#always look better than tifs

[astraltrickster]

Since the wave of mass site migrations there is one REALLY worrisome trend I've been noticing: the number of radfem posts I've been seeing ending up on my dash, reblogged unknowingly by people who think they're just base-level feminist statements, has all but gone back to c.2014 levels. Everything seems good on a surface level, but I spot one dogwhistle, or something strikes me as being a little too absolutist, and I check into that...and sure enough, the road leads back to terf city.

So here's a quick PSA:

Please be careful with your Feminism 101 sources.

See, terfs and their close relatives KNOW we don't like them here, so they don't tend to lead with their well-known hatred of trans women. On top of that, there is a problem with a subset of radfems on this site who purport to be trans-inclusive - i.e., they openly support trans women...but DESPISE trans men (often more than they hate cis men, because of the whole "joining the enemy"/"gender traitor" myth pushed by terfs) or any nonbinary person who aligns partially with manhood or masculinity, especially if they're AMAB (they often think they can "save" - i.e., conversion-therapy - the AFAB ones).

Therefore, on a single-post level, it is very, VERY hard to tell the difference between a basic feminist statement that, yeah, patriarchy exists and that means there are lots of awful double-standards around gender where women broadly get the shorter end of the stick and these standards AFFECT every individual in a society and that's something we should work to change, and a statement that these things are absolute and inevitable, either because Biology or because those double-standards are too deeply ingrained to EVER overcome without giving up and starting over from scratch (whichever is convenient), and the only solution is hardline female wombyn-born-wombyn separatism or at LEAST excluding trans people from public life for, at best, making it too hard to tell who's ~safe~. In fact, sometimes on that single-post basis, they could potentially even be identical - though less frequently than many people thought in the heyday of "OP was a terf so I stole this post but anyway all men are walking rape threats and need to accept that any reasonable person will always hate and fear them on sight".

So what can you, random newbie, do to avoid unwittingly passing one of these messages on without turning into some kind of horrible "feminism is cancer" chud?

Well, one of the easiest ways is the Shinigami Eyes browser extension, but I personally don't like to rely on it because 1) you can't use it on every platform (sorry mobile app likers), 2) in my experience it's somewhat common for "trans-inclusive" radfems to be flagged as safe because someone saw their positivity for trans women but not their hatred for trans men, and 3) I just don't like to promote the use of browser extensions as a substitute for learning what radfem rhetoric is and why it is, in fact, anything but feminist; it is very beneficial to terfs if the ONLY thing you know of their rhetoric is "they hate trans women".

The hard but better way is to actually familiarize yourself with what to look out for. Here is an inexhaustive list:

Category 0: Tags to add to your blacklist

Your blacklist filters out posts with the blacklisted tags in the reblog you're seeing, OR in the root post. Therefore, if a radfem post that looks like it's just base-level feminism does breach containment somehow and end up on your dash through someone else, it will still get caught if it's tagged with any of these:

Terfsafe

Radblr

Radfem

Terfs/radfems do interact/do touch/please interact/please touch, etc

Category 1: Terf-ese and dogwhistles

Some of these, especially those near the top of the list, are immediate telltale signs. Others are less certain, but they should at least raise some eyebrows.

"Gender critical" - literally a synonym for terf just used to make the ideology sound more legitimate; they often claim that terf is a slur

"TIM/TIF" - "Trans-identified male/female", a way to delegitimize trans identities

"Febfem" - female-exclusive bisexual woman; a bisexual woman who rejects her attraction to men; essentially a modern term for "political lesbian" (a group which claimed that lesbianism is not a sexual orientation that some people just Have, but a political choice to reject men)

"Butch flight" - the claim that trans men are butch lesbians transitioning to escape lesbophobia and gain male privilege

"Adult human female" - this very simplified dictionary definition of "woman" is something of a rallying cry

"Let girls be tomboys/butch" - some people say this in response to old repressive gender roles in things like dress codes, or even people holding trans women to a higher standard of femininity than cis women, but if that is not explicitly the context it's very likely that this means "stop the evil plastic surgery racket from force-transing every little girl who even looks at a truck, which they're TOTALLY doing"

The inverse, while less common (terfs tend to be very open about not wanting men to be feminine in any way because of "deception" and "false security"), is also one to look out for - sometimes it's a statement against binarism and gender essentialism, sometimes it's basically an assertion of the Blanchard "feminine homosexual man vs. autogynephilic man" model of what a trans woman is

"Compulsory heterosexuality/comphet" - an aspect of heteronormativity whereby it's common, especially for younger people, to try to force themselves to experience heterosexual attraction when they don't. Useful as it may seem, the term was coined by radfems. Most people who are not terfs or other radfems who want to discuss it will discuss it under the umbrellas of heteronormativity and amatonormativity

Hogwarts houses - this is a sneaky one; far from everyone who read those books or even enjoyed them is a terf, but since JKR's full-tilt descent into fascism via the gateway of transphobia, terfs HAVE been using this as a way to seek out their own and mark themselves as safe; let this also serve as a reminder that if you are NOT a terf PLEASE REMOVE THIS FROM YOUR BIO; it WILL both draw them to you AND cause you to be immediately distrusted by anyone else, saying "I DO NOT CONDONE THE VIEWS OF JKR" will not help because terfs can and do lie about that too in communities where they have to stay crypto, at best you're granting them plausible deniability

Referring to men and women as "males" and "females"

Usernames referencing "female" reproductive anatomy - may be a good sign if they're attached to trans-positive modifiers like "boy" or "they", but a username like "divine-vagina" or "ovariesofpower" (note these are theoretical usernames, not ones I've encountered in the wild; if someone does have one of those usernames and isn't a radfem I'm deeply sorry) is probably a terf

Hatred of makeup and plastic surgery - look, no one likes the beauty industry, no one is going to dispute that beauty standards are a nightmare, but this is frequently a smokescreen for hating gender confirmation or anything that helps with the "deception" inherent to transness; be ESPECIALLY wary of anyone talking about "TikTok plastic surgeons trying to sell their services to impressionable teenage girls", this usually translates to "gender confirmation surgeons telling young transmascs that there are options for them", and remember that you either believe in bodily autonomy or you don't, there is no third option

Category 2: Ideological concepts to look out for

This is some of the beginnings of crossing the line from feminism to radfem bullshit - if the rest of the post seems cool but starts heading in these directions, don't assume it's hyperbole; get it as far away from you as possible.

Patriarchy, men-oppressing-women, is THE root system of injustice from which all others spawn. Some will acknowledge that other factors may intersect, but will still claim that they are lesser. Bringing up the long history of white women getting men of color, especially Black men, killed via weaponized fragility and false claims of sexual violence, is just a series of flukes and pointing it out to refute this notion that men vs. women outranks all other inequalities is just whataboutism.

Because patriarchy is so far-reaching, it affects every individual, and because it trumps all other axes of oppression, this means that in every interaction between any man and any woman, the man will be the one with more power.

Men, due to socialization, biology, or both, are categorically incapable of recognizing women as full people. This is not only a broad pattern, but an inevitable fact, true of every individual man, no matter how hard anyone tries to change it.

There is a singular Universal Female Experience. According to terfs, this is an external force; trans women don't have this socialization experience, therefore they can never truly know what it's like to be a woman. According to tirfs, it is internal; trans men process their experiences internally as men from birth to death and therefore have no claim to truly understand any experience of misogyny directed at them.

The experience of being a woman is, first and foremost, suffering. It is therefore to be expected that a certain subset of people would transition to try to escape it - but it's the wrong answer, and this practice of either self-destruction or betrayal must be stopped at all costs. Anyone who wants in on the miserable experience that is womanhood, on the other hand, is at best insensitively looking at a burning building and going "wow, that looks so warm!", blissfully but cruelly unaware of the misery of the situation, and at worst is lying to satisfy a fetish.

Women are categorically incapable of abusing men, because patriarchy outranks all, down to the individual level. Some may also say that this is true because of biological differences in physical strength. (Very feminist, isn't it, to say "the strongest woman is still weaker than the weakest man and nothing can ever change that"?)

There is, fundamentally, no difference between a person with some subconscious misogyny problems and an incel mass shooter; both will abuse women, and therefore both must be treated as threats.

Because the power differential between men and women is so great, a woman cannot TRULY meaningfully consent to sex with a man; all sex between a man and a woman is rape.

Because rape is such a common trauma among women, the very existence of men - or penises, for that matter, even fully clothed ones - in a space where a woman doesn't expect them is traumatic and itself tantamount to rape.

Lesbians don't just have their own unique flavor of oppression experience like any other queer subgroup; they are in fact THE most uniquely oppressed and vulnerable of all, because being a lesbian is first and foremost not about attraction to women, but rejection of men (recall the ties to political lesbianism). Some radfems will embrace contradictory labels or slightly varied personal definitions for other queer subgroups - but if you're anything but a Kinsey 6 who would never even consider making an exception, and 100% a binary woman, you CAN'T identify as a lesbian. You cannot identify as a lesbian if you wouldn't dump your partner or try to conversion-therapy "her" if "she" came out as transmasc. To a tirf, you cannot identify as a lesbian if you're on the butch-transmasc cusp, if they're willing to admit such a cusp exists in the first place. To terfs, you cannot identify as a lesbian if you would ever date a trans woman, let alone if you ever have.

Again, this is far from being an exhaustive list, but it covers most of the most common things that set off my own alarm bells. Additions are more than welcome.

Remember, the danger of letting radfem posts slide because they seem okay on the surface is twofold: one, you're directing more people to their blogs and exposing them to more people they may then target, and two, when those concepts that cross the line bleed out into your gender theory, the result is bad for you and everyone around you.

#internet culture #internet safety #serious tag #internet bullshittery warning #tumblr culture

[aftonfamilyvalues]

I have a sort of conspiracy theory about liberal feminism that I need to get off my chest. The whole "pick me vs girls girl" culture is actively creating TiFs.

Women who don't fit into certain standards society holds have been shamed for it since the beginning of time, but now rejecting femininity is being seen as anti feminist. Girls who aren't even putting down other women are called nlogs and pick me's just because they're awkward and kind of tomboyish.

Look at Jlaw. She was shamed out of the public eye for acting like an actual human and not a walking caricature of womanhood (eating pizza and falling down on the red carpet). There's an audio going around being mocked on tiktok where a woman rightfully says "I don't like makeup. I think it's bad for women". I've seen nasty comments under Korean feminist insta posts where the women in question are smashing their makeup or wearing comfortable clothing and talking openly about it.

I genuinely think this is the reason why a lot of girls believe themselves not to be female. Since it's shameful and cringy to not be feminine as a woman in the year of our Lord 2024, it would logically be better to think of yourself as a man or some in between thing. Tomboys are basically an endangered species at this point and it's really really sad. Little girls aren't climbing trees or playing in the mud. They're playing with skincare and makeup. I truly feel like I'm living in a black mirror episode and it's scary.

Sorry for the long winded rant. I'm semi crypto on main and wanted to put this out there. I dunno why I sent this to the "I want to make a milkshake out of copia's cum" account but I don't really know anyone else who gets insane anons like you do. x

i think youre right though, there is definitely a backlash against feminism right now that comes in the form of hyper femininity and capitalism.

if you dont wear makeup, youre a childish loser who needs to learn how to put on eyeliner. if you dont shave, encourage other women to not shave, youre bombarded with women with "sensory issuee" and are just as bad as a patriarchal man. if you dont like pink, you have internalized misogyny. if you say anything about how high heels damage your feet, youre shaming women. if you talk about how womens clothes are made worse than mens, just go shop in the mens section! stop doing anything, stop going against the quo, let women do what they want! dont question anything!

and in more recent years, ive been seeing the evidence of this seeping into girls younger and younger. we now have little girls begging for drunk elephant and sephora items, to shop where the adult women shop. honestly i didnt even know what drunk elephant was until i saw a girls christmas list on here. theyre spending adult with a job money on products, whether it be from saved allowances and or from their parents. i just saw a video about a 9 year old girl getting bullied for having a tumbler from walmart and not one of the expensive trendy stanley cups. there was always an issue with bullying over not having name brand but i feel like its gotten so much worse. and thats not even talking about the "skincare" aspect of it.

theres so much to say about this but they really did rebrand capitalism as being woman positive though.

#ask

[sexisdisgusting]

okay so hear me out, I have a theory.......... I think men are physically stronger than women, yes, but I think women are emotionally stronger than men. Think about it. Sure, theres a lot of emotionally weak women- "handmaidens" for example. But women has always had the advantage of being able to emotionally adapt to the cruelist of environments. Women have always been the ones to teach compassion and empathy.

Im not one of those people who say "oh men are all terrible, they all lack empathy and emotions" but I do think its true that women are the ones who are emotionally superior to men.

Men love to paint women as "emotionally fragile" crybabies and all that. The "hysterical women". They see women's emotional superiority as weakness instead of a gift. When in reality, its always been an advantage.

I mean look at the crime statistics. Look how many men turn to violence (which requires emotional immaturity) when things don't go their way.

Look how TiMs act compared to TiFs. Look how any women acts when she idolizes/relies on men, she becomes emotionally immature.

And if you think about it biologically and spiritually, it makes sense. To survive, women needed to rely on her emotions to weed out undesirable mates. Men needed to be physically strong to defend. Women may be physically weaker, but men are emotionally weaker.

This is why men are such threats. It's that lack of emotion that is dangerous. It's also why abuse from a mother can be more damaging than abuse from a father. Mothers are meant to be the nurturing counterpart. Mothers teach you how to control your emotions and be a better leader as mothers are inherently the "leader" of the relationship. When that relationship is fucked up, when the father is the one "in charge", it destroys everything because the father is less emotional and more out of control. It's why most abusive fathers are more outwardly aggressive. Yet women, who have abusive fathers, are better at handling it than men. Yet when a woman has an abusive mother, it hits harder because it affects her emotional growth.

I like how mainstream media loves to paint abusive mothers as more common than it is. Don't get me wrong, I grown up with an abusive mom. But what people don't talk about is that more often than not it's reactionary abuse. A lot of moms I've seen who were abusive were also "boy moms". It's fucking rare to see a mother who's just naturally abusive toward her children without influence from a man or drugs. Not saying it doesnt happen, but its not "common". Its nowhere near an "unspoken issue thats bigger than people think".

I dunno, im being controversial lol

I FUCKING HAD A CONVERSATION LIKE THIS THE OTHER DAY GIRL I AM GRABBING YOU BY YOUR SHOULDERS AND SHAKING YOU SO HARD BECAUSE YES!!!!!!!!! YES YES YES SYNFHAYZSYSYCYES

yes

YES

THEY LOOOOVE SAYING "women are soooo emotional lol" but they are the ones who KILL WOMEN FOR SAYING 'NO' TO THEM

and

OFTEN

when

MOTHERS ABUSE their KIDS it stems from abuse that came from other places in their lives, the media LOVES talking about evil mothers and highlighting it but men constantly abuse their kids because theyre all emotionally immature idiots who dont know how to regulate their emotions by nature

stoppppp im so happy we're mutuals youre so fucking SMART I WISH I COULD KISS UR BRAIN

#asks

[terra-feminarum]

When people talk about reversible and permanent effects of transition, they are usually talking about the medical effects. What is your experience around permanence and the social effects of transition?

Interesting question! I'm not sure I'm able to provide an answer that I'd be happy with as I've never thought of this before. I'm glad you asked and I hope other detransitioned women will share their thoughts as well.

One thing that comes to mind is the hiding. I transitioned at time when it wasn't cool to be trans, basically no one knew trans men existed and being stealth was the only way trans people lived, that is, hiding your background as well as you can. I'm sure it's like this for many people even today. So you feel like you have this huge secret you need to protect at all times. I lived such a long time keeping this huge secret, trying to fill a social role I had no clue how to navigate and at the same time I lost my contact to other women. It definitely had an effect on my social life and I still feel very out of place whenever I'm with people I don't know well. Then again, there could be other factors at play, too. But having this long experience of hiding a central part of who you are will leave a scar.

The medical effects can also cause lasting social effects. Being androgynous or looking/sounding like a trans person will affect your social life. It's unsettling to not know whether others think you're a man or a woman. I don't know if it's easier in other countries but speaking a very gender neutral language makes it pretty much impossible to know how others perceive me and then on top of it nowadays younger people tend to walk on eggshells around androgynous people and avoid all gendering. I've deciphered younger people mostly tend to see me as a TIF, some older people understand I'm a woman but some think I'm a man. I guess I'm always seen as some kind of "other", something weird. But then again, if I hadn't taken T I would still be very GNC and obviously SSA and straight women would still probably think of me as being different from them.

I wonder if there's been any positive permanent social effects? While I'm socially anxious and my years as a trans man have to do with it, I think I gained some confidence, too. I got to live without the pressures women have. No one expected me to wear make-up or dress in a feminine way. It's been really easy to continue this after detransition. I feel zero pressure to present myself the way women are expected to, even in professional settings. I do zero compromises about this. It would feel very absurd to perform femininity. Living as a man gave me the experience of other people considering me a "normal person" while I was very GNC. In their eyes I was an average dude. So while I might look like a freak now and I know it, I kind of feel like I'm being the normal one and it's the others who are being weird about it. I think it's better this way than me feeling I'm somehow being inappropriate for being a "masculine" woman.

#detrans #detransition #detrans women please share your thoughts

[ayeeyo1]

I’ll write some advice i would’ve given my younger self. 98% of this is from my own personal experiences. I never had real ass advice and only got cookie cutter picnic date advice. So here are few lessons I picked up.

Normie advice “TIFs are still women! Biologically you guys are still lesbians. In order to have more female solitary don’t isolate your TIF sisters”

Never stop a coper from coping. If you think that confronting thier cope will make you lose her, fuck it bro. It’s already over. She’s not your religious grandma holding on to faith dearly due to her old age. She isn’t some elder at deaths door. She isn’t some fucking turbo doofus who doesn’t understand things. She knows bro.

Let’s say for example the coper is non-binary but refers to herself as “gay” instead of ditching her cope and accepting being female, she will drag you in saying your not a lesbian for dating “them”. Her delusion is more important than material reality. Her delusions are more important than your LIVED reality. She can’t be saved bc she doesn’t give a shit. I wasted so much time talking to TIF adjacent women. They look like you but they are nothing like you. Lesbian TIFs are 99% of the time sell outs who hate other women.

“Lesbisn are women identified, they don’t care as much about beauty as men do. Dating women is such a blessing, I no longer appeal to these standards”

when making aesthetic choices consider the female gaze. Your average lesbins won’t drag you for having armpit hair. But women are 100% aware of aesthetics. I’d argue more than men. Long story short don’t get a buzzcut bro. Consider your face shape, your body proportions allat. It sucks to consider beauty culture but charges to the game. I’ll never betray my masc hood but since I’m already small and baby faced consider a more soft boy or pretty boy aesthetic. Going full unc butch was a mistake.

The other is how normies like to attribute bad behavior of lesbians as internalized misogyny or homophobia . Manipulative women use therapy speak and woke talking to absolve herself of her guilt.

If she loved you she would respect you. Don’t be a fucking doormat. When those negative thoughts creep in listen to them. It’s not always “internalized misogyny”. Don’t listen to these “don’t call her bitch bro” cornballs. Did she bitch you? Fuck her. She can go to hell.

You are better accepting a bitter truth about your Girl than living in a delusion.the truth will be there no matter what. Make the reality your friend otherwise it will become your grim reaper.

#lesbian #advice

[writingforevren]

WIP Intro (re:intro) - Rainclouds

Rain clouds, y'know those little thoughts that seem to pester you mind when you try to convince yourself that everything is fine? yeah that's what this story is about. LGBTQ+ students in a small town in britain dealing with that voice coming to life as a shadow in their minds. Bittersweet and full of twists and turns. Dark imagery meets slow-burn romance that's seemingly destined for failure. Shattered glass, shattered thoughts, but maybe there is a way to clear the rain, to let someone in. But what if letting them in is what leads to the bridge collapse?

{ The Basics }

Genre - Queer YA Fiction

Themes & Tropes - Dark Imagery, Sapphic, LGBTQ+ Characters, POC characters, ASD/ADHD characters, Mental disorder, Slow-burn, Romance, Bittersweet, Self-discovery, Dreamlike Descriptions, Found Family, Ghosts, Mystery, Isolation, and Tragedy.

Setting - Fictional town in the U.K, Modern Era.

Status - Drafting & Editing

Projected Word Count - 100,000

Point Of View - Third Person Limited (Two character POVs)

Content Warning - Contains Dark Topics such as self-harm, suicidal thoughts, violence, homophobia, bullying, mentions of rape, and abuse.

{ Story Description }

Sylvia Hawthorn is plagued by loneliness as she moves away from the big city and back to the town she grew up in. A little brick house full of secrets, some buried, and others begging to be revealed. Her only friend seems to be that of a ghost, a ghost whom she isn’t sure is real or if it was a conjuring of her vast imagination. A vast imagination that always seems to be going full speed ahead whether that is into the light or into the darkness. 

The Darkness forms itself to be a human, it looks like her but only houses those thoughts and nightmares that she locks away. She’s supposed to be the perfect daughter, her mum insists on it and will settle for no less. So maybe that’s why she tries her best to lock that darkness away for no one to find... until it starts to overflow, to overwhelm, and to drag her into the depths of her own mind.

 Reunions with old friends who didn’t want to be found, new friends who were dealing with problems that might even have been far greater than her own. Curiosity killed the cat right? Well she is the cat, incredibly curious and stepping into problems that aren’t hers to solve, and she ends up getting involved with something far bigger than her own demons.

River Flynn is fine, at least she pretends to be. Constantly changing schools due to little tifs just because she refuses to take other people’s bullshit. It’s  always been the same and she’s pissed about it, pissed at the world, at her family, at everyone. Her mum decided to float, and her dad blames her for it. 

It seems like there’s always something wrong with her, that’s what everyone tells her. Like she’s a serial killer waiting to happen or something, or a vase on the edge of a shelf close to shattering into a million pieces. And maybe she is, nobody understands her, nobody wants her, maybe people would actually pay attention if she does something about it. 

So far, no matter what she does, nothing makes it better, nothing makes the anger go away, nothing makes the hurt less hurtful. Her heart is coated in darkness and she needs someone to pull her out of it, someone to grab that little drop of vulnerability that was left before a hard shell is formed never to be broken again. Sometimes she wants to make others feel the hurt that she does. But when friendly faces show up in her life in unlikely circumstances and try to help, there’s a little speck of light that tries to break through the cloud cover. A warmth that she hasn’t felt since she was a small child.

{ Message Behind The Story }

My Idea was to associate mental ‘disorders’ with the idea of rain clouds, they come and go and sometimes the rain is heavier than others. I don’t like to call them disorders, I like to think of them as clouds and storms, something natural that happens to everyone.

Every storm is different and everyone’s experiences are different. I want to use this story to bring to light all of those storms people deal with everyday and to say that there’s nothing wrong with you even if you think so. This story does get dark, so if you’re dealing with severe depression or suicidal thoughts I would recommend you don’t read it, talk to a friend about the storm rather then letting it build up into a flood.

These clouds can also represent things like ADHD like there’s cloud cover hiding your ability to focus, or the way that having Autism can sometimes make it so it’s much harder to recognize emotions on others faces. These aren’t ‘disorders’ they make everyone unique and different and sometimes life is a bit harder to get through when you have rain clouds over your head but that doesn’t mean you’re broken.

This story also covers the connection between rain clouds and exploring your sexual/romantic and gender orientation which I think is another topic that needs to be talked about more.

{ Rainclouds Playlist }

I often find myself creating stories with specific vibes to them and a playlist can help me and my readers get in the right mindset for that story.

So here’s a link 

{ Notes & Conclusion }

Hi, I know the description is a bit of vague but I didn’t want to give any spoilers away. I’ll probably update this post more later when I have a clear idea of the plot. I’m starting to redraft and rearrange a lot of it because I haven’t touched it for a few months and my writing style has changed a bit since then. 

I’m not sure how much I’ll be posting the writing process considering I’ve had this project in process for like three years at this point and it’s been very slow-going. Also River is a very different character then I originally made because I wanted her to have a unique perspective from Sylvia. 

I hope you found yourself intrigued by my story, I have more that I’d love to share in the future as well. I really want to get back into writing again and this is my first step.

If you’re a writer or a reader I’d love to hear your opinions or just chat if you’d like. Also if you like the idea of this story I’d appreciate a reblog and I also have a taglist if you’d wanna be added. Love to you all and remember that no matter how bad it gets there’s always a light in the storm <3

#writeblr #writing #amwriting #wip #wip intro #original writing #wip: rainclouds #renwrites #ya fiction #sapphic #lgbtq+ #dark imagery #slow burn #bittersweet #mystery #isolation #romance #found family #dreamy #asd #adhd #mental health #mental disorder #depression #bpd #anxiety #poc

[desn512-reneesimpson]

Week 3 Lecture

This week started with us reviewing some examples of type hierarchy, making sure to think about the environment that you're designing for, as well as the min (25) and max (69) characters on a line. Something else to note is the way we treat hierarchy within design layouts. So what do we want to capture a viewers eye when they first look at an outcome.

We then moved on to the lecture which consisted of an introduction to page structure and grid design. Here are some notes that I took from this:

General:

It is important to set up masters within an InDesign document. This is to create automatic page design rather than copying and pasting etc. (doing it that way gets too messy)

DPI means dots per inch and the number you use depends on the distance, eg. If you're looking at something across the road it could be 60dpi

Gutter is the space in between columns.

Check for errors at the bottom of the page, if green you are good to go, if red you can click on it and it will show you what is broken/wrong.

Margins talk about the area on the edges of the page (from the trim to where the columns start. You can change the number for the top, left, right and bottom) If they're linked the whole column will change as you change one number, however unlinking them will allow you to change each number individually.

Bleed and slug:

Don't worry too much about the slug (it is the blue markings around the outside)

Bleed is the area outside of the trim area

Generalised bleed marks are 5mm

Images:

Edit images to size in Photoshop rather than InDesign because if you change the photo within InDesign you are just changing the pixel size. Better quality images would need to go through PS

Always prepare the image through PS at the size you need or larger. You can always downsize, you can't upsize otherwise it will become pixilated

TIFS are for print, JPG or PNG is for digital however PNGs can have transparent backgrounds, JPGs can not.

Remember to link images. 

Links can be broken if your image is no longer in the folder that you linked it to etc. So if you move images from one folder to another you need to remember to relink them.

[bullockraun49]

How To Record Your Mobile Cellular Telephone Calls

As a user of Camtasia Video Editing Software I have many times ran into an issue that cost me time. I suppose if I'd taken the time to go to the TechSmith knowledge base or perhaps looked for the most efficient online I will likely have found an way to my problem gone. Fact of the matter, I took neither of those options. We'll just chalk it up towards male thing that is akin to not stopping and trying for directions. I did devise a work around method to manage the issue but that method is significantly from ideal. I look for a way to record and do things professionally is to apply a solid microphone. You should also make utilisation of the built-in microphone in your iPhone or Smartphone a person are wish, if it's getting some sort of unidirectional mic. You don't want to get an omnidirectional person that picks up sound from every which way. You would like to make without it is directional and picks increase voice only, without all the background noise in their. You apeaksoft screen recorder make use of any quantity of tools to record video for Aol. First up, there's a webcam - standard on just about all laptops basically a few dollars in the desktop laptop. They vary in quality, so try to select one with not less than a 30 FPS recording rate - this will lead to TV quality video. apeaksoft screen recorder crack helps import entire PowerPoint presentations or individual slides. Very useful in case your video content is technical and requires visual allows. It is far more professional than writing on a flipchart for your back towards camera. The trick is conserve lots of documents as png or tif files, rather when compared to PowerPoint. Program also imports pictures. You'll be able to narrate off-screen, or exclusively use them to boost your video clip. Open screen recorder DemoCreator and record the product video that you want show to consumers or targeted traffic. If you already develop the demo project, just open the project directly. Like apeaksoft screen recorder crack of screen recording software, DemoCreator allows in which record called regenerative braking . on pc screen. Program better than it outstanding from some other programs is its powerful editing features that in order to to make professional looking product presentation or tutorial video secure. You can away the guide here. Two of the favorite shows on all at once? No Problem: If your DVR provides you with dual tuners, you get a it record one show while you watch the opposite. If you are not really home, you'll your DVR record both shows (even though intensive testing . on at the same time) and watch them anytime. You gives you manual website directory distribution. There hundreds of websites out there that lists other websites that think you are submitted within. Webmasters will always want to increase the involving websites that link for. You can offer to manually submit their websites to the people directories. As you see, may refine use your own voice or someone else's professional voice for your promotional video or business enterprise. There are so many little aspects you would like to consider. You are going to these correctly and it should sound so much better whilst your message can be through very clearly. Are usually do it incorrectly, the mistake(s) will stand out as correctly. So, use voice to your own advantage, put emotion into it, use the accent, use raw emotion, be yourself, match your voice for the market, and above all, just have fun. Your promotional piece should be fun imagine should be inviting. Prolonged as you as your message gets delivered, it's what's interesting.

#APEAKSOFT SCREEN RECORDER

[menalez]

related to the ‘no actual lesbian characters’ point this always bothered me in degrassi and I’m not even close to being a lesbian, so I’ve watched up to season 11 and I’ve had spoilers for the other seasons + next class (which had the stupid representation of the non-binary character but n e ways) the first named lesbian character introduced was Alex and she had originally been dating this creepy loser but out of no where she became a die hard lesbian after she and Paige became an item which felt just... so forced. I feel like since they made a lot of steps to include a gay male character they were like “oh shit where’s the lesbians” and then rewrote the most futch coded character to be a lesbian, which is... fine I guess but they never even touched on the fact that she was with the moid so it felt like a plot hole they could’ve very easily covered up. I did appreciate how in her stripping story arc they never tried to frame it as empowering like other teen shows (like she’s a literal child?????) and she never expressed any attraction to the Johns which I was rlly scared of. And this was in like 2006 so probably better representation than others at the time. And with Fiona Coyne I also felt like they written her in to be shoehorned as representation since they had already written full character arcs for another gay male and a trans man character, speaking of that the first hint they gave to her being a lesbian was her dating Adam (previously spoken of tif) and solely dating her because she was female and she could obviously see that, and saying “you’re like the best of both worlds” which feels like a cope, and Adam getting super mad about that and breaking up with her. A gold star for the terfyness and representation of butch characters atleast? And later she went on to date multiple other random femmes, I haven’t watched up to the point of her other relationships so she could’ve very well have been botched but :/ Fiona felt more shoe horned than the others because she had literally kissed her brother in a previous episode which... m yeah. And imogen which had been interested in another male character before being given a lesbian character arc, like it’s so lazy... the comphet storylines must be so tiring and is probably to some extent why the master doc exists. Like so many shows have fully fleshed out, researched, and focus grouped storylines for gay male trans etc characters but for lesbian characters they slap on lipstick lesbianism to a random b character then say ‘that’s enough activism for today 🧚‍♀️’

OH MY GOD i was thinking of degrassi too and didn’t wanna say bc i thought no one would know what im talking about. yes the thing with alex was literally so annoying. like the thing that bothers me is they will have these het or bi characters then all of a sudden they’re lesbians and their history with men is not explained at all. they just try to act like it was no big deal. alex was with that piece of shit guy for like at least a year and they were constantly kissing and looking very into each other. they couldn’t find a way to make sense of that for us??? cmon now. but i recall fiona also showing interest in men and then ofc all of a sudden she’s also a lesbian but at least they slowly tried to make sense of that. wait until u get to another one of the lesbian main characters they got in next class. fr it’s the worst one imo. i don’t remember fiona’s story too well but looking at her wiki:

3 ex boyfriends and kissed another guy, the uncensored one is her trans ex boyfriend that u mentioned, and i don’t recall any of this being explained. i don’t remember her showing any discomfort with them either. iirc she seemed very into them?? if they had put any thought into her having been w men, they would’ve shown her not looking into it and perhaps trying to avoid being with them or SOMETHING but they never do that. ever. like. ur right degrassi’s lesbian rep is horrendous. there’s only one character who iirc is a lesbian that is represented decently but shes a side character and isnt that prominent on the show so.. there’s that at least.

also isnt imogen openly bi?? she basically said she’s into ppl regardless of sex

[photoeditingexperts]

How To Remove Background On eBay Photos- Photoshop Easy Method Explained:

eBay always wants to make its sellers’ photos look more attractive and promising than other E-commerce marketplaces. From that perspective, they have certain product image requirements that make their product photos stand out. One of their major rules is to remove the background of product photography.

Many eBay sellers don’t know how to remove background on eBay photos easily. Moreover, I will reveal a trick to get the product Image Background Removal Service at the lowest price. This article will help you to enhance the beauty of your eBay product photography.

How To Remove Background On eBay Photos Using Photoshop?

We can remove backgrounds from eBay photos without having any limitations using Adobe Photoshop. Along with removing the background, it also has lots of image editing features to improve image quality and product appearance. Here’s the eBay product photo background removal guideline.

Step 1: Open Product Photos In Photoshop:

Firstly, you have to open the product image in Photoshop that you want to remove from the background. Photoshop has several image selection tools such as the pen tool, quick selection tool, object selection tool, and lasso tool. We are going to pick the pen tool to select the object accurately.

step 2: Select The Photos Object:

As we are going to use the pen tool to select the object, we need to create paths around the object. You can save your created paths from here.

Zoom in the image to select an object accurately. “CTRL +” and “CTRL -” are two shortcut keys for zooming in and out. Besides, you can press and hold the ALT key to change the direction of a path.

Step 3: Make Selection:

When you complete creating paths, press the right button and select “Make selection”. Next to that, press the “Enter” key to proceed forward.

It will select the object with moving dotted lines. Go to the ‘Select” option from the top and tap on “Inverse”. After that, press the “Delete” key.

That will remove your eBay photo background. Now, you can save the image from the “File” option at the top.:

How was the method? You can share your thoughts in the comment box. However, I am going to reveal a trick for you that will save you money and time. Here you go.

eBay Product Photos Background Removal Service or Transparent PNG:

eBay sellers need to use thousands of images per month for their listings. It becomes too difficult to edit all photos yourself as it takes lots of time. Sometimes, sellers ask their photographers to deliver edited photos. It adds extra money to your budget. Photographers charge an extra fee for image post-production. Therefore, it becomes too costly.

You can minimize the cost by placing your orders with a professional Image Editing Service Provider Company. We recommend you select Clipping Way for your eBay photos background removal task. Their price starts at $0.25 only. Moreover, they will offer you a 100% money-back guarantee. Overall, you can get the best quality background removal service at a minimal price.

eBay Product Photo Requirements:

Before jumping to a conclusion, here are the eBay product photos requirements for eBay sellers. Those requirements are mandatory for getting product listing approval on eBay.

Sellers should include at least one image for every listing. It will be better to add 2-3 photos from different angles.

Product image size should be a minimum of 1 x 1 pixel and a maximum of 12000 pixels.

The maximum length for height and width is 12000 pixels.

Product image size can’t exceed 12 MB

Don’t add border, text, or artwork with the primary product image

JPG, BMP, GIF, TIF, and PNG formats are supported

RGB Color spacing is supported for JPG

JPG image quality should be at least 90%

Final Thoughts

You have got a clear concept about how to remove background on eBay photos. We have shared photoshop techniques to remove background for eBay product photos.

If you have a tight schedule, you can assign Clipping Path Company Int for your product image post-production. Do you want to consult about eBay product photo editing? Don’t hesitate to contact us anytime.

#productclippingpath #removebackground #transparent #best clipping service #Background removal #photoediting #image editing #post production

[clockpiner]

Topaz adjust ai tiff

#Topaz adjust ai tiff install

#Topaz adjust ai tiff full

#Topaz adjust ai tiff code

#Topaz adjust ai tiff iso

I seen an advertisement for a 108mp cellphone which sounds ridiculous. The images in this review, including the featured image at the top ( Preikestolen, Norway), consist of simple adjustments in Lightroom such as transform (to level image), lens correction, sharpen, and noise reduction. Instead of pixel shift technology and newer generation sensors what if AI is the way forward to do the heavy lifting as it gets better closing the gap between expensive and cheaper equipment. By the way, Topaz Adjust AI is the successor to Topaz Adjust 5. I have a feeling that there is going to be a paradigm shift in technology. I was curious of what would happen if I take a sharp image from my 50R and 2X times the resolution using Gigapixel AI turning off the sharpening to see what it would do as I was expecting it to degrade the image and to my amazement there was no improvement unless you magnified to see that there is more resolution but the rest of the image was not changed when it is viewed normally. This will not affect your output, rather it is a byproduct of Video Enhance AI preserving your. It may look darker or lighter depending on the input colorspace. You may also see this in your output if you are using an image output. I immediately bought the program and then imported those low resolution Jpegs into C1, then edited though Gigapixel AI in TIFF and it was slightly better than doing it from the Jpeg. Sometimes when using Video Enhance AI you may notice what appears to be a color shift in your preview. It was more amazing than Denoise and Sharpen without any waxiness that was reported in previous early versions. I decided to try the trail version of the Gigapixel AI and it worked. I tried to print one for a family member and it turned out bad. I was left with low resolution images of some of those photos when image hosting was in its infancy and they are very low resolution files where some are pixilated. I have a number of pictures I lost a very long time ago shot on my 20D and 5D camera back in the day because I had a hard drive failure and no backup. I have been impressed with Denoise AI and Sharpen AI but I do notice some artifacting if its not use judiciously.

#Topaz adjust ai tiff code

I used the code and got an additional $12 off. The Topaz versions are trials, that's a watermark on them that looks weird.Thanks for the heads up. I probably should have, but I ran out of steam.įor what its worth, the Topaz version of the original jpg image looks best to me, the purple added by the enhance process ruins those versions. I did not include the image using LR noise reduction. If youre using the standalone software, you. According to the Adjust AI FAQ, PNG, TIFF and JPEG are supported by the application. If you used the plugin, the image will simply save as whatever file type you selected initially PSD, TIF or JPEG. Third is the original image treated with Topaz.įorth is the enhanced image treated with Topaz. Brightness, Color, Clarity, Detail and Split Tone. I guess they were always there, but not so noticeable. Changed busy indicator to an indeterminate progress bar. Added a warning prompt if closing with changes. Fixed various issues with importing images not allowing modifications. BTW, Enhance really hosed the image with CA's. Fixed view menu items not disabling when they cannot be used. Second is a jpeg created using Adobe Enhance. Pretty convoluted.įirst is the original jpg made from the original CR3. That was the only way I saw to get 1024 X 1024 comparisons. What about RAW File Types Adjust AI supports many different kinds of RAW file types, such as DNG (digital negative), and camera specific files. I also exported the DNG file created by enhance to jpg and ran topaz on that. Apply Sharpening in Sharpen AI In what will be the final step in most images, use Topaz Sharpen AI to sharpen your image as desired. There are no rules here creatively process your image as you normally would to give it the look you’re after. Then, I exported a 1024 X 1024 jpeg and used that for topaz. You can use Photoshop, Topaz Studio, Adjust AI or any other image editing tools at your disposal. I first created the cropped image as a CR3, then used it to run enhance. Since its a very large file, I am showing crops that are the same size.

#Topaz adjust ai tiff full

The 24-240 lens did not help the issue, it isn't sharp enough to get full detail, but this is a extreme case. Make sure that ‘TIFF’ is selected under File Format.

#Topaz adjust ai tiff install

In case Adjust did not install to Lightroom: To configure the use of Adjust, go to Lightroom-> Preferences-> External Editing. It actually looks very good as a small image, but at 1:1, the detail is very bad. Adjust can be accessed as an external editor in Lightroom by going to Photo-> Edit In-> Topaz Adjust 5.

#Topaz adjust ai tiff iso

As another extreme test, I took a R5 image that was ISO 51200.

#Topaz adjust ai tiff

[julessworldd]

 This turned out longer than I expected it to, it’s 4 pages long. I was really into writing this so I’m gonna call a fic. Hope you enjoy anon. 

warnings: cussing, teasing, smut(my first time posting smut so sorry if it sucks), should be it, sorry if I missed any other warnings, grammar errors, etc. 

This was requested by anon for a prompt for Izzy.. Keep sending prompts in, I’m having a good time writing for everyone. (Guns N’ Roses, Motley Crue/The dirt, Kelly Nickels, I can try to do other rockstars. Just give me time to figure them out so I can get them down pat)

Second prompt list 1- “We’re not just friends and you fucking know it” 5- “Well. Yell, scream, say something. Anything”

I had known Izzy since  he walked in, soaking wet, little pissy that L.A decided to downpour on his arrival. He asked for a room at my family’s motel outside Huntington Beach. Izzy and I were a year apart and had so much in common, we became fast friends quickly. I’d even met Axl on his arrival to L.A, Axl was lucky no downpour, but sorta cold. I watched them both change bands like girls change clothes for date with their crush. Finally, they formed Guns N’ Roses, took the strip by storm and took over the world as well. 

Izzy was my best friend, I always told him everything that was going on with me, he even taught me how to play guitar one night, shared a bed when the hotel messed up my room. Management forgot to add another room besides the band and their manager. Izzy got my bags and walked to his room, claiming he was beat and needed sleep. 

Izzy and I’s relationship had changed after he broke up with Angela. He stayed at my place for days, shared my bed, food, shower whenever he liked. It was fun until he started screaming at me for his and Angela’s break up. This lead up to where we had angry/rebound sex in my shower and bedroom. That had been a few months, Izzy asked if we could do the friends with benefits gig. Sure why not. I told him, Izzy was very skilled and caring in bed. It wasn’t a loss for getting screwed occasionally. We establish ground rules typical for friends with benefits: No feelings, can date whoever no problem, no getting mushy for each other. Rules I could sorta follow along, after doing this for 6months, I started catching feels, asking if he could stay. My excuse was my roommate was at her boyfriends or was working late at the bar down the street. Our apartment was sorta shady so I wanted some protection for the night. 

Slash invited me out with the band after a show in town, I happily accepted wanting to see the other boys. Duff, his fiance, Steven, Axl were at the bar waiting for drinks. Izzy and Slash were at a table, Slash had a girl perched on his arm. “Hey guys”, I smiled. Slash moved him and his date so i could sit, “Hey Y/n, this is Chrissy” “Hi Chrissy, Slash treating you well?”, I smirked. “Yeah, he’s cool”, She took a sip of her cocktail. “Hey Y/n, you just get here?”, Duff asked. “Hi Duff, I did”, I smiled at the tall blonde. Izzy was quiet as usual, smoking a pack away, sipping on his whiskey filled drink.  Duff’s fiance was telling part of the table about her and brother’s taking their dad’s boat out one day growing up. She always had wild stories to tell from her childhood in Colorado, normally I would have been interested. Izzy was on my mind, I was hoping he would get the hint what I wanted to do. I looked before doing this, they were all inclined to her story, Duff stared at her with adoration in his eyes, a smile to match. 

“Iz”, I whispered in his ear, gripping his inner thigh. 

“You’re not wasting any time tonight”, Izzy grumbled. “I’m trying to get fucked, been a while”, I bit his ear lob. Izzy groaned, “Keep teasing me and you won’t get to cum, princess”, Izzy spat back. “I’m sorry, Izzy”, I whined, making Izzy smirk. 

“Go to the bathroom, I’ll meet you in five minutes. Wait for me, okay?”, Izzy’s breath on my neck. “Hey Iz, can you let me out please?”, I asked, making it seem normal. Izzy stood to the side of the booth as I walked to the bathroom. Five minutes later, Izzy let himself in and locked the door before turning to me. “Thought Steven would never shut up about what he and Duff did two days before. Sorry, babe”, Izzy looked at his watch. “You’re on time, Iz”, I giggled. 

Soon enough Izzy held me against the wall, thrusting into me, attacking my neck with his teeth. “Fuck, Izzy. Right there”, I whined. “You can beg better than that, baby”, Izzy whispered in my ear. I rolled my eyes, he’s in his dominant mood tonight. “Okay, guess we’re done here”, Izzy started to pull out. “Please don’t! I need you so fucking bad, Izzy. Please fuck me, you’re the only one can make me cum this hard.”, I whined, grabbing his shoulders. “Now that’s better, baby”, Izzy slammed himself back in, making me moan. I felt the familiar tighten in my stomach as Izzy slammed into my g-spot. Clenching around him, nails  ripping his back, “Fuck, I’m gonna cum”, I let a breathy moan out. Izzy reached between us and started to rub my clit. “You earn it, let go, princess” I rolled my eyes again, “Mhm fuck” Izzy noticed that I needed an extra push, “Come on, Y/n. You can cum, Kitten come on” Hearing him call me ‘Kitten’ in his deep mid-western voice gave the extra help I needed. “Oh fuck, fuck, Izzy”, I screamed feeling myself release on his cock. Izzy rode out mine and his high, before pulling out.  “That was hot. You good?”He asked. I nodded, “Just a sec”, I said, holding his shoulders feeling the aftershock. Izzy and I got fixed, he made me leave first. I headed to the bar for a drink. “How long have you and Izzy been screwing?”, Axl asked, making me jump. “Why do you care?”,  I asked, sitting on the bar stool. “You and him were gone for a good thirty, forty minutes. Your legs are shaking slightly.”, Axl smirked, trying to interrogate me. “Still don’t mean I fucked Izzy, could be another guy for all you know”, I said. “I didn't graduate high school, but I’m no fucking idoit”, Axl said, getting close to my lips. “Again why do you care so goddamn much anyways, Axl. You’ve never cared who Izzy is fucking before”, I laid my hand on his chest.  “Cause the whole time I’ve been here with you, Izzy’s been shooting daggers at me from behind your back, babe.”, Axl grinned, making me turn slightly to see Izzy standing there with a pissed off look on his face. 

After the conversation with Axl, I left to go home forgetting the drink. Izzy watched me exit the bar, behind Duff and his fiance. “Night Y/n”, Duff said. “Night Duff, be careful”, I said walking down the strip. “Will do, you do the same”, Duff yelled. Finally made it back, moans filled the shitty apartment. Tiffany was home with her boyfriend. I took off my tight black leather dress, kicking heels off, earrings left on the dresser. “Sure, I’ll call you, Andrew”, I heard Tiffany say. ‘Andrew?’ her boyfriend’s name was Greg, not my business but okay Tif. “Y/n, company”, Tiffany yelled for the front door. It was 4am, who the hell was here for me.  “Tiffany are you high? Oh hey Izzy”, I asked, walking into the living room. “Can we talk, Y/n?”, Izzy asked, shutting the door. “Uh Tif”, I looked at the blond. “Night Y/n”, Tiffany said, skipping back to her room. “What’s up?”, I asked. 

“We gotta stop this, I’m in love with you”, Izzy blurted out. “Excuse me?”, I was stunned, maybe Axl was right? “Iz, we established no falling in love. You broke your own rule”, I said. “I know that, but seeing Axl talking to you that close, got me jealous. He’s married, he needs to back off damn it”, Izzy stomped his foot like a toddler. “Izzy, calm down. You’re drunk”, I sighed. “Please stop being like Duff trying to take care of a drunk! That’s not the point, babe”, Izzy groaned. “Then what is your point, Stradlin? I’m fucking tired and want to sleep”, I groaned, throwing my head back.  “I- uh”, Izzy stuttered. “Fine, I'll finish it for you. We’re not friends and you know it”, I said. Izzy’s eyes widened, “Fuck” 

“Well. Yell, scream, say something. Anything.”, I sighed, getting tired of his shit. Izzy pushed me up to the wall, lips crashing on mine. I pulled apart from him, “Wanna crash here, it’s late” “Thought you never ask”, Izzy grinned. 

#prompt request #izzy stradlin #izzy stradlin x reader #guns n roses fic

[insanity6666]

Red By Danger. In The After.

SkekAl gave a long exhale, watching the smoke curl about above her before vanishing altogether. She idly gnawed on the stub of her pipe, encased in a soft metal for this very reason. A bad habit, she knew, she had been scolded by all three of her parents for it many times, and while she had rarely done it before, now that she had no one to stop her the habit had made a comeback.

She hummed an absentminded tune while she continued to weave a new basket. Always a need for baskets, it seemed, and she really was terrible with giving them away all the time. The long, curved neck of the pipe allowed her to actually see her work without having to stick it awkwardly out to the side. The bowl of the pipe glowed with embers as leaf-smoke billowed from it like a dying fire, that same smoke seeping through her teeth every time she exhaled. 

It really was a perfect day to weave and smoke outdoors. Sunny, with just a hint of a cool breeze to keep things from getting too warm, and the odd cloud to give relief should the wind fail. In addition to the babe she had helped the other day, no nightmares, and no would-be-attackers trying to rid Thra of the Skeksis plague or seek revenge, she was in good spirits.

Which is why she wasn't all that surprised when she heard a twig snap not too far from her. She knew, she bloody well knew, that any good mood was bound to be ruined. It was never a slow decline, it was always a sudden thing, like the snap of a twig cutting through the silence. SkekAl didn't really bother reacting, beyond a glance in the direction of the sound. Whatever it was, she didn't really care, as long as it didn't attack her.

Still, she grabbed a hidden dagger with one of her secondary hands, just in case something did try to attack her. She was no great warrior, but she knew how to fight, and she knew how to survive. Whatever was there, she was ready.

And then Thra decided to prove her wrong, as it so loves to do, because who else should step out of the canopy's shade but SkekTif herself! The reclusive woman never left her land, as far as SkekAl was aware, and they rarely interacted beyond the odd check-up or drinking-buddy session that occured, and even those times were fairly sparse. They weren't exactly neighbours. It took nearly a week of travel to reach the scavengers house, less if one didn't bother with roads, but that's still a considerable distance.

So why was she here?

"Run out of liquor?" She asked once she recovered, giving the other skeksis a once-over. She didn't look injured, not in the way she moved or held herself, and beyond that old limp there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her. So she couldn't imagine anything beyond some extra alcohol being the reason Tif would make the effort here. Al did have her own distillery, some homebrewed grog went a long way when she needed to trade for anything she couldn't make or get herself.

"No." The taller female said, short and crisp. Al, however, noted the hesitation in her gaze, the way it flickered about before settling back on her.

"Well, you're welcome to it either way," She took a deep breath from her pipe before taking it out of her mouth so she could use it to point to the crate full of bottles, "And get me one while you're at it." And with that, stuck the pipe back in her beak and went back to weaving. While she didn't know SkekTif all that well, she probably knew her better than most, and so was well aware that trying to get her to talk was nigh impossible. Better to let the girl get around to it herself.

Tif seemingly took the hint, and after acquiring a few bottles, sat down beside her in the light of the suns and seemed to relax a little as she sunbathed and took droughts from her bottle. Al occasionally took mouthfuls of her own bottle, enjoying the mix of the mellow woodsy smoke and the sweet-tangy drink. They stayed like that for a good while.

"Want some?" Al offered her pipe, the mix was almost gone, and would only get a few more puffs, might as well share it.

"What's in it?" Tif eyed the pipe like it was something dangerous. 

"Relax, nothing to get high off of, that would make for a poor weaving session." She grinned, careful not to show her too-many-teeth, as it had a propensity to unnerve others, "it's mostly for flavour and a minor mood enhancement, for calmness and all that, but it won't inhibit you in any way... unless you're a lightweight." She teased, and gestured with the pipe again. After a few more moments, her not-quite-friend took the offered pipe and took a long drag.

Or, it would have been, if she hadn't burst into a coughing fit. Al laughed as she wacked Tif's back a few times, granted that didn't actually help to clear the airways, but people thought it did so it was more symbolic than anything. Tif glared at her, which just made her laugh more.

"You could have warned me!" Tif shoved an elbow into her side, which made her go from laughing to coughing, but it didn't stop the mirth. She held her abused side, and just continued to grin at the woman.

"Like you warned me about that bottle'a port?" She returned, and got a disbelieving look.

"That was trines ago! Don't tell me you're still on about that?" This time Tif shoved her shoulder, but it was less forceful than it could have been, so Al figured the other skeksis wasn't that upset.

"I spent an hour throwing up in a push because of that. But no, I'm over it now." 

"'Cause you got ye vengeance?"

"Basically, yes."

"Yer terrible."

"Yes, I know."

Tif rolled her eyes and grumbled, but kept the pipe and took another -more careful- breath of leaf smoke. Well, she called it leaf smoke, but a lot of it wasn't actually made from leaves. Roots and bark, herbs and even flowers, different blends for different effects and purposes. As she watched her guest slowly exhale, smoke billowing around her face before the breeze caught it. She gave a proper sigh, and handed it back. Al checked the bowl, found it mostly ash, and so smothered it with a claw before tapping it against the bench she had set up for days like this, and set it aside.

"You work with gelfling, right?" Tif asked, and Al suddenly found it very hard to focus on her weaving, on the warm sun and gentle breeze. With a careful, deliberate inhale, she looked to Tif. But the female wasn't looking at her, instead looking out into the trees. It was a very small clearing, only a few metres, but enough for sun and wind, spacious enough to not feel crowded or smothered, but enclosed enough to not feel exposed. 

"Hardly. I help them, when I can. Sometimes there's trade, but usually... well, you know." She shrugged, straightening her spine and leaning back until it touched the suns-warmed stone of the rock face the bench was set against.

"So you know what they need?" That question was an odd one, and only sparked several more in Al's mind. Tif was a recluse at the best of times, and lived in an area most folk don't even know about, it was isolated in a way her little abode wasn't. Out of the way, yes, but people could still find it if they needed to. Tif's home wasn't like that, it was chosen because it was so hard to find and get to.

Tif's eyes turned to her, and Al realised she hadn't answered. "Medically... yes. But, this isn't about that, not really." She knew she shouldn't push, and she wasn't really, but she needed to know what this was about. Her curiosity sprang to life, and she was hard pressed to keep it in check. Dad said her curiosity was a gift, important and to be nurtured, papa said it could be dangerous, and father had warned her against letting her curiosity get the best of her. Two of three warned her the dangers of it, and yet it was the one she often listened to. She wonders if dad would think that now, talking to the daughter of the Hunt and the Sea.

"Aye." Tif sighed, taking off her hat to run a hand through her feathers. "Observant as always. Damn it all. How do you deal with it? Deal with them?" She spat the words, like getting them out faster would help somehow. Judging by the look of regret on her face, Al would guess it didn't help much.

'Well...' was all Al could think for a moment, before she put her considerable intellect to task and gathered all the clues and evidence and strung it all together in a way that made sense. Tif never asked for help, at least not from her, and wouldn't come all this way unless she had no choice. It was about gelfling, but none lived anywhere near Tif's territory. Unless...

"Gelfling have finally reached your corner of the world, have they?" That got her a growl, which was fair, probably shouldn't have said it so flippantly. Still, she found it a little funny that the great and mighty SkekTif, daughter of SkekMal the Hunter and SkekSa the Mariner, is so put out of shape by a gaggle of gelfling.

...

Oh Thra she needs a smoke. 

With a sigh, she put her project down and stood. She gestured for Tif to remain seated when she started to stand, and with a final 'wait' gesture she went back into her little abode. A large enough, comfortable cave and some short dead-end tunnels that she's turned into a home. She grabbed some of her special blend, turned away, had second thoughts and turned back to grab some more, a spare pipe, and a few different blends as well. She grabbed a bowl of honeyed nuts she kept in the larder, and some of the good grog she kept around for... well, occasions like this, apparently.

When she left, she expected the Scavenger to have left or at least moved. But no, there she was, still sitting on the bench. With a happy noise, she placed the food and drinks down between them as she sat in her previous spot, and practically shoved the spare pipe into Tif's hands. 

"To put it bluntly, you don't really need to deal with them. They rarely visit or even manage to find me here, and even then they're eager to leave as soon as they have what they need." She started as she cleaned out her pipe and added a blend into it, this one woodsy and warm and light, with just a touch of sweetness and something floral. It also took ages to burn through, even when smoking hard. Tif copied her when she pointed out the same blend from before, which she seemed to like- or least trust more than her other blends. Which was fair.

"But they're so damn curious, and I keep running into them, and then they try to follow me!" She grabbed her still-open bottle and down the rest of it. She threw it at a tree, and it shattered against the bark, startling a flock of birds out of the trees.

"Nice. Thanks for that." At the look Tif gave her, Al shook her head and lit a match. Once she gave a few careful puffs, and sure the blend wouldn't go out, she handed the matches to the aggravated skeksis. She stopped being afraid of her fellows long ago, even the ones that could kill her so easily.

"Look," She tried again, "You can try asking nicely, explain that you don't like being followed, and that it's very rude- gelfling still seem to care about that. You can talk to whoever's in charge about it. You can throw them into a bush if you need to get the point across," Al ignored the look she got for that comment, but it was true. It was remarkably effective in keeping undesirables away from her home. "There's no gelfling handbook, though I'm sure dad made one at some point. It probably feels like so much because, except for your beau, you've been on your own for so long. When was the last time you were around so many people for any great length of time?" She asked, adding that last bit because the last time she was around people, it was when she was cursing out SkekSo on his deathbed.

"Hmmm... I- hey!" Tif turned slugged her arm, indignant. "Mikono is not my beau!" She snarled, and Al laughed even as she leaned away to avoid another strike. 

"I didn't say anything about Mikono," She said, rubbing her arm and no doubt grinning like a loon. Her grin widened to a delighted smile as she watched Tif come to the realisation that she had made a terrible, terrible mistake, and the mortification and embarrassment she expressed only lasted for a moment before she turned away. But oh, it was glorious. Before anymore retribution could be, rightfully, bestowed, Al carried on.

"Seriously though, when was the last time?" She asked, careful to word her question. She didn't want to bring back memories of the court if she could avoid it. Al handed her fellow blue skeksis another bottle after a moment of deliberation, the woman probably needed it.

Tif fell silent at that, staring at the bottle, turning it around in her hands. Occasionally taking a drag from her pipe, which she largely left sitting at her side, and staring at nothing. Lost in her thoughts. Al didn't try to bring her out of it or pry any answer from her. Thra knows, if she had been asked that question herself... 

She lifted an arm and settled it against the rockface. At just the perfect height, the rock jutted inward in such a way that allowed one to rest their arms along it like the back of a couch or sofa, and able to lean one's head back to rest at a comfortable angle. Truly, this was the perfect spot to put the bench. She stretched out her legs before crossing them, letting her other arm lay comfortably in her lap, only moving to either snack on the honeyed nuts, take a drink, or fiddle with her pipe a bit. If introspection was the way to go with Tif, then she was happy to just sit and give her company. If she wanted to talk, or needed to, she would be here.

Honestly, she's amazed Tif had talked as much as she had. This was the longest conversation they've had sober, and talks when one was injured or sick didn't count, because those weren't really conversations- just an exchange of details and information necessary for the situation. This, however, was a large turn. Not only talking, but seeking her out for it, and the subject.

Tif didn't talk about this, not about feelings, unless she was blackout drunk and in a particularly foul mood. Which usually meant that a fight was inevitable. Al was able to hold her own by virtue of not being nearly as drunk as her compatriot, but even completely shit-faced, Tif was a dangerous opponent. And when she was feeling mean... Al had a scar to show just how mean Tif could be when she was feeling like it. 

Plus, she had her urskeks to talk to. If she was going to talk to anyone, Al fully expected it to be him. Yet she hadn't. Or maybe she had? It's entirely possible that Mikono simply didn't know how to address this? Tif was full Skeksis, like her, so it made sense that she would turn to someone more like her for this. There were things Mikono, being half Urru, simply wouldn't understand when it came to Tif. Things that Al understood all too well.

Al took a deep breath, and started blowing smoke rings into the air, one smaller than the other. Once she had managed to get a few out there, she took another short puff and blew a thin spear of smoke through the centre ring. Her own form of archery, eat your heart out, UrVa. She snickered a little to herself at the thought, ridiculous as it was. 

"My mother." The sound startled her a little, and when she looked over, Tif was still staring blankly. But now it was into the trees, towards the ocean that was so far away. 

"Pardon?" She asked, old manners rising up. She had been taught, had it drilled into her (and slightly beaten into her) to use etiquette as a shield as much as a sword. Whenever she was surprised or blindsided or surprised, she fell back on good manners. 

"The last time I had been around good company, was with the Gelfling. With my mother." Oh. Oh. Oh Thra. Al rubbed at her face, smoothing her hand over her head to ruffle at her feathers and finally resting on the side of her neck. She looked to the older Skeksis, and felt the weight of their parents' sins anew. No doubt an old scar had just been ripped open, as fresh and painful as the day it happened. Maybe it had never even healed enough to scar, instead scabbed, or maybe she just covered it and let it fester. Ignoring it, because ignoring it hurt less than facing it and dealing with it, facing the truth and accepting it. Sure, the pain flared up, sometimes it paralyzed you, or sent you spiraling, but after a while you can cover it up again. Maybe drain it a little. And then go right back to ignoring it. 

"Well." Thra, how does she handle this? What is she to say? "What was it like? The Gelfling." She didn't dare ask about SkekSa, not now and probably not ever. She had never asked about her parents, except maybe when blind drunk, but those times were few and far between.

"It was... nice. They were friendly, helpful, and snuck me treats. They helped teach me how to swim, I..." She huffed out a laugh, "One time I pretended to be a sea monster, they all played along, and by the time mother came back I had 'killed' the entire crew." Tif was smiling, a soft and happy and wistful smile. Al had never seen her smile like that, and felt a new kind of grief over what could have been and never would be. A happy life, one without this guilt and grief and pain. Al wanted to rail against Thra, against the way things turned, she wanted to scream that it wasn't fair. But of course it wasn't. It wasn't fair to anyone. And could she really say that? Her of all people?

Neither of them could.

"Maybe you could return that kindness, maybe you could have something like that again. Something new." The words fell out before she could think it through, and she knew she had made a mistake.

Tif's entire countenance changed, and she stood, fury etched in every line.

"What? You mean make friends with them? The people our parents slaughtered!? Just ignore everything they-"

"I didn't say that!" Al cut in, she didn't stand up but she straightened. "But how are you to make amends if you never start! Never try!"

"Amends?" Tif laughed, a horrid, cruel noise. "You really think there is any mending that can undo what was done? We're monsters! We're better off being left alone!"

Now, SkekAl stood. She was not as tall as SkekTif, but her height was not so lacking she couldn't look the other skeksis in the eye and snarl, "I know! No penance will ever be enough, there is no changing the past. Nothing we do can make up for what our parents did, but we don't have to be them. We don't have to fall like they did! They destroyed everything, tore it all down and had others build a mockery of order and defiled nature, defiled Thra! But we can do better. We can help, not hurt, we can help them build, we can follow their lead, we can do better!"

Tif snarled and hissed, stepping forward threateningly. But Al was no Mikono, who would back off, and certainly no Gelfling that would back down in fear. Al shoved and snarled right back, not caring if they got in a fight. She would lose, she knew, but she wouldn't let Tif cow her. 

“Oh don’t act so righteous.” Tif sneered, her strange eyes -red and something else she can’t identify- flashing. “You do this to ease your own guilt. You were complacent in the acts of the others, you tended to the Emperor himself- don’t lie, I know you did! You let them burn villages and drain hundreds, possibly thousands, of innocent gelfling. You may not have had any essence yourself, but don’t you dare act like some martyred saint! It’s not about penance or doing good, it’s about clearing your own conscience!”

SkekAl reared back, feeling as though she had been slapped. Tif wasn’t exactly wrong, but that was only part of it. She didn’t know. Didn’t know-

“It’s- That’s-” Words failed her as her rage grew, faster than it had ever before. She had always been easy to annoy, irritate, but she didn’t rise in anger often. It was a slow thing, and something she could always control. Her parents had always praised her for it. She remembered, and she desperately tried to cling to that control, even as it slipped through her fingers and she burned.

SkekTif huffed, “I knew it. You can’t even deny-”

“I let the Emperor die!” 

Silence filled the clearing, Al breathing like she had run to the silver sea. She blinked rapidly, her vision returning from the red haze. SkekTif’s head was turned to the side, she had a bruise swelling under the patch of ruffled feathers, Al felt her knuckles throb and a dawning realisation washed through her like cold water. 

Al took a deep breath and retreated a few steps. Holding her fist to her chest and glared at the taller female, biting back her tongue until she could actually use her words.

“I let the Emperor die. I knew how to save him, and instead let him crumble to dust. I shared a drink with dad and papa, while father sang a victory song, we were hidden away in the lab so no one would hear. They didn’t know, they just thought it was time and luck. They didn’t know I had the answers, and I said nothing, did nothing. I let the Emperor die.” She spat the word with all the venom and spite she could muster, which was enough to make even SkekTif take pause. 

“SkekAl-” With a sharp gesture, SkekAl cut Tif off. 

“You’ve asked for my words. I’ve given them. Take them and do what you will with them. Leave.” She turned from her guest, bending to pick up her pipe and clean it, making sure the embers hadn’t caught the grass or anything else.

“No, wait, Al-” 

“Leave!” She screamed, whirling violently to glare at the other skeksis, who flinched back at the motion. Quickly, Al turned away, ashamed and satisfied and furious and scared and she didn’t even know. She refused to look at Tif, lest she see the tears in her eyes -“Skeksis do not show weakness”- and stormed into her home. She slammed the sliding door shut, and didn’t bother to lock it. Tif was many things -Insensitive, judgmental, cruel- but she would not invade her home at the clear dismissal. 

Once she was sure Tif was long gone, she let out a long breath that choked itself into a sob at the end. Fury filled her as the sound, and she threw her pipe at the wall, the harsh ‘crack!’ as it broke against the wall was good, but not enough. There was too much anger, too much fear, too much sorrow, too much, toomuch, toomuchtoomuch-!

She screamed as she swiped at one of her tables, glass and clay and wood and metal scattered and shattered in the wake of her rage, she slammed her fists on the flimsy table and it snapped, she grabbed one piece and threw it, something -many somethings- broke and shattered. Her blurred vision tinted red, and she didn’t stop it, all the emotions and thoughts and- dear Thra she’s sorry, she’s sorry she’s so, so sorry she should have been there she could have saved him she could have saved daddy he would be gone but still alive- what if she had saved SkekSo what if she had done something or nothing what if whatifwhATIFWHAT-

When SkekAl finally came to, she was standing in the ruins of her home. Her actions. Her life. Her throat hurt and her hands hurt and everything hurt. She was bleeding, she knew, probably some broken bones, maybe even some torn muscles by the feel of things. She felt better. And infinitely worse. 

SkekAl dropped to her knees, and to no one but herself, showed weakness. 

Authors Note:

Massive thanks to @darkskek for all their help and letting me rant at them. Tif gets a bit more than a cameo with this one! I think I’ll officially call this series of random scenes and one-shots Red By Danger. I like it. I might throw in some more cameo’s, but largely I’ll properly start working on this as it’s own thing. Of course, whenever I post something will be entirely random. But, eh, such is life. Hope y’all enjoyed the read!

#The Dark Crystal #The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance #SkekAl #SkekTif #SkekSo #only mentioned though #SkekAl the Doctor #SkekTif the Scavanger #Tif #Al #Angst #Like hold on folks this goes from 0 to 100 real fast #Red By Danger #I have no idea how to do the 'read more below' thing #I am so sorry #But if I have to suffer you have to suffer #So enjoy!

[changingourdestiny]

Beyond Light Part 7: Vexing Times

Summary:

Two more Guardians have joined the party: Cayde and Adam! But just as things are beginning to look up, Eramis desperation truly begins to show.

Previous Part: Here

Next Part: Here

“Cayde!”

Rae’s eyes lit up as she glided off the metal platform down to the ground before wrapping her arms around Cayde, which he gladly returned, “What are you doing here?”

“Ok, so Zavala had to go to Europa to tell you what we found out about Eramis, right? So I was like ‘Anything I can do, big Z?’ and he was like ‘Why yes Cayde. Go to the Cosmodrome and help Fireteam Paralight, because you are our best Hunter’. And well, I can’t argue with that! So here I am!”

“You snuck out of the Tower, didn’t you?”

“Maybe.”

Rae couldn’t help but laugh, “You didn’t use the ‘Chicken Dance Party’ plan, did you?”

“Oh no. I’m savin’ that one for when Zavala’s in the Tower. I wanna see his face when it happens!”

“Do I want to know what that is?” The Hunter beside Cayde asked. “Eh, probably not.” Cayde shrugged. “Sorry, where are my manners?” Rae smiled holding her hand out, “I’m Rae Drakyx, Fireteam Vanguard and leader of Fireteam Paralight.”

“Shaw Han, Vanguard Scout.” Shaw replied, accepting the handshake, “I’ve heard a bit about you and your Fireteam from Cayde and your Titan here.” Adam got to his feet and gave Rae a fist bump, “How’d things go on Europa.”

Rae just gave a long sigh. “That bad, huh?” Adam gave a sympathetic smile. “So many things…I don’t know where to even begin…” Rae sighed, “How about you? Things all good in the Dreaming City?”

“As good as a cursed city can be. We’ve prepared as much as we can so if the Darkness does find its way there, we’ll be somewhat prepared.”

“Better than not at all, right?”

“True that.”

“Who’s that, Rae?” Rae turned to see Tif hopping off the platform and giving a curious look to Cayde. “Oh right! Tif, this is Cayde-6.” Rae introduced, “Cayde, this is Captain Tif Kariuki.”

“Oh! So you’re Cayde!” Tif beamed.

“The one and only.” Cayde nodded, “You’re the captain from the House of Light that Sunrae told us about, right?”

“I sure am! Rae has told me so much about you!”

“Aha…I think you’re exaggerating it a bit.” Rae laughed nervously.

“No I’m not.” Tif tilted her head with a look of confusion, “You were saying how amazing he is and how he’s cool and wonderful-”

“Wonderfully badass! He is, isn’t he?” Rae interrupted with a nervous smile as she covered Tif’s mouth.

…

…

…

“She also says you’re sexy!!” Marcia yelled from the platform.

“MARCIA STOP TALKING!” Rae squeaked as her face went bright red while Blaze burst out laughing, leaning on Marcia for support. Tif just glanced between them with an innocently confused face as Adam just held his face in his hands while shaking his head. “Are they always like this?” Shaw asked. “You haven’t seen half of it…” Adam muttered. Cayde chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Rae from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder, “Aw, you braggin’ about me, Sunrae?”

Rae covered her face with her hands in an attempt to hide her blush. “I don’t blame ya. You’ve seen these guns.” Cayde flexed his right arm.

“HA!!”

*THUMP!*

Marcia and Blaze fell off the platform in a laughing heap. Shaw gave Adam a concerned look. “We’re a lot more professional on the battlefield. I swear.” Adam muttered. Cayde laughed at the two Hunters in a giggling pile before placing a kiss on Rae’s temple, “Y’know I love ya.”

“I love you too.” Rae mumbled though her hands before removing them and shaking her head, “Ok, focus. We got a Kell to take down.”

“O-ok!” Blaze giggled as she and Marcia got to their feet, the latter wiping a stray tear from their eye.

 Rae cleared her throat before turning to Shaw, “So what’s the status on Eramis?”

“From what we’ve gathered, Eramis has been seeking out her comrades from the late House of Devils.” Shaw explained, “She’s hoping to recruit them into her house.”

“She must be desperate to not only recruit from the Devils, but to come here personally.” Marcia noted. “We did take out her head scientist and top warrior.” Blaze added. “It gets better.” Cayde spoke up, “Word is, she brought along a trusted sergeant of hers named Bakris the Adamantine. Turns out she has that stasis stuff too.”

“If I had to wager a guess,” Shaw added, “I’d suspect the sergeant is holed up in the Cosmodrome. Probably to make sure the Devils hold good on their pledge to relocate.”

“So that’s where we’ll strike first.” Rae confirmed, “I’ll let Variks know what we’ve found out here while we head up there.”

“Good luck.” Shaw gave them a nod. “Ah, it’s only the Devils.” Blaze grinned, as she followed the others out into the grasslands of Old Russia, “It’s nothing we haven’t face before!”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 “Ugh…I forgot how annoying the Devils were.” Blaze groaned as the stasis walls began to melt away. Marcia’s Stasis powers had kicked in again during the fight against the servitors within the Cosmodrome. “So that’s Stasis, eh?” Cayde muttered, impressed, “Not bad. Though I’ve a feeling Zavala isn’t exactly thrilled about it.”

“It didn’t seem like it.” Rae replied, “But from what I’ve seen with the Stranger, Drifter, Eris, Tif and Marcia so far, it is controllable when in the right hands.”

“What about you? Plannin’ on using it?”

“That’s the plan. Marcia already tested it to make sure it doesn’t affect Starlight – it doesn’t, thank Light. Besides, the best way to beat something is to understand it.”

“Well…promise me you’ll be careful, yeah? Can’t lose the only Vanguard who laughs at my jokes.”

“I promise. You know you can’t get rid of me easily.” Rae gave Cayde a playful nudge.

“Heyo! Found a missive from Eramis!” Marcia called from where she was digging, “She was planning on sending a load of Spider Tanks back to Europa.”

“Ghost?” Rae began. “Already contacting Variks.” Ghost replied as he activated the comms, “Variks, Eramis was planning on flooding Europa with Spider Tanks. We’ve dealt with the ones in charge.”

“Yes, our comms buzz with chatter.” Variks’s wheezing voice came through the comms, “Word of your success has already reached Europa. Eramis is most unpleased.”

“Alright! Things are looking up!” Blaze cheered.

“She intends to react with another set of reinforcements; the Vex.”

“Aaand back down again.”

“The Vex?!” Rae exclaimed, “How?”

“Europa holds yet another dark secret – a portal, built by Clovis Bray, leading directly to the Vex.” Variks replied, “Eramis intends to activate it.”

“Of course he’d build a Vex portal.” Cayde let out a frustrated sigh, “Why wouldn’t he?”

“What good is that even gonna do her?” Marcia added, “The Vex will target her and her house as well as us!”

“Either way, she needs to be stopped.” Rae replied, “We’re on our way.”

“Well, if you end up fighting a hoard of Vex, you’re gonna need an extra pair of hands.” Cayde feigned a sigh, “I suppose I’ll just have to tag along as support.”

“You’re looking for another excuse to leave the Tower, right?” Rae folded her arms with a smirk.

“Please! I need to get out of that Tower.”

Rae let out a small laugh, “Alright, let’s go stop Eramis from turning Europa into VexCon.”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 “The portal within…it was built in your Golden Age to study Vex. But Vex escaped. Murdered many. You must hurry. Devastation is all we face if Eramis opens that portal.”

 “Keep going! We can’t be too far behind!”

The six guardians crossed a pool of radiolarian fluid by jumping from platform to platform. As they reached the end of the room, Marcia miscalculated her jump and her foot barely caught the edge, causing her arms to flail as she tried to keep her balance.

“I gotcha!”

Marcia felt herself being lifted off the ground as Tif hoisted her up with both hands and walked a few feet from the edge before setting the Hunter down on the ground. “I…wha…ok, admittedly I’m like a twig despite being the tallest here, but that was still impressive.” Marcia stared wide-eyed at Tif, surprised. “I’m tougher than I look!” Tif beamed. “Be impressed later. We gotta hurry!” Rae called from a nearby ramp before darting up it, the rest of the Fireteam not far behind. They emerged into a large room with a pool of radiolarian fluid at the far end and a large Vex gate above it. “Poor foolish pawn.” Eramis cackled as she appeared from around a corner, “This time, I made you into one of my own.”

“There she is!” Rae yelled out as she went to aim her auto-rifle at the Kell. However, Eramis disappeared before anyone could get a shot in as her voice came through the comms, “Unfortunately, you’re too late. I’ll just have to eviscerate you another day. If you make it out alive.”

Almost immediately after she finished her sentence, the Vex gate began to activate. “Brace yourselves!” Adam called out, pulse rifle at the ready. Out of the Vex gate…

 …was a single Hydra.

“Oh. Well that’s not so bad!” Cayde shrugged. Above the Hydra appeared a much, MUCH larger Hydra along with a hoard of Vex. “You were saying?!” Marcia exclaimed. “Tif and Marcia take left! Blaze, Adam, you take right!” Rae called out, “Cayde, you take centre with me!”

“On it!” Cayde nodded.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 “I think that’s the last of ‘em.” Blaze called out. “Left’s clear!” Marcia added. “Centre’s clear.” Rae sighed, sheathing her auto-rifle as Cayde gave the Ace of Spades a spin and holstering it before turning to the Vex gate, “Uh, Sunrae? You seein’ this?” Rae turned her attention to where Cayde was looking and noticed that the radiolarian fluid had begun to drain away. “Where’s it going…?” Rae asked as the rest of the fireteam regrouped in the centre. “Eramis…what have you done?” Variks muttered into the comms. Rae noticed Adam glaring up at the gate with a clenched fist. “First SIVA…now this thing?” Adam growled, “The hell was Clovis thinking?”

“Actually, about Clovis…” Blaze began as she, Rae and Marcia exchanged awkward looks, “There’s something you might wanna know.”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Adam sat looking at the tablet with a furrowed brow as he scrolled down through his file. The fireteam had regrouped inside the Stranger’s camp. “So…I worked on the SIVA project…?” he muttered. “Yeah…” Rae replied, “We found that while hunting Praksis in Bray Exoscience. You disappeared after your lab exploded in Site-6.”

“…”

“But in spite of that, we don’t think any less of you. After all, who you are now matters way more than who you used to be.”

“…”

“Adam?”

 Many Years Ago…

 “Almost…”

Adam sat in his lab tinkering with his metal arm.

*whoosh*

“Dr. Birdfal?”

“Ack!”

Adam fumbled with his good arm to catch the screwdriver he was using on his arm, barely able to grab it. He let out a relieved sigh before turning towards the door with a glare, “What is it, Shirazi? And it’s ‘Bergfalk’. Not that hard to say.”

“Sorry.” Zarin Shirazi apologised, “Just reminding you that we’ve a meeting with Dr. Willa in an hour.”

Adam sighed, “I’ll be there. And knock next time! You’re lucky I wasn’t working on the projectiles.”

Zarin peered behind Adam to see what looked like a small, half-constructed rocket for a launcher on the worktable, “You’re seriously considering turning your arm into a rocket launcher?”

“If I can successfully make the ammo, ja.” Adam replied as he went back to work on his arm, “A rocket launcher arm is no good if it blows up the entire left side of my body.”

“I imagine it’d be harder to make prosthetics for that side of your body.”

“Forget prosthetics. I’d have to be signed up for the Exomind project.”

“Well, all the more reason for you to be careful.” Zarin chuckled before turning to leave, “See you in an hour. And don’t blow yourself up!”

“No promises!” Adam called over his shoulder before finally finishing up on his arm, “And done! Can’t work on this with a faulty arm.” Adam got up off his chair and made his way to the small rocket, preparing to get back to work on it, when he heard the door open again. “Forgot something, Shirazi?” Adam asked, not looking up from his workbench, “What can I-?”

*C L A N G*

 “…ugh…”

Adam found himself lying on the lab floor, an unbearable pain throbbing in his head and his vision fuzzy. He went to prop himself up with his left arm but with no avail. Despite his muddled vision, he could see that his metal arm had been heavily smashed. Sounds of rustling from his desk caught his attention as he looked up to see a figure gathering stuff off his desk. Adam began to recognise the figure as his vision cleared. “S…Sigfrid...?” he muttered. The figure spun around. He was a tall man who looked near identical to Adam. He let out a frustrated sigh, “I really hoped that hit would’ve killed you. No matter.”

“The hell are you doing...?” Adam growled. “Just taking the position that should’ve been mine.” Sigfrid replied simply as he shoved some of Adam’s notes into a bag, “Don’t bother trying to get up. I broke your legs too.” Sure enough, Adam felt a searing pain in his legs as he tried to get up. “Why are you-?”

“Why am I doing this?” Sigfrid cut him off, looking down at him, “Because ever since we joined CB, everything’s been you-you-you. And frankly, I’m sick of it.” Sigfrid walked over to the workbench, forcefully kicking Adam aside causing him to yell out in pain, as he fiddled with something, “I mean, I should’ve had your job from the start. After all, I can turn a rocket into a bomb.” Adam’s eyes went wide as he heard a faint beeping from the workbench as Sigfrid casually walked to the door. “You…you can’t do this!” Adam exclaimed, a look of fear and anger on his face. “I can. I will.” Sigfrid smirked, “Oh and don’t worry. I’ll ensure they don’t find your body. You’ll have a nice long sleep in the snow. Hejdå, bror.” Sigfrid left the lab, the door closing behind him. Adam tried desperately to get up, but with only one working arm and two broken legs, the pain was too much for him to bear. He could hear the beeping of the bomb getting louder and louder. He squeezed his eyes shut as he braced for the incoming explosion.

*B O O M ! ! !*

   “Guardian? Eyes up, Guardian.”

 To Be Continued…

#Changing our Destiny #rae drakyx #blaze kiria #adam bergfalk #fireteam paralight #marcia wyverk #tif kariuki #cayde-6 #destiny cayde #shaw han #variks the loyal #variks #ghost #destiny ghost #zarin shirazi #sigfrid bergfalk #destiny 2

[maitranslations]

[ENG Translation] =LOVE Takamatsu Hitomi - HUSTLEPRESS interview (2020.10.12)

“Appearing in their personal clothes!” Serialization part 1 - Takamatsu Hitomi

Note 1: It is her first interview with HUSTLEPRESS since her return.

Note 2: There are bound to have mistakes so I apologize for any errors.

Switching from lazing around at home to deciding to return took one day.

--Upon returning, how did it felt at the dressing room waiting to perform for the 3rd anniversary concert in September? It felt the same as last year, the usual.

--It was your first stage in one year, were you nervous? Nope. I have always been the type who doesn't get nervous. But on the actual day, time was tight, and we all had to get whatever we need to confirm right into our heads. So when I saw Sashihara (Rino)-san from the stage during the rehearsal, I got nervous.

--During the preparation lesson, you find the choreography for 'CAMEO' which was released during your hiatus, difficult that you cried even though you rarely do...... I heard this story from Sasaki Maika-san's radio show on YouTube. It was difficult, or rather, I didn't know the choreography when we were working on the 12-people version, so I was supposed to learn it while doing it with everyone else. But then I didn't know the choreography plus I had no idea where my position was, I was like, "This is impossible after all. I'm sorry."

--During your hiatus, you were "at home almost everyday" so what did you do at home? Nothing (laughs). For one year, I was sooo out of it (laughs).

--Did you watch Ikorabu (=LOVE)'s activities? Yes. From my perspective, Ikorabu has become more and more popular and famous, and I think that's great.

--At some point, did you go into "I can't wait to return" mode? I had the feeling of "I will definitely return" ever since I went into hiatus, but there were days where I couldn't think like that. During those days, I tried not to force myself to think that "I must return".

--During your hiatus, Sashihara-san commented, "I want you to have a wonderful experience that you could only have while you're on break". Did you get such experience? I wanted to, but because of the self-restraint period (Note 3: most likely referring to the ‘lockdown’ period due to COVID), I didn't go anywhere, and I hardly did anything. At most, I met up with my friends from my hometown in October when I started my hiatus.

--Hitomi-san, you like movies, right? Did you watched all sorts of films? I watched quite a lot on streaming services.

--Did you watched whatever movies that was on "Recommended"? I searched for what I want to watch. I watched a lot of Japanese movies, but what I looked forward to every week wasn't a movie nor drama, but "Gout Temps Nouveau 2". It broadcasts every Wednesday, I hardly can wait every week (laughs).

--To that extent huh (laughs). The casting of the guests is superb, I never get bored because I get to listen to opinions of different people each time, and I love that the talks are interesting. Topics about romance are a lot, so there are some things that I don't understand. I even went for the public recording (laughs).

--You bought a ticket normally? I applied for it. I was close to the stage, the casts were all so beautiful.

--Hasegawa Kyoko-san, Tanaka Minami-san, Takizawa Karen-san, and Nishino Nanase-san, right? Their talking ability were so great that I was overwhelmed.

--Anyways, it seems that you decided to return 2 months before the 3rd anniversary concert, were you able to immediately switch your life and mind back? Yes. I called and talked to a staff a while back. All this while I was just lazing around, but my life completely changed in one day. I thought I should do my best that I switched really quickly.

--Perhaps your mind got into the "it's about time" mode. I did get into it, but I couldn't take any actions with my feelings alone. When I needed someone to push me, I felt like I got it.

--Did you devote yourself into self-training for dance? I did some self-training, and had a one-to-one lesson with the teacher to sort of help me recall the steps for everything from '=LOVE'. In case I might have forgotten.

--So even when you didn't dance for so long, your body still remembers? There were times where I went "huh?", but I'm fine.

--Do you feel different now compared to before you were on hiatus, and when you made your debut? I think so. I feel much more positive than ever.

--We would like to ask you about the theme, "Whatever moves you has a meaning" for this interview. Hitomi-san, is there anything that moved you recently? The moment I saw the audience during the 3rd anniversary concert, I got really excited. It went straight to my heart too, I could feel it pounding hard. It's been a while since I felt that, I knew it I would feel nervous, but I was so happy.

--Were the audience cheering louder than you expected? The audience weren't allowed to let out their voices, but when my name first appeared on the screen, I could feel everyone let out a "Woahhhh!".

--Were you touched that during your hiatus, Oba Hana-san made a flipbook-like animation of you dancing to '=LOVE' in the ending card for the official YouTube channel?   I was so touched. I only got to know it as a surprise when I watched the video, so I immediately texted "Thank you" to Hana-chan on LINE. She was still working on the drawings at that time, so she told me, "I'll do my best".

--Did you watched it when it was completed? It was perfect. The animation is so cute, it does feel like Hana-chan's work. I was also happy that she drew me with a ponytail.

--What is the most impressive thing that happened in your life so far? At our first stage in 2017 at TIF, where we performed outdoor at a very large venue, two of my friends came down to watch us while wearing cooling pads. They screamed my name, "Hitomi-!".

--They didn't tell you beforehand? They were like, "We might come down". They were right in front among the audience, so I was like, "EHHHH!?". One of them came all the way from Hokkaido. I remembered being so happy that it gave me the energy, so I was able to work even harder.

--Looking at the other Ikorabu members, anyone impressed you? After being on hiatus for a year, I started looking at Ikorabu in an objective manner, and I realized the effort everyone put in behind the scenes. Especially (Takiwaki) Shoko-chan and Hana-chan. I didn't go and watch their performances during my hiatus, I only listened to the songs from their CDs. Listening to their live singing for the first time since my return, I realized they really improved. When I asked them, "What did you do?", they told me they went for voice training, and sang a lot. I'm so impressed.

--Okay, any food that left you a good impression? I'm into eating imo-kenpi recently. Also, I started cooking for myself every day ever since I decided to return. I was like, "Eh? This is delicious!" loudly when I tried the sesame soymilk noodles that I made (laughs). I was so impressed by how delicious it was then.

--Is the cooking of high difficulty? It was rather easy to make. I just looked at the recipe and made it, and the spiciness and seasoning was just how I like it.

--Do you usually cook before this? Not at all.

--No wonder you got burned while cooking. I got burned at two areas. Both times were when I was trying to take something while using the frying pan, it hit my arm and burned me (laughs).

--In the first place, what's the link between returning and cooking for yourself? I didn't take 3 meals a day before this, I ate and went to bed whenever I want, to the point where I became pretty chubby (laughs). I felt like I need to lose weight before I return, so I started cooking healthy meals for myself.

--So you completely changed your eating habits. I did a complete 180 degrees change. I eat a lot for breakfast because I get hungry, I basically skipped lunch for two months, and eat light food such as fish for dinner.

--2 meals a day huh. I was often told that if I'm going to have 2 meals anyways, it is better to have breakfast and lunch, but I can't hold my hunger in at night. I still can tolerate not eating lunch, so I choose to eat breakfast and dinner.

--Have you ever been moved from looking at beautiful sceneries? I can see the sky from my room, so during my hiatus in January, February and March, I often get to see beautiful sunsets that were like pink and light blue. Whenever I open the curtain and watch the sunset. I feel soothed.

--Hitomi-san, you will be turning 20 at the beginning of the new year, right? I used to feel like I still want to stay in my teens, but recently I want to turn 20 as soon as possible. There are more members who are legal to drink, so I can't wait to mix around with them.

--You will be able to do more things. There are various places I feel like going, but with the situation right now, it's hard. Thinking about it now, I really should have gone when I was still on hiatus (laughs).

--What kind of places do you want to go? Overseas. Like Taiwan or Italy. I was planning to go to Italy with my mother and older sister, but we couldn't go abroad at that time, so it got cancelled. We did talk like, "We should use the money supposedly for the overseas trip to go somewhere within the country", but couldn't go anywhere eventually due to country being in a state of emergency.

--What do you look for if you could go? I want to eat authentic pizza and pasta in Italy, I want to eat while walking around the night market in Taiwan. I would look for food if I could go (laughs).

--You are waiting for the day to be able to go...... right? It is precisely at this time that we, =LOVE, would like to be given more chances to make everyone happy.

#equal love #=love #ikorabu #takamatsu hitomi

[m00nslippers]

Titans S2E1, a review kinda.

I’m lazy so I’m gonna bullet point this stuff and just dump it in a haphazard order but I had some Thoughts™ about the episode that I felt like expressing.

Spoilers abound, I am withholding nothing.

I get why they held back this episode. If you look at the run time, a lot of the best stuff was actually stuff with the new characters/cast members (Slade and Bruce), and I’m pretty sure they didn’t have any of that cast at that time--at the least the news certainly came out in the interim between seasons. It seemed like the old episode might have cut off when everyone was exchanging cars but holding it back we got a lot more and I think it splits up the episodes better. So I’m okay with how they held it back.

Love the Trigon actor, not a fan of the CGI. I think the actor for Trigon was excellent, amazing. He feels so cold and malevolent but also persuasive. He’s great, I really feel his menace, he’s a great villain. The CGI when he transformed though? Mm, I think it was never going to work on the budget this show has. Personally I think they should have just alluded to his demon form with him having a Trigon-shaped shadow with the multiple glowing red eyes and then maybe we see the full Trigon figure just for a split second when Rachel is banishing him. I think it would have been a better use of the CGI to avoid it looking cheap/tacky.

Jason. You know I gotta talk about my boy Jason. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not a perfect Jason but there’s potential here. I’ve seen a lot of people say "He’s a jerk! How can anyone like him, he’s not like comic-Jason!” But I mean, none of the characters here are 100% their canon counterparts, they are all changed a little to fit the story and situation. For the most part I enjoy this show and these versions of the character for what they are in the context presented. And Jason isn’t actually a jerk, he just has a lot of teenage bravado that comes off as obnoxious and I think that’s on purpose. It’s really obvious to me that he is trying so damn hard to look cool in front of Dick and his friends, and it’s kind of just not working because they’ve been set up not to like him because he took Dick’s vigilante identity. Watch the show and you’ll realize that literally everyone he talks to is hostile to him before he even opens his mouth because he has Dick’s costume. He’s not actually a jerk, like Bruce said, he just has rough edges, in his heart he just wants to be acknowledged. Look how quick he was to say he wanted to help Dick. He really looks up to him, even if his way of showing it isn’t always the best, but he’s not going to let Dick walk all over him, either. I just hope we get a little bit more development in the season to show he’s smart and kind of nerdy. Like Dick walks into his room and is surprised he has so many books everywhere. And like sees Jason studying or something. That would make me really happy. I also am really hoping the stuff with Hawk and Jason continues because considering the character similarities (posturing bad boys with trauma and anger problems) it’s something that makes sense. Also in the comics Hank kind of goes murdery like Jason does so it’s kind of foreshadowing to place these two together.

Deathstroke was awesome. He barely had any words, but I feel like the actor’s delivery and the writing was on point. He looks the part, too (could be taller, but I’m not fussed about it). I’m looking forward to more of him. Also his password was JOEY, I saw that on someone else’s post and it made me ‘!!!’. Yeah, there’s that heart of fools’ gold that may or may not have actual gold deep down in there somewhere that I know and love! I’m really excited to see more of him. Tangentially related is Wintergreen, who has been race bent, he’s black now. And he’s a lot younger than Slade and more dressed up, not British, either. We haven’t seen much of him yet, but I really did get a long-suffering manager/friend who is torn between being-over-Slade’s-shit but also giving-too-much-of-a-shit-so-he’ll-never-really-leave feel. Yeah I read that much into his like twenty seconds of screen time. I think I’m going to like him.

Brendan Thwaites continues to be excellent as Dick. I LOVED that he went full dad-mode/big bro-mode at the end. Making his stupid jokes. He really does feel like Nightwing. He’s great. And I thought his talk with Bruce was excellent. It really stops a batfam-fan’s heart when you see these characters interact in a healthy way.

Dad Bruce Wayne is a treasure. I think I get it. I think I understand why they cast Ian Glenn. Yeah I think his looks aren’t quite right. I think they should have had him dye his hair dark at the very least, and he’s a bit old. But to me, he really sold that Bruceness, the sort of wry humor, the way he powers through any interaction with anyone on sheer force of personality but underneath it all he doesn't have a clue what the fuck he’s doing, especially with his kids. Oh my god, he’s got Batdad down so good. When Dick said his anger had stopped him from seeing all the positive ways Bruce had helped him and Bruce leaned back and tried to play it cool and was casually like, “I’d like to hear about that,” and seemed really disappointed when Dick was like, “Next time.” DUDE. He was so surprised he’d managed to make any positive impact! He was fishing so hard for tips! Like he was so clearly thinking, “Holy shit I somehow managed to do something right under all my fuck-ups? I need to know these things for Jason!” And that’s obviously his motivation for sending Jason with Dick. He’s like, clearly Dick is better at this shit than me and knows stuff I don’t, so I need to get his help on this for Jay. But of course he’ll never just say that because he’s Bruce Wayne. Classic. Oh my god, I love them so much.

All the returning cast was great as usual. I love Teagan’s new look as Raven, her hair looks great. I kind of wish her gem didn’t just look stuck on but, eh, it’s not a deal-breaker. I also continued to love Anna Diop as Starfire and her interactions with Donna. I chuckled when Donna was like, “This is Kori, she’s an alien,” and Kori was tiffed and Donna’s like, “What, you are!” and Kori is like, “You coulda put some love into it!” or something. That was hilarious. Also I think this season is going to keep leading into RaeGar and probably more DicKori and I hope we get some JayRose too.

So overall I enjoyed this episode. Honestly all the best stuff was at the end, IMO and I’m really looking forward to more. My only disappointment is that we didn’t get a scene where Bruce calls Jason into the security room and is like, “Can you explain this?”, and there’s the footage of Jason eating shit on his motorcycle on the upstairs banister. And Jason’s guilty, like “Oh fuck.” Yeah we needed that scene.

#Titans #Dc Universe #Titans spoilers #Titans season 2 #Dick Grayson #Nightwing #Jason Todd #Robin #Red Hood #Bruce Wayne #Batman #Slade Wilson #Deathstroke #Batdad