#I just haven't been able to will myself to it yet

[acindra]

Joe Hills and ZombieCleo from Hermitcraft

Cleo Doll Notes: -I'm undecided on the permanent positioning of the snakes still so I haven't pulled in all of the yarn tails yet. -The dress design was partially based on @weaselmcdiesel's art here. -I did try to make hats for the snakes but they ended up looking too undefined. -I could not figure out how to show a rib hole in a stuffed doll without making the doll much much bigger.

Joe Doll Notes: -The first time I intended to make a Joe doll it was going to be based around the various arts from Joe winning the mcyt sexyman tourney but time got away from me. -This time I intended to make Joe in the puppet style when the juppet was made (with the mouth neck and everything) but then the court case happened. -This Joe doll is specifically based on how @judas-iscaryot drew xem in this art because I am absolutely enamored with the design.

Bonus Sentimental Thoughts about Joe Under the Cut:

I've actually wanted to make Joe many times over the years since I found xem through Super Hostile in 2012. Xyr videos taught me how to play Minecraft and I've always wanted to commemorate that because it became such a big part of my life, I just didn't want to make Minecraft Steve with an @ on his shirt, yanno? Especially with how much xe has affected my attitude on life.

We talk about "keep jumping on boxes" a lot but the thing that always stuck out to me the most in the early years was Autumnification (and the other iterations of it). Just the concept that even in a static world you do not have to be beholden to that stasis- you can implement small changes to create a story or to do something nice for your community or even simulate the passage of time if you're willing to put in the effort. It really means a lot to me (especially with how the world is right now) to remember that even small changes build up into something bigger and can make a world of difference.

I hadn't been intending to make these dolls so soon but then the election happened and I found myself at a loss of how to handle it so I started crocheting. I'm so grateful to Joe (and Cleo) for streaming the TCG signing during those days. I'm almost never able catch the streams live nowadays (and xe has stopped letting us access vods, which I used to watch all the time) so I'm very glad I was able to listen to these ones because even if it was an awful realization how things were going it was comforting to know we aren't alone.

(Also don't get me wrong I have many sentimental thoughts about Cleo too I just wanted to share the Joe ones specifically because these dolls came about now due to xyr election day TCG signing stream)

[claraweems]

There hasn't been any filler. No fluff. Nothing to give the characters deeper personality or even just the usual amount of flavor text for the world around us. I was never able to run up to my LI and just... Chat. They never react when you approach unless there's in a conversation with someone else. It feels very disconnected, disjointed.

A specific example for me was the Neve x Lucanis thing. I knew it was going to happen from spoilers, but it just... Happened. In one scene he's talking about making a pie because she likes it and then in his next personal scene he's lamenting that she specifically is one of the few people he has left.

Huh?

When did all that happen? If I hadn't seen the spoilers I would be monumentally confused. There was no flirting! Was it because I never took him with me on quests? I never saw love letters left out, they were never hanging out together. I took Neve with me nearly the entire game and she never said a thing! No one else is talking about it, like the crew chatting or gossip queen Harding.

Another example was Hardings personal quest line. We're told there are some missing dwarves and we need to go look. Next thing we know she's possessed by her own rage? Or a Titan's rage or something? Did I miss something? I really liked the visuals in that quest and the scene itself but... Again. It went from 0 to 100 real fast. I don't need to be spoonfed details, I promise, but this one felt like I blacked out the lead up. Did I completely miss a middle quest somewhere? Did I just not pay attention to some dialogue? And then afterwards she's just chilling in her room like it didn't happen.

This feels like exactly the same stuff that's happened to TV and movies in recent years. I haven't watched enough to see it myself but by all accounts we're losing the filler and the fleshing out and the exploration and just getting exposition and climax. I've been scouring every corner of every map. I'm at nearly 60 hours, midway through Act 2. How have I found so much, but yet witnessed so little?

I think I've finally distilled down the main why I feel so disappointed in Veilguard (despite enjoying the gameplay and the visuals tremendously)

In all the other games, in every encounter with each faction, you're given enough space and information to ask questions. "Why are you like this?" "What the FUCK?" Every single group you encounter in Dragon Age. The Dalish. The Orzammar Dwarves. The Qunari. The Chantry. The Templars. The apostates. The Orlesians. The Fereldan nobility. Circle Mages. And on and on and on... Nobody is sacred. Everyone has something to question and chew on for good or ill. In this one I just don't feel it. There isn't enough space or information to ask questions. The writers are capable. We know they are. But for some reason they have essentially said "we do not trust players not to misunderstand us anymore".

[sannehnagi]

T'iisaaroq yahaš naravakhaitsuug agimatigainngipia. Even the dread wolf could not predict what it would mean to fall in love.

[nanihirunkits]

hi.

[liquidchocolatecake]

currently captive audience to a knock down drag out fight in my brain between desire to respect the wishes of the creator and not look for anyone redistributing the comic and god i fucking miss wonderlab i miss wonderlab so much you have no idea i want wonderlab back so bad

[innocentcurse]

There was something in Astrid's voice, a certain vulnerability that made the air feel even quieter, as if the woods themselves were listening. “I think I understand what you mean,” her voice was gentle, filled with the kind of understanding that only comes from someone who’s been touched by the same feeling. "It's beautiful out here." As Astrid’s eyes flickered back to the sketchpad, Evangeline couldn’t help but feel half excited by the prospect of talking about her art, and half bashful about just how frequently she created new pieces - no matter where she was. Evangeline didn't yet speak on the piece, however.

She nodded thoughtfully at the mention of breathing easier. “When things feel too heavy, I've been coming out here, and the weight just… lifts. It’s like the trees remember things for you, or maybe they don’t remember, and that’s the relief," Evangeline paused, letting the air fill the space between them as she thought back to the various spots of a similar nature that she had visited elsewhere in the world. “I think it’s what makes it feel like home to me, even if I’m still finding my place in Cardinal Hill," she added softly.

When Astrid introduced herself, Evangeline’s smile grew warmer, her eyes reflecting a quiet recognition of the trust being offered. “It’s lovely to meet you, Astrid," she said, her voice sincere. "It's always one of the nicest feelings, to be met with understanding and a shared appreciation for something like this," Evangeline's entire life had an underlying focus on people, and the connections that she could make with them; it only made sense for her to feel strongly about sharing understanding and appreciation with others. "I'm Evangeline, sorry, I can't recall whether or not I introduced myself yet," she giggled.

At the mention of her art, Evangeline’s fingers traced the edge of her sketchbook absently, a small smile playing on her seemingly ever smiling lips. “I do love landscapes, there’s something about them, how they’re always shifting, how they interact with every little piece of the overall picture - like puzzle pieces, almost," she wasn't entirely sure if she was making any sense at all. "But I sketch other things too, whatever catches my eye. Most of my work is what I see, I draw from life almost all of the time, I love capturing life, especially in a way that allows me to share insights with those who haven't been able to experience it directly. And looking back, it reminds me of all of the stories I witnessed, and lived,” she looked up at Astrid, half expecting a puzzled look on her face as Evangeline had a habit of rambling in a way that didn't make sense. “Do you make any form of art?”

Astrid listened intently, the other woman’s words settling into the quiet space between them like the gentle rustling of wind through the remaining leaves upon the trees. It was comforting, to find someone else who seemed to understand the peculiar magic of the woods—how it could both soothe and unsettle, pulling at emotions that were often difficult to name. “It makes sense.” She replied softly, her gaze shifting upward to follow that of the other, pausing to note how the canopy of pines swayed overhead. “The forest feels alive in a way most places do not. It sees you, even when you are not looking.”

Ocean hues fell back to the sketchpad, lingering there for a moment longer before flicking up to meet the woman’s gaze. The silent intensity in her companion’s question drew a small pause. “I guess it is.” She admitted, an undertone of reflection amongst the simple agreement. “It is easier to breathe here... It, uh, it reminds me of where I grew up.” There was a weight behind her words, a tether to the life she was pulled from due to her own naivety.

She tilted her head slightly, offering a warm smile that softened the otherwise guarded edges of her demeanor. “My name is Astrid." She opted to introduce, figuring it would be best to continue their conversation with more familiarity than that of mere strangers. "It is nice to meet someone who appreciates the forest as much as I do.” Her gaze dipped briefly toward the sketchpad again, curiosity dancing behind her eyes. “Och even nicer to meet someone who can capture it. Do you usually sketch landscapes, eller…?” She trailed off, leaving the question open should the other wish to answer.

[icewindandboringhorror]

There's always a slight yearning in the back of my mind wishing I had been born in the right place, time, family situation, income level, etc. to have just lived in one single house for my entire life. Imagine being born in a place that still suits you, even through all of your personal evolutions and etc. The idea of deep familiarity with an area because you've lived and explored it for 40+ years, being encased in a web of memories and connections. Being able to clean out your old childhood bedroom and find personal artifacts, to dig in the yard and remember. I know those lives can still be plenty imperfect, but there's just something so seemingly solid and stable and Grounding about it that I sometimes wish I could have.. (At least from my outside perspective as someone who's moved around a bit geographically and even within the same area, never lives in the same house/ apartment /etc. for more than a few years usually.) Like... having a place that is printed upon, fully your own, rather than chronically a visitor, every thought of a space always tempered with the notion that one day soon you'll have to pack it all up again, etc. There's something peaceful about the permanence.

[batsplat]

casey also talks about sepang 2015 what do you think of that

oh in that podcast? uh... lemme listen again...

yeah idk it's not really anything new I'd say? he's said basically all the same stuff in more interesting and extensive ways elsewhere. I think casey inevitably has a very 'well feuding is bad and helps nobody' point of view, has expressed that before in the past, does it here again, and he's also drawn a parallel between himself and marc on several occasions. which... well, of course there's similarities in terms of public discourse or whatever, but the parallel really falls apart whenever casey argues the feuds cost valentino. like, I do think it's sometimes important to just. keep in mind. it's interesting that casey draws this comparison in his mind but that doesn't necessarily means he's right about this. I'm not sure how you'd argue that starting a feud with casey cost valentino anything competitively? you can argue it didn't help him I guess, and then we can have a debate about the ins and outs of the 2008 season. we can also have an argument that in a hypothetical world where casey isn't ill in 2009, valentino doesn't break his leg and casey isn't on a piece of junk in 2010, and valentino isn't on a piece of junk in 2011-12, then actually maybe valentino sparking open animosity with casey COULD have cost him. but we don't know that! didn't happen! I wish we could have found out, but we never got the chance! as it stands, the tally on this is pretty straightforward: casey won the title when things were reasonably civil between them in 2007, and valentino took control of the following season at the exact moment he worsened the relationship between the pair of them in 2008. obviously, it's all more complicated than that and casey would of course argue laguna didn't negatively affect his subsequent performances... but it certainly didn't help them. like, at the very worst valentino escalating tensions in 2008 is a complete net neutral. after 2009, them being bitchy to each other every other tuesday was completely competitively irrelevant beyond maybe affecting how they approached occasionally fighting for a podium position. hey, maybe casey used that feud to fire himself up through sheer spite throughout the later stages of his career, but that doesn't actually support his anti-feud stance - it's basically the exact same thing as what valentino does. they're both quite similar in that regard! always so hungry to prove a point, to show how someone else is wrong. kinda half the point with this feuding business is to get yourself going, get yourself motivated, yeah. he straight up openly admits to using yamaha's repeat rejection of him as a way of giving himself motivation, and at the end of the day that's really not all that different?

anyway, what else does casey say... oh yeah, that him and the other aliens were already kinda prepared for this and had learned vale's tricks. that valentino had only been able to get into the minds of the previous generation. welllllll *wiggles hand* sure, I mean, he did clearly have to change his approach... he couldn't just use the exact same playbook to get to them, either on-track or off-track. but that's why he did change up the playbook... again, whether you want to believe valentino won his final two titles 'in the head' rather than just through pure pace kinda depends on how you assess the evidence, but it is at the very least a debate. and, y'know, it's always worth remembering that valentino's most important mind games with casey didn't happen in a press conference... it was on the track. and the on-track stuff really is just embedded in how valentino approaches winning. speaking of aliens, this is what dani and jorge have said:

like, valentino's entire approach to his riding, even to the way he's setting his bike up, is deliberately about directly fucking with you... he's not actually always trying to be faster than you as much as he's trying to give himself the tools to make your life miserable, to pressure you into mistakes, etc etc... and again, especially with casey (if anything because he was so mentally sturdy), the off-track stuff was really just window dressing. (I know they bicker a lot after 2009 but it's just so fundamentally irrelevant to actual on-track competition.) so you can be aware of those tricks, but it also doesn't necessarily help you when someone's being nasty to you on-track in a way you just fully do not enjoy. which is what it was like for casey! for casey, a lot of this comes back to the truly unpleasant context of how he was perceived by the public, how he was treated as mentally weak or 'broken' or whatever partly because he had the misfortune of coming up against a bloke who had the reputation for breaking rivals. I think it's quite natural to end up with a bit of a hardliner 'actually I've never been mentally affected by a result in my life' stance - and of course casey is a lot tougher than a lot of people give him credit for. that being said. sometimes your rivals affect you, shit happens, it's part of the game. it's fundamentally a nice idea to think that valentino's tactics weren't just morally wrong but also ineffective, which is kind of the appeal of this narrative, right? you want to believe you're above that, you want to believe you were adequately prepared and wise to valentino's tactic. it's unsurprising and understandable that casey does tend to tell the story that way, but again it's *wiggles hand* also hard to describe it as completely factual

uh. what else. oh I'm thrilled casey does canonically know valentino and marc were friends, he has said he wasn't following motogp too much during that time period so you couldn't be sure of that. does this mean anything? does it tell you anything? well, no, but it's just a pleasing thought to me. I like that. oh also 'provoking particularly aggressive riders isn't a good idea' is kinda a funny take from casey? like, he of all people would hate the idea of being cowed by someone's reputation like that... casey's right that provoking fast riders can potentially be dangerous, but y'know I do think that's probably not news to anyone almost nine years later. um. that's all I've got I think

[milkman-zahhak]

[more detailed updates in the tags btw]

I don't wanna split it up, but I've been writing the FUCK out of the part 2 for the Halloween fic, and it's already super long and uh. Well, Cal still has 2 more bags of candy to go at this point and I don't wanna just have those glossed over.

So for better or for worse, this is gonna be a pretty long story. Get hype and stuff!

[puckluckie]

Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin • 12.868 words • Teen and Up

When the stranger moved into Old Lew’s cabin, the only thing that Zhenya found odd about it was that anyone would choose to live in that ramshackle building at all. Maybe he should have paid more attention to his mother's stories.

A @sidgenospookyfest fic for @cascara-soda. Thank you to the mods for organizing the event!

Alternate Universe, Not Hockey Players, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Folklore, Getting Together, attempts at creepiness and gothic tones, Mysterious Strangers, Sidney Crosby's infamous banana bread, Implied Sexual Content

Read on AO3

[phagodyke]

sorry for googling "is shadow of the erdtree hard" do u still think im cool....

[syvanna]

trying to convince myself things aren't becoming meaningless again

[galacticlamps]

in the club bathroom straightup pondering it. and by "it" haha well let's just say, 'whether or not i should attempt to finish & share a fic i've been working on for nearly a year now'

[sysig]

Now now, not too much of a voice of reason (Patreon)

[crimson-moonflowers]

[faggotry-enjoyer]

there is SO MUCH bullshit going on at this university and i want to talk about it on here so bad but it's too specific to do so without coming dangerously close to full on doxxing myself