#anyways. Note the colors and the materials; they're important

[unravelingwires]

Propones

Witches don’t exchange engagement rings. They do, however, have moors, worn on the right hand and symbolizing loyalty and safe harbor. Traditionally, these are made from actually woven plant stems enchanted against decay, but in the modern day, these rings can be made from anything so long as their band looks like woven fibers.

Jaya has three moors. The first is for the Narayana family, a dull gold band. The second is for the Chel family, an heirloom with the noble crest bound by strings of bound water. The last is a representation of her sponsorship of Lilith, an extremely traditional weaving of grass dyed gold.

Max has one moor. It's a similar Chel family moor of bound water.

Lara has one moor, made from dragon marrow to symbolize the Ravenswoods. Aster has a similar one.

Ellie has one moor, a meticulously enchanted ring of overlapping flower petals collected by hand by her parents.

Lilith has two moors. One was woven from grass stems by her mothers, enchanted to remain bright green. The other is a ring of ice strands dyed green and bought by Jaya.

Natalie has no moors. She wears a simple black ring she bought when she was twelve to cover this up.

[grimalkinmessor]

Fic Rec time because why not: Death Note Edition ✨

These are some of my favorite DN fanfics and I figured I'd share them with you :3 Even if you've probably already seen some of them.

I am also a multishipper so this going to LONG. Buckle in 🚀

Gen

Five Days by Shadow_of_Quill

Rated M. Noncon Warning. Several instances throughout the week where people don't keep their hands to themselves around Light.

Despite the serious subject matter Light deals with it in a very Light™ way. This is the origin of a few of my angstier Light headcanons.

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This Is How I Disappear by TzviaAriella

Rated T. MCD Warning. After an international tribunal condemns nineteen-year-old Light Yagami to death, the Kira Task Force must come to terms with the fallout of the case–and with Light’s surprising last request.

I'm pretty sure everyone's read this one at some point. It's a classic. Everybody's GOTTA read this one at least once. Angsty but it's hhhhhhHHHHHH 🙏 So good.

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And This Is All There Ever Was by Min Daae

Rated T. MCD Warning. In which Light has confessed, in order to win.

This one is technically lawlight, but it feels very gen to me so I put it NEAR the lawlight list. I love Light being a spiteful shit and this is him being spiteful to the very end. This man will do anything to win.

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Lawlight

Polarity by Writeous

Rated T. Some people are born with soulmarks: small, colorful images tattooed onto your skin that represent the people who would prove most important in your life. By all accounts, soulbonds are supposed to be beautiful, something to be cherished and revered over the course of your life. Light Yagami grows up with a bold, typeface L on his hand and a soulmate that hates him.

I'm obsessed with this fic. OB. SESSED. It only has one chapter so far but I love the dynamic on this one. I love soulmate aus but specifically the grittier ones. It has a MCD warning but as of now it's not applicable yet. Highly recommend.

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Time Speaks by aSmallMoon333

Rated E. In his first life, L died in the arms of his greatest enemy.

In his brief second one, he died alone.

And in his third, too-long life, L died anticipating finally getting even with the man who'd won their game one too many times.

And Light Yagami? If he'd known this is what picking up the Death Note would bring....well, he'd probably still have done it anyway.

This fic? Superb. Spectacular. I reread it at LEAST once a month. It has lodged in my brain and rots everything else around it I am so obsessed. L and Light are so unhinged and in love and petty and I love them. MCD warning, obviously, but it doesn't stick. This was my first fic back into the DN fandom and honestly I think it should be everyone else's too 🙏 My friends tell me they're getting back into DN and I immediately recc them this fic.

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louder then bells by relic_crown

Rated M. No one has ever seen Light’s soul, but it haunts his dreams as a monster: eyes bloody as sunrise, feathers tasting of citrus and sharpie fumes, breath hot as summer and twice as brutal. At first, he thinks the notebook itself is his soulmate. Then he tells himself Misa can be enough.

L ruins everything. For the first time, someone sees Light’s soul, and through his eyes Light knows it must look monstrous – why else would L be hunting him over it?

A soulmate/His Dark Materials AU—can you tell I have a thing for soulmate AUs? I adore the vibes of this fic, from the mystery of Light's soul, to L's distinct creepiness, to how Light views Kira :) I cannot explain that last bit to you, you're just gonna have to read it.

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Slow to Boil by TrashKing

Rated E. L has loved Kira since he knew there was a Kira to love. Unfortunately for him Light Yagami doesn’t quite understand the whole process of being seduced so L will have to take the frog in the pot approach to taming this beast.

I have a kink for L having a Kira kink, and this is one of my favorites to read when I have my 'I Need L To Be Obsessed With Kira' cravings. Very fun read, highly recommend ✨

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The Many Forms of Blessings by TrashKing

Rated E. Light was taken in by Wammy House after he lost his family in the accident. Now eighteen he finds it’s a tradition at the house that the best of every generation meet the mysterious creature who lives in the catacombs under the estate; L. Light is reluctant and that unease proves well placed when it’s revealed the graduates L likes never leave the underground.

And THIS fic is the one I circle back to when I get my 'I Need L To Be Obsessed With Light' cravings :3 Dark and beautiful in that Beauty & The Beast/Leda & The Swan way. I really love Light's characterization in this fic, as well as the darker take on the Light Grows Up In Wammy's trope.

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Rabbit Holes by TrashKing

Rated M. L Lawliet, head programmer and engineer for W&W Cybernetics, arrives at Tokyo-3 to fix a malfunction that killed eight people. The problem is that 'malfunction' turns out to be a newly sentient super computer called Kira. L disconnects him from the rest of the installation to begin a historic interrogation, but Kira might not be as defanged as L believes.

If you can't tell by now I am trash for TrashKing's fics—I can't help it I'm straight up in love with their Light. I would recc literally all of their fics but we don't got time for that, there's over fifty. This fic is fluffy and funny and really interesting, and it was a super fun read! I liked the inclusion of Ryuk and Light's very wholesome and yet still very Light™ reactions to human experiences :)

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Into The Grey by Kratos_Aurion

Rated E. Light is a young, hot, reclusive Omega who follows all the rules and does it all right. Except when he's sneaking out to capture criminals as the vigilante only known as Kira. L will always and forever be the world's greatest detective, but the Alpha might have a little competition in the Kanto region of Japan.

In a world just barely free of Omega oppression, these two geniuses find themselves in a race against the clock and each other.

VIGILANTE 👏 LIGHT 👏 I love this little scheming bastard. I love the twists and turns this fic takes and the persistent aura of dread and danger. I also just like it when L and Light bicker and fight and they do that a lot in this fic. A lot. It's great. I can't explain what else I particularly like about this fic without spoiling it, so you're just gonna have to read it.

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Extrajudicial by Boo_Yeah

Rated M. L knows that Light Yagami is guilty. And he is forced to accept that he will never be able to prove it.

So, just this once, he decides to break his principles and go above the law. He kidnaps Light and takes him to Wammy's house.

He's sure that having the kids interact with a real-life mass murderer will be a very educational experience indeed.

Or: Light is Kira, L is sick of how easily manipulated the police are, and he secretly wants to see what will happen if he forces Light into a domestic situation with children just as intelligent as he is.

I am a person who really enjoys L Wins AU, so L yoinking Light from Japan just to hide him away in Wammy's to try and redeem (?) him all while Light kicks and screams is something that just speaks to me personally 🙏 L just wants to not kill his friend and Light just wants to continue to commit crimes, top tier story on God.

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Animal Games by tsukinoyagi

Rated T. Gone Girl AU. L has moved his lovely, vile, entirely batshit husband out of their beautiful Brooklyn brownstone into a Missouri suburb, then left him to his own devices. He is under the impression that this is going to end well.

This fic is beautifully written and it scratches that itch I have for malicious antagonism between established lawlight. These bitches are SO toxic and I love them. I really enjoyed the different perspectives just so you can see that both of them are unreliable narrators.

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Terraito

The Gods of The Godless by foreskinsmoothie

Rated E. Noncon Warning. Light was perfect. And now that he’s not, there’s just nothing left for him here, in this life.

After a night that ruined his life, left him crippled and spurred forth multiple failed suicide attempts, Light decides his best course of action is putting himself in the most dangerous situation he can think of and making grotesque gangsters do his dirty work. He slips into the sight of Ryuk, infamous for fucking male escorts, then killing them in a brutal blur. Or so those dark web message boards say.

Light’s fate is in Gods hands… or maybe a creature far crueler has plans for him.

I LOVE THIS FIC. I ADORE IT. It's dark and gritty, but as someone deranged about human (?) Ryuk and his and Light's dynamic, this fic is wonderful. The noncon is not between Ryuk and Light, but the descriptions are explicit so be aware of that. Both Light and Ryuk have my entire heart here no lie.

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Toes, Knuckles, Teeth by TrashKing

Rated E. Ryuk's always been good at bending rules. Shinigami aren't supposed to have sex with humans but, well, by his estimation Light is also a Shinigami.

This fic revolves in my brain at 3x microwave speeds, okay? I am studying this fic like it is the scrolls of old, alright? I hold unhinged amounts of feralness for this fic. It's a smutty little character study, and it has imprinted itself onto the back of my eyelids forever. This fic addresses every reason that I'm so obsessed with Ryuk and Light's relationship. SO GOOD 🔥

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Meronia

what doesn't kill me makes me want you more by neallo

Rated M. “Poor Near,” Mello says, stepping closer and pulling Near’s head back further, tilting her face up as Mello cages her against the wall. “How long have you liked me?”

Near’s heart is kicking against her ribcage so hard it almost hurts, and her ears are burning with embarrassment. She squeezes her eyes shut, unable to hold the blonde’s gaze. “Mello, I...” she tries to speak, hoarse.

“Has it been months?” Mello asks, her voice getting closer as Near feels her lean down. She braves a glimpse through her lashes and watches as Mello bends her head to brush her cheek against Near’s, putting her lips next to Near’s ear. “Years, maybe?” The older girl teases.

Near finds it in herself to squeak out a “yes,” and almost jumps at Mello’s sharp intake of breath.

“Years,” Mello marvels.

A Fem Meronia fic set in Wammy's era where Mello finds out that Near enjoys getting bullied by her—because Near has a MASSIVE crush on her. What more could you possibly want out of life? Amazing fic.

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The Archer Ensnared by jabbernatty

Rated E. Near has two goals: the first, to celebrate Mello’s birthday. The second- a secret. His methods for achieving these? Questionable.

THIS. FIC. THIS ONE. Near is my favorite levels of unhinged and this is so in character for me. I enjoy it a lot. If you haven't figured it out by now I enjoy romantic antagonism and problematic relationships and this fic has both 😍

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we will be better than i was by sahwen

Rated M. AU in which Mello swallows their pride and works alongside Near. Things aren't as different as one might expect.

Nonbinary Mello, domestic-edging meronia, and tragedy mixed in with funny shenanigans. The way this written is just,,,so pretty?? I'm in love with it. 10/10 it has everything.

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Matsulight

metempsychosis by palant1r

Rated M. MCD Warning. After the warehouse — it will always be "the warehouse" to him, a vague noun as a substitute for years of betrayal — Matsuda wakes up the next morning faced with a second chance. One day to fix everything, one day to build the January 28 he wants. And that day will repeat for as long as it takes to get things right.

He knows that he can't save everyone. But it would be nice if he could just save someone.

OR

Matsuda gets stuck in a time loop and the situation quickly gets worse.

This fic is a TRIP I tell you, but a very good one. Matsuda's characterization in this is so much fun. This fic is about the journey of grief and all the madness and moral contemplation that comes along with shooting the greatest mass murderer of all time who was also your best friend that you're in love with. Very good read.

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Alive by still_lycoris

Rated M. Light Yagami is a Shinigami. And Matsuda has found the Notebook ...

This is such an interesting idea, I really enjoyed it. Matsuda's moral struggle seems to be a persistent theme in matsulight fics but honestly that's half the fun. Good fic 👌

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Birthdaymassacre

A Secret Note by KeehlingOver

Rated E. What Mello left out of his writings on the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases.

Or, these edibles ain't shi--

This fic is so fucking funny holy shit. Whenever I need a pick-me-up I reread this fic. It's T4T bdaymassacre, what more could you want?

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Aggressive Top by ThePunkRanger

Rated E. Naomi Misora isn’t about to admit that the mysterious detective Ryuzaki sparked something in her, but when he insists that he’s an “aggressive top” she just can’t let it slide. So she does something entirely unprecedented, and invites him over to prove it.

What has she gotten herself into?

Naomi is sick of Ryuzaki's shit, and Beyond has reverse-psychology-ed his head between Naomi's legs 🙏 This one is unfinished but it left off on a cliffhanger that drives me FUCKIN' NUTS BRO. FIRE.

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Playing The Part by ThePunkRanger

Rated E. Someone is kidnapping members of Southern California’s BDSM community, and the world’s greatest detective is in the market for a reliable team to go undercover on his behalf.

It’s been two years since the arrest of Rue Ryuzaki, the serial killer behind the Los Angeles BB murder case, and Naomi Misora has been happy to live her life under the assumption that she’ll never have to see him again. Unfortunately, L has other ideas; ones that involve her pretending to be in a Pup/Handler relationship with the murderer she put behind bars.

I'll be real and say that I wasn't sure about this fic at first, but it's actually very wholesome?? And respectful of the kink community! There's some extra angst in the background with L's controlling tendencies (there are cameras in that hotel room. I feel it in my bones.) and his and B's rough history, but honestly I think that makes it even more interesting. Top tier fic. 👌

[yellowhollyhock]

so. Roman writes a script for an episode that he knows is good. He's very excited. He feels like he finally did something right.

Shows it to Logan. Gets it back all marked up.

accidentally got long

It starts a big fight. Easy for us to imagine how this goes because they have this or adjacent fights all the time.

Janus is on Roman's side which would make Roman more angry. Virgil is on Logan's side which hurts especially (idk if there's new content but last I know Roman and Virgil were pretty much the only consistently getting along, maybe Janus and Remus idk). Remus is there for a good time (see Roman's ideas are not good you should use mine). Patton manages to hurt everyone's feelings by taking Roman's side but sounding unsure about it (poor little guy is trying so hard to take care of everyone).

Roman has some good points: why is Logan criticizing his work when it's going to be reviewed by the writing team anyway? Isn't the most important thing at this stage for Thomas to be excited about his own ideas?

Virgil probably gets a little defensive here, like okay wow I'm sorry that Thomas can't always feel great and excited about his creations all the time. Did you even think about how much worse it would be if it was the writing team making all these corrections instead of Thomas doing it within his own head?

And then something clicks for Logan. All these corrections? What do you mean?

And now Virgil's defending Roman as best he can and still be honest with himself. You did kinda rip into it, Teach. I know you're holding is to a high standard but geez, look at all this red ink

Logan: Huh. It sounds as if the two of you think that because I marked it excessively, I disapproved of the script.

Thomas, glancing between them: Well yeah that's usually what red ink means (?)

Logan: No--I mean, yes, but this isn't high school. We're working at a higher level here.

Roman: And now you're calling me a high schooler?

Logan *adjusts glasses*: I specifically said this isn't high school. It is true that, especially for beginning writers, revision marks are usually an indication of

m i s t a k e s

Logan: Wow. As I was saying, Roman is not a beginning writer. I marked the text so excessively because I was engaging with the text. Seeing as it is, in fact, a draft, and will be submitted to peers for review, it is important that Thomas i prepared to discuss the material.

And they're all huh wha? but he wrote it tho?

Logan: Yes, but it's my job to take it from a daydream to a plan. If you read my notes, you would find--

Patton: Red ink!

Logan, thrown off: Yes, that's--we've established that I've made marks--

Virgil, recognizing an Epiphany from the Heart when he sees one: What are you getting at, Patton?

Patton: I mean, this isn't high school anymore!

Logan: Okay, you're just reiterating what I've said.

Patton: Sorry, what I mean is--when Thomas was in school, revision wasn't really treated as part of the creative process--it was a judgment from an authority figure, like a teacher! Or a parent

Logan, now interested: What are you getting at, Patton?

Patton: Thomas has a negative emotional reaction to the color red in that context.

Roman: But that's ridiculous!

Janus: Red has more positive connotations than negative. That's basic color theory :3

Virgil: Don't.

Remus: BLOODY BODY DRAGGED ACROSS THE FLOOR OF THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

Patton is horrified

Logan, annoyed: Patton, you were saying?

Patton: Oh! Glitter pens!

Thomas: Glitter pens?

Roman: Glitter pens?! Now is not the moment for a consolation prize!

Logan: Oh, that's actually quite brilliant, Patton.

Virgil: What??

Logan: As I was saying, way back at (time stamp) before I was I N T E R R U P T E D, if you were to look at the notes I've made, you would find things circled that were phrased particularly well that I believe should go untouched to the final draft.

Roman: ... we would?

Logan: You would also find extensive notes on how the things you've implied in this script fit into the larger lore, which you have done particularly well this time.

Roman: Oh, I, uh--

Logan: I've noted places where we could have an opportunity to research a topic you've touched on and elaborate further, if the run time permits. If not we could possibly link relevant articles.

Roman: ... Oh.

Logan: Of course, minor grammar mistakes or small inconsistencies are also marked, but you do make a valid point there were not many of them this time.

Patton: So if we started color coding the different things Logan does when he revises, we could get Thomas to start thinking about the revision process differently!

Roman: Logan, I'm so sorry, I've been approaching this all wrong. I felt like you weren't even looking at my contributions or giving them a fair chance, and the truth is that's exactly what I was doing to you.

Logan: I appreciate you acknowledging that, Roman.

anyways the whole reason I put this on tumblr and not ao3 is because it has been sitting about here for uh. years now. So yeah they color code things and it helps Logan feel like he has a place in the creative process and also helps Roman not to take feedback so personally

[hoardlikegoldenirises]

Geckonyx aka Naomi Ishii, herpetologist and licker of rocks. Oh, and she can stick to things.

I have no self control so I designed several alternate costumes for Naomi, because I wanted to play with different color schemes and patterns inspired by different kinds of gecko (...and one frog)

And... a couple different variations for her head for each of them, because of my inability to choose between helmet and mask. I like both, I just don't want her to look too much like Spider-Woman. But I think, thanks to Blue Beetle and my emphasizing the round shape, that her masks look pretty distinct from any of the Spider-Women. It's still extremely blatantly Spidery to give a female wallcrawler this kind of mask, even if she doesn't shoot webs, but I think the bulbousness of the lenses and the cutout around her nose really helps shift the vibe.

EDIT: changed her gloves to all be fingerless so she can use her venom.

Closeups and some (a lot of) notes under the cut:

Western Banded Gecko (aka Naomi's first costume):

okay this is the oldest both literally and metatextually lol, I drew this in 2022 when I was first designing everyone, though it's had a minor color modification since then (more rose gold, less pink, but looks basically exactly the same) This one is rougher because I didn't bother redrawing the body for it. I'm only making the neat pics for the designs I haven't made refs for (and Seth's upgraded suit for completion's sake)

(Naomi is 30 by the way. she gets carded a lot.)

So, the western banded gecko. they don't have that much green irl, mostly like cream and pink and maroon, but there are hints of green so I included that because I liked the contrast. also. something i did not realize at the time is that, uh, i don't think... western banded geckos... stick. my excuse is that i am not a herpetologist and I just thought they looked cute and had nice colors. my retroactive excuse for Naomi is that she thought it was funny.

Anyway. This is Naomi's first costume, which she handmade. In-universe, while she is, yes, a herpetologist, she is also... a nerd. wait. she's already a nerd—I mean she likes comic books, cosplaying, lucha and pro-wrestling, not just lizards and rocks. So yes maybe I did purposefully give her a lucha mask to evoke Spider-Man, since she's a wallcrawler, and maybe I did purposefully make her literally a Spider-Man Fan because I thought it was funny, but also in my defense as far as mask design, I have... way too many goggles in my lineup... 😂 I had to have some variety in there. also it seemed like a good workaround for long hair.

The G on her chest is also meant to be a lizard/tail btw. And she made the whole costume herself out of fabric she got from the craft store and like, tights and stuff, so... iridescent mermaid scale spandex, etc. You can see her cosplay skills at play here compared to, for example, Seth's homemade Scratch costume, which, while sleek in its own right, is literally just black sportswear and a motorcycle helmet LOL

the little yellow strap-on shoes. The tights are stirrup tights, that way Naomi has the most important parts of her feet exposed but the tights will still stay put etc etc etc. They're probably a really high denier lol

Why does she really need the stirrup cut to expose the soles of her feet though? Well, since I have her using setae/van der waals forces to cling (vs. my version of peter parker, who has a fullbody electrostatic aura that works by charging his entire body including his clothes), this means... Naomi can't wear shoes or gloves while she sticks... at least, not without special materials. So her outfit is designed with that in mind; fingerless gloves so her fingertips are exposed and easily removable shoes she puts on a carabiner on the back of her waistband:

So practical! It's probably got a snap crotch leotard for the white part too but I didn't bother figuring that out here.

Anywho—upgraded suits.

Blue Tailed Day Gecko (female coloration):

This is the main intended step up I was thinking for her, despite the multiple other suits in this post. Consider this one "canonical" lmao idk what the rest are for i'm just like this.

The G logo on this one is a little smoother in its curves which I could say was on purpose but was kind of just me not really looking at the original when I drew it LOL though it IS supposed to look more like a tail, so that works fine for my purposes. I was originally considering giving her an actual lizard symbol (like the kind that show up if you google "lizard logo" I guess...) but I didn't like the way it looked in my sketches and trying to add little legs just felt too cluttered so I kept it simple. Unfortunately it does look kind of like a maggot or something when it's white like this, but I don't think Naomi would consider that a bad thing 😂

For most of my refs I didn't bother with the sexual dimorphism and stuff while looking for inspiration, but blue-tailed day lizards have like, really strong color dimorphism and I liked both a lot so I wanted to do one for each. So this one is inspired by the female coloration.

I didn't bother trying to recreate the lizard's pattern particularly, mostly focused on colors and vibes and good silhouettes that still evoked the shapes in her handmade costume. The copper spots on her back are based on that lizard's patterning though. But the female blue-tails tend to be pretty green, with a hint of blue, so I went with the blue-green gradient, and then since they have a lot of browns and earth tones I went with the sparkly bronze and the copper colors, and a fun coppery-bronze visor.

Anyway she will probably be a little more muscular by the time she gets a nice suit like this, just from supporting her own body weight (though she doesn't exactly weigh a whole lot and her strength is completely un-augmented so like... can't compare to Seth, whose job it is to leap five feet into the air and lift 5'10" athletes above their head lol) but she's still not exactly a bruiser.

(*edited 11/1 to add texture to green material, since, you know, lizards... scales... etc.)

And something you may be wondering is:

Why a helmet?

Well.

That's why.

Me, sowing by purposefully referencing Spider-Man in my wallcrawler's costume: teehee~

Me, reaping when I realize I can't put lenses on her mask without making her Literally Just Spider-Woman: fuck

I've got my ways though. Obviously. I wanted to keep the almond shape of the lucha silhouette even for the helmets though so I looked at some sentai helmets as reference and I just kinda winged it.

also I like that the visor on this helmet is kind of shaped like a heart 🧡 and also kind of like a butterfly 🦋 it's a good fit for Naomi, who is supposed to be cheerful and cute on top of liking, you know, lizards and bugs and shit.

At the same time I decided to play with variations on the lucha style mask and round bug-eyed lenses that aren't framed, and I do like how those look... I just can't tell if it's too Spider-Man or not. But I like the look so much I think I might use it... maybe she swaps between helmet and mask depending on context and weather.

Very cute... extra shimmery...

Anyway like my scribbly handwriting says, the helmet also serves, well, helmet purposes, to protect Naomi's head if she falls. Which is like, "well why would that even be a problem?" and the answer is simple: Naomi doesn't have super strength and her healing power is technically only "enhanced," generally speaking. Not to burden the Spider-Man comparisons but if you think about silver age and some early bronze age Peter Parker, it's kinda like that. She's tougher than she was before, and heals a little faster, but she can still break her arm if she falls wrong, or get laid up with the flu (though she's probably not quite as flu-prone as Peter, the guy who appears to have caught every flu strain known to man.)

In my head (...badum tss) she uses the helmet outside/high up/if it's cold or in other situations she might need more protection, and the mask is for like, indoors, more cramped spaces, or casual situations that still require her to keep her face hidden but maybe not quite as anonymous. also like, probably talking to people would be easier in the mask since her mouth is free and I didn't exactly put vents or filters on these helmets. (that's how you know they aren't regular materials)

Naomi does have some latent regenerative healing abilities (tied to the gecko theme) but—and I mean this in the most literal way possible: it doesn't work if she loses her head, so a helmet is probably still a good idea. also she won't know about this ability until something needs to grow back so her subconscious suit design would probably not take regeneration into account anyway?

idk i haven't quite worked out how these suits work yet. I know they're programmable matter and some kind of exotic or metamaterial, and in my head I've been thinking about them as similar-ish to the Fantastic Four's unstable molecules, but as far as specifics go, I dunno.

Wait I know one specific.

The white parts on her palms and soles are (some kind of silicon substrate probably?) made with CARBON NANOTUBES in them. This was in my plans already in a vague sense, in that I knew her fancy upgraded suit was going to get rid of the barefoot requirement and specifically allow her to use shoes, but it wasn't until a few days ago in a wiki hole that I realized I could use carbon nanotubes for that. I was just gonna handwave it lol

But basically my thought process for carbon nanotubes was like, gecko/nano tape but... more. I don't think irl gecko tape can support the weight of a grown adult woman, even a small one... (though there is some invention out there that figured out you can actually use van der waals forces to support a human being but they're real bulky)—but it's a neat idea and really what is more superheroic than partial science? and now she can still use her sticking powers without having to take her shoes off.

take that foot fetishists.

Anyway, her shoes aren't strictly climbing shoes (I don't think they're that curved) but I was looking at pics of climbing shoes for inspiration, so that's where the overall shapes and the super smooth soles are from.

(oh also it's cut off there but as I note in the drawing: Naomi's skills are mostly reconnaissance and stealth (despite her extremely vibrant colors), and anything focused on maneuverability, because while she has peak human reflexes, her strength is unimpressive and her healing ability is only mildly enhanced, like I said earlier, so she is not a very good offensive fighter.)

okay next!

Blue Tailed Day Gecko (male coloration):

I Swear To God I didn't do the red and blue on purpose, it literally didn't occur to me until after I had colored it. I just thought the male blue-tails looked cool lmao. But I think it's got enough green tones and so little red that it doesn't really evoke Spidey's red and blue anyway, especially since her visor is blue-black instead of white. So I'm not sweatin' it.

I actually really like how this one came out too. I was having some trouble with incorporating the green but I think this very soft glaucous green works really well. I could almost see this one being a like... slightly more stealth-focused suit... obviously it's still brightly colored and the arms are still pretty light, but the deep colors overall evoke a slightly more nighttime oriented feel for me.

...a blue-tailed night gecko, if you will.

Made this one a little metallic-sparkly but not as glittery as the one with the female coloration. This one has a tiny bit more inspiration from the lizard's actual markings (mostly on the helmet) but is still of course all about clean lines and good silhouettes.

The logo also ended up smaller and slightly different which, IDK why I didn't just copy-paste, but I like how it looks this way anyway so eh. They don't HAVE to be identical.

I don't really know what texture the green should be though. More glitter seems like a bit too much. In my head I'm thinking it might just be a very, very matte, soft texture but surprisingly durable. It's not like it's made of spandex so it can really be pretty much any texture. That's also why it's possible for the helmet to match the fabric color and glitter perfectly 😂 I'd feel bad for any real life costume designer who had to deal with this... lmao

mask version...

I had a terrible realization with this one because I didn't look up pictures of Spider-Woman until afterward and it turns out she has a triangle on her forehead which I had forgotten about LOL but I think it's still different enough. There's some Blue Beetle influence in there that I think helps differentiate it pretty well. Like, okay, if she was a Marvel character I would assume she was a spider-person or some weird cross between Koi Boi and Spider-Woman, but outside of Marvel... I think it's got a good vibe.

pop of contrast with the red knees again. I just think it looks nice and the kneepads let me evoke the bike short-style cut on her homemade costume without actually putting her in shorts.

Pretty similar here for soles, slightly different silhouette but that's about it. palms are the same, white and rubbery but flexible. I imagine her gloves move kind of like a second skin despite being all one piece without any seams. fuck helmet matching, i would REALLY feel bad for an irl costume designer having to make that work in live action.

Here's a better look at the actual palm btw.

and also. her fingertips. ridges from setae already weird enough but not noticeable unless someone looks close or can feel her fingers, and then... the new ability... to shoot modified hairs in the form of hollow needles with which to inject venom.

it's an awful mental image, tbh. lmao. the venom she uses is similar to that of gila monsters or beaded lizards. (not bearded)

Part 2!!!

Northern Spiny Tailed Gecko:

Okay! I'm mixed on this one tbh. lol.

I did this one kind of on a whim cause I saw a pic of one of these lizards and I thought they looked cool, though not really Naomi's like... aesthetic. So I guess this is kind of like... what if Naomi got serious... but still was Naomi LMAO she can't resist the hint of shimmer... (wait that's me.)

I like the way the mask turned out significantly more than the helmet for this one, though I like the spikes on the helmet. But the lenses specifically turned out a lot better imo. I was looking at the actual lizard's weird fucking eyes and was like, how the hell do I evoke that. And then I remembered that, even if this WASN'T made of some kind of unknown unstable molecule or nanomachines or whatever the fuck, you can put patches of different colored foil films on real life motorcycle visors and sunglasses and stuff, so that's basically what I was thinking about there. She still sees out it the same, though with I guess random dots of full spectrum color vs... orange-tinted... LOL

This suit was actually surprisingly hard to do. Turns out doing a completely monochromatic fullbody suit in any color other than black is... difficult, if you want it to actually look good. I did know I wanted it textured at least... but the rest, hard. That's why the white lines are there tbh. It just needed something for visual interest.

The G on this one is segmented/broken up instead of soft curves to fit the slightly edgier look, and also as a reference to geckos' famed ability to detach and grow back their tails. (Naomi doesn't have a tail and she can't detach her limbs but she can do the other part...!)

I gave it spikes to match the spiny appearance of the lizard... wow... so edgy... 😂 Actually it was super odd to do a costume like this in such a pale color, because normally when I do more grim costumes, they feature a lot of black and very vibrant accents like purple or red. (Though I guess the orange color of the lenses here is a bright color...)

Since I've been heavily referencing climbing shoes so much, it made sense to me to put crampons on her shoes. More spikes! I doubt they're super useful but, maybe... I mean. I'm sure they'd make a kick in the balls real killer. oh... hm. I mean obviously this is a weaponized costume, but... is this her weaponized costume? her only chance at offense as a 100 lb wallcrawler... metal spikes.

Assume they are reinforced and framed inside where it's not visible, in this magic superhero costume that doesn't need to follow the laws of tailoring. The angled knee pads are my way of doing knee spikes cause unless you got a full suit of armor that never looks good lmao. They are def hard on the outside though.

Also this whole color scheme and the white on the palms just makes me think of like... sharks... which I guess its fitting.

Anyway this costume was... interesting to work on. It was mostly an experiment, and IDK if she'll ever use it (I say this like I have a story about anyone other than Seth lmfao) because I already have several characters with white, red and black color schemes (though Tama's includes gold) so I didn't want to add yet another, but it was just such a neat looking lizard I couldn't resist.

next!

Lygodactylus williamsi aka the Electric Blue Day Gecko:

I like the color of this one... could not resist adding yet MORE glitter, though I figured the body could be one of those very, very slightly shimmery matte looking deals in contrast to the super heavy flake glitter in the helmet and mask. would film terribly. lmao.

I was briefly judging myself for giving every helmet a different visor for some reason instead of using the same one to save my hand (meanwhile i copy pasted the mask XD) especially since... Naomi is NOT the only one with a helmet (if I keep her helmets at all) but what I realized is that most of her helmets in this lineup still have similar enough visor shapes that it's pretty thematically consistent even though they're all different. I think the tree frog and the spiny gecko helmets, aka the two most experimental costumes here, are the most divergent, but they still have like... the rough overall vibe of curves and heart shapes. but this electric blue helmet fits very neatly in with the blue-tailed helmets, so I like that. I could see this one slotting very neatly in with the blue-tailed day gecko suits as a set.

Which, importantly, means I probably don't have to worry about TJ's helmet when I get to him, especially since his is going to be significantly more influenced by Power Rangers and super sentai stuff... I'll probably give him a way weirder visor shape.

Anyway, this suit was another case of monochrome making my life difficult but you know what makes everything look better? Gradients. Lmao. and more shimmers. I just like sparkles, and I liked the idea of leaning into Naomi having a consistent aesthetic as far as being colorful and sparkly, even when it's toned down. (right, "toned down," as if the helmet accompanying it isn't extremely over the top lmao)

In my head the material on her gloves and shoe soles is like... a really sticky-looking (but not—well. it is sticky but it's not wet) kind of gummy, rubbery, or like... jelly almost? but like. on an opaque base cause her hands and feet are in there. like... one of those translucent rubber ducks...

(*edit 11/1 added texture to this one as well)

Attempts Were Made...

I considered making a version based on the female coloration of this lizard, as a counterpart, but my hand hurts after spending three days on drawing superhero costumes...lol. if I do draw a counterpart like that, I think it would be a mix of rose gold/copper and a shimmery iridescent gold-green, I think... either a front-to-back gradient or with side panels. or even like... almost like those tinted holographic fabrics...

anyway

Red Eyed Tree Frog:

Okay this isn't a gecko but it occurred to me while I was taking a break yesterday and it sounded fun... It's not technically on theme since her vigilante/hero/whatever name is literally Geckonyx lmao but it is on theme in that she probably likes frogs, aside from obviously being a wallcrawler.

Also when I realized I could make her helmet for this one look like an alien... bro. how could i RESIST?! I think this is by far the cutest helmet I have drawn, ever.

Unlike the other costumes, but similarly to the electric blue costume, this one has the back and front of the hand all the same material (does that mean she can stick with the backs of her knuckles in this suit???)

As far as styling goes, this one was very straightforward since it's pretty obviously literally just the exact pattern on a red eyed tree frog (well, plus the rubber G) lol — this is also the One where I started to figure out her mask, and that's because frogs have big round eyes. I copy pasted the mask from this one to all the others lol.

also came very close to looking like Seahawks colors (lol) but thankfully the cool base I used for the metallic blue drew it away from that a little, on top of being a little lighter than the navy they use. (plus the blood orange/scarlet accents)

rubbery texture on the shoes again for sure... not so sure about the green though... like is it also rubbery... like un-laminated neoprene?? pleathery/leather-like texture? idk. not shiny spandex, i know that much.

texture: skin?

ANYWAY

That's it!! IDK why I felt the need to design four extra suits for Naomi on top of her upgrade, but it's fun to think about all the gecko colors... who knows, maybe she needs a variety... every wallcrawler needs a stealth suit. and. a bunch of other ones. duh.

UPDATE: realized I still need the full gloves for certain situations—luckily, when I did the fingerless gloves, I just drew fingers on top of the full gloves in a separate folder, so i still have all of them lol.

Considering the lizard theming there is something strangely fitting about Naomi being able to switch between helmet and mask, full glove and fingerless glove, all as needed. Something chameleonic, if you will.

[catboybiologist]

Science stuff (sorry in advance if these are unrelated to your background):

1. Why are ants important?

2. There are a bunch of kinds of ants, right? Like carpenter vs. fire vs. ..... the sidewalk ones.

3. Do you have a favorite bug and a "fun" fact about it?

I'm asking because someone on Discord was telling a story about stomping ants, and others jumped in to chastise them and I didn't get why.

Thanks!

So first off, stomping the ants on the sidewalk probably isn't going to do all that much to the colony long term. You're not killing reproducing individuals, and are probably killing so little of the colony that it doesn't matter to the ants presence or survival long term.

That being said, even though I'm not vegetarian and do kill animals in certain contexts, and yeah they're insects which we kill all the time, I find it weird when people go out of their way to do stuff like that.

But anyways. I'm going to answer your point 2 before point 1, because I think it helps:

2. Yes! Way moreso than even that. The "sidewalk ones" comprises way more species than you think, as do the other terms you used. Ground dwelling insects don't move quickly and have a short generation time, meaning local conditions can put natural selection pressure on them very fast. In fact, there are over 15,000 species of ant, and they possible make up 1/5 of all animal biomass. There's a ludicrous number of ants on a scale that's hard to comprehend.

1. Ants are extremely important- nothing that is that huge a fraction of an ecosystem isn't. The simplest way is that, by composing that much biomass, they're a dominant food source for larger animals. They can have a variety of other roles, including predators for other insects that need to be kept in check, or scavengers for dead material.

The study I used for most of this info is this: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2201550119#:~:text=Ants%20are%20highly%20diverse%2C%20comprising,many%20undescribed%20ones%20(27). It uses a large amount of previously published data to summarize an overall picture so it's pretty cool.

Side note, there was an ant researcher on 196 that I ran into a coupla times, I hope they're doing well. They would know way more than me lol.

As for point 3... I have so many! Normally I would talk about giant isopods here, but I've been talking about them a bunch recently, so imma just say Blue Morpho butterflies. Basic bitch stuff I know. But the way their pigment works is really cool, they have an intense iridescent blue color that is completely invisible at the wrong angle, and vibrantly, shiny light blue at the correct angle. It's the most extreme iridescent change I've personally seen.

[murumokirby360]

-- Prologue --

1st & 2nd Image(s): ↑

Hello, December. This is it, it's the final month of 2023. And while I have a bunch of items that I would love to review, I want to tackle my recent order that was delivered on Nov 24th of that year. 🙂📦

My paper dolls ask "So, what's inside of that package?". Well, let's find out right now! 😁📦✂️ ↓

🎦 My Recorded video No. 1 ↑ 📲

IMPORTANT NOTE: My apologies for the awful background, despite my current smartphone (the Honor 8C) doesn't have noise cancelling / anti-background sound feature. 🚫🎶🏙️📲

My High Purity Copper Wire Replacement Audio for my QKZ AK6 Pro IEM review (w/ my paper dolls) - 1st Half [Recorded: Dec 8th, 2023]

DeviantART Version: [CLICK ME!]

(3rd & 4th Image(s): ↑)

Here it is! This is my last item review for 2023, the "High Purity Copper Wire Replacement Audio" [Model name: "HC001ABK"] for my existed QKZ AK6 Pro IEM Earphones by the folks of Popcorn Tech. 🙂🎧🎶 Mmmmm... I would like to call it "Audio Wire Replacement", for now on. 🙂 So, will it worked on my current IEM Earphones? Let's find out. 🤔

IMPORTANT NOTE: I know what you thinking, but... They're not actual selling ✌ "popcorn" ✌ foods ❌🍿, no. (as confused as I am) Rather, they're selling tech stuff, aside from audio items. See these for yourself:[Lazada - CLICK ME!], [Shopee - CLICK ME!].

BTW: If you haven't seen my review of QKZ AK6 Pro (from 2022), then I'll provide some links down below. ↓ 😉

My QKZ AK6 Pro IEM Earphones:

• Revealing parcel [Oct 1st, 2022]

• Part 1 (1st half) [Oct 8th, 2022]

• Part 2 (2nd half) [Oct 8th, 2022]

• Part 3 (Final) [Oct 26th, 2022]

So, without further ado, let's get started:

5th to 19th Image(s): ↑

• [5th & 6th Images] Alright so, let's have a comparison with my old one (from the original box), while I'm making an explanation why I bought this replacement. I have a ton of photos, so let's keep rolling.

• The reason why I need it as urgent was because of our new pet bunny 🥰🐰🤗 (yes, we do have a pet domestic rabbit gifted by our related family tree) chewing on my OG audio wire, while I was sleeping at midnight. Apparently, My IEM earphone was felt beside our pet rabbit's cage before it chewed. 🐰 (Reason? Because my parents bought a ton of item goods to sell for our small business, which ended up in our living room) And what you see now (followed by other snapshots) are the remaining pieces of my OG audio wire, and that's why I need a replacement for my current IEM. As I said before, owning an IEM had a huge advantage over ordinary/regular earphones was the ability to detach the earpiece from the old audio wire and in favor of the new one. As for our beloved pet rabbit, we've decided to move to the backyard, along with our beloved mixed breed canine (named "Buster") during the cleaning schedule. 😊🐶

BTW: While I can't show ya our actual pet rabbit, instead here's a video of our exact pet rabbit breed 🥰🐰🤗 → [CLICK ME!]. As for our mixed breed canine? Well, sadly, I have no information on what breed he/she is... Sorry. 🤔 Anyways, let's go back to my review.

• [7th to 19th Images] As I said before, here are the remaining of my OG audio wire from QKZ, completely snapped and chewed by our beloved pet rabbit. Nonetheless, the comparison between my old and new audio wire is completely identical (from the C Pin to the ear hooks, and even the Y-shaped splitter. Not to mention, the material used), almost. 🙂 Because there are notable things that I've found except the yellowish color of the QDC C Pin 🤔, like their controls. [12th & 13th Images] The OG had a single play/pause/call button, while the 'audio wire replacement' had included the volume buttons (alongside the aforementioned one) to prevent reaching our smartphone for adjusting our music sound 🚫✋🎶📲, which is good. 🙂👍 [19th Image] Another one was the missing logo from the new 'audio wire replacement'. Yeah, there's nothing special about it 🤷, since this 'audio wire replacement' had strong compatibility with other IEM brands, not just for QKZ models (like my AK6 Pro), as long as you're using the C Pin variant over other IEM audio pins. 🎶😉

Unfortunately, This is the end of '1st half'. But, fear not because I have the '2nd half', right here. → [CLICK ME!] 😉

Well, that's all for now.

Tagged: @lordromulus90, @bryan360, @carmenramcat, @leapant, @rafacaz4lisam2k4, @alexander1301, @paektu

[fujoshiwarrior]

i hope you don't mind me adding on to this because i was going to add this as tags but it was starting to get super long (also canto v spoilers):

hong lu has a line in canto v that struck me as random and out of place, and like there was absolutely no reason for it to be there at all. it's this line:

this line goes completely unacknowledged by everyone in the room, even sinclair who just asked him what he was humming about. so what's the point behind having him say this line at all?

afterwards when the sinners discuss if they should go with ahab, hong lu says they don't really have much of a choice but to go with ahab since she was heading to the heart anyway and they don't know left from right inside the whale.

in typical hong lu fashion, he seems kind of airheaded with his suggestion and maybe one could argue that he was naively trusting ahab (if you didn't know any better, of course.) the added context of him pretty much verbatim saying that they have no choice but to go along with ahab gives me the impression that this line was him openly doubting ahab (quite convenient that she just so happened to be on track to lead them exactly where they want to be, hm?) without compromising his carefully crafted airheaded bimboy image he's maintained thus far. it's also worth pointing out that while everyone was deeply suspicious of ahab, the only one who pointed out (or had any idea of) ahab's tendency of seeing straight through people right to exactly what it is they want in order to exploit their goals and desires was ishmael. but hong lu's line here pointing out that it's suspicious how ahab just happened to have the same location for her own goal so they should totally work together and trust her implies he immediately picked up on her tendency to manipulate others' desires for her own benefit. his suggestion to follow her to the heart might seem to contradict this, but he's right that...they really didn't have much of a choice, because feeling their way through the whale would be significantly riskier than having this person albeit suspicious lead them to exactly where they need to go. hong lu seems to have a very good grasp on other people in spite of how tactless he tends to act, this is particularly evident in canto iv in his interactions with yi sang.

this was meant to be more of an aside to what i intended to talk about which isn't related to canto v, but the mention of the ambiguity surrounding hong lu even in his source material and the cutthroat nature of his family reminded me of that.

what i meant to talk about is that hong lu's brother's name is "jia huan", and "jia" seems to be the family name im assuming? this was a random thought i had while reading your post, but what if hong lu isn't related to the jia family and was adopted into it? there's no evidence suggesting this of course, but it made me think for a bit. it would help explain why jia huan doesn't like him, though there are thousands of reasons for why that might be.

another thing i wanted to mention was a color fixer mentioned named the jade qilin

iirc, the jade qilin is first mentioned in library of ruina? i think? but i remember that before the release of limbus company, on the limbus company account there were tweets posted that detailed a conversation between roland and gebura about the current state of fixers. gebura asks him who the current strongest fixer is, and it leads into a discussion about various fixers: two names of note that roland mentions are the red gaze (who we know as vergilius), and the jade qilin.

as you outlined, jade is associated with hong lu and plays an important role in the dream of the red chamber. we know literally nothing about the jade qilin as of right now, but i don't think it's a stretch to say they're probably from hong lu's family.

something that's been on my mind is if hong lu comes from such a rich family...why is he even working as a low grade fixer at limbus company? some of his ids (namely his w corp id) suggest that he was hired because of nepotism. compared to chesed from lobotomy corporation, hong lu is a mystery because we were given an explicit reason why someone so rich was interested in a dingy lab in the middle of nowhere: because he genuinely believed in the seed of light project. granted, limbus company itself is very mysterious and plenty of the sinners' motivations for joining are murky, but hong lu strikes me as particularly strange because again...he's rich. he could have gone anywhere he wanted. jia huan being a part of a rival faction also vying for the golden boughs suggests that maybe their family wants something with the golden boughs, and considering how competitive we know the family is it probably isn't a stretch to think hong lu and jia huan would fight each over who gets it---the question then becomes why they, or why their family, wants the golden boughs

(i realize this is all just my personal speculation, but hong lu is definitely something)

ok i was cooking up another hong lu analysis thing bc i noticed SEVERAL things in his base id art the other day and wanted to share with the class but they just dropped a new one in the canto V trailer and i have some stuff i wanna talk about that one:)

My Hong Lu knowledge and interpretation is very heavily influenced by reading Dream of the Red Chamber, which may not be the best because I don’t know how much Limbus will pull from the book because it’s Long as fuck but I think it’s given me a deeper knowledge of Hong Lu.

Keep in mind this ego is NOT out yet so i could be totally off base depending on what the full animation/corrosion/sin affinities are like and this is totally theorizing but I wanted to have a go at anyway!! And this got totally out of hand so reading is appreciated :)

One of the first things I noticed here is this Hong Lu seems VERY Bao-yu. We still don’t know for sure what Hong Lu is within the context of Red Chamber (i don’t think it’ll be straightforward considering how that book works) but it’s important to note!

He has this little hat on (this is the best pic i can get atm to show it’s not a fancy hair tie, unfortunately the footage we have rn is a little scuffed)

and Bao-yu is ALWAYS depicted with a hat like this.

This could just be because that’s the appropriate outfit for Chinese nobility (I unfortunately have little to no reference point here, feel free to correct me, but from some quick searches hats aren’t ubiquitous and ESPECIALLY not ones of this style.) I think it’s worth noting because it comes up in nearly all modern depictions of Bao-yu.

There’s also the pearl Hong Lu is wearing on his neck/chest area, which is where Bao-yu wears the magic jade he was born with. His jade is translated into Limbus as Hong Lu’s jade eye, but this plus his hat and the abno’s themes REALLY makes me think we are dealing with some Bao-Yu stuff here.

Speaking of the Abno’s themes, now i can actually go over them! All we have for Walking Pearl right now is the MD event (as well as general observation), but there’s a few things that are relevant.

Just based off design, the abnormality seems to be mostly about the precious (the pearl) and the filth (the muck) intermixing. which makes sense with the EGO being named “Effervescent Corrosion” and our holders being Hong Lu and Rodya.

There’s some symbolism around greed/wealth (the offspring filled muck desiring the pearl and fighting for which one will earn it? the muck tarnishing the pearl? ) and I think we should read into that because it’s Hong Lu and Rodya who have this one and they’re both very tied to their financial status. Those two sharing an ego makes me insane for a bunch of reasons but that’s probably for another analysis piece! But duality is REALLY important for those guys and that’s a theme they’re emphasizing here with both the pearl and muck within the clam.

There’s also some elements of shelter/protection/potentially entrapment with the clam’s shell which are HUGE for Hong Lu, especially with his egos so I think those may come up.

But mostly it’s about the mixing of the precious (likely “wealth” here) and the unsavory, which works very well with what we know of the Jia family. The design likely referencing Bao-yu and thematically dealing with the Jia family makes me think each of those individual readings are more likely because they’re deeply tied together!

And now onto the MD event! I did not write this in order so I may repeat stuff here but. I realized I had to cover the design first so here we are!

First thing that stuck out of me is this portion when you choose to sample some of the clam’s slime.

Sibling/family infighting is very Jia family. It reminds me a lot of this line base Hong Lu says.

You could take this a step further because the clam is something that would typically offer shelter from the rest of the world, and even though it protects, its offspring continue to kill and eat each other.

It seems fine, the offspring have this lovely shell for protection, and they have the precious pearl held within, but even as they are sheltered and wealthy. They are still getting killed and eaten by one another! Reminds me of someone I know:)

It reminds me of some bits in the later half of Red Chamber, where family members more obviously start acting behind each other’s backs or turning on each other, some even killing other family members.

Another part of the MD event that I got something out of was the beginning portion.

using specifically jade as the color for the seawater is a Hong Lu thing. I may be reaching with this bc it’s more than likely just flavor text BUT when taking this color with the fact that there’s nothing in the water it makes me think of an important scene in Red Chamber where Bao-Yu is described as an empty shell, so I wanted to mention it. We know Hong Lu has TONS of water motifs, especially when relating to his family (see his base ego)

The main reason I brought up this section of the MD event is because of the question brought up by the last portion.

If you take one thing from Dream Of The Red Chamber into your perception of Hong Lu as a character, it should be the themes of ambiguity, duality, and being between binaries. Because he sure as hell does that a lot!!! (and i’m not just talking about his gender) He is both genuinely curious and sheltered with an urge to learn as much as he can, but he also plays dumb frequently, backpedals and asks a lot of stupid questions on purpose to maintain others’ perceptions of him. He is CONSTANTLY walking the line between truth and illusion and it can be hard to tell which is which and precisely how much is fake or real, which is why I find him such an interesting character to think about.

Tangent about Hong Lu's characterization aside, it's really easy to read this line as about his family's perceptions of him.

Hong Lu (or rather, Bao-yu) can be read as being the source of the contamination in that he is the heir of the Jia family who is just an absolute fucking failure of everything you’d want in an heir for that time period.

The clam containing the filth can be read as Hong Lu’s lies (whether conscious lies or otherwise) to himself and others about the true “filth” of his family. Really good example of this is with another bit of window dialogue, but these lies and half truths come up quite a bit if you know where to look. (what happened to cohort of kin looking to stab each other in the back at every turn???)

We already have Hong Lu’s assorted water motifs (his feet make ripples on the water in his base id, land of illusion has so much water theming and shows the Jia mansion is surrounded by water) so I think this is a reasonable analysis to make :)

There’s some other sections to the MD event, but there’s nothing of note that triggered the Hong Lu sleeper agent in my brain & also this has gone on long enough that I wanna talk about predicting some stuff for the ego!

I am manifesting Gluttony/Gloom/Wrath for this ego!!

Gluttony and gloom are in the MD event’s skill check already and I think tie in nicely with the themes. Gluttony works with the offspring in the muck killing and eating each other and themes of greed with the pearl (plus the ego is primarily green and that’s a pretty good clue) and then gloom comes up a LOT with Hong Lu’s family (Liu Hong Lu, the only one that remarks on his jade eye, is also the only Hong Lu with gloom. land of illusion requires 5 gloom resources and also relates a lot to red chamber/his family) Gloom’s also generally a stand-in for water which exists here.

Wrath in Hong Lu generally manifests in him going “yeah, maybe my family was a little fucked up actually” internally, instead of manifesting as taking direct action about the fucked up things like it works for most other sinners, and acknowledging that his family was at least partially filth and killing and eating eachother (metaphorically. maybe literally) works for that

i am not an expert on sin analysis but i wanted to take a prediction bc it’s fun :)

I have a couple of predictions for corrosion and i’ll be real they are the main reason i wrote this thing because i LOVE when bad things happen to Hong Lu!!

Since this ego seems to be referencing Bao-yu so much i can pull stuff from Red Chamber too which makes it more fun :)

First one I came up with is Hong Lu taking the place of the pearl within the clam and getting locked in there! A bunch of his egos have to do with being controlled/trapped so i think it works and it also can work as a parallel for Bao-yu’s treatment by his family. Bao-yu’s name means precious jade, and he’s often treated more like his namesake than a person, heavily controlled and never allowed to leave the Jia mansion (or, in this case, the clam.) I just think it’d be fun!

My other concept has to do with more Red Chamber stuff, notably what happens when Bao-yu loses his jade. I’m not quite there yet in the text, but from what i’ve heard he becomes incredibly unstable and essentially loses his mind. This sets the Jia family’s downfall into even faster motion and from that point things get REALLY fucked up. Since the pearl here parallels Bao-yu’s jade, I think having a reference to that part of the book would be really fucking crazy for all 5 people who have read 1800+ pages of red chanber to get to chapter 94 where he loses that thing. Also i just want to see Hong Lu lose his mind i KNOW it would be terrifying and chilling. but they may be saving that for his distortion (manifesting)

In my skimming Red Chamber table of contents to find when Bao-yu loses his jade i just found a chapter where Bao-yu’s father admires a pearl but we will just ignore that for now bc this has taken long enough to type already and that is several chapters off. but there may be more analysis when this thing actually comes out!

Thank you for reading this far!! I hope you enjoyed me looking far too deep into an unreleased ego we know next to nothing about for fun! this took WAY longer than expected to type out but i’m glad I did because I loveee telling people about Hong Lu!

There is a very real chance very little of my analysis and prediction is reflected in canon BUT please remember that truth becomes fiction when the fiction’s true and even if this doesn’t turn out to be correct now u know a little more about Hong Lu and the themes he plays with :)

[measuringbliss]

That post about Peter Parker's inconsistent (literal) ass during Civil War (ASM #532-538)

I won't take into account his appearance in the main event (because he doesn't appear much or at all as Peter, mostly with his costume as Spider-Man) but rather his appearances in Amazing Spider-Man #532-538, which ran parallel to the main event. Why? Because I just read those.

First off, let's talk about Spidey's ass from the runs I'm used to, which is years 1973-4. Here's ASM #132 from May 74. As you can see, he's well-muscled, he has meat in the legs, he's not *thin*, he has a healthy size. When other artists took their turn at drawing him, he became slimmer which I'm not a fan of but it was more of a general style thing and not specifically related to Spidey.

Anyway here's Peter out of his costume in ASM #532 (July 2006):

Let's not make a fuss about MJ and May's... awkward outfits.

Okay first off I'm not sure I'd let my step-aunt see my man in such a tight, revealing outfit, but then again Peter's features have been on display for about 60 years IRL and *maybe* 15 years in comics? So maybe they don't care.

Anyway, as you can see, Peter has a nice... everything. I'm just noticing now that his outfit has the colors of Iron Man's suit, which, oof. Considering they start as allies and end up becoming enemies in this arc... But this isn't an outfit analysis post (yet). It's about ARSES. Peter's ass. It is well defined. It's fair. You know, I think it's fair. It's not equal to female character's asses but it's... it's fair. I like it.

HOWEVER. Barely a few pages later, his ass already gets nerfed.

Naturally, the gaze is all about MJ's shiny buttocks and May's sexy legs.

Later, in Peter's costume, his ass is back in full force! Maybe Peter's suit pants have a conscience of their own and decide whether or not they're gonna show off.

It's volume 533 now and Peter wears simple pants. This seems to be a good day for butt afficionados, although there's clearly a difference of treatment between MJ's bubbly round butt and Peter's rougher, presumably manlier butt. It can't be too pretty to look at, now, can it?

Peter's ass at the end of ASM #534 is a mystery to me. How. Why. Who thought this was a good idea? It's not even flat; it's *blocky*.

The outfit that made me shout "THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE" is the next one though.

(Do note how the artist smartly avoids having to draw Peter's butt by cutting the page before the part in question. Outstanding. Truly audacious.)

The important part is that Peter's wearing *cargo pants*. And here's the thing: I've never seen a guy whose cargo pants didn't work in his favor. If you're thin, they have enough material that you don't look like a spaghetti. If you aren't, you fill these types of pants very nicely. And as we've seen, Peter has a tendency to fill his pants quite beautifully. Mostly.

THEN WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!

There's no way this is accurate. Of course, comics are stylized, but STILL. This makes no sense. His ass is flatter than crispbread, there's no juice, no muscle, it's flat as a pancake! With any kind of pants, it would already be ridiculous. But with *cargo pants*?!

The only explanation is that somehow Peter has a quantum-esque ass. Is the ass flat or well-defined? Well, open the box and see for yourself!

Okay but seriously he's such a babe in that first panel at the beginning, what the hell. He has something of a stubble in a few panels and let me tell you, it works wonders for him! We need more stubbles and beards. Also I guess we know what type of underwear Peter wears now??? Yay?

[lorian-lilsiel]

Comfort Charm

The first thing I'd like to share is a simple charm to bring comfort. I made it on a whim, given the sudden urge to throw things together while I was sitting in my altar space. It's since become one of the most effective spells I've ever cast, and it sparked my dive into research and learning. It was the first thing I felt I not only wanted - but needed to write down.

Let's start with the herbal components...

Thistle flowers

Milkweed fluff

Magnolia seeds

and then the basic supplies...

Fabric (your favorite color - mine's blue!)

Wax OR Thread (also your favorite color, or white)

Now to put it all together!

This charm is going to be a little fabric square, so you need to cut the fabric into a rectangle that can be folded in half. I made mine 1x2" (1x1" square), but it can be as big as you want. I also added a rune for protection (Algiz) and a personal sigil for comfort to the outside.

Place all your herbs on the fabric, and let each one know what it's supposed to do (we'll get there). Fold the fabric in half so you have a little pouch of herbs. Make sure none of the fluff is sticking out!

Either sew the herbs in with string, or seal them in with wax. I used wax, but since this charm is meant to be held thread would probably be a better option if you can. The wax gets kind of oily and doesn't hold super well when handled.

*Note! If you find it easier to partially seal the bag before putting the herbs in, go ahead! I'm just outlining the specific process I used.

And... That's it - as far as making it goes anyway. It's a very simple charm materially speaking, but I'd like to discuss why I chose the herbs I did.

Thistle Blooms:

When I say thistle blooms, I mean the soft, fluffy purple part. It's the gentle counterpart to the prickly protection offered by the thistle leaves. It's associated with love, and I personally relate its pinky-purple color with self love. Soft self love. Strong protection.

Milkweed Fluff:

Milkweed fluff brings back memories of searching for silky pods in the field behind my house, because Dad always said they made great fire-starter. This is the major "comfort" part of the Comfort Charm. It's soft, fluffy, and feels like dandelion-wishes.

Magnolia Seeds:

Magnolia seeds are definitely the odd-ingredient out, and are what I would most recommend you replace in your own charm. I'll give you my reasoning so you can decide what to replace it with. Simply put, things like this bring me joy. When I was a child, I was always entranced by sycamore pods, acorns, and all kinds of other little seeds and natural treasures. While I never played with magnolia specifically, it brings back all those memories of scouring the woods for little trinkets. Like gems. They're also a good tactile element that you can fidget with while holding the charm - bonus!

This charm is very personal to me, so you'll probably have to change it so it works as effectively for you. I think it's important to learn all the steps anyway... Learning how different people think about spell making is going to help you make more effective spells than just memorizing a bunch of spells ever will. Knowing the process will help you adjust it with intent.

I hope your charms bring you as much happiness as mine do! 🌼🌼🌼

[undertaleartistshit]

Ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23186284/chapters/60573760#workskin

Aaand the next chapter of my fanfic is out! Btw, does anyone know how to put it under a cut? Cuz idk how 👀

____________

Chapter 2: Morning Meeting

The loud, repetitive beeping of the alarm shook Ink out of his slumber. He didn't dare open his eyes, his head felt too groggy and hazy to even think about properly waking up, however his alarm didn't fail its job of annoying him awake. Despite having no true emotions and having to rely on bottles of paint to feel, Ink made it day to day acting - almost - like a normal monster. He was happy, sassy, bright, he got annoyed *very* easily, and... he was forgetful. Was that an emotion? Ink didn't know, no one ever told him. No one explained exactly what feelings were to him. Since he FELT forgetful, he just assumed it was a feeling everyone got, just like happiness or sadness or whatever else.

Ink opened his eyes to a ceiling marbled silver and gold and walls filled with papers and ideas, sketches mostly. Color peeked through every few inches, giving the room an incomplete feeling and giving Ink the adequate motivation to get up. He hated incomplete things, hated the way it made his head ache and his spine tingle and his chest tighten. He switched the alarm off, wincing at the bright red colored numbers. 6:30. He slid his legs off the bed onto the hardwood floor, not bothering to make the bed. By his logic he was going to sleep in it again in a few hours and felt no reason to waste time on tidying it. Although it was quite contradictory to his hate of incompletion, Ink just didn't have the energy to care about the bed. It wasn't like magic or a drawing; sometimes it doesn't do what you want it to. Some days the fabric is just wrinkly, for example.

He stood up slowly, careful to not jostle his skull too much, and wove his way through the stacks of notebooks and papers and whatnot, careful not to knock anything over as he made his way to the door, the only think uncovered by paper. He took his sash off of the hanger set off to the side and made his way through the house to the living room. It was empty.

Ink was then hit with the memory of the previous night, realizing his mistake far to late.

Meanwhile, Blue was already awake in his tidy room, silently scribbling away ideas and plans at his large desk. He rarely needed sleep and he considered himself lucky, for the most part. He had only slept 3 hours the night before, but he didn't dare go to the kitchen or turn on any significant light source, in case Dream was awake. Dream was like an older and overprotective sibling, however Blue refrained from considering Dream a brother.

He wrote down idea after idea, answer after question, in beautiful cursive handwriting. He was almost done when a soft alarm went off in his pocket. He took out his rather modern phone, shutting off the buzzing immediately. He sighed softly, looking at the time. 6:30 already. Unlike the other Star Sanses and despite what people thought about Blue, he preferred to keep his phone on a dark setting and color scheme. In fact, most objects in his room where either a soft neutral color or a darker color. His eyes didn't burn that way.

He stood up, putting his pen down and pulling out a sweatshirt to wear instead of a tang top. It reminded him of his battle body. He never put it on anymore. He was pretty sure he burned it or at least tossed it. In the past. He shook his head, pulling the grey article of clothing over his skull and left the room soundlessly. He wasn't in the mood to get snapped at by either of his teammates, and no amount of them saving him could put him in the mood for that.

He stopped before going into the living room, taking a second to stop and self reflect. He was still riled up from being kidnapped just two days ago, plus last night's argument between Dream and Ink, and he needed some time to calm himself. He couldn't go into battle like this or even simply have a civilized discussion without his survival instincts kicking in. He had to tell Ink and Dream about it but he had no idea how the two would react. He wanted to put it off but if something happened than he would have no choice. Despite this, he decided to wait.

Blue casually strolled into the room, sitting down besides Ink on the couch, who seemed to be just... blah. "Mornin' Blue," Ink mumbled with a sour biting tone. "Good morning, Ink. Did you sleep well?" Blue inquired softly, keeping his naturally attention seeking voice low. Ink let out a 'hmpf', and let his head flop backwards. "I got sleep but there was no quality to it, if you understand what I mean." Blue didn't quite know what he meant, but he nodded believably anyways.

Dream suddenly walked into the room with a bright and happy pace. "Up and at 'em you two! We have things to do today." Ink groaned rather dramatically, and Blue sighed in frustration. Blue was generally a bright and happy person, but... today he was just so out of it. He was recovering, for Christ's sake. He wasn't happy about being kidnapped at all, and he had a lot on his mind lately.

But, being him, Blue reflected a bit on what the other two are dealing with. First off, they were immortal GODS who needed to protect and help the millions of AUs out in their Multiverse at any cost. That was already almost a good enough reason to spare them a lecture. And Blue could see why having an active mortal ally would be stressful to deal with, especially when going up against the Dark Sanses, who are by far the most dangerous beings out there. The two Gods had to watch their FRIEND get manhandled and get beaten within an inch of his life every single time they went out to fight. It must be hard on them. But Blue had to really wonder for a second. If they cared so much about him, why would they leave him to get kidnapped? The way it happened was quite stereotypical.

Before Blue could start becoming self conflicted, and start another argument within himself, a screeching ringing startled the three skeletons out of any security and peace they'd found in the last few minutes. Dream flinched harshly and wiped his head to the side and glared at the telephone with an intensity that could slice diamond. Blue had a deep blue bone club materialized in his hand in an instant, his stance tense and ready to strike at a moment's notice. Ink had his paintbrush in hand, his eyes already red, pointed and alert, his body language radiating an aura that could startle the most conditioned soldier.

But it was just a telephone call. After a few moments of just sitting there staring daggers and curses into the poor phone, Blue huffed and flopped back down on the couch with a soft thud and dissipated his club. Ink relaxed soon after, not dismissing his brush yet, and Dream grabbed the phone swiftly, not wasting another second. "Hello?... Uh, yes, we have plenty of time... Yes, we're all here toge..." Dream trailed off and his eyesockets widened, a glimmer of happiness dancing across his face. Blue and Ink looked curiously at their teammate, the two sensing either mischief or pure and utter relief and joy coming their way. Or maybe both.

"OHMYGOSHYESI'LLTELLTHEMASAP" Dream blurted, looking at Blue and Ink with a stupid wide grin. "Core found a lot of useful information about the concert thing. They said that they are actually pretty proud of their work!!" Ink cocked a bone brow in confusion and spoke with a cautious tone. "It's great they found that but... what do you mean that they're 'actually proud'? Core loves all the things that they help with."

Blue looked at the two skeletons with a tired glance. "Nevermind that Ink, make a portal already," Dream snapped and quivered with excitement. Ink rolled his eyes and and stood up with his brush, making a portal to Core. Core took a step into the room with a stack of notebooks, binders, and papers and smiled politely. "Nice to see you all again. I have some useful info."

The Star Sanses all smiled softly, except Dream, who was practically vibrating with pure euphoria. "Please sit down on the couch, Core!" Dream grinned as he ushered the monochrome seer to the couch. Dream wedged his way between Ink and Blue, hissing at the latter quietly to scoot. He patted the remaining space besides him for Core, who smiled brightly and laid their stuff out on the empty coffee table in front of them.

Blue blinked a bit, listening as Core started to explain and habitually ignoring Dream's rude gesture. It wasn't a full on conversation, so it was somewhat easier for Blue to follow. Everyone settled in, patiently listening. "So," Core began.

"I have gathered some information about the concert, and although it isn't much to go off of, it's enough to give an idea about how... well, in honesty how thought out this entire event is. First off, general stuff. The place is set in an empty AU, titled "\\\\\tale" and has 3 fixated portal ports, presumably for crowd control. It is accessible by every AU, which may be a problem with culture clash and whatnot. And the date and time is pretty straightforward, maybe they rely on people to translate timezones? We may need to do our part in sending out important points to others if that's the case. The music selection will mostly consist of EDM, house, alternative rock, electro, and remixes of all sorts of other things. Any more info is in these files here."

Ink interrupted quickly. "Uh, I've never heard of \\\\\tale. What is it?" Core hummed for a second, than reached towards a binder, flipping through organized pages filled with notes and a greyscale color spectrum. After a while, Core ran their finger across a line or two, their lips moving ever so slightly in sync. "Oh, it's just an empty copy. Nothing dangero-"

Ink coughed, and pushed away from the three on the couch, and puked putred black ink all over the light colored carpet. Blue made a somewhat frustrated, somewhat skeptical grunting sound, and raced to the closest closet to grab cleaning supplies before the ink stained the carpet. Well, badly, anyways. Dream rushed over to Ink, holding him up a bit while Core sped off to the kitchen with a pitiful "oh dear".

Core scurried back to the living room with a rag and a glass of water in tow. Blue waited until Ink was safely seated on the couch before he began cleaning the carpet vigorously, spraying anti-stain detergent onto the pale flooring, and not holding back with scrubbing. This almost reminded him of the honey-stained floors of his bro's... Blue resisted the urge to knock on his head to erase those past-thoughts out.

Ink rubbed his head, mumbling a soft apology. "Uh..." Ink started slowly. "What were we talking about again..?" Blue sighed, and muttered quiet annoyed curses to himself. Before anyone else could react, Ink glared at Blue, albeit hazily, and he growled defensively. "What's *your* problem..?" Blue glanced up at Ink with a blank expression. "Ink, I'm sorry, but the last few days have been a bit hard on me, and you and Dream as well. I didn't want to deal with your... uh... condition, so to speak on top of everything else."

Ink paused, his facial expression unreadable. Then, slowly but surely, it twisted into confusion. "What the heck happened? And you mean the puking thing right?" Blue sighed and inquired with a gentle but firm tone, balancing between patient and angry, "Do you remember ANYTHING about the concert?" Ink's eyes narrowed in suspicious perplexity, and he shook his head. Blue huffed, picking the cleaning supplies back up and placing them back where they belonged.

Dream sighed softly, putting his hand on the back of his fellow immortal. "Ink, I'll fill you in on what happened." Blue sat down in his spot, Core sitting down next to the former. Ink stared at Blue for a second, as Blue stared at nothingness with an exhausted expression. "Blue...?" Dream asked after noticing his teammates vacant air. Blue looked at the people on the couch with him, and slowly voiced his concern. "We need to work on Ink's memory." Ink looked somewhat offended, but before Blue could elaborate his reasoning, Ink blurted out in outrage.

"Yeah, you think I haven't tried?! I've tried taking notes, sending it on my phone, using connections to things or whatever!" Blue blinked at the outburst, surprised Ink got furious about such a thing. He wasn't exactly a self conscious person... maybe feelings from the fight with Dream last night were putting pressure on his already poor self control. "Well, uh... maybe there's something we haven't tried yet..?" Blue suggested. Blue felt rather helpless. Maybe he should have waited until Ink was filled in on the situation before pointing out the age-old nuisance that plagued his mind.

Ink scoffed, averting his eyes from Blue, with a shaky hiss. "Even if there were alternatives... I don't want to hear them right now. I. Don't. Care." Blue stiffened at the tone, that phrase always seemed to bring back memories after all. He took a deep breath, and-

"Ink, please calm yourself!" Dream begged. Blue blinked and nodded in agreement. "Please?" Ink glared at Blue and Dream. An eternity of silence and harsh tension passed. There was only hostility and anger in Ink's gaze. He was truly offended that Blue thought that it was an easy thing to fix.

Blue was... not in a good mindset. He wanted to smack Ink for not using his brain, he felt like crying or screaming. He wanted to snap at the others for not prioritizing such a huge problem that really needed to be fixed. He was so frustrated and stressed, and he was just so overwhelmed. He was sad and hurt that Ink turned on him so fast as well.

Dream and Core sat helplessly as Ink continued with his rant. "You know what? NO!" he screamed at Blue, grabbing his upper arm with a steely death grip. Dream gasped, reaching out to Ink to make him stop, but Ink pushed him back down. "Dude what the-" Blue panicked. It was too familiar. Too close. Too parental.

Core sat uselessly on the couch. They were worried out of their mind, as well as Dream, but they simply didn't know any of the skeletons, besides Ink, to do anything for them in the situation. If they said something, they were truly worried about the repercussions that would stem from Ink later on.

Blue struggled to get away from the Protector's angry grasp, his mind tittering between pure panic and a sense of normalcy. Ink dragged Blue to a back room. Dream sprinted after the two other skeletons before jumping and holding Ink in place. He could sense that all Ink wanted to do was to hurt Blue, and it made Dream *sick*. Blue released himself from Ink, running to his room before he had the chance to get caught again.

"ALL I WANTED TO TO WAS TALK TO HIM IN A SEPARATE ROOM!" Ink screamed at Dream and he tried to struggle out of his companion's grip. Dream held on tighter and said in a calming voice. "No, you didn't. You wanted to hurt him all because he wanted to get rid of your memory problem. He didn't know it would offend you." Ink still struggled, although too a much lesser degree. "C-c'mon Dream! That was a horrible time to bring it up though! Give me some credit here!" Dream squeezed tighter. "You don't deserve credit here, Inky. Calm down, please." Ink stopped struggling, and began to melt into the tight grip. "I... I'm so sorry..." he whispered. "You need to apologize to Blue, not me. But I forgive you anyways! And, uh, give Blue a minute to cool off before talking. He's probably really mad." Dream released his hug, and looked at Ink as Ink smiled. "Ok.."

The two walked back to the living room where Core was sitting. Dream was beginning to shake as he sat down on the couch, and Core noticed. "Dream..?" Core asked fearfully. "I'm fi... fine..." The sentence started out confident, but then Dream shivered and collapsed on Ink, who was beside him. Ink flinched, as he started to panic as well. "Uh??" Ink's confused voice rasped. "Oh. Uh. Dream probably passed out because of the abundance of negative emotions," Core commented calmly. "It would make sense after all."

Ink nodded, getting up after shrugging Dream off of his side onto the couch so that he was laying where Ink was formerly sitting. Core got off of the couch, lifting Dream's legs up and helped Ink shift Dream's unconscious form into a seemingly comfortable position. A blanket was draped over Dream, and the Guardian of Positivity's golden crown was removed and placed on the table.

Meanwhile, Blue laid on his bed, experiencing one of the worst panic attacks he's ever had. He was in the past, and the present and future paid him no mind.

~~~[]~~~

Hate, worry, apprehension, fear, anxiety, panic, frustration, anger, nervousness, sadness, and betrayal.

Nightmare's single resting eye opened from his slumber. He took a deep breath, relieved at the singular negative emotions coming from an unknown source. He stood from his simple bed, leaving and walking towards the kitchen, where his fa-... minions were eating breakfast.

"Mornin' Boss!" Cross grinned. "Good morning everyone," Nightmare greeted, walking to the coffee machine, by which Horror was leaning on the counter, his singular eyesight fixated on the filling pot. "What's gotten you up so early?" Horror inquired, slowly. He was never a quick speaker, and the gang respected that. "You're one to talk," Killer snickered. Everyone responded with various levels of laughter and chuckles. "Well," Nightmare began. "I woke up because there was a huge influx of negative emotions from some random unknown place. And I have a feeling that if we go there, we can really fuck up whoever has those feeling, y'know?"

Dust grinned creepily. "Soo you're saying this isn't a slaughter, but a torture?" Nightmare chuckled, "That's one way of putting it. I have the coordinates so we can go right after breakfast. I've never seen code like it before though, we should be careful." All the Sanses agreed, as they began to cook and sip on their preferred drinks.

Little do they know...

[estephyrosales]

Study Tips

Hello, girlies!!

So as y'all know, I'm currently a college student, which means finals are coming up within a month or so. If you're anything like me, you didn't need to study growing up because everything came naturally. Of course, this meant you didn't develop study habits, and that hit you hard once you entered college. Like Mr. Worldwide, I've been there and done that. However, over the past few semesters, I've been able to develop some study habits that have helped me. I'm not saying they're perfect, but they've helped me out a lot over the past few semesters.

1. Make Outlines of Your Notes

Making outlines of your notes can help you weed out the important things you need to study. You may take notes directly from PowerPoints, but not all the information is important or won't be tested on. The way that I like to make these outlines is to make one per chapter, and then divide each chapter by its respective sections. From there, I'll look for the things I think are most important to know, either from a study guide or by the emphasis the professor gave on the topic. I also like to do this with classes that are very textbook heavy. I like to do outlines while reading chapters, so when it's time to study, I don't need to read that entire chapter again.

2. Make Flashcards for Vocabulary

This tip is mostly helpful for introductory courses. Many times, these courses tend to focus on vocab, especially at the beginning of the course. Vocabulary is the basis when learning new material, and more likely than not, that vocab is then used to pile more material on top of it. I prefer to do my vocab cards by hand, using notecards and different colored pens, but you can also do them digitally. Some of my favorite methods include Quizlet and GoodNotes.

3. Crash Course!

This one is one of my favorites tips. Crash Course is a really helpful way to review a topic really quickly. I do want to emphasize though, that Crash Course is more of a supplemental resource rather than a replacement for lectures. (So watch your lectures!) Crash Course videos are pretty brief, but they're also entertaining and sometimes explain better than a textbook can. If for some reason you don't like Crash Course, or they don't cover the topic you're looking for, there are other educational YouTube channels. Some of my other favorites include the Amoeba Sisters, Khan Academy, Jacob Clifford, and The Organic Chemistry Tutor.

4. Practice, Practice, Practice!

I'm about to say something controversial. I love math. Well simple, really easy algebra and calculus. Maybe geometry. Anyway, the point is I started to like it once I started practicing, and I noticed I was actually good at math. Sometimes practice problems can be a pain, but practice can lead to better accuracy and speed. One of my favorite things to do, especially if I keep messing up on a certain type of problem, is to compare my work with the answer key. It can let you see what part of the process you're messing up with, or it can also show you other ways to answer a certain problem.

5. Explain to a Friend

I'll be honest, I hardly use this method, but I've had other people tell me it works. The theory behind it is if you're able to explain/teach whatever you're studying to a friend, then you should be good to take the test. This can also help see things from other perspectives since you'll have to be able to answer any questions your friend may have. This method can also help with discussion classes, where it's more about explaining your personal views on a matter.

6. Baby Steps

It's easier said than done, but try to start the study process a week before the test. Just 30 minutes to an hour a day can ease the load on those crucial days before the test. Not only can it help you see what you may need to practice more, but it's a better practice than cramming the night or two before.

7. Wear Headphones

This one is more of a personal preference. For some reason, headphones help me focus better on whatever I'm watching or listening to. I think it's because I don't hear background noises as much, but either way, it does help a lot.

Honorable Mentions!!

- organize your notes the same way. For example, what each symbol indicates, whether that by a definition, the start of a new section, etc.

- color code your notes. Make sure that you assign a color to a specific thing and that it stays consistent. As mentioned above, this could be by vocab, section, or chapter.

- Use your study guide. It's obvious but some people don't do it.

- Ask Questions. Go to office hours, tutoring, or make a study group!

-Eat before your test and keep hydrating throughout your studying.

Okay so this final step is not necessary, but I'm also annoyingly superstitious. If you have a lucky anything, use it! Back when the Astros were in the playoffs last year, I had a lucky shirt that I wore every time they seemed to win. However, I didn't wear it during a game they were sure to win ... and they lost. From then on, the lucky shirt wasn't lucky anymore. Did they lose because of the shirt or because of their lack of starting pitchers? We may never know. Since I am superstitious, I will not be sharing what my item is (since last time I shared it was also during playoff seasons, and I sort of got blamed once it stopped working), but you best believe I use it at least once before a test. I understand it probably has nothing to do with my knowledge, but it allows me to have faith, which in turn helps me. In other words, if it doesn't hurt you or others, who's to say it isn't helping?

I hope you learned something from my study tips, and if any of them helped you, let me know! If you have any other study tips, go ahead and comment! I'm always open to improving.

[mimiriiu]

How do you make your gifs? They're really nice

Thank you so much! I’m sorry for the late reply.

I wasn’t too sure if you had wanted a step-by-step process or not, but here it is anyway. I’ll try to keep it short & sweet!  (=ﾟωﾟ)ﾉ

1. I use Photoshop CC 2017, but any photoshop program can get the job done. To record/trim the scenes I want to make gifs of, I use windows movie maker (Before I used videopad editor; but it’s not free). To download episodes, I use Ohyraws or nyaa.se.

2. Once I have the scenes I want to use, I open up Photoshop and go to File>Import>Video Frames to Layers. Something that I do differently (I assume) than most gifmakers is import all frames. It’s a bit tedious at first but you slowly get used to it.

3. After importing the frames, go to Window>Workspace>Essentials and then make sure that the timeline is open as well. Your layout should look something like this:

4. Then start by going to the layers panel and selecting all of the layers. When they’re all selected, go to Image>Canvas Size and trim the width and height about 5 pixels on both X and Y. This cuts off the nasty edges of the video material, so I always do this to be safe. Resize the image to 540px afterwards. It’s a good idea to save at this point and make a PSD, so if you’ve improved later, you can go back and remake it if you wanted to.

5. If you start to play through the frames at first, it’s very slow and choppy. This part is where you start deleting frames to get your content under the size limit (IT’S 3MB NOW I’M SO HAPPY)! It’s a matter of trial and error (probably not the best way to put it), but if you delete too many frames the gif starts to become choppier. There is also a time limit for every individual frame, and (0.06-0.10) is probably the average speed that you should put into each frame. A quick way to change multiple frame speeds at a time is to select them using the SHIFT + L mouse, or CTRL + L mouse, and then choose “Other” and type in the desired time allotted, which will change the frames that you have selected. Here’s a visual:

6. After you’ve gone through step 4, make sure to reselect all of the layers in the layers panel and then on the timeline panel, go to >Convert to Video Timeline. I would suggest not playing through the frames after this because it may slow down/crash your computer and not play as smoothly, (at least it does for me).

7. After converting it to a video timeline, go to Filter>Convert to Smart Filters.

 7. And then Filter>Blur>Surface Blur. This lowers the detail in the gif which in turn, lowers the file size. Try not to go above radius 3 and threshold 6. After surface blurring, try Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen. Be careful and try not to oversharpen the gif. I usually don’t go over 200, and I keep the radius at (0.3), and I usually play around with the reduce noise setting a lot.

8. After blurring and sharpening, this is where some tweaking comes in. If you play with the hue/saturation,  curves, levels, brightness/contrast, and selective color, then you can make the gif prettier and lower the size. You can use PSDs that other gifmakers have made as well. 

Note: Darker colors don’t take up as much MB as brighter colors.

9. Once you are satisfied with the result, press (SHIFT + CTRL + ALT + S) altogether and a window will pop up. It takes a while to load the finalized version of your gif, so be patient. Once it has loaded, you should probably check the file size at the bottom left corner. Is it under 3MB? If it’s not, I suggest editing the colors in the top right corner. I don’t usually go under 175 for that. If the file size still isn’t under 3MB, you may have to CTRL + Z a lot of stuff and backtrack to see if you can spare any more frames or darken your colors.

Note: If you were to upload a gif any where else, I’m sure the file size can be much larger than 3MB. Personally I’ve never tried it, but just a heads up!

10. I suggest either using Pattern or Diffusion, and then Perceptual. Try to play around with the settings to get the best end result. Afterwards if you are finally satisfied with the gif you’ve made, go ahead and save it! You’re finally done and ready to upload it to tumblr!