#Cerebrum

[oworwrite]

@pxstarru <33

[pysankywrites-updates]

a few snippets to prove i’m still alive and working on things😭

Rowing comp fic (third-year-things):

Wilhelm was obviously unhappy during rowing practice, having been relegated to a chair in the literal corner while watching the rest of them run drills. At the start of practice, he had tried to join in; however, every single person on the team had quickly vetoed this and Simon’s stern look in his direction had apparently been enough to make him sit his ass right back down.

Now though, there was a frown on his face and his arms were crossed as he sat there, looking bored out of his mind. The only thing saving him from complete boredom was the whistle around his neck, which he was using liberally. It was mostly to correct the first-years, but after the sixth time in ten minutes, Simon was this close to ripping that whistle right out of his mouth. Walter and Henry both looked the same.

“If he blows that whistle one more time…,” Henry muttered under his breath. Simon didn’t hear the rest of what he said, but he didn’t need to. The other’s tone was enough explanation.

For the first time in a while, Walter agreed with him and for just a few minutes they were back in sync like they used to be.

Simon glanced over at his boyfriend to find the other running a hand over his face and then through his hair, messing it up. He looked frustrated and Simon knew it was driving him crazy to not be able to participate. He couldn’t help but think back to first-year Wilhelm who was sometimes more than happy to avoid practice if he could.

Practice ended not long after that, with Wilhelm only having blown the whistle two more times. Each time, Henry had twitched, his hands wrapping more tightly around the ERG handle until his knuckles were white. Walter simply had his eyes closed, forehead resting on his knees.

Everyone was quick to retreat to the locker room, obviously trying to escape from under Wilhelm’s tyranny with the whistle, until it was just him and Simon left in the gym.

“Having fun?” Simon asked drily, using the hem of his t-shirt to wipe the sweat off of his brow. Wilhelm gave him a look back, fiddling with the whistle. When he raised it up to his lips, Simon reached out with a dry laugh and snatched it away. “Yeah, no, I’m confiscating this, you tyrant.”

“How dare you? I’m stuck here in a chair, unable to do anything except rot and you would take away the one thing that has brought me joy—.”

Simon put the whistle in his own mouth and blew it, cutting the other off and then arching a brow at him in response to the mock affronted look sent his way. Then, only because there was no one else in the gym except for them, he pulled the whistle out of his mouth and said quietly, “I can think of a better way for you to use your mouth.”

Wilhelm looked back at him, eyes like honey. “Yeah?”

Simon nodded, his lips curling in the corners. He fiddled with the whistle. “Yeah.”

the (eventual) Walty fic (third-year-things):

The flame of the lighter flickered as Henry held it up, waving it beneath the end of the joint where it was held between his lips. After it eventually caught and the tip began to burn a dark orange, he inhaled deeply, the smoke burning his throat slightly.

“What are you thinking about?” Walter asked from where he sat beside him, watching and waiting for Henry to pass over the now-lit joint.

They had enough to each have their own, but Henry had always (selfishly) asked if they could just share one. At first, it had been because he wanted to keep as much as he could (and because he hadn’t been taught to share as a child if they were being honest), but then it had become because he wanted to keep Walter as close as he could. It was more intimate too in a way, passing the joint back and forth and even sharing kisses in between sometimes when no one was really around or when everyone else was too drunk to think much about it.

Tonight, they were alone though, sitting out on the rickety fire-escape of Forest Ridge and pretending that the rest of the world didn’t exist for a little while.

“That you have something in your hair,” was Henry’s answer to the question after exhaling and passing the joint over.

Walter’s hand flew up to run through his dark brown hair, and when he came away with nothing, he gave him an unamused look. “Really, Henry?”

He grinned at him and then leaned closer to run his fingers through his best friend’s hair, fixing some strands and displacing others. Walter’s hair was one of his favorite things ever. It was so soft and it always felt so good whenever he got to run his fingers through it.

“Honestly, I was really just thinking about whether or not Wille and Simon are in their room right now,” he admitted after a moment, still running his fingers through the other’s hair.

Walter coughed. “Why?”

“Because Simon keeps that closet stocked with snacks.”

This time, Walter sounded amused. “There’s no way you’re already hungry.”

Playfully, Henry shoved him and the other swayed away only to sway right back into him. Walter’s head settled gently on Henry’s shoulder, a careful weight even as the other leaned against him heavily. It was cautious and yet comfortable at the same time, probably because they were both so used to having to hide affection like this.

Clearing his throat and taking the joint back from the other, he said, “I’m always hungry.”

Walter hummed into the silence and Henry just inhaled deeply, staring out into the darkness of the late summer night around them.

Neither of them said anything more on the matter, but his mind played the words over and over. It was true. He was always hungry, but normally it was for the affection that Walter so easily showed him when they were alone or within the safety of their friend group. He was always hungry for the soft way the other smiled, the way that he cared for him, the way that he…. Just, the way that he was, the way that the two of them worked together so well. The way that Walter just understood.

Walter turned his head to face him, wide dark eyes looking up at him as he silently asked to take a hit, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world to lean down and kiss him as he handed the joint over. The other’s lips were soft, slightly chapped like they always were from the way he anxiously chewed at them and never put on chapstick no matter how much Henry left lying around their room for him. They felt like heaven, but maybe that was just the weed speaking.

“Do you think Simon still has some of those crisps that he got from Bjärstad last time?” was the first thing his best friend asked him when they pulled apart and Henry smiled down at him, taking a hit from the joint and carefully blowing the smoke off to the side.

Pushing himself to his feet, he swayed slightly and the two of them broke out into giggles, the weed obviously finally starting to take effect and god, he wished he could capture the way that Walter’s eyes were shining as he looked up at him from where he still sat, legs dangling over the edge of the fire escape.

Stubbing the joint out on the railing and tucking it behind his ear, Henry held out both hands. “Let’s go see.”

Walter smiled up at him as he took both hands in his.

ineffable (that random good omens au):

Squinting up at the darkening sky, Wilhelm considered the clouds and decided that he already wasn’t a fan of this new thing called “rain” that the Almighty had decided to try out. Nothing against the Almighty of course, they could never do anything wrong. He just had a feeling about this, and it wasn’t necessarily a good one.

Mostly because he felt like it was going to end with his wings getting wet, and they were always such a pain to deal with when wet.

“Well, that didn’t go as planned.”

Releasing his lip from where he’d started to anxiously chew at it, Wilhelm turned around to find the snake from earlier standing beside him. Or, well, it had been a snake, now it was a demon.

Caught slightly off-guard, Wilhelm coughed. “Excuse me?”

The demon looked over at him, golden eyes curious. On his right temple, there was the small tattoo of a serpent, but it was almost completely hidden by his mess of dark curls. The twist of his lips into a small frown pulled Wilhelm’s attention away from the tattoo though, and when he sighed Wilhelm couldn’t get the sound out of his head.

“I said that that didn’t exactly go as planned.” The demon gestured vaguely toward the garden behind them. “In fact, it went down like a lead balloon.”

Wilhelm stared at him. “What do you mean? Weren’t you supposed to tempt them?”

The demon shrugged, all loose, casual lines. “I mean, yeah, but I really just wanted an orange. How was I supposed to know that there wouldn’t be any oranges here, in a garden, and just forbidden apples apparently?”

Wilhelm blinked and kept staring at him.

The demon flushed. “I mean, come on, it’s a garden. It’s, like, the garden. Is it too much to ask for an orange? It’s not as if they have them in Hell.”

This last part was muttered quietly, as if the other didn’t want him to hear it, and Wilhelm felt a pang of sympathy go through him. He quickly squashed it though. Feelings like that had almost gotten him in serious trouble last time and he didn’t want Kristina, or Erik, or even August to be on his ass about that again.

So, clearing his throat, he said, “Well, you still tempted them either way.”

The demon gave him a look, raising one of his perfect brows as he did so. “You know, I don’t see why it’s so bad to know the difference between good and evil. I mean, shouldn’t we be sharing that, not keeping it to ourselves?”

Damn, he really had a point. Wilhelm still had to keep up appearances though.

“Well, it must be bad…”

“Simon,” the demon supplied helpfully, lips quirking up slightly in the corners. Wilhelm’s brain immediately saved that to memory even though he insisted that it not do so.

“...Simon,” he added slowly, turning the name over in his mouth. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have tempted them into it.”

Simon sighed, rolling his golden eyes. “Ugh, I told you, I just wanted an orange. Really, it’s the Almighty’s fault for not putting any orange trees in here.”

Wilhelm started to hum in agreement and then quickly pinched himself and shook his head.

“I mean,” the demon continued, “it’s not very subtle, is it? Why not put the tree up on a high mountain? Or even on the moon?”

Damn it, yet another good point. Wait, shit, was this what being tempted felt like? (Of course he would manage to not only be the angel who failed at protecting the garden but was also the first to be tempted after the Fall. August would have a fucking field day with this if he ever found out.)

“It makes you wonder what God’s really planning,” the demon said, giving him a look.

Wilhelm fidgeted anxiously and started chewing at his lip. “It’s probably best not to speculate. After all, it’s all a part of the Great Plan. We’re not meant to understand it. It’s…” what was that word that Kristina always used when droning on and on about the Almighty’s plan? Ah yes, “ineffable.”

Simon raised both of his perfectly shaped brows at him. “Ineffable?”

“Yes.” He rubbed a hand against his chest. “It’s beyond our understanding and—.”

“Didn’t you have a flaming sword earlier?”

Wilhelm flushed deeply, stammering, “Uh….”

“You did, it was all big and…bright. Did you already lose it?”

God, this was the worst. If this demon had already noticed in five minutes, then Erik was going to notice immediately when he saw him later.

“I gave it away,” he muttered under his breath, rubbing at his chest anxiously and squinting once more up at the dark clouds above them. He was pretty sure that they had gotten closer.

“You did what?” Simon asked, sounding almost delighted. Wilhelm resisted the urge to shoot him a dirty glare, simply because that wouldn’t be very holy and angelic of him to do. And that’s what he was: holy and angelic. Supposedly.

“I gave it away,” he said a little bit more loudly this time, rubbing at his chest harder and then running a hand through his hair as he gestured widely at the desert beyond the walls. “There are vicious animals and it’s cold! So, you know, I said, ‘Here, flaming sword. Don’t thank me. Bye.’”

A moment later, thinking about Erik’s inevitable disappointed look when he saw that he’d lost his sword, he added quietly, “I hope that I didn’t do the wrong thing.”

Beside him, Simon scoffed. “You’re an angel. I don’t think you can do the wrong thing.”

Maybe it was meant to be reassuring, but Wilhelm didn’t exactly feel reassured. Especially not when the other added, “Now you’ve got me wondering though if I did the right thing, tempting them with the apple and whatnot. Demons aren’t supposed to do the right thing.”

Wilhelm chewed at his lip and glanced over to find Simon watching him, golden eyes considering. There was a dry smile on his face.

“It’d be funny, wouldn’t it? If I did the right thing, and you did the wrong thing?”

Despite it all, Wilhelm felt his lips curl into a smile as he laughed. Across from him, Simon started laughing too and the sound was unlike anything that he had ever heard before. The moment didn’t last long though, not when Wilhelm realized that that probably wouldn’t be funny at all; however, the humor still lingered between them even as it started to rain and he noticed Simon shivering slightly as the cold drops hit the two of them.

Taking one look at the other’s tattered dark wings, Wilhelm immediately decided that it didn’t matter if his wings got wet and he extended one out over Simon’s head to shield him from the worst of it. After all, his wings would always dry back out eventually.

cerebrum, chapter 7:

Despite the constant reminders from their friends, the bachelor parties and the literal invitation sitting on their kitchen counter, Henry and Walter’s wedding still somehow managed to sneak up on Simon. It didn’t even feel real until he was at the venue that their friends had chosen, sitting in the crowd and waiting for the ceremony to start.

“There you are.”

He glanced up to find Maja and Erik, as well as Wilhelm’s parents, settling into the seats saved beside him. They had all been invited to the wedding too; however, the kids had obviously stayed at home. He tried not to feel disappointed at this.

“How are you?” Maja asked, leaning over to squeeze his hand. It felt somewhat forced and he tried not to pull away.

Since that disastrous dinner a month ago, things had been awkward between himself and Wilhelm’s family. None of them had ever really talked about what happened, the others pretending as if nothing happened and Simon being too afraid of upsetting the careful balance between him and Wilhelm to push the issue. Unsurprisingly though, Maja had pulled away slightly and Erik had become a bit more guarded when they spoke. Kristina was about the same as ever though.

He hated it, but he also hated the way that they had pushed him out.

For Wilhelm’s sake though, he had agreed to sit with them during the wedding rather than sitting with Felice or Madison. After a few minutes of awkward, stilted conversation though, he wondered if it would have just been better for everyone had he sat with someone else.

He didn’t have too long to regret this decision though, before the music started and they were all standing to turn and face the central aisle.

Alexander, Walter’s best man, walked down it first. Following him was Wilhelm.

At the sight of his partner, dressed in the groomsmen suit chosen by Henry, Simon felt his breath catch slightly. He had seen him earlier of course, when they were getting dressed back at the apartment, but it was something about seeing him in this setting. It made his throat ache, emotions clawing at his chest and leaving him feeling wrung out.

Beside him, he could feel Erik watching him, but he didn’t give the other the satisfaction of looking over at him. If he did, then the older might see the way that heat had begun to build behind Simon’s eyes and was threatening to spill over the edges even though he knew that it wouldn’t.

Henry and Walter followed shortly after that, arm in arm and both looking incredibly overwhelmed despite the smiles on their faces. Simon knew that they were both likely incredibly hungover from their bachelor parties; however, they were managing to hide it well.

The ceremony was short and sweet. He didn’t hear much of it though, almost all of his attention devoted to where Wilhelm stood near Henry.

The other was smiling faintly as he watched his best friend go through the vows with Walter. There was loss in his expression too though, hidden in the corners of his expression, and Simon felt his own heart ache with the familiarity of the feeling. It was the same one that had settled over him earlier and was clawing at his throat, leaving him feeling choked up and unable to breathe.

He was beginning to wonder if he would ever breathe normally again when cheers went up all around them. At the front, Henry and Walter were kissing, both of them obviously smiling. They were still smiling when they pulled apart a moment later, Walter cupping Henry’s face so gently that it almost made Simon want to look away. (Jealousy and loss in equal turns left his throat raw after that.)

They led the procession out this time, holding hands and smiling giddily over at each other as they passed by the rows. Wilhelm was smiling too as he followed after the two newlyweds and their eyes found each other as he passed by Simon’s row. It felt like a moment and forever passed in those few seconds, like everything was both once how it was and also their new normal now too.

Simon blinked and the other had already passed by, almost to the end of the rows and following Henry and Walter out. He watched him go and tried to remember how to breathe again.

“That was absolutely beautiful,” Maja said from beside him after a moment. She was smiling brightly when he glanced over at her. Erik was nodding in agreement, smiling as well.

It took him a long time to find his voice—probably too long, but he didn’t care at this point anymore—before he nodded and said, “Yeah. Absolutely.”

Somehow, he managed to keep his voice steady. Even his smile didn’t feel too forced after a moment.

[floofi-dinosaur]

Lazy eden lepidoptera fan art :]

[melr0j]

@pxstarru

[pluto-art]

Bit of a treat in light of no stream last Monday (and none this coming Monday). I wanted to do this anyway. Full animatic of the Cerebrum board so far. About half the board is done. It’s very rough. A lot of work still needs to be done.

At 1:50 the music stops, due to the fact that the next scene was too long to fit the flow of the track; henceforth, I had to “restart” the music from the beginning a little further in. This is not how it is supposed to go, obviously, so it’s something I’ll need to adjust. This is good, though; it’s what the storyboard phase is for: to figure out the flow before things get animated. I’ll probably have to compartmentalize some areas.

Music is by Pogo: Chasing the UFO

For those who are unaware, the whole reason this project came about is because of this particular piece of music.

TW: If you don’t like needles, animals in laboratory situations, near-drowning, or characters in perilous situations in general, then I’d probably recommend avoiding this, although it’s nothing so extreme that I’d give it more than a PG rating. Up to your discretion.

[justmeinabigolworld]

Let me tell you guys about the dream I had last night!

The first part took place in an old house in an old fancy neighborhood. At one point, we took a walk and looked at every house’s fancy gardens, which could get very elaborate. Cerebrum from Day Break Illusion was there for some reason, and he used his shapeshifting powers to make a false identity: a rich girl named Cera (pronounced like Sarah). Cera basically looked like Cerebrum but with a side ponytail and, y’know, feminine features. Come to think of it, wasn’t that Cerebrum’s disguise at some corporate gala in the actual anime? Idk, I watched the anime years ago and I don’t want to rewatch it because it really wasn’t good. I don’t really remember what Cerebrum was trying to accomplish with his Cera identity in the dream.

In another part of the dream, I was in a different country with my dad and this girl I used to go to school with. We were looking for a place to have lunch. We bought two slices of pizza to go, but then we immediately forgot about them and eventually went to an Indian place. It was weird, since the stuff on the menu was all unfamiliar, and everything seemed to be served with noodles instead of rice. I mean, I’m certainly not an expert on Indian food, but I’ve had it a lot in the past, and I didn’t recognize a single dish on the dream restaurant’s menu (except for the naan). The entree I remember most clearly was a “Japanese-style” curry with snap peas and honey roasted pork ribs. Yeah, I don’t know either.

The restaurant turned out to be a place where people could secretly write poetry, like an underground poetry club, because poetry was illegal in this country for some reason. I saw Tucker Carlson (eww) at the restaurant, and soon after that we decided to leave. There was more to the dream, including Disney merchandise and sneaking out through a garden gate, but I don’t really remember how it went.

Conclusion: dreams are weird, but maybe I’ll take the Cera concept, separate it from the Day Break Illusion context, and use it in a future story

[sspacegodd]

[kimnowls]

The Mother 1 experience, part 2

[fuminoomi]

i wish aroace people were real ...😞💔

[er-cryptid]

[oworwrite]

@pxstarru

Aurum and Cere sketches from today's consultation:p

[pysankywrites-updates]

anyone know how to beat writer’s block? cause i have like 5 wips and zero (0) motivation work on them🫠

[neuroillogical]

ExtChat_20160302.txt

[ORIGIN: MARCH 2nd 2016]

Chat log recovered. Seems they had never met before this.

We could call it a meeting of the minds. They're a rather good team.

They could be a very Big Deal, wouldn't you agree?

Let me know.

-██████████,

Oakshadow Corporation, ██████ Division

[bpod-bpod]

Roaming RGCs

Over half of your brain is involved in processing what you see. How does that visual information reach your brain? Via retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). RGCs sit within the light-sensitive tissue at the back of your eyes, the retina, with projections that run along your optic nerve to your brain. How these projections develop isn’t clear. So researchers now use stem cells to create a human organoid model that mimics the eye and brain region that processes visual information (called the telencephalon or cerebrum). Imaging revealed these organoids formed concentric zones of cells which mimicked the telencephalon, optic disc (where the optic nerve meets the retina), optic stalk (which matures into the optic nerve) and retina. RGCs grew projections (pictured, green) towards and along a path marked out by optic disc and optic stalk-like cells, highlighting the usefulness of this model for studying RGCs in health and disease.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Image from work by Wei Liu and colleagues

Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Department of Genetics, The Ruth L. and David S. Gottesman Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx NY, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in eLife, June 2023

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

[pluto-art]

Cerebrum Update: Several more board sheets added. Going by script pages, I’m part-way through 2 of 6 pages. (The two panels above are not in the update, as they’re part of the next sheet I’m currently working on. Consider it a teaser.)

“Most Girls” Update: None. It’s probably been almost a year since I last touched it; maybe more. Cerebrum has taken the forefront, as it encompasses subject matter that’s more appealing to me. However, I’m getting a lot of animation practice in, which is slowly increasing my confidence in returning to “Most Girls”.

Life Update: I doubt many care about this, but life has been busy. I’m a part-time animator and taking an ASL college class. On the side, I’m helping my husband with his business, working on my own projects, and am planning (along with my husband) to sell at an upcoming convention. Still attending therapy -- getting that in line with insurance was a wild ride and I’ve been through four therapists now due to various issues. It’s been stressful. Also, our car is in need of repair, but we’ll have to sell it, as we can only pay for so much.

Oh yeah. Animaniacs Season 3 is coming out. Am looking forward to it while simultaneously being nervous about it. I joked a while ago that I want the very, very end of the show to feature Pinky saying something stupid, with Brain facepalming before saying, “Oh, just kiss me, you fool!” and swinging Pinky around to plant one on him. Bonus points if we get the Looney Tunes sign off right after. I want this for the pure hilarity of it, and if they don’t do it I’m going to animate it myself.

[cattysharkkz]

Cerebrum art for... No reason in particular

(But seriously please go read Eden: Lepidoptera on the website or on Webtoon there needs to be more fans so we can talk and make friends)