the context of a full song and establishing a distinct sonic style for the instruments and track as a whole.

Mastering — Taking a full mix of a song and doing similar things like with Mixing, except instead of applying these ideas to individual tracks, you're applying them to the song as a whole. Often this process involves trying to reach a target loudness for the song as well as make it as compatible as possible with other platforms, devices, and listening situations.

A lot of people think of these things as separate. In a lot of cases they are.

However. That is not how I do anything, actually. Most of these things, aside from mastering, sort of blend together for me. The writing process may yield sound design ideas, or vice versa. And I always find myself mixing while arranging and writing. And this sort of blending together of the parts of the "music process®" is common for independent musicians these days.

Traditionally, different roles are taken on by different people. Even one role can be taken up by multiple people; most bands do various parts of the writing and composition, while other engineers help with recording, production, mixing, mastering, etc.

Most independent musicians that find themselves taking on many or all of these roles usually admit to not enjoying most of the utilitarian, engineering aspects, and prefer to emphasize their passion for the abstractly creative part of the process (namely writing, recording, and sound design.)

I do every single aspect of my music, and I like it that way. I know that if something sucks, it's all on me and nobody else takes the fall. But if something is good... Well, that's all me too. And I'm super proud of that. But where a lot of people in my sort of position usually loathe half of the entire process, I shall confess—

—I really really really REALLY love the engineering part of everything. I love problem solving with my equipment and learning new things about it. I love trying to figure out how to make new musical ideas work cohesively with things. It's even harder for me than a lot of other people because I do as many genres as I can get my disgusting little hooves on. Engineering ideas and concepts shift depending on the genre, and so everytime I try something new, I also have to learn how to produce, arrange, mix, and master for it. AND I FUCKING LOVE IT.

Of all these things, though, the thing I really really adore the most is mixing. I usually don't do it as its own process; mixing usually is a part of the song creation process for me. It's like another aspect of sound design honestly. But I love fixing things in sound that doesn't work as it should properly. I love trying to figure out how to get all the tracks to fit together and feel coherent. AND I LOVE. THE TOOLS.

This is why I even wanted to discuss any of this. I love exploring and learning EQs and compressors and all sorts of things. I honestly want to talk more about it and use this space as a way to just ramble and maybe share my love for this stuff with people who have no idea what it is or no idea why to care or even find themselves intimidated at the thought of the engineering process.

I have a hyperfixation with audio dynamic compressors. I always warn people that if somehow the conversation we're having is steering towards engineering, specifically compressors, that they have to be super careful or else I won't shut the fuck up. I love them so much.

They all have so much personality and always have their own sound. That's the point.

API 2500 Stereo Bus Compressor

Manley VariMu Compressor/Limiter

Neve33609 Compressor/Limiter

HOW CAN YOU LOOK AT THESE AND NOT HAVE YOUR CURIOSITY PIQUED?? AUGH. I love the VU's (the meters with the needles) so much and they often are what define a compressor's visual vibe to me.

They all have software counterparts that I use (I can't ever afford a real physical hardware compressor lol they run in the thousands)

Universal Audio's API 2500 VST Plugin

Pulsar's MU VST Plugin

Arturia's Comp DIODE-609 VST Plugin

If you think about these tools like art tools, right. Different styles and brands of pens, pencils, markers, pastels, charcoals, clays, etc, all deal with the same basic concept and all attempt to fulfill a particular aspect of the process. But you also know that the differences between styles and brands are often huge. Despite all attempting to do the same thing, you know which ones will get you closest to the ideas in your head fastest depending on what the idea and situation is. Audio engineering tools are like that too, especially compressors.

Before computers, these were exclusively analog. Each compressor designed was uniquely flawed in it's own way. Once computers dominated the music making process, compressors went digital. For a while, people were excited to finally make digital compressors that were mathematically perfect. But we actually discovered that it killed the life of a lot of music as a result. The imperfections of analog compressors (and other audio equipment) is what made them unique.

Even if each one does the same thing, they all actually feel very different. And I just get so excited about it!

If you've come this far and actually don't know what an audio dynamics compressor is, that is impressive you stayed with me this long. A compressor in music is basically a device that allows you to manipulate the dynamic range of audio. That is a long winded way of saying you can take a sound and make the quieter parts louder, and the louder parts quieter. Or. You could do the inverse (called expansion). That, itself, is also a long winded way of saying: You can use compressors to make sounds punchier, or smoother, or more controlled, or more present, or more exciting, or beefier, or other descriptors in that vein. You can take a weak sounding kick drum and give it some actual punch and presence. You can take a vocal recording and squish it so that it's really up front and full of energy, helping it to rise above the other instruments without just turning the volume up.

Compressors are so important, that their use and application has — very early on — defined styles of music.

Here's an example where I create different dynamic feels for a drum track using Pulsar's 1178 VST Plugin. I won't describe how it sounds to me, I'm sure you can think in your own way about how the compressor is changing the sound!

I'd love to talk more about this stuff in the future.. let me know if you'd be interested in that. Because I can talk forever. Trust me.

I think I'll create a tag for any audio engineering nerd talk. I'll call it: #Vynamics

(Even if I'll talk about more than dynamics processing.. I think it works..)

Lmk what you think. Thanks <3 (Also I'm delegating #Vyop to be my personal post tag, so from now on you will be able to find all my own posts with that. I'll add this to my blog bio sometime.)

#vynamics #vyop

[that-ari-blogger]

A Study In Style

Roll With It is the best piece of television ever put to screen. This is not up for debate, I will not be taking argument. I will die on this hill. Roll With It is perfect. No, I'm not biased.

In all seriousness, this episode is gimmicky and fun, so as far as plot goes, analysis is difficult. Instead, I'd like to focus on the character writing and artistic embellishments on display and explore what they do for the story.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Spider Man: Into The Spiderverse, Arcane, Critical Role Campaign 3)

Artistic style is a remarkably underrated part of animation. People credit the writing and the direction, but the specific visual elements that make up a style can often have a more significant impact on the story.

Think of it this way. You are watching a series through a window. The direction dictates where the window sits and what it sees, the writing and the acting dictate what goes on outside, but if the style describes the window itself. A window made from tinted, stained, or warped glass will change what you see dramatically.

So, She-Ra's base art style relies on pastel colours and a two dimensional, cartoony aesthetic. It's realistic in theory, at least in contrast to One Piece, but its flat and appealing, and the expressions are often exaggerated to great effect.

Because focusing a shot is difficult when you don't have a camera (smudging colours in animation has a habit of not looking too good), animation has picked up tricks to focus the viewer's eyes. For example, Spider Man: Into The Spiderverse brought animation into the forefront of the public consciousness, and almost single handedly changed the industry, and it used a mixture of techniques to express its focus.

The items in the background of this shot are less detailed than Peter, and have a kind of 3D glasses effect making them difficult to focus on. They are also in stark contrast with the red of the Spidey Suit.

She-Ra takes a different approach, saturation. The vast majority of the series is shot in pastel colours with little-to-no shadows clogging up the shots. This is then accentuated by specific key-frames of bold colouration and deep shadows that contrast wildly with each other and the rest of the episodes they are in. I have a habit of using these key frames as my opening screenshot for these posts because I think they look the coolest.

The point of this is to highlight certain elements in your mind, in the same way that when you close your eyes after looking at a fire, the image lingers for a moment, memory tends to work the same way to bold colours. There is also the idea that making specific moments stand out visually tells the audience to pay attention.

If you focus on certain moments, you guide the audience's view towards them. It's the same thing that a camera does in a still image, focusing on specific items in the shot to guide the eye.

In Roll With It, as the characters present their own plans, the art style changes, to match the minds that you are being transported into. Adora's style is the same as normal for the series, but the contents are different. Adora is matter of fact and to the point, but she perceives threats everywhere. Adora cannot relax.

But the specific colour choice also has an effect on the meaning of a shot, and for that, let's discuss the other animated pioneer of the past few years, Arcane.

Arcane has zero chill, and even less subtlety. This shot centres around Jinx's mental instability caused by her sister. Its a tortured mind who is hallucinating about someone who isn't actually in the scene. So, naturally, her world is on fire with pink flames, associating that fire with Vi, for whom pink is a signature colour.

Glimmer, however, takes the series' key frames and colour and dials that up to eleven. Everything in this shot is bold and action packed. I am tempted to describe it as violently pink.

But the shot is entirely monochrome. Everything here is pink or black, and that acts as a neat worldview for Glimmer's worldview. Glimmer perceives the world in black and white, but where the white would usually represent good in that idea, here, it is replaced by pink, and by Glimmer. Adora has a reputation for a hero complex, but I would argue that Glimmer has something similar. Not in the same way as Adora's pathologic need to save people, but Glimmer definitely has an ego problem.

The pink also makes Glimmers mind difficult to read as an audience, and I think that is the point. Everything in Glimmer's worldview is super bold and in focus, meaning that it dims the effect of the focus. In the wise words of someone with a definite hero syndrome.

"When everyone's super, no-one is."

Glimmer is the perfect example of how someone with an incredibly simple worldview of good and bad can do some truly morally grey acts. In this case, because she doesn't believe in good and evil, she believes in Glimmer and evil. Either you agree with her, or you are her enemy. I wonder if that will ever come up again.

There's also no way I can mention this scene without pointing out that this is a reference top classic James Bond, and that speaks to Glimmer's character as well.

The original James Bond was a character whom the world revolved around, and who rarely ever failed. He was charming, and witty, and cool. In short, Glimmer perceives herself as a Mary Sue. And it's important to understand that this is her opinion of herself, and not the actual reality. Once again, Glimmer has an inflated sense of superiority and does not understand the fact that she could be flawed.

Bow, on the other hand, is simple. He is the single most simple character of the entire cast. But that doesn't mean he is flat. I want to stress that Bow is only rendered this way by the insanity of everyone else on screen.

In a world where everyone is a ticking time bomb, Bow serves to balance out the shenaniganry, which makes him an Orym figure.

Art by Hanna Friederichs (@agarthanguide)

For context, Roll With It is very clearly drawing on the aesthetics of table top role playing games. This is the D&D episode, and no this hasn't artificially inflated what I think of the episode at all.

Critical Role is a D&D actual play series that is currently in its third campaign. If you have read my series on Stray Gods, you will recognise two of the cast members of CR as Laura Baily (Who played Grace) and Ashley Johnson (Who played Calliope).

Orym of the Air Ashari is a character played by Liam O'Brien, a voice actor who is somehow not weighed down by the sheer amount of talent he is lugging around. Seriously, this guy has been in everything from Star Wars to League Of Legends.

In any case, the current campaign of CR centres around a collection of walking disasters, and I mean that as a compliment. Everyone in the series is one step away from spiraling into insanity, with the one possible exception of Orym.

So, Orym has taken the role of the team's everyman, rendered simple by the rest of the cast, and you can see where I am going here.

Bow and Orym are the straight men of the group (a deliberately ironic choice of wording), balancing out their companions and offering a sense of stability and comfort.

But, both Orym and Bow have stuff going on behind their eyes. Orym is grieving form the loss of his husband and father, and Bow is dealing with some serious self-worth issues, but you don't see those elements that often, purely because of the more overt nature of those they surround themselves with.

But this is a post about style, and what do the visuals of Bow's plan tell us about him?

Well, Bow's style draws on the aesthetics of the original She-Ra series, back when the series was designed entirely to sell toys and nothing else.

Once again, Bow is simple, he is a paragon hero, who is fighting in this war because it is the right thing to do. So naturally, his mind harks back to the version of this story that was purely idealistic.

I also want to quickly mention Mermista here, because she is my favourite character. In her mind, she is She-Ra, armoured up and powerful, the chosen one.

And this is where my point comes in to this post. That's right, I do actually have something to say.

This episode is a D&D episode because it is drawing on the key element of TTRPGs, the chaos. TTRPGs are fun and are designed to be a mix of different playstyles. Sometimes you are playing Blades In The Dark and you want to be something out of left field, and that is completely ok.

The message of this episode is that different styles complement each other and make each other better by contrast. Foils are important, even when they aren't antagonistic.

Final Thoughts

This episode is perfect. No more comments.

Next week, I will be looking at White Out, so stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

#rants #literary analysis #literature analysis #character analysis #what's so special about...? #she ra and the princesses of power #she ra bow #mermista can do no wrong #mermista #she ra mermista #she ra glimmer #glimmer #spop bow #spop glimmer #spop adora #spop mermista #roll with it #critical role bells hells #critical role orym #orym of the air ashari

[thecameronchronicles]

Mistletoe

TW: Fem!Reader x Madelyn. Smut. Language. Public sexual acts. 

SUMMARY: The effects of mistletoe hold consequences for you and Madelyn. 

WORD COUNT: 1000

*ORIGINAL CONCEPT*

Mistletoe

"You know the deal..." Madison egged you on while your gaze met with Madelyn after falling from the sight of the mistletoe overhead. 

"Actually, I don't..." You confessed as Carlacia was quick to explain, "Why do we have to?" 

"Superstition claims if you don't that you'll be single for another year..." 

"Well I for one, don't want to risk that." Madelyn teased before offering a shrug, "I'm game if you are..." 

Until this moment you'd never thought of anything even remotely romantic with Madelyn as she had been one of your closest friends. But since it had been addressed, you couldn't silence the curiosity of how her full, soft lips would feel pressed to yours. So with a rise of your shoulders to express indifference, you would feel her hands rest at your cheeks for placement. But just before she would make contact with your mouth, she would brush a hair from your face, curving it behind your ear as you would actually be the one to close the distance. 

Lips as soft as petals sent a rush of heat between your thighs as the taste of strawberries and champagne made you breathless. For what should have been a means to silence the fear of breaking tradition had awoken something between you. A curiosity that was silent and dormant until this interaction as the kiss quickly drew more passionate. As she pulled you tighter against her, enough to feel her heart race beside your own, your fingers would move just beneath the rim of her blouse to chill her skin beneath your touch. A slight hitch made you smirk as you were forced apart by this alone, joining together with a renewed placement of hands. 

"Oh shit..." JD commented as you and Madelyn were too focused on each other to make a note of anything surrounding you. The graze of your bottom lip met with her tongue having strengthened this delusion until an applause from Drew and Odessa returned you to reality. 

"Well then...shall we go to dinner now?" Rudy exclaimed, eyes wide with amusement as Elaine rolled her own with playful annoyance before Madelyn caught your arm. 

"Sit with me?" She asked as you agreed, sitting beside her in the car as you were reserved to the shadows of the late hour as she began to play with the tips of your fingers as the car set in motion. The small flirtations confirmed to her that the kiss had not remained something strictly a spur of the moment and it was well reciprocated. 

"Are you as wet as I am right now?" She asked into your ear as you nodded. 

"Soaked." You guided her hand slowly between your thighs as she would feel your saturated panties. 

"Poor thing...All from a little kiss? Good thing you can't read my mind then..." 

"Tell me, Madelyn...please?" You taunted as you brought a trace down her arms and to the line of her own skirt, but kept from making contact until you got an answer. 

"Please?" You asked again, waging an offer by your fingers inching up her leg as she took her lips to your ear. 

"I want to rub your breasts...I want to kiss them and suck on them...and then I want to do the same between your legs..." 

"I wanna make you come, Maddy..." 

"It wouldn't take long..." 

"No?" You pushed her panties aside as you basked in her gasp. Her eyes rolled as it caught the illumination of a streetlight having been passed as you then inserted a second finger. 

"Gotta be quiet for me Maddy, okay?" 

"Oh my god...I've never done this with another girl..." 

"Do you like it?" She took your wrist, "Oh you do, don't you?" 

"You tell me...I'm already dripping..." You smirked against her cheek. 

"I haven't even bent them yet..." She released a deep exhale, doing so in an attempt to remain silent as you scoffed. 

"Or told you what I wanted." 

"Tell me. Please...." She urged. 

"I want to make you come with my fingers first...then my tongue...then against me...maybe a vibrator....make you really go crazy...see how loud I can make you-" 

"I'm gonna come...shit...oh my god..." You kept her quiet with another kiss, careless to who would see as you needed to taste her again. And with a rush of thrusts of your fingers and a thumb brushing her clit, you felt her tremble over your hand and spill to your digits. 

"You're so sweet-" You confessed while sucking her off of her fingers. But she was unable to return the favor immediately due to the car coming to a stop. She considered keeping you behind, but instead found a rush in the idea of reciprocating in public. 

After sitting down at the table and ordering drinks, you felt her hand rise up your thigh as she whispered into your ear. 

"Slip off your panties for me...I want to make you stain this seat..." You cocked a jaw before obliging, doing so rather stealthily as she made contact to your sex. 

"Don't let them know...I love how you're making it so easy to get away with this..." 

"Fuck." You breathed softly. 

"Sorry, sweets, but if I had to be quiet, so do you..." She inserted a second finger as you watched her grin widely in amusement to your struggle. 

"Imagine how much worse it would be if I had access to your perfect nipples right now..." 

Your eyes rolled closed as you fixated on a praying position, Madelyn covering for you and claiming you and a headache, as you were otherwise ignored by everyone but her vigorous fingers. 

"Oh you're so close..." 

"Maddy..." You breathed. "Maddy..." You whimpered. 

"Come for me...right now sweets..." Your body obeyed, the buckle of your release drawing attention that silenced once the food was delivered as you exchanged coquettish glances to one another through the rest of the night, unable to keep your hands, lips, dirty words, or gazes to yourselves all from the effects of mistletoe. 

Taglist: @hopebaker @iovdrew @penny4yourthoughts @magnificantmermaid @pickingviolets @lovedetlost @trikigirl271 @maybankslover @slut4starkey @slvtherinseeker @obxiskewl @obxxrxfes @bluesongbird @slut-era @ailee-celeste @rafesbae @camilynn @sweetestdesire @onmykneesforrafe @drews1love @phildunphyisadilf @mashdan0916

#madelyn cline x fem!reader #madelyn cline smut #madelyn cline #madelyn cline fanfiction #outer banks #outerbanks #obx #Cameron Chronicles Christmas 2022

[ultfreakme]

Cn I ask your top favorite fics that you've written (feel free how much that you want to list)? Why they're special to you? Is there a specific inspiration when you wrote them? Thanks....

Hey anon!!! Thanks for the ask!! Favorite fics...I've written. You've given me too much freedom by asking my why I like them I am so sorry for the wall of text about to hit.

To Veer The Tides

It's a fic for Kuroko no Basuke which is basically just me slapping the character names onto a WILDLY different fantasy setting. It's for Akashi x Furihata. An arranged marriage AU where Akashi is the son of an emperor who went too power hungry and wanted to consolidate 7 mostly independent states(provinces??) into one, but he was defeated by the remaining states and to control Akashi, he is arranged to marry far below his station to Furihata, son of a destroyed noble house which is under the rule of Kagami's state. So it's about Akashi climbing back to power with Furihata initially thinking Akashi is pure evil but he soon realizes that maybe Akashi and his family aren't as evil as the people believe.

I ended up doing so much research, world-building and character expansion. It's more political intrigue than romance, lol. I still love that fic to death, I think I honestly peaked there for world-building, at least. I wrote it immediately after reading and watching Mo Dao Zu Shi and being first introduced to the concept of cultivation as a magic system and really wanted to put all my faves in flowy robes and long hair.

I want to get back to it, but I've discontinued it because I am simply not qualified to right about Dissociative Identity Disorder, systems and alters. Akashi has a terribly stereotypical portrayal of it in canon and I thought maybe I could research enough to write that, but I just, I don't know any systems and I felt like if I can't respect it, I didn't want to do it.

But it's still my favorite in terms of the world and aesthetics I had going on for it.

2. Tell Me Your Story (I'll Tell You Mine)

My current baby. The one I incessantly post about and draw for. Single-handedly over saturating the kyoshi warrior sokka x blue spirit zuko market. It's set in the canon world but I had to do so much research for this one too. I learned a lot, I think, while writing this. Big lesson being never ever write in present tense but if you're 200K+ words into it there is simply no going back RIP.

It started as just a silly romance because I thought it'd be funny to have Sokka and Zuko be completely oblivious to who they like. But as I began plotting and writing, it transformed into me projecting all my issues with colonialism and using the ATLA setting as base to dip a little bit deeper into the themes the show itself brings up, and some issues that it doesn't. Like, how colonialism uses your own culture against you, how it makes you fear who you are, makes you do things you don't want.

I deliberately chose that title because lots of indigenous communities in the world have lost their stories because of colonialism. Oral traditions and tales that are forgotten because people were killed and forced to never repeat them, forced to forget their languages. And that, really got to me. How colonialism slowly strips you of what makes human beings what they are; stories, art, music, dance, etc.

So this fic ended up being about how colonialism steals from you, uses what is yours AGAINST you and how it is important to embrace who you are and fight back.

3. Tell The Neighbours I'm Not Sorry

It's for Jon and Jay from DC Comics and Superfam. I wrote it when I was seeing a lot of biphobia against Jon and racism against Jay. As a bi asian, even if it was towards fictional characters, it was getting to me. People kept talking about how there's a specific way to be bi. Why did Jon never have a crisis about being queer? Why did Jon and Jay move so fast? Is Jay manipulating Jon just to get what he wants? It was all filled with a lot of stereotypes and biases.

Superman comics especially often taken up real world issues and puts it into the story. So I took all my anger and frustration from the biphobia and racism and wrote it into a fic.

It's about how there's no one way to being queer, and about how immigrants and non-white people are immediately classified as some kind of 'other' and 'bad' with zero grounding. It's also a little bit about colonialism on Jay's end. It's so charged with me going "FUCK IT!" and still somehow came out okay as a fic and I think I like that I managed to turn my anger into something productive.

Bonus

4. An Itajun fic I have not published and am still writing

It's my first JJK fic! It's an absolute mess in my drafts right now but I really like it, it's very fun for me. Junpei starts seeing and sensing curses far earlier because of built resentment from his bullies going too far and severely injuring him, his mom finds out and they move to Yuuji's area of Tokyo to get away from the school since they won't do anything about the bullying. Yuuji and Junpei run into each other and meet early at school. So the dynamics are kinda reversed, where Junpei is the one who is into the world of curses first while Yuuji has no clue, but they slowly interact and come together, forming a tight bond.

Junpei trusts no one and is dealing with all this curse nonsense trying to understand what it means. Yuuji is seemingly happy and chipper but he's going through tough times because his grandpa got hospitalized. It's both of them supporting each other and making sure the other isn't alone.

#riki asks #zukka #akafuri #itajun #jonjay

[buckttommy]

Buck and Eddie were exes at the time of his injury/coma.

Buck misses Eddie. It's a frustrating thing to miss someone who's right in front of you, but he does. There's a distance there that he can't place, an uncrossable chasm that seems like it only gets wider and wider every day. They're still friends, or at least they're supposed to be, but Eddie looks at him like he's already a ghost; like whatever version of him was brought back from the brink of death came back ugly, came back wrong. It makes Buck feel ugly too, like his skin hangs too loosely from his bones, like his bones and joints are awkward and wrong, marionette-stiff and grotesque.

It's exhausting in its own way, exhausting in a way that has nothing to do with nightmares or sleepless nights. He wants to feel like himself again but every single version of himself that's ever been worth a damn is kept locked tight in a vault inside Eddie's chest and Buck has no way of getting it out. He doesn't know this muted-grey version of himself, not anymore, not when Eddie poured through all his cracks and filled his life with so much color, but he hates it.

It's not fair. People shouldn't be able to introduce someone to a world they've never seen before and just leave. People shouldn't be able to take that world with them when they go, but that's life and Buck's reminded every single day that life isn't—and never has been—goddamn fucking fair.

He catches up to Eddie one day after shift six weeks after waking up from the coma, six weeks after coming back to life and realizing that their breakup wasn't the worst dream of his life. He corners him up against his truck because it's the only way he feels like he can talk to him these days, and that in itself is its own kind of heartbreak.

"Hey."

"Hey," Eddie says. He looks down at his keys in his hands. His car key is already pinched between his thumb and forefinger, already poised over the keyhole in the door, but he refuses to look at Buck anyway. "You alright?"

No.

"Yeah. Yeah, fine. Everything is fine." Buck digs the toe of his sneaker into the asphalt. He's feels nervous, suddenly—childish and unsure like a toddler tugging on his parents pants, begging for scraps of their attention. "Yeah, I was just wondering if I could come over today. See Christopher. It's been a while and it's—I miss him is all."

There's an awkward silence.

Eddie frowns. "Oh. I'm not—I'm not sure that's a good idea actually."

He thinks his heart stops beating, his lungs stop breathing. Buck's not sure, but he swears he tastes blood in the back of his mouth.

"Oh."

"It's just that today isn't a good day is all. He has a science project due tomorrow and he's staying at a friend's house until late tonight so they can work on it, and it's—"

"No, yeah, it's fine. I get it. Seriously. You don't have to explain."

"I do." Eddie looks up. Meets his eyes for the first time in what feels like years, both his gaze and his voice unflinchingly earnest. "This isn't a punishment, Buck. If it were any other day, I'd say yes. You know I would. I'm just—I'm just not used to you not knowing this stuff anymore."

Eddie shrugs helplessly and Buck feels that helplessness echoed in his own chest. He doesn't know how to be broken up with Eddie, he's realizing. He finds that at random parts of the day, he's still expecting their lives to be as intertwined as they've always been. But then he encounters a moment like this, wherein he becomes abruptly aware of all the loose ends now no longer with an anchor to tether themselves to, and he feels sick all over again. He's used to moments like this, but it's an odd thing to witness Eddie having one.

"I'm not used to it either," Buck says. "For whatever its worth."

Eddie nods. "I know."

Buck tugs on the strap of his duffel bag. There is a question on the tip of his tongue. It feels smeared on his teeth, tucked into the hinge of his jaw, bloody and bitter saturated into his taste buds. Will we ever love again? Will you ever love me again? Because he certainly hasn't stopped. But Eddie doesn't want to hear that right now, and even if he did, Buck's not sure he wants to hear his answer.

He forces a smile that misses his eyes by a mile and nods. "It's okay, just, um. Just tell him he can come over any time, you know? He doesn't have to ask. It's—my door is always open to him. Always."

He's my son. Of course it is.

Eddie swallows tightly. "He knows, Buck. I swear he knows. He's just—we need time. We all need time."

Time for what? Time for you to fall out of love with me?

Another question he won't ask.

Another question whose answer he fears.

Buck digs his thumbnail into his bag's strap. "My door—it's always open to you too. You know that." He swallows. "Still true."

Eddie turns away from him completely, toward the rush of the busy street and the cars passing by, unaware of the catastrophe unfolding in the fire station parking lot, but not before Buck catches the sheen of unshed tears in his eyes.

"Yeah," Eddie whispers. "Yeah."

"Yeah."

There's nothing more to say after that.

Buck backs up a step. He feels like he's dying as he watches Eddie get into his truck, knowing there's not a space beside him anymore. He knows the feel of Eddie's steering wheel underneath his hands better than he knows the jeep's and sometimes he think he could sculpt every inch and scratch of that jeep from memory alone. He doesn't stand and watch Eddie drive away. Instead, Buck gets into his vehicle and leans his head back against the headrest. He's tired, his chest hurts and his throat aches with a stifled sob. But there's nothing to do for a broken heart except drink it away or sleep it off and with Bobby as a cautionary tale, Buck always choose the latter.

He puts his key in the ignition, turns it over, and drives away, leaving all his grief in the parking lot. His demons can walk home. Maybe then, at least, he'll get a couple minutes of reprieve.

Buck flicks on the radio, turns the volume up to full blast, and tries desperately not mourn something he's not sure he ever had.

#IDK #jack.txt #my fic #lol #i dunno man !!! #*shrugs*

[palidoozy-art]

Sorry if you’ve answered this before, but what website do you use to play DND? The map layouts and character tokens look really good and I’m hoping to have something similar for the online game I’m running with my friends.

No worries! I fuckin' love talking about D&D and my campaign, thank you for giving me the opportunity.

So for tools we use to play D&D -- we currently run D&D in Foundry. It has an up-front cost ($40, no subscription), but only requires a single license and then the DM can host it on their machine while everyone else connects. It has a TON of modules that allow you to customize it, including a DND beyond importer.

That said, it does cost, y'know, money. We switched to foundry for the post-Curse of Strahd campaign. Originally for Curse of Strahd we actually used roll20. Roll20 is free, but there were minor things that I didn't like about it that caused me to switch.

But if cost is your concern or you're just doing a oneshot and don't want to invest, go for roll20 imo. If you do, HIGHLY recommend you install the VTT enhancement suite and Beyond20 (if you use D&D Beyond) which improve the site immensely.

For the maps -- I vary what I use. I use the following tools and programs:

Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator

Watabou's City Generator

Inkarnate

DungeonDraft

My own hands

Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator is what I usually use to create a baseline for a world map, including a first draft of town and country names. I'll treat it like a rough draft before taking it into photoshop, drawing over it, and adjusting it to my liking. I generated the base of my game's world map in Azgaar's before I drew over it and adjusted it to fit my needs.

Watabou's City Generator is actually built into Azgaar's to some extent (click on any town name and it'll give you a link), but you can generate it manually, too! I used to use it to generate the city maps I'd give to my players. Here's an example of Thatking, the capital of Zarova (formerly Treteria). For reference -- the party fought the Queen here, and Kjosev died in the Citadel.

Nowadays, when I build cities, I actually use the next website on the list -- Inkarnate. I'll might use Watabou's for a base, but I use Inkarnate for polish.

Inkarnate is extremely good at two things: cities, and open-world battlemaps. Here's the lizardfolk capital of Savegoria, Paign! It's where Yolihuali is from. I built it solely through Inkarnate.

One of the things I like about Inkarnate is that it lets you adjust the hue/saturation of the little tokens you can put down, which I abused the HELL out of when I made battlemaps for Twilight Woods. Here's one of the random forest battle maps I made:

Now that said: Inkarnate sucks ass at making rooms. There's allegedly something in the works to address this... but currently you have to place every wall manually, and it sucks. That's actually where Dungeondraft comes in.

Dungeondraft is a little more cartoony, but it's great at building interiors and rooms. Unlike Inkarnate, it's not through the internet -- it's just a program you buy. But I've found decent use out of it. I built the entire map for the University of Temir in it (note: this is a snippet, the map is enormous)

And here's an example of the players' early bunkhouse, back when their town was underdeveloped! Both built using Dungeondraft.

VERY VERY RARELY I'll hand-draw a battlemap. Usually this is done because I've already tried to build the map in other tools and I wasn't happy with it, or I couldn't get it to look like the vision in my head. For example, I drew the map to Tephelt's lair by hand (snippet below: it's too big to post)

(Note: if it looks light, that's actually because I set up the lighting in Foundry. This is the equivalent of looking at a horror movie set with the lights on. Below is what it looks like in-game to my players, with Rahadin and Tephelt for size)

i also drew this little sleepy town for some reason. i don't know why. i think literally for fun.

For the tokens -- most of the ones you guys see I draw by hand. It's a decent amount of work, but my players love it. Plus I think they're cute. They are available for free and anyone can use them, as long as you don't claim credit or anything. The PSDs are included as well, so if you want to edit one or dig around in there, you can! Some of my favorites:

Now that said I'll be totally honest: I do not hand-draw every token for my players. I can't. I already put a lot of work into the campaign, and I can't feasibly draw every token when it comes to random encounters. For those, I use Token Stamp 2 to create a token from an image!

Anyway, sorry this was long. I hope it's helpful. It gave me an opportunity at least to post some of the maps I make -- I usually don't post them.

#palidoozy rambles #d&d #long post #did you know i ctrl-z'd this post like 3 times #after i had finished it #it was the worst

[adobe-outdesign]

Have you done the Tyrogue line yet? (Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Hitmontop, Tyrogue)

Tyrogue is interesting because it's the only case of two unrelated Pokemon being connected into a single line via pre-evo after their original release. I think this was a good change—there was nothing wrong with Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan being separate, but there is a really cool concept with Tyrogue evolving into either a kickboxer or a boxer-boxer depending on how it trains.

The design itself is good. I always enjoy designs that are humanoid without being too human-like, and Tyrogue strikes a good balance between the two extremes. I like the purple-ish pink body in contrast with the dark brown areas—it's definitely the best palette out of the line—and the expression and pose/animations give it a lot of personality.

My only issue with it is that it does feel a lot more like a pre-evo to Hitmonchan than to Hitmonlee. I can see some elements of Hitmonlee—the brown "pants" and "shoes", the bandage-like markings, the circles on the cheeks that arguably are where the arms go, the hands—but the eyes, head spines, and separate head instantly invokes Hitmonchan. Not entirely sure how you'd fix that though, and it's not a big deal by any means.

Tyrogue also had a beta in the form of this guy, known as "Gong". It maybe looks a bit more like Hitmonlee than the final version does, but it also feels less like either and is a bit more generic in terms of body shape. Final design's definitely the better one.

Hitmonlee is a really cool design, being what I can best describe as a drumstick with extendable legs. Very monster-y, and the stretchy legs are fun and convey the typing well.

Visually, the simple color scheme works well, and the black eyes pop nicely without bringing extra color into the design. The arms also have a good deal of anatomy to them despite the weird body shape.

My only nitpick is that weird yellow circle on the feet feels like an afterthought. Oddly, some of the early sprites suggest that used be a dewclaw, but now it's just this out of place element that probably could've been dropped.

Hitmonchan has a completely different vibe to it and is more humanoid in design, but it still works well to convey its concept. The head spikes mimic the shape of the "skirt", and the shoulder pads have this plated look to them, a design element that you rarely see after Gen 1.

My only nitpick with it is that the purple areas of the body are way too low-contrast and don't really add anything. Pumping up the saturation might've helped, but it also could've stood to be a different color—maybe a light tan, to go with Hitmonlee's palette. Other than that, it's solid.

Hitmontop has always been kind of a strange addition to the line. For example, Tyrogue is neutral, HItmonlee is kicking, Hitmonchan is punching, and Hitmontap... is the Brazillian martial art of capoeira. It works well enough, but it is oddly specific all things considered.

It's also weird because it has little in common with its other evos. It has Himonlee's claws and bandages, and Hitmonchan's head spikes, but it also has completely different eyes than either of them and a bright blue palette that comes out of nowhere. It doesn't look completely out of place or anything, but I do also feel like it could've been its own thing entirely with few tweaks.

Visually, the top idea is fun and the design gets it across well with the head spike and eyes and mouth that can be read regardless of direction. However, I'm not a big fan of the overly round body or the weird V cut in the blue, and the tail's always felt a bit out of place to me.

Of course, the reason it might feel slightly out of place is because it was originally... well, whatever the hell this thing is. Seriously, this has got to be one of the most out-there beta designs, and I'm telling you, there are a lot of out-there beta designs.

There are some elements to this design that I do wish had been kept. For example, the three legs form a perfect radius regardless of position, and I feel like they work better than the tail due to how rigid they are in structure. They also look a bit more like Hitmonlee's legs, so that's a neat touch.

I also really like how the face works. Hitmontop is a creature that's upside-down, but this thing has two completely different faces, one upright and one upside-down depending on which way its facing. That is VERY cool, and feels like a fun play on the concept.

However, it's undeniable that this thing is utterly bizarre, with its complete lack of a mouth, single eye when upright, and three legs. It honestly feels more like a UB than any kind of regular Pokemon. I do like elements of it more than the final, but as a whole, Hitmontop was probably the better choice and the more "Pokemon-esq" option.

Anyway, as a whole, this is a solid line with some fun abstract monster designs and clear themes. Personally I think Hitmonlee's the strongest while Hitmontop's the weakest, but all of them have their own charm.

#tyrogue #hitmonlee #hitmonchan #hitmontop #pokemon #pokemon reviews