#I'll post a few alternate angles in a bit :)

[visualtaehyun]

Since it's already the 21st in Thailand now and I'm impatient to release this lol-

Today is ZeeNuNew's official 4th anniversary! 🐶🐱

So to celebrate, I worked on a little something, as promised: All deleted scenes from the Cutie Pie boxset, subbed and translated by yours truly (to the best of my non-native ability 🙏)

You can find the individual clips by either clicking on the links or, if you're on desktop, I've added them to the header images as well. My hope is that tumblr won't flag this post because any NC scenes aren't embedded. The clips are all hosted on tumblr and you can easily download them like this, too. If this post does get flagged- Welp, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. But the clips themselves shouldn't be affected since they're all hosted separately.

RULES: - This is arguably transformative content now because of my translations and the amount of audio fixing I had to do 🤡 But, please, if you share this post or any of the links off-site, do so privately so Domundi don't sound any sirens lol - Do NOT re-upload these clips anywhere! See previous point, plus I do not appreciate having my translations stolen, as is often the case online - If any link doesn't work or ever goes down, feel free to send me an ask or dm and I'll look into it 🙏

Now that you've read all of the above and promise to stick to my rules 😇🔪 you may proceed to the actual content~ Have fun, enjoy, and maybe come talk to me about it <3

clip 1+3 - Get out! clip 4 - Lunch & Lecturing clip 5 - Football

Four scenes of the gang's shenanigans at university. Clip 1 continues into clip 3 so I edited them together. They likely fit into ep.8 which has that same classroom setting with P'Aof's cameo as their lecturer. Clip 2 is entirely the same as in the aired version so I omitted it, even though it would fall under this category of scenes. Clips 4 and 5 are mostly about NuerSyn butting heads~

clip 11 - Start Over

An alternate cut of YiDiao's NC scene in ep.10. The boxset clip includes the entire conversation beforehand which I cut out because there's no difference to the aired version. I also adjusted the volume of the placeholder song because it's deafening at times.

clip 8 - First Time

A longer alternate cut of LianKuea's NC scene in ep.8. There are entirely new angles and cuts in this one! I adjusted the audio levels a bit.

clip 6 - Pillow Talk

Continued from after ep.8's NC scene. This scene is so so dear to me. Fair warning: the audio at the beginning maybe shouldn't be played without headphones lol

clip 7 - Bathtub

A LianKuea NC scene. This one might fit into ep.9 because it was definitely filmed during the same Q as the bathtub scene in ep.9. I did a lot of editing to get the audio levels of the different angles and cuts to be roughly the same volume.

clip 9 - Homophobia

A cut scene from ep. 11. Some lady at Lian's father's birthday party has a whole lot to say about Kuea, Lian, and their families.

clip 10 - Mystery

A LianKuea NC scene. I call it a mystery because I cannot for the life of me figure out where this scene was supposed to go! Logically, it must have fit somewhere between ep.8 and 12 but their outfits never show up again anywhere else. All I know about it is that it was filmed during Q16 and that it uses the same placeholder song as in clip 11. My only evidence- two photos P'Aof apparently shared a few days after that Q + a promotional still from a week before the show premiered.

[the-cu-genswap-au]

Behind the scenes post #1

In which I'll be looking through all the comics I've posted so far and highlighting interesting facts, details, and references I threw in while making them!

#1. General CU references:

- This is the most obvious one: Ben's locker number and locker combination are references to the first book's original publishing date—September 1, 1997

- "Murray" is Dav Pilkey's middle name (David Murray Pilkey)

- I said this in the original post but "Ms. Mancini" is taken from Madison Mancini, one of the kids George and Harold sabotage during the Invention Convention in the second book

#2. Production trivia #1: my cheat for saving time on environments: the following panels were all sketched over screenshots from the movie

- Sometimes to save time on a complicated panel, I'll directly sketch over a screenshot of the specific shot I need so I can get the layout of the scene down before moving on to finer details. It's good practice for drawing the same location freehand later on—every subsequent panel of the stage and classroom scenes was drawn organically using different screenshots as reference.

- I also alternated between tracing and freehand with the car in this comic. I'd post example panels but I'm already close to hitting the image limit on mobile oops.

- I'm not very great at drawing locations. Working on this comic has genuinely helped me improve in that area.

#3. Production trivia #2: how my loosey-goosey approach to comic-making can come back to bite me: I explained once how this scene was a last-minute addition to the comic

going back a few pages, we see this panel

Originally, this panel was supposed to be the only appearance of the Ree brothers in this chapter, with Jerry sitting behind them as a low-key Jeree reference.

- I actually don't make any scripts or thumbnail sketches when I make these comics. I have a rough outline of where I want the scene to go and everything from dialogue to visuals is kind of made up as I go along, lol. Case in point: adding in the above scene as a spur-of-the-moment decision because Melvin's dialogue needed relevant imagery.

- Once I started drawing that page, though, I quickly realized that having Ribble and Anthrope behind the Rees wasn't consistent with the first panel. Whoopsie. I considered going back to edit the panel for a while.... before I decided that the original angle wouldn't actually show them off that well anyway, lol. I figured the implication that Ribble and Anthrope were sitting there all along would be enough.

- Ultimately, I'm glad I added in this little scene. It's a nice character moment between Toilette and Lavatore, and it helps to set up some key points for later on....

Part 2 will be up in a bit!

[tmntkiseki]

TMNT Art Diary 2: The Importance of Art Goals and Focusing Your Attention

Happy March, everyone! How are we doing? It's been almost a month and a half since my last turtle art diary, so I figured it was about time to type up yet another set of ramblings talking about my experiences learning how to draw the 2003 TMNT.

Before we get started, I feel it's worth mentioning that the future of this blog is kinda up in the air at this point? From the beginning, I've been against AI generated images because of the ethics involved and like many in the Tumblr art community, recent going-ons with the site have me concerned for where things might be headed. I'm not planning to jump ship just yet, but there is a pretty good chance that I'll be posting less and less original drawings here and start utilizing my newly created Pillowfort instead, as the staff has taken a very firm anti-AI stance to the point of completely banning both AI generated images and writing on the site (the official Tumblr post regarding their decision). If you're a fellow artist, TMNT or otherwise, they might be worth checking out as a potential alternative to Tumblr.

With that out of the way, let's begin!

Okay, so let's talk about something that applies to most anything when you're learning how to do art; the importance of art goals and taking things one step at a time. Whether you're a beginner artist or someone who already has years of experience under your belt, it's important to not only have goals in mind of what you want to learn, but also to try and not do everything all at once. There is a lot that goes into successfully drawing the turtles; their anatomy, applying their less human features like their shells and three-fingered hands, their expressions, their colors, etc. HOWEVER, if you're trying to learn to draw too many aspects of their designs all at once, you are going to become overwhelmed very fast and you will not see improvement as quickly, which inevitably results in frustration and loss of motivation. Ergo, you need to take things bit by bit, breaking down the turtles designs into bite-sized pieces and focusing on specific areas that you are having trouble on.

For instance, early on, I realized pretty quickly that one of the areas I was struggling in was the turtles heads; I love their shape, but damn are they hard to draw. Subsequently, there was a point where I was largely drawing turtle heads and ONLY turtle heads so I could learn what shapes went into them, what they looked like from different angles, etc. Within even a few days, I already saw massive improvements just because I wasn't trying to draw EVERYTHING all at once; just one very specific aspect of their designs. Compare the very first Donny I drew on the 5th of January to a quick doodle of Mikey I did a couple of weeks later on the 25th and you can see how much I learned in such a short timespan.

Speaking of shapes, you wanna know the biggest hack I've discovered for learning how to draw the 2003 turtles? Studying the Fast Forward art style. Yeah, you heard me.

At first glance, this seems kind of stupid. I'm pretty sure most people aiming to draw fanart of the 2003 turtles are planning to draw them in a similar style to the first five seasons, so it makes more sense to study screencaps and model sheets from those seasons rather than FF. However, the reason why Fast Forward is so useful for TMNT 2003 fanartists is because, at its core, Fast Forward is 2003's art style simplified. Anyone who has ever taken a professional art class or looked up tutorials online knows that basic shapes are incredibly important when drawing, as they are the building blocks of literally whatever illustration you're trying to make. Now, I absolutely love how detailed the designs from the first five seasons are, but because they are so detailed, a lot of the basic shapes do get lost under everything as a result, which can make it hard to figure out what actually goes into the turtles designs at a fundamental level.

Because the designs in Fast Forward are less detailed compared to what was seen in the first five seasons, many of the basic shapes that go into the turtles designs are much easier to spot. If you've been following me long enough, you know that I was absolutely LIVID to discover that one of the things I genuinely don't like about the Fast Forward style--the pentagon shaped heads--makes drawing the 03 turtle heads so much easier. To explain it in detail; a pentagon basically maps out the five "points" of a turtle's head. What these points represent can change depending on the angle from which you're drawing your chosen turtle, but if you're doing a turtle head from a front/three quarter view, the five points denotes the top of the head, the cheeks, and the chin. It requires some practice to get right, but by building off this initial pentagon shape, you can easily draw a turtle head in the style of the first five seasons. A hexagon works just as well and is especially useful if you're going for a rounder/softer head shape.

Beyond that, I think making to deliberate choice to draw in the Fast Forward style rather than the OG style is helpful for other reasons. When a turtle's head is only a pentagon, you don't have to worry as much about details and can focus on other areas you might be neglecting, such as figuring out the positioning of the eyes/mask, or developing the way you draw the turtles' expressions. (Seriously, the white pupil-less eyes are cool, but they do make conveying emotions a hassle, especially when the turtles are lacking for proper eyebrows.)

It's been about two months since I drew my very first 2003 turtle and while I'm still very far off from where I want to be, I've already made some leaps and bounds in terms of overall progress. I do sometimes feel annoying yelling about my turtle art learnings and struggles (especially when I know there is stuff that potentially comes off as Captain Obvious territory to others) but I personally find it helpful to write down everything I've learned and experienced in case I forget something and need to look back on it. And hey, maybe someone will see these disjointed ramblings as helpful. You never know.

Anyway, here's a lil Donny doodle from today to finish this entry off. See ya later!

[secularprolifeconspectus]

I read your entire zine. I have the means to support an unplanned pregnancy and I am in support of innate “personhood” and am against murder in all circumstances.

Your zine thoroughly identifies the connection between Neoliberal Capitalism necropolitics and abortion but could use more resources for alternatives like your testimonial for embryo donation. I say this because your true position is one that is actually pretty common—that abortion is traumatizing but necessitated by (forced) socioeconomic conditions. While you are clearly concerned with compassion, we are still living under these regimes with no light ahead in sight so labeling yourself as “pro-life” seems like a misappropriation of the contemporary term while also /feeling/ a bit sadistic.

On a philosophical note, how do you tackle the notion of bodily autonomy in this case? Pregnancy complications aside, how can we tell women that they necessarily must sustain someone else’s body with their own? Even in a just world, women who do not wish to experience pregnancy as a medical condition will exist and they would have that right as part of healthcare. Do you assign special rights to the personhood of an unborn human that supersede their mothers? Even if you suggest pregnant folks wait until they are able to donate their embryos, you are still implying some sort of regulation (assuming not legal since you are anarchist) against their bodies. While I agree that most abortions are ultimately coercive, I am uncertain that the exceptions are minuscule enough to limit my support to only “necessary” (prioritizing bodily health over mental health/wellbeing) abortions.

I really appreciated your zine. It was very thought out and well informed. I hope to see updates soon!

Well howdy, thanks for reading the zine in its entirety. You're right, in the zine I do focus on the socioeconomic coercion angle because its an accessible point of entry for folks with left-leaning ideologies. And I did make a ploy for compassion because you have to have a pathos appeal to compliment logos, right? HOWEVER, I want to clarify that my *actual* position (not just the idea I explore in the zine) is this:

Prenatal humans are in the same metaphysical processes as us, which makes them real people with the equal right to not be subject to deliberate violence. Bodily autonomy does not justify disproportionate use of force against a dependent person.

And that's all there is to it. Abortion is ethically impermissible and a human rights violation, irrespective of contemporary regime. So I hope that earns me the "pro-life" label in your eyes, or at least an "anti-abortion" ethos. I'll take either.

Noted on the alternative resources suggestion.

I've done a detailed deconstruction of the bodily autonomy justification for abortion in this post & this post. I don't think women MUST sustain preborn people within their own bodies, but until preborn people can be safely transferred elsewhere, I think everyone (not just women) MUST refrain from suffocating, dismembering, or poisoning preborn people. Because that is how abortion induces fetal demise: it deliberately deprives the person of oxygen, compromises their body integrity, or hijacks their vital functions.

I think when there is no option to remove a preborn person from her mother's body without knowingly killing her, then we must NOT knowingly kill her. I have no interest in forcing women to DO anything. I have interest in enforcing that everyone (women included) NOT do a few things, very specifically: knowingly cause the death of a tiny, powerless person.

I want every person to have the same right to not be deliberately killed. And I want every person to refrain from deliberately killing. I recognize that this puts an unequal burden on pregnant people in the present; but consider the burden preborn people shoulder when they are sacrificed to purchase our liberty, for which we never personally pay the ultimate price. It is brutal abuse of power.

When you really think about it, the bodily autonomy argument is a bit of a red herring, isn't it? I've never heard of a person who sought an abortion simply because they "do not wish to experience pregnancy". People most often seek abortions because they do not want a relationship to a living child. It's an issue of reproductive autonomy.

Sure I have an anarchist bent, but when it comes to a literal genocide, I am first a pragmatist. If a genocide can be stopped immediately with legal sanctions, then I will accept that for now. Lives are on the line. My ideal sociopolitical framework can wait.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

I've been thinking about this and I want to ask someone with industry insight! I've been really struck by the fact that we don't see Eddie's face when he sees Buck on the stretcher, seeing him there, laid out. We see his back only pushing Bobby and conspicuously don't see his face when Bobby is telling him to drive. and a little profile walking to the driver's seat. I sorta feel that it was intentional because they take a lot of care when setting up and framing shots. Basically, it seemed like a Choice™ a deliberate omission esp since they shoot from several angles (they love a good reaction shot!)

Am I reading too much into this? If I'm not, why do you think they shot it that way? It's just rolling around in my head....😁

Hey Nonnie

Thanks for a great ask and I really hope my answer helps!

I'll go through the process directors generally go through (disclaimer - I'm not a director and each director has their own way of working so this answer is based on an amalgamation of my experiences)

Directors get sent the script and a few days to read it. usually this means reading it several times - the first will just be a read through, then further readings will involve making notes and questions. On tv shows, there will then be conversations with the writer(s) and showrunner(s) about intentions, important plot points or lines, and questions that the director has can be asked, there might even be further changes to the script at this point. These conversations will firm up any information that needs to be visually given and allow the director to start storyboarding and plotting camera angles and movements with the DOP (Director of photography)

I don't know if you've seen them, but we've had some great bts stuff from a couple of the directors this season showing us some of the pre production process - especially the storyboarding - the most obvious one is the Buck on a bike chasing the car thats driven off with Chimney (I can't find the 911 bts post for that one speifically, but these two links here and here are of other storyboarding posts). This storyboarding plots cast positons, where any visual effects/ special effects might be being used, cgi elements, camera positions - so that they can get the angles they want - as well as other important visual things such as set and or props. They might go as far as noting things like which lenses or filters they want to use as well. Storyboarding like this will often include the intention to capture things from different angles and I'll go into this a bit more in a minute.

All of this is done to ensure they can be as efficient as possible on the day of filming, because time is money and when they're on location especially they may have restricted hours for access, and might find some things they wanted to do won't work in the location when they get there. I once worked on a production where we were on location and filming a scene with a child actor on a roof - they were supposed to cross a room, climb out of one window, run along the roof, climb in through another window and then hide behind a piece of furniture - all in one shot. when it came to filming we had to make changes because we discovered it wasn't possible to achieve this version - for a few different reasons - the biggest one being the safety of the crew - the roof space was too tight and uneven for them to be able to track the route (bear in mind they're walking backwards when filming the character coming towards them). thankfully it was an easy fix because the director had storyboarded an alternative version if it wouldn't work in the space we had.

Back to capturing things from different angles. when you have a scene - like the one you've asked about, they will film a couple of different takes and angles because they will want to have options when it comes to editing - because the director might not know exactly whose reactions they want to have at which moment, the delivery of a line can affect it or capturing a reaction etc. its like when we see a conversation between two characters - they film the whole conversation from both angles so they can cut it together in a way that best serves the story they are telling at that moment. I'm sure you've seen the bts video of Ryan in the scene - in it you can see them filming him with two different cameras and that won't be the only way they've shot him in that moment, there will be other takes from other angles - possibly from closer up - really focusing on his face, filming from over the top of the ladder, or even an aerial shot.

I've got a bit off track with this, but when we get to the gurney scene the camera choices are as much about what they show as what they don't - we see things from everyones perspectives except Eddies in this moment. We get the perspective of Chim from on top of Buck where he's giving compressions, we see Hen's perspective on that as well, we also have the camera back away in the same way we see Bobby back away, but we never see an overhead shot from Eddies perspective - looking down, nor do we get a camera racing in close. Buck is always and very conspicuously filmed being lowered from a low perspective.

It is the most intentional of decisions no to show us Eddies perspective, and not to show us his face from front on once he has realised that Buck is hanging from the top of the ladder - the things that are absent often speak louder. So yes like you said it was all very intentional. we are meant to read it that Eddie doesn't know - he is out of the loop at that moment as to the situation - we see him side on because he has some idea, some knowledge, but he doesn't know and we the audience are meant to feel that with him.

The other thing about using side angles of a character rather than front on ones is that it both masks their emotions - its harder to get a read on what a character is thinking if you can't see all their face, but it is also a way of making that character the focus. Let me explain what I mean a bit more. In that moment we can see Chim Hen and bobby and we know what they are thinking - we can see the fact that Chim is panicking a bit and isn't thinking straight its written on his face, we can also see he's looking to Hen for guidance and reassurance. Its similar for Hen - we can see her fighting to keep control, to both support Chimney, but also fighting for that control so that her medical knowledge remains useful to her - she cannot panic in this moment - Buck needs her to make use of all the things she's been learning in medical school (the foreshadowing of them showing her learning about both neurology and the heart is screaming pretty loudly at me right now!) We also see Bobby - as soon as he's got Buck on that gurney force himself to step back - to force himself to remain in captain mode, because he knows thats what buck needs in that moment. We can see all of this information from the fact we can see their faces in full we know exactly what they are all doing and why.

But Eddie, Eddie we only get glimpses of his face - two to be exact - we get the one while he's next to Bobby beside the ambulance, and then a second one once he's inside, but they are never full face. This shows the quality of a director like Brad Buecker, because he understands who Eddie is in this moment - his choices show us that Eddie is in both military mode, but also that he's shutting down and Brad uses the angle of the shot to convey this information to us. again they will have most likely shot Bobby and Eddies walk alongside the ambulance from fully front on and possibly also from behind.

once Brad (and JCC would likely be present for the editing process as well) gets into the editing suite with the editors, then he can pick the angles that give him the best way of telling the story the way he wants to tell it - he already knew what information he needed to get across to the audience about what Eddie is thinking, feeling etc and he will have made the choice that the lack of focus said more than putting focus onto Eddies reactions.

I hope this answers your ask and that it makes sense. I love talking about the filmmaking process and tend to get a bit carried away 😳😂 so thanks for giving me the opportunity to do so! 💜💜💜

[danger-r-98-5]

I was tagged by @emmithar-blog

How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently, I have 87 mixed between finished and non (need to get back to work on that lol)

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

669,984... nice lol

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Red Dead Redemption 2, though I've posted works for Good Omens, Marvel, Detroit Become Human, and a few others. We don't talk about what isn't posted lol

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Fine line, bad crimes, trying times, 437.

Infinite cosmic power, itty bitty hobbit space, 270.

Outlaws in the streets, beasts in the sheets, 265.

A score to settle (the family act), 258

Golden feathers, what would you burn for? 228

5. Do you respond to comments?

As often as I can! I've fallen behind, There's 11 I ain't replied to yet, but I enjoy receiving and replying to them!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

uhhhhhhh, several that I ain't posted even though I ain't a personal fan of angst, but I think the worst one I have posted is probably part 3 in my good omen song fic A Little Death, though the series was supposed to have a happy ending.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

They all have a somewhat happy ending, but I think the happiest ending thus far is probably a tie between This ain't No Fairy Tale, and The Family Act, then again it all depends on one's definition of a "happy ending"

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not that I've seen? I've gotten constructive criticism before that was rather blunt about word choices (toward/toured and angle/angel that sort of thing) but no actual hate I don't think.

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

Yes, though it's the hardest (lol) part most of the time. I've dabbled in a bit of everything, not much for the extra kinky stuff but it varies between fic.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

No, usually I just deal with AU's, though I have had some crossover ideas It's never really been a calling of mine.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Was in talks with someone a few years ago to have a few translated into Spanish, but it never got off the ground.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I've been given ideas and asked opinions on how certain scenes should turn out but never actually co-written with someone, no.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Morston, though Reylo and snupin are vying for second at the moment lol.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

oh, too many to count! I would love to eventually finish my Stony Hacker series though, that was fun, but I've been in a writer's block with it for years at this point.

16. What are your writing strengths?

AUs, I can't keep it canon to save my life but give me an alternate universe idea and watch me run lol.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Voices and speech patterns, it never quite sound's like the character to me and since I fandom jump so much Arthur Morgan has on occasion spoken like Paladin Danse.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've done it a couple of times, so long as it doesn't overtake the fic I think it can add a little spice to the dialogue or make whoever you're writing seem more in character.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Posted pacific rim, very first was Inuyasha........... those didn't survive

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

My fic are like my children! How could I possibly choose one!...................... My unposted Hogwarts AU.

I'll tag @trippin-over-my-fandoms and @gaslightwestern, if y'all wanna, no pressure! =)

[segfaulteddreams]

Screenshot Saturday: 24th Feb. 2024

Trying to force myself to post updates more often, so here's a late #ScreenshotSaturday submission/devlog for y'alls viewing pleasure 🫡

This past week or so, I finally started work on the actual game part of my upcoming (and still untitled) CRPG project.

So far, all I've implement are the most basic core mechanics for the game--things like movement, "combat", etc.

I decided to build the game on top of the "Cogito" first-person controller/framework (which is intended for use in immersive sims) just cause I messed around with it for an hour or so and I kinda liked the feel of it so I decided it was probably best to start with a known-working system than redesigning everything from scratch. That all being said, I have already begun (and will continue to do throughout development) to heavily modify this framework to better suit the CRPG genre/my game specifically.

One such modification will be to the inventory system (which is why this "screenshot Saturday" post is a day late--I was hoping to finish it in time), just cause I'm a bit indifferent to how those things are handled in its current form.

Level Design

Normally, I design all my levels/game assets in blender, but I'm experimenting with using TrenchBroom as an alternative to level creation.

For those of you who aren't familiar with TrenchBroom, it's a tool whose intended use is for creating Quake maps (as well as maps for some other, similar engines).

Thanks to a nifty Godot plugin called Qodot though, these levels can now be easily imported into Godot with just a few clicks.

On one hand, TrenchBroom is great for quickly designing levels that already have that PSX vibe that I'm going for. On the other hand though, it does have its quirks which can be a tiny bit annoying at times. In particular, trying to make levels with angled geometry is an especially painful endeavor that I fought with TrenchBroom over for a day or two before giving up entirely.

I'm still not entirely sure whether or not I'll just stick to Blender for level design.

Dungeon Generation

Now when it comes to updates on the Dungeon Generator, this past week was one in which I actually did do a lot of work, but at the same time, I made no progress at all.

In all honesty, I'm at a bit of a crossroads with the project at the moment.

On one hand, the flood fill part of the generator is fully implemented and working properly. In theory, I should just need to implement spawners for enemies and loot and it should be complete.

On the other hand though, I'm not particularly happy with how it turned out.

I knew going into this project that I wasn't doing things the "correct" way when it came to dungeon generators (more on that later), but there was a particular style I was trying to mimic and while I do feel as though I hit the mark, I'm just not happy with how things look/feel.

Because of that, I took several detours this week.

I spent a good bit of time building a "proper" dungeon generator in Godot (using Delaunay graphs, MSTs, etc.), following along with some guides. Once more, however, I wasn't entirely thrilled with how it turned out.

This is big part to an old game that I've recently dumped way too many hours into: The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall.

For those of you who don't know, Daggerfall is a CRPG/dungeon crawler from the 90s and it (along with games like TES: Arena and Ultima Underworld), was a big inspiration behind me wanting to create my own CRPG game.

If you haven't already, go download the game off of steam and give it a try--it's free!

I would argue that to this very day, it has one of the best dungeon generation systems in gaming. To make a very long story short, after messing about with my original dungeon generator and then the "proper" one, I decided that I'm probably going to scrap both of these in favor of a more Daggerfall-esque system.

To that end, I've been doing quite a bit of research on how Daggerfall's dungeon generator system worked and I'm preparing to spend quite a few hours creating some assets so that I can experiment with building a similar system in the coming few weeks.

And that brings me to today. If you somehow made it to the end of this blog post, thanks for reading! I really do appreciate it!

If any part of this post caught your eye, feel free to drop a follow to stay up to date on the project as things move forward of the coming few months.

No promises, but I'm really would like to make screenshot Saturdays a weekly routine of mine as I'm usually a bit hesitant to show off any progress when it comes to my game dev projects lol

[underzemilkyway]

Milky Way Above Mt Blanc - by Roberto Bertero

Night Photography on the Alps  Here you can see a sector of the Milky Way passing above the French side of the Mont Blanc massif. Night shot, taken on September 13th 2012, from the shores of the beautiful alpine Lake Cheserys (2.211 m), high up in the Aiguilles Rouges above the Chamonix valley (France).To whom it may concern, I'll be posting soon another image with a perfect mirror reflection of the Mont Blanc massif in the still water of the lake. Anyhow, I hope you'll take a few moments to see the light conditions of this shot. Please note the amount of light that a good camera can record during an ordinary long exposure, around 30 seconds at high ISO...It manages to capture not only the light of the distant Chamonix, but, somehow, it seems the universe itself is producing light... filling with a bright veil of hope the dark rippled waters of the lake. I've found as very evocative this subtle dialogue b/w light & darkness. Obviously light just barely perceptible to the naked eye! _____________________  ©Roberto Bertero, All Rights Reserved. This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.

Mont Blanc in the Mirror - by Roberto Bertero

Night Photography on the Alps  This is the French side of the Mont Blanc massif mirroring in the still waters of lake Cheserys (2.211 m), high up in the Aiguilles Rouges above the Chamonix valley.Night shot, taken on September 13th 2012, at 10:07 p.m.  Waters of alpine lakes are not always still as well as not always in motion. Let's say that in ordinary weather conditions they are just alternating phases in accordance with the winds.  Sometimes, even in this Cheserys area, I've seen photographers observing the waters a bit rippled... and then moving on, looking for other places... rather odd, I would say :-) Since the patience to wait is definitely an essential component in this field.  Patience is basic also while we pay attention in reading the phases of the wind, somehow predicting the moments of quiet, having everything already setup to take the shot. Usually, during the moments of wind I just define perfectly the composition and the camera setting, in order to be totally ready when everything will start to calm down.  This kind of photography with starry sky rarely exceeds the 30sec of exposure (because of Earth's rotation), therefore the fact to be operating in such a relatively "short" time increases considerably the chances to get water totally still during that specific time window. Sometimes it's possible, sometimes not. In any case it's always worth trying :-) _____________________  ©Roberto Bertero, All Rights Reserved. This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.  berteroroberto.pixu.com/

Gran Paradiso @ Night - by Roberto Bertero

3rd & last shot dedicated to the gorgeous North face of the Gran Paradiso group. In my previous shots I've already documented daylight, sunset, the blue hour... so, here it is the night!  The mountain must be lived at all hours, otherwise... what a waste! :-)  I took a few shots that night, this is my favorite because of the large halo around the planet Jupiter (visible on the top right).  Honestly I do not know exactly what causes, time to time, a halo of light around the planets, the light source in our solar system is and remains the sun, then I guess it might depend on particular angles between sun, earth, planets, etc...In fact, that evening/night even Venus was very bright, more then usual, showing a similar lovely halo, but it was completely in the West, above the plateau Nivolet, which is (photographically speaking) less interesting than the Gran Paradiso group.  In this portion of night sky above the Gran Paradiso, besides streaked clouds due to 30 sec exposure, it's clearly visible the Orion constellation (perfectly aligned over the 4,061 meters summit), then we have Aldebaran (Taurus constellation), Menkar (Cetus constellation), the Pleiades cluster, and, as said, planet Jupiter. _____________________  ©Roberto Bertero, All Rights Reserved. This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.  berteroroberto.pixu.com/

[evilpenguinrika]

Like when I decided to have Leo become an Archer/Bard, I too, have caved and decided Hayley should pick up being a Rogue along with her Monk job (you can read more about my Hosie/Hosie fankids FFXIV AU here and here // alternatively, for the non-AU Hosie/Hosie fankids lore, you can find the post about the kiddos here!)

I was kind of bumbling around wondering about what other class/jobs my Hosie fankids would have other than the ones I've listed in the first post I wrote and the more I thought about it, the more things change. Like I definitely changed my mind on a few things since writing the first post. Like Josie and Jay picking up Blue Mage (Siphoner reasons), Hope and Lana picking up Dark Knight (Vampire/Tribrid reasons), Hope picking up Red Mage (probably also Witch/Tribrid reasons), Lana picking up the new Viper Job (also Tribrid reasons but also it's such a cool looking job and I cannot wait--like the demonstration video for Viper looked SO COOL AND IT REALLY FITS LANA FOR WHAT I HAVE PLANNED BUT ANYWAYS--I am a bit surprised I haven't thought about any magic-casting jobs for Lana since you know, Tribrid as well like mom Hope). But I won't go too much in-depth about that since this post is about Hayley.

And then I decided to write a Hosie Final Fantasy XIV AU fic that I'm still working on and will hopefully post before October ends (especially because I have decided to try out NaNoWriMo for the first time ever so that'll be fun) and--

I don't know how it came to be, but when I was writing the scene where Hope is looking for a young Hayley at home, Hayley was being all sneaky and trying to surprise attack her mom Hope. And I was scratching my head writing that scene because I was like "wait I have her be a Pugilist/Monk in this AU why is she being sneaky sneaky?". But the more I wrote and thought about it, the more it just felt right that Hayley would also be more of the sneaky-sneak type in fights/battles along with her typical "imma come at ya full-on". And the more I thought about it, the more I was like:

"Okay, no yeah. This could work. Even if Hayley is very much a charge right into the front lines, she would also be able to take a step back and actually survey everything and probably be very good with certain activities that require stealth. Like maybe Hope and Josie try to explain to Hayley that charging in head-first isn't always a good idea. And maybe Hayley learned other ways to fight from her aunts and uncles or grandparents too. So maybe having her pick up the Rogue class would make sense."

Like maybe (like with Leo learning how to fight with weapons from grandpa Alaric) Hayley also goes to gramp's Alaric for weapon training since he has a plethora of weapons or something and probably would ask him and even mom Hope to fight with them since she's mainly ever used her fists. And maybe that would be a segway into teaching Hayley that sometimes it's better to look at a battle from a different angle and not charge in guns a blazing.

The only issue that I'm kinda 50/50 about is that once I reach lvl30 for Rogue, the Job that opens up for this class is Ninja. I'm not entirely sure if Hayley being a Ninja would fit her personality-wise (especially in my Hosie/Hosie fankids headcanon, Jay is an anime/manga fan lol). I think I'll just have to futz around and wait and see if I want to do that or not. If I don't have her be Ninja, I would be lacking in a lot of attacks and abilities and would be at a huge disadvantage. So I'm not entirely too sure. I mean, then again, I think maybe Rogue could just be a secondary class that I just won't play as much compared to Monk since it would just fit better like that.

I don't know. We'll see.

But anyways, also when I logged into the game as Hayley (haven't logged in as her in a long while), I got some new outfits and decided to wear em even though the stats aren't great for battle (the gloves and vest are new--didn't put on the new pants or boots because I wasn't a fan of the look on Hayley). Will have to glamour them once I'm at a high enough level to wear good gear. Because this outfit does feel fitting lol

[zachsgamejournal]

PLAYING: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

A game that's nearly 20 years old and I'm just getting started. I'm concerned I won't make it to the end, but with it being on Mobile--I'll have more opportunity to play it.

I started this once. I think it was Gamepass or something. I had assumed the combat was real-time, close to Mass Effect. It was...strange to see a "turn-based" combat system. Even though you can move around. I imagine placement matters--but it's still a bit weird. But because stats will be an important factor, I tried to look up good classes and builds--it's more complicated than I wanted. I'm almost thankful for the auto-combat.

I really hate stats. I was utterly pissed off when Morrowind relied so heavily on stats that I could watch my sword cleave the head of my enemy yet a "miss" would appear in the combat log. Why, in real-time combat, are dice and chance necessary? I'm thankful Elder Scrolls moves further from "chance". Because KOTOR is "turn based", the dice-rolls will be more important. So I looked builds and stats guidance. I'm intimidated and irritated. It's frustrating that my stats will prevent me from convincing a character to help me or from hacking a computer. It doesn't give an "alternative" experience, in my mind. It just over complicates simple features and compromises the fun.

After playing a bit, I started a new character and put more into charisma.

What's intrigued me about this game, or the possibility of this game, is a memory of playing Episode 1 on PC. While most of the game is action based, there's a really interesting part on Tatooine where you have to talk to a few characters to try and get parts of the ship. There's even a few side-quest elements, and if I remember correctly, optional ways to achieves one's goal. It really excited me, and I haven't felt anything like it since Hitman games. Maybe Elder Scrolls. But given how dialog/rpg heavy KOTOR is, I wonder if it's going to be a whole game of that experience. So far, it's close.

On the first planet, I have to find a missing Jedi. She's stuck in a lower area but I can't get access to it yet. So far, I've been able to rescue a guy from bounty hunters and participate in a gladiator event. I've also started collecting a few side quests.

Since the elevator to the lower level is protected by a guard and only guards can go down (I think) I've met an off duty guard and agreed to meet them at a party. Dialog hints suggests a uniform will become available.

Oh, didn't post. But I've played more. I went to the "party" and everyone got drunk. I was able to steal a Sith uniform and head to the lower area. Now there's a rival gang fight and I'm semi stuck in the middle. The leader of one gang is apparently a really decent person we're becoming friends. But the other gang is evil. It is interesting.

I just figured out how to use grenades and that's changing everything! Very helpful.

It's funny the writing is very 2000's. It's not bad, in a sense. It's just...well, nuance is not very present. But this is a big RPG with fully voice-acted dialog. So impressive. The cinematic camera angles are awful. It reminds me of the early GTA games where they just put cameras places and said, "There--I made a scene..."

Gonna try to get through this by end of January.

[the-iron-orchid]

Tides of Chaos: Book VI CG: The Garden

Jinana discovers a few things about Julian... and vice-versa.

[Full Size]

[lacunafiction]

I'm not sure if this has been asked before so apologies if it has but how would the ROs react to a drunk MC? Or if they're in a relationship stage and someone is flirting with the MC.

Hi Anon,

I'll do the drunk! MC RO reactions in shorter form, since this may be something that could happen in game, if you want it to.

B is concerned. They shift closer to you and try to count up how many drinks you had before realizing that isn't as important as ordering some food to counterbalance the alcohol in your system. Your favorites are ordered in a matter of seconds, though their hand is also linked with yours and they smile a little at what you just said that didn't make much sense at all, but that's okay.

Watchful, dotting, and sweet.

"I'll be sure to put some headache medicine on your nightstand," B promises, allowing you to trace the lines of their palm that you are fascinated with for some reason. "Extra strength."

"You're... Exxxtra strength."

B isn't sure if you meant that as a quip, compliment, or an insult, but they nod along anyway. "Thanks? I think."

S thinks you're capable of making your own choices, even if they are good or bad. They will angle in their seat to watch you and those around you who may try to take advantage, but will not coddle unless you need the help.

Observant, thoughtful, and considerate.

S has been covertly sliding your glass further way from where you sit for the last five minutes or so when you're distracted by something. They glance up from the table when someone passes near your booth, before settling their eyes back on you, nearly cracking a smile at the look on your face. "We're leaving in like 15 minutes, okay?"

"Kay kay," you agree.

R finds it fun, possibly adorable or amusing depending on what kind of drunk you are when with them. They will sit with you and listen to your rambles, bad jokes, philosophical musings, or whatever else without any judgement. Getting you home for the night is something they take personally, helping you into the convertible and then up the stairs to your room to ensure you get safely into bed. R won't leave until they know that.

Light-hearted, soft (in their own way), and encouraging.

"Would you like another blanket?"

You blink owlishly at R, extending a hand out to them before letting it flop back on the bed as if your palm was made out of cast iron and you can no longer bear to lift it up.

"I'm going to take that as a 'yes'," R gently teases you, spreading another blanket over you and taking your hand for a second. They glance down at your joined hands. "Your hangover is going to be the thing of legends, but I hope you don't forget all of tonight..."

J worries a bit about why you drank this much, if it was all for fun or not, but they focus on how to help. Yes, there are now three glasses on the table: water, juice, and some sort of berry smoothie that they ordered just so you would have an alternative. They move to your side of the booth, sitting on the end of it, so you don't try to rise or stand up while wobbling and off-balance due to the alcohol.

Mother hen, protective, and concerned.

"No, let me," J urges you, extending a hand for the set of keys you were fumbling with to open up the bookstore. "I don't want you alone tonight, or at least for the next few hours."

You're still drunk, which is why you stare a little at how intensely they said that; it feels like you're missing something. "Stay then."

J takes the keys from you with a quiet nod, opening the door and hoping you don't remember this night with much clarity.

Book One Launch Post💚 | TFS Patreon🌲

New TFS Patreon benefits, including spicy stories 🔥, Book Two alpha content drops ✨, and more! Please check it out: here. If you enjoyed your time in Fernweh, please consider reviewing/rating it. 🥰

[ranposlittle]

❝ 𝘼 𝙇𝙄𝙏𝙏𝙇𝙀 𝙉𝙎𝙁𝙒 𝘽𝙊𝙉𝙐𝙎 ❞

Hello, bunnies! ✨ This is my recreation of @crocyoota post bcos I just thought it's a fun idea haha I will not put it under a cut so pls mind your step hehe enjoy~ (๓´˘`๓)♡

▬ 𝙉𝘼𝙆𝘼𝙅𝙄𝙈𝘼 𝘼𝙏𝙎𝙐𝙎𝙃𝙄 isn’t beyond sending you one in the middle of the day unprompted– yes, even if he’s at work. It will usually starts with him unzipping and casually taking his already raging erection out. If he’s sneaking it out, he will not say anything and all you would hear is his soft exhales in the background while he strokes himself slowly. If he’s somewhere more private, he would be moaning out your name and telling you how good he feels. He will try his best to keep the camera stabilize as he unloads and will give you a close-up shot of the tip of his cock with cum still dripping on them to end it. Never bring it up to him though or he won't be able to meet your eyes for days.

▬ 𝙉𝘼𝙆𝘼𝙃𝘼𝙍𝘼 𝘾𝙃𝙐𝙐𝙔𝘼 will be so smug about it whenever he sends you one. He'll always be dirty talking while stroking his cock. He'll also tease himself by just running his thumb across the head of his cock while telling you how horny and naughty you are. He will give you a lot of close-up shots and he will usually direct his cum on his stomach so it'll look like he's shooting his cum on you from the angle of the camera. He usually ends it by flipping the camera to his face, his signature smirk already present and telling you to send him one in return too.

▬ 𝘿𝘼𝙕𝘼𝙄 𝙊𝙎𝘼𝙈𝙐 will make you beg before he sends you one. He will start off by having a lengthy sext with you first, think of it like foreplay. He needs to make sure that you're about to cream yourself before he gives you what you want. He'll even instruct you to touch yourself in certain ways and send him a picture or a video as proof that you're doing what you're told. When he's satisfied with your begging, he'll finally send one, but to your horror– it's only thirty seconds long. He'll only show you the part where his cum is already pooling at his fingers as he continue to pump his cock. Before he ends the video, he'll say in a low whisper: "You want more? Come over tonight and maybe I'll give it to you."

▬ 𝙏𝘼𝙉𝙄𝙕𝘼𝙆𝙄 𝙅𝙐𝙉𝙄𝘾𝙃𝙄𝙍𝙊 will do anything for you especially if you're down, so of course he'll send you one. No, scratch that. He'll send you about five of them. There would be one while he's on the bed, one while he's in the shower, another will be on the Agency's restroom and another for when he's home. If Naomi's not around, he'll set up the camera on a table and will give you a full body shot of him masturbating. He'll look at the camera and bite his lips, eyes conveying an unspoken message to you. His orgasm is always powerful and you will be able to see how his cum spurts reach his chest. He'll grab the camera and give you a close up footage of all the places where his cum landed. At the end, he will flip the camera to his face and with the sweetest voice, he'll wish that he made you happy.

▬ 𝙏𝘼𝘾𝙃𝙄𝙃𝘼𝙍𝘼 𝙈𝙄𝘾𝙃𝙄𝙕𝙊𝙐 gets sexually frustrated quite easily so your phone will be filled with videos upon videos of his cock. He's usually very loud when doing it and would dirty talk about how much of a pervert you are because you love to watch him masturbate, don't you? There would also be times where his talks would be more gentle and just him telling you how much he wishes you are with him so he can make you feel good with his cock too. When he comes, he'll always be saying your name as if it's your hand that's milking him dry. Not to be cheesy but he can't end the video without telling you that he likes you very much.

▬ 𝙋𝙊𝙀 𝙀𝘿𝙂𝘼𝙍 𝘼𝙇𝙇𝘼𝙉 will take a bit of convincing before he agrees to it but it won't be that difficult. You could see how flustered he is by the way his hand slightly trembles as it reach for his erection and began lightly stroking it. He can't do it anywhere remotely public because he can't control the volume of his voice when he starts feeling so good. You know he's about to finish when he begin to sound like he's about to cry. He cums a lot too and all you could hear is his muffled screams as he bit his lips. He'll say something like, "I hope that's okay" at the end of it.

▬ 𝙀𝘿𝙊𝙂𝘼𝙒𝘼 𝙍𝘼𝙉𝙋𝙊 will be happy to send one. Of course, you'd want his cock every time. Of course, you love it very much. How can someone really get enough of him, anyway? Well, you're lucky that he's in a good mood. He's also a major tease so before he sends you the one that you want, he'll begin sending you videos while he's at work. There's one where he's caressing his cock over his pants then showing you the bulge that formed, then another as he unzips his pants to touch himself over his underwear, and then a few more where he would actually take his cock out and play with it. Only when he gets home that he'll be able to send one where he actually cums because he's quite vocal and don't want to risk getting caught. He films it in a way where he'll alternately focus on his face and on his cock so you can see the sexy faces that he makes while doing it. Of course, there will be some dirty talking about how needy you are for him and about all the naughty things you probably want to do right now. When he comes, he'll say in gritted teeth over and over again that he's coming as his cum spurts out of his cock. It's always such a nice sight to see. He'll not forget to give you a close up shot of his cum and to tell you how you probably want to lick it all up because he knows how much you love his cum. At the end of it, he'll chuckle and flash you his beautiful smile before giving a small kiss on the camera.

[bbq-hawks-wings]

On Hawks' Injuries

Alright, let's get this out of the way.

"His back... It's... gone!"

I may like to act like an intellectual, but no amount of analysing the color of the curtains changes the fact that I'm a married, mother of two, in her mid-twenties fixated on a fictional character from a series aimed at teenagers about superhero high school. The innuendo from Dark Shadow, the implications of what this means for Hawks on a personal and professional level - that shit stings and I might actually cry when this dumpster fire ends up in the anime in a few years.

We won't know about the extent of his injuries until he's been examined by a doctor, but considering how quickly his wings went up (this all happens in seconds which means those flames are extremely hot)...

...We're looking easily at huge patches of third degree burns with first and second scattered across his body. The area most affected is in the center of his back which does not have a lot of soft tissue to insulate before you're getting to very important nerves and organs, and the scar tissue that will likely form in the muscles and skin after healing may leave his movement heavily restricted.

Depending on how gruesome Horikoshi wants to be, Hawks not only will never get his wings back, but he could be looking at significant permanent disability for the rest of his life. This isn't even taking into consideration the acute complications he may face on the road to recovery including fighting off bacterial infections, fluid loss, and his immediate increased risk of hypothermia. Left improperly treated, someone with this level of burn injury faces an agonizing death (though, a quick one after passing out without treatment), and proper treatment would likely require huge amounts of pain medication to make the long road to recovery even bearable. This doesn't even take into account any additional injury he may have sustained when he hit his head after Dark Shadow dropped them off the balcony.

Remembering for a minute that this is a battle Shonen we're talking about, this is an absolute worst case scenario, and this post goes over how it likely won't end up this bad in the narrative, but that doesn't minimize the sheer brutality of the beating he just took. The fact that he only passed out after hitting his head is pretty miraculous in and of itself, but I'll force myself to suspend my amazement a little bit given the nature of the source material.

Let's assume at the very least his wings aren't coming back, and he'll need at least a week with good medical attention and healing quirks to just be able to get out of bed again. What then?

It should always be obvious when I predict the future that it's all speculation because I'm not actually clairvoyant, but you know disclaimer or whatever.

We have some nasty red flags staring us down in regards to where this fight is going right now. Shigaraki is awake. Dabi's words after Tokoyami escapes with Hawks insinuates there's an alternate plan than the MLA had, Gigantomachia is moving, and the tides are quickly turning for the heroes without even all of that. This fight looks like it's about to go south real fast.

If the heroes lose with significant losses - with any amount of death or injury - and with the added knowledge they at least partially relied on young, inexperienced kids to help bolster their numbers in the hopes to end this quickly, by the time Hawks wakes up he'll not only be staring down his own personal loss in the wake but the weight of the guilt of what he'll perceive as his own failure will crush him. I also sincerely believe that worst detail at the end of it will be him knowing he personally killed a good man for nothing to even come of it in the end.

Remembering also that the Hero Public Safety Commission is the one who tasked him with this mission in secret and the fact, again, that they pulled children into this failed fight - I do not believe they will take responsibility. This doesn't even take into account the fact he'll be useless as a hero and that they don't even know the extent of his knowledge of their inner workings which makes him a dangerous potential leak.

What's more, news of Hawks' betrayal of the MLA will spread through the ranks and file into the public consciousness. On every single side Hawks will be the scapegoat while he is fighting for his life from a hospital bed. He'll be in more danger without the fierce protection of trusted friends than he was while deep in enemy territory. If he doesn't have a tribe he can trust to keep him safe, maybe even going as far as to clandestinely steal him away where he can't be found, attempts on his life are not out of the question.

Hawks will have a choice to make - rise up and make some real god-damned change while we're already up to our necks or roll over and let the world come crashing down around him as he sinks into despair. He can either settle for being a symbol of failure or he can take the chance to rebirth himself.

Could Hawks' wings ever come back?

This injury is insinuated to be permanently damaging. Whatever mechanism grafted Hawks' wings to his back and allowed him to control them is implied to be damaged beyond recovery, if not completely gone.

However, given Eri's mere existence it's absolutely possible to rewind that injury. Before the battle began it was insinuated Eri will end up using her power again, perhaps even out of necessity. It's an absolutely broken quirk, to be sure; but running with the idea that at some point her power will be offered to Hawks to let him have his wings back - perhaps it's even her idea - I posit two scenarios:

Hawks accepts and he's given a second chance to be whatever he wants to be. His freedom completely restored to him physically and figuratively, he begins life anew with a zeal and solemn appreciation for life and the people in it because the opportunity to make a full return like this is a one in a million chance he's lucky to have.

Hawks turns her down, at least uncomfortable with the idea of using a child's quirk for his own benefit given his own history, even if she offers it freely with no additional obligation to herself. He takes a moral stand in the moment to say, "It's not your job to fix my mistakes and shortcomings" and lives as an example of accountability and living with the hard choices you've made in life and learning how to be happy despite the loss.

I would personally be happy with either if Horikoshi intends to take either route. It's more than possible neither will happen, but with the Eri angle, I hope the possibility is at least touched upon. Maybe it's a one-shot thing and he chooses to let her restore someone like Mirio instead. Maybe it'll get completely broken and bring back every hero - Hawks, Mirio, Mirko, etc. - perhaps even triggered by her own determination to help in any way she can. We'll have to see. The story can take any number of directions after this, and it's not so much where we're going that has me antsy as much as the wait it'll take to get there.

[froggyfroo-art]

My story technically has six main characters, so this is that sixth main character, Arrow and her band of regularly reoccurring side character friends 🐸🐹🐊🐸

(More info - and an explanation as to why the colours are so bad 😭 - under the cut)

I first did a completed drawing of Arrow on the 1st of May in 2017, so it became another redraw daily as she is another main character. This time though, I wanted to add the rest of her gang, because in the chapters focussing on her, these three are almost always with her (Nadia is also an exact remake of the first time I drew her, but the other two are different for various reasons (Val's original pose was better #regret). I'm gonna include the species next to their names to save another essay.

Arrow (Blue Poison Dart Frog) - She is slightly aloof and independent to a fault. She as a mechanic for her day job, but her main interest is skating, and she is considered the best of her friends at it. She's stoic, and is notoriously hard to make laugh or cry, but she gets very attached to people she cares about and never forgets a face. She seems to have met Bufo somewhere before...

Nadia (Djungarian Hamster) - The epitome of big things coming in small packages, Nadia is extremely witty and a bit of a prankster, though she does know how to be serious when appropriate. She and Arrow have been best friends since they were four years old, bonding over a shared interest in alternative music and 'boys' things. She likes to alter clothing, and she made the shirt she is wearing here. Her parents defected from Russia a few months before she was born.

Val (Saltwater Crocodile) - The ultimate 'big sister' type. She met Arrow and Nadia when she decided to take the train from her home town to theirs, as they had a better skate park. She is wise, and tends to think from all angles, so she is the first person people go to for advice. Aside from skating, her special interest is 'pre-nuclear history'*. She owns her own skate shop.

Luca (Italian Tree Frog) - Despite being in the same form class as Arrow and Nadia in high school, Luca didn't join the group until more recently. She has an intense interest in buildings, and is an architect. While popular during school, it was only based on her cute appearance, as the other 'popular' kids found her architecture rambles boring. Her mother is from Sicily, and she was raised speaking both English and Italian.

(These characters don't really have nicknames, aside from Val being short for Valentina (yes, Arrow's real name is literally Arrow), so I just listed the Cyrillic spelling of Nadia's name underneath. Also Yes, this was drawn on the same weird pad as that last drawing I did of Zeteki. The paper normally has a drawing side and a sort of glazed side, to help keep the ink from running/going through the paper. i can only assume that the pages of the current sketchbook were accidentally glazed on both sides, hence why the ink hasn't been absorbed properly and is smudged to heck.)

*Pre-Nuclear History refers to the time before animals became sapient. Humans wiped themselves out in a nuclear apocalypse that mutated, rather than killed, most animals. Yep, you read that right, this is technically post apocalyptic...! The only reason for this is that I was once asked about the significance of why the characters were animals and not humans - at the end of the day, the significance is that I like drawing little bipedal cartoon animals (and including nods/accuracies to their irl counterparts), but I just thought this would be such a ridiculous background element to this essentially slice of life story that I had to include it. The only info about this history given in the story will be whatever Val imparts when she talks about it.

Arrow and Nadia did not hang out with Luca during high school because they were both ostricised by the general student population for being into alternative culture (and Arrow being gay), while Luca was generally shepherded around by the popular kids, though they did have some interactions, the trio had always wanted to hang out.

(final fun fact about Arrow: her original concept was that she was a skateboarding ninja for some reason?? The long anime scarf is all that remains of this truly bizarre original idea. Her entire initial concept was completely different to how she turned out, and if I ever get to making a proper profile post about her I'll get into it akcnskcn)

[slime-strider]

Ok I'm back and on desktop so I can do some image editing to explain my thought process a bit. Warning it is 4am so if this is incomprehensible I'm not at all sorry. First off, I think it's important to note that this has to be written in pixels for some of the changes to be obvious, and I think there could be some more theological reading into the prevalence and meaning of lines shortened into dots, but I don't have the mental capacity for that, nor a special interest in theology. Second, because I'm lazy, I'm going to shorten Standard Galactic to SG, and Illager Runes to IR for the rest of this.

Because of all the images I'm using to explain it, this post is only going to go over my first categorization of simplification, which I have titled "dotification". Effectively, this is just shortening of a line(or set of lines) to a single pixel. This can either be a floating pixel or an added part of another line.

Now, to the analysis. I was wrong about A and B. They are not line removals, they would also fall into dotification. If you look closely, there is a single pixel on the right side of A, and the top center line of B is a pixel longer in SG than in IR. I'm not totally sure, but I'm thinking I is the same process, just less obvious. X as well.

Most dotification seems to be from corners, like in M, U and E. It absolutely means nothing, but these letters do spell out EMU, which is a wonderful animal.

Some of the other dotification examples are a bit stranger, like J, R, and W. J, I believe, shortened the square into a single dot, then placed it in the middle of the line. K is either an outlier with a full line removal, or is turned 90 degrees after dotification. R I have two theories on. Either it is just the four corners formed by the two outside lines, or it's a dot for each line. W could be a dot on each corner, then one for the bottom line, flipped upside down? Or it could be a dot for the corners and one for the center line? Genuinely not sure.

I'm not gonna lie, I have no idea where that extra pixel for F came from. It just appeared. L is pretty simple, just a dot for each horizontal line. P is a bit weirder, but generally follows the rules. C seems to shorten the top line to a dot, while turning the bottom line 90 degrees. T, I believe, shortens the top curve to a dot at the bottom. Alternatively, it could be that the entire bottom cross is shortened to a dot, while the curve is shortened to the angle.

I don't believe that Q is a process of dotification, as I believe that to be the same dot from the original IR. It is not 5am and I have spent a full hour on this and am slightly delirious, so I'll get to the other methods of simplification later. sometime. hopefully.

In case I don't. turning seems to apply to G, a few letters we've already discussed, and possibly O/Q. Pixel removal is seen definitively in H. I think Z is just changed to be more symetrical, there seems to be a trend towards horizontal symmetry with P, J, and Z, and a trend toward vertical symmetry with K, I, G, Y, and arguably also P. Some letters do get less symetrical, like M, O, N, E, B, Q, S(?), T, ok maybe symmetry doesn't mean anything the more I type. Again its 5am.

I recreated the Dungeons Illager font bc the one website that has it broke on me, noticed some interesting similarities between it and the enchantment language. It also has links to the latin alphabet like O and Q, V and W being similar (which, look I know it's just bc the writers are latin alphabet users but it can be used for worldbuilding)

You can have both of them here, along with bordered versions of both, and a font based on the Mojang logo. Mind you, they’re rather bare-bone

Based on this post by u/Luxing23 and this one by u/Athesiel (hi Lillie!)