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the-thursday · 1 month

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Hello everyone, this post was long overdue, and finally, prompted by our beloved Howls also leaving, it's time for me to rip off the bandaid as well.

I would also like to announce a sort of departure from Ranger's apprentice fandom.

I do not know how many from RA fandom era from few years back are still here but I assume mostly newer blogs keep up with this account.

Take a lil history walk with me, if you will. I joined this fandom around 2017-18. I was very active around here, posting all kinds of stuff, fics, takes, incorrect quotes, art and whatnot. I made many friends with whom I had a great time and I am happy and honoured that I am friends with some of them till this day. Fandom became the second home to me as things hadn't been exactly easy irl and maybe I fixated on it too much, but gods know I loved this place so much. And I wish for everyone to experience this happiness and just as I made friends who became a significant part of my life, I wish that for you as well. Being surrounded by amazing and wonderful people and sharing similar interests is one of the most pure joyous feelings in this world.

As 2020-2021 rolled around, some of you know that things in my life picked up a harsh pace and I started to drift away. In 2021 I left the fandom because of that and unpleasant things with one of the people here. It was one of the most gut wrenching decisions I had made.

In 2022, I started gradually getting worse, but also had the courage to come back at the end of the year. I felt happy and welcomed and I am so grateful to everyone who made it happen, who supported me and gave me another breath. My mental health kept getting worse but I wasn't alone and that has been everything to me.

Now it's about a little more than a year since I've been back and again, I've met wonderful amazing people who I am happy and honoured to call friends. I don't regret coming back and I am happy I did, however I think it's time for me to go again. And below, I hope to explain why.

Like I said, I've been getting worse. Last autumn and this winter have been very difficult for me and I had to rethink some priorities, as life is going on the time left for me to invest in fandoms is getting thinner and thinner. Unfortunately, among them, isn't keeping up with this fandom. With my next words I hope not to insult anyone. The truth is, I don't find enjoyment in the fandom and content itself anymore, or more like, as much as I used to. I don't exactly vibe with posts for roughly the past half a year and I don't mean this in negative way, I just think it's for me to move on. All of the new people that I've seen have wonderful content and while I don't exactly vibe like I used to, I can see that you're having fun and that's important! People come and go and I do wish all the newcomers and seniors who are still here to have a great time, but I don't think I have energy, capacity and vibes to be part of it anymore. As you know, my blog has been very much inactive for a long time, aside from dumping my dumb sketches or reblogging something here and there. And rather than letting it rot, I'd like to cleanly move on. Anyhow, on self deprecating note, since really it's not like I've been someone prominent I don't think this is a loss to the fandom and this makes it easier for me.

So to summarise, my leaving is about personal things, my life moving and the fact I don't have the mental capacity or motivation to actively keep up.

So what does this mean? I won't be posting RA related stuff on this blog anymore. This blog will turn into a neutral main blog and I'll create one side blog for art that I hope to continue to make and maybe one blog dedicated to the work of Brandon Sanderson.

However, it doesn't mean that I am not up to goof around about RA anymore, however this will be done in DMs. If I sometimes get to draw and post RA related art, it shall be posted on my new art blog with RA tag. However, I don't think there's a high probability of public RA art from me anymore, because 1) need to move on and 2) I have a very strong and maybe confrontational opinion about art in this fandom that has given me a bad taste and discouraged me from enjoying making it and posting it. I won't go into details because I don't want to sour this post for myself and for y'all with it.

I want to thank this fandom for everything it has been for me and for everyone and I wish y'all some happy fandoming!

Yours only,

The Ranger Thursday 11

#rangers apprentice #final goodbye

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il-predestinato · 1 year

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Interview with Charles Leclerc from Sportweek (La Gazetta dello Sport): “I play the piano, I love art, I want to fly. And I dreamed of Ferrari” (published January 7, 2023).

What is fashion for you?

Charles: “A way of expressing oneself without speaking. I realized this when I started travelling all over the world, thanks to F1, visiting countries and cities I didn't know before.

“I realized that dressing well had a different meaning according to different cultures and traditions. That's when fashion really started to interest me, I would say from 2017, even though I've always liked it.”

What was the next step?

Charles: “I started attending fashion shows, then I became a testimonial for Giorgio Armani and then I came more and more into contact with this environment.”

You also take great care over the graphics of your racing helmets. Which design do you like the most?

Charles: “Probably the one used in France (2022), with the reproduction on the two halves of the photographs of my father Hervé and Jules Bianchi.”

Ferrari is red, but for your 488 Pista you chose a different colour.

Charles: “At that time I was using a matte black helmet with the Monégasque flag going from the front to the back. So I decided to order the car exactly the same. I still like it very much.”

What did you think when you saw yourself in a Ferrari suit for the first time?

Charles: “It was a very big emotion, because it was my childhood dream to get into F1 and race for the Prancing Horse, even though at that time I was not yet an official Ferrari driver (only FDA).”

Do you have any good-luck charms you don't part with?

Charles: “I had some as a kid. My grandmother always used to sew a cross inside my overalls, under the sponsors' logos, but that tradition has disappeared since she is no longer here…”

How do you express your creativity?

Charles: “Mainly through music. I play the piano and invent my own pieces. I will never be as good with a pencil at drawing.”

How do you choose the clothes you wear every day?

Charles: “There's a very classic part of me, which seeks simplicity and comfort, and another more creative part that leads me to play around with streetwear.

“I let myself be guided by the mood of the day, by how I feel, because dressing is a way of making something clear with one's image.”

Will we see a clothing line of your own like Hamilton did?

Charles: “I had started the project, but I stopped. Maybe in the future.”

Do you ever talk about fashion with Lewis Hamilton?

Charles: “Sometimes we discuss the brands we like. He really has good taste and a lot of courage to show off the strangest looks when he comes to the circuits.”

Favourite colours or colours you would never wear?

Charles: “These days I prefer grey, beige and white. I'm not a big fan of fuchsia, in the sense that I wouldn't see myself dressed all in fuchsia, but I've worn that too.”

How do you feel about walking the catwalk?

Charles: “I'm not comfortable. Too many stares on me. But I like to watch the show and observe the more unusual garments. I was at the Ferrari Style show in Milan last year and before that at Armani.”

Try describing the feeling of driving an F1 car to someone who does not know racing. Valentino Rossi, when he tested the Ferrari, said: It is faster than I thought.

Charles: “A nice definition, because it is difficult for a normal person to think about the speed of a F1 car. I always make the comparison with the Rollercoaster. It's like being up there, but keeping everything under control.”

Why are you happy racing?

Charles: “For the adrenaline and because on the track I feel free.”

Do you like motorbikes?

Charles: “I have one motorbike, customised, which I bought in Bali when I went there on a trip with my best friends. We rented it on the spot and I wanted to take it with me to Monte Carlo, even though it was a mess to get it registered to ride there.”

Why that particular motorbike?

Charles: “Because of the memories it holds. I had just arrived in F1 and I decided to take all my closest friends on holiday, for the first time outside Europe. We had a great time.”

Do you still think of getting a flying license?

Charles: “I've already had a few lessons, I'm now at 11 to 13 hours of flying, let's say I have the basics. I had to stop, I hope to start again in 2023. There is a lot of theory to study and I obviously like the practice more.”

How was the feeling?

Charles: “Excellent. I like the stall tests, because there's adrenaline, but also checking the plane in general. And to say that I've always been afraid of flying...”

What do you mean?

Charles: “Even though I've taken planes countless times in my life, I wasn't calm. Now, knowing what pilots do and all the options there are in case of unexpected events, has reassured me.”

Even today you are karting like when you were a kid. Would it be nice to discover a new Leclerc?

Charles: “I would like to help talented young people, who don't have the means, to emerge and make their dreams come true. However, it is a project that takes time and which I therefore see as possible only in the future.”

What does it mean to be the hero of so many very young people?

Charles: “Every time I come to Maranello, outside the Ferrari factory there are always kids waiting for me. In recent years, F1 has regained popularity, also thanks to Netflix. It's nice to see a child's eyes light up when we make a photo. A small gesture is enough, which does not cost effort, to give joy to others.”

Do you feel like an example to follow?

Charles: “I try to be myself, behaving well, if this can then serve as an inspiration for those who observe me, I'm happy about it.”

Translation by vetteleclerc.

#charles leclerc #f1 #interview #2023 #a very lovely read #*

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perdvivly · 4 months

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Carlsen seems to believe that he peaked as a chess player in 2019. The data generally supports this, though I think there’s also a strong case for him peaking in 2017. His FIDE blitz rating for example, peaked in Dec, 2017 (2986) and his FIDE rapid rating peaked in Jul, 2017 (2919). His all time highest classical rating (2882), however, was first achieved in May, 2014 and then reachieved in Aug, 2019. His decline since then has not been fast nor has it been monotonic but it has been noticeable.

His closest current competitor (I have to specify current because the person who is *actually* closest to his all time peak is Kasparov who retired from chess in 2005 and the fact that he’s still #2 is a testament to his goathood) is Caruana. Who is 2 years younger than him and whose decline is (not very meaningfully but still,) less noticeable. Caruana peaked in Oct, 2014 (2844) (an auspicious year for chess) but was basically rated at that strength in 2020 too (2842).

As an aside you’d expect a 2882 rated player to beat a 2844 rated player about 1 in 1.8 times or around 55.45% of the time. In reality, over the board in total Carlsen has won 34 games, drawn 47 games and lost 16 games against Caruana. And I know that sample size is relatively small, but winning more than twice as many games as you lose against someone doesn’t qualitatively feel like a 38 point difference! (And sure, he’s only *won* 35% of the games they’ve played, but my brain sees that he only lost ~16% of their games and makes wowza eyes). I guess the nature of high level play is now such that a plurality of games end in draws and this is reflected in the statistics in strange ways.

I don’t expect Ding to hold onto his championship title for as long as Carlsen did. At one point I expected a smooth transition in dominance from Carlsen to Firouzja after Carlsen had meaningfully declined but I don’t expect that anymore. I expect to see the world championship flitter about between the top pool of players for a while before the next generation are able to meaningfully contend. <- I expect this last statement to be shown to hold water by the end of this candidates tournament. And I expect that the next generation isn’t going to be dominated by Firouzja in the way this one was dominated by Carlsen. I think that one of the rising chess talents in India will probably distinguish themselves sufficiently to be a future world champion and I expect that this candidates cycle will show where to look for that.

This post doesn’t have a point. I’m just rotating blorbos in my mind.

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leelee120000 · 4 months

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Interview with TikTok Star, Caoimhe Morris

February 25, 2020

TikTok is a rapidly growing social media app, created when ByteDance, a Beijing-based company, spent $1 billion to purchase Musical.ly and merged their own app Douyin (Chinese: 抖音) with it. The new app was launched in 2017. Rising in popularity each year since. In 2019, CNET announced TikTok was the 7th most downloaded mobile app of the decade, from 2010 to 2019.

It is a micro-video app, one where users create and share videos from 15 to 60 seconds. The editing features are leagues above the standard social media apps, more comparable to that of professional editing software. 1,000 of features, from instant eye recoloring to flaming backgrounds, all with a single click. The app has videos for anyone and everyone ranging from cooking, vlogging, comedy, music, politics, and cosplay.

I asked a TikToker I’ve been following if I could interview her, she said yes. She is Caoimhe Morris, @caoimhemorris on TikTok, who has 910.7 K followers and 23.9 million likes. She is a cosplayer, famous for creating and acting as her own characters.

* 3/21/20 Update, due to user scandals Caoimhe is no longer friends with @clapdaddie (Colton) or @infernumasylum (Ian). She is distancing her account from them both and no longer working with either.

McPherson: What would you like our readers to know about you?

Morris: I am a geeky girl that likes to dress up and act like other people.

McPherson: How has your life changed because of this app?

Morris: I didn’t really notice how much this app had changed my life until I realized I only hang out with TikTokers now and not even on purpose. I literally have made so many amazing friends on this app and have had so many unforgettable experiences like traveling or getting to work with brands I never thought I would, overall I’m just so grateful for getting this far.

McPherson: Is there anything you’d change if you were given a second chance?

Morris: I try not to live with regrets because they make you into the person you are.

McPherson: How do you edit so well?

Morris: I loved the creative field even when I was younger, I wanted to act, make films, draw basically do anything under the sun but I didn’t have the people to really put it together so I taught myself how to edit, film etc so I could just do it myself.

McPherson: What has been the best moment you’ve had so far on the app?

Morris: The best moment I’ve had on this app is probably anytime in Aruba. Gil, Jayden, Colton, the twins, Ian, Gilean and everyone else in this little familia is amazing and to know that I didn’t know them a couple months ago is crazy because I feel like I’ve known them for so long at this point and memories we have created are unforgettable.

McPherson: What has been the worst moment you’ve had so far on the app?

Morris: Probably when I put a lot of hard work into a video and no one sees it, that’s a little disheartening but it’s ok next video will be better. McPherson: Do you think the friendships you’ve made with other creators will last?

Morris: I hope so! I know some of us will drift apart but there are some that I am pretty sure will last a long time. McPherson: Are there any new original characters secrets you could share? Backstories, new characters?

Morris: I have a new character I’m working on where her band and her are cursed and anytime they play their music they turn into these “creatures” but apart from that new characters are still in the works. Secrets wise the only secret I can think of is a lot of people don’t know that Frenchie kisses her victims on the cheek after she kills them. [Frenchie is Caoimhe’s mafia character.]

McPherson: Do you see yourself moving into more social media apps anytime soon?

Morris: Probably I would love to do more YouTube stuff but I think right now TikTok is good enough for me!

LeAnne McPherson

#my writing #tiktok #Caoimhe Morris #interview

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marshmallowgoop · 1 year

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I started compiling yearly writing reviews in 2017.

"I’ve seen people do month-by-month yearly compilations for drawing," I wrote in that first post, beneath a Goop's Creative Writing in 2017 header and various isolated paragraphs, "and I know it’s way harder to see progress with writing, but I thought I’d try anyway?"

In 2018, I crossed out the Creative part.

"I’m including all kinds of writing I’ve done this time around," I said. "My non-fiction work is important to me, too."

By 2019, the header was simply Goop's Writing in 2019. No red X. No sign that there had ever been anything else.

I skipped 2020. 2021 removed headers and isolated paragraphs altogether—a tradition I'll keep for 2022.

But I can't help thinking about that crossed-out Creative from 2018.

What a 2022 mood.

See, there's this essay that's been swirling around in my head for a while. Well, more than swirling around—there are maybe the makings of it somewhere deep in my Tumblr drafts, scrawled out and abandoned way back in 2020.

You Don't Deserve to Be a Good Artist. That's what I've thought about calling it.

Because I'm a Libra, right? (On the cusp, but still!) I'm all about fairness and balance, about earning what you get. And, as I realized in horrible clarity in 2022, despite my Creative Writing degree, I don't deserve to be a good (creative) writer.

But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.

So, here's a clumsy metaphor: I learned how to swim as a young child, through lessons held at a local high school. There were two pools there, one for swimming and one for diving, and this year, I feel like I skipped the shallower swimming pool and leapt right into the deeper, scarier diving pool of creativity. I wrote fiction beyond November's National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge of penning 50,000 words within 30 days—a challenge I've participated in since 2006—completing two short fanfictions, more than I've done in years. 2022 also got me interested in a new hobby of video editing; I've shared 10 AMVs since April.

I surrounded myself with artists, and they welcomed me with open arms, treating me with far more kindness than I felt I deserved. And that's the theme with me, so I do want to stress that it's not the fault of anyone else—not at all, not ever!—that a sense of out-of-placeness filled me.

I got my degree in Creative Writing, I must have said, multiple times, over and over.

But I never voiced, not directly, the reason I ever mentioned it at all. That I'm an artist, too. That I belong here. That I can also write creatively, not just essays! I swear!

Yeah. My need to justify my existence was probably pretty blatant.

In many ways, 2022 felt like a repeat of realizations made in 2021. "I can’t get invested in my own stories," I said in last year's review. And yet, "[S]omething simply feels… lesser, about throwing fiction behind and writing about other people’s fiction instead." So, I tried to write fiction. And it hurt, and it ached, and I cried. (And vomited from anxiety.) I vibed so much with MUNA's "Winterbreak" that I used it in an ask game this year, but it wasn't 'til the closing months of 2022 that I understood that I do actually relate to the song, in a way; my relationship with creative writing feels like a love I'll never get right, but "I'll always have one more try."

Like 2021, I also don't know where I'm going next year. But 2022 got me thinking, for the first time, "So what if I have a Creative Writing degree?" It's been a source of shame ever since I earned it—a painful, haunting reminder that I genuinely went to school for fiction writing and still write pieces that reek of amateur—but in the grand scheme of things, what does that matter, really?

So I wrote some literary fiction for school, studied movie scripts, penned a few plays, handed in one novel. (And the novel was for my Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies minor!) So I've participated in NaNoWriMo since 2006 and have over a million words on NaNo projects.

So what?

Writers around me have done so much more than that. Why do I deserve to be good? For studying writing in school for a few years? For mainly only writing fiction one month a year, which I then never polish or show anyone?

Of course, the world doesn't work like I would maybe like it to. It doesn't necessarily matter if I "deserve" to be good or not. But how can I get upset over my skills when I've spent so little time honing them?

Well, I kind of like my NaNo projects from 2022. "I'll always have one more try," I think.

Anyway, my struggles with creativity aside, I am proud of what I accomplished this year. Here are my favorite written pieces from each month!

January: Ai Haibara: Will She Choose to Remain a Child in the End?

February: Shinichi Kudo: Hiding His Trauma

March: Episodes 406-408: Toning Down the Tsundere

April: HeiShin Masterpost: Things I Love About Heiji and Shinichi

May: HeiShinRan

June: OVA 9: Shinichi’s Conception of Heiji’s Future (And How He Thinks Heiji’s So Attractive That He’ll be Called “The Lady-Killer of Naniwa”)

July: Opening 56: The Focus on Heiji’s Alcohol

August: HeiShin: Is It Really Onesided?

September: "They Only Murdered Him Once"

October: The only thing in my "ramblings" tag for this month is this post about recommended Conan English dub releases...

November: "Demon Get Out, Luck Come In"

December: Heishin: "Don't Fall in Love"

Yeah, this is, like, all Heishin related 😳

That's all for now. Happy New Year, y'all. Thank you so much for your continued support and kindness.

#ramblings #writing #happy new year!#riiiight before midnight here ^^;#goop makes a personal post

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motownfiction · 1 year

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historic

August 14, 2017. One of those historic days, as far as Emma O’Connor is concerned. If she ever got the chance to go back and see a day in her life play out, that’s the day she would choose. She wouldn’t want to do it differently. She’d just want to watch it like a movie. August 14, 2017. One of the most special days of Emma’s whole life. It’s the day she met Daisy Feng.

As a kid, Emma was never very good at making friends. When she was very little, she tried – asked other kids to play at recess, sat down at lunch tables she wasn’t even invited to, brought Scooby-Doo fruit snacks to school because that’s what all the other kids ate. But it never really worked. She knew she was faking, and they knew she was faking. Nobody wants a faker for a friend. Even fewer people want a friend who watches reruns of Newhart in the 2000s.

And all her life, that seems to be the consensus. Emma O’Connor is too weird to have friends, too smart, too different. Every now and then, people like her, but they’re really just looking for help with their homework or an in with Mom at CCNY. Mom says her life would have been like that if she hadn’t moved to Michigan and met Sadie. The thought sticks in Emma’s brain, and she’s determined to find her own Sadie. She decides it’s one of the most important goals in life, much more important than finding a husband one day. Mom is who she is because Sadie loved her first, probably even before Daddy (though it would break Dad’s heart to hear it said). Elenore didn’t have a Sadie, and look what happened to her.

It seems like all hope is lost. Emma’s twenty-two now, the holder of a bachelor’s degree, and she still has no real friends to her name. No Sadie of her own. Mom shakes her head and says that’s ridiculous. She doesn’t need her own Sadie because she’s already friends with the real one. Just because she’s my friend doesn’t mean she’s not yours, Mom says. She’s trying to be kind. She’s trying to be understanding. But if she only knew how hard it is to strike out on your own. Emma shares all this, and Mom just draws her close and says she hopes that when she starts at Columbia next month, she hopes Emma finds a best friend who likes eating raw cookie dough, listening to the Easy Rider soundtrack, and looking at the moon. It seems impossible.

And then, like nothing, it’s August 14, 2017. Emma’s first day at Columbia, where she’ll earn her master’s degree in film studies. She’s shuffled into an office with another new student in the program, Daisy Feng. Daisy is a year older than Emma, four inches taller, and a million times more gregarious. When Emma opens her door and finds Daisy there, she looks at her from behind purple-rimmed glasses and smiles like they’re old friends. And somehow, even with her guard up high above her head, Emma knows it’s OK. Knows she should look at Daisy like they’re old friends, too.

Turns out to be the right choice. There’s nobody in the world cooler than Daisy. Her last name means phoenix, and she’s fond of saying she rose from the ashes (a year off between her bachelor’s and master’s, where she worked in a bakery and accidentally burned a few too many loaves of bread, on account of listening to the radio and getting distracted). She’s from Toledo, Ohio, land of Spaghetti Warehouses and some of the world’s most overrated sundaes. At least, according to Daisy, who couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there. She studies sixties counterculture in Hollywood movies, and her favorite movie soundtrack of all time is Easy Rider. When Emma asks her why, Daisy just nods and says, “I, too, had too much to dream last night.”

It’s not a lie, either, and you can tell. Daisy always looks like she’s this close to snapping her fingers and telling you she has magic powers. Her wit is incredible, but once she decides you’re her friend, that’s it. You’re her friend for life. Mom says she’s a combination of Daddy and Sam that way, which Emma’s proud of. If you can’t find your own Sadie, she thinks, might as well find your own Sam.

Before long, Emma O’Connor and Daisy Feng go everywhere together. Out for coffee. To the movies. To weird trivia contests upstate, where they take home the prize money every time, much to the townies’ chagrin. When Emma thinks she could fall in love with the second-year student in their women filmmakers class, she tells Daisy even before she tells Elenore; when Daisy finally kisses her bartender crush from that place upstate, she calls Emma into the bathroom and squeals with her about it. Before long, it’s a given. Wherever Emma goes, she knows Daisy goes. The best friend she’s always been looking for. Not a Sadie of her own. Not even a Sam. Just a Daisy.

Thank goodness.

#drabble #ch: emma o'connor #ch: daisy feng #asks #hopeoftheendless #this is less story and more description BUT i thought it was necessary #thank you!

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frankhightower · 3 days

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Commission Prices 2023 (and FAQ)

It's that time: I'm open for commissions! Got questions on the general process? Please see last year's FAQ. Questions on the changes? Please see below:

Why the price increase? Mostly because of inflation, but some I raised because I had severely underestimated how long it took to make (for instance, shading now takes me about as long as coloring and the linework combined; the previous price sheet assumed it took as long as just coloring. This wasn’t because I was “bad” at coloring and “good” at shading, I just hadn’t done a lot of shaded pieces to get a good grasp on the time it took)

How can I know which were raised for inflation and which were raised for “difficulty”? As a rule of thumb, if I raised it by $5, it was because of inflation; if I raised it by more, it’s because I’d underestimated it

Why $5? In 2017 I set my prices as 5,10,15, etc. and it felt fair at the time, but there’s been quite a bit of inflation since 2017.

So why does black and white still cost $5? I am committed to keeping a $5 option for people that can’t afford more. As with the refsheets, I know that art is a gateway to wider participation in the fandom so I strongly believe in having an affordable option.

So why does lineless only cost marginally more than the lined equivalent? Most artists charge, like, double! Because I happen to like doing it.

It says prices are per “full body” character, that’s new. Yes. After the “dollar menu” experiment, I’m more willing to not draw the full character (which, as I’ve mentioned, requires me short-circuiting my own brain that “needs” to see “the rest of it”) and lower the price accordingly. This is also why I’ve set my comic pricing as “per panel”: you rarely have the whole character in-panel in a comic so that offsets the extra stuff that the panel needs.

Wait, that said “per prop” last year! Why the change? Same reasoning: I’ve decided not to charge for props. This means the total price people will pay won’t go up as much.

What counts as a complex marking? That’s also new. As with refsheets, a character with more than 3 spots or stripes per limb or more than 6 spots/stripes total (not counting tail for either).

Those numbers sound kind of arbitrary... They’re based on practice, and I arrived at them by studying several established character designs so I know they’re fair.

My character doesn’t have spots or stripes, he has markings shaped like [insert symbol here]! A marking in the shape of a “y” counts as two stripes. A marking in the shape of an “H” counts as three. Curves (up until a J-shape) are treated as stripes. C-shapes, circles and dots are counted as spots.

As a practical example, suppose you have a giant heart shape on your back—that counts as three spots (and your back as a limb) so you’re good. If that heart has a line through it, now you have 4 (3 spots and a stripe) so it counts as complex.

My character has those, but I can’t afford the complexity charge... I’m sure we can figure out a way to clothe them so that only a manageable amount of markings is showing.

I heard you charged someone complexity for clothes though? Yes, if your clothes are covered in spots/stripes/etc, it will take me longer to draw it!

You weren’t charging for this last year! Why the change? I noticed I was unable to predict the time it would take me to draw a character when this happened (kind of necessary to be able to do when you’re squeezing drawing time in between your job) and this is definitely a factor.

Just quit your job! No.

This is all ridiculous, just use a pattern fill! Although I respect newspaper comic tropes, that is not the kind of work I offer.

This is only valid for 2024, how much are prices going to rise next year?! They probably won’t: by my math, these prices should still work with the inflation expected for next year. However, I’m not quite convinced of the effort valuation for the more expensive options (lineless may prove either easier or harder than I’m anticipating, but I won’t know until I’ve done more of them!) so I want to leave the door open to adjust prices again in a year.

…How does the discount option work? Find a piece in my gallery and tell me you want “this but with _____.” If I can reuse part of the drawing, I won’t charge you for that part. I keep the raw files for all my drawings so I’m very likely to find something I can reuse.

Posted using PostyBirb

#sketch #color #shaded #commissions #5 #20 #25 #30 #35 #50 #60

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customportables · 9 months

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Custom built desktop? Yeah I got one. Who doesn't?

What I really need is a laptop. But I want a laptop I can use to draw- and it feels like my options are to lug along a drawing tablet as well, and find a place to set it all up, or a.... Surface tablet.

Eugh.

But fear not: I have inspiration- and a base.

Enter the Toshiba Portege M780:

This is a pretty unassuming looking laptop- it was released in 2009, and boy does it look like it!

Not a bad thing though! Personally I adore this look- thin laptops just don't do it for me. I want my laptops to have BEEF. I want to be able to hurl it and feel confident it survived! But regardless- what's going on at the bottom here?

Huh. Weird place to put buttons- especially a power button. And is that an extra hinge in the middle? And on the back-

Ignoring the missing piece- What's this on the back over the dock port? Some kind of... What, an extra port? If we take this plastic off...

Nope, some sort of stylus shaped hole. Huh...

Well, if you guessed (or if you know) that's right, this is a tablet! Or at least, a convertible laptop. First released in 1994, the Portege line is only one year older than the oldest convertible, the Compaq Concerto. It also lasted a bit longer, with the last model released in 2017, two years before all Toshiba laptops were axed. This model (again, 2009) is a convertible over a detachable netbook, and originally had a Wacom digitizer built into the screen. It even has pressure sensitivity- or, had. Mine came without a few pieces, like the pen, and anything not soldered in.

You can see the graphic tablet features a little clearer on this M205 I also have:

Regardless, this M780 (while a little beat up and ugly) is the perfect candidate to make my perfect convertible, portable laptop. The heart of all this is the Framework laptop mainboard and the Huion Kamvas. The full list as of right now:

Framework AMD Ryzen 7 7840U Mainboard

1x 16 GB RAM, leaving one slot for the option of later upgrades

1TB SSD

Additional framework laptop components (audio board, speakers, battery/charger, power button, probable antennae, and potentially trackpad)

Mechanical keyboard - likely utilizing Kailh low profile switches, either white or blue.

Huion Kamvas 13" graphics tablet

And the extra features I'd love to implement somehow:

Bluetooth macro pad that snaps into one of my now-empty slots

Built in pen AND nib holder

Currently the plan goes something like this:

Disassemble Portege. Figure out what space I have to work with.

Create internal layout. Requires having parts for measurement.

Model and print brackets for parts. Glue inside case.

Attach everything.

Profit! (not really. This is going to cost over 1k...)

My current next step will be to create a more solid roadmap and plan- then get everything prettied up and shared here for easy access.

I am probably NOT the first to do this, but I'm hoping to encourage more custom laptop builds- or at least make them more accessible. If nothing else, I hope to get a cool laptop out of it!

#laptop #diy #diy electronics #digital sketchpad #<- potential name. Fingers crossed I get something good out of all this!

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suckitsurveys · 1 year

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Do you remember much from high school? I don’t even remember what happened yesterday bro.

Where would you go for the ultimate honeymoon? An all expenses paid resort on a beach somewhere.

Can you access the roof of the building you live in? No.

Do you know anyone who has a strong accent that is hard to understand? Yes, a coworker.

If you had to get a tattoo tomorrow, what would you get? I really want to get something dedicated to my nieces. I was thinking of having them draw hearts and getting those.

What was the last podcast you listened to? Do you listen to it regularly? Office Ladies. I listen pretty regularly. I need to listen to the next episode because they have Billie Eilish as a guest!

Are you more of an optimist or a pessimist, and why do you think this is? I think I am an equal balance of both, depending on the situation.

When was the last time you moved house? In 2017.

Have you ever held a gun? Did you fire it? A bb gun and yes.

Do you like simple questions or deep questions that make you think? Both are good,, depends on the mood I am in.

How long have you been using Bzoink? I don’t use that site.

When was the last time you threw up? Why were you sick? I don’t remember actually.

Are you on a first-name basis with your boss? (or last boss if unemployed) Yes.

What brand is your laptop or computer? The computer I am on right now is a Dell. I have two laptops at home and one is Dell and one is Sony.

Would you ever wear a bright orange shirt? Probably not.

What was the last thing you wrote in a word document? Something for work.

Who do you miss and what do you miss about them? My mom. She’ll be gone 10 years this year. I miss her laughter and her stories. I really fucking wish she was here because there’s no way she’d let my brother in law get away with the fucking shit he does to my sister and my nieces.

What were the best and worst costumes you’ve ever worn? My favorites were Nyan Cat and Princess Carolyn. Worst was probably when I attempted to dress as Hannah Montana lol.

Do you know anybody who is gay and married? Yes.

What did you last take painkillers for? A headache.

Are there any hobbies you want to get back into? I wish I kept up on rollerblading/skating.

Have you ever shared a home with a friend? Nope.

What’s the craziest or weirdest place you’ve ever slept? I don’t know. In a gym at a YMCA?

What did you have for lunch today and who made it? It’s 8 in the morning, but I am going to have pad thai later. It’s a store brand frozen dinner which sounds gross but it’s actually not bad.

Do you believe in anything supernatural like ghosts or ghouls? Ghosties.

How many hours of sleep did you get last night? Not enough.

Are you allergic to anything? How did you find out? Some UTI medication. I’ve just always been told I was.

What’s your favourite Thai dish? Massaman curry and pad see ew. And good ol’ pad thai.

Do you have any alarms set? What time and what for? I have like 400 set between 4am and 5am because I like to torture myself before work.

What are you going to do when this survey is over? A few more probably.

Have you ever been on a date with someone you met online? How was it? Yes. We’re married now.

What colour is the rug in your living area? Grey.

Do you call it a couch, sofa, lounge or something else entirely? Couch.

Who is your favourite character on Friends? Chandler and Phoebe.

When was the last time you used a pair of headphones and what for? I have some on right now but I haven’t started listening to anything lol. Describe the temperature of the area you’re in right now. Cold and bullshit January shit.

Who was the last very physically attractive person you saw? In person? My husband.

Have you ever had teppanyaki? I don’t think so.

How long does it take you to get ready before you go somewhere? Definitely depends.

Do you find it difficult to get rid of material possessions? I am pretty sentimental.

What sort of games do you like to play? I play a lot of mindless shit on my phone. But I also LOVE board games.

What was the last candy you ate? I had a sea salt and caramel chocolate candy last night.

Have you ever been hit in the face? What’s the story? Not like, maliciously, no. I’ve been hit by sports balls and other shit before.

Do you know anyone who is deaf? I don’t personally, no.

Name one thing on your bucket list. Traveling!

#surveys #at work

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lymechallenged · 1 year

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Multiple Trains In My Lyme Challenged Brain!!

I will get back to MY Lyme journey for this blog post since I have had multiple trains derailing all over the place in my Lyme challenged brain the past few days. #lymechallenged

But let me start out by telling you that because of my Lyme challenged brain, I have problems thinking of the names of things. For example, at one point in the past several years I was living in my parents basement, which is a whole other story! I was using a small desk fan of my mothers and I broke it. I went upstairs to tell her I broke her fan and would buy her a new one. By the time I got up the stairs, I could not for the life of me think of the word "fan". A simple three letter word that I have used throughout my life. I was telling her that I broke her "thing that spins around and blows air to cool you off." She looked at me like I had lost every last marble left in my head. That was in 2017 or 2018 and it has only continued to get worse. For the past couple of days I have been trying to think of the name of something that I wanted to post on here. I wasn't even sure how to word it so I could Google it. Then I remembered Google Lens. So I drew a quick "sketch" of what it should look like in my mind and used Google Lens to search for the name of it. I am certainly NOT an artist unless I take my time and really concentrate hard! But that is neither here nor there. This is my drawing (it is perfectly okay to laugh…I have been cackling all morning!)

Let me tell you that Google Lens came up with everything except what it actually was. Google came up with a propeller, a windmill, a clock, a wagon wheel, a fan, a bunch of kids drawings of various things, the sun, and the three that I couldn't help but laugh at: a snail, "problems in the prison", and my personal favorite… a Volkswagen. HUH??? A Volkswagen??? So how did I finally figure out what word it was I was looking for? When my kids were young, they used to watch Thomas the Tank Engine and my goofy brain could remember that show had what I was looking for in just about every episode I had to endure back then. So over to YouTube to search for Thomas episodes. The first two episodes I watched were no help, the third and fourth ones had the thing in it but did not say the name of it. I was in no mood to watch any more of Thomas so back to Google but this time with a phrase I could use. Kind of. I typed in "round things that switch train tracks." Some answers came up that weren't much help in the title and I didn't want to read the articles so I switched the results to images. BINGO!! There it was! Here is a screenshot of the search result. (Don't do like I would do and try to click on the VISIT button in THIS photo because it won't work. 😀)

I clicked on one of the photos and there was the name of what I have been searching for in my brain for so long!! Railway turntable and wheelhouse!! Why has this been so important for me? Because for years when one of my trains derail, I see an image of a turntable and roundhouse in my brain. I don't see an image of a train actually derailing or wrecking. I was talking to my sister about it earlier and she said when her train derails she envisions a train flying off the side of a mountain. Most "normal" brains probably would imagine an actual train wreck when they think of a train derailing. Not my Lyme infested brain! And then it dawned on me! My brain IS the roundhouse and the turntable because I have more than a few trains!! And then I came across the next photo which my roundhouse, Lyme challenged brain related to on so many levels…

Just imagine trains colliding on these tracks because someone in the roundhouse control booth didn't hit the correct switch. THAT IS MY BRAIN WITH LYME DISEASE! And when I said at the beginning of this post that I was going to get back to MY Lyme journey for this post…obviously that train derailed too. But no one can imagine the joy I feel right now because I feel I have FINALLY been able to describe what I see when my trains derail. And just imagine that ALL of this was caused from a tick bite so many years ago.

Until next time, Kelly #lymechallenged

#lymechallenged #lyme disease #tick-borne disease #chronic lyme #chronic illness

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storemaid9 · 2 years

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Eight Inspirational Quotes About Best Minecraft Mods

Hottest Minecraft modding API, will let you load mods by dropping them into your server mods folder. 3. Extract the zip recordsdata and copy the net.kdt.pojavlaunch.debug folder (in its entirety) to the identical location (in the Android/knowledge folder, the place other applications are stored) in your Quest filesystem using the SideQuest file browser. Its international coverage is good for providing a clean experience to customers no matter location. The next downloads make enjoying modded Minecraft a extra pleasant expertise. We're seeing some studios renew their efforts to design better (and more enjoyable) MMOs for adults, and maybe we need to see extra of that from the child-friendly genre as nicely. Overly complicated UIs, invisible zone boundaries, and tracked content all get in the way in which of actually feeling as if you're seeing that world by the eyes of your character. The higher the plan, the extra sources you’ll get. Apart from all of the interplanetary sightseeing, the primary draw of this mod is the sheer quantity of effort you’ll have to put into it in order to escape Earth and its famously surly bonds. The game shouldn't be without its flaws however, and you’ll actually have an easier time of it if you’re prepared to take a position more money.

They've 18 information centers located worldwide to facilitate lower latency for players on Java and Bedrock Edition. You may as well play Minecraft Bedrock Version (for consoles solely) in cut up screen while on LAN, supporting up to 4 players at a time. Looking for good Minecraft server hosting that may lastly just work and not drop players left and right? It is also a good idea to see if the supplier affords upgradeable DDoS safety. Is it a good idea to drive off the sheep, though? I am intrigued by the idea of a brief lifetime server as a result of it is so opposite to the never-ending persistance of MMOs. Why do you assume that's, and would you agree that MMOs like AoC are utterly completely different animals from their launch builds? Even now, you may really feel that there are some really good mods which are lacking from this listing. Nevertheless, at any time you can change to a premium plan, which is an efficient alternative for big communities. I have used their providers for over a year now, and i can say that for a budget 3GB minecraft server, paying only 9 dollars for 3 months is a really good offer!

You've got more than a few choices for Minecraft Multiplayer; some of which require an web connection, whereas you'll be able to play different strategies offline and from the same room. This Minecraft Server and SMP has Hardcore, Survival, Anarchy, Vanilla, One Life, OneTrySMP, Lifestealsmp and many extra Hardcore SMP Associated Minecraft Servers. With NodePanel, your Minecraft server hosting is installed in seconds. Prospects do complain of frequent downtimes but they solely last seconds. Google Playstore and App store additionally present that the functions were last up to date in 2017! Reinstall Minecraft Launcher.6. Reset Microsoft Retailer Cache.7. Can visit the final retailer or in-recreation vault as wanted. Go to our modded Minecraft server hosting web page for more information on supported mods. Your server needs to not only permit them but probably also come with a few of the most well-liked mods already included. Don’t overextend by spending more than needed, particularly if you’re just experimenting with server internet hosting.

NodePanel additionally automates updates so you recreation extra. IT'S TIME FOR helps you to simply create modded servers, install modpacks, install plugins, and alter configurations (like your whitelist). In this case, all the data on the server will probably be saved, akin to your installed sport servers, their IP addresses, maps, uploaded mods, plugins, and so forth. You is not going to need to purchase a brand new server to transfer knowledge from the free Minecraft server - every little thing shall be transferred robotically. We own and function information centers all over the world to keep our systems operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our methods are secured towards DDoS attacks. From Minecraft Forge, to Spigot and Sponge- no matter server jar you are in search of, mods are easy to put in and play. If you get lost extra instances than you possibly can count, this is one of the best Minecraft mods to personal. Our free Minecraft server hosting service supports mods and plugins. You also get a whole week to check out the service on a free trial. Try the ultimate version of this script here. Stand out from the gang by personalising your Minecraft server with plugins.

#Teen Time #It's time for #MINECRAFT SERVERS

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luckthebard · 3 years

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So on your post about Critical Role and TTRPG space you mentioned how Geek & Sundry was huge in 2015/6 and essentially nonexistent now and I was wondering if you knew/could explain why G&S feel so far in 6 years? Very much understand if you can't for any reason.

Ok, so. *deep breath*

Felicia Day created G&S in 2012. She sold it to Legendary Digital Network in 2014, but still retained creative control. Felicia Day leaves the company entirely in 2016. LDN changed hands in 2016 (not super important but kind of explains what happens next) and decide to launch their own streaming platform: "Alpha" in late 2016/early 2017. They had also bought Nerdist, and the plan was for Alpha to be a subscription streaming service for all content from G&S and Nerdist.

So. Alpha. Alpha had a lot of problems. And I mean...a lot. For one thing, G&S had as much of a presence if not moreso on YouTube than twitch, where all content was free to view (if with ads). Suddenly putting a lot of content behind a paywall that used to be essentially free did not sit well with a lot of the viewers. (Critical Role actually had a whole controversy around this themselves, because Talks Machina was originally supposed to be an "Alpha Exclusive," and people were very upset the talkback show would be behind a paywall. CR stepped in (because they still controlled the IP for their own show - an important factor I forgot to include in my last post! The foresight they had to do that!!) and Talks became a Twitch show instead. But the compromise is what led to Talks "After Dark" - the Alpha exclusive extra 15 minutes of content.)

Alpha had technical problems on top of that. People who paid for the stream/VODs frequently found them laggy or bugged in many ways (this wasn't my experience with Alpha, but I saw enough people posting about it to know it was widespread). So the general fandom wisdom was: don't pay for Alpha, it's not worth it. G&S, though, was increasingly putting all of its best content behind the Alpha paywall, because that was a way for LDN to increase profit. So great shows like "Sagas of Sundry: Madness" or "Painter's Guild" and "Relics and Rarities" weren't seen by nearly as many people or hyped up like they probably would have been if they were on twitch, because only Alpha users could watch.

In 2018, LDN started to massively scale back their digital content. I think they probably weren't seeing the profit they wanted to from the Alpha platform or Twitch. They started cutting costs at G&S and firing a lot of the mainstay creators. This is also when CR decided to go independent. This is the issue with larger corporate conglomerates entering the online space - they see it as a money draw, but don't realistically see how small the profits are in the context of what they're used to. In the end, the investment doesn't feel worth it for LDN and they pulled the plug. After CR left G&S in 2019, LDN basically folded the entire company. Most of the employees were let go. A lot of former G&S employees now work for CR, including Dani, their chief producer Max, Brittany Walloch-Key, and now Ivan Van Norman with Darrington Press and occasionally old G&S personalities like Erika Ishii.

So the tl;dr here is kind of "A corporation bought G&S and tried to maximize profit without understanding streaming or online marketing and platforming" but there's a lot to it.

#replies #hope I got everything in there #and also sorry for the long post!#geek and sundry #critical role

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trcelyneart · 2 years

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OBAN Star Racers 15th Anniversary

Hi fellow Oban fans!

As I said in a previous post, today was the celebration of Oban’s 15th anniversary, which was held in Paris in a little cinema. It was obviously hosted by Savin Yeatman-Eiffel himself, as well as Stanislas Brunet who worked on the mecha and background designs.

So it went like this: Savin made a presentation about the series in itself, how the idea came to be, the first sketches made by himself and his friends, and all the struggles he and Sav! The World studios faced during the production. The hardest part was finding funds to produce the series, since making a single episode can cost up to half a millions euros.

The French VAs of Molly and Aikka were there too, and they redubbed one of the scenes live! The funniest part was that the guy who did Aikka’s voice is a tall, bearded, burly guy with the kind of voice you’d expect from a dude with that build; and yet when he did Aikka’s part I was speechless!!! Then Savin invited two people in stage to redo the dub for fun. The girl who did it had a voice that strangely sounded like Molly’s, but the poor guy who did Aikka’s part probably didn’t remember the passage well despite the subtitles and stammered a lot. But it was nice!

Savin had planned to talk about The Two Queens movie but he didn’t have the time. I asked him about the project afterwards, and he told me that he still wanted to do it, but like Oban, he had troubles funding it. By the time he pitched it, Netflix was not into funding indie projects yet. He also started working on other projects with several studios so The Two Queens had to unfortunately be put on stand-by.

And then. OH THEN. He talked about the thing we ALL wanted to know:

The Sequel

Savin explicitly asked us to not film or take pictures, so I won’t talk about it in detail. But basically there is not one, but THREE project ideas:

1) A sequel based on the picture released back in 2017 with a brand-new plot but still related to the Oban lore. He doesn’t know if the girl would be Molly or Molly’s descendant.

2) An Aikka spin-off prequel. I WAS SO HYPED.

3) A sequel where Molly takes up on Aikka’s offer to visit his planet.

He tested the waters to see which project seemed to please us the most, which was project 1 - I told him, to quote my own words “I’m team Aikka, so my hype for the second project is HELLA BIG, but I honestly won’t care I’m willing to pull out the chekbook as long as it’s Oban related” - and project 2 was rather popular but we suggested he switched media (like making a comic).

I asked him the same question I asked Thomas Romain when I met him at the Japan Expo Sud back in 2018: could we help funding it through Kickstarter for example? Unfortunately, like the original series, we’re talking about millions of euros here so we can’t help that much.

Then we moved on to the next part: VIDEO GAMES. There was a Nintendo DS game originally planned but the studio let him down at the last minute. He showed us some footage of the game which looked quite good (mid-2000s DS game relatively speaking).

He also officially announced that today was released an Oban fangame via Playstation Dreams called Oban Star Racers Dreams by Sky Isle Studios.

There’s also another game - still in its project phase - for PC which would hopefully be released in a few years.

Last but not least: if you guys follow Savin Yeatman-Eiffel on twitter, you might know that he got back the rights of Oban and has been gradually collecting the dubs that had been made (apparently the Brazilian release stopped at ep 18, which means they never got the end!!) to re-release the series as blu-ray. The said blu-ray collection will be up on Kickstarter in Frebruary 2022, with several stretch goals and packs - from the complete OST digital release to packs with original drawings and figurines - so stay tuned!

Although he knows the fandom never died, Savin hopes that we can gather new people and touch a larger public. I suggested for example to release the show on Netflix, because it will find some new public!

#célyne talks #oban star racers #prince aikka #molly wei #eva wei #jordan wylde #oban star racers sequel #savin yeatman-eiffel #thomas romain

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moonctzeny · 3 years

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baby, we're two strangers

pairing: jeong jaehyun x fem!reader

genre: smut

word count: 2,255

summary: "When you attend your company's black mask party, you expect free booze and boring small talk with your co-workers. What you don't expect is to meet a cute stranger, who's more than willing to take you out of your misery. You don't know anything about him, not even his name, only the two deep dimples adorning his cheeks"

warnings: alcohol consumption, fingering, cunnilingus, smut in public (what else did you expect from me), jaehyun is a little on the subbier side at some point(??) but not really

a/n: happy birthday to our precious jaehyun! hope you like this anon, sorry it took so long :(

You always thought those business parties were a pain in the ass. You barely managed to go through 5 days a week with your co-workers without committing first degree murder, now you had to see them during your precious weekends too? The thought of you starting small talk with the lady at the front desk, or having to laugh with your boss’s terrible humour all night made you sick to your stomach. But alas, you know how much your supervisor loved those kinds of parties, and your wallet needed that promotion. He’d lecture you about how they cultivate group spirit and strengthen the company’s teamwork. You just saw it as an excuse to get drunk free of charge.

Catching your reflection in the mirror, you spot a stray hair that escaped the adhesion of your new hairspray, and you quickly brush it to place with your fingers. Your favourite black dress hugged your body, simple jewellery decorated your skin. You don’t even know why you bothered with eye makeup, the obligatory black mask for tonight’s dress code hiding most of your face already, with the exception of your red lipstick. You wonder whether the people who just quickly rushed by you in the hallways, too focused on their own deadlines and to-do lists would even recognize you.

The party was boring, just like you predicted. You’d given up long ago in trying to keep the conversation going with Matt from the IT department (who proved to be the most boring man on earth, apparently) and planted yourself right next to the booze table. You had your own little wine tasting party in the past hour, trying aged drinks from 10 years ago up to vins ordinaires. The alcohol relaxed your muscles and left a pleasant buzz in your head, effectively drowning out the dj’s playlist that only had hit songs from 2016. You were content in your solitude, satisfied with just staring at your co-workers interacting with each other, noticing who disliked who, who were the funny ones, who needed help with social interactions. But your comfortable loneliness wouldn’t last for long.

“Mind if I join you?”

Ugh. Just what you needed. Matt from the IT department probably told his buddy, Ben - who keeps rudely staring at your skirts at work - that you’re here and informed him about your location. Maybe if you ignored him he would go away. Or maybe you’d just tell him that you suddenly need to go to the bathroom. Had he ever heard you speak? You wonder if he’d believe you if you told him you were deaf, actually.

You turned around to face the man, hoping that he didn’t know sign language when you finally made eye contact with him. This definitely wasn’t Ben. He was the most beautiful man you’d ever seen in your life.

He was tall, with loose curls adorning the top of his head. His porcelain skin seemed to absorb all the light in the room, then send it out three times as bright. He looked fit, his small waist cinched in with the buttons of his suit, filled in fully in all the right places. You could only manage a deranged hum that barely sounded human.

Through the small holes of the black mask he was also wearing, you can tell he was staring at you. You tried to keep the eye contact but failed miserably, your heart picking up a pace that sure can’t be healthy.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around. Do you work in the IT department on the bottom floor, maybe?”

You clear your throat, begging the wine in your system not to mess this up for you by making a fool of yourself. “I also work on the top floor. Maybe you just didn’t notice me before.”

“No no”, he insists, taking a sip from his drink as well while raking up and down at you with his eyes, “I would definitely remember”.

Your cheeks are burning up at this point and you leave your drink at the table, not trusting your clammy hands to not drop the 2017 Merlot all over the floor. You were done acting like boo boo the fool. You weren’t gonna let this one slip away.

“It’s weird, I don’t remember you either. And you seem like such nice company”

He smiles at your reciprocation and you almost gasp at the appearance of two deep dimples on his cheeks, framing his lovely smile. He looks like a mixture of a prince and what you pictured Edward Cullen to look like when you were reading The Twilight Saga as a teenager.

“What department do you work at, then?”

You have to roll your eyes. The wine has made you a little impatient, and the heat of your body was getting hard to ignore.

“Here’s the thing Dimples, one thing I really fucking hate is small talk. So how about you really entertain me out of this boring party?”

He seems taken aback by your sudden confidence, yet amused either way. He doesn’t miss the fact that you’re the one checking him out now, your whole body leaning against him.

“I figured I should be a gentleman first”

“I don’t want a gentleman. I need a distraction”

He flashes you those dimples again and you get the sudden urge to tackle him.

“I see. Wanna get out of here?”

You didn’t need to hear more. Taking his hand, you lead the mysterious stranger outside the hall area the party was held at, finding an empty bathroom. You felt naughty dragging a man - a stranger at that - to a place like this, reminding you of your days as a teenager. A cold breeze sneaking through the little window spread goosebumps all over the skin of your legs that was uncovered by your short dress, yet you were hyper aware of the heat emitted from the man’s body.

The moment your hands left the rotating lock, you felt his body towering over yours, then the pressure of his soft lips. He tasted sweet, like the liquor he had enjoyed earlier, his hands snaking around your waist to bring you even closer against him. You kissed with vigor and a passion that was burning in your belly, and you suck on his tongue to show him a sneak peek of your talents. He moans in your mouth, a deep rumble that you gladly swallow up, your fingers tugging on his locks in hope you get another one out of him.

You do, and he’s had enough, wrapping his hands around your legs and lifting you up on the counter. He’s sitting right between your legs, right where you want him most, and your dress has now well ridden up, only one layer between you. He seems to be thinking the same thing as his teeth are breaking the skin of your neck, one hand behind you on the mirror, staining the glass.

“Can I make you feel good?”, he asks with a voice filled with arousal and the want to please. In that moment, you wanted to moan out his name, followed by a ‘yes, please’ but you realised you never asked for it, and it didn’t really matter at this point.

You nod back pleadingly, your eyes watery with how much you’re desperate for any sort of friction. He lifts the hand that had been kneading the soft skin of your hips, and places his thumb right over your lips. Like a reflex, your tongue peeks out from between your teeth, tasting the saltines of his finger. He moves it further inside, satisfied with the feeling and your tongue dancing around it, and when he has finally pushed half of it in you start to suckle the digit.

The stranger’s eyes haven’t left your lips for a second, completely mesmerized by your mouth’s work and he messes up your red lipstick a bit, dragging his finger down your chin, leaving a red line behind. Dipping his thumb back in your mouth again, he lets you suck a little more until you have coated it with a satisfying amount of spit, then brings it right over your panties.

They are cotton, dampened from the moisture of his fingers and your own arousal. He applies pressure right over your clit, just enough to see you squirm on that counter, then continues to draw figure eights over the fabric. His finger dips in your opening on the lower curve of the number and you feel yourself get wetter, holding on tightly to the man’s broad shoulders and moaning in satisfaction.

He shuts you up with a kiss, nibbling on your lower lip as he pushes you panties aside, and you’re a little embarrassed with the printed watermelons they have on them. He toys with you a little, spreading your wetness around before finally dipping in, smirking at the way your head falls back.

The heels of your feet are sitting stubbornly on the marble surface of the counter, knees next to your shoulders to give your new friend as much access as he needed. There was no time for you to be ashamed for showing him all of you, the pleasure was overflowing and ripping out your seams. He starts a trail of kisses from the junction of your next, sucking and licking his way to your chest, and frees one of your boobs with his other hand. The cold and arousal has your nipple stay erect and he seems to enjoy the view, sucking lightly and then harshly, while following the same pace petting your pussy.

“Am I a good company?”, he asks you then, and you’d expect his tone to be teasing but it’s anything but. He’s looking back at you with wide eyes, expecting your feedback and you pet his hair, lowering his head down with the tiniest bit of pressure so that his mouth reconnects with your chest.

“You’re doing so good, baby. Are you going to make me cum?”

He nods eagerly and you lift him up with the collar of his shirt, and you know his expensive cologne will dwell on your fingers after you’re done. You bring him into a kiss, tasting his lips before you whisper over them.

“Then you have to try a little harder”

You could practically see the determination in his eyes, and he wastes no time as he immediately gets on his knees. His breath is cool over your hot core, the feeling sending tingles down your spine. The anticipation is so high that when his tongue finally comes in contact with your sensitivity you almost yelp.

His talent isn’t limited to his fingers, you think as he leaves kitten licks over your clit, giving the bundle of nerves a gentle suck periodically. Just as you’re getting used to the soothing circles of his tongue he dips one more finger in, successfully stretching you open and you bite your hand to stifle your moans. You’re worried that your wetness will drip down to the floor but then you’re reminded of your panties, the friction of the fabric stimulating you even more.

“I’m gonna cum”, you moan in a high pitched tone, bracing both you and the man feasting over you on his knees. One last suck and you’re thrown over the edge, legs shaking as you’re desperately trying to hold yourself in place, before you fall or crush his head with your thighs. He lets you ride out your high, still dipping his fingers in and out slowly, prolonging your pleasure as much as possible. When you both feel like you’re done he gets up again, drying up his chin that is wet with your come. The tent in his slacks is painfully visible, and you rub over it seductively as you also rub your still exposed nipple.

“How about I pay you back”

The stranger doesn’t have time to answer, a loud knock making you both jump in shock and you quickly get decent again.

“Is someone still in there? I really need to use the bathroom”

“Coming!”

“Yes!”

You facepalm at the dumb mistake, exposing yourselves so easily at the man on the other side of the door. He lets out a rumbling laugh, and if there was really such a thing as ‘the end of the world’ you wish to any god out there that it happens right now.

“Ahh, I get what’s going on. You keep at it kids, another bathroom became available just now. And use protection!”

You bury your face in the stranger’s shoulder, and you feel him laugh silently at the ridiculousness of the situation. He opens the door just a slither, and when he makes sure no one is waiting for you outside the bathroom, he leads you back to the main hallway.

“So that was…”

“...hot”, he finishes your sentence with a naughty smile and you swear those dimples are gonna kill you.

“My name is y/n”, you say and firmly shake his hand, the gesture too formal compared to the things you’ve just finished doing together, “I still want to thank you for that, if you do too, of course”

“Jaehyun”, he says right back, then rubs the skin right under your lips with his thumb, and his fingertip comes back red. “Sorry for that, I got a bit carried away. You have nice lips.”

“Thank you, Jaehyun”

#neosmutcollective #neowritingsnet #jung jaehyun #jaehyun #jeong jaehyun #jaehyun imagines #jaehyun scenarios #jaehyun smut #nct 127 #nct u #nct imagines #nct scenarios #nct smut

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absolutebl · 3 years

Text

This Week in BL

March 2021 Part 4

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

This is a LONG ONE, it’s been A WEEK everyone.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Lovely Writer Ep 5 - a little slow this week, but at least Gene finally flirted back, and very cute flirting it was, too. Also we got Aey’s motivation, background, and love interest. Thank goodness for that.

Brothers Ep 8 - still pants, what can I say? Clearly I am a BL masochist. Very embarrassing for everyone concerned.

1000 Stars Ep 9 - the conflict over Tian’s father was REALLY well done. The plot of this drama is excellent, the leads are great together, and yes I totally cried. What, you didn’t?

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Word of Honor (China) Ep 16-18 - big battle fighty fighty stabby stabby. Ep 17 switches to “this drama isn’t big enough for two chaotic-neutral godlings!” So what do they do? Drink together and bicker... A LOT. Then in Ep 18 we all get the dubious joy of really freaky puppets. (I HATE puppets.) Also how is China letting this be so SO VERY VERY GAY? Also, I wanna walk through the forest wearing a smanshy purple robe and waving a big fuck-off white fan around simply because I’m a pretentious fuss monger. And frankly, I feel like this is an achievable life goal for me.

We Best Love 2 (Taiwan) Ep 4 - not gonna lie, this is looking to be one of my top 3 BLs of 2021. It’s SO GOOD. Big bonus to this ep for treating stalker behavior like the mental illness it is and not as some dumb representation of enduring love.

The Most Peaceful Place is My Place (Vietnam) Ep 1 - finally dropped (find it under NƠI BÌNH YÊN NHẤT LÀ VỀ BÊN EM on O2′s channel). It’s got actors already comfortable with BL and looks pretty good so far. An angry tsundere uke reunited with his ex, a stoic chef, giving us lots of snap, crackle, and pop out the gate.

Dear Uranus (Taiwan GL) Ep 2 - I want to love it, but it is just moving too fast. There’s not enough character dev and then they’re throwing flashbacks in? It feels like a treatment rather than a show, and a rushed treatment at that. Bummer.

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 2 (AKA Ep 3-4) - let the cheesy popcorn continue! Idiot remains an idiot; ingenue remains an ice queen; nice gay guy remains nice and gay; obsessive stalker brother is getting ever more whackadoddle. Of course these last two have the best chemistry. (It’s caregiver codependency and the salvation trope. We got us a Leo/Fiat situation going on.) Plus lots of classic BL tropes because OF COURSE there are lots of tropes.

Occasionally, I am tempted to argue that shows like H4 or Cherry Magic or Ossan’s Love aren’t technically BL because of the office setting and age of the protags - but then they all behave like high school students anyway, so *shrug*

Stand Alones

Cute little Taiwanese micro BL Friend or Lover dropped, about bisexual realization within a friendship group. Normally these are too short for me, but this one did pretty good with its 15 minutes of charm, plus it’s abad boy + shy softy pairing.

Breaking News - Thai BL

Fish Upon the Sky released its actual trailer. The upside-down kiss is gone, which makes everyone sad, and it seems far less rivals to lovers than the first iteration, which makes ME sad. But it still looks good and a more classic BL than GMMTV has given us in a while. New trailer focused more on the makeover trope and they’ve upped Mix’s role (the object of everyone’s affection) now that he’s proved himself. (Or they are using him more to carry the trailer since he has a fan base form 1k*). Starts April 9 on GMMTV in 1K*’s time slot, probably with a 10 ep run.

2gether the movie is apparently coming April 22 to Thai theaters. F4 Thailand must be having issues or GMMTV just wants to milk the BrightWin cash cow. It’s rumored to be a combination of 2gehter + Still 2gether with some extra scenes and ending. Also, one assumes a lot will be cut out, if it’s movie length.

Call It What You Want released its updated trailer. If anything, it looks more scary than before. What are we in for? April 9th.

Nitiman got a release date, May 7 on One31.

I Told Sunset About You 2 got an updated release date of May 27 on LineTV.

Second Chance the series is coming to LineTV on March 29. I don’t know much about this one. Tons of familiar faces (mostly TharnType side dishes) and some nice looking new talent but a dearth of eng subs. I think it may take on Brothers’ time slot. Line did eng subs for Brothers so maybe they will do 2nd Chance too?

Close Friend the series is coming April 22. This is a combination of 6 couples with 6 story arcs as music videos (maybe)? It’s an epic fan service with familiar faces like OhmFluke (UWMA), MaxNat (LBC also in Y-Destiny), YoonLay (YYY also in Y-Destiny), KimCop (GenY), and JaFirst (TT2).

Y-Destiny starts March 30, and has starting dropping couple’s trailers. I’m still suspicious given the director but it seems like there is plot (or plots) and a theme. Looks to be a series of 7 single ep vignettes (amended, see comments, might be 2 eps each for 14 eps total), different couple each time, some with supernatural elements, all with decent chemistry and acting chops.

Sun MaxNat’s tutor/student arc

Mon jaded rich kid meets poor innocent

Tues sports romance enemies to lovers

Weds the messy realistic actual dating one

Thurs hot ghost boyfriend (sad)

Fri YoonLayPerth coping with loss and finding new love (sad). This one will all rest on Lay's acting so we know it’s in safe hands. Our boy is going to KILL it.

Sat time-slip memory loss reunion romance

I’m thinking we can’t expect any of these to end happy or be classic BL. They’re gonna be more slice of life-ish.

Gossip - BL Outside of Thailand

Scholar Ryu’s Wedding Ceremony AKA Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding (Korean historical BL) got a legit teaser (eng sub here). @curriculumvtae reports that it’s releasing April 15th on WeTV (Philippines & Thailand) and Idol Romance (South Korea), while Will of Thai Bl says it’ll be on Viki too. It’s a short run of 8 ep built on a fake relationship trope (arranged marriage variant):

Ryu Ho Seon’s (Kang In Soo from You Wish) arranged marriage turns out to be with his expected bride’s brother, Choi Ki Wan (Lee Se Jin from Mr Heart). Ryu tries to undo the marriage, but his ill mother opposes this saying the scandal would be too much. Meanwhile, Kim Tae Hyeong (Jang Eui Soo from Where Your Eyes Linger), a senior at Ryu’s school, comes to congratulate him and falls in love with Choi. Then one day, the original bride disappears.

Okay it seems a bit twisty turny for ONLY 8 EPS, but oh my goodness how excited are we? Our first intentional historical BL out of Korea!

We already knew Hong Kong was doing a remake of Japan’s Ossan’s Love under the same name (not my favorite Japanese BL but so very popular) but it’s now reported to be coming to Viu in June. Who knows how the CFA will take it. Depends on whether Hong Kong bows before the NO GAY KISSES regs or if they are going to use this as a political nose thumb... things could get cray with this puppy (the original has several kisses and s shower scene). Are we back in Addicted territory only with added comedy and civil unrest?

Speaking of Japan, Absolute BL (AKA Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai vs Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko) dropped sooner than anyone thought, March 27. But being Japanese who knows how/when/if we get subs. Protag finds himself trapped in a world of BL, but being straight he fights against any hot guy that draws near, but the whole world (literally) is conspiring against him. It’s a parody adapted from a yoai.

What with Absolute BL from Japan plus Lovely Writer and Call it What You Want from Thailand, is 2021 the year of BL being ultra self referential? Sure feels like it.