#Work at Height(Level 1 to 2)

[tamil1984]

[vinod94]

[kunikuyu]

"A reward for someone so good." Hashira Series!

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Gyomei Himejima x Male! Reader

Warnings: Minors DNI, NSFW, read as afab reader, size kink, "calm" sex, faint, belly bulge, Himejima has feelings for the reader.

Summary: Pillar training has begun, much to your delight. Of course, as a hard-working and strong person, you can handle any challenge. Even if it's fighting a hashira. And in a way, they all see some value in you, and want to reward you for it.

You decided you would trust Sanemi (in which case, you were too tired to try and cut the ropes). You slept on the floor of that room and were woken up by someone mumbling while untying you.

"Ah, you finally decided to wake up? Lazy bastard." And you just shrug. If Sanemi wasn't going to untie you, you'd probably stay there until you gathered the strength to do it yourself.

Shinazugawa finally lets you go, but you can't walk at the moment. "..." He stares at you, hoping you'll get up soon. "You haven't realized my situation yet, have you?"

"I won't carry you in my arms, don't you dare ask."

....

You didn't even have to ask. He picked you up willingly and covered you with his haori (which only covered the bottom part due to your height). Fortunately, no one saw you in this situation.

Sanemi carries you to the room and offers you new clothes, next to a hot bath since you were covered in blood. He seems to want to apologize for being too rough last night, but he's too proud for that.

This is how he shows that in a way, he cares for you. Genya came to see you after your shower, and he seemed very curious to know why you disappeared last night and are now in Sanemi's room. You just laugh softly.

After some small talk and some things about the upcoming training and about Gyomei, Genya and Sanemi accompany you to the gate. You were already more recovered, and could probably get to Gyomei's training area with ease.

Genya says goodbye to you with a handshake and quickly leaves. Sanemi would finally apologize to you. "... Sorry for yesterday." "It's okay. Just make sure you don't leave me tied up next time." And so, you walked away while following your crow.

"Wait... WILL THERE BE A NEXT TIME?!" The older Shinazugawa screams and tries to reach you, but trips on a rock and ends up falling.

......

You finally arrived at Gyomei's training area. The few people who made it past Sanemi's training looked washed up. Himejima's training was very heavy, just like Genya said.

A hand subtly touches your shoulder, and you immediately recognize who the person is. "Himejima-san!" You smile, and the man almost twice your height smiles back. You weren't exactly short, but Gyomei was almost a tree, he was so tall.

"[Name], long time I haven't seen you. Namu." He says, voice deep as he rubs his hands together. The bulging veins on his arms made you blush softly. Maybe you have a thing for muscular men. And speaking of which, you've done a lot of missions together. It was almost a trio. Genya, Gyomei and you (since Tomioka stayed away from you in the past).

For a few seconds you wondered how Himejima knew it was you. But he's like a bear, his senses are extremely keen. "So, what's the training like?" Even though you already had an idea, you still wanted to be sure of what you were going to face.

"Your training is unique, please follow me. Namu."

.....

You obey the Hashira, and soon, you arrive at his mansion. It was very similar to all the others, except it felt more warm and comfortable. "Please sit."

Gyomei takes you to the farthest corner of the house, and sits in front of you. The difference in size was brutal even when he was sitting down.

He holds your hand gently and sighs, preparing to say something unusual. "Sr. [Name], I would like you to have sex with me. Not only that, but I propose that this be your test of strength." He was so straight to the point that it scared you.

Okay, you knew that was his personality. But it was on a much higher level. Seeing that you didn't answer him, but didn't move away either, he continues what he was saying. "On every mission we've done, I've felt something for you that I never thought I'd feel for a man. You are kind and pure, despite your personality being somewhat eccentric."

You had no words for it. You were normally the one praising people, and now you were being praised in such a kind way. You just squeeze Himejima's hand, as your body moves closer to him.

"...I accept this training, Himejima-san."

.....

He takes off all of his necklaces, and starts to unbuckle his belt. Before he even took off his pants, you noticed that his cock was already hard as a rock.

And when he took off his pants, you almost fainted. Seriously, your blood pressure has really dropped. That thing was huge, probably 44 centimeters. That wasn't even humanly possible! Now you're not sure if you agree with this training.

Himejima senses your concern, and quickly reassures you. "If you can't take it, I won't force you." And you just make a mumble of "ok"

He takes off his pants, and pats his hand gently on his thigh, to signal that he was ready. You quickly take off your pants too, and crawl until you are face to face with that monstrosity. It was quite heavy, and his balls felt swollen, as if it were waiting to release their load.

You try to sit on Gyomei's lap, placing the man's cock in your pussy. But it was almost an impossible task, it was too big. Only the head had entered and you already felt full. He throws his head back and lets out some low, hoarse moans, already feeling pleasure just from having contact with your body.

Little by little, you get used to the new sensation, and Gyomei's cock starts to slide inside you. Soon, (almost) everything was inside you, and you were already sitting on Gyomei's lap. He let out much louder, but still discreet, moans as he hugged your body. Your belly was swollen, and you could be sure that that bulge was the perfect shape of Gyomei's cock.

You massage that bulge and squeeze gently, making you and the other man moan again. He didn't seem to care if you weren't moving, he just wanted contact with you.

But you wanted to move, you wanted to go after your own pleasure. And so, you began to lightly move back and forth, riding the taller man. He starts to sigh deeply and moan some meaningless words, while you bite your mouth to keep from screaming. Every slightest movement you make makes his member hit your sweet spot.

Until he decides to help you with your movements. His hands held your ass, and without any difficulty, he made you move up and down gently on his slippery cock. That was as far as you could go without moaning loudly.

You just put your hand over your mouth to keep from screaming while he fucks you. "H-Himejima...Ah!~" It's all you can say, because you were almost screaming.

And this goes on for a few minutes. He makes calm movements with his body as he reaches the deepest point he could reach. You were already close to passing out, it was too much to handle and every time he hit your sweet spot, you could feel your blood pressure dropping.

"... [Name]-san... I feel like I'm about to..." You widen your eyes, already understanding what he meant. And it only took a few seconds for him to release his load inside you. As soon as his cum hit your deepest point in a warm jet, you passed out.

There was a lot of cum, it was even leaking and causing a bigger swelling in your belly. He notices your body going limp, and pulls you off his dick. He wasn't that experienced in having sex, but he felt like he shouldn't have such extreme concern, just take care of you and your body while you were passed out.

And so he does, giving you a bath, putting on clean clothes and lying next to you in bed, hugging you in a bear hug.

He was really happy with everything that happened. He really likes you, and sex only confirmed his feelings.

Bonus lines!

"I really love you, [Name]-san. We should get married, I want you to be my husband."

"... I see..."

[mostlysignssomeportents]

AI’s productivity theater

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

When I took my kid to New Zealand with me on a book-tour, I was delighted to learn that grocery stores had special aisles where all the kids'-eye-level candy had been removed, to minimize nagging. What a great idea!

Related: countries around the world limit advertising to children, for two reasons:

1) Kids may not be stupid, but they are inexperienced, and that makes them gullible; and

2) Kids don't have money of their own, so their path to getting the stuff they see in ads is nagging their parents, which creates a natural constituency to support limits on kids' advertising (nagged parents).

There's something especially annoying about ads targeted at getting credulous people to coerce or torment other people on behalf of the advertiser. For example, AI companies spent millions targeting your boss in an effort to convince them that you can be replaced with a chatbot that absolutely, positively cannot do your job.

Your boss has no idea what your job entails, and is (not so) secretly convinced that you're a featherbedding parasite who only shows up for work because you fear the breadline, and not because your job is a) challenging, or b) rewarding:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/19/make-them-afraid/#fear-is-their-mind-killer

That makes them prime marks for chatbot-peddling AI pitchmen. Your boss would love to fire you and replace you with a chatbot. Chatbots don't unionize, they don't backtalk about stupid orders, and they don't experience any inconvenient moral injury when ordered to enshittify the product:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/25/moral-injury/#enshittification

Bosses are Bizarro-world Marxists. Like Marxists, your boss's worldview is organized around the principle that every dollar you take home in wages is a dollar that isn't available for executive bonuses, stock buybacks or dividends. That's why you boss is insatiably horny for firing you and replacing you with software. Software is cheaper, and it doesn't advocate for higher wages.

That makes your boss such an easy mark for AI pitchmen, which explains the vast gap between the valuation of AI companies and the utility of AI to the customers that buy those companies' products. As an investor, buying shares in AI might represent a bet the usefulness of AI – but for many of those investors, backing an AI company is actually a bet on your boss's credulity and contempt for you and your job.

But bosses' resemblance to toddlers doesn't end with their credulity. A toddler's path to getting that eye-height candy-bar goes through their exhausted parents. Your boss's path to realizing the productivity gains promised by an AI salesman runs through you.

A new research report from the Upwork Research Institute offers a look into the bizarre situation unfolding in workplaces where bosses have been conned into buying AI and now face the challenge of getting it to work as advertised:

https://www.upwork.com/research/ai-enhanced-work-models

The headline findings tell the whole story:

96% of bosses expect that AI will make their workers more productive;

85% of companies are either requiring or strongly encouraging workers to use AI;

49% of workers have no idea how AI is supposed to increase their productivity;

77% of workers say using AI decreases their productivity.

Working at an AI-equipped workplaces is like being the parent of a furious toddler who has bought a million Sea Monkey farms off the back page of a comic book, and is now destroying your life with demands that you figure out how to get the brine shrimp he ordered from a notorious Holocaust denier to wear little crowns like they do in the ad:

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2004/hitler-and-sea-monkeys

Bosses spend a lot of time thinking about your productivity. The "productivity paradox" shows a rapid, persistent decline in American worker productivity, starting in the 1970s and continuing to this day:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Productivity_paradox

The "paradox" refers to the growth of IT, which is sold as a productivity-increasing miracle. There are many theories to explain this paradox. One especially good theory came from the late David Graeber (rest in power), in his 2012 essay, "Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit":

https://thebaffler.com/salvos/of-flying-cars-and-the-declining-rate-of-profit

Graeber proposes that the growth of IT was part of a wider shift in research approaches. Research was once dominated by weirdos (e.g. Jack Parsons, Oppenheimer, etc) who operated with relatively little red tape. The rise of IT coincides with the rise of "managerialism," the McKinseyoid drive to monitor, quantify and – above all – discipline the workforce. IT made it easier to generate these records, which also made it normal to expect these records.

Before long, every employee – including the "creatives" whose ideas were credited with the productivity gains of the American century until the 70s – was spending a huge amount of time (sometimes the majority of their working days) filling in forms, documenting their work, and generally producing a legible account of their day's work. All this data gave rise to a ballooning class of managers, who colonized every kind of institution – not just corporations, but also universities and government agencies, which were structured to resemble corporations (down to referring to voters or students as "customers").

Even if you think all that record-keeping might be useful, there's no denying that the more time you spend documenting your work, the less time you have to do your work. The solution to this was inevitably more IT, sold as a way to make the record-keeping easier. But adding IT to a bureaucracy is like adding lanes to a highway: the easier it is to demand fine-grained record-keeping, the more record-keeping will be demanded of you.

But that's not all that IT did for the workplace. There are a couple areas in which IT absolutely increased the profitability of the companies that invested in it.

First, IT allowed corporations to outsource production to low-waged countries in the global south, usually places with worse labor protection, weaker environmental laws, and easily bribed regulators. It's really hard to produce things in factories thousands of miles away, or to oversee remote workers in another country. But IT makes it possible to annihilate distance, time zone gaps, and language barriers. Corporations that figured out how to use IT to fire workers at home and exploit workers and despoil the environment in distant lands thrived. Executives who oversaw these projects rose through the ranks. For example, Tim Cook became the CEO of Apple thanks to his successes in moving production out of the USA and into China.

https://archive.is/M17qq

Outsourcing provided a sugar high that compensated for declining productivity…for a while. But eventually, all the gains to be had from outsourcing were realized, and companies needed a new source of cheap gains. That's where "bossware" came in: the automation of workforce monitoring and discipline. Bossware made it possible to monitor workers at the finest-grained levels, measuring everything from keystrokes to eyeball movements.

What's more, the declining power of the American worker – a nice bonus of the project to fire huge numbers of workers and ship their jobs overseas, which made the remainder terrified of losing their jobs and thus willing to eat a rasher of shit and ask for seconds – meant that bossware could be used to tie wages to metrics. It's not just gig workers who don't score consistent five star ratings from app users whose pay gets docked – it's also creative workers whose Youtube and Tiktok wages are cut for violating rules that they aren't allowed to know, because that might help them break the rules without being detected and punished:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/13/solidarity-forever/#tech-unions

Bossware dominates workplaces from public schools to hospitals, restaurants to call centers, and extends to your home and car, if you're working from home (AKA "living at work") or driving for Uber or Amazon:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/02/chickenized-by-arise/#arise

In providing a pretense for stealing wages, IT can increase profits, even as it reduces productivity:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/11/robots-stole-my-jerb/#computer-says-no

One way to think about how this works is through the automation-theory metaphor of a "centaur" and a "reverse centaur." In automation circles, a "centaur" is someone who is assisted by an automation tool – for example, when your boss uses AI to monitor your eyeballs in order to find excuses to steal your wages, they are a centaur, a human head atop a machine body that does all the hard work, far in excess of any human's capacity.

A "reverse centaur" is a worker who acts as an assistant to an automation system. The worker who is ridden by an AI that monitors their eyeballs, bathroom breaks, and keystrokes is a reverse centaur, being used (and eventually, used up) by a machine to perform the tasks that the machine can't perform unassisted:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

But there's only so much work you can squeeze out of a human in this fashion before they are ruined for the job. Amazon's internal research reveals that the company has calculated that it ruins workers so quickly that it is in danger of using up every able-bodied worker in America:

https://www.vox.com/recode/23170900/leaked-amazon-memo-warehouses-hiring-shortage

Which explains the other major findings from the Upwork study:

81% of bosses have increased the demands they make on their workers over the past year; and

71% of workers are "burned out."

Bosses' answer to "AI making workers feel burned out" is the same as "IT-driven form-filling makes workers unproductive" – do more of the same, but go harder. Cisco has a new product that tries to detect when workers are about to snap after absorbing abuse from furious customers and then gives them a "Zen" moment in which they are showed a "soothing" photo of their family:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ai-bringing-zen-first-horizons-192010166.html

This is just the latest in a series of increasingly sweaty and cruel "workplace wellness" technologies that spy on workers and try to help them "manage their stress," all of which have the (totally predictable) effect of increasing workplace stress:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/15/wellness-taylorism/#sick-of-spying

The only person who wouldn't predict that being closely monitored by an AI that snitches on you to your boss would increase your stress levels is your boss. Unfortunately for you, AI pitchmen know this, too, and they're more than happy to sell your boss the reverse-centaur automation tool that makes you want to die, and then sell your boss another automation tool that is supposed to restore your will to live.

The "productivity paradox" is being resolved before our eyes. American per-worker productivity fell because it was more profitable to ship American jobs to regulatory free-fire zones and exploit the resulting precarity to abuse the workers left onshore. Workers who resented this arrangement were condemned for having a shitty "work ethic" – even as the number of hours worked by the average US worker rose by 13% between 1976 and 2016:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/11/robots-stole-my-jerb/#computer-says-no

AI is just a successor gimmick at the terminal end of 40 years of increasing profits by taking them out of workers' hides rather than improving efficiency. That arrangement didn't come out of nowhere: it was a direct result of a Reagan-era theory of corporate power called "consumer welfare." Under the "consumer welfare" approach to antitrust, monopolies were encouraged, provided that they used their market power to lower wages and screw suppliers, while lowering costs to consumers.

"Consumer welfare" supposed that we could somehow separate our identities as "workers" from our identities as "shoppers" – that our stagnating wages and worsening conditions ceased mattering to us when we clocked out at 5PM (or, you know, 9PM) and bought a $0.99 Meal Deal at McDonald's whose low, low price was only possible because it was cooked by someone sleeping in their car and collecting food-stamps.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/20/disneyland-workers-anaheim-california-authorize-strike

But we're reaching the end of the road for consumer welfare. Sure, your toddler-boss can be tricked into buying AI and firing half of your co-workers and demanding that the remainder use AI to do their jobs. But if AI can't do their jobs (it can't), no amount of demanding that you figure out how to make the Sea Monkeys act like they did in the comic-book ad is doing to make that work.

As screwing workers and suppliers produces fewer and fewer gains, companies are increasingly turning on their customers. It's not just that you're getting worse service from chatbots or the humans who are reverse-centaured into their workflow. You're also paying more for that, as algorithmic surveillance pricing uses automation to gouge you on prices in realtime:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/24/gouging-the-all-seeing-eye/#i-spy

This is – in the memorable phrase of David Dayen and Lindsay Owens, the "age of recoupment," in which companies end their practice of splitting the gains from suppressing labor with their customers:

https://prospect.org/economy/2024-06-03-age-of-recoupment/

It's a bet that the tolerance for monopolies made these companies too big to fail, and that means they're too big to jail, so they can cheat their customers as well as their workers.

AI may be a bet that your boss can be suckered into buying a chatbot that can't do your job, but investors are souring on that bet. Goldman Sachs, who once trumpeted AI as a multi-trillion dollar sector with unlimited growth, is now publishing reports describing how companies who buy AI can't figure out what to do with it:

https://www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/pages/gs-research/gen-ai-too-much-spend-too-little-benefit/report.pdf

Fine, investment banks are supposed to be a little conservative. But VCs? They're the ones with all the appetite for risk, right? Well, maybe so, but Sequoia Capital, a top-tier Silicon Valley VC, is also publicly questioning whether anyone will make AI investments pay off:

https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/ais-600b-question/

I can't tell you how great it was to take my kid down a grocery checkout aisle from which all the eye-level candy had been removed. Alas, I can't figure out how we keep the nation's executive toddlers from being dazzled by shiny AI pitches that leave us stuck with the consequences of their impulse purchases.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/25/accountability-sinks/#work-harder-not-smarter

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[felassan]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard - known Character Creation info Part 1

[LINK TO PART 2]

This post is just a dump collection of info and snippets that came out about CC (& some related topics). if you've been following the news or reading posts here, it's not new info or anything, I just put it together in one place here for convenience. ( ˶´ ᵕ `˶ )

if you notice anything missing, pls lmk. there's a bit of repetition of info in places as prev posts on the topic overlapped.

---

CC is vast [source] and immensely detailed [source]

We will enter CC straight after Varric’s opening narration [source]

You are given 5 categories to work your way through in CC: Lineage, Appearance, Class, Faction, Playstyle. Each of these has a range of subcategories within them. There are 8 subcategories within the “head” subcategory" in “Appearance” alone [source]

Lineage dictates things like race (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, qunari) and backstory [source]

Backstories include things like factions. Factions offer 3 distinct buffs each [source]

There are dozens and dozens of hairstyles [source]

There are separate options for binary and non-binary pronouns and gender [source]

“BioWare’s work behind the scenes, meanwhile, goes as deep as not only skin tones but skin undertones, melanin levels, and the way skin reacts differently to light” [source]

CC has a range of lighting options within it so that you can check how the character looks in them [source]

There are a range of full-body customization options such as a triangular slider between body types and individual settings down to everything from shoulder width to glute volume [source]. There are “all the sliders [we] could possibly want”. The body morpher option allows us to choose different body sizes [source]

All body options are non-gendered [source]

They/them pronouns are an option [source]

Rook can be played as non-binary [source]

Individual strands of hair were rendered separately and react remarkably to in-game physics [source]

Special, focused attention was paid to ensuring that hairstyles “come across as well-representative, that everyone can see hairstyles that feel authentic to them, even the way they render” [source]

The game uses strand hair technology borrowed in part from the EA Sports games. The hair is “fully-controlled by physics,” so it “looks even better in motion than it does here in a standstill” [source]

The ability to import our choices from previous games is fully integrated into CC. This will take the form of tarot cards - “you can go into your past adventures” and this mechanic tells you what the context was and what decision you want to make [source]

In CC we will also be able to customize/remake our Inquisitor [source]

A core tenet of the game is “be who you want to be” [source]

There are presets for all 4 of the game’s races (human, elf, dwarf, qunari), in case detailed CCs overwhelm you [source]

It is the best CC BioWare has ever made in a game [source]

The faction we choose will determine who we as protagonist Rook were before they were recruited to put a stop to Solas [source]

Certain conversation options are only available to Rooks of certain factions. For example, Grey Wardens get conversation options that are focused on the Blight, as they know more about it from other people. It also impacts how people talk to Rook (reactivity from characters and then faction reactivity from plots relating to that faction) [source]

Faction choice affects a lot of things [source]

There aren’t unique missions (I think this means like the playable Origins in DA:O), but faction choice does set the course for Rook for the rest of the game [source]

“body customization and morphing. From more muscular characters, to curvier builds, and just about any shape you want to give your character, there are all sorts of toggles to adjust so you can give them any figure you want”. “There’s even features that let you choose proportions, so you can alter their height, give them wider shoulders, and much more” [source]

There are makeup options [source]

There are tattoo options [source]

The hair uses a “Strand system” to “make them behave and move in a believable way for the different races” [source].

There are 4 voices to choose from for Rook: two feminine and tow masculine (one American, one British for each) [source]

In CC, 'Lineage’ is the game’s parlance for race i.e. human, elf, dwarf, qunari [source]

We can pick Rook’s name, but the dialogue calls them 'Rook’ [source]

In CC we can “make a few key decisions that will impact how The Veilguard begins” [source]

“I really do think its our most feature-ful character creator ever.” [source]

All armor and clothing options will scale and mesh to any body type [source]

The character creator has lots of sliders for body parts and overall shape, none of which are tied to the voice or pronouns (she/her, he/him, or they/them) that you choose [source]

“Epler took special care to show off the extensive curly and textured hair options in the game, including several versions of braids and locs, noting that increasing these options in particular was very important to the team” [source]

You can change your character’s physical appearance at any time during the game, but not their class or backstory [source]

“Each individual class has some variability, too; even the mage class has some up-close-and-personal attacks, since a mage player character could still conceivably have an assassin backstory and would therefore need to have some attacks to accommodate that sort of career path” [source]

“ "We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about skin tone,” Corinne said. The character we made, a Black elf, seemed to glow in the bluish light of a nighttime scene, and under bright sunlight, I could see the richness of his color. Corinne: "We want to make sure that skin tone is reflected authentically” “ [source]

” “We have dozens and dozens of hair types,” she said. “And they’re fully affected by physics.” The quality and variety of choices I saw delighted me. The rows of bouncy, luxurious-looking hair of all curl types and textures (and yes, the annoyingly ubiquitous “Killmonger cut” was among the options, what can you do?) brought the biggest smile to my face in the hour I spent with Busche and The Veilguard.“ [source]

BioWare confirmed that even if you make your Rook a short king, the team has done work to ensure animations fit any character build [source]

“Dragon Age’s character creator has seen a massive glow-up” [source]. “The volume of choices you get here are frankly insane. As Epler noted, “you could spend forever here,” and he’s not kidding.” [source] The art and graphics teams spent a lot of time trying to make hair look amazing [source: the Discord]

In CC we can customise our “bulge size” [source]

Some more detail on the new lighting options to see how Rook looks like in CC when you make them: you can view them in “blazing forest sunshine versus the glare of an underground temple” [source]

“newly mobile, extra-hairy hair” [source]

Faction choice has statistical boons. For example, Shadow Dragon Rook deals extra damage to Venatori blood cultists [source]

Faction choice basically determines why Rook has been called to help in the fight against Solas [source]

All pre-determined character models in CC can be adjusted [source]

You can make a really tall dwarf if you want [source]

“Setting your previous world state is fully integrated into the character creator for Veilguard” [source: the Discord]

Inquisitor appearance will be re-created, there is no way to carry their appearance from DA:I into the game [source: the Discord]

Classes for Rook are not restricted in the sense that you can play any almost class, lineage and faction combination that you want. For example, a mage Rook can be a Crow [source: the Discord] (Fel note: it sounded like Rook cannot be a magic-wielding dwarf, even though the exception of Harding now exists) (Fel note: there is a mage Crow in one of the books)

“The diverse body and gender options make it an industry leader by a signifcant margin” [source]

“BioWare was keen to highlight the hair strand technology that looked very similar to that seen in FIFA and EA FC, also made under EA’s roof” [source]

“Fine tuning sliders that allowed for microscopic adjustments of nose angles, it was clear that a lot of options exist to get the smallest possible body parts exactly right” [source]

“There’s no specific genital customisation to be oversold as CDPR did but, much like Saints Row, there is an option for bulge customisation” [source]

Pronoun choice, gender identity, body type, and voice choice are 4 separate options, not tied together [source]

Height is customised on a slider [source]

Size is customized on a triangle like in Saints Row: the 'points’ are fat, slim and muscular [source]

The different lighting options are 4 different settings: clean, bright, dim, sunset [source]

In CC you can also try out what Rook looks like in their starting rags, in typical mid-game armor, and some level 50 gear (class appropriate for each one) [source]

There’s a way for you to modify your character’s look once the game has started if you want to make some tweaks [source: the official Discord]

You can be any class and choose any backstory/faction, any race, any gender [source]

The opening cinematic Varric narrates at the start of the game plays before CC. “Following character creation, Varric’s narration continues, revealing that he’s put together a group to stop Solas, having recruited our character and a handful of others so far.” [source]

Faction choice affects in-game moments between other factions and locations, as well as characters [source]

Re: using body sliders in CC - “It looked incredibly easy to maneuver around and create a body that is either close to that player’s real personage or their ideal fantasy self” [source]

“Our presenter said that each specialization was pretty much as deep as a job” [source]

“Many fans were subject to the horror of DA Inquition’s special green light, so BioWare made it where players could shuffle through a handful of backgrounds to see how their character looks in different lights. Body sliders for fully customizable bodies, other appearance changes like tattoos, and everything fans would expect from a modern Dragon Age character creator seemed to be there.” [source]

Rook always shares a background with 1 of the companions. Makes sense, the backgrounds are Wardens, Crows, Shadow Dragons, Mourn Watch, Veil Jumpers, Lords of Fortune, and that’s Davrin, Lucanis, Neve, Emmrich, Bellara, Taash respectively [source]

The CC team and character art team spent a lot of time working on making sure that hairstyles behaved appropriately, in a realistic way, and on representing a lot of different hairstyles [source]

“We were told that one of the three key pillars of the game was ‘Be Who You Want To Be.’” [source]

“Numerous selections for a wide variety of body types & skin tones” [source]

There is faction-themed gear to wear, like if you chose Grey Warden as a background, there is GW gear. [source: The Discord]

“As a faction, the Inquisition doesn’t really feature prominently in the story - your appearance options are more reflective of the factions and styles you’ll encounter in The Veilguard.” [source: The Discord]

body sliders + “a triangle for gradients of body types” [source]

“The team heard us loud and clear on hair styles”. Frostbite engine updates served them well. Hair moves with your body and reacts to the wind [source]

For pronouns and gender selections, everything you select is used in the game and in cutscenes [source]

They were asked about the customizability of Rook’s backstory. Rook has 6 different backgrounds that you can choose from. Each of them is tied to one of the major factions in DA:TV. “Each one sets up who Rook was before they were recruited by Varric. Well that sets out the broad events. As you go through the game, as you have conversations, either with members of your faction, other characters, you can define not just what those events were but what they meant to you. What was your motivation, what was the kind of person you are as you build up Rook. Because again, we wanna make sure that roleplaying is at the heart of this experience, and taking Rook, giving them background to ground them in the world and then letting you decide what that means, what that says about you, is also a big part of it.” “A lot of opportunities to really define who your Rook was and who they are now, so.” [source: June 14th Discord Q&A with devs]

They have taken a different approach on how we import our decisions into the game this time around. This is now fully integrated into the character creator. The devs believe that this serves a dual purpose. Corinne said that she playfully thinks of it as ‘last time on Dragon Age’, though it isn’t actually called this in the game. She noted that it has been ten years since the last Dragon Age game was released, so this aspect serves as a refresher on critical events as well as allowing us to remake those decisions that are critical to us. The system for doing this is very highly visual and uses the familiar tarot card aesthetic. “It’s a very visual and playful experience as you go through it.” It was very important to them that this system was built into the client, so that you can play this game entirely offline. No online connection is required, no linking to EA accounts is required – this was a big fan request.

Corinne added, “I don’t want to spoil anything by revealing what decisions you can import, but I will say that this [thinking about the decision import system and what decisions to include] has been a really interesting creative intersection for us, because on the one hand, this is a whole new adventure”. In this game we are in northern Thedas, in locations we have not been to before. This naturally affects “some of what will matter and what decisions they’re not using this time around, as far as decisions. But obviously there are some very, very clear connections to existing characters.” “It’s no secret that the Inquisitor is going to show up, so that’s a factor”. [source: June 14th Discord Q&A with devs]

In CC, Rook’s pronouns can be chosen. You can select both pronouns AND gender, as as Corinne noted, these are related concepts, but actually not exactly the same thing. Rook can be non-binary. The pronouns available are she/her, they/them, and he/him. [source: June 14th Discord Q&A with devs]

The Character Creator is very detailed and very deep. The team focused a lot on doing good hair and doing hair and skin tones respectfully. There is full body customization. They are going to show us a lot more on CC in the future, but at a time when they have the time and space to do so. [source: June 14th Discord Q&A with devs]

Q. How extensive are Rook’s decision trees for companions and NPCs throughout the game going to be?

A. “Huge. It’s a Dragon Age game. We wanna make sure you have choices, we wanna make sure you can choose your roleplaying but also choose outcomes of conversations, choose how events unfold. We wanna make sure that we also react to decisions you’ve made. So, for example, you may be talking to a follower who is an elf, and if you yourself are an elf, obviously you’re gonna have a different perspective on events than someone who is not an elf. Sometimes that means different conversation options. Sometimes that’s going to mean entirely deep dialogue trees. As well as based off decisions you’ve made throughout the game, so. Again, making sure that the game feels like the it’s noticing what you’re doing is a huge part of how we’ve written out the dialogue trees in this game.” [source: June 14th Discord Q&A with devs]

 “There are quite a few, easily more than we’ve done before I think, tattoos from various cultures. We’re bringing the vallaslin back of course. There are a ton of different options, especially when we’re going into all of these new regions. Each region has its own kinda visual language for that. But yeah, we are bringing the vallaslin back, and then a couple of the characters have them, but we’ve kinda customized them a little bit, they’re a bit more specific to their personality.” [source: June 14th Discord Q&A with devs]

Corinne’s favorite thing other than the companions is the CC. “That CC, the makeup options, the range of sliders… I’m a qunari fan, so even just the way you customize the horns and combine that with the really great looking hair”. [source: June 14th Discord Q&A with devs]

The Inquisitor can be customized, “include some of our new customization options”. “Yeah, they’re gonna show up and they’re gonna be your Inquisitor.” [source: June 14th Discord Q&A with devs]

We will get to see the Character Creator before launch. “They are laying out a roadmap for what we are going to show and when we are gonna talk about it. So, yes, you will see it, as we get a little bit closer to launch.” [source: June 14th Discord Q&A with devs]

In CC, the body customization can be done for humans, elves, dwarves and qunari. Qunari hair options and horn options are rad. They acknowledged that it was hard to have nice-looking hair for qunari in DA:I. [source: June 14th Discord Q&A with devs]

“Related to this, your Lineage (human/elf/dwarf/qunari) gives you a lot of really unique dialogue options, so that’s a really lovely aspect of choosing your lineage as well.” “Each lineage, depending on the lineage you choose and the background you choose, there are some specific call outs to. For example, if it’s the Mourn Watch, them being a faction from Nevarra of mages, obviously your experience as a dwarf there is going to be different than say a human or an elf, so, there are also specific callouts tailored to those combinations with again, the intention of giving each lineage their own little flavor as to how they fit into that faction as a whole.” [source: June 14th Discord Q&A with devs]

“Rook’s last name is defined based on their faction, again, we wanted to tie that into your backstory, but also, there’s a name generator that can give you a selection of first names. Obviously if you want to make your own first name, that’s definitely something we support as well.” But if you always struggle during CC and name all your characters like 'Bob’ or something, you’re gonna be okay thanks to the name generator. [source: June 14th Discord Q&A with devs]

"some of what I saw behind closed doors, as well as the way the devs spoke openly about the passion for diversity, gave me a lot of hope for this installment." [source]

"A New Peak For Progressive Character Creators. My first thought as I watched the dev take us through Dragon Age: The Veilguard's character creator at Summer Game Fest was 'okay, everyone can shut up about Cyberpunk 2077 now'." "Dragon Age, as I've written about in more depth in my full breakdown, cares. It takes elements of Cyberpunk 2077 and Saints Row, plus its own creator from 2014's Inquisition which was then best-in-show and remains a contender even today. It acknowledges the trans experience in a multitude of ways, likely owing heavily to game director Corinne Busche being a trans woman and therefore able to inject a personal perspective that most other games lack." "The dev also made a Black woman during our gameplay demo" [source]

The world reacts to Rook’s lineage and backstory. There are unique dialogues or conversation options based on backstory and lineage. [source: June 14th Discord Q&A with devs]

There are glorious, fantastic dwarf beards. "I don’t know what magic the character art team did with the beards”, but they feel/look like how beards should. [source: June 14th Discord Q&A with devs]

On the slider for body type selection: “It looked incredibly easy to maneuver around and create a body that is either close to that player’s real personage or their ideal fantasy self” [source]

“Our presenter said that each specialization was pretty much as deep as a job” ((job - class)) [source]

“sliding a cursor across a triangle that can make your character stocky and chubby or tall and muscular or anything in between” [source]

[bouquetface]

Capricorn Rising

Accuracy influenced by ENTIRE chart.

Appearance:

Generally, cap risings can appear:

🧩 Stoic. Sharp and bold features - a few possible examples: high cheekbones or tall in height or jawline or eyebrow shape & placement. Their gaze as well. It's sharp and alert. They aren't likely to shy away from eye contact.

🧩 However, the above can change. EX: If aspecting planets like Neptune, they can appear in their own world. They may have traits that make them appear fragile or dainty - ex: short, big eyes, etc.

🧩 Intimidating/unfriendly looking. This can be due to various reasons - maybe due to resting bitch face or due to their status (EX: a person with authority).

🧩 In my experience, these people can be very self critical of their appearance. They may often look for ways to change or enhance their appearance. EX: Cosmetic surgery, fillers, don’t feel good or want to be seen in public without makeup. They are generally well groomed and styled.

Personality:

RARELY can people realize when a cap rising is making a joke. People take everything they say so literal. It's so easy for a cap rising to offend people. Maybe it's their sarcasm or dry delivery.

Feeling they don't deserve good things because they haven't done enough to earn it. They are very critical of themselves. The positive of this is they tend to be very hardworking. They create and find opportunities for advancement/improvement. Due to this it is likely they will find materialistic success.

However, not all cap risings are career orientated. For example, a cap rising with saturn in pisces or moon in pisces isn't likely to care about materialistic matters. Of course, just like everyone they would love to have a lot of money but they aren't in love with the hustle of making money. They're more likely to be/become artistic and/or spiritually inclined.

There can be a disconnect between how people see them and how they seem themselves. 10th H Libra indicates people see them as someone who is balanced, they have it all together. However, this creates a lot pressure from a young age to have it all together.

People assume they are capable and independent. Due to this, they get handed a lot of responsibility throughout life. 6th House of duties/responsibilities in gemini indicates being very busy and all over the place. Cap risings often have too much on their plate. They dislike asking for help and others are unlikely to offer help. People will assume they're fine and capable of doing everything on their own.

Cap risings will generally encounter 2 types of people in relationships (platonic or romantic):

🧩 TYPE 1: Moody people. People who are attracted to the Cap risings strong presence or status. They like that the cap rising appears stable and in control. They can want the cap rising to be like a parent or protector to them. These people may be sensitive, shy, insecure, withdrawn, clingy & demanding as well.

The person's neediness may make the cap rising feel secure in the relationship. The partner has an obvious dependance on them - making it unlikely the partner leaves them.

🧩 TYPE 2: These people are providers/nurturing. They may express this through domestic work like cooking or cleaning. These people are protective of the cap rising. They can have a hard exterior but are very sweet and soft on the inside. These people can be very sentimental and touchy/affectionate/like to cuddle with the cap rising.

The spouse of the cap rising can have a mix of type 1 & type 2 traits. The cap rising can behave like a mix of type 1 & type 2 in relationships.

This is all general info. This does not take into consideration apsects or placement ruling the houses. When looking at only one placement we can only get general/surface level insight.

[theyhavetakenovermylife]

as someone else who is also working on a huge fic project with OC's I am currently SHAKING YOU please i would love to read it holy shit yeahG?GS?GS

A New World: part 1

Bayverse!Leonardo x reader

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

A/N: I take that as a yes😂 This is inspired by a fan fiction I once read, where bayverse Leonardo was teleported into the “real world”. I liked the concept and decided to add some more details and my own imagination to the whole thing. And then it took on a whole form of it's own😂💙

Leo is 25, reader is 22 - 23.

Warnings: None so far💙

How Leonardo and his brothers ended up on top of yet another skyscraper, fighting a manic scientist in mechanic body armor, was all gone from his mind at that moment. All he thought about was a way to get that mad man to stop his rampage on the city of New York. All he could recall at that moment was him and his brothers celebrating their 24th birth in the lair, alongside master Splinter, April, Casey and even Vern, before the phone started ringing, with the news of a crazy man running through the streets of New York City. After having fought Shredder and an alien from another dimension, a lunatic in a cyborg suite shouldn’t be that hard. Though the NYPD had called the ninja turtles in to take him down, because they themself couldn’t do it, Leo didn’t see the elderly yelling man to be much more than a wanna be villain. What was it he called himself again? Dr. Horror or something like that. Yeah… not very creative… Mikey had already poked fun at it several times, to the point where even Raph found it funny.

And yet there they were, high above New York City, fighting a man that obviously had his middle life crisis waaaaay too late in his life. He was rambling, overly emotional, and didn’t really seem to have a grasp on reality.

“You and this city will always remember the name of Dr. Horror, and soon the whole world will be mine!”

“Jeez, like we haven’t heard that one before”, Donnie murmured, jumping out of the way before a robotic foot could crush him. Annoyed sounds could be heard from the old man as he tried to stomp the purple time yet another time without success.

“Yeah, you think they would come up with some new material. The same old stuff is not that scary”, Raph said darting from a robotic knuckle sandwich, causing the scientist to get more annoyed.

“Outdated plans, overused comic book lines, and a villain name that sounds like something a 9 year old made up”, Mikey said. The big robot growling yet again. “I mean, dude, what even is your villain origin story? So far you just sound like a sad Shredder wannabe. Like, at least give your evil plans some ground! It makes the fight so much more interesting and makes you seem like a real threat-”.

“Enough!”, the crazed doctor yelled, cutting Mikey off from his long ramble, before claws flew from his cyborg armor, going fast for Mikey. Leo reacted fast, jumped and pushed his youngest brother out of the way. That was when the claw closed around Leo’s right ankle and pulled him high above his head. Leo swung his katanas at the retractable arm, only to be met by a chuckle from the man inside the suite, as he started shaking the blue turtle around like a ragdoll. This caused much anger in his brothers.

“Ay!”, yelled Raph, prompting the man to stop shaking Leo. “Put my big brother down or I’ll turn ya til scrap metal!”

Just as all three was about to charge the big cyborg, the retractable arm extended all the way beyond the roof, high above street level. Leo, who at this point was dizzy from all the flinging around just hung there, clutching his katanas as he looked at the street below. Suddenly that fear of heights from his childhood was growing in his stomach once again.

“Wait!”, Donnie yelled, holding his arms out to stop his brothers from charging further.

Horror boy chuckled once again. “I take it you’re the smart one”. Donnie narrowed his eyes. “Drop your weapons or big blue will become a turtle pancake”, he said, giving Leo a little small shake.

Reluctantly the three brothers looked at each other, before looking back at Leo, who was shaking his head, telling them not to do it. But with a sigh, they did exactly that, leaving the weapons on the roof. This caused the frailing man to start with the whole evil laugh, head high with his eyes closed. Leo took the change and sheathed his katanas on his back, before reaching into his belt for his ninja stars. After a quick aiming, he threw the star, and watched as it made a small slit in the doctor's cheek, before impending itself into his metallic shoulder. Dr. H stumbled back in shock, turning towards the ninja still hanging in his robotic claws.

“I’ve always hated turtles”, growled the irritated man. The next happened so fast, that neither Leo or any of his brothers had time to react. Instead of just dropping Leo and letting him fall to the ground, he swung Leo back before throwing him far and high so hard that he had to do a spin because of the memento, sending him hurling through the air, to the sound of his scared brothers watching in horror.

Flipping and flying through the air over New York, Leo found himself disoriented, grasping at air and kicking his legs, panicking as he saw the roofs of the city go from over his head, to under his feet to over his head again, only to flip down under him once again. The ocean got closer, and he hoped that he would make it that far. But then the roofs got closer and closer. Leo’s panic only got worse. He hadn’t screamed at all while falling down over the city, but as he realized he would hit the street before the ocean, he knew he wasn’t going to make it. Leo couldn’t hear his brothers scream his name from the distance and the wind in his ears. Leo’s scream was big and loud, but just before he could be swallowed by the buildings around him, on his way down to the pavement, a big light opened beneath him with a loud bang. A loud bang that made people fall to the ground, the cyborg fall over on the rooftop before falling to the street below, with the sound of a long “noooooo”. The three remaining green brothers grab onto the roof and each other, so they themself wouldn’t fall the same heights as the cyborg scientist. They watched in fear as Leo fell into the big flat circle of light, before it closed once again with a bang, just as big as the last one, once again sending everyone to the ground. Standing back was Leo’s three younger brothers, staring at the spot where a circle of light had swallowed their older brother.

Leo heard so many noises as he was falling through what seemed like a long tunnel of light and colors. If he was screaming at that point he couldn’t hear it. He didn’t know if he was falling up, down, to the left or to the right. No feeling of gravity, yet it felt as if something was pulling him. Leo did not know for how long he had been falling through the tunnel, before landing with his face first in a pillow filled sofa. Leo was so confused and dazed, that he didn’t notice the loud bang above him, as the circle of pure light disappeared again.

Blinking and squishing his blue eyes a few times, Leo sat up on the sofa, rubbing his head. He sat there for some time, absolutely confused. No thought made sense to him, and he had no idea of what to think of the situation. He sat in a completely foreign living room, in all his green turtle glory, and from the look of the sky outside, in the middle of the day.

Shit. From the frying pan straight into the fire.

Leonardo sat uneasy for a moment, listening for any noises outside of the living room, indicating that anybody could be home. He heard nothing, other than his own breathing, his beating heart and the cars outside on the street.

Slowly standing up, Leo started making his way around the living room, looking for a quick way out. It was a bright living room. It kind of reminded Leo of April’s living room, yet it was different. There were quite a few plants here and there, a lot of books, bright colors, a pretty nice TV, along with small things here and there, like art supplies, figurines and pictures. A lot of pictures. Polaroids and framed pictures on the walls. Some looked like family pictures, others looked like friends hanging out. One thing many of the pictures had in common was this one girl. She had a bright smile, and in Leonardo’s opinion, didn’t look too bad. Must be the girl that lived here.

Leo kepting looking around the room, when he came closer to the window, he realized he was in an apartment, too high up for him to make a quick escape out the window.

“Fuck my shell”, Leo mumbled under his breath, before making his way from the living room to the next room, making sure nobody was around. Just because he couldn’t hear anyone, didn’t mean that he was alone. He knew very well that humans could be quiet, especially from the many times April had sneaked up on him and his brothers.

Leo found himself in an open kitchen. Like the living room, open, bright, colorful, filled with plants and memorabilia. Leo looked out the kitchen window, hoping to find an alleyway and a fire escape, but he was out of luck. No fire escapes and no alleyway. Instead a big open courtyard filled with people, talking and laughing in the daylight, and a pair of glass doors leading out to a balcony.

Leo cursed once more under his breath. Signing, he rubbed his face, wondering what he was going to do now. His thoughts went to his brothers, wondering how they must be feeling at that very moment. Probably terrified. They had just seen him being thrown across New York City before disappearing into nothing. Instinctually Leonardo felt bad. Guilty. Stresset. His brothers were somewhere out there, probably looking for him, fearing for his life. For a cold-blooded creature, Leo was getting really hot. His palms was getting clammy and his face was getting warm.

Leonardo did not know what to do. Heart beat raising, arms and legs slightly shaking as his three fingered hands rubbed his face once again. Leo was so out of it, that he did not know how to react when he heard the front door being unlocked. He just froze one the spot, wide eyes and heart beating harder than it had done, since fighting Krang. Leo heard somebody humming out in the hallway, putting their keys down and taking their shoes off. He could hide! One problem, where could a 6 foot something mutant turtle hide in an unknown apartment, when the person who lived in said apartment was just down the hall?

Leo got to hide. The only thing he managed to do was turn, so he could see the woman as she walked. She stopped in her place, (e/c) eyes going wide, humming stopping, smile disappearing, and if she had had anything in her hands, she would probably have dropped it at that point.

“Don’t freak out!”, Leo quickly said, absolutely terrified. “I- I know it looks weird, b- but I can explain-”.

“You’re in my house”. She cut him off, her voice shocked but calm.

“I know, and I’m sorry! I don’t know how I got here-”.

“Leonardo is in my house”. She said it out loud, in a way that made Leo unsure if she even was talking to him. Because Leo even could say what, she said it again. “The Leonardo is in my house”.

[whitherwanderer]

Pride Backlighting Tutorial

A few people have shown interest in replicating the pride backlighting I did, so hey, here’s a quick tutorial below the cut.

Enjoy, and happy Pride Month. 🏳️‍🌈

STEP 1 — SETUP

First thing you’ll want to do is find a suitably dark background to bounce the light off of. I use the White Screen housing item dyed Soot Black, available from the Housing Merchant or Apartment Merchant in any of the housing zones for 3000 gil.

I line up 2-3 of them for coverage, but one will do if you're trying to be frugal.

If you don’t have an apartment or an FC room to use, try asking friends, FC mates, or even folks you share a Discord server with. You might even find someone who already has a studio space set up and is willing to let you use it!

Lighting in your studio space should be 0 (though you might have success at 1 as well), so make sure to adjust that or ask the studio owner if they can make that change before you start posing.

STEP 2 — GPOSE

Position your character(s) just a little ways back from the edge of the screen. You want some space between them and the screen so that the lighting can float there without casting a weird circle on the wall.

Hop into /gpose and bump up the “Manual brightness adjustment” to about 120 or whatever level allows you to see your character well enough to pose them. Pose to your heart's content.

STEP 3 — LIGHTS

Here’s the fun part. In the Light tab of the Gpose menu, switch all of your Light sources to Type 1, which has the shortest falloff radius (meaning it doesn't reach as far as Type 2 or 3). I also set all of my lights to one strong color to differentiate them while I worked on lighting—red, green, and blue, all maxed out at 255 (for now).

Swing your camera (still on all default settings) around to your character’s back and up above their head a little ways. This is where Light 1 (red) will go.

Now pan your camera down at about mid-back height and set Light 2 (green) there.

Pan your camera down one last time until you have a nice shot of your character’s butt and set Light 3 (blue).

Spin your camera back around and enjoy this nice little macaw-colored gradient.

STEP 4 — CAMERA

Set your camera angle.

The way FFIXV’s lighting works is partially dependent on how much light is in a shot. It will adjust a lot like your eyes do when you’re entering a dark room from a bright room, or vice versa. Your zoom level and camera angle are going to directly affect the lighting, so set this before you start messing with light strength and color. Sometimes this means weaker lighting will actually light your character better.

I ended up bringing my lights down to around ~160 and boosted the "Manual brightness adjustment" up quite a bit to get lighting I was happier with.

For a straightforward vertical shot, I like to have my Field of View (FOV) at 200 and of course my rotation is set to 90. Zoom in or out as needed. Remember to save your camera angle if you plan to pan around and fix things!

STEP 5 — COLOR

Make it ~queer~.

Take your flag of choice and pick out 2-3 “main” hues. Generally these will be the strongest hues in the flag, if not the only ones. Some flags, like the Pride/Progress/Intersex-Inclusive flag itself, are difficult to replicate for the sheer number of colors that are in it. You can loosely represent a rainbow with some adjustment to the RGB colors, if you’re determined to have a whole rainbow in there.

Shader Note: I recommend picking a shader preset that doesn’t mess too much with color so that colors are represented correctly. You may need to adjust light strength and “Manual brightness adjustment” to be compatible with your preset of choice. Bloom will also heavily affect the way your colors are showing up, so you may need to tone down the bloom FX or toggle it off entirely. This all depends on your preset, however.

If you’re not into RGB math, here are some cheat sheets! Not every flag is represented here of course, but I tried to cover as many colors as I could so that you could grab a color from another flag as needed! Please note that colors will need some adjustment for your own screenshot, presets, and preferences.

And that’s it, y’all! 🏳️‍🌈

(Open this image up in a new tab for more detail.)

These were taken using a heavily customized shader for that nice glowy effect.

[brotherconstant]

GIFMAKING TUTORIAL: PHOTOPEA (for Windows)

Screencapping

Gif Width/Size Limit/Ezgif

Loading Frames

Cropping and Resizing

Rasterize/Make Frames

Sharpening

Coloring (not detailed. Links to other tutorials included)

Exporting

Obligatory Mentions: @photopeablr ; @miwtual ; @benoitblanc ; @ashleysolsen Definitely check out these blogs for tips, tutorials and resources, they're a gold mine. Finally I recommend browsing the PHOTOPEA TUTORIAL / PHOTOPEA TUTORIAL GIF tags. DISCLAIMER: English is not my first language and I'm not an expert on what I'm going to discuss, so if anything's unclear feel free to drop another ask.

1. SCREENCAPPING -> PotPlayer (the one I use) or MVP or KMPlayer

INSTALL PotPlayer (tutorial)

Play your movie/episode and press Ctrl + G. The Consecutive Image Capturer window will pop up. Click Start to capture consecutive frames, Stop when you got what you needed.

Where it says "Image Type -> Format" I recommend picking PNG, for higher quality screencaps.

To access the folder where the screencaps are stored, type %appdata% in windows search, open the PotPlayerMini64 folder (or 32, depending on your system) and then the Capture folder. That's where you'll find your screencaps.

Admittedly MVP is a lot faster but I prefer Potplayer because it generates (at least in my case) higher quality screencaps. MVP kind of alters the hue and it made it harder for me to color my gifs. Still, if you're interested in how to use it, I recommend this tutorial.

As for KMPlayer, every tutorial out there is outdated and I couldn't figure out the new version of the software.

2. GIF WIDTH/HEIGHT, SIZE LIMIT, EZGIF OPTMIZER

At this point you should already know how big your gifs are going to be. Remember the ideal gif width(s) on tumblr are 540 px / 268 px / 177 px. These specific numbers take into account the 4 px space between the gifs. No restrictions on height. Here are some examples:

You can play around with the height (177x400, 177x540, 268x200, 268x268, 268x350, 268x400, 540x440, 540x500, 540x540 etc) but if you go over the 10 MB limit you'll either have to make your gifs smaller/delete some frames.

OR you can go on ezgif and optimize your gif, which is usually what I do. The quality might suffer a little, but I'm not really (that) obsessed with how crispy my gifs look, or I'd download photoshop.

Depending on the gif size, you can decrease the compression level. I've never had to go over 35. It's better to start at 5 (minimum) and then go from there until you reach your desired ( <10mb) gif size. Now that I think about it I should have included this passage at the end of the tutorial, I guess I'll just mention it again.

3. LOAD YOUR FRAMES

File -> Open... -> Pick one of your screencaps. The first one, the last one, a random one. Doesn't matter. That's your Background.

File -> Open & Place -> Select all the frames (including the one you already loaded in the previous passage) you need for your gif and load them.

(I recommend creating a specific folder for the screencaps of each gif you're going to make.)

WARNING: When you Place your screencaps make sure the Crop tool is NOT selected, especially if you've already used it and the width/height values have been entered. It will mess things up - I don't know why, could be a bug.

You can either select them all with Ctrl+A or with the method I explained in the ask: "when you want to select more than one frame or all frames at once select the first one, then scroll to the bottom and, while pressing Shift, select the last one. this way ALL your frames will be selected".

WARNING: Depending on how fast your computer is / on your RAM, this process may take a while. My old computer was old and slow af, while my new one can load even a 100 frames relatively fast, all things considered. Even so, I recommend ALWAYS saving your work before loading new frames for a new gif, because photopea might crash unexpectedly. Just save your work as often as you can, even while coloring or before exporting. Trust me, I speak from experience.

Now you can go ahead and delete the Background at the bottom, you won't need it anymore.

4. CROPPING AND RESIZING

Right now your screencaps are still smart objects. Before rasterizing and converting to frames, you need to crop your gif.

Technically you can rasterize/convert to frames and then crop, BUT if you do it in that order photopea will automatically delete the cropped pixels, even if you don't select the "Delete Cropped Pixels" Option. Might be another bug, unclear. Basically, if you crop your gif and then realize you cropped a little too much to the left or the right, you can go ahead, select the Move Tool (shortcut: V) and, after selecting ALL YOUR FRAMES, move them around on your canvas until you are satisfied. You won't be able to do this if you rasterize first and then crop, the excess pixels will be deleted. I don't know why, I found out by accident lol.

CROPPING

(Cropped pixels: the gray/opaque area outside of the selected area. That area disappears once you press enter and crop, but the pixels are retained, so you can move the frames around and reposition them as you like. In this case I could move the frames to the left and include Silver's figure [curly guy in the foreground] in the crop)

After deleting the Background, you will need to select all your frames (using the Shift key), use the C shortcut on your keyboard to choose the Crop tool. Or you can click on it, whatever's more convenient. Once you do that, a dropdown menu is going to appear. You need to select the "FIXED SIZE" option, as shown in the following screencap.

Once you do that, you can type in your desired width and height. Do not immediately press enter.

Your work area should now look like this. Now you can click on one of the white squares and enlarge the selected area until the edges are lined up. You can then move it around until it covers the area you wish to gif.

WARNING: to move the big rectangle around, you're gonna have to click on a random point of the work area, PREFERABLY not to close to the rectangle itself, or you might accidentally rotate it.

See? When your cursor is close to the selected area it turns into this rotating tool. Move it away until it reverts to your usual cursor, then you can start moving the rectangle. Press Enter when you're satisfied with the area you selected.

RESIZE

This isn't always necessary (pretty much never in my case) - and it's a passage I often forget myself - but it's mentioned in most of the tutorials I came across over the years, so I'd be remiss if I didn't include it in mine. After cropping, you'll want to resize your image.

IMAGE -> Image Size...

This window will pop up. Now, should the values in the Width and Height space be anything other than 540 and 400 (or the values you entered yourself, whatever they might be) you need to correct that. They've always been correct in my case, but again. Had to mention it.

5. RASTERIZE & MAKE FRAMES

Now that your screencaps are cropped, you can go ahead and convert them.

LAYER -> Rasterize (if you skip this passage you won't be able to Sharpen (or use any filter) on your frames at once. You'll have to Sharpen your frames one by one.

Photopea doesn't feature a timeline and it's not a video editor, which makes this passage crucial. When you select all your smart objects and try to apply a filter, the filter will only by applied to ONE frame. Once you rasterize your smart objects and make them into frames, you can select them all and sharpen them at once. Unfortunately this also means that you won't be able to - I don't know how to explain this properly so bear with me - use all smart filters/use them in the same way a photoshop user can. For example, you can sharpen / remove noise / add noise / unsharp mask... but you can't act on those filters in the same way a photoshop user can. When you work on smart objects you can change the blend mode - which is critical if you decide to use a filter like High Pass. If you simply apply a high pass filter on photopea you won't be able to change the blend mode and your gif will look like this (following screencaps). Or rather, you will be able to change the blend mode by clicking on the little wheel next to "High pass" (circled in green in the 2nd screencap), but you'll have to apply the filter to each frame manually, one by one.

Then you can rasterize/make into frames, but it's extremely time consuming. I did it once or twice when I first started making gifs and it got old pretty soon haha.

Layer -> Animation -> Make frames. This passage will add "_a_" at the beginning of all your frames and it's what allows you to make a (moving) gif. As I said in the ask, if you skip this passage your gif will not move.

6. SHARPENING

Some people prefer to color first and sharpen later, but I found that sharpening filters (more or less) dramatically alter the aspect of your gif and already brighten it a bit (depending on your settings) and you may end up with an excessively bright gif.

Now, sharpening settings are not necessarily set in stone. The most popular ones are 500/0.4 + 10/10, which I use sometimes. But you may also need to take into account the quality of the files you're working with + the specific tv show you're giffing. I've been using different settings for pretty much every tv show I gif, especially in the last couple months. Some examples:

followed by

OR

AMOUNT: 500% RADIUS 0.3px followed by AMOUNT: 20% (or 10%) RADIUS 10px

You'll just need to experiment and see what works best for your gifs.

Some gifmakers use the UNSHARP MASK filter as well (I think it's pretty popular among photopea users?) but it makes my gifs look extra grainy, makes the borders look super bright and it clashes with my coloring method(s), so I use it rarely and with very moderate settings. Something like this:

Again, depends on the gif and on what you like. I've seen it used with great results by other gifmakers!

REDUCE NOISE

Sometimes - and this is especially the case for dark scenes - your gif may look excessively grainy, depending on how bright you want to make it. Reducing noise can help. Keep it mind, it can also make it worse and mess up the quality. BUT it also reduces the size of your gif. Obviously, the higher the settings, the more quality will suffer.

These are my standard settings (either 2/70% or 2/80%). It's almost imperceptible, but it helps with some of the trickier scenes.

ADDING NOISE

Adding noise (1% or 2% max) can sometimes help with quality (or make it worse, just like reduce noise) but it will make your gif so so so much bigger, and occasionally damage the frames, which means you won't be able to load your gif on tumblr, so I rarely use it.

You'll also want to create ACTIONS which will allow you to sharpen your gifs much faster.

HOW TO CREATE AN ACTION ON PHOTOPEA

The Action Button (shaped like a Play button as you can see in the following screencaps) may not be there if you're using photopea for the first time. If that's the case click on the magnifiying glass next to "Account" (in red) and type "actions". Press Enter and the button should immediately show up.

Once you do that, click on the Folder (circled in yellow)

and rename it however you like.

now click on New Action (circled in red). now you can press the Recording button (circled in green)

Now

FILTERS -> Smart Sharpen

and you can enter your values. Then you repeat this passage (WITHOUT pressing rec, WITHOUT pressing new action or anything else, you just open the smart shapen window again) and, if you want, you can sharpen your gif some more (10%, 10px, or anything you want.)

Maybe, before creating an action, experiment with the settings first and see what works best.

When you're satisfied, you can PRESS STOP (it's the rec button, which is now a square) and you can DOWNLOAD your action (downwards facing arrow, the last button next to the bin. Sorry, forgot to circle it) .

You need to download your action and then upload it on your photopea. When you do, a window will pop up and photopea will ask you whether you wish to load the action every time you open the program. You choose "Okay" and the action will be loaded in the storage.

When you want to sharpen your gif, you select all your frames, then you click on the Play button, and select the Action, NOT the folder, or it won't work.

Actions can also be created to more rapidly crop and convert your frames, but it doesn't always work on photopea (for me at least). The process is exactly the same, except once you start recording you 1) crop your gif as explained in step 4, 2) convert into frames. Then you stop the recording and download the action and upload it. This won't work for the Rasterize step by the way. Just the Animation -> Make Frame step.

7. COLORING

Now you can color your gif. I won't include a coloring tutorial simply because I use a different method for every tv show I gif for. You normally want to begin with a brightness or a curve layer, but sometimes I start with a Channel Mixer layer to immediately get rid of yellow/green filters (there's a tutorial for this particular tool which you will find in the list I mention in the link below)

[Plus I'm not really an authority on this matter as my method is generally... fuck around and find out. Two years of coloring and I still have no idea what I'm doing. 70% of the time.]

Simple Gif Coloring for Beginners -> very detailed + it includes a pretty handy list of tutorials at the bottom.

8. EXPORTING

Now you can export your gif. Some gifmakers export their (sharpened) gifs BEFORE coloring and then load the gifs on photopea to color them. I'm not sure it makes any difference.

FILE -> EXPORT AS -> GIF

(not colored, just sharpened)

As you can see, unlike photoshop the exporting settings are pretty thread bare. The only option available is dither - it sometimes help with color banding - which, and I'm quoting from google for maximum clarity:

"refers to the method of simulating colors not available in the color display system of your computer. A higher dithering percentage creates the appearance of more colors and more detail in an image, but can also increase the file size."

SPEED

When you export your gif, it will play at a very decreased speed (100%). I usually set it at 180/190%, but as for every other tool, you might want to play around a little bit.

GIF SIZE/EZGIF OPTIMIZER (See Step 2)

And that's it.

P.S.: worth repeating

Save your work as often as you can, even while coloring or before exporting.

[tamil1984]

[starcrossed-lov3rz]

Apologize

Feyd Rautha x Wife!Reader

Series: Part 1, Part 2

Warnings: MDNI, canon-typical violence (knives/blood - READER IS FINE THO), oral, praise, light smut, dirty talk, general filth

Words: 1.5K

Description: Feyd has been busy with meetings. You take matters into your own hands.

Check out more works in my Masterlist!

“Everyone out!” You order as you walk into the meeting room. The silence was deafening as the military commanders and low level officials glanced furiously between you and your husband.  Feyd had been in constant meetings for the last week. After sleeping alone for the third night, you were determined to get his attention. That morning, you dressed in a sheer gown that left nothing to the imagination. You were hyper aware of the eyes in the room as your nipples pebbled under the cool air of the room.  

“Are you all fucking deaf,” Feyd yelled. “OUT!” Ignoring the protests of the men in the room, your husband stalked towards you. He stopped in front of you, tilting his head as he took in your appearance and brushed a stray lock behind your ear. 

“Girl, leave! We cannot just stop a meeting fo-” Feyd’s advisor raced towards you both. Feyd stopped the smaller man’s advance, wrenching his arm behind his back and forcing him to kneel before you.

“What did you say?” Feyd growled, sliding a knife from his thigh holster. “Repeat it.”

“I meant no offense,” the advisor pleaded. “This is ju-”

“No. That’s not it. I want you to look my wife in the eyes and repeat what you said.”

“na-Baron, please! I was out of turn! I apologize, I wo-”

“Why are you speaking to me,” Feyd was deadly calm. “Beg my wife’s forgiveness and I might let you live.” Feyd slid his knife to the advisors throat, blood beading where it met his throat.

You could see the sweat dripping down the advisor’s temple and tears welling in his eyes as he looked up at you. “Please my lady, I made a mistake. I didn’t mean it. Forgive me!” You hummed, looking away from the advisor to gently kiss Feyd.

“What do you think, my love? Should I forgive him?” You ask.

Feyd retracts the knife from his throat, standing back up to his full height. “Why don’t you show my wife how grateful you really are?”

“Yes na-Baron,” the advisor said, grabbing at his throat to feel the damage. “Anything.”

“Kiss her feet.”

You give Feyd a bewildered look, raising a brow in question. His expression broke out into a wolfish grin for a split second, and he gave you a quick wink. The advisor stumbled to comply, lowering himself to the floor to kiss your feet. You struggled not to laugh as you saw the horrified faces of the remaining advisors and officials in the room.

“Enough.” Feyd said as he pulled the advisor from the floor to stand in front of you. “What do you say?”

“Thank you my lady, I-” his groveling was cut off as Feyd slit the advisor’s throat, and tossed his body to the side. You don’t flinch as the blood sprays across your gown. The advisor never had a chance of leaving the room alive. Feyd wiped his blade clean on his thigh before turning to the advisors who were foolish enough to stay for the show. 

“Would anyone else like to voice their opinion? Or would you all like to get out before my bloodthirsty little wife asks for your head on a pike?” Feyd sheathes the knife, backing you into the wall with a fierce kiss. “Gods, you’re beautiful like this.” He breathes out as he breaks the kiss. You moan as Feyd lowers his head to kiss across the swell of your breasts and lick the splattered blood from your skin.

Gripping the back of his neck, you arch into his touch. “Please Feyd, need you.” Your husband laughs as he retreats from your breasts and stands to his full height. Your breath hitches as his hand clasps around your throat, pushing you back into the wall.

“Now darling, no need to act out. Next time you need me to take care of that filthy pussy, just say something.” Feyd purrs into your ear. His hand tightens around your throat you gasp, eyes rolling back at the firm pressure.

Your hands trail down from his chest, hooking your thumb under his waistband to pull his hips flush to yours. “Where would be the fun in that, my love?” you murmur. “I think you need to talk less an-” Feyd cuts you off with a kiss, his lips pressing roughly into yours, teeth clashing. Feyd was never a gentle man, but you wouldn’t have him any other way. You moan into the kiss, straining against the hand on your throat to deepen in.

Pulling back, Feyd grins wickedly. “I think my darling girl needs put in her place. Maybe then she won’t feel the need to try and embarrass me in public.” A devilish smirk plays across Feyd’s lips, and he falls to his knees before you. You glance around to make sure everyone has gone, but any objections you have evaporate as he lays a swift smack on your ass. 

“If this is the treatment I get for misbehaving, I just might interrupt you more often.” You tease. Feyd’s hands trail up your thighs, sliding your dress up.

“No panties?” Feyd teases, brushing his fingers across your pussy. “It’s almost like you want me to take you right here, in this room for all of my advisors to see.” You moan, grinding down into his hand to get more friction. “My darling girl would love that, wouldn’t she?” When you don’t respond, Feyd delivers another light smack on your ass. “Answer me.”

“Yes!” You gasp. 

“Yes what?”

“Yes sir!”

Feyd grins and rewards you with a bite to your inner thigh as he hooks your leg over his shoulder. Your dress is hitched up by your waist, exposing your pussy to the cool air. Feyd groans at the sight. “Fuck that’s my darling girl, dripping and ready for me at all times.”  He swipes his tongue across your cunt, moaning at the taste of you. “Should I call my advisors back in and take care of my needy girl? Fuck you in front of them and show them who you belong to?”

“Please,” you whine. “Please, anything. I need you.” You grind your hips down into his face as he dives back in. Feyd slides two fingers into your cunt, fucking you with them slowly as he sucks at your clit. You moan, grasping at your dress to hold it up with one hand. You place the other on the back of Feyd’s head, attempting to guide him as he eats you out. 

Feyd bats your hand away and pulls back as he huffs out a laugh. “No, I don’t think I will. I would kill any man who dares see you like this.” He continues fucking you with his fingers as he shrugs your leg off his shoulder and stands up. Feyd steals a kiss, before pressing his forehead to yours. “I would take their eyes and give them to you as an anniversary present.” 

“Feyd, please,” you beg. “Enough of this, please fuck me.”

He ignores you, fucking his fingers into you at a faster pace as he sucks your nipple through the fabric of your gown. You moan as Feyd bites lightly at your nipple, laving his tongue over it to soothe the pain. Whining, you reach down to rub your neglected clit. “That’s it, that’s my good girl.” Feyd growls. “Go on, take what you need.” He continues to fuck his fingers into you, angling them forward to hit your most sensitive spot.

Your breath hitches and you moan as Feyd begins matching his thrusts with the pace of  your fingers against your clit. He switches to torment your other nipple, whispering filthy praises to you whenever he comes up for air. “Come on darling, so good for me. I can feel you clenching around my fingers.” 

“I’m close-” You whine, arching into his mouth.

“Do it, come for me. I can feel you dripping down my hand. Just a little more darling, come on, make a mess for me.” You moan, your head jerking back as you quicken your pace on your clit. You’re right at the edge. 

As if sensing that you need one final push, Feyd bites at your breast harshly. You cry out as you climax, Feyd fucking you through it. “There you go, right there. Good fucking girl, that’s my darling girl.” You whine in overstimulation, pushing at your husband’s shoulders. 

Feyd gently slides his fingers from you, popping them in his mouth to suck them clean. You grip at his robes, pulling him in for a kiss. Feyd grips your waist, holding you steady as he moans into the kiss. You bite his lip gently, swiping your tongue over it to soothe the ache. “My love,” you murmur, pulling away for air, “let me take care of you.” You reach for his pants to undress him, but he stops you.

“Not here,” Feyd shakes his head. “I plan to make up for a week without you.” He picks you up, slinging you over his shoulder and planting a spank across your ass. “I will take you on every surface of our rooms. We aren’t leaving until I fuck an heir into you.”

Note: This was inspired by a lovely little request. Also, I'm not responsible for your media consumption, but if any of you silly goofy geese would like a part two....ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS ASK. <3 - Lacie

Want to be added to a taglist? Click HERE!

[thatseitagremlin]

gremlyn's danganronpa: despair time x limbus company au (drdt spoilers under cut up to chapter 2!!)

i LOVE making aus with a target audience of one person (1) by blendering two of my current interests together. this truly was our despair time.

everyone except mai's "sprites" are drawn based on official sprites, and they're meant to be height accurate! or, uh, a valiant attempt was made. at the very least i got to practice drawing everyone 🎉

(complete but constantly changing AU & character notes under cut: LOTS and i mean LOTS of yapping down there. spoilers up to chapter 2 and literature girl insane MV. content warning for "standard danganronpa stuff"; the hidden text in here is about the same level as drdt's hidden tumblr page quotes)

first up is a quick crash course on limbus company! that being said, i don't think i explained myself well at all, so i recommend just checking out the official website. or straight up playing it. i'm happy to answer any and all questions, though, whether here or in my limbus-centric main (@iamjustagremlin)!

and now here are the character notes. i have a Lot to say.

one more minor thing i'm 99% sure forgot to include and am too lazy to fix: the canon sinners are each assigned a color code and a cool descriptor (it doesn't even need to be an adjective. cool factor always wins), such as "oblivion yellow", "dreamy gray", and "inferno red". my brain won't let me tackle these yet, but my first attempt for xander was "courageous crimson", and my first attempt for teruko was "cursed clover".

once again, if you've made it this far: thank you for reading! and my askbox is always open for mutual brainrotting 👉 👈

(also, if you squint at the character notes for long enough, there might be even more to read... it's not much, but it's honest work. do note that it should be about as "heavy" as drdt's hidden tumblr page quotes)

[mxbo]

I couldn't fit the tutorial on a reply lmao, here's a full post explaining my process :]]

STAMP TUTORIAL (TF2 edition, but works for everything)

99% of the process is done on the website ezgif. Ezgif carries the stamp-making process lmao

1. Get your GIF

Tenor: Ok place to grab your GIFs. Average quality of the GIFs is good enough, and looks ok when resized to the size of the stamp. You'll find like 1 normal GIF every 4 buff characters GIF tho.

GIPHY: Average quality of the GIF is better (I don't think the web compresses the GIFs that are uploaded)… If you find what you're looking for. You'll have to SCROLL before finding what you're looking for because there are always non-related GIFs on the top of your searches or the same GIF multiple times, it's crazy.

makeagif: You will find cool GIFs, but the quality is pretty low (I think the web itself compresses the GIFs a lot). It looks bad even when resized down. And it has a watermark, which I recommend cropping because it's not even visible when resized, it just looks like a gray blob on the corner.

Google: Best option by far, quality is pretty good and the ratio of “things I was looking for/things I actually find” is SLIGHTLY in favor of “things I was looking for” (and most of “things I actually find” are just the characters rotating, not NSFW, so that's only a nice change from Tenor). You won't have to scroll much to see different and interesting GIFs. JUST REMEMBER TO FILTER BY GIFS.

You search whatever > Images > Tools > Type > GIF

Make it on your own: Aka, you download your video, go to ezgif's “Video to GIF” (then you can crop it, CUT IT. THIS IS IMPORTANT, YOU DON'T NEED TO GO ANYWHERE ELSE TO CUT YOUR CLIP, YOU CAN DO IT ON EZGIF ITSELF). Ok, I lied, it wasn't Google, this is the best oftion by far. You get exactly what you want, the best quality if you don't compress it much until after the GIF has been resized into the size of a stamp… It's just super time-consuming, and you'll have to spend like an entire hour just watching a video to find the clips.

OK, I HAVE MY GIF NOW

Hehe, his legs go pipupipu

2. Resize

Go to ezgif, this is where the fun begins (if you weren't on ezgif already). You download your GIF, or copy the link and insert it, or you'll have it there if you made it yourself.

A STAMP MAKES 99px × 56px

THE INNER PART OF THE STAMP MAKES 91px × 47px

I RECOMMEND MAKING YOUR GIF 92px × 48px

BTW, THESE MEASURES ARE FOR THE TEMPLATE I'LL GIVE YOU LATER. If you use another template, just go to an image editor and see what the inner size of the stamp is.

So, you set your GIF's width to 92px.

Then crop it, so your height is 48px.

Or you can resize it so it's directly 92px × 48px, but the crop will be in the center, and SOMETIMES YOU DON'T WANT THAT.

For example:

It's a vertical GIF whose area of interest is not in the center, so if we resize it directly-

oops-

ANYWAY

Once you have your GIF resized:

IMPORTANT: BEFORE THE NEXT STEP, REMEMBER TO CONVERT TO GIF IF THE FILE YOU'RE WORKING ON ISN'T A GIF ALREADY

Sometimes you'll be working with a webp without even noticing (EW, I hate webp) and transparencies don't work particularly well with that extension.

3. Overlay

Click on this icon.

Ok, now that that's fixed:

Extend the size of the canvas.

Select your template and Upload image!

This is the template, btw.

Then move the overlay around until it contains the GIF nicely, or just set Left to 43, Top to 20 and Generate image! (I have these numbers memorized, it saves you like 20 seconds lmao)

Also, again, these numbers work on MY template, if you use another one, you'll have to figure it out yourself.

4. Crop

THIS OPTION IS A TIME-SAVER FR

5. Optimize (optional, highly recommend)

I always set my optimization method to Lossy GIF and level 10 because I find that there is no quality loss, and the file size might drop by 30%-70% (actually crazy). These percentages don't change much in higher compressions, even though you'll start seeing a drop in quality around level 35 of compression (the default).

6. Save

YIPPE!!! Your stamp is done :D

You can save it and look at it and place it on your profile or website.

Here it is btw, in case someone wanted it :]] The Sniper GIF but correctly cropped and made into a stamp as well.

Now do that another… eleven times, and you'll have a stamp pack to make into a Tumblr post... Oof TT

There's no website that lets you make stamps faster lmao (I wish)

@sir-broken-bones (I'm @ them so they actually see it, I made this tutorial for them after all lol)

[literaryvein-reblogs]

A 3-Part Character Profile Template

PART 1: The Present

THE BASICS

Name:

Age:

Place of birth:

Current location:

Nationality:

Education:

Occupation:

Income:

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Height:

Eye color:

Hair color:

Build:

Distinguishing features (tattoos, scars, birthmarks, etc.):

Preferred outfit?

Glasses?

Accessories (cane, pipe, necklace, etc.):

Grooming: Disheveled; Smart, very put together; Untidy but clean; Other

Distinguishing “tics” and mannerisms:

Health? Do they suffer from chronic illnesses?

Handwriting (sloppy, neat, careful, unintelligible, etc.):

Gait: Confident, powerful strides; Lazy stroll; Fast, walks at a clip; Distracted, eyes on the ground; Other

SPEECH & COMMUNICATION

Style of speech (elevated, educated, peppered with slang, etc.):

Tempo of speech (rapid, slow, measured, drawl, etc.):

Health? Do they suffer from chronic illnesses?

Distinguishing “tics” and mannerisms:

Do they have an accent?

Pitch (melodic, gravelly, deep, etc.):

Posture: Stiff, military; Slouching; Casual and relaxed; ‘Turtle’, tired; Other

Gesturing: Only when agitated or eager; Doesn’t gesture; Compulsive “hand-talker”; Controlled, only to make a point; Other?

Level of eye contact (direct, shifty, etc.):

Speech impediments:

Distinguishing speech “tics”:

Preferred curse word:

Catchphrases:

Laughter? What do they tend to find funny?

Describe their smile:

Emotive? Do they wear their emotions on their sleeve? How easily can others read them?

They have a resting ____ face. Angel; Side-eye; Neutral; Confused; Other

PART 2: The Past

This shows how your character is a product of their environment.

BACKSTORY

Hometown:

Type of childhood (sheltered, neglected, etc.):

Education:

Were they involved in organizations and clubs at school: Sports; Debate; Gay/Straight Alliance; Model UN; Drama; Other

At graduation, they were named Most Likely to __ in the yearbook.

Jobs (if applicable)? What would their résumé look like?

Dream job as a child? Why?

Who were their role models growing up? Describe them:

Greatest regret:

Hobbies growing up:

Favourite place to be as a child?

If they could change one thing from their past, what would it be? Why?

Major turning points or “life beats” in childhood:

Earliest memory:

Saddest memory:

Happiest memory:

Clearest memory:

What are their skeletons in the closet?

Three adjectives to describe them as a child?

What advice would they give to their younger self?

Criminal record:

FAMILY

Father

Age (if living):

Occupation:

Briefly describe their relationship with your character:

Mother

Age (if living):

Occupation:

Briefly describe their relationship with your character:

Siblings (if applicable)

How many?

What are their names? Ages?

Briefly describe their relationship(s) with your character:

Children (if applicable)

How many?

What are their names? Ages?

Briefly describe their relationship(s) with your character:

Extended family

Grandparents:

Uncles and aunts:

Cousins:

Other:

Family’s economic status:

How often do they see their family in a year?

RELATIONSHIPS

Closest friends? Describe them:

Other significant friends:

Enemies? Describe them:

How are they perceived by…

Strangers in the street?

Acquaintances at a work function?

Colleagues in the office?

Authority figures?

Friends in their friend circles?

Children?

The opposite sex?

Extended family?

What social media platforms are they on?

How would they use their social media platforms?

How would they fill out an online dating profile for themselves?

What’s their role in a group dynamic? Leader; Joker; Parent; Hype man; Mooch; Other

Who do they depend on for…

Practical advice?

Mentoring?

A wingman?

Emotional support?

Moral support?

What do they want from a relationship?

Who would be their ideal partner?

Do they have a significant other? Describe them:

How many people would attend their funeral?

PART 3: The Core

This shows how your character is deep down.

PSYCHOLOGY

What do they do on rainy days?

Are they: Street-smart; Book-smart; Optimist; Pessimist; Introvert; Extrovert

What is their favorite sound?

Favorite place in the world?

What secrets do they keep? What are they most afraid of people finding out?

What do they want the most?

Biggest flaw:

Biggest strength:

Biggest fear:

What is their biggest accomplishment?

What is their idea of perfect happiness?

Do they want to be remembered? What for?

Favorite quote:

How do they approach…

Power?

Ambition?

Love?

Change?

What is the one object or possession that they would rescue from their burning home?

What (or who) bores them?

What makes them angry?

What do they look for in a person?

How strong is their moral compass? When, specifically, are they willing to compromise their morals?

List the last 10 books that they read:

Which fictional world would they most wish to visit?

If they didn’t have to sleep, what would they do with extra time?

What are their pet peeves?

If they won the lottery, what would they do?

Describe the character’s bucket list at the ages of: 15; 20; 30; 40

List the 10 songs that would occupy their All-Time Most Played playlist on Spotify:

What is the best compliment that someone ever paid them?

In an elevator, do they push the elevator button more than once?

What would they want their tombstone to say?

PRESENT & FUTURE

Story goal:

Story motivation:

Source ⚜ More: Worksheets & Templates ⚜ Notes & References Plot ⚜ Character ⚜ Worldbuilding ⚜ Tips & Advice

[bouquetface]

PAC: First Date.

Topic is first date. May have already happened or will. Not necessarily with your future spouse.

As always, I will be specific not going to appeal to everyone. Not every reading you come across is meant for you. Take it as entertainment.

Photos of Dom Fike because I’ve been feeling nostalgic.❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

1. 2.

One.

This relationship will begin through technology. Maybe an instagram DM. I don’t really believe it will be through a dating app. This is due to there being confusion at first. You may be unsure if they’re trying to talk to you romantically or in a platonic way. I see you going to someone in your house (roommate, sister, or mom). Reading some of the texts out loud and asking their opinions.

Whoever you tell may advise you to be careful. There is something about this person that makes them doubtful. It could be they have a mischievous appearance or persona. They may be a gemini rising. Attractive and seemingly popular. It can be unclear when someone like this is flirting fr or in a friendly/joking way.

Fairly quickly, they’ll ask to meet up. Somewhere local and in public. The setting of the date and casual way it was asked is making you overthink. You may think a proper date is something like going to the movies, going to dinner. Not meeting up at a random time during the day. It’ll be a sunny day. You may be given a loose idea of what’s going to happen. Like “i want to see you” “meet me at _____ since we’re both free”.

The lead up is going to make you nervous. It may be the advice/conversation you had about this person earlier. There are more nerves than usual for a meet up. The way they asked may make it still unclear if it’s a date or not. You could go back and forth with yourself on whether it’s a date or hanging out.

When you do meet up, the first comment made will instantly relax you. They may say something about your height - something about your appearance or the appearance of the location. Physically, I believe they’ll be very lanky. It could be your lanky as well or you’re notably shorter. You two will end up walking a lot that day. You may get drinks or a small treat along the way. Seems you two are just exploring the area & talking.

They’ll be very curious about you. Asking lots of question, teasing/joking at your answers. They may ask questions off topic or change topics a lot. A bit scatterbrained but it keeps the conversation moving. At the same time they’re very detached - making them a confusing person to read. It doesn’t seem like they take life too seriously. They respond to things with humour or logic.

It really seems you are very nervous or confused. They don’t pick up on it at all though. They have a playful nature but you’ll still be confused at their intentions. I am not sure if this makes them a red flag or not. I don’t know if you tend to overthink things normally, or if their personality is making you react that way. Their chill & kinda stoic nature may not work for you.

It is the first date so it does take people time to open up. All their questions for you, does suggest they have a desire to get to known you on a deeper level. Yet, I will be honest this first date seems more like a hangout, kinda low effort so if that doesn’t appeal to you, this next date may be a let down. Keep in mind though it’s the first date and seems like the first ever meet up. Of course, they’ll be a bit on guard if they just met you. At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide.

Two.

The two of you will be in a more private area than the first pile. Despite being alone with person, you’ll feel very comfortable. This might be someone you already knew before going on a date. Maybe someone from the past that you haven’t seen in a while. You could have gone to school together.

It could be dinner at a restaurant. Yet, the comfortable & private energy is making me believe you could be at yours or their place. They may walk you to your door and you invite them in. They may take you to their place after the night. Perhaps, you invite them in to watch a film.

This is very random but they definitely went to the barber a few days before this date to get cleaned up. You may really like the way their hair looks. They may have had a glow up since the last time you saw them. You could be wearing something very sexy. Black or red. Omg pile 2, this could be someone who felt friend zoned by you in the past.

Your look that night is driving them crazy. The scorpio card coming up is making me think you knew what you were doing when you put on that outfit. The fireworks card literally says “Loving Passionate Intimacy”. Whether it gets sexual that first night or not, the feelings are definitely there. It feels like a dream come true to this person. You are their fantasy come to life. They may have been secretly admiring you for a while.

4th of July is coming up so possibly for American readers, there could be literal fireworks. The reading is still strongly indicating an intimate vibe. You may sneak off together, end up alone watching fireworks. I literally pulled the fireworks card and am now hearing fireworks. I’m in Canada, and apparently my neighbours couldn’t wait until Canada Day (which is tmr). Crazy coincidence. They began and (have seemed to) stop at this pile.

Unlike the first pile, I believe very strongly you will want to see this person again. There is no doubt in my mind. You two are very attracted to each other. Ofc this won't be the future spouse for everyone reading but for someone reading this, it definitely is the first night with your future spouse.