#and it cuts off abruptly

[yzafre]

Things I should have been doing with my creative time: writing

What I did instead: started on.... this thing

[roserocksrapidly]

Never ever ever ever ever ever in my life getting over the way these panels in vol 10 parallel each other. Just btw

[frogayyyy]

Sneeze Counting 2024

one of my new year's resolutions for 2024 was to count how many times i sneezed. and because i can't be normal about anything, here we are:

time for some ✨analysis✨

(note that week 10 is the beginning of the pollen season, and week 22 is the start of the highest peak of grass pollen 👀)

i kept track of the sneezes using a tally counter and then updated a spreadsheet every week. there's some more data and graphs here:

the pollen data is just an average taken from a 'pollen calendar' i found, so it's not completely accurate for this year, but it's still interesting to see the correlation (especially with grass pollen). if i do it again i'd definitely keep track of the pollen count too.

to sum up, in the words of mark watson, taskmaster s5e5:

if you read this far,, bless you.

[bororaurealis]

wyd when my gang pull up??😈😈‼️‼️

maybe i should start doing something a little more productive than working my fingers to the bone making aurora shitposts... woah what was that?? i guess it must've been the wind

[puppppppppy]

Dear Wormwood PART 1

(slight tw for bright color at the end)

[summerscaries]

If iwtv s3 doesn’t open with Lestat doing a genius lyric breakdown video or wired autocomplete interview mimicking s1 opening with the Daniel Molloy ad,,,, that’s a missed opportunity

[lynxfrost13]

I listen to The Red Gate by 1000 eyes for the hit game signalis and I try not to ugly cry about it

[poorlilpubby]

Yeah I have an intox kink

Getting drunk myself? I mean yeah its good

But seeing my partner so fucking wasted that all they can do is put their dead weight on me as they slowly grind into my ass? A normally well-mannered person becoming so depraved and saying things they never have before.

"Champ, can you do Dad a favor?" Before they pull my waistband down

[badnewswhatsleft]

dance dance mv — making of

[part 1 of 2. flip me over]

[huggywuggysuppy]

What If Wizard Gem Stayed Corrupted?

This one's for you @nach0-reblogs

Corrupted Wizard Gem! Her anti-conflict fears replaced with burgeoning confidence and even more denial towards needing help! I think she'd probably go for the empires crown, maybe even steal it directly from fWhip. Normal Gem is uninterested because she doesn't want/need anything from the other empires, but Corrupted Gem would have the ambitions necessary to demand things. Maybe building resources to grow her kingdom, or a unique magical tribute offered from each empire (Sausage's staff, Shrub's spirit mask, etc.) who's removal & hording would cause a lot of local crises. She wouldn't be overthrown quickly (unlike, say, Scott) but would instead cause a lot of lore and storylines (like, say, Lizzie.)

Stealing it from fWhip could create soooo much angst and story potential: maybe she finally snaps at him and calls him weak, or worse, constantly getting them both into trouble /neg. Taking the crown keeps him safe, as she ultimately loves him & her alliance members, but is also terribly mean and controlling. He'd probably support her anyway, but when the time comes, he'd deny a command (just as she did under his rule but angstier) letting the crown get stolen while simultaneously creating a window for the cure. He'd 100% comfort her after her loss, and it'd be really cute and they'd have a heart-to-heart.

Most empires would be daunted by Gem's skill and overwhelming confidence, so it would come down to the bold (Joey, Jimmy) and the loving (Sausage, Pearl) to confront her. Since the corruption is Xornoth related, Scott or Shrub probably get in on things, but nervously and "let's do this as fast as possible." You could get a lot of mileage out of Sausage besting her in combat / even killing her, paralleling her freeing Sausage from Xornoth earlier. Wizard Gem's fatal flaw is denial, so she probably pushes off fWhip trying to talk her down her whole reign and is then surprised when he resists & forces her to take the cure. Lasting consequences? Maybe some buildings get set on fire (with campfires/fire tick off) and Gem's lofty exasperation is brought down a peg or two as she admits she's just as susceptible to foolishness as the rest of them.

Man, I love Empires and Geminitay. If you somehow found this in the wild, I have a longer Wizard Gem analysis I'm super proud of. Thanks for reading!

[diah-the-demon]

inspired by that one post that went by recenetly

[ashes-fur-andteeth]

Day Five: Fairytale

@nomae-week-2024

[vaguely-concerned]

I really can't say enough good things about the expression work they did with rook in this scene, the way you can see it all dawn for them and all the little nuances along the way. I've had some trouble at points to get rye's more distinct features to play nice with whatever the facial animation setup is (still always tweaking. every day in every way we get closer and closer etc., getting the mouth to move just right is such a struggle for many scenes lol), but in this it really worked out. perfectly. yeah, that is exactly how he would emote and I would DIE for him. just. look at him. his hard tight little mouth like a child furiously holding back tears. the shifts between vulnerability and anger, the swell of fury rising through that angry option. the way you can see his eyes go wide at hearing the companion's voices and how he immediately realizes that joining them means leaving varric behind. the warring emotions at 'you're not alone' -- confusion, wanting to protest, knowing varric is right but maybe not quite how yet. so much of the arc I'd envisioned for Rye going in hinged on this scene, and I'm so glad that when I got there it worked out so well. yeah. that's how it happened.

(I also like that you can see how tough it is for varric to be faced with 'I can't do this alone' and having to let rook down, in a way. it's the one time he glances away from rook not contemplatively but reflexively. looking up at the path they're going to have to walk -- without him. having to send them off with nothing but words and hope and your faith in them, because you can't be there with them anymore. and he only lets himself look sad when rook turns their back to him for a moment. the parent feelings in that. ouch aou aough I'm. fhsdjkfhas. ow. considering how little time rook and (plausibly real) varric actually spend on screen together, they really pack the animation so full of information and meaning when you look closely.)

also a true blink and you miss it moment but uh

yeah. sure solas wants to be a hero deep down. sure he deserves a second -- third?? fucking millionth????? -- chance to redeem himself. and I'll totally be the person to give it to him. don't you worry about it varric. you just rest now. I'll be taking it from here fhdsakj

extra heartbreak detail for the road: when varric tells rook not to get misty-eyed on him...

it's because they are actually visibly tearing up. so fuck me I guess

(also I know I'm always saying this lol allow me my broken record moment, but big shoutout to Jeff Berg for his voice acting as American masc Rook, this performance really has become so incredibly dear to me so quickly)

[volivolition]

"So you agree?" "That's right..." "What a waste of a lovely night~"

(^ the guy who is filling the brainspace with stars)

[drowning-in-cacophony]

gentle like a wave

Written for @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt 269: Living Weapon

[Summary: it's not as easy as thought to use this weapon]

“Bloody hell,” one of the men breathe, bug eyed and gaping. She sighs and places down her shears – her flower dead-heading is clearly a job that’s going to have to wait for another day.

They’d burst through the waterfall with gleaming guns and preposterous postures. The same story, then, and she reads that truth in the leader’s eyes as he blusters his way forward, a demand already tracing the shape of his lips. There’s an ugly-looking moustache quivering above his upper lip. She crosses her legs, tucking her ankles neatly away, backed against her latest crop of flowers. Sitting down, she’s found, puts them on the back foot constantly. They expect one image; have no idea what to do with what she gives them.

They’re all clearly shocked by what they’ve discovered here. What story was it this time? A push through the water and there would lie a sword, enchanted beyond all measure. Splash droplets from hair and wrap a hand around the greatest machine gun in history. Wipe eyes and find a bomb that’d end all wars. The leader – a commander, by the badge on his lapel – has begun to put together the pieces. Behind the water, behind all the strife to get here, and you’ll find a weapon. And well, it’s not bloody likely to just be her shears now, is it?

“On behalf of the United Squadrons, I am requesting your use,” the Commander says, wobbling himself to his full height. She presses fingertips against the seam of her trousers.

“That’s not how we do things here, Commander,” she says flatly, and continues before she has to listen to any bluster. “Tell me what you want.”

His eyes water. At his side, his hand flexes, though the handgun tucked in his holster remains sheathed. She hopes it stays that way: threatening their way to what they want never works out well. “You are the thing we’re looking for?”

How am I meant to know if you won’t tell me what it is? But it’s obvious, since no-one other than old Nana ever comes here for other means, so she gives him a gentle incline to blow his heartbeat wild. A bead of sweat hangs like a pearl, suspended at his temple.

“Then you must understand,” he begins, quick-paced, a little sanctimonious. “There is a war going on out there and-”

“No. I said tell me what you want. Not what’s going on.”

The man blinks. Behind him, his soldiers too. She sees the nervous licks of their lips, the hungry ones too. How long have they travelled to find her? There’s a hollow sort of look to their cheeks, but then she finds the soldiers often do end up concaved in face. Cheeks first, then the skulls. Once, such a man had stumbled in here and died before he could even tell her anything. His broken skull, along with his better condition bones, lie underneath the oak tree some stone throw’s away.

At least, despite the blinking, he gets to the point. “I want your power.”

“To?”

“To-? To destroy the enemy, of course! To bring justice to the land, to restore order, to-”

“No.” She nods to herself. “Next.”

The Commander stares at her, mouth hanging open. It’s quite an unseemly look to the man, so she glances to the man hovering a few steps behind. Maybe he’s the next-in-command, standing slightly closer to denote that; mostly, she just finds the next face she can. One hand reaching up, she beckons him forward with a twitch of her fingers, a raise of her brow when his step falters. His eyes dart to his Commander, uncertainty spoiling blue eyes like a damn rainstorm.

“What do you mean next?” the Commander blurts out with, cheeks going steadily red. “Didn’t you listen to me? I said-”

“I heard.” Her tone creaks, an old floorboard in distaste. “I’m not convinced by you.”

“Not convinced? Lady, do you know who you are talking to?”

She blinks, once. “Next. I won’t ask again. Either it’s next, or you’ll all leave.”

“We most certainly will not, not until you have-”

“Remember what you have come for.” Her voice now is gentle, in the way the sea goes before a massive wave rushes in to sweep a land clear. The Commander freezes, a man well acquainted with the gentle sort of danger. His throat throbs, a pulse she can see, easy enough to rip out. His eyes bulge, fish-like; she watches his thoughts go through him like the water from the waterfall.

There is this: the Commander might be the sort she doesn’t deal with, but he knows when to step back.

Stiffly, mind you, with his own distaste echoing around his face, loud as a church’s bell. Bewildered for a moment, his second is left standing on the precipice. There is a space to be filled, and she waits with expectation.

This second man takes a deep breath and a small step forward. His gun, which had been mostly lowered from the moment they’d all locked eyes with her, goes completely slack to his side. She reads his threading nerves, pounding a sickening drumbeat behind his skin.

“Tell me what you want,” she says.

The man exhales, a gust of wind to graze her cheek. “I want you to help us free the people.”

She says nothing. The gap in which to be filled, and he does not disappoint in understanding the intention. Cautious words, stalking a deer through a crispy field, he keeps on speaking.

“They suffer under a regime. I don’t know if what we intend will be better – I can’t predict it – but I know I want to try and make a place better than what it is. I want to improve things, for them.”

She taps her fingertips against the seam. “Thank you for your inquiry,” she says, and purses her lips. The man understands this too, bowing his head and waiting in silence, even as his Commander makes a few huffing noises somewhere behind him. She flexes her other hand, fingers weary already.

But this is how the agreement must go. They can ask, and if they give her an answer that meets her requirements, then she has to say yes, weariness or not.

A weapon cannot be too tired to fire, after all.

She raises her head, and gives him the answer.

[kbthebearcat]

WHEW BOY I have been sitting on this animatic for 2 YEARS 🙃.

I first posted this as a WIP on DA here and I planned on finishing it way sooner, but I never got around to getting back to it until now. I think the main factors that made me procrastinate so much was that for a long time I didn’t know how to fill in certain gaps of the animatic. I didn’t know how I wanted it to look… Then I finally chipped away at it again maybe last year? Or several months ago… and I finally filled in the rest of the gaps. And then, because I felt like the audio was too low, I wanted to put subtitles to make sure you knew what they were saying. But then that became too tedious, which made me stall more… and eventually I just decided to amplify the audio to make it louder, and ditch the subs. And now we’re here. I see things that could be better/fixed and made to look nicer, but I’m calling it done lol. Overall, I do still like how this came out, and even though it’s really janky and messy. Audio was taken from here!