#2024 will be even more challenging

[eldrtchmn]

...3, 2, 1 personal rant incoming

(it's depressing I'm sorry)

[yasminhananis]

little beast, richard siken + the social network (2010) dir david fincher // challengers (2024) dir luca guadagnino // saltburn (2023) dir emerald fennell

[cozylittleartblog]

bug doodles so i can say i drew something

[mintghostko]

Frida Big Mama's Assistant!

I kinda wonder how she of all people ended up working for Big Mama... I guess it could just be a coincidence but... well, we all know how Big Mama is... and spiderwebs can be so very tricky to escape once you've been snared

original Rise August prompt list by @sariphantom :)

[0m3n-0f-d3ath]

Sun and Moon lesbians again for I am ill

[dkettchen]

[blue-eli]

Ink October day 3: Sophistry

An argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading, especially one devised deliberately to be so.

[timetodiverge]

WolfWren Week: Fic Recs for Day One!

We now have 600 WolfWren fics on Ao3- woo! For this year's WolfWren Week, I've pulled some fic recs from my bookmarks for each day. Let's celebrate all the amazing writers and wonderful fics we have in our community <3

Day One: The Moon

“Are you following me?”/I Can Make Her Worse/Fighting as Flirting/Touch Starved/Eye Contact/Vampire AU/Sparring/Hatefuck

Just A Bit Of Fun (one-shot/E) by @femmefighter More Than A Mandalorian, More Than A Jedi (one-shot/T) by @kalevalakryze put some teeth in you (one-shot/E) by @hero-of-the-horn slowly stops the ache (one-shot/E) stuck in the middle with you (one-shot/E) by @lothcatthree the wolf and the songbird (one-shot/E) Your Touch (multi-chapter/ongoing/E) by @mird

Let's show our writers some love- read/kudos/comment/follow on tumblr~~

@wolfwrenweek

[orquideazs]

ok i really REALLY need patrick zweig inside of me rn like i really do

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Vocalization

Vocalization is a interesting thing. Is it communication, or voice stim, or making voice just because?

I make a lot of noise. And I know that's a form of stimming for me. But also it provides a sense of euphoria in the ways that I'm free to express myself via making creature noise. I'm not sure how my nonhuman type that doesn't do speech would sound like. I make a lot of chirp, coos, screech, rwers. Partner call them birb noise, especially my chirps. We are pretty much in agreement that I'm a bird sort of dragon.

But I want to indulge in fox sound too, I suppose. The kitsune paratype has me perking up when there's fox video. Fox screaming at each other or that laughing fox. Parnter say my fox is like the Finnegan Fox, or just my general demeaner. I get like a excited puppy, or fox kit, I suppose.

Dragon noise is a funky one. I know the sound that Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon makes this low, purry cooing sound, and I find that one in specific to be something I should be able to do. Almost like a cat's purr. I vehemanly denies any sort of feline within my draconity though. Probably just a case of disliking the "meta" where dragons and cats are put in equivalent a lot. Beyond that, I don't think I make much sort of roar sound. Maybe growl or snarl.

The human voice box has its limitation to immitate the nonhuman sound. I do got my cooing purr down pat though. If you'd get to be in vc with me, I tend to speak in noises more than I do words. It's just easier. Probably a combination of ndness and nonhumanness.

The way I do it is

mouth in the shape as if I'm about to blow bubble

tongue close to the roof, but enough so air can pass through

push the air out. Not just breathing, but do it as if you are doing a vocal practice, and push the air out

adjust the tongue to roof distance as needed until you find the sweet spot that makes the air in your mouth vibrate

then add sound

I sort of learned that when I was a high school freshman. Someone amongst the classmate taught it to us, but only I picke it up fast and master it quicker. Could be my choir experience, could be the creature in me. I'd like to think that it's a combination.

The chirps and screech are just your regular throat really close, mouth open, tongue press up to close the throat, and do the same pushing air motion. Is it a motion if you aren't moving?

There are some cool vocalization that I'd heard folks do. My favorite one is probably Rani (@a-dragons-journal)'s. Still no idea how dre does it, that wobble wobble in the back of the throat sound. I couldn't immitate it.

Perhaps we as a community can collect everyone's voice technique and put together a tutorial. Even better yet, a video to present at a con panel.

[theladysherlock]

Dalek Week 2024: Day 6

Lights! Cameras! Action!

Deryn dug through the files on the desk, ignoring the bubbling liquids next to her. One folder was bright red-- a sure sign of something important, if she'd ever seen one-- so she pulled it out and started flipping through the pages.

Suddenly, she heard the slow, steady taps of a walking stick on the floor. "Well well well," a deep voice called out from behind her. "You're more clever than I gave you credit for."

Deryn whirled around. "Doctor Hargrove?! You're the one behind all of this?"

A familiar man in a labcoat stood there, his safety goggles pushed up to his hairline. One hand held a large walking stick, the other he held out towards her. "Hand me the papers, boy, and forget you saw anything."

"I can't just forget! You're poisoning thousands of people!" Deryn shook the paper at him. "This data proves it!"

"You have no idea what you're dealing with." The man in the labcoat grinned cruelly. "You see, I've... made..." he frowned, then rolled his eyes. "Line?"

There was a loud groan. "CUT!"

The film crew sprung to life behind the cameras. Deryn took two steps back as the technicians reset the scene, adjusting the props back to their original place.

"Artie, you're killing me!" The director shouted. "We've had ages to prep for this and you still don't know your damn lines? Sharp knows his lines, and he's only been here a week!"

Arthur Bailey, the actor working opposite Deryn, threw his hands in the air in disgust. "They're all so similar! I give three different evil speeches in this movie-"

"Well get it together! I don't pay you to waste my time!"

"You barely pay me at all," Bailey said.

The director rolled his eyes. "Right. Twenty minute break for everyone but Artie, you're running lines till you're blue in the face." He clapped his hands twice. "Get a move on! We don't have all day, people!"

Deryn scampered off set. Twenty minutes would be enough time to regroup with Alek and see if he'd found anything.

Two weeks ago, the Americans had found evidence of a spy somewhere on set. A bag had been discovered by the stage doors, containing buckets of money and directions written in German, telling someone to stay the course and await further instructions.

So, for the past week, Deryn and Alek had been undercover on the set of The Madman's Revenge trying to identify the secret agent, though so far she'd been more successful in front of a camera than while skulking.

It wasn't so difficult, acting. It felt a lot like the early days of figuring out how to be Dylan, but in short, quick bursts. She still had to figure out how to walk and how to hold herself, but she didn't have to figure out the right thing to say. It was all written down for her ahead of time, and Deryn Sharp was more than capable of memorizing a few words. Besides, the character they wanted her to be wasn't so different from who she actually was. She just had to be... bigger. Enough that the camera could pick up what she was doing.

The stage makeup was pure dead annoying though. She'd never worn any regular makeup when she was stuffed into skirts, but this had to be worse. She felt like a circus clown, the way her features had to be exaggerated to a ridiculous degree to have any hope of being caught by the cameras. And on top of it all, it made her face itch like mad.

Alek was waiting for her in her Dressing Room, sitting comfortably with Bovril sprawled across his lap. He was still too famous here in America to spontaneously take up acting, but no one would question him as a producer. Just a rich, spoiled aristocrat throwing fistfuls money at his newest hobby and poking his nose in where it didn't belong.

"Done for the day?" he asked hopefully.

She shook her head. "Just twenty minutes," she said.

"Ah." His face fell a little, likely as disappointed as she was that she'd be here for another several hours.

Best not to dwell on that idea or she'd make herself angry. "Did you find anything in his dressing room?" Deryn asked.

"No, nothing out of the ordinary," Alek said, picking up Bovril and setting it on the arm of the couch. "Several empty bottles of brandy, but nothing suspicious."

"Aye, Bailey is drunk on set more often than not." Deryn flipped through her script. "If we keep having to do reshoots around his bumbling, I won't be able to snoop."

"Snoop!" Bovril cried, then burst into a fit of giggles.

"Leave that to me," Alek said, absently scratching the loris behind the ears. "The crew is used to seeing me wander around by now."

"Any of them acting suspicious?" She asked.

"Not particularly. Although there are a few backstage romances that they don't know I know about."

Bovril giggled again. "Surreptitious," it said. "Forget you saw anything."

Deryn plopped down on the couch next to Alek, trying not to scratch at her face. "You always seem to run into those."

Alek rolled his eyes. "It's annoying. You'd think one of these days I'd stumble on something actually relevant."

"You never know, it might be useful eventually. Who haven't we gotten to yet?" She asked, handing Alek her script with notes on her castmates. He simultaneously handed her his own notebook so she could look through his observations.

"I haven't been able to speak to Ms. Rennoll," Alek said thoughtfully. "Although I don't think she likes me very much."

Miss Clara Rennoll played the leading lady in the film and had a habit of getting screechy whenever a scene didn't quite go her way. The entire crew was petrified of her and her temper, which meant she had ample opportunity to sneak about without being questioned. Though, if she spoke any German, she had yet to show it.

"Ms. Rennoll doesn't like anyone," Deryn said.

Alek nodded. "I'm sure you'll be able to charm her well enough," he said.

She sighed and ran a frustrated hand through her hair. After a week of poking around in between scenes, they were running out of possibilities and time. Everyone had access to the drop point. They still didn't even know what information had been passed along, though it must have been relevant to warrant that much money in payment.

"You know," Alek said, leafing through her script. "I always pictured you in something like this."

Deryn blinked, confused. "What?"

He winced and Deryn immediately recognized the face of a man who regretted making a promise not to keep any secrets, even the embarrassing ones. She'd made it enough times herself.

"I won't laugh," she said. "I swear."

His cheeks flushed, just a little. "Even when I first watched adventure movies like this, I always pictured you as the heroine," he said.

Deryn stifled a grin. "And you as the hero, then?"

"Well..." He cleared his throat. "Not at first, anyway."

"And you've seen how many, now?"

"Um. Lots."

An overwhelming wave of affection swept over Deryn and she couldn't hold back a chuckle. "Blisters, Alek, you're adorable." She cupped Alek's face with her hands and kissed him.

He made a small, surprised noise as she pulled him close, but he recovered quickly as his hands found their familiar place on her waist.

A loud knock at the door startled them away from each other.

"Places in Five!" The Assistant Director called out. Blessedly, he didn't come inside. She heard him knock on the dressing room door next to her own-- the man must just be going down the line.

Deryn swore extravagantly. Alek's face was smeared with red, which could only mean that her stage makeup was pure dead ruined.

Bovril started chittering like the flechette bats, before saying "good heavens!" in Dr. Barlow's unmistakable cadence. Brilliant. Even the beastie knew she was done for.

Despite the obvious look of horror in her eyes, her prince was undeterred. "We can fix this," Alek said, and began digging through her kit. He pulled out the bottle of foundation and, after a quick examination, popped the lid off. "I've watched the makeup team, I'm sure I can figure it out."

Her jaw dropped. "In less than five minutes? Are you completely barking daft?!"

"Stop talking. You're moving too much." He smudged some makeup on her face with his fingers, covering up the space around her chin and mouth with another layer of gunk.

Deryn screwed her mouth and eyes shut, trying not to flinch away from him as he worked.

Finally, Alek took a step back to assess his work and winced. "It's not great, but I don't think anyone will notice. Just as long as they don't look too closely."

"Better than nothing," she said, already trying to think of cover stories. "Thanks, love, you're brilliant."

"Break a leg!" Alek said, and gave her one last quick kiss on the head before she tore off for the set.

[dimpletheheck]

Meet the artist 2024

I made my first one of these in 2021, and I've made one every year since!

((Btw the SDV stands for Stardew Valley, I couldn't fit it all in the square lmao))

[pennecpox]

Goretober part 2!

Day 11 - The Lord's failure of a nephew, ft. corporal punishment

Day 13 - Daniel going through his hallucinations

Day 14 - Nylia going at Messmer's mommy issues while impaled

[ferahntics]

Throwing a summary together \o/

Not to get sappy but honestly, I'm very grateful for the Kirby franchise and the community, I was really struggling with art block for a long while before joining 🙏💕

Even though I've had my ups and downs when I drew like nuts and then go radio-silent, I still think 2023 was a really productive year for me ;v; 💖 Here's to more in 2024~

Template is here!

[shannonsketches]

I'm just ranting about DBS' anime under the cut again don't mind me I'm having a Time

I was so confused about why Goku Black/Zamas is such a popular skin in Fortnite and then I learned that Toei once again missed the whole point of that arc. Both of them. One is Vegeta being inescapably confronted with how loved he is and how much he loves his family, which we knew Toei was never going to allow, but my god, Zamas??

The point of Zamas is that he's a wildly privileged chronically online 4chan fascist deciding an entire way of life which he does not participate in, has a surface-level understanding of, and is not personally affected by, is morally disgusting. Like, that's it that's his whole character. He's a young god with every possible comfort deciding that anything that is not like him is immoral and should not exist.

It has nothing to do with Trunks or anyone, it's solely because he's a shitty little Light Yagami kinnie in his extremely sheltered bubble of (perceived, not lived) experience. Dude is intolerable in the manga, and that's the point. His justice is not justice. His reasoning is outright fascism.

But they also missed the point of Trunks being Alone in the future (save for Mai) and Bulma not being there at all (her murder and subsequent absence in the future timeline is a vital component of the arc's emotional weight for Vegeta and Trunks, in fact, which of course they made about Goku instead :))) y'all really work so hard to pretend goku has any kind of social heirarchy and that scenario wouldn't play exactly the same way with anyone goku loved, but it's too late! we have the freeza saga on your own show to show you he would)

There's no militia, there's no resistance, there's no Help. Trunks is isolated and out of options, his Time Machine only has enough fuel for one trip and he has to take it without Mai. He didn't leave anyone behind, he thinks she's dead. He got out because he thought it was the only thing he could do. He didn't try to bring Goku and Vegeta back, he didn't think there would be a back. He was just keeping his promise to Live, for his mom.

Trunks has no one else in his Timeline. Just him and Mai against Zamas, who has murdered Bulma while she went out to do routine maintenance on their power supply. And Zamas isn't even actively trying to kill Trunks until that point. He's purposefully keeping him alive as a way to make himself stronger. He doesn't hop a ring and go to the AU. He's chillin at his cabin. He's enjoying the cat and mouse game, and is stoked when Goku and Vegeta show up for the same reason. Zamas is abusive and corrosive and DEEPLY self-obsessed (as most fascists are), he panics whenever he starts losing (as most supremacists do), and blames everyone but himself for his situation (as many extreme narcissists do).

And of course this arc wouldn't be complete without Toei's classic 'take everything that was about Vegeta and give it to Literally Anyone Else, just throw him under the bus and completely rewrite how his only time referring to himself as the prince of all saiyans was to goad and distract GB while Trunks healed Goku because Vegeta told him to heal Goku instead of himself for their best chance at winning,, Trunks has to ask Vegeta to go with him to fight Zamas?? Vegeta was like "I'm gonna beat this man to death" the second he found out he killed Bulma lmao be so fr rn!! so this can be about how Goku is morally righteous and a very normal person' but it's fine it's whatever why would I be mad that Vegeta and Trunks aren't doing the intense emotional bonding that losing Bulma would force them to do when we can have (checks notes) Yajirobe be a part of things, for some reason

like i don't--

And Toei just. Nah. We're gonna focus on his power ups and his being mean to Goku, Specifically, is what makes him a bad bad man. "His power is unstable he has complex emotions-"

No he doesn't.

No he absolutely does the fuck not.

He wants every mortal to die and he's having a breakdown that three mortals are standing in his shitty little way. That's it. Very simple emotions. He's behaving like a spoiled brat because he is one.

bruh they even changed it to Vegeta taking an unconscious Goku back to the Present, I'm aksjdkaj

That was fully Vegeta, who snapped at Goku for leaving Trunks behind. (And again, Bulma just??? Being mad at Everyone?? And going to the future?? When in the manga she's running support on the home front?? and then talking up Goku and Vegeta getting mad, despite Vegeta also being like 'i want this mf dead in my hands but Kakarot's our best shot' in the manga?? Adding to his whole motivation in Super of wanting to be strong enough to Not Have to Rely on Goku to protect his family, since his whole thing is consistently not being enough to beat the bbeg? And wtf Little Trunks being super jealous over tiny Mai even though that ALSO is not a thing? He's just "Tiny Boy Laments because his de-aged 42yo Crush has a crush on a 30yo Version of Him after showing No interest in child him because he is, in fact, A Child")

And then had it be Bulma, Trunks, and Mai's fault the seal didn't work when Goku did the ma-fu-ba and accidentally brought one of Roshi's Girlbar coupons instead of the seal?? God Toei's team is really allergic to anything being Goku's fault. Don't think I didn't see you skip over the part where Buu failed his written exam and Goku only barely passed with a 50% and then got mad at Vegeta for suggesting a written exam.

god everything I learn about the anime is the worst thing I've ever learned about the anime aksldjsal

First deciding that ALL of the Z-Fighters, including Gohan and Piccolo, would get their asses collectively beat by Ginyu, who has been a frog for a decade (a frog which was used for the sole purpose of him not being able to switch out of that body, mind), because apparently being a frog is way harder than idk fighting cell and majin buu and beerus, and despite the strongest guy in Freeza's army being Roughly as strong as Cell was, but okay -- just so they could rewrite Gohan's baller action scene of kicking ass and saving Piccolo into Picowo Dead Pls Daddy Save Me I'm Not Stwong Enough Despite Toei Deciding Piccolo Died in Front of Me and My Whole Thing is Rage-Induced Beating Everyone's Ass Syndrome U_U,

but also that Goku Black is doing this because ... Trunks? Upset the timelines? And that, of all the thousands of years of fuckery and 5+ rings from others doing the same shit and having watched a tournament in which one guy's whole thing is altering time, is what we're gonna use to try and drag out this fight and validate Zamas?

And then giving Kale lipstick and making her transformation about a Man? And not about Caulifa getting beat to shit by Freeza to have Kale go 'I thought you'd hate me if you found out I was strong' and Caulifa go 'yo that was fucking rad are you kidding me shine on you crazy diamond'??? Toei that shit was already Highly Lesbeans you didn't need to make it fucking weird and centered around Cabbe and Goku??? FUCKS sake, my man.

I remain so glad Toriyama took Daima away from those writers holy shit lmao Just rehauled the entire thing

and you know what even if I hate it I know it'll be better than whatever the fuck Super's writer's room was on in 2018.

[doctorbrown]

MCFLY JULY ‘24 ⸺ 「 16 / 31 * SYNCHRONICITY 」

September 12, 1885

Maggie always cautioned him his bleeding heart would get him into trouble.

He couldn’t help that, though. There was already enough suffering in the world—what harm did it do to be kind? To look after others as if they were your own?

Mr. Eastwood was a good soul. Oh, like his brother, poor Martin, may God rest his soul, he had his troubles, that all-consuming need to try and prove himself—he’d wager the farm he was somebody’s little brother too, so certain was he of that—to win the fleeting gossip of a group of people whose affections only lingered on whatever was most exciting in this dust bowl of a town.

The only people a man had to prove himself to was himself and to God.

But, like Martin, Mr. Eastwood had a heart as big as the country, caring just as much about others as he did for himself. That much was obvious that very first night he blew into their lives like a whirlwind, taking the fence with it, only to slot into their little home—their lives—almost like he belonged there.

It's funny how just a few short days can really make a man feel like he knows somebody...

And little Will had taken to him almost immediately, reinforcing his opinion that, whether this be an act of Providence or sheer luck, Clint Eastwood had entered their lives for a reason and had a place amongst them, if he so wanted.

He’d never felt quite a connection to anyone like that before, not since the day his younger brother was ripped away from him, taken somewhere he couldn’t follow. Not yet.

Just like Martin, Clint Eastwood, too, was gone, and Seamus wasn’t planning on that news to tear a hole clean through him.

Supposing it was a man’s time, there was just nothing that could be done, but like he did what feels like an eternity ago now, Seamus lifts his head heavenward and stares long and hard at the perfect blue. Squinting against the afternoon sun’s harsh light, Seamus searches for something, though he isn’t quite sure what. A glimmer in the sky, perhaps. A flash of something, a revelation, a gust of wind rolling through the countryside carrying a message for his ears only, anything.

The heat lashes across his pale cheeks as he waits. Nothing changes, not so much as an errant cloud in the sky for his troubles or to signify that someone was listening, but Seamus keeps his eyes trained on the sky.

Why, God? I did everything I could. I thought You were trying to tell me this was my second chance—isn’t that why You put Clint Eastwood in front of me, gave him Martin’s face, and gave him the same troubles?

He did it—he didn’t fight that brute, he made it out okay—and this is what he’s given for overcoming that? A freak accident sending him to the bottom of the ravine?

“Seamus!” Maggie’s voice cuts across the silence like the crack of a whip. “When you’re done, hurry up inside—we’ve got guests. Mister Brown has come to pay us a visit. He says he has something he wants to share with us. And don't you forget to wash up first!”