#I know tumblr hates landscape format

[auburnflight]

90-minute (ish?) study of a screenshot I took upon arriving in the flooded city the other day

Reference image:

[starset21]

Sincerely, Yours

Standard disclaimer: I only own my original characters, I've done some research but there will likely be Navy/military inaccuracies, and I do not consent to the posting, translating, or publishing of my work to any 3rd party site, the only place it may be found is on tumblr and Wattpad under @.itswildflower A/N: I hate having to say this but please leave a comment or reblog because I have no idea if people are actually reading this series and if people are liking it. Summary: The big mission

Looking for previous chapters? Sincerely, Yours Masterlist  

Chapter 9:

Cyclone and Warlock stand with the ship’s Officers and Comms Crew. Hondo is there as well, anxiously watching the screens. “Support assets airborne. Strike package ready. Standing by for launch decision.” Cyclone nods. “Send ‘em.” A catapult officer signals with a two-finger wave, as the two jets facing him throttle engines to full. Maverick and Rooster, side-by-side, salute the Officer, then press their heads back against the headrests. The final check crews around each aircraft offer a thumbs-up, one by one, causing the Catapult Officer to crouch, touching the deck to point forward. Maverick and Rooster��s Super Hornets fly across the deck, ripping into the sky. Phoenix and Bob as well as Tempest and Denver are launched a moment later. The four F-18s fly above dark ominous clouds, maintaining their delta formation. “Rough Rider. Dagger, Texaco complete. Comanche, standby check-in,” Maverick says. An air control officer watches streams of data roll in. “Comanche one-one, set. Lightning One, status.” An F-35 pilot monitors his electronic view of the valley. “Lightning One, set. Bravo route is clear.” The four F-18s descend through the clouds to 1000 feet. “Here we go. Enemy territory up ahead. Feet dry in 60 seconds. Comanche, dagger one. Picture.” The air control officer looks at her screens before responding. “Comanche. Picture clean. The decision is yours,” she said. “Copy. Proceeding to Bravo. Dagger attack,” Maverick’s voice came over the channel. “Dagger’s assume attack formation.” They adjusted their formation into their attack order. “Daggers set. Proceeding to target. Two minutes and 30 seconds in three, two, one, Mark.” All four push the button and their clocks start counting down. “Two mark,” came Tempest’s voice. “Three mark,” Rooster called out. “Four mark,” Phoenix called out last. With Mav taking the lead, the Strike Package flies in a staggered formation toward enemy territory. “Tomahawks airborne,” the comms officer informs the team moments before they fly over the heads of the aviators. 

“First SAM site overhead, no movement,” came Denver’s voice over the channel. “Looks like we’re clear on radar, Mav,” Tempest called out. “Let’s not take it for granted,” Mav reminded them. They shoot into an ever-compressing canyon, hauling ass over the broken landscape, snowy trees flashing just beneath. It’s training times ten. The valley walls are tight, and the high speed and sharp turns are resulting in higher Gs. “We got two minutes to target,” Denver tells the team. “Copy,” Tempest responds. “We’re a few seconds behind, Rooster. We got to move,” Phoenix warns. “Thirty seconds to tomahawk impact on the enemy airstrip,” a second comms officer alerts them. Radar beeps before they are updated with new information. “Dagger, Comanche. We’re picking up two bandits. Single group, two contacts.”

“Comanche, what’s their heading?” Tempest asks. “Bull’s-eye 090, 50, tacked southwest,” they were informed. “They’ve headed away from us. They don’t know we’re here,” Rooster called out. “The second those tomahawks hit the air base, those bandits are gonna move to defend the target. We have to get there before they do. Increase speed,” Maverick ordered. “We got you, Mav. Don’t wait for me!” The physical pressure on the team alone is intense, requiring every ounce of concentration, skill, and endurance. Each of the pilots contends with the intensity in their own way. Training was nothing compared to this. They’re all feeling it. “Come on, Rooster. Bandits inbound. We got to make up time now. Let’s turn and burn,” Phoenix tells her partner. “Heads up, Tempest,” Mav calls out. As they turn sideways and pass through a narrow gap under a bridge Denver quietly lets out a “woah.” 

“Guys, we’re falling behind. We really gotta move,” Bob calls out. “If we don’t increase our speed right now, those bandits are gonna be waiting for us when we reach the target,” Phoenix tells Rooster. A quiet “Talk to me, Dad,” came from Rooster. “Come on, kid, you can do it. Don’t think, just do,” Maverick encouraged. Bradley took a deep breath and he hit the throttle. “Jesus, Rooster, not that fast!” Bob exclaims. “Damn, Rooster, take it easy,” Phoenix chimes in, throttling up to pursue. “Thirty seconds to target. Denver, check your laser,” Mav ordered. “Air-to-ground check complete. Laser code verified, 1688. Laser is a go!” Denver exclaimed. “Tempest, stand by for pop-up strike,” Mav said. “Dagger three in position,” she replied. “Popping in three, two, one,” Maverick counted down before both pilots pulled back on their sticks. “Get me eyes on that target, Denver,” Mav ordered. “Dagger three. Stand by, Mav.” His system beeped. “I’ve got it. Captured!” he responded. “Target acquired, bombs away.” Maverick and Tempest wrench their jets into a body-smashing climb - excessive Gs. Only this time it’s for keeps as a mountain face is coming up fast. For a few moments, the only sound over the comms was grunting as they climbed. “We’ve got impact! Check, direct hit! Direct hit!” Denver calls out before grunting. “Dagger two, status,” Mav asks when it's a little easier to breathe. “Almost there, Mav. Almost there. Bob, where’s my laser?” Bob’s eyes frantically dart over his screens. “Rooster, there’s something wrong with this laser! Shit! Deadeye, deadeye, deadeye!” Bob called out. “Come on, guys, we’re running out of time. Get it online!” Rooster replied. “Nearly there! Nearly there!” he replies his hands flying over the controls and trying to fix the problem. “There’s no time. I’m dropping blind,” Rooster says after a moment. “Rooster, I got this!” Bob yells. “No time. Pull up,” Rooster orders. “Wait!” Phoenix tries. “Great balls of fire,” Rooster mutters as he drops his payload. “Bullseye!” They’re informed by overwatch. “We’re not out of this yet. Here it comes,” Maverick warns and suddenly the first two jets are climbing into the clear blue sky. The first array comes automatically to life, swivels, and fires. “Radar warning! Smoke in the air. Tempest, break right!” Denver yells. “Emergency jettison. Dagger three defending,” Tempest declares as she dodges the incoming missiles. “Here comes another one!” Denver warns. “Dagger one defending.” Maverick shoots off flares. “Rooster, status,” Mav asks. “Oh, my god,” Rooster murmurs as they crest over the mountain to see Mav and Tempest dodging missiles and trying to get low to the ground. “Smoke in the air! Smoke in the air! Break right, Phoenix!” Bob yells. “Breaking right,” she replies, doing as she was told. “Oh, my god, here they come!” Bob exclaims. “Sam on your six, Rooster!” he warns. “Deploying countermeasures. Negative contact.” The comms channel was a mess, the aviators doing their best to avoid being shot out of the sky. Sounds of the aviators fill the room back on the command deck. The breathing hard, the shouting, straining, and cursing. It’s hell. 

“Dagger one defending.” 

“Talk to me, Bob.”

“Break right, Phoenix!”

“Break right! Mav!”

“Nine o’clock! Tempest, Nine o’clock!”

“Rooster, two more on your six.”

“Dagger two, defending.”

“Phoenix, Sam on your nose.” 

“Dagger four defending.”

“Rooster, tally, seven o’clock!”

“Talk to me, Bob!”

“On our six!”

“Dagger two defending.”

“Denver!”

“Tempest Break Right!” 

“I see it!”

“Dagger two defending. Shit, I’m out of flares!”

“Rooster, evade, evade!”

“I can’t shake ’em! They’re on me! They’re on me!” 

An F-18 fills his sight picture. 

“MAVERICK, NO!”

Maverick releases flares, but he’s too late. And he knows it. The missile slams into Maverick’s engine. A fireball shreds the splintering rear of the jet. “Dagger one is hit! I repeat, dagger one is hit!” Tempest calls it in, doing her best to keep her voice from wavering. “Maverick is down.” The remaining jets dive into the valley and below the SAM’s and their radar. The arrays go still. “Dagger one, status,” Rooster calls out, waiting a moment. “Status! Anyone see him? Does anyone see him? Dagger one, come in!” Rooster exclaims again. “I didn’t see a parachute,” Tempest says softly. “We have to circle back!” Rooster yells. “Comanche. Bandits inbound. Single group, hot. Recommend dagger flow south. One minute to intercept. All daggers flow to ECP. You have bandits headed for you.” Phoenix and Tempest look at each other as they fly side by side, their eyes sad from the loss of their mentor. “What about Maverick!” Rooster tries. “Dagger spare request permission to launch and fly air cover,” Hangman’s voice comes over the radio. “Negative, spare.” Jake nearly punches his dash in frustration. 

“Dagger, you are not to engage. Repeat, do not engage. Dagger two, return to the carrier. Acknowledge. Acknowledge,” the comms officer relays their orders. “Rooster, those bandits are closing. We can’t go back,” Phoenix tries to reason. “Rooster, he’s gone. Maverick’s gone,” Bob says solemnly. Bradley takes a moment staring up into the blue vastness of the sky. “Screw it.” A deep breath later and he’s turning back, leaving Phoenix and Tempest. “Dagger two is hit. Dagger two is hit,” Phoenix relays just as the radar shows the command deck his jet has gone offline. “Dagger two, come in. Dagger two, do you copy? Dagger two, come in.” The remaining aviators wait to hear their friend’s voice in vain. When no response is given Ria’s chest hurt, and not from the G’s this time. Phoenix looked over at Tempest as she pulled up beside her jet. “Don’t you leave me too,” she says quietly. Elliot reached a gloved hand through the small gap in the metal separating their seats and squeezed her shoulder. “It’s not just me in this jet. I have to get Eli home,” is all she says, turning her eyes to the horizon and doing her best to prevent her voice from shaking and tears from lining her eyes. On Tempest’s wing, Phoenix follows her back to the ship, circling overhead as Tempest traps and taxis into her jet's space, running through all the shutdown procedures. “Rooster’s ESAT is online and supersonic. Overwatch reports an f-14 tomcat is airborne and on course for our position.” It was Maverick. The sounds of a jet launching reach their ears and they watch as Jake’s jet screams off the carrier and climbs in altitude. 

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, this is your savior speaking. Please fasten your seatbelts, return your tray tables to their upright and locked position, and prepare for landing,” Jake’s voice comes through the radio after several very tense minutes. “Hey, Hangman... you look good,” Bradley replies and Ria breathes a sigh of relief. “I am good, Rooster. I’m very good.” The four mission aviators already on deck are given the all-clear to depart their jets. Tired and sweaty the four aviators embrace each other tightly. Maverick and Rooster watch as Hangman’s F-18 circles back, doing a hotshot twirl of the wings. A victory roll.

All eyes are on the horizon as two planes are inbound. All of the pilots watch from Vulture’s Row, the balcony platform with the best view of the entire flight deck. Cyclone, Warlock, and Hondo have moved up to the Primary Flight Control room. “Get Hangman down first. Maverick may burn the deck,” Cyclone orders. Hondo without a word, runs from the command center. Hondo emerges on the deck where the crew is awaiting Hangman’s arrival. Emergency crews are standing by. “The minute Hangman touches down, pull the trip wires and have the barricade stanchions ready.” The crew just stares at him. “HE DOESN’T HAVE A GODDAMN TAILHOOK!” Hondo yells. The crew realizes and scrambles. It’s organized chaos once again. Cyclone, Warlock, and several officers stand in the PFC with binoculars, watching as Hangman’s super hornet comes in for a landing. His tail hook snagging the arrest cable, his plane jerking to a stop.

The Deck Crew rushes in to clear the way for Maverick. A ballet of precise emergency response. Hundreds of sailors work to remove Trap-Wires and raise Barricade Stanchions, lift up a 15-foot-high nylon barricade, stretching a massive net across the width of the landing deck. The F-14 circles overhead. “Rough Rider, Ghostrider here. We are requesting a tower fly-by.” Cyclone and Warlock share a look. “Is this a joke?” Cyclone asks. “Rough Rider, I say again-” Cyclone has the radio now. “Ghostrider, this is Cyclone. Put that bird on the deck now.” 

“-odswor- -strider- -adio” 

“Does he even want to land?” Cyclone asked Warlock. “He asked permission. That’s progress,” the other man replies. Cyclone sighs, nods begrudgingly to the Comm Tech who, despite everything, has to grin a little as he relays orders. “Ghostrider, pattern is clear, you are cleared for flyby.” Maverick raises a brow. “Huh. That’s a first.” Rooster knocks his helmet repeatedly on the canopy. “Why did I bother saving your ass?” Maverick blazes by the tower at high speed, rocking the tower. Cyclone shakes his head as several of the aviators on Vulture’s Row cheer. The battered Tomcat comes around, lining up with the runway before it smashes down, sliding across the deck on its nose, showering sparks and spewing smoke, until it slams into the nylon net, ripping it forward before snapping to a violent halt. Finally. Safe home. The emergency crews rush the jet as Mav and Rooster climb out. They check themselves and each other before climbing down. Sailors swarm them. Maverick gazes up to Vultures Row, spying Cyclone and Warlock. Cyclone gives him a simple, grateful nod.

“Chalked yourself another kill,” Bradley muses as Jake walks up to him, offering him a hand. “That makes two,” Jake smiles as they shake hands. “Maverick has five. Makes him an ace,” Phoenix steps in, finally pushing through the crowd of sailors that had rushed to congratulate them. Jake’s smile fades just a little bit. “Still impressive all things considering,” Ria’s voice rings out as she pushes out from behind Natasha, a small smile on her face as she gives Bradley a tight hug. As she pulls away she smacks his shoulder. “Don’t do that again!” Bradley groaned, rubbing his shoulder. “Wasn’t planning on it.” Ria gives him a stern look before turning her attention to Jake. She marches over to him and pulls him down by the flight vest and kisses him soundly. Whistles sound all around them as she pulled away but Jake didn’t let her go far. He pulled her back into another deep kiss. Cheers and more whistles followed. “I love you,” he murmured when he pulled back. “I love you!” she replied quietly just for him. Jake smiled wide and held her close to him.

Filled with jubilant sailors, the whole ship celebrates the mission’s return.

[smurphyse]

Loki helps Thor retrieve some magical plant and Loki gets to close when it blooms. The pollen gets him in the face and he inhaled. Things seem fine until Y/N walks in. Once he sees the reader, Loki starts acting strange. He follows reader around, gets mad when other people talk to her, etc. turns out the pollen is like a love potion and Loki is infected

I’m so sorry this took me so long! My brain’s been mush for a while! :O This is formatted better on my Ao3, Tumblr never lets me straight copy/paste on this stupid web thingy. You can check out my Ao3 here

Fruit of the Flower by Smurphyse

Words: 1762

Warnings: Love pollen, but no wiggy icky stuff. 

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

“Brother, I really don’t think I need to be here,” Loki groaned, dragging his feet as he followed behind Thor. They were on Vanaheim, retrieving a flower that Frigga tasked Thor with finding. She wanted it for some sort of potion for the new harvest, or something or other. Loki hadn’t been paying much attention, to be honest.

“Nonsense,” Thor grumbled happily, traipsing along the Vanaheim forest floor with a gusto that made Loki hate him. “I always enjoy your company, brother. The Ahava flower is nothing to play around with...”

“Sentimental fool,” Loki muttered under his breath, grateful Thor could not see the heat blossoming across his cheeks as he ignored the rest of his prattling on.

He looked around them, letting out a huff as he spotted the flower they were looking for. A bright pink monstrosity, it stood out among the purple and blue foliage of the landscape.

“Ah-ha! Brother, I am your king,” Loki chuckled, reaching down to pluck the flower.

“Loki, no!” Thor shouted, trying to force his way through the leaves to get to his brother. Loki’s brow simply furrowed in confusion, Thor’s reaction throwing him off center.

He looked back to the flower, just in time for it to burst open and cover him in a thick plume of neon pink dust. It settled on his shoulders and in his hair, and he coughed away the particles the best he could. A sickly sweet scent filled the air around him as the pollen stuck to his face and the inside of his nose.

Thor had his mouth covered with one hand, the other hurrying to tear a piece of his cloak off to wrap it around his face. He looked at Loki with big eyes, shock etched into every feature on his stupid mug.

“What?” Loki asked slowly, suddenly very nervous about what might happen to him. Was he going to grow horns? Turn into a llama? Would he burn to death from the inside out?

“That flower, if not used correctly…” Thor began, trailing off.

“Yes?” Loki snapped.

“It’s a concentrated love dust, and if not diluted usually creates a heightened period of obsession with it’s target. Obsession to the point of madness, some say.”

“Obsession with what?”

“Whatever you love most in this world,” Thor shrugged, his eyes still looking worried. “In your case, the only thing you love most is yourself, so maybe you’ll be fine?”

His mind immediately snapped to her.

“We have to get home, now.” Loki groaned, turning on his heel and heading back to the ship.

Thor lagged behind, and Loki snapped his fingers impatiently. He could feel it already, he needed to get back to her. His chest was connected to hers on a string, and he was being pulled back whether he liked it or not.

Y/n was one of his mother’s handmaidens, one who was always hanging around Frigga, ready to help the Queen in anything she might need. She was her personal servant, and Frigga was quite protective of her.

Knowing the vampish ways of both her sons, Frigga had given them explicit instructions decades ago to stay away from the girl. She was about Loki and Thor’s age, and the two had spent much of their youth vying for her attention.

It was so easy to make her laugh, Loki could not help himself. He would find her in the castle, embroidering the Queen’s dresses, cleaning her jewelry, or instructing the other servants in their duties, making sure everything was just as Frigga liked, just trying to hear that shy giggle. He would take care not to distract her from her jobs, knowing how much pride she took in being the right hand of the Queen of Asgard, especially someone of such low birth.

She had worked her way through the ranks of the servants quickly, catching the Queen’s eye one night when, during a royal event, Frigga’s dress tore right down the back of the skirt because Loki accidentally stepped on it. His mother had been caught quite off guard, her pale face flushing a deep shade of red as she flustered without knowing what to do.

A girl appeared behind her, slipping a dark shawl off her shoulders and draping it around Frigga’s own.

“You look a bit cold, Your Highness, please accept a humble gift from an admirer,” she bowed as Frigga turned in pleased shock. The girl leaned in close enough only for her and Loki to hear, “I’ve a sewing kit in my pocket and I think I can easily fix this so nobody notices.”

“My girl, you are a lifesaver,” Frigga chuckled, wrapping an arm around the girl’s shoulders, “Where have you been all my life?”

Up to that point y/n had reached the rank of head seamstress, and had worked on many of the Queen’s gowns without her knowledge. She and Frigga shared a glass of wine and a few laughs as she fixed the tear, while Loki watched on fondly as his mother made a new friend.

Since that night Loki had been besotted, absolutely enraptured by her, but his mother’s fierce protectiveness of her had kept Loki’s affections at a distance. If Frigga caught them alone, she would often steer her away from him, giving him a stern look.

It was his own fault, he was well aware, for having such a reputation- sleeping with any being that moved, whether it was male or female, nonbinary or anything in between. But this girl, she had warmed his heart with her talented hands and opened his eyes to what was truly possible.

“Loki, are you alright?” Thor asked cautiously as they arrived back in Asgard. Loki had been thinking of her, a dreamy smile on his face.

“Oh, yes,” Loki nodded, his hands clasped in his lap as he anxiously awaited for the ship to dock.

“We should get you to the healers,” Thor said as he rose from his seat. The pollen lost its potency after ten minutes, and the small ship didn’t have a quarantine shower, so Loki still sat covered in the pink powder.

“No, no,” Loki waved him off, “I’ve someone to see.”

“Who? Loki, we need to see if there’s an antidote.”

He said her name, his dopey smile following the perfect melody that it was. Thor clicked his teeth and sighed. He dragged a hand across the back of his neck and sat down next to Loki.

“Mother will kill you,” he told Loki pointedly, “If she sees you even touch y/n, she will kill you. You know how protective she is of that girl.”

“You’re just jealous,” Loki shook his head, frantically rising from his seat and heading toward the door. “I have to see her, Thor! I have to tell her how I feel.”

“Loki!” Thor called after him, but Loki was already gone. He barrelled down the hallways of the palace, searching for her, for the woman he loved. He finally found her in his mother’s chambers, chatting idly.

His mother stood in front of her mirrors, admiring the dress she was sizing for her. She kneeled behind the Queen, placing pins in the fabric to hold the hem where she wanted it.

They both looked up as he burst into the room. Frigga looked horrified, while y/n simply laughed at the sight of him.

“Well, it looks like you had quite the party,” y/n said, standing from her position on the floor.

Loki waltzed into the room, sauntering up to y/n until they were face to face. He smiled down at her, his heart bursting in his chest at the sight of her looking up at him in confusion.

“Y/N, I have to tell you something,” Loki started, but she shooed him away.

“Loki, you’re going to dirty the dress! I’ve spent hours on this.”

“I really must speak wit-,” he began again, but Thor came running up beside him, breathless.

“Nonsense, I feel fine!” Loki laughed, gesturing toward y/n with a grin, “Oh, you look so beautiful, you really have no idea.”

“Loki was hit with the Ahava flower’s pollen,” he wheezed, clutching his side. “Don’t listen to anything he says, he’s out of his mind right now.”

“Oh, Loki,” Frigga sighed, “Did you not listen to a word I said?”

“Loki, maybe you should lie down,” she spoke softly, pressing a warm hand on his arm and steering him toward a couch. Loki let her guide him, plopping down on the soft cushions and snatching her hands in his.

“I absolutely must speak with you, dear, I’ve something important to tell you.”

“Oh, Loki,” she sighed, easing her hands from his grip. “I already know.”

“You do?” Frigga, Thor, and Loki spoke all at once, but it was Thor who came up now and rested a hand on y/n’s shoulder.

“The Ahava plant secretes a-” he began, but she cut him off with a wave.

“Yes, yes, I know,” she told him, “I was listening to the Queen as she spoke.”

Y/N turned back to Loki, and reached her hands out to caress his face. Loki felt as if his heart might stop beating altogether from her touch, and he looked at her like she was the first breath of fresh air he’d had in decades.

“You don’t need to be full of obsession-poison for me to know things about you, Loki,” she said seriously, lightly tapping his nose with one of those nimble fingers. “I know what the Ahava plant does, and why you picked me. But I didn’t need the flower to tell me how you felt. You tell me every day in so many little ways, and I, unlike you, always listen.”

Loki swallowed thickly, focused solely on the feeling of her skin against his. She patted his cheek and moved away from him.

“You should take him to the healers,” she told Thor, “I’ll deal with him later.”

Thor nodded, gripping Loki from underneath his arms and hoisting him from the couch. Under y/n’s stern glare, he let Thor drag him off to the catacombs for assistance.

“Did you hear that?” he asked goofily, with a grin he would later be embarrassed to know settled on his face. “You think she likes me back?”

“Brother, do you ever listen?” Thor asked, shaking his head and grinning at him. Loki shook his head, though the dreamy grin on his face never left, and even after that day, it never did.

[thisweekinfandomhistory]

omg i just found your podcast and it’s incredibly cathartic to listen to as i have felt the loss of fandom spaces over the past few years (tumblr dying and twitter being hard to use for that). livejournal sounds so nice. I wish there was another social media site that would allow that sort of community again for art and fandom and connection.

Thank you so much for listening and writing in! The loss of fandom spaces is always so hard and sad -- I (V) still mourn the landscape of individually run HTML fansites that ran all the way to the horizon back in Web 1.0. I miss fun layouts! I miss image galleries! I miss fandom mailing lists! (And I highly recommend The Rec Center if you don't already subscribe to them).

I actually think that Tumblr isn't dying so much as accepting its size and scope -- it ISN'T a social media site, and it's never been something that was going to be able to compete with social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for mainstream, everyday-Joe users. People who don't have a hyperfixation or a fandom want to see a variety of content and are easy for The Algorithm to feed. Tumblr users... are not.

Tumblr may have started out with the goal of being a hub for Srs Bsns Photographers & Poets/Writers, but everything about its format makes it the perfect site for fandom to flourish.

I'm really happy that Tumblr itself is embracing that now! AFAIK their actual slogan on the Apple App Store is "Tumblr: The Home of Fandom." Fandom is a niche subculture. We're just not gonna have the numbers of a Twitter or a TikTok. (And honestly, thank fucking god. Can you even imagine the chaos. I shudder to think.)

Tumblr is a microblogging site. It's for people who write too much for Twitter and whose images aren't the vibe of Instagram. It's for gifsets, which are an art medium unto themselves that social media sites wouldn't have any use for, really. And it's definitely not for Norbert in Accounting to connect with his grandma on like Facebook.

The anonymity of Tumblr is antithetical to modern social media sites -- even though IT IS INSANE TO ME THAT PEOPLE PUT THEIR REAL NAMES AND PHOTOS ONLINE, DID WE NOT LEARN ABOUT STRANGER DANGER??? -- and the fact that Tumblr is inherently ABOUT transformational, shared, "yes and" content, rather than mostly original pithy content like Twitter and IG and TikTok, makes it attractive to people with the hyperfocus of fans more than people who want to scroll and scroll and just see Stuff. I mean, obviously on Tumblr we're all looking at Stuff, but you can CURATE your feed on Tumblr in a way that you can't on social media. Curation is the enemy of The Algorithm. And Tumblr users fucking hate The Algorithm.

And honestly? The Algorithm hates fandom, because it's really hard to market things to someone with a hyperfixation. I don't CARE about your product, and seeing it instead of the thing I want to be looking at makes me HATE your product. The Algorithm really needs to be able to feed you a lot of different types of content to see what you're interested in. If you go into a site already knowing what you're interested in, then... ::shruggie:: Sucks to suck, Algorithm.

All of that said, yes -- community is definitely an aspect of Web 1.0 that feels like it's missing, or very hard to find, on Tumblr. I know a lot of people are finding great fannish communities on Discord these days, but I am elderly and don't know how to find Discord communities in the first place and also I'm painfully shy, so. I just Tumbl.

But I think that the loss of a sense of community is also part and parcel of Web 2.0, from the formats of websites to their function. It was easier, in Ye Olde Days, to feel connected to other people who found your fandom online because... not everyone WAS online. There was a sense that if you loved a thing enough to find your way to a fansite, or to LJ, or whatever, that was already taking the first step towards opening yourself up to friendship. Now, with social media and with smartphones and whatever else, literally everyone is online all day long. It isn't already a little club of nerds, yk?

I don't know. The internet as a whole has changed its shape and scope so much in the last ten years, let alone the last 20, that it's a whole different arena than it used to be. I don't really have any solutions or suggestions. Maybe once we get our Patreon up and running or something we'll start a TWIFH discord that people can join and make friends on.

But all of that is to say --

tl;dr, Fandom itself is antithetical to "social media" sites, and it needs blogging sites like Tumblr or LiveJournal or hand-coded HTML fansites to BE ABLE to exist. /opinion

[yostresswritinggirl]

Albedo. I just rolled him and finished his quest.

I would love to talk about travelling with him, or at least being someone who brings in the ingredients for alchemy. Someone who goes out of their way for him and gets the best. Maybe the only gardener in Mondstadt to grow alchemical roots and grasses.

I'm happy for you, rolling the cute alchemy boyo ywy I only rolled in his banner to get Bennett in five rolls I'm sorry Albedo, my primogems are for Xiao and Hu Tao- *shot*

Back to business! I really, really like this cute idea awww thank you for distracting from the angst fics in my head haha (TUMBLR DIDN’T SAVE IT PROPERLY AND SO THE POST IS HORRIBLY SHORT WAIT- FIXED IT WOOHOO)

Albedo's Personal Botanist

Background

Most ingredients in alchemy usually come from ores and liquid ingredients formed by chemistry methods. Stuff like Tuttia, Bismuth, all that shindigs-

So while plant life can be useful for alchemy, not everyone recognizes its utility straight away, and provide for the common plants for arrangements rather than scientific inventory

I can imagine that you'd be a normal gardener at first but very passionate of their properties.

Might be a Dendro vision wielder too, the Dendro archon loves those who wield the power of knowledge, more so when they use it on nature.

You carry with you a lil book about all the plants and shrubs that you've personally cared for, down to their finest detail and properties. But you're a gardener, not a master of Alchemy, so some parts of the notes you couldn't really figure out yourself.

The first time you met Albedo, he was around a year into staying in Mondstadt. He was forced to go out and take a breather because of his workaholic schedule, and instead of relaxing in a bath, he ended up drifting to the market area to get more ingredients local to Mond.

Unlike the other flower stalls, he was pulled into yours because of the wide variety of your wares. Roots, grasses, shoots, plants you couldn't just find outside of the walls.

You were tending to your mini greenhouse in the back and left your botania book on the shelf outside, and this LIL SHI- Albedo, having no proper training for social interactions, straight up just opened that shit and read it all.

"Oh, hello there, mister- HEY, THAT'S MY STUFF, WHAT THE HECK"

Flustered, confused and alarmed, Albedo tried his best to quickly reason with your garden-spade-wielding self. And with his pretty boy self, you managed to calm down and listen.

You may or may not had smacked him with a bouquet of horsetail for good measure.

"Such vast knowledge and detail orientation, why waste away your talents in selling productive fauna when you can wield them into something more?"

Master Phytologist of the Knights of Favonius acquired!

Working with Albedo!

Your greenhouse in the Knight of Favonius HQ is most definitely connected to Albedo's laboratory! And very spacious too.

More than one occasion, you've seen the Chief Alchemist casually sneaking around the area, plucking a Flaming Flower or scraping dandelion seeds from the pot while you were busy tending to other flowers on the other side of your area.

65% of the time you caught him red-handed and you will be met with the rare sight of a fumbling, queasy Albedo.

30% of the time you just find out something is missing after checking inventory for the day, usually ends up with you hunting and shouting for Albedo. Because the guy seem to have a sixth sense as to when you find out his thieving adventures.

5% of all of that, Kaeya would be the one stealing from your 'safer' floras to woo a random citizen in Mond. And as a master of botany, your precious babies are always in tip top shape. Top quality bouquets all day, all night.

Those moments are the ones Albedo hate more than getting smacked with your spade. Those are your flowers, and by association, his. Grown to their maximum potential by your calloused yet gentle hands FOR HIM-

Kaeya: *reaching out to pluck a perfectly healthy glaze lily*; Albedo: *his short ass of a shadow looming over him*

NOW IT IS HIM WHO WIELDS THE POWER OF THE GARDEN SPADE

The atmosphere of your work area is significantly different from his own messy laboratory. The glass walls and roof that lets in just the right amount of sunlight, with a perfect view of the scenic landscape of Mondstadt and beyond.

When Albedo reaches a wall on his research, he picks up his sketchbook and just- waltz in to your workshop through the door connecting your workspaces.

The fresh air, the soft kiss of the sun, your humming, it was all a symphony of heaven concocted just for him.

He’ll find himself sketching your babies, dozen or more times you are included.

Your notebook’s illustrations are mostly courtesy of him, and he greatly basks in your pure admiration of his drawing.

To help him focus, you once took on the great task of organizing his laboratory, to no avail. Even if you manage to fix and align his inventory, it’s gonna go back to chaos after three days minimum.

It’s okay tho, it’s normal for him, more excuse to visit you-

Guilty, he wants your spacious and refreshing greenhouse and often asks for a redesign of his laboratory to share similar workspace with you.

Acting Grand Master Jean had to decline this idea just because it costs more than a million mora.

He’s definitely gonna sulk in your greenhouse after that, back leaning on the warm glass wall as he does nothing but sketch you and your plants the whole day.

Don’t stop him

Just admire the pout

Actually Working with Albedo! (Finally)

Whenever Albedo discovers/explores a new area, you’re always sure to tag along whether willingly or by force

YOU BET YOUR FROZEN ASS YOU’RE COMING WITH HIM TO DRAGONSPINE

DEFINITELY BY FORCE

I imagine that despite being his assistant/student, Sucrose and Timaeus are more focused on research and the application of Alchemy, so they’re not much of the resource gathering type. That said, Albedo is very thankful of your existence, it’s a breather to his already full schedule.

Albedo is both considerate and inconsiderate unconsciously : While he may run off to experiment on the traveler and leave you scouting the area yourself, he doesn’t willingly set you on fire from the inside.

Every time he comes back to camp after finishing the step by step experiment with/on the Traveler, he makes sure to check up on how you are doing.

TAKE NOTE: Our prince is very occupied and busy with his own work a lot, so he’s never really seen you in action when you go out to get the the materials he needs-

So he is purely horrified when he saw you hanging off the cliff with nothing but a rope around you to keep you safe, carefully investigating a petrified tree branch up close.

Suddenly, elevator.

Again, Imma bet, he’s gonna be accompanying you in all your expeditions after that. He’ll need to know where and how you acquire every ingredient outside of your greenhouse.

Does it require you to climb a mountain? Are there any Hilichurl camps nearby? Maybe mobs that are attracted to that type of flower?

He would be very attentive of your inventory reports and would recognize if a dangerous gathering journey is near. He’ll be right there with you.

Violetgrass x1000

He’s gathering more than a month’s worth just to make sure you don’t go back to make that dangerous trip. It’s very impractical, but let him rest his heart.

You and Albedo: Resource Gathering Expedition; Other Knights: Outdoor Dates Disguised as Work-Related Outings

Flower crowns are good and all but have you heard of flower bracelets?

Omg so cute hhh imagine a Flaming Flower Stamen bracelet for his Dragonspine expedition- it’s not gonna last forever but it’s so precious he’s definitely keeping that shit even when the heat already dissipated from it gah-

“Paimon wonders, what’s that thing around your wrist?”

“A flame bracelet, made to keep the cold away.”

“Woah! Sounds very useful! Sure would be handy for exploring, you think we can borrow it-”

“No.”

Something angst-y: Albedo has yet to make a Dendro affinity potion and he’s really, really devastated about it and himself. You’ll have to forcibly pull him out of his self-deprecation, force him to get a breather.

Overall, Albedo greatly appreciates not only your utility but also your consistent company. He values your tenacity and comfort, sharing unadulterated curiousity as you both venture the great unknown. There’s a lot of stuff he can pray about to thank whichever archon has graced you. And despite his Vision lacking the function to actually help in the advancement of his research, he is now thankful for it, for he has found with it a greater purpose: Ensuring the safety of his precious Gardenia.

I CANT BELIEVE IT, THIS THING WAS 30 TIMES LONGER BUT TUMBLR DIDN’T SAVE THE DRAFT PROPERLY AND HAD TO GET EVERYTHING BACK THROUGH MEMORY, AND MY MEMORY IS B A D. I’M SORRY I KNOW YOU JUST WANTED TO TALK BUT IT ENDED UP BEING SUPER LONG AND LOOKS LIKE A HEADCANON THAN ANYTHING, MY FORMATTING IS REALLY LIKE THIS AAAAAAAA- I hope you enjoy ywy I like your brain, it brings good ideas and gives me good ideas too!

[hoidn]

tree Explains Things 01: SnapMotion

In this tutorial I talk about using SnapMotion to create caps from video clips for the purpose of making gifs. (I recommend viewing this on YouTube for better quality and a larger video size.)

Please note that I'm not affiliated with SnapMotion or its creator in any way and there's nothing in it for me if you choose to purchase SnapMotion for yourself. Obviously, I recommend it, but do investigate your options, as there may be something out there that's better suited to you.

(This transcript is approximately 60% accurate to the tutorial and 40% me condensing my waffle into more sensible narration.)

--

SnapMotion is a Mac OS X program available to buy at the App Store. (As far as I'm aware, there are no releases for any other operating system.) It's fairly inexpensive: AUD $7.99 when I bought it two years ago. (In the video I said $12, from memory, but then I looked up the receipt email to confirm and found myself $4.01 wrong.) Considering that I've made thousands and thousands of caps in the couple of years I've been using it, I've definitely gotten my money's worth.

SnapMotion has two modes: what I call photo mode and then batch mode. Photo mode is good for one or two caps, but to extract caps in bulk you'll be using batch mode. (Something I forgot to mention in the video is that dragging your file to the SnapMotion icon will open it in photo mode by default. In order to access batch mode, you have to open the program and select it.)

Selecting Show Batch Mode takes you to the batch mode work space. Here you can drag and drop your clip or click the plus sign to add it. Once you've loaded a clip, select it in order to access the Add Batch Tasks menu.

One of the things that I particularly like about this program is that all the information you need about the file is clearly set out. In particular, it shows you how many frames per second you're working with. This is important because the fps rate determines how many frames you want to extract from a clip.

--

Why? Because math.

All the sources I've worked with have an fps rate of either 24 or 60. That number tells you how many individual images are contained in one second of video. Obviously, there's a considerable difference between 24 and 60, and that affects how many frames you choose to extract.

I've found I get the best results by extracting every other frame from 24 fps sources and every fifth frame from 60 fps sources. So:

24 fps = 2 (or 1/2 ← why does Tumblr do that?? I hate that!) 60 fps = 5 (or 1/5)

(That gives you roughly 12 caps per second for both sources. I say 'roughly' because, as you can see on my screen, the fps rate is rounded to the nearest whole number. 24 fps is actually 23.7 fps, so that missing .03 can have a cumulative effect.)

I find this is the best compromise between having smooth, natural looking motion in your gifs and keeping your file size within Tumblr's constraints. (I'll talk more about that in the next tutorial.)

--

Tools

The green bar is obviously your clip timeline. The cursor defaults to being in the centre for some reason. You have start and end caps (or whatever you call them) that define the start and end points of your extraction. The left and right arrow|bar buttons move your cursor to the start or end cap respectively, and between them is the play button. To the left are the transformation options. I've never used them, so I don't know what they do. (If you decide to experiment, please report back about your results!) To the right of that is the volume icon, which allows you to hear sound from your clip during playback. I don't find it useful, so I don't bother. The tortoise icon allows you to adjust the speed of your playback (left is slower, right is faster in case that’s not obvious). The arrowheads on the far right move your playback cursor to the start and end caps respectively.

Add Batch Tasks

This is where you specify the parameters for the batch.

Mode: there are four options. I primarily use Every X Frames. As this is a 24 fps source, I want to extract every 2 frames, so I use the value 2. When I type my value in and then press tab, the bottom of the panel shows the number of frames that will be generated from my selection. If I process this selection, SnapMotion will create twenty-five images. But because I moved the start and end caps earlier, and I actually want to extract frames from the whole clip, I need to adjust them. When I tab through my X value again, I see an updated number of generated frames.

I always include the Starting and Ending frames because I trim my clips to the exact frames I want (unless I'm being lazy).

Max size: This refers to the width of the image in pixels. (Technically, it refers to the maximum size of the largest dimension, but since video sources are universally landscape oriented, for our purposes this number will always refer to the width.) The default setting is 4,000 pixels and since the source clip is 1920 pixels wide my caps are going to remain 1920 pixels wide. However, if you know what width you want your eventual gif to be and you don't want to go through the extra step of resizing it in Photoshop, you can use this setting to do that for you. For example, if you want your gif to be 540 pixels wide you would enter 540 in this field. When you process this batch, SnapMotion will resize each frame it extracts to a width of 540 pixels with a proportional height. (Yeah, I said width at first and then I had trouble getting out the word height. Talking is hard!)

I don't use this feature simply because sometimes I change my mind, and I would have to rerun the batch if I did. (This isn't a big deal for a single shot like this, but if you're working with a whole scene that contains hundreds of frames, it's a hassle.) I also reuse caps sometimes. As you probably know, if you follow my Longmire gifs, sometimes I do a full scene using small gifs and then I go back and do large versions of some of the Vic shots. (Because I love her so.) And sometimes I make other graphics. In those situations, I want the image at its original size, so that I can resize or crop it the way I want.

Format: I prefer PNG.

Override: this tells the program what to do when a file with the same name already exists in the destination folder. The options are Replace existing files or Use alternative name. They're probably fairly self-explanatory (but just in case, I included a note).

Errors: I don't think I've ever had an error in this program. You can choose to generate a log file with each batch, but I kept getting logs that said "no errors" every time I ran one and it was annoying having to constantly delete them, so I switched to No error handling.

Headline/Credit: I believe this is like watermarking your images. If you want to watermark your gifs (I honestly don't see the point but some people do it), I think it'd be a lot easier to do it in Photoshop (or whatever program you use for image editing).

Export: this is where you specify the destination for your extracted image files. Click Choose to open the menu from here. Alternatively, when you're ready to process a batch, click the red button (aka the "Do the Thing" button according to me when I recorded this), and if there is no destination already specified, it will prompt you for a location.

Once you've clicked the Do the Thing button (yeah, I'm just leaning into it now), SnapMotion will display Task Added. If you look at the top of the window, you'll see a progress bar showing the percentage of completion as it processes.

When the images are fully exported, you'll see All Tasks Done and also an alert if you've selected that in your preferences (which I haven't gotten to yet but it's coming up). If you go to the destination folder, you'll find all the images that have been extracted. That's it!

--

I want to address the syntax for how files are named because I found the options very confusing to begin with. The default syntax made no sense to me and it took me a while to configure something that did. File names are defined in the program preferences, so go to the SnapMotion menu, select Preferences, then select the Batch tab.

Number of concurrent snaps: how many frames should be extracted at the same time. This has an impact on your RAM usage and also impacts how long it takes a batch to run.

Alert users with: this is where you choose whether or not you want a notification outside the program. It's useful if you're running a larger batch in the background and therefore don't see the All Tasks Done message.

Output name format:  these are the elements I use:

<movie_name> = the title of your clip file

hyphen

<time_seconds> = the actual second position of the frame within the clip; for example, a frame that was extracted at 14s would be numbered beginning with 14. This parameter converts durations of 1 minute+ into seconds, e.g. 60, 61, etc.

<frame _index> = the running number of the frames extracted in the batch, beginning at 1. The position of this number depends on the total number of frames you're extracting. From 1 to 99 frames, the number will be 01; from 100 to 999 frames, the number will be 001. I've never extracted more than 1,000 frames, but I assume in that situation you'd begin with 0001.

If I were extracting 40 frames from my clip beginning at 14s, then the numerical portion of my file names would start at 1401. If I were extracting 120 frames, then the numerical portion of my file names would start at 14001.

<image_extension> = the file format you've specified

So, my file names are constructed like this: 

<movie_name>-<time_seconds><frame _index>.<image_extension>

And the files from the batch I've just run look like this if you separate the elements: 

1x05_2206 - 0 01 . png

In this batch, the seconds run from 0 to 3 and there are 34 frames in total. The first number column represents <time_seconds>, while columns two and three combined represent <frame_index>. You can see that the numbers in columns two and three are sequential from 1-34, whereas the numbers in column one aren't. That's because I've extracted multiple frames per second. Caps 1-7 were extracted from the first second of the clip, caps 8-18 from the second, caps 19-31 from the third, and caps 32-34 from the fraction of the fourth second.

This naming system is what works for me, but you should experiment with the options so that you can construct file names that work best for you.

--

The last couple of things:

You can import multiple clips either individually or at the same time. 

You can delete a clip by selecting it and clicking the minus button.

--

And that's SnapMotion!

If anything is unclear or I've omitted something that you wanted to know about, please let me know. Thanks for watching and listening (and reading). Next up, I’ll be explaining the process of importing your caps into Photoshop and creating your gif file.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hello, Steph, it's me again! Thank you for your sweet compliments! *sends a bucketload of hugs* You recommended I just put my fic on AO3? I'm kinda nervous about the tags, idk. What should I do?

(referencing this post)

Hi Lovely!

Tag it however you feel is correct, Lovely! <3 Most authors all have their own tagging system, and some don’t tag anything at all. It’s all up to you! I think generally, people tag any common triggers and romances in the fics. But again, it’s all up to you! <3 Regardless what you do, your fic will get more viewership on Ao3 – more audience, the tagging system, and cleaner format makes it easier for all people to read your fic. I personally HATE reading fics on LiveJournal, for instance, and usually just never read them. I like Ao3 because of their eBook conversion option, and the fact that it was made for landscape orientation for Mobile readers like myself. It’s just much more accessible, I find. <3

I hope you do try it lovely! And, it has all kinds of features that let the author know about readers on their fics (essentially, notifications) so I think it will do well to at least cross-post there. You’ll get your tumblr audience as well as a whole new audience who do tag searches <3

Good luck, Lovely! <3

[yoitscro]

First thought: Homestuck^2 should've just been called Beyond Canon, and more people should call it that. 

The 2 was put on for chuckles; HS trending the day it was announced with it being a sequel spoke enough about how such a thing shant be underestimated, and why Homestuck is ABSOLUTELY more than just our small twitter crowd (and the scrap of us still on tumblr). I say that because remembering the Beyond Canon part slightly reassures me about the fact that this is a fanwork that will do some weird shit, and things I don't agree with, but isn't something that I have to subscribe to enjoying all the way with how I engage with Homestuck.

Homestuck 2 is not the canon continuation. Homestuck 2: Beyond Canon, is an OFFICIAL continuation.

Not having it on such an important stool and as the only content we all are only allowed to digest should come from both people who obsessively dislike it, and people who defensively support it. If a character says they kick babies then I can say, hey that's weird, maybe not great writing, but I can pretend they don't in my content, and i dont have to send threats or call people cishet white men for it! and, it's an absolutely great thing that we were all encouraged to create our own ideas without anyone who's influenced us to do so squinting their eyes when we actually go through with it. Glad I don't have to put this story up to the expectations of being a sequel to a 11 year, worldwide IP that's shooketh the internet landscape since it's merely optional, Death of the Author persists, and ideas aren't just dominated and revolved around the perspective of a 1% in this entire fanbase.

That said.

As an OFFICIAL continuation versus a canon one, HS2 is ok. It certainly has that fanfiction vibe, and a story it wants to tell. I can't really tell what that story is since we have like, 10 sub plots rn though. There's not a real a clear indicator on where the focus of main conflict is that connects all these stories together.

I thought that the prose in replacement of Vriska's battle was jarring, but not teeerribly surprising for the format HS2 is going for. It's more so using drawings to compliment text versus Homestuck's usual of panels being side by side with visual importance, or even itself being the one compliment. It sorta feels weird tho that it brought old fans back in with art just for them to get sneered at when they get a bit upset that there won't be main staples of art known to progress the story forward. 

Also people who mock people for “having to read homestuck” knowing there’s language barriers and struggling focus from those who’ve been use to something that was never so dense, are ridiculous.

Personally this could be solved by knowing how old flashes worked, having way more artists on the team, maybe even an art director if not already, and noting that we're not asking for the next Cascade. Rome wasn't built in a day, but Rose Ride sure was, and Homestuck’s animation is absolutely not the same as a 12-24 framed 12 minute cartoon. That, or just snuff the illustrative art as a whole since it's very clear on where the focus is.

I’m sure you’re not here trying to see my opinions on how the outer workings are though, versus plot.

Uuuuh, let's see. Yiffy's still a name I don't care to use until I eventually get tired of any of my art that do not show up in tags. This is fine and not as offensive as people are saying it is. Minors who want to cosplay this character don't have to call themselves this character. Not wanting to be one letter away from accidentally entering a very NSFW space of twitter is fine. Also the lot of people call Tavros, Tavvy.

I hope Kanaya's anger at being cucked is actually seen versus being implied through fan guesses and another character having to say she was.

Roxy needs to be more of an involved character. Where are they during all this?

Jane should have a mention of her relations to HIC being a main/bad influence on her current parallels to Alternian dictatorship.

The PRE-RETCON GROUP should have a fun one-shot update for fans who like them, since they oughta be around if they fell through the ghost hole. Most of them. The sprites that aren't Jasprosesprite should also show up too, since they're around.

Aaaaaand I think we should be extra careful going into the future when it comes to the alien rebellion. It's weird that a lot of the writers are white and toy around with concepts that can be a not so great parallel to racism. Currently not great timing rn! If the characters are going to remain aracial, but with them still doing not much to reference other non-white earth cultures or getting new hair cuts that have different textures (looking at you, Rose), we shant make the species with actual biological benefits a racism commentary. the xeno joke at least had a play on words. If any writer has happened upon this then a, please don't get mad at me again haha, and b, consider having more black writers or directional assistance on your squad. You know who they are.

In the future. I casually want the ghost from the Dream Bubbles to be shown since it's a big elephant in the room to not have a single one of them in the bg despite a load of them appearing from the ghost whole. Don't gotta give them speaking lines, especially the dancestors. I personally don't know if I want that right now.

I also hope in the future that we don't get HS content that is only going to revolve around HS2, if it's optional enough to engage with without being the only option. That's why PQ could ended a bit better for me, and why I hope it's not the main thing that's keeping Hiveswap on the backburner. I don't think it's farfetched to consider that multiple HS content could come from more than just one team; to relieve work load, but to also strengthen the idea that Homestuck can be a various amount of perspectives when it comes to the ideas fans have. The most dedicated fans leading the direction of the story is not just a handful of them. If anything, at least acknowledge the massive ass fan projects going on once in awhile to showcase the different avenues.

"Hey Cro, you sure have bitched about this alot. Do you have anything good to say? Why don't you stop reading if you hate it so much!"

Not every comment needs to be golden, love. Again, some of these decisions I eck at, but ultimately they're just words on a computer that I'm not holding anyone at gun point to do, and I'm curious to see how the story handles itself going forward, since again, it's just a fanwork. Sometimes I wish to not only see where the plot goes, but to see a writer's craft in action.

Good Things:

The Art. Again, please have more artists. It'd help so much, especially since the main one is also double timing for VE. That said, HS2 sticks out to me because of the way the color composition is used. Aside from hair and other tiny things, I haven't seen black used a lot, which makes colors pop. It's really nice to look at. I hope we get more sharper styles of character in the future, since it builds on nostalgia and makes the trolls feel much less like they're from Repiton, but I can deal with it for the most part. I also like that one panel where the omega kids and vriska are talking in the dark room, and based on where they're standing, the text aligns. Tasty as hell.

Meat and Candy still do hold neat logic in the direction the stories go. Candy, while it could be more tasteless in some areas, is chaotic and too much of a good thing. Meat is having something a little more straightforward, though I'm not sure quite yet where it's going. I always found Candy to be the part of the epilogue that actually entertained me the most, from how much of a surreal Robot Chicken skit at 3am it felt. Sometimes the jokes slapped real nice and made me wonder, going in, how is this monkeys paw gonna play out and, hopefully, make people laugh or smirk like they got a good roast at themself?

The slightly episodic feel of each update is what I wanted from the Epilogues, so it's interesting to see that play out when it comes to switching different perspectives.

The bonus updates get points for featuring characters that a lot of us have been wanting to see for ages.

Hopefully this isn't unpopular, but I think the tension of Yiffy's introduction was nicely composed and written (ignoring some of the things I wish for Jane). It leaves you with enough want to see what'll happen next time. You could also say that despite her growling and making a lot of noise, it's not actually bad writing: I see it as the audience being forced to see her in the same perspective that Jane see's her; a dog. Upon no context we're seeing the same thing while knowing things are obviously off, and once we see this character in a new environment where their personality shines, it'll have a bigger impact her own character being humanized. So I like that.

Okay, I think that's all I got. I improv wrote most of this; hopefully I won't be taken out of context since I don’t think that HS2′s writing should ultimately be a judgement of the writers as people, nor treated as if they should hold the same unhealthy work environment that Andrew forced himself to do when writing the og comic. And I'm still like, donating to the patreon and everything, lol.

[runs away]

edit: i was going to put the cw as another positive thing for the comic...but...yeaaaah.

[myaekingheart]

Some Updates to My Fanfic Posting Procedures

So, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all of the chaos related to Tumblr’s Post+ feature. It would be an understatement to say that I am not happy about it. Tumblr’s attempts to monetize our usage of this site and especially our engagement in fandom culture is honestly disgusting and ill-informed. The contrast between the fine print and the way they seemed to market this just feel very much like they are trying to screw so many of us over and trick us into getting into legal trouble which I absolutely do not vibe with whatsoever. 

I side with everyone protesting against Tumblr implementing this and I desperately want Tumblr to reconsider but I also know that Tumblr is a corporate machine like everything else and will likely not listen to us because that’s what corporate machines do. They will more quickly act in the interest of money than their own consumers. 

I think it’s pretty obvious that I do not intend to utilize Post+ whatsoever. Nor do I intend to engage with anyone who does. But even so much as the announcement of this I feel will have a drastic effect on Tumblr’s cultural fandom landscape in general, and not for the better. After this, I honestly no longer trust this site for the sake of sharing my own fanworks. I have loved having the ability to post individual chapters of my fic here in text posts and format my own index and everything but if Tumblr is going to try and entice us to make money off of fanworks under the guise of “Monetizing fan work does not necessarily mean that it isn’t fair use”, I cannot sit here and allow my own fanworks to still be associated with this site. Even if I steer clear of Post+ myself, I don’t trust sharing my fanworks on a site that would even consider allowing people to charge money to access fanfiction like that. 

All of this is just to say: from this point forward, I will no longer be posting individual chapters of my fanfic onto Tumblr. Instead, I intend to share AO3 links whenever I update in case anyone who actually reads my fic keeps up with me here and looks for my fanfiction here. I trust the OTW and their tireless efforts to support, encourage, and legally protect all of us fan creators, and so I feel much more at home now more than ever to post my fanfiction there and nowhere else. 

I’m still considering whether I want to even keep all of the already posted chapters up or not on this site, but at a total of 143, I know that would be a lot of work to go through and delete. I would also hate to erase a vehicle for people to find my fanfic if they just so happen to stumble across it here. I don’t know, I really only just decided on all of this yesterday so I still might need a little time to figure all the other details out. The one thing I do know for sure, though, is that I will not be uploading any new chapters of my fic directly onto Tumblr. 

[thebookishaustin]

ARC Review: Devolution

Image from my publishers web page

Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks

Release: June 16, 2020 (Previously May 2020)

Publisher: Del Rey Books

*I received a free, digital ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions contained within this review are my own.* 

You might recognize this author from his disturbingly awesome book World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (2006) turned movie World War Z (2013, with Brad Pitt). You might also recognize his name from his extensive work in the graphic novel field, or his Minecraft novels for middle grade students. Or you might simply know him as Mel Brooks’ son. But no matter where you know him from, Max Brooks has a new novel coming out. . 

Mount Rainier has erupted, sending the area into panic as people fled and tried to survive the natural onslaught. However, nobody worried about the group of people living on an eco-commune called Greenloop. The residents were trapped, with no avenues to reach the outside world, for weeks. When people finally thought to look for them, the remains of their community were found, broken and disheveled, blood splattered all over the ground. No survivors were found. The evidence found in the surrounding area, once added to the detailed journal entries of Kate Holland, suggests there might be creatures in the world that have long been considered folklore. 

Devolution follows in the path of World War Z in terms of style and storytelling. Where World War Z is written as a series of interviews AFTER the zombie apocalypse, piecing together a timeline of key events, Devolution is written in the form of journals, interviews, speeches, etc. as a researcher pieces together the events of the now-titled Greenloop Massacre. I love this type of format as it leaves wiggle room for ambiguity (I know a lot of people hate that) in the story while also providing the opportunity to engage with multiple perspectives. Brooks is a master at weaving his narrative using these rarely used structures to build a unique perspective to his worlds. 

Using the journals of one of the occupants of Greenloop was a great way for Brooks to get into the heads of Greenloop residents. We learn, as they do, about the predicament they find themselves. How will they survive? What drives their decision making? This also provides a unique method for slowly piecing together what’s lurking in the shadows - both within the fellow survivors as well as the surrounding landscape - as the group learns they aren’t alone in this forest. 

I’m giving Devolution 4-out-of-5 Awesome Austin Points. I thoroughly enjoy Brooks’ writing and this was just one more example of his expertise in storytelling. This book was originally due to be published mid-May but it’s publication date was pushed back to mid-June now. Either way, you should keep this one in mind for a future read and check out World War Z in the meantime! I hope to hear about your current or favorite reads here on Tumblr, through my Instagram or out on Goodreads. 

[giantpredatorymollusk]

tumblr sucks but it's the closest thing i know of to a website that feels like its own place, like a physical city or something, with its own culture and community and social structure and joie de vivre. i honestly don't hate twitter as much as i probably should but you can't feel like you could live there when the landscape is dominated by comedians and celebrities and you can only talk to your fellow creatures with a standardized text format of 280 characters at a time

[thefandomlesbian]

Prompt: “Don’t touch me. We’re fighting.” For WintersDay, please and thank you 😊

Someone knows WintersDay is my weakness! Please read on AO3 to read with appropriate formatting, since Tumblr eats it. 

Read on AO3 here! 

“For by my side you put on

many wreaths of roses

and garlands of flowers

around your soft neck.

And with precious and royal perfume

you anointed yourself.

On soft beds you satisfied your passion.

And there was no dance,

no holy place

from which we were absent.” -Sappho

Bostonian spring was cold and came far too late for Misty, whose cabin fever had driven her to the point of insanity. She hated Boston. She had hated it before, when she had arrived with Lana in the early autumn, but at least then, there had been some hope of hiking and camping and escaping the grotesque city and its disgusting smells and the soot and ash flowing through the air freely. Winter had made Boston even more repugnant to Misty. 

If she didn’t love Lana so much, she would have hitchhiked herself back to New Orleans in less than six months. But she did love Lana so much, so she suffered in silence, her magic building and twitching inside of her from lack of use, her irritability burbling up to the surface in the middle of the night when the noise pollution refused to let her sleep. Misty kept telling herself she would be happy here, eventually, as long as she was with Lana… That was what she had told herself when Lana asked her to get into her car and ride more than fifteen hundred miles up the east coast, ripping up her entire life for a love she had never known before. As long as she was with Lana, she could be satisfied. She just had to get used to it. 

She wasn’t used to it, though. She loathed it. She loathed the cars and the exhaust and the asphalt. She loathed the barren, cultured grass, nothing but an environmental waste, and she loathed the fake decor and poor landscaping. But more than anything, she loathed the people. 

In fact, Misty was quite convinced that Lana Winters was the only good, honest, decent, loving person in the entire city of Boston. 

Lana knew none of this. Misty kept her misery to herself, though she did share it with her three-legged squirrel, Big Red, who rode about on her shoulders day after miserable day indoors. And when the springtime sunlight finally breached the forlorn gray clouds over the city, Misty perked up in spite of the chill. “Hey,” she greeted Lana the same day that the sun came out, “do you think I can plant a garden?” 

Lana looked at her. “Well--yeah, sure. Do whatever you want in the yard. Less to mow.” Ugh. Mowing. Misty couldn’t believe people just threw away perfectly good grass also while pitching pollutants out into the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate. “But, um, I don’t know how much work you want to spend on the whole reviving thing. There’s still a chance we can get more snow this year. I don’t want you to be disappointed if a frost kills off everything you planted.”

Snow? It’s mid-April! “I’ll take my chances.” Misty knew she could bring everything back. The months of unuse for her powers had not caused them to atrophy, but rather had built them up stronger than ever before. Armed with a hoe, a shovel, a water pail, and some seeds and saplings, Misty headed outside before the crack of dawn the next day. Maybe she couldn’t be happy in Boston, but perhaps she could bring enough of the swamp to the city so she could have a smidgen of peace. 

Still under the cover of darkness, Misty worked with her magic when she trusted no one could see. She could dig and hoe at the same time with her telekinesis. The ugly, metropolitan shrubs she pulled up. “Compost these.” She stripped all the ugly, pebble landscaping from around Lana’s house. Nothing healthy could ever possibly grow in such harsh, unforgiving conditions. Once the rocks were stripped, Misty dug along the side of the house first… and then she gradually worked her way out into the rest of the yard. Let me plant some things I can eat. Misty hated eating out of a can. She needed to grow her own vegetables. But she would make it beautiful, too, for Lana to enjoy. Maybe in a few months, when these saplings are large enough, I can build a treehouse for us to climb in. Everything smaller she could bring to fruition in a few short hours, but the trees would take longer. Even with all of her strength, she did not think she could grow the vast oaks to the size she wanted them to accommodate a treehouse in a day. 

Misty slaved over her craft. Big Red chittered, resting on the gutter as he watched her work. She lined the house with her own bushes--blackberry, boysenberry, blueberry, strawberry, cranberry. Further out, she had all of her vegetables--the squash, the tomato, the pepper, the carrots, the potatoes, several stalks of corn. She planted oak saplings for Big Red when they grew large enough to produce acorns, and she lined every path with sweet-smelling, natural growing flowers. Lana doesn’t want to mow--she’ll never have to mow again! Anything Misty pulled up that she could not make use of went into the compost pile. I’ll get us some worms and really get that compost going. The earth was barren of worms, as well, but she could fix that soon enough. 

As the day wore on, her blossoms opened. The space from garden to garden was just wide enough for them to walk through. The grass won’t grow here if I throw down some mulch and keep it tramped down. No need for the mower anymore. Misty despised the sound and smell of a lawnmower. If she could keep Lana from mowing, they would both be extremely happy. 

She crawled into bed that night, long after dark, freshly showered and clean. Lana rolled over. “Hey, bear.” Her hands curled into Misty’s hair, still wet from the shower. “I missed you… You were outside all day. Must be a nice garden.” She kissed Misty on the lips. Misty spooned up behind her like a happy cat. “You can show me tomorrow. How long til we have some tomatoes?” 

“Not long,” Misty promised. She kissed Lana’s neck and tickled her tummy, forcing her to squirm and giggle with delight. “I’ve got you.” 

Lana hummed happily. “I’m so glad you’re feeling like yourself again.” She peeked back at Misty. “I was starting to worry the winter was wearing you down.”

Misty sighed. Maybe I wasn’t as discreet as I wanted to be. “It was. But I’m feeling a lot better now.” 

Lana snuggled up against her and bid her goodnight. Misty’s exhausted body held her warm and near, and for the first time since she had come to Boston, she slept all the way through the night without the sounds of the trains or the vehicles outside disturbing her slumber. 

The next morning, Misty rolled out of bed with Big Red tangled up in her hair and found Lana on the couch sipping her coffee in front of the television. “Morning, cityslicker,” Misty teased as she came up the hall. She sank onto the couch beside Lana. “What are your plans for the day?” She ran her hand down one of Lana’s legs, and at the summoning, Lana turned her body and placed both of her feet in Misty’s lap. 

Misty began to rub her feet. “Well,” Lana said, “I gotta run some errands. The weather says we’re officially out of snow for the season, so I better stop by the gas station and pick up a gallon for the mower. It’ll just be a week or two before they’re making me mow it.” 

Shaking her head, Misty said, “Uh-uh,” as she rubbed Lana’s feet with her thumbs. 

Lana’s brows quirked. “What do you mean, uh-uh?” 

Innocent blue eyes flicked up to Lana. “You told me you didn’t like to mow, so I fixed the yard so we won’t have to mow anymore. No more wasted space. I’m just gonna throw some mulch down on the trails--”

“Trails?” Lana questioned. “Misty, my yard is less than two acres! What exactly did you do to it?” 

She sounds angry. “You said you didn’t want to mow anymore and I should do whatever I wanted with the yard. So I ripped out all the landscaping--”

“You did what?”

Misty’s defenses rose. “It was ugly! Nothing could grow in those pebbles. I laid natural bushes instead--ones that are good for the environment and will benefit the wildlife!” 

“What wildlife? This is the middle of the city! Any wildlife that comes into our yard is going to get flattened!” Lana rolled off the couch and ran to the front door. “Holy shit!” she gasped as she stared out of the front of the house. The morning sun shed light on all of the dewy flowers and leaves and bushes. “We have to take it all down.” 

“We what?” Misty snapped. “No way! I worked all day on making it beautiful! I’m not killing everything I just brought to life!” Lana stepped out of the house. Her bare feet touched the beautiful, freshly stirred earth, leaving slight footprints in their wake, and the low bushes and flowers brushed her ankles and left water trickling down them. “Why are you making such a big deal out of this? You told me to do whatever I wanted with the yard, so I did!”

“I thought you were going to plant a handful of tomatoes and some squash and maybe some pretty flowers, not recreate the Okefenokee swamp! The city is going to send us notices for looking overgrown and unkempt!” 

Heat burned Misty’s face. “Overgrown and unkempt, my ass! It’s beautiful!” she snapped. “All I did was try to make it beautiful for you! I planted tomatoes because you always say you hate the ones out of a can! I planted potatoes because you hate buying them by the bag, I planted wild blackberries because you like that they have seeds the ones in the store don’t! I planted blanketflowers because they remind me of your eyes, bluebells and merry bells because you have that portrait in our room that you like, dayflowers and blue morning glories because that’s your favorite color to wear because you think it makes you look thinner even though I know you’re beautiful in any color! I planted a dogwood tree because you said it’s your favorite tree and you told me the old fable that Jesus’s cross was made from the dogwood tree! And I planted some sunflowers to grow so I can braid them in your hair on the days you’re so miserable and I’m not able to cheer you up!”

“Bullshit, you did it for you! You’ve spent all winter moping and whining and now you’re trying to get a little piece of the wilderness in the city!”

“Yes!” Misty’s whole body grew hot. Big Red jumped off her shoulders as her skin became too hot to touch, driven by her rage. The squirrel ran to Lana and scampered up her leg. “Yes! You’re right! I fucking hate it here, Lana! I can’t sleep at night! It’s too loud! It smells like chemical warfare! Your neighbors all have sour, angry faces, and the grass is sterile, and the soil doesn’t have any earthworms! This place sucks! And I am trying to be happy here, because this is where you are, and you’re all I ever wanted! But the water that comes out of the tap tastes like metal, and every day that I spend here in this hellscape, I feel myself hating it more and more! So god forbid I should plant some flowers in the yard where I live, so maybe I can walk outside without wondering if I made a mistake by coming here at all!” 

A black car parked in front of Lana’s house. A man rolled down the window and stuck his camera out it, beginning to snap pictures. Lana turned on her heel, attention suddenly stripped from Misty, but as she approached the car to reprimand the photographer, Misty stormed right past her. She strode powerfully, her hands balled into tight fists and the magic crackling around her--only Lana could see, but she knew it was dangerous enough. “Misty,” Lana cautioned. Oh, god, Misty, don’t! She trotted after her. “Misty!” 

Misty slammed both hands against the door of the car. The driver flinched back away from her. He reached to roll up the window, but with a flick of Misty’s eyes, the handle snapped off. Lana jogged up beside her, watching as Misty glowered directly into the man’s eyes. “You do not know who we are. You did not take any pictures of us. You will not come back here again. And so help me god, if you do, you can compost my goddamn flowerbeds.” The man had a blank stare… She’s controlling him, Lana realized with some horror. She had forgotten Misty could do that. He blinked a few times, as if shaking himself, and then pulled back onto the road and drove away. 

But the speed with which Misty whirled upon her indicated the fight was not over. “What?” she snarled. “I can take care of myself.” 

“I know--” It was him I was worried about. “I was afraid you would blow up the car.” She measured her words as she spoke them, patient and slow, trying to remain calm. I had no idea she was so miserable here. Lana licked her lips. “I didn’t want you to do anything rash.” 

Misty’s eyes flashed, glossed over with tears which did not shed. “Of course. You think I’m too goddamn stupid to have any decision-making skills. You think I would put you in danger because I can’t think for two seconds to realize that blowing up a car in the middle of your residential suburban America hell is a bad idea.” 

“That is not what I said--Misty, come back!” Misty was already walking away from her. Lana steadied Big Red on her shoulder, grabbing Misty by the hand. “Ow!” She jerked her hand away. Misty’s skin was hot to the touch, like a pan on the stove. “What the hell?”

“Don’t touch me! We’re fighting!” Misty’s voice had gone from furious to shrill. She thundered into the house, and as Lana fought to keep up with her, she walked faster, entering the bathroom and slamming the door shut firmly behind her. 

The sound of the lock clicking into place finalized it for Lana, though she still tried to turn the knob a couple of times. “Misty!” She pressed her ear to the door. She could hear nothing but Misty’s uneven breathing. She’s crying. Lana only seen Misty cry once since they met. The knowledge that she had hurt Misty so deeply wounded her soul. “Misty… I’m sorry I upset you. I’ll apply for a permit to certify the yard as a wildlife habitat, so we won’t have to take it down.” It will be nice not to have to mow. Big Red teetered on her shoulder, clasping her hair with his front paws. “I’m so sorry you’re unhappy. I didn’t know… I thought it was just some cabin fever.” She leaned against the door with one hand pressed flat against it. “I’ll start looking for somewhere else for us to live. Somewhere outside the city, where we can have some room and some quiet.” The days Lana had spent in the swamp with Misty had been among the most miserable in her life--and she included Briarcliff and Thredson in that mix, the swamp had been that bad. But they had to find a middle ground. She couldn’t lose Misty… Not after Wendy. She couldn’t endure that heartache again, knowing she had lost the one she loved and it was her fault. 

Lana sighed, leaning against the door, losing hope that Misty was going to let her in. “We can take time this summer to go back… if you want. I know that’s not the safest place in the world for you, but if you’d like to go, we can go. I trust you can protect us.” She chewed her lower lip. “Once it’s a little warmer, we can go camping…” She wasn’t hitting any of Misty’s buttons well enough to get her to open back up. She’s pissed at me. She had every right to be. “I don’t think you’re stupid,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry if I ever act like that. I know--I know you aren’t well-educated, but that doesn’t mean you’re stupid. I only thought you were going to blow up the car because that’s what I would’ve wanted to do, if I were you. I know you would never do anything to put us in danger.” She cleared her throat. “I know all of this is new to you. And I know you’re trying. I’m trying, too. I need you to talk to me… That’s the only way I can make things better.” 

A long, silent moment passed before the lock clicked again, and the bathroom door inched open. Behind it, Misty stood, stony-faced, her blue eyes rimmed in red. Lana’s eyes fluttered wide eagerly, opening her arms, but she hesitated before hugging her; she didn’t want to be burned again. Misty opened her arms in return, and Lana sank into her hug. She flung her arms tightly around Misty’s neck and buried her face into the crook. Misty squeezed her, her arms folding protectively around Lana’s back. “I’m sorry I burned you,” Misty mumbled in her thick voice, still a little teary. “It was an accident.” 

“Oh, bear, I know,” Lana whispered. “I know you would never hurt me on purpose.” She tucked a lock of hair behind Misty’s head. “I’m sorry I yelled at you… I was overreacting.” She swallowed hard. “You know change is hard for me, without Wendy.” Some part of her still wanted to leave everything the way it was when Wendy had died. Slowly but surely, Misty was teaching her to move on… But sometimes, it all came back, the fear that once she had lost Wendy, she would never get her back. “But that doesn’t give me any right to take it out on you. Especially when I told you to do whatever you wanted… I didn’t realize we had two very different ideas of what a garden is.” 

Misty ducked her head, snorting in spite of herself. “I should have clarified,” she mumbled. “You complained about mowing… and I hate lawnmowers.” She shuddered as she said the word. Pity leapt through Lana’s heart. “I thought I would make it easier for us by making something beautiful. Make it a little less awful here.” 

Lana caressed Misty’s cheek. “There is nothing you can do to this place, or to me, to make me love you less.” 

Misty leaned into her embrace, kissing the inside of her wrist. “I would live the rest of my life in this hell hole if it meant I got to be with you.” 

A tender smile touched Lana’s face. “It was very thoughtful of you to plant that garden… I didn’t realize you could do so much in just a day.” She planted everything thinking of me. Oh, that stung Lana’s insides now, how she had hurled it back in Misty’s face in a fit of rage. “I’d like to walk out and look at it now, if you’ll show me.”

A calloused hand touched the small of Lana’s back. “Of course,” she whispered. Leaning down, she pressed a kiss to Lana’s lips, and Lana closed her eyes as the magic surrounded her. 

[fractalabomination]

You know, that’s completely fair :P

(I hate the formatting of tumblr asks so I’m making a new post altogether @yoshifawful64​)

So, I went to look up when exactly it happened, and surprisingly it was only last september. Time flies. That said, searching up ‘Twelfth of September’ in google gave me this song, which absolutely do not have any ominous lyrics whatsoever. None.

So, brief context: The homestay that I’m staying at while I’m down here studying is on a relatively tall hill, and there’s a ~10 minute walk to the nearest bus. Naturally, I tend to put my music on shuffle when I start to walk. This is where the fun begins.

September in New Zealand is actually roughly in the middle of Spring. This, combined with the early morning walk and the high elevation, along with rainfall the previous night, meant only one thing.

Mist. 

Thick, oppressive, mist.

Considering that I’ve pretty much never walked in mist before, I found it to be a pretty novel and fun experience. So off I went, only vaguely paying attention to the songs that were playing ambiently. (I’m not a morning person, and even as interesting as walking through mist was and seeing how the light played around with everything, that didn’t mean I was awake one bit.)

So, naturally, I didn’t really mind when Grasswalk and Explore started playing. Bouncy little songs. Never mind that one of them plays in a solarpunk-zombie-apocalypse setting and the other plays when seeing the ruins of a meteor-struck world. 

The really interesting part was when the clown part of Rex Duodecim Angelus began playing the instant I saw the bus approaching from the depths of the misty roads. 

It was exactly as surreal as you think it is.

The bus held only the driver and no passengers, yet it was a Tuesday morning. By all accounts, high schoolers should’ve been on there, ready to arrive roughly ten minutes before their classes started. 

The bus didn’t pick up any more passengers on the way to town, or at least, none that I noticed. For all I know, otherworldly beings may have latched onto it. Meanwhile, Cloud Control, Showtime (Imp Strife Mix), and We Know The Way played in the background.

As I got off the bus, the opening narration of Harmony Ascendant began to play, cheerfully reminding me of my fate.

“It was always very loud back then. A great agitation issued from the ground itself, filling all with discontent and worry. Beneath us, a mad landscape of spots and checkers. Above, twisted kaleidoscope sky.”

This isn’t even my music taste influencing this. Shuffle was Warning Me.

Needless to say I decided to turn off the music playlist after that, not wanting any more grim reminders of my probable fate. The skies chose that exact moment to begin to rain. 

(meanwhile, the slovenian ghostlany who I was talking with at the time was screaming internally and being Very Concerned about my wellbeing.)

Anyways, I managed to make it to the university without being captured. Probably. I then realised exactly what shirt I was wearing during this entire thing.

[Really bad selfie of me, poor young naive 16yo me at an unflattering angle. I can’t believe I liked having short hair. The shirt reads “I’m not always sarcastic, sometimes I’m asleep”]

So, to summarise: I walked through heavy mists in a relatively rural environment, encountered nobody save for a couple of uncaring cars, and the driver of a bus which rolled out of the mists at the most menacing time ever. I don’t think I remember what his voice sounded like, or if he even spoke. Meanwhile, my phone’s music shuffle continued to play literally all the ominous songs on my phone, and I was taunting every magical being ever by wearing a sarcastic shirt. It was a very surreal experience.

So that may or may not be how I might’ve slipped into the fae realm one morning and nearly got abducted by a Ghost Bus but emerged relatively unscathed.

[an unassuming playlist]

[duckybeth99]

A Town of Change and Progress (Western AU)

hey uh I fuckin hate how tumblr breaks my formatting on fics it takes me an extra few minutes to edit this shit and a lot of my old fics at least on mobile r broken now thx tungle dot com. anyway welcome to western au reboot choo choo choooooooo

——

Some would think the town was founded years and years ago. But in reality, it was actually only a short time ago.

It started when the posh Jackson Morrison came into town and founded a little place called Riverview Ravine, in the wild and free expanding landscapes further out from the loud and congested cities. He founded and financed it from his line of banks and businesses; he chose people to lead the town’s development and he would be sent information on his new little town frequently. He was too busy with his businesses to move there, but he did want the bragging rights of being a town founder and use it as a sign of his power that even his other business associates didn’t have yet.

So, he picked a few simple people to start businesses, care for basic needs in the town. He employed a mayor, a doctor, a school teacher, a barber, a dress shop owner, people to run a farm for the local area, people to run a local train station, people to run a jail and one of his banks, so on and so forth. Carefully chosen was each person to be sent to settle this new little town.

Of course, he knew more people would move in over time. He expected this place to thrive. And in just a few years, it began to.

———

“It’s only a minor headache,” John chuckled and looked back to Moirin. “Flynn’s gonna be just fine. Keep him well hydrated, let him rest for a while. Probably was just working too much lately.”

“I don’t know what I would do without you, John,” Moirin smiled at her friend gladly. Flynn kept rubbing and almost pawing at his forehead. Moirin gave a sympathetic look to her eldest boy. “Well, I’m sure we have enough staff to handle missing one waiter.”

“But I wanted to see the show!” Flynn frowned. Moirin tsked at him.

“No buts, young man,” she said. “The minute we get home, you’re heading straight to bed.”

John smiled kindly at his friends when he heard something downstairs. He looked back to Moirin, “‘Scuse me. You know your way out, right? I’m sure that’s Junior downstairs.”

The doctor headed down from his upstairs medical room down to the back porch. There, he saw Johnny, sweaty and dirty, splashing his face with water from the faucet.

“No need to make such a racket,” John teased. “You know how your father likes to sleep in.”

“Yeah? Well, some of us have to get up early for work if we like it or not,” Johnny rolled his eyes. He snatched up a broom from the side and hit it against the ceiling, “Here that, Dad?! Wake up! I bet Alice has had the shop open for hours already before you!”

Muffled from upstairs, the two men heard the other man shout back down, “I need my beauty sleep! Stuff it!!”

“Well, now you’ve got him started,” Makoto packed her school books. “I hope you’re happy, boys.”

“Would it kill him to be useful?”

“No, but it could kill him to wake up before a certain hour. I’m convinced that’s why he sleeps so much.” Makoto offered a teasing smile to her son before crossing to John and kissing his cheek.

“Go and educate the youth,” he smiled.

“You make it sound so noble,” Makoto rolled her eyes, but her smile persisted. “Has Beth left already? I didn’t even catch her this morning.”

“She insisted on walking by herself to school,” Johnny finally had his face completely washed. “Pops and I said no, so she walked with the other kids. They’re all waiting for you, I’m sure, Ma.” Makoto made her way over to her son and kissed his cheek.

“I’ll be off,” she waved to her family, and John heard the thundering of Adam from down the stairs.

“Damn it, Johnny, let me get a good night’s sleep for once,” he scoffed as he adjusted his coat. John laughed.

“Now, now, don’t fight,” he smiled, placing his hands on both their shoulders. “Junior, go ahead and get your rest. I promise I won’t disturb you. Adam, eat up some breakfast before you go to the shop.”

“Only if it’s edible,” Adam raised his head high and strode to the kitchen. Johnny dusted off his hands on his work clothes.

“Well I brought in fresh—“

“Stop wiping your hands on your clothes!” Adam scolded over his shoulder.

Johnny scoffed under his breath, “Neat freak.”

As much as his family clashed, Johnathan Bosteau, Sr. loved his odd family.

———

As Alice tried to hop up and down to dust the top of one of the tall cabinets, Adam rolled his eyes, gently shooed her away, and took the feather duster and cleaned with ease.

“You’re too short for any good housework here,” he waved his hand. Alice scratched the back of her head with a timid shrug.

“But I do everything else alright!” she smiled. Adam crossed to the front door and flipped the open sign to closed. “I’m your best employee!”

“Yes, it’s a very big achievement,” Adam smirked over his shoulder. “Very hard with you being my only employee. Go on upstairs and get some rest. We have a lot of fancy shipments to tailor tomorrow. Some grand party coming up in a town not too far.” Alice nodded eagerly and headed to the upstairs apartment of the the shop.

Adam kept that place from before he married John and Makoto, when he lived alone and secluded. True, it was easy to care for himself in such a situation, but he had to admit it was rather lonely. He was glad to have the family he did now.

He started to rent it out to the McEllen family when they first came into town, after he was married. To a Molly and Melissa McEllen. Soon, Molly herself moved out to live with the old bakery, Jeremiah Schwartz, her new husband. Though, Adam had to admit, the addition of Alice seemed to pop up quickly after their union. Too quickly. Before they even met.

He didn’t care. It was their business. So he let Melissa rent the apartment, cut the price to minuscule when she started to help him in his shop. When Schwartz died, Molly handed off the bakery to another man, some timid man who barely ever came out of the damn place. She went back to the apartment, worked for Adam again, and he saw the little baby become a teenager who worked for him now, with her mother and grandmother now passed.

As Adam locked up his supplies and front door, he thought he heard something. Keen as he was in his senses, he brushed it off casually as some kind of animal skirting about.

But still, as he was about to leave through the backdoor, he wasn’t too sure.

So he sat in the dark and waited.

———

Alex waited until the entire town was asleep. The train station and jail were the only places with lanterns still on outside the home. But it didn’t look like anyway was awake. The saloon was shut, houses dead quiet.

The young man adjusted his hat and kept his eyes peeled as he slowly, quietly guided his horse towards the back of one of the shops. In his time in this line of work, he knew people rarely locked up the back doors.

“Sh,” Alex pressed a finger to his lips as he climbed off his horse. He pet his snout and gestured for him to lie below the window. The horse bowed its neck the best it could. Alex smirked at the effort and gave his friend an apple.

He slipped to the backdoor and slowly twisted the knob. Unlocked. Perfect.

Slipping through the shadows, weapon resting against him, Alex snuck inside the shop. Some food was available. He opened up his satchel and tossed in the few fruits. Snuck up to one of the shelves and pulled out clothes, as much as he could shove in. This was enough.

As Alex turned to leave without any conflict, his grey eyes glanced at it.

He spotted a gorgeous sculpture, elegantly crafted. It had to be worth a lot.

He glanced at the backdoor. This would be enough for the orphans and himself, what he already grabbed. But this could get him everything else he needed, too.

The young boy slunk towards it, carefully picking up the sculpture.

A lamp clicked on behind him.

“I knew I heard something,” Adam sat, legs crossed and head held high, shadows crossing his face. “Put it back. Everything you took.”

Alex looked at the sculpture in his hands.

He bolted to the backdoor.

Surprisingly quickly, Adam stood and grabbed Alex by his satchel, pulling him back. The old bag tore. Slipping over everything that spilled, Alex lost hold of the sculpture.

It shattered right in front of the door.

With a surprising strength, Adam pulled Alex back towards him with a furious look in his eyes.

“You little—“

“Adam, what’s going—“ Alice rushed down the stairs, then shrieked at seeing Alex. “Thief!! Thief!!”

“Alice, go get help!” Adam barked. She shuffled anxiously on the tips of her toes before she ran out of the shop.

“Let go of me!” Alex tried to tug himself away. Adam scoffed.

“Oh, no you don’t,” he growled. “Thieves like you have to pay.”

“Let go!” Alex stomped on Adam’s foot, then fought out of his hold. The thief ran to his broken satchel, picked it up, and grabbed all the food and clothes he could carry.

Packing everything quickly onto his horse’s pouches, he held tight to his hat and the reigns of his horse. The horse whinnied loudly, standing high briefly before the two charged out of the town. Alerted by the sound of the horse and Alice getting help, most of the townsfolk rushed out of their homes to see the commotion.

Alex tugged the reins, twisting his horse away from the people who tried to stop him. He hasn’t been caught yet, and he wasn’t going to get caught now, in this place, by these people. Almost close to escaping the town, Alex grinned and patted his horse to go faster.

He was stopped by another man on a horse, one much larger and older than him. His badge was what made Alex sweat as opposed to the size difference. In his panic, the young thief froze, allowing more of the townspeople to circle him. Several women and men held up their own ideas of weapons, ranging from a frying pan, a cane, and an actual shotgun.

Alex swallowed.

———

“Now there’s no need to argue about him,” Drefan burst inside the saloon, hands resting on his belt and holster. Early that morning, the adults of the town gathered to discuss about the thief who strode into town late the prior night. “He’s in the jail. He’ll rot in there.”

“We’ve never had to use that jail since this town opened!” Vincent fussed. Smaller than the rest of the adults, he had to emphasize himself often. “Now we actually... have to care for it! Have upkeep!”

“Is that something for us to be genuinely concerned about?” Drefan sat down amongst all the others. “What an odd trifle.”

“I have a right to be concerned—“

“Don’t start another fight,” Mabuz rubber his forehead in an annoyed manner. “Please.”

“What if he breaks out?” Valerie swung her feet anxiously.

Violet gasped, “And comes after the girls in the show?!” The twins held hands and threatened to cry.

“I didn’t even think of that!” Alice panicked.

“He had the look of a killer! He’ll get us in our sleep when he has the chance!”

“Now you’re being ridiculous—“

“—Everyone, please—!!”

As the table turned into chaos, Adam kept his arms and legs crossed, leaning back with a cool glare.

“Is no one remembering—“ he spoke firmly, loudly, above all the other panic, “—that he’s the one who robbed me and also broke an original sculpture famed at more money than any one here can comprehend?”

“Now a vase is a real trifle,” Vincent grumbled. Elliot chuckled beside him.

“Laugh it up,” Adam raised his head high.

Drefan rolled his eyes, “We’ve returned all your stolen goods, Adam.”

“Damaged goods,” Adam growled. “And you know what? I’ve had enough of this going around and around! I’m shutting this down now.” The man stood from his seat, looking down at everyone else. “You’re so concerned about caring for a jail and him being an inconvenience and criminal, then why don’t we fix that?”

“And how, Adam,” Virginica steepled her hands, resting her chin on the backs with a callous and judgement gaze, “do you expect to do that?”

“Simple,” Adam crossed his arms, standing tall over everyone else. “I’m going to make him work for me. He’ll work on a debt that he’s accumulated from the damaged goods and sculpture. I’ll keep an eye on him, every good deed and work day will take off money from his debt; every bad deed adds more money to his debt.”

John looked with wide eyes at his husband. “You can’t be serious.”

“I had the worst crime done to me,” Adam placed his hands on his hips, “so I’ll dish out the punishment as I see fit.” As Drefan stood to protest, Adam moved to him and stood toe to toe. “What’s he going to learn in jail? Nothing. He’s going to die as rotten as he acted last night. Or, as a town that likes to call itself a place for change and progress, we decide to apply that change and progress to him?” Adam shrugged. Drefan looked to the mayors.

Vincent anxiously drummed his fingers on the table. Mabuz rubbed his chin in thought.

He glanced his teal eyes up at Adam.

“I’ll allow it,” he slowly nodded his head.

“What?!” the rest of the town members practically shrieked in unison. Mabuz nodded his head again.

“Adam is right,” he said. “As much as saying that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. We can’t claim to be a town founded on change and progress and not offer the same chances to him.”

“He’s a criminal!” John spoke up. Mabuz glanced his eyes at him.

“Yes, and so were several people at this table once before,” he said. Almost everyone glanced off or fidgeted, heads down or looking away from each other. “We offer the same thing to all these other people here in this room, in this town. We’ll do the same. It’s what’s right. Adam will be in charge of all of this. Punishment as he sees fit, reformation as he sees fit... but we will check up on it. And if anything goes wrong, we will either give him to someone else, or put him back in jail.”

Adam grinned proudly. Drefan’s face flushed with an anger he forced himself not to express. Mabuz cleared his throat, stood up and adjusted his bolo tie.

“Meeting adjourned,” he said. As everyone slowly and anxiously stood back up to leave, Mabuz picked up his cane with Vincent trailing after him and babbling on concerns everyone clearly had but wouldn’t voice. Adam watched everyone leave, people avoiding looking at him. Makoto stepped up to him and locked her arm with his.

“You lie perfectly on the line of being a genius and being a complete idiot,” she teased. Adam shrugged with a proud grin.

“And yet, everyone will see that this will be my greatest achievement yet,” he said, pressing a kiss to Makoto’s cheek. John stepped up beside his lovers and sighed.

“Adam, you sometimes frustrate and confuse me to no end,” the old doctor murmured. Adam chuckled.

“I like to think it’s part of my charm, dear.”

[mercurygray]

So, I hear you liked TURN.

Apres the Season 4 finale, I know there’s going to be a lot of crying, and hand-wringing, and rewatching, and these are all good and proper things to do in the wake of a TV show you’ve enjoyed.

But after the smoke clears from all of that, you’re maybe going to go looking for your next 18th century fix, just something in between rewatches or while you’re trying to flesh out your next story idea. (Hey, now that we have our canon, go hog-wild on story ideas, guys, seriously.) 

So I’ve saved you some trouble and made you all a helpful list.

Obviously there are a lot of movies and TV shows out there - this is just a selection that I wish more people knew about.

Note: Everyone enjoys a show or movie for different reasons. These shows are on this list because of the time period they depict, not because of the quality of their writing, the accuracy of their history or the political nature of their content. Where I’m able to, I’ve mentioned if a book is available if you’d like to read more.

Before we get to the rest of the list, there are three excellent shows that are either currently on television or about to be very soon:

Poldark (BBC/PBS) is based on a series of books by an author named Winston Graham. It was made into a PBS series in the 70s starring Robin Ellis as the handsome Captain Poldark, who returns from the American Revolution to find his family farm in tatters and his long-time love interest married to his cousin. Drama ensues. The 70s series is worth your time, and the recent remake with Aidan Turner in the title role is also definitely worth a go. (If you like leading men who make terrible life decisions and the women who put up with them, this is totally your show.)

Harlots (Hulu) - If you really loved the TURN ladies, thought Lola and Philomena deserved more than they got, or are just interested to learn more about what life might have been like for the lower classes in London in the 1750s, have we got a deal for you. Harlots follows the lives of 18th century sex workers in this new drama, which was just recently renewed for a totally deserved second season. Female-lead ensemble drama. A little violent at points and deals with some pretty heavy-duty topics like rape, murder, and bastardy, but in a humane and understanding way. Totally bingeable.

Outlander (Starz) - Based on the wildly popular series of books by Diana Gabaldon, this time traveling drama jumps between a couple of different centuries and follows the story of Jamie and Claire, two very strong personalities trying to literally find their place in history. (Hewlett talks about the blade his grandfather picked up at Culloden; that battle forms a critical part of this show’s storyline.) It’s a real pretty show with very high production values.

And, without further ado, the rest of the list!

John Adams:  If you haven’t watched this already, do yourself a favor and go pick it up from the library. Starring Paul Giametti in the title role, this HBO miniseries follows John Adams’ role in the formation of America, through his early days in Congress up through his own presidency. As with any biographical show, characters that we know and love from other media (Rufus Sewell’s Hamilton comes to mind, but see what you think of David Morse’s Washington, too) are presented in a slightly different light and provide some food for thought about how history can be selective in how it remembers us. The costuming is great, the sets are fantastic, and the acting is first-rate.

The Patriot: An oldie but a goodie. Mel Gibson plays a highly fictionalized version of Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox while Jason Isaacs turns in a really stellar hottie we love to hate in Colonel Tavington. A little heavy-handed at times, this is a good movie to laugh over with friends.

Sons of Liberty: I’ll be really honest - for a show from the History Channel, the history on this show is pretty awful. But the cast is pretty. This one’s up to you, really. It fills a hole.

Garrow’s Law: William Garrow was a barrister and a pioneering legal mind in the 18th century, and this show (which ran for 3 seasons) is based on real Old Bailey cases and Garrow’s defenses, while also working in his fraught social life. Were you interested in learning a little more about Abe Woodhull’s erstwhile legal training? This is the show for you.

City of Vice: A miniseries that explains the origins and work of the Bow Street Runners, one of London’s first police forces.  Does a great job of opening up some of the early 18th century underside of London including a smidge of 18th century gay culture.

A Harlot’s Progress: William Hogarth was an 18th century artist, printmaker and social commentator whose “A Harlot’s Progress” famously depicts the downfall of a woman who goes into prostitution. This 2006 series explores the relationship that inspired the ‘Harlot’ piece.

The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant: At around the same time America was busy trying to figure itself out, halfway around the world another one of Britain’s colonial possessions - Australia - was just getting started. Hundreds of convicts found themselves stuffed in ships and sent to the other side of the world - a sentence deemed almost more humane. This 2005 series with Romala Garai follows a very famous convict, Mary Bryant, and her experiences.

Banished: Another take on penal colonies in Australia. Currently available on Hulu.

Black Sails: A more recent offering from Starz, this show explores the backstory of the pirates in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Lots of great representation issues, a whole lot of ‘how does your story get told’ - and there’s a real big community on Tumblr who loves it and very actively produces all kinds of fic.

Clarissa - Simcoe fans, this one is totally for you. Based on the epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson, Clarissa follows a girl of the same name as the infamous rake Lovelace tries to seduce her. Another look at what how women can be corrupted. Also, for you fandom nerds in the crowd, Lovelace was one of the first characters to inspire fix-it fic. Yes, really! Fix-it fic in the late 1700s. Lovelace is one of the original men for whom the ‘No, really, I can reform him’ trope was created. (Richardson, his creator, was so horrified by this reaction by his fans that he actually revised the book several times to try and make Lovelace even more villainous and irredeemable, with little success. Then as now, women apparently love the idea of a bad boy.)

Amazing Grace - The history of slavery in England and its colonies is complicated and nuanced; this story deals with one of the more famous names from that story, William Wilberforce, and his contribution.

Belle - Based on the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral. Another look at racial politics in England.

The Aristocrats - One of my all-time favorite TV miniseries and based on the nonfiction book by Stella Tilyard, this show follows the (actual, nonfictional) Lennox sisters, daughters of the Duke of Richmond as they grow up, marry, and adjust to rapid social change from the early 1700s into the 1790s.

The Duchess  - About the same time the Lennox sisters were out in society, so was Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire. This is based on (I’m not sure how closely) Amanda Foreman’s biography of Georgiana, one of the leading ladies of her day.

Dangerous Liasons - Another story about corruptible young women, this one has 3 very well deserved Oscars to its name and an absolutely stunning Glenn Close.

Barry Lyndon - a very evocative, sumptuous film by Stanley Kubrick. Short on action, but very, very Aesthetic, as only Kubrick can do.

The Scarlet Pimpernel - Based on the book by Baroness Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel is largely considered to be one of the world’s first ‘superhero with a secret identity’ stories. Sir Percy Blakeney uses his identity as a dim-witted fop to provide cover for his activities rescuing French aristocrats from the guillotine during the French Revolution. The 1982 version with Anthony Andrews and the 1999 version with Richard Grant are both a lot of fun.

Speaking of the French, where would we be without them? Our small domestic dust-up with Britain has far-reaching international consequences, setting in motion so many other social movements in Europe. The French, for instance, will have their own revolution several years after ours, which, of course, will lead to a total political shakeup ending with an artillery officer named Napoleon Bonaparte on the throne as Emperor. (You may have heard of him. He goes on to have his own series of large wars and, you know, completely changes the geo-political landscape of Europe. Like you do.)

La Revolution Francaise, filmed for the 200th anniversary of the Revolution, is available on YouTube in it’s entirety with English subtitles! Starts in 1774 and goes through the 1800s. C’est merveilleux.

Marie Antoinette - Sofia Coppola’s wild, modern romp through the life of one of the 18th century’s most notorious women. It may not be great history, but darn me if it isn’t fun to watch.

Farewell, My Queen - Another story about Marie Antoinette - this one is in French.

Nicolas Le Floch: An 18th century crime procedural set at the court of Louis XVI. The whole show is in French, so watch with subtitles, but the costumes are a lot of fun and it gives an interesting picture of the life a character like Lafayette would have left behind when he came to America. (He gets name dropped a few times, actually, though he never actually appears.)

Ekaterina: A 2014 miniseries from Russia discussing the rise of Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796, contemporaneous to the Revolution. The 18th century is a fascinating time in Russian history and Catherine is a really, really interesting lady. Totally go and read about her.

Anno 1790: A Swedish crime procedural set in 1790s Sweden and following Johann Däadh, a doctor recently roped into the police force. Däadh is a bit of a reformer, interested in the rights of man and giving everyone a chance to be heard. Costumes are fun, and there’s a really great slow-burn romance between two of the characters, one of whom is (gasp) married. This show only ran for one season, but it was a really, really good season.

If you’re still jonesing for period dramas after the rest of this list, here’s a lot of shows and tv series set during the Napoleonic Wars that are also totally worth your time - the Richard Sharpe miniseries, the Horatio Hornblower miniseries, the BBC’s War and Peace, Master and Commander, and then, of course, anything based on a Jane Austen novel.

Have fun!

[tanishabougourd]

Exercise: Working to a brief

Here is my first exercise for my learning log this shows my progress through out my assignments and how I am learning the different processes of what it takes to be a graphic designer.

These extracts from briefs set as part of a student competition. Your task is to read and analyse them. Ask yourself:

What are you being asked to do?

How will the client judge a successful outcome to the brief?

What are the keywords? 

In addition log any other questions you would want to ask the client. 

Brief 1 :

Create packing for quaker’s new ‘Chilled Creamy Oats’ product for young women looking for a truly delicious healthy snack. The target audience ois young women juggling many jobs and priorities everyday.  They like to eat well but also love treats and hate feeling hungry. They like the idea of oats for natural goodness but find the idea of eating them bland and unappealing. 

What am I being asked to do?

In this brief I am being asked to create a packing for quaker’s new ‘chilled creamy oats’. 

How will the client judge a successful outcome to the brief? 

The client will judge a successful outcome to the brief if the the outcome of the packing has been created to a high standard showing this product to be easy and efficient to use especially if their target audience are always on the move, it will also be eye catching and making it seem less bland and unappealing to eat making sure we have fit the design to the brief directly. The client will also judge this successfully if we have been clear with the client from the start in regards to the expectations of the project and also the timescales.  What are the keywords?

Truly delicious healthy snack 

juggling jos and priorities 

love treats

hate feeling hungry

natural goodness

bland and unappealing 

Questions I would ask the client: 

Is the product going to be eaten on the go? will the packaging need to be thermal and sustainable? meaning it won’t collapse if hot water is added. 

To make the brand less bland and unappealing will anything be added such as fruit, honey etc? will you want this to be shown as one of the key things added to the design on the outside? 

How large is the portion will you want the packaging to hold only one portion or multiple? 

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Brief 2: 

Most of us have experienced a long rail journey - we witness the dramatic contrasts of the changing landscape, the inter-connections at various points along the way; various people embark and disembark; the dynamic is ever changing.... finally we reach our destination. 

This brief challenges you to take a metaphorical journey on the theme of connections. Explore the theme as broadly as possible and take us on a journey that might link, amongst other things - people, events, philosophies, theories, objects, movements, inventions, history, literature, etc. Your journey is only limited by your imagination and the quality of your research- surprise us with the juxtaposition of your selected themes but be sure to communicate the viewer the ‘connectedness’ of the thinking with in your design. define your market, and how will you target it.

What are you being asked to do? 

This brief was a lot harder for me to think about, It was very confusing as I didnt know exactly what the brief was asking of me as there isn’t a direct idea of what I am creating like there was on the first brief. I understand the brief is asking me to take a metaphorical journey on the theme of connections, however this could expand in to multiply different areas such as objectives, people, and events. 

How will the client judge a successful outcome to the brief?

It is unclear who my client is, so all I can imagine is making sure from the brief that I use my imagination to create something that takes the target audience on a journey they won’t forget, and link this to my research so when it comes to the viewer they understand and that I have communicated the ‘connectedness’ of my idea. 

“Describing life as a journey is a metaphor that works in a straightforward and predictable way. It is very common to take a concrete idea (a journey) and use it to describe an abstract concept (life)”  

The phrase above shows the sort of idea that I would go with to show life is a journey a metaphorical journey where events, people , opportunities  can take you down a long road with different twists and turns to then get to your final destinations. 

What are the keywords?

The dynamic is ever changing.

Metaphorical journey.

Limited by your own imagination.

Surprise us.

Communicate. 

Questions I would ask the client:

What format would you like the design to be on for the general public to see? poster, cards, letters, leaflet etc. 

where is the design going to go? hospital, train station, airport etc.  

is it going to go to places where it will always be seen by someone taking a journey? 

Is there anything that will be needed to go on the form of design e.g logo, trade mark. 

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Brief 3: 

To raise awareness of the risks of underage drinking and contribute towards a cultural change in society’s attitude towards alcohol. The purpose of the department for children, Schools and Families is to make this the best place in the in the world for children and young people to grow up ... to make children and young people happy and healthy and help them stay on track. 

With a core proposition of ‘Alcohol leaves you( or your children) vulnerable’, the campaign will urge parents to talk to their children before they consider drinking, to help avoid vulnerable situations. The messages to young people will get them to think about the effects of drinking. 

Creative ideas should use the campaign identity ‘Why let drink decide?’ to extend the campaign’s reach and specifically target young people aged 13 and 16. We are open to ideas about the media or format you think is most appropriate to reach the target audience . 

What are you being asked to do?

I am being asked to create a media piece to show awareness to the risks of underage drinking using the campaign identity “Why let drink decide?” to open up awareness to the risks of drinking to the target audience 13 to 16 year olds. 

How will the client judge a successful outcome to the brief?

The client will judge the outcome successfully if we have created a piece of work that shows exactly the out come the client wants, to show awareness. They want the piece to be creative and bring attention to itself to draw the audience in as well as being in a media this target audience use. e.g snapchat, facebook, tumblr etc. This hopefully will then help avoid vulnerable situations that happen when drunk in young people lives and may encourage parents to normalise the subject when speaking to their children. 

What are the keywords?

underage drinking

attitude

grow up

vunerable

“Why let drink decide?”

Avoid

Questions I would ask the client:

Why are you looking to raise awarness of this subject? 

Is there any statistics that you would like me to include in this piece of work?

Why is it only targeted at 13-16 year olds, why not 11-17 year olds? 

what outcome would you like to get out of this piece of media?

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Having analysed the briefs which one do you think you would most like to tackle? is it the one with the most restrictions or the one which is most open to interpretation? what do you think your chosen brief would offer you? in what way do you think it would stretch your skills and abilities? 

Out of all the briefs that I have gone through the one I would most like to tackle would be brief two. Although it seems like the one that restricts you the most it is actually the one I think which is open to interpretation as you can literally do anything with it as long as you are making a connection, and there are connections all around us so although the brief restricts you in a way of straightforward directions it allows you to expand outwards with your ideas.

I think it would allow me to enhance my skills and be able to come up with ideas for anything, because as I learn to do harder briefs I will progress slowly to be able to accomplish any brief that is passed my way. In regards to skills its allowing me to come up with multiple ideas so it could allow me to do different ideas in all different mediums enhancing my skills in each different software.