#and if you can find a closed caption version- pick that

[live-from-new-york-its]

honor among thieves was an incredible movie and I will be paying to see it again in theaters, as a tribute to my love for john francis daley

[wttcsms]

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖࣪ do it softly now, baby !!

ᝰ.ᐟ if there's one thing every celebrity needs to master, it's the art of the soft launch. building up the anticipation by teasing your fans, leaving little easter eggs that only the two of you could possibly pick up on, playing coy whenever questioned about your relationship status... looks like you and him could write the how-to guide on this art form. alternatively: a headcanon post on how the two of you soft launch your relationship. ( sfw + fem!reader )

featuring sae itoshi, shuto sendou, shouei barou, rensuke kunigami, yoichi isagi author's notes haikyuu version here!

౨ৎ SAE ITOSHI. you are: a 2x gold medalist for olympic figure skating. just like how sae is the jewel of japanese soccer, you're the star of japanese figure skating. no one quite understands the pressure of having to carry an entire sport, to represent an entire country, on your back — except for sae. you're known to be a very serious athlete; you rarely cheat on your diet, you keep up with a strict training regimen even during the off-season, and you've never been in a relationship ever. you're stunning, but a little bit scary. something about you just feels so out of reach — like, no normal human being could ever match your caliber. you posted: a mirror selfie. for once in your life, you actually look fairly casual; no elaborate skating costume or athleisure in sight. instead, you're sporting a re al jersey. normally, this wouldn't be enough to spark too much speculation. the team's world famous, after all. what really gets people talking is the fact that sae itoshi, who infamously doesn't run his own social media, can be seen liking all your instagram posts. (little do your followers know [but the extra nosy ones will be able to find out], he's the one behind the camera for some of your posts 🤭)

you can't hold back your laugh as you stare at the notification that just popped up on your screen. itoshisae just reacted 😍 to your story! itoshisae: Nice jersey you: thanks, my boyfriend got it for me xx itoshisae: Do your little fans know that? you: they will soon 🤭 "what's got you smiling so hard, love?" your hairstylist is respectful enough to not look over your shoulder to take a peek at your screen, but you still hold your phone close to your chest, catching the dopey grin on your face reflected on the vanity mirror. "something silly." you tell her, feeling the gentle vibration of your phone signaling that you've got another notification. out of curiosity, you look down, and your smile only grows wider. namesofficialfanpage just tagged you in a post! namesofficialfanpage [name] just posted this on her story!! do we know anyone on re al who isn't in a confirmed relationship yet?

౨ৎ SHUTO SENDOU. you are: japan's favorite actress, even though you've quickly moved on from starring in j-dramas to gracing the big screen in america. you're hollywood's current favorite leading lady, and you're known for being the romcom starlet. when interviewed on why you haven't been in any public relationships yet, you've stated, "i guess i'm so used to all these perfectly written male leads that real life romance is harder to enjoy. when i meet a man who sweeps me off my feet, i promise, you will all know about it." you posted: a photo dump from your trip back home to japan; the pictures start off fairly innocuous. there's you posing with petals from cherry blossom trees flowing by you, you wearing a traditional dress and visiting a shrine, scenic photos... but the last photo is you being carried bridal style by a mysterious pink-haired man. your head is thrown back in laughter, and he's looking down, strands of his hair falling in his face so your followers can't clearly see him. your caption is telling — he sweeps me off my feet 🤍

"shuto!" your laughter is uncontrollable, and you squeal as he picks you up, sneakily giving the thumbs up for the old grandmother you two ran into to take the photo. "put me down!" "no way. i'm never letting you go." he's staring down at you, his smile infectious, and you can't help but think you are in so much trouble. somehow, shuto sendou has given you a romance that's even better than the movies.

౨ৎ SHOUEI BAROU. you are: barou's sisters' babysitter. you're literally the girl next door, and growing up, barou actually walked you to and from school. from the minute he joined blue lock, you've always been cheering for him wholeheartedly. watching him perform at the u-20 game was a bit of a reality check for you; barou is going outgrow you and this whole neighborhood. you never realized your crush on him was returned until he comes back from that game, cheeks flushed, forcing himself to "man up" and look you in the eyes as he tells you he'd like to see you again, once he's allowed a free day from the blue lock facility. ever since his confession, you two have been together ever since, even during his pro days. he posted: a picture of when he returned home during the off-season of the pro league. barou's not known to be a cute and cuddly type of person, either on or off the field. this post humanizes him greatly in the eyes of everyone. it's a picture of his sisters playing with your hair and makeup. your eyes are shut so his youngest sister can messily apply eyeshadow to your eyelids, and she's blocking more than half your face from the frame. his caption has everyone wondering who you are, though. My favorite girls. — that's what he said.

"how do i look?" you bat your eyelashes (which are coated with nearly three thick, messily applied layers of clumpy mascara, applied by his youngest sister). your hair looks a mess, courtesy of his other sister. the tennis bracelet he got you for your anniversary stands out against the beaded friendship bracelets you've made with his sisters. even with unblended foundation and lipgloss from a children's toy set, barou still thinks he's the luckiest man alive right now. "beautiful." he leans down to plant a kiss on your lips, effectively coating his own lips in the tacky, glittery gloss. his sisters shriek when they see the display of affection, but they're giggling, too. they love you just as much as he loves you. "you're always beautiful."

౨ৎ RENSUKE KUNIGAMI. you are: a lifestyle influencer. everybody loves your attitude, they're obsessed with your routine, and they want to live your life. you're recognizable by your signature stack of bracelets that you rarely take off, probably because the stack roughly costs about the same as a nice house. who said those tiktok grwm's wouldn't pay off? he posted: a gym challenge video. kunigami's not too active on social media, but his management team wants him to start posting the occasional tiktok in order to generate more hype and interest in him. this challenge is him curling dumbbells, but he starts at the weight where you stopped. as hot as it is to watch a shirtless kunigami curl 110lbs per arm, the girlies online can't help but recognize that bracelet stack on the wrist of the faceless "gym buddy" kunigami is featuring in his video.

"c'mon, baby, i know you can do more than that." kunigami's massive arms are crossed against his chest, and that damn smirk of his would make you shoot a glare his way; if only every muscle in your body wasn't already preoccupied with not collapsing. your arms are shaking, and you shake your head, letting the dumbbells clang to the gym floor. "this is torture. you do this for fun?" you point to the rack of dumbbells. "gotta keep up with the strength training, baby. and after i'm done with this, we can do some cardio together." the look he sends your way lets you know that the cardio he has in mind is one that you won't want to quit.

౨ৎ YOICHI ISAGI. you are: a popular idol, but in this country and this day and age, it's hard for some hardcore fans to understand that you would want your own life. frightened of how your fanbase will react, you beg isagi to let you keep your relationship a secret, at least until you're able to mentally prepare for the backlash. you've seen other girls in your group get ripped to shreds over dating rumors, and the last thing you want is to have your relationship with isagi being scrutinized by people who want to see you two break up. his friend accidentally posted: a video of you two. bachira genuinely means no harm! the video is quick, and you and isagi cuddled up together on the couch is barely seen for a millisecond until bachira flips the camera to his own face, with the caption "Thirdwheeling again 😔" your insane fans are quick to screenshot the one, singular frame you're barely visible in, but surprisingly enough, a majority of them are supportive of you being in a relationship.

"bachira, are you sure you're okay with me joining boys' night?" you're tucking your cold feet underneath isagi's body, and he's a good sport about it, so he doesn't complain. he actually pulls you closer to him, wanting no space to be between you two. he does correct you, though. "this was not a boys' night. bachira is lying. he invited himself over." bachira sticks his tongue out. "i can't hang out with my favorite people?" "you can hang out with us any time." you tell him, pleased that your boyfriend's friend actually likes you. no, he genuinely does like you. he's been streaming your latest single on repeat for the past two weeks since it released, to the point where his teammates are complaining about having to listen to it on the pregame playlist.

[asbealthgn]

(the thrilling conclusion. also posted on ao3! here's some art of the kitten i did. part 1, 2, 2.5, 3)

The Corroded Coffin fan base find out about Steve entirely by accident.

It starts, of course, with the kitten. After Eddie’s had her for a few days he decides to make an official post on his Instagram, which is a big deal because he normally just lets his PR people handle posting. All he normally does is post shit to his story, but the kitten deserves more formal recognition than that.

So he picks his favorite pictures of her (his camera roll is filled to the brim at this point) and posts them with the caption meet the light of my life, Lemon Verbena Deathclaw Goblikon Munson (Lemon for short). It’s like kicking a wasp’s nest, but, like, the good version: everyone and their dog shares the post to their stories, edits set to any number of Corroded Coffin’s hit songs are spread across TikTok, coffintwt is in an uproar.

Several hours later, Eddie posts a video to his story. He films Lemon on the couch and asks her, “Miss Lemon, how does it feel to be the best, most famous cat in the world?” She responds by meowing loudly and trying to bite his camera. Steve is sitting on the couch, so part of his thighs end up in the video.

Aside from having great thighs, the odd sliver of Steve’s legs or torso or arms showing up in various photographs and videos that Eddie puts on his story over the next few days does not draw a lot of attention from the Corroded Coffin fanbase. If Eddie were to guess, he would probably say they assume it’s just Eddie or one of his bandmates. It’s not until Eddie posts a video of Lemon trying to climb onto the couch on her own and Steve’s hands make an appearance steadying her that people take notice. More specifically, the Twitter account that’s dedicated to posting close-ups of the members of Corroded Coffin’s hands posts a screenshot of the video with the caption those hands do not belong to our boys.

From there, it becomes a wild source of controversy on Twitter as coffintwt tries to figure out for sure if those hands belong to anyone in the band. There’s a lot of back and forth, but ultimately they seem to agree that the original poster is The Authority on the matter. Then it becomes a game of going back through other pictures of Lemon and trying to figure out if the guy showing up the background of so many of them is also someone outside the band. A lot of screenshots start flying around with captions like none of the corroded boys would wear yellow or the rest of the band other than eddie were in LA when this one was posted and so on and so on. 

A consensus is reached: Eddie has been spending a lot of time with someone not in the band, quite possibly a boyfriend.

On a rainy Tuesday three weeks after they met, Eddie lays back on his couch with Steve laying on his chest and Lemon laying on his chest. “They’re onto you, Stevie,” Eddie says. 

“Who’s onto me?” Steve asks, not looking away from the basketball game on the TV. He’s terminally offline and has been blissfully unaware of the saga unfolding. 

“Twitter,” Eddie explains. “My fans have noticed you in the background in a lot of pictures of Lemon and they’ve started putting the pieces together.”

Steve scratches Lemon under her chin and she purrs happily. “Why are they looking at me instead of her?”

“Hell if I know,” Eddie says, reaching around Steve to rub Lemon’s head. “It’s not like you’re super drop-dead gorgeous or anything.”

Grinning, Steve turns his head to kiss Eddie. “Thanks, baby.”

Before Steve can turn his attention back to the game, Eddie hooks his finger under his chin to keep Steve’s eyes on him. “I have a question for you,” he says, “Well, two questions.”

“What’s up?” Steve asks. 

“First, do you want to be my boyfriend?” Eddie knows that three weeks is kind of ridiculously fast, but Steve has practically moved in already, spending all his free time here and sleeping in Eddie’s bed most nights. So Eddie’s not super worried about what his answer is going to be.

Sure enough, Steve smiles. “Yeah, I do,” he says. He kisses Eddie before asking, “What’s the second question?”

“Well, since you said yes, do you mind if I post something about us to stop the speculation?”

“I don’t mind,” Steve says, “But can I tell Robin first so she finds out from me?”

Eddie nods. “Yeah, of course. Do you want to go ov—?” But oh, Steve is already pulling out his phone and calling Robin. Okay then. 

“Hey, Robbie! Just wanted to let you know that Eddie’s my boyfriend now….No, he wasn’t already….Well, we hadn’t talked about it….Okay, that’s kinda mean….No, it’s okay….Yeah, Lemon is great! Do you want to talk to her?” Steve holds the phone up to the kitten and she bites the microphone. Steve puts the phone back to his ear. “That was her….Okay, I actually have to go. I just wanted to tell you….Bye, love you!”

Steve puts his phone back in his pocket and then grins at Eddie. “Alright, I’m ready.”

“If there’s one thing about you, baby, you’re a go-getter,” Eddie says, laughing. He gets his own phone out and holds it out to take a picture of them. Lemon, who is fascinated by phones, looks up at the camera as he snaps the photo. Perfect. 

Eddie posts the picture with the caption the rumors are true, Lemon has two dads. she gets her looks from Steve’s side. Then he puts his phone down and wraps his arms back around Steve. He can worry about his fans’ reaction later. Right now, he has other plans.

“What do you say, boyfriend?” he murmurs in Steve’s ear. “Should we go put Lemon in the bathtub?”

tagging: @nburkhardt @stargyles @csinnamon-fox @manda-panda-monium @silly-jellyghoty @lifeisnotsobadonceyoustopcaring @starquirk @lightwoodbanethings @dramaticwriter @adaed5 @freyaforestafay @roaringgoodshow @sherrylyn628 @stevesbipanic @stevethehairington @henderdads @artiststarme @softboisteve @gregre369 @korixae @kokoshka67 @swimmingbirdrunningrock @piningapple @iwouldsail @thesuninyaface @aftermidnightwriting @hamiltonsteele @brassreign @bitchysunflower @homosexual-having-tea @adelicioustragedy @trashpocket @dramaticwriter @eddiemunsonswife @blackpanzy @bitchysunflower @adelicioustragedy @thegingerrapunzel @overhillunderhill @beckkthewreck @glittergluekintsugi @elyondelannoy @somegirlsomewhere @pluto-pepsi @shinekocreator @goodomensgurl @savory-babby @blues-tunes @babyblender @221b1tch

(tagging is having issues so i'll tag the rest in a reply)

[sturn1olo-ffics]

“That’s The Way I Loved You”

- Chris Sturniolo x Fem Reader (she/her pronouns used)

- based off the song “The Way I Loved You” Taylor’s Version by Taylor Swift

- WARNINGS: kissing (making out ‼️), mentions of fighting/arguing, crying, break up but happy ending; NOT PROOFREAD

- ABOUT: Chris and y/n get into a huge fight over Instagram comments and she breaks up with him. A month after, y/n decides it’s time to put herself out there again. She finds a great guy, but he’s just not Chris. That’s when she realizes what she really wants.

“I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain. And it’s 2am and I’m cursing your name. So in love that you act insane. And that’s the way I loved you.”

(Y/N’s POV)

I sat down on my couch after a long day and decided to open up my phone and check Instagram. My notifications were blowing up and I didn’t know why.

Chris posted a picture of you at dinner the night before with the caption: “My girl.”

You smile and feel butterflies swarm your stomach as you like the post and comment “Cringe 🤓” just joking around with him.

You check the comments, only to see hate comment after hate comment being left.

User332: “Bro she’s not even pretty”

y/nhater617: “why is he lowering his standards for her 💀”

User984: “i hope they break up soon fr”

————————————————————————————

{ iMESSAGE }

Chris: Hey you free tonight or ??

Y/n: You wanna come over?

Chris: Ok mind listener

Y/n: You mean mind reader 😭😭

Chris: Whatever. I’ll be there at 5

————————————————————————————

(Time passes)

Chris was over at my house. He was leaned up against my counter and I was sitting on the island across from him.

Scrolling through TikTok, I realize that this is a good time to tell him how I’ve been feeling about his Instagram comments.

“Hey, can we talk about something that’s been bothering me?” I said with a frown.

“Uh- yeah sure. What’s wrong?” Chris said worriedly as he stepped closer toward me.

“I just- you’re Instagram comments are always full of people hating on me… and I was just wondering if-” I started to say before he cut me off.

“Just ignore ‘em” he says in a nonchalant manner, like he didn’t care at all.

“Can you tell them to stop or at least turn your comments off?” I asked in response.

“What? No. I’m not turning my comments off on Instagram. And there’s nothing I can say that will actually get them to stop.” Chris said in a defensive, almost angry tone.

“Can you at least try?” I started to get fed up.

“Y/n. Not everything is going to be perfect just for you.” the words slipped out of his mouth.

“What?” I said, tears filling my eyes.

“Y/n, I meant that I just can’t do anything about it. What do you want me to do? Become a magic wizard and cast a spell on all these little girls to stop hating on you? Even if I could, I still wouldn’t care enough.” Chris yelled.

“Wouldn’t care enough?” I said softly, tears falling out my eyes and running down my cheeks.

“Y/n- it’s just this kinda stuff is what you have to deal with- it’s like character development. It’s a part of life- a part of my life at least-” he started to say before I slid off the counter and started to walk away.

“I’m also a part of your life. And if this is what it’s going to be like, then I don’t want to be anymore.” I said while opening up my front door, signaling him out.

“Y/n, what? You’re gonna break up with me over this?” he said quickly.

“I just can’t right now, Chris.” I responded as he walked out and I closed the door behind him.

I slid down the back of my door, salty tears rolling one after another out of my eyes.

We had gotten in fights before, screaming at each other even, but this one was final.

(ONE MONTH LATER)

I met a boy while I was at the grocery store. His name was Henry and he was really cute and seemed super sweet. We got each others numbers and started hanging out almost every day.

—————————————————————————————

{ iMESSAGE }

Henry: Hi!! I’ll pick you up at 6 if that’s okay?

Y/n: Sounds great! Can’t wait.

—————————————————————————————

But the truth is, I could wait.

He’s sensible and so incredible. And all my single friends are jealous. But something just felt off, every time we were together.

It’s been a month since me and Chris broke up, and I knew I wanted to put myself out there. So why did this superhero of a guy just not seem like enough?

I started to think about Chris more and more. Which is weird because I started to not care about the break up about a week after it happened. I always seemed to move on quickly for some reason.

I picked my phone up and shot Henry a quick text, asking him for a rain check.

It actually was pouring down raining outside, so I figured he wouldn’t question it.

I put on “10 Things I Hate About You” and plopped down on my couch with a bowl of popcorn and a Pepsi.

Pepsi was Chris’ favorite drink, and it grew on me over time as well.

“I hate it when you’re not around and the fact that you didn’t call. But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you, not even close. Not even a little bit. Not even at all.” the TV starts to play as I tear up.

Chris.

All I could think about was Chris.

He flooded my mind.

But why?

I started to get up and make my way to the fridge to grab the container of strawberries I was craving, but noticed I had already eaten them all.

“Great.” I said to myself. I really wanted those strawberries.

There was a grocery store at the end of my street, so I knew I could just walk down there and grab some.

I gather my things in my purse, put my shoes on, and grab my umbrella because it’s practically storming.

I reached for the doorknob, but before I could grab it, 3 knocks sounded at my door.

“Bruh I asked him for a raincheck. No way Henry’s outside my door right now.” I thought to myself.

I turned the knob and opened my front door, only to find Chris standing there. Soaked head to toe from the rain.

“Hi” he said out of breath.

“Chris?” I was confused.

“I take it you’re about to go hang out with Henry” he said, turning around.

“No, actually… I cancelled on him.” I said sharply.

Chris turned around and stared at me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him.

“I- I don’t know. One minute, I was playing Fortnite on Twitch. And the next I was putting my shoes on to come here. I think I just-” he was saying before I cut him off with a kiss.

He leaned into the kiss almost immediately. Both of us getting soaked from the rain. But we didn’t care. We just craved each other.

He pulled back and tilted his head to deepen the kiss. One hand on my waist, the other on my back pulling me impossibly closer to him.

The kiss lasted for what felt like an hour, but was really 30 seconds.

“I’ve missed you. I’ve missed us.” I said with a smile, looking into his beautiful blue eyes.

He smiled back and pulled me into a longing hug.

“How about we go inside and dry off huh?” he joked.

“That, and you need to help me figure out how to let Henry down nicely.” I laughed.

“I love you, y/n” he said pausing his footsteps.

My heart jumped. He had never said this before.

“I love you too, Chris” I said with a smile.

—————————————————————————————

A/n: Hey guys! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. I’m trying to make my fics better, so let me know what I could change. Also, let me know what you wanna see next.

Thank you for 80 notes on my last fic!!!

[thewadapan]

In light of the good news, I've finally sat down to watch skibidi toilet. It's pretty good, not too surprisingly! Absolutely no wonder that Michael Bay seems to have such a genuine fondness for it, considering how much of a love-letter it is to his work on Transformers and how dedicated it is to just producing spectacle above all else.

The first-person-POV of the cameramen in the show is easily its most inspired element, giving an intuitive structure to the episodes (about 50% of the time the episode ends because the cameraman gets fucking bodied). As it escalates in scope and ambitions, you see the device being used in more impressively inventive ways towards narrative ends, as cameramen and TV men are used to diegetically transition between subplots. But it's also used in more subtle ways, with different effects or overlays, or simply in how the cinematography itself can communicate the emotions of the cameraman doing the recording.

Moreover, the whole thing is very video-game-y, isn't it? Not even just in terms of the assets, but in terms of the action, the beat-to-beat plotting. It's a lot of sneaking around open-level environments, picking up new weapons from dead enemies, encountering new types of enemies or bosses with their own attack patterns and weaknesses. It instantly transported me back to being a teenager, fucking around in Garry's Mod, playing Team Fortress 2 with my mates, getting through Half Life, and all that. The SFM-filmmaker aesthetic isn't just a mode of convenience—although obviously the fact that DaFuq!?Boom! has managed to maintain a pretty prodigal output can be partly attributed to the fact he's using software and assets he's clearly very comfortable with—but rather, it informs everything about the storytelling.

People love to performatively (or ignorantly) act like skibidi toilet is some incomprehensible, unprecedented "brainrot" that the kids are into, but it's nowhere near as absurd as everyone likes to pretend. I feel like I've seen something very similar to it before, but the closest thing that comes to mind is the old trend of stick-figure fight animation borne out of Newgrounds. Or if not that, then yeah, the Transformers films! It's like the entire back half of Dark of the Moon depicting this huge guerrilla war in occupied Chicago—that's clearly the main touchstone.

It's a crime that the most absurd (and often disturbing) part of the show, the SKIBIDI DOB DOB DOB YES YES earworm constantly being repeated by the skibidi toilets, has seemingly been copyright struck, resulting in many portions of the official uploads suddenly just going silent for multiple seconds. It actually incenses me that someone, or some organisation, has been able to do this. I don't really have an ethically-consistent model of how copyright should work, but in cases like this, it seems like obviously a net negative for the world. For whatever reason, the Shorts versions of the episodes seem unaffected, but they're unideal for their own reasons.

The main thing is that past a certain point, the Shorts clearly become cut-down extracts of the main widescreen episodes, which presumably have the intended aspect ratio. Some of the longer uploads have what the content-slop lore freaks describe as "secret scenes", added-in, revised, or unabridged, often containing more of the long-term plot points. The idea that these might be "secret" from the perspective of anyone just watching the Shorts is really funny to me. Also, the fact that the episodes are being collected into "Season" compilations is hilarious to me in its own right—in what attention-deficient world can 20 minutes of a show be described as a full season? Gen Alpha is so cooked bro.

Thankfully, I was able to find a Google Drive where somebody's managed to archive the full series so far with uncensored audio. But then I was checking the YouTube uploads, and I realised some of the newer ones actually have closed captions for certain lines of dialogue! As in, the reversed speech of the cameramen etc, or even what some of the skibidi toilets are saying! These subtitles are missing from that Google Drive archive, meaning it's not a perfect way of watching the show either.

But the thing is, I also think adding subtitles to the show is a huge misstep on DaFuq!?Boom!'s part. One of the things I found most surprising about skibidi toilet is that, for the most part, it actually requires the viewer to be paying pretty close attention in order to follow any of the "plot", insofar as there is one. You have to be able to tell apart all these near-identical and often silent appliance-head guys. Sometimes the POV will be some random cameraman, but other times it'll be a recurring character, and noticing that will add something to the viewing experience. Most of all, the lack of speech (and lack of expressions) for most of the characters forces you to constantly be interpreting their body language to understand what they're communicating to one another.

The subtitles stand to ruin this aspect of the show. Also, the dialogue itself is poorly-written, bro. It's nice that the writer does have something in mind for everything they're saying to one another, but it's a complete mistake to actually present that as part of the text. Frustratingly, I can't even commit to just watching future episodes without captions, because what if he decides to seriously start putting load-bearing plot stuff in them?

(According to DaFuq!?Boom!'s word of god, all the skibidi toilets can understand all languages, they just choose to speak their superior skibidi language. God I love that.)

The main completed arc of the story, set in and around a bunker, is honestly fantastic, thrilling stuff, with some individual (rudimentary) character arcs and tons of great setpieces. My favourite episode of the show, in the immediate aftermath, delivers a legitimately great twist in a brilliant way. I'm excited for the next episode to drop, but moreover, I'm on the absolute edge of my seat waiting to see how skibidi toilet transforms itself for the mainstream media of TV and/or film.

[misogynisticmediatournament]

I think the warrior cats and warriors in your submission list are the same thing,btw do you have reccomendations of like. anything that writes woman well

Ah, you might be right; I think I skimmed that entry's propaganda, and it was very specific to whatever series it was about without dropping the full series name, and I was like "Maybe this is Warrior Cats? I feel lazy, I'm not going to look heavily into it."

So, as a reminder: use the full but common name for the series! For example, Miraculous Ladybug (this seems to be the most common title despite being a shortened version), Warrior Cats, BBC Sherlock, etc. And check that you don't have a space after the title's entry, as that counts as a different entry than the title without the space when using the UNIQUE function in Google sheets (which is how I count the unique entries).

As for recommendations, this is hard because I watch a lot of trash, especially recently, but:

- You can never go wrong with Revolutionary Girl Utena. Note: this show (and start with the show, not the movie) has a lot of potentially triggering stuff, so check out those warnings before you start if you have any triggers at all. It uses the triggering stuff very well and to tell its story and explore its themes, not just for, like, titillation though. Indeed, it is, I would argue, necessary for the story and themes the show seeks to explore. It is legally free on Youtube in...I want to say 480p, and in better resolution on Crunchyroll and Funimation (yes, Funimation's site is still up; I find it superior to Crunchyroll's since it actually includes closed captions for dubs, although it doesn't include newer anime from after the two companies merged). Also, you want to watch the sub for this. I'm normally not one to say "the dub is bad" and stuff and be a purist about it—in fact I normally go to bat for dubs—but, uh... yeah, the dub is bad this time. Crispin Freeman and Dan Green are delightful in it though, I'll give it that.

- Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood uses its female characters well. Maybe it could be better, I've seen some people in these tournaments have beef with it, but it's a pretty perfectly told story, like solid A+, with a lot of really great female characters who I find very satisfying so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. This is on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and I believe Amazon Prime?

- Don't let the title fool you: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a fantastic show with great female characters who are complex and human, have compelling arcs, and are vital to the story. The relationship between Rebecca and Paula is central to the show and SO good, especially as the show goes on. The title is because it explores the trope of the crazy ex-girlfriend in a very humanizing way, and the title/opening song even mentions how the title is a sexist term, but it's a lot more nuanced than that. Also, it's a musical with very good original songs every episode. But check trigger warnings for this show too though. The show is streaming on Netflix last I checked.

- Uhh... maybe the first two seasons of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic? It's a kid's show, but it's good. I haven't seen it in years and years though, so I don't know if I can still fully vouch for it. I believe it is streaming on Netflix?

- Revue Starlight? I haven't thought about it heavily, but I had no beef watching it. This is streaming on HiDive.

- I've heard good things about Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, but I can't vouch for it personally. It's streaming on Crunchyroll.

UPDATE: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is also legally on youtube!

Honestly, I know more imperfect shows that I'm satisfied with, like I give it a B+ to A- at least, but that I haven't thought heavily about than stuff where I'm like, "Oh, yeah, definitely, definitely, nothing I'd pick out there as a problem." For example, Baccano! is probably imperfect (as well as not streaming legally anywhere), but I don't remember being, like, struck by a bunch of problems there. So, I'm not the best for recs that I can give a 100% guarantee for.

[thefactsofthematter]

for the fic title game!

“i dream of you almost every night (hopefully i won’t wake up this time)

- @we-are-inevitable ✨

@we-are-inevitable i am taking this title very literally but i think you’re gonna like this one 😁

davey jacobs has a crush.

and it’s not that weird. okay? he’s not a creep or anything. he’s just a normal guy… with extreme social anxiety, who pretty much only talks to his parents and his therapist on the day-to-day, far too freaked out to interact with anyone else. he tries not to be too hard on himself about his social ineptness— he’s mentally ill, it’s a disability, and it’s not his fault— but he often finds himself frustrated with the situation.

he’s taking online university classes, he works from home doing simple stuff like data entry and surveys and typing captions/transcripts (so that he can just take jobs from a database and do them himself without needing to send pointless emails or make calls), and he rarely leaves his apartment. he’s been diagnosed with agoraphobia, among several other overlapping anxiety disorders. he truly wants to get better— he checks in with his therapist every single day and he’s genuinely making progress— but it’s hard.

a big step for him is that he’s started going out to get a coffee every morning. he mobile orders it from the shop on his block, so that he doesn’t need to talk to anyone, but he still gets to go pick it up himself. someday, he’ll try to move on to actually talking to the staff or buying a drink that isn’t black coffee, but he’s not quite there yet.

there’s this barista. jack, his handwritten name tag reads. he’s there every morning, looking utterly joyful— he seems to truly enjoy making good coffee and greeting people and pouring fancy latte art to impress everyone waiting for their drinks. he’s pretty, in a way that most people aren’t. he’s a normal-looking person, not necessarily a model or anything, but his confidence shines through so brightly that it makes it hard to look away from him. simply put, davey is awe-struck by this beautiful man.

he doesn’t talk to jack, doesn’t even quite make eye contact with him, but jack starts to recognize him. he never pushes davey to interact, but smiles at him as soon as he walks in and has his coffee ready and greets him with things like there he is! right on time! here’s the usual, dave— have an amazing day! and davey always catches himself thinking about jack on his way home. it doesn’t even make him nervous that jack notices him and talks to him, because he finds he sort of likes it.

and then he has a dream about jack. you see, in his dreams, davey isn’t so anxious— he can talk to people without his throat closing up, and he can go out and do things without the utter terror that tends to grip him when he deviates from his routine. it’s an escape from real life, and he often looks forward to living in that world for some brief relief. he has a dream where he decides to take his laptop to the coffee shop to sit there and work, and then jack comes over to talk to him, and they hit it off and exchange numbers.

the dreams don’t stop. almost every night, jack is there— or rather, this fantasy version of jack that davey’s lonely and anxious brain has invented. davey doesn’t actually know the guy past their daily customer-employee interactions, where jack has a one-sided conversation while davey forces a polite smile. in davey’s fictional world, though, they’re in love <3

there’s 2 ways this au could go from here. option one, davey tells his therapist, who helps him thoroughly unpack the unhealthy obsession and eventually, after that’s dealt with, encourages him to actually introduce himself to jack and see where real life takes him. it’s cute and sweet and it turns out they do make a very good pair.

option two (which i think you’ll like jac bc i know you love a toxic javid au) is that davey gets a little unhinged.

the obsession grows, and he doesn’t tell anyone about it. he finds jack’s social media, figures out where he lives and who he knows, and starts to piece together every bit of information that he can. it’s not like he’s going to use it for anything— that would be creepy. he’s obviously not a stalker or some kind of freak… he just likes jack. he likes knowing about him, likes seeing him every day, and loves seeing him in his dreams, where everything is coming together as realistically as possible. it’s not just at night anymore, no, he daydreams constantly about the life that he’s convinced he’s supposed to be living. if he weren’t such a shut-in, he’d be happy. he’d have jack. that’s how things should be.

i’ll leave it open to interpretation how far this goes— maybe the obsession fades and jack never finds out. maybe davey goes too far. he’s definitely not quite joe from you (which i haven’t watched but have heard enough about to know that this au is starting to have similar vibes) but he’s def got a creepy side to him. idk. i’m never actually going to write this, but i feel like it could make an interesting psychological horror kinda thing to go with this option 👀 feel free to use your imagination!!

[rigelmejo]

Its not much but its honest work ToT

Yesterday I read:

1 chapter of hanshe (I’m extensive reading, which is artificially easier than usual since I’ve read this before so even if I ‘forgot’ words, I honestly know them somewhere in my brain so they come back easily when reading)

2 chapters of Granting You a Dreamlike Life (eirenical’s translation reminded me ToT! Honestly if it weren’t for hanshe’s author’s writing being SUPER familiar to me, I think GYADL author actually writes a bit easier to read. The difficult part is the unrecognizable words I Actually have never studied before, unlike hanshe, so I have to put in a bit more effort to figure them out)

1 chapter of Journey to the West Vernacular. Easiest version I’ve ever read of this story, it feels like a graded reader. But has a slight style to it which makes it enjoyable. Easier to read than GYADL, but again hanshe is artificially easiest since somewhere in my brain I have all the words in it stored ToT.

0.5 chapters of ‘Liu Li’. So I had a link to Liu Li, Love and Redemption’s novel. Well. That link was apparently fanfic, I read a few paragraphs and oddly sects were being called businesses...then Ling Long said she got a job... then Sifeng showed up in a western style suit with GLASSES. And I was like yep this is definitely definitely the WRONG story lol. I actually have the print version of Liu Li in my house but its in a box right now ;-;. So yeah... I’ll need to go looking for this novel again lol, somehow I’d saved a fanfic last time I bookmarked it.

Honestly yes, I still just want to extensively read Guardian. But who knows when I’ll get the bravery to try that again. I also tried reading some japanese detective novels translated into Chinese (since that was what was popular in the section of a site i was browsing through). But um... seeing hanzi that represent japanese names just fried my brain way too much and I bailed after 1 paragraph. (Truly: I saw Tokyo written in hanzi in the first sentence, and my brain pronounced it the chinese hanzi way and it just hurt my brain to think about i don’t even know why).

Yesterday and today I listened to:

Final Fantasy VII lets play in japanese, I found a new lets player I like. She cosplays sometimes for them (for IX she dressed as zidane!) I used the closed captions on youtube so I had some japanese subs. It was artificially easier since I’ve played the game in english, so I could guess what words meant what. That said - I think that makes learning from it easier. I think that means if I just relaxed and watched a lets play of a game I’ve played, I’d pick up a lot of words from context that otherwise would be too difficult to learn as quickly. I know whenever I check out Kingdom Hearts cutscenes I can figure out words easy (cause I know that game by heart lol)

Midnight Diner condensed audio (I found a lot of japanese audio lately). I could catch bits and pieces of things said, which I honestly consider a success considering how hard it was to watch IN japanese only last time I tried. I did not follow what was going on, but just catching some bits of dialogue meaning was cool!

Final Fantasy X condensed audio. This is proof that (somehow) I could learn some new words from audio-only resources in japanese, specifically if they’re media I’m already familiar with. I know the scenes and characters SO well I have figured out a few words just now listening as I work. And I can tell what scene I’m hearing fairly easily (music cues and sound effects same as in english, actors have the same ‘vibe’ even though they’re japanese VAs), which makes guessing words easier since I know the topic. And then, I find recognizing words I ALREADY know easier (since I know the scene’s context I can expect them) - which is good review for me and helps improve my listening comprehension. Also I finally really hammered in soshite - and, dakara - because, oyaji - dad/pops, sekai - world, dekimasu - can! (also its so cute Lulu uses ‘anta’ when I’ve only otherwise heard anta used by yakuza in the Yakuza games ToT). Anyway just notes for me personally: I think its really cool to see that I can pick up NEW stuff and make improvements just listening to audio. Because I would have thought that ‘too hard’ to do at my level.

Alice in Wonderland in Japanese, read-listened in DuoReader app. Well. I did 5 pages. It was hard. I read a LOT of hiragana without kanji to help me as a crutch. Japanese and English have such different sentence structure that the english text did not help with comprehending the audio much lol. So I mostly followed the japanese text with the japanese audio. I do feel I learned some stuff. It was brain frying though. Although, I suppose, Listening Reading Method often does make me feel exhausted. Its a very intensive study method. 

Can you tell I’ve been listening to a lot of japanese?? Studying japanese feels so much like I’m jumping in an ocean and going ‘LETS SEE ALRIGHTY’ and then treading water randomly to see if I’ll float or find any islands or drown. But when I use reading resources (because I did jump into trying to read Alice in Wonderland in japanese yesterday with audio), I find myself so reliant on kanji (based on my hanzi knowledge) that it really hinders my ability to pick up new hiragana words. I find this whole past year I’ve been a lot more successful doing mainly audio focus on japanese. But audio focused lessons also mean a lot more unknowns unless I’m using full on english-japanese sentence audio.

[my-music-1460]

Adding Music to Instagram Reels: A Creative Approach

Instagram Reels are a fantastic way to showcase your creativity and engage with your audience. One of the key elements that can take your Reels to the next level is the addition of music. The right track can set the mood, enhance the story, and make your content more captivating. In this article, we'll explore a creative approach to adding music to a Reel on Instagram, ensuring your videos stand out.

Music is a powerful tool in storytelling. It can evoke emotions, highlight important moments, and add a layer of professionalism to your Reels. By understanding how to effectively incorporate music into your videos, you can create more engaging and memorable content. Whether you're an aspiring influencer, a business owner, or just someone who loves sharing moments from their life, this guide will help you use music to elevate your Reels.

Step 1: Access Instagram Reels

To start, open the Instagram app on your smartphone. Ensure you have the latest version of the app to access all the new features. Tap the "+" icon at the bottom center of the screen. This will give you several options for creating content, including "Post," "Story," "Reel," and "Live." Select "Reel" from the options that appear.

Step 2: Explore Instagram's Music Library

Once you're in the Reel creation interface, tap the "Music" icon on the left side of the screen. Instagram's music library is extensive, offering a wide variety of genres and tracks to choose from. You can browse through popular songs, explore different categories, or use the search bar to find a specific track. Instagram regularly updates its music library, so you'll always have access to the latest hits and classic favorites.

Step 3: Choose the Best Segment of the Song

After selecting a song, you need to choose the best part of the track for your Reel. Tap on the song to preview it, and use the slider at the bottom of the screen to select the segment you want to feature. Instagram allows you to use up to 30 seconds of a song, so pick the most impactful part—whether it's a catchy chorus, an instrumental drop, or a memorable verse. This choice is crucial as it sets the mood and tempo for your entire video.

Step 4: Record Your Video

With your music selected, press and hold the record button to capture your footage. You can record multiple segments by releasing the button and pressing it again to resume recording. This feature allows you to capture different scenes, angles, or actions, making your Reel more dynamic and engaging. Utilize Instagram's creative tools, such as effects, filters, and text overlays, to enhance your video. For instance, you can use slow-motion effects to emphasize certain moments or add text overlays to provide context or captions.

Recording tips for an impactful Reel:

Lighting: Good lighting can significantly improve the quality of your video. Natural light is best, but you can also use ring lights or other artificial lighting to brighten your shots.

Stability: Use a tripod or a stabilizer to keep your camera steady and avoid shaky footage. This will make your Reel look more professional.

Composition: Pay attention to the framing of your shots. Use the rule of thirds to create balanced and visually appealing compositions.

Variety: Capture a variety of shots, including wide angles, close-ups, and different perspectives. This will make your Reel more interesting and dynamic.

Step 5: Fine-Tune Your Reel

Once you've finished recording, tap "Next" to review your Reel. This step is crucial for polishing your video and ensuring everything looks perfect. Use Instagram's editing tools to trim clips, adjust the timing, and sync your video with the music. Pay attention to details like the transitions between clips, the placement of text, and the overall flow of your Reel. Adjusting these elements can make a significant difference in the final product.

Editing tips to enhance your Reel:

Transitions: Smooth transitions between clips can make your Reel more visually appealing. Experiment with different transition effects to find what works best for your content.

Text Overlays: Adding text overlays can provide context, highlight key points, or add a fun element to your Reel. Make sure the text is clear and easy to read.

Filters and Effects: Use filters and effects to enhance the visual style of your Reel. However, be careful not to overdo it; the goal is to complement your content, not distract from it.

Volume Adjustment: Ensure the music volume is balanced with any other audio in your Reel, such as voiceovers or ambient sounds.

Step 6: Add Captions and Hashtags

Before sharing your Reel, take the time to add a compelling caption and relevant hashtags. Captions can provide context, tell a story, or encourage viewers to take action. Hashtags, on the other hand, increase the discoverability of your Reel by making it visible to a broader audience. Use a mix of popular and niche hashtags to reach users who are interested in your content. Additionally, consider tagging relevant accounts or locations to further increase your reach.

Tips for effective captions and hashtags:

Engagement: Write captions that encourage interaction, such as asking questions or prompting viewers to share their thoughts.

Relevance: Use hashtags that are relevant to your content and audience. Research trending hashtags in your niche and incorporate them into your posts.

Brevity: Keep your captions concise and to the point. Long-winded captions can lose the viewer's interest.

Step 7: Share Your Reel with the World

Now that your Reel is ready, it's time to share it with your audience. Decide where you want to share your Reel—in your feed, Stories, or both. Sharing in multiple places can help maximize your reach and engagement. Tap the "Share" button to publish your Reel. Once it's live, engage with your audience by responding to comments, answering questions, and encouraging viewers to share your content. This interaction can boost your Reel's visibility and help you build a loyal following.

Step 8: Analyze Your Performance

After sharing your Reel, take some time to analyze its performance. Instagram provides insights on how your content is doing, including views, likes, comments, and shares. Understanding these metrics can help you identify what works and what doesn't, allowing you to refine your strategy for future Reels. Pay attention to which songs, video styles, and hashtags perform best, and use this information to guide your content creation process.

Performance analysis tips:

Engagement Rates: Look at the engagement rates (likes, comments, shares) relative to the number of views. This can help you understand how well your content resonates with your audience.

Audience Demographics: Review the demographics of your viewers to see if you're reaching your target audience.

Content Comparison: Compare the performance of different Reels to identify patterns and successful elements that you can replicate in future videos.

Step 9: Stay Updated with Trends

Instagram trends are constantly evolving, and staying updated with the latest trends can give your Reels a competitive edge. Follow popular creators, monitor trending hashtags, and keep an eye on the music charts to see what's currently popular. Incorporating trending elements into your Reels can increase their visibility and appeal, attracting more viewers and engagement.

Staying updated with trends:

Follow Influencers: Keep an eye on popular influencers and creators in your niche to see what trends they're following and how you can adapt them to your content.

Trending Music: Regularly check the "Trending" section in Instagram's music library to find popular songs that can boost your Reels' appeal.

Hashtag Challenges: Participate in hashtag challenges that are relevant to your content. These challenges often have high visibility and can help your Reels reach a wider audience.

Step 10: Experiment and Innovate

While following trends is important, don't be afraid to experiment and innovate with your Reels. Try out new music genres, video techniques, and creative tools to see what resonates with your audience. The more you experiment, the more you'll discover unique ways to captivate your viewers and stand out in the crowded Instagram landscape. Creativity and originality are key to keeping your content fresh and exciting.

Experimentation tips:

Music Variety: Experiment with different music genres and styles to see which ones resonate best with your audience.

Creative Tools: Explore Instagram's creative tools, such as AR effects and interactive stickers, to add a unique touch to your Reels.

Content Themes: Try out different content themes, such as behind-the-scenes looks, tutorials, or user-generated content, to keep your Reels diverse and engaging.

Conclusion

Adding music to your Instagram Reels can significantly enhance their appeal and engagement. By following these steps, you can create captivating content that resonates with your audience. Start experimenting with different tracks and styles to find what works best for your Reels. Remember, the key to a successful Reel is not just the music but also how well it complements your visuals and enhances the overall storytelling.

Creating Reels that resonate with your audience requires a mix of creativity, technical skills, and an understanding of your audience's preferences. Don't be afraid to experiment with different genres of music, video styles, and creative tools to find what works best for you. The more you practice and refine your technique, the more impactful your Reels will become.

[ageofnations]

Chamomile // drw // Pt.III

Summary: Danny often feels overshadowed by his best friends and bandmates. You, however, can't seem to get your mind off of him.

Paring: Danny x fem!reader

Word Count: ~2.8k

Warnings: talk of mental health, hangover symptoms (and medicine for such symptoms)

A/N: i never could find the actual interview i based this from, so i just came up with one of my own. PLZ remember that this is fictional and in no way how i think the boys actually treat Danny. thank you guys for all of your support <3

Serie s Masterlist

Part III

It seemed as if the concept of sleep was foreign to you tonight. Despite the protest of the others, you chose the couch. You were adamant that they sleep in their own beds, even through their slurred arguments. But because of their drunken states, they didn’t put up much of a fight.

Usually, you found it easy to sleep on the boys’ couch. You had done it so many times before that it seemed almost second nature to you. The curve of the cushions and the familiar fragrant scents brought comfort similar to that of a lullaby. Tonight was different though. You were restless and found it hard to keep your eyes closed for long. You went from too hot to too cold, comfortable to uncomfortable. You tossed and turned until you finally gave up completely on trying to fall asleep. You picked up your phone off the table beside the couch, deciding to pass the time with more social media.

One of your favorite hobbies was searching the hashtags related to the band and looking through the mountains of fanmade content. You loved seeing videos and pictures of old performances, especially from the earlier years of Greta Van Fleet. You sometimes shared funny memes with the boys and read through stories to see how the fictional versions of the boys matched with reality. You were just about to switch the social media platform you were investigating when you came across a portion of a written interview with Danny. You read the caption before anything.

“This makes me so sad for Danny,” it said, paired with various crying emojis. The comments and tags matched the nature of the caption.

You were curious as to what the fuss was all about, so you decide to read the screenshots yourself.

Interviewer: So you’ve been going for a while now, but do you ever still get nervous when going out on stage?

Danny: Absolutely. I’d like to say I’m lucky that I sit at the back of the stage. Josh, Jake, and Sam are closer to the fans than I am, so they don’t get to mask their nerves as much. I’ve come up with strategies and tactics to calm down if I ever need them though.

Interviewer: Have you ever needed to use those?

Danny: More often than not, yeah. I had to work really hard to get where I am today, and I’m still trying to improve. I came into the band known as the “replacement,” and some days, I still feel like my spot in the band is fragile. Like they’d kick me out if I messed up. That feeling on top of performing in front of thousands of fans is terrifying.

Interviewer: And would they? Kick you out?

Danny: We’ve grown to be brothers essentially, so I’d hope they wouldn’t. But I can only hope they keep me around as long as the band is around.

Interviewer: But you’re the only one who isn’t a biological brother right?

Danny: Yeah, which is why I feel so fragile in the band. They all have a special bond that I could never have. Kicking out a family member would be much harder than just a close friend. Everyday I’m thankful that I’m still in the band.

Interviewer: Are there any perks to not being a brother?

Danny: Yeah, I mean, I guess I have a form of leverage over them. I can call things out how they are and mediate when necessary. I help things go as smoothly as possible, and I’ve been given the role of the middle man. When it comes down to it, I feel like that’s why they keep me in.

That was all the snippet included. There were no links, no sources, no context. You locked your phone and set it back down on the table.

You felt sad. There was an indescribable pain in your chest that you could only attribute to sadness.

Danny had talked to you about his insecurities with his playing, especially during and after his injury, but he had never expressed something like this. Feeling like he was only still in the band as a peacemaker for the others? It hurt to even imagine him doubting himself that much. He was an amazing drummer and an even better person to be around. He mattered more than he would ever know.

You wondered if the others knew about what was said in this interview. If he didn’t mention it to you, you imagined he hadn’t talked to his band mates about how he was feeling. You didn’t know if you should ask him about it or if you should just act like you hadn’t seen the interview at all.

You felt a stray tear fall from your eye, but you quickly wiped it away. You didn’t realize that you had started crying, and honestly, you didn’t know why you were crying at all. You felt a little helpless in the situation and guilty that you hadn’t noticed any difference until today.

You sat up and brought your knees to your chest. Before you could continue to overthink what you had read, you heard shuffling in the kitchen behind you.

“Bip?” you heard Danny’s groggy voice call out from the darkness.

Your body went stiff, but you turned your head in response. You were thankful that he couldn’t see your tear-stained cheeks.

“Did I wake you?” he whispered. “I’m sorry, I just got thirsty.”

“No, you didn’t wake me, Danny,” you rasped back. His apology caused your guilt to flourish even more. “I can’t sleep.”

He turns on a dim light in the kitchen. It barely lit the room, but it was just enough to be able to barely see in the living room. You heard him turn on the faucet briefly to fill his glass with tap water. “Me neither.”

“Is something wrong?”

He takes a sip before answering with, “Just a long day.” He quietly walks to you. “Care if I sit with you for a bit?”

You weakly smile at him. “Of course not.”

Instead of sitting at the other edge of the couch, he sits on the cushion directly beside you. His body heat prickled your shoulder, and you could’ve swore he was leaning into you a bit. You sat in brief silence, not looking at one another, before you finally started a conversation to keep your mind from drifting to the interview.

“How’s Josh’s hand?”

He let out an airy laugh devoid of any humor. “He’s okay. It’s burnt, but nothing a little Neosporin can’t handle.”

You laugh but wince when you feel a throbbing pain in your head. You were mostly sober at this point, but all of the beers were starting to catch up to you. Danny glanced at you as soon as he heard the noise come out, and his eyes stopped at the table beside you. Earlier, he had set out two painkillers for you to take before you slept to avoid the hangover symptoms. You still hadn’t taken them.

“You really should take those, ya know,” he noted. You could sense the worry in his voice, but you tried to put that out of your mind.

“I’ll be okay,” you said with a smile as you massaged your temples.

“I know you will, but I want you to be okay now. Here.” He handed you the glass of water he had been sipping on. Once you grabbed it from him, he reached across you to the table. You blushed at the feeling of having him so close, draped across you.

He grabbed the two pills and held them out to you. “Please take them. I promise it’ll help. Especially in the morning.” His eyes dig into yours in his best endeavor to persuade you away from your stubbornness.

You took the pills from him and took them with a swig of water. The feeling of being taken care of and looked after was comforting, but you were also embarrassed from being babied.

“Thank you,” Danny said sweetly.

The blush you wore grew as you realized he had dropped his hand to rest right above your knee. You felt his hand twitch slightly once you noticed the placement, but he never moved away from you.

“Thanks, mom,” you tease in an attempt to lighten the nerves inside of you. You think it works until he laughs at the joke and pulls away right after giving a small squeeze. You watch his reaction, secretly proud that you somehow made him genuinely laugh through his sleep deprivation.

Once the laughter dies down, you settle back into silence. You can sense the tension in Danny’s body language. He focuses on his hands as he picks at his cuticles. He licks his lips and clears his throat nervously to prepare his next sentence.

“Thank you, for checking on me today.” His voice had lowered to a whisper again. “Both times, I guess. It felt nice to know someone noticed that something was wrong, but I’m sorry to make you worry.”

You were slightly shocked to hear the openness in his admission. He had seemed so closed-off all day that this was a bit of a change in pace.

“You don’t have to apologize, Danny. You’re my best friend.”

He cracked a smile at you. “And you’re mine.”

“You know you can talk to me, right?”

He nodded. “I know,” he breathed. “I appreciate you so much, Bip.”

He always sensed the times that using that nickname would make you smile. You ran your finger around the rim of his glass that you were still holding. This was another time you wished you knew what he was thinking. This moment didn’t feel completely platonic, but you didn’t want to be the one to bring it up and potentially ruin what friendship you did have.

But you couldn’t deny the obvious feelings blooming for him.

“Sometimes,” he started again, breaking you away from your thoughts. “-it’s a little hard to talk about how I’m feeling, ya know?”

Of course you knew. You knew with every fiber of your being how he was feeling, but you didn’t respond, egging him to go on.

“I’m so used to taking care of other people that it’s difficult to process when others want to take care of me,” he finished.

“The helper needs help too,” you say. “It takes practice to get used to it, but you do so much for me, for all of us. You’ve got to let us reciprocate that.”

You could almost see the gears turning in his head as your words soaked in. He nodded and took a deep breath.

You hesitated before asking. “Do you want to talk about what has been bothering you?” You felt the tension return, and you immediately regretted asking. “You don’t have to-“

“I need to,” he interrupted. He silently sorted through his thoughts, trying to come up with a sentence that described all of his emotions. You could tell he was trying to not talk himself out of the conversation completely. “I don’t feel like I’m part of the band.”

There it was. The thing that has been bothering him for God knows how long. It was finally in the open, and he needed to talk about it.

“W-what? Danny, they love you.”

“They say that, yeah. I just don’t feel it sometimes.” He shifted his concentration to a string that was loose on his shirt. “The guys get front stage, I sit in the back. Sometimes I don’t even get a light that shines on me.” He sighed. “When it comes to concert outfits, the designers rarely even ask for my input because people won’t see me as much. It’s depressing.”

You opened your mouth, but he wasn’t finished.

“I feel like I’m a manager more than anything. I mean…you saw them today in the studio. It’s like that all the time. I didn’t even get a say in anything today, but the only reason they stopped arguing is because I reminded them that they could just use their other riffs and melodies in future songs.” His breath faltered once he cut himself off, and you could hear the tears forming.

You reach over to grab one of his hands away from the string he had been distracting himself with and rested your clasped palms on his leg. It wasn’t until then that he looked up at you.

“Danny, you have got to talk to them about this. I don’t know when, or how, but you need to. I noticed the way they treated you today, and you don’t deserve that. But I also know that they probably don’t realize that what they’re doing is hurting you. They’d want you to speak up.” You end your words by squeezing his hand.

He rubbed his thumb against yours, choosing to forego a verbal response.

“You're their best friend. They would do anything for you, just as you’d do anything for them. They are so lucky to have you, Danny.” Sincerity was dominant in your voice as you corrected yourself. “We are so lucky to have you.”

You two sat, shoulders pressed together, hands clasped as one, for a few silent minutes. You felt at peace knowing that he felt comfortable confiding in you. His fingers being intertwined with yours made you feel connected to him, in more ways than you could describe.

“I- I don’t know what I’d do without you, Y/N.”

Of all things, that was not on the list of things you expected to hear come from him. You grin at him to try to mask the butterflies in your belly, which were growing every passing second. You hoped he didn’t take your silence as discomfort because that was far from what you were feeling.

He shifted beside you and started to stand from his place on the couch. The disappointment from the idea of him getting up made your blood run colder than it had been. You frowned to yourself, but quickly straightened your face.

“I could make some tea before I try to go lay back down. It might help the both of us go to sleep,” he chuckled.

And just as fast as your smile faded, it reappeared. He was back to the same ole Danny that cared so deeply for others.

“That sounds great, yeah.”

He started walking towards the kitchen, but he didn’t let go of your hand until he absolutely had to. You heard him laugh softly once your grasps were ripped from one another from the distance growing between you. While he started to make the tea, you thought to yourself, replaying the conversation in your mind while you patiently waited for him to return.

You had already started to drift in and out of sleep by the time he was done making the tea. He tried to lightly set the cup on the table beside you, but the soft clink made your eyes snap open fully.

“Looks like you don’t even need the tea anymore,” he taunts.

A laugh was forced out of you as you yawned. “And let all your hard work go to waste? Never.” You grabbed the cup and sipped away at the warm liquid. The drowsiness you were experiencing only escalated once the chamomile tea entered your system. You two carried on soft whispers of sleepy conversation until you had finished your beverages.

He took the cups to the sink and washed them as quietly as possible. You had rested your head on the back on the couch with heavy eyelids. He was wiping his hands as he hesitantly asked, “Do you…wanna sleep in my bed?”

You couldn’t hide the smile that crept onto your sleepy face. “As long as you’ll let me cuddle you like old times.”

“I don’t see how that benefits you, but I’m always down if you’re offering,” he shrugs and grabs the blanket you had been lying under. There was a baby pink tint on his cheeks that you couldn’t see. “Come on.”

Once you had transported your belongings to his room, you climbed under the warm comforter and blankets. He had turned on a fan, knowing that you slept best with white noise. As promised, he scooted as close to you as he could, his back flush against your chest. You brought one of your arms to rest under your head and play with his hair while the other arm was draped across his waist.

As you let your mind and body rest, you smiled at the familiarity of this position, having done this countless times before during sleepovers and movie nights at your apartment. Though, there was something different about it this time.

He was clutching the hand that you had placed over his belly.

————

>>>part IV

taglist (click here to join!): @gretavanflowerpower @joshkiszkas @teenagesublimefan @streamsofstardust @fireandsaltydogs @gretavanflipflop @kdarling1 @greta-van-chaos @stardustingold

thank you for reading <3

[skygent]

An Excerpt from Chapter 1 of Amity Blight: Powerful Witch, Awesome Girlfriend and Unintentional Samus Aran Cosplayer

Art by Sunati!

…

As the Blight family airship, The Profundity, flew through the clouds, Amity struggled to change into the strange undergarment her father insisted she needed to wear. The purple fabric was soft but seemed to radiate magic and was decorated with lavender accents and was so extensive it even had gloves for her hands and booties for her feet.

“Dad, what is this for again?”

“Think of it like a second skin, it’s supposed to protect you from whatever we may find out in Titan’s Shadow.” He explained from his cabin as the passenger carriage shook. “It’s your last line of defense in case your hazard suit is compromised. I call it a zero suit.”

As Amity zipped up the suit, she turned around and smiled at her old home away from home. When she was little her parents hated leaving her home with any kind of sitter when they went on business trips, so they had a small passenger cabin set up in what used to be the ship’s parlor.

It was a little spartan when it came to its features, with only a simple bed, bare metal walls, and a few teal-colored light rails above her bed and at its sides, to keep the Bandersnatch away of course.

It had been so long since her last trip on this ship that there was still an Azura plushie by the foot of the bed, right where her father had set it before carrying her back into the manor and tucking her into bed after they returned from a neighboring isle late one night.

A night that felt like it was a lifetime ago.

She smiled at the plush, remembering how her father had got it for her one day while out of the market with her mother before she picked up her scroll and took a picture of it for Luz.

Look, I found an old friend!

After a few minutes, her girlfriend answered.

Sooo cute! I love her, I’m glad you reunited!

A follow-up message quickly appeared.

How’s it going so far?

It’s fine. I was just getting changed. She typed with a grin before examining herself in the mirror and taking a picture of herself before sending it to Luz with the caption:

Bring your daughter to work day uniform. How do I look?

After a brief delay, she received her response.

Hnnng, like the most gorgeous witch on The Isles.

Amity blushed and turned to the side before she took another picture.

How about from this angle?

Her girlfriend’s response was immediate.

Amity please, I’m trying to study! this is torture!

The lavender-haired girl giggled as typed out a reply.

Am I distracting you? 😉

Luz replied with a gif of a small bird sweating profusely.

Y E S

Then came a follow-up message.

…can you bring that outfit on our trip?

Amity waited a few minutes before replying to that one, content to keep her beloved guessing.

Maybe I will…maybe I won’t…

Luz’s responses came flooding in, making Amity cackle.

THIS IS AWFUL

I'M GONNA DIIIIE

You killed meeee

The last message was accompanied by a black and white picture of Luz looking up at the sky with her tongue hanging out and her eyes closed with the words ‘RIP Luz Noceda’ written elaborate cursive.

Cause of death? Amity wondered.

Gay panic. Very tragic. Affects millions.

Amity snickered before she decided to deploy the coup de grace. She pulled up one leg and tucked it behind her as she raised one arm and made a v-shape with her fingers before closing one eye and taking the picture as her father knocked on the door.

“We’ll be landing soon. Make sure you put your hazard suit on as well.” He warned as Amity typed in a caption before sending the message.

Gotta go. study hard, love you! xoxo

Luz’s reply was a quick sketch of a chibified version of herself with a ghost leaving her body with the words you got it, babe, love you more! following the image.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/37879588/chapters/94590625

[cherryonigiri]

my divider tutorial

hey everyone! I’ve been seeing a lot of people asking about how to make text dividers + banners on my feed, thought I would just do a quick tutorial on how I make my stuff! 

link to banner tutorial here. 

For context - I don’t have photoshop, and I pretty much had zero experience in anything graphic/web design when I first started making these for my blog. I’ll be using free programs that are all accessible through a web browser, so there is no need for you to download any kind of software to do this!

Dividers: Photopea

photopea is free to use and it has a browser mode so you don’t need to download it to be able to use/edit photos! The only downside is that it won’t save projects after you close your tab. So you’ll need to make sure to download png/jpgs of anything you make in photopea onto your computer (which you’d need to do anyways to insert the banners into a tumblr post) before closing the tab.

1) go to photopea (photopea.com)

2) click File > New

3) Create a new project - for my dividers I usually use 520 px (horizontal) by 5 px (vertical). I also usually title my dividers, so if I need to reuse them (for a series/multiple creations) I can find them in my downloads/writing folder.

4) Pick you color

You should now see a white bar in your workspace. Click on the color picker tool. It’s the icon with two overlapping squares near the bottom of the tool bar on the left side of your screen

I usually just try to choose a color that matches the banner/aesthetic of my banner for the series/writing piece. Click “OK” when you’re happy with the color.

If you want to directly sample a color from a banner, you can use the sample/inkdrop tool in photopea. You can do this by opening your banner image in photopea (I’m using one of my banners as an example).

you can click on any part of your banner using the inkdrop tool (it automatically records it in the color picker tool) to sample that color, then switch back to your divider tab.

6) Fill your divider - go to the Edit Menu (upper left corner) > Fill 

Then fill your divider (I usually use 100% opacity and don’t really mess with the settings)

7) IMPORTANT: DOWNLOAD YOUR DIVIDER AS AN IMAGE (JPG recommended)

This is really important! Since photopea’s free version DOES NOT SAVE projects, make sure to download anything you’ve finished before closing the tab. I recommend downloading in JPG format, as tumblr now resizes png images/messes up the look on desktop for PNGs.

8) Add the banner to you post! 

I usually use the photo post option when using banners (Banner goes in the photo album part of the post, and the caption is my writing)

You can add the banner by clicking the camera button in the draft editor (press enter to create an empty line and you should be able to see it)

And then you’ll have the pretty line/text divider! 

Hope this helps if anyone needs it - if you need help with banners, I made a quick tutorial about using Canva + where to find images to use for banners!

[realcube]

randomly falling asleep with hq!! characters 💤

navi | masterlist | taglist 

thank you anon for this cute request!

characters: ushijima, tsukishima & yachi 

content warning: swearing, mentions of sexual assault 

thank you to anon for this cute request

wakatoshi ushijima

♡ he shows affection in his own...special way 😊

♡ by that, i mean that if you fall asleep while sitting next to him and he thinks you look cute, he’ll just stare (●__●)

♡ like deadass if he was anyone else, it’d be creepy as hell but he’s your bf so-

♡ he stares bc not only do you look precious, but he doesn’t want to touch you as he’s afraid that he might wake you up

♡ though, if you’re in public (like sitting next to him on the train) he might gently put his arm around your shoulders to make sure that onlookers know that you’re safe with him

♡ also, it only takes one time for him to catch on to your habit of disappearing and falling asleep in the most unconventional places and istg he is the BEST at guessing where you are - it’s a gift

♡ like he’ll arrive home and if you’re not there to immediately greet him with kisses, he’ll take a moment - let him boyfriend senses take over and walk him over to whatever room is giving him ✨(y/n) vibes✨, open the door and there is a 99% chance you are in that room sleeping 

♡ and he probably got it right first guess (which is a pretty big deal considering y’alls house resembles a sims fkn mansion made with motherload money)

♡ he’ll open the door to the storage cupboard to find you sleeping with the mr muscle spray and it’s such a shame bc he was going to be a clown and make a ‘why are you cheating on me?’ joke but you were in REM sleep 🙄

♡ or he’ll walk in to the conservatory and see you laying in the fetal position on the floor and that is the ONLY time he interferes with your sleep bc he doesn’t want you to fuck up your back 🥺

♡ like he has an obsession with your posture - like if you are slouched he will tell you to stand up straight or if you are sitting hunched in a chair, he’ll creep up behind you to start massaging your shoulders while fixing your posture 

♡ not to be rude though- just bc he cares

♡ also, he never questions how you end up falling asleep in the most random of places, he just goes with it 

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

ushijima sighed as he hung up his jacket, realising that this was one of those days were you won’t come scurrying to the front door to greet him with kisses and instead he had to hunt through in search of you. although, it wasn’t much of a hunt considering his gut instinct said you’d be in the study room and there you were, cuddled up by the bookshelf. 

however, your back was hunched over in way that didn’t look to comfortable so ushijima thought it was his duty to transport you to somewhere that there was a lot more appropriate and fit for sleeping.

so he gently slipped one hand behind your back and the other under your knees to slowly pick you up and carry you to your shared bedroom. is efforts may have been in vain though as he noticed one of your lids flutter open out of the corner of his eye, “good afternoon, sweetheart.” he hummed, steadily shifting his hand from your back to the back of your head to tenderly caress your cheek with his thumb as you cuddled into his chest. “are you awake?”

“No.” you groaned.

“Shame, I was going to suggest going out for walk on the beach--”

“I’m awake! Let’s go!” 

kei tsukishima 

♡ he probably calls you lazy but he’s really just jealous of how well you can sleep

♡ coz he just lays in bed till 4AM staring at the ceiling 

♡ i imagine that if you were to fall asleep next to him in a crowded, bustling place - like on a train - he’d take off his headphones and clasp them over your ears so the loud announcements don’t wake you up  

♡ he doesn’t fall asleep on transport btw (not even planes) so don’t worry about missing your stop 

♡ though he’s not usually a fan of PDA, he’ll hold your hand without a second thought to lead you out the train when you’re still recovery from the post-sleep haze because of course he doesn’t want to lose you in the crowds of people or anything

♡ and if you have a cute lil sleepy face then he might take a picture but he’d probably edit the picture with snapchat or something and draw like a moustache on you, put a sarcastic caption or something then send it to you 

♡ (but he’d save an unedited version of the pic bc you’re adorable-)

♡ like tsukki leaves you on delivered most of the time on snapchat bc he believes if you have something important to say, you’ll just message him normally but the rare occasion you do get a snap from him, don’t get your hopes up bc there is a 99% it’s just something like a picture of you with a drawn on crown and the caption ‘sleeping beauty 🙄’ 

♡ ‘so you think i’m a beauty 🥺’

♡ then he leaves you on read

♡ he will not carry you under any circumstances in public btw

♡ and at home, if you were to fall asleep on the couch next to him while y’all were watching a movie, there’s a 50/50 that’d he carry you to bed 

♡ but if he doesn’t take you to bed, he’ll set down a pillow for you on the couch and shift you around so you were laying in a more comfortable position, then drape a blanket over you 

♡ in regards to when he comes back from work, you’re usually already asleep in bed - but there is one time that you were not in the bedroom, and he still teases you for it until this day 

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

most of the time, you’re sound asleep in bed by the time gets home but tonight you weren’t - in fact, you were no where to be seen. he had searched everywhere, called your phone multiple time and he looked at your schedule, but it appeared as though you were supposed to home right now - so hours, he was sitting fretfully on the couch, contemplating calling the police.

however, all his distressed pacing really worked up an appetite so he poked his head into the pantry to grab a snack but his soul almost left his body when he noticed you laying on the floor, fast asleep, with the cat curled up in your arms. who he didn’t even noticed was missing lol

usually, he wouldn’t even think of waking you up but the rage and shock that shot through his body resulted in him barking out, “what the fuck?! what are you doing here?! i’ve been looking all over this damn house for you and--”

he was cut off by the cat springing out of your arms from the surprising sharpness of his voice and scurrying off, leaving you confused on the floor on the pantry, half asleep, wondering how you got here and why tsukishima was yelling at you? “hm? what’s wrong, sweetie?” you hummed, rubbing your eyes while tilting your head up to look at his tall, slender figure looming over you in the doorway.

as much as tsukishima wanted to stay mad at you, upon noticing how cute your bedhead was along with how soft your voice was, he quickly realised that there was no way he could continue yelling you. so instead, he scoffed and slowly kneeled down to sit next to you on the floor, looking at you with kind yet concerned eyes as he inquired, “why were you sleeping in the pantry?”

it took you a moment to try and remember but once you did, you blurted out, “oh, berry was having trouble sleeping.” yes your cat is called berry. don’t question it. her full name is strawberry tsukishima shortcake. “so i cuddled with her in her favourite sleeping spot and she slept like a baby. but i guess i did too.” yo chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of your neck. 

tsukishima mentally cursed you out as he was expecting a silly explanation but shit that’s cute. why does he lowkey want to join y’all next time?

hitoka yachi

♡ gsrbtrhryh she gets so flustered and nervous when you fall asleep with her

♡ and she always does tbh bc she has no idea what to do 

♡ like she thinks you look so precious and angelic so she really wants to take a picture and - if she thinks you’d be okay with it - she clicks a photo and probably sets it as her background or posts it on her private story

♡ she is just so head over heels for you tbh that everything you do just astounds her 

♡ she just stares at you like ◉_◉ for half an hour bc you are so beautiful then something inside her just prompts her to lean in and just *mwah* and at first she is quite satisfied bc she has expressed her affection 

♡ but then a few seconds later her soul just leaves her body and guilt just washes over her 

♡  ‘OMG I JUST ASSULTED MY OWN S/O’

♡ she feels horrible 

♡ this close 👌 to calling the police on herself

♡ when you wake up, prepare to be bombarded with her apologies 

♡ once you reassure that it’d fine bc it was just a lil peck on the cheek and she is your girlfriend after all, it brings her the slightest peace of mind

♡ so you peck her cheek while she is asleep to call it evens and that basically fixes it 

♡ but anyway, she is so careful around you when you sleep - like she will literally do the most just to ensure that she doesn’t interrupt your REM sleep

♡ however, that can lead to extremely sticky situations - like the first time you ever fell asleep around her 

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

You were on the 5th movie of your barbie movie marathon when she looked over and noticed you had fallen asleep half way through, so she immediately paused it so the noise wouldn’t wake you up. This was the first time she had ever seen you sleep and she felt somewhat flattered that you felt safe enough around her to be vulnerable - even though, yachi never really considered herself to be a rather daunting or intimidating person.

she couldn’t help but just sit and admire you for a few minutes before realising that she should probably transport you to somewhere more comfortable as you were currently sitting next to her on the pink beanbag in her room. and although  it was kinda comfy, the preferable alternative - her bed - was only a few feet away.

so she knew what she had to do.

she hopped to her feet and before she did anything too hasty, she stretched to ensure that she wouldn’t pull a muscle while doing what she was about to try. she inhaled deeply before crouching down - instead of bending over as she remembered what coach ukai had told her, ‘lift with your legs!’ - then snaking her arms under your torso and knees.

then, she sprung back up and immediately rushed over to the bed as even though you weren’t too heavy, she was afraid that if she held you for too long, you’d wake up. so once she reach the foot of her bed, she tossed you on so your neck was being supported by her soft pillow and yanked her duvet over you. 

she gazed lovingly down at your cozy figure laying on her bed and she couldn’t help but smile.

[soonhoonsol]

Welcome to soonhoonsol’s gif tutorial!

As a nice anon asked me how I make my gifs, I thought it’d be cool to create an in-depth tutorial :) Perhaps this can help some others enter the gif-ing world too!

What we’ll be using for this tutorial:

Software: Bandicam, Avisynth, Photoshop CC 2018, Topaz Labs

File Format: .mp4

Operating System: Windows

Disclaimer: This is just my method. Every gif maker works differently and has different preferences. What works for me may not work for you, and that’s completely okay!

Let’s get into it!

1. Find the best quality video you can find

This really depends on the content you want to gif. For variety shows, music videos or photoshoots, any video of [1080p] should be sufficient. Try not to use anything below 720p.

For stage performances, fancams tend to have higher resolutions [1440p, 4k]. Use these if your computer can handle it. If not, usually 1080p works fine. The best option would be to download .ts files, which provide clearer and less grainy videos.

For Seventeen, you can get .ts files from The Rosebay on Twitter :)

2. Screen recording

As a Windows user, I don’t have a built-in screen recorder on my laptop. So, I use Bandicam, which is a free screen recording software. The only con to it is that it has a watermark.

To combat the watermark, I always have the boundary box a little bigger than the video itself so that I can crop it out of the gif.

This is what the recording would look like:

Just record the scene(s) that you want to gif so your video file doesn’t end up too large! Your recording should be in .mp4 format.

(You may use pure .ts files in Avisynth but it never worked well for me so I usually screen record the .ts video and move on)

You can find your recorded videos in Documents > Bandicam.

3. Avisynth

I followed THIS tutorial to download Avisynth. This software is really helpful if you want sharp and clear gifs! I recommend to follow the steps in the tutorial as the below method stems from it.

- Once you have downloaded it, open up your recorded video from Step 2 and watch it. Take note of the duration you want to gif. (e.g. from 00:01 to 00:05)

- Drag your video file into normalwebrange.bat. On Windows, you can find this in File Explorer > Local Disk (C:) > video. For other .bat files, you may check out THIS tutorial.

- In the pop-up box, key in the start time for your gif (e.g. 00:00:01). It has to be in hh:mm:ss format. Press “enter”.

- Key in the end timing and press “enter” again. A resizer should pop up in an Internet Browser. I found that Firefox works best for me.

- In the resizer, you may indicate the size of the gif you’d like to make. You can also click and drag the video to resize and frame it to your liking. You may refer to THIS post for Tumblr dashboard sizing.

(These are some common gif sizes for stage performances):

1 gif - 540px by 540px (square)

2 gifs - 268px by 350px

3 gifs - 177/178px by 250px

- Under “Preprocessor”, select “debilinear” for the second box. For the first box, you may pick between qtgmc 30 (same frame rate as video) or qtgmc 60 (doubles the frame rate; smoother).

- You will also see “fast” or “slow” options. These are just how long the video will take to render. “Fast” will give you slightly lower quality as compared to “slow”, but usually is good enough.

(You can see that his features are sharper and more defined in the “slow” gif as compared to the “fast” one.)

- Copy the code in the white box. Navigate to the scripting window (it should have popped up with the resizer) and paste the code at line 17. Type a “#” before qtgmc on the same line. This will prevent the software from lagging.

- Click on the inverted triangle at the bottom of the screen. Your video will now appear in the scripting window. Drag the slider to the intended starting point of your gif and press the “home” key on your keyboard.

- Drag the slider again to the intended ending point of your gif and press the “end” key on your keyboard. This blue area you see is the duration of your gif.

- On an empty line (I usually go to line 8), place your cursor there and click “Apply” in the mini pop-up window. Afterwards, remove the “#” from line 17.

- Go to File > Save or press Ctrl + S to save the code. Close the scripting window. The video renderer will pop up. When it’s done, it will automatically close by itself.

4. Using Photoshop and Topaz

I’m using my school license for Photoshop 2018, but if you don’t have that, there are plenty of cracked versions for free. I don’t have any to recommend though so I’m sorry about that :(

I followed THIS video tutorial to download Topaz plug-ins for free. I use Topaz DeNoise (the most helpful) and Clean, but you may use others if you’d like :)

Alright, let’s dive in to the steps!

- Open up Photoshop and go to File > Import > Video Frames to Layers.

- A pop-up will appear. You can find your deinterlaced Avisynth video in File Explorer > Local Disk (C:) > video > temp > video.avi. Follow the settings in the picture and click “OK”.

- Go to Window > Timeline to open up the timeline. You should be able to see your gif spread out in frames. If you press the play button, it should play like a video.

- (Quick optional step I learned from THIS tutorial) Go to Image > Canvas and set the Resample option to “Bicubic (smooth gradients)”.)

- Select the first frame of your gif in the timeline. Shift select the last frame. Go to Window > Layers. Shift select these layers as well.

- With everything selected, click the 3 lines at the top right corner of the timeline. Select “Convert to Video Timeline”.

- At the top of the screen, select Filter > Convert for Smart Filters. Your layers will condense into one layer. Don’t worry, your gif is fine.

- Now it’s time to sharpen the gifs. Go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen. Play around with the settings to your liking!

- If you’ve downloaded Topaz correctly, it should appear under Filter > Topaz Labs. If a pop-up asks you for an activation key, you may use THESE to activate it for free.

- Go to Filter > Topaz Labs > DeNoise and/or Clean and play with the settings until you’re satisfied.

5. Blurring

If your gifs have captions/logos that are distracting, you’d want to blur them out. Don’t be like 2018 me that blurred out the logo frame by frame; it’s very tiring. Instead, using this method from @scoupsy‘s tutorial, you’ll save lots of time.

- In the Layers tab (Windows > Layers), select the “New Layer” icon. It should be blank.

- Select the Brush tool. Make sure the “Hardness” setting is below 20%. This will blend the blurring nicely into the gif.

(For the sake of this tutorial, I will be blurring out the Bandicam logo to show you.)

- Paint over the captions/logos. Make sure this is on the blank layer!

- Duplicate (Right Click > Duplicate) the gif layer and drag it so that it’s on top of the blank layer.

- Right click on the duplicate layer and select “Create Clipping Mask”.

- Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and play around with the settings until you’re satisfied with the level of blurring. Click “OK”.

6. Flattening & Colouring

- Once you’re done with sharpening and/or blurring, click on the 3 lines on at the right corner of the video timeline and go to Convert Frames > Flatten Frames Into Clips.

- Topaz layers and blurring will take some time to render so you can just chill for now~

- When it’s done rendering, click again on the 3 lines and go to Convert Frames > Make Frames From Clips.

- Convert it back to the gif timeline by clicking on the 3-box icon at the bottom left of the timeline.

- Select the first frame of your gif. It must be the FIRST.

- Scroll to the top of the layers and select the layer at the top. Any other layers you add should be on top of this layer. VERY IMPORTANT!!

- In the Adjustments Tab (Window > Adjustments), there are many different things to play with. There’s a high chance you won’t use everything, but here’s a few of my favourites.

Levels - Adjust the brightness and contrast of your gif in depth.

Hue/Saturation - Useful for changing colours, or switching it to black and white.

Color Balance - Tweak the colours to your liking.

Colour Lookup - Comes with built-in LUTs that you can use as a preset. Great starting point for colouring. Saves time too. You can even download plug-ins for this. 11/10 tool.

Selective Colour - Adjust the vibrancy of specific colours.

- Colouring is completely up to the gifmaker. Go crazy go stupid :D

7. Exporting

We’re almost to the end!

- Set the timing for your gif.

If you used qtgmc30, the best timing would be 0.04s / 0.05s / 0.06s.

If you used qtgmc60, the best timing would be 0.02s / 0.03s / 0.04s.

- Once you’re satisfied with everything, go to File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy).

- Follow the settings in the picture below:

- Tumblr’s gif limit is 10mb per gif. Check the gif size at the bottom left of the pop-up window. Make sure it’s below 10mb; the smaller the better.

- Click “Save”. Choose where you’d like to save the gif.

- Done!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that’s it! You’ve successfully made a gif! Good job you :D

I hope this tutorial was helpful! Please leave some feedback if it helped, or if you have other methods you’d like to share :)

Lastly, if you have any questions, feel free to send in an ask or DM me!! :)

Good luck and happy gif-ing :’D

[mehrunesdaqon]

Sweetest of Dreams - OBEY ME (part 2)

Undateables x reader / Obey Me

Warnings: no Luke, suggestive themes, how would they react to reader half naked?

Brothers Version

SIMEON

You were used to having little pajama parties with Simeon and Luke at Purgatory Hall often, Luke always fell asleep quite quickly and that left you and Simeon to watch shows and gossip together for the rest of the night. This time though Luke had stayed over at Diavolo’s to practice some baking with Barbatos, thus leaving you and Simeon alone. He might be an angel but you’re most certainly not, and purposefully wore an extra tiny and tight pajama to take advantage of your time alone with Simeon. It didn’t go unnoticed by him how the fabric of your clothes hugged every part of you, the sheer silky fabric hinting at the burning red color of your underwear. He could barely pay any attention to what you were saying, his mind racing and heart hammering as he pictured what your lips would look like wrapped pretty around him.

BARBATOS

You were staying at Lord Diavolo’s castle for some time and Barbatos tended to your needs, he took care of you and of your things perfectly. It was late at night and your very human body was tired and fast asleep in your bed, Barbatos was supposed to pick up your uniform and sew a minor tear on it, he gently pushed your door open as to not wake you and beelined to where you left it neatly folded for him. With your uniform in hand he turned around to notice you had shifted in your sleep and were now half exposed for his eyes to feast on. One of the straps of your lingerie set was hanging down your shoulder, Barbatos hooked it under his finger and gently, slowly, tugged it up your shoulder again, thinking about how fun it would be to do it with you awake and squirming under him.

DIAVOLO

Diavolo loved showering you in mountains and more mountains of gifts, he gave you new things everytime he saw something and thought of you, which is all the time. This time you came home to find a pretty black box with a perfect golden bow sitting on top, containing a black and gold lingerie set complete with garters and a mask, to match the box itself. You giggled to yourself and tried it, checking your reflection in the mirror, Diavolo knew you so well. You wanted to make him excited for later and to let him know how much you liked his gift, so you quickly took a photo of your reflection on your full body lenght mirror and sent it to him him a cheeky caption. Diavolo received it in the middle of a meeting and had to keep quiet and put on a smile, pretending like he wasn’t impossibly tight on his pants at the moment. His kingly duties took up most of the time of the day and when he arrived you were soundly asleep, still in the set, he was going to make up for it once you woke.

SOLOMON

Solomon loved the fact that you were the only humans around, it gave him some type of leverage over all the demons, he knew and understood you in a way they never ever can. He’s used to coming to your room at night unannounced through the window, so none of the brothers know he’s there and bother the two of you, bother him. Your day today had been extra tiring and as soon as you undressed out of your uniform you immediately crashed into bed, blacking out, the covers just barely up your thighs, leaving you almost completely exposed. Solomon as always came through your bedroom window and raised a very amused eyebrow upon seeing your state, oh he could not let this opportunity slide, not a chance in hell. With a smirk plastered on his face he made his way to you slowly, savoring the moment (and the view) before he got close enough, he hooked his finger in the lacy strap dangling from your shoulder, pulled it back a little and let it go, with a “pop” to your skin. You woke up in a jump, sitting up looking around with wide eyes only to be met with Solomon’s hooded gaze and soft laugh. He made his way to you once again, holding your face by your cheeks with his hand, grip almost painful. Time seemed to slow down, his movements surgically calculated as he placed a long kiss to the corner of your mouth, taking in your surprise with great delight before whispering low in your ear, “What’s wrong sweetheart? Cat’s got your tongue, hm?”.

[iturbide]

So, in the Spite Project we have Dimitri recovering in the Alliance during the time-skip, Claude even argues that while it is a selfish thing to do Dimitri should be selfish because the people have asked so much of him and he needs to heal to do good. Then we have the fix-it fic, where Edelgard has to go through a painful process of change where most of her friends and allies turn their backs on her for the sake of the world. I want to take you in good faith, but this feels a bit mean spirited.

So, I'm willing to take you on good faith here and try to explain this, because I really think that the issue is this: you seem to think that treating all characters fairly means treating them all the same way, rather than specifically addressing their individual needs. And this is not the fair way to handle them.

Think of it this way: you have two people that want to watch a movie in a language neither one speaks. How do you handle that? Do you find a version dubbed over in the language they do speak, or do you preserve the original language track and turn on subtitles? They both have their pros and cons -- it can be hard to keep up with subtitles sometimes, especially when they includes notes on cultural nuances, but dubbing can lose cultural nuance if there's no equivalent in the target language (and that's not getting into how different language tracks can have strikingly different levels of quality). So which one do you choose?

Whichever one you picked, you're going to make one of the two unhappy.

On the surface, the question of how to approach it is simply a matter of preference -- but it doesn't factor in the individual needs of the people that want to watch. One has an auditory processing issue, making it hard to catch everything; they need subtitles in order to follow the dialogue at all, and without them they're not going to enjoy the movie because they're not able to keep up. The other person, meanwhile, has difficulty looking at screens for long periods of time, so having to keep up with subtitles will give them a splitting headache; they need the dub so that they can disengage periodically and still be able to hear dialogue in a language they can understand, and with subs over the original language track they're either forced to risk a migraine or lose track of what's happening because they don't understand the spoken words.

(Arguably the most fair solution is "do captions over the dub" but a lot of movies don't do captions and subs, they do subs only, which means that there are going to be places where the subs and dub don't match and that in itself is jarring but that is not the point here.)

Now, you're concerned that it's mean-spirited for Dimitri in the Spite Project to be treated one way while Edelgard in the Pre-Timeskip is treated in another way. But my concern is that you're looking at them in these situations as though they have the exact same needs, and I do not feel that's the case. They are two very different people, from two very different backgrounds, with two very different kinds of trauma and associated trauma responses, not to mention the mental health component that's much more pronounced in Dimitri than it is in Edelgard. Because of that, what they need as individuals to address their trauma, learn to cope, and finally begin to heal, is going to be very different: therapy is not one-size-fits-all, and the first step is always admitting there's a problem (which is why therapy generally doesn't work on someone who doesn't think they need it, even if they arguably do).

Let's start with Dimitri. He is a young man who lost his mother before he really had a chance to know her. He gained a stepmother in Patricia and a close friend in Edelgard during her time in Faerghus, though the latter ended in a bittersweet parting as she had to return to the Empire. Two years later, at the age of 13, he lived through the Tragedy of Duscur where his father, his close friend and personal guard Glenn, and everyone else in the party was presumed dead (he understandably believes Patricia died but we learn that's not the case much later): he suffered not only physical trauma (burns and a likely concussion leading to his loss of taste/ageusia) but mental and emotional trauma (survivor's guilt and PTSD), exacerbated by the dismissal of his first-hand account that ultimately led to Duscur's effective destruction in retribution for the Tragedy. Two years after that at age 15, Dimitri's uncle Rufus -- acting regent of the Kingdom, since Dimitri was not legally of age to ascend the throne -- ordered him to put down a rebellion in the western territories, leading to his first arguable mental break where he ruthlessly cut down the rebel faction despite the minimal threat they posed; this in turn led to Felix calling him a beast and a boar and piling further guilt and shame onto the teenage prince.

There's also a cultural context to take into account: Dimitri has spent the past four years since his father's death not only burying his unaddressed trauma associated with Duscur, but getting rapidly brought up to speed on how to lead the Kingdom of Faerghus so that he can ascend the throne as soon as he comes of age. While there were certainly those who did not approve of Lambert and his policies, a far greater number loved him dearly, and Rufus is not a well-loved regent during his short term in charge. Dimitri has effectively been groomed to put his own needs and feelings second to those of his people because of this treatment: he was not believed when he tried to defend the people of Duscur, his trauma associated with the Tragedy went unaddressed in favor of preparing him to take over leadership, and when he finally shows signs of his own distress, he's criticized for it by someone who had once been a close friend. This has led him to repress everything negative within himself, speaking rarely if at all about his personal feelings or troubles until the pressure becomes so great that he can no longer hide it.

So, to sum it up: Dimitri has suffered a combination of physical, mental, and emotional trauma, all of which he has been conditioned to repress with the message that his personal needs are secondary to the needs of the Kingdom's people. This eventually manifests in attempts to satisfy the voices of those who died at Duscur by viciously eliminating Imperial forces with the ultimate goal of taking Edelgard's head: even the desires of the dead outweigh his considerations for his own life.

Then we have Edelgard. She is a young woman who was very close with her father, something we can glean from context cues in how she speaks of and to him in the secret coronation. When political unrest began brewing in the Empire, her uncle secreted her out of the country for several years, where she made a new friend in Dimitri before her uncle brought her back home to the Empire. Once there, her happy homecoming instead became a nightmare as she and her ten siblings were confined beneath Enbarr Palace and subjected to torturous experiments at the hands of Those Who Slither, bankrolled by the nobles who had stripped her father of his power and leaving him unable to help his children as they died one by one, leaving Edelgard as the sole survivor. Driven by her hatred of the three powers that led to the situation -- the nobles who wanted an unassailable pawn of an Emperor, the Twisted who conducted the experiments and therefore had her family's blood on their hands, and the Church of Seiros run by monsters whose societal system valued Crests over human lives -- she ultimately allied herself with the enemy faction that could grant her enough power to make the changes she believed needed to be made in order to change the system, fully intending to stab them in the back once her other goals had been achieved.

There is, again, a cultural context to consider here. The Empire and the Kingdom have some of the most toxic approaches to the Crest System that we see in the game, and it has ruined countless lives in both nations. Edelgard's own life has been destroyed in this way: she lost her siblings to the Great Nobles' desire to create a Major Crestbearer that they could put on the throne, and therefore has every reason to hate the Crest System crafted by the Church of Seiros to the point of wanting it razed to the ground: without that bias, there would have been no reason for her family to undergo those experiments, meaning her siblings would still be alive. Her trauma has left her determined to destroy the existing social systems, created by non-human forces, and replace them with something crafted by human hands -- and in her mind, there is no cost that outweighs the benefit of that ultimate goal.

So in summary: Edelgard has suffered a combination of physical, mental, and emotional trauma, all of which she has used to fuel a determination to change the world by undoing the influence of Crests and the Church of Seiros that enshrines them. This ultimately manifests in her seizing power in the Empire and ordering an attack on the Church, condemning those not from the Empire or who do not immediately ally with her as enemies, and conquering her way through the Leicester Alliance and the Kingdom of Fodlan based on her belief that her way is best for Fodlan.

Are there similarities between these two? Yes: they are both victims of extreme trauma, and neither of them have had that trauma addressed in the years following the events. But so many other factors, including their coping responses, are wildly different, such that if you tried to give them the same treatment only one would benefit.

Dimitri, who has constantly repressed his own needs for the sake of others, needs to have his health and personal feelings validated rather than shunted off to the side as less important than some other matter. He needs an opportunity to get out from under the pressures placed on him since Duscur, develop some healthy coping mechanisms, learn how to self-advocate and enforce personal boundaries, so that he can unpack and deal with the trauma he suffered. Now, if you tried to take this same validation approach with Edelgard, it would only further enforce her view that she is right in her belief that dragons are inhuman monsters that need to be eradicated and that the Church of Seiros needs to be wiped out and replaced: it would entrench her yet more deeply into what's already a toxic mindset, and make her more determined than ever to see it through regardless of the cost.

On the other hand, Edelgard's first issue is that she does not recognize that there's a flaw in her mindset. She wants to reform Fodlan, but by her own admission she's willing to drag people into a conflict they had no part in because in her view those sacrifices are necessary to achieve her goal. It's part of her trauma response, no doubt -- but it's also a very toxic one that needs to be confronted. The first thing that needs to be done with Edelgard is make her recognize that there is a problem: the flaws in her logic and her beliefs need to be highlighted, and she needs to be pushed to try to understand other people rather than locking herself in an echo chamber that's constantly reinforcing her beliefs. Challenging Edelgard is the first step toward making her realize that she needs to change -- but that same approach has already been used on Dimitri: arguably that's what Felix did with his confrontational response toward Dimitri's mental break...and it led to Dimitri further repressing his trauma out of guilt and shame.

I also don't understand the claim that I'm not treating Edelgard kindly in Pre-Timeskip. Edelgard makes a personal decision that directly and negatively affects the lives of her allies, and she suffers consequences for it: that's not unkind, it's a logical follow-through based on what she personally did. And at no point is she expelled from the group, either: she is confronted with the fact that her beliefs were wrong -- that her allies are not, in fact, thrilled to have their lives put on the line for her personal ambition, especially since she never told them what she'd been planning -- and then given every opportunity to learn from the mistake she made and try to repair the relationships her choices and actions damaged; in the end, because she personally puts the necessary work in, she is able to do so. This is exactly the same approach that I've taken with Grima in Askr: the only difference is that Grima erred toward self-isolation at the beginning and needed to be coaxed into interacting with others. They are well aware that they have committed atrocities that cannot be forgiven, and they do not seek forgiveness from those they harmed: they only seek to do better here with the opportunity they've been granted. Edelgard, too, has every opportunity to change and do better -- and the key factor is that she takes it, learning from her mistake, starting to open up more and listen to the people around her rather than making assumptions based on her personal beliefs.

So ultimately, you're right: I have taken very different approaches to helping Dimitri and Edelgard in these two stories -- because they are two different characters who require two different approaches when it comes to addressing and overcoming their traumas. There is no one-size-fits-all therapy, and so there can be no one-size-fits-all story mold for them. I'm simply doing the best I can, based on their individual character traits and personalities, to give them the opportunity to heal and grow.