#? it's very basic stuff but it'll help someone out there i imagine

[riririnnnn]

I have this foreboding feeling that while we are prepared for Sae's and Shidou's backstory, Nagi's backstory is going to sneak from behind and punch us in the gut.

No, I don't think it's going to be straight up depression like Kaiser's, but I do think that it'll hit close to home.

You see, Nagi got Laissez-faire parents which means they never really interfered with his life. Like, these type of parents—as I have read on some websites��will basically set their child free and let them do whatever they want with no or very few rules/restrictions. They will not tell you, "Oh! You should do this!" or "Oh! You shouldn't do this!" They will simply let you figure out your life all by yourself.

I'm not an expert on this and I'm not calling this type of parenting bad in any way. Every child is different with different needs, and I'm sure there are many who grew up in this kinda family and liked this parenting method. However, I do think that Nagi didn't like it that much, and I got two reasons to think this way:

1. "That's nice."

When Reo said that his family constantly meddles in his life, Nagi's immediate reaction was, "That's nice" instead of being surprised or disgruntled. If Nagi really liked his parents NOT meddling in his life, then he should've said something like, "Really!? Sucks to be you, Reo. I can't imagine living a life like that!"

You getting me?

Also, we all know how Nagi is—he definitely feels that telling someone to do or not to do something is a hassle, so he, probably, feels that if someone is doing all this for you, then you are important for them.

And before any one says, no, I don't think Nagi was tying up his tongue thinking, "They are his parents. They wouldn't want anything bad for their own child, right? I shouldn't say anything against them and should say good things about them just to be safe." I don't think he has this kind of filter in him.

2. "Don't die ."

So, why would you not want someone to die? Of course, because you care for them and want them to be with you.

"Want"

That's really what I'm tryna highlight.

It's a pretty common knowledge that some children are just naturally more independent while others are a bit more dependent and seek guidance from the elders. Considering Nagi's first reaction to knowing about Reo's parents' meddling, I think that Kiddo!Nagi falls into the latter category—someone who likes to be guided and helped by the adults. Now, place Kiddo!Nagi with his Laissez-faire parents... You are getting where I'm going with this one?

That's why I think that Kiddo!Nagi, probably, thought that his parents didn't love him/care for him. And what happens if someone doesn't love you or care for you? Yeah, they don't care if you die which, somewhat, explains why Older!Nagi was happy to hear, "Don't die [before us (probably)]" from his parents.

I have already talked about his potential backstory before too, so it was actually when I heard he had longer bangs as a child that made my head turn to him again—something felt odd.

I understand that having long bangs is not a big deal—Niko's bangs literally cover his eyes, but having it as a kid is way different, y'know. Once you are like 12-13, you somewhat become capable of doing your own hair and clothes by yourself, so you can manage whatever aesthetics you prefer. However, for a kid younger than that, it's the parents' responsibility to look after his/her hair and clothes, and we all know that long bangs are quite bothersome—blocks our vision, sometimes stabs the eyes, and even irritatingly itches the nose.

All in all, till his backstory drops, I'd firmly believe that he was, though unintentionally, a neglected kid—at least, emotionally.

Now I can't get this image out of my head where Kiddo!Nagi is longingly staring at other kids in a park where everyone is learning things like riding a bicycle or maybe playing baseball and stuff with their parents while he is just.. there, probably, all alone.

[cometshift]

Please i gotta know HOW DO YOU COLOR YOUR MODELS PLEASE I CANT SPEND A DAY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW AGAIN /nf

no worries anon :} i literally just use materials / material slots. i avoid texturing because 1. that's closer to phighting's style (there's very very few things that are actually textured in phighting) and also because 2. i can't texture for the life of me. thankfully for both of us, materials are actually super simple to use!

first, make sure to be on material preview mode in the viewport shading, you do this by selecting it in the top right

so, let's say we want to color subspace's horns here (i removed their color for the sake of this post. don't worry, they'll get it back)

what you want to do is select an object (in this case, his horns here) and go to its material properties

and here you can add a new material

now all these things will show up. (if they don't, you'll have to click the 'use nodes' button under the surface tab.) though you probably won't be needing nodes unless you want something more specific. in this case though, we want to pay attention to where it says 'base color'

if you click on the white box next to base color, this little colorwheel should show up. you can choose any color here, or input a hex code in the hex tab if you want a specific color

once you choose a color here, it should show up on the current object you have selected

now i just do the same for his bottom horns. any material that you've created before will save, so here i just selected the exact same material as the horns on the top of his head

and there you go :} one thing to mention. because both of these objects are under the same material, if you change the color then it should change for both of them at the same time!

here you can see i only have the bottom horns selected, but because they're under the same material as the top horns, it's changed colors too

there's also a way for an object to have more than one material. to do this you have to select an object and go into edit mode

(i had to reset his pose here. goodbye to his gay ass pose)

let's say that, for example, we want only the tips at the top to be a different color. so we do this by selecting the faces at the top

and we click on 'add new material slot', then 'new'

because we already have the faces we want a different color selected, we just click 'assign'

now you can just change the base color as we did before, and only the assigned faces will change color while the rest stays the same

^ he dyed his horns. so stylish

and there you go :} sorry for the long tutorial, but i hope this helps! there's a lot more you can do with materials and it can go a lot more in-depth, but generally for this sort of style the very basic features will suffice (at least for me. i don't like to do texturing. it hurts me)

[thechekhov]

Chekhov Reads Dungeon Meshi: CH46

D....dark Laios?

I mean, you DID consent!

The fact that ghosts can pass through walls and take other things with them... it kind of elicits another type of organism. Like, what can pass through cell walls? What other parts of the body can just yoink stuff from one place and bring it to another?

Congrats! It's all just been a dream!

I'm sorry what the SHIT?!?!?

Well, I-- .... yeah, I GUESS.

Though it looks more like one of those carousel horses.

I think this is probably still inside the dungeon. Very... DEEP. Inside the dungeon.

What? WHAT?! These things are like regular animals down here???

Oh, I--hm. I see.

Ordered by WHOMST?

Is this just an entire society of (humans??? ghosts?) that lives here in the dungeon deep? Is there still a king under the mountain? Are the rumors of the king dying not true at all?

........or are these people and descendants of adventurers who came in but were never able to leave? And the fact that Senshi points out that none of them are old.... are they ageing?

Laios, Senshi n--...... welp. There they go.

Bless this man and his absolutely non sexual obsession with monsters. But.

Izutsumi, who is a human-level intellect beastkin (though she's low on wisdom and patience....) is being very.... beast-ly and soft here. She's being magically compelled, presumably, to chill the fuck out.

Which means all these monsters are also under the same effect? Isn't that a little fucked up? They're basically under a permanent drugged effect.

Also. Hm. 'short lifespan' is....relative. Short lifespan compared to what? Immortality?

Orcs know this place exists....?

These people planting things for fun means they're absolutely trapped here like spirits.

Keeping up appearances for. Whom.

These poor people have no new incomers to talk to, huh.

Oh, I uh---- ................ hm. THat's not at all what I was imagining either.

Fashion is cyclical after all I guess....

Mmmmm. Mmmm-hmmmMMM.

WHEEEEZXE

Knowing I've finally hit these two absolutely iconic panels... amazing.

......I guess it can only do so much to make her docile...... she still doesn't like Laios.

Why does he look familiar...?

....so Derghal had a son. And a grandson. So then why is there a bid for the throne...?

Laios. Laios, is milking the minotaur the ONLY thing you did? Or was there more to it? Laios.

It's interesting. That bartender said he was 600 when he started his now-400 year old ale. So. That means they're 1000 years old.

That means that they're about as long lived as elves? Haven't gone mad yet. But that's still a long time.

That's kinda worse, yeah, but a loss of the self is a type of death, in a way...? So....

The most throwback of all time.

Actually, I feel like that's been there for a while, although it didn't always look EXACTLY like a lion's head. I feel like the little living armor he keeps in there made it that design? But how would it do that on purpose?

this is what it looked like some chapters back. Yeah, it's been sculpting into a lion's mane for a while now.... Ohohohoh playing the long game are we? 👀

Ah, it's not a wolf. How tragic for you, Laios. It'll never work out.

Also, damn, those wings sure be lookin like Falin's very non-dragon wings. What a wild coincidence. I'm sure that doesn't mean anything. :)

laughing hysterically. This poor guy can't get a break. He's been running from responsibility and inheritance for his entire life and it still catches up and trips him purposefully.

There is definitely a certain amount of tragedy there, yeah. These people aren't asking Laios for help because it's easier. They're legitimately stuck in a nightmare scenario. Unless you're someone who can get pleasure from other avenues, living all that time without the basic needs will drive a person mad. Elves live just as long, presumably, but they're still able to eat, I assume.

I'm honestly more surprised they're all as sane as they are.

.......King of Forgor.

[spiderh0rse]

Thinkin about Khonsu time bubble civilization stuff again,,,, it'd have to be a very precise setup. Little to no waste, ever. Specific types of capes. A shaker with weather control or someone who can force the growth of plants. Very few that break conservation of mass, to help with space conservation. Maybe some regenerating Brutes or Changers. No matter what, unless a cape is functionally or literally immortal, (or fringe cases where they are or can become inorganic) they aren't coming out the other end of that bubble.

It's sped up time within a very small space. To have a population of humans reproduce with enough genetic variance to not result in severe inbreeding, you need at least thirty. Which the bubbles can probably collect! It's just a matter of a few people thinking ahead and some very good luck.

Even then the people inside would probably have to end up very comfortable with corpses, or dispose of them in some other way. Not enough space or resources to justify just burying them, imo. And whatever the time of day it was when that bubble forms, it'll be the same time of day the entire time they're in there. So sunburn or a vitamin d deficiency are going to be issues the entire time people are in there.

Also, given how shards bud, basically all offspring in there is going to get a power. And second gen triggers happen much faster. Same is theorized for third gen, and I'd imagine onward. So towards the end of the bubble's existence (assuming it holds for long enough), a kid could get a horrible for the first time. Exaggerating a bit but I hope you catch my drift

[ineed-to-sleep]

Hi!! I Love your art sm. Do you have any tutorials on how you draw heads? I always struggle getting the proportions right, even after trying the lumos method and using reference photos?

Thank you and I love your ocs!

Thank you!! <3

I've been thinking about how I was gonna try to help you here tbh, because I myself don't really have like a, set static process for drawing heads jfkakdk so I didn't wanna get here and just sound like that owl meme yk

Even though that's kind of basically how it goes jvvjvkkv I draw a circle, draw one or two guidelines, then just follow my heart <3 but that's not very useful advice I don't think.......

So what I can recommend, which is just what worked for me, is this:

Practice drawing the head from various angles and making it look consistent. I've been practicing this recently and it's been massively helping me understand the head's proportions better. I think this works regardless of whether you're drawing it realistically or heavily stylized, all that matters is that you aim to keep the proportions and angles looking right

(personal example I'm still working on just to show you what I mean + a handy ref someone posted on pinterest of this asaro head)

Using stuff like the Loomis method is good, but there are other methods you can try out that could help you more! I've seen this one from Sinix with the mask method, and there's also a box method on Proko's channel. Try out some different methods and see if any of them work for you

Also, measuring!! It'll go a long way when studying or drawing from reference honestly. Try sketching it, then compare your sketch to the reference and take some measurements to see what went wrong. You can draw lines on top of the ref to compare or use anything like a pencil to measure if you're drawing traditionally

Drawing the skull is also really helpful! Just like drawing the muscles to understand the body, drawing the skull from various angles will really help you understand the structure that lies underneath the face, which will help you draw it better when you plaster some skin on top of it. I personally haven't done skull studies in a long time, but when I did them a few years ago they helped me a lot

(these are from 2 years ago I think? but yeah they really helped lay those foundations)

And finally, I think drawing from imagination(without any refs) after doing any of these studies will really help to cement what you've learned into your head. Kind of like a revision to help you memorize the steps yk

That's kind of all I have because my process is pretty much intuitive, but what I can say is that these studies are probably the reason why I draw intuitively at all + without much reference most of the time. I hope these are helpful <3 Good luck!!

[fictionfixations]

tamashina-mina event (aka the sunset savanna jp event)

so anyway because i cant read jp (the translated vid is in parts so thats why im posting multiple links)

leona brushes it off but

so LISTEN. The chamberlain whatever his name is isn't happy with Leona for not putting his intelligence to help the country

but when he DOES provide an idea (aka actually mining the mineral resources) its shrugged off because they're all for being with nature

so what im understanding is leona is proposing to actually make use of what the land has to, yes, make a profit, but also it could help with all loads of things? like spreading water to be a little more easily obtainable once having the funds to idk throw away money for the good of the people (i mean. they're already rich aren't they? i don't really get it but also the world runs on money. i dont know if there are any benefits to it just sitting there, or if there are cons to digging them out or not but leona seems very passionate about it.)

but so its like this then

where if its not modernized then people will just. not live modernized. and i get that ig, wanting to live with nature (well not really but i mean its all down to preference isnt it? which im not an outdoor person so uh)

maybe it'll make more sense in the EN version (whenever it comes). or maybe i need someone to dumb it down to me like im 5.

but anyway you see my point right?? Leona provides an idea (is very invested in it) that goes to the good of the kingdom (making more profit but its also like they dont have to mine ALL of it he at least just wants them to make use of it at least instead of not even touching it)

and then it gets shot down because. basically. tradition. ???

anyway heres my idea: if someone like Ruggie Bucchi can exist (i mean as in someone born in a poor environment) in the Sunset Savanna, then clearly there can still be something done to keep people healthy and in comfortable situations without compromising idk the beauty of also being able to live with nature at the same time? to help make it a bit more convenient in the process at least? (like there could be a system that brings them water, but it could still be in a well so they can still do that process by hand, there will just be more water so they dont have to worry about idk running out? i dont know how wells work but i imagine they can run out eventually)

and if anyones like 'oh but we wont make a profit' then propose ANOTHER way we can make big income. aka MINING the MINERAL resources so it could be like nothing even changed or that we might be even making more than we usually are (but also probably supervised so they cant take advantage and just i mean get rid of the entirety of it? cause. its.. important right? so some but not all.)

maybe i just dont understand this, maybe im biased towards leona who knows, but i kind of also feel like its dumb to just brush it off. and i mean who knows maybe hes proposed it many times before, maybe hes shown them so many ideas and proofs and proposals related but they mightve been flawed in some way i dont know and thats why they refuse. who knows. it just rubs me the wrong way

its also kind of related to people brushing off leona just as being lazy and stuff like that (also did you know he only failed ONE year? he joined NRC a year late) but leona isnt really doing anything to try to change peoples perceptions of him because 'thats what they think of me, why should i bother?' like people hating on him for being [something something] compared to falena so then just. takes that in and is like 'okay so people think of me this way. if thats how they view me, then whatever.' hes still very competitive and all that stuff but theres also apathy in 'people will think whatever they want of me, why should i even try to change it?' (and hes probably heard all kinds of things at a young age that really stuck with him and shaped who he was. which goes from being really hurt by it to not even caring about peoples opinions anymore. dont get me wrong it can still affect him because the part of him that got hurt by it the first time is still there but yknow)

but so then the chamberlain is like 'why dont you use your smarts for the country'

and leonas just like

THEN SAY SOMETHING TO MAKE HIM NOT SAY SUCH THINGS??? (you knew him as a kid surely you could do something) like. theres. just. such an utter lack of trying to convince him otherwise. and i guess to him it would sound so fake so he might not be convinced at all. but then if you stop trying at all then he'll think that he was right in what he thought people thought of him and wont try to correct anyone. or in fact will correct anyone if they think positively of him.

i mean theres also not wanting to say it in front of other people. but. listen. if youre afraid of what the people think then it will affect the other negatively.

like for example if you try not to do lovey-dovey stuff in public then your lover will naturally feel like youre just trying to hide them away. or that you might feel ashamed.

so if the chamberlain tries to convince him when they're in private but in public he doesnt. then you can see what kind of conclusion leona would come to, right?

its kind of a tough situation because i honestly dont know what youd do in that situation. its just. i feel like they could communicate better. that there could be things to be done and it just frustrates me.

yes he does go on to say that leona is strong

and that he believes in him basically but

it just. doesnt feel like enough. and it could definitely be on leona for also not being willing to listen so hh. and i also get the chamberlain has a lot of responsibility so he cant just be there all the time and everything hfeuishfdi

[lambment]

Hello! I love your art so much! Your cult of the lamb stuff has really inspired me and has pumped me up and I’m trying to basically re learn how to draw again! Do you have any advice for a fellow artist and how to approach story telling? :D

anon its been like a good while since this message has been sent (I think? based off all the homophobic crown asks this was wedged btwn) and WAHHH im so happy for you, I hope youre enjoying your reentry into art C:

first and foremost, try to enjoy the process rather than the end result. a much wordier explanation in this post (X)

theres also the discipline aspect of it, you need to be pretty concious of balancing learning with enjoyment (and you can absolutley have that balance without thinking about it). but I find a lot of new/learning artists get easily discouraged when a piece doesnt pop out exactly how they imagined it. I have a secret, lets be realistic, none of my pieces do lol. expectation is the killer of art imo, just go with the flow of enjoyment and learn what you can to become better at it. get used to adapting often.

even if you arent always studying (dont make it boring for yourself now), just you constantly drawing will improve your art, but dont expect to notice an improvment with every piece, its an incremental process and youll have bad days. just focus on the journey not the destination is what im getting at.

REFERENCE!!! its a beautiful, beautiful thing, anyone telling you its cheating is a silly billy who needs to learn. look up artists you admire, try to figure out how they tackle a piece, examine photos that you think are beautiful. just collect different pieces of reference, and try making a piece based off of them, a fun excercise. it'll improve your art.

as for the story aspect of this, im ngl, Im still learning myself. my main rule of thumb is "if i want to see this, someone else out there will too." so dont get discouraged by thinking no one will want to see your story idea.

I'm constantly adding story ideas to my notes to save for later, idk bout you, but I WILL forget the idea if I dont write it down immediatley (built worse), and if you have a mental image of it make sure to add very vague stage direction to supplement it, dont get too detailed tho, youll be changing alot. if youre anything like me -pepaw brained- try to keep in the habit of that. some storyboarding tips for staging tips and reference (X)

from there, I'll take a key moment -money shot or emotional moment- of the story, and base the rest of the comic around that image -> how I tackle formatting and making a comic (X).

the best way to learn is by doing, and failing and learning from that. so dont sike yourself out when you get there and it doesnt turn out as expected, it might be something so much better, thats the fun of it (:

I hope this helped, sorry im a yapper!

[nero-draco]

Oshi no Ko ending

No magical macguffin ending so its nice Aka didn't pick easy option. I think this ending did well because it goes back to being what an idol means. To shine and gives hope to its fans, even with love called lies. That said the resolution feels a bit rushed since it just several wordless pages showing other characters conclusion.

Anyway if OnK ED1 tells the foreshadow Aqua's conclusion with him drowning, then OnK ED2 foreshadow Ruby's ending with her running and moving forward despite her sadness.

At the end of day Sarina/Ruby finally achieved her dream of being star idol like Ai. On the grim reality side its Aqua's death causing more sensation to Ruby to boost her career, and on the light dreamful side its Ruby's perseverance to keep going on despite the tragedy that inspires people to love and admire her. And she did by copying her mom ability to tell lies to herself.

All in all its Ruby basically succeeding where Ai fails at.

Lets think about.

What Gorou's regret? His regret unable save Sarina and let her becomes an idol.

What Sarina and Ruby's dream? To become an idol like Ai.

What Aqua's desire in the first volume? To avenge Ai and kill her murderer, Kamiki.

All that achieved one way or another. So in a sense Aka didn't lie when he said the ending is exactly what he envisioned from the beginning.

The reason why Ai falls is because Kamiki killed her. His obsession is the biggest and final obstacle to this series. Ai, the manager, Miyako, Ruby and Aqua's dream falls is because of Kamiki. The moment Aqua removed him, their dreams becomes true through Ruby, even if takes Aqua to sacrifice himself.

Now you ask does Aqua have to die? Well think about it:

How can Aqua achieve what he set to do if he survives? Ask Akane's help to create a perfect crime? Ignoring that also dirties Akane's hand in murder and ignoring the impact on her psychology onward, its also assuming that Akane can truly create a perfect crime, something that Kamiki who is just as intelligent proven to be false as his perfect crime on Ai got busted years later.

Hell I'd argue we should've seen the ending coming the very first moment Aqua said he wants to kill Ai's murderer, cause how he is gonna do so without dragging Ruby's future as an idol? I imagine this was his plan from the get go or at least after he convinced that Ruby is really serious becoming an idol.

So Aqua chooses to commit double suicide with Kamiki, but the different with Akane's attempt at suicide is that Akane did it out of despair and her doing so saves no one, while Aqua did it to save Ruby, in other words Aqua martyred himself.

Honestly my biggest gripe is that Ruby and others went from despair to having hope again in span of two chapters, and it was depicted wordless with just pictures. Its not particularly satisfying and usually Oshi no Ko will have introspective dialogue of how modern society works. The last chapters missing all that so it just feels rushed.

Also in the end the crow girl are just plot device for the reincarnation stuff and there's no explanation about them. Though someone mentioned about special chapter so if its true maybe it'll be there it gets revealed.

All in all not too bad, its a sad ending but its ties the theme well so I accept it.

[thefirstknife]

So what do u think will happen to Eramis, in the end? I don't imagine we'll be seeing her again before TFS, so she'll probably be part of a season/story afterward but I doubt she'll be part of the TFS release season

Personally I think she won't end up quite on our side, but she won't stay with the Witness much longer, especially considering we'll likely destroy it during TFS. Reluctant allies maybe, or sort of half-redeemed villain where she never really changes as a person, but her priorities change & it leads to her having to work with us

No idea when we might get an update on Eramis, but yeah, I'm pretty sure that she will at the very least just go her own way. She's already pretty much not serving the Witness anymore, not after saving Mithrax's life in Defiance. The fact that the Witness started turning her friends into Scorn is what truly broke her. We have no clue where she is right now and I have no clue if she could fit into the remaining season before TFS, so it's certainly possible we'll see more of her in Episodes later instead of before and during TFS.

I'd personally like if she just took a ship, said "adios" and left to go find her wife and children, wherever they are. Though I'm not sure if the Witness would've allowed it, out of spite. If not that, I hope she will show up to our door at some point (or at least to Mithrax) and finally come to our side for help.

For the other stuff, I also think that with the Witness' inevitable defeat (?), its armies and servants will eventually fall apart one way or the other. Some may still have bones to pick with us, but a lot of what the Witness has are just hollow husks: Taken, Scorn, Tormentors, Subjugators... Even the Shadow Legion are mostly clones. It'll be interesting to see how that's handled once they no longer have a master or if someone else will simply take over.

I'm really interested in the Scorn however, mostly because of the second Episode that was teased. It's called "Revenant" and shows Fikrul as the background image. Once the Witness is defeated, the Scorn will fall to Fikrul's command again. We have no clue where he is right now and what he is doing or even what side he would be on. The Witness basically stole all of his people so I'm not sure if he's just happily sitting on the sides or hiding and seething somewhere.

[natasha-in-space]

Hey im the matsuda enjoyer anon who pointed out that he and yoosung are basically the same guy.

I cant help but imagine......what if they met, i mean in the age of social media its not impossible. While I dont think matsuda was a gamer but he was very much into pop culture and so is yoosung.

What if they both unite over their love for a certain kpop group (in my head its Girls Generation) and become internet friends

I can imagine after the good ending yoosung prolly might go to japan a couple of times for work related stuff or just to enjoy with MC (and drag seven with him as well)

What if the now mid-late 20s yoosung (who is a vet) meets the now early 40s matsuda (who is still a cop but is confined to desk jobs cuz the task force was tired of his shenanigans). What if they decide to share a drink and eventually have a long conversation. What if they start their talks by talking about their shared interest and eventually ending up venting after realising that they had been through a similar journey (being infantilised by their friend groups grief low self esteem yet keeping an optimistic outlook in life) and perhaps share advices to each other whilst being drunk which struck a chord in each other's heart.

I can see matsuda being an older man advising yoosung but i could also see yoosung (who has accomplished a lot in a short time despite his own struggles with loss grief and of course the eye injury) advicing matsuda. Both of them reassuring each other that it will get better (bye im crying)

Good to see you back Matsuda anon! I must say, this ask made me grin so wide as I was reading it. I adore it when people make two of their faves meet and become friends. It's such a sweet notion, both as a way of expressing your shared love for these characters, as well as a neat basis for new interesting analysis. (It's my own guilty pleasure as well, hehe)

Meeting someone who understands what it's like to struggle with grief, conflicting feelings about someone who was once very important to them, and the frustration of never being taken seriously due to their young age would benefit them both greatly. While they both must have overcome the last problem by that point, discussing it with someone who understands can still be very cathartic.

Having a good friend who can make Yoosung feel comfortable and understood is something he deserves. It's also heartwarming to think of Matsuda becoming a new kind of role model for Yoosung! Not on the same level as it was with Rika, but just as a figure of strength and motivation for him, when things are tough. Having friends who are older than you can be a very beneficial experience as you are moving through life!

And as for Matsuda... It'll definitely do him some good to have someone with whom he can openly discuss what he had to go through. Sure, he has a few people like that, but none that can actually fully relate on a deeper level. I also think he'd be super impressed by Yoosung. By all that he managed to overcome and achieve in his (relatively) young age. His determination to better himself and to protect his loved ones, him finding (or rather resurrecting) his passion for his own path in life, and him resolving what conflicting feelings he still held for Rika... It's so much, and it's-

It's inspiring.

I know I said that Matsuda can become a new role model for Yoosung, but it goes the other way around as well! Having these talks with the younger vet can greatly motivate Matsuda to work on himself further and pursue what he truly wants. It's never too late to restore your happiness. It's rather sweet to think about, actually. Two people who share similar painful experiences planting fresh seeds of hope into one another that everything is going to be okay. As you put it: it will get better.

On a lighter note, the thought of them being fans of the same girl groups makes me giggle. (Them going to a Girls Generation concern??? More likely than you'd think! Although Saeyoung will definitely tag along and create some mischief) I feel like they both are still struggling with openly expressing their likes and interests, as they got teased for that in the past, so it'll be very beneficial to them to have a safe space to chatter excitedly about this or that, without fear of being judged. Being passionate about something is not a bad thing, and should be celebrated! On that note, they will definitely send each other exclusive merch and buy each other tickets for events. There are some benefits to having a friend in a different country!

Overall, it's nice to think of these two being good buddies. It's what they deserve. And I love reading your thoughts on them! :)

[doodle17]

New Psychonauts oc just dropped fam

I'm about to show yalls the most f*cked up guy I've ever created

"Ah, Mr. Aquato. I'm glad you could make it. I've been waiting for a chance to Break Your Mind."

SO this is Tony Bridger 😬👍 that one absolutely irredeemable scumbag OC I've vaguely talked about. I guess I should get into his morals 'n backstory and yadda yadda yadda yadda

Basically, his Father created a machine that could send brainwaves or something like that, to control people. It was his life's work. Of course this was no good, so the Psychonauts were sent in to stop him. It was Sasha Nein himself in fact, who destroyed the machine. They never caught Mr. Bridger, as he took the young Tony and they went off the grid.

After his greatest invention was destroyed, the blueprints and notes all gone, Mr. Bridger went insane. It broke him, and he fell into madness. Tony tried his best to help the broken shambles of a man he knew as his father, but the poor kid was to young to be able to do anything.

Eventually, Mr. Bridger killed himself accidentally. He had stumbled onto some train tracks, got knocked out, and then a train came and ran over his unconscious body. The only family Tony had, which was already broken, was now gone. As if the insanity was infectious, Tony's mind seemed to break as well.

Its was those Psychonauts fault! It was that Agents fault! If they hadn't intervened, he'd still have a father. He didn't care if he took over the world, burned it to the ground. The only man he had to take care of him was gone, and it was all their fault.

So Tony's next plan, was to take action on how to help himself cope. In the worst. Way. Imaginable.

Since the age 14 he's been perfecting this twisted method. He somehow manged how to astrally project someone without a Psy-portal or a Brain Tumbler, and pull them into his mind. This is where the fun stuff starts

As if he's been working on it months, he's able to dig around your subconscious, find people you love, hate, respect, it doesn't matter, and twist and deform them into monsters to torment and torture you. He can create mental constructs in a matter of seconds somehow, with puzzles and monster so insane and so vile, any person who he drags into his mind...

Goes Mad.

When he was 20, he was discovered practicing this disgusting and ominous way of torment, and was thrown into one of the biggest prisons/insane asylum for Psychics ever. That thing, around his neck, is basically a psy-lock, but more powerful, and it gives you the nastiest shock anytime you try to use your powers.

He's not very worried about his position, however. In fact, he's actually quite happy he was thrown in there. Why, you may ask? Because this means he closer to the top agents. The ones who ruined his life in the first place.

Sasha, Milla, Coach, Lili and Raz have to go and try to find a way removed Tony's Brain from his body to be sedated, without having anything bad go wrong, but of course, bad things do, in fact, go wrong.

Because how do you get revenge on the very Agent who broke the one you cared most about?

By breaking one of the people they care about most as well, of course!

Oh yeah, the angst is strong with this one *rubs hands together deviously*

Yeah, I wanna try and make a fic or somthing with this guy soon. It'll be fun! Angsty, graphic, depressing and violent fun~

Sorry for the long post btw I've just been thinking about this guy's backstory a lot. Trying to make him sound evil, but with an actual reason to be

[stargazeraldroth]

Okay so this MIGHT be weird but I had an idea for a very different version of Underverse that I wanted to share with someone??? I’m never gonna do anything with it (if you end up liking anything from this, as a prompt or idea or story or anything like that, feel free to take it!), but it’s one of those things I gotta get out, you know??? Hope this isn’t a bother!!!

Anyways, basic idea involves borderline platonic yandere Blue and Dream for Ink (because I’m a sucker for it, blame the prompt on AO3 that mentioned the idea), so for his “own good,” they’re the ones who ended up working with XGaster (I’m not sure how they’d meet him- maybe they went to help him that first time instead of Ink, because he was busy or something?) to cause the X-Event. I imagine that their whole reasoning would be them hoping XGaster being a creator in his own right would give them a way to get Ink out from under the thumb of the ones Ink normally has to deal with- Maybe they think there’s a chance the Overwrite button can do something? Or hell, maybe the reason is as simple as wanting to give Ink a soul and believing XGaster has the means to help them. I’m not actually sure!

Just. I don’t know? The idea of Underverse turning into one giant festival of suffering for Ink, as he gets hit with one betrayal after another from people he thought he could trust (Cross, Dream, and Blue). Then Error destroys the Multiverse, and everything just… Keeps falling apart from there.

Again, hope this isn’t weird or a bother- But I’d be interested in hearing what you think of an idea like this, or seeing where you’d take it, or anything like that. Either way, take care, and thank you for reading!!!

Anon, the only thing that's a bother right now is the fact my parents never told me they made another pot of coffee, so there's about half a pot going to waste. With that being said, I'm sorry if this is poorly written because I'm like. Running solely off caffeine from like 4-5 cups of coffee and stress from schoolwork. I was gonna wait to answer this until tomorrow morning, but then I remembered that I'm done work for the day and I have nothing else to do until I randomly go to sleep at like midnight, so.

I feel like I've said this a hundred times before, but even if I have, I'll say it again: I have a thing for platonic yanderes. I don't know what it is about them, but for some reason, I just love them. That goes for yandere characters in general, but that's not the point.

I'm gonna take this one at a time, hopefully it'll help me keep myself organized and I can actually form a coherent idea for once.

I find the idea of Dream and Blue meeting X-Gaster in Ink's place very interesting!! I'm a bit of a stickler for the idea that Ink would never endanger the AUs for whatever reason, no idea if that's canon or all, so this actually works in my favor. I haven't watched Underverse's early episodes in forever (don't think I ever even watched the X-Tale series, oop-), so my memory of why Ink made the deal with X might be a bit muddled.

Anyway, I think it's very believable that those two would want to take some of the workload off Ink's shoulders. They're supposed to be a team, let them help! Ink's a bit reluctant, not just anyone can do these kinds of jobs, but they're so eager to help... oh, alright, fine, you can take the job- but if anything happens, they need to inform him right away! They're absolutely going to do that, no doubt about it, 100%. (They have no intention on doing that)

Anyway, I think their intentions would start out genuine. They really just want to help Ink! They see how overworked he is and he's just one person, it's not right to make him shoulder all this responsibility. The two are wary of Creators due to some unfavorable members (if they found out 1/4 of the stuff I do to Ink for the sake of an AU, they'd have a bounty on my head), so they're not about to let Ink go and meet with one face-to-face. (Again, I have not been refreshed on Underverse lore, so if there's inconsistency I'm. So sorry) He seems to have good intentions, but they're still wary of him.

Actually, here's a potentially interesting idea: Dream and Blue don't start developing into yanderes until after meeting X. Something I usually go with is X-Gaster having his own kind of fixation on Ink, though not necessarily in a romantic or even platonic sense. He admires Ink's power and role, and the two pick up on that- especially Dream. And neither of them like it.

With that being said, I think it's inevitable that Ink would meet X himself at some point. Dream and Blue keep pushing it off, telling him they can handle it, but at some point he puts his foot down and goes to meet X. I think it'd be too complicated to have him not meet him, or maybe this will come back to bite me in the ass, I don't know!

But I'm glad you mentioned that they could be the ones who cause the X-Event, Anon. Using my stickler thing from before, Dream and Blue wouldn't have the same innate sense to weigh the pros and cons for the other AUs, or the AU itself. Sure, they have their moral compasses, but power corrupts people. Power leads to greed, as does greed lead to a hunger for power. And X can be very persuasive when he wants to be, I'm sure. I don't doubt that he would use their fondness for Ink to his advantage (hope I wrote that right), telling them that he can do so many things in return for their help: he can experiment and create Ink a soul of his own, and then he won't need those pesky Creators anymore.

(Or, maybe even better, X-Gaster dangles the possibility of "freeing" Ink from his duties as the Protector. He hints at the possibility of using the OVERWRITE to change Ink's Code, removing his connection to the Creators. All such tempting ideas... they only want what's best for their friend, don't they? Would they really pass up such an opportunity? So many possibilities to play with!)

I think this whole idea can lead to an interesting but painful story of Dream and Blue's obsessive behavior worsening, escalating to the point of becoming full-fledged yanderes. They can't let Ink know the truth about what happened with X-Tale! If he found out they've been keeping things from him... that they had a hand in what happened and what's now happening... oh... oh, he would hate them, wouldn't he? He'd want to stop being their friend! He- he'd leave the Star Sanses and he wouldn't work with them anymore! They can't have that! They can't live with that! They... they won't let him leave them like this!

This could lead to SO MUCH ANGST MATERIAL. Like- imagine the kind of stuff that would go down between Dream and Nightmare! Nightmare can sense so much guilt and shame from Dream, which is so... intriguing! And Cross would probably know about his involvement, considering X-Chara, and Nightmare would eat. That. UP! Dream, Mr. Hugs-&-Smiles himself, being linked to an entire world's devastation? Well, it wouldn't be the first time... (Apple Incident references go BRRRRR-)

From Ink's perspective, the story's probably escalating into a horror story tbh. Like you said Anon, he's getting one hit after the other: an AU was destroyed during the Truce, one betrayal after another, finding out about X-Gaster's madness, Dream and Blue going from liars/backstabbers (or whatever term you wanna use for them) to obsessed yanderes that would do anything to keep him to themselves, Error destroying the AUs... I haven't even talked about Error yet!

For once, I feel there isn't much to say about Error. I was going to say something about him being a yandere, too, but I felt like it took away from Dream and Blue being platonic yanderes. He would either be relishing in Ink's downfall or he'd be like "Damn, that sucks".

Ah, and now I raise another proposal: X-Gaster betrays Dream and Blue. This might be a given, but hear me out! X sticks to his proposal of using the OVERWRITE on Ink, but instead of cutting his connection to the Creators or giving him a soul (or whatever else he filled their heads with), he turns Ink into a relatively mindless weapon at his disposal. This would basically be the equivalent of Ink being blank in Underverse, but he's extra ruthless because X is the one in control.

I'll just let y'all soak with that idea at the end.

(Quick addition: Imagine a kidnapping scene. Let that cook.)

Looking at the post, I think I got everything I wanted to. Again, sorry if this is poorly written or not very cohesive. It's very late for me and I'm very tired, but I know I'm not going to sleep for another hour or so lol. I might revisit this idea tomorrow or something, see if I have any new ideas, but I think this is it for now.

Thank you, Anon, for your ask!! This was fun!!

[butmakeitgayblog]

We’re you always the queen of writing smut or did it take a lot of practice?

I can’t write it. I’m terrible at it. It all feels too fake and porny when I’m writing it. But reading yours is like… damn, so good chefs kiss gimme more

Any tips? Guidance, sensei?

Akshdljkf oh oof baby. First of all, thank you for having that kind of faith in me or at the very least thinking any thing of the sort about my writing🥴 I have to graciously say that I don't think I am in any way a queen of anything, much less smut, much less for this fandom. I think that crown is securely shared by a few other far more talented writers than me who time and again knock it out of the park. I am but a humble reader and fan of theirs as much as anyone. But still, I appreciate the kind message and the thought behind it, I honestly do.

That being said, eh I mean 🤷‍♀️. I'm no expert, I had never written fiction of any kind before CoA, my first fic. I've kinda just tried my best and winged it and written what I like to read and what I see in my head. As silly as it sounds considering we're talking about smut, I think reading a lot of the kind of work you're trying to write helps. Different stories from different authors who you know are good at the genre you want for your own work. Seeing the different methods they use to go about tackling sce es, integrating styles and things you like and changing things don't like until you find what inspires you. Evaluating scenes from works you like and seeing what you find hot and what doesn't, what flows and gives feelings and what feels like it dosen't, all things to help you create your own style. I read A Lot of smutty fanfic before ever dipping my toe into the writers pool, so when I did take the jump it was after having seen a multitude of different stuff and just internalizing the stuff that was enjoyable for me and then using those tools to create my own voice.

Idk what to say to make you feel better about your own work because obvs idk what it is, but I can say don't always trust your own evaluation or reaction of your work. You've read it a million times so it'll always feel flat and predictable, but to someone else it's new so they're not gonna read it the same way you do. If it still feels stilted, take a step back. Question yourself on what is happening that's making it feel that way. Are there any emotions going on? What are the characters thinking and feeling? Are you focusing too hard on mechanics? You don't want sex to read like an IKEA instruction manual lol so maybe what you have to do is reroute yourself to get away from that. Try and write a sex scene without any technical sex jargon. Try and do it through some prose and verbiage of sensuality, using indirect imagery that lets the reader create the rest of the picture in their own mind.

So for example instead of just "Clarke nipped and sucked Lexa's nipples until they were hard", it becomes "each scrape of Clarke's teeth over the bud of Lexa's breast drew out a sinful moan, feeling her writhe against her mouth as she soothed the ache with a wet suck of her lips. She lapped at the pebbled skin, nipples pulling taut beneath her tongue as she licked circles—" yada yada yada, whatever. But see what I mean? You're basically saying the exact same thing in each case, but the first one just flatly says what they're doing, the other is speaking in actions which paints a picture for the reader to fill in in their head. That's the only even sort-of advice I can give on that. Smut is something people don't wanna just read, they wanna imagine it (no matter how much they may try to lie about that😐) and having a scene that they can immerse themselves in and mental create a picture tends to be what works. In my most humble of opinions at least.

[alexissara]

An Avoidably Dark Future For TTRPGs

TTRPGs are the coolest medium of art, no other medium does as well as TTRPGs in teaching people to tell stories and facilitating imaginative play than TTRPGs. The reality is most TTRPGs that are designed are played by a small group of the designers friends almost exclusively. That most TTRPGs cost more money to make especially if you factor in the labor put into them than they will ever make back. So there is a temptation for some creators now to simply skip a few steps of work and let a machine plagiarize for you either art or writing in a book.

Luckily this is pretty much something that will die thanks to social ostracization, no one is gonna wanna work with you or be your friend if your putting out AI created work but it still looms and there is a window for the art form to be infected.

Here is a scenario that could happen if we don't actively fight back. Wizards of the coast lays off a bunch of writers. These writers are replaced with an Ai editor. The fans get mad BUT after a week of saying this is bad, they just go back to supporting Wizards like always. Wizards buys AI data from Google who starts using AI on everyone's private google docs sorting out TTRPG work and basically just steals private campaigns and TTRPG work and puts it into their books, it's surprisingly okay to good because it's almost word for word someone else's work they "legally bought".

That normalizes it and Pazio, Magpie and Green Ronin follow their lead doing the same, the outrage exists but not enough to stop people from spending money. This further normalizes it and while it never takes root in the indie space it becomes unavoidable in it as it floods Itch.io and other places and the leftists and artists complain about it are simply ignored as not being with the times or actively mocked by the subset of people who feel insecure otherwise for supporting stuff.

This is all avoidable though, we simply need to be very active on fighting back against these big companies if they do make moves to start normalizing AI and obviously any player we can convert into play indie TTRPGs will be one less player who will feel like they need to support a company after they do something shitty. It'll be work for sure and hopefully work we don't need to do but we should remain vigilant. I know there will be the urge to dunk if it does happen but not actively hit them productively and consistently so we need to be ready to pin point strike any big company trying to shit out adventures, art, settings, games or whatever else.

If you like this kind of writing you can always support me over on Patreon and Ko-fi it helps me make great queer art for a living that doesn't use AI or anything else.

[gaylightisminetocommand]

1) did you actually try beepbox? not mad if you didn't just curious ngl <- beepbox is link i put bc it's a website and easiest thing i've found while still having some variety (if you want someone who makes great music with a mod of beepbox, vivivivivi on yt makes great music. esp dead but dreaming it's a great album). soundtrap is very ez gg in my opinion. and chrome music maker is a thing (i don't understand how someone'd be partial to it over beepbox but maybe it'll help idk)

2) does the toa in your bio stand for tower of anger or am i just too jtoh brained. if it does i'm curious how toa deserves better in any way shape or form it's so mid

omg i didn't actually expect anyone to respond to that sjdfhdsf

So, I did try beepbox, I'm just not sure how to make anything other than just loops? Might do a bit more research tho because it was easy enough to use. I've downloaded Cakewalk and Waveform but just can't work out how to use them and unfortunately I am a stubborn little shit with no attention span so video tutorials don't really help... however I am going to try and find some short tutorials and make myself watch them cause I'm sure it'll be worth it. My bitterness wasn't aimed at you/the post btw!!! Just my shitty attention span. It actually made me try some stuff instead of just sitting there going 'man I wish i could make music' so thanks for the push!

And second, ToA stands for Tales of Arcadia here, I've never heard of Tower of Anger skdfhsdf sorry. Basically the finale of Tales of Arcadia was like the worst thing you can imagine: character assassinations, retcons, the most confused plot ever, and a time travel fix ending that retconned five years' worth of character development :')

[g-kat423]

That's a lot, I wish I could take half of all that so it'll be a little easier for you, I cannot imagine feeling pain all the time while also having other problems like looking for a job that provides safe environment, having to rely on people and then dealing with a Mom that's a narcissist, I'd be burnt out just by thinking about all of that stuff...

You're so tough, I wish things get better soon, I'll gladly be here and lend an ear! I really do wish I could do more. Also, I'm happy that you're also taking care of yourself, sleeping on time and all that? That's very good, it does help the mood! I speak from experience, also, I am sorry, my english is not that good, but I am learning bigger words with the help of online searching!

I really appreciate it! It kind of is what it is at this point. And my mom’s mood swings are so frequent that right after the incident she was acting super sweet to me and taking interest in what I was doing and asking for tv show recommendations. She’s incredibly hard to read lol. I’m mostly doing okay my neck is really stiff and it’s causing a lot of pain down my arm, but I took pain pills and im going to go for a walk since it’s nice out. The one good thing is my hip issue was fixed so I can at least walk without pain now. I’m hoping that eventually the same will happen for my neck and I can mostly be pain free. Also, your English is really good! I wouldn’t have known it wasn’t your first language unless you mentioned it. I envy people who can speak more than one language. In the US they don’t really prioritize it in schools. In the public school system, at least the district I was in, we didn’t start foreign languages until 7th grade which is pretty late considering children tend to learn faster when they’re younger. Then they only require it for 2 years so anything beyond 7th and 8th grade is a choice. I took Spanish and then was in honors Spanish, but it’s been so long that I hardly remember the basics. Even then the way they teach it is very formal so I doubt I’d be able to ever carry on a conversation. Wow, I’m rambling haha. Anyway, thank you for checking in, it means a lot to know someone cares.