#how do you project images from the past from beyond?

[galvanizedfriend]

Jomo really did do the absolute Cringiest Most for a bedsheet zoom meeting. I cannot even fathom being this cringe istg. both in regards to the promo and saying yes to the project at all. also them literally playing gifs of TO on that oversized napkin. like bestie my tumblr mutuals do a better job at this than you.

I was not brave enought to watch the scene, only saw screenshots and it was more than I could take 🥲 I can't believe he legit spent two whole weeks hyping it up. I was gonna say I can't believe he said yes to that as well, but actually, I bet he probably wrote that monologue himself.🥲

Why did he look like a wax figure??

#yokan answers #certifiedceraunophile #legacies spoilers #how does someone record a message from beyond? #how do you project images from the past from beyond? #does hope remember she had a mother who raised her all by herself? #why is she always talking about her deadbeat dad? #nothing makes sense

[sweet-herbal-peach-tea]

TKATB Theories

Evidently spoilers ahead for chapters 1 and 2!!

This is my analysis and theories based on 3 character's we got intense lore drops for including Sol, Crowe, and Hyugo.

CW: mentions of drugs, and implied abuse,

SPOILERS UTC!

Credit for header goes to the wonderful @arklayraven

HYUGO

So, the recent lore drop for Hyugo was crazyyyy. The whole thing about him and Geo being brothers was implied especially with Geo's introduction on Fantasia's twt where he talks about disliking Hyugo. There definitely has to be a reason beyond sibling bickering to why Geo dislikes Hyugo. Whether it's Hyugo's vigilante tendencies or his connection with a potential crime syndicate.

One of my theories is that possibility Geo and Hyugo's father are a part of the syndicate or some kind of organizer. The reason Geo possibly despises Hyugo so much could be due to the fact he believes Hyugo is so heavily intertwined in the world of crime? I guess we'll find out in the next few chapters??

SPEAKING OF HYUGO'S CONNECTIONS TO CRIME?? THE SECRET ENDING??

Okay so idk if Hyugo is skipping town in both endings but I think regardless of what choices we've made he'll be skipping town bc of the events that took place in the theatre. Whether we were present or not. What I think hints towards this is the particular ending we get when we go to the arcade and when Hyugo asks us to "take care of Sol". Then he smiles and leaves. It may not be as obvious at face value, but I do think we won’t see him for a good while.

ALSO, the deal he made with Sol??

I think it has to do something with definitely gathering information on us, or it could be as someone else said supplying Sol with sleeping pills. However, I think it's implied that Sol does unfortunately missuses them, but they are intended for Sol to be able to get sleep.

More than likely I think the simpler version of their deal would consist of Hyugo keeping quiet of Sol's list of many many crimes, and Sol doing the same for him.

CROWE

I think will generally be the shortest, however I think my theories for him are more based on context clues and reading between the lines rather than baseless conjecture.

As we know literature and double meanings play an extremely important role in this visual novel. We see this in reference to Anabel Lee and the constant references between our past and the poem and how each verse links each chapter.

Where getting to in this is during Crowe's route when he asks for the MC's opinion on Marie Antionette. In the answers we give he seems to take them to heart, and when a negative opinion of her is brought up he seems to take them strangely to heart.

It is clearly evident is some way shape or form Crowe is somehow connected to the man that took our farm away. I think it is most likely that he is Crowe's father. Crowe evidently feels guilty about the place he takes and the role that he is forced into in regard to our debt. He more than likely can’t say anything either out of guilt or second party purposes. Regardless he is obviously trying his best to support the MC from the sidelines in any way he can.

I love Crowe… :( My sweetybear snookums pie…

SOL

ughhhh this man.

I love him but he's clearly insane. Okay let's talk about him bc I have so much to say.

My first theory unfortunately is my least favorite, and it is that potentially MC is not Sol's first soulmate, and he is projecting an image of someone else long gone onto us as the MC.

My reasoning behind this theory is because of his views of rebirth, death, and life. Specifically on two occasions that really made me think of this.

During the conversation you have with him in the library after making the decision to sit on his lap you ask him about his interpretation of the poem Annabel Lee, which the game takes heavy inspiration from. During this conversation Sol speaks of "being separated by death" and it's followed by Sol's responds in a fast dialogue something along the lines of "I won’t. it won’t happen again." Which leads me to believe we may potentially remind him of someone in his life that has passed.

There's also a second dialogue during day 02 which sparked this idea, in which based on the player's pronoun options Hyugo says something along the lines of "you remind me of her/him/them." It's unknown if Hyugo and Sol are childhood friends, but if it is likely then it may confirm that we remind Hyugo and Sol of an entirely separate person.

The only thing that sways me away from this theory other than the fact I detest the idea of it is during Crowe's route on day 02 when Sol mentions something about how…

"It has always been you, Ichabod."

This line could imply a multitude of things really. This could also imply that he generally detests the family due to the fact that they play a role in the MC's suffering. However, for now, I'll diverge into a separate theory that definitely more likely being Sol somehow knows us from childhood.

I like the theory that a fanfiction author pointed out that our farm may have been near the sea, and the reason why Sol detests it so much is due to the fact we the MC were separated from him, and the sea may remind him of that.

There are also these implications of the flowers in his hair in Fantasia's braiding hair post with the "forget me nots" in his hair.

I also believe the key carries around him has something to do with our past as well. Given that in fantasia ask box when someone asked about how Sol and MC first met, he actively fiddles and plays with the key that he wears? Where does it unlock? Where does it go to?? Only the lord knows.

BUT ALSO?? SEPERATE NOTE?? FINAL THEORY AND IMPLICATION?? THE NSFW ENDING ON DAY 02??

Seeing Sol's back in the last CG absolutely broke my heart. It's clear that his back is riddled with bruises and burn scars clearly from recent abuse. (after my second check I also noticed his stomach with bruises??)

Obviously out of respect for fantasia's terms I will not link it nor post it, but it's there in game and I recommend other theorists checking it out.

The reason why I say recent is due to the fact that if they were just scars, we most likely would have seen the marks features in Day 01's NSFW art, seeing as it also has his stomach exposed.

Again, this all conjecture, and they could be in places we couldn’t have seen.

On the subject of scars, I think it's also evident that Sol is more than likely hiding a scar on his neck or some sort of burn scar behind it. He's extremely self-conscious about his looks, and Fantasia has stated that his choker will more than likely stay on at all times when he's with his soulmate.

The side however, and its coverage eludes me considering the only time we've seen Sol's neck is in art Fantasia has given us (but his neck is covered with a scarf or ribbon). The only time we see a little smidgen of his neck is in the Day 01 NSFW ending, but it's barely anything to form a for sure statement on!

I think here is where I'll wrap up my theories for now!! Thank for reading this extremely long yap fest! Fantasia if you are reading this I just wanted to say I love your game and I love Sol!! Hope he knows this very much! Thank you for your hard work and I hope your internship goes well!

Very excited for the future of this wonderful game! I will now go lock in for finals season! This is peach signing off!

#tkatb vn #katb vn #tkatb sol #solivan brugmansia #tkatb spoilers #the kid at the back vn #the kid at the back sol

[drunkenskunk]

There's a project related to my interest in Warhammer that I've wanted to do for quite some time, but I know I'll never get the chance to actually do it. At least, not properly. And it involves... I think "historical preservation" is probably the best word for it?

See, I like to occasionally sift through my collection of old "out of date" rulebooks and army codex books from earlier editions of 40k. The sort of things that have been out of print for many years. Games Workshop hasn't sold these books in 2 or 3 decades, and they've all been supplanted by the current rules. And I do this because I think it's interesting to see how the game - in both crunch and fluff - has changed since 1987.

More beyond the break...

For example: the different ways the galaxy has been depicted in 40k between the different editions. In the first rulebook, when it was still called Rogue Trader, all we got was a small, almost abstract, image on the bottom of the page. The 2nd edition rulebook that came out in October 1993 (specifically, the Codex Imperialis book) had a two page spread, but it was also very abstract with a few notes, but no real detail to speak of. As far as I can tell, the first time we got a map of the galaxy with the segmentum divisions that we're all accustomed to now came from a very unexpected place: the very first Tyranid codex that came out in August 1995.

Of course, my copy of the 2nd Edition book is a very poor quality black and white scan. Those segmentum divisions could genuinely be there, and I just can't see it. Not to mention, it's entirely possible that a map with segmentum divisions first premiered in an issue of White Dwarf first, because GW liked to do stuff like that in the old days where you'd see it in the hobby magazine long before it was "officially" released in a rulebook.

There are a lot of glaring omissions from a lot of the other files in my collection: poor scans, missing pages, corrupted files... There's a lot I still don't know, because it's impossible for me to currently confirm that the little I do know is, in fact, accurate. My collection is woefully incomplete. Plus, I don't really have much past 6th edition anyway.

And this, in essence, is my idea: try and complete the collection. Find pristine copies of all the old 40k rulebooks, army codexes, even old copies of White Dwarf, and digitize them all into a huge archive for the sake of historical preservation. Of a sort.

Basically, I want to become a Lexmechanic of the Adeptus Mechanicus, looking for Dark Age of Technology era STC's uncorrupted by the Heresy or the war with the Iron Men. Either that, or I want to become Trazyn with his Infinite Archive on Solemnace.

Unfortunately, there are many problems with this plan. The first being GW's overly litigious nature. They see all this Warhammer shit as "product" first and a hobby for people to enjoy a very, VERY distant second. Doesn't matter that these books (and the magazines) are long since out of print and they don't sell them anymore, effectively making the old editions the tabletop hobby equivalent to video game abandonware... if they got wind that I was attempting a project of this nature, I just know GW would smack me in the face with a cease and desist.

Of course, the other major stumbling block here is the financial issue. And I'm not just talking about buying the books. Obviously, there's the problem of the rarer books that go for upwards of $300 or more on ebay, but there's also a volume problem. Even if you find some good deals, and you're able to find older books for $10 or $15 a pop, there's just SO MANY books, that if I were to attempt this I would be wasting several thousand dollars that I just don't have.

More importantly, there's also the machine I would need to buy in order to do this project in the first place. Because if I was going to do this, I would want to do it right, y'know? I wouldn't want to simply shove the books into my dinky little scanner-printer combo hooked up to my computer. The only way I'd get a clean scan using that method would be to physically destroy these very valuable books, and that's the last thing I'd want to do. No, I would want to do it right, and get a machine like Scribe, the book scanner used by the internet archive:

Now, obviously, I can't get access to that machine, specifically, because Scribe was custom built by the engineers at the Internet Archive. But other V-cradle book scanners that let you digitize books without destroying them do exist... and they're all REALLY expensive. A good one to produce professional quality scans is, like, $25,000.

And I know what you're thinking: why do I even care about any of this? Even if this project was not entirely out of my reach, it's ultimately pointless, right? Why would I want to preserve all these old, out-of-date, no longer relevant rulebooks for a tabletop wargame that has only existed exactly as long as I have?

Because... let's be honest, this isn't really about Warhammer. The reason I want to do this stems from a much deeper desire to simply Remember. It's amazing and terrifying in equal measure just how easily history can be erased, either deliberately or simply through neglect. All of these things in our lives that are seemingly so important to us can easily vanish from history, like sandcastles when the tide rolls in.

Hell, if you really want to know my feelings about this, just watch Jacob Geller's video on this very subject.

If I had infinite time and infinite money, and I didn't care about any kind of repercussions from GW's legal team, this project would not be beyond my reach.

But I do not have infinite time or money. And there are more things in my life that I need to be concerned with that are far more important than creating a... stupid archive.

Shame, really.

#warhammer #warhammer 40k #warhammer 40000 #wh 40k #Games Workshop #adeptus mechanicus #STC #Trazyn the Infinite #Solemnace #internet archive #Scribe #historical preservation #archival #Youtube

[lains-reality]

"When we discover the concept of conscious manifestation, we immediately turn to our mind to help us conceptualise it. However, with our mind, follows the limits of logic and reason that we have grown up to filter our experiences through. We attempt to grasp a limitless concept in a limited framework, so of course it will seem difficult, strenuous, and confusing. When we rely so heavily on our logical mind, what we are inadvertently doing is trying to do is make the infinite a finite thing. We think that what we want, or who we want to be, is once again, an achievement. Something we must work hard for. We allow ourselves to be dictated by the limited, even after realising that everything is limitless. We are trying to understand one thing through the opposite of that thing." - Rethinking the Role of the Mind in Conscious Manifesting from i am love

these actions go beyond manifesting. you let the mind dictate everything. you let it control everything.

lester said "all thought is a thought of limitation."

this is because the mind only knows what it knows. it cannot know anything more than what it knows right now. it can't access infinite intelligence. that's why it'll try to project into the future, and make plans. but it doesn't truly know. all it does is give suggestions based off the past.

it is a combination of identity based off feelings, thoughts and memories that is collected and turned into a habit.

let's do a thought experiment: think of another person, whose born in another city, with or without a religion, in another culture. think of the thoughts they're having. the memories. what they might feel. they're habits, tendencies, attachments, aversions. see how the mind is different. if the mind is easily swayed by CHANGE OF LOCATION then why would you see what it says as real??

it identifies as & goes off memories, even ones from when you were 4. stuff that's not happening NOW.

it identifies as & goes off feelings, which the story of it is used to judge or try to fix it etc.

it identifies as & goes off thoughts, which is just not a good idea lol.

it'll identify w/ the thought or feeling and create stories to go with it and judges itself on whether its 'correct' or whatever based on what it thinks it should be. it upholds itself, the image it thinks it has & the image it wants. it thinks its REAL. that's why when you, the observer, stop taking it so seriously, it disappears by itself. when you just watch the stories and not identify with it, then it leaves by itself.

all these memories, feelings, thoughts and subsequent stories create desires and fears. the mind will try and protect itself and plan for stuff, but it can't. because it's so limited in knowledge & power.

the last thing as to what it's made up of is beliefs, the beliefs you have are not organic. they are not generated by the mind alone. it's ideas from others. your parents shoved a bunch of concepts into your mind. these concepts have been passed down through generations. these concepts are extremely old. some relatively new. but not now.

all these concepts are the ones that have survived since the birth of humans. you are holding a part of 300k years worth of concepts. 300,000 year old concepts.

for the love of God (you lol) LET THEM GO

#lainsreality #manifestation

[graceshouldwrite]

4 Ways to Get Back Into Your WIP

You know when you might have taken a long break, worked on other projects, talked to other people about it, and basically did EVERYTHING to get yourself back into it, but it’s not working?

Even though you still want to LIKE your WIP and work on it? 

These tips are based on my own experience dealing with that feeling. I went through something like that for around a year, but now, I’m getting past it and returning to my main WIP more excited than I’ve been for a long time! 

1. List out WHAT you don’t like and fix it

COMMON CORE ISSUES:

Plot + Subplots? 

They might seem too (among other things):

lackluster

complex

unnecessary

confusing

You might not know how to:

develop the plots

make them believable

add the scenes you want without giving the book 800+ pages

choose scenes to cut to fit the word count goal...

Characters?

A BIG ONE: some writers try to force themselves to like X character for whatever reason (e.g. based them on a specific aesthetic, felt forced to add specific rep, etc), but they just DON’T. 

Or, maybe:

you don’t know how to develop your characters

their group dynamic is too difficult to write/doesn’t make a lot of sense

your character voices, personalities, or appearances might not be distinct enough

Prose?

You might:

want to add more humour (prose is too depressing and atmospherically dark)

want to add more gravity (prose is too comedic and romantic)

want to shift from past to present tense, want to tell story from another POV, etc. 

Organization?

OFTEN, the book’s just TOO COMPLEX with all the characters, subplots, etc. and it’s too intimidating to try to sort out all the mess that’s your WIP 

SO…

The lists I gave you are most of the big, common issues. Once they’re sorted into SPECIFIC types of problems, don’t they get less intimidating to look at? 

I know you might think, gee, Grace, these problems will take [insert comically large time frame] to solve. 

Well, if you genuinely want to like your project again and work on it, DO IT.

Slowing down your WIP finish date is worth it if it helps you get back into it. If you never get back into the project, you’ll NEVER FINISH IT. Late > never.

Heck, you might not even be too late—you might find yourself back in the passionate fever you were when you started it, and be in the headspace to write furiously :) 

I think you know how to solve these broken-down problems. Some require more sheer line-editing, while others require big executive decisions (e.g. getting rid of a character or rewriting an entire subplot/the plot). But, it will be worth it when you start to love your project again.

2. Remember why you started it 

Before each project, write a STATEMENT OF PURPOSE at the beginning of your doc to remind you why you’re writing this story in the first place. If you didn’t do this, it’s not too late to start one now! 

It could be something as close to heart as “I want to express how unrequited love feels,” or something as grand as like “I want to write a tragic allegory of the political and economic state of the world that explores human nature” (I am projecting in both of these examples, but you get it). 

Something SPECIFIC is a lot better for this than things like: “I told X this story idea and they liked it,” or “I promised to write this for X,” or “I want to tell this story just cuz.” These latter examples probably won’t fill you with passion. 

3. Listen BEYOND your WIP playlists. Look at images BEYOND your WIP aesthetics 

Many people think revisiting your old playlists / boards help, but that often contributes to the staleness!!!! 

Instead, by purposefully expanding your scope of consumed media, you open yourself up to more inspiration and ideas of where you want to take your project.  New images and new songs will give you new ideas on atmosphere, mood, scenes, and so much more. 

4. Compare your WIP to a similar book you like

You know THAT BOOK that comes to mind whenever someone asks you which book is your favourite/impacted you deeply? Think of how your book will impact readers in the same way. All the emotional turmoil and mental enlightenment That Book gave you is what YOU will give to the readers who resonate with YOUR book one day!

The author of the book you’re thinking about went through drafts, edits, and maybe even wanted to give up at some point, (LIKE YOU!) but pushed through it. Now, their book is on the bestseller list/on a bookshelf/a classic (whatever appeals to you)!  Don’t stop before YOUR book is there, too. 

∘₊✧────── ☾☼☽ ──────✧₊∘

instagram: @ grace_should_write

A LOT of this comes from personal experience; I had this mental tussle with my main WIP a while back, so I hope this helps anyone else dealing with the same problem :)

Hope this was helpful, and let me know if you have any questions by commenting, re-blogging, or DMing me on IG. Any and all engagement is appreciated <3333

Happy writing, and have a great day!

- grace <3

#writers on tumblr #writing #writing tips #booktok #writer #writeblr #novel #writerslife #writergram #wattpad #creating characters #wip #ya fantasy #plot holes #characters #writing ideas #writing a book

[cherrishnoodles]

i will never not see tyler and the narrator as the most religious-coded relationship ever.

the narrator's total devotion to this "single-serve friend" he met on a plane is so similar to media portraying religious ideas of a God to his followers.

Tyler is always above everyone without question. Everything Tyler does is, to our narrator, facts. It's always "do you know Tyler Durden?" and rumors being started about him that may or may not be true (the audience knows its not), and the narrator is always chasing Tyler's approval. While this obviously ties with the narrator's self image and how it reflects on his view of Tyler, i don't think it wise to fully reject the inherent homoeroticism of the narrator's total adoration of Tyler.

The only time this is stopped is when narrator is left to his own device around Project Mayhem, where he idolizes Tyler less, but goes back to it almost immediately when going to look for him.But there is also something to be said about the Space Monkeys, or the Fight Club "devotees" living at Paper Street, working for Tyler. They leave everything behind, even staying on a porch for three days without eating and drinking, just to be able to experience Tyler's wisdom. They devote their entire life to one man, similarly to how priests and other religious bodies will devote their lives to Christ or other Gods.

As an audience, we also never learn about Tyler's past beyond what small snipets of conversation we get from him and the narrator. We don't know what he was on that plane for, where he came from, why he know lives specifically at Paper Street, only that he is now interlocked in the narrator's life until the final moments of the movie. Looking at this literally, it's obvious that's because Tyler is a product of the narrator's insomnia and hallucinations, but from a metaphorical standpoint, it stands as a similarity to how Gods simply *exist*, and then create the world.

Tyler existed, and then he created Fight Club.

But going back to Tyler and the narrator's relationship specifically, there are multiple references to the narrator almost wanting to 'repent' to Tyler, asking him to help him "not be perfect" among other things. In the narrator's eyes, Tyler is his savior, his way out of the consumerist lifestyle that has gnawed its way into every corner of his existence, like the Devil selling the apple to Eve. Without Tyler, there would be no salvation for our narrator.

A more explicit reference to religion is of course Tyler's refusal of God. "We are God's unwanted children? So be it." With this line, he takes on the part of God, he becomes the very concept of God. He has freed the narrator, making him hit rock bottom so that he may finally know salvation: "it's only after we've lost everything, that we're free to do anything." In that scene, and throughout the movie, Tyler gives facts, or in a religious metaphor way, verses, of "useful information". Though in that chemical burn kiss scene he rejects God, he ended up becoming exactly that; similar to his father, he became a "model for God" to the narrator and the Space Monkeys.

anyway tyler is god and narrator is his good little follower <3 soapshipping canon

#fight club #fight club 1999 #soapshipping #tyler durden #the narrator #narrator fight club #analysis #fight club analysis #religious imagery #religious symbolism #tyler is god real

[nyaagolor]

Merry DL6mas!

I wrote an inordinate amnt of words about Edgeworth and MVK and dynamics and meta and w/e, stuck it below the cut so I don't obliterate ur dashes

So originally I wanted to make a relationship flowchart for all the characters and then realized that the amnt of caveats would make the image entirely text so I’m just forgoing the image altogether and doing this group by group starting with the VKs bc DL6mas and whatnot. It’s an essay and also unorganized so um. Have fun or apologies in advance? 

Anyway. I think AA1 intending to be standalone and then getting these additional games does some fun things to the characters but especially for Manfred. I’m of the opinion that he was not created or written to be deep or nuanced or anything. He’s the final boss, we weren’t supposed to get more on him, he’s honestly just a symbolic representation of the forces Phoenix works against rather than a character in his own right (in AA1 at least). He’s cartoonishly evil and that was supposed to be it— and then we get JFA and Franziska and suddenly Manfred gets all this retroactive characterization as the story is built beyond its initial parameters. That’s part of the reason why I’m so interested in him— all this new information comes exclusively through other characters and insinuations rather than him actually being on screen up until Investigations and even then it’s like 4 lines. We get more on Manfred, yes, but it’s a shadow on the wall. I’m sorry to bring up allegory of the cave about the gay lawyer simulator but w/e I’m a melodramatist, it’s an allegory of the cave situation. The reason I bring that up is because I don’t really think about Manfred in the same way as other characters; I piece together how I think of him though his relationships and impact on others rather than as an independent dude. His past is inconsequential to me and the ppl who flesh him out are the real troopers but he matters to me more as a vessel for narrative themes than anything. This is all to say that everything I’m doing is conjecture and just kind of filling in the gaps based on my current understanding of the text. Headcanons for the broad and far-reaching audience of me, myself, and I. 

That being said. The whole spiel I just went on about “Manfred as defined by his relation to others” works quite nicely as tie-in to how he feels about Edgeworth, because I think Edgeworth occupies this symbolic space in MVK’s mind. Yes, Edgeworth is a kid he mentors and who lives in his house and who he is legally responsible for, but Edgeworth is also this physical manifestation of his failures. Edgeworth is a child, yes, but to MVK he’s a ghost, a consequence, a punishment. He may not be a VK, but he IS karma (sound the turnabout melody I am kissing you on the lips for this line btw). 

This also means that the way MVK views Edgeworth as an extension of his own thoughts about the DL6 incident rather than solely as his own person, which is something that changes pretty drastically over time. The way he talks about and to Edgeworth goes beyond who and what Edgeworth is as a person because for MVK, there was always an aspect of the self in there, and MVK interacting with Edgeworth is as much a reflection of his own identity as it is how he feels about Miles. 

If there is one thing the entire VK family does extraordinarily well it's projection, and I think MVK has been doing this since he brought Edgeworth into the picture (and before that, but it’s only relevant to me now). This is personally how I rationalize how absolutely batshit half of MVK’s actions are. I know the actual reason is “we expanded the characters around him which necessitates certain actions to drive the plot and inconsistency results from this expansion” blah blah blah paratext more or less confirms this, but we are going full Watsonian in this bitch. 

I have talked at length about the actual medical stuff around gunshots and how bullets are typically removed from joints specifically because of how badly they damage the surrounding tissues over time, I’ll link the post if anyone is curious, but tldr bullet wound symbolism. I bring this up now because I think the bullet acts as a physical representation for DL6, it literally and metaphorically tears him up inside. No one else knows about this murder, most people have forgotten the penalty, but he never did, because he can’t. For someone who has structured his entire self on the idea of perfection, this is an event of unprecedented magnitude, and the living proof of it is eating dinner at his table every night. MVK sits with the weight of what he’s done, and whether or not he feels justified or guilty or w/e doesn’t even matter because it’s making him lose his goddamn mind. His behavior gets more intense, more irrational, because before he was just a massive, scheming, paragon of perfection (and corruption but shh) but now he is in this inescapable cycle as the result of his choices and his choices exclusively. I don’t propose to know nor care about how he felt about it or what the specific emotions he felt were because they’re not particularly important in my mind, only that the lingering ghost of DL6 is driving MVK kinda bonkers and that drastically alters how he interacts with Edgeworth and Franziska. 

I’ve seen a lot of debate about why MVK took in Edgeworth, but my hot take is that he actually doesn’t know. I don’t think MVK ever processed DL6, I think he is filled with contradictory feelings (how ironic) and that this is what eats at him through all those years. Why did he take in Edgeworth? Because he felt guilty? Because he wanted to train him into everything his father hated as a twisted kind of revenge? Because he wanted a prodigy and saw himself in Edgeworth? It’s all of them, it’s none of them, it doesn’t matter, he doesn’t know. Why did he prosecute Edgeworth right before the statute of limitations ended? Was it revenge? Hatred? A way to test his prodigy? To project his own gnawing nest of emotions onto the person he felt embodied the incident? Same deal. (the real answer is that it doesn’t really matter bc we were not supposed to think about it this hard but. Shh. dw about it.)

I don’t take much interest into Manfred’s inner world because I ultimately think that a lot of his actions, while completely under his control, are him acting on impulse, on him doing irrational things because DL6, in a sense, killed him too. He comes out of that elevator a different person (not worse (can’t go down from rock bottom), not better, just a different kind of asshole), but destroyed from the inside out by a murder he committed. He’s so arrogant, so entitled, that he could never let this go, and I think that drives so much of the insane shit he tries to pull. He has centered his life around the axis of DL6 and he will always be pulled back into its orbit. The further we get from DL6 the more time he has to think, the more it tears him apart, the more the contradictory feelings about it rear their heads in turn and create this guy who is just desperate and angry. And when it’s days before the statute of limitations he just becomes completely subsumed by it all. He was always cruel, but now he’s cruel and desperate and completely willing to drag everyone down with him. The desperation is the important part. 

I will say though that he is, irrefutably, his own downfall. He molded Edgeworth in his own image, he created Phoenix Wright the defense attorney as a consequence, and it is the two of them who send him to his death. He is the one who planned the murder of Turnabout Goodbyes. From beginning to end, it’s his own hand. Manfred is one of the only characters in this series whose actions are not precedented by extenuating circumstances. It’s allllll him. He’s the bitch. He has been and will always be a selfish prick and for as much as he is lashing out because of DL6 he does so by dragging others in. 

Extremely long prelude to say that I think how he treats edgeworth varies so wildly over time and is so irrational in its presentation because of everything I mentioned before. He is Edgeworth’s greatest kindness and his worst nightmare— at the same time!! Multitasking king. He takes in Edgeworth as a snap decision for reasons he doesn’t entirely understand, and I think because of that he never quite views Edgeworth as a son (at least in the traditional sense). Edgeworth is not his child in the same way that Franziska is his child (and we will get to her in a different post I promise), but he’s not just some random kid either. Manfred is emotionally tied to him through DL6, and I think the fact colors the way that Manfred treats him. It’s a dynamic that I can’t really put a label on, because it’s mentor/student with so much extra baggage that it feels different than that. There is an emotional connection between them, a sense of atonement and revenge, and I don’t think either of them will ever be able to articulate what that means. Manfred does not address Edgeworth as his child, and I think there is an attempt in his language to distance himself from Edgeworth, but he finds himself drawn to Edgeworth all the same (bc Edgeworth is DL6 etc etc). He did not ask for a child, he does not WANT a child, but he has one! Get fucked!

MVK is obsessed with his own image, with this idea of perfection, and insofar as Edgeworth is DL6, Edgeworth is an extension of MVK. He pushes his ideals and tactics onto Edgeworth the second Edgeworth decides he wants to be a prosecutor, because even more than Franziska, Edgeworth is MVK’s living legacy. He is quite literally Manfred’s midlife crisis and I think Edgeworth wanting to be like him and becoming this Demon Prosecutor is this insanely fucked up kind of catharsis in MVK’s mind. And as Edgeworth becomes more like him, as he takes up MVK’s mantle, he becomes a mirror— that is where shit gets fun. I don’t think I need to spell out the ways in which MVK was simultaneously caring and cruel to his kids— you’ve seen Sound the Turnabout Melody, you’re seen Turnabout Goodbyes, we know this song and dance. 

The more time Edgeworth spends around him, as Edgeworth reflects more of Manfred back at himself, MVK simultaneously becomes proud and revolted. Edgeworth is growing beyond the consequences of DL6 and into a mirror of his adopted father figure mentor person. He is, from the ashes of DL6, becoming Manfred von Karma, and I think that drives MVK insane. He is becoming firmly entrenched in MVK’s life at this point. For as much as Edgeworth is DL6, he is now MVK himself. He becomes a walking contradiction, and Manfred’s projection then manifests as this rapidly oscillating clusterfuck of reactions. Edgeworth is out of his control but he’s super important to MVK— recipe for disaster. 

He builds Edgeworth up, teaches him everything he knows, starts to treat him like a son while at the same time irrevocably traumatizing for the rest of his life. He loves who Edgeworth is becoming while hating everything he stands for, and I think this absolute garbage pile of a child-rearing philosophy is as much a projection of himself as anything. It was never about Edgeworth the person. At first, MVK does not care in the slightest about Miles Edgeworth and it is only when he does, even a little bit, that shit hits the fan in my mind. Edgeworth the physical manifestation of DL6 is being overtaken by Edgeworth the Demon Prosecutor, and MVK starts to be proud of him— but this is an eventuality he did not plan for and cannot do anything about. For both of them, it’s personal now, and no amount of pushing each other away is really going to fix that. 

Anyway I don’t think literally any of this was intended. Manfred is not this deep, I am making literally all of this up, but it’s fine. If you got this far I salute you. Miles time. To pivot to Edgeworth’s POV for a while, I think that from the very beginning, Edgeworth looked up to MVK. It’s not the same idolization that Franziska does, but it’s up there. Obviously he idolized his father, but DL6 not only served as a complete evisceration of his family but also his ideals. Gregory the man was dead, but if criminals can kill his father and get away with it, that collapses the foundation on which Miles built his understanding of justice. Gregory the defense attorney– his ideals, his legacy, his philosophy– he died in that elevator too. Edgeworth pivots, completely independently, from a man who wants to protect to a man who wants to punish (and I firmly believe that this was his own decision and not Manfred pushing him into it, if MVK had not adopted him he still would have become a prosecutor just not so much of a dick). 

But so Manfred takes him in, and was spectacularly ill-equipped to handle this. I always saw Manfred as emotionally distant on the best of days (he’s born in the 50s what did u expect) but for Miles, who he barely considers a son at all, he isn’t capable of being the emotional support he needs. He never would be and never wanted to be. That’s layer one of baggage. What MVK does provide for Miles, though, is a purpose. Miles does not wallow in his father’s death, because he is taken in by someone who acts as a paragon of Miles’ new worldview. Manfred never lets a criminal get away. He is perfect in that way, and it gives Miles a tangible (albeit impossible) goal to strive for. MVK mentors him in this worldview and gives him the tools to outlet his grief and rage into something productive— fucked up and wrong, maybe, but productive. That’s layer two of baggage. 

For as complicated and twisted and contradictory as MVK’s feelings towards Edgeworth are, Edgeworth for most of his childhood sees MVK as this pillar of everything that is good and treats him with intense amounts of respect. He accepts any cruelty as tough love, he adopts his ideals and his tactics and his suit. Edgeworth needed *something* after the grief of DL6 and MVK is what he got, so Miles latches on and never lets go, for better or for worse. Miles Edgeworth is not Manfred von Karma but he actively tries to take his shape because whether or not it’s reciprocated, Edgeworth loves him and everything that he stands for. Manfred cares about him in that respect at the very least. And ultimately, this is my big take on Edgeworth: I think Edgeworth actively chased MVK. He became MVK on purpose. It’s a result of trauma and built entirely on false pretenses, but Miles is the one who takes the initiative and Manfred indulges him— And then Turnabout Goodbyes happens. 

Everything Edgeworth is, everything he made himself become, is wrong. Edgeworth has molded himself into a person he does not recognize and that person turned out to be a monster. The person Edgeworth idolized, respected, and maybe even loved is the very person who destroyed his life. He is wearing the skin of the monster he wanted to destroy, and he did it on purpose (in his mind). This is not to say he had much if any agency in this situation— this is not a path he would naturally take, this is structured entirely under false pretenses, and he was clouded by grief, traumatized, and most importantly nine, but what matters here is that Edgeworth FEELS like it’s his fault, and the complete collapse of his worldview AGAIN is what drives all the bullshit of RFTA. Edgeworth is not MVK (and you can tell because he is capable of self-reflection which MVK is ostensibly not (or at least unwilling to)), but it still drives him to this complete and utter devastation. He sees Manfred in himself and it isn’t until AAI1/2 that he’s able to see Gregory as well. MVK filled a need for Edgeworth at the lowest point in his life (and absolutely made him worse but that’s not the point). Edgeworth respected and loved Manfred’s ideals, STILL chases the idea of the man, and because of that still cares about him. He becomes aware of who the monster he loved is, and how has to reconcile with what it means to be that person’s reflection and legacy despite knowing— and feeling, and BEING— all the harm he caused.

Those contradictory feelings that I talked about earlier? Love and hatred all mixed together— questions that cannot be answered and actions taken without knowing why? That’s Edgeworth’s final gift from Manfred: he inherits the bullet and the legacy he carries forward. Unlike Manfred, though, Edgeworth takes that pain and shares it, lets other people in, scoffs at the veneer of perfection and allows himself to be hurt and vulnerable and it is only in that way that Edgeworth can break out of VK’s shadow and break the cycle. He holds onto the ideals that he learned from Manfred, separates them from the nastiness and acknowledges the place they came from. It’s obvious in the way that Edgeworth carries aspects of that legacy forward that he’s capable of disseminating everything that Manfred is, acknowledging the way he’s been influenced by him and what he still respects about the man despite it all, and make peace with the rest of it. The cycle of violence and corruption started with Manfred and Edgeworth makes sure that it ends with him too. 

I have a ton more to talk about with respect to his teaching methods and the nitty gritty of how he interacts with his kids but that’s for the Fran post. This is more of the “whys” than the “hows” but I’ll get there :)

Anyway, I think that’s it. I’m sure there’s more that I’m missing but my head is beyond empty rn and I can’t think of anything else I wanna talk about with respect to these two. I know I literally just spewed 3k words about into this textpost but I do love chatting about them (total shock I know) so if u also have thoughts or ideas abt anything related to them lmk :3

#ace attorney #miles edgeworth #manfred von karma #mod vex #long post #meta

[letitiaslabyrinth]

SOMETHING NEW

warnings: shuri x plus size!y/n, angst, insecurities, Shuri's toxic, relationship issues, toxic relationshis, body image issues, attachment issues, riri x y/n, riri treats y/n so much better, comfort (just a lil) word count: a lil over 1k I think pairing: Riri x y/n A/N: this is 100% just me projecting but we not gon talk bout that. also I didn't proofread this so ignore the mistakes if you find any

You wake up in you and Shuri's place in Wakanda. You look over and Shuri's not there. You brush it off and get up to start your morning. It's not like this is the first time she's left without saying anything beforehand. You deserve an explanation at least but you knew you wouldn't be able to get one out of her when she reached without an argument taking place.

You go into your shared bathroom and start brushing your teeth when you hear the front door open and slam shut.

She doesn't call for you when she steps inside.

You come out the bathroom and go to the living room. "Morning." You say, staring at Shuri with your arms crossed.

Shuri notices your stance and huffs. She's annoyed. "Morning."

You stand there for another minute or two before deciding that since she wouldn't address her absence then you would. "So, we're not gonna talk about the fact that you just up and left, again, this morning?"

Shuri shrugs and sits down on the couch. "What sense does it make? You ask, I ignore you and the cycle repeats? No thanks."

"Why can't you communicate with me?"

"For Bast's sake, y/n." Shuri groans and rolls her eyes. "Here you go, again."

"Oh, I'm sorry for actually giving a fuck about where my girlfriend is? I'm sorry that I'm not like the other bitches you've been who are okay with you just up and disappearing early in the morning without even saying anything. It's not my fault that you have fucking communication issues and can't have a conversation with me without it turning into a fight."

Shuri stands up and looks at you. "See, that's the thing, y/n, you wouldn't know what it's like to be with somebody else since I'm the first person you've been with. You barely understand how relationships even work and I actually sympathize with that because who in their right fucking mind would wanna date you of all people," She keeps going, her voice getting harsher and meaner, "You are so fucking insecure about our relationship and your body and it's tiring having to reassure you every fucking day. You are so fucking boring, any girl who says that she's interested in you, beyond just fucking you, is full of shit. You're too fucking attached to me—you act like we're supposed to be joined at the hip just because we're dating. You act like I have to tell you everything and everywhere I go just because we're dating and honestly? I'm sick of it—I'm sick of you, I'm sick of having to explain myself to you because I don't. I don't have to say shit to you or do shit to you just because you think I do-"

"Fuck you, Shuri." You say, cutting her off and quickly wipe the tears that fell from your eyes. You don't listen to anything else she has to say, even when she's following you into your formally shared bedroom while you pack your things. This isn't the first time you've left but you were gonna make sure it was gonna be the last. You couldn't deal with her constant degrading and acting like the two of you weren't dating just because she's the princess of Wakanda.

"Awe, the big baby's gonna leave again? Her laugh was mocking. "You gon come back soon enough."

But you didn't.

Once your shit was packed you left for good. You didn't call Shuri again, you didn't try to reach out to her, you made sure to leave her and your relationship in the past. She got the hint after the first two weeks of your separation and eventually stopped calling.

It had been months now and in all honesty? You were glad you left Shuri when you did. You were happy that you didn't have to deal with her any more but the memories still hurt.

Riri treats you better. She doesn't make you feel bad about anything you do or anything you don't. She actually makes you feel loved, which you never thought you could actually feel again seeing as how your last relationship went.

"Mama?“ Riri says softly, shaking you out of your thoughts. She looks at you with worry in her eyes and wipes away the tears you didn't even feel falling.

You put your hand on hers and lean into her. You close your eyes and let her touch settle you. "I'm okay, ri." You open your eyes, smiling. "I'm good."

Riri kisses you on the forehead and leaves her lips there for an extra two seconds before sitting back down to look you in your eyes. "You wanna talk about it?"

Your breath freezes in your lungs. You shake your head, tears forming in your eyes. Your voice breaks as you speak, "No."

Riri brings you into a hug. She whispers comforting words in your ear to try and calm you down.

Your mind just keeps racing about the amount of crap you let Shuri put on you, the amount of hate, the amount of empty promises, and no communication. You let yourself go through that. You were never strong enough to deal with her—she always had countermeasures to whatever you said or did and it was exhausting. And you wonder why you let yourself go through that, why you didn't leave sooner. You blame yourself for her actions. You know you shouldn't but you do.

As if on cue, Riri whispers to you, "Nothing that happened to you in the past was your fault, y/n. She shouldn't have treated you like that."

"I should've left sooner." You mumble into her shirt.

Riri shakes her head. "No. No, you left when you felt you could. You did good, okay? You hear me, y/n? You did good. You stood up for yourself and you made sure to get that hell out of there. And you were strong enough to get into another relationship, mama. That takes a lot for some people."

You stay quiet and let Riri's voice wash over you. It's comforting and you fall asleep in her arms. You know you're safe. You know she's gonna take care of you the way Shuri never did.

#shuri udaku #shuri x y/n #Shuri's a little shit #shes mean #black wlw #lesbian #y/ns insecure #overly attached girlfriend #angst #shuri angst #riri treats y/n better #like way better #riri wiliams x reader #riri williams #fluff #black panther #black panther wakanda forever #letitiaslabyrinth

[cy-cyborg]

Proximity to disability is not the same as living with it - Writing disability quick tips

[ID: An image with “Writing Disability quick tips: Proximity to disability is not the same as living with it” written in chalk the colour of the disability pride flag, from left to right, red, yellow, white, blue and green. Beside the text are 2 poorly drawn people icons in blue, one is standing, the other is in a wheelchair. /end id]

One of the really common ways people push back against disabled people trying to give them feedback on how they’ve depicted disability in their work shows up as something along the lines of, “Well I have a child/parent/grandparent/friend with that disability, so I don’t need to consult other disabled people because I already know what a life like that is like!”

I see the most vehement pushback like this from parents of disabled children. the parents who are their child's advocates, their carers, they see everything their kids go through and have been with them through it all, so they "know what they're talking about already". And the thing about that is, while it means you have much, much more experience with the disability in question, it's not the same as direct experience living with it. Don't get me wrong, it's still an incredibly valuable experience to have, I'm not saying to disregard it, but it's not the same as having that disability. And when you're writing about characters who are disabled, and telling those stories to a public who already have a lot of misinformation about us going in, that lived experience is very, very important.

This isn't unique to parents of course, like I said, I've seen the same kind of pushback from children, friends and other loved ones of disabled people, and honestly, as someone who's been on both sides of the conversation (being a disabled person, but also having loved ones with disabilities different to my own), I do get where it comes from. But no matter how close you are with your disabled loved one, no matter how much you talk, no matter how much they explain everything, unless you yourself have that same disability, it's incredibly hard to understand the details of what life with a disability is like.

Let me use my partner as an example:

Often times, before these larger articles go up, I run them by my partner to ensure the tone and message I want to get across is actually what’s being conveyed. Which means he’s read pretty much every single article I’ve written on this blog. We talk about disability representation and tropes a lot, and he is one of the only people who sees my unmasked and unfiltered reactions to media when it’s done poorly. He’s also done a great deal of his own research on the subject, and worked with other disability sensitivity readers for his own writing projects. Not to mention, well, we live together, he sees pretty much every part of my day-to-day life and he’s one of the only people who doesn't share my disability who I talk to about the more complex emotions that come with it.

I think it’s pretty fair to say he’s quite knowledgeable on the subject of living with the specific disabilities I have for someone who doesn't have them. Despite that though, he still makes mistakes. He still misses things, and sometimes, internalised ableism - something everyone has, even disabled people - still creeps its way into his work. So do mistakes he simply didn't consider to run past me or his sensitivity readers. It’s not because he’s not listening or not trying, I’d confidently say he’s gone above and beyond in that regard, but it still happens. He still misses things that seem so obvious to me, specifically because of my lived experience as a disabled person who has to deal with these things all the time. It’s not unique to him either. A lot of people in my life are aware of the issues I talk about, but struggle to recognise them in practice or struggle to understand why them being depicted poorly is a problem.

This isn't to discourage creators from trying, mind you. But just to serve as a reminder that everyone makes mistakes, and that's ok, so long as you're still trying and still listening. No matter how close you are to a disabled person, no matter how much work or effort you put into unlearning things like internalised ableism, it's still going to pop up occasionally. And that's fine, but it means that you still need to be open to the criticism you get from people with that disability.

#Writing disability with Cy Cyborg #Quick tips #Disability #Disabled #Disability Representation #Writing Disability #Writing #Writeblr #Authors #Creators #Writing Advice #Disabled Characters #On Writing

[bomberqueen17]

sewing and dyeing

I have managed to achieve some sewing!

I finished the silk dress from the yardage I'd dyed around Christmas, even hemmed it and everything, I feel very accomplished. So that's done.

And the linen bias-cut slip dress I made around Christmas, which I never wore anywhere because it was white-- I've managed to dye it, and it came out much more interesting than I'd expected! So, pictures and discussion behind the cut.

[image description: A mirror shot of me, a fat blonde white woman, in a grungy basement, wearing a clingy white knit tank top with a drapey cowl neck]

Firstly, I made this tank top (I bound the armholes, it looks nicer that way)-- started with the Cashmerette Wexford top, then used this tutorial from Threads Magazine to hack a cowl neck onto it. Ages ago I'd had a cowl neck sleevless top that I loved, and wore holes in, and couldn't find one again. So I used a yard or so of very slinky knit, probably some kind of rayon blend from Dharma would be my guess.

I tried it on, and immediately threw it in the soda ash solution to dye it because I don't need a white top like this, it'll get shit dripped on the tit immediately so I might as well give it a busy dye job. I will make more of this top in other fabrics, but 1) make the cowl just a bit longer so it drapes farther, and 2) make the self facing deeper, I feel like this one is going to flip out all the damn time.

I also think I'll hem this shorter, but I haven't hemmed it at all so far so it remains to be seen.

Secondly, I have nearly finished this button-up camp-collar shirt from the Cashmerette Club, in a natural linen that I have so many yards of from an old project I never did.

[image description: me in the same grubby cluttered mirror view of my basement, wearing a gray shirt, slightly wrinkly, with unfinished sleeve edges and I'm holding it shut because there aren't buttons on it yet. There are two breast pockets and one is significantly higher than the other.] So the breast pockets are optional and uh I am definitely only going to put one or zero on the next one of these I make because I checked and rechecked and rechecked and this is literally the best I could do at making them even??? ugh also they don't sit right because there's a bust dart and one of them went on ok and somehow the other one is overlapping the bust dart slightly, which means it's Not On Straight. Just.... not optimal. I get why there are pockets but I also super get why they're optional. No thanks!

I hate the interfacing too, it was awful to work with and feels like paper. But once I've finished and washed this I hope it will settle down. (In the past I've used shitty salvaged interfacing for things I was making, and used spray adhesive and sewed the edges where possible, and it worked fine. This, I splashed out and got the stuff in the package that's ostensibly meant to fuse on with your iron and guess what doesn't fucking work? that. So it's been just a nightmare and I'm not buying the nice stuff again because it fucking sucks. I get that you don't want to not interface the collar of a shirt like this, and the button band would be awful un-interfaced, but christ, I'm using the flimsy salvaged shit I cut out of an old bedskirt next time.

The directions on this pattern are... well as long as you know what they mean it's great. But there's a video sewalong, and that helped a ton. This is a very complicated pattern and yet somehow none of it has been beyond me, even though i sewed one bust dart inside-out first thing, and immediately also sewed the yoke to the back inside-out, and then right away also assembled the collar inside-out because I was so distracted by how much the interfacing did not actually fucking do what it was supposed to (yes i followed the package directions, no it did not fucking fuse). I got a lot of seam-ripping done, is all. (It really is a cool pattern, and if you manage to get through the directions, which are extremely specific, you wind up with a fully-finished interior with almost all the seam allowances beautifully enclosed-- it's cool as fuck.)

I have fabric already set aside to make at least two more of these. IDK how much I'll wear them but I love them. (I *have* coveted a shirt-dress for years, with one Almost Okay from Torrid that I wore a lot but have recently realized looks awful on me actually, so I will be making it a dress too, no fear.)

But then! Also: Dyeing!

So I looked on Dharma Trading for their tutorials and was not disappointed. I don't want to do traditional tie-dye, but I want the effect I got at Christmas with the silk scarves that I space-dyed. I don't have to steam-set fiber-reactive dyes, so that's a plus.

I saw this tutorial on dharma for ombre dyeing and I'm super gonna try that next, but haven't yet.

Tie Dye Tutorial on Dharma Trading: this is the one I used as a starting point.

So I dissolved a cup of soda ash in a gallon of warm water, put that in a plastic bucket, and soaked my fabric for 5-15 minutes, and then I decided to do a kind of gravity-based thing with squirt bottles and a spray bottle. I hung a clothes hanger from the gas pipe in the ceiling, put a big plastic mortar tub underneath, put a smock on myself, mixed up my dyes (and urea and in some cases salt, as directed by dharma the all-knowing-- half-cup batch size for the squirt bottles, and quarter-cup sizes for the spray bottle), and got to work one garment at a time.

I put some pleats into the garments and held them with clothes pins. Then I sort of "drew" along the pleats, picking a color to be the tops, and a second color to squirt into the valleys. I filled in with the spray bottle to highlight the pleats more, since that would hit the outer parts of the folds but the interior would be shadowed and stay white; then I could go draw in those white areas with my shadow color.

Everything then would drip down toward the hem of the garment, though there wasn't really that much movement; if I wanted a drip to cascade, i had to draw it down there myself with the squeeze bottle.

[image description: two squeeze bottles with narrow nozzles, and a spray bottle of more rigid plastic with a pump-dispenser top, sitting on top of a piece of stained scrap fabric on an old washing machine with tubs of dye powder sitting in the background.]

I also did a shirt where I spread it out on a rack in a pan at an angle, and sprinkled a mixture of dye powder and salt on it. Then I went and used the squirt bottles too, but it was a fun technique and I'd use it again.

[image description: a garment lies in loose folds, speckled with dark blue-green spots, and at the top decorated in splotches of blue and green.]

I wrapped the garments in plastic, and put the smaller ones into plastic bags, and then hung them outside in the sun so that a) the dye would flow downward rather than backstaining the areas I'd meant to leave white, and b) the sun would warm them so the dye could cure, and c) the plastic would keep them wet because the dye only chemically sets while damp.

Let them cure for 24h, and then today I brought them in and rinsed them for about a thousand years, and then washed them and gave them a soak and rinse in dye-fixative, then dried them on the line.

Here is the linen bias-cut slipdress I made at Christmas time, dry and ironed.

[image description: a dress on a hanger, with my hand pulling out one side of the skirt: the straps and neckline are bright emerald green, and then the body is streaked vertially with varying shades of green, teal, and dark blue, with a little purple at the hemline. The colors are light and a little muted, and some white shows between them in a few places.]

The linen took the dye lightest, the cotton a little darker, and a small offcut of rayon I'd had sitting around took the dye darkest of all.

here's everything still damp on the line:

[image description: under a blue sky, a metal clothes-tree-style line on the left has several small items in shades of green and turquoise, and then a line crosses the screen from right to left through the middle, with several items hanging on it. In the background are two cotton dresses, one mostly teal and the other green at the top with a white and purple skirt, then the linen dress from above in the middle, and closest to the camera is a mostly-quite sheet of fabric with geometric lines in green, blue, and purple.]

The foreground fabric is the rayon, and I sandwiched it between two blocks of wood with rubber bands holding it in place, and just saturated the edges with dyes. I'm extremely into it, it came out beautifully. i have more rayon so I am going to make something from that to ombre-dye, for sure.

I have severely overdone my physical activity the last two days though; I lay awake for a couple of hours the other night with my sciatic nerve just burning, and I expect the same tonight. We'll see though, maybe I'lll be pleasantly surprised, or just lucky.

Oh yah I'm trialing Ritalin, but just like the other medications, it's such a low dose and it's not extended-release. I looked up how to take it and the directions assumed I'd been given two or three pills to get through a day. Not so! So I have about four medicated hours in a day, and keep experimenting with where to put them. I don't notice it wearing off the way I did with Adderall though, so there's that at least.

Maybe by the end of May I can try a full dose of something, and see if that helps. IDK, it seems like it might.

#about the author #wardrobe embellishments #fibercrafting

[purity-town]

No update today...because I just graduated from college!!! It's been a wild weekend with my graduation ceremony and moving apartments and all that, but from here on out I'm officially free!

We're also just past the third anniversary of Purity Town! I had started working on the comic towards the end of my first semester at college, during one of the lowest points of my life -- so suffice to say, I'm so glad to see how far we've come since then, and many thanks to everyone for sticking around for so long and making this such a fun experience to work on!

And with all that, after ages, I've finally got ask responses all typed up under the cut!

And thank you for reading!!!!! Seriously, it makes me so so so happy to see people enjoying this comic so much -- I'm getting to draw things and get excited about my lore ideas and present NPC interpretations and OCs and it's wonderful that other people are just as hyped about it. I adore Chris and Andrew a lot and I'm glad other people do too!

Haha, yep! The Dryad gets to see That Guy again after 450 years, the townsfolk get to see the equivalent of a mythical fairy show up to bless their town, and Andrew has to deal with the Literal Actual Dryad in town and up in his business. Everyone will be happy about this and there's no way it will end messily!

I've definitely thought about it! Particularly having her being Andrew's maternal grandmother, and then working elements reminiscent of that into Andrew's mother's design -- I even have a general idea for how she looks based on that, though I don't have anything to show for it as I haven't tried properly drawing her out.

I think there are several interesting hooks that could come of it, depending on how you spin it. Big problem with all of that being that, at least off the top of my head, there's hardly any in-game lore surrounding the nymph -- she's just someone (some creature? a type of creature? a unique being?) that exists.

I did see a note on the wiki pointing out the similarities between the Dryad and the Nymph's designs, but I'm not totally convinced that's intended; they just happen to both be showing a lot of skin. The definition of "Dryad" including the word "Nymph" nudges me towards them being related, but I'm still just...not sure. Maybe Nymphs (or Nymph, singular) are a handful of Dryads who were not outright killed in the war but instead mutated beyond recognition by the eldritch powers they fought against? Much to think about; I'm open to ideas if anyone has opinions on the matter!

Here you go! And a sta.sh link again in case of Tumblr-image-quality-shenanigans.

Thank you!!! The Aether is an incredibly fun location to draw in general; it's so strange and magical and gives me an excuse to add stars and sparkles everywhere. Add in the Shimmer and it's just- such a delight, haha. It's rainbows and starlight and it was really interesting translating the in-game side view we get of the Shimmer pond to the top view in the comic.

Thank you :) This was quite the semester, and working around other folks' schedules for groupwork and sudden project requirements changes and so on and so forth left me with a busy and unpredictable schedule. But I was able to wrap up the semester with solid finals and a great GPA, so it worked out in the end -- and now I'll finally be settling into a more regular work schedule. No more all-nighters (hopefully)!!

I’ll admit that I haven’t really thought about this much. If anything, I’ll probably handwave it a bit to be more general -- main reason being that there are plenty of reasons for someone to be on edge during a Blood Moon, and that can be an interesting thing to explore without making it into a “haha menstruation” joke.

(Also, considering the Zoologist transforms during a Blood Moon regardless of moon phase, I think the idea of the moon warping the mind and that being amplified during Blood Moons in general is a more interesting take. But even if you remove that element, Blood Moons are scary and characters being snappy or on-edge is reasonable given the circumstances.)

I don’t have a good response to this bit, but please know that it made me laugh quite a lot.

First off -- I’m so sorry for taking so long to answer this ask; I hope you’ve gotten good info elsewhere in the meantime but I’ll add what advice I can give! Here are some general tips below -- some may be more useful than others depending on your situation and approach to drawing, but I hope it helps in some way or another!

Start small. Purity Town started as a 2-page mini-comic, and then expanded into a 10-page chapter as I got used to the comic-making process and decided whether I wanted to stick with the project or not. Purity Town ended up snowballing into a larger narrative comic rather than the "small comic snippets accompanying a more typical fanfic" as I had originally been thinking of, but starting small helped me ease into it nonetheless. By the time that I had finished the first chapter, I had gained enough experience working with comics to feel comfortable/confident enough to continue on to chapter 2, and things just kept rolling from there.

Pace yourself. I'm quite slow at drawing, so I generally do my best to set aside time every Saturday just to work on the comic, as well as working on it whenever I feel like it over the week. This keeps me from burnout (and repetitive strain injuries). Importantly, having a set update schedule also helps me remember to actually work on updates, as leaving me to my own devices = never getting anything done (see: how long it took to answer this ask). However, many folks do just fine updating entirely on their own time, so take this one with a grain of salt and figure out what works best for you!

Plan ahead. This applies more to making longer, narrative-focused comics. Because comic-making is so time consuming, every page should count. You don't need to have the entire thing written out before you begin (see again: burnout; it's also nice to have some level of flexibility with the story to see it grow alongside your skills), but planning out at least the current story "segment" is a big help. I like to script out the current chapter, starting with a pile of out-of-context dialogue snippets and overarching chapter ideas and boiling it down to a proper dialogue script with notes for panel ideas. It helps a lot with figuring out how long the chapter will end up being and lets me freely move events around until I'm happy with how they fit together, rather than doing it all on the fly.

Do what you can to save time. If you're a digital artist especially, look into what tools your art program of choice has to help make your illustration process smoother, like paint filling tools or vector lines. If you want to re-use backgrounds or character art, then do so! It's okay! Do whatever makes you enjoy what you're doing and happy with the end result!

Stay organized. This was touched on in a number of the other points, but it's so important that I'm giving it its own slot. I make liberal use of folders and layers -- personally, I use three layers for lineart and every layer has at most two colors. Text gets its own folder and special effects have color-coded labels. My layers are always organized in the same way and I keep often-reused materials (like the lineart for Chris' staff) in separate files for easy access. Of course, the specifics are dependent on how you draw, but this has made a world of difference for me personally.

It's okay to experiment and change things. Figure out what works for you -- some folks do comics entirely as sketches or lineart without coloring, you'll see book-style vs. scrolling/vertical webcomics, and all that. It's okay to swap things up if you find that something isn't working out. Don't get too caught up in everything being "perfect," just experiment and see what makes you happy.

(Side note, but if anyone here specifically uses Clip Studio Paint and wants to talk about platform-specific details like brushes or using certain tools, feel free to send me a message on Tumblr/Discord about it. I am by no means a master of Clip Studio, but I am at least familiar with the particular tools I frequently use and can give info on them!)

Based on personal experience, a random cave halfway down to Hell. 90% chance that it’s completely enclosed and filled with random monsters, haha. Luckily the Dryad was there to stop him!

#purity town #not an update #pt asks

[deusvmachina]

I'll say it with my whole chest that I believe that Songbird lying to V about the neutral matrix was never done out of malicious intent. She knew the risks of reaching out to V—for putting her faith in V out of sheer desperation and involving them in what would become a dire and bloody escape. She just wanted to stop losing more of herself physically and mentally to what's beyond the Blackwall, to stop being a weapon of mass destruction for Myers. A tool for the NUSA.

She joined their ranks to keep herself out of trouble for breaching that Militech data fortress (among other things I'd imagine). And she was probably hoping it was a huge opportunity to become one of the best netrunners with all of this top-of-the-line tech at her disposal but she just didn't realize back then that she'd be pushed into breaking international laws or be forced to reach beyond the Blackwell to the immense power beyond. She paid the price tenfold. So yeah, players can be mad that Songbird dangled a carrot (the cure) in front of V's nose. Most people likely are mad or feel played and that's valid. But the choice is there to not take that anger out on someone just as desperate to survive as V is and have them push through to the end and help as they had promised. V states several times throughout the game that they keep their word and do what they say they will do. V and Songbird are mirror images of each other: Songbird losing her memories/identity and organic body to the AIs just like V's brain is being forcibly overwritten by the biochip and her body is slowly degrading. During that conversation she and V had on the couch and through texts, Songbird expressed how she couldn't trust anybody in the FIA. She was alone. Wanted a way out.

Even Reed who thought he could help her was only making things worse. So when she discovered V and their dilemma (probably after she delved into the Cynosure Project is my guess), I say it's what drove her to finally break the (wires) and chains she'd been bound with. She devised a plan with Hansen—always two steps ahead as Reed had said—and reached out to V on the day of reckoning knowing them being in the same boat would be enough to make V fight like hell. It's possible she knew about V for weeks or even months prior. V can question (sorry, forget which part of the game they mentioned this) if perhaps a 'backdoor' was created when she went past the Blackwall with the Voodoo Boys. Songbird then used the Blackwall protocol to tap into the Relic, as confirmed by Slider.

The stakes were too great so Songbird withheld the truth, not wanting to chance V refusing to help her otherwise. She didn't have anyone else, didn't have much time left either so she lied.

I think it boils down to this: V can decide to put someone ahead of her own survival and sacrifice that guaranteed cure OR she can be just as shitty as Myers and let Songbird be the pawn that's sacrificed. What separates humans from anything else is how we are driven by our emotions and our hearts. We take leaps of faith and we make mistakes but what matters is the content of our character. Sometimes 'doing the right thing' isn't doing the right thing.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. And I leave you with this quote:

"I always marvel at the humans’ ability to keep going. They always manage to stagger on even with tears streaming down their faces." —Markus Zusak

#cyberpunk 2077 #phantom liberty #song so mi #songbird #this got long lol but yeah #think i got in a solid chunk of what i wanted to express #tlou2 made me try and view a game and its characters from all perspectives #the same can apply to irl ofc but there are gamers who aren't willing to see shit beyond the outcome they wanted #you fail to understand the depth of the story if you're too caught up with one side and bc of your faves ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[fanfictionlover277353]

I need more Hiccup Haddock Running away fanfics

I have TWO amazing Hiccup running away fanfics on Ao3 Remember you need to be logged into and account for the link to work

The first one is called "Dreki" Hiccup shoots down a dragon but realizes that a dragon-killing Viking is not the kind of Viking he wants to be. Staying in the human village is not an option: they must leave. Together, dragon and boy will discover the world, and Hiccup has to leave the past behind ... even if the past has the annoying habit of trying to catch up.

The SECOND fanfic is call "Run past the rivers, run past all the light..."

"Exile still seems the best option, Stoick..."Stoick should have known better. While he didn't know much about his son-especially now-he knew the boy was clever. It should have been no surprise when a guard burst into the Council Meeting and revealed that Hiccup had escaped the cell Stoick put him in... hours after the boy was revealed to have saddled a dragon. Hiccup is gone, and so is the beast. They search, but do not find him. Berk falls asleep one night and awakens in the Great Hall, where the torches come to life and cast an image of their isle on the wall, from which floats Hiccup's voice, years younger. AKA, Hiccup forfeited the final challenge, leaving Astrid with the right to kill the Nightmare. Story picks up in the Race to the Edge era, except Berk never learned the truth of dragons, no one knows how Hiccup really lost his leg, and stories of a hooded 'vigilante' riding a Night Fury have been long whispered...and Berk will see it all unfold. Stoick the Vast and Berk watch How to Train Your Dragon...and beyond.

#hiccup haddock #stoick the vast #how to train your dragon #fanfic ideas #astrid hofferson #toothless #night fury

[exo-levi]

Heyy can I request Prompt number 4 please ✨

Enjoy this one!! My heart ached while writing this.

Restored

4. "You're a mystery." "Some mysteries are left unsolved."

Modern AU, fluff, comfort

Pairing: Levi Ackerman x Fem!Reader

Word count: 570 words

In the quietude of their shared space, the scent of lemon cleaner hung in the air as you and Levi Ackerman embarked on the task of cleaning your apartment. Amidst the old and forgotten, you stumbled upon a box, a time capsule of Levi’s past. Delicate trinkets from his late mother, Kuchel, lay nestled among faded photographs, each one a bittersweet testament to a love that transcended time and space.

Your heart ached as you delicately picked up the pictures, their corners frayed, colors muted by age. The images, once vibrant memories, were now smudged and torn, like fragments of a beautiful story lost to the winds of time. You knew how much Levi cherished the memory of his mother, her absence a void in his life that even time couldn’t heal.

A determined fire lit up your eyes as you secretly resolved to salvage these precious fragments for Levi. Late into the night, you meticulously worked, your fingers gentle yet purposeful. With every careful touch, you pieced together the torn edges, coaxing life back into the faded photographs. It was an act of love, a silent promise to help Levi remember his mother’s face, her warmth, and the love that she had undoubtedly bestowed upon him.

Days turned into nights, and you worked tirelessly, your efforts hidden from Levi's watchful gaze. When you finally presented the restored photographs to him, his eyes widened in astonishment, his lips parting in awe. "How… How did you do this?" he asked, his voice a whisper, his gaze fixed on the images that were now vibrant with life once more.

You smiled, your heart swelling with a mix of happiness and relief. "It was nothing, just a little project I undertook. I wanted you to have these memories, Levi."

As you handed Levi the restored photographs, your eyes caught a glimmer of appreciation in his. His fingers traced the edges of the pictures, now whole and vibrant. "These… these are incredible, thank you," he whispered, his voice catching with emotion.

A soft smile graced your lips. "I thought maybe we could frame some of them," you suggested gently, gesturing towards a few of the pictures that held particularly precious moments. "To preserve these memories in a way that we can always see them. We could hang them around the apartment, so your mother’s presence could always be felt here."

Levi's gaze shifted from the photos to you, his eyes reflecting both gratitude and a newfound warmth. It was as if you had given him not just the photographs, but a way to keep his mother’s spirit alive in their shared space. "That's a wonderful idea," he said, his voice steady with a depth of feeling. "Thank you for doing this, for understanding what it means to me."

With delicate hands, you took a step closer, your fingers finding their way to his, interlacing with his in a silent promise. "It’s my way of cherishing both your past and our future," you murmured, your eyes locking onto his, the unspoken words of love and understanding passing between you.

He studied you, his eyes soft with gratitude. "You're a mystery," he murmured, his tone laced with admiration and wonder.

"Some mysteries are better left unsolved," you replied, your voice tender, your eyes meeting his. In that moment, you both understood the unspoken language of love. Some things were beyond explanation, beyond the realm of words. Your actions had spoken volumes, reaffirming your love for him in a way that transcended the ordinary, binding you both in a love that was as enduring as the memories you had restored.

Tagging: @levisbrat25 @stardustdiaries @bbhhhvjdh

Prompts List. Masterlist.

Yours truly,

Rowan

#levi ackerman #fanfic #oneshot #aot #attack on titan #levi ackerman fluff #levi x reader #fluff #levi ackerman x reader #levi x you #angst #levi ackerman angst #levi ackerman x reader fluff #levi attack on titan #levi ackerman x you #levi ackerman x reader prompts

[kwyw]

I don’t get the concept here where this fandom thinks Taylor is not in charge of her own PR or why she is getting in her jet to fly to KC . She is rich beyond anyone’s dreams and ppl want to believe she is doing this for money?

Anon.

I don’t get the concept here where that fandom thinks Taylor is solely in charge of her own PR or why it’s news she is getting in her jet to fly to KC. She is rich beyond anyone’s dreams and people have to believe she’s a specific way that appeases them so she can make money and be successful.

If Taylor were solely in charge of her own PR, then why exactly does Tree Paine have a job? Public relations is literally the job of her publicist. Taylor is her boss, yes, but Tree is responsible for how she appeals and relates to the public.

We typically don’t exactly know why she is in her jet flying anywhere unless it’s for a tour stop because that’s already public knowledge. However, we can assume if it’s Florida, it’s to see her father. If it’s Nashville, it’s to see her mother or maybe even Abigail. If it’s New York or LA, she’s going to her own house or working. However, every time we’ve seen an article that she flew to KC, these websites by default attach it to Travis.

And we literally see an article every single time she goes to Kansas City. Every day there’s a new detail of this “relationship” we didn’t ask for.

That’s your first example of PR here.

I need you and others to grasp the concept that PR isn’t always based around money. PR is mainly for image reasons. If a celebrity has a scandal come about, you almost always see how People or ET for example will say they reached out to that celebrity’s team and they either didn’t respond or did not offer comment.

Travis JUST signed to CAA in May for off the field representation. He is building an expanded brand for when he retires from football. He’s 34. That’s “old” for his position in the NFL. So ask yourself—why does a 2 time Super Bowl champion (his last championship being won this past February)

Did you even watch Miss Americana? Where her Dad and another person on her team tried to gaslight her by using a potential decrease in ticket sales to stop her from talking about politics? Guess why—because PR has taught you that Taylor Swift™️ does not talk about politics.

PR taught you for 6 years that she was “extremely private” with Joe, but you always got an article before one of their projects released, right? Either the day of, or the day before Midnights was released, what picture just so happened to be released?

Taylor and Joe in NYC furniture shopping.

Remember how it was dead silent before CWF was released but a month or so before, engagement rumors popped up? Because PR had to make him seem interesting enough during his promo for the show.

Before the Reputation Tour arrived on Netflix—PR gave you pictures of Taylor and Joe with his friends in NYC on NYE.

PR is what got you the pictures of them on the balcony in Nashville before the rep tour started when paparazzi don’t camp in Nashville. Which you know because most country artists live in Nashville and you never see them unless they’re papped in LA or NYC.

PR relationships have always existed, but for some reason, y’all seem to think it’s beneath Taylor to engage in them.

So yes, she is “rich beyond anyone’s dreams”, but at what cost? Because PR is why y’all can’t fathom that she could possibly be queer—because to most people, she doesn’t “look” queer.

Not to mention, given all PR has taught us about her for the past 17 years, you have to question why this Travis situation is so odd and sloppy. No one really who Travis is outside of football—but now they know him as “Taylor Swift’s boyfriend” and now everyone wants to capitalize, right?

This 👆👆👆

[aihoshiino]

any thoughts on aqua’s decision to reveal themselves as ai’s kids, specifically aqua’s ‘ai is dead and this should be used for the benefit of the living’ vs ruby’s ‘you’re betraying her / you don’t care about her anymore’

I always thought this was a super interesting angle for the twins to conflict on and tbh, I kind of wish it hadn't gotten thrown to the side once the past life reveal happened…a big issue I have with how that was handled is how it basically got used to hit a reset button on both Ruby's ongoing arc and the conflict she & Aqua were having and put them back to the status quo. In general, I feel like Aqua and Ruby outing themselves as Ai's kids ended up being a really nothing reveal given there has been absolutely zero focus on the repercussions outside of the immediate aftermath BUT THAT'S A RANT FOR ANOTHER ASK…

Anyway, the reason I liked it so much as conflict because it wasn't simply a black and white issue. Ruby is absolutely not wrong to be aghast and appalled at Aqua blasting this information out into the world - not only is he tarnishing Ai's reputation in doing so but he's making Ruby complicit as well, without her informed consent. Ruby doesn't bring this up during their argument but this has also tossed Ruby right into the fray and forced her to deal with the media shitstorm that will inevitably get stirred up by this news breaking.

Not only that but Aqua goes out of his way to be about as callous about this as possible. He refuses to explain his reasoning or meet Ruby in the middle, emotionally speaking, and pretty clearly allows her to project the worst possible bad faith intentions on him. Even so… it's hard to not also see his POV. They were fully stuck between a rock and a hard place and it came down to saving Kana (who Aqua is historically NOT!!! particularly reasonable about when it comes to her wellbeing) or preserving Ai's image and… well, only one of those people is still around to be hurt.

It's horrible, don't get me wrong! It's another example of Ai being sacrificed, bought and sold and traded to have the value wrung out of her, even in death. Once again, she is the 'invincible' idol, not just because of her public image but because she is literally dead and beyond help or harm. Aqua was forced to make a hard call and chose to make one that, in his eyes, did the most amount of good and the least amount of harm. It was definitely still a shit call but sometimes you don't have the luxury of making good choices: just deciding which one is the least Actively Bad.

A really important factor of this conversation that I think gets left at the wayside sometimes is also that Aqua is very purposely trying to break Ruby away from him here. The argument even ends on the most explicitly stated expression of Aqua's suicidal ideation since volume one — that he wants to make sure Ruby can keep living even when he's gone. Aqua's plan necessitates him ending his life, directly or indirectly, and that means pushing away the people who love him and who he loves in turn. This is why Tsukuyomi calls out his revealing himself as Gorou to Ruby as a 'bad move' — it temporarily got her back on her feet, sure, but it also means that once Aqua is gone, she'll crash even harder.

So the tl;dr I guess is that I like it in theory and I wish it would've been expanded on more. It didn't pay off quite as interestingly as I would've hoped but that's an issue I have with OnK as a whole at this point.

#oshi no ko #oshi no posting #onk spoilers #aqua hoshino #ruby hoshino #suicidal ideation cw #suicide cw