#totally worth a look into and also all over good folks

[emperor-palpaminty]

Possessive HCs

Minors DNI, must have age in bio to interact or else ya get blocked. TW for possessive kink and all that jazz. i am unhinged and have no train of thought that makes sense. Also my inbox is open for requests hehe

(This post features Price, Ghost, Soap, Gaz, and Alejandro with anGN reader)

Price

LAWDY this man gives me possessive vibes. He's a captain after all, he's used to having his way and people respect his property.

And you are, after all, his... Right?

Price doesn't get the appeal of hickies at first. They seem immature, silly even, and he thinks they're more trouble than they're worth. And then he sees you with one that he gave you the day before.

Totally changes everything.

He'll cover you in hickies if he can, where where your flesh is soft enough. If your job is more "professional" and would frown upon it he would make sure to leave some just where the corners of a bruise is peeking out from under the collar of your shirt, just so people can still know you're his.

If someone comes up to flirt with you, he makes sure he winds an arm around you and maintains eye contact with the intrusive party until they get the hint and leave. He's the kind of guy who would stare the flirter in the face while kissing your neck, or up your arm, and he would carry the conversation on calmly.

Casually refers to you as "my girl/lad/love", "pretty thing", etc. Just as long as it's obvious you're his.

Ghost

In my brain, he's the most possessive but because he wants to stay as anon as possible, he doesn't get super grabby or touchy in public. The second you get behind closed doors however? Hooooo mama.

He marks you up good. Scratches, hickies, everything. Even if they aren't visible to others it is enough to remind you and that's enough for him. He is fine with getting some of his own too, but he prefers they stay somewhat hidden. Part of him wants to make sure you're as safe as possible, and that includes not letting the enemy know he's getting hickies from someone.

If someone comes up to flirt with you, I can see Simon standing nearby- but always staring down the person seeking your affections. You are polite to them but tell them you aren't interested, and if they press on that's when Simon comes over. He's probably thrown a guy through a window before TBH. After that he takes you home and treats you real good ;P

Soap

Yeah. yeah. yeaaaaahhhhhhh. This man is loud as hell and has a short ass temper when it comes to you. When others come up to you or are even looking your way, he grabs your waist or hand or pulls you close. He has one hundred percent given you a hickey in the middle of a crowded room (club? bar? who knows?) just because he saw a couple of folks looking your way with eyes that lingered too long. If someone tries to flirt, he is not shy at all about speaking up or pulling you behind him ("Sorry, this one's taken, lad. Go find someone else for the night.")

He will also mark you up too with all the hickies and scratches but he loves when you do the same to him. Honestly, the more hickies the better. If you give him any, he WILL walk around shirtless just to show them off. (Price scolds you for quote, "defacing government property")

Gaz

In my head Gaz isn't like. super kinky. He just seems so sweet in the games. I could be totally wrong though and he could be a kinky bastard (drop your Gaz HCs). But this is MY HEAD, welcome to the terror dome.

Yeah, Gaz isn't super possessive in a kinky way, but he does like when people know you're together. He'll slip an arm around you, or put his hand in yours. At one point as a joke you got a shirt printed with his face on it that said "Gaz's Guy/Gal" and he thought it was the funniest thing ever.

If someone comes up to flirt with you he's pretty quick to intervene. He will slip between you and the person and try to redirect them away- but if it comes down to it, he will knock a guy out for flirting with his partner despite a plethora of rejections and "no"s.

Alejandro

Alejandro is PASSIONATE deadass, and doesn't give a shit about who is watching. He'll pick up your hands and kiss them any time any where, or hold your face, or he will just stare into your eyes from across the room. The tension is palpable, you can palp it.

When it comes to showing you off or being possessive, he's more defensive. He will stand between you and the person coming to flirt with you and square up, just to remind them that this is not their place or purpose.

Afterward, he of course kisses you and makes love to you rather intensely ("Amor de mi vida, no one can do this to you, and even if they were lucky enough they wouldn't do this like I do"). And no matter what, you wouldn't let anyone else do that to you, because it's true- no one could do this (or you) like he can. Also he's vocal- he lets the both of you be heard if he's enjoying himself and he wants everyone to know that those sounds from your mouth were because of him.

#cod #call of duty #ghost #price #soap #gaz #konig #captain john price x reader #john price x reader #captain john price x you #john price x you #call of duty reader insert #cod reader insert #ghost x reader #ghost x you #call of duty ghost x reader #simon ghost riley #simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost riley x you #gaz x reader #gaz x you #soap x reader #soap x you #soap mctavish x you #soap mctavish x reader #alejandro vargas #alejandro vargas x reader #mw2 smut #mw2 x reader #cod x reader

[makingfanfictionstosleep]

My First But Not My Last.

Pairing : Gojo x Femreader, Geto x Femreader

Setting : Started from Pre-Cult Suguru Geto // Some folks will not die // Modified that Kenjaku will not totally take over Geto's subconscious later on // Girl bff Shoko, Mei Mei & Utahime, Strong sorcerer reader // Death, Murder Spree, Romance, Lemons.

Rating : M || m i n o r s d o n o t i n t e r a c t

Part 6 : Nullify

<< Previous ...... Next >>>

Time skip to Pre-Shibuya…

Kokichi Muta had 9 years' worth of cursed energy.

But that doesn't mean he is invincible.

Well, almost, if not for the curtain that fake Geto pulled over the area.

He has options, which include a simple domain to get to him & force him to join the fray or the other thing, which is considered as an emergency plan.

He is not sure how that curse operates. "What was his name again? Was it Mahito?" He considered & weighed his options, but he knew that this chance can't be wasted.

"Plan B it is," he hissed through his gritted teeth, pulled the amulet from his neck & flicked it with cursed-energy.

This was not part of any of Geto's or Mahito's plan.

Definitely not.

You were warped, nope, pulled forcefully from your meeting with Satoru Gojo & the rest of the teachers, alarming them for your sudden disappearance for they know that this only happens when there's an emergency from one of the sorcerers.

The last time this happened was when Suguru Geto appeared on campus grounds.

You were transported in a cramped enclosure, which you realized was some sort of a robot, but then you saw who summoned you and it all clicked.

"What the fucked happened?" You breathed through the space, crawling your way towards the person underneath the upturned chair, "And who the fuck are you?!"

"Mechamaru, no time to explain, we need to get out of here!" Muta exclaimed, "I'll explain as soon as we're out!"

"Fine, but where are--" Your question died down when you saw the face of your pronounced-as-dead-ex, looking at you with the same puzzle & surprised look, "Suguru" You whispered.

"No, that's not Geto & we need to get out before --"

Your reflexes were as good as everyone said it was by being able to block Mahito's attack the split second. Good thing you took notes from your ever so-arrogant lover on 10 reasons he is keeping his infinity on at all times whenever he is out of his house. It hurt you, but you could blast him outside Muta's robot.

"He should be dead! How-what-why? What the fuck?!" You exclaimed at Muta, who was now able to free himself.

"I'll explain later. We need to get out of here sensei!" Muta shouted in panic which brought you back to your senses.

"Fine! Can you stand?" You exclaimed, adrenaline running all over your body, as Muta gained his strength to stand on his two feet, "This will be rough," you warned before throwing a debris through the ceiling, making a hole big enough to fly out.

But before you could even get out of the robot, you noticed that the barrier was gone, which meant that Suguru & Mahito had already left.

"Put me down!" Mahito protested, arms flailing around, "I'm not yet done."

"We are done for now. The school would know that I am here thanks to your carelessness," Geto cursed as he summoned one of his cursed spirits to fly away.

Not seconds later, Satoru Gojo appeared at the forest, followed by a worried Utahime & Meimei.

"What happened here?" Utahime exclaimed while Meimei was looking around, her big axe ready for any fight.

You helped Muta get out of his robot & Gojo rushing to him, his hands wrapped tightly around his neck, "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now."

"Satoru! Calm down! Let him explain!" You pulled his arm, but he's not budging, "He summoned me! So there has to be a reason!"

"Residuals," Meimei said, "One from an unregistered curse & the other…"

"Geto," Satoru finished, "But that's not my concern. You put y/n's life in danger. Tell me why I should not kill you right now."

"Satoru, I'm a teacher! It's also my duty to protect the students & the younger ones! I am the only one who can nullify barriers from within, so put the kid down," you said as you nullified his infinity, directly touching his skin hoping that this would calm him down.

Satoru loosened his grip on Muta's neck as placed him on the ground, taking in air as soon as his airway was free.

"We checked your place, you were not there," Utahime said with her hand on her hip, "What's going on Kokichi?"

"Not here," Muta said, "I'll tell you everything, but not here."

"Gojo, take us to my place," Meimei ordered with a smile, "Only you can teleport us there."

"Fine," Satoru answered begrudgingly.

Meimei's place was luxurious and lavish, even more than Satoru's. You have been here on occasion, sometimes when it's girl's night out. Of course, you can't frequent here since it's in Kuala Lumpur, of all places.

"Ui Ui, I'm home," Meimei said as they appeared at her living room, "Can you make us some tea, please?"

A white haired boy greeted them & nodded as he ran off to the kitchen.

"Please make yourself comfortable," Meimei said kindly as she sat down on one of her plush sofa, "Now, care to start from the beginning?"

Kokichi Muta sat down & told them everything. From when he sold information to Geto, the binding vow until the recent event.

"I get your point & your motive, Muta," Utahime said after minutes of silence, "But that doesn't mean I agree with how you planned to execute it. We could have Shoko study you further to regenerate your body."

"We all know that she already tried. One of my puppets had come across this fake Geto & his group of unregistered special-grade curses & I knew that he had plans but I need to know the rest of it. They would probably change some of them, but all I know is that they wanted to revive Sukuna & seal you off, Gojo-sensei." Muta finished.

"But why?" Satoru mumbled, still thrown off by the information of Geto alive when he was so sure that he killed him successfully, against his will of course.

"What's this Prison Realm?" You asked, trying to pry more information since you don't want to dwell on what you have witnessed & rather plan on what's gonna happen.

"It's a cursed object that can seal anything," Utahime answered, "I'm not sure if it's something that you can nullify, Y/N, but you can look into the archive & determine how to unseal it in case their plan to seal Gojo would succeed."

"Of course not," Gojo reacted violently, his fists clenched tightly, "I'll kill them before it happens. Utahime, don't tell them everything. Just tell them that Y/N was summoned because of an unregistered special grade that Muta cannot handle since it's beyond his level."

"And what about his regeneration?" Utahime asked.

"He unknowingly entered a binding vow with the curse which he won by giving out a speck of information about my infinity technique, but nothing that jeopardizes me or anybody," Gojo answered, "He should only get a reprimand or something."

"Not a word of this to anybody, and I mean it Meimei," Gojo glared at the white-haired woman, "Not even money could save us if shit goes down, do you understand?"

"Now, now Satoru. You make me look like a heartless, greedy woman. Of course I care about my friends. My lips are sealed," She smiled sweetly before sipping on her tea, "I promise."

"Did you pick up anything on Mahito's ability?" You asked Muta, but he shook his head much to your dismay, "I only know that he can transfigure anything. He tried it on me, but I always keep my nullification ability on, so I was able to dispel him before he could even touch me, but he could hit really hard. Now I understand Kento's frustration."

That made Satoru look at you with worry on his face, but you assured him with a squeeze on his thigh, "It's nothing I couldn't handle."

Meanwhile…

Geto jumped off the creature, dragging Mahito with him.

He didn't even listen to his whines or rants & just glared at him to shut him up.

What happened today was something his body had never experienced before.

For he was not Geto anymore, he is Kenjaku in Suguru Geto's body.

He had only heard rumors that the soul is still alive somewhere, but never in his entire existence did a vessel once reacted to anybody related to it's past, except today.

His heart raced, palms sweating, body rigid, once this beautiful woman appeared from nowhere. And when their eyes locked, he felt like he'd melt right then & there. But he knew it was not him but the body or rather in Mahito's terms, "The Soul" that was reacting.

Y/N L/N, Suguru Geto's one true love - The One That Got Away.

Things just got interesting. Regardless if the school knows that Suguru Geto is not dead, their plan would still push forward. He'd seal Satoru Gojo, merge Tengen into a human body & force humanity into an evolution of new species.

AN : I had to save him. Huhu. I needed Kokichi Muta to live at least in my AU. No lemons this time cause this story has to progress. Haha. I already made disclaimers so I need to follow through before I get another writer's block.

#geto suguru #getou suguru x reader #gojo satoru #gojo satoru smut #gojo smut #gojo x reader #gojo x y/n #gojo x you #jjk gojo #jjk suguru #jujutsu kaisen fanfiction #jujutsu kaisen imagine #jjk imagine #jjk au #jjk fanfic #gojo fanfic #geto fanfic #look mechamaru is alive #mechamaru #kokichi muta #muta kokichi

[genderqueerdykes]

Do you have any tips or resources for someone who wants to get into drag?

hello there!

this is a good question! i don't have any websites or anything like that handy, but i'll make sure to include things as i find them!

my biggest piece of advice is to observe what other drag artists are doing. there's not a rulebook or anything like that, a lot of artists go in a lot of different directions with their looks! i think it's best to try to get some exposure to the community on a large scale when and where possible and to just see what others are doing

you can think about any potential themes you'd like to incorporate, like bimbo, doll, lolita, ballroom, camp, alternative, gothic, nonhuman, or time period specific looks! there are lots of styles for all types of drag artists, there are lots of drag kings out there as well and the inspirations and themes for outfits can vary wildly!

it's good to think about what you think drag is for you, too. what is your statement? what are you telling the world when you dress in drag? what are you parodying? what is it a satire of? what are you making fun of? what are you expressing? is it self love? is it showing the world this is who you are inside? is it commentary on how society views you? is it how you can have fun and look pretty at the same time? is it about breaking down binaries? having to over-perform womanhood, manhood, or nonbinaryhood? feeling like a caricature? and so on and so forth

once you have an idea of what you are expressing when you do drag, it can give you some more inspiration on looks. you are never locked into one look, having one name, being one type of performer. you can switch between being a drag queen, king, artist, and thing! there's nothing stopping you from having multiple drag personas, or not having one at all. you don't have to have a name or a specific persona if that doesn't suit you

if you want to have a specific persona, a lot of folks like to make their name or title some type of pun. i'm autistic and suck at cultural references, so i'm not great at lending a hand on this one! but some folks are able to come up with some hilarious names. humor is a huge part of drag so please don't feel like you can't be funny. drag can leave you crying laughing- some performers love to do comedy in drag and it rips!

you can also be serious, sexy, mysterious, playful, animalistic, nonhuman, alien, or childlike. it's totally up to you, there's no hard set rules, it's a very play it by ear kind of thing. above all else it is an artform, meaning it is highly up to interpretation. you don't have to necessarily layer your face up in makeup if that doesn't suit you. if you can find other ways to express yourself and have fun with gender and presentation that don't involve that, show people!

many performers also include cultural aspects of their ethnicity into their drag as well! i live in a highly diverse area with a lot of latine and indigenous performers and i have met a lot of local navajo queens who have incorporated fashion from their culture into their looks as well! drag's foundation is in black & latine ballroom culture, people of color have always had a massive hand in being the pioneers of drag, so don't be afraid to incorporate those themes into your performances and outfits if it feels comfortable to you

clothes and wigs can be thrifted depending on the area you live in, and your sizes. i have found great success (i.e. all of my outfits except my vests!) from thrift stores. it can take some looking but it is worth it. however, i do understand some folks struggle to find cute clothes for drag because their local area does not have great thrift stores. it is okay to do what you have to to find cheap clothes, if you do not have access to thrift stores that have a lot of variety, you can always look for consignment shops and other types of boutiques of that variety, and i do believe there are lots of drag closets online, as well as any other sites that you personally find clothes from that suits the aesthetic you're going for! you can find clothes for drag anywhere if you develop an eye for it

i would highly suggest browsing youtube for wig styling and makeup tutorials! i just kind of view my face as a canvas and paint on whatever i think would look cool, but for some of my looks i am learning how to play with light and shadow, so i highly recommend just browsing for tutorials for people who match your skin and hair type! i would highly recommend making sure you are specifying what type of hair you are working with when searching for tutorials

you can start playlists of songs to perform to if music is your thing, and you can also look up choreography for songs on youtube as well for ideas, if music will be involved in your performing. it's definitely not necessary though, and many folks dress up and spend time in drag to socialize, not to sing and dance, which is totally fine as well! comedy, book readings and cooking tutorials are just a few other things that folks like to do while in drag! you can do a lot or nothing at all it's really up to you

i hope this helps! if we come up with anything else, we'll add it! you can also ask any more specific questions you'd like! we hope this was a good place to start off from!

#asks #answers #drag #drag king #drag queen #drag performer #drag artist

[cutiecorner]

Happy Holidays everybody! I hope everyone is having a wonderful season! Since I recently got an ask about my personal reqs for where to start with batman, as a Christmas gift to me and y'all I'm finally making a curated list of my favorite batman media! This is 100% skewed to me, it's essentially just a list of all the batman stuff I've consumed, but I might throw in a few others for folks with different tastes! Also, most of these can be found on HBOmax as of now, but I'm including links to where you can watch online where possible! See you under the cut for a very, VERY long guide! Enjoy!

TV!

Hands down, the definitive piece of batman TV is Batman: The Animated Series. Soooo much iconic batman stuff was coined in this show. Also, it has hands down the best characterization of Bruce himself imo. If you're getting into Batman due to dadfred & babybat, here's a list of standout episodes for you!

Beware the Grey Ghost: A whole episode about Bruce's childhood special interest. You even get to see actual baby Bruce!

Eternal Youth: Absolutely precious Alfred episode, with Ivy as the villain no less. Sooooo many adorable moments, like, I don't even wanna spoil it. Just watch it.

Heart of Ice: For one, an absolutely excellent episode of television, and also a tooonnn of cute Alfred and Bruce moments!! Real dad moments for sure.

Harley's Holiday: 100/10 episode in general, and full of Harley and Bruce moments!!

The Lion and the Unicorn: Another Alfred focused episode!! Bruce Dick and Al being famiwy...

I have more, but those are a good place to start. Have a fave villain? Watch all their eps!! Discover new ones! Watch it from the beginning! Watch around and see what floats your boat. There's a redesign in season 3 (The New Batman Adventures) and they bring in a littler robin, Tim Drake. Warning for TNBA in general though, they tease at some really uncomfortable relationships here and there. But overall it has a lot to offer!

After btas I started on Justice League (2001)! I super love it, I adore the other members of the league so much and there's plenty of interesting stories. Justice League Unlimited is great too! Fantastic Bruce/Diana stuff, even though I'm not big on the ship their interactions are beyond precious. These are ensemble pieces so they're not all bats, but they're highly recommended if you're interested!

For some quick silly adventures, Justice League Action is fantastic! It's super funny and cute. There's plenty of batman centric episodes, and it's super lighthearted and fun! No robins or alfred in any of the Justice Leagues (very sparcely in JL/JLU) though, unfortunately. Speaking of silly fun batman shows: Batman the Brave and the Bold is a total blast! There's soooo many heroes in it, if you like any other DC characters there's a good chance they appear!

I just recently got into The Batman (2004), and it's really growing on me! The first season especially is really creative and cool. It's a younger take on batman, and it has seeerrious early 2000s boy/Ben ten/bionicles energy lol, but if that's nostalgic for you you'll LOVE it.

If you like adult cartoons, Harley Quinn is pretty good and funny! Of course it's about Harley and her gang over the bats, and the first season especially can get kinda ick in the adult cartoonyness, but by the third season it gets great (VERY good Bruce stuff in the third season! Honestly in all the seasons). Overall I definitely think it's worth a watch. It is not appropriate for kids though, make sure to look up warnings! If you're especially sensitive to gore/violence maybe skip it.

I haven't watched much of these, but I've heard good things if live action is your style! Gotham follows the villains and older generation before Batman came along. Supposedly very good Alfred and Bruce content, with kid Bruce! For my Alfie lovers, Pennyworth follows the adventures of Alfred along with the Waynes, taking down conspiracies back in England during the 60s. As completely up my alley as those sound, they're not really my thing because they are pretty violent, so beware!

Movies!

Starting off with animated movies, the btas movies come very highly recommended! Especially Mask of the Phantasm! I was super not excited for the romance plot, but it 1000% won me over, it's fantastic. Lots of young Bruce stuff (like early early 20s), which is wildly endearing, and very good dadfred moments!! The Mystery of the Batwoman isn't as great, but it's good fun. Sub-Zero is really good if you like Mr.Freeze! For The Batman 2004, there's the Batman vs Dracula! It is wild but so much fun!

On the animated movies front - Batman and Robin: Return of the Caped Crusaders and Batman vs Two Face are absolutely delightful. They're based on the 1960s Batman show, and they go all in on the campy goofy energy!! They're such a good pick me up if you're having a rough day.

As for live action movies, I honestly cannot recommend the 1990s Batman movies enough. Yes, they don't have a great reputation among mainstream comics fans, but they're straight up just wrong. Batman Forever and Batman and Robin are some of the most fun batman content ever created! There is so much creativity and energy and love in these movies, they are the definition of a good time. Absolutely guaranteed to provide childlike wonder, 1000/10.

If you're into the more gritty stuff, The Batman (2022). It's a cool new take on Bats, I think it's an interesting direction artistically. Once again violence isn't super my thing, but I appreciated the Alfred moments and Bruce's potent autism swag. Also, though it's probably a genuinely good movie, I am physically unable to take anything seriously and really enjoyed watching it ironically (there are so many serious moments that land as... pure comedy). Though please be sure to look up trigger warnings first, it's a lot.

Comics!

Full disclosure, I'm not a big comic book reader "^^ I really just read the comic versions of the shows I like and a few miscellaneous others I run into. Here's a list of some of the comics I've enjoyed, but they have no rhyme or reason, they are not cohesive lol. If you're more into comics you want to look elsewhere for advice "^^

All Star Batman: First Ally - I have no context for this series as a whole and I do not care: I'm here for pretty art, Alfred backstory, and father and son behavior. I own a hardcover copy.

Batman: Zero Year - Stumbled upon by accident but thoroughly enjoyed. I don't agree with everything in these (batman writers obsession with characters slapping each other my BEHATED) but its pretty cool overall. Featuring my The Alfred Ever and baby Duke Thomas! There's Dark City then Secret City!

One Bad Day: Mr Freeze - I'm not gonna lie this comic is like... bad. Okay so that's not entirely fair: I adore the art, the baby Dick Grayson content, the Alfred content, and honestly most of the story until the end. Spoiler, but they nerf the daylights out of what makes Freeze such an iconic character. Like, I get what they were doing but... come on. Insinuates a bizarre message too. Still worth a peruse for the good moments.

Batman: the Adventures Continue - a continuation of the btas comic series (the batman adventures)!! It's interesting to see them put more modern storylines in the btas universe. The last few issues (holiday special!) Are at very least worth a read.

While I'm here, The Gotham Adventures is also cute and cool, takes place in the btas universe with the tnba style + continuity.

Same as above, if you like the Justice League cartoon check out the tie in comics, including the recent continuation Justice League Infinity!

Oh I guess this do counts: The Wayne Family Adventures is a very cute comic on tapas! It's very cute, and actually published by DC comics!

My best word of advice: follow your interests! Indulge! There is no right way to explore this franchise! There's so much to discover and there's a little something for everybody. There is no obligation to know every little thing about the mythos, you do not need to read from issue 1 or know all the current updates to be a "real fan". Actualy, do us all a favor and stick it to toxic comic fanboys by having as much fun as you can! Pick and choose! Try it all! Be gritty! Be goofy! Be both! Spend hours poking around on fandom wikis to learn about what you want to learn! There's no wrong way to play, I'm just so happy youre here. Now go forth and be batfans!!!

#updated: now with all the links i can find! #squeaks #fandom agere #dc agere #batman agere #dadfred & babybat

[muffinrecord]

Updates! YouTube Stuff

Howdy folks! Just a few updates for the youtube channel

Videos Names

Short and quick-- I ended up changing the name of the sprite animation videos into battle animation videos. I was thinking of calling them "Sprite Animations, Magia, and Doppel" but that felt too long.

To be honest, the videos don't get a lot of views or engagement-- which is fine. I think that archiving them is worth it, and I don't think these are the kind of things people will watch over and over? But I do wonder if they're not viewed as much because people might think that they are only sprite attacks and not magia and doppels and stuff. I'm kind of hoping that "Battle Animations" will clear things up, because I don't wanna add the "Magia and Doppels" part to it.

If it doesn't, then I'll leave it as is. It's a little sad if they're lesser viewed but that's fine ultimately.

TO BE CLEAR THIS IS NOT ME BITCHING ABOUT VIEWS, I WOULD STILL DO THIS EVEN IF THEY GOT LIKE 5 VIEWS IN TOTAL. Just, more that I was thinking that maybe I'm not being very clear about what's in them? ANYWAYS

Recordings

So! I've been trying to finish up my animation project so that I can devote my time and energy to other things~

This is how much is left to record! Naturally a lot of the collab girls are kind of. Well it's going to be a bit.

Chisato and Haruka are giving me pause. When I started recording about two years ago (and then deleted all the files and started over and then deleted them all gain and started over again), I kinda assumed that Suzune would get a rerun, and I could nab those two and easily record their non max-ascended forms but uh. Not sure if that'll ever happen? I'm wondering if I should just record them regardless and release an updated version if we ever get a banner for them again. Lots to think about.

Meanwhile, the above is a short screenshot of how many I've completed. Yeah... 194..... This isn't including the girls who still need to be uncapped either. My computer has more space now, it's amazing to move them permanently to the backup now.

These are all the ones that have completed recordings that still need to be edited and uploaded:

Editing doesn't take too long, it's just that my computer slows down and it starts to take a long time when you have like tens of them to do. But I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! ...Still need to record a bunch, but I have lots of queue so things should be fine.

I kind of wish I had done some things differently, but oh well. When it comes to my channel, I feel like... well, you don't really get quality, but you do get quantity. Even if that's not technically as good, I think there is still value in it. idk.

Thumbnails

My stupid ass was looking at the channel and decided to redo a bunch of thumbs, and hey did you know that there is a 100 limit on how many thumbnails you can upload in a day? Sucks man.

Anyways, the transformation thumbnails are mostly updated and I just have about fifty left to upload now:

A while ago I started to make the characters' names a few pixels larger than the rest of the text, and it's been bothering me for a while that some vids had the bigger text and other vids didn't, so uhhh. Yeah. I also ended up changing a bunch of thumbs so that they show the end shot. Is that the better choice...? I'm not sure. I think it might make the thumbs more boring, but I think it's also more upfront about the fact that they're transformation videos.

More importantly, I also decided to redo the battle animations thumbs!

At first it was because I wanted to put "battle animations" in the thumb but I ended up deciding that plain old "animations" looks better. So why am I still changing all of them? Well...

I'm super honored that my stupid lil channel is getting used for the gallery section for the girls! See here on the fandom wiki. But then I was looking at it and man, that thumbnail sure does look fucking ugly when it's all blown up in your face like that. And if people are gonna use my stuff (🥺), I'd at least like it to look nice on their site...?

So I'm using the sprites from the magireco sprite viewer (rip), although unfortunately it's missing some/doesn't have new stuff/won't be updating anymore. But at least some of the new sprites will look better.

I know how to get some stuff off of Rika.Ren for datamining-ish, but sprites aren't one of them, and tbh I'm kind of not interesting in learning new things atm. So stealing off the Puella Magi Wiki is the best we'll get. But still! Older videos will have better thumbs. And oh man, some of them were ugly as fuck.

...I still need to make uhhh 200 more of them ish but I'll work on that tonight.

Playlists

Much to my displeasure, the results for the poll I made pointed towards folks deciding that more videos in a playlist is better, so I'm redoing all the playlists I had foolishly trimmed (this is also how I noticed some thumbnail problems and then got obsessively focused on fixing them last night instead of the playlists).

A couple of playlists still need to be redone-- I basically deleted everything in them, 'cause it's easier to just start over instead of dragging things around (especially when you get past 100, as it'll stutter and boot you to a different place). But I'm slowly getting there, and they should all be back up by tonight? The Madoka one will take the longest I think; that was easily 150+ videos if I recall correctly.

I also put all the battle animation videos currently uploaded into the battle animation videos playlist.

Originally I was trying to upload the videos in order of release, to make it easier on myself when putting it into the playlist. But that was kind of frustrating, especially when I had already released some out of order and then you factor in holidays... So fuck it! They're all in there now, even if they're private.

This is what you see when you're not on my channel (and you select to see hidden videos). Woops. Oh well!

But this means I'm more willing to go out of order in the uploads :)

Conclusion

I really wanted to get this all wrapped up so I can start to move on to other things! Like, ya know, my webcomic project. And also liveblogs!

Oh speaking of which... wait maybe I should make it a separate update... hmmmm. Yeah I'll do that.

Anyways, yeah! It'll be nice once I no longer need to upload a video every day, but it's also not too bad. I'm just glad I have a huge amount of queue, which'll give me time to look for some of the older collab characters. I'm not entirely sure how I'll film their little poke animations... Maybe I'll have to ask around, or perhaps use the kyugay sprite site? I have no idea how to record my screen. Ah man.

But I think the channel is heading towards a decent place, and I'm excited to finish everything up :)

Hope y'all aren't too bothered by the spam of videos! It's gonna be a couple more months at least....

#Magia Record #Youtube Stuff #Im not really sure if this should go into the tag... #I apologize if you feel it's spam #but i did put it under a read more!

[bwwhitney]

What I learned from my first gallery exhibition

There is a lot of hard work involved.

You can't make real money selling your photos if you have to pay other people to print and mount your work. (Or at least I can't.)

*See below

I knew going in that there was going to be a lot of work involved. I have known artists over the years who tried to make a living from their art, and only a couple of those people could actually do it. No matter how hard they worked at their art job: making art, marketing the art, going to art fairs, gallery exhibitions etc, most needed "real" jobs to make ends meet.

From the beginning, I looked at this whole endeavor as a learning experience and therefore I did not expect to make a profit. Since this was my first exhibition and I was unknown, it was suggested that I keep prices "low" in order to have a better chance to sell some prints. Accordingly, the pricing ran from $25 for an 8x10" up to $150 for 20x30". At those prices I knew the only way I was going to have a chance of breaking even was to sell out, or to sell multiple copies. Well, I did sell multiple copies of a number of prints, including 5 of the big ones, but I didn't sell out. So far I've sold a total of 24 prints and it cost me about $950 to do so.

Was it worth it?

Yes, absolutely.

The gallery is attached to a not-for-profit art center that does wonderful things for the community, so the commissions they earned from the sales of my prints will be put to good use. I'm very happy to have made a contribution to their cause.

Though I'm not sure it was worth $950, the thrill of walking into the gallery and seeing 42 of my photos hanging on the walls was definitely worth something. *And now I know, that filling the gallery with 42 photos was exactly why I was never going to break even, let alone make a profit. Even Michelangelo would never have been able to fill the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel with frescoes if he had to finance it all by himself, he was using the Pope's money. I on the other hand was entirely on my own. Next time I will be smarter about that.

The people who came in, many of them friends and family but some complete strangers, were all wonderful to talk to and overall I had a great experience. For those of you thinking to yourselves: What do you mean you had a great experience, the title of your blog is Photos Without People? Just because I don't like to take pictures of people doesn't mean I don't like people. (Well, actually it does, but you can't help liking people who are saying nice things about your photos ;-)

Would I do it again?

Probably.

I'm in the process of setting up shop on SquareSpace, and I plan to seek out more galleries to try. I'm also going to submit two of the in-camera double exposures that people seemed to like to a exhibition coming up in May.

I could not have done this without the help of my family and of course my friends here. Overall Tumblr is fucked up, but our little corner is is just fine.

Thank you / merći @sharonbphotos @yesyoubelonghere @lindenardenshighlights @mariophotographies @photographybyamyjennings @trishamaeva @jbearphotos for your kind comments on my previous post and for your support. Thanks also to @allthingsfern and the folks over at @photosworthseeing

Cheers

[kitseddie]

This Must Be The Place

Chapter 8: (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Part 7

(Eddie Munson X GN!Reader)

Summary: Jonathan’s birthday is coming up and he’s throwing a party with the whole gang. You’re so honoured to be there, but with your love for a good margarita and your painful crush on Eddie…is it a bad idea? (fuck it, it’s fine)

W/C: 3.9K

Warnings: illegal! alcohol consumption (EDIT: I read the wrong state law. The legal drinking age for Indiana was 21 since 1934. I’m sure the duffers don’t care but I am neurodivergent so I do.)

A/N: Thanks for the reblogs folks. Also hit me up if you wanna be in the Taglist.

The alarm rang out and echoed throughout the walls of the dimly lit trailer, it was so early that the sun had barely risen. It was cold mornings like these when Eddie started to consider if this job was even worth the money. After hitting snooze a total of three times he finally dragged himself out of bed and stumbled lazily to the bathroom. After a nice refreshing shower, he tugged on his dark jeans and pulled on his shirt. His eyes glanced over some of the hair product that Steve had purposely left on his drawers, rolling his eyes before giving his waves a little spritz and then immediately erupting into a coughing fit.

“Eddie? You alright in there, sounds like you’re about to cough up a lung.” He sighed and yelled back ‘I’m fine Wayne’ before cursing the Harrington boy and giving himself a little once over. His hands grabbed his wallet and car keys, shoving them into his pockets as he placed a cigarette behind his ear.

He pulled on his leather jacket and snatched a pop tart from the counter before popping it into the toaster. He pulled open the fridge and quickly scanned it before bringing the tip of the orange juice carton to his lips. Wayne watched him and groaned, angrily gripping the carton from his hands.

“Ed, what have I told you? We have perfectly good glasses. Would it kill you to use one?” He shrugged with that charming smirk, the one that has been getting him out of trouble all these years.

“Just saving on your water bill Wayne, gotta stay green”. He winked, pulling his pop tart out of the toaster and taking a bite before instantly burning the roof of his mouth. Wayne chuckled as Eddie eyed the cold carton in his hands and he rolled his eyes, handing him it before waving him off. “I’ll be out in five!”. He called back, finishing his breakfast and brushing his teeth before dousing himself in cheap cologne.

He checked his watch and smirked to himself, he still had time. It was still pretty chilly despite his many layers, but he’d learned to brave the cold over time. Perching on the edge of the step he reached behind his ear for his cigarette and held it between his lips, burning the end and blowing out the excess smoke. Wayne sat beside him, doing the same as they soaked in the comfortable silence. This was a morning routine for them and it was something Eddie would always be grateful for. Wayne would get on his ass about smoking when he was a little younger, but despite not being super thrilled about it he did enjoy the company.

“Alright I’m heading out, see you at dinner”. He gave Wayne a half-armed hug goodbye, still holding the half-smoked cigarette between his fingers. Wayne smirked and scruffed up his hair before giving him a playful shove, Eddie rolled his eyes and headed to the van whilst fixing it in the side mirror. When he hopped in, he turned the key and listened to the engine roar and the music blasting from the speakers. He honked twice and waved from the window before backing out and heading to work.

Flicking his cigarette butt out onto the road, he glanced down at his watch before looking over at the sign for a new coffee place. A short trip won’t hurt. He hopped out of his van and began walking towards the building, it was a quaint little cafe attached to a strip mall. It was pretty hidden if you weren’t looking, but the second he pushed open the door the bell rang and his nose was bombarded with the most heavenly scents. Bacon, eggs, toast, pancakes, coffee, the works. He didn’t have a lot of time but figured he could charm Steve and Robin with some baked goods to forgive him for his tardiness. A young waitress in an apron was preoccupied with refilling the coffee pot when he smiled to himself and looked over at the donuts.

“One coffee and two donuts to go when you got a minute sweetheart”. The waitress turned around with a shy grin and shot him telling eyes.

"Much better than last time, nice work”. He heard a voice whisper in his ear as he clutched his chest with his hand. When he turned around to look at you, he immediately covered his face with his hands. You giggled and pulled them away from his face, holding onto them as he struggled to breathe.

"Jesus, are you stalking me? I swear to god if I flirt in front of you again I think I’m gonna find a nice lake to crash my van into”. You grinned widely, shoving his arm playfully.

“$3.25”. The waitress snapped impatiently, she didn’t seem to feel guilty about interrupting your exchange. Eddie nodded and handed her the money with a small smirk as she hit his fingers against the cash register.

“I’m working at Family Video until 5 if you wanna come stalk me there, there’s some bushes in the parking lot that have a killer view”. You chuckled, as he picked up his coffee and someone yelled out your name for your own cup.

“Speaking from experience, Munson?”. He sighed and shoved your shoulder making you smirk back at him.

“Well, I’ll see you at the Byers tonight?”. The thought had completely slipped his mind, more focused on how warm your smile was and the butterflies he felt when you said his name. Before he could worry himself with what bring to Jonathan’s birthday, he realised the time.

“Right yeah, shit they’re gonna have my ass if I’m even later. Hey thanks sweetheart, I’ll see you tonight.” He pulled some more money from his pocket and placed it in the tip jar before waving goodbye and rushing to his van.

—

Eddie finally waltzed into work, coffee in one hand and donuts in the other as Robin and Steve rolled their eyes at his carefree tardiness. Steve rested against the counter, folding his arms across the chest of his striped polo, a look of disappointment on his face. Robin’s ears perked up as she caught a whiff of the hot donuts and smiled to herself reaching her hands out to grip the paper bag. He quickly snatched it from her reach, his finger uncurling from his cup to wag at her.

“Uh uh. No one’s getting shit , neither of you bothered to give me a heads up about the surprise guest at Byers tonight?”. They exchanged a silent look of guilt as he sighed, storming off into the back room. Steve followed closely behind, watching as he replaced his jacket with his work vest.

“I thought you’d want me to invite them! I mean I guess I could have said something earlier-“.

“Listen man, It’s embarrassing enough having this stupid little crush, but you know how brain-dead I get around them. I need time to mentally prepare, and a party? God, I cannot drink. You got that? Not a drop, okay? You better hold me to it, Harrington, I can’t make a fool out of myself I just ....”. Steve just smirked back at him, watching him lose himself in his anxieties. With a quirk on his brow, Eddie stared back at his friend’s smugness, in confusion. “…what?”.

“You got it bad, man.” Before he could plead his case, Robin stuck her head around the door and nodded in agreement. He whacked his head against the wall and held it there, feeling a swell of fear in his stomach.

“I’m screwed, I am insanely screwed. They’re gonna show up looking like a million bucks and I was planning on wearing whichever shirt passed the sniff test.” Robin’s nose scrunched up at the confession and Steve held the bridge of his nose trying to figure out how they could help.

“Okay, so we got a few hours before the party. If we close up a little earlier today then we can head to Starcourt and get you something cool to wear. We'll get some cologne, maybe a couple of hair products and they’ll be falling at your feet. Who knows maybe tonight is the night you make a move?”. He appreciated Steve’s enthusiasm but he was too in his head to even consider making a move.

“I must really be hopeless to be taking advice from you idiots…fine, but not another chick flick makeover, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” He said with a smug smile as they begrudgingly agreed.

Work that day was one of the longest and most anxiety-ridden shifts Eddie had ever worked. All he could think about was the small time gap between the end of his shift and the start of the party. There was so much to do. The doors to the Family Video store closed about an hour early and they headed to the mall to pick out some essentials to take back to the trailer. As they pulled up to the door, Eddie noticed Wayne sitting outside on the porch smoking his afternoon cigarette. His eyebrows raised as he noticed the abundance of shopping bags that Robin and Steve walked into the house.

“Do I even wanna know?”. He asked Eddie on his way in he just sighed and shook his head, Wayne chuckling to himself as he finished the end of his cigarette.

After finally agreeing on an outfit, the right cologne and the slightest hint of hair product, he was up to scratch. He did a little spin as they both cheered and he grinned like a fool thinking about how much he was gonna impress you. He wandered outside in the living room as the smell alone was enough to make Wayne look up from the television set.

“Well look at you, this all for them?”. Eddie’s face blushed a dark red, of course he knew. “Don’t worry son, I’ll keep my mouth shut. But you better make your move fast, I've heard things about that Harrington boy and I don’t trust him.” He muttered into his ear as Eddie chuckled and brought him into a big hug before they all waved goodbye and headed to the party.

It wasn’t that far of a drive, when they pulled up Jonathan was standing outside the door with a red solo cup in his hand laughing about something with Argyle. Jumping out of his van he smirked to himself heading over, before he could open his mouth he heard someone else shout behind him.

“Hey, birthday boy!”.

His neck snapped to turn to you, watching as you walked over to Jonathan and pulled him for a big hug. Eddie looked over at his friends in shock and they gestured for him to go ahead. He whispered a few “ you’ve got this Munson”s in his head and started to stride over with purpose. Jonathan’s eyes lit up as he pulled him into a big hug and wished him a happy birthday.

“What am I, chopped liver?”. He chuckled, finally turning to you as he took in your outfit for the first time. He was speechless, you’d always looked so amazing but this was the first time he had seen you get dolled up for a party. “Cat got your tongue, pretty boy?”. You smirked, playing it cool whilst you took in his outfit.

“You know, I kinda forgot you were even coming tonight.” You fake gasped and slapped his arm, keeping your blush at bay. He wanted to say something, wanted to tell you that you looked beautiful. That he was so happy to see you. Instead, he grinned at you like a fool until you suggested heading inside. “After you”. He bowed, opening up the door as you smirked and wandered inside. “Ms Byers! Looking as beautiful as ever.” Eddie grinned, grabbing her hand to kiss her knuckles, she chuckled and shook her head.

“Eddie, you are such a charmer! And I tell you every time you can call me Joyce.” He refuses as always and you and Joyce share a chuckle. “Has he always been this stubborn?”. She asked as you glanced back at him at the look of fake shock on his face.

“Oh, of course not.” He grinned at your support as you looked back at her. “He used to be much worse”. She chuckled as Eddie rolled his eyes, you introduced yourself and Joyce made sure to let you know which room was the bathroom and which room had the table of snacks. You noticed Will sat on the table sketching something, whilst his friends sat with their respective girlfriends.

“I’m gonna go check on baby Byers, could you ask Harrington to bring in big Byers gift? I left it in the car.” You conjured up your loudest and most dramatic sigh, before grinning and heading outside where Steve and Dustin were in the midst of one of their ridiculous arguments. Instead of getting involved you just rolled your eyes and shoved your hand into Steve’s coat pocket, he widened his eyes as you took his car keys without saying another word. Once you’d grabbed the gift, you wandered back into the house and handed it to Eddie as he smirked back at you.

“Check out the kid’s work, impressive right?”. Your eyes glanced over the sketch, a giant dragon in a dark cave with flames pouring from his mouth. It was amazing, especially for a kid as young as him.

“Will, this is incredible! You know, a good friend of mine is also a pretty great artist. Maybe you could collaborate?”. You couldn’t see his face from where you were sitting but caught the glimpse of a smile from the corner of your eye. Will nodded and thanked you, you watched as Eddie’s hand reached for a pencil and he started adding some rough sketches and throwing out ideas.

Dustin wandered in tow with Steve and Robin, heading towards the drinks table before stopping in their tracks. They all turned to look over at you both, Eddie leaning against the table listening intently as Will spoke about his art with a look of wonder on his face. He may have missed it but the others were in the perfect spot to see you smiling at the Munson boy like he was god’s gift.

“God, they’re so cute it’s actually sickening”. Robin announced as everyone huffed in agreement, she wandered over to pour herself a drink and ease the nauseous feeling in her stomach. Steve hung back as Dustin shot him a look, he folded his arms against his chest as he ping-ponged his stare between you both.

“Must be weird seeing someone else co-parenting with Eddie, huh?”. Steve just huffed a laugh, only half listening as he continued to watch your interaction.

“Ha, yeah.” Dustin headed to join Robin when Steve finally processed what he’d said. “Wait, what?”.

–

The party had officially started and everything was going great, thankfully Jonathan had pretty solid taste in music and Joyce knew what the best snacks were. You heard her mutter something about ice when there was a knock on the door, she immediately abandoned her cocktail and pulled it open. You turned your head from Eddie and locked eyes on the mystery man who wandered through the door.

“Chief Hopper?”. You froze, staring blankly as he raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t heard that name in a while.

“Sorry uh…have we…met before?”. Before you could think of an excuse and dig yourself out of the hole, your best friend found this a perfect opportunity to humiliate you.

All in good fun, of course.

“Aw come on Hop, you can’t tell me you don’t remember the face of delinquency.” He grabbed your face and squished it as you growled and shoved his hands, hoping the burning of your cheeks wasn’t noticeable. Hopper didn’t seem any more clued in, Eddie rolling his eyes. “My old partner in crime, in middle school? We hopped over that fence back in-“.

“Okay! Eddie, thanks for that. Listen, I am so sorry for how much of a handful we were back then.” He chuckled, shaking his head and waving you off, the clogs started turning when you realised that Eddie called him Hop . It was clear there was no bad blood. At least between them .

“It’s fine, honestly he’s done way worse since then”. You turned your head back to Eddie, raising your eyebrows.

“You have ?”. His face dropped into a serious stare and he nodded.

“Oh yeah, we’re talking drug dealing, petty theft, grand theft auto, I’m two court dates shy of the electric chair, baby”. You rolled your eyes and he smirked like a Cheshire Cat. Hopper handed the ice over to Joyce and she added her finishing touches whilst the three of you stood in awkward silence. Luckily you were saved by Jonathan, wandering in from outside holding the cutest baby you’d ever seen.

“Hey honey, your big brother looking after you okay?.”’ He looked back up at you both with a smile, your eyes sparkling at the presence of the little one. “This is April, our little girl. She’s almost a year old.” He announces as April stares at Eddie and he waves at her, causing her to break into a huge smile. “Oh, and she is obsessed with Eddie.”

“She sure is, come here, sweetheart. Uncle Ed’s got you.” He said in a soft voice, giving in to the grabby hands and pulling her into his chest. You were stunned, you had never witnessed a purer sight. Hopper was right, April was obsessed with him. Her tiny hands gripping onto his curls whilst he bounced her a little and she erupted into childish laughter. She reached for his shiny rings, gently pulling at his fingers watching them catch the light. He handed her back to her father who wandered back to Joyce giving her a forehead kiss and complimenting her bartending skills.

You and Eddie watched them and spoke about how sweet they were and how cute April was. Giggling about how strong Joyce was making the cocktails, but complimenting her on the sugar rim and little umbrellas. She finished up two fruity-looking drinks that you both knew were filled to the brim with liquor and headed towards you.

“Isn’t Eddie supposed to be avoiding the booze?.” Dustin pointed out as Steve’s eyes grew wide and he scarfed down the pretzels that filled his cheeks before sprinting towards his metalhead friend. Just as Joyce was about to hand Eddie his cocktail, Steve swiped it from her grasp and drank the whole thing in one gulp. Her eyes widened in shock as you both stared back at him blankly.

“Thanks, Ms Byers, I really needed that.” Too concerned to give a response, she just shook her head and wandered back to the drinks table. Steve wobbled back to Dustin and Robin, as both of them struggled to stop their intense laughter.

After the drinks were dished out to the guests the party started to pick up pretty quickly, Mike and Lucas dancing like dorks to impress their girlfriends and Will reluctantly dancing with Joyce. You stood with Robin nursing your drinks and shooting the shit when you started to wonder where Steve had gotten to. Excusing yourself, you headed through the less-than-sober bodies in search of the luscious locks of the Harrington boy. After checking most of the rooms, you found him. Sprawled out like a snow angel on the floor of Jonathan’s bedroom. You chuckled and stumbled through the door, collapsing next to him.

“Jesus Stevie, you start a tab out there or what?”. Steve turned his head slightly to face before slapping his hand over his eyes and scrunching his face.

“Oh god, too fast. So much spinning”. You chuckled and pulled his hand down, he opened his eyes slowly and stared back into yours which were almost completely glazed over at this point. “Huh, you’re drunnnkkk”. He giggled as he bopped the end of your nose with his free hand, you smiled back at him and chuckled.

“You’re not exactly giving ‘designated driver’ right now, Harrington. At least I can form sandwic-sentences. I can form sentences. God, that’s a hard word. I think I’m hungry”.

“Well, all the pretzels are gonneeee”. He announced proudly before letting out a burp, you both chuckled in your drunken daze as he glanced back at you. “Eddie made a move on you yet?.” You huffed a laugh and rolled over onto your back, staring blankly at the ceiling.

“Yeah, right. I was so nervous I started chugging those cocktails like it was my job . Then I got a little too drunk and all I could see was his beautiful brown doe eyes staring at me like fucking Bambi and I just wanna grab his cheeks and just-“. You turned to Steve and grabbed his face, pausing as you both stared at each other. Without a second thought, you both leaned in and shared a kiss, pulling away as you heard someone open the door. “Eddie”. Your face morphed into a smile until you started to realise what you’d done, Steve rose from the floor as Eddie stormed out.

“It’s okay I’ll go after him, just stay here. Please.” Normally you would challenge him but right now your head was swirling with thoughts and your chest swarming with feelings. There was a whole conflict inside your body and you were far too drunk to understand it. So you let Steve go.

He put his track skills to good use and jogged through the living room to meet Eddie on the porch, lighting up his cigarette. It was dark out now, still a little cold for the month. The stars were out and the sky was clearer than it had been all week, the cold air was enough to sober Steve up, at least enough to have a conversation about you. He took a deep breath and immediately coughed on the second-hand smoke as Eddie chuckled and shook his head.

“If you wanna go for it Harrington…just go for it.” Eddie took a drag and stared off into the night, a blank expression on his face and his cheeks blushing red from the wind.

“No. Eddie that’s your-“.

“That’s not my anything. I’m the one to chicken shit to step up and say something. If you have a shot, take it, it’s not up to me to stop you.” Steve groaned and shoved Eddie, causing him to turn around in shock and anger.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”. He stubbed out his cigarette and stood up to face him, as he gave him another shove.

“You. You’re being a coward! You’re giving up way too easily!”. Eddie shot Steve a threatening look but refused to follow through with his action. He ignored him and stormed off, heading to his van before gassing it up and driving back home at high speed.

“Fuck.” Steve muttered, collapsing on the porch and holding his head in his hands.

Taglist: @honey-eyed-munson @mewchiili

#eddie munson #stranger things #eddie munson fic #reader insert #eddie munson x gn!reader #eddie munson x reader #eddie stranger things #stranger things fic

[decepti-thots]

in lieu of tf fanon, can we all just agree that the fanon around seekers is just WAY too pervasive???? genuinely. why is seeker fanon Like That. why are seekers sometimes treated as a whole exotic subspecies. i feel like people got too attached to starscream, looked at the silly color swapped jet models due to budget in the original 80's cartoon, and just decided to invent a new kind of weird robot racism. sorry that this is on the bitchery side of anons but weirdly set-in-stone fanon stuff like seekers is what turned me off from reading tf fanfic

The answer to this, that is 'why is seeker fanon Like That', is gonna by necessity involve some discussion of NSFW stuff so I will cut this. But it's kinda. Necessary for the topic, lmao, so. And I do think it's worth actually going through ig. I've seen a lot of folks recently express this exact irritation and confusion, so...

OK so the honest answer: a good chunk of it's just fetish porn tbqh. And people, they are horny for those jets, lmao, and Starscream, exactly. Kink with some worldbuilding scaffolded around it as setup. Which to be clear, when someone is straight up just like 'hi, here is some cheerfully self-aware kink about breeding and shit, do not read too hard into this fantasy nonsense as a coherent narrative- we are here for horny egg laying and the implications will not be expanded on beyond that' I am usually like 'yeah cool go for it!!', lmao. Not my thing, can still go places in execution I'm like 'uhhhh think this through better please' about ofc, but like. Kink's kink, and all. Pretend adult fun times engaged in with full self-awareness are fine, a lot of the time.

My irritation really comes with when this bleeds into stuff that is taking itself seriously and is uhhhh. Not that? Or when it's engaged in by people who clearly don't have a level of self awareness about the above. And the answer is... IMO it's just regular fandom racism tbh, with an extra layer of obfuscation over it because it's got the fantasy analogue thing disguising it. Some people enjoy a lot of tropes that derive from certain strands of commercial genre romance, and honestly a lot of classic SFF as well, that are based in things they do not fully realise are rooted in racism, or any number of -isms tbh. And there's also a lot of people who sort of do notice, but they still want to keep enjoying those things without guilt, so they try and take the underlying logics and apply them to fantasy constructs or whatever in the hopes this will make the thing they like Not Racist. (Spoiler alert: the issue is rarely who the tropes are applied to alone, and this basically never works, because humans have pattern recognition and know how analogies work.)

People like stories about Scary Barbarians, or Submissive Sexually Exotic Androgynes, or whatever. And then someone points out 'yeah but mate, those are racial stereotypes, have you heard of orientalism' or whatever, and people feel bad but they sort of. Want to keep enjoying those stories in a way that is not harmful! That strips out that element succesfully. So they try and write an alien fantasy version, but again. This doesn't actually work most of the time, tbh. Because humans have pattern recognition and the tropes, the logic underlying the ideas in the first place, are often the actual issue. Shrug.

And IMO, this is where you get 'biologically distinct races frametypes who are Just Naturally For Breeding' shit, or whatever other example I can pull out of the TF fanon hat, in ostensibly serious stories about geopolitical conflicts or serious personal drama, ones which expect you to engage with this as an actual framework for how a world could work and not just as a loose excuse for 2000 words of smut. It's not as though canon is totally immune to this to be clear- ask me sometime about how I feel about the mess that is functionism being an analogy for 48563 things, lmao- but fanon is more pervasive because you're contending with decades of this stuff being super pervasive in fandom spaces and it becoming standard for fic. We were having discussions about this exact stuff like. When I was 15 on LJ, lmao. And it wasn't new then! I don't think it's anything unique; it's just got those extra layers of abstraction to sort through in terms of 'why IS this happening with these fuckin planes'.

[simply-sithel]

To answer a couple questions that have come up recently on comments & via tags...

@clarasghosts am happy to spread the good word about minis! I've glomped my imposition code onto @momijizukamori's Bookbinder JS page. It's free & web based & hopefully easy to use. You just take a normal PDF and feed it in-- this book was the "mini" layout (under the "Wacky Small Layouts" section)

@emptyyourselfintothesky No, but they do sell them! I've an adorable miniature press from Tony Firman ($175). While he does sell a plough ($100) for it, I've opted for chisel trimming, which I talk about more in this post.

@goodnightmoonvale I've ordered it off Amazon [link]- it's not "official" bible paper, just 45 gsm sheets. Currently $13, paper size A4, 80 pages. Be warned, printing on it is a very finicky process. Have about 1 in 3 pages workout. (and even then, I tolerate some... cruft)

@this-is-surely-tru It varies... Definitely depends on the software folks use and how ornate they want to be- some folks sink a LOT of time into it. I use LaTeX which is all text (like code) and allows me to re-use large chunks from previous projects. I also have written python scripts that let me pull fic from AO3 super fast. A "normal" mini fic from AO3 can take me... 15-30 min to setup? (Import content, sanity check line breaks, generate QR code, etc) The Art of War though was a fresh layout and attempt at "design"-- time spent at computer was probably....? 3 hours? Over several days, plus pondering layout when offline. I don't track it too closely. The hard part is just knowing what it should look like. Executing on a vision is not that bad.

And yes ;) I "tolerate" the step-- the joy for me is the manual process. The mind can wander when folding, sewing, trimming... but typesetting is a mental sink hole for me where I must be Focused. But totally worth it! And every project remains on hand (in a private GitHub repo) for me to pull from next time. Am slowly working up the will to typeset Winnie-the-Poo Chapter 1 as a small book... will keep an eye on how long that takes ;) (easy enough to do if I remember to check the files into git at regular work intervals)

@promithiae Doooooooooo iiiiiiiiiit! There's lots of resources to be found over at @renegadepublishing and a rabid collection of folks on Discord who'd love to help you through the process.

(also wanted to note/celebrate that my follower count has finally caught up with my post count. That's kinda' like a milestone, yeah? Given I started posting here Dec 2013...)

#bookbinding

[shinneth]

I really shouldn't be so afraid to post this, but this one post has bothered me enough to the point where I just had to rant about it. I won't be surprised if this post results in a lot of followers dumping my ass. There's another controversial rant post I'm gonna make soon, so I guess this is a good enough warm-up.

It does take a lot of mental gymnastics to make "Rules for thee, not for me" sound justifiable.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Also, I don't think that equity is working out very well right now with the race-bent Snow White.

Side-note: Snow White's fucking name comes from the in-story explanation: "skin as white as snow". But that's not something we should respect right!

Just imagine the number of hopeful girls who would've been honored to have been chosen for the role of Disney's first-ever princess and would have shown so much more respect for the role and the story than this. I'd hope the social brownie points were worth it, but most people are actually seeing this lady for what she truly is.

Hell, the bigger problem nowadays is how most Disney Princesses are being given the same feminist story beats, being strong independent women who don't need no man and are also total girl bosses. Sure, just gut out the story in the name of "progression". And slowly make the Disney Princesses a "progressive" hive mind.

Also, there's the whole Nani controversy that really shows how skewed the priorities are of everyone who advocates for blackwashing established white characters.

Nani being dark-skinned isn't crucial to the story, though. Her actress is still a native Hawaiian, which is objectively the more important representative aspect of casting in a movie set in Hawaii with Hawaiian culture being heavily featured.

Look, personally I'd advocate for casting people who actually look like the characters they're portraying if these live-action remakes must be a thing.

But clearly the Hollywood execs don't agree. So this casting doesn't bother me. If anything, I find it hilarious - especially after seeing everyone throw a hissy fit over this. It showcases their hypocrisy, as these are the same people who were all "CHANGING ARIEL'S SKIN COLOR DOESN'T MATTER YOU BIGOTS". On top of that, these people are actually wishing harm on this actress, solely over her skin color.

Let me guess, though. It isn't really racism if colored people oppress and threaten and harm white people, right? By this logic, it's just a matter of ~equity~ that fair-skinned folk are subjected to the same prejudice. For fuck's sake.

Nah, let's just normalize the concept that no one can relate to a character unless said character looks just like them. Let's encourage kids to embrace narcissism and refuse to find commonalities in characters that don't physically resemble them in any way.

Because apparently it doesn't matter that I can't see myself and my mother in Tiana, even though her driven, workaholic underdog story resonates with us. But because we're not black, we're not allowed to feel a kinship. It's inconceivable for a little girl to feel that she, for what she is on the inside, can relate to a Disney Princess that she shares no physical traits with.

Maybe I'm just crazy for believing we should focus more on who we are than what we are. Maybe I'm a monster for discouraging indulgence in narcissistic behavior. Am I a bigot for rolling my eyes every time I hear a cry for "MUH REPRESENTATION"?

I like to think I'm not. But society is so heavily fucked in so many ways these days. So much that I'm actually afraid to post this publicly.

But I shouldn't be afraid to speak my mind when I see bullshit being glorified. So I'm gonna give my piece, come what may.

#I don't even think the live action remakes should exist #I am against them as a concept #and there's not a single one I enjoy #they're symptomatic of disney's creative bankruptcy #not a single one of them add anything to the legacy of their counterparts #but I can't make them not happen so #at the very least I just feel the need to point out the hypocrisy #halle bailey to her credit was much more respectful of the movie she was starring in the remake of #even called ariel her 'absolutely' favorite disney princess #but then proceeded to celebrate all these changes to her character #but like #ariel still had fascinations of the human world in the og #she had that long before she met eric #she didn't just give up her legs for a man goddammit #her father fucking traumatized her by destroying her special place #she felt like she couldn't go back home #cuz she's like 16 y'know and teens be dumb like that #that scene in the og of triton blasting all of ariel's things was legit scary for me as a kid #I totally understand ariel being stupid enough to trust ursula because she felt she had no place to go #that's what I hate about these remakes #the actors/actresses totally muddle the message of the source material #anyway sorry if this offends any of you following me #I'm just sick of the hypocrisy and it being glorified #Youtube

[libertarian-druid-in-greater-vt]

Well shit folks, I might be checking out here. I've been having symptoms of pancreatic cancer for awhile now.

Scheduling an appointment to get checked asap.

But, good news, I've been to the hospital a few times pretty recently, and they've taken blood and urine from me because of my diabetes and that's a moderate risk factor. So there's a good chance they checked for that as well. So, if this is pancreatic cancer, it's new, meaning it'll be caught early and that has a 99% cure rate.

Or, also a solid possibility, I don't have shit. And I'll be totally fine. Maybe the pain is just pain. I can defer payment long enough for insurance to kick in, since we get it immediately so I'll be set there too. Only reason I don't have it now is because I'm a temp, which means my insulin was all walmart brand, which thankfully has no known effects on cancer rate.

And because I'm a diabetic, it's not like they can't just remove my pancreas right?

And I'll be real, the sudden spikes of pain were fucking crippling. I full on collapsed at work from one while nobody was there and just assumed I pulled a muscle really bad. But that was today, when I looked into it.

So, worst case, I'm still looking good, in fact damn near as good as I could be. Not worth calling ambulance over, but I gotta call off work if I can get in tomorrow.

Gonna be real, I'm terrified. Don't know if I'm gonna sleep or not. But thankfully I've also been smoking cannabis daily for months, which is known to inhibit cancer cell growth.

Fucking hell, diabetes, then epilepsy, now possibly cancer.

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Sonic Youth - Fowler's Live, Adelaide, Australia, February 22, 2008

Starting in 2007, Sonic Youth started performing Daydream Nation from start-to-finish — and in early '08, the band took the whole thing down under. Though fans (and the band itself) may quibble, the 1988 LP had grown in stature over the years, earning a rep as the band's towering "masterpiece." My personal opinion changes from day to day as to whether it's their "best," exactly ... but my personal opinion is always that Daydream Nation is a fucking sweet album. Right?

In my interview with him a few years back, Steve Shelley talked a bit about how it all came together:

The ATP folks started this thing called Don’t Look Back, where bands would play classic albums live in their entirety. They asked us for a while, “Hey you want to do Daydream Nation?” And the answer was always like, “No thanks” [laughs]. But they kept offering a better and better payday and finally it was like “OK, we’ll do it.” But that meant we had to go back and learn it. The mix of that record is such a mesh of things that we had to remix it and put Thurston in the left side and Lee on the right side so they could learn their distinctive guitar parts. We really had to go back and figure out what exactly we did. It’s weird, but I enjoyed that that process a great deal.

So how does Daydream Nation hold up onstage almost 20 years after it was first unleashed upon the world? Very nicely. As Steve suggests, this is a faithful rendition of the album's 12 tracks; they're sticking to the script for the most part (they did not fly out Mike Watt to re-create his grouchy voicemail message on "Providence" though! That would've been cool.). But there's a certain magisterial quality to this Adelaide performance; less frantic and feral than it was back in the day, but with an added confidence and style. This is the band that also made Murray St. and Sonic Nurse — and you can sense that SY has figured out how to make Daydream's transitions ... not exactly smoother, but more elegant? Something like that. I like it, I think you'll like it, too.

Anyway, I was stuck in traffic around sunset listening to this recording recently and my mind started marveling at the weird collective energy and built-in trust that fuels a freeway. Hundreds, thousands of total strangers somehow in silent agreement (grudging, yes) that, yes, this is how it works, this is the direction we're headed in. A utopian interstate? Haha, sure. Of course, a traffic jam filled with pollution-spewing vehicles is far from a good thing. But that energy is worth considering, maybe. If we can make such an unlikely system work, imagine what else we could make work, something with far more positive vibrations. What does this have to do with Daydream Nation? No idea. But that was my own personal daydream.

Bandcamp | Merch | Concert Chronology

#sonic youth #sonicsummer

[duck-in-a-thrift-store]

Personal rant bc we haven't gotten my official results yet but we did get a very stressful phone call about it, and because adhd has been kicking my ass lately. This is going to be long and rambly and all over the place, and if you're anti self-dx, I wouldn't suggest reading further (or interacting with me in general). It also sort of becomes just me psychoanalyzing my own behavior and infodumping about it

-------------------------------------------------------

For context, I'm autistic and adhd, and I went and talked to a psychologist a couple weeks ago and had some testing done

Personally, I don't really feel the need to have an official diagnosis for autism. I'm confident in my informed self-diagnosis (technically it was actually my parents who first suggested I might be autistic but I've learned a lot about it since then and now I'm pretty sure I'm more convinced than they are) and I just don't think a doctor's note will do much for me (totally understand and support anyone who does want to get diagnosed tho). Adhd however is another story. If I want meds that will actually work and accommodations with my school, they need proof, and as things are I am desperate for some help.

So the appointment I had a couple weeks ago was supposed to be for adhd testing, but apparently he also lowkey tested me for autism while we were there. Which like, fine, whatever, it would be sort of nice to have that validated I guess, but when we checked back in with him on the phone earlier this week he started using outdated and problematic terms like high-functioning and aspergers and I'll just say that it did not exactly inspire confidence

But that can of worms aside, let me get back to (mostly) adhd related ranting

I feel like there could be an essay about how the diagnostic process for adhd is flawed and doesn't work all that well for people who have an internalized notion that their worth as a person is dependent on their academic success and task performance and therefore spent their childhood and adolescence funneling all their efforts time and attention into school and generally being seen as a good well-behaved bright kid out of desperation to have value (and it worked- I've always made good grades, but what people don't see is the days, weeks, months of paralyzed procrastination, the anxiety-fueled mad rush in the end to get things done late, and the grace I'm inexplicably shown every time, without which my grades would be much worse)

I'm scared, that I'm going to be determined "too high functioning" to be diagnosed even though I'm currently doing basically nothing with my life outside of college and yet I'm technically failing like half of my classes right now, that they're going to say "well the signs weren't there when you were younger" even though there's a variety of explanations for why that might be, not the least of which being the fact that for some folks with both autism and adhd the traits of the two have a tendency to "hide" one another

Apparently he also ran an iq test on me, and he broke down the 5 scores to us; I scored in the upper average/above average bracket in all but the 4th, processing speed, in which I'm below average. And like yeah, I'm well aware that I'm slow, but I guess it's official now-

Anyway, my main point with the iq thing was that while he was telling us about my high scores in the first 3 areas, I'm sitting here getting more and more uneasy, bc I'm like yeah sure I'm intelligent or whatever but it isn't worth shit if I can't motivate myself to actually do anything with that potential, and the conditions under which I was tested just don't reflect my day to day life closely enough to give an accurate reading, in my opinion.

Basically I'm afraid this guy is going to look at the results of some tests- tests which I was really focused on bc of the intrinsic fear of failure that plagues my existence (even though rationally I know you can't fail a psychological evaluation) and bc I know it's a bitch of a process to even get tested in the first place and I wasn't going to waste the opportunity goddammit-

That he's going to look at them and decide that I'm "too smart" to have a learning disability, when, again, all the brains in the world wouldn't do me any good if I

1) don't have the ability to self-motivate and direct them at what I need to be working on, even if I've been beating myself up about that pile of homework or my disaster of a room for weeks or even months, and

2) have such a loose grasp on the concept of time and priorities that I have on multiple occasions found myself pulling all-nighters on personal projects or reading for pleasure or scrolling on my phone only to realize oh shit I have to get up for school in like two hours, oh fuck, I'm going to be exhausted all day, what happened to "let's go to sleep early this time, I'll just do this for like 5 more minutes and then call it a night"

or realize after one of those all-nighters that what was actually a period of about 10 hours feels more like 10 minutes to me ("man wasn't I literally just here to get dinner" the next morning, passing the caf on my way to class on exactly 0 hours of sleep and still having managed not to get any of my actual class work done in all that time)

And also just that tendency in itself is significant, to get so deeply hooked on something once it does manage to get my attention, that I often feel like I can't stop until outside forces demand it- staying up until 4am on a school night painting my phone case and texting my crush (14 or 15), making bracelet after bracelet at the kitchen table at ungodly hours of the night because I couldn't sleep and now that I'm on a roll I don't want to break the momentum (18, a few months ago), throwing horrific amounts of time at reading fanfiction of whatever series currently has my interest when I have so much work that needs to get done if I want to have a chance at passing my courses this semester (18, basically present), making a last minute birthday present for my aunt and being so caught up in the rush and the craft of what I was working on that I ignored my body's needs until I ended up pissing myself (12), etc

The fact that I've been meaning to catch up with my high school friends for weeks or months, literally something as simple as a "how have yall been" in the group chat, yet for some reason I still haven't gotten around to it

The fact that for all my alleged intelligence I still haven't learned to ride a bike or drive a car or apply for a job or develop a work-life balance or play any of the instruments I want to or have a thriving social life or feel like a person (I think these are more autism-related but I'm throwing them in anyway)

The fact that minor (or even just mistakenly perceived) disapproval or judgment or teasing or having a text left on read can send me spiraling into anxiety and convinced that everyone hates me and that I'm worthless or obnoxious or stupid (rejection sensitivity is a bitch)

The fact that when I try to read I have to make a constant conscious effort not to jump ahead and all over the place and I often have to reread the same passage multiple times to understand it because I realize that I wasn't actually paying attention the first couple of times, my mind elsewhere and my eyes wandering

I know even if I do get diagnosed they'll say it's inattentive, not hyperactive or combined, because the majority of my hyperactivity is either fairly subtle movements (because I'm socially anxious and clumsy and don't want to draw attention to myself or run the risk of breaking or disturbing something) or just straight up in my head. Like sure I'm not a nine year old boy who can't sit still in class and is constantly bouncing around all over the place and getting into trouble and driving his parents and teachers crazy (bc being seen as annoying and unruly by authority figures would have broken me), but there's always so much noise in my brain, it's always talking or playing music in the background or thinking about the 47 different projects I need to be working on and the media it wants to be engaging with instead and the 1000s of things there are to worry about in a day; sometimes I'll get stuck in a loop where I'm mentally repeating a word or phrase over and over and over again until I feel like I'm going crazy

All of this is stuff that this guy doesn't see, and that worries me when it comes to the validity of his assessment

But basically, what I'm trying to say is, I swear to god if the people around me don't believe that there's clearly something not neurotypical going on here I'm going to fucking riot

And, ranting aside, I want to end this post with a note to all my fellow neurodiverse folks who are waiting for answers or treatment or validation or support or whatever.

I feel you. Hang in there. You have my well wishes in your endeavors. And remember, it's ok to be happy with or proud of who you are and what makes you different, it's ok to embrace your neurodiversity while also acknowledging how difficult it can be to live with and the fact that you might need extra time or support with things that seem to come easily to other people. It's ok to admit that it's fucking hard sometimes, and it's ok to ask for help. Take care, mates

#please feel free to peer review me #duck rants #duck's thoughts #adhd #autism #neurodiversity #adhd test #adhd assessment #gifted kid burnout #neurodivergent #psychoanalysis #psychology #brains are weird #executive dysfunction #rejection sensitive dysphoria #time blindness #hyperfixation #anxiety #info dump #<- about myself

[aesethewitch]

D&D Tarot Deck Review

So, I got the D&D Tarot Deck for Christmas. It was a total surprise gift from folks I was once very close to -- now, my partner sees them occasionally, and I don't see them at all (by choice). It's still incredibly thoughtful, and I'd been planning on getting it as a gift for myself. It definitely has its pros and cons, so I figured I'd do a quick* write-up since I'm pretty excited to have this deck.

*Or not so quick, apparently. Details beneath the cut for length!

The Packaging

The first thing I judge in a deck is how it's packaged. This one's box is not bad! The art on the box itself is nice, reflecting the cards within. On the back is the description of the deck and the barcode. It's all one piece, opening with a hinge lid like a book. Rather than printing onto the box itself, they've got a sort of sticker cover that's already cracking and peeling after opening it less than ten times. Not ideal; it's going to destroy itself pretty quickly.

Using the Hierophant card as the cover is a nice touch, though.

The inside is simple. Gold-yellow paper lines the inner cover and deck slot. I really like the color scheme, black and yellow/gold -- mostly because yellow is my favorite color. The rectangular slot for the cards is just deep enough to fit the cards. The booklet fits perfectly atop them. With the book over top, they fit snugly, but any amount of turning or strong jostling lets the topmost cards go free within the box. It does have a ribbon attached for easy removal, but that's standard.

In all, the packaging is standard, leaning on the less-robust side. It's a mass-market deck aimed toward D&D collectors, not tarot collectors. Lucky for them, I'm both, so I don't mind too much... Especially when the deck's art is so nice.

The Booklet

Before I dive into the deck itself, let's have a look at the booklet. It is... wow, thin. Wafer thin. How do they fit so much information in such a little space?

Well... they don't. This booklet is exceptionally beginner unfriendly. Not a big problem for me, but damn. If this is someone's first deck, coming from the world of D&D with no experience in tarot, it would be rough to rely on this booklet for any assistance whatsoever.

The booklet does display a picture of each card with its description, making pairing explanations to the card easy enough. But the descriptions are a short sentence or two each, and... well, frankly, I don't agree with several of them. In particular, the Sun card is depicted as a knight with a flaming sword before the sun's glow... and the booklet describes it as "Returning to the innocence and vitality of childhood." It's incongruent at best.

It's worth noting that the two people credited with creating the deck and guide book are not tarot readers. Or, at least, they aren't listed as such in their credentials. I can forgive the meagerness of the booklet on the grounds that this deck is not truly intended for beginners.

It also isn't necessarily meant for divination. Sure, at the start of the booklet, it explains what tarot is and how to use a tarot spread to do divination. It frames it as a tool for growth and guidance, which I'm a fan of. It does also say that tarot is "ancient," which... I'm not going to get into here. It isn't ancient, but it does sound dramatic and very D&D-ish when put that way.

The booklet gives a short example of a "good" and "bad" question -- "Why am I always sad?" (bad) vs. "How do I bring more joy to my life?" (better). This is great! It also explains that the short descriptions are short on purpose (though I do think it's very much to save space also) to force the reader to interpret the symbolism on each. Again, not necessarily super beginner-friendly. But it is useful to set a book aside and learn to read on sight. So this deck might be good for next-level beginners -- ones looking to step away from traditional meanings and create their own.

There are a couple spreads on offer in the booklet, standard one- and three-card draws. But there's also a unique spread of five cards fashioned after the shape of a D&D adventure that I definitely think I'll be using in paid readings: The Quest, The Conscious, The Unconscious, The Boon or Bogey, and the Quest's End. Very nice.

My favorite part is this, though: The booklet also explains how you can use the deck to build a D&D encounter, which... holy shit, that's cool. Draw a hand of three and, using the second half of each card's description, fashion an adventure. I will 100% be using it this way.

I think it would be fun to replace the Deck of Many things with this tarot deck in a game. Let the players draw a card to alter their fate one way or another. For better or worse, the cards will decide...

Super fucking cool.

The Cards

Now, the good stuff. The cards.

In this deck, the classic Cups, Swords, Wands, and Pentacles have been replaced with D&D-themed suits. They're designed after four of the six main attributes of any D&D character: Charisma, Wisdom, Intelligence, and Strength.

Now, I was a little surprised they chose Strength instead of Constitution or Dexterity, since in the Major Arcana cards, they didn't change the Strength card. It's still there. So you have Strength the Card and Strength the Minor Suit. It strikes me as a missed opportunity. I think that either the Major card should've been changed to Constitution, or the Minor Suit should've been Dexterity.

The suits still follow the pattern of Ace through Ten followed by Page, Knight, Queen, and King. So, it isn't so far removed from a more "classic" deck.

Either way, the cards themselves are... well, damn. They're really pretty. The art style reminds me strongly of modern D&D books, and I suppose that's on purpose. It creates a cohesive brand across the board, but the style also really suits tarot.

The details are amazing. Even if the creators aren't tarot readers or deck designers themselves, I can tell that a lot of research and thought went into each card. Throughout the Major Arcana, you can spot various canon D&D characters (Mordenkainen being the Magician is most notable, though Tiamat burning down a castle as the Tower is so fucking good), and they all fit the card they've been assigned.

Sorting through the deck and writing my personal descriptions as I always do, I can suddenly understand why the descriptions are so short. There's so much on every card. The symbolism is easy to read, clear and fabulous throughout the deck.

And really, replacing the suits was the best choice they made overall. Not only does it fit the D&D theme, but it also stretches the imagination. I tried to fit the D&D suits into the classic suits, but it doesn't really fit. Intelligence might be Wands... but the Five shows a vase, which is definitely more Cups-like... though it is conflict, which is very much Wands... or perhaps Swords...

And so on. The unique suits lend a new depth to the deck. Unfamiliar and familiar all at once, D&D players and tarot readers alike will recognize the symbols on each card. Characters, classes, cursed items, famous weapons, beloved monsters, familiar themes, evocative expressions and colors and posing -- honestly, it's a good fucking deck.

Which is why the only drawback I personally have is the god damn cardstock. Bad cardstock is a deck killer. And holy shit does this paper suck. The texture is fine -- a lightly pebbled surface that's pleasing to the touch. But they're so thin. So thin, in fact, that a slight bend warps them badly. I made the mistake of doing a riffle shuffle right out of the box, and now they're permanently bent, just enough to make it obvious.

The cards shuffle nicely. They do feel a bit like I'm shuffling cards I printed myself on slightly thicker than usual paper. I'm afraid to shuffle them more aggressively in case I bend one entirely in half on accident, which isn't ideal.

It was obviously chosen to save money on the printing. It's a shame. Thicker or more quality cardstock would have made this my #1 deck, I think. Once again, I don't think this was made for tarot readers. It was made for D&D nerds and collectors who just might have an interest in tarot or divination. Or a fun addition to their games. Or something pretty to put on their shelves.

A Quick Explanation of the New Suits

In my own words, bolstered by what's described in the booklet.

Strength:

This entire suit is really similar to the Major Arcana Strength card. It can be about physical abilities, but it can also refer to inner strength, passion, and resolve. The individual cards feature a surprising lack of weaponry. There's a solid focus on making progress, weathering difficulties, and sharing what you have with others. Strength of heart and will, not just of body.

Intelligence:

In short, mental powers and ability. This suit is about gathering and using knowledge to advantage. The booklet also says that this suit is about the way our minds shape our reality and how our perceptions weave a story. These cards have a strong focus on the mind, predictably. Learning, thinking, logic, choice, and planning feature prominently throughout this suit.

Wisdom:

The perception of one's own inner world. Not just knowing, but understanding. This is the suit of intuition and insight. The cards have an emphasis on friendship, connection, healing, and faith. There are also themes of balance and having compassion with yourself. Also, one of the D&D prompts is "A duck waddles up and says that he has witnessed a murder and wants you to catch the culprit." Which fucking rules.

Charisma:

The suit of confidence and charm. Like the D&D attribute, this suit focuses on beauty, relationships, and interpersonal interactions. The cards themselves are surprisingly diverse. There's a strong emphasis on the strength of character and recognizing who you are. These cards focus a lot on being content and honest with yourself and with others.

Will I Use the Deck?

I mean, yeah. Fuck yeah. Shitty cardstock aside, it's a beautiful deck that calls to the TTRPG nerd at my core. I can't wait to do some readings with it (this Free Tarot Friday might all be D&D deck, tbh). Beyond that, I already have ideas for incorporating it into my D&D games.

Like the Alleyman's Tarot, I don't think I'll be reading reversals with this deck. It doesn't quite feel right for a reason I can't put my finger on. Maybe it's because the messages are diverse enough and far enough away from the "classic" Rider-Waite-Smith designs.

Overall Rating

In total, I'd give this deck a solid 8/10. The cardstock and package quality definitely docked several points, but the beautiful art and interesting Minor Arcana choices make up for it. Once again, I wouldn't recommend this for total beginners if you're using it for divination, but as a second or third deck, I think it's fine. D&D nerds and experienced tarot readers will find this to be a gem in our collections.

And hey! If you like my work, consider dropping a dollar in my tip jar. Contributions help me keep making posts like this one!

#aese speaks #dnd #tarot #dungeons and dragons tarot deck #tarot deck review #tarot cards #tarot decks #divination #tarotblr #tarot community

[hiswordsarekisses]

Preach the truth, the WHOLE truth, and nothing BUT the truth.

Long read, but totally worth it. Pass it on for other preachers and teachers to see. They need to be preaching and teaching the Word of God - from the Bible and not from what they THINK the Bible should say. (I was able to take a screenshot and then copy and paste the letter itself so it’s easier to read!!)…….also it put me in mind of James 3:1, which says; “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.”

“A Dream Of Judgement Day”

“Dear Brother Ray,

I have been a pastor for 25 years. I always thought I was doing a reasonably good job. Kind of like the folks who consider themselves "good people. I had tried to preach, what I thought, was the whole counsel of God. I prayed, over the years, with many people to accept Jesus and make Him Lord of their lives.

My wife, Judy, and I moved to Ruidoso, New Mexico, about six years ago to plant a church.

Shortly after arriving I was convicted that something was horribly wrong with my ministry. I read the Scriptures and prayed earnestly that God would show me what was wrong.

The feeling continued to grow and I became depressed and moody. I asked Judy to pray for me and explained my problem. I didn't know if this was the Holy Spirit convicting or Satan attacking. She prayed that God would reveal the cause of my depression and make Himself clear as He revealed any problem with my ministry for Him.

That night I had the most terrifying, realistic, blood-chilling nightmare any man has ever had. I am a Vietnam veteran and I know a little about nightmares. Nothing in my experience has ever come close, nor do lever want it to, to the horror of that night.

I dreamed that it was Judgment Day and I was standing right next to the throne of God. I noticed that to my left and my right were pastors as far as I could see. I thought this was odd that the Lord would reserve this front-row space for pastors only.

I looked out across a space of only a few yards and there were millions, maybe billions, of people, yet I could see each one of their eyes staring at me. As I studied this group I noticed that I knew many of them from times at the altar or ones who had sat under my teaching. I was pleased to see that they had made it to heaven, but confused because they didn't look happy. They looked very angry and hateful.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord say, "Away, I never knew you."

I was suddenly frightened that what I was seeing were those who thought they were saved. Then I saw all of them pointing a finger at each of us pastors and saying together, in one voice that shook my soul,

“We sat in your church and thought we were saved. Why didn't you tell us we were lost?"

Tears were pouring down my face and the faces of all of those pastors. I watched as one by one those people were cast into hell. One and then another, and another, and another..., untl they were all gone.

I died inside as each one screamed in agony and gnashed their teeth, cursing us as they went into the lake of fire.

Then I was looking into the face of Jesus and He said to me, "Is this the part where I'm supposed to say, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant?" I woke up with a scream and my heart pounding and I was begging Jesus to forgive me.

I died a million deaths that night. Since that night I have done two things on a daily basis. I do everything I can to preach the Law before grace in the hope that conviction of sin will bring a sinner to true salvation.

The other thing that I do is pray for every person I have ever preached to, asking God to repair any damage I have done. I also never believe anyone when they tell me they are saved. It is my duty to challenge them and search out the solidness of their salvation.

I am learning to be more effective and confident as I teach others how to share their faith by using the Law.

I have seen several people saved. who thought they were saved, as I have used the “Way of the Master" material to teach them evangelism.

I do want to hear those words. "Well done my good and faithful servant," and thanks to you and your team I have a better chance of hearing them. Thank you.

I just wanted to let you know some pastors are waking up to the truth. The desire of my heart is to please God. I pray that my days of being a man please are over, along with the nightmares.

I also pray that God will use me to bring other pastors into the truth of the Gospel message so that they will not have to face the nightmare that I did.”

~ Steve Kreins

[darkwood-sleddog]

@chemistfail

I totally understand that frustration. Dog Training is an unregulated industry which does make it hard to cut through this sort of stuff.

You can start by educating yourself on Dog Behavior Science in general. Becoming more widely familiar with the actual science behind why dogs behave the way they do will help you personally cut through a lot of the crap. People like Patricia McConnell Ph.D. and Dr. Sophia Yin DVM MS are great starting points. I enjoy resources from other sources, but also think it's important to not overwhelm you as a newbie. and I'll stress here that I'm not a dog trainer nor an expert in the field. When looking at articles on dog training & animal behavior it's also important to look for the qualifications of the author. What titles do they have? What experience do they have that makes them worth listening to? A tv show, podcast (and even a tumblr blog for example) are not to be lauded as reasons to listen.

Some further tips:

1.) associate yourself with the theory of behavioral quadrants. Note that these terms will come up a lot by a wide variety of trainers and is also often applied to the behavioral science of other animals (such as the cooperative behaviors and positive association behaviors we see being done to better medically treat animals in zoos).

2.) Never take advice from anybody that believes in alpha/dominance theory. This is outdated science. HERE's a nice article by the VCA Animal Hospitals that goes over various myths vs reality.

3.) Always be aware on what the trainers you may follow online are doing. Because the industry is unregulated you need to decide for yourself what defines somebody as a "yes" or "no" for yourself. For example I recently had an ongoing battle helping my neighbors get a certified positive reinforcement trainer to stop letting their off leash day camp dogs that they were unable to control run all over private property where they were not wanted. In this case every qualification and scientific application was there for me, but the person training and running the camp was not a responsible and good person. On the other side while many dog trainers call themselves "balanced" (balanced being the idea that they pull from all or multiple or the behavioral quadrants to train) many are instead purely aversive trainers and often skirt the line of vague alpha theory. It is important to vet everybody you seek to learn from regardless of their training philosophy.

I'm sure some other more educated folks will also chime in, but best of luck!

#dogblr #dog behavior #dog training #anyways lots of shitting people in the dog training world #you kinda have to wade through sludge to get to it #it being good people