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cactuswaterscactusfields · 2 years ago

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Never About Us - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Another Day, Another Repair

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 4.9k

For anyone who has trouble imagining a sith din, here’s a link to a tumblr post with something I made on mandocreator. This does not have to be how you visualize him, it's just how I interpret him!

Chapter Warnings: Angst, verbal (and light physical) abuse. Violence, Suspense, cursing, mentions of death. Description of injuries, blood. Non canon compliant. Let me know if I missed any!! I’m making things up about ships and mechanics don’t eat me.

Translation guide: Ner kar’taylir gar darasuum (mando’a): “I love you forever” lit. “I know you forever”

Ad’ika (mando’a): “Child” lit. little one

Wermo (geonosian): “idiot” lit. A stupid person.

Cyare (mando’a): “beloved” lit. “beloved, loved, popular”

Cyar’ika (mando’a): “darling” lit. “darling, sweetheart”

Aruetyc (mando’a): “traitorous” lit. “traitorous”

Darjetii (mando’a): “sith” lit. “sith, dark-side user”

– Thank you to my beloveds, Wren and Geo, for beta reading this. I couldn’t do it without you. MINORS DNI!

Your hands stick to the metallic wrench they’re holding, as a black, inky material sprays down at your face. The ship you’re facing the bottom of seems to have lost a panel, and a stray tube is spraying the remnants of whatever dirty oil the last mechanic seems to have loaded the ship with. So many mechanics around the galaxy will act like they’ve fixed a ship, only for it to break a couple of jumps later in their friends’ sectors, so that they get more money. Frankly, you hate it. But now is not the time to get lost in your despisings, as the dirty oil continues to paint your face a new shade of gross.

“Shit!”

You scoot out from underneath the ship and see the extent of the damage done by a singular fallen bolt. A metal plate is lying inches from your head, and the dark oil continues to spray where you were just laying. Your hair sticks to your forehead like glue, as the hot sun bears down on your shoulders. The dirty work overalls you had just washed are now freshly dirty as if this kind of thing doesn’t happen every day. Damnit.

“Kriffing hell, not again..” You mutter to yourself, getting back down to attempt to stop the oil flow from blasting down at your face. At least your boss isn’t here to see this, the geonosian would have a fit at seeing the state you’re in in front of a customer’s ship!

However, as if summoned by the force itself, the bug-like man flies in and screeches at the sight. Standing at a solid five-foot-flying, he’s not the most attractive bug like creature you’ve ever seen. In fact, he might be the ugliest. This is Gakrux Thern, your boss and fellow mechanic. Well, on paper he’s a mechanic, but in reality you do all the work around this damn yard. He pays you enough for you to live, but not enough to buy a ship to escape, not when rent gets higher every year you live here as clean water gets rarer and rarer to find. His four arms are waving about as he takes in the sight before him, and it can’t be pretty. You, crouched in front of a half-scalped razor crest, covered in oil, dripping literally from head-to-toe in the disgusting, maker-you-hope-it’s-not-caustic material. Your hand tightens around your wrench, as you begin to attempt to fix the still-pouring oil flow coming out of this old beat-up bucket-of-bolts.

“How dare you do this to a ship, when our customers are paying so much to have their ships fixed!” His thick, geonosian accent sends spittle flying at your face, and the screeching begins to give you a migraine. Another day, another repair, another verbal thrashing from your boss. His wings beat against the sand around you, which earns him a side-eye from you. “I’m sorry. A bolt came loose, and I’m working on fixing it. Just be patient.” You sigh, and he huffs, unsatisfied. “Ungrateful..” He trails off into a language you can’t understand, but the intention is clearly there. It always is, out here. Intentions leave you with yes’s and no’s and get out of this place’s, and nothing is ever kind. But that’s the way the desert is, isn’t it? Harsh, dry, irradiated, with no life for thousands of miles except for in the few sparse cities that still exist after the empire decided it would be a good idea to sterilize the entire planet.

As you lay back down on the sliding board you use to get underneath ships now that the oil is quenched from its flow, for the time being, your mind wanders. After all, the creaking din of a wrench twisting a loose screw into place or hammering a plate back into shape gets old…

–

Smoke rises from a building and blasters whip past your head only to be bounced back by crimson sabers the color of death. Your father holds you tightly as he runs through alleys, feet pounding on the blood-soaked sands. He brushes your hair from your face, and your hand tightens around his flightsuit. You can’t have been more than five…Sharp pain comes across your face, and you feel tears leak out from your little eyes. Blood drips down your forehead, and he looks down at you, before placing his hand over the wound with a little rag. You can feel concern coming from him, as you see the perpetrator, a sharp rock, flying away from you both.

“Ner kar’taylir gar darasuum, ad’ika. Never forget I love you more than you could ever imagine. I will see you again, I promise. I will. Until then, you have to survive!” The helmet covering his head has a familiar emblem burnt into the side, but the image is fuzzy. The beskar is scratched, dented, stained with blood and ash, but the bright paint still sticks out to you. It’s home to you, a memory you can’t quite forget, a set of colors you can’t quite remember the exact shade of. You wonder if you’ll ever see that crest again.

As he runs, you see where he’s headed. A yard has a few finished escape pods, and one of them has your things in them. Did he know this was going to happen before now?

His hands push you down into the pod, and two small hands that must be yours press up on the glass between you and the man who raised you. As his hand touches yours through the glass for a moment, more blaster fire and smoke tarnish the already orange and dark brown sky, as tall creatures with glowing white eyes and metal skin aim blasters at him. He turns to face the creatures, reaching into his jacket to draw something, but you fear he’s too slow.

You hold your little hands out to stop them, as if something you could do could stop immortal creatures of titanium and wire. One’s blaster floats slightly into the air, and..

–

“Fuck!” You’re snapped out of your memory when something sharp hits you on the arm. You slide out from under the ship to see the geonosian floating there, looking especially disgusted with you.

“Get up, ungrateful wermo.”

He’s holding what look like bolts with sharpened corners, and he’s poised to throw another one at you. The bug-man’s face is wrinkled with anger, and the bolts he’s holding are rusted and worn with years of sand and difficulty working on the geonosian sands below and whatever other trash heap of a planet they come from. You’ll be lucky if you don’t get an infection from that bantha shit of a projectile.

You stand, dusting yourself off, small sand granules falling to the ground, joining the rest of the oily sand below. It clumps around you, as droplets of oil fall to the ground and seep into the earth. Yuck.

He grunts, and looks away from the oil, disgusted with the state you’re in. You are too. The disgusting ship oil coats your arms up to your elbows, pastes your hair to your skin, and makes the shirt you had already wanted to get off cling to your skin even deeper. It’s not skin tight, just nasty and pressing the minute grains of sand against your skin.

“Get out of my yard. It’s late and I don’t want to pay you any more than I have to.”

At this point, there’s no point in arguing with him, so you walk away from the ship after packing your equipment into the wrenchbox where it is all kept. The rusty droid that cleans up the yard takes the wrenchbox, and wheels it away to the corner with the other tools. Those little metal fuckers can’t have a conversation or share friendship with you, but it’s better than one aiming a blaster at you. The lesser of two evils, you suppose.

You see your pack in the corner where you’ve always kept it, same as ever. A bit sandy, a bit dusty, but there.

You walk to it and sling it over your shoulder, before looking back at the yard and beyond it, the setting geonosian sun over the towering rocky cliffs and sandy buttes. Home? No, but as close as you’re going to get given the present circumstances. You make your way out of the yard and onto the evening streets of the geonosian city, and a few people give you a look but most keep to their business. That’s the way it goes out here. You kill or die, or somewhere in between. Everyone on this planet has dirty laundry they’d like kept swept under the rug, and everyone would kill before they let someone else find out.

You don’t speak, don’t interact with any of the many passersby whose eyes you meet for but the shortest of moments. That’s the way to survive. Don’t speak, don’t get noticed, don’t say a word. What you are is hunted to veritable extinction, and those that remember the orders that came before the empire do not speak of them. That’s the way it goes.

You finally arrive at the small apartment building which you call a residence, and you enter. The glass doors shutter behind you, and you make your way up the elevator to your small, shabby apartment. It’s not much. Two rooms and a bathroom with a sonic shower in the corner, a sink that doesn’t work half the time, and a canister of water in the corner of the bedroom worth more than two months’ rent. How did geonosians survive for thousands of years in this place? You may never know the answer. The bug-like humanoids are hardy, you’ll give them that, but you aren’t one of them. You’re a mandalorian human. You grew up on a planet ravaged by war, yes, but it had water. It wasn’t barren like this place. The Sindari palace was always open to the different clans until that usurper…your mind wanders. It’s been so many years since your father told you the stories of mandalore from before your time, before the empire decided that the mandalorian people were better off dead. You finally get the door open after finagling with the key for a few minutes, and as you enter the dining room with the single table and windows against the wall, the dying light of the last dredges of the geonosian sunset greets you. You flick the lights on, beige paint peeling on the walls and reflecting the orangeish red sky. You lock the door, and finally set your bag on the counter. You can finally get out of the clothes that you deal with so much in. As you pull your overalls and undershirt off, you see the extent of the injury that that damn geonosian’s terrible throwing abilities graciously blessed you with. A bit of blood trickles down from the open cut, but it’s nothing a few bandages and a small bacta patch won’t fix. You gently paste the greenish patch onto the wound after cleaning it with a waterless cleaning solution (damn those aristocrats and damn this planet, with so little water) and finally, you can look in the mirror.

Your hair is still slightly pasted to your forehead, oil making it run slick and greasing it with a delicious coating of sand and dust. Gross. The oil still shines slightly on your skin, and your eyes are the only part of you that was fully spared from the dark liquid’s mayhem. You turn to the sonic shower in the corner, and after shedding your chest band and undergarments, step in.

The sonic waves slowly vibrate the oil, dust, and disgustingness off you, but it doesn’t make you feel truly clean. Nothing here does. That’s just another day, another sonic.

You step out after the oil seems to be gone from your body and hair, and you pull a shirt from your laundry that seems clean enough.

You finally flop into your bed, and the uncomfortable, tough mattress does wonders for your back. You can still feel sand pressing against your skin, even here in this bed of yours. It never truly leaves. The dry, disgusting feeling coating your skin and drying out your hair. That’s life on a sterile, irradiated desert planet that most would rather forget about. You stretch and sigh, and finally, uneasy sleep pulls you away from current reality.

–

Your hands grasp at a small bar of metal a familiar man holds, and he smiles. His hair is messy, like yours, but his smile is warm and holds deep love.He hands it to you, and the tiny hands hold onto it. Metal. “Beskar, cyar'ika.” He says to you, and you giggle.

You know when this is. You were but a small child, in your home.

Home. This was your home, with its comforting walls and roof and the soft bed you always played with your toys in. Your father studied at his desk in the other room most days, but always came and checked up on you.

“Can you say cyare?” He smiles, touching your face. You blurble something out in response in some form of toddler speak, and he chuckles, round glasses sliding down his nose slightly.

“Not quite, my love. You’ll get there one day. I just know it.”

He ruffles the hair on your head, and you grab again at his hands, dropping the shiny metal in favor of your father’s love and warmth.

As it hits the ground, your eyes follow, and you hold your hands out again. The beskar floats up toward you, and your father’s eyes widen just slightly, before they crinkle again with his smile.

“Be careful, sweetest one. Your power is beyond what anyone can imagine.”

–

Your dreams, lovely as they are, are interrupted by the loud screeching of your commlink. That’s your alarm, as always.

You grab it, and press the button on the side to turn it off. The light shines dimly from outside, and the sun is beginning to rise. Another day, another repair.

As you sit up from your bed, the metallic cylinder of your lightsaber glints on the table in the corner.

You remember the day it was ungracefully thrust into your hands, and your eyes had met his for the last time. You remember the day you saw the crystal encased inside for the first time, and how that fiery orange had stuck out vibrantly against the dark sky of the night time in your home.

You finally get up and pull your chest band and undergarments on, before finally donning a shirt and semi-clean pair of overalls, better than the oil nightmares of yesterday. Another day, another repair. You tame your hair in the mirror, and give your face a couple slaps to get the sleep out of it. Not like it ever rested in the first place. As you stare into the mirror a little while longer, tired eyes greet you. Eyes not full of rest, but full of exhaustion. Exhaustion from running your whole life, escaping slave catchers and force sensitive-killers alike. You’ve left countless times by now, and for what? Just to have to leave again? Is your whole life destined to be like this? Living in hiding while working for a man who you hate and who hates you? Are you to be nothing but a glimpse working in the shadows of a cruel, destructive empire? Is this what you are to be? Living on a planet irradiated by a too-close sun with water that costs more than your apartment? Only seeing the burnt orange of the deserts against the dull sandy yellow of the skies?

As your thoughts mingle onward, your com screams at you again. That’s your signal to leave. Your eyes land on that dark metal saber again, and before you know what you’re doing you place it into your overalls. Perhaps it’s for the best to keep it on you. You grab your bag and sling it over your shoulder, the extra clothes and medical supplies pressing against your side for a moment as a stark reminder of what you are.

You are a glimpse. Nothing but a haunted memory of something eviscerated in the past.

–

You find yourself once again underneath the same ship as yesterday, finally finishing up the repairs. Luckily this time, there were no more oil incidents and your overalls are mostly clean, save a grease mark here or sand there. You tighten the last of the bolts on, and slide out from under the ship to examine your work. The metal hull of the ship before you reflects the yellow-orange sand that you’ve grown to..despise? Is that the word to describe the feelings you hold about this place, this job, this planet, this life? Is that who you have become? A despiser, hating the surroundings which have blessed you for so long with sunburns, dehydration, and sleep deprivation? “Wermo!” Your boss’s voice once again breaks you from the din of your thoughts about this place. “Is this ship done?”

“Yes, it is, Gakrux.” You speak his name, and he makes a noise akin to disdain.

“Do not speak my name, child.” He shoves past you, and examines your work upon the ship which has cursed you with too many sonic showers and water bills. At least it’s pre-imperial, which makes it hard to track in case you missed something.

Your brain, mandalorian as it is, goes to how you could steal it. You’d have to break past the several security measures that likely line its technological innards, and you’d have to have the money for the fuel. That’s not even mentioning the fact that you’d have to figure out the controls to a pre-imperial warship.

Your father taught you how to fly, once. Doesn’t mean you know how to fly everything immediately.

–

“Pull up on the thrusters when you’re ready to take off.” His voice is warm, soft, and comforting. His hand rests on your shoulder as your small hands hold the controls, and you press a button before slowly lifting the ship into the air. You then press forward a little too hard, and the ship jerks forward.“Not that hard, dear. Let’s try again, okay?”–

You’re once again snapped out of your daydream by a smack on the back of your head. “I am speaking to you, child!” Your boss, understanding as ever, is glaring at you. His hand is poised to smack you again, but you steel your footing. “Yes? Can you repeat that?” “Only because I can’t afford a droid, you insufferable waste of water. If I had half the right mind I’d fire you and leave you out in the irradiated deserts. That’d be a better use of space than what you do all day.” You look away at his words. You’ve grown used to them. It’s not the first time he’s threatened to leave you in the deserts to die, and it probably won’t be the last. That’s how it goes out here. Once you lose your value, you’re left to die in the dust along with your past and your memories. They replace you almost invisibly, so that the next sorry soul to come along can give a few good years and then lose their value, and the cycle goes on and on.

Before he’s able to start in on you again, however, what sounds like a shattering pot sounds out outside the yard. You look over, as does he, and you both instinctively go to investigate. And then you sense it. Darkness. Cold, unfeeling, darkness. Wafting through the air like choking smog, piercing your mind with images of red blades and dark helmets. It pushes away the already dim light around you, with nothing but numb pain left in its place. Claw-like shivers travel up your arms, down your spine, even into the back of your neck. The little force-weilder inside you screams, run! Run! Not safe! And then it comes to you like an arrow, landing dead-center at the forefront of your mind, as if aimed by a god itself, the answer of what brings this darkness. It’s every jedi’s worst fear, every force-weilder’s nightmare and dread.

Inquisitors.

–

You and Gakrux make your way out of the yard into the main street, and you see the storm troopers slowly walking down the road. You stand in the back, blending into the shadows. And then you see him.

A crimson cape spreads down from his shoulder, covering an empire logo half cut off on the left side of his chest. His armor is dark gray, like beskar, and his helmet has red accents. This is a mandalorian, but he has been…corrupted. His flight suit is an even darker gray, while the whistling birds and missiles lining multiple parts of his armor are a deep scarlet. Even his beskar heart is corrupted, with a deep red surrounded by gray lined with a darker red replacing what should be honorable. A mandalorian inquisitor? Regardless, you’re looking right at him, and he’s looking right back at you. Before you know it, he takes a step toward you, and then another, and another, and then he’s running.

–

Your feet pound on the sand below as you twist and turn through the crowds, trying to put as many people and as much distance between you and the inquisitor behind you. You have no clue where you’re going. You take random twists and random turns, and there is no order to what alleys and streets you weave down. The sun flickers in and out of sight as you pass under roofs and tarps, and you can hear cries of pain behind you. That’s how it always is, isn’t it? You run and run and run, and flee and flee and flee, and yet you always leave suffering when you leave a place.

You turn toward another alley, but as you head down it you realize you’ve hit the wall at the end of this sandstony deathtrap.

You turn around, and see stormtroopers approaching you slowly. They slowly step aside, and the mandalorian inquistor approaches you. His coal-black visor bears down at you, and you step back, but your back presses against the stone. Reflecting into his plasteel you can see yourself, shaking slightly, eyes wide.

He takes another step, and you see him slowly reach for a saber hilt at his hip. Thank the maker you decided to bring that saber with you today. His armor reflects the sunlight above. You’re a little surprised at that, you were expecting him to wear plasteel like the stormtroopers he’s surrounded you both with. His saber gleams in the bright light, and as it reflects, you’re brought back to that day on mandalore.

–

Red sabers, crimson blades swinging through the air as an ominous, unstoppable force of death.

–

Your thoughts are ripped back into place as the clanking of stormtroopers amassing at the entrance to the alley sounds out.

He ignites his blade, and the threatening hum is, for a moment, all you can hear.

And then, he speaks in a strange, modulated baritone voice you can’t but for a moment imagine would be rich like honey or molasses without that helmet.

“I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold.”

–

You reach into your overalls, and draw your saber, before igniting it. The orange reflects off his armor, and he tilts his head almost imperceptibly. Perhaps he knows what the orange color means? Your father knew. He would never tell you, not even when you had your desperate escape from your home.

Pulling you back into the moment, the Mandalorian moves. His saber swings down toward you, and you instinctively raise yours to block it. He presses down, and you press back up. He’s clearly got experience with this kind of thing, unlike your sorry arms. They’re already aching with the force of his blow, and your blades are locked for a moment. What kind of mandalorian would betray your already aching culture and create this sort of suffering? Clearly, this kind would. He’s a traitor to your people, to your home, and he was there when that great extinction happened. He was there to watch your home planet die. Regardless of your flying thoughts, he lifts his blade before swiping at your face. You narrowly duck, and of course your wandering mind pulls out the memory of the oil yesterday, and how you wish you could have dodged that oil stream instead of getting coated. You swing your saber out at his armor, but of course it had to be beskar too.

Your saber bounces off, and he swipes across your chest, cleaving a burning path across it you’re lucky to have survived. Searing, agonizing pain radiates out from the instantaneously cauterized wound, and you wheeze in pain. The slice on your chest is indescribably painful, and even though your ever-wandering mind knows it isn’t deep, it hurts like kriffing mustafar’s lava was tossed into the wound. You feel the air itself seem to burn your skin more, the sand blowing its disgusting, coarse granules into your face and torso. You fall back from the force of the strike, landing on top of your bag. Your saber lies in your hand, and it deignites as it feels like your connection to the world is fading.

He steps back, before lifting his saber again, no doubt to deal the final blow to your already half-incapacitated body. You can feel yourself leaving, dying. Is this how it ends? Lying on the sands in a back alley in a terrible city in the middle of a sterile desert planet? You’ve survived so long, this doesn’t seem right, seem honorable. This is not a death worthy of you, worthy of anyone mandalorian. For a moment, words not commonly spoken come to your dwindling mind.

“Aruetyc darjetii..” You wheeze out, the words themselves feeling like they tear some of your already ebbing life force away from your body. He freezes. “You speak…mando’a?” He whispers, and you hear tones of shock and hints of surprise in his voice, and..almost regret. So he is truly a mandalorian, but an inquisitor. What in his life led him down this path? And why are you almost sickly curious? The whisper injected a bit of adrenaline into your system, enough for you to realize what you have to do. Your father spoke it to you long ago, in a situation almost akin to this one. You have to survive!

His hand slowly reaches out, and he’s distracted for a moment. You find your bag underneath you, and your hand lands on an emergency bacta-adrenaline shot. Bingo.

You bring it out from the bag very slowly, and jam it into your leg. The adrenaline instantly sends your heart beating like thunder, and you feel your mind snap back into action like whiplash. You can feel the almost addictive healing supplement flood through your antagonized veins, and the adrenaline from the shot is the only thing keeping you from succumbing to the unconsciousness that the bacta offers to you like a starving man to a feast. You see why this stuff was expensive–it’s a heal all shot with the added bonus of being awake during the healing so that you, you know, don’t get murdered by a mandalorian inquisitor.

Your body stumbles to its feet quickly, almost on its own volition, and he steps back with a growl.

Before you know it, you’re flying up through the air and toward the rooftop above, hair whipping behind you as you lightly land on the rocky rooftops. Force jumps, right. You can do that.

You take off running across the rooftops, and in the distance, you see Gakrux’s yard. You hop from building to building, before finally leaping down onto the sand. You hope you fixed it well enough. The crest gleams in the midday sun, with pipes and wires attached. You see the stain on the sand from the earlier oil spill, still there as a tarnished reminder of the accident of yesterday. You wave your hand, and hope to everything in you that the force that allowed you earlier to leap will detach these pipes.

To your overwhelming joy, it does. The person who owned the razor crest was supposed to pick it up earlier today, but apparently, he never showed. That happens a lot, surprisingly. Free ship? No, but an escape route nonetheless.

You trip and save yourself, before leaping onto the ship and climbing up the ladder to the cockpit. You look down at the controls, and at that moment, it hits you. You can leap fifteen feet into the air, detach pipes with your mind, lift objects just by thinking about it, and from what you’ve seen the mandalorian do, control people with your mind. But…nothing in the force prepared you for this moment.

You have no clue how to fly this thing.

–

After what feels like hours of pressing buttons, the ship comes to life with a roar, and you pull up on the controls. The ship slowly lifts into the air, and you slam forward onto them, and the ship jerks off into the sky. You’re so lucky the ship didn’t explode, with how randomly you were pressing the buttons. Your adrenaline begins to fade as you punch the only coordinates you can remember into the system, and the searing pain from your earlier fight returns with a vengeance worthy of a good man done wrong.

The razor crest jets off into the stratosphere, and for a moment, as your vision fades, you see him staring at you from the yard below. Your mind echoes with his voice, almost unnoticeably.

“I’ll see you again, little mandalorian.”

And in your final moments, you know he speaks the truth.

–

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!

~Cactus

#din djarin x f!reader #din djarin x you #din djarin x reader #mandalorian x reader #mandalorian x you #the mandalorian #fanfiction #first fic #angst #eventual fluff #slow burn #series

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quitetheketch-moved · 4 years ago

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so I’ve been seeing bad taste in youtubers, not like in my mutuals or anything but in general but it made me want to make a like, recommended list of youtubers i like who are pretty chill if not full on comrades so here we are - not prompted by anything specific but an itch I got here some of the channels I like:

Cooking:

BORE.D - Fun cooking channel with a stylish presentation

Chinese Cooking Demystified - Like it says on the tin, informative authentic Chinese dishes from all over the country.

David Seymour - started with buzzfeed taste tests but now covers most big cooking channels seeing if he can recreate them and how they are

Maangchi - Plz cook for me, like i’m begging feed me it all looks amazing

My Name Is Andong - fun cooking videos from all over, especially the ones about Russian food.

Simply Sara Kitchen - good home style cooking

Souped Up Recipes - Traditional Chinese cooking

Movies/Tv:

Accented Cinema - a video essay channel with a focus on Asian cinema

Folding Ideas - Not strictly about film but I tend to watch a lot of essayists who fall into multiple things and I kinda just have to lean into their main aesthetic but Dan is a gif so check him out.

Jack Saint - Jack and Joel have a lot of similar style of content but Jack leans into media stuff more so i’m moving him over here. (although i’ve been working on this post for over an hour going through my alphabetical yt sub list and i’m starting to regret trying to categorize them)

PushingUpRoses - a must watch if you love old tv especially Murder She Wrote

Renegade Cut - Does games too, and frankly they are some of their best work, but quality media analysis.

Ryan Hollinger - Horror movie analysis

Scaredy Cats - More horror movie analysis but my favorite channel of this kind

Gaming Essays:

Adam Millard - video essays about video games - really recommend the video on Frog Fractions and the Longing

Curio - I’m putting them here because theres been a big focus on games lately and they recently started twitch streaming which is fun but really it’s all media essay. Just please check out their four part Witcher series adfkj it’s the most recent so easy to find.

Errant Signal - I dont have much to add other than please check out Errant Signal, they dont post much but I am in love with this channel.

Game Maker's Toolkit - in depth essays about elements of game design

Jim Sterling - Okay not essays but gaming news - if you dont check out anyone else here you should still check out Jim. Especially if you care about the rights of workers in the gaming industry.

Gaming Play:

Biffa Plays Indie Games - mostly does Cities Skylines but sometimes other, great videos to relax to.

GaLm - GaLm deserves so much much than he gets, Love him been watching him for forever and honestly he’s enough of a workaholic that there’s so much content you WILL find something you like. All complete with critical analysis.

GrayStillPlays - one of the few like, non overtly left-os here but listen, if you want some slightly silly slightly more edgy style of video game videos to kinda turn off your brain and just enjoy you cant get much better than grey. He’s chaos but chaos that doesn’t rely on racism. Maybe one too many jokes about addiction but they aren’t usually punching down so???

John Wolfe - chill horror youtuber - not much to say but one of my favorites.

KatherineOfSky - want the most soothing voice ever to gently play hardcore logistic games at you? Well holy fuzzy cats, you’re home.

Many A True Nerd - Partner to Claire in the category below, known for his fallout but plays just about anything. Also loves grand strategy and paradox games. Good playlist management too do easy to find what you need.

Wanderbots - A just, massive amount of indie game content.

Commentary/Other:

Claire Rousseau - Books youtuber who is just a delight, I dont know how else to describe her but even tho I dont read anymore i’d still die for her.

Courtreezy - just the queen of being bubbly and fun (some of these I dont have good sales pitches for just *shoves them at you* give em a shot)

D'Angelo Wallace and dangelowallace - Main and second channel, both the same kind of content but the formats are different. Dont always agree with all his opinions but man, theres no fault in the way he presents and researches them - solid essayist but also just oozes charisma and good times.

Drawfee Show - one of the bigger channels here save D’Angelo above so you may already be familiar with them but just a fun weekly drawing show. Good times.

Foo the Flowerhorn - Watch fish be fed bits of blanched vegetables, like that either sells you or not but it’s Good.

Jarvis Johnson and Jarvis Johnson! GOLD - primary and secondary channels, pure commentary channel on a wide range of topics - i recommend the videos on 5 min crafts and the bachelor.

Life in Jars? - Eco-spheres and terrariums oh me :0

MacDoesIt - Gay chaotic energy, just chock full of Moods and fun times.

Sarah Z - Unofficial tumblr historian

Politics:

Big Joel - kinda variety content, plenty of media analysis but through a strongly leftist lens. Torn between here and commentary but the balance is slightly more overtly political than just media commentary through a political lens so here we go.

Black Red Guard - A black leftist commentary/essay channel focused on black issues and self described as a “New Afrikan Maoist”, this is fairly new channel I found so I’m not as good at describing his content def not better than he does but solid stuff through a perspective I wouldn’t normally get.

hbomberguy - Just watch his video on Pathologic please. Or like, watch 20 mins then go play Pathologic then come back after you’ve beaten it and Pathologic 2 and finish the video.

Innuendo Studios - Frankly I had no idea where to put this one, because it’s a little of everything but mostly media analysis but also please watch the alt-right playbook if you like, want to understand more about how radicalization happens.

KAR - Black anarchist channel, solid political videos but shorter than most of the ones here so better for consuming when you dont have much time.

Leslie Exp - Videos about disability

Luna oi! and NonCompete - frankly best agitprop communist duo. A good place to start learning about mutual aid and what anarchism is, beginner friendly videos on leftist theory.

Philosophy Tube - Videos are super polished and well made essays about philosophy, super theatrical and flashy. Honestly cannot stress enough how fun the production value of these are.

Professor Flowers - Nuanced important discussions about race, media, and the political landscape.

Some More News - Like it says on the tin, news but told to you by a disheveled fed up leftist (I joke because i’m running out of things to say in the comment for each but really, Cody and his entire team deserve a lot of credit for their well researched videos on current events)

Thought Slime - Agitprop but make it a little silly because tbh we all need some jokes rn

Honorable mentions of some slightly bigger channels you may already know but I enjoy: UpIsNotJump , Steve1989MREInfo , SmallishBeans , RTGame , Primitive Survival Tool , Mumbo Jumbo , emmymadeinjapan , Kurtis Conner , Danny Gonzalez , Drew Gooden , How To Cook That , JunsKitchen , Defunctland

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lornashores · 3 years ago

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hello friend!!! i've been following you since i got into bands i think?¿ what makes me sad is your last post. you are a really good gif/edit maker and i usually send requests in anon since i'm too shy i guess. anyway one thing i don't understand is why people just like something?¿ i mean what's the point like i get it some people don't use tumblr to express their thoughts or the things they like but?¿ i want you to know there are people /like me/ who waits for you to post something new!!! ** 👽

hiya babes! i remember you from when i was solely posting about bands back in the glory days ♡ yo i've been on here for forever wow but it warms my heart that you're still following me! and thank you for sending requests, even on anon! sometimes idk what to edit and requests often help with the inspiration and i appreciate you doing that! and i understand that you're shy but i hope you know that you don't have to be that with me ♡

and to be honest, i think it's mainly because of insta and tiktok where you just like a post and move on and i think many people think that goes for tumblr as well... idk it's just so weird to me who went from having edits that would get 1k+ notes, mostly reblogs, to now being surprised if one of my edits reaches 50 notes... it is what it is but i just wish it weren't so.

holy shit that is so kind of you to say ♡ i appreciate you so much, i hope you know that! and i'm sending you the biggest, warmest and most thankful hug ♡

#ahrenstringdtd #answered #asks #kind messages #saved for bad days #[got me in my feels homie]

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sasskarian · 4 years ago

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Fanfic Masterpost ... sort of

In honor of Fanfic Appreciation, I put together a list of my fics for anyone who’d like to look

Under the cut, because length

Dragon Age:

After the Glitter Fades (Glitterverse): Hawke x Fenris, modern AU. (Long fic, WIP) Hawke and Fenris are movie stars in a torrid love affair. Fenris has a mysterious past. Also Cassandra is investigating a murder mystery? Varric, as ever, is a delight. (*this is borrowed from @nug-juggler‘s excellent and shorter summary!)

Memorable quote: Fenris observed candidly was something sacred. For a moment, Hawke fiercely wished she were an artist. The scene in front of her was too… every word she could think of— beautiful, elegant, breathtaking— was trite, a pale description of perfection.

In the Heart of the Woods: Lavellan x Fairbanks rarepair. (WIP) Inquisitor Lavellan’s heart is broken by a certain Commander, Fairbanks has an appreciation for her, and a love story blooms like elfroot in the Emerald Graves.

Memorable quote: This kiss, she thinks, two mouths moving in perfect unison, is a spell of its own. Not quite love, not yet, but close enough she can pretend it is. Hope wells up, a solid thrum beating in counterpoint to her heart, and for one perfect moment, the world just bows down and… stands still. All that exists, all that ever has existed or ever will exist is wrapped up right here, right now, in Fairbanks’ lips on hers. Motes of dust turn golden in the sunbeams splashing through the roof, and a touch— his thumb, her cheek— says a million more words than words ever could.

Yesterdays: Surana x Zevran, mild Surana x Alistair pining. Post Origins, complete. A Warden’s sacrifice means something only as long as someone remembers it. A king looks back, balancing regrets with happiness.

Memorable quote: With a half-sob, he realizes he’s forgotten the sound of her voice. Oh, he remembers how it made him feel, all those years ago, all the glorious, shining moments where happiness dwells still. But what she truly sounded like, what sounds she made as she buried herself in books, the snap of her magic, the low buzz of her and Zevran whispering in their tent, all of that is gone. He knows it happened, but the memory is lit dimly in his mind, a torch burned too low to be flame but not low enough for embers yet.

If You Ever Did Believe (for my sake): Lavellan x Cullen. (On temporary hiatus) A wary Commander. A lost Dalish mage. Two hearts beating alone and exhausted on a battlefield, their only rest coming from each other.

Memorable quote: “Does your Maker hate us so much?” Isera asked bitterly, and for a moment, Cullen felt as though years had rippled, bringing his past self— still clanking through the halls of Kinloch Hold in Templar plate— and his current together. He’d asked Ser Greagoir the same question once, after a Harrowing went wrong and the body of a former apprentice lay at their feet. So much potential wasted, so much fear in the mages’ eyes after that. For once, Greagoir had shown a hint of emotion, clapping Cullen’s shoulder briefly before walking away, but hadn’t answered.

Voiceverse: Lavellan x Solas/Dread Wolf. (WIP) Building off of the great works of @khirsahle and @athreehundredthirtythree. All mages are born with a soulmate--a voice they hear in the darkness of the Fade all their lives. The lucky ones find their soulmates and forge a bond strong enough to threaten the very foundations of the Chantry. At least, that's what they claim. So what happens when a Dalish mage hears the voice of their most reviled and feared god shaping her dreams?

Memorable quote: Accompanying the thundering voice, great fissures ruptured around her hiding spot, green light streaking upward as they gathered into a roiling cloud. A wave of raw sound— howls, cries, pleas— rolled over her, forcing her to her knees. Iveani clapped her hands over her ears, losing her own scream among the agony thundering through the Fade. All caution, all her hard-won lessons about walking the Fade, vanished into the back of her mind under the need to simply ride out the explosion and survive.

Mass Effect:

Home is Where You Are: Ryder x Jaal (WIP). Ryder didn’t cross two galaxies and 600 years in search of love. But damn if she didn’t find it anyway.

Memorable quote: “I should take a shower,” he mumbled, as the same time as Sara said, “Would you like to stay?” Both of them broke off, staring at the other, and she laughed nervously. That feeling was back, the one from the tech lab, fragility and strength and affection turned fierce and bright tumbling over and over one other.

A Song of Sea and Stars: Garrus x Shepard x Thane (WIP). Our favorite turian badboy sees right through the mask the galaxy’s most famous Commander projects. Neither of them expected to fall in love on a host of impossible missions. And both are taken by surprise by a pious Drell who steals both their hearts.

Memorable quote: (He opens his eyes, shocked how it feels to look into her face, intimate and hungry. He hazily notices that up close, her eyes are thulium-gray. There's a hot, tight knot in his chest and she's pressed so close, he thinks he could count each faint freckle on her face.) (They look like tiny stars.) (…there are twenty-eight on her right cheek. Thirty on her left. And fourteen, right across the bridge of her nose.) (Those are his favorite. They remind him of his own markings.)

the sound of shattering glass: Generic Shepard, post-Tuchanka, pre-Citadel II. The Shroud explodes, taking a beloved friend with it. Shepard only has herself to blame.

Memorable quote: “Damn Reapers,” he said, striving for nonchalance. “Always throwing us around.” “Banged us up pretty good,” she agreed, and he knew she wasn’t talking about their bumps and bruises. “So what do we do about them?” “Get back on our feet. Keep fighting.” Garrus hummed as she shifted closer, pressed her forehead against his neck. “Maybe find a way to use some really big canons I spend half my time adjusting.”

Star Wars:

He Might Like That: Mandalorian x Cara Dune pining. So they argue. So they took down Gideon, and have a magic green frog baby older than both of them. That doesn’t make them a thing. Does it?

Memorable quote: He tunes back into the not-so-friendly argument in time to hear Greef splutter. “You trash talked while holding hands! If that’s not flirting, I’m a kowakian monkey lizard.” “It was arm wrestling, not holding hands,” Din points out mildly.

Star by Star: Post TRoS. Ben x Rey pining, Finn x Rey x Poe. Can three hopeless idiots in love fill a wound as deep as the death of a dyad? Maybe not, but they’re out to try anyway.

Memorable quote: “You know,” Poe whispers, a glint of mischief in his eyes, “if we ever did tell him we loved him, he’d probably sleep right through it.” Rey touches her fingers to his lips, tracing the shape of his questioning smile. It’s an invitation to play, that smile. A careful offer of love, of comfort. And though she’s not sure if he can really understand when even she doesn’t, she’s finally ready to try a little.

Counting The Days (Since Exegol): Finn x Rey x Poe, Ben x Rey. Its been 42 days since Palpatine’s death. 42 long days since she felt the surge of light in Ben Solo. And in her dreams, something whispers on the edge of the Force. But she’s shut it down too tightly to hear it.

Memorable quote: True to form, Poe can’t resist the urge to kiss away Finn’s troubles whenever possible, and Rey looks away to give them a moment. Some love stories work out, yes, and she loves Finn and Poe more than almost anything else. But that doesn’t stop the way bitterness floods her mouth as the memory of Ben surfaces, and it isn’t until Poe gently squeezes her knee (and she throttles back the near-instinctive urge to break his fingers from a lifetime of fending off handsy scavengers on Jakku) that she comes back to the moment. His brow furrows and she reaches for him, smoothing out the lines of his frown with her thumb. “I’m okay,” she says, answering his unspoken question. It’s mostly a lie, but she has to say it. Most days, she’s okay enough.

A Language Made for Lovers: SWTOR (NSFW). Torian Cadera x Bounty Hunter, gender neutral. Reflections on love and marriage under the glow of hyperspace.

Memorable quote: He murmurs in your ear, words that should sound harsh in that still-new tongue scalding your mouth, molding you from aruetii to mandalorian. But the love in his voice softens them, steeps them in warmth and adoration. Still the language of a hunter, of those brave souls willing to be reforged, but with a gentle side, a language reserved for lovers. Words like cyare and riduur, words that mean I love you and forever and home.

Malicious Compliance: SWTOR (NSFW). Malavai Quinn x Sith Warrior, gender neutral. Far away, in an apartment no one knows about, a Sith Lord plays dire games of control... and trust.

Memorable quote: It takes a man with the courage of an entire fleet of Mandalorians to love a Sith, and oh, how he loves you. Like you hung the moons and the stars and all the spaces between. Like you are his other half, like loving you is his sole purpose in life, does Malavai Quinn love you. Your old masters spoke nothing of this, of this enraging hunger gnawing at your bones and curling into the hollows of your rib cage. ... Is it really even love if you don’t want to devour him just a little?

Misc:

Tumblr Prompts: Grab bag of every fandom and series listed above. Prompts filled originally here on tumblr.

Visual Files: Collections of art and commissions from talented friends and artists here on tumblr.

Every Beautiful Thing: Crimson Peak. Thomas x Edith, Edith x Alan. Edith learned, in the dark halls of Allerdale, not to take ghosts lightly. But still she waits, every year, for a chance to see Thomas again. Until the night their son tells her he can see him too.

Memorable quote: Snow heralds nothing but pain in Edith’s world: first her mother’s funeral, smothered in fat white flakes wet on her lashes like tears, then her father’s. Smaller ones, then, rain slowly freezing and scattering on the ground; the ones that night at Allerdale were the smallest yet, more ice pellet than snow. Jagged, hateful things scraping at her with a cold that burned through skin and encased bone.…God, how she has come to hate the snow.

Where I Can’t Follow: Co-authored by @suspendnodisbelief. show!Witcher, mild Geralt x Jaskier. (Temporary hiatus) Drawing from a variety of inspiration, including greek mythos. Geralt takes a blow meant for Jaskier, finally granted the death by battle he expects Witchers to end by. And Jaskier is not having it, at all. It’s his turn to save Geralt, even if he has to walk the entire bloody underworld to do it.

Memorable quote: “Geralt, get up. Come on, open your eyes. You’re going to upset Roach if you keep this up, and she’ll bite me. You know you aren’t allowed to be dead, because Yennefer didn’t give you permission, and neither did the Princess, and I’m pretty sure they both outrank you.”

#dragon age #Mass Effect #star wars #the mandalorian #the witcher #crimson peak #swtor #my fic #fanfic writer appreciation day

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eaion · 4 years ago

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rules: answer the questions and then tag 10+ other creators to answer the questions!

I was tagged by the amazing @flashandtheholograms, @captainchilly and @soka-tano

first creation and most recent creation of 2020: It was really hard to find, because I have a gazillion posts, but I guess, it was my first creation in January: the many versions of Leonard Snart :) The most recent is this Leonard Snart 2020 calendar :)

one of your favourite creations from 2020: this :)

a creation you’re really proud of: it's actually ended up better than I've expected! :D

a new style you tried this year and a gifset that uses it: I try this gif in gif and gifs on each other thing (with more or less success :’D) For example here is the gifset I made for the Good Omens anniversary ^^

your favourite colouring: Ada from Detroit Evolution! *_* ♡

a creation that took you forever: Maybe this one. Was hell of a ride and it unfortunately didn't succeed as I imagined. :')

your creation from 2020 that received the most notes: It's still the Mick Rory aka Rebecca Silver signing her (his) books.

a creation you think deserved more notes: I know it's lame, but I really love it and cannot understand why it's just not loved at all. :(

a creation with a favorite scene/quote: Make the plan... etc. from Lenny. ^^ And "Look, Ray, turtles!" xD

a new fandom you joined and a creation you made for it: Half new, but it was definitely the Detroit Evolution fandom, and I've made like 1000 gifs (maybe this one is my fav ^^)and guys, WATCH THE MOVIE, it's the best thing and it's on YouTube for free! :)

a creation you made that breaks your heart: I actually don't remember that any of them did that... Okay, I just realized that it's not exactly true, because there was this Hartley gif...

a ‘simple’ creation that you really love: snowflake Lenny!

a creation that was inspired by another one: For example the Len 2020 calendar. :)

a favourite creation created by someone else: I love those color palette meme gifsets and Hartley Rathaway and "Punk pop vibe" is still my fav from this year by @flashandtheholograms . ♡

some of your favourite content creators from the year: @mymycorrhizae, @flashandtheholograms, @snartterrill and the brand new @colddflash and there are many more. So much awesome gif makers on tumblr!

a for good measure, another a couple more creations of yours that you love: maybe this, this, this, this, this and I can't decide, I think, it's too much :D

#it took forever to make this post xD

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zoequeenz · 4 years ago

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Plain Sight (Part 2)

A/N: Hello! Here is the July post! Hope you enjoy. Just some things to consider and let me know. 1) Should I make these a Y/N insert? I love Percy and I have many ideas for her but character fanfics work better on Wattpad and Quotev (I post this story there as well). I know I like the Tumblr fics I read to be reader insert. 2) I never specify anything about Percy’s looks because I want people to insert how they look for her and have learned from Tik Tok that there are subtle things I put in my story that may keep others from imagining they are Percy. So I will go back and edit those parts and from now on will try my very best to not write anything that may set a certain race or anything else to Percy. I want her to be open to any reader’s looks. I always wanted that and have realized that I haven’t with the small details I put in. I apologize, I want everyone to read this and think they are Percy. Thank you for reading, Zoe.

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MASTERLIST PREVIOUS CHAPTER

3rd Person POV

Marcia Gordon prepares her dinner like any normal day. Unbeknownst to her, her back door is being opened by a hooded figure. They creep in quietly as Marcia continues on with her job. She is then tackled to the ground. She never saw it coming.

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Persephone Chase’s POV

Gideon, Derek, and I were headed to the crime scene with Detective Martin. Gideon and were seated in the back looking through our file while Derek was sitting in the passenger seat.

“This profiling really works?” Martin asks, breaking the silence.

“It’s a tool.” Derek vaguely answers.

“You can tell all about a guy from looking at this scene?” Martin questions further.

“Not all.” I add.

“The scene’s only part of it. We also use victimology, precedent. We can usually get a fairly clear picture of the guy.” Derek elaborates.

“Our guys went over it pretty well.” Martin says.

Derek laughs “I’m sure they did.”

“Local officers aren’t trained to look for the things we look for.” Gideon pipes up.

“What’s that?” Martin questions.

“Hate, insecurity, fear, anger.” Gideon informs.

“That’s all at the scene?” Martin asks, surprised.

“It’s all in his behavior.” Derek adds.

“Know anything about our guy yet?” Martin asks.

“Yeah. He isn’t gonna stop until he’s caught.” Gideon answers.

Martin looks at Derek stunned. Has he never had a case like this before? These guys are everywhere. Maybe that is my BAU brain talking, I never stop seeing this stuff. He may never see it again for the next few years. He’s lucky, I’d give anything to stop seeing all this evil stuff. After what seemed like a long ride, we arrive at the scene. We walk up together and Gideon notices the two police cars driving by.

“You increased patrols in these neighborhoods when the pattern was identified?” he asks Martin.

“After the fourth victim. Bosses cancelled days off, vacations.” Martin answers.

“Neighborhood full of cruisers and he still struck two more times.” Derek adds as Gideon’s phone begins to ring.

“He blends.” Gideon says answering his phone.

We stop walking to see what is going on. Apparently, another attempt had been made but luckily the victim’s husband came home right in time and saved her. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Thank goodness she was okay. As soon as Gideon told us Martin was ready to leave.

“Hey. Hey. Hey. Where are you going?” Derek asks him.

“Over there.” Martin states.

“Well, the units are already heading that way. We can get more accomplished here.” Gideon tells him.

“You’re kidding me, right?” Martin asks.

“No. If there’s an arrest, what we find here will help you prosecute.” Derek explains.

“This scene won’t be pristine forever.” Gideon adds.

“They’re right, it’s better if you stay here and help us find anything that can get this guy.” I say trying to get Martin to understand.

“Guys, knock yourselves out.” Martin says handing the keys to Gideon.

“Hey, wait a minute.” Derek stops him.

“The Unsub went through the back, right?”

“The family room. It’s the window full of print dust.” Martin elaborated.

“Gideon, Persephone, I’m going around the house.” Derek tells us.

I nod in response while Gideon pulls down the tape and cuts open the sticker on the door. I follow Gideon and right as you walk in you are met with a picture of the family. My heart hurts. These poor people just lost their mother, his wife. Gideon goes up the stairs but I join Derek in the family room. He figures that the Unsub needs to be a little athletic to get into the window. Next we head to the kitchen. Derek just continues to voice his thoughts, I look around to see if there is anything the police missed.

“He took the appliances, which are upstairs. Why?” Derek says out loud.

“Maybe he is jealous of them. He can’t afford them and seeing someone who could, made him mad.” I say.

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3rd Person POV

Hotch and Elle just arrived at the newest victims house. It was bustling with people. Some taking photos, others marking evidence, and another big group questioning the victim’s husband. Hotch comments on she was lucky, Elle was quick to follow up with she may not feel so lucky now. The lead detective asks for confirmation on the Unsub’s description then tells his team to get it out to the field asap. It was rare to have an interacial serial sex crime, but not impossible. Elle and Hotch were beginning to doubt the description of the Unsub. Elle notices Marcia’s shaking hand. She’s nervous, no woman who has almost been raped wants to be in a room surrounded by men. Elle approaches Marcia and asks to speak with her alone.

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Persephone Chase’s POV

I continue to trail Derek as he makes his way to the dining room. The china cabinets are wide open. All higher priced things I am assuming.

“I didn’t take it, I broke it.” Derek says out loud again.

“This Unsub has a real anger for luxury items. The appliances, the china, and the silver. He could have come from a high class family but was casted out or was somehow connected to one and was shamed after a break in the relationship. He continues to go for higher class women, maybe a mother figure or a mother of a girlfriend.” I say to myself bouncing off Derek’s words.

“Why wouldn’t she hear me?” Derek asks.

He’s right. This man is breaking numerous things and the victims doesn’t hear a single one.

“Because I did it after.” Derek realizes.

We make our way to the bedroom, Gideon was there. His eyes were glued to the TV.

“She had a workout video on. Step aerobics.” he says.

“Step aerobics? With the platforms?” Derek asks.

“Step up, step down, step up, step down?”

“Where’s the platform?” Gideon asks.

“Did he take it with him?” I ask.

Gideon shakes his head walking to the bed and looking under it. “He spent a lot of time here.” he says.

“What, so he vacuumed?” Derek questions.

“I mean, there’s no marks from the platforms.”

“A lot of time.” Gideon repeats again to get the point across.

“The broken things.” Derek starts.

“She must have been already dead or incapacitated when he did that. Cappuccino maker from the kitchen, dishes, vases, broken jewelry.”

“Could show he has a hatred for the higher class. Maybe that is why he targets these specific women.” I say.

Gideon smiles “Symbols. “Your riches, gold, garments, jewels bright. Your house and land must on new owners light.”

“Her riches.” Derek says.

“Right. You ever feel like there’s something obvious right in front of you, you just can’t see it?” Gideon asks.

“Yeah. Usually right before a woman dumps me.” Derek answers. I bite back a smile, such a Derek answer.

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3rd Person POV

Elle and Marcia sit outside, away from the others and the pressure of telling everything she can. Marcia tells Elle she doesn’t know much, Elle reassures her she doesn’t have to. They are out here for silence so Marcia can collect her thoughts. Elle then gives her space, but before she can leave Marcia spoke up. She didn’t know he was in the house. She then begins to explain what happened. The struggle they went through, the fight she put up. Her husband came right in time, saved her. Marcia couldn’t confirm his race, all she could remember was his eyes. They stared back at her, through a ski mask. Elle tells Marcia she did good as she breaks down in tears.

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Persephone Chase’s POV

After we finished at the house, we made our way back to the police station. As soon as we entered Spency was on our trail with some information. “The versus.” he starts.

“Found something?” Gideon asks.

“Uh, not an answer, a question. I found the full text. He’s pretty much following it to a T, at least the Death side of the conversation.” Spencer explains.

“But?” Gideon asks.

“Why didn’t he leave them at the first three murders? I mean, this ballad is ten versus long just on the death side, he’s got plenty to work with. But if it’s not part of his signature, if it isn’t something that he has to do for an emotional reason, then, I mean, why start?” Spencer asks.

We all look around at each other. Spencer is right, why? Maybe attention.

“JJ, find out when the press ran the first story on this Unsub.” Gideon says.

“When?” she asks.

“After which victim.” he clarifies.

“Yeah, you got it.” she says.

“What’re you thinking?” Derek asks Gideon. “He wasn’t getting enough attention.” Gideon states.

“Police departments sometimes don’t even realize they’re looking at a pattern.” Spencer says.

“Yeah, until somebody tells ‘em.” Derek adds.

“The first story ran the morning after the fourth victim was found.” JJ tells us.

“The increased patrols didn’t begin until after the fourth victim, either.” Derek reads from his file.

“Yeah, the police didn’t realize what was happening, he writes his verse.” Gideon says.

“And everyone knows that he was there.” Spencer finishes.

Hotch and Elle then enter.

“The offender in this new attempt is a black male.” Hotch announces. “Black male? Cross racial doesn’t happen.” Derek says.

“What about Herbert Mullin?” Spencer asks.

“He killed fourteen different people of completely varying ages, races, and creeds.”

“But there was no sexual component to his crimes.” Elle adds.

“And he wore a ski mask. This attacker wore a ski mask.”

“So this is a random attack similar to our Unsub.” I say.

“Tell ‘em we’re ready.” Gideon says.

“For our profile?” Derek asks.

“We’re gonna make Tommy contact us.” Gideon says looking at the various photos of the victims. Then I noticed that all of the victims’ eyes were open. No way this new Unsub was Tommy, Tommy wanted his victims to see him. He wouldn’t wear a ski mask.

NEXT CHAPTER

TAGLIST

@thesailbells

#criminal minds #criminal minds series rewrite #spencer reid #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x oc #criminal minds imagine #spencer reid series #best friends with a genius profiler

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sketchguk · 5 years ago

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Hi, friends! I can honestly say that I’ve been on Tumblr for about 9 years, but only 7 of those months have been spent on this account. Being a part of this fandom means so much to me, and as cheesy as it may be, I’ve never felt so much love from a community like this. I think that I should spread a little love back to everyone through this festive follow forever post in the spirit of the holidays (there’s also a message for my beautiful followers at the very end, so bear with me). Although I may have not spoken to you all personally, you’ve made my experience here amazing!! Whether it’s seeing you on my dash or in my inbox, you’ve all made me smile one way or another!! I’ll admit right now that I’ve sent so many anonymous messages to you all because I’m really shy, haha. Not to mention, I follow so many amazing content creators, gif/gfx makers and fic writers alike, and I want to make you smile as much as you have made me!! Y’all are so lovely, and I’m not totally sure why anyone chooses to interact with me or to follow me nonetheless. Maybe you’ve read a fic of mine, or none at all, I appreciate you all the same 💕 I know some of you may be in and out of hiatus, but just know that I’m thinking of you!! And if this is the first time you’re coming across my blog, I guess this is a good time to introduce myself. Hi, I’m Teresa. It’s nice to meet you 😄

If you’re reading this, hopefully we can chat a little more. I would love to get to know such lovely people 😊 To my beautiful mutuals, I love you all sooo much 💓 I’m not the best at expressing my feelings, but I hope that this is a start! @190713 @95swifi ✩ @alwayschoosechocolate ✩ @aureumjeon ✩ @beebopboobop ✩ @boobearcupcake ✩ @btsaremyfaves ✩ @btssmutheaven ✩ @bwiq ✩ @engeljimin ✩ @ddaengwrld ✩ @emiyooa ✩ @geniuslab 💌 ✩ @gimmeyoon (@gimmeyoon-main) ✩ @girlwiththespecs ✩ @gukgalore ✩ @gukkheaven ✩ @guktwt ✩ @hobimygs ✩ @hoseoknysus ✩ @idiotscalledfriends ✩ @joonary ✩ @kitsutaes (@geniusguk) 💌 ✩ @littlemisskookie ✩ @llsanjoonie ✩ @lovehrs ✩ @magicshop-myg ✩ @map-of-yoongi ✩ @maptoyoongi ✩ @mercurygguk ✩ @minflix ✩ @minlexia ✩ @minyoongsueit ✩ @mygsii ✩ @outroguks ✩ @pjmskosmos ✩ @sdmnluv ✩ @softaellie ✩ @spookitokki (@spookitokkimain) ✩ @starrytete 💌 ✩ @syugasshi ✩ @taesseok 💌 ✩ @tokyoscript ✩ @ve1vetyoongi ✩ @vminary 💌 ✩ @vtbts ✩ @vxngguk ✩ @wthkook ✩ @yourdelights 💌 If your url is bolded, scroll down for some words of affirmation. ✨ If you have an emoji (💌) next to your url, scroll down for a special message. 😇🌟 And here’s a shoutout to some of my favorite fic writers, because you all allow me escape to my happy place !! Thank you so much for contributing to the writing community !! This online space is pretty hectic, especially as of late, but you all make it worth it. Even if you’re taking a break from writing, I am here cheering you on !! And to let you know that I’ll support you no matter what. I hope you never lose your spark for passion and creativity !! Sometimes life gets the best of us, and other times, things are not in our control, but I want to send my love and appreciation to you nevertheless. Your fics have inspired me to try my own hand at writing, and I’m forever grateful ✨ You’re spectacular, every single one of you, so never forget that! Kpop isn’t that serious, but I’ll probably think about your fics until the day I die. @bymoonchild ✩ @floralseokjin ✩ @foreverpark ✩ @geniuslab ✩ @gimmeyoon ✩ @gukgalore ✩ @gukkheaven ✩ @guktwt ✩ @jamaisjoons ✩ @gukyi ✩ @kookswife ✩ @kinktae ✩ @kpopfanfictrash ✩ @minflix ✩ @mygsii ✩ @personasintro ✩ @prolixitae ✩ @readyplayerhobi ✩ @spookitokki ✩ @ubemango ✩ @ve1vetyoongi (yee, you might see some repeats because my moots are super talented) 💖 A love letter from me to you: 💌 @geniuslab Megan !! This might sound soo sappy, but you’re the very first person I followed when I made this blog !! It’s because I’ve read all of your fics (perhaps more than once on my old account), and you inspired me to start writing as well. You have no idea how happy I was when you said you would get back into writing fics. I guess I’ll expose myself right now, but I’ve sent a few anons to you on the matter haha (yes, I am a 7 Chances enthusiast, one of many). You’re so talented, and I admire you so much 🥺 A gif maker and fic writer ?? Nothing you can’t do !! Among other things, you’re such a kind-hearted individual. I’ve read plenty of your text posts, and there’s just something so warm about the way you carry yourself. You deserve the world, and I wish for nothing but the best for you !! I hope you have an amazing new year and that you have space for peace, love, and healing. Please know that I support you through and through, and that you are well-loved ❣️

💌 @kitsutaes (@geniusguk) Yas !! I know we just started chatting, but I love getting to know you !! It’s hard for me to reach out to people because I’m shy, but I’m really grateful that you hit me up 😊 It’s been so nice getting to know you, and I hope we can get closer 💕 I’m already learning so much about you because our chats just flow from one topic to another !! You said you wanna visit new york one day, so I’ll hold you to that 😉 I’ll be your tour guide, and the only exchange I’ll ever need is your friendship !! Some dried mangoes would be nice too 😚 haha jk … unless 😳 I hope you have an amazing year filled with lots and lots of love. May you receive everything you’re wishing for !!

💌 @starrytete Mirelle !! I’m still getting used to your new url LOL. But how could I ever forget you?? You are quite literally the human embodiment of an angel. You’re always spreading positivity, and I adore you with all my heart. I wish that I could be as radiant as you !! All the emojis that I’m using in this post?? An homage to you 🌼☀️ I don’t think I can ever look at emojis the same way thanks to you haha. Sending you lots of love!! I hope we can speak more in the future!! May the new year bring you happiness and good fortune!! Please take care of yourself, ok?! Message me whenever because my inbox is always open 🥰

💌 @taesseok Mia !! I just love seeing you on my dash. I’ll give you a quick run down: Teresa: :[ Mia: *posts* Teresa: :] It’s like the universe knows. You’re a light in this world, and I hope you never lose your spark !! May you smile as often as I do (all thanks to you) 💗 I wish for nothing but your happiness since you deserve it and more. In fact, it’s the world that doesn’t deserve you and your sparkle !! I hope this year was rewarding for you, but I already know that 2020 will be better and better. I’ll be sending you lots of positive energy for the new year hehe 💞 Hopefully we can talk more soon !! I’d love to be friends !!

💌 @vminary Kiara !! I’m so happy that you reached out to me all those months ago because you’ve become one of my closest online friends !! I can’t tell you how much you mean to me because the limit does not exist. It’s so easy to talk to you, and sometimes our conversations are big sis/lil sis -esque (I’ve always wanted a sister lol 🐣). I feel as if we’ve taught one another so much, especially because of our cultural differences and the tiny age gap that we share. I find myself missing you because of the time zones LOL. In the middle of the day, I’m wondering whether or not you’re sleeping well :’) Why do you have to live across the world?? 😔 I would totally send you a package if I wasn’t broke haha. I’m sending you all my love here though, and I hope that’s enough !! 💛

💌 @yourdelights Destinee !! You are SUCH a sweetheart. The messages that you send me are so kind, and I don’t know what I did to deserve you. Do let me know how you stumbled across my blog because I feel like you’re way too cool for me LOL. Your posts are always so hilarious, and the tags have me dying. Your sense of humor >> !! My love for you is immeasurable, and I hope you know that, ahh. I think it was truly solidified when I found out you’re a fan of day6 and the rose :’) I’m not really a multi-stan, but from that moment on, I was sold. That was the only time my instincts did not let me down 🌹💝 I swear I’m getting introduced to new fandoms because of you haha. And when you went on a lil hiatus, I really missed seeing you on my dash !! I hope that you’ll be with us for a long time though !! I really can’t wait for what’s in store for next year, because no pressure or anything, but I’m sincerely excited for your WIPs hehe. I’m rooting for ya, so make sure you make the new year your b*tch !! Lastly, thank you so much to my followers !! I see y’all in my activity, and I wanna let you know that I love you from the bottom of my heart !! At this point, I’m more of an update blog than a fanfic blog LOL :’) And if you follow me because you’ve stumbled through my fics, I just want to say 🤯 what?! It blows my mind that anyone reads my work, let alone enjoys it. I never would have though that I’d find solace in reading and writing considering I’m a full on STEM nerd. In conjunction with that, I literally started writing fiction 7 months ago to this day. I didn’t even realize that it would lead me to such amazing connections. With so many lovely people, popping in and out of my dashboard, inbox/DMs, and activity page, my heart b u r s t s with love!! Your interactions mean the world to me, even the most minute things like reblogs make my heart flutter. I really do check the reblogs to see if anyone has left a tag. Single words and keyboard smashes mean the world to me too !! Before I was a fic writer, I was just a silent reader. I always admired writers for the worlds they craft, the characters they develop, and the plots they devise, all for it to come together in one cohesive work of literature. Now that I have a vague understanding of what that’s like, I know that it’s nothing short of strenuous. Words are so powerful, and although I’m a really sensitive sap, I’ve read so many things that hit me to the core, and now I’m sure to tell the authors how much I enjoy their fics. If they went through hours (perhaps days/weeks/months) of drafting, writing, editing, and formatting, a quick comment from the reader really doesn’t hurt !! It’s the most rewarding thing a writer could ever ask for. As an amateur author myself, being on the receiving end is the thing that keeps me going !! I promise you, I don’t take any of it for granted. Your words seriously resonate with me, and it’s a huge motivator for me !! I hope that in the new year, I can work on new pieces for you all (as much as I don’t want to make up excuses, juggling life is not easy as a student!!) I always say that I write for myself, and as true as that is, I want to share my stories with you lovely people !! I pour my heart and soul into my work, and the build up of excitement is nothing if it means I can’t share it with someone else. So, old supporters, new supporters, look out for new content in the future. I hope you’re as excited as I am for the new year!! Please take care, y’all, and remember that I love you. My inbox is always open 💌 So let’s be friends 😇

#follow forever #mutual appreciation #this banner is so fugly pls don't stare at it for long LMAO #i spent longer than i should have making this @ 3am #went through way too many drafts #but it's worth it if i get to express my love !!#sincerely sorry if i forgot anyone :(( i'm new to this #i wish i could send you all a love letter !!#i would include love to gif/gfx makers but they're gonna see my banner and clown me LOL #happy new year loves <3 #i was afraid to post this bc i didn't wanna be annoying sksks i'm sorry #mutuals

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addictedtostorytelling · 4 years ago

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Hello, there! Addicted- that sounds like an appropriate name kkkkk-, I would like your advice on one subject. I want to make a gif from a movie, "Fear" do you know it? I have it downloaded on my computer, Which program you advise me to use? I never made one before, so I'm pretty lost here.

hey, @mementovive!

you can call me aj, if you prefer. 😉

as far as gif-making goes, i make most of my gifs from dvds, but the process is pretty similar to making them from downloads, from what i understand.

the programs i use are:

handbrake (to convert files to mp4 format)

windows movie maker (to cut and manipulate the mp4 files down to the right scenes and sizes)

and adobe photoshop cs5 (to make the actual gifs)

the process itself is kind of involved, so i’ll put the instructions after the “keep reading,” if you’re interested.

__________

i suppose i should preface this post by saying i have a pc, and i have no idea if any of these programs work for macs.

so.

to make gifs, i start in handbrake, where i take the following steps:

(note: if your video file is already in mp4 format, you can skip down to the “windows movie maker” part of the tutorial.)

select the source from wherever i have the video file saved.

“browse” to find the destination where i want to save the converted file and save it under whatever file name i want.

select the “high profile” preset from the right-hand menu.

make sure the cropping is set to zero in all directions. (if a change to the cropping is needed, select “custom” in order to do so.)

make sure that the “anamorphic: none” and “modulus: 16″ size options are selected.

hit the “start button” up top and wait for the video to convert.

the bigger the file is, the longer it takes to convert.

(i typically try to only convert short clips, a few seconds or minutes in length at most, to avoid crashing the program.)

i then move to windows movie maker, where i select the little filmstrip icon in the center of the screen to import my newly-made mp4 file:

once the mp4 file uploads, i use the slide rule on the filmstrip to select where i want to crop the file. then i hit the “split” button and delete the excess video material i don’t want.

since photoshop balks at longer files, i usually limit each clip to no longer than 25 seconds in duration. i also try to leave some extra frames before and after the scene i actually want to gif, as photoshop tends to shave off of a second or so from each clip when you upload to start giffing.

after cropping the file down to the size/length i want it to be, i click on the blue “file” tab at the top of the program, select “save movie” and then the “recommended for this project” setting on the sub-menu. i then save the file to my preferred destination.

i am now ready to go to photoshop and begin giffing.

to open my intended mp4 file, i go to the “file” menu, select “import,” and then select “video frames to layers” from the sub-menu.

i then select the mp4 file from whatever destination i saved it to in movie maker.

at this point, a pop-up menu called “import video to layers” appears, like so:

if i want to gif the whole clip, i select the “from beginning to end” option. otherwise, i click “selected range only” and use the slide rule on the video viewer to select which portion of the clip i want.

in either case, i make sure that the “limit to every” box is checked, like so:

i typically choose 2 frames, as doing so makes the gifs smoother.

(the higher the number of frames selected, the more gaps there will be between frames, which translates to the gifs ultimately being choppier.)

i also keep the “make frame animation” box at the bottom of the pop-up menu selected.

once i have selected everything i need to, i then hit the “ok” button, at which point photoshop creates an animation timeline at the bottom of my screen.

from here, my next tasks become

cropping,

sizing,

coloring,

and sharpening

my gifs, in that order.

my first item of business is to delete any extra frames i do not wish to gif from the timeline. i do so by selecting said frames in the timeline and clicking on the little trashcan icon at the bottom of the timeline, near the scroll bar.

once i have the frames i actually want to work with---which may all be for one gif or for multiple gifs i intend to make into a set---i click on the menu icon on the right-hand side of the animation timeline.

doing so opens up a pop-up “actions” menu.

i then select “select all” from the actions menu, which highlights all remaining frames in the animation timeline.

next, on the “layers” widget on the right side of the screen, i select all layers, making sure that they’re highlighted, and press CTRL + G to put them into a “group” folder. the name is this folder is unimportant. (photoshop will automatically name it “group 1.”)

i then return to the animation timeline, where, with all frames still selected, i click on the little black arrow at the bottom of a frame (beside the timestamp that says “0.03″ and select “other.”

i then input a set delay of 0.09 seconds and click “ok.”

now i select the crop tool from the tools widget on the left side of my screen. i use this tool to cut away any framing around the gif, like so:

next, i click on the “image” tab at the top of the screen and select “image size.”

the size of image i want will depend on what kind of gif(s) i’m making. if i am making a single gif or large gifs for a “stackable” set like this one, i make it no wider than 540px. if i am making a gifset that is two gifs across, then no wider than 268px. if a gifset that is three gifs across, then no wider than 177px.

if i adjust my gif to the width i want and the height ends up being less than ideal, then i undo the width adjustment, input the height i want, and then crop the gif to the proper width (manually) using the crop tool rather than the “image size” menu, as doing so prevents skewing.

in any case, once i have the gif the size i want it to be, i start on coloring.

honestly, coloring gifs is the most artful and least scientific part of the whole process. the tools for doing so are found both in the “layers > new adjustment layer” tab at the top of the program and in the “adjustments” widget on the right-hand side of the program, adjacent to the layers widget.

there are lots of good tutorials on coloring available for beginners, both on tumblr and on youtube, so i recommend reading/watching a couple, just to get a feel for what all goes into the process.

once you have the basics down, you kinda just have to play around to find what looks good to you. some gif-makers use psds, some color by hand.

i tend to have kind of a “base set” of coloration that i use and then go by feel on a lot of stuff, favoring bolder colors where i can, though i am still striving to achieve the kind of beautifully vivid hues expert gif-makers like @panchostokes create.

seriously! check these out. they’re gorgeous!

in any case, after coloring the gif comes sharpening, which is another process i suggest you check out tutorials to learn.

tbh, sharpening is one of my weakest skills as a gif-maker, and particularly as i most often make gifs of 90s and early 00s shows, which tend to have low resolution and therefore need a lot of work; in addition to using tutorials, i’ve been playing around with my own sharpening “recipe” lately, but i haven’t hit on the perfect admixture just yet.

once i’m finished with the gif---cropping, coloring, sharpening---i go to the “file” menu in photoshop and click “save for web devices.”

before saving, i make sure that the lower left-hand corner of the pop-up shows that my gif is under the current tumblr gif size limit (to ensure maximum image quality).

at present---as of september 2020---the current limit is 8mb.

however, most gif-makers try to keep their gifs under 5mb, when possible, as tumblr compresses larger gifs, ultimately lowering the quality by changing them from .gif to .gifv files.

if i find one of my gifs is over the size limit, then i go back to make the gif smaller---by cropping it---shaving off the extra mbs.

finally, i check to make sure that the “forever” looping option is selected, so that my gif doesn’t stop running after its first play-through.

once i have everything as i like, i click “save.”

---and that’s the basics of how i make gifs.

of course, mine is neither the only nor best way to make gifs, and i’m sure that more seasoned gif-makers reading this tutorial are probably side-eyeing my process 👀 👀 👀.

there are undoubtedly easier ways to do things and methods that achieve prettier results; this process is just the one i’ve developed through trial and error, so it’s the one i stick with.

note that i also didn’t say anything here about adding text to gifs, but that’s something else you can learn how to do through more thorough tutorials than this one.

my best advice for aspiring gif-makers is to find a gif-maker whose work wows you and see if they have any tutorials or tips; i personally learned almost everything i know about gif-making from this very excellent tutorial @everynineyearsandthirtyfourdays posted years ago.

anyway.

good luck giffing fear!

i hadn’t heard of that movie before, but i see that billy plays a role. nice!

feel welcome to send more questions any time.

#answered #mementovive #**#my tutorials #giffing

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eldritchsurveys · 4 years ago

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1110.

5k Survey LXXXVIII

4501. Who do you feel on shaky grounds with? >> Most people. I always feel like I am one wrong sentence away from making someone hate me forever. I have zero confidence in people’s desire to keep me in their lives. 4502. How would you rate Stephen King as a writer? >> I don’t know how to rate anything. I have some personal feelings about Stephen King as a writer based upon the fact that I identify as one of his characters, but besides that, I think he tells interesting stories but not always in a way that’s enjoyable to read. Sometimes he nails it, sometimes he doesn’t. I imagine that comes with being that prolific -- they can’t all be winners. 4503. What movie are you looking forward to? >> I haven’t heard about any upcoming movies that sound really interesting. I’m still on the fence about the Dune adaptation (Timothee Chalamet? Really?!). 4504. Hulk Hogan with or without the bandana? >> --- 4505. Do you more often tell people what you feel or what you think? >> What I think.

4506. Have you been to see an opera? >> No, but I’d love to go. 4507. What do you wish that you knew with more certainty? >> My worth. 4508. Does your heart break and break and live by breaking? >> ??? 4509. Can you tell the difference between what you think and what you feel or do you often get them confused? >> I know that what I think is directly influenced by what I feel, so it’s not really a big separation. But I also know that what I think is usually more palatable and rationalised (by having run through the filter of what I guess could be called “the superego” or whatever), and therefore easier to explain than the visceral and often messy feelings I’m experiencing underneath the veneer of careful thought. 4510. Do you feel like there are a lot of referances in this survey that you are not getting? >> Yeah, hence all the “???”s. 4511. You are shopping in the Mad Mall for things to add to your room. Of the following list, what 5 things will you buy? lollipops, lace up boots, bondage gear, bubblegum machine, a miniature orange grove, house plants, Bob Geldof, duct tape, Buzzcocks, poet shirts, Marc Almond, Al Gore, acrylic paints, Snoopy's dog house, an original andy warhol painting, zippers, orange and pink matching curtains and bed spread, flash, oj simpson, a slurpee maker, some flutes, electric chairs, feather pillows, post it notes, the terminator wax statue, fight club the movie, fight club the book >> ... ??? 4512. Of the following things, which would you most like to have more of? drink, dreams, bed, drugs, lust, lies, hate, love, fear, fun, pain, flesh, stars, smiles, fame, sex >> Love. That’s always going to be the answer, shrug. 4513. Your preference. David Bowie or Marc Bolan? >> I know I’ve seen the second name but I don’t remember who that is. Anyway, I love David Bowie and prefer him over many artists. 4514. Who'd win in a fight, Morrissey or Robert Smith? >> I don’t know or care. 4515. Earth girls are: >> Well, I know Earth Girls are Easy is a movie title... 4516. One of your friends tells you they are going to train to become a cop. your reaction? >> Definitely a grimace, at best. I doubt I’d be able to control it. I have no idea how I’d react after that. 4517. Would you ever consider working for the government? >> I’d really, really rather not. 4518. What are the best and wort television channels? >> --- 4519. If you had a magical pencil and everything you drew became real what would you draw? >> --- 4520. Your boots were made for: >> Lookin badass. 4521. What movie would you like to see a mystery science theater episode about (even if it isn't a sci fi movie, just one that needs making fun of)? >> --- 4522. What's the buzz? >> --- 4523. The last person you would want to be stranded on a desert island with is: >> --- 4524. Your partner takes an aeroplane trip. the plane disappears and is never found. How long do you wait for them to return before you begin looking for a new partner? >> ... 4525. Some animals that mate for life can literally die of grief if their mate is captured or dies. How many humans would do that do you think? >> I’ve heard a lot of stories like that with humans, particularly in the case of couples that have been together for decades. 4526. What would you like to touch? >> *shrug* 4527. Does anything you own glow in the dark? >> There’s a little skull in the living room that glows in the dark, lol. 4528. Would you rather ride a dragon or a unicorn? >> Dragon. 4529. Do things just always go right for you? >> I mean, no. 4530. What's the best nick toon? >> --- 4531. Can you make a balloon animal? >> Nope. 4532. Would you undress at a nude beach? >> ... That’s pretty much the whole point, yeah? Why would I be there if I wasn’t going to be nude? There are plenty of regular beaches I can go to otherwise (far more of them than nude ones, at that). 4533. Wherever there's a secret recipe, there is someone who wants to steal it. True or false? >> *shrug* ??? 4534. What is today but yesterday's tomorrow? >> Sure. 4535. Are you more like spongebob who does nothing right but still everything good happens to or like squidworth who tries to do things right and ends up having nothing good happen to him? >> I don’t think either perspective works for me. 4536. How many glasses of water do you drink each day? >> I don’t know. I have a water bottle that I feel like I’m always having to refill. I need a bigger one. 4537. What is the difference between intelectualism and pretentiosness? >> I don’t know anything about this, dude. 4538. What do you like in a poem, accessability, crypticness or somethin in between? >> I just like poems I feel like I understand. 4539. What do you think of William Blake? Is his writing difficult to understand? >> I am far more familiar with his artwork than his poetry or writing or whatever. 4540. Has learning to spell become obsolete? >> ... You’re surely joking. 4541. Who do you find yourself in constant conflict with? Why the conflict? >> Myself. Because trauma. 4542. What is the difference between literature and hallmark cards? >> ...??? 4543. How many contemporary poets can you name? >> None off the top of my head. I’m sure I’d see like five names if I just scroll my tumblr feed a bit. 4544. What subjects do you refuse to talk about? Why are you hiding from them? >> I can’t think of any that I consciously refuse to talk about.

4545. Are you every parent's wet dream? >> What the fuck? 4546. Everyone starts in the garden of Eden but no one can stay there. Why not? >> *brow wrinkle* 4547. Would you want to join a club that would have you as a member? >> Duh. 4548. Greatest black and white film: >> I don’t know. I like a few. 4549: Greatest film three hours or longer: >> *shrug* 4550. No means.. >> Take a wild guess.

#survey #surveys #5000 question survey #not for reblogging *glare*

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antiquecompass · 5 years ago

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If you’re new here (or been here for a bit longer) you’ll have seen me talk about Journeys ‘Verse. If you’re reading @pawsnread‘s new SongXiao fic set in that world, you may, possibly, wonder what Journeys ‘verse is.

I’ve never really sat down and properly written about how and why it came to be, but since it’s growing again, I thought it was time. Below contains both why I started writing the initial story: CW for discussing death of a close relative and how the ‘verse evolved from there:

Back in 2011 my year started off with a tragedy. At the end of January my beloved grandmother died on my birthday. It was a shock. She’d just had surgery the day before and came out of it fine and well. But a blood clot formed and while I was downstairs with Carrie, my twin sister, I heard my mother upstairs answer the call with an ‘oh no.’ I’ve heard that ‘oh no’ before, when I was six and my father died. When I was nine and my other grandma passed away. I knew those words and that tone and I knew what had happened before my mother had even come downstairs. That started a hell of a year that nearly saw Carrie also die (seriously my life went like this that year: birthday/death Jan 30th--funeral that weekend--home for a few days--Feb 12th/13th started Carrie’s months long battle and hospital stay that didn’t end until April) and just, the entire first half of the year was the worst sort of hell I’d been through in a very long time.

The back-half of the year saw me start to deal with the fall out of all that stress.

And like someone who has been in fandoms for years uncounted, I started writing a fic.

My favorite genre of stories to read outside of fanfic is Fantasy. High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Southern Gothic Fantasy, Young Adult Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, you name it. I love it. I love it when magic is just an accepted part of life, or when it’s a hidden part of life. When magic exists in the mundane only for people to stumble across it and into something fantastical. Magic in the everyday is a theme that runs through a good portion of my fics (not so much in MDZS/The Untamed, but I’m still new here). It’s a genre I’ve loved since I was a child and the one I will forever be the most drawn to when it comes to the need for escapist pursuits.

So, taking my love for that, and me trying to work through shit, and being a fanfic writer, I started writing a fic where someone from our everyday world dropped through a magical portal and ended up in Faery. It combined an original story idea I’d had bouncing around my head for years with a fandom that I was in the thick of and let me work through some things.

I was active in the HBO War Fandom at the time and through James Badge Dale’s portrayal of Bob Leckie I found a character just enough of a bitter asshole to work with and to deal with grief, of a life lost--not actual death, but the potential of what could have been, or what was. The burden of trying to be who you think you SHOULD be and what you SHOULD want versus who you actually are and what you actually need. The year was hell so the fic stalled out, but that’s when one of my dearest friends, Nat, decided we’d basically do our own Fic Finishing Fest. If it wasn’t for her support, and the support of so many fandom friends I’m still so close to (hello my darling Kailey and the ever-amazing Ray), the fic and the ‘verse would have never seen the light of day.

So the first story of Journeys ‘verse, So Spoke the Wanderer, went up in February of 2012. And as I went into other fandoms, other stories followed. As it stands now stories in Journeys ‘verse go from HBO War to Spartacus to MCU to In the Flesh to the Umbrella Academy and now to The Untamed/CQL/MDZS. On Ao3 you’ll only find the HBO War and Spartacus ones, but if you do a little digging on my tumblr, you’ll find the others.

As for what it’s about?

If you can dream it, be it. Essentially.

Our world, the mortal world, exists as is, but because of the Veils dropping between the worlds four times a year (on each solstice and equinox) there is a long cross-veil travel and trade. People from our world who end up on the Other Side/Faery are called Wanderers. People from that side who end up on ours are called Wayfarers. In each world both of these groups have their own little establishments and communities. Since magic is still ‘hidden’ in our world the Wayfarer establishments serve as sanctuaries, homes, and schools for the Wayfarers who decide to settle down in our world, or have to for political/safety reasons.

Both sides had long-influenced each other: the magical side has a meeting of magic and technology, our side has a few magical things it shouldn’t, and yet does.

There are special people, called Realm Jumpers, who can basically punch a hole through space and time at will, crossing the Veils as needed. They’re rare and it takes a lot of training, but for the right price (or the right friendship), they’ll do it for you.

As for the type of magical creatures?

Sidhe, Dragons (often in human form, but watch out, they’ll still singe you), and Sirens hold the most power. Wizards and Weres are in the second tier.

Oracles are of their own class, largely unconcerned with the politics of either world. They’ve got more important, immaterial things to handle.

Ghosts are real and their own form of Undead. They can either stay resting and wait for a rebirth, or they can linger on as ghosts, becoming corporeal during those Veil Drop days. Ghosts can be made alive again, but there is always a price to pay, and that price varies in each case.

Healers and Reapers and Necromancers. Readers of the Last Thoughts, Sprites, and Goodfellows. Pucks (an entire other class of Goodfellow), Bards, and Minotaurs and so much more. They’re all here and they all mostly co-exist.

And so many Changelings. Children born of human and magical parents or with some seriously magical recessive traits. Changelings are all over both sides of the Divide and a reason why some of those Wayfarer and Wanderer establishments exist.

Most of the Other World we see is concerned with Ville, a major city where the Sidhe Queen lives, or with Merrymec, a village where a Sidhe Prince and his Siren husband live and where a university and library that are a very safe and welcoming place for Wanderers is connected to their manor.

For the MDZS/Untamed fics coming, an entire new aspect of the verse is introduced. The Winter Court is the home of the Winter Sidhe. They exist outside of the political realm and intrigue of the Sidhe Queen, long-ago deciding they’d rather stick to their mountains and focus on their magic and their part of the world than get into all the pointless b.s. of Ville. Our favorite Lans and a few other familiar faces are members of the Winter Court.

In Lotus Pier are the Jiang Wizards, though their family line is a bit more interesting.

The Jins and the Nies are wolves, shapeshifters, and well, their story is for another time.

And the Wens? Either Fire Demons or Healers depending on the branch. So either the problem makers or the ones who have to fix it.

This verse is truly a labor of love and everything I’ve written, probably contains some of the most personal writing I’ve done. I was adrift in 2011, I was 2 years out of grad school with an MA in history and working in a grocery store (where I still am, because, holy shit does life throw some curveballs). I had to move back home, leaving my beloved Boston behind, because I couldn’t afford rent and student loan payments. I felt both stuck and lost at the same time, and a lot of that went into So Spoke the Wanderer, because at the end of the day, some things are about choices, but some things do happen for a reason.

If I hadn’t left Boston and returned home, my sister would’ve died in September of 2010. I was the one who found her after she had a seizure, barely breathing in her bed. If I hadn’t been home, if I hadn’t woken up and gone downstairs---well, choices. And intuition. Sometimes you can’t dwell on the What-Ifs because it’ll drive you mad.

The verse is named Journeys for a reason, from a Frank Turner lyric:

But in the end the journey's brought joys that outweigh the pain.

And as I learned to accept a new lot in life, the stories themselves changed. Not that any of them are dark or tragic, but the subsequent stories are far more light-hearted, and more about hope than the first one.

But the one universal thing in every last one of them: found families.

So, if you’re just coming into Journeys or if you’ve been here for a long time, I hope you enjoy what’s to come. You don’t need to read the previous stories/fandoms to understand the ones that will be posted this year, just treat the unfamiliar names as original characters and you should be fine. (For people who HAVE read the other stories, know that Reaper Roe is going to be showing up, as he always does, in everything.)

Any questions? My askbox is always open.

#long post #personal post #verse: journeys

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spell406 · 5 years ago

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So, a friend of mine basically forced me to watch at least one episode of Netflix Castlevania.

(Disc - I am new to tumblr and had a little problems with posting this thing correctly. Sorry for spam)

So I watched one. And then another. And another… When I finished it was 3 a.m., my eyes were burned out, my brain fried, and my soul forever forfeited, but whatever, who need it anyway.

I am new to the universe, and I know that I am something like 10 months late to the review party, so instead I decided to just share a bunch of thoughts of mine. [UPDATE – Because I am extremely heavy procrastinator and it took me almost two weeks to write this thing I am already at 50% of SoTN right now I’ve finished SoTN by now]

First of all – Castlevania looks like anime, but shares almost nothing common with it. It was a relief, to be honest, as I was a little afraid of show being just another shounen with specific set of clichés and similarities that might quite not bad (or even enjoyable), but I’ve seen them too many times before – better or worse executed – to watch without a mild nausea another Bleach/Naruto in a darker scenario.

I would never demand a fantasy world to be realistic. Like, who would do, fantasy world is supposed to be… fantasy, right? I am fine with lack of realism but I can’t say the same about lack of common sense, and there is a matter of logic that I personally find quite funny. When you are about to fight in close quarters with someone, with both of you lives on stake you’ll want to use every possible advantage. In general there are two kinds of battle armors – first one is focused on providing maximum protection (like typical medieval plate armor) and second one designed to grant freedom of movement especially critical in usually legwork-heavy duels. And here are our “battle” priests in gowns. Gowns, that manage to provide neither aforementioned advantage and downsides of both. Heh. It just bothers me too much, honestly.

I really love the flow of narration; the way that every character including antagonists has its own set of motives and reasons, even Carmilla has her own background that is convicting to justify her bitchery (Well, she has seen it before, right? And Dracula wasn’t even trying to hide his apathy, so why would she like to watch as dead man wages his hollow war)(Is it only me or Dracula shows typical signs of severe depression? Apathy, lack of strength to take any decision, not taking care of himself, loss of interest – even in his own war – well, to be honest he has a good reason to do so).

Animations. Ah, that one is unquestionably excellent, although you Powerhouse Animation guys could have make use of an additional 4-5 fps – from time to time I had a feeling that there is a cat sitting on my keyboard’s space bar, pausing and starting show over and over - it happened something like two or three times. If it comes to favorite scenes – for me, it would be first meeting and fight between Trevor and Alucard. The dialogue and music is so good at reflecting rising pressure and tension between those two – let put oneself in Trevor’s boots – just day before he was rather concerned about getting some food/drink and move on and now he is standing against something that he now considers to be last boss of his life, or perhaps not, he doesn’t even know how does Dracula looks like and he doesn’t seem to be openly aggressive, or perhaps yes, he is obviously vampire and he seems to doesn’t like Belmont name, on the other hand even lesser vampire might be not so easy foe and he is kinda out of practice, and Sypha doesn’t feel like helping out, at least for now… It is all just perfect, and the sound track alone is stuff of legends. (Season 2 OST on Spotify WHEN??”)

Second best would be first phase of Dracula fight – the way which they are team working fluently to not let eachother get killed pleases my inner maniac in best possible way, although the 1 vs 1 part is kinda downgrade - but still ok.

But there is one thing that really stands out in best possible way from things I’ve seen before and that’s utilization of facial expression and body language. Like seriously, this combined with really outstanding voice acting bring interactions between characters to another damned level. (Unfortunately, national translation and voice acting is so awful that I couldn’t bear myself to finish even first season). There are few thing I consider more important in creating credible character than combining overall expressiveness and voice acting, the ability to tell words without actually using any (Finding Ciri cinematic in Witcher 3 is perhaps best known to me example) - and Castlevania does it just soooo good.

Dracula generals. When they were shown for the first time I was like “oh boy he has summoned generals, (Generals! Master tactician, the artists of war!) the oldest, most cunning and powerful beasts from entire world, now things are going to get rough.” And how did it turned out? I can understand that Dracula tasked his forge masters with overseeing the war (Although his reasoning was kind of ok, good job Dracula for nominating for executives two people, that knew least about proceeding war) Did they were incompetent so much? Then how did they managed to get their titles, if they were just a bunch of endlessly whining mischief-makers? They were supposed to know how war looks like, and how to do one, but instead they did literally nothing for war effort! If you ask me, that is at least one risen eyebrow. Excluding Godbrand, the only member of council that did anything more than grate his teeth in silent anger, killed some civilians and got taken care of quite effortlessly. Also, Godbrand wasn’t made to be the sharpest knife in a closet, but he still was bright enough to ask himself “What will we do when we’ll win a war?” Also, he managed to notice that there were no real plan to follow... That is +1 to you Godbrand, I’ll miss you my vikingy boi. In the end, if they were meant to be just a background, they did get a little too much of screen time, and if they were not, they got faaaaaar from enough of it.

By the way – not sure if it’s only me but I personally think that Trevor might be keenest (or – at least – not dumbest) of protagonist trio. He might lack classic education, but he is careful watcher (he noticed fresh oil in torch and overall state of Alucard’s hideout), he correctly chosen and quite successfully executed strategy at Gresit square (isolate, divide and destroy) and quite steadfastly shrugged off Alucard bickering (well, most of times). Also, his plan for battle with vampire generals was quite logical – avoid close quarter cause humans are in general more fragile than vampires, and Alucard as frontline. My inner maniac was most pleased.

As I said before, I really enjoy Castlevania’s overall character design but with an exception of bishop of Gresit. There is no reason for his work, I know that he is insane and reasoning usually does not apply to those like him but I feel like there is no reason in villainy (this entire talking about making a God’s own country – well, I don’t buy it), aside of being genuinely baaaaad, which kinda stands out in negative way in comparison to the rest of characters.

To highlight the issue, lets do some roleplaying here:

The night creatures are ravaging the land that you had sworn to protect in unholy war against humanity, killing women, men even your subordinates alike. The citizens are growing restless, and demand taking an action. How do you proceed?

a) Find the last descendant of family known for their prowess in fighting those beasts; but be wary – he doesn’t seem to like you very much after you branded him as heretic, exterminated his entire family and burned down his home (probably with some of aforementioned family still inside it). However, if you nicely ask for help, reverse the curse, apology for making mistake and return the estate it actually might work. (to be honest that could be quite interesting moral choice for Trevor, to help people of Wallachia and let bishop take all glory or decline the bishop proposition and screw people over in the process)

b) You can fight them, you are the Holy Church after all. You have access to unlimited supply of holy water, relics, you have enough money and authority to arm and train people’s militia properly. Your knowledge of those beasts might be as wide as Belmont family, but at least should be sufficient to minimalize the damage. Killing the Dracula, however, might be impossible for you.

c) You spent most of your time on biting, trashing, or looking for anyone to cast entire blame upon; it doesn’t matter who is that poor bastard as long as it is not you. In addition, you…

AAAAARGH I CAN’T CONTAIN MYSELF ANY LONGER! BROTHER, I DON’T FEEL LIKE I AM WICKED ENOUGH! I REQUIRE TO SEE SOME SUFFERING OF INNOCENT TO FEAST UPON! WHAT DO YOU SAY, BROTHER? I CANT HEAR YOU OVER RAGE BOILING IN MY VEINS! WHAT, SPEAKERS? OF COURSE THEY WILL DO RAAAAAARRGARGAJGIOGJIHKBYIUOL

Oh well.

Well, looks like I am done here. By the way, sorry for my English, I am not a native speaker (If I’ve commited any spectacular crime against vocabulary/grammar let me know on priv).

Now I’m going back to rewatching show and torturing SoTN

No TL:DR, just read it if you want, it is not an entire book, you know.

#castlevania #trevor belmont #sypha belnades #alucard

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infinitylester · 6 years ago

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GIF TUTORIAL

i’m finally getting around to giving the people what they want!! i hit 2.5k like 3 weeks ago and asked you guys what you would like me to do in honour of that...the resounding answer was ‘gif tutorial’ !!!!

so!! in true dnp fashion i’m merely here to give the people what they want and the people have demanded a gif tutorial, so here it is!

we’ll be learning to how to create this gif right here!

please keep in mind that this is how i make gifs!! everyone does things slightly differently and what i say and do may not match up with other people or your own personal style and that’s okay! editing is all about creative freedoms and you may use this as a basic starter so that you can branch into your own thing or you might really like how i do things and use the same methods. point is, it’s perfectly okay either way!!

right so!! let’s get the basic bullshit out of the way! i use ps cs6 but it’s basically all the same, so this should work perfectly fine no matter what ps you use.

1. we’re firstly going to choose our video to gif. for this tutorial, i’ve chosen pinof 10! pick a moment you like and get the timestamps from when the moment starts and finishes. i usually get a second before and a second after to make sure i’ve got it all!!

2. we’re now going to copy the url of the video and go to clip converter. clip converter basically is going to give us an mp4 version of our little timestamps so that we can put them into photoshop and make gifs from them! paste the url of the vid into clip converter and press enter once. once you’ve done that follow my settings and press start

(of course you can name it whatever you want and put whatever timestamps you want in!!)

once it’s done converting, it’ll give you a download of your mp4 clip, which you’ll click!

3. now open your photoshop. go to file, import, video frames to layers, like shown and select your video

once you’ve done that, put these settings in and trim the clip to your liking (the little black place holder things trim the clip!)

4. okay so!! we now have our gif imported and open on photoshop! we have to make it much smaller because right now it’s like...huge (that’s what she said hehehe)

simply click on image at the top of your computer and press ‘image size’, like shown

then make your settings like shown

5. so that’s done!! now, we have to change the pace of our gif to be a bit slower. i make my gifs real slow apparently but,,,,,personal preference man. click on the first frame of your gif and then scroll to the end of the frames of your gif. hold the shift button and click the last frame. this will select all your frames. press the little arrow thingy near the time of the frames. this will allow you to change the pace of your gif. press other and change the timing of the gif to whatever you want! i make my gifs like 0.07 normally but for this gif, i made it 0.09 because they’re moving so fast and it was giving me whiplash. anything under 0.1 is great!!

6. cropping time! you don’t have to crop your gif if you’d like, but mine is a little big for me, so i’m going to and show you how to do that! so basically press the cropping tool and put in the measurements you’d like, as i’ve done.

7. now we’re ready to convert our gif to the timeline method! select all your frames again, like before, as well as your layers. selecting your layers is the same as selecting your frames, so nothing new there, don’t worry! once everything is selected, press this lil guy.

once our gif is in the timeline method, right click your layers that should all be selected and turn them into a smart object, as shown!

8. righty-o! we’ve done all the boring, dumb shit! time to use an action to make our gif look a little nicer and sharper! i really can’t be assed showing you how to use an action in here because i suck and this is long as fuck as it is but!! i am nice enough to link you to a basic tutorial on how to use actions and how to download them! you can find that here! right so, i use a certain action on all my gifs and then edit it slightly, which i’ll show you! you can find a download for the action i use here !!!

i play that action and now my gif looks much nicer! however, it’s not quite the way i like it, so i push the gaussian blur layer to the bottom and i adjust the strength of it to this!

9. i lied. now we’re up to the fun part!! colouring!! colouring is my best friend and i love her dearly!! technically you could stop now and save your gif and be done but....that’s boring as fuck!

right so, colouring really, truly is your own preference, loves. you can do whatever you like, you do NOT have to follow what i put here. this is simply the colouring i chose for this gif. i do literally whatever i feel like every time i make a gif, so it’s forever changing!

i gave a bit of thought to what kind of colouring i’d do in this tutorial. did i want to do something extra basic and like...no colour changing? did i want to do something wildly vibrant? and then i decided not to do either of those things! so today, i’m going to teach you how to create a soft, almost pastel blue/purple colouring for the ap room *cough* set *cough*!!

firstly, here is the adjustment panel where all the tools you need for colouring reside !!

we’re firstly going to start with the boring crap,,,,,so i lied again....oops. firstly, we’re going to adjust the brightness, the levels and the curves. here are my setting for each, if you’d like to copy them!

here’s how the gif looks without all our colour layers!

10. and now all that crap is done, i promise it’s actually the fun stuff!! selective colour is where all the magic happens! i sometimes do two, three or even four selective colour layers, depending on just how heavy the colour changing is going to be in my gifs, as well as using hue/saturation, colour balance and gradient maps!!

firstly, we’ll start off with our first selective colour layer! here are my settings for it (sorry for all the pics rip)

once you’ve got all those sorted, onto a hue/saturation layer! this basically drastically changes the colours, if you’d like it to but it’s not quite as accurate or smooth as a selective colour layer, so i only really use it for small things or if the colour i’d like can be acchieved nicely with it. i didn’t change anything in the master setting, but here are my settings for the things i did change!

aaaaaaaand now we do another selective colour layer! i’ll just show you the layers i did change...everything else, leave as is!!

11. next is a few gradient maps and a layer of vibrance!! i promise, we’re almost done!! i add a bunch of probably unnecessary bullshit to my gifs but i like how it looks with all the extra stuff so!!! yeah!! make your first gradient map black and white, as shown and set the opacity to 10%

next step is to create a vibrance layer! when making a bright, colourful gif, i use about two or three vibrancy layers. i never EVER adjust the saturation, only the vibrancy. adjusting the saturation makes everything too heavy and it just looks kinda icky to me. the first layer, i normaly adjust the vibrancy to 100% and the rest being between like 20-50%, depending. i just thought i’d tell you guys because that’s vital if you’re making bright gifs!

we however are not, so i only adjusted the vibrancy to +14%, leaving the saturation alone....nasty saturation !!!

aaaaaaaaaaaaand finally, we are up to our last adjustment layer!! it is yet another gradient map oops. this gradient map is a light golden colour and i downloaded it in a pack somewhere ages ago. i do not remember where and i know that photoshop’s default gradient maps don’t have something like it so if you’d like, you can definitely just skip this last layer!! it’s not vital, i just think it gives the gif a nice touch!

for reference, the gradient map looks like this and i set it to 6% opacity!

12. that’s it!! the gif is complete! go to file, save for web and press on that! you might have to wait a little bit for it to load...photoshop is a really shit program sometimes, guys. once it loads you’ll see all these confusing settings. simply copy what i have here!

this is also the moment i realise my gif is over 3mb and go to fucking smack my head against a desk. tumblr basically has a thing against gif makers and will NOT allow gifs over 3mb to play once posted. this can be fixed though! i’ll show you how to shorten a gif right now because well...if you followed this tutorial, you’re stuck in the same boat as me and need to know how to fix it!!

so basically save your gif as is right now! now, we’re going to open the gif we just saved into photoshop. go to file, open and select your gif. it’ll open as a frame animation which is perfect! now, delete whatever frames from the start and end that you think you can live without. never delete frames from the middle because that’ll just disrupt the gif altogether. the less frames, the better!!

i got my gif down to 40 frames by deleting the first 15 frames of the gif and the last like 6 or so. now go back to ‘save for web’ and save this shorter gif as a whole new gif! this should be under 3mb. if it is not, go cancel the save and delete some more frames!

once that’s done....you’re done!!! congratulations!! you’ve made your very first gif, my dear!!!! here’s the finished labour of your hard work!!

i hope i wasn’t too confusing and i hope you now have a sound understanding of how to make a gif! if you’d like me to make another tutorial on something specific related to gifmaking or even to do with edits and edit-making, just send me an ask and i’ll see what i can do for you! happy giffing, loves!!

#i spent my entire day on this holy fuck #making tutorials takes fucking TIME !!!#but i've finally done it and i hope you guys get something out of it!!#i love you all !!#thank you for 2.5k <3 #photoshop #yeahps #gifs #gifmaking #gif tutorial #completeresources #itsphotoshop #i have no idea how to tag this can u tell??#my gifs #my tutorials #hi im posting this now because there are people #gbfhbdfbghgthjdfbh

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spnfanficpond · 5 years ago

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July 2019 Pond LiveChat Recap

We had a great time chatting with @crispychrissy today! Thank you so much, Chrissy, for joining us!

This month, to make up for not having a chat in June, we chatted for two hours about some issues related to posting your works on Tumblr. Chrissy talked to us about making our own gifs, we discussed giving credit to gifmakers, how to make a Keep Reading cut, and much more!! A rundown of the chat, as well as general Pond news, is below the cut!

[Editor’s Note: For ease of understanding, the tags you put at the bottom of a post with a # will be called #hash-tags, while the tags you use to notify another Tumblr user that you’ve posted something will be called @mention-tags.]

Q: What programs do you use to make gifs? Are they free, or do you have to buy them?

Chrissy: Well, there is a free one I used back when I started called GifCam. It's easy to set up (it's just an exe) and there's a little learning curve, but it's easier than what I do now. I currently use a screen capture program that came with my $1500 graphics card along with Sony Vegas. If anyone wants GifCam, I can send it to them.

Q: And are you watching via Netflix or some other way?

C: Yes, I use Netflix. I have the first 6 seasons on DVD along with 12 and 13, so for bloopers and deleted scenes I have to use the DVD's. For current episodes, I have YouTube TV, and use the screen capture option with that. Tumblr has a 3MB limit on file size, so it’s really hard. The amount of frames you can fit in a sub-3MB gif depend on so many factors. Colors in the scene, movement, FPS (frames per second), and length. A low FPS gif looks pretty choppy, while a high FPS gif is smooth as butter.

Q: So that's why some gifs seem to go on forever, and others are quick things.

C: Yes. I can make a really long gif of something that's really really tiny, but if you want it to fit into the pixels of a Tumblr post, it limits how long they can be.

Q: And I guess that's also why some gifs I find from Google and try to put into a post won't animate right. If they're too big, I guess Tumblr stops them?

C: Yes. Tumblr just freezes the image instead of animating it. When you save it, check the file size.

C: So this is an example of the brightness and colors of a gif affecting the size. Since there's so much brightness and color, the more the gif has to render, meaning the bigger the size. This worked out to be only 35 frames, which is like... really small, but the gif itself came out to be 2.83 MB.

Q: Are websites that come up when I Google "gif maker" worth my time and effort?

C: Only if you don't mind a stupid watermark from the company.

Q: About giving credit to gifmakers....any thoughts?

C: Well, all my gifs have "cc" in the bottom right corner, that's how I give myself credit if they're used. Not everyone knows the "cc" gifs are mine, but I do. I offer my gif making services to anyone if they need a specific gif made for a story or otherwise, not limited to SPN. I've made porn gifs, ones from YouTube, and from other shows. If it exists, I can gif it. Tumblr's search feature is... well, it's not perfect, but it'll help give you a quick gif and give credit to the author. When someone uses a gif I've posted, it gives me a notification, which is awesome, but annoying if it gets reposted a crap ton. It also links the person back to the original post and who posted it.

Q: Some folks seem to think that if they grab a gif from Google, just saying they found it on Google is giving credit. I know this isn't the case. (I mistakenly thought that pasting the link to the image would allow folks to click through to where I found it, but discovered last night that's not the case.) If I found a gif on Google that was yours and used it, and provided a link to the page where Google found it, would that be enough, do you think?

C: Sometimes a reverse image search can be helpful, but it mostly doesn't work with gifs. That would be fine for me. Like I said, I have "cc" in the corner so that's me marking the gif as one of mine. I can't control where someone reposts them or uses them. There's a difference between reposting it to a site like Pinterest or using my gif on a LiveJournal post and saving it and reuploading it like it's yours and without giving me credit. One is malicious, the other isn't. I have a problem with the latter.

Q: I started looking at where Google finds gifs last night, and noticed that sites like gfycat have whole pages of gifs, and just citing that page might not be enough. (And trying to find where Google found them many times leads to a Tumblr blog that’s now gone.)

C: Google finds gifs all over the place. Someone can take my gif from Tumblr and reupload it to a bunch of different websites, all which would show up in a Google search. It's hard to find the original poster when it happens. Yeah, people delete their pages, but the gif stays. If you get to that point, just say, “Gif found on Google, unable to find original post"

Q: Speaking of finding gifs, how does the search function work on Tumblr? Is it just whatever the post was tagged with or the first 5 tags like regular searches or something else entirely?

After some discussion, we all decided that the gif search uses whatever #hash-tags are on a post where a gif is used, and then makes that gif searchable by that #hash-tag. So, if you make a post about chronic pain and use a gif of the Winchesters hugging, that gif will then show up in the gif search under #chronic pain. Also, popularity of the gif ensures it shows up at the top of the search. As people stop using a gif, it eventually falls out of the search results.

Q: Going back to file sizes...Do the dimensions of the source video (like watching Netflix/YouTube in full screen vs in a smaller window) impact the size of the gif, specifically with GifCam?

C: Now, that's a HUGE reason why I switched the way I make gifs. Netflix has a set streaming rate, which is only optimized at full screen. So the smaller you make the window to get it to fit into the size of the gif, the more degraded the image is. (Some confusion was expressed, so she continued to explain it further.) Netflix likes to run as big as possible. It wants as many pixels it can get to show you an image. If you minimize the window, it kind of freaks out and has to quickly scramble to make everything smaller so the video keeps playing. It does that by squishing everything down, making the image look weird. It might not be too noticeable when you look at it, but when you make gifs, they're gonna come out lookin all wonky.

Q: So, you have to make the Netflix window smaller in order to capture the images with the gif-making software? The gif-making software can't capture full screen?

C: GifCam will record the gif based on the window size. You gotta squish the window down to make it a reasonable size to fit on Tumblr. Other programs, which you might have to pay for, might be able to capture full screen and do the squishing for you. (Side note: during this discussion, Chrissy gave us some examples, and in showing them to us, revealed that a good gif size for Tumblr is around 410-430 wide, 230-250 high.)

After that, we moved on to other topics that had been brought up in the Pond survey a while back.

How to make a Keep Reading cut and when you should use it.

Note: Although this worked for one person on the app, it doesn’t seem to work for all, and we’re not sure why. There are too many variables to determine the root cause for why it doesn’t always work.

Q: "When should I give someone credit for being a beta (for example: I bounced ideas with someone for a minute or two but they didn’t technically beta read it; I can’t decide between X and Y (with no context), pick one)"

A: Always mention anyone who helped you. You don’t have to say they beta-read your story, but at least mention that they helped, even if they didn’t know it! Gratitude is always a good thing!! Writing takes a village, and being thankful for help is courteous, kind, caring, and helps you to make friends that will be the same right back to you.

How do I add my masterlist for my blog description?

Note: Chrissy pointed out that if you change your bio by hitting “edit appearance” instead of “edit theme” the link will break, so be careful where you add this! These things and more can be found in the Pond FAQ list!!

Q: The facts on search issues (re: links, tags, and anything else that keeps a fic from being “searchable”)

A: A lot of testing and research went into trying to figure this out, and we still probably don’t have it all figured out, but we learned some interesting things!

Most importantly, since we have a lot of smut writers, if you use the #hash-tag #NSFW on your post, your post will NOT show up in any searches!!

Adding an external link should not cause your post to be unsearchable, but that’s not guaranteed. According to Tumblr’s own help pages, “some links may cause posts to be hidden from recent search results.” Since spambots use external links in their posts, this will always be something that could possibly interfere with your post being searchable.

According to Tumblr: “Blogs that have been either self-flagged or flagged by us as “explicit” per our old policy (before December 17, 2018), will not show up in search. Users under 18 are still not allowed to click through to see the content of these blogs. If you think your blog has been erroneously marked as explicit, you can file an appeal by following these instructions.”

When you are searching for your post, make sure you are looking at Most Recent posts, not Most Popular!

Some things to know about searching:

There are two ways to search a blog. If you use the search box at the top, then your results will have a URL like this: https://spnfanficpond.tumblr.com/search/big-fish-chat

However, that is not the only way you can search your blog. If you look at a post, and click on one of the tags on that post, your results will have a URL like this: https://spnfanficpond.tumblr.com/tagged/big-fish-chat

The first search will look through all of the text in a post to find the words you’re searching for. The second search will only look for posts with that specific tag. If a blog doesn’t have a search box in its theme, you can type these searches in manually, and they will still work.

You can also do these searches manually through all of Tumblr. Keep this in mind when you’re doing your general Tumblr search and check the URL of your results, because... “search” & “tagged” look at #hash-tags differently!

(This is so confusing, we know.)

“Search” will look through 20 #hash-tags. “Tagged” will only look through 5 #hash-tags. So, put your most important #hash-tags in your first 5!!

Q: Can you talk about xkit?

A: xkit is awesome and we should all bow down to the xkit guy because he fixes things when Tumblr poops on the carpet. Seriously. It’s only for use on desktop, but it makes Tumblr so much easier to manage.

xkit is an extension for your browser. Look for New xkit, and download that. Once you have xkit loaded, click on the xkit icon near the top right of your screen. When the xkit window pops up, click on Get Extensions. We could suggest a list of the best extensions, but they’re all seriously awesome. Blacklist seems to be the most common, as it filters out posts you don’t want to see based on tags and text. Auto Tagger, Activity+, Outbox, One-Click Postage, and Quick Tags are all ridiculously useful for everyday blogging. The whole thing is super easy to learn and use, and you can’t break anything while you’re learning. Some extensions, like Blacklist, may slow your computer down when you’re surfing your dash because they essentially surf it ahead of you and manipulate it. If you start seeing problems, you can disable any extensions you decide you don’t want to use, anymore.

Seriously, it’s freaking awesome.

Great talk, guys! If you have ideas for topics, please let us know!!

General Pond Updates and Reminders

What we’ve got cooking up next:

We’re working on setting up the discord server. We’re still learning the ins and outs and all the options available. More options means more discussion among the admins and decisions to be made, so please be patient! We’re getting there!

Reminders:

Angel Fish Award nominations are accepted all month long! No need to wait to tell us how much you liked a fellow Fish’s work! IF YOU HAVE SENT IN A NOMINATION, BUT HAVE NOT RECEIVED A PRIVATE MESSAGE CONFIRMING WE RECEIVED IT, WE DIDN’T GET IT. Be sure to use Submit instead of Ask!

Don’t forget to submit your stories to be posted to the blog! When your stories are on the blog, then they are easier to nominate for Angel Fish Awards!

SPNFanFicPond Season 14 Weekly Episode Challenge - Now that the season is over, we will be reposting each prompt list through the summer months! Remember, there’s no deadline for submissions!

Say hi to June’s New Members!

Check the Pond CALENDAR to see when Big Fish will be in the chat room and other Pond and SPN events are happening! Know of something that’s not on the calendar, send us an ask or submission with the deets info details! The calendar offers a lot of features, such as showing you when things are in your own timezone! Since we’re an international group, that’s a definite plus!!

We don’t have a topic or speaker set up for August’s event, yet, so if there’s something you want to talk about, or someone you want to talk to, LET US KNOW!

#spnfanficpond live chat #chat room #let's chat #THE CHAT ROOM #pond chat #chat recap

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askalucario-blog · 6 years ago

Photo

Caption: ‘yule’ when finished, Kennedy gives each of the masks a name and completes the project by posting an image online images courtesy of the artist.

Damselfrau interview: a peek behind the many masks of the London-based artist

if you somehow stumbled accidentally upon the work of Norwegian artist damselfrau, you’d be forgiven for thinking you had unearthed a cache of ancient vestments; something mystical, arcane—maybe even occult. defined by intricate beadwork, delicate lace and bold, bright color, damselfrau’s masks are at once visually arresting and bewitchingly unsettling. beautifully reshaping the face of the wearer, her work is laden with character, suggesting not just individual personalities, but whole narratives, histories, and worlds of their own.

the name ‘damselfrau’ is inherently contradictory. while ‘frau’ is a term used for married women, ‘damsel’ denotes one who is unmarried. combined, they form the paradoxical and provocative pseudonym adopted by artist magnhild kennedy—originally as a skype username, now as a professional alias—that she likes to interpret as ‘married to oneself’. it’s a fitting mantle for an artist who has become renowned for her masks; a craft that involves placing another ‘self’ on top of your own, creating both a combination of the two and suggesting something entirely new altogether.

damselfrau masks in vogue portugal, ‘the bold side of christmas’image by vasily agreneko, styling by pierre-alexandre fillaire

originally from trondheim in norway, damselfrau moved to london in 2007. while both of her parents are artists, she herself never formally trained. rather, kennedy’s practice originated somewhere a little less conventional: the dance floors of london’s nightclubs. working at a vintage designer shop in islington at the time, kennedy drew inspiration from the collection of clothes around her and was able to sew her own pieces behind the counter, which she would then wear clubbing. eye-catching, eccentric and strangely seductive, it’s no wonder that mask quickly became her craft of choice.

since then, damselfrau has made pieces for artists like mø and beyoncé, and collaborated with alister mackie and louis vuitton. beads, glass, lace, textiles, paint, hair, paper: everything and anything can be included in one of damselfrau’s creations. rather than chaos however, the result is one of organic artistry. ‘for me the mask is a place where different elements come together as situation,’ she says in her artist’s statement. ‘the work is about this place-situation, more so than the mask as a theme or category of form. the mask is a place’. livened by the found nature of the materials that comprise them, damselfrau’s masks perfectly walk the line between being delicate artworks of visual poetry and ghostly uniforms for the mystical.

damselfrau’s intricate gold face piece can be spotted at the start of this music video for mø’s track ‘kamikaze’

designboom spoke with the artist recently about her journey toward mask making, the best spots in london to find new materials, and her plans for the new year.

designboom: you come from a particularly artistic family. what was your own personal journey like as an artist in light of this? do you remember the first time you sat down and said, ‘right, I’m going to make a mask’? how did it turn out?

magnhild kennedy: I came to myself quite late. I’ve always made various types of stuff, but nothing good. I’ve known since I was a teen that I was going to have to head to london at some point, but it didn’t happen until I was in my late 20’s. I have no idea how masks became the format for me, I’m not particularly interested in masks as a category. I worked in a vintage design shop when I first moved here. looking at the old clothes, their details and decor gave me some insight into making. I went to car-boot sales every weekend to find utilities for our new life here, and started schlepping home all kinds of funny materials, textiles and bits I found there.

I had to do something with all these materials. it started with making masks for a party and the format stuck. from there it just grew slowly and organically. five years ago my husband robert started dalston pier studio. I got myself a proper work shop there and felt it was the time take it seriously. I felt like an imposter for the longest time. I’m self taught, I didn’t go to school past the age of 19. but growing up with two artist parents, it’s been schooling from day one

DB: you work a lot in found textiles and have spoken about picking up materials in car boot sales and the like. what is the strangest place you’ve ever found material for a mask, and when working on a new piece, do you have a go-to place in london to start looking for inspiration?

MK: I find things everywhere, I have picked fruit netting out of bins. one christmas in paris, they decorated the trees of the champs-élysées with plastic crystals. rouge ones had fallen off and been stepped into the dirt pavement and I scratched out pocket fulls. I’ve picked gold confetti off the floor at alternative miss world. friends bring me things from their travels too. a friend gave me a norwegian 1700’s hair wreath, a japanese friend gave me an antique geisha hair piece I crocheted into a mask. old tea towels. I’ll use whatever if it has personality.

just walking out the door is inspiration, really. I live in dalston. people from everywhere in the world, young and old. fashion kids. charity shops. I’ll go to sir john soane’s museum. the wallace collection. spitalfields on thursdays. dennis severs’ house. dover street market. a pub.

DB: how long does it usually take to finish a mask, and what is the longest you have ever worked on a single piece?

MK: anything from a day to forever! I have unfinished masks on my shelves that have been waiting for ‘something’ for months—years even. I’ll just have to wait until that right something comes along.

percifor’‘I felt like an imposter for the longest time…but growing up with two artist parents, it’s been schooling from day one’

DB: I know you originally made masks for clubbing in london. how has creating masks specifically for a club environment and club culture in general influenced the work you make? do you still wear your masks clubbing?

MK: it’s been a loooong time since I went clubbing! I might make myself something fun for halloween if I am going to some party. the ‘craft something from nothing’ element of the club culture was inspiring. what some people could make out of some egg carton, tape and paint, you know? there was no hierarchy amongst the materials. that is the main thing I learned that I have brought with me into the work.

‘uro’‘there was no hierarchy amongst the materials. that is the main thing (…) I have brought with me into the work’

DB: how do you personally feel when wearing one of your creations, and what do you hope the experience is for an onlooker?

MK: I don’t wear the masks much once they are done. I try my best not to make to many decisions for the masks. people see what they see. it’s none of my business!

DB: you have collaborated with a lot of really interesting people in the past. are there any artists you are particularly influenced by, or anyone you would love to work with in future?

MK: when I was a kid I saw moebius’ and enki bilal’s comics, and they definitely still inform what I do. I’m very interested in homes and how people surround themselves. I decorate a lot. I sew my own christmas ornaments. at the moment I am taken with the book ‘dawnridge’, about tony duquette’s wonderfully OTT home. he was an artist, film and set designer in hollywood. I like miniature model makers like charles matton and thierry bosquet.

I like spaces over-informed by the people who use them and live in them. I have always felt I work mostly like a decorator. my all time greatest obsession is versailles. I don’t have a particular person in mind, so my dream collab would definitely be with versailles.

DB: you often talk about your masks having a character and life of their own. how much of yourself do you see in each piece you make, or do you always see it as a separate entity from the start? what stage in the process does a mask’s character start to reveal itself, and what does that moment feel like?

MK: separate entity I think…it’s a kind of meditative state, making these things. i’m always surprised by what comes out and that I have made something. usually the character changes several times along the way. there are very few conscious choices taken along the way, or at least it feels like it.

I try to think as little as possible, really and just go by instinct. no overthinking. I have clear physical reactions in the brain to if something works or not. like two ant antennae meeting, releasing some warm spark. some severe chemical reaction, it’s totally a high.

DB: you have a strong presence on instagram and images of your work are understandably popular on sites like instagram and tumblr. how integral to your process is social media, and how has it impacted the way you make work, if at all?

MK: it’s a big part of the work. a mask isn’t finished until I have taken a portrait of it and sent it out on general internet high-ways like my instagram or blogspot. this way the mask makes a life of its own and communicates its own being. it’s how it has turned into actual work.

DB: are you working on anything at the moment you’d like to share with us, and what does 2019 hold for damselfrau?

MK: yes! I’m very excited. I have been invited to exhibit at the national museum of decorative arts trondheim in norway this september. it’s the first time I’ll show the masks in the flesh in norway, so it’s pretty grand for me. I used to visit this museum as a kid, I have strong feeling for this building. it’s surreal to be showing there. I am also working on an interesting project with queen mary university and designer rachel freire, incorporating technical fabrics and movement sensors with my masks. that’s a new universe for me—very cool.

DB: any personal mottos or words of wisdom you try to live by?

MK: ‘walk, don’t run’, as my dad always says.

#facemask

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