#The true timeline divergence lmao

[baconcolacan]

Someone needs to reality check R-Tord and or just make him touch GRASS for once

WE ALL WISH HE WOULD

Man’s a fuckin basement dwelling 4channer

[autisticandroids]

are u a down to agincourt guy at all? i notice it’s not on any of ur rec lists (which is valid even if u do like it lmao it’s everywhere so there’s no need to let the people know about it) any chance ur a hater and want to let loose a little 👀

i mean, i'm not really a hater? i'm more an ambivalent.

first of all, to be clear, i've only read map of the world. i tapped out after that, partly because i just wasn't that into it but mostly because there was some unspeakably stupid stuff about godstiel at the end and i was in my sensitive era about godstiel things.

i also tapped out because i had heard some rather withering reviews from two friends who both tried it and had the same reaction, which is that the narrative of dta lacks tension and forward-movement. i, having only read map of the world, agreed with this, because that's certainly true of map of the world. most notably, it's true that dta actively removes tension by taking the basic premise of the story - that cas' dean and dean's cas are both gone - and just.... removing as much friction from that as possible. endverse cas and endverse dean, in dta, had so little positive relationship that seperis had to invent a way of being soulmates (also. cinemasins ding. i hate soulmates. partly for exactly this reason: they're a copout in terms of the messy and therefore narratively interesting work of relationship building) in order to justify why cas was attached to dean. dean seems perfectly happy to stay where he is and is not panicking about losing his sammy at all, samlucifer haunting him in the white suit doesn't even bother him that much! and he's actively happy to start over with a different cas, because he comes from a post-godstiel time and doesn't like his cas anymore.

personally i really disliked the whole dean and godstiel element for obvious reasons, not least because it annoys me that seperis chose to portray dean as *afraid* of godstiel and not just. enraged at him. however i think the much bigger problem, narratively, is the lack of love lost between endverse cas and endverse dean.

the first reason for this is pretty simple. dta dean is not my little guy and he has no relation to my little guy. he's a nice dude for cas to glom onto. and this isn't a crime, generally speaking fics will do this to one or the other of the dudes, and i'm happy to see it done to dean instead of cas for a change. but it means that dean's characterization doesn't matter as much.

the second reason is that dean didn't just lose cas, he lost literally his whole world. his entire timeline. and he should be upset about that, not cas in specific. i would still say he's insufficiently upset, but it's not as specific and personal.

but like.... if dta is about anything, it's about dta cas. and that means the tensions at the heart of cas' character matter. and he should have WAY more trouble slotting new dean into his life!!! like, the reason for thing #2 on this list is basically just me vagueing dta. in canon, the point of divergence for endverse is ftbyam. when cas and dean already have an intense, close, and sweet relationship. it's soured by the time endverse rolls around, but there was something to sour, inititally! and like to me it's also an excuse to like. use the classic deancas trope of having dean give cas a bunch of mundane firsts that he receives with childlike wonder. like in dta dean teaches cas to enjoy food. and like, that's against the spirit! of endverse cas! the point is that he's already HAD all those experiences with another dean but then things went sour!!!! AUGH.

anyway. making endverse dean Just A Bastard With No Redeeming qualities is like. a serious copout. imo. and it's symptomatic of a broader aversion to conflict and therefore a broader aversion to tension and movement and change. and so what you end up with, (again in map of the world at least, but from other people's reviews i suspect the rest remains the same), is a hundred thousand words of portraiture. it's beautiful, and it's lovingly painted. but it's not a story, because nothing happens in it or is being set up to happen.

but also, i wanna be clear. i REALLY liked elements of the portraiture. i think generally speaking people in fandom get their heads easily turned by pretty prose. like if the story is poetic at a paragraph level, they will give it wildly undue credit. but dta's prose really worked for me in a way a lot of other celebrated poetic fics' prose doesn't. like the density of it really adds something meaningful to the story i think. as a character portrait for cas, it really pulls you in.

and the cas characterization is so..... like it's so powerful, to me. for me i think it's more a characterization for canon cas than for endverse cas but also endverse cas is just canon cas with a few different experiences so like it still completely works. like i love the cas stuff.

the magic worldbuilding is like awesome to me. the thing about me is i love a magic system. i will risk it all for a good magic system. one time i was like, to my friend who liked dta, hey is seperis a programmer? and they were like yeah. and i was like yeah i figured. anyway. magic system <3.

and then also i like that endverse cas Lives In A Society. i like all the ocs and the relationships and the history. i wish that was more consistent, like i wish the endverse cas on the page felt more like he was situated in his history, rather than a new man born into his circumstances (so for example, i like that dta cas Quit Every Drug immediately at the start because endverse fic is so weird about drugs so not touching them is a nice choice imo, but it's also a symptom of this disconnect: cas is not weighed down by old habits and old wounds the way he should be. he's not stuck in place. and like that's the POINT of endverse cas: that he has history. and dta cas feels disconnected from that. and this is also wrapped in with my main criticism of how endverse dean and endverse deancas is handled). but i still like that he lives in a society and i think over the course of map of the world seperis becomes a little better at situating cas in a history in small ways instead of disconnecting him.

anyway in the end, dta is simply not my bag, and this is why. but i also get why people like it, because i also like parts of it.

[neallo]

morgan's quick and messy "timeskip timeline" notes

hello! providing my very off the cuff notes for what we know about the things Mello and Near got up to during the time between L's death and when we see them again in canon. one day i will do a more thorough timeline covering the second arc in detail but for now i want to focus just on the timeskip :3

please note that i think it is great to play with the timeline and i vigorously support canon divergence. including just straightup ignoring the timeline. do whatever you want forever.

In December 2004, Mello and Near learn of L's death. Mello runs away from Wammy's and strikes out on his own.

From this point until March 2009, Near is working on his own [the FBI director tells the president this in the manga during Near's meeting w/ the president that precedes the formation of the SPK]. We aren't given any clues as to where this work was taking place; my assumption has always been that he was doing this at Wammy's since no governmental agencies are implied to be involved in his work until March 2009 [though presumably he's in contact with the FBI a little earlier than this to set up the meeting that precedes the formation of the SPK]. Light has taken the official role of L, so there's no way for anyone outside of Wammy's to know that Near is [as the FBI director puts it] "L's true successor."

On Mello's side, we have no specifics on what he's up to from December 2004 to approximately April 2008. Rod says in the manga that Mello has been with them for a year and a half; he says this in October 2009, so that makes April 2008 roughly when Mello succeeded in joining Rod's gang [by "bringing in the head of a rival mob boss even Kira couldn't kill" or something to that effect]. The only other thing we really know Mello does in between December 2004 and October 2009 [when he has the NPA director kidnapped] is that he gets in contact with Ill Ratt [lmao] shortly after the formation of the SPK, and has Ratt acting as his spy within the SPK to feed him information about Near's progress. Matt doesn't begin to work with Mello until November 2009.

there's a chance i'm missing something here because again these are Quick And Messy notes but !! there is my rapidfire overview of the canon info on the matter. i have my own thoughts / headcanons on the specifics, but that is not within the scope of this post so i will save that for another day :3

[noelle-holi-gay]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

heyyyy I was tagged by @snarky-wallflower for this thingy, and I don't typically do stuff like this but what the heck! This one looks fun, and I need a small break from finals.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Sixty-six! Nice round satanic number.

2. What’s your total word count?

Uhhh... 1,164,238. I think I broke a million back with Dream Come True. Wild stuff! Guess that's what happens when you do this nonstop for like four years.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Deltarune these days, obviously, but I also had a wonderful time in the Splatoon and DuckTales fandoms, as well as Miraculous Ladybug, My Little Pony, and a ton of smaller ones here and there.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos

Dare to Dream (Deltarune): A fun little Susie x Noelle romcom that takes place in a divergent chapter 2 timeline where Susie kisseed Noelle on the Ferris Wheel. Also the first fic in my mega-series Dream Come True, a 300,000 word epic that really kind of went off the rails. But don't worry about that! It's just a funny little romcom! Come closer!

F@#!, Marry, or Kill (Miraculous Ladybug): I am so mad that this is up here. This fic sucks. I wrote it when I was fourteen (hence my reluctance to say "fuck" in the title) and it's just the main characters of the show getting caught up in a game of Fuck-Marry-Kill that involves their own superhero identites, but nobody else knows that. It's a good way to leverage the dramatic irony of Miraculous Ladybug, I guess, but I hate that this was my most-kudoed fic for so long. I wrote it over SEVEN years ago. The only reason it got so popular is because back in 2016, the Miraculous Ladybug fandom was a sea of piranhas starved by the seemingly endless will-they won't-they of the show, ravenous for whatever scraps they could get their grimy little teeth on. Perfect example of why popularity doesn't always equate with quality.

People Write Fanfiction About Me? (Miraculous Ladybug): This one is actually good, even if it's also incredibly old. Basically, Marinette finds online RPF of her and her superhero partner that was obviously written by her superhero partner, and they get into a whole meta fanfiction war, and it gets worse from there. I like this one a lot even if it's in an outdated style: I think it's a good take on the identity reveal genre for the ML fandom.

Stealing Kisses (Deltarune): Not much to say on this one! It's a direct continuation of Dare to Dream, still part of the Dream Come True series, though it functions more as a drama than a straight romcom, which is only one of many tone shifts that this series eventually takes. It also contains Locker Biting Challenge (if you know you know), which I think is, to date, one of the funniest bits of situational comedy I've ever written, so it gets special notes for that.

Crossing the Streams (DuckTales): And this is my most popular DuckTales fic, to round out the set! It's a low-stakes / no-magic AU, where instead of going on daring adventures, the DuckTales kids stream FPS video games online, and are, like, famous streamers. I think its popularity was artificially boosted just a tad due to being in-progress when the series finale dropped, but I think it holds up! I had some good fun playing with identity, fame, and hidden relationships.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I--sometimes! Just not very often... Look, if someone asks me a question, or if I have something to actually say in response, or if the comment is particularly touching, I'll reply, but I'm just really bad at taking compliments! It feels very awkward to me to reply to every comment when I would basically just be going "Thanks so much, I'm glad you liked it!" ten times in a row. That's the only reason (<-Definitely doesn't have anxiety)

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't tend to do unhappy endings. Cold Case for sure, if it were finished, lmao. Although--I guess you could argue Stealing Kisses has a very angsty ending, though it isn't actually an ending since it's just a sequel-bait cliffhanger. But yeah, I'm going to cheat a little and say Cold Case. It should be finished soon, anyway! Hopefully!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

That's hard to say considering the amount of romcoms I've written, but I think I'd actually have to go with the final mainline entry in my Splatoon series, Operation 24, which was The Wedding. It ends on a really sweet and poignant rooftop scene that I think is particularly uplifting, even compared to the endings of my other long-form romance fics.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Very rarely. I've gotten my share of transphobic comments -- welcome to the Internet! -- but thankfully they've been few and far between. I just delete them when they show up.

9. Do you write smut?

Yes, I have; no, you can't see it :p

10. Do you write crossovers?

I have written at least two crossover fics, so yes! I wouldn't exactly call it my genre, though. They're a little too niche and I like attention.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Oh boy. Yes, twice; the first was my Fuck Marry Kill fic for miraculous ladybug, which was ripped off and horribly butchered into a terrible version of the story by someone who IMMEDIATELY abandoned it to Orphan Account. Which is wild to me.

But the real creme of the crop was some kid on WattPad who copied large portions of my Operation 24 series, and then changed small and seemingly arbitrary details throughout to be more...train-centric? Like, all the characters would have strange and OOC dialog about trains in the middle of the romance. And then after a few chapters of that it did a total left-hand veer into a Thomas the Tank Engine / Harry Potter crossover that was utterly wild to behold. This whole saga is probably one of the weirdest things that has ever happened to me in my life and I'm honestly more bewildered than mad about it.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Wow, wouldn't that be cool! But no, along with getting a podfic this is one of those big fic-writer experiences that has elude me thusfar.

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

Nope! I don't really know how to co-write outside of RP, and I haven't ever really done RP. I'm not opposed to the concept of co-writing, but I think it's sort of difficult to make work with my writing style.

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

While I'd love to give the PR-friendly answer of Suselle, I think it's gotta go to Miraculous Ladybug's Love Square. That show has haunted me for seven years and is showing no sign of stopping, and the fuckery it does with its main relationship is some utterly unrivaled Shakespearian nonsense. The way the fandom has built around the relationship is also very interesting, especially the way the fanfic scene has shifted as the show develops and its audience grows up.

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

If I want to finish a WIP, I will finish that WIP. The only ones that don't get finished are the ones I don't want to finish. This is the power of believing in yourself!

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialog for sure--always has been--and also just, like, grammar? I do words good, as they say. I like to think I have a pretty well-rounded writing skillset at this point, though.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Definitely descriptive stuff like setting the scene. I have to really work to make sure my scenes are embodied in physical reality, and sometimes I just forget to describe new locations. It's just a fairly boring part of writing for me, so I don't like doing it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

I took six years of Spanish and have forgotten all of it, so this is unlikely at best. Spanish also uses em dashes instead of quotation marks to denote speaker changes, and while that is very linguistically interesting, it is also very confusing to me, specifically.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Uhhh... the first fandom I published was Miraculous Ladybug, but I think the first fandom I wrote for was My Little Pony. My MLP stuff is on a different site, and also pretty freaking bad, but it was my first large-scale fic and it really helped me develop my skills and voice.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Easy: Dream Come True. That was a monumental journey to go on, and seeing my readerbase follow along as that story morphed and twisted and just kept going and going was such a unique and satisfying experience as a writer. It truly feels unreplicable.

I'm not going to tag anyone because I am a coward, and get horribly anxious at the prospect of @ing people. But if you see this and you wanna do it, use me as an excuse! Say I atted you! Live freely!

Okay good bye. I must return to my endless studies...

[twelve-nights]

" Can I go ahead and surrender to the visions that I just can't remember? ... Merging all of these memories to a blend of anomalies... "

x x x x 📍 x x x x

Doll & AbsoluteSolver stimboard for myself

Please don't tag as kin/id/me/fictive! This (specifically) is me! :]

"Context" / me just rambling about my canon under cut if you're curious

Oh and if you wanna request a stimboard for me, feel free to drop it in my ask box!

HI okay confusing canon divergence time- I'm kin with both Doll and AbsoluteSolver. In the same timeline. I consider them the same kintype but honestly that's just because I personally consider each timeline as a kintype rather than each person (as I have another 'type that's weird like this.)

As stated earlier, I was very canon divergent. I didn't die during ep 7 and I'm pretty sure I was with the rest of the group (if at all) while exploring Cabin Fever.

The major difference in my canon from media is that the Crucifix Patch on Yeva changed her copy of the Solver so that it was a different "strain" of it (kind of like how organic viruses evolve into different variations). I have no idea how it works in canon, but 'offspring' drones are basically copies of one parent with a few variables / extra lines of code from the other, which is how I have her strain of AbsoluteSolver.

So... me and Solver weren't really that separate? Like yeah it was its own program, but it did 'leak' into my code a lot. Anyways, because Solver was an exact copy of Yeva's and Yeva's was a copy of Cyn's, which was a copy of the original, I had access to a LOT of memories that weren't mine. I have Cyn's up to the point where the virus was put into Yeva, then Yeva up to my 'birth' (creation?).

Yeva's/my "strain" of the Solver was a lot more passive and didn't really have the capacity to be angry (which I guess played into the passivity). It did still destroy mirrors and took too much power (main reason why I had to keep killing people for oil) but it wouldn't try to possess me unless I was dying and it was trying to put me back together.

Anyways, I don't remember much about what I did in relation to the main cast, although I did follow through (tried to anyways) with my plan to become allies with Tessa and then worked with Uzi and N. I remember Uzi's Solver fucking hating me & my Solver lmao.

Here's a few more differences I remember (and I don't know where to fit anywhere here):

I was nonbinary and used any pronouns, primarily they/them

Solver would sometimes manifest itself as a security camera on a wire coming out of the side of my neck (and sometimes as a tail). It had a red eye.

I think Tessa wanted/tried to kill me but either I or N stopped her. I don't remember why exactly

I was unable to speak any language other than Russian because of a piece of my code called "langLock" being set to true. I may have tried to change it at some point but I don't really remember. Yes this means my Solver also spoke Russian

[thatswhatsushesaid]

I'm curious, since it's been discussed in fandom a bit, but what do you think a canon compliant "happy ending" for xiyao could look like? In a lot of fics I feel like there's always a singular moment that changes the timeline of events and "fixes" JGY's outcome but I feel that's unrealistic (though I enjoy those fics not throwing stones here) given the restraints of the world building. It also ignores the elephant in the room that is NMJ but then again, I don't understand 3zun personally~~~ but that's a different discussion.

But in a world where xiyao wanted to be together romantically, I wonder what a "happy ending" would have looked like for them following the world building of the novel (ie the classism, the true elephant in the room lmao) and was curious as to your thoughts on that.

I like that you specifically say it's unrealistic for a single moment to 'fix' jgy's outcome because that a bull's-eye observation for me: his situation is so complicated and is impacted by decisions and actions made by so many other people that more than just one thing would have to change for him to survive the events of the novel, let alone achieve lasting happiness in some form with lxc. but for me--and I stress that this is absolutely what I personally believe needs to be present for an ending to qualify as satisfying for jgy and lxc, ymmv--a canon-compliant happy ending for xiyao needs two things:

jgy needs to claim birthright as a legitimized member of the lanling jin sect, and keep it. this doesn't have to mean that he becomes jin-zongzhu or chief cultivator, though that is obviously my personal preference, but what jgy has always desired in canon is to be recognized as a legitimate son of jin guangshan. I believe he can obtain that even if jin zixuan remains alive and becomes jin-zongzhu.

depending on how late the canon-divergence occurs, lxc needs to be given the chance to fully understand why jgy made the choices that he did in canon. after jgy's death, that is the question that lxc is haunted by, and I don't see a post-canon scenario in which he can psychologically move past it, because his hand in jgy's death is one of the reasons he will never obtain closure. to be happy in the long term, they both need the catharsis that comes from asking and answering those hard questions.

I know everyone's probably super tired of me being like "hey have you read 'the weakness of falling in love' by roquen on AO3?" but honestly, that's probably my favourite fic that provides a realistic "what if...?" scenario for a xiyao happily ever after. so if you haven't read that one yet, /grips ur shoulders, why are you still reading my dumb words, go read those brilliant words instead, they are so good.

[genma-support-group]

Hellooo! Might you enlighten us about some of your writing? 

The summary for your upcoming Howzer story sounds delightful! Plus, he’s my absolute favorite! Anything you can share about its anticipated length, where the inspiration came from, etc.? 

Do you mainly write full length works? What’s the process like for you? 

What are your favorite tropes and/or characters to write and why?

xoxo

Hey! @freesia-writes

Just want to say I enjoy your work when I get the notifications for them, but as of recently Tumblr has failed to do so. So, I hope you enjoy the answers below and if you want to chat at any time, my dms are open all day and night and will try to get back to you as fast as I can!

Anything you can share about its anticipated length?

Well, A Man Like You is set in an AU that is outside canon, but in length I am looking at, at least ten chapters long give or take. It also depends on if the chapters lengths range between two thousand words or more. But everything is up in air as of this moment, but don’t fear it will be written! Though, I am glad you like the idea as much as I do! But I have to say he will be a little difficult since his screen time is limited, and everyone has a different version of him that they like to write.

With that said, tell me more about Howzer you write, in what AU’s you have!

Where did the inspiration came from, etc.?

The inspiration came from an original work I was writing up at the time (though as of now, that said story has been trashed). The idea of him being in love with a hopeless woman really gets my angst and fluff heart going every time I see it! (If you wish to know more, you can either dm me or ask another question!)

Do you mainly write full length works?

I love writing longer pieces! I feel like I can really explore each character whether that be original or already canon. Full lengths are my bread and butter! But on occasion I write “shorter” pieces like the one I am working on now called, Paid in Full.

What’s the process like for you?

The days I write, (Mon-Thru) usually start with me picking some background music that fits the scene I am writing (forest sounds, space battles, hangers, etc). Rereading what I wrote the day or the week prior so I can get the feel of the story and the direction I want to go with it. Then after a couple of hours, I stop and read what I wrote regardless of the length it is, and make some edits that I can make.

What are your favorite tropes and/or characters to write and why?

Tropes:

Canon Divergence AU

I just enjoy the freedom of it. I write a lot of original works and they often clash with the timeline of canon so; I say fuck the canon and do what I want.

Angst

I FUCKING LOVE ANGST... That's all that matters lmao!

Porn/PWP

I love writing PWP, I feel like the rawness of it really seeps through the story when I write smut.

Friends to Lovers

Who doesn't like Friends to Lovers?! Tell me one person, and I will show you a fool!

Mutual Pining

It goes hand to hand with Angst, I sprinkle a little in the story and BAM! It's a hundred times better.

Fluff (sometimes hehe)

I like Fluff a lot in my shorter pieces because I can show a softness that not many people write about with that chosen character.

Romance

I have gotten good at it, not to sound full of myself, but I just like it a lot.

Slow Burn

If I don't have Slow Burn, then what am I doing with my life.

Poly

This one is new, and I am slowly enjoying it.

Characters:

Of course I am willing to share what characters I like to write about! I enjoy writing Crosshair, Fordo, Alpha, and Sev. I like to think that I have some understanding of them, and enjoy going deeper. Putting them in situation that will show their true character...at least that what I think I do…

With much love,

Maybethatfanfictionwriter

[tragicclownwrites]

im curious, when did you first get interested in squidbob?

Ooh, my first ask 🤗 and what a great question to start with!

It's honestly such a weird story lmao but the short version is that I didn't find SquidBob. SquidBob found me. 🧽🐙

As for the long version, answering/rambling below the cut!

I think it happened just under a year ago or so? It was definitely sometime in late 2022/early 2023. Before then, I wasn't even remotely in the fandom and was more or less part of the group who had seen SBSP but wasn't involved beyond that.

When we were younger, my sister and I played Battle for Bikini Bottom on the PS2. So when the "Rehydrated" version came out, she hit me up and was like "omg they made a remake! we have to play it!" and I was all "hell yeah! nostalgia ftw!" (def worth it - it's a good time and everyone looks so damn adorable 🥹).

If you've played that game and you're in the fandom, you're probably pretty familiar with this moment (clip actually starts at :12). 😉😂 HOWEVER, this wasn't even the moment that initially caught my attention. In fact, it was actually THIS one between Robot Plankton and Robot Spongebob (who is terrifying btw). My sister and I got to this part in the game and were just...👀👀. Like, why was Robot Plankton (who is essentially a clone of real Plankton) thinking of Robot Spongebob like that? Kinda gay if you ask me. Long story short, I shipped PlankBob (ironically) for a hot minute lmao.

I started looking online to see if anyone else was crack-shipping it up like I was and I think that's when I came across SquidBob in earnest. I had remembered seeing some rather interesting moments between them in the past, but strangely never thought anything of it until I started looking below the surface. A few YouTube clips later, my memory was beginning to refresh - and those clips weren't even close to exhaustive! I just couldn't believe how unsubtle these two were! Like, HOW COULD I BE SO BLIND!?

For shits and giggles, I then decided to check AO3 to see if there were any fics about them. One of the fics I came across was none other than NBYF - the very fic that inspired my first work in this fandom! After reading it like four times, I was HOOKED. I needed more. So, I ended up on Tumblr and have been here ever since. 🥰

For added backstory, I've been in and out of fandoms over the years, but never felt the need to be active in any of them. Whether it was fandom discourse, fleeting interest, etc., I didn't want to get involved in any of that and, oftentimes, the canon just didn't inspire me to create my own works.

Needless to say, I'm so thankful to have found this small corner of the internet. Everyone has been so cool thus far and it's been really fun to write fics for SquidBob. I've always been a bit of a sucker for the grump x sunshine ship dynamic, so this pair is just perfection. 🌧️❤️☀️✨ One of these days I'll do an entire post about why I ship them. Someday lol. And given how episodic the SBSP show is, that actually helps a ton for writing - it's great to be able to stay true to the canon while not committing to any solid timelines or anything like that. I mean, even the actual show has continuity issues, so no one can fault me if I decide to switch things up a bit. 😜 I tend to prefer canon divergence vs. AUs when it comes to fanfiction as well because I really enjoy the challenge of working with an existing world/characters and creating a unique story for it all.

So, that's my fandom origin story. Not the most cut-and-dry (and probably not what you were asking) lmao but that's essentially where it all started! I'd be interested in hearing when/how you got into SquidBob hell, if you haven't already posted about it. 😊

[hms-no-fun]

apologies if you’ve written this somewhere before, but in a couple of these #sarahposts you refer to a retcon you made in gf1, what was the change?

oh yeah! i don't think i've really extensively documented this anywhere, so i might as well do so here. let's start with the boring shit and cover the history, then i'll give you the full breakdown of what changed.

so when i wrote gf1, i had no sense that i would ever want to go beyond the realm of this one fic. but i DID have this idea of "the ultimate ultimate self," an entity that contains all selves which is never mentioned in homestuck. funny that THAT’S my first big canon divergence, rooted so deep in the philosophical. obviously the big existential kick of gf1 is this idea that retcon is somehow eroding john's connection to that ultimate ultimate self, or at least to his ultimate self generally. the extent to which this is TRUE remains to be seen, john/june is never an objective arbiter of their own subjective existence, but it is an important idea for the series nevertheless.

the other key ingredient is that for a long time i planned on doing my own audio drama adaptation of godfeels (as i mentioned at the end of this video). obviously i never got around to doing this myself and eventually abdicated responsibility to the far more capable hands of the podfeels team, but i did get as far as adapting godfeels 1 for a podfic (which is what they used for podfeels 1). so i took that opportunity to modify a few things to bring gf1 more in line with how the series’ cosmology had evolved.

RIGHT SO, what are the differences? well, they're almost if not entirely exclusive to the narration. and right from the start, we have a big addition:

[left is my original draft, right is the published version]

when i wrote gf1 i put ZERO thought into how long after homestuck proper it took place. remember that i wrote and released this before the epilogues came out, so it was only later that i adopted the timeline and framework of the epilogues. if anything i wrote gf1 thinking they were closer to *my* age at the time, meaning like 27-28, which might have caused me problems down the line. but this addition is also important because (as i rant about in this recent post) i think it's easier to swallow questionably in-character dialogue when you know that this is six years and change after homestuck. i still don't think the overall timeline gets emphasized enough throughout... honestly ALL of godfeels before chapter 8 lmao. looking back i was shockingly negligent in this respect.

what else?

lol ok sure

this was a pretty substantial addition owing to the fact that back then i really wasn't interested in writing anyone but the betas, and even then i mostly just wanted to write about june and jade. obviously that changed, so i wanted to do a better job of setting up dirk's murky relationship with june. ditto with june and terezi's murky romantic tensions.

this is The Big One. i’m not even sure i could tell you the precise significance of every change here, beyond the obvious one. would you believe that this was before i thought of X as a distinct character? but i still had the sense that the antagonism of the third person narration here was rooted perspectivally, and it’s my opinion that john at the pits of his worst depression is closest to X, the part of himself that judges his every action against the assumed perfection of all his friends. after june comes out and takes charge of her identity and Things Happen, i see X as reflexively turning their judgment outwards (though still with a core of self-resentment), which is how we eventually get the circus egotistica.

big changes here obv

some simplification of text here plus some additions. is the narration here describing jade’s voice breaking through john’s dissociation, or is it something more cosmic? either could be true...

minor alterations here, plus a probably too-cute stinger banging the drum that This Is An Ongoing Series Now Actually

and as far as i can tell, that’s it! very minor changes for the most part, but it’s the little details that get you every time :)

[the-type-a]

Wait wait wait, hear me out on this okay?

I’m rewatching friends, yes I know, what a shocker. Anyway, the scene where Ross and Rachel say I love you to each other for the first time just got me thinking.

SO!

We all know Courtney plans everything out. It’s just in her nature. Duncan’s the complete opposite, he’s very go with the flow.

WHAT IF when it comes to their relationship it’s reversed? What if Courtney decides to let things happen, kinda see what it’s like to do things spontaneously given her significant other is freaking Duncan. All this while Duncan finally decides to buckle down. He’s worked so hard to get Courtney to break her walls downs and he finally has her in this relationship. It’s like a dream come true. So what’s he start to do? This man starts fucking planning out their future.

Now, Duncan’s the one making a timeline of when he’d want to propose, have kids, heck he even has some cool names circulating. What if he just completely lets himself be vulnerable with Courtney so none of this planning shit is even freaking him out? It just feels natural and right to dream so far ahead because he’s with Courtney!

So when he mentions it to her Courtney’s kinda freaking out. She hasn’t let herself get into that mindset because she’s done that her whole life and it’s completely drained her. So what happens? They fight. She’s flipping out about all of it while Duncan is pissed she isn’t seeing why he’s so into it. Again, they are going back and forth. Can you guess what happens next? I’ll use a little text post so it’s easier to read from this point:

Duncan: Well get use to this because I love you!

Courtney: Oh, yeah? Well I love you too!

Duncan: That’s the first time we’ve said this to each other!

Courtney: Yeah!

Duncan: I’m gonna kiss you now!

Courtney: You better!

Of course there’s emotion behind these little lines lmao and if it’s not a given, it’s also completely diverged from canon.

[whypolar]

same anon as before, i really enjoyed the new unicorn post, particularly the speculation about what purpose some of the changes made in the adaptation serves because loni makes sense but the riddhe stuff is really baffling, and this is coming from someone who has only seen the OVA and whose favorite character was riddhe. anyway, i wanted to ask (if you're not already saving this for final thoughts) how you feel about unicorn in the context of the uc timeline/gundam as a franchise

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

It's truly SO bizarre... most characters do not have significant personality divergence, and the ones that do have reasons that are pretty easy to figure out. But Riddhe is just completely different for inexplicable reasons? Why. Sunrise explain

I think you're the first person I've run into to directly say Riddhe was their favourite; I'd love to hear your thoughts on him. There's so much antipathy toward him that I've been running into it even just in Google image searches and things like Gunpla reviews for the suits he pilots. It already kinda makes me sad from the perspective of "but that's not true about novel Riddhe :(" so I can only imagine how alienating it could get if people are constantly trashing the actual version of the dude you're invested in

Obviously you're operating on second-hand information here, but I'm curious whether the novel's characterization lines up with the things you like about the OVA character? Were any of the changes related to the appeal of the character for you? Do you think you would have personally liked him as much or more if he had been portrayed more like the novel version?

The question about Unicorn in context with the rest of UC is a tough one... it's the kind of thing where I get scared that I don't know enough to say anything intelligent, lmao. There are so many people with so much more in-depth knowledge of the full breadth of the franchise.

For now:

I'm pretty resilient to things like possibly incongruous lore between individual UC media, and am usually more interested in the 'why' or 'what does this mean for this specific work'

I haven't watched Narrative or read Phoenix Hunting yet, nor anything from late UC like F91 or Victory, so I can’t speak to any of that.

Based solely on the novels, I don't think the Newtype stuff in Unicorn is out of line with the rest of UC Gundam. I see people complain about this a lot in a way that just makes me think "damn, that's crazy. So glad it has nothing at all in common with my experience of the actual text." I admittedly haven't read whatever essay Fukui apparently wrote about Newtypes, so maybe there's some authorial intent I'm missing, but Unicorn itself? Nothing about it is particularly outrageous to me

[foineswoine]

This post is gonna compile all my thoughts on The Magnus Protocol. All taken from various ramblings I’ve subjected my friends to (lmao) (if any of y’all see this, no you do not.)

All seasons spoilers.

I have. questions about The Magnus Protocol. First, I’ll go through the small amount of info we have. https://rustyquill.com/show/the-magnus-protocol/ "The Magnus Institute was an organisation dedicated to academic research into the esoteric and the paranormal, based out of Manchester, England. It burned to the ground in 1999. There were no survivors. Now, almost 25 years later..." right so. from this we can gather that this takes place in an alternate universe where the Fears leaked into, because the Institute was originally in Edinburgh, not Manchester. And it didn’t burn down in 1999 the OG timeline. This raises questions:

If the Fears didn't originally exist, how come Jonah founded the Magnus Institute?

I've been trying to figure out his original reasoning, but it hasn't been... exactly forthcoming. He was always intrigued by the esoteric, even before discovering the Fears (as mentioned in #24, a letter to Jonah before founding the institute, "but I recall that during your visit last spring you mentioned your fascination with the macabre and strange..."). And I can gather that he had known about the Fears before 1824, when Barnabas wrote to him about being in the Lonely (because, if Mordechai Lukas could have popped him into the Lonely, he must have been an avatar, and their cohort learnt about the fears from Rayner as a little group <3- "When Smirke first gathered our little band – Lukas, Scott, and the rest – to discuss and hypothesize on the nature of the things he had learned from Rayner, I felt what I believe we all felt: curiosity, and fear."). So, he learnt about the Fears before 1824. Well, Milbank was designed by Smirke as "a temple to all the Fears in equilibrium." And he started working on it, after being convinced by Jonah, in 1815. Three years before the institute was founded. So, in this alternate universe, why would he found it? If there weren't any true paranormal sightings? Hm.

“It burnt to the ground in 1999.”

I found this notable because, in 1999, the Institute was subjected to a data breach. Is this where the timelines diverged? ("but when all those statements were leaked back in ‘99..."). I saw a post regarding this, suggesting that perhaps this IS where the timeline diverged. And instead of leaking the documents, the person who obviously wanted to damage the Institute just resorted to good old-fashioned arson.

Now, this is a bit meta, but most of the tidbits of information given in statements have some importance to them. We revisit it- especially when it concerns the Insitute. But aside from a throwaway comment in 68, the data breach never comes up again. This would make sense if it was something set up specifically for the Magnus Protocol.

“Now, almost 25 years later…”

25 years after 1999. 2024. Our time. Not 2018 or 2019. Hm.

Now, this next section is talking about fucking Manchester. Because Jonah moved the Institute from Edinburgh to London because of the Panopticon. So, there must have been some big event to cause him to move to Manchester. Now, some of the Magnus Archives is based on real events- the concept of using the panopticon as a prison design certainly was (although, Robert Smirke being involved was not). This is where my ramblings get a bit off the rails- I skimmed through the Wikipedia article on large events that happened in Manchester, just to see if there was any historical significance to the area. And I found the corn laws.

Not particularly relevant, but since I am compiling all the thoughts and rambles I felt it was necessary.

The teaser trailer! Woo! We hear Martin’s voice in it, so one can assume that he will make an appearance. But- there were no bodies found in the wreckage (end of ep 200). No bodies. Not Elias’, not Jon’s, not Martin’s. And we’re talking about a separate universe. An alternate dimension. No bodies found, the fears were dragged into a different universe? What’s to say that Elias, Jon and Martin weren’t dragged in with them. Or, well, Elias’ (and Jon’s? I hope not) dead bodies. God, that would be fucked. Martin waking up in a new, alien universe clutching the body of his dead boyfriend. That’d be fucked.

I’m not gonna stake my life on this theory, but it is a possibility. Just throwing it out there.

And with the teaser, at the very end there’s a slight whisper. Or is it the sound of wind? Of breathing? I am terrible at identifying sounds. Someone’s probably already done it though. Lmao.

A reddit thread I saw (https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMagnusArchives/comments/znrhlk/tshirt_design_for_magnus_protocol/) already identified the “non vacillabimus” to be “We will not flinch,” or “We shall not falter.” And the aforementioned tumblr user identified the two symbols in the centre of the coat of arms to be salt and mercury (they also pointed out sulfur? Although I can’t spot it), and that it resembles the British Civil Service logo/coat of arms. 

The O.I.A.R. at the top of it all stands for the Office of Incident Assessment and Response (probably).

Other snippets of thoughts that don’t really merit their own section: >Daisy’s first name is Alice. Alternate universe Daisy as a main character? I doubt this a bit, but it would be interesting if that were the case.

>”"have stumbled across its legacy. A legacy that will put them in grave danger." what does this mean???? It’s extra stuff that may mean that Jonah'll return (if not as a character, he will be at least talked about again. yk?)” -me at 9 (slightly comprehensible)

>”if jonah magnus doens't show up in the magnus protocol I am suing and crying and weeping just let my favourite charavter suffer more!! let the cast attack and maim him!!! let the bastard man be all smug and then let people b eat the shit outta him!! thats all I want!!” -me at 2am (not very comprehensible)

Closing Thoughts: Jonah Magnus really wanted the Corn Law drama.

[nirvanai]

Though the secret ending implies Tokiko was right all along.

oh i do have some thoughts about this! rotates diverge route in my brain. this is just personal opinion and a lot of just. interpretation and looking at things in a meta-narrative sense, so feel free to disagree entirely lmao, but! anyways.

(also im so sorry anon this got really long and rambly sldkfhgsdg i did not mean for this to happen)

for me at least, the nil ending stuff doesn’t really end as a “she was actually right!” sort of thing, but rather, it feels like more of a direct challenge to the player and their expectation of what a narrative “should” give and what a secret ending “should” be. the ending itself breaks the 4th wall directly, it gives the choice of whether or not it happens directly to the player- it even relies on (from what i understand) a random number, so you can’t cheat it. You need to play the game to see your own personal nil number.

The game is presenting you with a ‘final twist’- this world is a game, something that you as a player have known all along. It is a fictional world, Tokiko is right- they just dropped the pretense. for a very brief moment, Ryuki sees the ‘truth’ of the world, and Tokiko then gives you as the player an option: you can tell him everything, change the course of history to try to reach a “better ending”, or you can let him forget and let events play out the same as they did before. 

When I play through the diverge route content, it gives off a very strong feeling of things feeling... off. It rings a bit hollow, almost like a pyrrhic victory- it should be a better world, Uru was stopped in time, Komeji is alive, Amame is free, none of the explosion end stuff happened. And yet, it feels like there’s still a heavy cost to it, to Ryuki’s own psyche. The awareness that we granted him weighs him down- he’s disconnected from the people around him, he got promoted but barely leaves his office anymore, even Tama is more blunt about not believing him about this ‘other timeline’. 

This world should feel better, but something has been lost- not just for Ryuki, but the player as well. All of the bonds that were forged, the emotions we just went through in the story... all of them were washed away by our doing.

Now, I’m not saying this to claim “oh we as the players are villains! we’re doing a bad thing and helping tokiko win!”, because I honestly do not believe that either. I don’t think that’s the point of the ending- its not making any sort of accusation at the player, but rather, it’s asking us why we may feel the way we do about it. If it feels hollow to some, why does it feel hollow? Why does it seem to linger?

When playing games, its natural to want to find all the secrets- especially in a mystery game such as this. The ‘Frayer” question is presented extremely early on in the story, and it may linger in a player’s mind. It’s a secret, so of course you want to figure out what it means. Seeking that sort of information is an understandable, and likely intended response, especially considering this is a literal murder mystery game. Almost every LP i’ve seen has people stop and try to guess at numbers for a while before moving on, and hell, I did that myself!

So when the game gives you the nil number at the end, and asks you what you want to do with it, its just the obvious thing to do. You want more answers, you want more time with this game, you want to uncover every mystery and secret that you can. The achievements in-game help with this a bit on a meta level, too- you know there’s secrets to find, so go find them!

Objectively, in the true end timeline, people suffered far more. People died, Amame is in jail, everything that happened in the explosion end- but for all of the suffering and pain, it wasn’t a world without meaning. Ryuki and the Mizukis were both still fighting in their own ways for the truth, to solve things- perhaps the past couldn’t be changed, and that better world may not exist to them, but their world still has meaning. Things may still be bittersweet, its not a perfect happy ending- but those are rare in life. Everyone is still finding their own way forward as best they can, and making the most of the life they’re living. No matter how you’ve struggled, there is still value in that life, and finding that value is something so very important. 

(Please note I’m not saying that people should suffer in life, or that you need to suffer for your life to have meaning- rather, I just want to say that a life where you have suffered is not meaningless. Experiencing loss and hardship is tragic, and often times traumatic, but your life still has meaning and you are not defined by the hardships you’ve experienced. There is always the chance that you will find a way to make things better tomorrow, that you will find the strength to start picking yourself up if you need to, and that is important and extremely meaningful.)

In the diverge route, everything is better, but the emotional connection with the player is gone. You’ve found what you were looking for, you’ve found that ‘happier ending’, and now the game is asking you what that should mean to you. What do you consider important from the narrative? What makes a story satisfying to you? What parts of this were drawing you in, investing you? We’ve removed the facade, this world is just a game- but it was a game that meant something to you, it got you invested, made you care, and it was satisfying as a result. It doesn’t matter that it was a game- we go along with it because we care, because we want to see what happens to these characters we like, and because seeing them struggle and fight and ultimately claim that ending song they so very deserved is a reward of its own.

So to me, the nil number is essentially asking you to think about your own personal relationships to media. What is it about the ending of a story that matters to you? Is a “perfect ending” all that matters for you to be happy, or are you actually looking for something else? It’s not intended to be a happy ending, despite it being a better one- it’s nil. A process has occurred, and something has changed, yet you have no more or less than you did before.

Apologies again for rambling on here lmao I’m sure you probably did not intend for that. And again, this is just my personal interpretations of the ending- I’m sure other people will have their own too, and that’s part of the fun to me! It’s very ripe for analysis and discussion, I don’t want to present my views as the only “correct” way to look at things, I’m just giving my case here as best I can in hopes some people may enjoy reading my thoughts on the matter.

The diverge route stuff is fascinating to me because its challenging, it lingers, it makes me think about it and want more in a way that I know I’ll be better off never getting it. Expanding on the ending in the game would honestly feel counterproductive- it works so well to me because it feels hollow. We have frayed at the edges, and now we get to see what we’ve done. (not to say i won’t read fic tho bc there’s some cool fic out there already on the topic. hell yeah.)

So, yeah! I hope that made at least a little bit of sense to read through, thanks for reading if you did, and I hope that even if you don’t agree it was still a fun thing to look over lmao. 

[gr-ogu]

Hello! As requested, here is a tutorial on how I make my gifs. I would like to preface this by saying there are many ways to make gifs, and there’s no right or wrong answer imo. This is just how I personally go about doing so!

I will be using PS CC 2017, but as long as you have the video timeline option, it shouldn’t matter too much; on any version of PS, you should be able to adapt anything I mention here! You will also need some kind of screen recording software. I’ll talk a little more about that under the cut.

To start, you need the source material you will be making the gifs from! I get mine from snahp(.)it (avoiding links so tumblr hopefully doesn’t banish this from the tags lmao) and I always opt for either 1080p or 2160p. Not all laptops will support 2160p as it’s 4K, but either works great! You just want your gifs to be the best quality possible.

Next is where the screen recording comes in. I don’t use the screencapping method to make my gifs (where you use a program to cap a clip and then load those caps into a stack in PS). This isn’t for any particular reason… it’s just how my friends, (who very kindly taught me to gif), had always done it, so it’s now how I do it too. Personally, I find the quality to be just as good as the screencapping method, and have never noticed a difference between the two.

As I have a PC, I use the software built into it for screen-recording. If you go here: theverge(.)com/2020/4/21/21222533/record-screen-pc-windows-laptop-xbox-game-bar-how-to – you can see how to use the XBOX screenrecorder to record from files you have d*wnloaded. This also works on some streaming sites, but I think it depends on what browser you use. Personally, I recommend Firefox, as that seems to bypass a lot of the blocking and ads that occur when trying to do this sort of thing.

For MAC users, I have been told handbrake works well, as it converts MKV files to MP4, which can then be used to make gifs. You only need to convert part of the file to MP4 depending on how much you want to gif, and this also bypasses the screenrecording stage, as you can edit MP4 clips on Quicktime. I am told you can split them into smaller clips by going to edit > trim and it saves the new clip!

I have also used anyvideoconverter for small clips, but I can’t say what it does to the quality of your video, or how big of a file it lets you put in! With the XBOX screenrecorder, it doesn’t matter what type of video files you get, as the recording will save to MP4 anyway.

LOADING YOUR FRAMES

Now, go ahead and record whatever clips you want to gif. Make sure you have the video timeline open, by going to window > timeline. Then, go to file > import > video frames to layers.

Next, select and open your clip from where it has saved (with the XBOX recorder, it saves in video > captures). You should see a little window pop up, where you can move the sliders back and forth to clip your recording to whichever part(s) you specifically want to gif. I recommend trying not to load a lot of frames into photoshop at once, but I would be a hypocrite to say that, since I do it a lot lmao. Just be patient if you do!

Once you have chosen the length, click okay. Never, EVER, I repeat NEVER click the button that says “limit to every __ frames”. This really ruins the flow and quality of your gif—it’s better to have shorter, but smoother gifs, I promise. And with tumblr’s new 10 MB limit, it shouldn’t be a problem anyway!

Then, your frames should open up. What we want to do is make them into a smart object, so we can edit all the layers at the same time. To do this, click the small button in the left-hand corner. ALWAYS click this first. If you don’t, it will only convert the first frame to a smart object and the gif won’t work.

Give it a second to sort itself out, then, on the right-hand side, select all your frames at once using the shift key.

Then, go to filter > convert for smart filters. This might take a minute. Don’t click anything else in case PS gets angry lmao, just leave it for a second and it’ll do its thing. The more frames you have, the longer it takes! Now we have our gif, but it needs to be cropped, sharpened and coloured!

CROPPING

You want to start by selecting the rectangular marquee tool on the left-hand side, then drag it across by clicking and highlighting the area you would like to crop your gif to, like so:

What I tend to do is select everything inside the black lines you sometimes get around your gif (this depends on what file you d*wnload), and also the tiniest bit inside the sides. This is because I’ve found if you crop it right up to the edge, you get a tiny bit of transparency on the sides of your gifs, which I’d rather avoid.

Once you have your desired selection, go to image > crop. Now, the dimensions for tumblr are 540px width, so all your gifs have to be that width. However, the length is up to you. I really like big gifs, so sometimes I even make a full square, or even longer. It’s entirely up to you, and what kind of set you want to make.

For the purposes of this gif, I will stick to what I usually go for, 540px by 350 px. This will mean you’ll have to crop some width off, but that’s okay, since Marisa isn’t central anyway. The cropping is always trial and error for me, as sometimes people move out of the frame within in the gif. The best thing to do is just try it, and then move the slider in the timeline window at the bottom to see if the person stays inside the gif, and if not, adjust accordingly.

Next, go to image > image size:

In this box, if I put the width as 540, the gif is a smaller height than I want, as it keeps to the dimensions of the gif when you load it into PS. That’s okay, just put the height you want instead, and we’ll crop off the excess.

Then click OK. Using the rectangular marquee tool again, we need to remove the excess width. Part of the reason I like this version of PS is that it tells you the width of your selection as you do it, but you can always use the ruler as a guide, and check the size of your image by going to image > image size again.

Again, use image > crop, and your gif should now be the correct size!

You can also use the crop tool in the timeline window to crop the length of your gif:

However, I tend to wait until later on to do this (which will be explained further down!)

SHARPENING

Next you want to go to filter > sharpen > smart sharpen.

These are my settings. However, 0.4px is very sharp, too much so, but that’s easily fixed.

Go to filter > blur > Gaussian blur and then set it to 1.0.

Now on the right-hand side, we need to reduce the blur, so double click the little adjustment button, and change the opacity of the blur. I usually go for 20-30%!

Then click OK, and that’s your sharpening done!

COLOURING

I picked this scene on purpose as it’s dark, so good for showing how to colour a gif. I have a base psd which consists of some very basic adjustments, but it mostly exists so I don’t forget what adjustment layers I like to use. I adjust them every time I make a gif, essentially colouring each gif from scratch.

In this case, the psd actually makes it darker. So, what I will do is turn each layer off, and adjust as I go. A lot of people say using lots of adjustment layers ruins the quality of your gif… I have never found this to be true, as long as you are gentle with them. If you whack the brightness right up to the top, it’s going to ruin your gif no matter if you use 1 adjustment layer or 100. I would just say use your common sense, and adjust a little at a time!

I start with a simple black to white gradient map set to soft light, because I think it helps you see depth once you add some brightness to it. I usually do this on about 10%, or more if needed. It’s probably unnecessary, I just like how it looks!

Then, I move onto using curves and levels. This is where things can diverge depending on who you’re colouring. If this person is white, it doesn’t matter too much. If they’re not white, you don’t want to white wash them. My best advice is to play around with it. By adding vibrance and other (usually the red) selective colour settings later, you can ensure you don’t change the person’s skin tone from what it originally was. You can also use layer masks at varying opacities (various shades of grey), on your curves and levels, to remove some brightening so that you’re not changing anyone’s skin colour. Just brighten slowly and check in with yourself honestly about how your gif looks.

Some people don’t like using levels, or curves. It’s completely up to you. I tend to use both because levels are good for bringing depth, even if not brightening (though I like to use them for that as well). 

One thing you can do is use the white point of the gif to make PS adjust the curves itself, however I like to drag the sliders myself and see what it looks like. Just make sure it’s not too bright, as we will be using further layers to brighten more, after.

Next is levels. The slider on the left controls the black point, the one in the middle controls the midtones, and the one on the right controls the white points. The black brings depth, the midtones adjust the overall brightness, and the white points produce stronger highlights. Again, you’ll get a feel for how this works as you practice. Just don’t use the white point excessively, especially if your characters are not white.

Then I add vibrance (+20!), because we’ve removed a lot of it when lightening the gif. Next is exposure, which I find brings out the highlight and shadow areas more effectively:

Then colour balance! This helps with scenes that might be a certain colour, i.e. too blue, too green, too red, etc. Moving the sliders in the opposite direction of the colour your gif is will counteract it. The best thing to do when accounting for different colours, is to make a new layer every time you change colour, so that you don’t get confused. I always add a new layer for colour balance and selective colour if I want to change more than one thing. So one for red, one for yellow, one for pink, etc. 

A layer of brightness just to make the gif pop, and because the scene is extra dark, I added a very gentle extra curves layer:

SAVING YOUR GIF

Time to save the gif. You can go ahead and file > export > save for web (legacy) now, but then you’ll have to reopen the gif to reset the frame rate from 0.07, to 0.05. Instead of doing that, I use a modified action. The original was made by the very talented @elenafisher! So I do not take credit for that at all. You can find the original here: elenafisher(.)tumblr(.)com/post/190817437374/gif-sharpening-action-2-preview-download and in my resources tag. Please reblog it if you’re going to use this!

To use an action, first make sure you have actions turned on in window > actions. To load in your action, go to the little lines circled, and then load the action from your downloads:

Obviously if you don’t want to sharpen your gifs yourself, you can use the action as it is, and it will give you a beautiful glowing effect. If you’d just like to use it to flatten your gif into frames like I do, make sure to take out all the items I have highlighted:

Until it looks like this!

Make sure you have the layer under the file name highlighted, and then click the play button at the bottom! (If you get a screen saying select all frames cannot be found, don’t worry, just click continue!) You can delete the layer that does that if you want, I just keep it in case I realise I’ve forgotten to do something, because you can click cancel and edit your gif before you flatten it. Of course you can undo the steps to get back to the smart object version of your gif, it just takes longer!

And now your gif is in frames and set to 0.05 already, so you don’t have to change the speed! All you need to do now before saving is change the gif cycle to “forever” in the bottom left-hand corner:

Then to save the gif go to file > export > save for web (legacy). Sometimes, the gif is bigger than the tumblr 10MB limit. You’ll be able to see this in the bottom left-hand corner of the gif save settings. If this is the case, I like to preview the gif, to see whether it would be best to cut frames off of the beginning or the end, or both. When you’ve decided, you can select the frames at the bottom, and in the right-hand side panel, and delete them both using the little bins/trash icons.

I keep checking and deleting frames until I get the gif under 10 MB! Just don’t delete frames from the middle, as then you’ll have the same issue as if you selected “every other frame” when making the gif: it won’t flow!

Lastly, these are my save settings:

So that’s it! That’s how I make all my gifs. Blending I do when the gifs are in the grouped, smart filter stage, whereas text I add on during the framing section above! Really hope this is helpful, please feel free to ask any questions you may have! 💖

[eulaties]

MYSTIC MESSENGER FIC RECS ★ YOOSUNG/MC ★ #5

fics that have an asterisk (*) in front of them are my personal favorites! also, all of the fics listed are completed unless otherwise stated.

NOTE: fic recs for all the yoosung simps <3 majority of these are sfw!

this list was last updated on 12/29/20.

if you want general mysme fic recs click here

if you want yooseven fic recs click here

if you want yooran fic recs click here

if you want juminv fic recs click here

*on the other end of the line • one-shot

SUMMARY: “fights and misunderstandings happen in any relationship, especially under stress. whoever suggested to get matching phone cases was corny enough as it is but ultimately a genius who unknowingly helped get messages across each side.”

TAGS: takes place post-yoosung route, established relationship, misunderstandings, arguments that eventually get resolved, fluff, soft fic!!

*finally • one-shot

SUMMARY: "this is a bit naughty but...i'm thinking about where i'm going to kiss you first." a fic based off of this voiceline.

TAGS: hickies, nothing too explicit happens, takes place during the rfa party

sickeningly sweet • one-shot

SUMMARY: “you and yoosung are too cute and so genuinely sweet to one another that it was almost gross to witness.”

TAGS: fluff, so much fluff, tooth rotting sweetness, short but cute fic

kiss the cook • one-shot

TAGS: yoosung cooks for mc, picky eater!mc, fluff, super cute

*hallelujah, i believe • one-shot

TAGS: takes place post-yoosung route, mc pov of yoosung through the years, fluff, gender neutral mc, falling in love, so cute omgg

i’m not upset • one-shot

TAGS: proposal fic, fluff, humor

convenience store romance • multi-chapter (5/5)

SUMMARY: “mc bumps into yoosung in a convenience store after a week of joining rfa, but doesn’t have the guts to tell him who she is. she decides to just hide from the boy, scared of her own growing feelings, but he’s a lot harder to shake off than mc thinks.”

TAGS: slow burn, first meetings, misunderstandings, mutual pining, first kiss, canon divergence, friends to lovers, fluff, light angst

*bystander • one-shot

SUMMARY: “yoosung passes by timeline after timeline until he gets to you. hints of his feelings come through the phone calls.”

TAGS: reset theory, mutual pining, one-sided pining, angst, mild fluff

*eleven layers • one-shot

SUMMARY: “yoosung shows you his skills as a part-time barista and you’re impressed at the rate of improvement he shows as well as the cheesy things he can incorporate in your drinks. you lowkey may be suffering from coffee overdose.”

TAGS: coffee shop au, barista!yoosung, established relationship, fluff

as luck would have it • one-shot

TAGS: fluff, first date, yoosung has really bad luck lmao, awkward but cute yoosung, takes place post yoosung-route

*a memory reflected • one-shot

SUMMARY: "i remember practicing how to ask you out to the mirror.”

TAGS: fluff, established relationship, timeskip, yoosung and mc are married

*truth, lies, and the in-between • yoosung-centric, one-shot

SUMMARY: “v was in a coma, rika was the head of a cult, and yoosung wasn’t sure what was true anymore, and what was a lie.” what if the true ending happened after yoosung’s route?

TAGS: hurt/comfort, angst, closure, post-canon

changes • one-shot

SUMMARY: “sometimes, it was still hard for yoosung to get used to change. not that he would complain.”

TAGS: gender neutral mc, post-canon, fluff

perfectly imperfect • one-shot

SUMMARY: “mc goes through a lot at the rfa party, but nothing compares to the feeling she gets the first time she meets yoosung.”

TAGS: first meeting, first kiss, fluff, yoosung route good ending, takes place during the rfa party

*fumbling in love • multi-chapter (2/2)

TAGS: fluff, kisses, flustered yoosung, established relationship, post-canon

*healing words • one-shot

SUMMARY: “life with chronic pain isn't simple, but having her by his side made it a little easier.”

TAGS: angst, hurt/comfort

CW: eye trauma

movie night • one-shot

TAGS: fluff, watching movies, established relationship, kisses, cuddling, flustered yoosung and mc, super soft and cute!

*the moment he fell for her • one-shot

SUMMARY: “his heart was racing non stop since the moment the new girl had joined the rfa. after a long time, that had felt like an eternity, he felt genuine joy and excitement. he was so happy and cheerful and everything seemed brighter, all the colours seemed more intense. the blue of the sky was like a promise, the green of the grass like a new vision of optimism."

TAGS: angst, healing, fluff, falling in love, pining

CW: mentions of depression, grief

staring • one-shot

TAGS: established relationship, post-canon, fluff, just mc admiring their husband, soft fic

wish • one-shot

SUMMARY: “you help yoosung make a wish on a shooting star.”

TAGS: fluff, established relationship

good night kiss • one-shot

SUMMARY: “—yoosung,” you say, interrupting his line of thought. “it’s… okay to give me a good-night kiss, you know.”

TAGS: fluff, flustered yoosung

dreams • one-shot

SUMMARY: “yoosung calls you in the morning just to tell you he dreamed of you.”

TAGS: fluff, takes place during yoosung’s route, phone calls, established relationship

never again • one-shot

SUMMARY: “now then...make your princess some dinner, daddy." you thought it might have been sexy, but instead, it just made yoosung faint.

TAGS: fluff, humor, nothing explicit happens

of course • one-shot

SUMMARY: “with a smile on his face, he reaches for his phone, positions the camera, and snaps a selfie. the picture is perfect, with him smiling softly, his one arm around you, and your own expression gentle as you lay there quietly.”

TAGS: yoosung good ending, post-canon, established relationship, fluff

stealth (?!) mode • one-shot

TAGS: seven being a little shit (and we love him for that), cosplay, anniversary, humor, fluff

joining in • one-shot

SUMMARY: “want to play lolol but only one chair? no problem.”

TAGS: fluff, established relationship, gender neutral mc, soft!!

in love with a stranger • one-shot

TAGS: yoosung pining for mc, summer vacation with the rfa, fluff, confessions, first kiss

*dwelsinge • one-shot

SUMMARY: “on his bad days, yoosung finds it hard to count his blessings.”

TAGS: nightmares, post-yoosung’s after ending, angst, hurt/comfort

*wake with you there • one-shot

SUMMARY: “yoosung finds out that being sick (and a little bit loopy) isn't all that bad when you wake up to the one you love taking care of you.”

TAGS: sickfic, fluff, humor, comfort, established relationship

*a day of firsts • one-shot

SUMMARY: “yoosung's first day working at rika's coffee shoppe. he meets a special someone.”

TAGS: coffee shop au, barista!yoosung, fluff, humor, 707 being...707, saeran is just vibing

*never ending • one-shot

SUMMARY: “sometimes ten years will contain so much, yet feel like no time at all.”

TAGS: post-yoosung’s after ending, domestic bliss, fluff, humor, yoosung through the years

*compromised operation • one-shot

TAGS: domestic fluff, humor, mc trying to surprise yoosung for his birthday

*all the lights • one-shot

SUMMARY: “yoosung contemplates the different types of wishes he's made throughout his life so far.”

TAGS: wishes, fluff, post-yoosung’s route

*sleepless nights and amber lights • one-shot

TAGS: angst, nightmares, hurt/comfort, happy ending

CW: ptsd

[lumilasi]

So, I just got recently able to get read Family Secrets, finally. I marked it to read back in 2020 and just now I reached it in my list.

So, with all the new canon revealed in the manga, it gets funny to read what once was unknown and now is known.

So I have to ask you as an author to another author, how do you handle when Canon makes a reveal you weren't expecting, such as names, character behaviour and backstory, to timeline events.

Also, now that we got a lot of new backstories revealed from canon, would have any of that changed how you wrote the fic? Such as Endeavor's action towards Touya, how that All Might is 10 years older than Endeavour, the existence of the MLA, or that Kurogiri is Oboro.

Also, a question that I have been wanting to ask, did you purposefully move the AfO vs All Might fight, where All Might lost his organs 10 years earlier on pursue? Since that fight took place when Izuku was 9 years old, and also being the same time when Nighteye stop being his sidekick.

Hi there, hope you enjoyed the fic!

Well, to put it simply, canon is canon, Fic AU’s are fic AU’s. They’re called canon divergence for a reason, so what happens in canon never really matters that much to me, or makes me obliged to change things if it doesn’t work for the fic’s plot/make sense to do. Canon is it’s separate story from whatever I write after all. They’re never gonna match fully anyway (I mean, just look at Hisashi. He’s obviously veeeery different from canonical AFO hehe)

(Also as a general advice/recommendation/tip/whatever to any writers out there, that I guess I could mention in case someone needs to hear it, now that we’re talking about this topic; don’t worry too much if your fic doesn’t fully match. They never fully will in the first place, as you naturally are not the original author, so just how you view the characters alone may be different from what author might’ve intended. I mean, sometimes you might even have all the info for the series already and still can completely change the rules for your AU; for example my ongoing Bleach fic. It completely breaks and bends the rules of canon despite me knowing everything there is to know about the series lmao)

Yes, I did; pretty much anything that’s different from canon in that fic is on purpose (again, canon divergence AU lmao) or if its because I wasn’t aware of something while writing it, it doesn’t really matter as I explained earlier. The only thing I suppose would’ve been nice to know sooner was OFA’s true name, but it’s not big enough of a deal for me to go back and fix it. (And tbh right now it’s too much of a hassle; to be able to edit FS I’d have to delete over 20 tags. No thanks I got better things to do OTL)

Hope this answers to your questions!