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felassan · 3 years

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Um??? Giant aquatic centipede monster is now a fuckin massive four-armed humanoid fishtail thing with a glowing spear and crescent shaped head??? I’m panicking omg what the fuck is that thing and GOD they better let me fight it in da4

Hi Nonnie! Much of the original thinking (after the Behind the Scenes video) about the centipede-sea monster concept art was that it might be one of Ghilain’nain’s effed up creations / experiments, especially given her “giants of the sea [...] those in deep waters” which Pride stopped her from destroying. It’s interesting that not only was the top / head of the creature left out of the ‘crop’ in the BtS vid, but also that details in the visible ‘frame’ of the image differ between the BtS version and the new version from the Stories and Secrets book (no crop would get rid of the difference in the lower legs, or the creature’s weapon). Is that different versions of a piece, iterating on ideas as part of the conceptual process? Or were the previously-unseen aspects in the image purposefully edited out for the art to go in the vid, in order to keep certain bits of it (and what it implies?) back from us / secret at the time of the vid..? 🔍👀

The ‘new’ aspects of that image are definitely more alarming than the previous version of the monster. Before, we were looking at a sea-creature, a terrifying leviathan of the deep to be sure, but it really just looked like a sea monster, albeit probably one tied to Ghil. Now it has a humanoid upper half and is displaying tool-use through holding a weapon, implying it’s less a sea monster and more a sentient, genuinely malign entity. When you combine that with the caption on that piece it’s alarming:

The Evil Gods have Thedas in their sights and only heroes can stop them. The shadows of the past stir, and new heroes must rise to fight them.

So what’s the implication here, is this entity an evil god from the ancient past? The caption reinforces the idea that it’s not an angry wild animal-equivalent, it’s something which is specifically setting out to, and wants to destroy or dominate, Thedas. [nervous sweating]

I wanna point out some things about the new version.

the weapon looks like a staff or a lance-like weapon. If it’s a staff, considering the humanoid aspect of the entity, can it cast magic? Is its spells the source of the lightning we’re looking at in the image? Like it looks like, in this version of the image, the lightning could be emitting from the weapon. And if it’s a lance-like thing, the thing I’m reminded of is Andruil’s spear. Andruil was known to craft great and terrible weapons including a “golden spear of unbearable heat”. The difference in color gradient along the weapon goes from dark to molten hot from top to bottom, like a metal rod where one end has been held in fire like you see in fantasy films and stuff with blacksmithing. I mean it certainly seems like it’s really hot at one end and there’s an obvious part of it that’s golden in color. And given that there’s a tie between Andruil and Ghilain’nain, I...

in the old image, it has centipede-like legs the whole way down the thorax, calling to mind the centipede-monster in TN. In the new one these are truncated off and the entity has 2 sets of arms on its torso instead. The thing I’m reminded of here is the original Archdemon concept which showed them as Cthulu-esque beings with 2 sets of arms just like this (fourth image on that post). The entity in the new version of the image also has (see DG’s comments on the concept) a dark face, a weird top-heavy crown, is demonic and Cthuluesque and you can make an easy link between ‘sea creature’ and ‘tentacles’.. if the statue at the bottom of that post from the Dalish Origin ruins isn’t enough, there’s this version of those statues too. aaa Look at this shit guys!! The central one, it has two sets of arms and at the bottom it’s all tentacley!! And BOTH versions of the statues have a staff / spear weapon!

Why does the sea monster creature, which we’d been linking to Ghilan’nain, that we now know to be some kind of evil god probably, resemble early-days iterations of the Archdemons, which we know themselves to be corrupted Old Gods, and resemble the statues that some Dalish elves have been interpreting as statues of their own gods? I don’t know but this concept art got a lot more interesting [and scary, but in a good way, because game] in this version. Even with all the speculative stuff aside it’s clear now it’s not a simple sea monster like the Cetus or akin to a [normal] dragon, but is instead a much more threatening and malign entity.

The Ghil link could still hold, Ramesh was a centipede-monster with a humanoid part and he had some sentience as an entity too. Or worse, given the extra revealed stuff, rather than one of her creations, it’s Ghil or some part of Ghil herself?

This last bit is complete and utter baseless tinfoil and unrelated to the above ideas / speculation (okay the ‘totally unrelated’ bit here is a lie because I’ve wondered before about Ghil and the Executors lol) but - what if it’s got something to do with the Executors? They’re a shadowy faction of unknown physical form that have strong ties to the sea and an interest in Thedas.

[msg refs this post]

#dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #dragon age #bioware #mj replies #anonymous #video games #Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development #Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development spoilers #Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development spoiler #spoilers #spoiler #tevinter nights #tevinter nights spoilers #tevinter nights spoiler #long post #longpost #panicking too nonnie but in a good way #WANNA FITE IT

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minecraftoworymode · 5 years

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@called-karma your post about figuring out the way the mcsm worlds connect made my skin clear, my crops flourish, and my heartbrain do a funky little conga, so i thought i’d offer up my own diagram which i’m working with for my mcsm project :0 ! (i’m also posting this here for my own reference ghldkfghlfsdhkg)

yours is,,, muCh nicer to look at n wonderfully detailed but if you have any interest in reading through what are, admittedly, almost entirely headcanons i have some Thots (under cut bc of length whOOPS)

HUNGER GAMES: used to serve as a hub for all the old builders, who, as proteges of the admins, were expected to eventually settle down in another world and “take care of” it. once most of the others had done that, hadrian and mevia claimed the hub for themselves. otto stayed to try and balance out their... eccentricities, but when two admins disappeared and the only one remaining just sorta looked at what they were doing and was like “yeah, that seems reasonable, good work keep it up!” he couldn’t really do much. like literally enabled by god. what are you gonna do.

MANSION: this is actually a multiplayer world. it is the only multiplayer world and it is VERY VERY VERY firmly locked, because ouch oof gonna end up stepping on a piece of the broken fourth wall. this one got closed up pretty quick, but cassie rose was trapped inside and had been trying to get out to no avail until jesse & co entered the portal and "started the server" back up. i have more thots on this one but they nose-dive straight into wild au territory so for the sake of keeping this post moRE or less straightforward ill leave it there ghlfdhgHGKLFH

CROWN MESA: xara’s builders tended to stray away from using their abilities as freely as romeo’s, often preferring to do things the “survival” way. harper was one of the first to find the world that would come to be her home and i love her with all of my heart and i love PAMA thanks for coMING TO MY TEDTALK

SKY CITY: isa was proving... indecisive, so the admins decided to surprise her with a world that seemingly had no land or portal (little did she know future isa was going to get punk’d big time). after building the base of the city from grass, she asked to have her creative powers taken away- she wanted to live amongst the people, as a normal person n not some godlike ruler they saw as a distant authority figure (F). this request was granted, but before leaving the admins gave her an egg; isa hatched it and a friendship for the ages was born.

HOME: created before all the other worlds i just mentioned. not the first world made by an admin, but the first one all three admins made together and from scratch. once fred died and xara was out of commission, the underneath was sealed up and after making a small layer for the sunshine institute romeo got so lost in the sauce of making a new world that he didn’t notice the one old builder who’d witnessed the scene and was now deeply traumatized + trying his best to hide. once the world was mostly done he made a portal to try and seek help from his friend isa, but lighting it caught the admin’s eye and he was forced to hide again. years and years later when the portal to the hallway was finally open, soren ran.

THE END: the end. this one is the one most up in the air atm, and pretty much all i have for it is hc stuff so,,,, it’s the end babey ghkldfgHGLKDF

TERMINAL SPACE: basically an interdimensional storage area like discussed in this vid but like, x 100000. this is also where the cabin (now a treehouse for sin of matic pair of lels) is in my au- romeo’s very first house from his very first world, copy-pasted into a space where no one but an admin (or an invited) could ever get to. the safest place in all the worlds.

#mcsm #minecraft story mode #im not sure i should even put it in those tags but #hopefully it doesnt clutter them up too much ghhfHGLKFHD #ive been thinking.... so much abt this im heckin... drowning in the mcsm sauce #ng+#msg

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ask-jaghatai-khan · 5 years

Text

The Vampire of Cairn

// A story set on the forgotten Pariah Planet, Cairn. Entirely inhabited by the soulless human mutants known as “Blanks”, the world was settled before the rise of the Imperium and remains cut off from the rest of the galaxy to this day. But secret intelligence suggests that the world is not as safe as it seems, and that danger might still lurk in a galaxy lost to myth.

—

A fog bank was rolling in, though here in the city it wasn’t so prominent save for on the major streets. What few transports there were, on the roads or in the sky, made themselves sparse rather than deal with the lack of visibility, as people sheltered for a while in the shops and offices to avoid the damp chill. The misty pall seemed to run down the main thoroughfares like a wave. It would pass soon, but for now it hung over the alleys and side-streets, shrouding the tops of buildings and casting the whole world in a dull silver, both the neon signs and midday sun becoming faint and washed-out in the gloom.

Zhi’s destination was an alley downtown, by 26th and Baobeng. His personal transport, a sleek black sedan, navigated itself along the reflective guidelines of the ground-level roads as he went over his notes. He’d not been to this city before – if you could call it a city. It was more of a post-industrial town, now in the final movements towards establishing itself as a cultural center. He didn’t recall what Tianshi was known for and he didn’t much care. The compact little city was not much different from many of these other sparse population centers in the DB Jinkou Provence, but it was the pattern that concerned him. His last lead for his current assignment had been a whole city over, in the more remote Borios. It suggested the mark was not just on the move, but capable of long-distance travel without notice, maybe even without assistance.

There was a ping on the console as the ETA hit two minutes. The Investigator closed his documents and detached his holopad from its charge port, before the government-issue transport skidded around to the alley’s entrance and settled down on its unfolding wheels. There were several other cars there already, some civil service, some civilian, all clustered around the official cordon.

It was lowkey, which was to Zhi’s liking. No flashing lights, no big groups of reporters. One local Sentinel was speaking with a handful of private broadcasters, but all the emergency vehicles were running silent, their personnel milling around inside, maybe processing data. The whole setup made it clear that whatever had happened, it had passed. Zhi’s flat shoes made his approach noticeable as they snapped along the damp pavement, the dark surface of the road reflecting the point lights of the various transport vehicles.

He flashed his badge, but the Sentinel didn’t even try to stop him. He walked with the air of his profession, which was not to be cut in front of. Moving on, the Investigator moved into the alley, cast in long shadows by the spotlights that had been brought in to examine the scene.

There were a couple of sealed dumpsters, a storm drain, and not much more. The adhesive residue marked where posters might have once been put up, but nothing more remained. Compared to the streetfront, where neon signs, greenboxes, and other solar gatherers gave off color and brightness despite the fog, the alley felt quite barren. All grey ferrocrete and weathered service pipes.

The scene of the crime itself was obvious, and rather simple. One body, face down in the damp, looking pretty bloody as well. Dried blood was being rehydrated by the moisture in the air, and was doing nothing for the corpse, giving off a slight smell of iron and onset decay. Two more Sentinels - marked by their dark outerwear, utility harnesses, and subtle insignias – stood about the scene before one took notice of the approaching Investigator.

“Hello.” They said with simple but respectful affectation. Almost questioning, as if Zhi wasn’t supposed to be there.

He extended a hand as he approached, his own dark trench coat matching the local colors rather well.

“Investigator Zhi, Consensus assigned.” Introducing himself, he held up his badge once more. The little metallic chit marked him as under permanent internal security contract to the Consensus Sciences Service.

“Li. I’m with the local Sentinels.” Her precise vocabulary identified her as a woman, and a rather metropolitan one too, for a Sentinel in a northern industrial town. Her hair was styled into a tight pink stripe on her head, and her matching hued eyes suggested cybernetics. Such quirks weren’t common outside the major hives, “We weren’t excepting the Fed.”

“Yes, well we’re just checking all our leads right now and this was brought to my attention.” Zhi clarified. He was far more mundane looking in comparison, as fit a Federal Investigator. Not drawing attention was part of the game.

“And might I ask a little more?” she shot back, still with respect though her body language was unyielding, “This is under our jurisdiction, after all. Is there something bigger we should be worried about?”

Sentinels were local law enforcement, though not in the conventional sense of eras past. They were more like an office between a community watch and a militia. More ad-hoc and concerned with the protection and proper law enforcement of their districts than any higher loyalties. With the right moves they could be amenable, but they were very ground-level and had some of the strongest unions, making outright hostility towards them a bad idea for even Federal agents.

Zhi took off his wide-brimmed hat, making clearer eye contact with Li.

“There’s some suspicion this might be part of a larger series of murders. That’s—”

“You mean the Vampire?” the other Sentinel came up then, no longer content in the background, and with some verve in his voice.

“That’s all I’m at liberty to say.” Zhi’s face went dark.

“Sentinel Chaleb.” Li gestured, “Apologies, though it’s a legitimate question. It’s been around the stations. Could it be that killer?”

“Impossible to say either way until I’ve had a look, eh?” the Investigator tilted his head.

Chaleb. The man must have been from somewhere rural before becoming a Sentinel in Tianshi. His name, inflection, and appearance – paler and with sandy hair – had the twinge of Goth in them. Didn’t much matter, but it was an observation Zhi made.

“Here.” Li stepped aside, gesturing to the body that lay half slumped onto its face in the damp. Zhi got in close for a better look.

Man of about middle age, perhaps seventy-eight, as he seemed in good health. His hair was dark and short-cropped, messy now that the damp had worked through whatever gel it looked like he’d used. He was dressed in simple formalwear, with the open-front black jacket that went down to about his knees, and the black underclothes to match.

“Victim was a Mr. Jia Ming, as our first data responses have come through.” Li informed, “Local. Worked at a distribution firm for signage products, I think. We took his datapad and are seeing about getting permission to access it from next of kin.”

“Injuries?” Zhi asked.

“Broken collarbone and shoulder on the left side—” he could see it, the way the joint folded in on itself in an odd way, “Though the coroner scan didn’t think that was simultaneous with main cause of death. They’re still processing the data.” She didn’t need to point, as it was obvious the man’s throat was cut wide open. It was clean, yet broad, as if done by a swordsman in an action vid. The man’s skin had gone ghost pale in death from how much of his blood had flowed out onto the pavement.

“He was found around 2 a.m. this morning.” Chaleb interjected, “The owner of this sandwich shop was closing up and found him.” He pointed to the wall on their right, against which the dumpsters sat.

“You say the shoulder wasn’t simultaneous with cause of death.” Zhi stood back up, content in verifying the facts.

“No, but it wasn’t from a blow either. The blunt force trauma doesn’t seem to match up from what the scans show. The pattern looked more like—”

“Impact from above?” Zhi shot in. She was good. Maybe trained to be a Sentinel.

“How’d you know?”

“Oh that’s spooky.” Chaleb shook his head, “Absolutely the Vampire. Did you see that one clip online? They were saying they could probably scale sheer walls.”

“Yeah so can I, if you sweet-talk my quartermaster enough.” The Investigator cut him off, “Was there anything else of interest?”

“Possible cam footage. We can’t get it, though.” Li gave him.

“Why not?”

“It’s the security cam from the sandwich shop. The owner’s spooked, maybe drowsy. They didn’t want to give us access.”

“I’ll talk to them.” Zhi assured, gesturing with his hat in a vague direction “away” from the scene, “Do you want to be involved, then?”

Li nodded, signing off to Chaleb that she’d be leaving and that he should guard the area of the corpse. It might be good, if the Sentinel had talked to the storeowner beforehand, to have her there again. With luck, the civilian might be put more at ease by the continuity.

As they got out of earshot of the other Sentinel, rounding the corner of the alley side by side, Li turned towards the Investigator.

“Do you think it’s the Vampire, then?” she asked, though the look on her face told Zhi that she wasn’t keen on using the name, her pink eyes squinting.

“I’m getting sick of hearing that word.” Zhi walked forward another pace, annoyed at the stop, the sign and door of the sandwich shop visible just down the road.

As far as he knew, the nickname had been picked for the style in which the killer worked. Clean kills, along with the untraceable escapes. Still sounded stupid to him, but then most spree-killer nicknames tended to be.

“There’s been a lot of strange things in the news. People have been putting together all kinds of theories.” She continued, trudging beside him, “There were those signals they were talking about from the Jingshe belt that they said were nothing a month later. Then that meteor strike just a few weeks ago near Shuguan, and the murders in Shuguan they stopped reporting on after a week, and now these deaths going from city to city all the way here.”

“So what then, alien serial killer from outer space?” Zhi tried to sound as sarcastic as possible, wishing they could just pick up the damn pace.

“Maybe? There’s precedent. The Men of Iron came from space. We came from space.” She wasn’t wrong.

“Sounds like a fun story.” The Investigator just brushed it off as they reached the shop. The glass sliding door was barred with a shutter but knocking still produced a solid sound.

“I’m just saying, that’s what the theories have been online.” Li finished her piece, face flushing a little as if she’d been embarrassed at getting so caught up in the theory.

“Don’t believe everything you read on the net.” Zhi replied. The Sentinel glanced at his eyes – the man couldn’t have been much older than her based off looks, but his eyes – they seemed to be weighed down, drooping with some deep fatigue the rest of his face resisted.

There was a clanking, a latch-releasing kind of sound, and one of the individual panels that made up the collapsible door screen pulled away to reveal the eyes of a middle-aged individual. A woman, maybe, though as a city-man Zhi never made assumptions by habit.

“You’re back?” they asked.

“I heard you might have recordings that could help us.” The Investigator spoke up, while Li just provided aesthetic support, “Really all I’m interested in. Wouldn’t take a moment of your time, and I won’t cause any trouble.”

“Who are you?” their eyes were brimming with concern.

He flashed his badge, though he doubted they’d recognize it by training, “Federal Investigator. This might be important; you’d be doing us all a big favor.”

They shook their head, “I-I don’t want to get involved with anything. This is all really messed up.”

“Yeah, that tends to be the case.” He nodded, “May I ask your name?”

“Ling.” they gave.

“Your shop?” Zhi asked.

“It’s my shop, yes.” They answered.

“I’m not fully authorized for this, but I could promise you a degree of protection if you agree to help me, Ling.” Zhi tried his luck, “Maybe a vacation ticket as a gift? You can leave town for a little bit, and I imagine even if there is danger it’ll have blown over by then. Does that sound amenable?”

They seemed to mull it over for a bit, before their eyes conveyed a nod, and the latch shut. A few moments later, and the automated rails of the door screen were lifting the metal plates into the ceiling, and they were let inside with the accompanying ring of a bell.

“Sorry. I’m sorry.” Ling stammered, “It’s just this kind of stuff never happens out here. Maybe the occasional thief, but nothing like this.” They ushered the two inside.

It was quite a large shop, with a good amount of sitting room. Zhi suspected outdoor seating might not be so popular in this town, what with the fog drifts being predominant for most of the year. It was amazing the greenboxes on the buildings were in good order.

“Here, just follow me. I haven’t checked the footage. Just download it off, if you want. I’d really rather not look at it.” The shopkeep was rather short, old in appearance but with a youthful demeanor and a neat bun hairstyle. Altogether regular and tidy, and very out of place in any kind of trouble.

The duo was led back through the shop, past the kitchen, up a flight of stairs, and through a locked door to the second level. Their destination was one of several doors lining the hallway, like a janitorial closet. Ling gave them access with her datapad. It was a small room, though very neat and with an impressive computer setup, with multiple monitors and a decent unit from what Zhi could surmise.

“Pretty heavy-duty stuff. This all for security?” Li inquired.

“This building is actually bigger than just this shop. There’re some offices upstairs, a few other food places around the back, and uh, some apartments. Very compact. I live here too.” They explained, “It’s just I’m also the building manager, so I deal with ensuring most of the security and utilities.”

It wasn’t so uncommon. Zhi just didn’t know how they had the energy to run an eatery while also being the community in-between for the whole building. He’d be as high-strung if he had to deal with anything more than what his one job already dumped in his lap.

The civilian logged in and gestured to the chair, stepping out of the way of the two officers.

“Just, uh – do what you need to do and then you can just leave it. I’ll give you space.” They smiled, “Oh but uh, just the security cam footage please.”

“Of course.” Li assured.

“Yeah, I’m not looking for a lawsuit, I’ll just be a moment.” Zhi was a bit brusquer.

“Strange one.” Li commented once they were alone, as she leaned over Zhi’s shoulder to watch him at work.

“Overworked. Could’ve been anything, they’d have snapped from the stress. Just unfortunate it had to be a murder.” Perception was something of a trade specialty. Having dealt with all manner of civilians who had actual things to hide, he’d grown accustomed to sussing out the weird from the suspect.

Li watched with some surprise as the Investigator brought up one of his hands. She hadn’t noticed until now, but he wore a drab brown glove on just one hand, having done most of his gesturing with the other until now. He pulled off the covering to expose unfleshed augmetics – a silver and angular surrogate with many odd details about its surface. With a few internal adjustments, as the various components moved on their own, one prong stuck up from his index finger. He inserted the interface probe into the input port of the computer. At once, his operations on the monitor moved ten times faster, as he navigated as quick as thought.

“Cool aug’.” she commented, as one cyborg to another.

“Trade tool.” He said without much passion.

In moments he’d located the cam files and sorted through the different streams from the few sentries around the building to the one that sat at the edge of the rooftop, watching the alley. So much security. If he was a Sentinel he’d maybe be concerned that something unsavory was up in this commune, but it wasn’t his department. Maybe some kind of hedonist club. So long as it was nothing sketchy it wasn’t a problem anyways.

“Alright, and—” he muttered, as he spun back the hours to the night before, looking for the moment at which the body on the pavement would stand itself back up again.

“There!” Li pointed, as if he couldn’t see it. The man had been cutting through the alley, and a whirl of something fast had dropped him like a bag of rocks. Zhi did his best to zoom, but the resolution was lacking in the darkness.

“Someone over him.” He assessed, “Holding him down.” He pointed with his free hand. On top of the form of the victim was a hunched figure. Dark, though its head stood out by a faint glint in the shadows. It was stooped over the man, holding him there as he writhed, doing something. They waited.

There was a sudden flash of movement. The figure’s arm came up holding something in its hand, and the victim’s head jerked back with it. His throat had been slashed. Without pause, the killer stood and rushed with almost inhuman agility over to one of the dumpsters, vaulting off it, then the sheer side of the wall, and they were out of frame.

“What on Cairn?” Li muttered.

“Wait.” Zhi wanted to check something. He rewound the footage, back before the first attack. He played it slow, watching it unfold as the dark figure returned to the kill, and then shot up into the sky.

“Augmetics? How’d they fall like that?” the Sentinel asked.

“You’re killing me. Please.” Zhi shushed her, his gaze trained on the screen. She glanced at him in irritation but noticed something had come into those drooping eyes. They were locked on the monitor like a sniper’s scope.

“Here.” He pointed again. It was at a portion of the roof’s edge just caught by the camera. There was a shadow and – a foot. A black-clad boot, resting just at the very corner of the camera’s periphery.

“What kind of camera—? Ah.” The Investigator check the readouts in the corner of the footage, “Microreceptor. Explains the resolution as much as why our perp didn’t catch the camera.” Partial-3D microreceptor, a kind of microcam preferred for being very small and discreet in part, but also for its unique rendering pattern. You could “rotate” microceptor footage in three dimensions to some degree, making it easier to spot details in normal blind spots.

“The peripheries on these things are usually blurry.” Zhi spoke. Li had some familiarity, but she was more focused on the footage, “But if I uncrop the frame let’s see what we can get.”

He did so, as the whole edge of the recording pulled back to show the actual rendering of the scene. It was circular, the center in full clarity while the edges feathered out in the peripheral vision of the microceptor. Li gasped, while Zhi sat still as a dead man.

It was a humanoid figure perched on the edge of the rooftop, kneeling as if ready to leap. The outline was blurry from the recording technique, but the image was clear enough. Human, or humanoid, with a black skintight suit enveloping its entire body. Faint distortions in the silhouette suggested items strapped to the figure’s frame, though it was hard to tell.

What was clearest was the face. Inhuman, twisted, insidious. It was a mask, as far as Zhi could tell. He hoped it was, at the very least. It was made in the shape of a leering white skull, distended at the cranium into an elongated form that curved back over their shoulders. As if that was not strange enough, one eye was absent, instead being replaced with a much larger augmetic lens, which swept back with its own tube casing parallel to the side of the mask. The distortion gave them just the bare form – the stylized skull, the one odd eye, the freakish head, all set atop the otherwise sleek, lithe body. Zhi restarted the footage and watched the ghoulish shape leap from out of obscurity down into the alley, crushing the unsuspecting man beneath its weight. going about whatever it had subjected him to before the final cut.

Li didn’t say it aloud, but she thought it in her head. The word seemed right, for such a ghastly anomaly. “Vampire.”

Zhi wished he could’ve been happy with finding his mark. Instead his thoughts were flooded with threads, choices. There was going to be untold friction with the CSS, to say nothing of the matter of catching whatever this – thing was. Its skull face just leered with cold, unmoving expression as he rewound the footage again, staring into its empty mask eyes. The body of a human – and the visage, the movements of something else.

The world of Cairn did not yet have an answer for this.

#warhammer #40k #pariah planet #culexus #homebrew

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kae-karo · 5 years

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I'm a bit out of the loop with phandom stuff, so I don't know if it's been discussed, and I know it was over a week ago, but Adrian's new video rubbed me the wrong way, and I didn't know until just now why. It kind of felt like a stab at Dan? Like, he knows how important this kind of thing is to Dan, and he made a video going completely against it. I don't know if that makes sense, it's the best way I can describe it xx

hi dear! okay first and foremost i want to caution against referring to adrian/his vids as anything to do with the phandom, since he’s entirely separate and frankly i would like him to stay that way. that being said, i agree wholeheartedly that it felt like a lazy, unresearched attempt at being a mental health guru and - perhaps not intentionally - a bit of a snub at dan’s work with mental health orgs and his own daniel & depression vid

i know people have wanted my thoughts on it so i tried to watch it w.o giving him a view, idk if it worked but i genuinely want to be sure i’ve seen it before i express any opinions (i have a lot to say whoops)

my first complaint is how casual this is and the fact that he did it all in one take - this isn’t a topic that lends itself well to such levity, it’s a topic that requires careful thought and organization

he starts off by saying he sees ‘people unnecessarily struggling with mental illness’ which to me just implies that it’s somehow solely the fault of the person that they have a mental illness when we all know that’s of course not the case - he really needed to have a little more empathy in that statement, and it was so close to like. being a decent statement

‘we’re not taught ways to manage it’ yes okay that’s valid i support that, he does note that we aren’t taught ways to deal with events that crop up in almost all our lives in school! this is valid

i appreciate that he prefaced his rant of ‘advice’ by saying he’s not a professional and it’s his own experiences, but he doesn’t practice that when he’s talking - it definitely sounds like a ‘this is how you should do it’ kind of thing

i’m sorry but ‘meditation is huge, it’s massive’ like? okay that’s great but like. i don’t like that the medical side of things has been all but ignored - i know not everyone can afford it, but it should still be brought up in a video regarding mental health, or a vid like adrian’s should be prefaced by saying that he’s only talking about the kinds of things that worked for him that you can do by yourself alongside professional help, or something to that effect

i know people brought it up but him saying he can go from being a ‘depressed, obese fucking piece of shit person’ to who he is today is so immensely horrible and inconsiderate toward people struggling with weight or mental health or a combination. that’s just utterly horrible and if anything else he’s done in the past didn’t put me off him/his content before, that right there did - and he has no excuse. this is not a topic to be taken so lightly as to say in one shot and then post with no consideration

the way he talks about his ‘advice’ is so detrimental - instead of inspiring and encouraging, he’s trash talking and saying if you don’t do these things, you’re stuck and you’re not making enough effort and you’re, for all intents and purposes, fucked (i say because he said it so often)

‘we have to take absolute responsibility for ourselves, because no one else is gonna fix it’ no, maybe not ‘fix’ it, but they can help - my god, if you’re struggling with mental health, it can be eons easier to work toward feeling better if you have someone encouraging you, if you have someone you can vent to, if you have a professional or a doctor, if you have a support system. as much as it fucking sucks, it’s really really hard, nigh impossible, to improve without a support system!!!???

i’m sorry, it’s ‘liberating’ to know that you have the power (to change things yourself)? maybe for some people, but what i’ve heard from many many others is that it’s terrifying and daunting. again, this is something better done in several takes where he would’ve had time to analyze his own word choices and improve on them, saying something like ‘for me, it was liberating’

i’m very skeptical of him talking about all the biochemistry of exercise without any kind of resources backing him up - from a high level, i’ve no doubt he’s right (nutrition was more my specialty over exercise) but by the same token, he’s speaking as if he’s a professional and that’s something he needs to keep in check

he gets,,,,,,extensively preachy ‘you just have to start doing it, you have to start’ okay, but how? (or, in this case, what did he do bc i really don’t want him to actually say things as if he’s an expert) and what about the people who have trouble starting, or start ten times and give up eleven times? you can’t give these command-style statements without assistance and call it advice - that’s not advice, that’s preaching

‘food is medicine’ no my dude medicine is medicine, food is food. and it’s so so so important to remember that some people need medicine (actual medicine) regardless of how well they eat to help with their mental health - yes, eating right is important, absolutely, but it’s not always enough to help someone manage the symptoms of their mental health

stop. preaching. vegan. it’s very hard for people to eat vegan esp with low incomes, and it can be very hard for people on vegan diets to get enough protein without very careful food consumption - i know i saw someone post about it last week or w.e when this vid came out but for me and them and probably a lot of other people, being very overly conscious about the kinds of foods they’re consuming can lead to eating disorders (it did for me). people can live perfectly healthy lifestyles while still eating meat, still eating animal products and - shockingly - still eating the occasional fried greasy food!

‘if you can harness [your mind] and reign it in’.......look. i get it. trying to be conscious of your thoughts is important. but this is more of that ‘live laugh love’ bullshit that means absolutely nothing to someone who’s actually struggling? how can you tell what’s detrimental? some of it’s obvious ofc, but some of it really isn’t? ‘when you get your thoughts on a good wavelength’ okay that’s still not advice! that’s preaching! how does someone even approach that! at the very least, he could say how he approached it (i’m upset bc all he’s doing is saying ‘here’s where i was, here’s where i am now’ without any indication of the in-between - i don’t want him saying ‘this is how people should do it’ but i would’ve at least appreciated him saying how he did it)

‘magic starts to happen’ no. that’s not how dealing with a mental health issue works for most people. it’s not just 'uwu think positive thoughts uwu’. and it’s so so so scary to see someone preaching that, because you know what happens to the vast majority of the people who hear that but can’t just magically realign their thoughts? they can lose hope and lose motivation and decide there’s something wrong with them or they’re not ‘trying hard enough’ or they can never get better - which is so so heartbreakingly wrong!!!??? i’m so so severely disappointed in this video

‘you’re making your life an absolute misery for yourself and for everyone’ oh my god. oh my god how dare you. how dare you say that. there are so so many beautiful and wonderful and lovely humans out there whose brains force them to think these kinds of negative thoughts and you have the audacity to claim that it’s their fault - and worse, that they are making other people miserable. i’m not saying there’s no way for them to make tiny adjustments and help them get themselves on a path to improvement, but oh my god get out of here. get out get out get the fuck out i have never in my entire goddamn life wanted more to make a video directly countering all the bullshit he’s said especially this

#adrian #i'm so fucking pissed about this now jfc sorry #i got progressively angrier throughout the vid #mayhaps it was a mistake but here we are #anon #ask #kt

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voldiebuns · 5 years

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HalLUDOween!!

So last weekend I went to HalLUDOween, aka Ludo's one night only, first time in six years concert! They're my favorite band and since I didn't think I'd ever get to hear them again in concert, of course I had to go. Even if it was in St. Louis, an approximately 11 hour drive from home lol But @biffelderberry and I figured it would be worth it, and it so was :D

We started out early Friday morning since it was going to be a long drive and we had to pick up a rental car since neither of our cars was up to such a drive. Of course we found out like an hour into the drive that the model we got had had a recall put out that very morning, but thankfully we didn't have any problems with it. The drive was actually not too bad, despite being so long and being mostly a drive through boring wilderness. We'd put together an approximately 13 hour playlist, so we had plenty of music to sing along with. And we made lots of stops at Taco Bell so I could get their potato tacos bc I'm apparently obsessed lol I ended up eating Taco Bell for every meal Friday, which was probably not a good idea, but it tasted fucking awesome.

(Me, left, and Biff at the beginning of the drive.)

Made it to the hotel around 8 maybe. There were two guys from Chicago in the check in line in front of us who we think may have been there for the concert as well, but the cool part was when we went down to breakfast in the morning, we met two other ppl who were there for the concert! They were from Wisconsin and California, so it was cool to talk to them for a bit about how much we all love Ludo and were so happy we were getting to see them again. We'd planned to use most of Saturday to explore St. Louis, since we'd come so far anyway. We'd wanted to do a ghost tour, but that didn't end up working out, but we did do a few other cool things. We went to an antiques store where we couldn't afford anything, but it still had some really interesting stuff. Then we went over to Grand Street, which I gather is kind of the popular downtown street. We ate at Lulu's Local Eatery, which is a small, hippster-y vegan place. I got the mac n cheese and Biff got the sliders, both of which were fucking delicious. Also very filling, which was a little disappointing bc we'd hoped to share the carnitas loaded tots after lol After that we went to a nearby comic book store. The owner was super nice and we talked to him about Ludo a bit (I was wearing my Ludo shirt) bc apparently everyone in town knew about this concert lol He'd had some other ppl in earlier who were going, I think from New York? Or maybe Arizona. We basically spent the whole weekend hearing from ppl in town about ppl coming in from out of state for the concert. Anyway, after that we did a little more walking around, mostly bc we wanted to look at all the pretty trees, and then went to Walmart to pick up some food (they have a So Delicious cashew milk chocolate cookies and cream ice cream that is to die for!). And crosstitching stuff bc Biff wanted to do an AO3 inspired bookmark design, and I thought it sounded fun as well. Also got some face masks bc why not. Which actually turned out not to be the best idea... When we got back to the hotel, I tried out my clay mask and it didn't go well. I did put a little too much water in it, but I don't think that accounts for how I apparently had an allergic reaction to it. Seriously, when I took it off, I looked like I had a rash all over my face. Thankfully my makeup skills were enough to cover it up, but I did end up sitting with a cool cloth on my face for awhile just to be sure the only reaction was the rash. Here's a picture of me post concert with half my makeup wiped off (the red side was waaaay better than when I first took off the mask):

So got ready, blah blah blah. And then it was time for the concert!! Costumes were encouraged, but since we didn't actually bring any, we just dressed up. My outfit of the night, which I loved bc I'd been waiting for an excuse to wear that crop top:

We took a Lyft to and from the venue since we didn't want to deal with parking or driving back at who knew what time. Which was probably a good thing bc the whole area around there was packed. More so for the second show, where the lines were literally down the block, but even for the first show. Bc of my trying to deal with a sudden allergic reaction rash, we were running a little late, so we got there like halfway through the opener. He was pretty good from what we heard, so I'll probably look up his music at some point. We had assigned seats in the balcony, which I was really glad of even if they cost more than GA down below. We would have had to get there hours early to get a good place there and would have had to stand, which I really am not up to for long amounts of time. But our seats were actually really good and we had a fantastic view of the stage. Except for the railing being right at eye level lol Since the concert was Halloween themed, they of course had some Halloween elements for the stage and their costumes. There were a couple of big, glowing blow up ghosts on either side of the stage. When the show started, about a dozen ppl came out in sheet ghost costumes and ran away around for awhile until it was just the band and they took off the sheets to show they were wearing skeleton onesies. Which I really really want one of now tbh.

Here's the vid I took of the intro. It was honestly so so awesome to see them in concert again. The first and only time I saw them before was in 2011, which was right before they basically broke up (ie they all just drifted away to other things and the band was no more). They did pretty much the song set that I'd been expecting, though there were a couple of things they sang that I hadn't expected. (They'd done a poll on twitter with Topek, Girls on Trampolines, and a couple of others, so since Topeka won I wasn't expecting them to play Girls on Trampolines.) And they did my top three favorite songs of theirs! Including Andrew going solo on my absolute favorite, Horror of Our Love! I took a vid of that too of course, which you can prob hear both Biff and I singing along to. They ended the concert with a cover of the Ghostbusters theme song and having a bunch of kids come out to throw candy to the crowd, which was a fun way to end it. There was no new music, aside from the two covers they did, which I think all of us had been hoping for. Even though we knew it was unlikely since the week before was the first time they'd all been in a room together in years. Still, the music and the experience of being part of the crowd was just as fantastic as last time. So yeah, the concert was amazing all around and totally worth the ridiculous drive :D After, we went down the block to the merch store, bc there was definitely no way I was leaving without something. We stood out in the cold for an hour waiting in line, which was fine except for the couple behind us was being really critical of the show and really annoying. We found out the reason it was taking so long was that the band was in the merch store talking to fans and signing stuff and taking pictures, which I hadn't expected. Of course their handler started telling them they needed to leave basically as soon as we got up to the front of the line. But! They were being pretty slow about it bc they wanted to keep talking to the fans, so Matt, the drummer, ended up at the door at the same time we were and he gave us hugs! He also said thanks for coming again, which made it sound like he recognized us? But idk. Anyway, as awesome as that was, the best part was apparently the girl behind us really wanted a hug from him and we were the last ones he hugged before leaving. Vengeance is sweet :D Anyway, I ended up with a t-shirt and a poster for the concert, plus a couple smaller ones from previous tours that they were giving away for free. There was a really cool tree print that I wish I would have gotten, so I hope they put that up online. There was a vinyl of the last CD as well that I wanted, but I really didn't feel like I could justify that as well. Maybe they'll put it up online too.

We took a Lyft back, which was a bit of an experience bc we had to cross the street to get to our ride and some asshole apparently was tired of waiting in traffic and tried to speed around while we were in the crosswalk. He stopped in time, but Biff really thought he was going to hit me :/ But we made it back to the hotel safely and met the lady from breakfast again. We ended up talking to her for awhile, which was fun bc she's been following the band for a long time and is apparently knows them personally bc of that. Sunday morning we slept in a bit bc we'd been out so late. We were both very glad we had decided not to drive home that day lol We went back out to Grand Street and had lunch at Lemongrass, a Vietnamese place there. I got the tofu summer roll and sesame tofu, and the sesame tofu was seriously good omg. After that we did some more walking and went to a bookstore we'd seen on Saturday. It was really cool and had a pretty fantastic variety of stuff spread out over three levels. We met a local Ludo fan there (we were both wearing the shirts we bought) who hadn't gotten to go to the concert and talked to her a little. Afterward we went over to the St. Louis Art Museum since they were supposed to have a textiles exhibit that sounded really interesting. We didn't end up finding it, and we only got to stay about half an hour before they closed, but it was still really fun. Plus they had some gorgeous views out front, some beautiful fall maples, and a statue of, apparently, Saint Louis.

We thought about going to the zoo after that, since it was literally across the street, but they were having some Halloween event and there were hundreds of small children everywhere. We decided that wasn't something we wanted to deal with lol So we went and picked up lunch from Fred and Ricky's Plant Delicious Foods, a lttle vegan grab and go place, instead and took it to eat at the hotel. The food was pretty good, though probably the best part is that I found out they ship nationwide, so I can order from there sometime if I want. Which is nice bc we really don't have many vegan places here. Monday it was time to leave. Because the drive home was long and we had to get back before the rental place closed at six, we got up at 5 am to head out. It wasn't too terrible, but we were definitely still tired. And I fell coming down the stairs with my suitcase and bruised my ass. It still hurts :/ Drive home seemed longer than the one there, probably bc I didn't really want to be going home lol It's so interesting how every time I go away for a fun weekend, it hits me when I get back how much I hate living at my house and in my city and in Texas in general. So I guess good motivation to try to find a way to move out sooner rather than later. So the weekend was fantastic! There were a few other places we would have liked to go, like the City Museum and some more vegan restaurants, but overall we hit some good places and had a lot of fun. Plus just the landscapes up there were so so pretty. We don't have trees like that in Texas lol But we're definitely thinking of going back to St. Louis sometime to see some more stuff. And maybe see Ludo again, if this concert was a sign of things to come! But of course it coudn't be all good. My throat was feeling a bit scratchy on the way home Monday, and by Tuesday I was pretty sick. Thankfully I had the whole week off plus Monday and Tuesday this week (I'd been hoping to go to a Star Trek meet up this weekend, but I couldn't afford it after all). I'm hoping I'm well by the time I go back to work, but it's been kind of a sucky way to spend my time off! But still worth it for Ludo lbr :D

(If you want to see the food pics I took, they’ll go up on my food blog: @foodandmind)

#Ludo #Ludo Rock #HalLUDOween #Night of the Living Ludo #personal #literal GPOY #image heavy #long post

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gillian-ybabez · 6 years

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Explorer Program: First Star

<<Previous Index

Our first star system was four hundred and twenty-three light years away. Transit time for us was three weeks and about ten years for Earth. All of us gathered in the main control room of the ship. None of us needed to be there for the ship to exit transit-space but it was the end of our first long transit

The main control room had seats for all of the crew; two forward stations, the commander’s seat behind them, aux stations on either side of her, and five jump seats against the back wall. It can double as a last resort escape shuttle but lacks a space-warp drive. John, our primary pilot, sat at the right station reading the transit status to us.

“Coming out of transit-space in three … two … one …” The black void of transit-space remained. John looked back down at the panel. “Um … one.” This time the view outside lit up with the pinprick lights of stars. Some of the crew clapped. Mia let out a “Whoop!”

“Preparing to launch System Survey Probes,” our astronomer said. “Awaiting Commander’s order.”

The commander nodded, “Go ahead.” She turned to her right where Darren sat running Communications on the aux station. “Have we established contact with Earth?”

“Carrier wave is transmitting. Should be any–” A voice from the speakers interrupted them.

“Capcom Earth to Explorer ship, do you copy? Capcom Earth to Explorer ship, do you copy? Over.”

“I copy Capcom Earth. This is Explorer ship EX-014. Over,” Darren said.

“Good to hear from you EX14. What is your current status? Over.”

“All systems green. We just arrived at Kepler-186 and launched our probes. Over.”

“Sounds good EX14. Are you ready for network connection? Over.”

“Ready for network connection. Over.”

“Starting network connection. Over.”

“Network connection is good. Over.”

“We will maintain radio bridge until the upload is complete then disconnect from our side. Is there anything else to report? Over.” Darren glanced at the commander who gave a single shake of her head.

“Thank you Capcom. Nothing else to report. Over and out.

“Thank you EX14. Over and out.”

“Ok folks, everyone not on duty can return to standby,” the commander said. The five of us not at control panels stood up from the extra seats in the back of the control room and exited to the main living areas.

***

A few hours later my tablet chimed with a notification. A few hundred emails sat in my inbox. Ten years of messages, thankfully no spam. I opened the latest message.

Hey, it’s been a little while since I sent you anything so here’s a vid from the beach.

I clicked on the attached file. My tablet’s screen went white then the ocean faded into view. Waves broke and rolled on to the beach while people played in the surf. I turned the sound on. Gentle water sounds, soft white noise surf, punctuated by seagulls and people. The camera slowly panned across the water and sandy beach until it turned around to face my cousin. She looked different; not yet showing her age but noticeably different to my eyes. Changes in musculature and fat in her face since I had seen her years ago yet only a few weeks ago in my reference.

“It’s a lovely day here on Rockport Beach. Wish you were here,” she said smiling into the camera before the video stopped.

The previous message was a few months older and the one before that another few months older. As I scrolled further back, the time between messages shortened. How long could someone maintain a one-sided conversation? My cousin had lasted most of ten years. Was this right, I wondered. She spent years sending me messages and videos while I skipped to the end. Was it fair? Not to either of us; I knew.

I checked the probes’ data feeds and found one in orbit around a planet. Mostly brown with red splotches. I scrubbed through the image buffer until I found a prominent jagged line of blue running into an irregular blue shape. I adjusted the color contrast, cropped the image, and saved it.

I hit reply on the message:

We arrived at Kepler-186. I’m just getting started on catching up on the last ten years of messages. This will be released to the public later anyway but here’s a sneak peek at a river and lake on another planet. It’s the closest thing to a beach for 400 light-years. Love Gabby

I attached the photo and sent the message. It would be several hours before we contacted Earth again and the message was actually sent. In the meantime, I resorted my inbox to “old to new” and started catching up on the last ten years.

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"Explorer Program: First Star" was also posted on my website, Gillian's Notebook, home of my writing. Help support my writing by becoming a patron. Reblogs help to spread my writing to new readers.

#scifi #space #stories #trans characters #trans woman

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beckytailweaver · 6 years

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Coco thoughts lately

This is (mostly) in response to @anotherweepingwoman and This Post but also some other things in general I’ve been reading (and you will probably recognize it if you’ve read the same things). It’s separate here because I didn’t want to hijack other people or Great Wall of Text so badly again. XD I’ve tried to be coherent but this will likely drift around a lot! It’s a lot of thoughts all muddled into one space.

(Disclaimer: I only got to see Coco in theater once. For the rest I must resort to vid clips that may or may not decide to load on my slow internet, until I can buy the disc. It's a good exercise in my memory skills.)

Héctor is a liar, but oftentimes he's apologizing for his lies. When I go into my headcanon-framework for his background, these fibs that come out may be old habit from an orphaned childhood. If he was raised, say, in an orphanage by strict caretakers, it would have been to his advantage to know how to put on a good-little-boy face and say whatever was needed to divert attention or stay out of trouble. If he was more of a rangy little street rat type, then white lies would have been a stock part of his survival kit. I think this habit of evading the truth would have worn down a bit once he had a stable home with Imelda (and she would insist on teaching their daughter honesty), but after decades of desperation in the bottom of the afterlife he's definitely back to street rat mode.

Ernesto lies too, and we've seen where that went. I don't think Héctor has ever lied in such a way that was meant to harm anyone. Little fibs to his advantage, a disguise here or a sparkly promise there; never damaging gossip or deliberately hurtful untruths or a promise that could get someone killed. But he is a liar, and anyone who's known him long would know that. (This might also explain why Imelda seems so eager to believe he'd run off and never come home, whether or not Ernesto told her anything. Héctor is slippery and she knows it, but she'd dared to hope he would not be dishonest to her.)

Héctor acts his age, largely, I think because you are sort of frozen the moment you die: You get a skeletal representation of your body at the moment of death, with some decorative additions to give you individuality and mark who you are. Skeletal children don't grow, the old are forever elderly. While the visual/physical form of the body is bones, there has to be some kind of force to animate them, to process what goes on around them. Invisibly, I think, a sort of ghostly/energy echo of the body remains, and part of that is the echo of a brain (how else could they think and remember things?) which for Héctor is an imprint of a 21-year-old brain with its not-quite-complete neurological maturity. While he can learn and gain experiences, the structure of that brain is still going to process things in a 21-year-old way. Experience can shape his thinking and grant him wisdom, but at his root he's still young in personality. (Young people can be tired, cynical, and hopeless too.)

Héctor is a father, but he has never been a parent to a child older than 3-4. (Young parents grow with their first kids and learn things!) "Rubbing shoulders" with Miguel may just be the only way he knows how to interact with young boys older than his daughter was. He does seem to be comfortable around kids and isn't flustered by dealing with them, which makes me think he was around a lot of them growing up (orphanage?) or ended up being That Kid in their small town who is all the children's favorite bro. He is the fun, gentle sort of person that children flock to, so it's likely he would sing and play with the neighborhood kids even up into his marriage. He seems pretty active and playful himself (when not desperate or on the clock, but you still see flashes of it), despite the crippling of being Forgotten.

Miguel wasn't mimicking Héctor to mock him, but because he wanted to walk "like a skeleton" and his nearest, dearest example happened to have the Forgotten condition of loose bones and an awkward limp. Miguel will imitate his new cool big bro! But in this case, Héctor is so used to being mercilessly ridiculed for everything that he takes it poorly on reflex, without realizing (perhaps not until he stops and thinks about it later) that Miguel meant nothing bad by it. The shove in response isn't really that severe for the horseplay that young boys can get up to. (It wasn't a punch or a slap or a kick or a grab, which angry men are certainly capable of.) But it is reactive in a somewhat immature way, same as his snappish responses to the musicians later on.

He let out that grouchy "how come he didn't invite you?" comeback to Miguel in the rehearsal area, but Miguel wasn't hurt or upset by it. Kid didn't even blink. (It was a pretty legitimate question from Miguel, even!) But I think the subconscious drift into familial familiarity made it more like the kind of snark Miguel gets at home all the time and he doesn't even pause. It's Rivera snark, it just happens, nobody's really injured by it, on to the next subject. They may use it to cover up their soft spots, and they all know how to take it as well as dish it out. Miguel had the proper Rivera response as well: Let it go. He didn't keep digging in or teasing on this. He might react with disbelief to some of Héctor's statements about knowing a famous guy like De la Cruz, but that's because he's already recognized Héctor as a consummate embellisher and knows better than to believe every word from his mouth. He never uses the lack of party invitation as a weapon or even brings it up again.

Héctor's poor actions as an "adult and disciplinarian" after Poco Loco can be attributed to, yes, his mental youth, and also I think to those edges of desperation that crop up many, many times all night long. That desperation, knowing that tonight is probably his last, is a poor help to an already-impulsive young man's mind. It makes his Ready-Fire-Aim even worse. It short circuits a century's worth of wisdom and (after)life experience in favor of urgent, sometimes thoughtless rushing. Yes, he is very deeply concerned with himself and his photo right now; he can't help it. He's dying and he's desperate and he needs to do this now, and however much he likes Miguel this dumb kid is on a clock too and doesn't even know what's important here! Despite that he's usually a nice guy I definitely don't think Héctor is a total pushover in personality. That whole night prior to the cenote we're probably looking at the shortest his fuse has ever been. And he still manages to be in general kind and supportive to Miguel (who has been alternately delighting him and giving him hell all evening).

I have a somewhat different headcanon about Héctor watching Miguel's slow fading to bone over the course of the night. I think Miguel did discuss his time limit with Héctor during or just before the face painting early on, but initially Héctor is understandably more concerned with his own deadline. As he comes to know Miguel better, he cares more. But he also may forget now and then, in his own urgent situation, until a look over the kid's shoulder reminds him that two hourglasses are trickling down, not one. And he does care, potentially a great deal: "Your life literally depends on you winning!" He didn't even mention the photo until after, when the family thing came up.

Genuine Héctor...definitely makes numerous appearances through the night. Most of his performance-art is for guards and gatekeepers, wheedling to people he needs to get past who might cut him some slack. Héctor being all super extra nice to Miguel during the face paint and explanation is definitely performance. He does a lot of performance with the Shantytown Crew, putting on a happy-go-lucky face. His Frida impersonations are absolutely performance, quite deliberately so!

However, Genuine Héctor comes out surprisingly fast around Miguel. The kid worms his way into a position of camaraderie pretty darn quick. Perhaps this is due to Héctor's loneliness making him open to someone who could be a real friend, or maybe it's genetic similarity gently drawing them to trust more easily. Most of the Genuine Héctor moments are in Miguel's proximity, possibly not only because the kid is the other leading character of the film; a lot of his genuine moments aren't just in proximity to Miguel, but in response to him.

Genuine Héctor generally doesn't come with the overbearing grins, theatrical body actions, or higher, wheedly tone of voice. Genuine Héctor is in the casual questions, exasperated eye-rolls, short-tempered grumps, dramatic sighs, epic grouchface, snappy comebacks, freely teasing, warm encouragement, playful dance teaching, melancholy stillness, angry desperation, grieving rage, tearful hopelessness, clear relief. Those moments when Héctor is not keenly watching the people around him as targets he needs to con. (There's a difference in his gaze; keep your eye on it!)

Not all of his performance is negative or self-serving, either; sometimes it's just because a nervous kid needs a pick-me-up and Héctor can put on a smile for that.

Face painting scene—lots of performance, but some real warmth. Walking with Miguel, the shove—no performance, pure grumpy. Talking to Ceci—plenty of performance for deference, Ceci is a gatekeeper. Rehearsal studio—mostly genuine; no point in faking the musicians, they treat him like crap no matter what he does. Going down to Shantytown—performance, especially off the ledge! With Chicharron—started as performance, became genuine real fast. Trolley to the plaza—performance to get around truthtelling, but also to act encouraging. Waiting for a turn onstage—no performance until okayokayokay and he goes into another encouraging spiel.

Some of Héctor's best genuine moments are on the Poco Loco stage. Sure, he's performing, but that's genuine Héctor, not a performance. Not during the song. He's not watching the audience—he's watching Miguel. And then he's playing with him. There's no con in that music. That was all Héctor and Miguel having fun with each other.

Afterward, the argument...no performance. None. It's all very real exasperation and anger fueled by the same old desperation. The argument hurts both of them because it tastes like betrayal. ("I told you I needed to cross tonight!" "Well I told you it has to be De la Cruz!") They both pulled lies on each other (taste of your own medicine!) and ran face-first into a mirror. Shortsighted demands and lack of explanation, and the whole thing goes down the drain.

As a kind person, we never see Héctor use force to get across the bridge. He did not grab or physically coerce Miguel in any way to take his picture there; he used only words. Even when things came to a head and he was angrily trying to drag the kid back to his family, it was half-hearted at best (and no more than we've seen anyone in the Rivera family do with recalcitrant children) and Miguel slipped out of his grip in a heartbeat. (Maybe he's getting too weak to hold on; maybe Miguel is too heavy for him to drag without lifting.) I'd bet money that Héctor has never threatened physical injury or actively harmed anyone in his pursuit of crossing; that he's never used a weapon or taken anyone hostage to try to force his way across. I doubt such things would even occur to him! His entanglements with the crossing guards have all likely been evasions and brief tangles where he's trying to disengage. I'd wager that night that Ernesto is the first person he's actually attacked with intent to harm in a very, very long time—if ever.

One of the saddest things is how Héctor has been denied musical joy for so long. "Stupid musical fantasy" is mainly because his turned out to be. He's also lost perspective on this: To a child, these things are huge. Like, music is everything. Miguel has his family, but they're...in a way, background, they've always been there, and in his mind always will be. He doesn't want to leave them for music, he wants to find a way back to them with music on his own terms. Family should support you, but Riveras have made music into an all or nothing deal. (What would they have done, if the LoD journey hadn’t happened, if truth hadn't come out and Miguel refused to give up music? Would they have disowned him or otherwise banished him?)

Héctor likely had little or no family before the one he made for himself, and going back to them would not have meant giving up music altogether. I think at the point of their argument, Héctor failed to realize (or had not been informed of) the position Miguel is in. Héctor was giving up a fond dream of musical fame to go back to his small town family and find a local job he could do while continuing to play music for recreation and additional income. It's really not the same as Miguel going back to (or being forced by curse conditions) an existence centered around a shoemaking family defined by its enforced silencing of music. In that sense, Héctor was giving up fame and money (Ernesto's priorities), not music; Miguel would be losing music entirely, for the fame and money afforded by the Rivera shoe reputation.

It puts a different spin on their respective stories to think of it that way. They both love their families and giving them up permanently isn't even part of the equation. The real culprits/sacrifices here are wealth/reputation and music. And before we get into "But Héctor left his family!" let's just pause: Héctor did not abandon his family, he went on a business trip! He fully intended to return, and the fact that he didn't—sooner or later—is entirely due to Ernesto's choices. It's incredibly sad that Ernesto decided to kill him, and equally as sad that Imelda was so eager/willing to believe that he would abandon them. Poor guy just can't catch a break at any point in his life (or afterlife).

As a somewhat related postscript: I think it's a bit funny that people like to bring this up, since "Go for your dreams!" is a big motif in modern (especially American) society. We're pretty much expected to leave our families behind to achieve what we want. Big education, big job, big house, the spouse we desire, the city we want to live in, the generation gap we can't abide...basically the whole point (so far as I was told) is to grow up, move out, leave the old folks behind (call a few times a year, and visit on some holidays), and achieve our dreams no matter what.

What Héctor was doing—going on a business trip for a job or potential job—is absolutely nothing unusual to what goes on every day: People with spouses and children temporarily leave them to go on business trips, they go on military tour, they go on band/performance tours, they commute or move to another city for half the year for work...and this is considered normal. Not ideal, but pretty normal. (Even when Héctor was alive, people would at times have to go far away to make money to send to their families.) Maybe it wasn't favored in Héctor's time either, but I find it rather ironic that people give him hell over it now!

#rambled on way too long with this #so there's a cut to save your dash #random coco thoughts because #And maybe just a LITTLE social commentary #I apologize for that #And I'll get back to writing fic now #well mostly #I hope #coco spoilers #coco headcanon #coco analysis

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mc-slowwalker · 3 years

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I do not have dream merch (😔😔) but if I did and was in the discord I would literally never say anything and probably not even make it in time to the vcs before they got full. lmaoo more like dream is a milf. when dilf dream or whatever got trending a while ago because of connor, I replied to multiple people with “milf*” and I think I’d be happy if I ever got cancelled for that

yeah exactly!! I don’t want it to become a chore (which watching vods can be😭😭) I was watching ranboos mcc vod and I got so many ads I was ready to scream. also is it just me or are the ads always so fucking loud like it startles me so many times. idk about the sub thing tho but I’m like pretty sure you get an ad regardless

I haven’t bought a textbook for a single one of my subjects so I hope my lectures slides are good enough. last sem the exams were open book and online so I kind of just googled my way through the bio exam😬😬 also last semester I think I watched very few of my lectures and I’m already doing better than that this sem

apologist discourse is fully the lamest. it’s so boring too. and dumb. yeah!! discourse can be fun! I like having discussions and I love seeing different points of view but Apologist discourse?!?!?!! like seriously?? it’s so dumb especially with the assumptions made. which is why I always defend c!dream apologists. god you’re so right about the “in this day and age thing” but yeah teenagers will be teenagers

right?!?!! like I was like omg dream!! playing bedwars!! and I had a fun time watching it but like right after twt was back on their bullshit. good thing about living in australia though, half the stuff mcyttwt trends, doesn’t actually trend here lol. oh yeah that’s fair. I’ve watched hannah occasionally and she’s cool. absolutely cracked at bedwars. it’s so blatantly sexist!! and they’ll bend over backwards to justify how it isn’t it’s awful. lmao I felt the same when I left hannah’s stream once dream was gone😭😭 it sucks too cause they’ll whine about not getting dream content but the moment he goes and interacts with his FRIENDS they’ll start trending /neg or shitting on them for dumb stuff. like after dream played gartic phone with the ppsat crew and people started saying shit about gumi’s voice :/// plus another thing, kind of off topic but I was reminded, I see so many dream stans on twitter who hate techno so much (I don’t even know why and at this point I’m too afraid to ask like I know what he did but they’re so forceful in their hate) and just like??? dream is literally the biggest techno stan out there like how are you gonna have techno stans dni in your bio but still interact with dream🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

lolll. yeah my subjects really go from physics‼️bio🧫 chem🧪 to 😌being online: internet meets society😌

ranbob🥲🥲 I miss them dearly. the best dream apologist. YES DREAM WHERE IS THE LORE. it’s been MONTHS since the sneak peak. MONTHS. and sam slightly showing the courtyard in one of his streams and hinting at it’s importance??? like please give us the lore

but also!! new dream vid today :DDD

I’ve heard shipping rates to counties that aren’t american are killer and yeah I wouldn’t ever be awake enough to get into vcs….. here’s the thing though I’m not afraid to call dream a milf to his face but calling his mom a milf is a terrible first and only impression you know? My dumbass would walk in, reference the tapeworm post accidentally and be banned on site

They are loud but I’ve also found at that our favorite streamers are super quiet?? Like I was on dream’s stream for mcc and when I switch to quackity’s I got jump scared because he was so loud in comparison. Also if subs still get ads on vods I’ll fucking riot I’m jot subbed to anyone but no ads means no ads mother fuckers

From one college person to another :

Also all my classes were live so I wasn’t able to go back and rewatch them…. But honestly good on you googling your way through test I was too anxious to do that but I was also too anxious to do well on any of the exams so lose lose for me.

As someone who whines about no dream content I personally love seeing him on his friends stream! It seems like he’s on his bedwars arc rn so I’m really happy he has a bunch of friends willing to play with him! AYO IF ANYONE SAYS SHIT ABOUT ANY OF THE PPSAT CREW ITS ON SITE. How dare they what gumi is someone bothering you I’ll take care of it what the fuck!!! The hannah stuff bothered me but the gumi stuff is pissing me off!!! I like gumi’s voice she’s baller!!! I’m about to start gatekeeping (/j) the dream stan community are you even a dream stan if you’re not also a rivals duo enjoyer???? Shameful. I’ve had the same sub title/heading thing for my tumblr page forever and it just gets truer every day. Also extremely curious to see how many people clicked the links in it. If you haven’t you should, the first one is a joke but the second one isn’t

Actually I can’t call you a nerd I’m put here taking math, spanish, chem, and bio of my own free volition. Actually if you have any group discussions promise me you’ll tell people to touch grass yeah? I just think it would be funny

Ranbob my favorite he/they when will they return from the war…. Or arrive to the war actually. Better yet when will tales from the smp return as a whole karl I know you’re busy but please spare some serotonin please! I didn’t actually read the inbetween lore ever but I liked the idea of it!! I also miss all the banger characters that came from it,,, crops, ranbob, the twins, Cornelius, robin, unnamed cattboy,,,, all of the other characters that I got attached to right away,,,, I miss them always. I was watching tubbo’s stream today and he was talking about how he’s getting bored on the dream smp and oh boy did that hurt. Logically tubbo isn’t actively trying to do any lore and several dream smp members still log in everyday and do something, but it was for sure a kick to the gut. About the courtyard stuff, I wonder what they’re waiting for? Is there something in it that hasn’t happened yet or is there a different reason we haven’t gotten to see it yet? Guess we’ll have to wait

I accidentally watched the wrong dream video so I spoiled the whole thing for myself akhdkfjd funfact the video and the extra scenes look very similar

#ask #anon #long post

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seenashwrite · 6 years

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Conversations With The Commissioner: Crappy Monsters In Barber Shops, a.k.a. Nash's First Headcanon + Wine = The Image I’ll Never Be Able To Top

@lipstickandwhiskey kindly thought to tag me when she saw a jovial post that reminded her of my disappointment in the lack of dinosaurs in the *alternate world and hoped to cheer me, but little did she know [mainly because I completely brain farted on posting this way-back-when] this had been addressed. In an objectively bizarre way. Admittedly.

FYI: Spit-take warning in effect, also cursing, should you choose to carry on

Preamble

* Dear SPN Writers' Room*: I'm not calling it The Bad Place, because I'm done with y'all ripping from other stuff, in this case, a beyond phenomenal show - hey! you do recognize carefully crafted season arcs when you see it! - even if y'all thought it was a homage, it's not since viewers of the show "The Good Place" already know about The Bad Place and it's not a physical nightmare, it's a psychological nightmare.

Pay. Attention. Stop ripping from well-known pop culture shit without (1) making sure the “homage” is used correctly, (2) double-checking that something similar hasn't been done before and, if so, (3) adding your own cheeky-sneaky spin. Not doing so makes you look, at best, like hacks, at worst, like doofy dipshits, particularly when it is from shows in your same genre - like a renowned show from the same fucking network that hadn't even ended their run but a year and a half prior to when yours started - and wrapping up *your* season with a title that was an iconic element from an iconic show [it was iconic, for several reasons, that's an essay for another time] which was the basis for everything from a/possibly *the* pivotal moment in the series and which was tied to many of the composer's pieces for the soundtrack, as it was a central thread. TV Tropes is your friend.

Tangentially related, while we're here:

[Shep as Romo Lampkin]

I digress.

The Background

The Commissioner and I pop a cork, start talking about the Wayward pilot. We don't say a word about the scripting or the acting [because if we do, I go down a Dolly Deadeyes road, and nobody wants that]. Rather, we do a deep dive on the things that resemble other things and postulate how this came to be. Not in the minds of the peeps behind it, no, the dive comes via what the youths call a "headcanon". I've never had one before, I don't think, and I'm proud this is the first.

Oh, and a housekeeping side note: While my observations/the conversing began that night, the main convo/legit start on the image at the bottom happened later on. This has been run through the Nash snark filter for funsies, which is why the tone is the same for the whole conversation as, in truth, I have little clear memory of a lot of this, and the time taken for the assemblage of the image took longer than a conversation's worth, since the beginnings were sponsored by wine but it had to be done, it's how I combat insomnia and after seeing the monsters, I needed to purge my feelings of.... well....

The Beginning

After a verbal review (an accosting-of, really) of both Well-Coiffed Predator in a Bane Mask and Dollar Store Doomsday from the Wayward pilot, we begin discussing theories on how exactly this came to be in the alt world. Everything below is based on (a) the fact that New!Kaia's outfit denotes the presence of some sort of killa shopping and/or a hella talented Matrix-obsessed seamstress in the alt-world, therefore why not additional styling like a salon, and (b) the fact that we were lit on wine.

And the Predator rip - who, in the concept art, does not appear rippy-offy, it should be noted - got that mask somehow. He's either homaging Bane all over his face [his own face, not the other-way-'round] or he's gotten hold of one of the real things, modded it a touch to account for the spread of his general mouth region. Seems their temp name is the generic supernatural/folklore catch-all that I was vaguely aware of - "Canid" - and that some dude who's apparently of import on the show hates it, and I concur because all I can think of when I see the name is Candida. The Commissioner asked for a reminder, and I explained what that infection was and that now upon learning the creature’s name, I looked upon it as a yeast infection made sentient. The copious amounts of viscous discharge helps that along.

This then got a general science light bulb to pop, and we again consulted the googles, and boo-yah:

It's a dog. That. That up there, that I linked to. A daaaawwwwg.

No, not a if-this-is-a-dog-then-what-does-the-owner-look-like, maybe-they're-just-disgruntled-puppy-mill-alums type of WTF. The WTF is because I, once again, am wondering if at any point people over yonder are bothering to check shit out with this cool new thing called google. I know. It's a novel suggestion.

Somebody sure as shit used said googlins for squid beak - it's a touch birdy beak, but nah, slimy squid goes better with the aesthetic - and I guess they had to, as they already gave the far superior on the creepy scale pacu teeth to the Dollar Store Doomsday.

Because we were sneery and feeling gross at this point, we needed something fun, so we refilled on wine, and decided to make a mash-up image of the “inspirations” [to be clear: The Commissioner decided I should make a mash-up]. We were also feeling gross after looking at all that above, so for an eye sorbet, we needed some pretty, and STAT. We both instantly knew what would do the trick.

We start the conversation with Bane.

The Conversation

[looking at still from that Batman movie Bane was in; neither of us have cared to clarify which of the Nolan B-mans it was, because we don't care]

The Commissioner: He is so smooth, like, everything, even the fit of the clothes.

Nash: I'll never forget his turn as young Picard in that shit 'Trek movie, what was it called?

[we do not look it up; digression discussion of the awesomeness that is Sir Patrick Stewart]

TC: What's in his hand? Is that a riding crop? Or a shuffleboard thing?

N: Yes, exactly, Bane took a break from beating up Batman to shuffle. Nooooo. He got drug away from riding his horsey----

TC: YOU MUST MEAN HIS STALLION - if he rides horses, they are buff

N: ---to bring the mask, and is he pissed about it?

TC: No. No, because he is a dollbaby - he loves dogs.

N: You're mixing Tom Hardy with Bane.

TC: NO.

N: [realizing] BECAUSE THAT IS A DOG THING, THAT CREATURE IS DOG

[digression googles to look at pics/vids of Tom Hardy with pups]

N: Oh, no, wait - can we make it a putter? Like he was on his way to golf?

TC: But he still doesn't mind, because he's good guy Bane? And golf sucks? Oh hell yes.

[putter image sought; we go back to staring at Hardy, sip wine for untold moments]

N: And Preddie's all - Oh Bane, no! I couldn't possibly! Aren't these custom made? But he's gripping the shit out of it, like, pry it from my hands, bitches.

TC: And he takes a sniff when nobody's looking and swoons. *SWOONS*

N: Freaked-out stylist saw, though, and a touch of pee slips out, because it was weird before, but now shit's kicked off.

TC: Oh, she's already wet her pants at least once, absolutely. Do we need to add her?

N: No, she's in the bathroom.

TC: But you know who we should add.

[Image of 1990s Leonardo Di Caprio is immediately sought; we love the R+J still too much for words and select it with zero pause]

N: But why?

TC: You know he's gonna end up bopping around to other worlds anyhow, and for Bane to be here, there must be other rifts----

N: Low-Sugar Low-Fat Low-Calorie Eye of Saurons?

TC: ----so they're babysitting.

N: THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE [gulp of wine] Hey, you know who should be his foster parents if he’s bopping around to all points?

TC: Is it some side-character who's off-show at the moment? So we can get the show back to, um, Sam and Dean?

N: Chuck and Amara.

TC: You remember they're brother and sister, right?

N: [side-eye] Okay.

TC: They are. It's canon.

N: OKAAAY. [stares at Leo] Alright, what are we having him do? Satan's crotch goblin?

TC: [possibly disgusted with me] Pencils.

N: YES I KNOW WHAT TO DO they need to keep him busy so they just keep giving him piles of pencils to sharpen, and he's distressed because there's no more and the sharpener’s motor burnt out.

TC: [touch of a spit take]

[we stare at the collection of images; it is a bitch to find a clear shot of a Pred sitting, but we need him in a barber chair; I will ultimately cobble it from three separate images; it was worth every goddamn minute]

TC: Okay, now what about that thing? The thing? Deadpool?

N: No he was something else, that's Reynolds. Deadshot? Wait, hang on.

[we watch the Bob Ross Deadpool thing, maybe twice, I have no idea]

TC: What'd you say?

N: I dunno.

TC: Me neither I just remember thinking you were wrong.

N: [looks it up, or we'll be here all week] DOOMSDAY

TC: Stop, stop, stop - didn't we also say Lord of the Rings cave troll?

N: I can't remember if it was me or somebody else.

TC: Do cave troll.

[we search]

N: Holy shit. He's in the club.

[image chosen; best one is of him pointing; I later add the touch of a framed photo of King Kong that's inexplicably hanging in the barber shop, also next to it a photo of Captain Shitty Render]

N: But Doomsday.

TC: Do it.

[image chosen; this was also a bitch, I had to blur and cobble and blend and hide part of his bottom half because ZACK SNYDER LOVES SHOOTING EVERYTHING LIKE WE'RE IN A DANK CAVE]

N: They're so glad Bane pulls through, because Preddy won't shut the fuck up about him.

TC: It's because his last boyfriend was garbage, keeps hanging out with humans, and Bane's loyal, like he was to that chick from Inception, like----

N: LIKE DOG

[the bottle is empty; we are sleepy]

The Results

I regret not adding an aquarium with a squid.

The Aftermath

Both TC and my Tumblr wife @butiaintgonnaloveem had reactions that can nicely tuck under the umbrella of [in concerned tone] Nash are you okay, like, is life beating you down somehow, this is crazypants which I appreciate from the latter, but as for the former I pointed out that they are my enabler/dealer/peer-pressurer in every bit of this.

There is no end to this post.

#Nash Shares #Conversations with The Commissioner #dollar store Doomsday #discount 90s Leo DiCaprio #well-coiffed Predator in a Bane mask #poorly rendered #rip-offs #do better #pseudo-art #Wayward Sisters pilot #wine-induced head canons #Queueby Dooby Doo #Dad's on a blog post and #he hasn't been queued in a few days

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forestwater87 · 6 years

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yo got any tips on how to get my gwenvid fic out there?

Ah, this is tricky, and I gotta be honest I think I only lucked out because I wrote the first real Gwenvid fic out there and no one had any other options. But since “go back in time” isn’t really plausible, I can offer some things that I think might be helpful:

1. Make sure you’re tagging them correctly! On both Tumblr and AO3, it’s really useful to make sure you’re using the most-viewed and/or official tags for your content. For example, “campcamp” is the official CC tag, and as far as I can tell “cc david” is more successful and widespread than “david cc” … but that might not be as important as I think it is. But definitely be smart with your tags, especially those first 5, since according to Tumblr Lore those are the ones that … do something something algorithm idk. As for AO3 tags, I’m not really sure how they work, like if the site lumps “Gwen/David” in with “Gwen (Camp Camp)/David (Camp Camp)” – ah, what we had to use when the fandom was still so young and tiny – but I’d err on the side of over-tagging, personally. As long as you’re not one of those people with 30,000 tags it takes ages to scroll past, why not?

2. Reblog a lot! I always feel really really self-conscious resharing my own stuff, but it works! It introduces the work to a new crop of readers and makes a big difference.

3. Use your friends! Use people you barely know! Seriously, if I didn’t have @ciphernetics and @hopefullypessimistic84 aggressively stanning my work I don’t think anyone would read it. XD And I’m always happy to give someone a shout-out, as long as it’s not something that makes me uncomfortable.

4. Get involved in the fandom! This is a more general thing, but answering asks, doing memes, participating in appreciation weeks, and just generally filling up the tag with content is not only super fun, because we suck up CC and especially Gwenvid content like we’re starving in the desert, but it also helps to get your name out there and get people interested in your stuff. I know I’m considered “the Gwenvid person” by a lot of people who’ve never read my fics and don’t even know I have fics, because I just have so goddamn many screenshots to fling in every direction and ramble about my love of the ship. You can also use that involvement to plug your writing, like the many wonderful fanfics I’ve written that you can check out if you like my other stuff!

5. Credit people! This sounds weird, and may have a tiny bit to do with the fact that I’m salty about this issue, but if you use someone’s AU or headcanon, or even if they just got you inspired by enjoying their work? Tag them! Not only will they be happy that you liked their ideas and are acknowledging their contribution, but it gets them to pay attention to your fic. And hey, if someone inspired you so much you used their ideas, it feels amazing to have them pay attention. (This is also how you make friends in the fandom. Seriously.)

I’m also gonna give a few more types of advice, ranging from making an awesome fanfic to attention-getting. But since the world is kinda unfair, entertainment is very unfair, and fandom is an impossible beast, I also wanna give you some thoughts that I’ve developed over the course of being in this fandom. Under the cut since it’s only tangentially related …

I’m starting with what I personally think makes a fic worth reading. It might not guarantee kudos, but it might be worth thinking about:

1. Get a beta reader. Honestly, having someone comb through your work for things like consistency, characterization, and grammar is hugely important. There are a ton of great fics that suffer for not having someone run their eyes over it, and the fandom is one big happy family; you could throw a rock in any direction and find someone who’d be happy to help you out.

2. Figure out what makes your story worth reading, and emphasize it. This is gonna sound kinda dumb, but I swear half the stuff on AO3 is the same fucking “David adopts Max and may or may not be a serial killer” fic. I realize this is kinda petty of me, but I do think it’s a good idea to know what about your fic is special and worthwhile, because that’s going to be what makes people enjoy and recommend it. (This doesn’t mean don’t use popular tropes or plots, but just to be aware of what you’re bringing to the table, what cool twist or je ne sais quois it is that made you wanna write it. It’s also a great way to prop yourself up when you’re getting down on your work, because it reminds you that you’re doing something original and special.)

3. Consider short chapters (3,000 words or less) and a regular updating schedule. I don’t do this. It’s a problem. But seriously, people enjoy bite-sized content, and regularly adding to it keeps your work at the top of the tags/queue while also keeping the people who like your fic from forgetting about it.

4. Use small paragraphs. No one wants to read a giant block of text, and I know more than once I’ve clicked away after seeing the entire chapter was one big paragraph. Again, bite-sized. Getting people to read a fic is difficult, because it’s asking for an investment of time and mental energy they could be spending on something else. So do what you can to make reading as easy and enjoyable as possible for them.

5. Be mindful of standard grammar. I’m not trying to impose my Western-centric ideals on other people, because there are a lot of valid ways to talk/write and using “proper” grammar doesn’t mean you’re more intelligent by any means; I’m also not trying to discourage the creative and poetic use of nonstandard grammar (lord knows I abuse my artistic license to mess with grammar all the time). But in the name of making things a bit easier to read – especially, as I understand, for ESL readers – adhering to generally-accepted rules of “good” grammar is worth considering.

Unfortunately, your story still might not get the attention it deserves, and I’d like to start by saying I’m very very sorry about that. (I went from the only Gwenvid writer to being, like, that former high school football player who reminisces about the good old days before all these talented whippersnappers came around to upstage me; I’m just saying that I know how much it hurts to feel like your work isn’t being appreciated, whether you think you deserve the appreciation or not.) It sucks, and it hurts, and I’m sorry. I wish more people saw your stuff.

But some thoughts about dealing with those feelings as well:

1. Get a cheerleader. This is another super useful thing about having a beta, btw. Sometimes you’re going to feel like crap, and you’re going to need someone to prop up your ego and tell you that they think you’re amazing and that they believe in your story. Get as many of these as you need and feel comfortable leaning on them when you’re feeling down.

2. Beg. I make posts begging for compliments on like a twice-a-month basis. It’s kinda pathetic, but it really really helps, so if you have followers, there’s no shame in asking them to say nice things when your self-esteem has taken a beating.

3. Know that attention =/= quality. Like, okay, there are some incredible fics that are rightfully getting their due (fucking Netics and Mouse, talented bitches). But legit, the second-most-kudos’d fic on AO3 is also one of the worst ones I’ve ever run my poor undeserving eyes over, and only the fact that this is under a cut and unlikely to be read by many people is giving me the pettiness to say that. My longest fic, the one I’ve poured the most of myself into, has fewer kudos than a masterpiece called “Camp Campbell’s Cum Dumpster.” I wrote an entire post enumerating just a handful of CC fics I think deserve more attention, and if being well-known and -loved correlated with talent, they’d all be topping the leaderboards in my worthless opinion. But seriously, sometimes your stuff won’t be appreciated. Maybe it doesn’t have enough fluff, or enough angst. Maybe it doesn’t have enough dad//vid. Maybe it’s the fact that nothing will ever grab positive attention like dan//vid and there’s nothing we can do about it. Fans are picky and tricky, and sometimes trying to figure out why something becomes blisteringly popular while something else doesn’t is impossible, but it doesn’t mean your writing isn’t amazing. Believe in the story you’re telling, and that it’s worth telling.

4. Don’t compare yourself to other writers. I feel compelled to put this one on here because it’s good advice, but ahahahahahahahaha I’ve never done this and I’m pretty sure I never will.

5. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Your writing is worth reading, and some things are out of your control, so just cut yourself some slack. Ahahahahahahahahaha fucking I’m such a piece of shit I don’t think I could do this if there was a gun to my head

#ask forest #not sure any of this is useful #a lot of it's me rambling and being salty #but listen #sometimes that's part of the writing process #especially when you're a petty competitive bitch #Anonymous

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felassan · 4 years

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Hii MJ. I was wondering what you think of the possibilities of Zevran being in DA4? Ik bioware has brought back a character from the dead (Leliana), so Idk if I’m delusional for ignoring that zev can die. But considering he (used to?) be associated with the crows and they seem to be a big part of the next game, do you think it might be possible that he could have a conditional advisor like role? Or since he isn’t a crow, he definitely won’t be?

Hi Nonnie! Some thoughts on this. This became long so it’s under a cut. TN spoilers under cut.

Initially on seeing the BtS vid I wondered if one of the Crow figures could be Zevran (gut response). I don’t think it is anymore. That figure’s outfit resembles Zevran’s “Black Shadow” attire from WoT, but lots of characters in the concept art are wearing various types of Crow uniform: the other character in that picture is also wearing Crow clothes, and so are figures here, here (Matt Rhodes’ Art Station upload of this one says that “Crow” is the title of that piece) and here. Assassin-y figures are also present in the lineup shot. I think what it means given the ‘concept art is mood-setting’ stuff is that the Crows as a faction will have a significant role to play in the upcoming game. This makes sense given the prominence of Crows in TN - no less than 3 stories, one of which introduces in-depth a new significant-feeling Crow character (Lucanis, who is currently active in Tevinter, who pinged ‘companion flags’ to me [this is subjective tho], and whose short story ends with in unresolved “unfinished business” Tevinter-heavy hook) and one of which expands at length on known Crow lore as well as being like “here’s what’s been happening with Crow leadership and here’s some setup for what’s going on with the Crows soon due to the Antaam invasion”.

They did bring back Leliana if she was killed in DAO (demon pope!). I might be misremembering, but I seem to remember some tweets or other dev comment somewhere where they said that they’d try to avoid bringing back player-killed characters like this in the future (could def be remembering this wrong though). I also think I remember PW saying that when writing Trespasser, the Bull dying if you sided with the Qun in his DAI mission thing was something they struggled with a lot over whether to have happen or not - because having that happen would mean that in those universes, Bull is dead-dead and that could potentially have knock-on impacts if the writers ever wanted to use him again in the future. There are other cases where dead characters resurface, like Anders in DA2 (but his potential death in the expansion was an epilogue slide, and the epilogues are framed more as rumors and many chunks of them have been retconned in subsequent games) or in the extended media (e.g. Wynne popping up in Asunder if she died in DAO, but we know that the stories in the books and novels aren’t canon-canon, that being a limitation of the media-type where it’s not like you can enter or make choices, but that they are events that fit in BW’s ‘default’ canon, and that the events described therein unfolded in a different way in different universes like in ones where Alistair isn’t King).

The explanation for Leliana’s survival was a highly specific, rare set of circumstances - the devout Andrastian woman who died in a magic mountain full of lyrium which does kooky things, who believes maybe the Maker brought her back. How many lyrium ghost spirit-imitations of dead chars are walking around Thedas, or should be implied to be? The writers can always handwave, retcon, or explain around anything that they choose to, and if they want to bring him back in all universes they will, but I lean towards preferring “player-killed characters stay dead” because of choice and consequence and enjoying that choices have weight and impact. I also think “surprise, they lived” can become overdone as a gimmick if writers aren’t careful (generally speaking, not a DA-specific comment). For me - what would be the explanation for his survival? He can also die at more than one point in DAO. I know he’s beloved and can also be still alive, but possible deaths aside, when it comes to characters returning in this franchise, especially former companions, I also always lean towards “less old, more new” and towards “a few cameos only, not lots, and such cameos should be plot-relevant, not random”. There are a couple reasons for that which I won’t really get into here as that’s a separate topic, but it’s partially due to feelings like - Thedas is a big big place with heaps of people in it, I prefer it when the world doesn’t feel small, DA is the story of the setting rather than any one PC or group, I’d rather meet and encounter mostly-new people, etc.

Aside from that stuff, aside from Antiva, he hasn’t been positioned recently as being in the north or having ongoing plot-stuff there (this isn’t a requirement for him to come back, and it happening for a character doesn’t mean they’re a shoe-in, but compare that with Fenris in Blue Wraith, who is now in Tevinter and working with Inquisition agents). He’s appeared in 2 games already and been referenced in all 4. I really enjoy what I’ll call his ‘romanced epilogue’ as an ending to his story too - unlike the other 3 DAO LIs, he accompanied his love on their quest to the west in search of a cure for the Calling. I love that, it’s so faithful and romantic. He’s still at their side and they’re still together after all this time. He journeyed far into the dangerous unknown with them looking for a needle in a haystack so that his partner doesn’t have to die a horrible early death, as faithful in his actions as his sentiments that he’d storm the Black City at the Hero’s side if he had to implied. The last time we heard from the Hero and romanced Zevran, they were together, and they were well. Y’know? I also tend to assume, due to Lelimancing Wardens returning in the Trespasser epilogues, that all Heroes who survived DAO return from their quest. I don’t want that to be jeopardized, and those references are enough for me.

And as much as I love Zevran (and I really do), I don’t personally feel a need for him to return either, neither in terms of his arc, ‘exploredness’ as a character, or in the overarching plot. As you say, in some universes he’s not a Crow anymore. There was a cool post I saw on this recently which I’m struggling to find the link to, but the jist of it was that the Crows are a pretty shit organization in terms of their ‘recruitment’ and training practises, how they operate and everything. They abused him during his life and he has now freed himself through his experiences during the Fifth Blight with the Warden, and in this new life he’s been on a years-long endeavor to kill Crows. For Zevran’s future, I think I’d like it if it didn’t always have to involve Crow involvement or a Crow focus? Like, that he’s more than a Crow, than a former Crow, than a Crow-hunter/opposer. Separate to that, there are also other, active Antivan Crows operating in the north that we’ve not yet spent time with in a game or ever gotten to know as a PC. It’s a big if, but if a character like Lucanis or Teia etc is prominent in the game, as a companion or advisor or contact etc, it might be a bit redundant to have another. This example is flipped around, but like, we had Cullen as an advisor, and he was “the templar/former templar guy”. We didn’t then also have a templar companion. So if we had Lucanis or whoever as a companion, I’m not sure that we’d then have a Crow/former Crow in an advisor-type role too?

It’s not delusional to want to see a fav or loved character again though. :) I’m not one of the people that wants to see my favs in every new entry, I’m largely happy for them to be let be off-screen, see a reference to them here and there (like the War Table, an allusion to or a dialogue line about them), but I understand the wish and get the feeling behind it. And it’s especially not delusional given the context which is that the writers have brought back player-killed characters before!

I doubt they’d have an advisor or advisor-like person be conditional (imagine playing DAI without Leliana and Cullen if they died or had unretconned bad endings prior to the game, it wouldn’t work without Padok Wiks-style stand-ins or a lot of logistical work on the devs’ part to structure the writing around their absences in those instances). A conditional cameo of some description though I could see (something comparable to his DA2 cameo or Nate’s conditional appearance in DA2 for example). Can’t say how likely this is though, especially given that Crow business-stuff could be repped by other newer chars. Maybe if there’s an option to dismantle, sabotage or oppose the Crows he could crop up. I’d imagine any appearance in relation to the Crows would be anti-Crow or “informer on the Crows due to past experience”, not pro-Crow or “the Crow perspective guy”, in universes where he didn’t go back to them anyway. And I’m not saying Zevran was a Talon or that he’s still a Crow or that it’s him, but just while I’m on this subject it brought a semi-related thought to mind, which is that post-TN and the surviving Talons having contacting the heirs to the other houses’ Talon roles, I do wonder who the new head of House Arainai is.

(I include the info on the ‘where I lean’ stuff because I’m sure it colors or biases my responses sometimes).

#dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #dragon age #bioware #mj replies #anonymous #video games #tevinter nights spoilers #tevinter nights spoiler #tevinter nights #spoilers #spoiler #fenris #the Fenaissance #mass effect #abuse mention #cw abuse #abuse cw #abuse for ts

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pressingtobinheath · 7 years

Text

Nikki and Sam masterpost (Samton)

Well it all started when Sam Kerr joined her best buddy Caitlin Foord at Sky Blue FC after the 2015 WWC. Despite popular belief Sam and Caity never dated. It’s fake news and alternative facts... anyway

Summer 2015

Sammy joins Sky Blue! and they seem to be hanging out a lot

A post shared by Sam Kerr (@samanthakerr20) on Aug 9, 2015 at 10:55am PDT

Sky Blue season ends and Sammy heads back to Australia

Australia Season 1 (US Fall 2015- US Winter 2016)

but then.. a wild Nikki appears in Australia to play for Sam’s home team Perth Glory

A post shared by Sam Kerr (@samanthakerr20) on Oct 12, 2015 at 11:35pm PDT

Posted on Billie (Sam’s dog) instagram: Nap time with @gutinikki7 ☺️

Sammy gets injured and Nikki post this insta wishing her luck on surgery

They continue posting pics post surgery (First selfie Sam post of just them, pay attention to the caption)

samanthakerr20 🎯

Nikki is still in Australia and going on adventures with Sam

Nikki goes on family vacay with Sam’s family

They come back from vacay and Sam continues to show her around, now featuring Dibernardo

This is the last post of Australia Season 1

samanthakerr20 😋 😠 (her caption for the post below

nikkiguti7🙋🏼😊 (nikki comments)

Sam nor Nikki bares each other goodbye on social media

Sky Blue 2016 - NWSL Season

Before Sam arrives in NJ she begins to do what she does best: Embarrassing and making fun of Nikki.

Nikki’s only strike back is correcting Sams terrible grammar. Grubka decides to do the same and Sam refers to Nikki as a peasant

April - Sammy finally comes back to SBFC (Still rehabbing from injury)

and influences Nikki’s way of eating

May comes and Rachel Breton begins to spill the tea via her insta go pro vids

They attend a baseball game (Confirms what we all expected) - May 30, 2016

WHAT’S THAT? That’s Sammy holding her girl as they walk into the stadium

Heres the Rachel Breton videos of tea being spilled 🍵🍵🍵🍵

A post shared by Rachel Breton (@rachiebret) on Jun 5, 2016 at 6:01pm PDT

A post shared by Rachel Breton (@rachiebret) on May 27, 2016 at 12:59pm PDT

Then things begin to add up as the season goes on...

Sam is wearing Nikki’s shirt from her high school* (Breton actually didn’t spill this tea, Nikki did it herself on insta)

They go and see the GOAT of Mens soccer aka Messi play even though Sam is a Real Madrid fan 🤢

June 25th, 2016 Sam can finally play again, gets subbed in and scores basically right away. She then full on SWERVES her teammate to run to Nikki who’s on the sidelines. Sam did an arrow podcast not that long ago where she talked about almost giving up due to her last injury, so her finally scoring and being healthy was a big deal. (gif credit to @uswntinmotion )

youtube

Resulting in the best SBFC picture that they use for everything.

Back to normal posting as they both post the same selfie

Sammy leaves for the Olympics in mid July

Kimmy post this picture of the housemates as Sammy leaves ( I cropped them because Nikki looks all teary-eyed)

Nikki post this shortly after wishing her the best of luck in Rio.

nikkiguti7 Good luck in the Olympics @samanthakerr20 👋🏼👋🏼!!! #riobaby

Sam randomly posts this picture at the end of July after a game (obvi missing Nikki, we find out this becomes a theme: Sleeping nikki pics)

samanthakerr20 Mood .

And then the Olympics begin and a wild Nikki appears in Brazil wearing Sam’s jersey and traveling with the Kerrs (the small fandom is shook) Unfortunately we never get a picture of them together at the Olympics.

nikkiguti7 What a game. What a stadium. What a group!!! 🇦🇺⚽️💪🏾 #aussie #aussie#nicegoalsammy #kanga #andnicewinusa

nikkiguti7 Had the most amazing time in Brazil!! Didn't get mugged, or get Zika! Met some great people, watched some great soccer, and got to be part of 50 Aussie fans in a stadium of 60,000 Brazil fans. Thanks for all the Aussies for being so great 😊 Now back to New Jersey to get back to work! We got some unfinished business 🇧🇷⚽️💪🏾🔹🔸 #greatjobmatildas#didntgetmybraids

(comment on post) samanthakerr20 🐨

The Matildas are eliminated and Sam post this on instagram

samanthakerr20Leaving Rio tonight to head back to Jersey. Thank you to my amazing support crew for always being there for me on this roller coaster journey! Back to Jersey to rejoin @skybluefc & push for play offs! #grateful 🇦🇺

They return back to Sky Blue Fc and back to normal frat dad/flop activities

such as: Boat life

Attending Red Bull games

and sleeping Nikki

Sam being a good gf

Sams birthday - Sep. 10th

nikkiguti7 Happy Birthday to my best friend @samanthakerr20! I hope that you have the best day and it's the best year yet!! Im so happy that you're in my life. You are one of a kind! 23 never looked so good🦄🤖🐶😍👌🏽👵🏽👵🏽👵🏽!! #idiothead

Sam posts a pic for national peanut day aka calling her girlfriend a peanut aka saying she’s cute.

Sky Blue has a last Cloud 9 event to celebrate the season and this cropped part of a team photo emerges. THE FANDOM IS SHOOK.

They don’t make it to the playoffs (I don’t want to talk about it) and Sam heads back to Australia early but they interact on twitter briefly

Everyones like “stay in seattle?” 🤔😏

and Mid october Nikki is headed to Australia gain

Australia - Perth Glory 2016-2017

(Screenshot credit to @stephcat )

Nikkis birthday in Australia. Sammy being cute.

samanthakerr20 HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Spending her birthday having coffee with cats 🐱☕️ So happy to have you in AUS for another birthday 🎉👌🏽 @nikkiguti7

Australia continues

samanthakerr20 Uhh 😍

And so do the adventures

(Screenshots of instastory credit to @pughnation )

They puppy sit for some friends

(screenshot credit to @pughnation ) It’s a video of Sam showing the puppys, cricket and then ending on Nikki.

(following two screenshots from @agent-sarahwalker )

Christmas at the Kerrs feat. Nikki, Dibernardo and Mautz

Australia 2017

New Years Eve ( Vid of Nikki holding Sam from behind, it’s cute and worth the click)

They attend the Aussie open with Dibernardo on Jan 5

Club time

Twitter banter over own goal scoring

Dry waterfalls in Aus.

They both get suspended for the same match. Couples that get suspended together stay together?

Sammy gettin jealous

Back to Adventures

and the sleeping pics continue in australia

Perth Glory makes it to the grand final of the W league

However they sadly lose to Melbourne City and Nikki along with Mautz and Dibernardo are headed home while Sam prepares for Matildas camp

samanthakerr20 Sad to see my 3 American buddies head back home! Been a blast, See you all soon 🇦🇺🛫🇺🇸🛬

🤔

Feb. 24 Sam is away with the Matildas in Portugal and post this

samanthakerr20 Dreaming 💭💦

nikkiguti7 This is you: 😝

samanthakerr20 @nikkiguti7 this is you 🐸

nikkiguti7 No this is me: 👸🏼

And then she post this on her dogs instagram.

(Also note, Nikki wearing Sams shorts from AusWNT.)

Nikki’s fave part of Aus 2017

March 26th Sam bids Aus fairwell on insta and includes these pics on her insta ( i cropped the one)

NWSL 2017 - PRESENT

Sam’s back to being an ass on instastory

but she’s back and they’re living together again with Kelley, Taylor Lytle and Sarah Killion

being typical flops again

This tweet becomes important in a few posts.

First game of the season in Seattle which is Nikki’s hometown and also on Easter weekend.

Nikki takes over SBFC snapchat

Quality time with the parents

They stay in Seattle to celebrate Easter and hike

nikkiguti7 Happy Easter from the top of this mountain #hikers

They come back from Seattle and Sam gives Nikki a fresh pair of Nike’s taking care of her girl for the season

April 20th, 2017 they begin a family... okay not really but they brought Brooklyn home from the shelter to foster her

They go away for a game and rookie Kayla Mills blesses us with A++ content on her snapchat takeover. (Not sure since it’s early in the season if the rookie didn’t know, didn’t know that we all know or that nobody generally cared)

Best house at SBFC aka the Frat House

Sam leaves for Australia and misses the next game but wins a major award from the W- League,

When Sam gets back to Jersey, she post on her instastory a picture of a card and balloon waiting for her on her bed back at the frat house

Referencing this tweet becomes important

Because Nikki posted this picture while Sam was away

Anyway the inference is that they live in the same room at the frat house

Back to their family

I wonder who she sleeps with?

Sam and her bike helmet being a derp

Kelley is their constant third wheel

Happy family

Sam’s instastory of her little family sleeping

another one of Brooklyn on their bed

Recent FIFA - June

They go hiking in Utah

and take a helicopter tour of the grand canyon ( which im surpised sam did since she said she absolutely hates flying)

Current - Mid June

Back with Brooklyn after FIFA Break

Sam wearing Nikki’s Perth Glory shorts

Embarrassing Nikki asking her Curry or Lebron.. and Nikki chooses Curry while wearing a Lebron shirt that is clearly Sams

June 17, 2017

Portland vs. Sky Blue

After Sam’s 2nd goal

At the end of the game (Sheridan ships it) heres the vid of this

http://pressingtobinheath.tumblr.com/post/161953058178/scnnett-look-how-happy-she-is-oh-you-got-it credit to @scnnett

After the Portland game they stay in Oregon to celebrate Fathers Day with Nikki’s dad

Giving the people what they want at Volleyball Tuesdays

End of June/Beg of July 2017

Goal celebration hugs

Riding Bikes on 4th of July - Click for link

July 9th game, Sam scored a hattrick to win the game 3-2 in 12 minutes right at the end. Post game hugs and tweets

After game day snuggles with Brooklyn

http://padfootnprongs21.tumblr.com/post/162799775646/nikkis-my-spirit-animal vid posted by Sammy of Nikki and Brookyln

http://padfootnprongs21.tumblr.com/post/162942060821/i-am-still-nikki-nikki-is-still-me - another one

Game Day 7/15/17

After game Frat Dad activities

Boat days are back!

Featuring a not so impressed Nikki and Sam just living life

wait there’s the smile

and the abs

End of July 2017

Sleeping in Seattle

Nikki irish step dancing and Sam recording her calling her a “flog”

Tournament of Nations

- coffee in Seattle

Australia vs. USA - Nikki is there, we hear she’s in street clothes but her dad is wearing a Kerr jersey

Be your girls biggest fan

Sammy and the Matildas win the Tournament of Nations and Nikki can’t wait for Sam to get home

Sam’s flight gets delayed on the way back to Jersey and a Sky Blue Cloud 9 member tells me that Nikki rushed out of the Washington game saying she had to get Sam from the airport.

They’re back and go on a mini golf date ((August 2017)

and to the beach

https://scnnett.tumblr.com/post/164182577728/she-got-it-from-kelley - Sam scaring Nikki

http://pressingtobinheath.tumblr.com/post/164226533858 - Nikki cuddling Brooklyn with her legs on Sam

Sam gets nominated for Fifa Womens Play of the Year

Sam scores 4 goals in the Sky Blue FC vs. Reign game. Reclaiming her 1st place spot in the golden boot race, extending her record for NWSL All Time Scorer, becoming the first person to score a hattrick 2 times in one season, becoming the first to. score 4 goals in one in league history.

When the final whistle blows Nikki eats kisses Sam’s ear

http://pressingtobinheath.tumblr.com/post/164424572937/anyway-heres-the-clip-of-nikki-eating-kissing - Here’s the link

Here’s pic by pic ( credit to @uswnt-tobin )

Days after the game they visit DC because Sam’s mom is visiting

Mini gold with Sam’s mum

http://pressingtobinheath.tumblr.com/post/164679192478 - Sam attacking Nikki with a stuffed snake

Presents!

8/26 Nikki assist Sam’s goal against Boston

http://pressingtobinheath.tumblr.com/post/164760751973/dashonkelley-these-two - Sam messing with Nikki during her post game interview

Another sleeping pic

Brooklyn taking over the bed

(Nikki’s story)

Sams story

Coffee Dates

- http://pressingtobinheath.tumblr.com/post/164756403758/coffee-date

THE PICTURE THAT SHOOK US ALL 8/28

http://pressingtobinheath.tumblr.com/post/164839490870/im-brooklyn-getting-yelled-at-in-the-background - Sammy doesn’t really care about the flowers Nikki is painting

US Open with the Frat dads

Stud muffin!

Sam’s birthday!

http://dashonkelley.tumblr.com/post/165206770910/happy-birthday-sammy - Sammy’s surprise birthday party at McDonalds

Holding Nikki as they walk into Mcdonalds

Rachel Breton and Taylor Lytles live insta describing this as. “Their natural habitat” (playing cards)

Visiting Brooky girl at her new home

Picking up new foster dog (Nikki wearing #20 Australia shorts)

“Who’s gonna wash your pants? (Nikki to Sam) “You are cause you’re her girlfriend” - quote from Maddy Tiernan

Season ends... time for Australia 2017/2018

Missing cuddles

Counting down the days

*Reached video limit so I have to just put links

*Shoutout to @scnnett for offering help and trying to help me get the videos even though I failed

*Shoutout to. @voices-from-above for encouragement

*Shoutout to anyone whose post I used, I credited them and everything else I got myself

*They don’t have a ship name.. - send me suggestions

*If I’m missing content submit it or put it in an ask and I’ll look for it

*I’m thinking they’ve been together almost 2 years

*Sammy is 23 and Nikki is 26, they’ll be 24 and 27 in the fall

*GUTI stands for get used to it and was Nikki’s nickname in college because she used to tackle hard and say “get used to it”

*If I made a grammatical mistake, forgive me I’ve been doing this. for 2 hours and I’m over it. I’ll fix it eventually.

*Thank you and enjoy this wonderful ship

*We’ve been exposed. Evacuate. Nikki liked a tweet about this post.

#masterpost #nikki and sam masterpost #nikki stanton #sam kerr #sky blue fc #auswnt #nwsl #perth glory #w league #woso couples #UPDATED

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