#I worked reeeeeeeally hard on the first one

[lunalycana]

The illustrations for Chapter 1 of my fic "Compassion For The Heartless". These were really fun to make!

( CW: Blood, Injury )

Synopsis:

Infinite has returned from Null Space. Whether it was fate or just pure luck is yet to be seen. They know they should have left him where they found him, but Barry's heart is just a bit too big to leave a person half dead with no help. An empathetic heart easily outweighs the logical mind, but they also just can't afford to leave another injured person hanging.

[captmickey]

Noticing the “Open” sign on your shop, I mosey in to talk.

- Favourite act of Three Adventurers?

- The secrets to bear in mind when mapping out a comic page?

- Creativity is most fun when ________.

- Share a behind the scenes moment from your art/writing. (I blank out if asked questions like this, but maybe one will come to mind while answering another question?)

- If you were a fan creating a favourite quotes page from your works, what would be some of the quotes you’d collect?

-How far can Link’s ears toggle? What is the range of those things?

(Pick and choose any of the above!)

1 - Favourite act of Three Adventurers? Ooooh... hmm, I feel like it'll change as I go further down the line, but so far it's a tie between acts 5 and 7. Five because it forced me to get creative with how to distinguish the boys when they're one person (and I'm sorry, but I love Effie so much and I miss her as well as Giggle). Seven because I really did try to do better with pacing, I got to explore more with Guybrush within 3adv, how all of ya'll reacted towards Mako (and me clapping my hands like a seal with each week), and because I FINALLY got to do the cool action shot I've been dying to do since I started 3adv- which was Graham shooting the ice arrow as he's shot out of the water.

2 - The secrets to bear in mind when mapping out a comic page? DO. NOT. CLUTTER. LESS IS MORE. I have to scream that at myself and then go "Can this panel, if it's not working for the page, be pushed to the next page? Does it add anything? Can it be scrapped? Can a different panel be scrapped or even merged?" and go from there. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I try to make my panels cohesive and not a jumble of too many panels. Also reeeeeeeally helps to have the speech bubbles easy to follow and lead the eye. I read it somewhere once and it kinda lived in my head ever since.

3 - Creativity is most fun when ________. When you do it for yourself. I know it's more appealing and even rewarding when others respond or give feedback (I'd be a liar if I didn't admit of being guilty of wanting it), but it's super important and critical and even liberating when you create things for yourself first. I read somewhere, I think it was Alex Hirsch or Rebecca Sugar (or both and I'm combining the two) how when they made their shows, they did it as a something that they wanted to see and refused to budge for the fans, so I take that to heart when I make things. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, it might even anger or frustrate or have them throw a fit how it's not what they want... but when I'm making things for myself, it becomes way more fun and I don't feel so pressured. I even might surprise myself with what I'm able to pull off and that, as a creator, is so much fun.

4 - Share a behind the scenes moment from your art/writing. I have too many, ha ha. But one in particular was how I recently broke out of a writer's block of sorts of Act 8 of 3adv. Mainly I was on my way to work and honestly it was just.... a very ridiculous Looney Tunes-esqe kind of scenario with Guybrush that made me burst out loud in the car that I had to share with my sister (she is the only one that knows the entire spoiler for all of 3adv and tragically the one I bombard for feedback) and she, bless her so much, slam-dunked with an even dumber idea that made us both laugh super hard and things began to click so perfectly that I got to writing again after um... actively avoiding it. So when the act drops, and you see a joke that seems almost TOO cartoonish.... I apologize in advance.

5 - If you were a fan creating a favourite quotes page from your works, what would be some of the quotes you’d collect? You're really making me go through my works aren't ya? Ha ha, lets see.... off the top of my head that is posted and not, y'know, a WIP. From Act 7: The pirate’s jaw tightened slightly before he gave a smile that dripped with venomous resentment. “I did, actually. In fact, I’d say I thought it rather well considering you were more focused on beating me up both physically AND emotionally! Wow, who’d a thought a simple pirate such as myself could do such a thing!”  From Perspective: Number Two slammed the final nail in the coffin as Number One bursted out laughing, unable to contain himself. Did that boy really bring that in and thought it was a ticket? Who was the trickster that convinced him it was one?! The other guards laughed alongside him, but he simply had to leave the Theater out of fear that he would appear to be more unprofessional than he already was, laughing the whole way out.

From This Can Be Explained: “Okay, so don’t freak out–”

“Guybrush, there’s a dead body on the floor! How can I not freak out?!” Link shouted. From Sea of Adventurers: “Although… you two made it very clear that the seas doesn’t run in your veins.”

“How so?” Graham asked, sounding somewhat insulted, even though it was the truth.

“You two screamed the entire journey from where you initially washed up to this town when you witnessed the kraken and sharks.” The Pirate Lord explained. “You also crashed your ship repeatedly into the deck, anchored in the wrong place and at one point managed to set it on fire.”

There are more quote that I'm blanking out on... but I am curious what ya'lls favorite quotes are.

6 - How far can Link’s ears toggle? What is the range of those things? Pretty expressive! But mostly it goes up and down, not back and forward. I think I showed its range?

But yeah, it's rarely super high up but it does perk up when extremely happy, twitches when he hears noises and droops when annoyed, scared or bummed. But by default his ears is like.... juuuuuuust partially up, always listening. I ah........... realized it became canon when it happened in Breath of the Wild. So of course I made it canon in 3adv.

[jentlemahae]

there’s a french book being written about the behind the scenes of kpop and it is focusing on lisa?? i can’t tell if lisa is directly involved (it kinda seems like she is) but if she is i hope she spills all the mf tea. she went from being a hardcore kpop stan to learning the language fluently and achieving her dreams to the point where she’s in the biggest kpop gg of all time to now not wanting to live in korea anymore. it seems like something has happened behind the scenes that we don’t know about. not to sound like an akgae but the bulgari ceo used to talk about how yg wouldn’t let her do anything and how he didn’t like that, and i hope she uses this opportunity to talk her shit. she has worked so mf hard and yg doesn’t deserve her (or any of the pinks if we’re being real) and i hope she drags them to filth

first of all, whaaaaaaat ? wow! 😦😦 but anw, if she involved in the writing and making of the book, i reeeeeeeally doubt she’s gonna talk trash about the kpop industry bcs that would make knets VERY mad! and yeah that might not make that much of a difference for her bcs sk is not her target market or even a strong one for her, but it’s bp’s main one and she’s still active with bp atm so i reeeeally doubt she would use it as an opportunity to expose anything or anyone since that may jeopardize bp’s image over there (and also cause her a lot of distress bcs knets already aren’t crazy about her due to xenophobia, if she exposed yg/the kpop industry they would she is ungrateful and blah blah blah and would be so mean to her to make leave bp) 😐 she could say whatever once the contracts are up tho

[inkstained-wretch]

Truly, you think someone who takes care of sick people does not know what hard work is and are comparing this to endless vapid photoshoots that Tessa does?????? This is a pinnacle of idiotic Tessa worship and idolatry . No one is begrudging her the money, we’re just completely disgusted that she is throwing away what got her to this place and throwing away her talent for simple greediness and laziness because she can make more money with less effort shilling. You and her stans disgust me.

you wanna know what’s really disgusting? taking care of sick people for a profit. healthcare is not a business and lbr only ppl who worked in public medicine know what hard work is. while jax is scratching her ass at her cushy job, taking so many vacations here and there, there are medical personnel who are risking their lives and fucking fainting trying to treat people and contain an outbreak.

and tessa didn’t throw away what made her famous in the first place - scott did. he’s the one who can’t be in a rlship and skate with tessa at the same time.

ppl rly gotta stop hiding their anger and criticism of tessa behind marxism because honestly y’all are reeeeeeeally transparent. i wonder where were the same ppl who criticized tessa for hanging with the bitoves or jess mulroney when scott was curling with a conservative MP. “but it was for charity” ya well we wouldnt need charity in the first place if it wasn’t for harper’s budget cuts.

“ since she can’t do what she’s best at and has the most experience in because scott doesn’t wanna” This is stupid. If she really wants to skate, she can put some skates on and skate. Every single show would take her if she wanted to skate solo  Shae Lynn style or if she wanted a partner, guys would give their skin to partner a goddess like her. Besides, she’s got her own first partner that she was quick to show us last year. An all woman dance team with Tessa would sell out every arena.

.... do you guys seriously not remember what she said in the video that played before fix you at rtr?

[cryptid-crusader]

My Tumblr History (feat. a LOT of rambling, I apologize)

I’ve been on Tumblr 9 years. I came to Tumblr from Xanga (which IDK if that’s even still a thing or not) after being thoroughly obsessed with latter for about 4 or so years. Xanga was much more of a typical blog blog, and though I interacted with far less people on it, those few I did became honest to god friends that I still think about to this day. Though, as years past, my few friends began to drop off one by one from the site and I found myself enjoying it much less once they were gone. Eventually, I left too.

A few months later, I decided to join Tumblr. It was still a fairly new site in 2010 when I had joined, and I had only heard a few things here and there around the internet before I decided to check it out myself. When I first started, I used this site a lot like I used Xanga and basically had it exclusively as an internet journal to talk about life and nerdy shit and the like (I remember even thinking the reblog option was dumb because why not just make your own content? Why reblog other peoples stuff? loooool) and also did a lot of those writing daily challenges. Do you guys remember those? I loved them. Anyway...

Needless to say as time went on and I got older and followed more people and gained more followers (some of you have been here from very early on and for that I am incredibly thankful) as dweeby as this may sound, I really grew as a person. God, I remember 9 years ago I would sometimes post uncredited art or really insensitive, not funny at all, “jokes” because I honestly didn’t see a problem with them (and the only reason I really remember these awful things is occasionally once in a blue moon random people would find them in the bowels of my blog and like them and I would shudder and delete them). I kinda started Tumblr as this young social media doofus that, again as cheesy as it sounds, learned a lot and grew from my experience here. I would never dream of posting uncredited art now, and those “jokes” make me want to vomit. I learned a lot about social issues through this blog and it also helped me open up and learn about my sexuality. I got to see a broader world view from all different walks of life here (which was incredibly refreshing after growing up in a very close knit predominately white republican community) , and met some fantastic humans I’m blessed to have interacted with and become their friend. I never would have met them without this site!

Not to mention just like... all the cool shit. There are SO many talented people on Tumblr. So much beautiful art, fantastic writing, and just all round hilarious and interesting humans that I loved to get even a small peak into their lives and learn about them and what they like and do for fun. I’ve picked up hobbies through this site, joined fandoms through this site, made friends, laughed endlessly, become inspired, found some of my favorite anime/books/movies, and have had so much fun in these nine years on Tumblr.

... Not to say that it hasn’t been without it’s bad. I’ve been here long enough to remember when Tumblr users proudly boasted about how open and inviting to any and all people they were, how they would never point fingers, be mean, or turn others away. Boy, how that has changed looool. I’ve been through the annoying but innocent enough superwholocks and the scandals of older users who used to be Tumblr royalty that fucked up in some way and fell from grace, to the disgrace of people who are totally fine humans that didn’t completely cater to exactly what certain people wanted or made a few wrong steps that people felt like they had to attack them viciously for the littlest asinine shit. The good the bad and the ugly, all the way through to now.

Now. :(

To be frank, this entire site has been a disaster for a loooooooooong time with a staff that seems to be equal mix of not knowing at all how to run a functioning site and not giving a shit at all about it’s user base and their feelings (which reeeeeeeally sucks for all the fantastic content creators and people who have been here forever who have essentially made this site what it is). Little things like ‘oh we made an update that ‘everyone’ will love but is actually dumb as hell and just pisses people off’ to their have been porn bots, pedos, and nazis on this site for YEARS terrorizing people and being awful but guess that is just how it will be... Until they got banned from the app store and THEN it’s an issue (because they lost money ofc)!

Suddenly, Tumblr staff cares, but only for themselves. Instead of actually resolving the issue THAT HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS AND IS AN EXTREMELY WELL KNOW AND COMPLAINED ABOUT ISSUE they just decide fuck it, punish everyone. No “porn” at all, but I use that term lightly because they say some nudity is allowed (don’t get me started on female presenting nipples it also makes me laugh to hard and then I won’t be able to type) and for some reason apparently written erotica is allowed (which makes absolutely zero sense if you are truly trying to make this a ‘family friendly’ site, why is visual porn not allowed but written OK?) but... Is it really? Posts that are completely innocent are getting tagged left and right as not suitable content. Like, thousands of posts are getting tagged by whatever stupid algorithm they are using that are completely void of anything remotely sexual and you expect me to believe your incompetent asses are going to go through them and deem which are OK and which aren’t based on you shoddy stupid ass new rules? Fuck that. 

And all the sex workers and people and run side blogs and NSFW art blogs and the like are just completely screwed (no pun intended). It upsets me because like... Porn blogs have never been the issue. There are definitely some horrible ones, no denying that, but for the most part they just stayed in their lane and interacted with other porn blogs. They weren’t the issue (And, if Tumblr knew at all how to create a damn site, they wouldn’t have been an issue at all if the damn safe mode toggle actually worked like it was supposed to). The ungodly amount of bots is the fucking issue. I can tell you right now, I have over a thousand followers and I am in no way kidding when I say half of those are porn bots that I just gave up reporting because I get like, 3 of them following me a week on average. It’s ridiculous! Also, ACTUAL FUCKING CHILD PORN? THAT IS EASILY ACCESSIBLE EVEN WHEN NOT LOOKING UP ANYTHING NSFW (which I very unfortunately know through experience)? And to top it all off, fucking NAZIS who for some reason are still allowed to spew their bullshit on this site??? Is this a nightmare?

So with all this happening, I believe it’s pretty safe to say Tumblr’s days are numbered. It makes me laugh and cry, it’s something you could see coming a mile away and yet something that you didn’t think would actually happen. I don’t want to leave Tumblr. I love you guys (the users not the staff). You have all brought joy and enrichment to my life and I am so grateful I got to be here with you. I also just like a lot of nuances of tumblr, like the fact I can read an entry so powerful and moving it brings me to tears and then just one post underneath is an over baked nonsensical cat meme which has me wheezing for reasons I can’t quite explain. I can be anonymous and as weird as I want to here without having to really worry about family, coworkers, or older friends seeing it and being like WTF is wrong with you, what does all this mean??? I like how my blog looks and how I can bitch in the tags and chat with my friends and message people and talk about my oc’s and randoms interests and get pointers and learn new things and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I love Tumblr. I don’t want to leave and don’t necessarily plan to. But then again, I said they same thing about Xanga, and if Tumblr keeps going in the way it is going... I’m not sure I really truly  want to be lumped in with that. :/

Now this has already been entirely too long (and honestly I’m kind of feeling how I did when I started this blog in 2010 lul) but lemme say this: Thanks guys, I had a whole lot of fun. And if I do end up leaving sometime in the maybe not to distant future know that I will always be lurking around somewhere on the internet, and I had the best time while I was here. I wish nothing but the best for all of you, and may we all be able to remain a happy and dysfunctional little group, if not here, somewhere much better.

[heroscans]

first, i really want to thank you for all your hard work on Sekai wa Shippo de Dekiteiru, it's been a long while since i read some of Honjou Rei sensei's work, and the manga was reeeeeeeally sweet especially the last chp, it made me tear up!! second thank you for working on OmaeKoi, i am not that big fan of omegaverse but this one is really good, i just like how strong the omega is. still didnt read the 3rd chp but i bet the story will get better and better with every chp. I LOVE U GUYS

Awww thank you so much!! I'm so glad that you enjoyed them, and that you gave omae a chance, that means a lot!! It's one of those different omegaverses (the main reason why I choose to translate it haha) so I'm super happy when you guys says you like it ❤ Hope you enjoyed the third chapter as well!

[asreoninfusion]

Ffffffffffffff---

Hit a slight snag with the international year. The original plan was go to San Diego for first semester because they had some amazing courses I was really interested in doing, then go to Japan for the second semester and do all language there.

Everything is underway, I’m all signed up for San Diego, it’s time to register for classes and guess what? Those fantastic courses I really wanted to do and were the sole reason for me picking San Diego at all? They’ve moved them to the spring semester instead, even though they were in the fall semester in all the previous years!!! :D

It’s too late to change where I’m going for first semester, because I’ve already been accepted and all the deadlines for applying everywhere else have passed. So I’m just going to have to pick some other courses instead that are okay but not that interesting to me.

But second semester. Now I’m super torn about whether to go to Japan as planned, or stay in San Diego and actually get to do those frickin’ courses I wanted. I had my heart set on Japan this whole time, but let’s be honest the only reason I want to go to Japan/learn Japanese is because FFVII and dickbooks. >>;;

San Diego

Pros: 

- the courses!!! There’s stuff there (in fucking spring now) that is a) super interesting, and b) directly relevant and in fact gives you a qualification for the area I’d like to go into, which is also the area that I probably have a temporary job in over summer because there’s a family friend who runs the pathology lab in a hospital and I did a work experience day there before and she was like ‘come back whenever I’ll give you a job’, so. I’d have a 100% relevant qualification, work experience (in a pretty well-known big hospital), and a reference, so although I wouldn’t want to work at family friend’s place permenantly (too far away, commuting would be hell) I’d have a major foot in the door for doing stuff after I graduate. In terms of being a rational adult and employability prospects, it makes the most sense.

- I’ve been looking at housing options and decided the best thing to go for (because there is no way in hell I’m doing the roommate thing - it’s bad enough sharing a house but not even having my own room?? some stranger there all the time?? are you off your gourd) would be to get a little studio apartment or something. The tiny apartments are so hecking cute and I’d have an entire place to myself for the first time ever and not have to worry about ‘ugh I need food but housemates are in the kitchen’ and it’d be as if I were a functional adult! :’D

- There are still Japanese courses at San Diego so I could do those too, I wouldn’t be completely missing out.

- I get a grant from the government here that covers visa costs, flights, the health insurance etc. so at least I don’t have to worry about that.

- More chances for stalking I meant what *cough*

Cons:

- Expensive af. Accomodation, unless I get super lucky, is probably gonna be like £1000+ a month. (Having my own room on campus costs the same as a studio apartment anyway, so might as well go for the ‘away from student accomodation crap’ option.) Where I am at the moment in the UK is £320 a month. That is one hell of an increase and the student finance ain’t gonna cover it. I do have enough in savings that I’m able to cover the whole year straight up by myself, but I don’t reeeeeeeally want to throw away my savings like that. (Job options would be pretty limited on my visa, and also the wages and way America treats its workers - from what I’ve heard - is pretty crap, so I’m not sure if getting extra income in would be feasible.)

- Don’t get to go to Japan. :( :( :( 

- Also America scares me.

Japan

Pros:

- There’s a scholarship I could get that would be enough to cover my living costs in Japan and cover some of the shortfall from America, which means I wouldn’t have to use any savings up at all. But it’s not guaranteed.

- Probably the best/only way I’m ever going to get really good at Japanese, because being immersed in a language is so much better for learning it than sitting in class or reading textbooks, especially since I’m rubbish at teaching myself shit.

- I could buy so many dickbooks. I could go to the doujinshi events. All the Square Enix merch. IMAGINE THE AMOUNT OF PROMO SHIT IF THEY MADE AN ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE REMAKE WHILE I WAS OVER THERE. Hnnngh.

Cons:

- I would be isolated as fuck. I’m not the best at talking to people in freakin’ English, if I had to try and converse in Japanese I just plain wouldn’t. I’m too scared of messing up and making a fool of myself. In fact, I don’t particularly care about speaking the language that much at all, I’m more interested in (and infinitely better at) the reading and writing. >> 

- The intensity of nothing but language courses might be a bit much to keep up with.

- It’s not reeeeeally relevant or useful to my course/area of study. I’m just doing it for funsies and dickbooks. Which may not be the best reasoning, but in the end all I want is to be a hobbit anyway and any career I have after uni will just be for the purposes of getting enough money together to get the hobbiting set up so what do I care really. Funsies is fun.

This is all a moot point anyway for the time being because I don’t actually need to make the decision until it’s time to apply for next semester (which will be while I’m out in America, and my uni have said people regularly do and are welcome to change a split year to a full year placement or vice versa at that point), but eeeeuuuuurgh. It’s just super annoying and I hate having to make hard decisions.

[gigadracky]

Weapon/Armor Evolution + Merchant Shop

Hi hiii! GigaDracky here, its been a good while eh? Without further ado, here is how to Evolve your weapons!

So Weapon Evolution is to fuse the same weapon/armor together to raise the lvl cap to increase its stat(ATK, DEF, etc...) And it will also either add a skill slot(which is predetermined) or raise the level/grade of a skill slot(ex. B Attack skill slot becomes an A Attack skill slot) and if you have the same main skill equipped it will level it up(in the case for armor all of it skills will increase a certain amount once you conduct the evolution) it also uses up gold to make an evolution happen.

(As you can see in the picture above if I had the same sword to evolve it the base level increased from 30 to 35, and the D Support skill upgrades to a C Support skill, being able to equipment a support skill with a C grade or lower. And as you can see the red cross with a 1 next to the star with a 5 in it is how far you have evolved it. In my case I can evolve this sword 3 more times until it reaches its max.)

This is a very important part of the game that you should try to be doing, specially when you get repeats of the same weapon/armor!

For most of the weapons and armor(basically all of the gacha weapons and armors) the max amount you can evolve is up to its 4th evolution(which you require A base weapon/armor and 4 repeats of the same fused separately) max lvl is 50. For others is up to its 10th(usually its the 5star weapon/armor you get from drops like the event ones or the dungeons which you get previous DQ Heroes equipment.) For these ones they aren't really that strong or as useful as the ones that go up to its 4th evolution(gacha,) so focus on evolving your 5star gacha drops!

Now to get on with the process!

First of all you need to go to the Momon Shop screen and click on the first tier of the tree. Then click where I circled, which is underneath the enhancement shop.

First of all you will see weapons instead of this screen, but if you click on the tab on the far right(where you see a hexagon and and circles in them) these are your strengthening materials. It is best to evolve these up to its farthest point, which is the golden one, and then use these at the strengthening studio to level up your weapons/armors.

The top one is for weapons, the hexagon one below it is for armors.

These Strengthening materials evolve like this:

1 base Bronze + 4 Bronze = 1 Silver

1 Base Silver + 3 Silver = 1 Gold

3 Gold Enhancement Material will make a weapon/armor from level 1 to its base max(lvl 25.) Easiest way to leveling up your weapons/armors.

You obtain these enhancement materials through the main story, specially from side quests, and sometimes through events. Doing sidequests you will easily obtain these enhancement materials without any issues, just as long you do the 3 missions posted for that specific dungeon.(I'll go more in depth about it at a later post.)

Now once you click on it you'll see how much you need below(not including the base) and how much gold you need. Press the yellow rectangle and voila it is evolved!

Anoooooooother way to evolve your weapons and armors is to use Evolution Orbs!

Let's say you can't obtain the same sword because it was a gacha event and you don't know when it will come back or it might take a long time and you reeeeeeeally want to evolve you cool sword or awesome armor you just got. Fret not! Evolution Orbs can do the job!

To obtain these Evolution Orb is pretty hard to come by. Your only options are either you do a really good job earning points in a special event(which special events offer an Armor Evolution Orb once you reach a high point of earning points) or sell your weapons for points at the Momon Merchant Shop. This can take a while since you need 50,000 points for a Weapon Evolution Orb or 20,000 points for an Armor Evolution Orb, but if you work diligently and have patience you'll get there in no time!

Selling a basic pre-evolved 5star gacha weapon/armor at the Merchant Shop can give you 1,000 points. 4stars give 300 points, 3stars give 100 points, and anything below gives none.

Now here is where the Merchant shop is!

Clicking here is where the Merchant shop is~

The top where I circled in red is where you can use up your points to buy things like the Evolution Orbs I mentioned, materials for alchemy and etc.

Below it on the top left, where I circled in green is where you sell weapons and armor to obtain your points and gold. Next to it on the right is to sell skills for gold. Bottom left is to sell items like food and healing items for gold, and the bottom right is to sell Crests for gold.

Only selling weapons and armor can earn you points for the merchant shop so before you consider fusing your weaker equipment to enhance one, or if you have a 5star equipment you don't care about, sell it for points!!!! Best option to recycle, best incentive for getting weak equipment :)

Everything else will only earn you gold(except for some materials in the item screen, you could get some points but not much.)

And now for the famous Evolution Orbs I keep mentioning!

The red one for 50,000 points is the Weapon Evolution Orb.

The Blue one below it for 20,000 points is the Armor Evolution Orb.

Now back to the Evolution Studio! To use the Evolution Orb you simply press the tab on the right as I pictured and circled above.

I suggest to start doing this and keep up with it, saving your points to get Weapon Evolution Orbs since the price is pretty high. You'll start to deal more damage sooner and be able to equip some strong skills too!

[woodentrain]

The Boyfriend Experience- can this line get any blurrier?

Chapter 9 is called ‘Blurring the line’.  Ha! When you read the title for this chapter I bet you thought ‘hmm, well I know what line that’s talking about and it’s pretty damn blurry already.  I’m not sure it can get much blurrier’.  Oh how wrong we were.  Those poor grown adult men boys. They’re just so oblivious.  

(Here’s a random thought: does Yuuri offer a loyalty card? You know, you get your Eros card stamped with every visit and your 10th one is free?  Someone should suggest this.)

Anyway back to the topic at hand- I figured I’d best put a cut in case anybody hasn’t read this chapter yet because, you know, spoilers!

I reeeeeeeally loved this chapter.  The first thing that strikes me is that it was not at all what I expected.  It’s 20,000 words so I figured it would be a little bit of Victor and Yuuri interacting at the party, then they’d go their separate ways and there’d be a lot of other stuff (Yuuri and Phichit, Victor and Yakov, Victor pining on a plane, Victor pining on a rink, Yuuri doing other clients stuff, Meredith appearing on the scene, JJ being a dick, anything really). And I really did think their meeting at the party was going to go disastrously wrong (because that was kind of my worry #6 back in this post about all my worries- and yes, Yuuri doesn’t remember much about that night but it’s not an utter disaster, they kind of work with it).  So it’s a real treat because they’re together for more or less The Whole Chapter (hooray!). Once Victor left for Russia I figured ‘well this is it now, he’s gone, it would be too good to be true to see them together again in this chapter’… but yippee!  There he is again!  Then they hang out (I say hang out… you know what they’re getting up to) for the rest of the chapter, there’s quite a bit of relationship building and some smut and no sign of anything too nasty, so it’s all good.

Pretty much all good anyway. I mean, it is a bit too good to be true.  Which gives me such a bad feeling about the next chapter (or chapters.  There’s a lot of this story still to come).  That Meredith woman isn’t going to just disappear, for one thing. That’s just one thing but it’s a pretty big one because she spells Trouble.  I have a feeling she was out taking photos of Victor and Yuuri holding hands when they were out and about in Detroit.  Are we going to see some blackmail here?  (Yes, yes we are.  I mean, we have been warned.  I’m not sure if it will be in this context but…)  Let’s face it, as Victor and Yuuri fall deeper and deeper for one another it only leaves them more vulnerable to potential blackmailers because they’re each going to want to protect the other from the fallout.

And vulnerable is a pretty good description of where they both are now.  Not to blackmail (although that too), just to general angst and broken hearted misery.  Worry #5 was that Victor is not great with words and keeps saying the wrong thing. And that was more low-key in this chapter but it’s still there.  That and him just being a bit dense and although he tries sooooooo hard, he just not doesn’t always get things.  Mostly during the drunk scene.  Ooh so let’s talk about the drunk scene a bit more:

So, Yuuri is drunk and he’s super cute (Honestly, how is he so cute?  I’d totally hire him to have him to myself for a whole weekend just so I could look at him and go awwwwww, you’re so cute).  And the conversation goes surprisingly well, all things considered. Most importantly, afterwards Yuuri doesn’t remember much, and Viktor was sober, and they both know this.  So less misunderstandings than there might have been.  Phew.   Anyway- Yuuri pretty much lays all his feelings on the line, and couldn’t be much more obvious about it, and Victor is a bit dense.  There’s only so many ways you can interpret ‘I really, really liked you,’ and ‘I feel things’.  And you know what, Victor?  ‘Eros was a fan!  That’s what he meant, right?  It had to be!’ is not the way to interpret it.  At all.  

(Here’s an interesting bit in the drunk scene:  Yuuri says ‘Just things.  I leave things after me all the time’.  Does this mean something else that I’m missing? Hmmmmm…?)

My biggest overall worry (AKA worry #8) was that they are both in too deep.  Well, after this chapter they’re both in so much deeper (i.e. hopelessly in love).  There’s a ton of evidence for this: ‘Victor knew he was lost’; ‘Yuuri was frightened he had just fallen in love.  Just the smallest bit’; ‘It was obvious to anyone that Victor was quite smitten with Yuuri’; ‘It was dangerous.  Victor knew that’.  Mostly it’s about Victor, because he’s the one who’s actually acknowledging his feelings, and mostly he expresses this is a positive way but boy does he get possessive.  Understandable given the circumstances, but still a worry.  How will they move forward with Victor’s possessiveness and Yuuri’s career choice?  

He’s not just possessive, though.  He’s so sweet and caring.  When Yuuri’s drunk Victor is so attuned to his fear and the very real possibility that he will bolt for the door and not come back- so he’s really careful with him- ‘Victor reached out again, slowly so Eros could see him coming and stop him if he wanted to’.  Then when Yuuri’s hungover/still drunk and feeling pretty ropey Victor just holds him and looks after him.  He’s gentle and loving because Yuuri feels really rough, and he’s careful and sensitive with what he says because he knows what a big deal it is for Yuuri to wake up in his own bed with Victor, a client.  

Obviously the bit we were all waiting for was Viktor finding out Yuuri’s name.  I thought he’d find out from Mila, or from Phichit slipping up, or something… but we got something so much better.  When Yuuri tells Viktor his name I was holding my breath and I swear I nearly died.  Seriously. It was the sweetest scene and I could not have imagined it would go like that.  Aaaarghh, so cute!  (I’m saying aaaarghh because I have run out of words so I’m just sort of screaming.)

So… where do they think this whole ‘thing’ is going?  Yuuri, true to character, thinks he’s not good enough or attractive enough or interesting enough for Victor and I suspect he thinks that Victor will get bored and move on.  On some level they both know that this isn’t a client/escort relationship any more. The last bit of that was gone when Yuuri gave Victor his personal phone number.  I mean, there was no practical reason whatsoever for him to do that- it really doesn’t matter which phone Victor contacts him on- the only purpose this serves is to say to Victor ‘you’re not my client any more, this is something different’.  

Somehow, though, they just can’t seem to break down that last barrier- the money.  Phichit, bless him, hits the nail on the head- ‘If Yuuri liked Victor so much, surely he didn’t need to accept the payment for it?’.  And therein lies the difficulty.  Because both of them are probably kind of worried that if they suggest dropping the whole escort/payment façade, the other will say ‘hang on a minute, I only really see you as an escort/my client’.  They know it’s not true, they must know it by now, but they just can’t quite take that step and get it out in the open.  I think Victor knows how he feels and what he wants- for example ‘Victor wanted to be… inside of his life in a way Yuuri had never let anyone before’.  But Yuuri? He’s still sort of in denial and very afraid of what it might mean to be with Victor (or anyone, probably) outside the boundaries of his profession.  He finds having quantifiable, monetary worth very comforting, because outside of being an escort he’s still really not convinced he’s worth very much at all.  When he says he’s never thought about settling down, I don’t think he’s just saying that- I think he’s scared to even think about what that might mean.  So he just doesn’t think about it.  Those walls he’s built (Phichit tells us all about this) have got to come down before they can sort this mess out.  And it’s starting to happen- ‘Setting Yuuri’s soul on fire, burning down his walls,’ but he’s not there yet.  

If you’ve got this far then well done!  Because seriously, how did this get so long?  So my final point- this chapter made me laugh.  At poor, shocked, hungover Yuuri when he wakes up and finds Victor in his bed.  At Yuuri teasing Victor about the state of his home and Victor explaining about the towel swans.  And at this awesome line- ‘He’d pretty much burned the entire handbook and apparently slept with Victor Nikiforov in its mortal remains’.  Genius.

And a note for cryingoverspilledvodka / @victorsporosya : thanks again for another brilliant chapter!  Good luck with your dissertation and we’ll all be looking forward to the next update.

[lookgoodformula]

5 Things That Happen to You After You Get “Serious” About Makeup

I can’t find my pan of MAC Soba. YES, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!!!

1. You get caught up in the limited edition chase

Symptoms of this particular malady can last for months — in some cases (ahem!), years. Once stricken, you may find yourself doing things like going to a MAC counter at the crack of dawn (even before they’ve put out the collection for display) to snag a nude peachy pink lipstick, which you’ll eventually take home to comparison swatch against the other 20 LE nude peachy pink lipsticks in your stash.

Chances are, all of them will look more or less alike. (For what it’s worth, this is rarely a permanent affliction.)

2. You stare at brows

When you’re out and about, you’ll find yourself staring at other people’s brows and, if you’re next level, you’ll mentally file them away into one of several categories, like Instagram brows, Cara Delevingne brows, ombre brows, skinny brows and microbladed brows (among others).

There’s a whole language dedicated to describing brows, and you’ll know all of the terms.

3. You frequently ask yourself the hard questions like, “Do you reeeeeeeally need another neutral palette/coral lipstick/off-black liner?”

And even if you don’t, you can still easily justify adding another one to your collection.

4. You start coveting every shade of brown eyeshadow known to womankind

And if you happen to misplace a particular shade of satiny neutral golden brown (or whatever else it may be) that you need for your makeup on a given day, you’ll have a meltdown if you can’t find an exact dupe.

Seriously, forget about replacing it with another brown, because those other ones JUST WON’T WORK.

5. You get misty-eyed when you think of the one that got away…

You know — that one limited edition product that you wanted so badly but ended up not buying for whatever reason. Why didn’t you pick it up when you had the chance?? Were you out of your mind!?

This will haunt you for years…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. I hope you had a great Monday, babe. Mine was pretty uneventful, which was fine with me. I needed a mellow day! The most exciting thing I did was make these two-ingredient pancakes for lunch (with two eggs and one ripe banana), and all I have to say is ewwwww.

I think I did something wrong because it tasted like a banana omelet.

Yeah, not doing that ever again.

How was your day?

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[tmiquotepage]

Film Crew Appreciation PSA

Respect & love the actors.

But also the directors.

But don’t forget the producers (all of ‘em!)

Don’t forget the Cinematographers & Directors of Photography, and their camera ops who make those dope shots happen!

Don’t forget the 1st AC, who makes those dramatic focus pulls happen.

Don’t forget the 2nd AC, who makes sure those slates are right and shots are logged so they know they don’t lose footage or reeeeeeeally fuck up sync sound!

Don’t forget the sound mixer, who lets the director know whether they got the right sound for that scene before they leave location.

Don’t forget the boom op, who is killing himself offscreen to hold that mic as close as possible without being in your shot so that you get good on-set audio and don’t have to watch potentially disasterous ADR/”dubbing” which draws you out of the movie.

Don’t forget the costumers, who arrive early at set every day to steam out those suits, and who always have back ups, and who make your actors look exactly how they need to for that shot. On that note, don’t forget the make up and hair artists, who work with the director from the beginning and actually put HUGE amounts of thoughts into every look for every shot, every scene. GUYS. NEVER FORGET HAIR AND MAKEUP. This goes for the ridiculously talented people in SFX makeup and practical effects as well!

Don’t forget the script supervisor, who is basically set mom. 

Don’t forget your 1st AD, who is the director’s right hand man. Who makes sure everything gets shot (and works with the script supervisor to make sure you don’t run over time!). Oh, and they’re probably (almost definitely) the one who has placed every single extra in the background to look natural and to walk on screen at the right moment so that you never notice the 100s of people walking down the street behind the lead actors are all people who have been paid to be there and walk behind the lead actors without staring at the big set of film equipment in front of them. 

(Along those lines, thank the extras who come out on set and normally sit around all day doing nothing until they are called for, and then being ready to go when it’s time. Real troopers, and it’s also a fantastic way for people interested in film to check out how things work on sets before they even get to PA level.)

Don’t forget your 2nd AD, or the 2nd 2nd AD, both of whom make sure that set paperwork is in order, everyone is where they need to be, lunch is taken on time, PAs are doing their jobs, and just generally makes sure problems disappear before the 1st even has to hear about them. 

Don’t forget the dolly grip, making sure that tracking shot is smooth and perfect. Likewise, steadicams are heavy and difficult to navigate and learn to use. Give a HUGE shoutout to the steadicam operators in the films you watch (hint: if it’s a major studio production, odds are there are at least one of each!)

Don’t forget the grips, who move alllllllll that shit that needs to be moved on set. Don’t forget the gaffers, who are in charge of lighting and pretty much anything electrical on set.

Don’t forget the DIT who is checking that footage as it comes in. The one who lets you know you’ve got a dead pixel or a corrupt card or a boom in the shot before you spend the rest of the day thinking you got a shot that you simply don’t have. Digital Imaging Techs save movies every day.

DO NOT FORGET THE PAs WHO ARE GETTING YELLED AT AND STANDING FOR 12 HOURS STRAIGHT AND WHO ARE RUNNING FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIMIT AND DO THANKLESS WORK FOR NOT A WHOLE BUNCH OF MONEY (IF THEY ARE ON THE GOOD SETS WHERE THEY ARE GETTING PAID AND NOT THE DOZENS OF OTHERS THEY HAVE TO START OFF ON JUST TO GET EXPERIENCE) AND WHO NEVER COMPLAIN ABOUT ANY OF IT AND WILL GLADLY LET YOU USE THEM AS A FOOTREST OR BE YOUR PSYCHOLOGIST/RANT-LISTENER BECAUSE THEY KNOW EVERYONE STARTED SOMEWHERE AND THEY GOTTA EARN BEING IN THIS FUCKING INDUSTRY THE HARD WAY LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.

Don’t forget locations, who troubleshoot with location owners and make sure they’re happy and takes care of more on set than you can imagine.

Don’t forget the casting director, who spent hours combing through hundreds of headshots for every little part, even that one waitress with one line in scene 57. 

Don’t forget craft services and catering teams, who keep us fed, but also bring cakes on the last day of filming, who also make sure the first aid kit is well stocked, who remember the sunscreen and the bug spray when you’re in the woods, who make runs to the store when the ice melts, who will always take care of you.

Don’t forget the stunt team, who take the punches and hits and bruises and keep going.

Don’t forget, of all things, the snake wranglers in the woods making sure you don’t get killed by a poisonous snake.

DON’T FORGET ART DEPARTMENT, WHO ARE MACGYVERS AND CAN MAKE ANYTHING OUT OF NOTHING WITHOUT BREAKING A SWEAT. 

Don’t forget set design and dressers, who are responsible for every single thing that is not a person or a prop on that screen. Along those lines, thank the greens team (actual department. Check those credits, dawg.) for working with all the plants you see on screen. And along those lines, thank the animal wranglers and trainers who keep those 40 sheep in the background from getting frisky in your shot.

Don’t forget those teamsters, who make sure those actors & above-the-lines get to and from set safely after a long day filming. 

Don’t forget production coordinators AND UNIT PRODUCTION MANAGERS and all the people in the production office AND ALL THE DEPARTMENTS’ PAs and the crane operators and production designers and please, for the love of GOD, never forget to check out the screenwriter(s) WHO ACTUALLY CREATED THE SCRIPT THIS STORY IS BEING CREATED FROM. 

AND THAT’S ALL JUST PRODUCTION AND PREPRODUCTION. DON’T FORGET POST!

Don’t forget the editing team, even though they are perhaps the most forgotten department people ignore, despite the fact that they are the ones that hold the director’s hand and assure him that his movie is in the footage, and then put it all together and make the story happen from raw sound and footage.

Don’t forget the scores of men and women in the VFX department making sure you question where their graphics end and reality begins.

Post-sound & foley artists, who create the audio world to go with the visual images. The people who make the sound sound effortless are the best. If you don’t notice their work, it usually means they’ve done it right, but go ahead and give them a high-five as well. 

Guys, never forget the MUSIC aspect of films. How much work goes into scoring and creating the soundtrack.

Don’t forget the marketing departments, y’all. The ones who deliver the films, who make those dope ass trailers, who create those posters and viral campagins and taglines. Don’t forget how much work goes into marketing and distribution, because we make make the movie from development through post, but THEY ARE THE ONES THAT MAKE SURE YOU GET TO SEE IT.

I’d say tl:dr;, but the the thing is, you guys should read all of this. There are so many more positions than these, and they all have even more jobs than I was able to list here. And every single one of them does their job because they love it, and every single one of them give 110% to make each individual film a success. Each one of them plays an intergral part in the production of your favorite movies. So please, idolize the actors and directors because yeah, they’re talented and amazing and the most visible. But stay for the credits, too. Check out the IMDb page for the film. See every single person that went into making this film. Google any of the positions you don’t know and learn a bit about what they do on set. You’d be surprised just how much goes into filmmaking. And then, once you’ve done a little research, give those crew members some of the love you have for their creation as well. This has been a friendly PSA from your friendly neighborhood screenwriter/set PA. <3