#anyway!!! turned this image into a shitpost just for you. enjoy

[lady-quen]

Had the pleasure of meeting @commander-wame 's Eldrid today in person, on which occasion we participated in the most enriching activity of beating up old drunken men in the Korakatt lodge.

Mael vc: "You're almost as striking as your hammer. They'll feel that one in the morning."

[starksvixen]

All Yours (Hawks Headcanons)

(A/N): This is literally a shitpost I made during my lunch break cause why not. Now accepting requests for My Hero Academia!

Warnings: Probably canon divergent, protective!Hawks, some sexual themes

Rating: 18+ (minors do not interact)

Quirk: Up to you

Pairing: Hawks (Takami Keigo) x fem!Reader

- So, in my head, there are probably charity balls that UA students attend along with pro heroes

- Yes, this is not in any of the mangas (at least ones I've read) or the anime but just pretend it is

- Anyways, you and Hawks have gone together for years as partners. I mean, the second and third-rated heroes should probably show up.

- As number three, you knew you could've been on night patrol but whatever, it's good PR.

- But that all changed when you and Hawks finally started dating after years of being hyperfocused on your perspective careers.

- So now the pressure was even higher to show up, it would've caused a scene if the number two and three heroes everyone shipped didn't come to support the random charity chosen for that year.

- And last year was a fucking disaster.

- Keigo never really paid any attention to the rest of the pro heroes flirting with you when you were just partners in the hero biz.

- In his head, you weren't his and as long as you weren't getting uncomfortable with the flirty advances, he had no right to get jealous.

- But that all changed when you were finally his.

- Last year's event was nothing but tension for him as the same pro heroes (*cough* and Mineta *cough cough*) continued to drool over you and try to flirt despite the very public relationship you two had.

- You managed to get Hawks to leave early that night before he pissed off any more top ranking heroes or squished the grape child.

- Needless to say, you had to take the next day off of work cause you couldn't walk ;).

- Despite all of the reassurance in the world, you could tell Hawks was trying to get out of this year's ball at any cost.

- So you decided to step in.

- After making sure Hawks was stuck in a meeting with number one so that he wouldn't spot you on patrol, you snuck into the city.

- Weeks before the ball, you worked with a seamstress to design your dress with Hawks in mind.

- After you had gotten your dress, you snuck back into his apartment, locking the door to your shared bedroom and putting it on.

- It was form-fitting, clinging to all of the curves you knew he enjoyed, the ones he would grip and admire on long nights.

- But it was still flattering, hiding the spots you didn't particularly want on display.

- It was a cross of midnight blue and black, similar to how the night sky looks. The back dropped down to your bum, exposing your back. Your front was v-shaped, exposing your belly button and putting on a pretty display.

- Stitched onto the long sleeves that adorned your arms and down your back were red-dyed feathers, the same colours that Hawks on his back.

- Once you had your hair dolled up the way you liked it, it was time for your next daunting task.

- Trying to mimic Keigo's marks on his eyes with eyeliner.

- Surrounded by different images you found online (and some you had taken on your own) and a stash of eyeliner, you got to work.

- Just as you had finished up, you heard the soft flutter of wings and the thud of your man landing in the living room.

- Quickly, you hid your stash where it had stayed the past few weeks.

- "Dove, why is the door locked?"; you could hear him jiggling the handle impatiently.

- "It's a surprise!" you said annoyed, but a small chuckle still follows as you lay out his tux on the California King.

- You slip into the bathroom and use your quirk to unlock the bedroom door before closing the bathroom door.

- "C'mon, (Y/N), I just wanna get this night done and over with."

- Once you were sure your look was perfect, you opened the door to see your angel of a boyfriend already in his tux, fixing his hair in the mirror that hangs on the wall.

- He spots you using the reflection from the mirror, quickly turning towards you, unsure if what he saw was real.

- With a soft smirk, you walk towards him with the swing of your hips, giving him a little twirl to show off the red feathers on your back.

- "Damn, chickadee. I don't know if I can let you leave the house looking this."

- Your pro hero boyfriend actually had a small red tint to his cheeks as a small tent formed in his pants.

- "Well, now everyone there will know I'm all yours."

- Now Hawks couldn't wait to show off his girl.

- The entire time, his arm was wrapped around your waist.

- "I still don't know how you got my marks so spot on."

- "That's my secret to keep, baby."

- You made small talk with all of the heroes there.

- When it came to the ones who had constantly flirted with you, Keigo seemed much more relaxed at their uncomfortable demeanour.

- You could only imagine what was going through his bird brain.

- Yeah back off bitch, she's mine.

- Of course, Midnight was obsessed with your look.

- By the end of the night, you walked out of there with Hawks and there was actually a smile on his face.

- Mission accomplished.

Extra:

- The tabloids were going absolutely wild at your outfit the next day.

- Your phone was blowing up because of it.

- That and the photos where you and Hawks were caught making out on your balcony at home.

- So when you tried to walk into Keigo's agency office, covered in hickeys from the night before, the paparazzi went wild.

- Once you finally made it to his office, there was the smuggest of smirks on his face.

- "You should definitely do your eyeliner like that more often, Dove."

[phoenixyfriend]

Madara and Obito... In SPACE

So the preface to this mess: I don’t know jackshit about Star Wars, so a lot of this went through friends who do know Star Wars (the primary of which does not have a tumblr).

(I have watched Episodes 7&8, and Rogue One. Of the first six movies, I remember watching maybe an hour total. I have not seen more than snatches of Clone Wars. Beyond that, nothing but fic.)

Anyway! Let’s go:

As y’all probably know by now, my favorite form of crossover is what I call “intrusive,” so... I'm enjoying the mental concept of "dump Madara on Coruscant and watch him go." (Prequels, probably.)

Does Madara know what's going on? No. Can he understand a word that's being said? No! Is he going to fight the first person to aim a weapon at him, and every person after that? Yes.

Is Madara fighting fit?

Nnnnnnnnnnnnnno, not really, he’s old as balls. This is "I was on cave life support but I'm getting back up to kick ass out of pure spite" Madara.

[Image description: A screenshot of a panel of the Naruto Manga. Uchiha Madara is old and visibly ‘decrepit,’ with spiky white hair and an amorphous black robe. He is sitting on a pale throne, and there is a scythe visible to the side. He has a speech bubble saying “I am... a ghost of the Uchiha.” End Description]

Two wrinkly old guys, staring each other down: There ain't enough room in this universe for the two of us. [Palpatine and Madara start fighting to the death]

Congrats, Palpatine! Your ass is getting kicked by a geriatric malcontent who doesn't speak any language you've ever heard or feel like literally anything in the Force. You may have Sith lightning, but do you have decades of frontline experiences and over half a century of cave-dwelling bitterness?

Both of them, simultaneously, in completely different languages: Get off my lawn, whipper-snapper.

Palpatine: Behold my mastery of the Dark Side, Foolish old man! Palpatine: [shoots lightning] Madara: Oh hey, you're like the seventeenth most dangerous person who can shoot lightning I've fought. Telekinesis? Fought that. Combat precognition? Fought that, have that, and let me tell you hwat, it doesn't help if you're opponent is just that much faster than you.

Now, I’ll take a step back and acknowledge that several people advised me that Palpatine would stand a chance against Madara, likely even win, if Madara just got hacked off of his life support and is down to one eye.

But. I want a shitpost, and also to clown on Palpatine, so Madara wins easily.

Madara also deserves to be clowned on, but the entire situation is clowning on him because he’s not in his cave anymore, and he really wants to go back to his Gedou Mazou statue.

Maybe Madara and Palpatine go Old Man Fight and then Obito just pulls a Ninja Move and kills Palpatine that way. Madara was ranting and Obito just. Ninjas behind Palpatine and slits his throat like “okay, you’re obviously evil so like... bye.”

(I just love causing "Wait what" reactions in characters that are used to having total control. Like. Have you read "Unexpected Guests"? The Bleach fic? Everything that happens in Hueco Mundo and after. That energy. I want that energy.)

Madara waves his scythe around like a cane. Obito just trails after like “Gramps, no” because it’s still pre-Sanbi, so he’s Mostly Innocent (you know, on the scale of how fucked up Obito is as a person), and just wants Madara to like. Stop.

Palpatine dies but nobody's sure what to charge Madara with since he did kind of expose a Sith? And Palpatine attacked first for [handwave] reasons?

Jedi: Well sir, in lieu of charging you with assassination of the emperor, we have decided to ask you politely to return to the elderly person's retirement home from whence you came. Please leave immediately. You are frightening the senate. Madara: [incomprehensible raving] Jedi: Yes yes, very interesting. Jedi, whispering: Does anyone know his caretaker???

Obito looks increasingly put-upon as events progress. You need Obito there to... well, not translate. Nobody can translate. But to at least poke Madara into being Slightly Less Homicidal.

Anakin seems sad about his friend dying and being evil so Obito challenges him to a spar. Madara and Obito get pulled into the Jedi Temple to help train Padawans? My first thought was "they wouldn't trust someone so obviously Weird, Crazy, and Incomprehensible around the younglings" and my second thought was "well they let Yoda do it and he's all those things so I mean? YEAH."

What if they put Madara in the bacta tank and he just freshened up like a daisy because of hand-wave Hashirama cell reasons (Blame Sir Tiddyface).

From “Decrepit and Reliant on Cave Tube Life Support” to “Will Call Down Meteors With Ease”

How many eyes does he have? Whatever’s funniest. Let’s say one Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and one Rinnegan, for maximum chaos.

Would "half my body is missing" Obito freak out if Bacta regrew his eye? Can bacta regrow something like that? When characters lose limbs they usually just get cybernetic replacements, but  the person I spoke with said that apparently they saw somewhere that that kind of thing can grow back it just takes a really long time.

I want to imagine bacta would help Obito with the Zetsu integration.

Anyway! Yes. Have Madara help train people despite being... Madara about it. You know... kind of a dick.

(I’d put example gifs but I don’t feel up to it. Y’all know what Madara’s “weakness disgusts me” ass is like.)

Obito had to get his "these fools could never make me sweat" sass from somewhere, after all.

Do you think Obito could fight the baby Jedi that are around his age while recovering? I have no idea what their skill level is at fourteen, but I want to imagine Obito sparring the Padawans.

Obito + Zetsu + Bacta = he still needs physical therapy but he can spar again!

Madara is delighted to have a baby ninja to bully. He's too old to not bully baby ninjas, and Obito is the only baby ninja. TBH Madara just makes Obito his assistant teacher.

Obito: What are we even doing here and how do we get home? Madara: I'm still working on that. Obito: But I want to go home and see Rin and Kakashi! Madara, who was like two days away from triggering the Sanbi plan: I'm working on it.

Something sticking in my mind rn is Ahsoka&Obito, since Obito is still Baby.

I think Obito would be excited to have someone his age that thought he was Cool and Talented for being able to do Chakra Things instead of writing him off as "the dead-last." Like, Rin is friends with him, but she doesn't look up to him as someone more/differently talented.  He'd be excited to get to be "The Mysterious Cool Big Bro" for once.

I feel I also just like the idea of Anakin not knowing what to do with someone Several Years Younger that is also. Ninja Skill.

Miscellaneous thoughts:

Madara is a grouchy old man even AFTER he gets effectively de-aged via bacta dunk, for the record. He's back in his prime and the Jedi have no idea how. They're all concerned about tiddyface*. (When are people not concerned about Sir Tiddyface, really.) The mokuton is a problem.

*Sir Tiddyface is that random Hashirama face that Madara had growing out of his pecs for like... convoluted bullshit reasons.

(Madara doesn't have mokuton, but he has enough Hashirama cells that it interacted very, VERY weirdly with the bacta.)

Obito spends the intervening weeks trying to learn the local language. He's very eager. Not particularly fast. Still doing it though!

I want Obito juggling kunai as physical therapy while he's waiting for Mads to get out of the bacta tank and just gains himself the adoration of a gaggle of small baby Jedi children.

Madara comes out of the bacta tank looking like he did in his prime (which I mentioned earlier but whatever), and it absolutely incites a yelling match of an argument that draws way too much attention.

Someone tries to teach Obito how to access the Force, just to see what happens. He almost turns into a statue because the philosophy behind Force meditation is only a few steps away from Sage Mode Meditation.

Anyway, Madara smacks him with a stick like Fukasaku to make sure Obito doesn't turn into stone.

Madara grumps about the lack of paper and brushes and ink. Bitches about it until someone hits up an antique store or something to get them for him. The day before he and Obito are dispatched on a mission with someone, probably Anakin for plot reasons, Madara very publicly seals things into a scroll and then tells them that no, they can't learn it, because the Force isn't chakra so fuuinjutsu won't work for them, so There.

Obito practices some Teen Rebellion (tm) and like, tries to teach the Padawan friends he's made how to do Chakra Things... but he's so bad at explaining things that nobody can get it to work even if it were possible.

In Obito's defense, language barriers. Not in Obito's defense, he's just really bad at words sometimes.

[unmanageable-day]

Come to me

masterlist

previous chapter: 21

PART 21.5 - next

Summary. After what happened in a relationship in the past, you found it difficult to trust someone with the gentleman image. ‘Gentleman’ seems like merely a concept and it was probably impossible for someone to be a genuine one. Now that you’re stuck with the number one gentleman at campus for a group project, how would you cope with the one and only Joshua Hong?

Genre. College!au, non-idol!au / friends to lover

Pairing. Joshua x y/n x S.Coups

WC / warnings. 2k / soft makeout sesh (can you call it that when no tongues involved??? or maybe its more like pecks session)

TAGLIST. @samemagicpoint​​ @unravellyn​​ @nonuuu​​ @seventeeneration​​ @skylions-den​​ @wooziverse​​ @infinitemoods​​  —  [ send ask or dm if you’re interested to be added in the list! ]

You found yourself being confused, sitting on a couch in a corner of a barbershop, flipping page after page of an outdated magazine mindlessly. Sometimes you stole a glance towards a man whose hair was getting cut and dyed. The man who dragged you there and made you accompany him. The reflection of him in the mirror threw a big smile at you.

"How do I look?" he asked as soon as he and you walked out of the barbershop.

"Just looking like S.Coups. What do you expect me to say?" You chuckled.

Grinning, he casually put his arm around your barely clothed shoulder. The direct contact to your skin simply got you flustered. This was the day you regret ever purchasing a skimpy top with spaghetti strap.

Early in the morning, a friend of yours, Somi, came crashing at your place, forcing you to go out with her. She even dug your closet to find an outfit that was not your everyday wear. And that was how the long forgotten floral sleeveless top was found. You cursed why it was found in peak summer season like this. It just made Somi so eager encouraging you to wear it. She even prepared a pair of jeans, mules, and a handbag that would match the top, according to her. And you can't say no when she looked at you with her pleading eyes.

"We will look awesome, Unnie. You see, the color of our top mixes so well together. We have to take pictures. I promise this cafe has the best ambience. You should update your insta, your feed is so dull because you shitpost too much on Twitter," she excitedly rambled.

You never wanted to go home so bad after Somi dragged you here and there until noon. The hot weather quite bothered you, especially that you felt more exposed than usual. Usually you would have your outer whenever you wore sleeveless shirt. Today was an exception because Somi hurried you and you couldn't grab an outer from the closet.

When Somi accidentally spilled some coffee and you may or may not have purposely wiped your hand that got chocolate sauce on your shirt, you thought it was a good chance to buy new clothes. The baby sister rushed you to the closest store, but you were wrong to think you could choose yourself. Because she immediately took 2-3 pieces of another sleeveless top even with spaghetti strap, pushed you to the changing room, and when you were done, she went straight to the cashier and paid the bill.

Wandering around the store before catching up on Somi, you intended to buy some outerwear. But your hands stopped as you were bewildered when someone called you. And it turned out to be Seungcheol shopping by himself. That was how Somi ditched you with a lame excuse because she got overly excited to see you with a fine looking guy.

"Afternoon snack? Boba milk tea?" Seungcheol offered with his gummy smile. He surely appreciated you waiting for him for more than 60 minutes at the barbershop.

These days you found yourself hanging out with him a lot. You surely remembered how flirtatious he was the first time you met him. He was definitely one person you wanted to avoid, or at least to not hang around with that much. Because, one, he was friends with Joshua Hong, and two, you can't stand him flirting and being cringey all the time. The weird thing was now you can't say no to him. This man strangely found his way to you and somewhat won a small part of your heart.

"Or maybe not?" you said as you looked up in the sky. The sunny day had turned into cloudy as the sky got darker. It looked like it was going to rain soon. The little handbag you carried cannot even fit a little umbrella you always brought anywhere anytime. Now you were panicking, already thinking to call a taxi to go home before it rained.

"I think it's wiser to go to my place since it's closer from here. I'll take you home when the rain stops."

"Your place?" you quietly asked, looking concerned. You remembered the three of them lived together. Joshua told you in the first weeks of your internship, about Jeonghan being sulky everyday because of how loud he was when the blender was working to made smoothies aka to provide your breakfast.

You were this close to running away with a taxi as little rain drops started falling and you could feel the cool breeze against your bare skin. Unfortunately not a single vacant taxi was sighted.

"Um.. nobody’s home. Jisoo and Jeonghan are going out," he explained, as if he could read your mind. The longer you took your time contemplating, the grey shade in the sky was getting more visible. Little rain drops started getting bigger and you were running out of choices. "Come on, we don't want you to get wet, do we?" Seungcheol gently took your hand and lead the way.

Again, you can't say no and you cursed yourself for being very indecisive. All you hoped now was this wasn't a bad idea, although you already had a not so good feeling about this.

"Phew, just in time," he remarked as the two of you reached the apartment lobby when the rain suddenly fell heavily. "Let's get upstairs, dry ourselves, and I'll lend you my jacket."

You shook, reassuring him that you were okay. "I'm fine," you said, wiping off the wet trace on your arms. But as soon as you entered the living room, you couldn't deny the chilly temperature that suddenly crept up your body.

"Towel?" he offered, handing over a pink colored fabric.

You muttered thanks as you continued wiping your arms and shoulders.

"Here, wear my cardigan." He tossed a black knit-wear before heading to the pantry to make some hot drink. "Don't just stand there. Go sit on the couch, turn on the TV or something," he chuckled.

You nervously made your way to the couch and sat up straight. Soon, Seungcheol joined you with two cups of hot peppermint tea. Seeing his cardigan crumpled in your hands, he took it and helped to put it around your shoulder. "Feel better?" he asked warmly as he adjusted his seat beside you. Nodding your head, you smiled back at him.

"The rain doesn't look like it will stop soon. Let's just wait a little bit longer, okay?"

It wasn't like you have other better choices anyway. Going home by bus or taxi and get drenched in the middle? No way.

"Is there anything you want to watch?"

"Not really. Just don't trick me to watch horror movies like Joshua did."

"He did that?" He chuckled. "That was messed up, I bet."

A nervous smile was curved on your lips. You were surprised yourself that you still remembered that one time watching movie with Joshua. That was something nobody ever knew. It just slipped off your mouth when Seungcheol asked.

His choice finally was a classic, award-winning movie. Seungcheol can't keep his mouth shut throughout the movie, commenting every scene or comparing with other movies. He subtly scooted closer, and the pointing gesture which he often does eventually decreased. His loud talking also started to become quieter.

"Why?" you spoke, noticing the sudden silent.

"Nothing." His lips pursed into little grin, his eyes finding yours. "Lean on me?"

At first you were hesitant. But there was something about him that always managed to mesmerize you. His opened arms, the warm smile on his face, and his soft gaze hypnotized you. The next thing you knew was you already resting your head against the crook of his neck, his arm looping around your shoulder, his hand fixing the oversized cardigan on you. You can smell his scent. Although the perfume did not have a strong aroma, it was quite fit to your liking.

The movie was reaching the end and post credit scene. Yet none of you did anything but enjoyed the silence with each other's company. You could feel Seungcheol's hand rubbing your upper arm gently. He clearly didn't have intention to release you from his embrace. In fact, he had never wanted to be as selfish as now.

"I wish the rain stops soon," you mumbled. You tried not to squirm too much. But not fidgeting at all didn't help to deal with the current situation. You started to wonder why you just threw yourself at him.

"I wish we can stay like this," he mumbled, almost whispering.

You pretended not to hear that. Suddenly you felt his lips slightly grazed against your forehead. You flinched but you couldn't go anywhere. His arm was still around your shoulder, securing you in place.

You knew this wasn't right.

"Um, we shouldn't.." you mumbled as you squirmed trying to sit up, hoping he would loose his firm grip but to no avail.

By the time you spoke breaking the silence, Seungcheol had readjusted his position, twisting his upper body so you were trapped between his arms. The back of your head stuck against the sofa, which you wished there was no headrest there so you could have escaped from this situation. Without warning but very slowly, he rested his forehead against yours, one of his hand creeping towards your hand that had your fingers curled into a fist. His thumb gave little rubs on the back of your palm, suggesting to be more at ease and also to open up so he could hold your hand properly. You could feel his minty breath as he leaned in closer and your noses brushed each other. In a matter of a second, his lips was pressed against yours then he slightly pulled away.

"I know I shouldn't.." he slowly whispered before going for another peck. Or two, which made you unconsciously gave in and shut your eyes as he sneaked his hand to hold the side of your exposed neck. And there goes another kiss. "But your lips.." Kiss. "So soft." Kiss. "And sweet." Kiss. "I think I could taste something like strawberry." Kiss.

You had no idea what had gotten into you accepting his kisses like this. You probably forgot how to breathe. If it wasn’t for the way he always took quick pauses between his kisses, you could have suffocated yourself. Not to mention, the way he gently rubbed the back of your hand, which somehow it worked to comfort you (and you probably will hate yourself for this).

What were you even thinking? Did he lead you on? Did you lead him on?

Slowly releasing your hand, his arm then made its way to wrap around your waist before finally planting the another kiss, a bit longer than the previous ones.

As he pulled away, you slowly opened your eyes and met his. The first thing you recognized was his long lashes and the thick brows. That was the first time you were struck by how pretty he was. Still holding you close, his hand traveled to tuck some hair strands behind your ear.

"Seungcheol, I..."

"Keep it." He cut your words with another peck.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Utterly shocked by the presence of someone else, you turned your head abruptly only to find certain someone to be as surprised as you were. "Jisoo.." you mumbled his name, your eyes quivering looking at him with the rest of the guys who dropped their jaws. You hurriedly released yourself from Seungcheol's arms and stood up. Yet you didn't know what to do. Should you explain what just happened? But then what is there to explain? And why should you?

Joshua didn't speak a word after that. He just locked his fiery eyes at Seungcheol, probably waiting for him to say something. Jeonghan and the other guys were nervous at the tense situation that they wouldn't dare to open their mouths.

You took a glimpse at Seungcheol. He was just standing beside you, one hand on his waist and the other one brushing his fringe. He looked like he did nothing. As if nothing just happened.

Jeonghan initiated to break the silence. "Y/n, it's still raining outside. Mingyu will take you home. Is that alright?" he asked you softly, approaching you then very subtly and gently pulling you away from Seungcheol.

You hesitantly nodded, not sure if you could just leave without saying anything. But what would you say at this point? Once again, you stole a glimpse both at Seungcheol and Joshua and weakly said, "Okay." before Jeonghan, Soonyoung and Mingyu escorted you out. 

[keen2meecha]

Novel Prep Tag: gifted

Thanks for tagging me, @aziz-writes! You’re a gem as always!

Note: I’m talkative, so most of my side comments are crossed out don’t mind me

First Look

1. Describe your novel in 1-2 sentences (elevator pitch)

After nearly failing the application test, a young girl rejected by a superpowered society for not having a superpower* of her own is accepted into Falks, a school that teaches kids how to be superheroes. But after an attack on the school nearly kills her and her classmates, she must learn to work with her new friends before one of her oldest friends is lost forever. 

(*’superpowers’ in this universe are called Gifts, and those who have them are called Gifted. The minority who don’t have Gifts are called Ungifted. The title is ironic and also a reference to a running joke Sofia has with herself)

2. How long do you plan for your novel to be? (Novella, single book, book series, etc.)

It’s the first book in a series! Right now I have four books, but since I’m a chronic overwriter, that may or may not have to be extended to five books.

3. What’s your novel’s aesthetic?

Honestly? Aesthetics aren’t really my thing, so I’m not sure. Maybe soft warm colors, that surprised flutter in your chest when someone gives you a thoughtful present, the ache after yet another workout, that scratchy feeling in your throat when your right on the edge of crying but no one else can tell? This started out as a lighthearted superhero story I swear-

4. What other stories inspire your novel?

If you’re an anime fan, you’ll probably look at the general premise of this and some of the basic details of some of the characters and go “Wait a second, that’s a lot like My Hero Academia” and listen. I know. It’s not the same plot though, I promise! Really, at this point, I’d like to think that it’s undergone so many changes that the two are pretty decently removed, but *shrugs*. I’m not as pressed about it anymore. 

I was also loosely inspired by Harry Potter, simply because my book also takes place throughout a school year, so I’m using Harry Potter as a frame of reference for pacing (theoretically). That being said, trans rights and fuck JK Rowling am I right?

5. Share 3+ images that give a feel for the novel

For the sake of saving space, I’ll not do that this go around. But imagine fireworks, a freshly brewed cup of tea, and an overwhelmingly expensive weight room and you’ve got a pretty good image of three important things in this book.

Main Characters

6. Who is your protagonist?

Sofia Smith! The Ungifted girl with a chip on her shoulder! Also an utter jock who usually wears athleisurewear and trust me, I’m as thrilled as you are about that. I don’t work out! I don’t even know what a healthy workout routine looks like! What have I done-

7. Who is their closest ally?

I’d say it’s a toss-up between Leona Kita, a girl she meets during the application tests who quickly becomes her new best friend and is not all that she seems, and Romilly Quirke, a teacher at Falks with whom she develops a close mentorship and is not all that she seems

8. Who is their enemy?

In the beginning, it’s Kyran ‘Kruze’ Cinege, Sofia’s childhood friend-turned-enemy. However, the turning point of the novel is when it’s revealed that while she and Kruze are always fighting (physically or not), there’s someone out there who’s actively trying to kill her and that person might be a more pressing threat than Kruze.

You may also see me occasionally mention The Prophet’s Daughter, who, like all of the important antagonists in this series, hilariously still doesn’t have an actual name. It’s fine. Everything’s fine.

9. What do they want more than anything?

To become the top Hero it’s not bnha you weeb

10. Why can’t they have it?

She’s Ungifted, so no one believes she can do it. Not only that, but also every single other person in her class at Falks is highly qualified - they’re the most promising kids in the country, after all - and also highly motivated to do the same, so she’s got... a lot of competition.

11. What do they wrongly believe about themselves?

That she can hold up the weight of the world on her own - worse, that she has to hold up the weight of the world on her own. Among other things

12. Draw your protagonist! (Or share a description)

Not an artist, but I can freely say that Sofia’s face claim is Amandla Stenberg (especially Hunger Games era Amandla Stenberg because, you know, high school).

Plot Points

13. What is the internal conflict?

She’s desperately lonely, but to admit she needs other people is to admit weakness, and to admit weakness is to admit defeat - something she absolutely cannot do. I mean, not really and it’s okay to ask for help, but she doesn’t know that. We’re working on it.

14. What is the external conflict?

Sofia is fighting the entire world to become a Hero and also someone is trying to kill her and her classmates. 

Oh and each book revolves around her relationship (platonic or otherwise) with one of what I call the ‘core five’ changing and developing in a radically game-changing way. In this book, it’s her and Kruze struggling to come to terms with elements of their past and maybe overcome their conflict to become friends again...? Except their both stubborn assholes and have been fighting for so long they can’t remember how to exist in the same room without one of them blowing up eventually (literally, in Kruze’s case) (I’ll probably talk more about the core five in a different post tbh)

15. What is the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist?

Oof. Well. If someone died on her watch, that’d be pretty bad for her. Good thing that’ll never happen though! Haha...ha...hm.

16. What secret will be revealed that changes the course of the story?

Of this story? Shit maybe they weren’t after me after all. The story as a whole? Wait, you’re my what?

17. Do you know how it ends?

I actually have the epilogue of the last book already planned out! I will cry when I actually write it. But the end of the main plotline? Eh... I know who all is involved, and what all of the characters have evolved into at that point. But how Sofia and co. actually defeat the BBEG? I am... less sure.

18. What is the theme?

In this book specifically: it’s okay to step back and ask for help when you’re struggling - just because you can’t do it on your own doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be where you are.

In the overall series: something something found family something the power of friendship.

19. What is a recurring symbol?

Oh damn, this is a really good question. In fact, since I’m still in first draft mode (although I did write maybe a good quarter or so of a zero draft) I don’t think any have really emerged that I’ve noticed yet? But I guess I’ll come back and update this if I think of anything.

20. Where is the story set? (Share a description!)

It’s set in a very fancy, very modern private school that’s on the edge of a city somewhere near Washington D.C. I’m... not great at describing environments/settings, though, so that’s all you get haha

21. Do you have any images or scenes in your mind already?

Oh yeah, plenty. I have this whole book outlined, actually, on a chapter-by-chapter level! I got excited and also bored during my three-hour-interim between classes, and there was a whiteboard just asking to be filled... I even have some disconnected scenes from future books floating around in my mind - some incredibly emotional and poignant, some glorified shitposts. Ah, writing. It’s such a magnificent hobby.

22. What excited you about this story?

The characters! No joke, there are sixteen kids in the Falks class including Sofia, and every single one of them has their own complex backstories, motivations, and character arcs - not to mention I’ve spent a significant portion of time outlining each of their Gifts and figuring out how exactly they work. I could ramble about any of them for hours.

And that’s not even mentioning Sofia’s family, the villains, the teachers... I just really love every single character in this book!

23. Tell us about your usual writing method!

Step one: watch or read something. Anything. A movie, another book, a commercial, a music video, a tiktok, I’m not kidding just about anything will do. Step two: think ‘oh, I could do that better’. Step three: jot down some early lines or general ideas. Step four: leave it to stew for a little while as you think ‘oh jeez maybe I can’t do it as well as I thought’. Step five: get suddenly inspired on it and feverishly carve out several rough chapters. Step six: let it stew some more. Step seven: get newly inspired, realize how much has changed in your mind about that earlier draft, call that the zero draft, and actually do an outline this time. Step eight: ...Write it for realsies this time!

Whew, that was a doozie! Super fun though! So, according to the rules, you’re supposed to tag the same number of people as questions you answered. So there are 23 questions, and it turns out I’ve got exactly 23 people who (I don’t think) aren’t opposed to tag games, so here, have something besides a last line tag for once! Enjoy!

REMEMBER! You are under no obligation to do this - especially since this one can seem overwhelming. I’ll be thrilled if you do it, but I won’t be disappointed or upset if you pass.

Anyways, tagging: @alcego-writes, @alanwrites, @ajbrooks-writes, @evergrcen, @jewellsfrommaruss, @brookswriting, @signedjordan, @writhoelogy, @the-violet-writer, @dustylovelyrun, @linarious, @cookiecutterwrites, @honeyprincerising, @acaptainandhisrunaway, @angelolytle, @dogwrites, @mxxnwishes, @magicalwriting, @bisexual-in-progress, @writerfae, @ocmaker, @fullydevoted, @hanboggsbooks

[faunusrights]

DIRECTOR'S CUT ON DEEP-DISH REGRET, TOPPED WITH SPITE pls I must know the genius of your mind

this was the ONLY ASK sent in relation to the meme and maybe it’s fitting that this is how i die.

okay so i’m sure i don’t NEED TO but here’s the context for the entire fic in one (1) image. okay. did we all look at it? because that’s it.

WELL OKAY there’s more to this so here we go

so when i first saw this image my first thought i had as to who this would be was blake (because i mean. have you seen blake. what a dumbass) BUT then as i looked for longer i was like ‘yeah but blake doesn’t like the cold. and that’d be cold! and uncomfy. blake wouldn’t do that’. so i was sat there thinking who it might be when i was like ‘oh of course WEISS SCHNEE would have a field day with that shit’, and because i knew i was Right(tm) i started thinking... what sort of situation could Weiss Schnee, top tier bitch and baby shark, end up sleeping in a pizza freezer when it feels like smthng even she would be adamant to do? and w/ the image looking like she rly did just climb in for a nap, i was tryna like. connect the dots of Intent.

so as i sat on this lil egg i figured ‘oh you know what would be funnier? if my big all-time ot3 ended up meeting like this’ and so i figured hey, blake and velvet find weiss in a pizza freezer! and theyre dumb idiots who are gay! and somehow they end up dating! good work brain you’ve really rallied the troops here. EXCEPT AT THE SAME TIME MY BRAIN HAD ALSO BEEN MULLING OVER THE POSSIBILITY OF A HONEY-FRAPP FIC, because this was around the time we developed a shipname (thanks @thegreatersea) for weiss/yang/velvet/blake and i was really hankering to have an excuse to write it. so im sat here, weiss in the freezer, barbecue sauce on my tiddies and i go what if... pizza party!!! yang xiao long LOVES pizza parties!!! because i say so.

so i had my context: yang is turning 20, she’s having a party, blake and velvet need pizza, and weiss is also now an honourary pizza. OH YEAH. IT’S ALL COMIN TOGETHER.

so then i wrote chapter one in a frenzy of like. madness. temporary madness. and i wrote chapter one which we all know and love!!!!!!!!!! and it was pretty easy because the narrative style was a) NUTS and b) FUNNY and basically it was me shitposting with words and i let it get away from me and it was a good time!!! i had a rly good time writing that chapter y’all you can FEEL it.

and then i was done and thought ‘okay well that was stupid lets move on’

but i didnt

and instead a lot of ppl commented on the lil tidbit of weiss just straight up d i s a s s o c i a t i n g and wondered ‘hey whats going on w/ her anyway?’

dont we all want to know

SO I ENDED UP. TRYNA THINK. what WAS weiss doing. why IS she in a freezer. and how can i write weiss actually opening up to people (considering thats her weakest skill of all time, up to and including pretending to be heterosexual) and you know which good egg is rly good at cracking up considerably less good eggs?

yang xiao long

nobody else

SO THEN I WROTE CHAPTER 2, THE PARTY, IN WHICH WEISS TELLS US WHY SHE’S IN THE PIZZA FREEZER. NICE. and that was even BETTER because i do love college au and we had COCO there and there was some PUBLIC BDSM and RUBY WASNT EVEN THERE (BECAUSE SHE WAS RAIDING) and it was ALSO very fun very funnee to write and then i was like ‘oh okay im done here now!’

wrong

very wrong

wrongest

BECAUSE THEN i was like ‘but i did wanna do honey frapp and this is like the closest ive gotten so why not. keep going.’

and now we’re five chapters in and im in hell BECAUSE I DONT ACTUALLY. HAVE A PLOT. LMAO. ALL BECAUSE WEISS WOULD BE THE BITCH TO SLEEP IN A PIZZA FREEZER.

for all in tights and porpoises, i do enjoy writing the fic, but its REALLY HARD to do that when i dont. actually know where we’re going haha. and the fic is becoming less funny as weiss descends further into hell so i have to actually put on my game face to follow this thru BUT. BUT I SWEAR. IT WILL END ONE DAY.

just as soon as i also figure out the new plot for frapp logs v2 lmao bye

so yeah thats deep-dish regret which i named not for weiss but for my own personal vibes yr welcome sluts

[shidiand]

How do you imagine Tenco's Story ending in your head?

that is a GREAT but UNEXPECTED QUESTION freshlybaked "spider" bread and i'm really happy to have the opportunity to try and answer this ageless question that has burned within all of us in the tenco's story iv waiting room community since 2013. it is an incredible coincidence (or is it? 👀) that i was just talking to Risa about tenco's this (edit: yesterday) morning so i am extra double super in the mood to talk about Tenco's Story today. so excellent of a coincidence is this that i am tempted to refer you to them in case you wanted to hear their thoughts on the matter that would probably turn out super cool, but that is neither here nor there; let us talk Tenco's Story.

i of course must mention my unadvertised and modestly detailed commentary on tenco's i-iii at https://shidiand.tumblr.com/tencos, presenting slightly interesting facts in an unwieldy and difficult-to-use format, but as it dates back to june 2017, i want to take some time to understand my feelings about the series once more.

tenco's story is a series that has a lot of meaning to me.

i took on my current name of shidiand in november of 2013. i was still in 11th grade at the time, 4th year of high school, and a very socially isolated person. i should say i was introduced to touhou in 7th grade, 2010, so i was still working through a 3 years-strong phase of trying to simultaneously both find an outlet for and bottle up an endless wellspring of awkward weeaboo-gamer nerd energy at the time.

i had my first real foray onto the internet in 2010, tried out twitter, followed some RPers and other people who had Cool Touhou Usernames. didn't really go anywhere. i had maybe 50 followers, i dont really know the count but it was definitely a) double digits and b) pretty low. didn't know what to tweet about. didn't know how to hit it off with others. i think there was basically maybe only 3 other people i ever properly interacted with. oh shit i was playing league of legends at the time. oh my god. i really did play league of .. oh my god. let's move on.

aw shit im super digressing amn't i. well.

this is just how it goes when i write essays on tumblr.com.

i'm afraid you're just along for the ride at this point so please do your best to enjoy it.

i got kind of tired of twitter at the time because i didnt know what to do with it. didnt know how to interact with people and didnt find the people i was following interesting, so i ghosted on out of there by the end of 2012. didnt deactivate it until like 2015 but at that point that was just burning away my dark history. anyways. november 2013.

--im taking a lot of time here trawling through old files on my computer, my tumblr blog, notification emails still lying around in my gmail inbox from twitter, the dropbox i didn't actually use but it had several tenco's story pictures on it but i deleted them so this was useless, ... to trace the timeline of this story and im really seeing a lot of remnants of dark history here you know? did you know i wrote a letter to a girl i had a crush on valentine's day 2014, slipped it into her locker, and anxiously hung around nearby at lunchtime to see how she reacted at lunchtime? i certainly didn't, or at least i made darn ass sure to forget about this incredible virgin incident and not remember it, ever, until i came across the records of it that i thoughtfully preserved for the me of 5 years later today. ok well now i have to read the letter to see if it was as bad as it just sounded there brb

ok so the good news is that it was actually very focused on being positive and full of admiration for the cool things she did instead of being a confession letter so i am very glad i was able to be a respectful chad 5 years ago, but the bad news is that the jokes, the actual sentences i put together. oh my god. but i mean. well. at least i got the spirit. its certainly a step up from this other person in my grade, WEEABOO ANDREW, YOU MAY RECALL THIS STORY AND HIS NAME FROM PREVIOUS STORYTIMES, THE MAN THE MYTH THE LEGEND who came to school on halloween once cosplaying kirito from sword art online and got very possessive about people asking if they could hold his black replica plastic sword, and probably worse, dropped a "will you be my girlfriend" letter into the locker of my homie and fellow trombonist samantha, who was a little bit nerdy, hung out with the anime-likers who were actually sociable and fun to be around so you can imagine why weeaboo andrew was into her, which had i) a direct quotation from SAO chapter 16.5 (origin of the famous "glopping noise" line), and ii) a condom. jesus christ. i dont want to talk about this any more. next topic.

i also put this drawing of iku nagae and her skarmory (actually an albinoss from 18 DRAGONS) on the other side of the letter because it was the coolest thing i could think of drawing at the time. and i completely agree with 2014 me because it IS super fucking cool. hell fuckin yeah

https://shidiand.tumblr.com/post/76301993387/iku-nagae-ft-that-thing-that-supposedly-is-a

alright that was a fun little trip down memory lane but lets get back on track. november 2013. i started anew as shidiand. still awkward, still learning how to express myself and looking for my place among others. i followed some touhou bloggers, hung around r/touhou a lot as well. in december i got my first tablet for christmas, a wacom bamboo splash. i still use this thing! the usb cable disconnects if you bump it so i have to find just the perfect position to sit in whenever i want to draw, but its served me well. anyways. i was just starting to play around with digital art but i remember, probably just before new years, for some reason i wanted to find out more about tenshi hinanawi (i don't remember why. tenshi wasn't even one of my favourite characters at the time) so i went googling and right there on zerochan i found this:

https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=23525572

this was during my dark souls phase so i just went BANANAS at the sight of this. this was literally the coolest image i had ever seen in my internet life. That image alone made me want to draw in hopes that I could make something as cool as that someday.

it wasn't immediately after but i soon discovered tenco's story, and it was love. kannnu was my very first artistic inspiration, and for a long time, my only one. i absolutely idolized them at the time. since then, ive found other artists to look up to, in a more healthy manner, but to this day i still look up to kannnu, still admire their work a lot.

i played around with drawing, followed the lives of people on tumblr, started reading touhou fanfiction, made a new twitter. i met a lot of new people along the way. some people i havent stuck with, some i cut ties with, and some people i still keep in contact with today. over those long 5 years of being shidiand, i found a name (i used to use shidian and then shid, but someone called me shidi once and i realized that was a lot better), how to reach out to others, how to express myself, places that i could feel included in. this is why i owe a blood debt to evelyn, who permitted me to kneel at her throne and was like "yea ok you can join my discord server u seem cool". evelyn, if you were confused by me ominously mentioning this blood debt/blood oath in a tumblr reply 1-2 years ago, this is the context. those 5 years were like a coming of age of sorts, that i never had when i was in high school.

and my love for tenco's story, that inspired me to draw that day, has been with me since almost the very beginning of my time as shidiand. from the beginning, i have always encouraged people to READ TENCO'S STORY, like the kin of those who cry PLAY MELTY or WATCH SYMPHOGEAR. i think my very first sidebar description was something akin to a prayer, written in very choral language, hoping for the day tenco's story iv was completed, ..., "meanwhile, furious shitposting". kannnu's work, finding delight in whatever they chose to draw, has been at my side, all along. my true mentor, my guiding moonlight...

so that's why i still to this day love tenco's story so much.

let's talk about tenco's story.

tenco's story is a story told through single pictures. the plot is vague, and details are sparse. dialogue is rare. we only know what has happened; we seldom know why. furthermore, there are many gaps between scenes that the reader is left to fill in for themselves; we see only snapshots that form an hazy outline of the events that occurred, and must imagine the rest. motivations and explanations fail me. but even with a barebones plot, tenco's story has themes, and if nothing else, those have to be carried through.

the main theme, of course, is journey and travel, but there are also other ideas, too. i actually think they start to change as the series goes on:

book i, where tenshi runs away from home, is about striking out on your own. it's a very fun and unpredictable journey, together with a friend.

book ii, where tenshi and iku are separated, forces tenshi to find and rely on companions of her own even more. but they do so, and they are able overcome hardships, and there is food and festival.

book iii marks a climax, reasserting tenshi's goal of finding the sword of hisou. i feel like the journey shifts from a travel (visiting) to a path forwards (making your way through). perhaps this is just something i get from knowing the locations from dark souls (Anor Londo, New Londo Ruins, the Great Hollow), but the locations start to give more of a sense of verticality, like they're emphasizing tenshi's climb to the summit. the hardships and enemies are the greatest they've been yet, and right when they near the top, tenshi and iku start to bleed. the book ends on an uncertain note.

if i had to describe the type of journey and travel that tenshi and iku undertake, there's this sense of wonder at discovering new places, wandering from vista to vista in delight, but also a sense of conquering, making it through a difficult patch. the sequence from pages 2-44 to 2-51, taken together, convey this sense of overcoming the best. it's one of my favourite parts. again, although the tone definitely starts to lean towards struggle in book iii, i think tenco's sense of wonder really is the heart of the series. there's no map of the world, no predicting where tenshi and iku will end up next. and through their travels, though they come across many enemies, they also find friends -- places of refuge, places full of life, people who will look after them for a few days, companions who will stay with them for the rest of the journey. at the end of book iii, we see a long haired tenshi with purple hair being impaled by the sword of hisou (3-33, see also this extra illustration that risa pointed out to me http://sinnnkai.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-195.html), and regular short haired tenshi continuing on her journey (3-42). if we ignore the out-of-story images where tenshi has the sword of hisou, tenshi has actually only ever used her sunlight blade (2-24, 3-26, etc), so i think that the long haired tenshi on 3-33 is a different person altogether. (if i had to guess, she might be the purple haired woman in the top left of https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=35443328 as we have never seen that woman appear anywhere.) she probably has something to do with the flashbacks at the end of book ii and she might somehow be short-haired tenshi at the same time, but this is just speculation.

however, in 3-43, tenshi's hair is rather blue, so i don't know if this is the purple haired woman or not. if it is, tenshi is probably still fine and closing in on the summit, but if it isn't, then it's very worrying to see a picture of tenshi without any of her companions. it's very ominous.

meanwhile, iku, while climbing the red carpeted corridor, is stabbed, and disappears for a few pages. there's a black page, a shot of a shrine that strongly resembles the hakurei shrine, and a picture of iku standing behind someone in a tux, with the line "In the past, I was saved by the lady I was serving, you see?". and then iku wakes up in a field of flowers.

i think what this scene makes clear is a theme that has continued to appear and reappear throughout every book of "being saved, being aided by someone's kindness".

i think another theme that is implied and has to be addressed by this story of running away from home is "return". something im imagining is that the reason tenshi makes finding the sword of hisou her goal is because she wants to have something to prove herself with, to vindicate her when she comes home. but i don't think she needs to prove anything, and i ultimately think that she would be happier spending the rest of her life exploring.

so i think this should be what happens in the ending.

open on iku's journey, and give her a long sequence of travel without seeing tenshi. underline her newfound resolve. she climbs to the summit with albinoss, and finds the rest of tenshi's companions fallen. and in the last room is sword of hisou tenshi, who has lost herself, and it comes down to iku to bring her back. after a difficult battle, when both of them are on their last legs, iku is unable to stand any longer. but at this moment tenshi sees her companions struggling to get back up and reach her, and that's what brings her to her senses. and iku gets to see how many friends tenshi's been able to make on her own, and they finally and properly reunite. together, tenshi and iku carry each other out of the last room.

i don't think it's necessary to return to heaven. as a conclusion, dedicate some time to tenshi and iku travelling together. they're on their way back, revisiting old friends who helped them along the way, enjoying the journey. their last stop is the house of the elderly nawis (1-42). tenshi shows off the sword of hisou; she decided to keep it not as a trophy to show her family but as proof of the bonds of her companions. surrounded by friends, tenshi and iku decide to part ways with each other, knowing that the other will be alright. iku drifts among the clouds once more, and tenshi sets off for the horizon.

that's the plot that i'd write/just wrote. i don't really expect tenco's story iv to ever come out, though. i mentioned my first sidebar description earlier in this essay, but of course, you can see that it's been changed. 2 years ago, i read my hopeful prayer once more and was struck with a terrible melancholy, so now it reads this: "having come to terms with the fact that tenco's story iv will never be released, i can still live, knowing that the spirit of the journey will live on through kannnu's original works [...] meanwhile, furious shitposting".

on one level, tenco's story is a story, but in the process of following it, i came to think of the work itself as a journey too. you can constantly see kannnu's improvement between and even within each book. they have always drawn whatever they liked; what plot matters in the face of "I wanted to draw a beautiful sky." "I wanted to draw a fantastic battle." "I wanted to draw Dark Souls and Monster Hunter and Pokemon and Brave Fencer Musashi and Bokura no Taiyou and Touhou."

its not really kannnu's style to go back and tie up old ends. they just draw whatever makes them happy. so as i watch them continue to draw beautiful places and fantastic creatures, new characters heading out on journeys of their own or just enjoying their everyday lives, it's as if tenco's story never ended. the limits and consistency of that world ignored, and a new one springs up; in a way, the world of tenco's, which had such thin boundaries, just gets bigger.

but even so, having said all that, i still see them draw that short-haired tenshi from time to time. it makes me happy to see them remember tenco's story with such fondness. often crossing over with orion or roar or elweiss, you can see tenshi on another journey.

[hydrus]

Version 310

windows

zip

exe

os x

app

tar.gz

linux

tar.gz

source

tar.gz

I had a productive week. A bunch of stuff is fixed, and I finished a first version of multi-file url downloading.

multi-file support

A limitation of the old download system is that it always assumed a single 'post URL' could only ever produce a single file. This week, I have added full support for multi-files-per-post-URL to the new downloader. If a new parser generates multiple 'downloadable' URLs, the file import queue will generate and insert new download objects for each. Tags and associable URLs should all be passed along to the children as appropriate.

As a result, I can finally roll out support for several sites that provide files in this way. I've updated the inkbunny post parser, and added twitter tweet and artstation post parsers, so all these should now be drag-and-droppable onto the client. The twitter parser only supports images--no videos yet. The inkbunny parser may put its multi-files slightly out of order, and in one of my tests it pulled the artist profile picture as well, so it may need some tweaking. IB have a proper API, but it requires some login stuff, so I will look at that again when I have the new login system done.

And of course I have added a pixiv manga parser, which has been highly requested for a long time. This was fairly complicated, but I think I got all the referral URLs and tags lined up correct. It can even add 1-indexed page tags. Unfortunately, pixiv just changed my test login to the new (currently broken) JSON/javascript layout just today, as I did final testing. If it turns out pixiv have switched everyone over to the broken layout on the very day I finally roll out manga support, I think my head is going to explode, but even if so, I am confident the javascript layout is parsable--it'll just take a bit more work. I expect to have a fix for all pixiv users for v311 if another user doesn't post one sooner.

This multi-file parsing is a first version. There may be bugs, so please let me know. I also don't really like how the initial post URLs' file import objects get counted as 'successful' like a regular file, so I may make a new 'successfully parsed' type to distinguish them a bit and alter the file progress counts appropriately.

misc

The new 'x% in' video thumbnail generation works better and fails better now, including some better workflow and error-reporting when regen is manually started by the user. If you had some videos that failed to import or regen last week, please try them again and let me know if you still have problems.

The multiple watcher now has a 'check now' button.

I added a semi-crazy prototype checkbox to options->gui that puts all your page tabs on the left. It needs a restart to kick in. Test it at your own risk.

The new download system now informs the new network engine of file limits in your 'file import options'! So, if you say 'don't get gifs bitter than 32MB', and the server clearly identifies a newly started download as a gif with size 50MB, the download will be abandoned and a veto/ignored status set immediately! It also works with the regular min/max filesize as appropriate. Let me know if it goes wrong!

I cleaned up some file repository thumbnail sync and display code all around.

github

Github got bought by Microsoft, so I am considering migrating somewhere else. I only use Github as a file/code host and the workflow of syncing there is easy, so I may or may not go, or may just put it off and see what happens during the transition. I am interested in your thoughts on the whole deal and what you think of the alternatives.

full list

updated the inkbunny file page url class to acknowledge that inbunny pages can have multiple files

updated the inkbunny file page parser to handle multiple file urls (although they may be out of order and possibly sometimes include the artist profile image--this was not super easy)

added a parser for twitter tweets (only images supported atm, but it can handle multiple!) (hence tweet drag and drop now works!)

updated the artstation file page url class to redirect to a new api url class

wrote an artstation file page parser that also handles multiple file urls

updated/added pixiv file page, manga page, and mange_big url classes

updated pixiv file page parsers to be ok with manga links

wrote parsers for pixiv manga and manga_big pages to fetch manga files (with page tags)!

file import objects can now create semi-duplicate children for multi-file post urls and insert them just after themselves in the file import queue.

file import objects can now receive and remember referral urls. this referral url is associated with the file if appropriate. the watcher and simple downloader now uses this in addition to the multi-file post system

jumbled around some parameters and merged the two new file import url commands (import 'file' vs import 'post') into one single simple 'work on this url, thanks' call that is now used across the program

the parsing system's 'content parser' no longer fetches file urls and post urls, but 'download urls' and 'source urls'. this helps some pipeline logic and also lets post urls be download urls

when file import objects parse post urls as the urls to download, it now creates 1-n new import objects, just like if multiple file urls.

improved some file import object file association code

the new parsing system will de-dupe parsed urls

refactored the 'seed' code, which handles all basic file import objects, to the new ClientImportSeeds.py

added a new string transformation type, 'integer addition', for shifting page number tags up and down

fixed thumbnail generation for some videos that failed to do the new x%-in generation--it reverts more reliably just to the old frame 0 method

file reparsing popup now has a stop button

fixed an issue where extremely thin or wide (ratio > 200:1) images would not generate a full-size or resized thumbnail

the file reparsing/re-thumbnailing now reports errors better (including with full path) and does not abandon the larger job as it works

misc thumbnail generation code improvements

improved some thumbnail and file regeneration/moving code when the existing file has read-only status

the multiple watcher now has a 'check now' button

added a checkbox to options->gui that will put new notebook page tabs on the left

for all file download network jobs working in the new download system, the file import options for min size, max size, and max size (gifs) are now applied _during the download_! if the server tells the client the exact file size in the response headers, it will test max and min size before the content is actually downloaded--otherwise, it will test the max size as it downloads. if the server clearly says the file is a gif, the max gif size rules will also be tested in the same way

cleaned up some bandwidth announcement code--now, if bandwidth is due in less time than override time, that will now correctly be the status text

the bandwidth status no longer says 'in in' typo

fixed up some tag repair code from last week

the 'print garbage' debug function now dumps a whole bunch more data to the log

the thumbnail cache should now be a bit more stoic about missing repository thumbnails--it should now just present the hydrus default backup without error popup spam

the repository thumbnail sync will now get as thumbs in blocks as high as 10k at a time, rather than the old 100

hydrus network requests no longer generate web domain network contexts (and so won't have a default one-request-per-second bandwidth limit and should stream through thumbnails a bit faster)

hydrus network services are now willing to wait longer for bandwidth, so big thumbnail queues should keep working even if other bottlenecks pause them for a bit

hydrus network services will no longer sometimes have double-sync popups if synced from the advanced 'sync now' button in review services

changed the default global 'stop-accidents' bandwidth rule of 120rqs per minute to 512MB per minute. this only affects new users, but users trying to sync to large file repos might like to make a similar change manually

doing giant full file delete (i.e. purge from trash) jobs should now be a bit gentler on the gui

improved how the client deletes paths, clarifying in the code when and when not to allow recycle (usually disabled for thumb disposal)

switched the hacky text widgets on the popup system to a newer object. seems to still render ok, so lets see if it fixes some unusual layout issues some users have seen

if the temp folder cannot be created on boot, the client will continue anyway

fixed some url-domain text handling in db storage that was also breaking v309 update for some users

fixed some additional domain generation error handling at the db level

the list of url classes in the system:url panel is now the list of all url classes that are considered associable (before, it was file and post urls)

if a url class now api-links to itself or otherwise forms a loop with n other api url classes, the client will now throw an error (rather than lock up in an infinite loop!)

in the parsing ui, tag parse test results are now cleaned before being displayed

fixed misc url matching error reporting bug

when consulting the current file limit, the gallery page downloader will now try, when it has that number, to consult the total number of urls found it the current search (old behaviour is to only consult the number of _new_ urls, which lead to some bad edge-case workflows)

misc refactoring

next week

I am going to take a light week next week so I can shitpost E3. I will try and keep up with messages, but I'll only do a little fixing work. I will get back to regular schedule on the 16th, which means v311 will be on the 20th. I will make a 'No Release Tomorrow!' post on the 12th.

I am a little ill and completely exhausted, so an easy week is coming at a great time.

I am still really enjoying making hydrus. Thank you for all your continued support!

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi Steph! I'm new to tumblr but was introduced to the TJLC fandom through the TJLC explained videos (which I still really love). I have some ideas and want to write metas, but have no idea how to do that. Do you have some tips? Aside from sharing my weird ideas about BBC Sherlock, I mostly want to write metas to hopefully meet some new people and talk about TJLC with them. So I guess that would be a second question, on how to make friends on tumblr. Anyways, I love your whole Nonny Q&A thing

Hi Lovely!!

I’m so happy you’ve come into our corner of the hell hole, LOL. For meeting new people and interacting with the fandom, I’ve actually written about that before, so you can check out these posts here and here. Plus, English doesn’t have to be your first language ;)

As for meta writing, some people have a method, like brainstorming it all out on paper in really complicated steps, but for me personally: I just jot down whatever comes to my head (sort of a “thesis” line") and springboard from there. I literally have no direction whenever I write original meta, and it’s mostly lines of shitposts to refine into a cohesive narrative written in a style that will appeal to my audience. That’s honestly it.

My advice: don’t write a meta just because there’s a place for it; write about it because you are PASSIONATE about your view on the topic you are writing, especially if there is some sort of personal experience involved. For instance, I write passionately about Mary’s character because it helped me understand the motives of a person in my real life and helped me come to terms with the fact that I can’t change said person, so cutting them out of my life was the healthy option. I write passionately about Sherlock’s character because I too feel like a lonely outcast who loves too much and tries to hide it. I write passionately about the narrative arc because I hate things not making sense, and in order for me to make sense of it, I thrive on connecting the dots and helping others do the same. Your readers will KNOW how much love and thought you put into your meta if you’re writing it not for the views but FOR YOURSELF. The notes and additions to it are always a lovely bonus to it. One of my fave metas turned into a community discussion about people’s life experiences, and it REALLY was so amazing to me to see people just as passionate about a character and his life as I was.

Also: don’t be discouraged to write just because you think someone has already written about it! No one has written how YOU view the scene or story or character, and adding your two cents always helps to engage the fandom in your meta! As well, especially if you’re starting out, cite other meta or posts that may have inspired you to that conclusion, and DON’T BE AFRAID TO TAG “MORE POPULAR” PEOPLE" who share a similar viewpoint; they’re all just like you (many of them just not even aware they have any pull in the fandom) and are always up for interesting discussion about anything.

What else? OH If you’re going to write your meta directly into Tumblr rather than in a word or textedit doc, THE “SAVE DRAFT” BUTTON IS YOUR FRIEND. Dear lord, after every paragraph or if you leave your browser window for a few minutes to make accompanying gifs or to find links to add to your post, SAVE DRAFT. I cannot tell you how many meta I have lost and said “fuck it” to because I just wrote it all for hours and didn’t save and my browser crashed or I have accidentally closed the tab instead of going back to the tab (which is mostly MY problem, because I literally have 50 tabs open on any given window, so it gets… small)… this happens more when I do asks (which a large portion of my meta are nowadays) because it’s easy to forget to save it as you’re writing.

Pictures as supporting proof is always a great way to break up walls of text as well. Even if the pics are just used as section headers, it just really gives the eyes a break. Sometimes our eyes get tired, and showing with canonical proof often leaves a greater impact. Have a nice ratio of images to text, your readers will thank you for it :) Image width for tumblr is currently 540px for the dashboard. Though all blogs have their own ratios; find out what yours is, and tumblr *should* auto-resize that pic to fit the dash ratio, so long as it’s over 150px, I believe.

Finally, as you write more and more, I recommend keeping an RTF document of EVERYTHING you’ve ever written, especially if you’re gonna post to tumblr. I myself do have an efficient tagging system, but after awhile it gets messy and harder and harder to find some of my posts since tumblr doesn’t have a way to look at the tags at-a-glance, so I have been cataloguing my posts and replies on a document so I can find them later so I can reference them. Referencing your own posts keep you from not only constantly repeating yourself, but also saves your regulars from reading the same thing over and over again – a link will give people the option to read your extended thoughts on a topic if they so choose. Eventually, your blog will become a Wikipedia of meta – as in THERE’S NO WAY OUT LOL…. Seriously though, people appreciate if you tell them what your posts are referencing or if you just keep a succinct liner about your thoughts with a link to additional thoughts.

Other than that… JUST HAVE FUN. Seriously, just enjoy it! And if-when you do write your meta, feel free to DM it to me! (I get tagged on a lot of things so I tend to miss them, LOL)

Happy writing, Lovely!!

[rachelbethhines]

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 131

“Hero to Zero In No Time At All” Sink or Spin I - Sonic the Hedgehog #150

Great, now I got that song from Hercules stuck in my head. 

Today’s story involves Sonic taking a sudden interest in the ladies. Only it’s not really Sonic, it’s Scourge the Anti-Sonic. He hits on a bunch of the women of Knothole, including Bunnie. 

I see Bunnie’s self esteem issues popping up again.

 Also, why do you care Tails? What does “Sonic” and Bunnie dating have to do with you? Do you secretly have a crush on Sonic as well? Or are you just a hard core Buntoine shipper? 

Now, logically you would think Bunnie would call things off here insisting “Sonic” go talk with Tails. But nope. 

Now there’s a pretty popular interpretation of this scene, suggesting Bunnie and Scourge had sex during the time skip. It’s an interpretation that I fully reject for several reasons and here’s why. 

I don’t give two shits what Penders’ original intent was, what he said after the fact, and/or weather or not he failed to deny this headcannon. At the end of the day I’m the one reading this. At the end of the day it’s my head cannon that counts when I’m reading. Not the one someone else came up with. And at some point you have to separate the author/artist from the work itself. 

If sex was the original intent it’s very poorly presented. Like, I was a full grown adult when I first read this scene and it didn’t occur to me that that was what the writer was trying to convey, and I highly doubt any little kids reading at the time would have considered it as well. 

I mean Bunnie’s not an idiot. Sure she makes knee-jerk decisions at times but sex on the first date seems pretty off. Especially when she was just berating “Sonic” for trying to make out after Tails got upset. What kind of sense does that make? Also, I’m no expert, but I don’t see any articles of clothing removed or mussed up hair or any of that messy stuff that comes with sex. It just seems like a leap in logic to me to automatically assume they did it, is what I’m saying. 

We’re not even sure if Bunnie can have sex. Like we do find out later she is physically intimate with her husband, but in what way or to what extant is still left in the air. This is in part due to comic’s target audience being children and also because Bunnie’s robotics have never been clearly defined in how they work. And granted there is an interesting discussion to be had about her cybernetics and how they effect her love life but I’m saving that for a future review when its more appropriate.  

This is still a kid’s comic! If Scourge did have sex with Bunnie it would qualify as rape because of false pretenses. Rape has no place in children’s media. Now I fully realize that Penders is oblivious to that fact and can’t tell his ass from his elbow, but the rest us know better. Why make yourselves more miserable then you have too by insisting this a thing that happened? The comic by no means shoves this interpretation down you’re throat, nor does it make any claims to be edgier than it is. If you see something that isn’t actually there than that’s all on you. 

Now a head cannon is still a head cannon, and you’re allowed to keep which ever ones you want. Even if it flummoxes me personally as to why you would keep this particular one. However for myself, personally, I just see it as Bunnie and Scourge making out and nothing more. Sure it’s still sleazy on Scourge’s part and it’s still a stupid decision on Bunnie’s end, but at least it’s something everyone can walk away from with some amount of dignity.  

Anyways now that that’s out of way, let’s get down to the real reason why we’re here. No doubt, if you haven’t figured it out yet, Ken Penders is today’s author and we finally get the reveal that “Antione” has been Patch all along. 

Also pretty convenient that you shaved off his goatee with that sonic spin as well.

Now this is where I was getting at when I said you have to separate the creator from the work sometimes. I’ve noticed a growing trend where people let what an artist did or say in real life retroactively ruin a piece of art that they once enjoyed. Does that mean we should give creators a free pass when they do awful shit? Of course not! By all means continue calling Penders out on his bullshit, don’t let anyone forget that Woody Allen is a pedophile and a rapist, and always let the Chris Brown apologists know they are in the wrong. But that doesn’t mean you have to stop watching Annie Hall if you like it, or that you can no longer sing loudly to "No Air". (Note: I hate Annie Hall and I enjoy “No Air” but I don’t really listen to Chris Brown regularly. I’m just providing examples) 

Nor does it mean you have to rip to shred every single thing Penders writes. I don’t care if Penders made a sexiest comment about Lupe once, I still think  "Lupe: Family" is a decent story. I don’t give a damn if he claimed Rotor is gay, I’m still going to headcannon him as ace anyways. And I will always defend Ken’s decision to retcon Evil-Antoine into Anti-Antoine. Even if the way he went about it was extremely douchey. 

Ya see, Penders didn’t “win out” because he had the best idea, he won because he went behind Bollers’ back and published this story before Bollers could even start on his original plans. Like, is that not the epitome of dickbaggery you’ve ever heard of? Hell yeah! Does that mean I wish Bollers got fair chance to tell his story? Hell no! 

I’ve discussed in length back in issue 137 why Bollers plans for Antoine were crap, but the long and short of it is; if Bollers had his way Antoine’s character would have been assassinated beyond repair. Years of character development down the drain all for the sake of cheap, forced drama. But with Penders idea, not only does it keep Antoine’s development intact but actually builds upon it; adding new backstory to potentially explore and new hardships for Twan to overcome and grow from. 

There’s also the added bonus of creating a new and very effective villain in Patch, while simultaneously giving Ant an arch nemesis. The fact that this all can be traced back to Scourge seeking revenge on Antoine for his embarrassment in #122 is just icing on the cake. 

Now that doesn’t mean this story is without flaws. I’ve already talked about Tails’ weird freak out and that poorly laid out scene involving Bunnie and Scourge, but there’s also an icky romance between Rouge and Locke (eww) made even worse by later writers trying to pair her with Knuckles, and a confusing lack of continuity. Like with Sally suddenly having short hair or this scene.....

Umm...Antoine was trapped in Anti-Mobuis for at least 6 months or more and Scrouge only just now got the idea to come over to Mobius and take Sonic’s place. It also took Patch several months to earn King Max’s favor. Why would Twan just randomly be in Scourge’s room spying on Patch? Shouldn’t the scene with Patch receiving the promotion from King Max be after the whole threatening Ant scene? Doesn’t that flow better? Or is Scourge just torturing poor Antoine by forcing him to helplessly watch Patch ruin his life. Yeah you know, I wouldn’t put it past him to do that. 

Oh man, does this mean Scourge has been forcing Twan to keep the disguise on this whole time? Like I just thought he did it as a way to keep the Suppression Squad from killing him out right, but nope apparently Scourge has been threatening him all for his own personal amusement. I guess that explains why he didn’t just run away or try to receive help from the good Doctor. That’s kind of horrifying, especially considering that he would have been forced to join in on the Suppression Squad’s escapades. And considering that they’re villains, well you can imagine that their idea of fun involves lots of violence.  

That’s sadly why we’ll never see Antoine’s time in Anti-Mobius fully explored. To do so would get very dark and disturbing very quickly. But still, my poor baby! 

The second story this issue is the second half of “The Chosen One” arc. The whole Tails is the Chosen One thing started way back in the Tails mini-series. Penders and company thought it would be a good idea to wrap up the sixth milestone by concluding this dangling plot thread and tying up the loose ends of the Zone Wars series. Not a bad idea in of itself, but it falls apart when the whole thing turns into a retread of “Night of a Thousand Sonics”. 

I can fully understand why someone would hate this story, but for me it’s one of those “so bad it’s entertaining” type tales.   

I mean just look at this! That is a thing of beauty right there! You couldn’t ask for a more shitposting meme worthy image even if you tried! 

Next week will do the usual 25 recap and then continue on with the Sink or Swim arc after that.