#ALL THAT!!!! JUST 2 PRODUCE MID ART WHATEVE!!!

[voskhodart]

Hey, do you want to learn how to play VHS tapes in the year 202X?

I know this is my art blog, but it has come to my attention that some of you are too young to have experienced the joys of the Video Home System in its prime. Come hither so I can teach you and we can embrace the beauty of physical media together. If you have a thrift store and a TV, this process should work for you.

Step 1: Get a VCR ($4-$15)

DO NOT BUY EXPENSIVE VCR/COMBO SETS FROM THE INTERNET!

The ones you find on sites like eBay and Etsy are insanely overpriced and might not even work. Instead, find a Goodwill, Savers, or independent thrift store near you and go to the electronics section. There’s a good chance they’ll have at least one VCR. If they don’t, try a different shop. You can also check local online marketplaces, yard sales, etc.

Good things to look for:

4 (or more) Heads — Heads are the things that actually read the tape. The more heads you have, the better your picture is going to be.

Auto Tracking — Poor tracking can create a rolling picture, which is a pain to fix. An auto tracking VCR does that work for you.

Pre-2000 — After 2000, electronics started being mass produced with plastic casings and cheap parts. VCRs made after this time are a whole lot easier to break. Ideally, you want something from the late 80s to mid 90s.

Well-known brands — Sony, Toshiba, etc. Japanese manufacturers tend to have the best quality. Early Emersons are nice too.

Generally good condition — If there’s a bullet hole in the case, it’s probably best to pass on. A bit of dust isn’t an issue, but major damage isn’t a good sign. If you can, plug the machine into a power outlet in the store and see if it even turns on.

Head cleaning indicator — Not something you *need*, but I find it nice to have. You’ll want to use a head cleaning tape when the indicator starts flashing.

This is the one I’ll be using for the sake of this guide. This is an old Emerson that I picked up from Goodwill for $7.95. (Notice the five price tags they slapped on top.)

Step 2: Get Some Tapes (¢10-$1)

This is the fun part. Almost every thrift store will have some VHS tapes, usually near the books/DVDs/records. I’ve seen them as expensive as a dollar, but some stores will just give them away for free. I suggest buying a few movies you like, plus one or two shitty tapes to test out your VCR with.

You may also find 20 different copies of Titanic in every store. This is a normal occurance.

Remember to check the condition of any tape you plan on putting in your machine. If the spool looks moldy, you *can* try to clean it, but you’ll need another VCR to do so. If the tape looks wrinkled or otherwise damaged, you can still probably play it, but it will look and sound a lot rougher than you should expect. If the casing is damaged, I wouldn’t risk trying to put it in your VCR at all.

Remember: VHS tapes stopped being produced commercially in 2006. Most tapes you find aren’t going to be in the best shape, because they’re all a few decades old. (Sometimes, though, you will come across a tape with an excellent picture, good sound quality, and subtitles! The Mummy tape that I own is near perfect.)

Step 3: Connecting the VCR to Your TV

For this step, you’re going to want a coaxial cable and a set of RCA cables (the red, yellow, and white ones). If your TV doesn’t have an RCA input, you’ll also need an RCA-to-HDMI converter. If your TV also doesn’t have an HDMI input for whatever reason, you’re shit out of luck.

You’ll plug these cables into the “out” or “out to tv” connection on your VCR, then plug the other end into the back of your TV.

Note: Not all VCRs have right audio (the red one)! That’s fine. Just leave it hanging free. The left audio (white) is your mono audio, so you’ll just have that instead.

Lastly, put the channel switch on the back of your VCR on 3 or 4. I keep mine on 3. This is the number for the channel you’ll go to on your TV to actually see what the VCR is playing.

Step 4: Setting up the TV

I use a little Roku TV, which is surprisingly steady to set up for VCR input:

Settings ➡️ TV Inputs ➡️ Live TV

From here, you’ll either be prompted to scan for channels OR you’ll have to select “scan for antenna channels”. It will ask you if you want to have channels 3 and 4, to which you’ll say “yeah, I do want channels 3 and 4” and click the button that lets you have channels 3 and 4. If you don’t have an antenna, you can skip the other prompts.

I haven’t done this on any other type of TV, but the process should be pretty similar: get yourself to channels 3 and 4 through whatever means necessary.

Once you’re there, it should look like this. Sad, blank, and lonely. But not for long.

Step 5: Playing Your Tapes

This is where things can go really really well or really really wrong. If everything is hooked up, you can grab your shitty tape and insert it into the VCR.

(Make sure there isn’t anything else in there first, though. Some people don’t remove their precious Titanic copies before donating these things.)

You’ll want a tape that’s fairly clean, with no casing damage, and already rewound (black tape in the left window). To insert the tape into a front-loading VCR, slowly and firmly slide it into the slot. Once it’s most of the way in, the machine should “grab” it and pull it all the way inside. You’ll hear the machine make some noises.

(If those noises are really crunchy, that’s probably not a good thing. Troubleshoot with your favorite search engine or head over to r/VHS to see if anyone can help you.)

Once your machine is only making some clunky whirring sounds, it should be safe to press the play button. Enjoy watching your favorite films in the least pleasant format possible. Don’t forget to rewind em when you’re done.

If you have issues, the freaks over at r/VHS tend to be really helpful, but you can also find decade-old YouTube videos that might answer your questions too.

#not art #vhs #retro tech #physical media #technology #analog #long post #tutorial #tape talk

[granaidh]

hello everyone. i wanted to thank you all for the love on this account but bring something forward to everyone’s attention. it is extremely important and would appreciate it if everyone took 2 minutes to read.

it was not well known that there were two people behind this account, this was done on purpose, both myself (eve) and my friend who wished to remain anonymous but will now be referred to as freya ran this account. We met on f1 twitter mid last year and kicked it off. we bonded over our love of writing and will to express that. i mentioned i had an old tumblr account that i used to write on old fandoms for, and she encouraged me to restart the account so we could both write under my name.

the recent smut post with lando was written by her; as well as the smut portion of “biggest fan” with daniel, and it has since been brought to my attention that she has plagiarised this work. this is completely unacceptable and just a complete betrayal of everything i stood for in my numerous years of writing and producing content for fandoms. she has since been removed from accessing this account, i am once again the sole writer for granaidh. both posts have been removed from this account permanently, despite half of “biggest fan” being written by me.

while i’m not sure about whether the smut content in “biggest fan” was plagiarism i know for a fact that “don’t look at him, look at me” has been completely plagiarised off of @lewisyellowhelmet and their work “when we’re cheek to cheek, i feel it in my teeth” which can be found HERE. it’s a beautiful piece of work and i’m absolutely dumbfounded that it was plagiarised on this account.

to rose, i’m so so sorry, that your art was stolen, manipulated and put under my name, it’s completely unacceptable and purely shameful. those who do not write will never grasp the courage and bravery it takes to put a personal piece of yourself on the internet for others to consume, it’s even more upsetting when that is stolen and changed by someone else. i can only assume freya spent hours rewriting the piece of writing to what she wanted it to be, had she actually tried to write it herself, i doubt the work would be as well thought out and eloquent as rose’s originally was.

i also apologise to the anonymous requesters who wanted a piece of original writing, and i hope i can push the remaining requests through soon. i hope this doesn’t taint the account for any of you, but i fully understand if it does. plagiarism is something i will never stand for, and i am vehemently opposed to anyone defending it.

if anyone has anymore questions or would like to bring anything to my attention, please do not hesitate, i will listen wholeheartedly and attempt to rectify whatever issue you find.

thank you.

- eve

#eve kiki

[bangingoutthetunes]

common genshin fandom L

the quality for genshin x reader fics has seriously fucking declined within the past year or so. some authors that are making it big today wouldn’t have had a winter’s chance in hell to gain popularity back when people really had to try and when writing was an art form. this is who the post is about. It makes sense when ppl are starting out and they aren't the best at writing, especially within your first couple of weeks. I'm not really aiming to drag those people with this rant.

unfortunately, i’ve had the displeasure of reading the most god-awful shit with my own two eyes. it takes every fiber of my being to not claw my corneas out. there’s no point in even discussing who these authors are, though, because they’re popular and have their interactions and their readers just eat that shit up! it’s flabbergasting! 

the truth of the matter is that, fortunately, i find comfort in knowing that i am not the only author/fic reader that has noticed this heavy decline in quality. i don’t covet the popularity these so-called ‘authors’ have garnered, no; i find peace in knowing that i have the interactions i do and that my readers can thoroughly enjoy my works without wincing every minute or so. for every three mid fics there is one saving grace in any given tag, and i commend those authors that truly dedicate themselves to producing a beautiful piece. those authors are what inspire me to keep going and try as hard as i do with what i write. 

i suppose this is a combination of thoughts i’ve been having for months now; see this(1),  this(2),  this(3),  this(4), and this(5) and this(6). 

i have to admit that it really is a privilege to be able to say that something like this is the issue that is currently irritating me the most (truly, it's the only thing irritating me at all). there are people dying and starving out there that would call me an ingrate for complaining about awful quality of content on tumblr dot com and archive of our own dot org. they’re probably right, but this is my shitpost blog and i can post literally whatever the fuck i want to on here anyways. by all means, dont agree with me! no one will force you to do such a thing, and im not interested in starting any drama w anyone. it's beyond me and i have better things to do. if this post makes you upset and foam at the mouth, ask yourself why that is.

by popular demand i made a post making suggestions on how to improve your writing. and, no, you can have a life aside from writing and still improve. It really doesn't take writing religiously to be good at it. find it here. i write sparingly because i want to make sure that whatever i do write has love crafted into it. people have lives aside from the art they make.

i'm not going to retract anything I said for the sake of being nice or avoiding hurting people's feelings. I say things the way i see them and couldn't care less if you think im an asshole because you disagree with my methods. Ik everyone starts somewhere but you don't need to baby anyone into realizing that they need improvement. these are all just pixels on a screen in a floating rock in space, anyways.

#genshin x reader #genshin smut #genshin impact #just found out tumblr blaze is a thing #i wouldn't be surprised if some of these authors paid for their initial engagement

[charlesmoffat]

How I make a book cover...

The methods I use to create book covers vary significantly.

Sometimes I make a painting... And that painting becomes the illustration I use for the book cover.

But I only do that when I want to illustrate a novel.

If I am just Illustrating a short story I will use photoshop to create the illustration.

So for example most of the artwork for the Wulfric the Wanderer series has been produced using photoshop, and I have embraced the books have a deliberate hand drawn feel to the artwork.

Increasingly however I have embarked upon using AI to create the various parts of an illustration, and assembling the final product in photoshop (or in my case, Paint Shop Pro).

So for example I am currently working on the illustration for the cover a novella:

"Rebellion in the City of Gold"

For which I will need a background image of the city, an image of one of the main characters from the story, and often something special to draw the eyes of the viewer.

Think of it like a formula:

Background + Foreground + Eye Catcher* = A great book cover.

* Sometimes the Eye Catcher is unnecessary because whatever is in the background and/or foreground might already be eye catching in nature. Eg. The bear, berserker and shaman in the mid-ground behind Wulfric in the above book cover for "The Cult of the She-Bear" serves as the eye catchers, and Wulfric's bear hood also serves as an Eye Catcher. They're then arranged in a perspective to draw the eyes back and forth between the characters.

Here's some of the AI produced backgrounds that I have been working on:

Obviously there's a theme here. I want the city to look wealthy.

I am not planning to use the ones above. They're missing something... (He alluded to mysteriously...)

So I need to keep working on them until I have a background image that suits my needs. Then I need to add the Eye Catcher and a character to the foreground.

Voila, done!

Well... Almost... Then I need to convert it into a drawing if it is part of the Wulfric series, add it to my book cover template, decide how to arrange the title font, the font colour(s), etc.

And then I need to make a paperback version.

And possibly a hardcover version if I am also releasing a hardcover.

Using AI doesn't necessarily mean that I spend less time doing all of this. Instead I think it has allowed me to improve the quality of the final product.

Sometimes it may even lead to costing more time and effort due to the amount of unused images that are produced because they're missing something or something doesn't look right.

There is a lot more trial and error during the production time before I find something I really like that ticks all the boxes.

But as my skills at using AI improve I also that it is time well spent because the book covers look amazing.

Better yet, the technology is improving rapidly.

The artwork for the book below was produced 2 years ago, back when AI art still felt like a relatively new thing. It looks good, but if I was to remake it today I would change the background battle scene to something more detailed. AI has improved dramatically to create more quality battle scenes. Might change the character's appearance slightly too.

As a result of AI I might eventually be able to skip the photoshop stage entirely, creating the foreground, background and Eye Catcher all in one go.

It could, potentially, make photoshop obsolete.

And if I was working for a company that makes photoshop style software, I would be worried about my job security. You would think that a software developer for such a company would be immune to being replaced by AI, but if the software itself becomes obsolete then that whole industry could disappear.

Just hoping that AI doesn't figure out how to write novels properly...

AI has already made my BFA degree in painting obsolete. AI can produce book covers that look better (and faster) than anything I could paint. That isn't just me being modest. It's a fact.

But AI does have its a problems...

1. AI sucks at drawing hands and feet.

2. It takes a lot of effort to get an AI to draw a minotaur that looks good. Seriously, whats with all the extra hair??? And frequently the AI will give the minotaur 4 horns.

3. And dragons? Ha! Good luck getting AI to draw a dragon that looks realistic. Often the dragon will have 2 heads, 5 wings, too many eyes, multiple tails, and just looks like a jumbled mess.

Many other fantasy creatures encounter the same problems. You end up with unicorns with multiple horns, or the horn coming out the back of the horse's head. Or a pegasus with wings on its head.

And even regular (non-fantasy) animals are difficult.

You end up with snakes with no heads, or too many heads. Horses with 5 or 6 legs. Dogs with no tails and 2 heads.

So then you have to repeat the process until you get one that looks good, but if the task is too difficult then the AI simply cannot do it.

So maybe... Just maybe the software developers aren't obsolete. Not yet.

But give it time.

Remember that book cover further above that I might redo? I made that 2 years ago and there's been dramatic improvements to AI art in the past 2 years. Another 2 years from now and they might teach the AI how to draw a horse properly. Another 2 years? An unicorn.

So I wouldn't be surprised if AI learned how to draw a dragon properly 6 years from now.

And by then those software developers should be looking for a new job.

Hopefully people are still writing books by then, even if we're not illustrating them.

A lot of jobs I suspect will disappear in the next 17 years.

Truck drivers? Replaced by self driving trucks.

Taxi / Uber drivers. Replaced.

Food delivery? Replaced by drones.

Factory workers? Replaced by robots.

Illustrators? Replaced by AI.

Burger flippers at McDonald's? Replaced by robots.

Cashiers in grocery stores? Replaced.

ChatGPT recently passed the bar exam. Even lawyers could be obsolete 17 years from now.

:o

#fantasybooks #fantasy books #ai art generator #ai art #ai artwork #painting #book cover

[wack-ashimself]

'Weird: The Al Yankovic Story' may be one of the best parody movies ever. So much so, Weird Al may be known more for this movie than his music career.

I am trying to make this as spoiler free as possible, because it goes EVERYWHERE, but...god damn. I was laughing at...the weirdest times. He made a movie about himself that...never happened. But here's my favs. SPOILERS still tho.

1-The news interrupting a presidential speech for weird al having a TMZ type incident. They would probably not even do that for the queen, may god have absolutely no mercy on her soul. But for WEIRD AL? THAT'S hilarious.

2-The movie being narrated by one guy, weird al played by 3 different actors thru his life, weird al voice dubbed every singing scene, then weird al played a record producer in the movie AND showed himself in the old videos of his songs? It's like meta to the 7th power.

3-It went off the deep end in the 3rd act, but as I said on a previous post, if they were gonna do a parody of the innocent guy who made parodies...you go all out. Just...him killing Pablo Escobar? NOT on my checklist of things I expected to see. Both WTF and 'haha. okay. Whatever. Roll with it.'

4-The running joke of them never knowing what they made at his dad's factory (YOU NEVER FIND OUT). It seems like a joke, but to me it goes deeper on the whole (cuz his dad saw someone die, and personally lost a hand at the job) how we will do mindless, pointless, dangerous jobs, have little to nothing to show for it, and never question if what we are doing has any true value or meaningful impact on the world.

5-Weird Al originally coming up with eat it (and later on Amish paradise), michael jackson parodies weird al's song, and then the world sees al as...bigger than any star in all of human history (they do a scene where every song on the radio is him. That would freak me out). I think that's why we love this movie's shoot for the moon: we all know weird al in real life is a funny, smart, sweet, humble guy who...probably isn't even that rich, honestly. So...make him a stupid rich egotistical mega star, and see how that would play out? I mean, the shit in his mansion alone stroking his ego was so cheesily done, you almost would hate any celeb that could get close to it in real life. It's...tasteless. No one has a bust of their own head that...isn't from Rome.

I found this movie perfect because it was NOT perfect. There was many cheap laughs, mean attitudes for nothing but someone to provoke the others, and so many 'there is no fucking way that got close to happening' bull shit scenes, it was a mess story line wise. It was...weird al's fever dream of what his life could have been. BUT knowing weird al wrote it, helped craft it, and NONE of it as it is portrayed <at all> basically happened made it a wild ride of just...fun. You have to like weird al, know his past, and his sense of humor, but if you got all those 3, you'll love this movie. It's clearly his baby.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story: One of the few times IMDB gave it a fair score. 7.2. I would say 7.4.

ps-fav part? The ending. I mean, it wasn't the funniest nor had the best lines (there were some fucking amazing one liners in this movie) but....I stayed in the credits, writing this whole thing, JUST in case they did a mid/post credits scene. They did. It was art. MEGA SPOILERS.

Madonna is now a world renown scarred drug lord, visiting weird al's grave (she had him killed: told you it goes fucking bonkers) and, like the famous ending of the original carrie, his hand comes out from the grave and grabs her. I am sorry, but there's SO much to unpack there, it...ya gotta watch it to understand HOW THE FUCK this movie got to where it did. They basically just said 'we're gonna...do whatever we want, whenever we want, and figure out later how to tie it together later.' And somebody wrote a check. lol I've seen a lot of bad movies; this ain't one of them. It's...different....and to be on the nose: weird.

#Weird: The Al Yankovic Story #weird al #mmusic #parody

[vitaminwaterreviews]

Sugar - Secret (Single) and Sweet Lips (album)

Honestly they started off really well! Secret was nice, and the first three songs on the album were great, and then Sweet Day brought it all down and it never really went back up. Man of Man was definitely the standout, I really really enjoyed it. If their group has a dedicated rapper then I feel bad for her, she only got raps in like three or four songs. Like, Mr. Unnamed Rapper had as many rap lines as she did! I feel like they put all the creativity into the first songs and then just shoved all the rest into the end of the album. The guitar lines were great throughout though, whoever the producer is knows how to use guitar. Average score of 6.7 which is lower than M.I.L.K, but the songs that I enjoyed most from this album were better than my favorites from M.I.L.K

Secret

Apparently this song 1) has a MV and 2) won a MAMA which is pretty cool, that’s why I’m even watching it in the first place

The MV was nothing special by modern sensibilities, but the choreo looked fun

Styling was pretty girl crush

As usual, the intro for some reason is way better than the rest of the song

Still, the song was alright, I vibed, and this could definitely get stuck in my head

7/10

남 의 남자 (Man of Man)

Groovy

Whatever happened to this type of synth sound anyway? Did music just collectively decide to “grow out of” fun synths?

“Did you enjoy that?” Yeah, I did actually, this is fun

r&b tendencies, with that ridiculous synth in the background

Oooh this guitar is actually really good. This is a good song.

9/10

현명한 이별 (Wise Farewell)

This is the only one on the album with an MV, so I guess it’s the TT

Wait why do they look like they’re in a laundry machine and why are they so sad

I love the guitar

I’m torn between enjoying this song and not enjoying this song

The dance scenes are pretty cool

The vocals feel kind of anime outro to me, but the guitar is super classical

7/10, wish I had a better quality version

No Way

Dude how is every song so far totally different? This album is like a breath of fresh air compared to M.I.L.K

They do love their clean guitar plucks though

Pre-chorus is cool, chorus is fun

What is it with introducing a rock guitar just for the rap break? And why do they always introduce unnamed male rappers into a girl group song? This is exactly like M.I.L.K

Ohhh but we do keep the guitar around for the next chorus, that’s cool

And now he’s rapping over the clean guitar! I like the trade-offs

8/10, this won me over

Sweet Day

Here we go, this is the slow jam we were all waiting for

And as usual with slow jams, I have no comments, because I just do not find this style of music very interesting

I wonder if the album cover art is actually the members’ lips, that would be kinda cool but also a little weird

5/10, blindingly average

달콤한 상상 (Sweet Imagination)

I think she’s speaking English in the intro but I couldn’t catch what she said

Oh I heard that growl on the “oh baby,” that’s cool

I’m getting ‘Cause I’m Your Girl vibes from this song

The ad-libs are the best part of the song but honestly… I’m not convinced

6/10

Accident

Bassy

Yeah, you can tell we’ve hit the middle of the album when the songs start to blend into each other

Thing is, if you gave this an MV and put it at the beginning of the album I’d be like “yeah that’s title track material”

It does sound very Destiny’s Child to me for some reason

A purely instrumental bridge with vocalizations in the background? I guess that’s cool

And the synth continues into this verse, nice

6/10, mid, I want something creative and interesting to catch my attention. I just listened to Kiss of Life’s new album earlier today and every song was super distinct and had its own identity. I guess that’s easier for an EP to do though, to be fair.

The Boy Is Mine

Woah that title though haha

“Hey baby wassup?”

“How old are you? 21?? Girl you growin too fast! Nah I’m just playin with you babe”

Seriously though what’s up with introducing these random male rappers? I guess in this case though he’s just speaking

This instrumentation feels super broadway to me

Bit of vocal growl

Well this chorus kind of came out of nowhere

Strings? Don’t really fit imo

Mmm we love the whispers

Okay wait the bass with these strings in the post-chorus and rap section is great. Plus the vocalizing over the rapper? Good stuff

You can tell by my increase of comments that I’m liking this one more

Yeah I still don’t buy the chorus. It feels completely out of place compared to the moody verses

That outro was hot

8/10

Prism

Hmm

These vocals are very different from what we’ve had so far

Almost j-pop? Anime? AKB?

Nothing about the instrumentation sticks out to me though. The bass exists, the strings exist, the background exists, I guess it feels prism-y but it’s not doing anything special for me.

NMIXX CHANGE UP holy shit

Dude what the actual hell, at least Nmixx have the decency to try and make it sound cohesive

This song is so blindingly mid that even the nmixx moment was mid

5/10

The Way

Liking this guitar

Aaaaand there it goes, now we’re in slow jam town

I guess the harmonies are cute

The guitar is back, I like it

It feels a bit too loud in the mix during the chorus but I think I like that

Okay frfr though why does this remind me of Pomp and Circumstance

I guess the outro was okay

6/10

Only One

The chorus is not the same song as the verse and you cannot convince me otherwise

Oooh a proper girl group rap break, we haven’t had one of those yet have we?

The violins here feel super cheesy

The voice doubling on the “you are the only one” is cool

We love singing over a rap break

Yeah think song just gets better as it goes on I guess. Still not amazing but I’ll give it

7/10

Baby Boy

I don’t know what to make of this intro yet

This is quite the extended intro too

The guitar in my right ear is so pretty, can we get more of that in the mix?

Also they’re definitely taking advantage of the stereo audio here which kind of annoys me, I much prefer mono

Forgettable chorus

Okay for real though if there was a song on this album that was exclusively guitar, I’d vibe so hard to that. They do the guitars so well

Another proper rap break, I guess they just saved them for the end of the album lol

7/10

Temptation

Last song on the album, let’s see what we get

Not impressed by the intro so far

This feels almost In Love With A Ghost for some reason?

This song does not feel like it should be called “Temptation,” where’s the sultry and the seduction?

I guess there’s a bit of bow-chicka-wow-wow

Yeah I am not impressed by this as the last song

Oh, there’s our unnamed male rapper!

Random ballad section for the bridge

6/10

#album #single #kpop #Sugar

[some-movies-ive-seen]

We’re doing music on this blog too now. Todays album:

Let Her Burn

By Rebecca Black

Rating 4/10. Maybe 3. TLDR: Overall the songs are mostly very short and all blend in just a little too much, I could play the entire album and almost not know when one songs ends and another begins. The lyrics are truly nothing to write home about. The production was very basic (assuming professional producers were hired), like there was no pushing the limits or actually trying to find something unique apart from some poorly executed tempo variations. Doe Eyed is probably the most well done, the production is tight, the lyrics are ok, vocals fine. I’d give this album a skip. If you’re really into keeping up with celebrities and want to know all about RB then I reckon just read the lyrics and you’ll be fine? FYI this mini review is only focussing on the tracks, I’m not sending any negativity toward RB the person.

1. “Erase You” - This one might grow on me? It’s very basic though. Terribly basic. I totally get the appeal some gays might have to it, it’s very “typical long bass with higher freq synth arpeggiations”, which I think is the reason ‘Into You’ (Ariana grande) was so popular with the white American gays. The vocals are lacking for the style she’s apparently trying to go for. But she definitely can sing, if there’s any pitch correction it’s hardly noticeable (except for where they intentionally went for an auto-tuney effect).

2. “Destroy Me” - not a big fan of this one. Sounds like something grimes would’ve written/produced back in the mid 2010’s. Actually song 1 also sounds like something from the producers of Grimes earlier songs. The lyrics are honestly.. they sound like something a very young musician would’ve written. The (Amen Break?) is not doing anything for this track, it’s a great rhythm dgmw, but I would’ve gone for something else because it’s clashing too much and not helping achieve whatever serious vibe I think they were going for?? Again her vocals are ok, in the times there’s less background sounds that take away from them.

3. “Misery Loves Company” - overproduced, but somehow underproduced at the same time. Way too many conflicting layers. The descending drone thing is really clashing with those fat juicy chords, and other elements sound like they’re just being added to account for an emptiness that would’ve been better left alone. Again the lyrics… “I got a graveyard of all the failed loves that I’ve paid in blood” :\ it sounds like the only effort put into this song was spent on the chorus.

4. “Crumbs” - catchy actually. So far this is the only song with time synced lyrics. There’s a high pitched static noise that comes frequently (again when you’re just trying to add little pieces you end up with way too much noise) and it’s physically painful, it doesn’t serve the track, the way it’s currently being used. I would’ve used it maybe during just certain sections of the song, novelty is also nice. The “bad bad bad bad bad” (refrain?) is just.. man I don’t even know. It sounds like a first year arts major was experimenting in a new DAW. It’s so jarring, it comes out of nowhere and then we just go back into the normal bop vibe.

5. “Doe Eyed” - oh I like the way this one was done. Oh yes. Someone fucked up though. From around 13 seconds in, “maybe you (weird fast forward) feel the same”, I thought it was the connection to my headphones but nah. Ignoring who RB is as a person (as far as I know, which isn’t a lot), this track is tight, and consistent. The lyrics are mostly pretty good, the production is nice and simple, there are less ‘beat experiments’, whatever they add (in terms of layering etc) fits well and really helps pace the track and give it a direction. Not a fan, but this track is pretty well done.

6. “Sick To My Stomach” - oh yay more time synced lyrics. *sigh*. It’s just safe. Some of the previous songs at least tried something (even though it probably could’ve been implemented better), but this just… some “ooh ooh” background vocals, simple synths and bass. It feels like I’m drinking room temperature water that’s been left out for a few days.

7. “What Am I Gonna Do With You” - weak lyrics. Things like “why don’t you slip inside .. my mind .. if you can find your way out I promise there’ll be a prize” it comes off as if she’s singing for a carnival but she doesn’t know it. Ok production though, mostly. But again it’s just the standard drums, guitar, some vocal stacking. This song could not exist and it wouldn’t do anything to the album.

8. “Cry Hard Enough” - interesting vox. Ok.. ok…. I swear to god that’s the Amen Break again.. or modified at least. Yea this is nicely done I like this track I’ll probably give it another listen. When they repeat the chorus though there’s too much occupying the same frequency range as her vocals though it kinda takes away. I think filling out maybe the bass a bit more would’ve served it better. Ugh but then again the lyrics bring it down it sounds like parts of it were written by a wannabe YA author “the thought of myself FEELING broken makes my heart sink and I FEEL small. As though I’m stranded in an airport (?????) I really thought that you should know”. Um.

9. “Look At You” - More TSL. Sounds like the previous songs. Actually all of them sound the same.. Nice vocals in this one though. Oh nice synths, very Stranger Things. It sounds like this was produced by whoever did that flash in the pan girl “I got my drivers license yesterday, just like you said we would” etc. It seems like that’s the vibe they’re trying to go for, but there’s elements which pull it in other directions completely. Very nice outro piano.

10. “Performer” - “I’m a performer (guitar strumming) got myself cornered”. Girl what. Oh hey Lauren Aquilina helped with this too, you should check out some of her songs they’re really neat. Oh no this song is really not it. I completely understand that many songwriters use this medium to relay what they’d write in their personal diaries, but a truly talented and skilled artist is able to transform their diary entries into powerful songs. This is not that. This is like someone giving a powerpoint presentation and reading every single word off the slide behind them. God it ends so abruptly, there was no variation (mainly vocally), it felt like the same one line being sung for 3 minutes.

#rebecca black #let her burn #song reviews

[michaelnguyendotme]

Well...Happy New Year to you! I wish you a prosperous New Year of 2023! How many of you made New Year's resolutions? Let me be honest. How many of you have broken one already? anyone? How many of you are planning to break the rest while reading till the end of this blog? ...comm'n...don't be shy... For me, I made 2 resolutions. 1. Live my L.I.F.E™ (Lucrative, Innovative, Fun, and Easy) business to the fullest In 2023, I am pushing harder to distribute the $44-million blockchain stimulus to qualified business owners (more on that later). But first, let's shift our attention to China's 1-0 victory over the USA. Last week, the White House flew the 4,000-page-plus legislation to St. Croix so Mr. Biden could sign into law a $1.65 Trillion Spending Bill where the US government will owe billions of dollars they don't have of interest to China ...to avoid another government lockdown ...to give $45 billion in aid to help Ukraine fight against Russia’s invasion But who's paying for all these? US Taxpayers What's even worst to come is, later on, the US government has to borrow more and go deeper into debt just to pay the interest. Heck! I am just mid-way through my blog and uncle Sam has already broken its New Year's resolution: more debt. Anyway, what is it about the blockchain stimulus? It's not debt from which you or your grandchildren don't have to pay a dime of interest to China or anyone. This stimulus is not even issued by the US Government. "Where is the stimulus coming from?" you asked. It's new-found money locked in the blockchain earning interest daily so that the interest will be distributed to qualified business owners in the form of lottery prizes. At the time of writing, here's the current state of the blockchain stimulus: Stimulus amount: $42,464,64967,349 participants1,266 winners in the last 7 days$7,968 won in the last 7 days "How can I benefit from it?", you ponder. You can benefit in a couple of ways Option 1: You can certainly participate and have a chance to enter the DAILY drawing to win prizes from $1 - $200Option 2: You can also have your customers enroll in the DAILY drawing for them to win prizes WITHOUT you putting down a dime. Option 2 is my favorite because you use OPM (Other People Money) to grow yours WITHOUT paying interest!! (you're welcome, child). Heck! you outsmart even uncle Sam who borrows money to pay interest to China for the sake of protecting mice in San Francisco and providing extra support for the National Endowment of Arts, and many more... Whatever your option is, your ticket to benefit from the blockchain stimulus is to simply join uSpenduWin.com. 2. Help 1000 entrepreneurs to live their L.I.F.E™ (Lucrative, Innovative, Fun, and Easy) business ASAP and no longer have an S.O.S.™ business (Struggling, Obnoxious, and Stressful). Besides my existing products such as my book "Stop Losing Customers", Churn Buster Kit, Amazon Retention Secrets, and uSpenduWin app, I am planning to start a newsletter called "L.I.F.E Insiders" (sign up here if you want early access). In "L.I.F.E Insiders", I will be writing topics in 4 quadrants: Lucrative: According to the Merriam & Webster dictionary, lucrative means "producing wealth: PROFITABLE". I will share insights, experiences, and information to help turn your business into a more lucrative one even if you already had one. Sometimes, it's not necessarily a how-to, it can be a mindset shift or unlearning a bad habit hindering your business. Innovative Peter Drucker (the "GodFather of modern management") argues that what defines an entrepreneur is their attitude to change: 'the entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it and exploits it as an opportunity'. Peter Drucker To exploit change, according to Drucker, is to innovate. You can start the process of innovation by asking yourself this question every day:

How can you improve what you are doing faster and more efficiently?Michael Nguyen And when you keep asking this question with the intent to improve and make it better, you will become better. Fun Fun is the most underrated source of internal energy to fuel your entrepreneurial journey. One of my mistakes early on in my career is to make goals based on financial rewards. I still do but it's no longer my #1 priority. Instead, I prioritize having fun...lots of it. And you laugh and have fun with what you do every day, it influences your state of mind and makes you feel good. When you feel good, your family is happy. You serve your tribe better and enthusiastically and people can instantly feel that energy. Easy You probably heard "Asians are good at math". When I first came to the States to study in college from communist Vietnam, I had no friends, no car, and no money. Tan Son Nhat Airport in 1999 when I left Vietnam for the US. I used math to make friends, have them drive me to school, and earned good money $12/hr in 2000 from tutoring math for students. But it comes with a curse. When the only thing you are good at is Math, you tend to make things complex and harder than it looks. Instead of shooting fish in the barrel, I choose to fish in the same pond surrounded by high-tech fishing vessels with state-of-the-art sonars and an unlimited ad budget. No wonder I was struggling early on. You deserve better and don't have to struggle like I did. That's it for my New Year's Resolutions. What are your New Year's resolutions?

[senvurii]

anyone like..................... apocalypse aus........

#tommyinnit fanart #tommyinnit #dream smp #dream smp fanart #dreamsmp #dsmp #c!tommy #again #another piece that i had mental turmoiled #i was gonna post this yesterday but wanted to add more details #then i got stressed about posting it today and then i started crying a little #but for the grind yknow #BUT #ALL THAT!!!! JUST 2 PRODUCE MID ART WHATEVE!!! #i like the mask go i had lots of fun drawing the mask #i am chill now #aheeehee i love drawing this outfit its a lot of fun

[webscene-remade]

Do you have a link to the What Pumpkin statement? I need the details.

i'll just paste the text because theres too much for me to get in 10 screenshots, it was in an email to hiveswap backers

For backers only

Over the years, a lot of misinformation as well as deliberate disinformation has spread around about the history of Hiveswap. The purpose of this post is to clarify these matters for backers who've been wondering what the truth is.

The Kickstarter was planned by the What Pumpkin business development team in mid 2012. One member of the team was a crowdfunding specialist who led the planning process and managed the contracts with the developer. Prior to the Kickstarter opening for pledges, What Pumpkin worked out a plan for a flexible game concept that could be refined according to how much the campaign ultimately brought in. As Hussie was still working on Homestuck full time at this point, the plan was to hand over his game concept and story outline to a development company that could deliver the project.

The crowdfunding campaign finished out at a gross total of $2,485,506, as well as a gross total of $207,930 from PayPal pledges. But because of platform fees, as well as the costs of producing and shipping merchandise to backers of the campaign, the effective budget was significantly lower than the gross pledged total:

The above deductions from the gross total do not include taxes.

After determining the final budget for the game, What Pumpkin signed an agreement with the contracted game company (hereafter “GC”) to develop Hussie’s game concept. WP and GC entered into a development contract on November 30, 2012, shortly after the conclusion of the Homestuck Kickstarter. WP paid $788,000 to GC in late 2012 for development.

Because there was an understanding that delivering the complete game development documents would take some time, during which it would be difficult for GC to make meaningful progress on the Hiveswap game build, GC inquired about getting involved with other Homestuck-adjacent projects to do immediate work. WP let GC know about the Act 7 animation plans. With an assurance that this work could be done in parallel with a flexible timeline and would not impact the development cycle of Hiveswap itself, Hussie and What Pumpkin saw this as a good opportunity to establish a working relationship with this organization prior to the start of development and agreed to contract GC to do animation work for the Act 7 project. WP and GC agreed that this project would have a separate budget from the Hiveswap Kickstarter money, paid for from WP’s regular operating funds. As the existence of this animation itself would not be revealed until its release in 2016, this was not publicly announced at the time. GC and the lead animator on the project specifically requested not to be credited upon release of the animation.

Hussie initiated the “Megapause” on April 14, 2013 in order to devote his full attention to finalizing the Hiveswap development documents. What Pumpkin soon provided its story documents so that GC could formally begin core systems development. In July of 2013 WP and GC mutually agreed to push back GC’s deliverable dates without penalty. Hussie would share an update in 2013 detailing the state of predevelopment: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/708686

In 2013 following receipt of WP’s deliverables, GC enthusiastically assured WP that it was positioned to begin development. GC would deliver its first prototype in early 2014.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qSXwWKD5Km1yL-3Cj_W5IevW-IA978zJ/view?usp=sharing

This prototype, linked above, was sent to WP on 2/18/14. At this point, it was becoming a significant concern among backers that WP had yet to show proof that the game was being made, so WP was looking for any sort of tangible progress update from GC that was suitable to share with the public. But Hussie and WP found the quality of the prototype somewhat alarming, and decided that sharing any shots from the game would only cause embarrassment for GC. Nevertheless, WP was still willing to assume that this was a very early draft of something that would develop into a more promising product soon, and gave GC some more time to improve on it.

But the improvements didn’t come. No other advancements on the prototype were ever made. After waiting weeks with no update other than assurances that progress was carrying on smoothly, Hussie initiated the “Gigapause” both to take care of personal matters and later to get directly involved in the development of the game himself. He decided to move to southern California from the east coast in hopes that working directly with the GC could help them overcome whatever obstacles they were facing with Hiveswap’s development. GC responded positively to the prospect of Hussie’s involvement, but when he made the move and tried to coordinate a time to visit the GC offices and meet, GC insisted it was a bad time due to office renovations and a busy schedule. Here is a timeline with quotes from emails exchanged between Hussie and GC:

May 12, 2014 - from Hussie to GC

“Just letting you know I actually moved to the west coast recently. I'm only an hour or so away from LA now.

I could drive down and check out the office, see how things are going with the game and animation in person some time soon. Is there a time that would work for you guys? In a week or two maybe?”

May 15, 2014 - from GC to Hussie

“That's awesome about being on the west coast. It'd be great to have you come to the studio.

Dev has slowed a bit on our end, as we wanted to take a step back and really evaluate what was needed and the best way to achieve the features that have been coming online in the docs. We're continuing to break that all down so we can build and plan most effectively moving forward. We also wanted to find some simple formats for input from your writing team for dialogue content and are getting that squared away.

The best time to come by would actually be right after E3. Things are a bit nuts until then.”

May 18, 2014 - from Hussie to GC

“[Name redacted], sounds good. I'll set aside some time after E3 to make the drive down. As we approach the date, just let me know what works for you.”

E3 was June 10-12, 2014. GC did not invite Hussie to visit at this time.

Hussie and WP representatives were in LA over July 4th weekend, 2014. When they inquired about visiting the offices again they were still not welcome. A GC representative insisted that they meet at a restaurant instead. Yet GC continued to telegraph that they were receptive to the idea of inviting Hussie to the office well into the summer:

Aug 18, 2014 - from GC to Hussie

“We'd love to set up a new time for Andrew to come to the studio as well as a skype chat to meet the other team members.”

Despite apparent enthusiasm about meeting with Andrew in their email correspondence, GC continued the pattern of refusing to meet at the office or supply any signs of progress on the prototype.

Over that summer, GC delivered several pieces of concept art that WP had been requesting since January. Hussie did his best to present this publicly as a positive development as WP felt it would be counterproductive to the project and harmful to GC to publicly detail the development troubles at the time.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/883860

There was no indication from GC that the Act 7 animation project was in any way in conflict with Hiveswap development. GC was enthusiastic about taking on this project, and bidded against other animators for the contract. They saw it as a useful tie-in to concept art work on Hiveswap, as GC leadership conveyed in an email to WP in early 2013:

WP also does not have any reason to believe that the Act 7 project in practice created a conflict that was not disclosed by GC to WP. Act 7 was a 2D animation project, and Hiveswap at the time was a 3D game, so it did not pull GC’s programmers or 3D artists away from work on Hiveswap. GC never mentioned the development needs of a separate project at all to WP, or cited any such reason as distracting from work on Hiveswap; GC instead repeatedly provided WP with various assurances that everything was still fine with Hiveswap.

Had GC communicated that they had scheduling conflicts or some other impediment preventing them from developing Hiveswap, WP would have terminated the contract even sooner.

WP moved to terminate the agreement with GC late summer of 2014, and Hussie pivoted towards establishing a new independent game studio while consulting with a designer who had stepped up into a leadership position during the GC development period. That individual lived in NYC, which is why that location was chosen to establish the new studio rapidly. They helped build the studio through a local network of professional contacts. While this “What Pumpkin NYC” studio shared a name with What Pumpkin, it’s important to note that all of WP NYC’s studio staff save for the aforementioned individual were hired without any prior affiliation with WP and thus had no association with the GC contract. WP documented this development on Kickstarter on October 30th, 2014. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/1035099

At this point, negotiations were very amicable; both parties agreed the project simply wasn’t turning out to be a good fit for GC, and were both ready to move on. There were no signs given at all that WP was about to have trouble recovering the remaining funds.

WP is legally permitted to discuss details of the resolution of the dispute only under very specific circumstances. WP may make additional disclosures outside of this post to individual backers in accordance with legal obligations.

Following resolution of the GC contract, in Spring 2015 the WP NYC studio was running at full capacity on Hiveswap. The main problem was the fact that WP management was blindsided by the revelation that much less money would be coming back than expected. The WP NYC project manager had designed the schedule based on the good faith presumption that most of the development funds would be recouped. When it was finally revealed the return was far short of what was expected, and the repayment plan could in no way keep up with the schedule as currently drafted, it threw the project into a period of chaos as plans were quickly redrawn. The length of Act 1 was slashed, and other modifications were made to try to fit the rest of Act 1 into the newly shortened runway. But in the end, the revisions still weren't enough to save the game as it existed, and the studio needed to be closed in order to reserve what funds remained to finish the project in some form.

This may have come across as a sudden or spontaneous decision. Part of this is because the WP NYC senior staff and WP ownership were doing everything in their power to save the project, including injecting WP regular operating funds into the project, until it was determined that going any further would be disastrous for the future of Hiveswap. Another is that WP was legally unable to give any detailed disclosures about the financial troubles, even to many of the WP NYC staff.

It should also be noted that originally the NYC studio was not going to be permanently closed, but only frozen for a reassessment of the project. But during this freeze period, there were some dramatic events. One staff member behaved in a destructive and threatening manner. For the protection of those involved, details shouldn't be disclosed. But these events made navigating the post-freeze issues impossible. Communication between ownership, management and staff broke down because of these events, and the freeze turned into full closure. This version of the project was then abandoned for many reasons, including these events.

Some misinformation claims that at the time the WP NYC studio was shuttered, its iterations of Act 1 and 2 were complete. This is wrong. Act 1 was very far from a shippable state and absolutely no work on Act 2 had been completed besides some concept and 3D art. Here you can see a video documenting one of many major bugs with critical path progression in the final build produced by WP NYC, where it becomes impossible to re-focus on the Simon Says toy if Joey fails and then exits out of the puzzle:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M2mmkMx8Wkwp1VU_5IpMKDvngmUFS0IG/view?usp=sharing

At the point the WP NYC studio was frozen it was still difficult to finish a full run of the critical path without the debug tool, and the UI was far from complete. With that build, Act 1 ended the moment Joey passed through the portal on Earth. The current version of Act 1, where Joey makes it to Alternia and meets Xefros, is more indicative of the original length of the NYC version of Act 1. Not only did it need to be slashed from what the original script proposed, the NYC version of Act 1 still wasn't that close to resembling a shippable product after those changes were made.

Because of the amount of time and resources already devoted to this project, WP was initially very reluctant to lay anyone off or scrap the work being done. It was for this reason that the studio stayed open for months after the contract with GC was resolved; WP made every effort to deliver a game with that team, but at the time WP NYC was shuttered, the funds just weren't there to keep the studio running at its current burn rate and schedule slips. The game was never going to reach delivery with the funds available. The studio urgently needed to be frozen for a full reassessment, and then it was closed after the freeze due to the reasons stated above. This was the only course of action that could have saved the project.

To WP's knowledge every artist whose work was used in the final release of Act 1 was included in the credits. The final version of Act 1 was in large part built off concept art and storyboards drawn during the WP NYC era, and many of the artists who made them continued to work on the team that produced the final version of Act 1; the roadmap for the completion of Act 1 was specifically planned because WP had determined that the existing 2D concepts could easily be refined into a final product that would both be visually appealing and more economic to produce. Unfortunately due to the transition to 2D WP no longer had a place for the 3D artists or the original 3D engine, and all of those assets were dropped. They were not used as a basis for the finished assets in Act 1, and visual similarities to WP NYC 3D assets are due to the fact that final Act 1 assets are in large part refinements of the original concept art. Any artist whose work was used incidentally was included in Additional Contributions.

Both the GC and NYC phases of Hiveswap were setbacks to the overall fulfillment of the project, but not insurmountable. WP reorganized the budget to establish a new version of the studio, and Act 1 was released two years after the closure of NYC.

As an addendum, WP has identified the primary source of a disclosure to a well-circulated document of the Hiveswap development process. WP has been aware of a pattern of false claims this former employee has made since the end of their employment at the beginning of 2014. As this individual was not present during the end of the development contract with GC, nor the WP NYC development period, all of the information they have shared is based on speculation and conjecture.

At this time, WP does not wish to invite more controversy into the lives of anyone previously involved with this project, and considers these matters to have been resolved long ago. The goal for years has been to turn the page on flawed attempts by earlier studios, and simply move forward and bring Hiveswap to completion without sparking the chaos, disruption, and threats to personal safety that would have resulted from disclosing many of the details stated above. Doing so would only make it more difficult for the staff to rebuild the project during these periods immediately following the termination of the GC agreement and closure of the NYC studio. Since preservation of the project was the primary responsibility to the backers, making destructive disclosures that put the project at risk along the way would have been at odds with that responsibility. This policy also served to protect individuals from personal or professional harm, including those who were responsible for serious setbacks with the project. Please respect the privacy of any persons affiliated with GC and WP NYC.

#homestuck #replies #anonymous #hiveswap

[skellebonez]

Happy Birthday Winter!

Hey @winterpower98 it's your birthday! I really hope you enjoy this, I know I had a ton of fun writing it for you! Actor AU is one of my favorite AUs you've made and coming back to play around with it again was a blast and a half!

Painter MK cackled, taking the brushes filled with bright pink paint into his fists.

“Yes, yes!” He exclaimed, brushing them against his cheeks and bringing another to run up the center of his face. “The art is-OW! OW, THE ART IS IN MY EYE!”

“Cut!” The director yelled, bringing the entire film production to a halt in an instant. “Xiaotian, what happened?”

The young actor dropped the paintbrushes into the hands of a stage worker to rushed over to help him, one hand covering his right eye as he tried to keep himself from laughing. “I think some of it splashed when I waved the brush at my face. I guess the art really IS-”

“Don’t say it,” Heshang said from the other side of the set, doing his best not to join his co-star in laughter.

“-seeping into my pores!”

The entire cast and crew groaned as Xiaotian cackled again, with a few added ows, before another stage hand came by with a bottle of water.

~3…2…1~

“Uh…” Xiaojiao pulled, attempting to pull the prop sword from above her head out of the wall only to be met with… a lot more resistance than should probably be there. “UH…? It’s stuck?”

She stood, attempting to pull it out normally only to be met with just as much resistance.

“It’s stuck!” She laughed, out, bracing a foot on the wall with no change.

“Let me try,” General Ironclad, or rather Red in the costume of General Ironclad for the episode, offered, attempting to do the same with the exact same result as his co-star. “What did you use to hold this in place? Cement!?”

“It should have only been stuck in with force!” A stage hand yelled as Xiaotian and Heshang joined in, both failing to pull the sword out from the false wall and Heshang nearly toppling over backwards with his additional costume pieces.

“Whoever stuck that in there needs to be moved to making sure the safety equipment stays connected!” Xiaotian offered, watching as even more people tried to remove the sword. “That is not coming out.”

~3…2…1~

Heshang held Mo in his arms, waltzing around the set as he waited for places to be called for with the shockingly content feline in his arms.

~3…2…1~

“You are selling beautiful vegetables today?” Pigsy said, leaning over the the display to give an awkward smile to the disguised Spider Queen.

Tang looked over the produce from where he knelt, looking back up at his companion with a concerned and confused look. “Are you… a-are-PFT-FUCK.”

Everyone on set burst into laughter as Tang did, both of his fellow actors holding back from laughing themselves.

“Why is it this line!?” Tang yelled in frustration as he continued laughing. “It’s not a hard line! I wrote this line! Why do I keep laughing at the last word!?”

“Maybe if Ganglie wasn’t making goo-goo eyes at me you’d keep straight face,” Zhi-Zhu Jing managed to get out through her laughter.

“That’d be the only thing straight about me.”

~3…2…1~

Dicky Cheung, or the actual Sun Wukong disguised as a human actor in full costume of himself, took a running leap and jumped onto the counter of Pigsy’s noodles, sliding to a perfect stop with a wink toward the camera.

~3…2…1~

“MK, there’s something I wanted to tell you…” Mei said, looking at MK with sparkles in her eyes before snickering. “Stop looking at me like that, it’s hard enough to keep a straight face during this scene!”

“Sorry!” Xiaotian yelled to the camera. “I can’t help it! How are Jin and Yin this wrong about these two in the show?”

“Himbos!” was the shouted answer from Tang at the other end of the set.

~3…2…1~

“One of the rare talents that no one knew the great Sun Wukong possessed…” Xiaojiao said ominously, camera panning over to Mr. Cheung in full costume. “Surprisingly good peach juggling!”

“Gotta keep myself occupied somehow!” The actor laughed out, catching two peaches in either hand while the last one was caught perfectly in his mouth to the applause of everyone watching.

~3…2…1~

“Thanks for the Key los-AH!”

Red flung his arms wildly, key flying into the air as Tie Shan rushed forward and caught him just before he face planted into the ground.

“Mine!” Mr. Cheung yelled as he caught the key mid air and rushed through the frame.

“YOU’RE NOT EVEN IN THIS EPISODE!”

~3…2…1~

“Thank you… for giving me all o-ooh, whoa!” Lui Er Mihou, or unbeknownst to nearly all Six-Eared Macaque in disguise much the same way as Sun Wukong was, yelped as the cable that was supposed to gently raise him and make him look like he was floating yoinked him as good 4 feet off the ground way too fast. “That’s too much power!”

“SORRY!” The line operator shouted, fiddling with the controls. “Someone loaded the weight setting for Xiaotian into your line instead of yours.”

“I already feel bad enough treating him like garbage and beating him up in this role, this is just rubbing salt in the wound,” Liu Er muttered, leaning back and swinging limply much to the amusement of everyone who couldn’t hear him before raising his voice. “When will my beloved friend Sun Wukong come to rescue me?”

“SPEAK MY NAME AND I SHALL APPEAR!”

Liu Er yelped in surprise as Mr. Cheung rushed in and grabbed him from beneath to hold him bridal style with a shit eating grin. He couldn't help the flush on his cheeks in response.

“HOW DO YOU KEEP SHOWING UP IN SHOTS WHEN YOU AREN’T SUPPOSED TO BE THERE YET!?” The director yelled with more than a little amusement in his voice despite the disruption.

~3…2…1~

“You!” DBK said, rounding on Red Son. “You have brought me nothing but failure! Time and time again! I keep telling you I… shit, I can’t remember the next line when you look that sad, I am so sorry.”

“Nothing but disappointment?” Red offered helpfully, immediately breaking out of his downcast somber gaze to the floor with a wide smile.

“It is scary how fast you get in and out of character sometimes, kid,” Niu Mowang laughed out, clearly resisting the urge to ruffle the younger actor’s hair lest he ruin the styling job that took far too long every time they got dressed.

~3…2…1~

The White Bone Spirit stood at the entrance to the Silken Web Cave, looking at the camera before far too much time passed from when she was supposed to say he line. She moon walked backwards out of the frame without changing her expression one bit as the other actors devolved into cackles.

~3…2…1~

“The Year of the Spider starts tonight!” Spider Queen proclaimed from her high vantage point before she muttered something under her breathe, narrowing her gaze and then looking off to the side. “Or next year ‘cause I don’t remember my line.”

~3…2…1~

Huntsman slowly lowered into frame, upside down and gripping the rigging holding him up like Spiderman.

~3…2…1~

“Oh yeah?” Sun Wukong said, appearing in frame as he walked down the wall MK was embedded in. He grabbed his staff, yanking it out of the wall and jumped down and smacked the wall with it.

… only for it to go through the wall once again and crack it. Or, rather, the false wall that was on a tilted angle to make it look like he was talking down it, rather than a heavily slanted floor.

“I’m sorry!” Mr. Cheung yelled, looking at the damage he caused. “I must have hit at weak spot!”

He hoped no one noticed that when MK offered to get the prop staff for this shot and put it into the wall… he grabbed the real one by accident.

~3…2…1~

Nui Mowang held the little bird that was Wukong’s transformation stand in for one of the final scenes, gently petting the little head with a big goofy smile on his face.

~END~

The entire cast sat around on various travel tables right outside the small Lunar New Year Festival set they had set up, various extras that had answered the open invitation for the shoot going about and getting the free food that was available at the functional stalls provided by the catering they had hired.

It was an odd sight to see Red Son and Spider Queen and Sun Wukong and everyone else sitting around together, but Liu Er Mihou being there outside of his Macaque costume broke the illusion a little bit.

It was the final day of shooting for the season 2 opening special to Monkie Kid, Revenge of the Spider Queen, and everyone was there. Even people who didn’t have to come in wanted to give a temporary farewell to Tie Shan, Nui Mowang, and Red before season 2 proper began shooting. There was still a chance they could bebcalled in for bit roles, the scripts weren’t entirely finished yet, but as far as anyone knew the Demon Bull Family wasn’t going to be returning properly any time soon.

Maybe in season 3, Tang had teased, holding the begun scripts for that in his little tablet away from prying eyes. And they were always welcome to help out in bit roles, background characters or voice over or to use their other talents to work other jobs that were needed around the set.

But even before then it would be a while.

And so that’s how Red found himself sandwiched between Long Xiaojiao and Qi Xiaotian, with the newly added member of their quartet in her full White Bone Spirit costume hanging over his shoulder to watch the compilation that Xiaojiao had expertly edited on her phone for them all.

“The director gave me permission to use whatever I wanted and I though that… maybe we could all have it for ourselves,” Xiaojiao offered, pulling up the wireless transfer option on her phone. “To watch when we miss each other being on set together. I know we’re going to probably be back together with Red Son eventually! But…”

“I’ll miss shooting with you too,” Red said smiling softly as he pulled out his own phone to accept the file. “Hopefully Mr. Tang isn’t just teasing us about season 3.”

#monkie kid #lego monkie kid #fanfic #gen fic #actor au #ensemble cast #shadowpeach #(hinted) #scheduled

[vkelleyart]

Thoughts on fandom: inclusion and engagement.

(Art credit to the kindhearted @penpanoply​!)

There’s been some stuff floating around on Tumblr about strife in the CO/WS fandom, and though I haven’t been explicitly named-dropped on anything public, my DMs have been... active. lol Rather than rehash what’s been said already, I just want to impart a little wisdom and perspective in the hopes it may soothe frayed feelings and offer a way ahead for cultivating a respectful community. As someone who has been an active participant in online fandoms since the mid-’90s, which was the advent of online fandom content creation (shout out to my fellow X-Philes!), and who has also spent a chunk of her professional life managing social media for the federal government and for activist groups, I can promise you it’s all gonna be okay.

Here’s some context for why strife happens and what we can do to create a more inclusive and communicative fandom environment. 

1) It sounds cliché, but fandoms go through growing pains. 

In the case of the Simon Snow fandom, what was once a small and cozy space untouched by cataclysmic events (such as the release of *gasp* a sequel) has grown exponentially in a relatively short amount of time following the release of Wayward Son. Newcomers are eager to find a home in this space at the same time as folks who’ve been here a while may be consciously or unconsciously wary about widening their circle, and It’s important to remember that this is not necessarily an expression of bad behavior on either side but just human psychology doing its thing. 

The byproduct, however, is that tension and stress builds over time from the lack of meaningful communication across the divide, which subsequently fuels misunderstandings. Ironically, the interfaces we use to communicate don’t help with this because any existing communication about the tension happens in tiny vacuums until a trigger goes off and bad feelings go public. 

Way Ahead: These moments of destabilization are opportunities to see where we can be more self aware about how we engage with fandom and the kind of community we want to be. Can you promote, support, or befriend someone trying to gain a foothold? If yes, please do! Each person must reach their own decision about what they can do within the confines of their available energy, health, and time, but a little self awareness goes a long way as long as you’re honest with yourself and others if applicable about what you can contribute. Anyone who judges you for it isn’t worth the strife.

2) In a fandom comprised of vulnerable/marginalized people, it’s more accurate to say that cliques are “bubbles of trust.”

This one's important. Just by nature of the source material, the CO/WS fandom includes fans with a wide array of backgrounds and experiences, especially when it comes to those who identify with the characters’ queerness, mental illness, and/or trauma. I really believe––based on individual conversations/group chats––that the difficult lived experiences that so many of our fandom peers have endured has produced one of the most open, aware, and accepting fandoms I’ve had the pleasure of participating in. Our vulnerability is, in a real way, our strength.

That said, a community of survivors also has the side effect of cultivating small circles of engagement that I call “bubbles of trust.” When you’re a survivor of abuse, marginalization, mental illness, fill-in-the-blank, it’s often quite hard to risk casting a wide net and expanding your circle to include new faces––which can subsequently be internalized by equally sensitive and vulnerable newcomers as rejection, judgement, or inadequacy.

Way Ahead: First of all, there may indeed be gatekeeping and exclusion going on. But before internalizing someone’s cagey behavior as gatekeeping or purposely exclusionary, ask yourself if you have all the information. Many people are private (I include myself in this assessment) because life has regrettably taught them to be this way, and so they may insulate themselves to a small group of people who have earned their trust. Some people might also triggered by certain content (case in point: smut triggers my anxiety) so they don’t engage with it. Others might have something in their pasts that define how they handle certain subjects (for example, a person of color should not be tone policed for getting angry when confronted with a racialized microagression, however accidental it was). You just don’t know what you don’t know. 

The solution here is to regularly check your privilege and ask questions in a private space if you sense you’re being treated unfairly by someone. If you go public with your grievances in hopes of mobilizing the mob, you may accidentally find yourself stepping into the role of the aggressor instead of the victim.

3) Social Media is not built to help you get engagement. It’s built to help itself make money off of you.

Repeat after me: Hits/likes are not a measurable indicator of talent or worth. There are ridiculously talented folks on Tumblr and elsewhere who, for whatever reason, haven’t had their viral moment, and it’s not their fault. Loads of factors come into play where things like likes, reblogs, and comments are concerned, among them being posting frequency, subject matter, the time of day, the day of the week, the week of the month, the month of the year, the current administration, the stock exchange, the concentration of middle class users, who just won the Superbowl, a madman trying to steal an election and undermine the democratic process, a PANDEMIC, do you get where I’m going with this?? lol

At the end of the day, my humble successes have been helped along by good luck, good timing, high profile signal boosters, and an absurd amount of work. (This is why I try to signal boost new work whenever I get a chance over at @vkelleyshares.) 

So while you cannot control Tumblr’s interface, trends at large, or your fellow users, here’s what you can do to ensure you give your work the best possible chance of exposure.

Have an image ready to go with your post. Tumblr is a visual platform (no matter what it says about being good for text). Not good with images? Set up a Canva.com account and get access to free graphic software with a gazillion templates to create whatever attractive image you want to attach to your post.

Keep the outward facing text brief and easy on the eyes. Too long and eyes will glaze over. Put excess text behind a “read more.”

You may think you’re being cute when you do this, but don’t put yourself down in your posts. (Don’t put yourself down in general, of course.) Doing so acts as engagement repellant. If you don’t believe in your work, no one else will.

Related: Be your best cheerleader. Confidence is a magnet, and if you don’t have it, go ahead and fake it until you start to convince yourself you are worth the buzz. So promote yourself! You have gifts that only you can impart. Use that knowledge to fuel everything you do from your art/fiction writing to your outreach with other content creators, and by golly, if someone’s done it already, acknowledge that contribution and then tell the world that this is YOUR unique take on it.

Treat your fellow fandom creators as human beings, not art/fiction/content boosting machines. I cannot count how many times I’ve had folks slide into my DMs with offers of friendship only to disappear once they realize I’m not available to draw a picture for their fic. It hurts because it’s manipulative and it makes me want to hole up and not signal boost anyone. Creators who truly support each other will not give off a transactional vibe. I want to help you reach more people, but not if that’s all I’m good for in your eyes. 

The long and short of it: Lead with compassion, do your best with the opportunities at  your disposal, and remember that fandom belongs to everyone in it. ❤️

What saves a fandom made of sensitive and vulnerable souls from imploding when it goes through growing pains is radical compassion from those who can offer it. Begin with the assumption that your fellow fandomers are not trying to harm you, and wade into the water knowing that your insight into the lives of your peers is limited by default and you may need to temper your words or actions accordingly. If you’re a content creator, save compassion for yourself as well, as there are indeed challenges to gaining an audience, and lack of engagement does not mean you lack talent or skill. Be your best advocate, and if you have the bandwidth to lift up a fellow creator and make a new friend, please, go ahead do it! 

And finally, fandom belongs to everyone, and no one has a monopoly on characters, tropes, or themes. Create and consume what you love (with respect for your more vulnerable peers), and bask in the variety, my friends!

That’s all I’ve got in my head at the moment, although I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting. Thanks so much to @penpanoply for letting me use her art for this and to everyone else, hang in there and try not to judge each other too harshly. These are unprecedented times, and most of us are doing our best in circumstances that are pushing us to our limits. 

As always, if you have questions or want to sound off on anything, shoot me a message or an ask, or ping me on Discord. It might take me a second to respond (thanks, Covid) but I’ll get to it! Love, love, and more love to all.

#fandom stuff

[popcorn-kitten]

new hiveswap info and development timelines just dropped on the Kickstarter ✌️

Over the years, a lot of misinformation, as well as deliberate disinformation, has spread around about the history of Hiveswap. The purpose of this post is to clarify these matters for backers who've been wondering what the truth is.

The Kickstarter was planned by the What Pumpkin business development team in mid-2012. One member of the team was a crowdfunding specialist who led the planning process and managed the contracts with the developer. Prior to the Kickstarter opening for pledges, What Pumpkin worked out a plan for a flexible game concept that could be refined according to how much the campaign ultimately brought in. As Hussie was still working on Homestuck full time at this point, the plan was to hand over his game concept and story outline to a development company that could deliver the project.

The crowdfunding campaign finished out at a gross total of $2,485,506, as well as a gross total of $207,930 from PayPal pledges. But because of platform fees, as well as the costs of producing and shipping merchandise to backers of the campaign, the effective budget was significantly lower than the gross pledged total:

The above deductions from the gross total do not include taxes.

After determining the final budget for the game, What Pumpkin signed an agreement with the contracted game company (hereafter “GC”) to develop Hussie’s game concept. WP and GC entered into a development contract on November 30, 2012, shortly after the conclusion of the Homestuck Kickstarter. WP paid $788,000 to GC in late 2012 for development.

Because there was an understanding that delivering the complete game development documents would take some time, during which it would be difficult for GC to make meaningful progress on the Hiveswap game build, GC inquired about getting involved with other Homestuck-adjacent projects to do immediate work. WP let GC know about the Act 7 animation plans. With an assurance that this work could be done in parallel with a flexible timeline and would not impact the development cycle of Hiveswap itself, Hussie and What Pumpkin saw this as a good opportunity to establish a working relationship with this organization prior to the start of development and agreed to contract GC to do animation work for the Act 7 project. WP and GC agreed that this project would have a separate budget from the Hiveswap Kickstarter money, paid for from WP’s regular operating funds. As the existence of this animation itself would not be revealed until its release in 2016, this was not publicly announced at the time. GC and the lead animator on the project specifically requested not to be credited upon release of the animation.

Hussie initiated the “Megapause” on April 14, 2013 in order to devote his full attention to finalizing the Hiveswap development documents. What Pumpkin soon provided its story documents so that GC could formally begin core systems development. In July of 2013 WP and GC mutually agreed to push back GC’s deliverable dates without penalty. Hussie would share an update in 2013 detailing the state of predevelopment:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/708686

In 2013 following receipt of WP’s deliverables, GC enthusiastically assured WP that it was positioned to begin development. GC would deliver its first prototype in early 2014.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qSXwWKD5Km1yL-3Cj_W5IevW-IA978zJ/view?usp=sharing

This prototype, linked above, was sent to WP on 2/18/14. At this point, it was becoming a significant concern among backers that WP had yet to show proof that the game was being made, so WP was looking for any sort of tangible progress update from GC that was suitable to share with the public. But Hussie and WP found the quality of the prototype somewhat alarming, and decided that sharing any shots from the game would only cause embarrassment for GC. Nevertheless, WP was still willing to assume that this was a very early draft of something that would develop into a more promising product soon, and gave GC some more time to improve on it.

But the improvements didn’t come. No other advancements on the prototype were ever made. After waiting weeks with no update other than assurances that progress was carrying on smoothly, Hussie initiated the “Gigapause” both to take care of personal matters and later to get directly involved in the development of the game himself. He decided to move to southern California from the east coast in hopes that working directly with the GC could help them overcome whatever obstacles they were facing with Hiveswap’s development. GC responded positively to the prospect of Hussie’s involvement, but when he made the move and tried to coordinate a time to visit the GC offices and meet, GC insisted it was a bad time due to office renovations and a busy schedule. Here is a timeline with quotes from emails exchanged between Hussie and GC:

May 12, 2014 - from Hussie to GC

“Just letting you know I actually moved to the west coast recently. I'm only an hour or so away from LA now.

I could drive down and check out the office, see how things are going with the game and animation in person some time soon. Is there a time that would work for you guys? In a week or two maybe?”

May 15, 2014 - from GC to Hussie

“That's awesome about being on the west coast. It'd be great to have you come to the studio.

Dev has slowed a bit on our end, as we wanted to take a step back and really evaluate what was needed and the best way to achieve the features that have been coming online in the docs. We're continuing to break that all down so we can build and plan most effectively moving forward. We also wanted to find some simple formats for input from your writing team for dialogue content and are getting that squared away.

The best time to come by would actually be right after E3. Things are a bit nuts until then.”

May 18, 2014 - from Hussie to GC

“[Name redacted], sounds good. I'll set aside some time after E3 to make the drive down. As we approach the date, just let me know what works for you.”

E3 was June 10-12, 2014. GC did not invite Hussie to visit at this time.

Hussie and WP representatives were in LA over July 4th weekend, 2014. When they inquired about visiting the offices again they were still not welcome. A GC representative insisted that they meet at a restaurant instead. Yet GC continued to telegraph that they were receptive to the idea of inviting Hussie to the office well into the summer:

Aug 18, 2014 - from GC to Hussie

“We'd love to set up a new time for Andrew to come to the studio as well as a skype chat to meet the other team members.”

Despite apparent enthusiasm about meeting with Andrew in their email correspondence, GC continued the pattern of refusing to meet at the office or supply any signs of progress on the prototype.

Over that summer, GC delivered several pieces of concept art that WP had been requesting since January. Hussie did his best to present this publicly as a positive development as WP felt it would be counterproductive to the project and harmful to GC to publicly detail the development troubles at the time.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/883860

There was no indication from GC that the Act 7 animation project was in any way in conflict with Hiveswap development. GC was enthusiastic about taking on this project, and bidded against other animators for the contract. They saw it as a useful tie-in to concept art work on Hiveswap, as GC leadership conveyed in an email to WP in early 2013:

WP also does not have any reason to believe that the Act 7 project in practice created a conflict that was not disclosed by GC to WP. Act 7 was a 2D animation project, and Hiveswap at the time was a 3D game, so it did not pull GC’s programmers or 3D artists away from work on Hiveswap. GC never mentioned the development needs of a separate project at all to WP, or cited any such reason as distracting from work on Hiveswap; GC instead repeatedly provided WP with various assurances that everything was still fine with Hiveswap.

Had GC communicated that they had scheduling conflicts or some other impediment preventing them from developing Hiveswap, WP would have terminated the contract even sooner.

WP moved to terminate the agreement with GC late summer of 2014, and Hussie pivoted towards establishing a new independent game studio while consulting with a designer who had stepped up into a leadership position during the GC development period. That individual lived in NYC, which is why that location was chosen to establish the new studio rapidly. They helped build the studio through a local network of professional contacts. While this “What Pumpkin NYC” studio shared a name with What Pumpkin, it’s important to note that all of WP NYC’s studio staff save for the aforementioned individual were hired without any prior affiliation with WP and thus had no association with the GC contract. WP documented this development on Kickstarter on October 30th, 2014. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/1035099

At this point, negotiations were very amicable; both parties agreed the project simply wasn’t turning out to be a good fit for GC, and were both ready to move on. There were no signs given at all that WP was about to have trouble recovering the remaining funds.

WP is legally permitted to discuss details of the resolution of the dispute only under very specific circumstances. WP may make additional disclosures outside of this post to individual backers in accordance with legal obligations.

Following resolution of the GC contract, in Spring 2015 the WP NYC studio was running at full capacity on Hiveswap. The main problem was the fact that WP management was blindsided by the revelation that much less money would be coming back than expected. The WP NYC project manager had designed the schedule based on the good faith presumption that most of the development funds would be recouped. When it was finally revealed the return was far short of what was expected, and the repayment plan could in no way keep up with the schedule as currently drafted, it threw the project into a period of chaos as plans were quickly redrawn. The length of Act 1 was slashed, and other modifications were made to try to fit the rest of Act 1 into the newly shortened runway. But in the end, the revisions still weren't enough to save the game as it existed, and the studio needed to be closed in order to reserve what funds remained to finish the project in some form.

This may have come across as a sudden or spontaneous decision. Part of this is because the WP NYC senior staff and WP ownership were doing everything in their power to save the project, including injecting WP regular operating funds into the project, until it was determined that going any further would be disastrous for the future of Hiveswap. Another is that WP was legally unable to give any detailed disclosures about the financial troubles, even to many of the WP NYC staff.

It should also be noted that originally the NYC studio was not going to be permanently closed, but only frozen for a reassessment of the project. But during this freeze period, there were some dramatic events. One staff member behaved in a destructive and threatening manner. For the protection of those involved, details shouldn't be disclosed. But these events made navigating the post-freeze issues impossible. Communication between ownership, management and staff broke down because of these events, and the freeze turned into full closure. This version of the project was then abandoned for many reasons, including these events.

Some misinformation claims that at the time the WP NYC studio was shuttered, its iterations of Act 1 and 2 were complete. This is wrong. Act 1 was very far from a shippable state and absolutely no work on Act 2 had been completed besides some concept and 3D art. Here you can see a video documenting one of many major bugs with critical path progression in the final build produced by WP NYC, where it becomes impossible to re-focus on the Simon Says toy if Joey fails and then exits out of the puzzle:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M2mmkMx8Wkwp1VU_5IpMKDvngmUFS0IG/view?usp=sharing

At the point the WP NYC studio was frozen it was still difficult to finish a full run of the critical path without the debug tool, and the UI was far from complete. With that build, Act 1 ended the moment Joey passed through the portal on Earth. The current version of Act 1, where Joey makes it to Alternia and meets Xefros, is more indicative of the original length of the NYC version of Act 1. Not only did it need to be slashed from what the original script proposed, the NYC version of Act 1 still wasn't that close to resembling a shippable product after those changes were made.

Because of the amount of time and resources already devoted to this project, WP was initially very reluctant to lay anyone off or scrap the work being done. It was for this reason that the studio stayed open for months after the contract with GC was resolved; WP made every effort to deliver a game with that team, but at the time WP NYC was shuttered, the funds just weren't there to keep the studio running at its current burn rate and schedule slips. The game was never going to reach delivery with the funds available. The studio urgently needed to be frozen for a full reassessment, and then it was closed after the freeze due to the reasons stated above. This was the only course of action that could have saved the project.

To WP's knowledge every artist whose work was used in the final release of Act 1 was included in the credits. The final version of Act 1 was in large part built off concept art and storyboards drawn during the WP NYC era, and many of the artists who made them continued to work on the team that produced the final version of Act 1; the roadmap for the completion of Act 1 was specifically planned because WP had determined that the existing 2D concepts could easily be refined into a final product that would both be visually appealing and more economic to produce. Unfortunately due to the transition to 2D WP no longer had a place for the 3D artists or the original 3D engine, and all of those assets were dropped. They were not used as a basis for the finished assets in Act 1, and visual similarities to WP NYC 3D assets are due to the fact that final Act 1 assets are in large part refinements of the original concept art. Any artist whose work was used incidentally was included in Additional Contributions.

Both the GC and NYC phases of Hiveswap were setbacks to the overall fulfillment of the project, but not insurmountable. WP reorganized the budget to establish a new version of the studio, and Act 1 was released two years after the closure of NYC.

As an addendum, WP has identified the primary source of a disclosure to a well-circulated document of the Hiveswap development process. WP has been aware of a pattern of false claims this former employee has made since the end of their employment at the beginning of 2014. As this individual was not present during the end of the development contract with GC, nor the WP NYC development period, all of the information they have shared is based on speculation and conjecture.

At this time, WP does not wish to invite more controversy into the lives of anyone previously involved with this project, and considers these matters to have been resolved long ago. The goal for years has been to turn the page on flawed attempts by earlier studios, and simply move forward and bring Hiveswap to completion without sparking the chaos, disruption, and threats to personal safety that would have resulted from disclosing many of the details stated above. Doing so would only make it more difficult for the staff to rebuild the project during these periods immediately following the termination of the GC agreement and closure of the NYC studio. Since preservation of the project was the primary responsibility to the backers, making destructive disclosures that put the project at risk along the way would have been at odds with that responsibility. This policy also served to protect individuals from personal or professional harm, including those who were responsible for serious setbacks with the project. Please respect the privacy of any persons affiliated with GC and WP NYC.

#homestuck #hiveswap #kickstarter info #nothing was edited or changed from the original

[eggtoasties]

Chapter 2: II. Adagio

Read Chapter 1: I. Allegro

Pairing: Kuroo Tetsuro x Reader

Word Count: 3.7k

Summary: Kuroo used to think the best sound in the world was a volleyball hitting the court on the other side of the net. Now, he has other things on his repertoire.

They were both called to the music room during study hall. As Kuroo walked towards Jouda-sensei, he watched as their teacher tried to cajole her into something, unable to catch their words at a distance. Arms crossed, she sent Kuroo an unimpressed stare making him respond with a nervous grin as he came to a stop.

“I was hoping to set you two up for lessons during study hall,” Jouda-sensei said, nodding between the two of them.

“No offense,” she said, quickly glancing at Kuroo, “but I’m paid to do this outside of school. Also, I don’t really have time to meet every single day—shouldn’t Daisuke be doing this? I’m sure he,” she jutted her chin towards Kuroo, “and I will both get called to other teachers and clubs during study hall so I don’t know if this’ll work out,” she huffed.

Eyebrows raised high, Kuroo said, “Wow, didn’t realize I was dead meat to you already, first chair,” resulting in a pout from Jouda-sensei and a glare from her which made him nervously snicker. He put his hands in his pockets, subtly wiping away at the clamminess of his palms.

“Aw, come on now, you know Daisuke-kun isn’t…” Jouda-sensei trailed off, trying to find the words, “the best at teaching. But,” she said brightly, “you’re the leader for a reason! And it doesn’t have to be every day—just coordinate with each other and other people to set up a rotation. I just want Kuroo-kun to be set up with good habits from the start.”

Sighing wearily and nodding, she faced Kuroo as Jouda-sensei left them.

Slouching in what he hoped was a nonchalant pose, he flashed a grin.

“So, are you gonna charge me by the minute?” Kuroo arched his brow. “Because I don’t really have the funds for that. Plus, I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to sell anything on school grounds.” Readjusting his backpack straps and slightly loosening his tie, his eyes met hers quickly before finding a place over her shoulder. “But, if you don’t have time or whatever that’s--” he stumbled over his words, “I’m sure I can figure something out.”

Rolling her eyes, she loosened her school tie. “Yeah, I’m going to charge a thousand yen a minute and if you don’t pay up, I’ll have my goons knock your kneecaps in.”

“Didn’t realize being captain,” she shot him an amused grin and he bookmarked it for later, “of the orchestra came with your own henchmen. Maybe I should’ve started way earlier,” he drawled.

“Yup,” she said cheerily, popping the ‘p.’ “They do all my coursework and bully people out of their lunch money so I can add it to my secret treasury in the cave underneath the school,” she said conspiratorially. “Also,” she began, facing fully towards him. “It’s nice to meet you—I really don’t mind helping you out, it’s just that with my last year of high school things are hectic with exams and applications and I really can’t commit to everyday,” she explained.

His shoulders relaxed with a breath he didn’t know he was holding, previous tension dissipating with her explanation. Kuroo nodded and held out his hand. As she grasped it, he raised a brow at the strength of her small grip and brightly painted nails.

“I get it.” Kuroo finally said. “I’m a third year too and it’s hard enough as it is without having to teach a newbie every day,” he said, semi-fondly thinking of Lev, “—all good.”

“Alright, well,” she said, swaying on the balls of her feet, “let’s get started.”

She had him play open strings so she could assess his posture and Kuroo was not accustomed to being the center of such intense concentration. Sure, he’s served a million times in games where he knew every eye was on him, but she seemed to scrutinize every aspect of his body. The distribution of his weight on his legs, the angle of his shoulders, the slope of his wrists, finger placement, and even his face—there was something to adjust. To be fair, she did say his face looked like he was constipated, but he figured it was because one should always look serene during such a cultured activity.

A gentle tap to the shoulder, a tap to his left inner wrist, her hands guided his body as he became accustomed to the instrument. She stood slightly behind him to his side at one point and gently held his right arm and set another hand on his shoulder to show him how the bow should move. He’s used to his body—Kuroo would say he has a better understanding of what his body is capable of than most people but, gentle movements to work with a foreign object was completely new territory. She’s not teaching him how to read a volleyball midair and figure out what the best millisecond worth of contact is. She’s not grabbing his lanky arms to show him how to position for a block—this is completely different.

He figured it’s one thing to adjust to new innovative plays mid-game and another to feel so entirely helpless and clunky. Although she’s only been patient and gentle, he can’t help but feel unsure and awkward in his body as he tried to follow her instruction. Maybe, Kuroo thought to himself, I should cut Lev some slack.

“Can you feel how your arm hinges at the elbow, but the elbow itself stays still?” she asked, lightly grasping his elbow and guiding his forearm. His skin tingled at the contact through his shirt and he repressed a shiver.

He’s used to physical contact—from his teammates. High fives, hugs, and fist bumps. But from a stranger…it’s different. He’s hyper aware of the calluses of her left hand when she taps the bare skin of his wrists and although each touch is light and fleeting, a part of him wished they’d linger for a little longer.

After a while, she grabbed her instrument and mirrored his movements, showing him the angles of her body in relation to the violin and bow. He stood in awe of the confidence of her actions, drawing a rich deep sound from the strings unlike the scratchy wobbly sounds he’d been producing.

She taught him two scales, explained basic music concepts he vaguely remembered from piano lessons and before he knew it, study hall was coming to a close. Head full with new information, shoulders a little tense, he absentmindedly fixed his tie while they packed up.

“Don’t feel discouraged during class,” she said. “Everyone around you has been playing for years longer. Just keep practicing and you’ll get there.” Adjusting the books in her hand she asked, “Why’d you decide to take orchestra?”

“I needed art credit. Can’t sing, can’t draw, didn’t want to do something on the computer and I didn’t know what band music was,” he shrugged. Immediately, he internally cringed at his explanation.

“Wait, actually--” Before he could try and amend his previous statement, he’s cut off by her laugh.

“You chose well,” she said. Then leaning towards him, she dropped to a faux whisper, “orchestra’s better than band.”

Kuroo felt heat creep up the back of his neck while she laughed so he tilted his head to the side and covered it with a smirk. “I don’t know about that,” he said cockily.

She snorted which did little to calm the confusing beating of his heart and he couldn’t help but feel disappointed that she didn’t take the bait. Oh well, he thought, better try harder.

“You’re the one who enrolled in or-ches-tra,” she said, over enunciating the syllables. “Unless,” she sing-songed, “you feed into the stereotype that athletes are,” she pouted and batted her lashes, “stupid.”

He guffawed at her boldness but revelled in the glint in her eyes and the smug way she held her head.

“It wounds me that you would insult my intelligence without even knowing me,” he sniffed and wiped away a fake tear while she stifled a giggle. “I cannot believe my music teacher—my classmate—my captain has a bias against athletes,” he frowned and tilted his head. Pausing for a beat in contemplation, he sighed and continued lazily, “You must have been one of those kids in elementary school who always got picked last in gym.” He shrugged before delivering the final blow, “So you had no choice but to turn to music.”

He kept his face neutral as he studied her reaction. Her eyes narrowed at him and he broke out into a grin.

“It’s okay to admit it, I promise I won’t ask you to do something impossible like catch a ball or something,” he said, waving a hand placatingly. He caught the corner of her lip twitching despite the deadpan stare she tried to maintain.

“Give me your number,” she said, pulling out her phone.

“Woah, woah,” he said, dodging her attempts to force her phone in his hands. “If this was all an elaborate ruse to ask me out,” he dodged a jab to his side, “you didn’t have to get Jouda-sensei in on it too, who would’ve thought our little prodigy had it bad for the volleyball captain?”

“First of all, study hall is ending, but it seems that you were too preoccupied with trying to flirt with me to notice,” she said as Kuroo crossed his arms indignantly. Was he trying to flirt, he wondered. “Also, you’re forgetting that you’re the one who needs violin teachers,” she explained impatiently, finally getting him to accept her phone.

“Plus, if anything this just shows that you’ve been planning to confess to me for the past three years, but you were too nervous so you used your arts credit as an excuse to talk to me when everyone knows there are easier ways to get the credit,” she rambled as he punched his number in. “Also, you have a stand partner and a section leader—both of whom are not me, so I bet you,” she pointed an accusatory finger, “roped Jouda-sensei into this cozy little arrangement,” she said triumphantly.

Kuroo stuttered. “Maybe you should be a writer—what is up with your imagination?” he asked disbelievingly.

“No, no,” she said breezily, waving a hand absentmindedly, “I just figured you out, no need to feel embarrassed.”

Shifting his weight to one foot and running a hand through his hair, Kuroo’s lip quirked. “Guess you caught me,” he shrugged nonchalantly, extending their jest, “I’ve been in it for the long con, but,” he dropped a little lower to her height. “I never lose.”

Kuroo wanted to stab himself. It’s one thing, he mentally berated, to say those lines in the shower. Another thing entirely to say them to a human being? So used to provoking people just before they really got annoyed, he figured he got too comfortable. While his friends were used to his sarcastic quips and little agitations, not many people threw it right back at him. Should I apologize? Am I going to fail orchestra? Yamamoto was right, I should’ve taken sculpture I should’ve—

He was broken from his internal panic when she gently pushed his shoulder. “Well, seeing that the volleyball team has never won nationals, that seems to be a lie.”

Completely forgetting his previous anxieties, his mouth gaped open. “W-we’re definitely making it to nationals and we’re definitely going to win this year!” he nearly yelled. “A-and since when do you keep up with the volleyball team! This is more evidence that you’ve been trying to get my number for the past decade!”

“Who said anything about the past ten years!” she screeched. Kuroo watched his phone in her hand with concern as she waved her arms in disbelief. “And Yaku’s in my homeroom, idiot. He talks about the team constantly,” finally shoving his phone back to him.

Sighing a little in relief he checked his messages. “If I’m so wrong about you lusting,” she rolled her eyes so hard all he saw was white, “after me for all these years, what’s this!” he exclaimed, presenting his phone screen to her face.

It was a message from her that read: “Tetsu-chan, I think you’re so, so, so, so, sO cute!!” with several brightly colored heart emojis trailing after the message.

She immediately lunged for his phone to which he responded by smugly holding it above her head, pouting a little when she wouldn’t try and jump for it.

“Y-you planned this!” she yelled, making a move to grab at his sleeve.

“Nope,” he said languidly, smoothly side stepping her advances. “You just think I’m so, so, so, so, cute!” he said brightly as he placed his phone in his back pocket.

“I’m going to break your kneecaps in your sleep,” she grumbled.

As the bell rang and study hall ended, he sent her a little wave as he walked to his next class.

“Looking forward to it!”

.

Nearing his next class, he felt a short buzz in his pocket. Pulling out his phone he grinned at the texts. Nothing like riling people up on a Tuesday morning to get his blood pumping.

After he had left her standing in the music room, cheeks tinged pink and arms crossed, she sent him several texts. Many of them listed the ways she was going to abuse his kneecaps—he wasn’t quite sure why she was so fixated on them—poking fun at athlete stereotypes, and how he’d better practice every day.

They spent the day sending each other sporadic insults without heat which eventually devolved into actual questions about each other.

How did you start playing the violin? When did you start volleyball? Do you play in orchestras outside of school? What’s your position? How should I practice? What are sports practices like? What class are you in? What’s your favorite food? What’s your favorite color? What do you mean you bought a chemistry set for fun?

Kuroo was in his history class when he realized he was barely paying attention to the lesson. Expecting his usual meticulous notes when he looked down at his notebook, he saw he had hardly filled half a page of information. Too preoccupied with the little thrill of excitement that came with each text, he couldn’t help but discreetly check his phone every few seconds. He tried paying closer attention to the lecture, but tapped his foot restlessly, itching to see how she responded.

.

The school day ended in a blur and he found himself in front of the club room door. Violin case in hand, he swung open the entrance and proudly stated, “I learned scales today.”

“Fukunaga and I took choir last year and learned scales too,” Yaku responded. “Stop looking so proud about it, it’s literally a basic,” he commented offhandedly as he put on his uniform.

Chest still puffed, Kuroo didn’t let it deter him. “I’m reading music!”

Kenma grimaced over his phone when Lev seemed impressed and Fukunaga tried to stifle his laughter behind his hand.

Pulling top from behind, Kuroo asked, “Yaku, do you know the concertmaster?”

“The, huh?”

“The first chair violinist. Our year, in class 3-B?” Kuroo clarified. “She’s about this tall,” indicating with his hand, “her favorite color’s blue and she really likes fruit tarts?”

Ignoring the questioning glances from his teammates, Kuroo waited expectedly. Yaku paused. Eyes widening in recognition he brightened.

“Yeah! She’s been in my homeroom for the past three years, she’s nice. Smart, big on music, does a bunch of music competition thingies!”

“Thingies?” Kuroo mocked. “How old are you?”

“Shut up you glorified bean pole! I don’t know what she does in her free time, why are you so interested all of a sudden?

“She’s my violin teacher! I just wanted to make sure she wasn’t a serial killer or something,” Kuroo mumbled, tying his shoes a little forcefully.

“Okay,” Yaku drawled out, not believing his teammate. “I know the theatre club always asks her to be in their pit orchestra, but man their funding really got cut over the years, I wonder how they’re going to build the set this year, I mean they’re really trying to out-do themselves and—”

He stopped when he noticed the rest of the team staring at him in varying states of confusion and disbelief.

Yaku sniffed. “I have other interests and friends outside of volleyball, thank you very much…” he said, turning his head.

“Wow,” Yamamoto said, slowly shaking his head from side to side. “Yaku-senpai doing Shakespeare or something, could you imagine?”

“Yaku-senpai would definitely play the jester or something,” Lev chimed in. “But he’s so small would the audience even be able to see him on stage?” He wondered out loud.

Facing away from his bickering teammates, Kuroo hid his flush in the collar of his warm up jacket and willed for the heat to subside. He thought about what Yaku said—not about him being secretly into theatre, which Kuroo would definitely use in the future—but about having other friends outside of volleyball.

He knew he wasn’t as shy as he used to be, thank god, but he realized he had always kept his inner circle small. Not entirely on purpose, but those he spent the most physical proximity to tended to also become close friends—thinking fondly of his parents forcing him to meet Kenma.

He remembered how he nearly threw a tantrum when his Tou-san told him they were visiting neighbors down the street and that they had a son his age that he could play with. The thought of leaving their home—which hardly felt like home at the time of their move—to meet some stranger had filled him with such trepidation he had promised he’d practice the piano harder if he could just stay home.

However, his Tou-san gently grasped him by the shoulder and made him carry the box of oranges to Kenma’s. Multiple hours of awkward stuttering and silent game playing finally bloomed into a tentative friendship with the introduction of a volleyball and Kuroo figured that now Kenma’s more of a brother than anything else.

Outside of his team and casual school acquaintances, Kuroo thinks of Bokuto. A pleasant surprise when they met at a Tokyo training camp. With Bokuto came Akaashi and with Kuroo came Kenma and Kuroo never felt the need to expand beyond his core group. But meeting her—is different.

Different in that she stumbled into his life outside the court and he’s not sure if his fingers had ever been this sweaty from texting all day. He wondered if she’s a sign that he should actively try and meet new people but he quickly discards that idea and chalks it up to serendipity.

“—hey cut it out!” Kai yelled at Yaku lunging for Lev who was holding a volleyball in one hand, “To be or not to be, will Yaku-senpai ever grow again?”

Snapped out of his musings, Kuroo raised two hands to the group, “Alright, alright,” he tried to placate while Kai held Yaku back and Yamamoto cried tears of laughter.

“Keep going, Lev!” Yamamoto egged on.

“Too sleep, perchance to dream,” Lev continued, “that Kuroo-san will finally fix that rooster’s head of his.”

Amidst the collective roar of laughter, Kuroo snatches the volleyball from Lev’s hand and throws it at him.

.

Head lolled back against the train window, grimacing at the pull of his worn muscles, Kuroo stretched in his seat. Next to him, Kenma absentmindedly scrolled on his phone, sporadically showing Kuroo funny tidbits to pass the time on their nightly commute back home.

“Kuroo,” Kenma said as quick fingers typed out a text, “why are you taking this orchestra credit so seriously?”

Pausing for a bit, not-so-subtly reading Kenma’s text, he responded.

“I had a lesson earlier today and it seems like,” he ran a hand through his hair, “I don’t know, a disservice,” his voice rose up as a question while his brows drew together, “if I don’t give it my best shot when everyone else is so much better.”

Kuroo shrugged at Kenma’s contemplative nod.

“Anyways,” Kuroo continued, “she said thirty minutes of daily practice for a beginner will go a long way and she said we’d only really focus on the stuff for the concert so hopefully I can manage by then.”

Pausing his scrolling, Kenma looked up at Kuroo and blinked at him.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Kuroo narrowed his eyes at Kenma, having a growing suspicion of where his friend’s thoughts were, but ignored it in favor of watching him scroll through his phone.

Other passengers shuffled around them, coming and going onto their train and Kuroo looked out the window, frowning slightly at the last remnants of sunset fading away to cool indigos.

“Y’know, Kenma, I don’t think I want to just do volleyball for the rest of my life,” Kuroo said softly, breaking the stillness between them.

“No shit,” Kenma responded instantly over the animated beeping of his game. “Your joints definitely can’t take it for the rest of your life.”

Scoffing, Kuroo rolled his eyes. “Please--I mean, I’m going to go to college and still play, but,” he shifted his gaze towards the ceiling of the train car, “I want to learn more things.”

“Yes,” Kenma said slowly, “that makes a lot of sense.”

“I like learning new things, I always want to know more and I don’t know,” he pulled at his shirt collar. “With violin--it feels like I haven’t sucked at something for a while.”

With that Kenma snorted, thinking of when Kuroo tries to play video games with him or that horrendous volleyball club promotional poster Kuroo made that yes, he did take a picture of before crumpling and throwing it in the trash.

Kenma’s game pinged as Kuroo hugged his violin case between his legs.

“Plus,” Kuroo continued, “she said music is kind of like math with the rules and the counting, and when it all comes together like pieces of a puzzle it makes your hair rise and I feel like that’s kinda like volleyball too.”

“You get goosebumps when you solve a math problem,” Kenma repeated slowly.

“Missing the point there, but yes.” Contemplating a bit he added, “More when I balance a chemical reaction, but yeah, why?”

Kenma paused his game and set it on his lap, lips twitching.

“You’re not allowed to judge me,” Kuroo complained.

“I am,” Kenma responded quickly.

“Well quit it.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

Kenma popped the knuckles of his fingers and unpaused his video game.

“No.”

They sat there for a beat, each thinking about the unknowns--the unknown power of this new boss guarding the princess in the tower and the unknown of the near future, where game plays are traded for textbooks and the hopeful future of featherlight, fleeting touches and sweet, sweet melodies.

#kuroo x reader #kuroo x you #kuroo tetsuro drabbles #kuroo tetsuro imagine #kuroo tetsuro #kuroo tetsuro fluff #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu imagines #kuroo imagine #kuroo fanfic #kuroo tetsuro fanfiction #kuroo tetsuro x you #kuroo tetsuro x reader

[princessmariaphiliper]

THE SLEEPOVER FIC | Part 6 The Sunshine

Summary: You and James have put yourselves into trouble, but you think maybe it’s hotter that way.

Notes: James Acaster, Original characters. Alcohol consumption, moderate language. Just a feel good time babs!

Pairing: James Acaster x Reader 

Genre: Fluff with eventual smut, Slow Burn fic

Words: 2,597

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 /  Part 9

James returned to his spot beside you, the sun shining down onto the metal table. Making it hot to the touch some time ago. He was sweating you noticed. Not in such a way that made it look as though he’d just finished a workout, but enough to add a light sheen to his face. You wondered if you looked much the same, having been sat in the same spot for hours. You could see that your uncovered arms had begun to burn, you imagined your nose had also as you felt a dull pain starting to form there.

The three of you sat in comfortable silence for a while taking blissful sips of your refreshing beverages. Occasionally you picked at your blueberry muffin, trying to think of something interesting to say.

“It’s a beautiful day isn’t it” Olivia asked no one in particular. She was right, the clouds had rolled away mid-morning. Leaving nothing but a clear sky for the sunshine to project through. You hummed in agreement.

“I’ve not seen Camden this busy in years.” James said, looking out at the collection of people lining the lock, you were somewhat grateful that you’d arrived early this morning. You might not have had a comfortable table otherwise.

“Is there a festival or something?”

“I don’t think so,”

“It’s just sunny and the British go mad for a beergarden.”

“True, true”

Another pause in conversation happened before James turned back around and faced you. As he twisted his body a waft of his cologne danced across your nostrils. He smelt of pear drops mixed with a light spice, pleasant but not overpowering by any means. Looking down at his hand you observed how his slender fingers engulfed his cup. You hadn’t noticed how large his hands were until now. Similarly as he’d always had them covered, only now could you see the veins of his arms. Peeping from under the skin. He was by no means muscular in the typical sense, but you could tell he wasn’t at all scrawny either. His arms too held a glaze of sweat across them. You took a sip, urgently needing a distraction from studying his body. You were hot enough as it was. As you pulled your drink away from your lips you looked over at Olivia. She was staring into your eyes in an intense sort of way. You furrowed your eyebrows at her, hoping to gain more of an insight upon her unreadable caricature. She turned towards James with a kind smile and began,

“Well James, it’s been lovely to meet you, but I best be heading home,” she pointed at the ring on her finger, “duty calls.” 

You shook your head in disbelief, Olivia was divorced. She had been (unofficially) for quite some time now. But kept the ring on her finger as a quick getaway on occasion with people she didn’t know too well. You clocked on to what she was doing now, leaving you alone with James to fulfill whatever insane dialogue she’d got into her head. You gave her a deadpan face as she drank up the last bit of her iced coffee. James flashed her a polite smile, holding his hand out to her once again to shake hers.

“Nice to meet you too, hope we’ll meet again sometime!”

“Yes, that would be lovely, I’m sure Y/n will have a dinner party soon. She always has one close to the end of summer, don’t you?” she stated, rising from her seat she gave you a wink and a wave goodbye.

“I do indeed.”

“Well, I expect to see James there Y/n. A bit of celebrity company is definitely what your missing!” You mentally rolled your eyes at her double entendre.

“I’d love to see you there.”

“Text me when you get home!” You called out as she dissolved with another wave into the crowd. You looked out for a moment before the realisation that you were now alone (fully alone) with James. No other people to perform for.

 “No goodbye kiss for Olive James?” You teased, relaxing into his solo company. He seemed a little startled by your question, turning to you with his lips parted.

“I-”

“I’m only kidding.”

“Well. If you must know, I don't go giving kisses out willy nilly.” His phrasing made you hold back a stupid grin; your sense of humour was embarrassingly immature. Noticing you try to hold back a laugh James quizzed you.

“What?”

“Kissing willy nilly,”

“You’re disgusting, childish,” James replied in a singsong, allowing your laugh to roll out of you now. He waited a moment, watching you with a smile, a chuckle causing his shoulders to bob up and down. His face fell comically flat, “I’m very disappointed in you.”

“I’m funny though,”

“If you say so Y/n” Lifting his hands defensively and tilting his head. You looked around the two of you, all the tables were full now and plenty of people waiting inside to order their beverages. You began to feel a little guilty for having been hoarding the table you were sat at. Noticing a couple on the hunt for a space to sit you turned to James again.

“Hey, do you want to have a walk around? Looks like it's getting busy and I’ve been here hours, legs need a stretch.” You rubbed at your thighs to exaggerate your meaning.

“Sure, where’d you like to go?”

“Not sure, where you headed earlier?”

“I was just walking really. Needed to get out of the flat.”

The two of you rose from the table, offering it gracefully to the couple who had now been standing awkwardly for quite some time. As the two of you headed toward the gate you heard the guy mumble to his partner a subtle ’Was that James Acaster?’

Watching James visibly cringe as he unclasped the handle with his vacant hand. You considered teasing but seeing the distaste across his face you decided it would be best not to. You expected it was an uncomfortable conversation to constantly fill.

“We could head into the market” you enthused, steering away from the conversation James had most definitely expected. He parted his lips, one side of his mouth curing into a grateful smile.

“Sure,”

 And so off you trotted into the cascade of hot bodies weaving through each other. Thankfully - as James was a lot taller than you, he had taken the liberty to lead the way. Parting through people and occasionally slowing behind those taking in the London scenery via their mobile phones. You crossed over the lock bridge. Turning your head right to look out onto the sights, James flocked his head back to check if you were making it through okay. You twisted back and caught him looking, giving you a warm feeling of care overcome you.

“You okay back there short-arse?”

“Yeah, keeping up long legs.”

You saw his chest and shoulders rise with a snort as a group of people either side of you begun to push past. Causing you to stumble forwards. Instinctively you grabbed onto what was in front of you for balance, not wanting to lose James in a bombardment of bodies.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m alright,”

James silently produced his hand behind his back for you to hold onto. You let go of his shirt and gently took his pinkie finger into your palm with hesitation. Your blood pumping a little faster. Sensing your wavering James curled the rest of his fingers around your hand, engulfing it with a little squeeze of reassurance. You took a step forward while you were stationary in an attempt to hide your PDA for anyone who might recognise him. You couldn’t be arsed with your face on some scandal website.

 “Do you want to eat?” James quizzed with a flash of eye contact as you made it towards the (thankfully not as crowded) food market.

“Yeah sure,” you agreed “What do you fancy?”

“Depends, are you feeling adventurous?” He led you round a few corners with visible excitement. Still holding firmly onto your hand. You decided however that you didn’t mind it all that much. It made you feel giddy in a way.

Casually he pulled the two of you round a final bend and stopped. Causing you to now be side by side with him. He let go of your hand, secretly making your heart sink into your shoes. Before regaining a hold of it. This time he invited you to interlock one another’s fingers, which you quickly accepted, his fingertips close to caressing you wrist.

“Why not?” You looked left, smiling up at him. His face lit up by the afternoon sun. The dusting of his auburn stubble upon his cheeks glinting in the light.

“Good. This place has the best South African food.”

“Sounds good to me,” You smiled back.

Excited by his own enthusiasm. You knew James was as much of a foodie as Ed, after all you’d chatted to them both the other night about their food podcast. James comically admitting that he didn’t think as many people would be still listening years after they had begun it. Trusting his insight, the two of you joined the queue for ‘Shaka Zulu’, allowing him to have this moment of pleasure as you had stolen him from a day to himself.

You looked around you, most of the people queuing being tourists or couples patiently waiting in the sunshine to be invited inside. A moment of panic washed over you as you started to wonder. To an outside eye could this be considered a date? Albeit an accidental scenario you and James were holding hands while waiting to go for a meal. Perhaps it could be translated as such.

Starting to feel nervous you decided you really needed a drink.

Pulling you out of your thoughts James ran his thumb idly over the back of your hand as you approached the front of the queue. Instantly making you feel calmer. He didn’t seem at all nervous. His posture tall and somewhat cocky. He used his free hand to pull on his collar, letting some air into his shirt, then running his fingers through the back of his hair.

“Have you been here before?”

“Never,” You admitted openly, “I don’t eat at restaurants often. Only for birthdays and so on, I don’t have the excuse really” You pondered the last time you’d gone for a proper meal out. Having been single there wasn’t a necessity to eat out as often. You wondered if maybe that was why this felt like such a date.

The waiter asked the two of you how many the table was for before guiding you towards one in the middle of the room. Inside of the restaurant was dimly lit in contrast to the outdoor sunshine, making your eyes go funny upon entry. As they began to adjust you noted the calved deep wood chairs and African themed setting, having you feeling slightly underdressed.

“Quite fancy for jeans and a t shirt,” You admitted to James as the waiter left you at your table to ponder the menu.

“How do you think my bare knees are feeling over here,”

“You suggested this place James,”

“Yeah well,” He sang stupidly, “Forgot who I was for a second Y/n.” Pausing shortly after blinking slowly and looking off to his left.

You were seated across from one another, both in extravagant looking chairs. James had his legs outstretched underneath the table; both his feet nestled beside your ankles. You noted his comfort around you, and his constant need to be close to you in any way possible. It was alluring to consider his touch may be purposeful. The two of you studied the menu for a while before you perked up another conversation.

 “Is it too early for a drink?” 

“It is the weekend,” He replied with his brows raised, lips pulled cheekily.

“Olive tells me off if I suggest anything before three.”

“And you pretend to be okay with that?” James stated playfully. You laughed at his comment, making his mouth curve into a proud smirk. Something stirring in your stomach subsequently.

“White wine is presumably more acceptable for day drinking,”

“I’d agree but why bother when you’re already committed.”

“Guess you’re right.”

“Obviously”

“I’ll get a mojito then.” Shaking your head at his cockiness for what felt like the hundredth time since you met him, he carried on.

“Good choice. I might join you. What do you want to eat?”

“What does the food connoisseur recommend?” You offered sarcastically, however genuinely curious for his input. You didn’t want to be brought to a place he’d bigged up and order a fucking salmon.

“Well, the Vegetable Potjie is great, I usually get the Beef Bobotie though.” You checked over his suggestion on the menu. Liking the sound of the vegetarian dish much more than the beef you decided to go with that.

“I’ll have the Potjie then!” You professed, closing the leather wallet with a gentle thud.

James leant back in his seat, resting his arms on each side of it. You couldn’t help but observe him now that there was nowhere else for your eyes to naturally fall. Accepting the circumstance, you drank him up. His posture comfortable, one of his arms falling in his lap away from your view. His hair curled upwards in a collection of flicks, some slightly stuck down from the heat outside. His jaw was well defined as he rested in an L shaped hand. Ring finger positioned just below his lips. You moved your eyes upwards only to meet his own, that had subsequently, also been studying you. You started to feel a little self-conscious and James looked at you with hunger in his eyes as the two of you held the contact.

You nibbled your lip nervously out of habit, unsure of what to say. Causing a knee jerk reaction from James, his foot turning to nudge your own. He swallowed awkwardly and cleared his throat, shifting in his seat, (thankfully) as the waiter returned for your orders.

“Hi what would the two of you like to eat this afternoon?”

James looked to you, silently quizzing if you would like to order first.

“You go,” You nodded “It's okay.”

“Erm, well could we get two mojitos please,”

“Sure, would you like plain, raspberry or kiwi?”

“I’ll have a raspberry please” You chipped in

“Just plain for me thanks”

“Yep, what else would you like?” She scribbled down some notes as James began speaking once more.

“Can I get the Beef Bobotie please,”

“Um hum,”

“And could I please have the Potjie” You asked politely, passing your menu over to James who was gathering his.

“Wonderful,” She scribbled again. “Is that everything?”

“That's it thanks.”

“Amazing, someone should be with you in a minute to bring your drinks over. If you have any questions just shout. Enjoy your meal guys!” She enthused, gathering your menus before starting to head off. Alas, before she had fully departed from your table James stated a genuine ‘Thanks! You too!’ His face twisting downwards in instant regret.

You forced yourself to hold back your laughter until the waiter had disappeared. James’s mouth wide open, blinking slowly in disgust at himself. You smiled at him, feeling both second-hand embarrassment and pure joy simultaneously. You raised your eyebrow inquisitively.

“You too?” You teased, James looked up shamefully, resting his chin in his palms.

“I wish I were dead.” He concluded. Twisting his face into a comical frown.

Hello all lovely people. I would just like to say I’m not fully in love this chapter, mostly because I know we’re getting into the nitty gritty but I wanna take things slow to build some more SexU0L teNsIOn~ I also think I’m trying too hard to be funny. But anyways, thank you for keeping up with the fic and all the support along with it. Love light and peace x 

- Princess Maria 

Taglist josies-polestar queensantiagoofthe99 rilannon laurabeech olithephangirl

If you want to be put on, or taken off my taglist, feel free to tell me!

#james acaster x reader #james acaster imagines #james acaster fanfic

[mystxmomo]

Red Commission Masterpost

Art Commission Prices 

25 USD for a bust

45 USD for a Mid-body 

65 USD for a Full Body. 

+10 USD for a Simple Background, +20 USD for a Complex Background. 

I charge +10 USD per extra character, however If it's for a pairing//characters I make content for anyway only a few extra character I generally will cut that cost. This clause is non-applicable to scenes of 4+ characters.

Nsfw pieces are +10 USD and there might be another +10 USD fee if the kink is one I generally do not produce for, or is particularly complex. You MUST be 18+ to buy NSFW. 

 For original characters you get a free bonus sketch sheet of what is essentially "me figuring out how to draw them" The sketches will range in quality and style, and are just bonus to what you’re commissioning.

Writing Commission Prices

Writing Commissions start at 1.50 USD Per Hundred Words (7.50 USD for 500 Words, 15 dollars for 1000 Words, Ect.) If I end up writing extra words, thats a treat and you won’t be charged for it.

I do not charge for multi-character fics, and I am willing to write for anything. However there might be a flat charge for complex kinks, or particularly taboo topics. However much this is depends on the kink in question. I specialize in relationship based writing, however am willing to write for any genre. 

I hold the right to deny any commission for whatever reason I so choose.

I specialize in fandom writing (I’m particularly good with the Danganronpa 2 Cast, however am willing to write for any media I have knowledge on). I am willing to write for OC’s and self inserts, however need enough details on their personality and character to work with. Examples work best, however a really well thought out description on their personality is more than enough. If not enough details are given, I will deny the commission.

Writing Commissions will take longer depending on the length and complexity of the fic in question.

Terms of Services

Payment

Commissions are to be half up front, half after the sketch phase and thumbnail have been decided. Thumbnailing won’t start unless the first part of payment is received. All commissions are to be paid through paypal unless stated otherwise. 

Progress

Thumbnails will be sent at the sketch stage, and multiple options will be given. After a thumbnail is picked, the second part of the payment shall be sent. All changes should be asked for at the thumbnail stage. If the piece is close to finished, only minor changes are allowed. If something is really bothering you, I might be willing to change it. However, major changes will cost an extra 5 dollars per change.

Copyright

I, the artist, hold every right to the produced drawing, not the commissioner. This means thats I hold the rights to 

Use the art to promote myself in any place or site

Display it and post it where I so choose.

If, for some reason, you would not like it posted you are welcome to request this. I will respect this. However, I still hold the right to do so should I need to.

The commissioner is allowed to use the art for personal use, claim their characters (But not the art) as their own. They may post the art to promote themselves and their characters, any they may use it in any noncommercial project you so choose.

You may not reproduce or reuse the art work commercially, or claim it’s creation. You may not remove credit from the piece, should there be any on there. 

Purchase of commercial rights will come with a fee. We will discuss this fee and terms if the topic comes up.

Cancelling and Refunding

I, the artist, hold the rights to cancel and refund your purchase at anytime, for any reason. The commissioner may not demand a refund after I have begun the coloring stage of the art piece.

If you file a charge back against me, the artist, your right to copyright will be retracted from whatever I have worked on for you. You will be forbidden from commissioning me again.

ESC.

All personal records sent in the process of the commission will be kept on record for legality, and as proof of purchase. Your information will never be given out to third parties, and you have a right to ask I terminate any personal information not required for legal records. 

For art, commissions might take up to three months, given the complexity and life circumstance. If anything pops up that may prevent me from working on it (Work, School, Health Concerns…) You will be notified as such.

#Art Commissions #Information #I'mma pin this on my blog #I'm 21 and need a license and car and thats my current goal rn #also yeah I do both writing and art com #I'll make a prettier page later with better examples #on the post #but I needed to get it out pensive #its been months