#San Domino

[queerographies]

[L'isola dei femminielli][Aldo Simeone]

Un giovane fiorentino viene confinato sull'isola di San Domino nel 1939 a causa dell'accusa di omosessualità. Lì, forma legami con altri "femminielli" discriminati. Nonostante il regime fascista, nasce tra loro una comunità solidale.

Un racconto di discriminazione e resistenza tra omosessualità, confino e libertà a San Domino Titolo: L’isola dei femminielliScritto da: Aldo SimeoneEdito da: FaziAnno: 2024Pagine: 312ISBN: 9791259675996 La trama di L’isola dei femminielli di Aldo Simeone Settembre 1939. Aldo, ventenne fiorentino, giunge a San Domino, l’isola delle Tremiti scelta dal regime fascista come confino per chi era…

[spotaus]

So that one trend...? But DustedAfterDeath instead ♡

(Gif version below the cut. Flashing lights warning!!!)

GUYS

I couldn't help myself. I just think that some electronic posters would still work in the city and like...

Idk guys, I just love these funky lil guys!!! This is Geno (pre-injury) in the poster, with Dust (center) and Reaper (right)!

Canonically, Dust met Reaper years before the plot of the main story in Ec-4o.verse. In a city. Where there would very likely be posters and signage showing mantras from before the downfall.

I think it'd be interesting if Geno (one of the head programmers of the Ecto-reprogramming) got put up as the poster child for the initiative. A new upstart programmer with the people in mind would sway hearts, right? Well, it did. Geno's lucky he got so many prosthetics, because a *lot* of survivors blame him for the incident thanks to how often he was publicized, even when he didn't want to be.

And idk. I think it's a cute fate moment, where Reaper just saved Dust and they're traversing the ruins of the wastes of the city, and Reaper shows clear distaste for the sign, but Dust stops and stares for just a second longer. Somewhere inside he recognizes that the guy in the ad is someone who was responsible for all this, for all the destruction and bloodshed. He's not sure how to feel about it. He seems larger than life.

Interesting how Reaper's seen it a hundred times and doesn't even look back (despite how he'd gaze at that face, changed but yet the same, every day with love later on) and how Dust takes a moment of the life he nearly just lost to stare at the image of someone he's never seen before (and wouldn't recognize for ages again, because Geno isn't who he was back then anymore). Interesting too how Geno's face was seen by both of them before he could see them in person and prove himself to be larger (than them both, he's tall, but not larger than life) and more of a character than either of them could've ever dreamed. Someone with enough heart to hold both of them.

And for context:

The composition of this is so good and I fell in love just a little ♡

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

First off, the way you write Tsumiki is so beautiful and makes so much sense and I would die for her. Also, Tsumiki/Maki is fucking inspired. It fits so perfectly within the story and fleshes out both of their characters and I have so many feelings about it.

What you wrote about the cause of the no-contact fits so well with the Zenin how do you even come up with this!! And it also reframes so many scenes in sea glass gardens (specifically, I went to double check bc I just realized that Tsumiki still refers to Megumi’s dogs by their names and they still reapond to them. I am going to cry Megumi deserved so much better). Nanami is absolutely insane in the best way for demanding half custody like he seems like he’d be willing to throw hands over it regardless of the cost to himself and it’s so perfect with how much he (like Gojo) believes so much in protecting children. I have more words to say but not the brainspace to say them bc it is late at night for me. But! I would die for you and your writing thank you so much for getting into jjk

I’m soo glad that y’all liked Tsumiki/Maki too. The versions of them that live in my head just fit together like puzzle pieces. They were each other’s foil and they understood the other all the more for being what the other had chose not to be. Tsumiki had chosen her sibling and Maki had chosen herself, and both of them know what it means to have those be mutually exclusive.

Also the version of Tsumiki that lived in my head violently hates the Zenin and I could not imagine anything more attractive to Maki. Tsumiki would firebomb their compound without hesitation or regret. Maki wants to kiss her on the mouth.

Tsumiki very purposefully was designated as the character who would keep calling the dogs by their names, because she’s the one who most aggressively tries to insulate Megumi from the effects of the jujutsu world on him.

Tsumiki knew Kuro and Shiro longer than anyone. She remembers when Megumi first summoned his puppies. She knows exactly how much he loves them and she knows exactly how badly he must have been hurt to push him to never call them by their names again. Those dogs mean the world to him, and she knows it.

In her mind, what Megumi lost wasn’t his love for his dogs. If he lost that, she thinks he’d be more willing to call them by their names—names are just easy ways of distinguishing them, after all. They’re already named. He’s only inconveniencing himself by never saying their names aloud.

She thinks Megumi stopped calling them by name as a way of protecting them from the Zenin clan.

He never saw his family again, is the thing, but the Zenin have always existed on their periphery. They know that the Zenin haven’t lost interest in him. Gojo tries to shield them (but mostly Megumi) from as much of the Zenin as possible, but they know that the Zenin have been prodding them for more contact and information on Megumi ever since Gojo cut them off. And they know that the Zenin have a lot of contact with the jujutsu world. They both assumed that, over the years, plenty of people have reported back to the Zenin on Megumi.

They trust Gojo, Nanami, Shoko, and Ijichi to not leak information to the Zenin. No one else.

She’s always suspected that Megumi stopped calling his dogs by their names because he didn’t want it to get back to the Zenin that he loved them like pets still. They’d be safer if the Zenin didn’t realize how much he still loved them. Maybe if he hid it, they’d assume they scared him off, and they wouldn’t hire someone to kill a dog when he’s on a mission or something. And that’s what she’ll never forgive the Zenin for taking from him.

They took away Megumi’s safety in his love. It became something he didn’t feel comfortable showing, ever, because it was something he would be hurt over. They made him hide it. And it kills Tsumiki to see, because her brother loves more fiercely than anyone she’s ever met. He loves in a way that terrifies her, sometimes, because she thinks it will kill him one day, she really does.

He loved those dogs enough to be beat within an inch of his life to keep them safe. He wouldn’t just suddenly start treating them like they’re impersonal weapons. They’re still Kuro and Shiro to him, she knows it. They’re still his puppies. And she doesn’t want the Zenin to get to take that from him.

She doesn’t want Megumi to just… succumb to what the jujutsu world did to him. She doesn’t want him to just take the beating the way he took it for his dogs. And she doesn’t want him to just sacrifice himself for her and call it a day. She wants him to fight for himself and for his right to live on his own terms. And she’s not sure if he’ll do that.

So she’ll fill in the gaps where she can. His dogs’ names are Shiro and Kuro, and they’re her brother’s puppies. They’re her best boys and she’ll treat them like pets all day long if she pleases, because the Zenin had no fucking right to take that from her brother. She’ll spit in Zenin Naobito’s face if she ever gets half a chance.

[g4zdtechtv]

THE PILE PRESENTS: X-Play - Sisterhood Going Right Out the Window | 11/2/04

Featuring a boatload of good games!

(GIVE TO FORMER G4 2.0 STAFF IN NEED)

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[threadmonster]

Anyway my dog was at the vet today and is both certified floof and certified good boy (⁠◡⁠ ⁠ω⁠ ⁠◡⁠)

[satyricplotter]

(suggestive, slightly explicit content at the end)

Even though you’ve been expecting the visit for most of the night, the Red Hood knocking at your balcony door at 1 in the morning still catches you off guard. You scramble off the couch in a sleepy daze, book falling off your lap and cracking open on the floor. For one long second, the only thing you can think of is that whoever your last assignment was has managed to find you, that you’ve finally been too sloppy and left a trail with which to track you.

That’s your first thought. Your second thought is, of course, Barbara. But before you can reach your phone to shoot your boss a SOS, or, at the very least, an alert, a second rasp at the window panes freezes you on the spot.

“Will you open the damn door?” Red Hood’s unmistakably robotic voice grits out. “It’s raining cats and dogs out here.”

You trip in your rush to open the doors, limbs loose and clumsy with relief. Hood shoulders past you with a grunt, fingers prodding at the back of his head to get at the latch of his helmet. He takes it off in a smooth motion, his hot breath forming a white cloud against the cold air of your running AC. You lock the balcony back up after him as he goes around your apartment, setting his helmet on your dinner table and shrugging out of his jacket. He means to stay apparently. You could’ve lent him an umbrella if he wanted to go back out there. Probably would’ve been best.

See, you don’t like the Red Hood much.

He invites himself over to your kitchen, opening cabinets here and there until he chances upon the dinnerware and pulls out a glass. The Gotham public infrastructure is in such state you have never once attempted to drink out of the tap, but you don’t stop him when he does. It is, technically, allowed. And he had the pitcher full of filtered water right under his nose, so. You wait impatiently as he downs two whole glasses of tap water and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand (there is a perfectly usable kitchen towel draped over the oven handle).

He glances over, notices you staring. The corner of his lips quirks up. “How obedient,” he mocks. He pats at his sides, pulls a folded envelope from somewhere in his body (the Bats have endless pockets, you’ve come to learn) and tosses it on the table. “There’s your file. You better be fucking thankful. Traipsed through half the city in this shit storm just to get you these.”

“Thank you, Red Hood,” you say politely, picking up the rumpled envelope and eagerly flipping through the files. “Much appreciated.”

Red Hood rolls his eyes at you, eternally put off by your insistence on following the proper channels of conduct. “Whatever. You got anything to eat?”

“Help yourself,” you tell him.

You walk back to the couch with the file in hand and leave him to make himself whatever he will, already too distracted by the information within to care that you’re gonna have to make a second grocery run when he’s done with your fridge. Red Hood rummages through your cabinets, pulling out far more stuff than he should for a midnight snack. At one point, he asks if you’ve had dinner, and you respond him with an absentminded (and truthful) negative. The files he’s brought are the latest Robin’s swiped from the team’s ongoing investigation on a dicey arms exchange deal that may or may not involve three out of four of Gotham’s biggest conglomerates (sans, of course, Wayne Enterprises). It’s your job to process the info—a task too menial and too tedious for Oracle and Red Robin, respectively, to handle. Besides, Tim’s far more useful on the ground.

It must be about twenty minutes of you pouring over the pages scattered over your coffee table when the man speaks up again. “Dinner’s ready,” he says.

You look up to see him setting two plates of steaming stir fry on the table. He’s taken off his gloves, his utility belt, the domino mask and rolled up his sleeves—the whole nine yards. Only missing the apron. The food looks lovely, but of course it does. Cooking is listed as a specialty in Red Hood’s file, right along with marksmanship and hostile takeovers.

Your lips quirk up at the unexpected kindness, but you shake your head. “None for me, thanks.”

“I said,” Red Hood says, placing his gun on the table menacingly. “Dinner’s ready. Come eat.”

Well. So much for kindness. You’re about as dumb as Red Hood’s subtle, which is to say only at your benefit and very much at will, so you only sigh and push the papers aside. He watches you rise and sit, and pick up the fork, before he does the same. You eat in silence.

After a few bites, you stop being disgruntled at his coercion and grateful that he’s got something other than a protein bar in you because you were, in fact, quite hungry. That’s not something you can say—or at least not in any way which he would accept, so you just shut up and eat your meal happily. That seems to be enough for him, as he watches you finish the whole plate with a satisfied expression.

“Good?” He asks.

“Yeah, actually,” you beam.

Even when he stands and brings the dishes over to the sink to wash, you are reluctant to leave your spot at the table. You watch him rinse and sponge the plates and pan, the knife and spoon and cutting board, and your afternoon tea mug. He washes his hands thoroughly and rinses his mouth with the dubious tap water again. A thorough, judicious man. He’s played remarkably nice this evening. You wonder if Oracle’s been pulling his ear to leave you alone.

When he finishes, he walks slowly the remainder of the narrow hallway of your kitchen back to the dinner table and leans against the threshold. The long line of his body catches you off guard, always so unexpectedly graceful despite his musculature, his brutality. You hold his gaze serenely, trying not to cave under his scrutiny.

This is why you don’t like the Red Hood. Every time he looks at you, he sees you wholly. As you are. Not, crucially, as you want. It has been this way since the first time he laid eyes on you—a single glance and he had taken the measure of you. No further explanation, no time to make amends. And what’s worse: he expects you to be honest. He expects you to say what he can read in your face. He doesn’t let it go when you deflect, when you coat your truths in niceties. He wants it raw and open.

You can’t play dumb with Jason Todd.

He breaks the silence first. “Were you expecting Grayson this evening?”

The non-sequitur catches you so off guard you break eye contact accidentally. What’s Nightwing got to do with anything?

“No?” You say, evidently baffled. “Nightwing’s been off-world all week. Why would he be coming around?”

He cocks his head to the side, sucks in the bit of flesh below his lower lip. "So you knew it was me who'd be coming around?"

"Obviously?" What is he going on about? He clearly doesn't believe you, either. It's childish when you stomp your foot and whine, but he always brings out the worst in you. "I'm serious, Hood. I've been waiting for you all evening. Just you."

Jason pushes off the wall and approaches, staring you down with slightly raised eyebrows. “Then, if you knew Dick wasn't coming with, what are you looking so fuckable for?”

Despite how much it bruises your pride, you cannot help but sputter. The staring is one thing, the passing brushes are another—even the stupid pulling at your pigtails like you’re both in kindergarten is… permissible. But this? Coming at you so straightforwardly when all you know how to do is circumvent and hide? Desperately, you respond to the one thing in that sentence you can make sense of: the accusation.

“I don’t like Nightwing,” you whine. Jason fixes you with a look of dry incredulity. You huff. How you despise him. He can’t even let you lie. “And I don’t dress for him either.”

“Hm.” He reaches over to pull at the neckline of your admittedly skimpy top, his knuckle brushing against your chest. “Sure.”

You bat his hand away, and stand up, but that leaves you much closer to him than you expected. Or wanted. “This is not fuckable,” you grit out. “This is… pajamas.”

Jason cranes his neck to take a close look at you, every bit as assessing as the first one had been. One of his large hands comes to play with the hem of your shorts, pushes it up just a smidge, and the pads of his fingers are rough and calloused against your outer thigh. Your eyelids flutter, and he has the nerve to smile.

“That’s a blatant lie, you know,” he says, dipping his head low so the words brush against your lips. “Try a little, huh?”

“This seems like a you problem, my guy,” you snap, so close you might as well be speaking into his mouth. You need to get away. You don’t.

Jason’s smug when you gasp after his hands close around your ass and bring you forward, flush against his body. The hardness in his pants trapped between you, a pressing weight just below where it should be. Should be? What are you—but Jason adjusts before you can scold yourself, lining up your crotch with his and grinding. It feels bigger this way, which is insane because it's already pretty fucking huge, and a hot flash of desire runs through you lightning-quick and just as obliterating. You slump against him, head on his shoulder.

“That’s my problem,” he murmurs against your ear. His thumbs press just under your asscheeks, playful. “You gon’ do anything about it?”

[galedekarios]

references in gale's banter on selection

just thought i'd go through a few of his selection lines that stuck out to me.

Oh, what a tangled Weave we web!

reference to: "oh what a tangled web we weave" from a poem by sir walter scott:

"Like so very many of Shakespeare’s lasting observations, it’s  a beautifully expressed aphorism that uses just a few words to describe one life experience so perfectly, and is so true, that it enters into the English language and becomes one of its most powerful idioms – one that will last forever. ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive’ means that when you lie or act dishonestly you are initiating problems and a domino structure of complications which eventually run out of control. The quote is from Scott’s epic poem, Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field.  It’s an historical romance in verse, published in 1808."

the next one is is a play on a line from a shakespeare play:

All the world's my stage and you're just a player in it.

the play is titled 'as you like it' and the line appears in the following monologue:

"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely Players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His Acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."

the next one appears to reference a poem:

The path less travelled.

i think this is in reference to the well-known poem by robert frost, 'the road not taken':

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

i think this ties in well with gale's wanderlust, his wish to explore different worlds and planes of existence.

the next one is a waterdhavian saying, which i already took a closer look at in one of my metas:

'Doth thy mirror crack?' Apparently not.

Early on in his learning of magic, the long-dead and locally famous first Lord (revered in Waterdeep for his role in establishing the city as it is today) Ahghairon said, "I am no wizard. I am a dabbler but no master of magic; it seems no mastery burns within me." These are famous words in Waterdeep, still known by most Waterdhavian children and all adults, and are oft referenced, as in the dry comment "No mastery blazing forth yet," or "A dabbler but no master, eh?" (Comments applied to skill trades and crafts, not just to magic use.) Tuezaera Hallowhand was a famous "lone cat" thief of Waterdeep in the 1200s DR who disappeared suddenly and is thought to have come to a violent end. She once robbed a wizard, and wrote this on his wall with a fingertip dipped in his favorite red wine: "I take things. You take freedom with your spells. Which of us is the greater thief?" This statement, too, is well remembered, and usually echoed in Waterdhavian speech by someone using the last (questioning) sentence of Tuezara's inscription.  Laeral, Lady Mage of Waterdeep for some years (when married to Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun), once publicly rebuked an overambitious wizard of the Watchful Order of Magists & Protectors thus: "If I hurl spells but think not of consequences, I am nothing. If I take lives but count not the cost, I am nothing. If I steal in the night and see not the faces of the devastated come morning, I am nothing. If I make decrees like a ruler but undertake none of the responsibilities of the throne, I am nothing. And if I do all these things in the name of the Watchful Order, I am less than nothing. Doth thy mirror crack?" These scornful words are remembered and used almost daily in Waterdeep even a century later, though almost never as the full quotation. Rather, someone will ask scornfully, "Doth thy mirror crack?" or "Hurl but think not?" or "Take but not count cost? Be nothing, then!" [source: waterdeep: dragon heist]

i think this one is very neat:

No gloom, all doom.

because i believe it references xan of evereska from baldur's gate 1. xan is infamous for his gloomy nature, often talking about his doom, the folly of the quest, etc. some of his lines include the following:

"We're all doomed! Run while we're still able." "If we are doomed to fail, could we at least do it faster?!" "Eh. Onward, to futility!" "We're all doomed." "Life is so hollow."

i think it's not so unlikely because gale also references other characters from the baldur's gate series and the forgotten realms overall, like elminster:

Elminster's not around, so might as well.

as well as halaster blackcloak, a mad mage residing in the undermountain in waterdeep:

I hope Halaster takes good care of Tara while I'm away.

as well as another character from the games, edwin odeisseron:

Don't make me go all Edwin Odesseiron on you.

edwin, a red wizard of thay, was a companion in baldur's gate 1 and 2.

No rest for the wicked, I see.

a common idiom that originated from the bible:

No rest for the wicked begins as no peace for the wicked in a 1425 rendering of the Old Testament’s Book of Isaiah 48:22: “The Lord God said, peace is not to wicked men.” The sentiment is echoed in Isaiah 57:20, which in the King James Version reads: “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”

another bible reference may be:

Seek and you shall find me.

You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 

from jeremiah 29:13.

more folklore than an idiom, but:

The witching hour.

Origins. The phrase "witching hour" began at least as early as 1775, in the poem "Night, an Ode." by Rev. Matthew West, though its origins may go further back to 1535 when the Catholic Church prohibited activities during the 3:00 am and 4:00 am timeframe due to emerging fears about witchcraft in Europe.

i couldn't find the poem in full, but i was able to find the line that references the witching hour:

Along whose banks at Midnight’s witching hour (So wayward Fancy dreams) aerial Beings pour!

another shakespeare reference is:

What fools these mortals be.

which is a line from a midsummer's nights dream:

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!” is used in Act III, Scene 2 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. The line is spoken by one of the best-loved characters in the play–Puck. Here is the short quote in which the line appears in:  Captain of our fairy band,  Helena is here at hand,  And the youth, mistook by me,  Pleading for a lover’s fee.  Shall we their fond pageant see? Lord, what fools these mortals be! Puck speaks this line to his king, Oberon, while the two are watching the four Athenian main characters lost in the forest. These four lovers, whose love affairs are at the center of the play, are behaving in a way that Puck finds foolish and amusing. It should be noted that Puck bears some of the responsibility for the complicated relations between Helena, Demetrius, Hermia, and Lysander. 

this one is, i believe, a dnd reference most likely:

May the dice roll in my favour.

i did however have the immediate association with alea iacta est:

Alea iacta est ("The die is cast") is a variation of a Latin phrase attributed by Suetonius to Julius Caesar on 10 January 49 BCE, as he led his army across the Rubicon river in Northern Italy. With this step, he entered Italy at the head of his army in defiance of the Senate and began his long civil war against Pompey and the Optimates. The phrase, either in the original Latin or in translation, is used in many languages to indicate that events have passed a point of no return. It is now most commonly cited with the word order changed ("Alea iacta est") rather than in the original phrasing. The same event inspired another idiom with the same meaning, "crossing the Rubicon".

Gone with the Weave.

this is a reach, but my mind always went to 'gone with the wind' (margaret mitchell's novel and the 1939 movie adaptation of said novel) when i heard it in the game.

nothing in depth here, i just wanted you all to know that, haha. (((':

A rough tempest I will raise.

this may be another shakespeare reference and this time it's from 'the tempest':

Prospero: Now does my project gather to a head: My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and time Goes upright with his carriage. How's the day? Ariel: On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord, You said our work should cease. Prospero: I did say so, When first I raised the tempest. Say, my spirit, How fares the king and's followers?

on researching, i found a reddit post that also discusses this likely reference.

the last one i want to end the post on is:

Your knight in magic armour.

this line is still bugged and thus i couldn't find it on the wiki, but it's an assist line for a romanced protag.

it obviously referenced the knight in shining armour:

The present-day use of this phrase is, of course, figurative and refers back to the notion of gallant knights saving fair maidens in distress. The reality behind that imagery is dubious and it no doubt owes much to the work of those Victorian novelists and painters who were captivated by the chivalrous ideal of an imagined court of Camelot. Nevertheless, knights did wear armour and that worn by royalty and the high nobility was highly polished and did in fact gleam and shine. The earliest reference that I’ve found to the phrase in print dates from the late 18th century �� in The British journal The Monthly Review, 1790, in a poem called Amusement: A Poetical Essay, by Henry Pye: No more the knight, in shining armour dress’d Opposes to the pointed lance his breast

but it also features heavily in art, across various periods in time, like these from john william waterhouse:

i did see someone on reddit also discussing the creator and destroyer line in reference to various deities throughout history, which i thought was interesting as well.

anyhow, thank you for reading! i may have overlooked something so feel free to add your own thoughts!

🖤

[makingqueerhistory]

Queer history fact: From 1938-1939, San Domino in Italy was designated an internal exile exclusively for queer people. What began as an attempt to exclude any men who didn’t fit the fascistic ideal of perfect masculinity, ended as a glimpse of the queer community in an impossible time. Equally a prison and a carved-out space where queer people connected in hostile circumstances, San Domino proves the past and continued resilience of the queer community.

[tommykinard]

Hello! Just popped into say your gifsets are soooo stunning!! Thank you so much for making them!! 💕 I was also wondering if you have any resources/tips for text layouts. I feel like the text on my gifs never goes together well, but I absolutely adore the way it does in your gifsets. Appreciate your efforts!

Hi hi! This is so sweet omg thank you for the kind words 🥺💖 I'll try to articulate everything as best as I can but to be completely honest a lot of what goes on in my head when planning out typography is just ~vibes~. Putting some tips and resources under the cut because this got long oops (and has a lot of examples)!

Some tricks I use often:

Pick 2-3 fonts per gif: 1 simple small font (either serif or sans serif, but I usually lean towards sans serif), 1 decorative/fancy font, +bonus: 1 more decorative/fancy font

Here are some gifs I did using 2 fonts (with a sans serif small font on the left, and a serif small font on the right

And here are some gifs using 3 fonts. Whenever I use 2 decorative fonts in the same gif I usually make one of them a cursive font to contrast the blockier font

2. Figure out which words to emphasize: I usually use song lyrics as the text, so it's easy for me to place emphasis on words that the singer/instrumentals emphasize, but this also works for poetry/other types of writing. The important part is realizing that you can only have a few emphasized words/phrases per gif, so sometimes a lot of your text is gonna be in your "simpler" font, like I did in this gif

3. Using multiple decorative fonts per gifset: So one thing I enjoy doing is matching fonts to the ~vibe~ of each lyric, like I've done here, here, and here for example. I still use the rule of 2-3 fonts per gif, and the common thread between each of the gifs are my small font and my layer styles on the decorative fonts. It's honestly just a lot of trial and error until I end up with something I'm happy with.

4. Using the words to guide the layout: I've never been original a day in my life so here are some examples of what I mean

Left: Lyrics say "reverse" and "symmetry" so I make the typography reversed and symmetrical

Middle: Lyrics talk about dominoes so I try to make the text look like falling dominoes (inside a clock because the lyrics talk about... clockwork)

Right: Lyrics talk about a labyrinth so I make the text look like a maze path, and so on. Like I said, not original lol

5. Play around with font size, text warping, rotation, and glyphs: So this gifset used only a single font throughout, but I played around with both the font sizing and text warping to not make it feel monotone

When you use the text tool on Photoshop to type out your text, text warping can be accessed by clicking this icon on the top toolbar

Making sure you have your desired text highlighted, you can play around with the style, horizontal/vertical warp, and the values to your liking. I usually go for flag, wave, rise, or twist, but you can use any of them to get your desired effect.

Here are some more examples of where I used different warp styles

You can also use command + t (or ctrl + t) to rotate your text and place it at an angle (make sure you're not on the text tool)

You can also get cool alternate versions of letters when you go to the glyphs tab on photoshop (go to window > glyphs, and make sure it's checked, and you should see the tab in your photoshop workspace). This is how I got the cool loops on the letters in this gifset which also guided how I placed the small text.

6. Use shapes to make your small font more interesting: You can put rectangles or ripped paper shapes with layer styles on them behind your text to make the words stand out without having to user your decorative fonts, like I did here

7. Fit your text together like lego blocks (+ overlap text): One of the biggest things for me is finding spaces within the text where other text can fit. I usually do this by laying out my decorative fonts first, and then seeing where my small font can fit within it. So below are some examples of layouts I've done with the red circles showing potential places for text to go, and this was after I figured out my decorative text layouts.

The tails of letters like "y", "g", "p", and "q" are good for guiding layouts, as well as the tall points of letters like "l", "t", "h", "b", and "d". Sometimes you'll have to apply the slightest warp/angle/change the font size by 1 pt to make the text fit nicely. Also don't be afraid to let your text overlap a little! I especially like doing this when I have a delicate font and a blockier font, like I did here

Also make sure you have your different phrases on different text layers! Sometimes each word will need to be on a different text layer if that's how your layout goes, but doing this will help you move the different pieces around until you're happy with it (just like legos!)

6. Get inspired outside of tumblr: People are paid to make album art, lyric videos, posters, etc. Use these things as inspiration!

This gifset mimicked the back cover art of Taylor's Swift's ttpd album

This gifset used Noah Kahan's stick season album title layout

And this uses Big Time Rush's lyric video as inspiration

Some other resources:

Get inspired by other gifmakers and their layouts! Some that come to mind are @eddiediaaz @cal-kestis and @nataliescatorccio, and @usergif is also a great place to find amazing gifmakers who do cool typography

@usergif also has typography resources, font recs, and font pairing guides which are super useful

There are some typography layout guidelines floating around tumblr, here's one that I have saved and is a good way to start thinking of typography layouts, and here's a follow up to that

This got super long and may be more than what you wanted anon but I hope this all helps!

[queerographies]

[Gli scordati][Emanuele Firinu]

Gli scordati di Emanuele Firinu è un esordio che lascia il segno, un romanzo sull'amore incondizionato e la ricerca della propria identità, ispirato alla vera storia della prigione dell'isola di San Domino.

Due ragazzi innamorati in un’Italia dilaniata dal fascismo. Il regime a dividerli, l’amore a renderli liberi. Catania, 1939. Il sogno di Sasà, ventun anni, garzone in una falegnameria, è quello di lasciare il quartiere di pescatori dove vive insieme alla madre, partire per mare e vedere il mondo, magari insieme a Michele, il ragazzo di cui è innamorato. Ma lui, al contrario, ha piani diversi per…

[reality-detective]

32 ARMED ILLEGAL Venezuelan immigrants have apparently taken over an apartment building in Chicago.

It will be a domino affect. First Aurora Colorado, now Chicago, where will be next? Baltimore? Philadelphia? Seattle? Los Angeles? San Francisco? Houston? Miami? New York City? Boston?

It is going to get ugly before it gets better. If you don't think a war is coming to this country I recommend you stop and think again. 🤔

[forgettable-au]

Hi, I have few questions about your AU.

First, Did Sans like ketchup when he was working with Gaster? If so, What did Gaster think about Sans drinking ketchup?

Second, What would happen if everyone regain memories about Gaster?

Anyway thank you for doing this AU. I like it.

Uhm, first question is so silly lol and I don't know if you literally mean Sans drinking ketchup or if you mean the popular headcanon that ketchup is kinda like him getting drunk?

Uh- if you just mean literally ketchup, I don't think it matters that much? It's so silly, but like! If he likes ketchup good for him! Personally, I think he was joking around with it and then maybe he actually liked it? But that could have been at any point in time!! I don't think Wingdings would have cared lol

Second question! It would be messy,, but I don't think I can fully answer that,, just because it would be a huge domino effect D:

Also thank youu!

[g4zdtechtv]

THE PILE PRESENTS: X-Play - I ❤️ Wolverine | 10/28/04

Three big 2004 games in one big show!

(GIVE TO FORMER G4 REBOOT STAFF WHO NEED HELP)

(HELP SAVE THE GIANT G4 NES CONTROLLER)

[webshood]

Kind of loosing it thinking about wasian jason. The wasian face type of “looks white, looks very white with sunglasses on” + domino masks. In and out of universe layering of the People who’ve never seen jason out of the robin uniform being like “how could wu-San be his mother?” Thing.

Jason looking like a random white man whenever he's using his sunglasses, but the moment they're off everyone bring like "omg it's Bruce Wayne's asian son!!"

My wasian Jason isn't Cass' brother, but everyone in the crime/capes scene just assuming Bruce Wayne managed to bag Lady Shiva not only, but two times and lied about the kids origin so ppl wouldn't question about Shiva is such a fun concept when you think about it

[miochimochi]

Got those update pictures! 11 new patches and 19 new pins!

Patches

2 Hollow Knight patches

The Casualties

A band patch (Counter Cult) (lino cut)

A big RIIIIIIIP! covering, yes, a big rip

Copying is not Theft - punk Mickey Mouse

Never Surrender as 2 patches

Harley Poe

Freedom Fighters - a mockery patch of the military (lino cut)

E!E a Polish punk band

Pins

Hanabie. 花冷え。 as 4 pins, a Japanese kawaii metal band

Celtic knot

1312

Orange bear hoodie from Himouto! Umaru-Chan

Against All Authority

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Jerry's Kids

Squatting symbol, also dual use for Days n Daze

Ghoti Hook

Pennywise

Crass

14th black domino, a reference to an Ozma song

Star Fucking Hipsters

The Exploited

System of a Down

San's mask from Mononoke Hime

Also broke down and got some carabiners to clip things to the belt and more easily take them off (like the pin sash), put a paracord bracelet on the belt, and tied some cloth that could be useful on the go.

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Tour Smut (2) Masterlist

part one

all I want to do is all of it with you (ao3) - jonsaremembers

Summary: Dan and Phil are going to stay late at the rehearsal venue to...film. Yeah.

angel and demon (ao3) - possumdnp

Summary: Dan and Phil go out to a bar dressed in a couple's costume, and Dan is surprised at just how freeing it feels.

(A fic about Halloween 2024, pushing boundaries, and the perils of red hair dye.)

boops! i did it again (ao3) - jonsaremembers

Summary: Phil's newfound confidence calls for a new kind of Halloween costume, and Dan can't resist him.

Domino Effect (ao3) - intoapuddle

Summary: After years of keeping sex and friendship separate, Dan finds himself on the edge of falling in love.

Drink Me (ao3) - benotafraidofwriting

Summary: Dan can't really handle Phil in shorts.

Guess We'll Try Again Later (ao3) - developerdaniel

Summary: aka the fic where dan and phil attempt to film while on tour in australia but dan has other plans and thanks to him that video never happens and phil has to punish dan for breaking his word on their plans to film

Haunting Us With the Beams (ao3) - yikesola

Summary: These sheets don’t smell like home and the too-bright light of a window they forgot to pull the curtains all the way closed for wakes them up harsher than the moon room ever does, but feeling Phil’s scruff scratch a little with every snore against the sensitive skin of Dan’s neck will always be familiar.

A fic about mornings and daydreamed plans.

Heat (ao3) - blossomsphan

Summary: Phil has eyes for a cute waiter. But Dan only has eyes for Phil.

ironic. (ao3) - Anonymous

Summary: dan and phil now have a luxurious three days to relax and enjoy themselves before their show in san diego. one out of the many activities, phil showcased his newest purchase to dan.

Like You Used To (ao3) - easybubbyy

Summary: The boys go out for drinks with their crew. Dan is a horny and clumsy drunk, and Phil is a goofy and flirty drunk. Smut ensues. Enjoy!

Look in the Mirror (ao3) - worriedpeach (skeletonflowers)

Summary: As soon as Dan saw the mirrored ceiling in the back lounge of the tour bus, he knew he was in trouble.

Magic Shop (ao3) - your_starless_eyes

Summary: It made sense that Dan would need time to recover from the tour, just the same as Phil. It was logical reasoning.

How was he supposed to know? How was Phil supposed to know that it was, in fact, a bigger issue than he could imagine?

Mile High Club (ao3) - developerdaniel

Summary: aka the fic where dan finds himself horny on their flight to australia and dan hops into phil's lap hoping phil will do something about it.

My 'alone' includes you. (ao3) - KujiraHanma

Summary: Dan and Phil are on their Interactive Introvers 2018 World Tour. Needing a break from the tour (and work) they take a walk along the beach. Phil recognizes that as an introvert, and recharging by being alone, he can recharge with Dan.

Ocean Eyes (ao3) - easybubbyy

Summary: Dan and Phil as they work together on their world tour announcement, reflecting on their long-term partnership on set. The two take turns admiring each other throughout the day, exchanging glances and quiet moments. Both are eager to get home and finally spend some intimate time together, showing each other just how much they mean to one another...

our lips must always be sealed (ao3) - uhmyeah

Summary: dan and phil have silly tour sex

overslept and interrupted (ao3) - thesassykels66

Summary: Dan and Phil "over slept", having them almost miss their tour bus

"that's what makeup is for!" (ao3) - latenightfanfic

Summary: dnp finally have a night alone to themselves in a hotel after a few drinks after being cooped up in a tour bus.

Tight Places (ao3) - adorkablephil (kimberly_a)

Summary: The bunks on the Interactive Introverts tour bus are really small. Inspired by Phil’s latest video, “What Dan and Phil Text Each Other.”

too long (ao3) - Mildredo

Summary: they're horny on tour. that's it that's the fic.

Under the Southern Sun (ao3) - scifi (orphan_account)

Summary: dan and phil make the most of having the rainforest house to themselves

you're the only place I call home (ao3) - t_hens

Summary: With one world tour already under their belts, Phil thought the second one would be a piece of cake, but as they're finishing up the American leg, the exhaustion is settling deep in his bones. He's craving more of their London home than the tiny taste his blue and green pillow can offer him. He can't quite understand why Dan isn't feeling the same homesickness he's experiencing, until he realizes that home has been a little closer than the 5,000 miles away that he thought it was the whole time.