#because it takes so long to download an episode and they take so much space

[kookiecrumb]

Too Big.

cw: adult content (18+), smut

pairing: Jungkook x Y/N

wc: <1000

tags: light smacking, it hurts for like a second, graphic language, looooove (bf!jungkook), one shot, short fic, unbetaed, written in about an hour, bigdick!jungkook, idol au

summary: you fly out to meet your boyfriend after being long distance for a while and to do something special for the first time.

a/n: here!

~

You had to put it out of your mind that it was going to happen tonight.

After what felt like a lifetime of waiting, Jungkook was finally going to be right in front of you, completely naked, looking at you in a way that you’ve never experienced before.

Before all that, though, you needed to get picked up from the airport, arrive at his place, shower, and have something to eat.

The flight was excruciating to say the least. Your knees poked into your chest, practically, as you tried not to think too hard about how you were forced into invading your fellow passenger’s personal space by the stupid cabin engineer’s greedy design.

Whatever. It will be over soon and you’ll be up and out of this flying metal tube in the sky in a little over an hour.

You tried not to wince as you reached down for your bag to pluck a bag of seaweed snacks from one of the side pockets. They only charge so much for food at the airport because they know you don’t have any other option.

What are you gonna do? Pick up your car from the overnight parking garage two miles from the airport, drive all the way to the closest McDonald’s, repark your car, walk back to the airport and go through TSA again, all in time for your flight?

Ridiculous.

You’ve never been able to properly sleep on airplanes, so for the rest of the way to Incheon, you delicately balanced your tablet on the sad excuse of a cabin tray and watched your downloaded episodes on Netflix.

Sarah Jessica Parker was so hot back in the day. Retrospectively, though, Kristen Davis was criminally underrated in the earlier seasons. You crossed your arms and waited for the plane to hit the ground running.

—

You had this idea that you were hard to make cum. You weren’t able to do it when taking a dildo, so you figured it would be difficult for you to cum on Jungkook’s dick. No big deal. That wasn’t really the point, anyways.

Not only did you cum on Jungkook’s dick, you were able to several times while he was still inside you, pumping and smacking his hips against you in missionary position as your legs pinned his thighs, bucking upwards to take in as much of him as you physically could.

He’d hold you in his arms and look down at you with his long hair. He would look kind of cute at this angle if he didn’t have such a determined and almost fierce look on his face while he pushed on your thighs to get you to give a little bit.

He fucked you shallow. He methodically placed your hands beside your head to make sure they were out of the way of his arms, pressing into the mattress to offset his harder thrusts.

!!

That’s when you felt a sharp pain deep in your gut. “Ow!” You chirped.

“Ow?!” Jungkook echoed, alarmed. “What? Did I hurt you?!” He pulled away, breathing heavily. Jungkook was kneeling on the bed, a look of concern washing his face as he postured his cock with his right hand.

“I’m not sure…” you frowned. “What happened?”

“I was just getting all the way in. Was that not comfortable at all?”

You glanced down at Jungkook’s cock. Fully hard, he was almost 8 inches long. On top of that, he had exceptional girth. He was just a little bit bigger than the dildo you had at home.

In fact, it was that very dildo that he gifted you to practice with one day that felt so small compared to him in actuality.

After a while of no response, Jungkook added: “It felt really good. I couldn’t really get all the way in until just a second ago and that’s when you said ‘ow’.”

“I think you might be just a little bit… too big,” you hesitated, surprised at the reality of things.

“I’ve heard it before. I’m sorry for hurting you.” Jungkook said, a tinge of disappointment in his voice.

“It’s okay. I still think you’re really hot. Do you think you could help me take your size?” You ask.

“Yeah. Of course. We can do it together. Here. Let me try from the side or back,” he prompts, shifting around so that he is almost spooning you.

He moves your leg over his side and uses his thumb and index to very lightly graze your labia to find your vagina.

He’s found it.

His fat tip splits you as he dives into your sweet and tight intimacy. He scoops your arms up so that your back lay flush against his chest and nips your ear between his teeth. “Is that better?” He puffs, an intoxicated smile spreading on his tender lips.

“Yeah~” you sigh, throwing away every unrelated thought out the window as you took in every drop of sweet fucking that he was giving you.

“Good~” he groans. His hands settle down on your hips as he bottoms out on you, tangibly snug against your cervix. He thrusts experimentally, rolling in.

Again, he rolls in and firmly pressed the tip of his cock against your cervix, his large hands cupping your hips.

“Fuck— Babe,” you whine. “More—“ was all you can manage.

“More?” He teases, pulling out just to smack back into you. His arms catch you in a close embrace as he screws your tight pussy. He fucks you with his leg over your thigh, curving his long, thick cock into you in a strict rhythm.

Not missing a beat, he spreads you on the bed and digs his knees into the mattress. He is now over you, his cock shifting inside of you. “That good?” He asks briefly.

“Mhm,” you insist, your head turned against a large and fluffy pillow.

Holy fuck was this an amazing view. Jungkook balanced on one hand to quickly jiggle your ass and smack it lightly, moaning at the sight. He wanted to bury his face in your cunt and suffocate in your thighs. The idea of being able to fuck you like this with his fat cock made him want to—

“Fuck! Y/N, you’re so hot,” he mumbled as he picked up the pace, his balls slapping against you.

Your mind was in a daze. There was nothing you could focus on expect the deep, pleasurable, satisfying sensation of your boyfriend filling you. His skin felt like soft warm sand on a beach, his languid thrusts milking every bit of delectation from your body.

You swell and contract around him, constricting his cock inside of you, which earns you a drawn out groan from Jungkook. He huffs.

Without much warning, your orgasm rolls over you. Jungkook staggers and rips out a soft, exhausted groan as he cums inside of you.

—

He kisses your cheeks and lips, turning you towards him. His forehead rests on yours. “I love you. I love you very much,” he says. “I will never ever hurt you. If it hurts again, you need to tell me.”

~

fic tag: @silversparkles11 , @lvoekook @sammy-steve-btsarmyakasammy, @kooliv @koobsessed @angelwonie , @hoseokgrecns , @bangsterz @swyseren, @sxtaep , @koostarcandy @hgema , @jjkeverlast, @nglmrk @devilsbooksworld @saweetspoiled , @exactlyfuriouscoffee and @unicornbabylover

[2500ji]

alright, that’s it.

i’m sick of seeing hate against people who don’t read the project sekai stories. this fandom has a lot of problems and this collective hatred of anyone who doesn’t dedicate hours upon hours to read the stories is one of them.

first of all, the event stories are fucking long.

each episode can be anywhere from 15-30 minutes if read as the game intends (with auto on). multiply this by 8, and you’re talking possibly 2-4 hours PER EVENT. this doesn’t even account for mixed events, which have 2 extra episodes.

not to mention, there are 137 events on the japanese server (and 101 on the english server) at the time i am writing this. 3 hours average times 137 events equals a total of 411 hours. that is 2 and a half weeks of solid content. to say that’s daunting for people who started playing the game any sizable amount of time since its release is a massive understatement.

not to mention, the events, if viewed in-game, take a massive amount of storage space. not everyone’s device can handle the insane amount of space needed for this game’s events (even moreso if you plan to listen to the voices)

not everyone plays the game for the events, and they’re NOT needed to enjoy the characters.

i get it. if someone who hasn’t read the events is trying to have in-depth analyses of the characters or the groups, they’re bound to mischaracterize. the thing is, nobody’s really doing that.

not everyone downloaded the game because they wanted to read 400 hours of stories. yes, they are a fundamental part of the game. i’m not trying to deny that. however, so is the rhythm game. i don’t see any hate towards people who hardly touch the shows. because they’re not for everyone.

you should be able to talk about, write fics for, and roleplay as the characters without needing to read the stories. yes, people may mischaracterize. but reading the stories doesn’t make you exempt to that either. i’ve read fics from people who read every story for the group the fics were about that still managed to get so much wrong.

the events can be serious triggers.

i’m a HUGE niigo fan. i buy nightcord merchandise, i’ve played almost all their songs, and i love the characters. i have not read a single solely-niigo event. you know why? because they are extremely triggering for me — the most blatant example being the most recent event on ensekai; “farewell, my mask.”

project sekai’s stories are beautiful. but if one’s writing is always light-hearted, it will not touch people as dearly. (i mean, for christ’s sake, No Seek No Find revolves around this exact statement.)

and project sekai is no exception — their stories unapologetically dive into extremely heavy topics, including but not limited to emotional abuse, grief/loss, and being hospitalized. reading the nightcord stories as people have tried to genuinely harass me into doing would result in some extremely bad feelings.

and i’m not the only one — many people i know, some who have even reblogged and expressed agreement with posts hating on those who don’t read the stories, have shared my sentiment. you cannot insist people read the stories like i’ve seen many people do, because you have no clue what might trigger someone.

what should we do, then?

first of all, build up some tolerance. not everyone is going to read the stories, and some people may mischaracterize the characters. did someone make a character analysis that ignored a big aspect of a character? scroll past the post. did someone write a fic making a character say and do things they usually wouldn’t? hit the backspace button.

second of all, try to be open-minded to the opinions of people who haven’t read the stories. maybe they get their content through the commission song lyrics, or maybe they diligently read the area conversations. or maybe they don’t! maybe they just want to talk about their fave.

if someone’s misinterpretation is genuinely harmful or bigoted, call out the harm and bigotry. that person who called ena an abusive sister despite akito acting similarly? call out the misogyny. this goes for any harmful interpretation of a character or group.

and finally, try to have some fun. this is a game. we’re all fans. if you do nothing but perpetuate hatred, nobody’s gonna wanna play toys with you.

[semisgroupie]

A LITTLE DISTRACTION

hanma shuji x fem. reader

wc: 1.7k

warnings: college au, public sex, fingering (f!receiving), exhibitionism, voyeurism, unprotected sex, finger sucking, creampie, denied orgasm (once), dubcon, tears, reader is called “sweetheart”, threat of getting caught, he’s very condescending and a big tease

synopsis: your boyfriend thinks you’ve been studying too much

a/n: this is my first time venturing into the world of present tense writing, don’t judge

Finals are the worst time to be on campus, everyone is cramming for all their exams and staying at the library at ungodly hours since it worked as an optimal studying space.

Everyone inside is cramming for their finals except your boyfriend, who decided to join you for moral support. He just didn’t know how long this moral support had to go on for.

He is seated next to you, watching you as your eyes scan over the text of your notes before you pick up your pen and write down what’s important to remember in your study guide. He lifts his arm to check the time then sets it down, “you’ve been studying nonstop for the past three hours.” His observation falls on deaf ears as you continue your movements, he lets out a sigh and places his hand on top of yours, halting your movements for a brief second.

“Shuji, this exam will be 35% of my grade. I wasn’t lucky enough to be in classes like yours where the final was a presentation during the semester.” You lift your eyes from your notebook and look at him, deep pools of gold are calling you in but you can’t afford to let yourself drown in them, not yet. “If you want to go back to the apartment then you should go without me, I’ll meet you back there once I’m done.”

“Like hell, there’s no way I’d let you walk back to the apartment alone this late at night. I’m staying here with you for however long it takes, I was just saying that because you haven’t touched anything I bought you from the vending machines downstairs.” He points to the untouched snacks and water he bought when you first walked into the library. You frown at the sight of them then turn your attention back to him, “I’m not hungry.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose then reaches over to grab the granola bar, he opens the packaging and holds it to your mouth. “Take a bite. If you don’t, I won’t leave you alone and I’ll get us kicked out. I’ll scream really loudly.” You raise an eyebrow at his threat but you don’t want to take the chance to determine if he’ll follow through or not. You lean in and take a bite of it then pull back as you chew it and swallow. “Good girl, now I’ll leave you alone.”

As the time passes he busies himself with games on his phone, watching some episodes of a show he downloaded and stealing your snacks. As each minute passes he also takes note of how empty the floor of the library you’re in is getting. He watches the last person leave then looks over at you, still writing down little notes in your study guide. He leans in close to your ear and places his hand on your leg, “sweetheart, everyone has gone home or back to their dorms. Don’t you think you need to do the same? Your test isn’t happening until next week so you can finish the study guide tomorrow.”

You force yourself to ignore the warm feeling of his hand on your leg and shake your head. “I can’t, this exam has some repeated questions from our midterm so I have to go over all my notes, all over again. We’ll go home soon, I promise.” You offer him a small smile, hoping that it’s enough to distract him while you stretch your fingers and hands to relieve the ache that’s building in them. But it’s not enough. His eyes travel to your hands and he watches how you massage them.

“Your hands are cramping, you’re writing too much. You need to take a break from this and just give your hands a rest.” You open your mouth to protest, to try to give him whatever excuse you can conjure on the fly but he beats you to the punch. His hand that had so conveniently rested itself on your leg has now moved up your thigh and is now grazing your slit over your panties. “If you won’t take a break yourself, I’ll just have to force you myself.”

He pulls your dampening panties to the side and lets his fingers explore your slit, collecting the juices that gather along his slender digits. Your shaky hand grabs your pen and your mind tries to focus on the words on the pages of your notebook. His fingers slide up and down your glistening slit and you can faintly hear the wet noises his movements make. You try your hardest to focus but the task is becoming nearly impossible as he slips his fingers inside you. A shaky breath leaves your lips as you feel the slight stretch and as his fingers start moving, you both curse and thank yourself for wearing a skirt.

He leans in close as he starts pumping his fingers faster, “seems like you just needed this all along, sweetheart. Why would you deny yourself when I’m right here? You know I’ll help you whenever you need it.” He coos mockingly in your ear as his palm presses against your clit. You cover your mouth with one of your hands to keep your moans to a minimum and you finally turn away from your notes to look at him. You can finally allow yourself to drown in the golden pools that have been waiting for you.

You silently plead for him to continue, to let you cum as the feeling builds in the pit of your stomach. You feel slightly light-headed from how skilled his fingers are, the warmth spreads throughout your entire body as it waits for that release you’re craving. “Are you gonna cum for me? Oh I feel it sweetheart, poor thing you’re just so close, aren’t you?” You nod as best as you can at his words, you don’t trust your voice enough to actually vocalize your want and desire. He continues his movements, curling his fingers up to touch the sweet spot that makes your toes curl.

You can feel it, you can taste the orgasm on your tongue. You’re so close, like a runner that sees the finish line after a marathon. All you need to do is cross it, you’re right there. Just a few more steps and it’s gone? It’s gone, the sensation, the feeling of his fingers, it’s no longer there. Your chest rises and falls with each heavy breath you take and you look at your boyfriend with big pitiful eyes. A smirk dances along his lips before he brings his wet fingers to his mouth and sucks them clean.

“What? Are you gonna cry for me just because of a denied orgasm? Look at the tattoo on my hand sweetheart, this is your punishment. But don’t worry, I’m not that mean, I’ll give you what you need, okay?” You have to blink away your tears before he starts teasing you about that some more and then you watch how he undoes his pants. His movements are swift and his cock quickly springs out, all hard and leaking precum. You lick your lips at the sight of it but your boyfriend has other plans.

His hands grip your hips and he pulls you onto his lap. He moves one hand from you to grip the base of his cock while the other guides you to sit down on his aching length. “There we go.” He groans as he watches you take his cock and once you’re seated on it completely you can’t help the moan of pleasure that leaves your lips. But it’s a little too loud for his liking. His left hand with sin tattooed on it goes up to your mouth and he pushes two of his fingers inside, pressing down against your tongue.

“I know you can’t help it but I need you to be quiet, I know you don’t want the librarian to see what a needy little slut you are, do you?” You shake your head and let out a muffled “no” in response.

“Good girl, now get to bouncing.” You lean forward and grip the table in front of you as you start bouncing. You have to force yourself to fight against your natural instinct of slamming down on him so you don’t end up making too much noise. His other hand flips your skirt up so he can watch his cock disappear inside you. “Fuck, I love when you ride me like this sweetheart, your ass looks even more perfect than usual. You just drive me insane.” His hand smooths over your ass while he presses down on your tongue more to muffle all your sounds that threaten to escape.

You feel the burn in your legs as you continue bouncing on his cock but it’s all worth it once you get what you need. You need to cum, you feel the sensation building again, your body is getting even hotter than the last time and you shut your eyes to savor it. His hand moves from your ass to grip your waist as he thrusts up into you. You’re pushed over the edge, diving headfirst into the sweet bliss of your orgasm. He pushes his fingers further into your mouth, making you gag on them so he could keep you quiet. He grits his teeth as he thrusts up a few more times until he reaches the precipice of his own orgasm. His cum fills you up as he pulls you back against him.

Both of your bodies twitch against each other as you both come down from the highs of your orgasms. Heavy breaths leave you both and he pulls his fingers out of your mouth. Once he feels you’ve relaxed around him enough, he pulls you off his cock and quickly covers your cum filled pussy with your panties. He helps you fix yourself up a bit before tucking his cock back into his pants.

“Now let’s put all these away and head back to the apartment. We’re not done yet.” Your eyes widen a bit at his words and you let out a breathy laugh. “You’re insatiable Shuji.”

He helps you gather your papers and leans down to press a kiss to the corner of your lips, “what I should be hearing is, ‘thank you for the distraction’.” You turn your head to face him and press your lips to his for a short moment before pulling away.

“Thank you for the distraction, Shuji.”

taglist: @litepowee @suyacho @satmitsuplanet @benkeibear @watyousayin

[prinnamon]

Hello! I saw your post about subtitling and fanworks other than fanart and fanfics and you mentioned being a subtitler yourself. If you’re okay with answering this could I ask how you started being a subtitler? (if that’s even how it works lol) I’m guessing it depends on what you’re subtitling but I’ve always super appreciated subtitles and the ppl that make them and think it would be fun to do

hope you have a nice day/night!

this ask sat in my inbox for a while because sadly my PC's power supply unit failed and made it less convenient for me to write lengthy posts. however! i'm back in the swing of things and im too excited to let it sit here any longer.

long post under the cut!

to start off, i wanna make it clear that what i do currently is write english-language subtitles for english-language content on YouTube! there is no translation involved. i'm not confident enough with any other languages to sub any other kind of content. so all the advice i can offer is gonna be related to my specific experience! (i'm learning that maybe i should have used the word "captions" instead of subtitles to eliminate confusion. you can tell i am an amateur and not a professional since i thought the words were largely interchangeable)

i started doing captions for fun several years ago as a fan of The Shrieking Wizard Co! that company/channel had an associated discord server, and there was a section for fans to submit captions for their videos using a service called Crowdscriber. i was not super good at it or familiar with any of the best practices at the time, but i could make out even overlapping voices pretty well and i had a lot of free time!

the SWC is no longer around as a company, but even before that i'd fallen off of doing captions for them since school started to eat up all my free hours again. recently, though, i picked the habit back up and started doing captions for a niche machinima series that a friend got me to watch! the first episode and a half already had captions, so i was dismayed when i realized the rest of the series lacked them. in a sort-of special feature video from a couple years back, the creator mentioned plans to enable community captions so fans could pitch in if they wanted! however, since then, YouTube has removed the community captions feature.* but the creator is still active and the series is still ongoing, and i figured i probably had the tools available to me to caption the episodes on my own. i reached out to ask if he'd like the help, and he said yes! so wahoo!

a lot of creators would probably be happy to accept volunteers to help them with captions. some larger creators may even be open to offering someone a paid job at it. the worst they can do is say no or not respond, so there's really no reason to be afraid of reaching out about subtitling one or more videos that mean a lot to you! sadly, this is not going to be as reliable for older stuff on abandoned channels. you may have the resources you need to subtitle something but no way to reach out to the creator so that your subtitle files can be uploaded and seen.

the first step of my process was to download all the episodes of the series that i wanted to caption! it's also fine to go one at a time if you lack the storage space, of course. i used VLC to download YouTube videos (check out this tutorial! it wasn't what i used at the time, but i think the one i did use is out of date and your odds with this one might be better!), but i know there are other reliable options out there.

YouTube's built-in caption/subtitle editor is pretty ass and not fun to work with! i find it frustratingly limiting. luckily, there are free programs which do it better. i've got decent experience editing videos, so the free version of the program DaVinci Resolve is my subtitle editor of choice since it feels very much the same as editing videos like i'm used to. i'd open it up and take some screenshots to show off the process, but my PC is currently not functioning. i will say that i found it pretty easy to muddle through after a couple basic "how to add subtitles in DaVinci Resolve" tutorials.

i still don't know if i'm the best person to give lessons on best practices for captioning, but here are some very basic guidelines i try to adhere to:

don't let captions take up more than two lines on screen at their standard size! three or more lines of captions cover a lot of what's happening on screen. there are times when it might be absolutely necessary because characters' lines are overlapping while other sounds are also occurring which are crucial to the viewer's understanding of the scene, and that's okay, but 3+ lines of captions should really be a rarity.

generally try to have one sentence on screen at a time! there are plenty of exceptions to this. for example, a character may utter several short sentences in a short amount of time (eg. "Yes. Okay. I understand.") which don't make sense to break up any further because the captions would be flashing on screen for such a short time, impeding readability. moreover, a character might say a sentence that needs to be broken up at a logical midpoint so it doesn't take up three or more lines on the screen.

preserve comedic and dramatic timing. sometimes the above rule must be sacrificed so that the punchline of a joke or the narrative twist of the knife is not revealed before it's supposed to be revealed.

sounds that characters acknowledge and react to, or which impact your understanding of the scene, should be represented with a caption. the audience probably needs to know about [distant gunfire] and [pained scream]. however, in a lot of cases, a sound is implied by what the audience can see or is unnecessary to their understanding of the scene. the audience probably does not need to be told that the door which they can see opening is making the sound that a door makes when it is opened. the audience can probably infer that the character who they can see walking is making audible footsteps. but then there are times when these sounds might be important because the characters comment on or react to them. it's situational. i say use your best judgment.

generally, above all, be courteous and remember that subtitles are a tool, and they're not something silly with. it's really not the place for jokes. it's more clear and useful when a gasp is captioned as [gasp] as opposed to [O_O] or [le terrified gasp]. it's more clear and useful to describe the sound of an airhorn as [airhorn] than to write [HOOONK!!!]. and please don't use captions for extensive easter eggs and inside jokes. like alt text, it's not a place to hide treats for people who click a secret button. it's an accessibility tool. (i'm pretty serious and passionate about this point, and i don't wanna see jokes about it in the reblogs or replies.)

if you can understand and transcribe what's being said, you Must do so accurately. this includes swear words. this includes slurs and disrespectful language and words and subject matters you're uncomfortable with. if you can't bear to type these things out, you're not the person who should be writing captions for this particular piece of media. if a hearing viewer can hear it, it must be captioned. deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers deserve to know exactly what is being said.

this page might be able to help you get started with some more specific professional guidelines! i disagree with some of these; for example, subtitling a foreign language as [speaking French] is really not ideal, because a hearing viewer who speaks French would be able to understand what was said, so you're giving the folks using the captions an incomplete experience. like i said above, if you can understand what's being said, transcribe it accurately.

YouTube accepts at least a few different file formats, including .sbv and .srt (if you're saving as an .srt from DaVinci Resolve, make sure to check ".srt Without Formatting"). proofread your work before sending it out/uploading it to catch surface errors! in fact, i recommend checking the captions in YouTube's subtitle editor by uploading them on a private video to see whether it throws up any errors at you or has any unintended formatting junk that you need to go back and eliminate.

i hope this was somewhat helpful and can maybe inspire you to go for it yourself! this mostly felt like me rambling about my personal experiences and opinions, haha. at the very least, if this didn't make any sense, maybe you can look at it and go "well if she's this incoherent and can still write captions/subtitles then certainly there's hope for me" lol. thanks for inviting me to talk about the thing i'm passionate about. it's a joy whenever someone asks me about this. i hope to get to do it as a job someday (though i'm not looking forward to when i inevitably have to caption somebody as [speaks Spanish] due to professional practices).

*i have heard from one or two folks that YouTube's now inviting viewers to contribute captions in a different way, by "providing corrections" to a video's auto-generated captions! even if this is true, i have to say it doesn't really excite me. in my opinion, trying to work around the automatic first pass is usually a worse experience than starting from scratch. the auto-generated timings tend to be really bad, usually not cutting naturally at the beginnings and ends of sentences, and that's ignoring the fact that auto-generated captions also censor swears and transcribe many things incorrectly. YouTube really should never have removed community captions. i hope they get brought back or replaced in a meaningful way

[butchdiaz]

hiiiii your edits are so incredible!!! i've been thinking about trying my hand at video editing do you have any tips?? also how does one source clips lol

hope you're having a good day :)

hi!!!! thank u so much! for sourcing clips, i did it the hard way by downloading full episodes and screen recording the clips i wanted w quicktime which is a lengthy process that takes up a lot of space on ur laptop LOL but i really wanted HD footage and didnt know any other way when i started and now i just have my own little library of clips.

here is a lifesaving site to download eps if u dont wanna/cant torrent. i forget who made it but if someone knows lmk so i can credit!

after i had done all that i discovered that there were these magical things called scene packs that are more popular over on twitter. where u can easily download every buddie scene in s2-4 for example that took me hours to record myself 🤦🏽‍♂️ i dont really have any specific sources for u bc im not on twitter. sorry ik thats not very helpful LMAO but if u ask around/search for them i know they are out there!

and uhhh as far as tips go here are some things i personally think about while editing! everyone has different styles and methods though:) this got long accidentally so its going under the cut oops

- i like to try and tell a story w my edits so im almost always thinking about that first and foremost. like how can i tie the beginning to the end and have a satisfying climax etc. i try to work with the song and highlight the emotional/tonal shifts in the music with my editing

- on that note, i am very influenced by the music while im editing cause i want my edits to LOOK like how it FEELS when im listening to the song. i think my best example of this is im afraid i love you. the drop in the chorus feels like a punch to the gut everytime and i really wanted to visuals to reflect that so it would be the most powerful. hence: soft lovey dovey looks galore and then BAM! SHOOTING. these comments fills my heart with glee cause it makes me feel like i did a good job capturing the feeling the song gives me.

i also really love the way the beat comes in in the second verse of that song and i made sure to sync up the shots to the beat at that moment instead of the words in order to highlight the musical shift. (i always think about how @ilostyou loves that verse and calls it bouncy, it makes me feel like i achieved my goal!!!!)

- the little details and nitpicky stuff goes a long way! like painstakingly making sure clips hit right on time with the beat/the words if thats ur intention. it may seem like a chore at the time but it definitely pays off for me at least

- i also think a LOT about composition, and how to make edits flow smoothly so that the viewer can follow the story easily. if i have a bunch of faster clips in a row im going to try to make sure the focus stays in the same place so the viewers eyes dont have to jump around to find what they are looking for. its easier to explain w an example so in happy to be here, for these three shots on the word "en-gi-neer" i wanted the order to go frank -> dr salazar -> buck.

because then it goes back to frank for "listening" so i wanted space between when it shows him AND i wanted it to end on buck cause he's the most important. but the original shot of dr. salazar was flipped so at first it looked like this:

and i didn't like how ur eyes had to go back and forth so fast, so i flipped the middle clip. it was much easier to process all three clips in quick succession if the subject didn't move. hope that makes sense!

[burnwater13]

Boba Fett and Fennec Shand in Jabba's Palace speaking with the Mandalorian. Image from The Book of Boba Fett, Episode 6. From the Desert Comes a Stranger. Calendar by DataWorks.

Grogu liked spending his time with Daimyo Fett and Fennec Shand. They were each fun and interesting in their own ways. Not that he didn’t like spending time with his dad, mind you. He loved spending time with Din Djarin… as long as he was doing something fun and/or interesting. But that didn’t happen every day. 

A typical day for Grogu and the Mandalorian started with rising far too early, sometime right after the sun rose on Nevarro. Washing up and handling personal necessities, which meant that Grogu had to wait to use the privy because his dad took so much time and wouldn’t share the space with Grogu so he could just get his own business done. Then making up beds/hammocks. Checking the perimeter. Down loading data from the security system and then, maybe, if he was lucky, getting some breakfast. 

Breakfast was always tricky because Din Djarin wouldn’t let Grogu cook his own meals and Grogu objected to his dad only heating up ration packs. That meant that Grogu had to do his chores in order to get his dad to make him a bowl of dung worms or freeze dried froglets or anything else that good, like pancakes. After that, Grogu ate too quickly, too messily, and too noisily for the Mandalorian. Apparently he chewed with his mouth open and his dad did not find that endearing. Uff.

After breakfast they cleaned up whatever mess had been made. Washed up again because faces and hands were messy again. Cleaned the table. Blah, blah, blah. Then they went to do their personal work.

That meant that Din Djarin reviewed the data he downloaded from the security system, checked the news feeds, looked at any messages he received from Captain Teva or Greef Karga or Bo-Katan Kryze or even Peli Motto. 

For his part Grogu would meditate for a while and then practice lifting things, pulling things, and pushing things. Then he would go outside and practice it all over again while he was taking his morning jog. Finally, he practiced his ability to sneak up on his dad and remove some piece of gear, usually one or more of the disruptor cartridges, because they were small and his dad didn’t really feel them. Grogu had learned that trying to remove a piece of the beskar armor was a lost cause, even if his dad was really distracted. It was like that stuff was attached to him with invisible threads. It just couldn’t be done. 

By the time Grogu completed a successful stealth move, it was typically lunch time. The rest of the day was pretty much lather, rinse, repeat (or what he had to do when his break for arts and crafts took a messy turn). Sometimes his dad started planning a trip because of a message from one of this contacts, but typically there was a lot of polishing. Armor. The N-1. The weapons. Uff. Even poor R5 ended up being cleaned, oiled, and polished on almost a daily basis.

Now, compare that to spending a typical day with the Daimyo and Fennec.

If they arrived early, then Grogu could join the Daimyo for the morning feeding of the rancor. If they arrived later in the day they simply ate a meal with the Daimyo and Fennec might or might not join them. If she did join them she would regale Grogu with the latest problem that she and the Daimyo had to solve. Those were always great stories about pirates or smugglers or bounty hunters that needed some ‘social readjustment’. 

When his dad asked what ‘social readjustment’ was, Fennec laughed and the Daimyo explained that no one did work like that on Tatooine without his full knowledge and permission.  Fennec had cackled and said no one ever got that permission. 

In the late afternoon Grogu and Daimyo would take the rancor out for some training exercises, while Fennec and his dad argued over which of them was the better sniper. (Don’t tell his dad that he said this, but it’s Fennec. She didn’t have to use those disruptor cartridges that Grogu was always sneaking away with to accomplish her work.)

Finally, in the late afternoon, the younger folks from Mos Espa would stop by to provide updates to the Daimyo and Fennec. They were loud, rowdy, and brightly colored. Grogu found them fascinating and funny. They had lots of stories to share and he enjoyed them all. If he was lucky, Jo or Taanti would come down from Freetown to spend time with the youngsters and will tell them all how the marshal was doing, now that he was back with his modifications all sorted out. 

Between all those events there was lots of food, no demands to be neat or tidy because Fennec said the droids and the Gamorreans needed the practice taking care of things on the fly, and so many different people to talk to or listen to or play a game with, that the last time they visited the Daimyo, Din Djarin got all annoyed and asked Grogu if he just wanted to live with them all the time and not have to bother learning Mandalorian customs and the Creed.

But before Grogu could reply to his dad, Fennec was there shaking her head. 

“Sorry, Mando, you’re not getting a vacation from the kid that easily. Just because the last time you two went to Canto Bight he cleaned up at sabacc doesn’t mean he’s going to stay here for this trip. Have fun learning how to swim!”

Yup! The one time his dad actually planned on doing something fun he was going to leave his best friend and only son behind on Tatooine where nothing exciting ever happened. Dank farrik!

[heymacy]

Could you say more, ifyou want, about how it feels better to be over your Shameless hyperfixation?

I have been thinking for months that it might greatly improve my mental health if I could get over my Shameless and Gallavich hyperfixation because sometimes it brings me joy but sometimes it causes me to spiral downward.

of course! this got long winded because of who i am as a person so my thoughts are under the cut 💛

first of all, i don't want anyone to think that my opinion on fandom has changed whatsoever. i still think fandom is beautiful and transformative and inspiring and all the lovely superlatives. this is not me talking down about fandom at all, this is just me talking about my personal experience. i will definitely continue to engage with fandom in varying capacities as i have since i was 14 years old. that won't change. i think the main difference is that i no longer feel consumed by the show. it used to be that i would plans my days around fandom activities, think about the show/characters constantly, and spend (i shit you not) 90% of my free time engaging and creating. but it just isn't like that anymore.

i didn't necessarily do anything to make this happen, it just did. but there were definitely catalysts. for example, a lot of the shameless content we consume and engage with is pursuant to ian's bipolar storyline which, to me, is very personal and intense. being bipolar myself, it became very difficult to be constantly surrounded by content about my disease - especially when so much of that content was full of really bad takes or insensitive jokes that hurt me on a very deep, personal level. i realized that if i were to embrace my waning interest fully, to step back and give myself some space, i wouldn't be inundated with that kind of hurt anymore. i wouldn't spiral like i had been and instead i could focus that energy onto maintaining my own mental health and wellbeing. so that's what i did. and it WORKED. so because of that, i feel better.

i also feel better because now i have more time and energy to engage with new and different things. for so long, shameless was one of the only shows i watched. shameless fic was one of the only things i read. shameless gifs and metas were almost exclusively the only things i posted and shared around these parts (which made sense, me being a fandom blog and all). yet somehow, in light of it all, i wasn't enjoying myself anymore. i wasn't engaging because i wanted to engage, i was engaging because i felt a compulsory need to do so. i mean, it had been my entire life for three years, what the fuck else was i supposed to do? so i made the decision to stop, even if it only lasted a week or two. i stopped watching my favorite episodes on repeat. i stopped reading fics and deleted the ones i'd downloaded from my kindle app so as to resist temptation. essentially, i cut myself off cold turkey. then step two, if you will, was to push myself to engage with new content and hobbies, even if only to cleanse my palette. so i read new books and watched new movies and fell down random niche YouTube rabbit holes. and wouldn't you know it, it felt SO GOOD. i discovered new blorbos and watched some delightful films and started doing practical, real-world things like learning to cook and organizing my apartment. i went from feeling flat and one-dimensional, like i was only made up of one basic component, to fully formed and three-dimensional, a well-rounded human being. believe me, and please don't misinterpret what i'm saying here, i am fully aware than 98% of people that engage in fandom activities are fully formed, three-dimensional, well-rounded individuals that can engage with variety of content while maintaining that fandom/life balance. that just wasn't MY reality. still, i managed to break the hyperfixation off at the roots and i feel 5000x better for it. sometimes it's what's necessary to get to a headspace where if you wanted to engage, you could, and you could do it in a healther, more well-balanced way.

i think that if you feel your interest waning even the slightest bit, or if you feel like you're too consumed by it, or if it's not sparking joy anymore, or you're concerned about your mental wellness - take a step back. try engaging with something new and different. ask for recommendations from friends. give that new show everyone is talking about a try. pick up a hobby that's completely removed from media (i've started drawing again) and throw yourself into it entirely. or just sit there! allow yourself to be bored and aimless for a little while! it feels weird but i think it was a necessary thing for me to do. what worked for me and got me to this place definitely won't work for everyone, especially because everyone's levels of engagement and consumption are different, but i think for me it was always an inevitability that this was just a season for me. and a necessity, because i was Not Doing Well near the end of things.

lastly - and if you've made it this far i am genuinely sorry i'm so long-winded and Like This - i love you. i'm sorry that your hyperfixation has you feeling this way. i relate and understand completely and if you ever need someone to talk to about it, you can always come to me for a chat or a vent or even just a different perspective on things. i wish you all the best and i'll be here as a friend and a resource while you figure it all out!

[90shaladriel]

writer asks

thanks so much @pursuitseternal and @myfavouritelunatic for tagging me!

I am not sure I really qualify as a writer 😂 , this is something I started within the last 12 months as a response to diving into Rings of Power / Haladriel shipping and fanfiction.

How many works do you have on AO3? 3

What's your total AO3 words count? 61,841 !

What fandoms do you write for? The Rings of Power, Silmarillion. I have some wip drafts for something from the Halo universe (my ao3 account name “NobleOne_Carter” was one of the Spartans from the game Halo: Reach)

What are your top five fics by kudos? - I only have 3 😭… 1) A Lord and his Builder 2) First Fire in the Void 3) Strays at Sea

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Absolutely, it drives me to keep writing almost more than anything else and I sometimes like expanding on the backstory or my approach when people ask good questions about my fics.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I haven’t finished it yet but I am pretty sure First Fire in the Void will be the one 😉

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Again it hasn’t been written yet but I think A Lord and his Builder will have an upbeat but open ending.

Do you get hate on fics? Not any really

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I have mostly been afraid to because I feel my writing is so inadequate for it, and or I kind of embarrassed about what cringe I imagine a sexy scene to be. I am trying to get over this anxiety and get out of my comfort zone. In my last chapter of First Fire in the Void I wrote a detailed make-out kind of scene between Melkor and Mairon. Which was a challenging one in many ways for me. I am thinking of going full smut later in that fic (I think that is obligatory for Angbang? 🍆)

Do you write crossovers? If so, what's the craziest one you've written? I haven’t. However I always have an overactive imagination. One crossover I would love to write is Darth Vader (Star Wars) on a space freighter full of Xenomorphs (Aliens) 🤣

Have you ever had a fic stolen? No I don’t think so. I have actually come across similar scenes to mine in a few fics which has given me of deja vu once or twice. I mostly think it’s because we all are working from the same set of tropes and plot lines from the media we all consume.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Not yet!

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, that could be fun

What's your all time favourite ship? Haladriel. I can’t even think of another ship that comes close. Honestly, the other onscreen relationship I spent a lot of time thinking about was Inuyasha x Kagome from the Inuyasha anime which came out when I was in university 20 years ago. I downloaded and watched over a hundred subbed episodes of that show and I don’t think they ever once kissed? Talk about slow burn!

What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I have two main WIPs that I hope I can finish. I am basically able to write 1 chapter per month with work and life stuff, I hope I can finish these and then I might take a break or focus on one-shots rather than long multi chapter fics.

What are your writing strengths? I’m not sure, I think I do a pretty good job describing how characters subjectively experience a situation or thought. I dunno if that’s what others think though. My writing style is heavily influenced by imagining the words as if Frank Herbert (Dune) had written it. I like to think my plot ideas are pretty creative, I am always trying to find a way to be different or unconventional in terms of plot.

What are your writing weaknesses? Run on sentences, trying to write banter, trying to write something romantic 💀

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? It’s probably more work than I would want to do. There were times I wanted to use some Black Speech for the Orcs or Sauron in A Lord and his Builder, but actually Tolkien never really completely described this language so there’s not like a Google translate for English to Black Speech unfortunately.

First fandom you wrote for? Rings of Power / Haladriel!

Favourite fic you've ever written? I only have 3 but I guess I would say the one that started it all was A Lord and his Builder. My first ever fic that I wrote and published anywhere, and the fact that people seemed so positive in the comments. I was really excited to bring this different sort of story to the Haladriel / RoP fandom which was heavy on the Sauron x Galadriel romance that I love, but I felt the Orc stuff was a niche that could be explored in an interesting way. Since I started writing this fic I have read a lot of other great fanfics which incorporate the Orc culture into this fandom and I love it, though maybe my ideas are not niche anymore? Everyone’s take on the Orc culture is a bit different because again Tolkien left a lot of blank spaces on the canvas when it came to the lives of the Orcs.

[writing-advices]

7 tips for staying organised and focused while studying

Make a plan You’ll have a good idea of when essays are due and even if you don’t know exact dates of individual exams, you should know the week(s) that exams are scheduled for. So, get a head start and map out your work schedule now. Whether it’s reading, researching, writing or revising, be sure to give yourself a target to achieve at the end of each week so you know you’re on track to have everything ready in time for the deadlines. Investing in a wall calendar or diary is a good idea as you can mark down important dates. It will help you to clearly see how much time you have left and when you are going to work on what.

Create a relaxed study environment If you’re planning on studying from home, be sure to make sure your room is tidy and your desk is clear from clutter. As they say, a clean space makes way for a clear mind – which is just what you need when you’re working. You’ll also find it easier to focus if your study space is somewhere you actually enjoy being. Having a potted plant and decent lighting are small steps to creating your ultimate study haven.

Take regular breaks Studies repeatedly show that productivity increases when students take regular breaks. By breaking down your revision or essay writing into manageable chunks, you’re more likely to remain focused and keep your brain engaged on the subject at hand. For every 45 minutes of solid work you do, take a 15-minute break away from your desk. Whether it’s popping outside for some fresh air, having a quick tidy or doing some stretches, we guarantee your brain will thank you later!

Don’t get distracted by social media These days it’s almost too easy to be distracted by social media. When your phone buzzes in your pocket it’s impossible to ignore the alluring call of a Snapchat or Instagram notification. And before you know it you’ve spent the afternoon scrolling through cute animal pictures and funny videos, and no work has been done. But fear not, software developers have found a way to help students during times when they need to focus. You can download browser extensions such as ‘StayFocusd’ which blocks your most distracting websites for a set amount of time.

Drink plenty of water and eat well During exam periods, it’s often the case that students become so focused on their work, they forget to focus on their own well-being. The easiest way to help yourself perform to your best ability is to stay hydrated and keep away from junk food. Set a reminder on your phone to drink a large glass of water every couple of hours and snack on healthy fruit and nuts during your studies. A lack of water or eating foods with high levels of fat will make you feel irritable and lethargic, which is the last thing you’ll want when you’re trying to be productive!

Reward yourself Rewarding yourself for studying is key to staying motivated. These can be small rewards such as a square of chocolate for each paragraph you write or watching an episode of your favourite Netflix series when you’ve mastered revising a certain topic. When you feel you’ve really been working hard or when assignments have been handed in and exams finished, reward yourself with bigger things such as a night out with friends or buying those pair of boots you’ve had your eye on for months. Remember, just because it’s exam season, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy yourself.

Don’t do all-nighters, you will regret it! You may think that by staying up all night working, you’re keeping on track with your studies. But doing all-nighters and functioning with a lack of sleep can end up having a serious impact on your health and in turn impede your work. A good night’s sleep is important to help stay focused and learn efficiently. Sleep helps consolidate memory which is essential when studying and converting short term memory to long term. So, swap the extra cups of coffee or cans of Red Bull for your bed and be sure to get the necessary number of hours sleep you need every night.

[adultswim2021]

Space Ghost Week

Space Ghost Coast to Coast #68: “Waiting for Edward” | December 25, 1998 | S05E11

Ending the season on an episode that’s just fine. Denis Leary joins the Ghost with his acerbic brand of being a jerk. Denis plays it roughly how you’d expect, by acting very CYNICAL. He’s a cool guy who speaks his mind, and you gotta respect that. 

I’m a little at odds with myself, because I’m pretty sure that the first time I saw this I literally thought Denis Leary was ACTUALLY VERY FUNNY AND COOL. I still appreciate him on some level; he does embody a very 90s ‘tude that is generally “my bag”. In fact I bet you a million space bucks that I at one time or another referred to this as one of my favorite episodes just because it has Denis Leary in it. I really was that much of a loser. But I’ve grown up.* I’ve changed.**  Nowadays I just wish he would stop smoking and ranting, I got school in the morning, sheesh! I

This one starts with a very long “Waiting.” title card intro. I’ve been told that this episode aired with different variations where the music that plays during it is changed out. I remember one time noticing that in the program schedule for this episode they actually added “(version B)” to the episode title. I think Kon, who knows and is actually very good friends with Space Ghost, told me that it meant there was different music, and that it was on purpose. I think. He’ll correct me.

 I have to tell you something: I recently downloaded the Superjail episode “Superbar” as-aired as part of it’s stealth premiere on April Fools Day 2008. It was a “fine cut” version that wasn’t final, and it had the “Waiting.” title card at the start of it. Was “Waiting.” some kind of genuine internal Cartoon Network thing that played before the episodes instead of a more traditional countdown lead-in or production slate or whatever? 

This one also ends with, instead of an episode number, a little bug in the corner that designates this episode as belonging to the “100 series”. To this day, I don’t know what that means. When I was just watching these on TV in random order I assumed they actually had reached 100 episodes and decided not to count them after that. I was wrong, and I’m still baffled by it. In my comic “Early Conan” (which I’m not linking to because the web hosting is about to expire and I’m gonna move it somewhere else eventually) I actually included a “100 series” reference when I hit strip 100.

Notable moment run-down: the very long “Waiting” intro being interrupted briefly with footage of Space Ghost with Zorak on his shoulders, doing something mysterious. Zorak telling Leary that he’s seen all of his movies and that he didn’t think any of them were very good.  Moltar trying to get Space Ghost to say “nice jacket, Fonzie” to Denis. Denis dismissively telling Space Ghost that he only agreed to be on the show because his kids like it, and Space Ghost singing the line back “so the feelings of your stupid kids are more important than mine”. Space Ghost’s spit-take gag turning everyone red. Appearances from Brak and Lokar, who hasn’t been seen in a while. 

There’s also an appearance from the Cartoon Gang, who did somewhat lengthy interstitials between shows on Cartoon Network. It was just a group of kids discussing cartoons. They weren’t too beloved, and they seemed like the product of a craven attempt to be more outwardly kid-friendly by putting real kids on camera. I didn’t really remember them at all, but for some reason I have strong memories of Evan Dorkin hilariously bad-mouthing them during a Space Ghost commentary track. In their thankfully brief segment, Space Ghost bores them to tears about “saving Christmas” and then yells at them for being layabouts. Christmas gets a special thanks in the credits. Hilarious. Hey, when did this air, anyway? I don’t feel like looking up.

That closes out another Space Ghost Week. We’ve only got one more Space Ghost Week for classic Ghost, then I’ll probably do another one covering the dreaded GameTap episodes. Until next time, uh… I can’t think of a Space Ghost reference to put here. Oh well.

*I have not grown up. **I have not changed.

MAIL BAG

Tonight we resume our Adult Swim programming. Yippee! Here are a bunch of SG Mail Bags:

it's a line from the smash hit mario movie. don't read the trades much, do ya?

I’m afraid I don’t believe you that Merrill Markoe’s dead dog Lewis is in the Mario Movie and that they say “Lewis Lectures here we come!”. I’m willing to be wrong about this, though.

its hard to explain how cool kevin smith was to people who were too old or too young to be there.

He’s simply too weird for words nowadays. But man, the run of Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy was gigantic if you were an easily-impressed teenager who liked indie movies in the 1990s. I sorta admire him for trying new-ish things after that though. I Stan Tusk.

Meeting!

(doing the three stooges “hello” thing) (Jason Mewes, revealed to be napping at Kevin Smith’s feet during his Space Ghost interview) “heh-leoh”

any tips for anyone looking into getting into space ghost?

I can see how it might be tough getting to Space Ghost; especially since younger people might not be able to latch onto it for various reasons. Saying to check out episodes based on the guests can backfire, and I’m sure some viewers consider all the guests to be impossibly ancient.

I got into Space Ghost by seeing whatever episodes were on randomly. References to other episodes would pique my interest and they’d pay off later when I finally got to them.

At some point I’ll probably produce a list of best episodes of Space Ghost, but I won’t right now. You could do worse just finding random “best episodes” lists or sorting one on IMDB.

If you’re the type of person who compulsively starts with a full chronological watch-through regardless of the advice you receive saying to do otherwise, I’d say do this: get whatever you can get your hands on (DVDs, torrent, streaming [it’s getting yanked from HBOMax soon]) and just go with that even if it’s missing stuff. Fill in the gaps later. Please know that the early episodes might not be the funniest things ever, but this is also one of the rare comedies that actually gets funnier as it goes along. There’s going to be references you don’t get, There’s still stuff about the show I don’t understand, either. 

This might be unorthodox but: Maybe watch the episodes or seasons in backwards order? That’s actually probably a very good idea. Okay, yeah, actually, just do that.

[lexi-maurer-adventures]

The Trip to South Korea!

Wow, I can hardly believe it’s already nearly been a month... wild. Anyway! I’ve got quite a bit to share, starting with how my trip to the country went. So buckle up, because it was quite the ride and there’s a lot to tell!

As y’all already know, my dad worked for Delta airlines for a long time and thanks to his employment there we got to partake in certain flight benefits. Although I got to fly free as a kid, I can still fly for quite cheap thanks to him. The catch though is I fly standby, which means I only get on the plane if there’s an extra seat AND I’m high enough on the waiting list. 

Well, despite the difficulties that I knew flying standby can have, I still wanted to give it a shot for my flight to Korea in February. I bought my cheap yield fare ticket (only $200!!) and my dad watched the flights to see how my chances were looking. Things seemed to be promising up until the week before my flight, but then one of the planes that makes the *nonstop* flight from Atlanta to Incheon BROKE DOWN and caused two departing and return flights to be canceled. Needless to say, the flights for the next week were packed, and despite my parents taking me to the airport for the 12:05am flight two nights in a row, not a single person on the waiting list could get on (I was over halfway down the list to make it worse). 

My parents and I were teetering at our wit’s end, and in a rushed decision decided to buy a positive seat ticket on a different airline with a short layover in Texas (the nonstop flight had doubled in price since just two days prior). Well, the Lord’s providence became so evident as the rest of my trip fell into place. Finally I was able to leave the airport on the plane instead of returning home, and my journey had begun!

The flight from Atlanta to Dallas was only about 2 hours, but then the flight from Dallas to Incheon was 15 hours... aha. However! I had in-seat entertainment, episodes of shows downloaded to my laptop, and the window seat so I could try to sleep some of the flight. To make it even better, my seat was in the Premium Economy section (which I hadn’t planned for but ended up being a nice surprise when I bought my ticket). I had lots of leg space and a wide seat, plus three meals and an unlimited supply of snacks and water that we could leave our seat to get whenever we liked. I was still relieved when we finally landed though, and was more than ready to get to my Airbnb and sleep. However, it took about 2 hours for me to get through customs, get my bags, exchange some US cash for the Korean currency (”won”), get a Korean SIM card, and find the subway to take me the 45 minute trip into Seoul. 

The adventure was not over when I got to the subway though, because I learned exactly why my family was so skeptical when they saw how much stuff I was bringing. I had two large rolling suitcases weighing about 50lbs each, plus a 20lb backpack and another 20lb duffle bag (WHO DID I THINK I WAS??), so it was just a *tad* difficult maneuvering all those bags onto the subway cars and through the stations. There were a couple times where I’d be visibly struggling with them, and some sympathetic passerby would stop and help me get my bags through a door, onto an elevator, off the escalator, etc. I’ve never felt so like a hopeless American tourist until those moments. 

I had just managed to get off the subway with the help of two sweet old Korean men who insisted on getting my bags for me (I wasn’t worried about anyone stealing from me because trust me that those 140lbs of bags weren’t going ANYWHERE very quickly), and they asked me in Korean where I was headed. I answered them, but to my dismay they stopped and shook their heads, pointing back in the direction we had just come and repeating the name of the stop that I *SHOULD* have gotten off at :’). After I thanked them and lugged my bags back down through the elevator to the station, another kind Korean lady helped me get back on the subway and sat down beside me. She had to have been sent by God, because after she asked me where I was going, she took it upon herself to help me get to where I needed to go. One of my bags in tow, she led me off at the correct station, called me a taxi and waited with me by the street until they arrived and helped me get my bags into the car. She also gave me her number telling me she teaches Korean at one of the universities, and if I ever had any questions that I could text her. 

For a little added context: I had been up since 3:30am Friday morning, my flight landed at 5:30pm Saturday evening, and I finally arrived at my Airbnb around 9pm (nearly 28 hours, excluding the 14 hour time difference). By that point I was ready to crash, so I was grateful I hadn’t attempted to take a bus instead of a taxi. When I got to the Airbnb, the owner who I’d been texting with was waiting outside the building for me. He helped me carry my bags up three flights of stairs to my room (I tried to pay him for his time but he adamantly refused), reviewed the housekeeping rules and gave me my key, and left me to get settled in. The room I paid for is in a hostel, so the space is quite small and most often rented by students due to its affordability. The room was quite clean though, plus I had a bathroom to myself, so I couldn’t ask for much more. 

Despite the time difference being so large, not surprisingly I was able to sleep most of the night with no trouble-- and that was how my first night in Seoul, South Korea went!

[brionysea]

actually, could i maybe ask you about the logistics of your edits? i love your editing, it seriously goes so hard. and i've recently gotten back into it and still am kind of flip flopping between which methods to use. do you edit with youtube scene packs or do you torrent full episodes? just really curious what the general consensus here is, because your end result slaps either way

thank you so much!! most of my edits take like 8 hours across several days to make so i'm glad you like them :)

i don't have the storage space on my phone so i usually screen record specific scenes from sites

i do find scene packs helpful, just because most things i like to edit are too long for full downloads. i did use a scene pack recently because it included a scene i wanted for a voiceover and they removed the background music, which i can't do myself unfortunately. you can do that if you have an editing software that lets you mess with audio and a file with 6ch audio

i like having access to the full episodes better because then if i'm thinking of a specific scene i can just go and find it instead of hoping that someone else included it in their scene pack, but i have a lot of specific scenes living in my brain, so that might not be a very common problem

it really depends what kind of edit you're trying to make, i think. shorter edits that are more like fancams or instagram edits work really well with scene packs (which is probably why they're so popular over there), but more narrative, longform, in depth ones like the fanvids you see on youtube lend themselves more to full episodes

[celtfather]

Blue Sun, 5 Things to Do in County Mayo, Ireland

The itinerary for my Celtic Invasion of Westport, Ireland is now online. Find out what my Firefly song, “Blue Sun”, has to do with Monopoly and Walmart. Get an Atlanta Food Recommendation. Then go out to eat with your own Celtery.

This is Sci Fi Pub Songs & Stories #264.

0:20 - Kilted Kings “Blue Sun” from Flower of Scotland

WELCOME TO SCI FI PUB SONGS & STORIES

I am Marc Gunn. This is the audio edition of my newsletter as well as the liner notes for the songs I record. You can follow this show at PubSong.net or send an email to pubsong@celtfather to sign up and get the MP3s for my songs featured in this episode.

3:10 - WHAT’S NEW: A NEW SHOW NAME

One of my weaknesses is sometimes I have to try something before I can see how effective it is. The past two episodes were called Atlanta Pub Songs & Stories because I wanted and still want to highlight things around Atlanta, where I currently live. The problem is I wasn’t sure what to do. Yes. I have a food recommendation coming up. But when I put myself in the shoes of potential listeners, like you, I just don’t see the Atlanta part as being useful for reaching an audience. More than likely, you’re interested in Sci Fi, fantasy, Celtic music and culture, or pop culture because that is what I do. Atlanta is not as essential to the music story even though most of my shows are located in this city.

And so, I’m pleased to introduce Sci Fi Pub Songs & Stories.

5:15 - UPCOMING SHOWS

FEB 9: Drinking Songs Concert on Bandcamp @ 7 PM ET

FEB 11: Pontoon Brewing, Sandy Springs, GA @ 12-3 PM

JUN 3-10: Celtic Invasion Vacations, County Mayo, Ireland

6:25 - CELTIC INVASION OF WESTPORT, IRELAND

This June, I’m bringing a small group of people to Westport, Ireland. I’d like you to join me.

Westport is part of the Wild Atlantic Way. That’s a spectacular, scenic route from Irishowen in County Donegal all the way down the west coast of Ireland to Kinsale in County Cork. It’s broken up into 14 stages, two of which are in the area we are staying, Achill Island and Clew Bay, and Westport to Clifden.

5 Things You Should Do in County Mayo, Ireland

Go to Matt Malloy’s Pub in Westport.

Visit Westport House and take a train around town to get to know the history behind the Irish of County Mayo

Hike up Croagh Patrick, This pilgrimage area has a story that St. Patrick himself scaled this mountain and fasted atop it for 40 days way back in 441 AD. It’s definitely a revered site in this area of the country, and can make for a great stop on any trip to the region.

Take a boat out to Clare Island to visit O’Malley Castle, one of the castles owned by the Pirate Queen, Grace O’Malley.

Take pictures all along the Wild Atlantic Way.

I completed the itinerary for the trip and already I think I scheduled way too much. There are so many fine castles, cliffs, and amazing things to see, not to mention the time I hope to spend in Matt Malloy’s listening to music. It’s gonna be an incredible trip.

I still have space for just two more people. If you’d like to join me in Ireland, hear me perform live in your living room, you won’t be sorry. It’s gonna be spectacular.

Check out the itinerary for the Celtic Invasion Vacations of Ireland 2023 and drop me an email to let me know that you want to go!

10:35 - Marc Gunn & Jamie Haeuser “Gypsy Rover” from How America Saved Irish Music

13:50 - DOWNLOAD MY FREE EP

You can download all of my songs in this show. Just send me an email to pubsong@ celtfather. You will get an auto responder with a link to download this month’s album. You can also subscribe to the podcast if you’re not already subscribed. It’s quick and easy.

While you’re emailing me to get your free EP, let me know what you’re doing while listening to this episode.

14:35 - STAND AGAINST BLUE SUN CORPORATION AND GET LOCAL

I loved Monopoly as a kid. I taught Kenzie it. After just two games, I was kinda done. The game drags on just way too long. Unfortunately, Kenzie is not done with it. She loves it and makes us play as often as we will let her.

So I finally figured out how to endure the game. It’s a quick win or lose strategy. If you’re lucky enough to buy all the property as soon as possible, then demolish and win. If you’re not, do your best to lose and get out of the game as soon as possible.

Kind of sad. But that’s what a monopoly is. If you learned about early 20th century monopolies, it wasn’t much better. In fact, the woman who created the game was trying to teach people the evils of monopolies. Yet, we haven’t learned.

The government allowed Live Nation to create a monopoly of concert venues. Ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s summer tour busted their online system. Well, actually, it was already busted thanks to bootleggers.

Monopolies are one of the reasons I finished “Blue Sun”. But the song actually goes back before that, all the way back to the writing of “Monahan’s Mudder’s Milk”. That’s when I wrote the chorus.

Blue Sun. Blue Sun Another corporation with their hand on the gun Blue Sun. Blue Sun. Free yourself to run from Blue Sun.

Blue Sun is the corporation in the TV show Firefly with a seemingly nefarious background. You see their imagery on Jayne’s shirt, on the docks of Persephone, and other places.

The blue color makes me think of the Two by Two, Hands of Blue from the episode Ariel. I can’t help but wonder if a connection is there. It feels to me like Blue Sun is a monopoly that largely is in control or at least has a big blue hand in their Alliance government.

And because they have a monopoly, they can do what they want. They can also destroy what they want all in the name of profit for their investors.

I did my best to come up with what a bully corporation would do. That's what the first two verses are all about. It’s about subjugating the people they are supposed to “serve”.

They terraformed the lands of many fine worlds Then bloodied our hands with our boys and our girls They offered us cans of food that curdled And piled on chains by the ton.

You see their emblem emblazoned on crates On walls, on wombs, even on your dates You may fall victim to their seductive gaze So raise up your hands to shun

Now we come to the final idea that motivated writing this song. My family is from a small town in East Texas. It was never a super vibrant town. As a kid, it looked like they stopped growing as a community in prolly the 40s or 50s. But they did have a downtown area.

That downtown area disappeared when Walmart moved in. Walmart’s strategy was to build a big store on the edge of town. It offered low, low prices, on everything. We were all thrilled. That’s where I first experienced the store. I loved it.

Before long, the downtown of our local community was closed down.

You’ve prolly heard the term “Buy Local”. It took a while for me to understand that idea.

The fact is that we need to support our local community if we want to see it thrive and grow.

Much like “Monahan’s”, this song turns into a Woody Guthrie style protest song against corporations.

Their manacles we'll cast off our tired wrists. Their suits we'll pummel with our bloodied fists Cut through the red tape and expunge the vile cyst That cripples our will to run

So raise up your voice and shout to the firm Let those who control know what it feels like to squirm Their products we won't buy, but oh they shall burn For this is their will undone

I love the imagery in these verses. It is very down-to-earth. And fierce. Complete with burning their products in protest.

I made two recordings of this song. The Kilted Kings version features Randy Wothke on percussion. The As Long As I’m Flyin’ version has

Lyrics and music Marc Gunn Marc Gunn: autoharp, vocals Daniel Briggs: bass, mandolin, octave mandolin, vocals LT Panzarella: dumbek

So I wrote, this song, not just as  a stance against corporations but also as a stance FOR small businesses, local organizations and companies and individuals and bands

24:25 - Marc Gunn “Blue Sun” from As Long As I’m Flyin’

26:50 - THANK YOU GUNN RUNNERS!

The show is brought to you by my Gunn Runners on Patreon. If you enjoy this podcast or my music, please join the Club. Every week, you get bonus podcasts, downloadable songs, printed sheet music, or blogs. Plus, you get weekly access to my Coffee with The Celtfather video concerts. Sign up for as little as $5 per month and save 15% with an annual membership. Thanks to my newest Gunn Runners on Patreon: Emil Volcheck, Bob Harford, Marguerite Kearns, Matt Van Zandt, Chrys Barnette, Eric Eller, Kain Thrace, Jan Czenkusch

28:01 - ATLANTA THAI FOOD RECOMMENDATION

My wife and friends tried going to a Trivia night with friends last Sunday. The one that looked most promising was in Sandy Springs. So we drove 30 minutes over there only to find the place was very smoky. Something I’m not big on.

Happily, we were close to Pontoon Brewing Company. We stopped and had a drink while we picked a place to have dinner.

We were all tired from the day. One of the closest places that sounded interesting was a Thai food restaurant. We drove over to Sweet Chili Thai Cuisine.

I love Thai but never have I loved it as much as I loved it here. There were four of us. We had four appetizers, three meals and two desserts. Every, single, dish, was, AMAZING!

The coconut soup was so creamy and delicious. They recommended Curry Puffs and WOW! The Basil Rolls were so fresh. The Nom Sod was delicious. Drunken Noodles, Spicy Green Beans, and Chef’s Catfish special. Omg!

They apparently just opened six months ago. So now is the time to go. Because this food was incredible. Oh! And the price was very reasonable for Thai food.

Go check out Sweet Chili Thai Cuisine.

31:26 - Marc Gunn “Botany Bay” from Going for Brogue

34:36 - ARE YOU CARRYING YOUR OWN CELTLERY?

You heard that right—Celtlery.

I’m looking for more eco-friendly merch that I can create and sell at shows. I finally packaged up one such item-Travel Celtlery.

How many times do you go to a lower-end restaurant where they give you a small plastic bag filled with plastic cutlery and a napkin that smells like pepper. You know what I’m talking about.

I find this so frustrating because no matter how many times I order out and I tell them no silverware is needed, they bring it.

What do we do with that stuff. You open it up. The plastic bag is not easily recycled. The plasticware usually goes straight into the trash.

One of the things I’m trying to teach myself to do is to bring my own cup and cutlery so I don’t have to use more plastic than I have to.

That’s why I’m trying out selling Travel Celtlery. This is a small bag to hold bambooware that you can take with you so you too don’t have to add to the plastic problem that is destroying our planet.

Right now, I have a small handful of Celtlery Bags in my store. What do you think of the idea? Want your own?

Shop for Celtlery now!

Oh! Shortly after writing this, I found a downloadable guide from Beyond Plastics about how to reduce plastic use at restaurants.

If you love this episode, then take a screenshot on your phone. Post it on social media. And tag @celtfather. Tell me what you like about this episode and what you’d like to hear in the future.

38:08 - Marc Gunn with Mikey Mason “Tough Times” from Selcouth

Listen to the Tough Times episode.

42:05 - CREDITS

Thanks for listening to Sci Fi Pub Songs & Stories. The show is brought to you by my Gunn Runners on Patreon. Every week, you’ll get a new podcast or song or video or video concert. You’ll also save 25% off on all my merch in my store. The show was edited by Mitchell Petersen with graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs.

Subscribe and listen to the show wherever you find podcasts. Sign up to my mailing list to read the show notes for this episode and get notified when I’m next performing near you.

And of course, please tell one friend about this podcast. Word of mouth is the absolute best way to support any creative endeavor.

Have fun and sing along at www.pubsong.com!

#pubstories #fireflytvshow #irelandtravel

Check out this episode!

[zoeykallus]

My Beloved Enemy

Crosshair x Female!Reader (FF)

Warnings: None yet. A little cat and mouse kinda situation though.

_____

Author's Comment:

YES I did use a certain REBELS Episode to inspire me for this Chapter.

Here we go my first FF with Crosshair, gotta say I'm kinda excited, I hope I'll do our grumpy sniper with the scorching hot gaze justice.

I'm gonna make a lot of things up, like charakters and places, just to not collide too much with canon stuff. There will be a few charakters we all know, amongst others The Bad Batch of course.

Oh and I took the freedom to leave out his burning scar, because I like his grey hair, sue me.

_____

Summary:

You are a rebel and every now and then, you collaborate with the former Bad Batch. You're on a solo mission when you unexpectedly run into a former member of Clone Force 99 - Crosshair. Standing on opposite sides, your first encounter is understandably rather complicated.

Following Chapters:

Part 2 - Hot And Cold

Part 3 - Hello Kitten

Part 4 - Look Who’s Back

Part 5 - Rebel Darling

Part 6 - Burning Anger

Part 7 - Love And Pain

Part 8 - A Difficult Reunion

Part 9 - The Bitter Taste Of Blood And Failure

Part 10 - Where The Dead Ships Dwell

Part 11 - A Lonely Firefly In Space

Part 12 - Broken Wings

Part 13 - A Helping Hand

Part 14 - The Justifier

Part 15 - The Bounty

Part 16 - Trapped

Part 17 - I Love You Too

Part 18 - When The Past Catches Up With Us

Part 19 - I've Never Been Good At Goodbyes

Part 20 - Unexpected

Part 21 - The Question

Part 22 - Sleepless Nights

Part 23 - Sleepyheads And Making Up

Part 24 - Crosshair's Conclusion

Part 25 - Good Soldiers Follow Orders

Part 26 - I'm Sorry Kitten

Part 27 - Bracca

Part 28 -Rampart

Part 29 - It's All Tactics

Part 30 - CT 6116

Part 31 - Of Wolves And Sheep

Part 32 - Dying Hope

Part 33 - Hero Of The Day

Part 34 - When The Wolf Eats The Sheep

Part 35 - The Shepherd

Part 36 - The Toll It Takes

Part 37 -Blowing Off Steam

Part 38 - Not Exactly Private

Part 39 - Accusations

Part 40 – Tension And Anger

Part 41 - Unloved Truths

Part 42 – Harsh Words

My Beloved Enemy 1 - Crash Landing

Things had changed a lot. After Kamino fell and his brothers left him behind again, a small Imperial troop transport had picked him up and taken him to the Star Destroyer Black Wolf. Crosshair was stationed there, working under Commander Payne. He continued his life as a soldier in the service of the Empire, trying to forget that his brothers had turned their backs on him again. Or had he turned his back on them? Sometimes he wasn't so sure anymore. As with many other things. It had all seemed so simple in the beginning, he was a soldier and he fulfilled his duties. But his brothers had resisted and turned against him. In retrospect, he didn't really feel remorse or anything like that, but he sometimes silently questioned one or the other decision of his superiors. Nevertheless, he continued to carry out orders, fulfilled his duty, he was a good soldier, one of the absolute best the empire had, he did not want to be more, he was born for it, he found fulfillment in it, was satisfied with it. However, he had no idea how much his life would soon change.

It was colder on the Star Destroyer than you were used to. The imperial uniform you had taken from the female sergeant didn't fit you properly; it was a little too loose at the thighs and too tight at the chest. But the uniform would serve its purpose. You didn't have to hold out long, just long enough for your droid to download the necessary data from the main computer. You had reprogrammed one of the Imperial protocol droids to collect data unobtrusively before quietly running off with reams of tactical data for the Rebel movement, preferably in a T-Fighter without a transponder. That was the plan.

You stood in the hallway outside the server room and looked out. So far, only two soldiers had passed by. None of them had been particularly interested in your presence. Still, you weren't comfortable; some instinct told you that something was going to go wrong here and now.

Nervously, you shifted your weight from one foot to the other.

A moment later, a figure turned into the hallway. A tall, slender man with broad shoulders. He wore the uniform of a trooper, but it was black, not white. You couldn't tell where he was looking because of his helmet, but it seemed like he was just looking straight ahead, at his holo pad, so you hoped he wouldn't even notice your presence.

Your heart was pounding up to your throat. What the hell was taking that damn droid so damn long!!!

Just as you were about to take a deep breath, since the trooper had already passed you, the man suddenly stopped, looked up from his datapad, and turned to face you. Suddenly, panic rose in you. The trooper came back and stopped right in front of you.

He checked your uniform and finally said in a slightly raspy, deep voice, "May I ask what you are doing here, Sergeant?"

You tried to sound neutral as you replied, "Waiting for my superior officer, sir."

Wait, was he higher in rank than you? Should you have called him sir? Should he have asked you questions? You didn't know.

It was frustrating that you couldn't see his face, so it was much harder to figure out what he was thinking or planning.... His gaze lingered on your pretty face for a while, then on the blouse of your uniform.

"You should get the measurements for your uniform taken. It's too tight," he said dryly.

You look down at yourself, finally just nodding mutely in agreement, hoping he would just keep walking.

Finally, he turned around and went on his way. You caught a glimpse of his figure, slim but well-toned, obvious, broad shoulders, his back showing a respectable V-line all the way to his hips.

"Damn,"you thought, "I don't think I've ever seen such an attractive imperial before." Even though you hadn't seen his face yet.

The Trooper was only three steps away when an alarm sounded and echoed through the corridors of the Star Destroyer. The trooper stopped short. In the next moment, the communication device cracked and the droid's tin can voice blared, "I'm sorry Mistress, we're having some problems, I haven't managed to download the information without the alarm to..."

Hastily, you turned off the communication device.

Of course, the trooper heard that. You had forgotten to switch your communicator from the wrist unit to the earpiece. He had turned back around and was looking at you. The datapad fell to the floor as the trooper clenched his hands into fists.

"Oh damn," you cursed in a hushed voice.

"Rebel scum!" he growled.

You weren't a fighter, you'd never been trained, you were a pilot, a damn good one even, and an even better cook, but firefights or hand-to-hand combat were far from your strengths. Now you were facing a high-ranking trooper against whom, as you well knew, you didn't stand the slightest chance of winning.

"I can explain that," you stammered out sheepishly.

Almost amused, the Trooper raised his head and replied cockily, "Well, I'm looking forward to that explanation."

You opened your mouth as if to reply, but then quickly turned on your heel and ran off. You didn't have to turn around to know the Trooper was following you because you heard his quick, heavy footsteps on the metal floor behind you.

Adrenaline gave you a good boost. Fortunately, you were able to avoid meeting other troopers until you reached the escape pods. You didn't know how far you were from the pursuing trooper, and didn't dare turn around. You hastily swung into one of the pods, hurriedly started the launch sequence, and literally hit the switch to close the pod when you sensed you weren't alone, just as the pod fell out of the Star Destroyer.

At first, you didn't dare turn around. You stood there frozen. With fingers now trembling, you entered the destination and hastily scrambled the access so that your guest could not change the trajectory. Finally, you slowly turned around.

There he was, the trooper in his black armor. He had no weapons with him; neither did you. But unlike you, he didn't need weapons to deal with you.

In that small, confined space, so close together, you only realized how tall the man really was. As he came at you, you flinched, but bumped into the console, there was no way out.

You stared at his helmet.

Automatically, you pleaded in a soft voice: "Please don't hurt me".

He seemed to pause in surprise. Probably he was used to more aggressive behavior from rebels. He looked at you intently and finally said, "I won't unless you give me a reason to".

Now you were a little surprised yourself, because normally Imperials were not very sociable or forgiving with people like you. But you guessed that a soldier of his rank probably had enough experience to realize that you weren't exactly a fighter. He didn't exactly see you as a threat.

He made a gesture with his hand that meant you should step aside and let him go to the console.

Somewhat hesitantly, you complied with his request. The escape pod was so tight that the two of you almost bumped into each other, although you stepped so far to the side that your back touched one of the walls.

You were so close that you could smell him, the soap he had used.

The closeness, the smell, his presence, were intimidating and attractive at the same time. Your mind wavered between fear and a certain excitement that you didn't yet comprehend.

He glanced at the console, tried a few inputs, and finally sighed.

"You're not a fighter, but you're obviously gifted in other ways," he said quietly in his deep, raspy voice that sounded a bit like what you'd imagine a coiled snake would sound like.

He turned his head in your direction, which automatically made you even more nervous.

"Decrypt the console," he asked you sternly but calmly.

Unable to raise your voice, you shook your head in denial.

He took a deep breath and said with a slightly somber undertone, "Decrypt the console or I'll have to change my mind about hurting you.

Your eyes widened, but you shook your head again. When he tried to reach for you, you jerked to the side, just a hair's breadth away from his fingers. But where would you go? You fled back to the far corner of the pod. He straightened up and came at you, slowly, but with tense muscles, as you could see. He was braced for resistance.

When he was almost there, you tried to escape in panic. In the process, you somehow managed to knock off his helmet. The surprised look in his golden brown eyes was almost amusing if the situation hadn't been so serious.

You charged at him, ramming the surprised soldier off his feet and into the console. A high-pitched chirping alarm told you that this must have been a fatal mistake. You had damaged something; in any case, the escape pod was trundling wildly, leaving its normal course.

So instead of heading for the desert planet Geonosis, where you should have met the others, the escape pod was now heading for the moon beyond.The capsule entered the atmosphere and crashed onto a white surface that gave way, the capsule plunged into a cavern below, finally coming to an abrupt stop and throwing the two passengers to the ground. You both lost consciousness.

Wrecker paced nervously, even Tech was a little nervous by now and kept looking up from his data pad.

"She should be back by now," Wrecker grumbled in his deep voice, running his hand over his scarred bald head.

"I know, Wrecker," Tech replied in a calm voice, pushing his goggles up the bridge of his nose.

Hunter had sent those two to pick you up here. Every single one of them had been against this stupid idea of sneaking you onto a Star Destroyer, but you had insisted, and the fact that The Bad Batch shouldn't show their faces on an Imperial Star Destroyer played a significant role.

"What do we do if she doesn't come? If she's captured?" asked Wrecker nervously, looking anxiously at his brother.

Tech sighed softly. He really preferred not to answer that. He wouldn't know how they were going to get you out of a Star Destroyer.

"She wasn't captured," he simply said instead.

Wrecker leaned against the shuttle and grumbled, "How can you be so sure?"

"I'm not, but anything else would be fatal. Y/N has a knack for wriggling out of dangerous situations, you know that," Tech replied, glancing at his holo pad again.

"Oh," he said suddenly.

"What?" asked Wrecker, lurking.

"There was an unforeseen Escape pod launch, but the transponder signal dropped out. Could have landed anywhere," he muttered.

"Oh great. That's Y/N for sure! How do we find her now?"

Crosshair woke up from his unconsciousness with a mild headache and a sore shoulder. His grey hair was all messed up from wearing his helmet all day. He growled a low curse, slowly straightened himself into a sitting position, and looked around.

The pod was damaged but the shell was intact. However, he saw at first glance that the transponder was useless. You lay to his left. In the crash you had lost your uniform cap, Your lips were slightly parted. You lay on the hard metal floor of the pod, the too tight blouse had opened a little and he could see a little of your tasteful cleavage. All in all, he thought you were exceptionally pretty, he'd noticed that before. And if he wasn't so angry about the crash and the fact that you were one of the rebels, he could even enjoy the sight and imagine asking you to go out with him.

But of course, fate had brought the two of you together under very inopportune circumstances. When he reached for your neck to feel for your pulse, you jumped at his touch and slapped his hand away. You looked confused and a little panicked when you tried to straighten up but lost your balance and fell with your back against the wall of the pod. "Get your hands off me!" you demanded with a rough undertone in your voice.

He glared at you with his golden brown eyes, one of wich encircled with a Crosshairs tatoo. "I just wanted to take your pulse. Look what you did! We ended up in damn nowhere and the transponder is gone! Outside the pod there are freezing temperatures and no one will come looking for us." You snorted: "They won't be looking for you, but my people will definitely come to pick me up"

As you spoke, you did a few taps on the communication device on you wrist. He laughed humorlessly "Clever, a com with a long-range transponder function. Could be one of my brohter's ideas" You smiled smugly. But the smile froze when you saw that he was smiling too and cast a strange look at the device on your wrist. "Don't even think about it," you pressed out warningly.

Your eyes met. "I bet I can reprogram the transponder to an imperial frequency. Then my people and not yours would pick us up" You rolled your sleeve back over the device, hugging your arm protectively. "You won't!" You hissed at him.

"What is your name?" he asked in a calm voice. "What?!" it came from your lips in disbelief. "Your name, Kitten? I'm assuming you have one," he repeated. "That does not concern you!" Crosshair sighed.

"My name is Crosshair" He noticed that you were going pale.

Could it be, could it really be him? How are the chances? The tatoo on his face should have already told you who he was, but in your panicked state you hadn't really noticed before. "I've heard that name before. You are one of the clones, of clone force 99." Crosshairs face became a stone mask. "I see, you met my brothers I guess. Did they sent you? Did Hunter sent you?"

“You betrayed them”

Crosshair looked downright hurt when he replied defiantly: "I did what was necessary, what the Empire asked of me" You shook your head in disbelief. "I'm not sure if you are looking for excuses for your actions or if you are really that blind and simple-minded," you said in a low, serious voice.

"The Empire is bringing order to the chaos that you rebels have created, you wretched remnants of a failed republic. We bring law and order to the galaxy" he spoke harshly “Good soldiers follow orders!”

You laughed out loud and without humor. "You are really serious, you really are that stupid. You call genocide law and order ?! Tyranny, persecution, disenfranchisement ... that is your idea of law and order?! You are either much more stupid than you look or abnormal fanatical. How can you be so blind to the injustices of the Empire? " Your words gnawed at him, you could see that clearly, but he decided not to go into it. Instead he reached out a big strong, gloved hand in your direction and said: "Give me the transponder" You shook your head once more.

"Your moral compass has obviously suffered a total loss at some point in your life and no, I will not give you the transponder voluntarily. I am aware that I have no chance against you in a fight. But you can be sure that I will give everything to defend the device "

Crosshair clenched his fists, then relaxed them again. "I don't want to hurt you, but I'll do it if I have to, don't make it harder for you than it has to be. If the Empire picks us up here, you'll get a fair trial."

You snorted again. "A fair trial? They will torture me until I have told them everything I know about the rebel movement, then I will be executed. If you are honest with yourself, you will know that too," you said in a calm, almost resigned tone. From one second to the next, he came up to you resolutely. You knew what he was up to, still holding the arm with the transponder on your wrist protectively.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Wishmaker

Goddamn it... 

It's bad enough Astruc tastelessly axed Lukanette, but now he just had to show up to give a sarcastic eulogy at the funeral.

Let's get into the fourteenth (chronologically the eighteenth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Wishmaker

Right out of the gate, we get a “Chloe bad” joke with her insulting Marinette for being poor or whatever as she hands out flyers for an upcoming career fair. Chloe doesn't have much of a role in the episode, but she will be important towards the end, trust me. We also get a funny “Marinette stares lovingly at Adrien” joke while she sees him, so it's good the writers are at least trying to get their strange habits out of their systems now instead of later.

While reading over the flyer in his room, Adrien ponders a possible career as he doesn't want to keep being a model.

(The episode came out in English first, so I'm just going to be using quotes instead of screenshots of subbed scenes for this review)

Plagg: Don't you wanna continue to model?

Adrien: I don't think so, Plagg. I'm doing it now because my father asked me to. But now I realize I don't know what I'd want to do. I've never asked myself that question.

This is a really interesting dilemma for Adrien. Unlike other episodes that just have him feel sad for entirely superfluous reasons like Ladybug turning him down or generally moping about his mom, it feels like something you can really understand. He genuinely isn't sure what he wants to do with his life because he's had everything chosen for him before. I also like the use of the English dub saying Adrien modeled because his father asked him to, as if he couldn't actually say no. I also like how Adrien is still starting to lose faith in Ladybug for giving out Miraculous to everyone, which makes even more sense after his view of her was shaken in the previous episode chronologically, “Rocketear”. I also like how Plagg suggests ideas for a career for Adrien, like the two of them opening up a cheese shop together, which shows how Plagg cares for Adrien and wants what's best for him, ultimately highlighting how healthy their relationship is. He's almost like a big brother who gives advice to Adrien, even if it isn't the most sound advice at times.

On the other hand, Marinette already knows what she wants to do with her life, but the Kwamis start to argue over what she actually means by it by saying they know what she wants to do, a painfully accurate metaphor for the writers dictating Marinette's actions no matter how inconsistent they are.

Pollen: What's a career, dear Guardian?

Marinette: Oh. Well, it's... your job! Something really important that you do and gives meaning to your life!

Roaar: Oh! So, your job is being the Guardian of the Miraculous!

Mullo: Of course not! It's being a student!

Xuppu: Not at all! It's making presents for Adrien!

Marinette:Well...

Longg: She said “something important”, like when she crafted the big doll house to hide the Miracle Box!

Wayzz: Or when she designed the alarm for this room! What a masterpiece!

Marinette: Sure, I love crafting but—

Ziggy: You guys don't get it! What gives meaning to her life is to be in love with Adrien, or Luka, that's her job!

Fluff: Luka's the one with the guitar, right?

Kaalki: Her real career is being Ladybug and carve her name in history by her glorious deeds, of course!

Of course, their bickering somehow makes Marinette realize she isn't sure what she wants to do in the future after all.

We then cut to a reality show hosted by TV personality, Alec Cataldi. He's generally an asshole to the people on the shows he hosts and takes pleasure in humiliating or just being a dick to them, making you wonder how he still gets work with that attitude. Basically, he's the Alec Baldwin of the Miraculous Ladybug universe. The current show he's hosting is one where he roasts people for their jobs, making Andre a target by pointing how counterproductive his “business” is.

Alec: Here's a perfect example: Andre, the Ice Cream Maker, the ice cream man that is never around! Let me remind you how this goes: Andre doesn't have a shop, no one knows where he is, it takes forever to find him, and he gets to pick a flavor of your ice cream! You've gotta be kidding, Andre! Give me one reason why I should bother to chase after you when I could get my choice of ice cream in any corner supermarket!

Andre: Well, people don't just come for ice cream when they find me. They come to share their love and experience of magical moments! A supermarket cannot do what I do! I am a creator of magical moments!

Alec: “Creator of magical moments?” You've gotta be kidding!

I'm pretty sure that's what a lot of people thought of Andre when they first saw “Glaciator”. The idea behind Andre is that he chooses ice cream for you representing something about yourself, so he gives Alec a scoop of lime to represent his sour exterior and chocolate cinnamon to represent the dreams he still has within. Alec flinches a little at the ice cream, presumably because of how terrible of a combination that is, and decides to go to commercial to think.

Marinette talks to Andre about what he does, and he explains he used to be an office worker, with the only highlight of his days being making ice cream for himself after work. It eventually inspired him to quit his job and start making ice cream for everyone. It's a nice backstory, and I think a lot of people watching who are struggling to think about their future can relate to this like with the earlier scene with Adrien. It's also a nice touch for the flashbacks to reveal Andre has served ice cream to some of France's most famous couples.

(Jean Coutau and Jean Marais)

(Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin)

(Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Canet)

Granted, I'm wondering how old Andre is to have even met some of these people given Jean Cocteau died in 1963, but seeing how Master Fu is 186, I'm guessing the Miraculous Ladybug universe just has really good healthcare. Either that, or the people in this universe take Jay Kordich's diet very seriously.

Andre gives some ice cream to Marinette, who is soon joined by her ex-boyfriend who she never loved according to the writers. Actually, judging from her face when Luka talks about the very first guitar he made, the writers made another 180 regarding Marinette's feelings for Luka.

Of course, because the show wants to remind the audience Alec still exists, he makes fun of Luka for taking two years to perfect the delicate craftsmanship it takes to sculpt any instrument when you can just download an app on your phone. Your inner boomer is showing, writers, even if you were born after the time period for that generation. Luka retorts with some vague philosophical line he's known for that's one of the reasons why people are so mixed on him as a character

Luka: Musical instruments fill the space and space fills the instruments. No phone in the world will ever be able to do that.

Despite it being incredibly confusing, it gets to Alec, causing him to run off in tears. Luka and Marinette continue to talk, but it turns out that's Adrien decided to sit down nearby because of course he did. Though, like the last scene, it's a pretty interesting one as the three discuss what they want to do with their lives. There's also a really nice visual of a blimp with an ad Adrien was in passing by while Adrien talks about his father dictating his life, a really nice symbol. Of course, the scene is somewhat ruined by Luka suddenly deciding to be an Adrienette shipper.

Luka: You two will eventually find what's already in front of you, but you can't hear it clearly. Just let the melody flow.

He's referring to their uncertainty of their futures, but earlier on, Luka wanted to help Marinette be honest with her feelings about Adrien, and even before that, Andre was saying that Marinette and Luka didn't have to be in love to enjoy his magic ice cream. It's here when I realized this episode is subtly trying to end any chances of Lukanette still happening with so many little details. Right when the two spend time together, that's when they decided to help Adrien who showed up for no reason, preventing them from potentially coming to terms with their feelings for each other or at the very least discuss how hard it is to be friends with their history. And things only get more frustrating towards the end, where you'd swear someone decided to smother Lukanette with a pillow in its sleep.

Back to Alec, he's roasting a wig salesman (does he even have permission to film any of these people?) for his job, but as soon as the salesman puts a wig on him, Alec immediately gives us his life story.

Alec: When I was a kid, I used to have long hair, but everyone made fun of me. That's why I shaved it all off. I've been making the wrong choices my whole life. My TV shows are nothing personal. I make fun of people when they make fun of me when I was a kid. (Starts to tear up) I should've been the person I always wanted to be, trying to change the world instead of mocking it! (Falls on his knees) I've wasted my life!

I didn't paraphrase this at all. This is seriously what happened. He goes from mocking everyone he meets, to slightly doubting himself after seeing an ice cream vendor and a young musician, and then he starts having an existential crisis about his tragic backstory. It's not a bad idea, but if there was some more buildup in previous episodes, I'd understand. But this goes from confusing to straight out insulting towards the end. I'll get to that later on.

Shadowmoth notices Alec's emotions and akumatizes him into Wishmaker through his microphone.

Wishmaker has a pretty cool design. The grey skin color coupled with the mostly black outfit really highlights Alec's broken heart, and he looks pretty sinister. His powers... leave a lot to be desired.  Like the name states, Wishmaker has the power to make everyone's childhood dreams come true, like this one guy's dream is to be Santa Claus, so he transforms into Saint Nick without any hitch. Wouldn't it make more sense if Wishmaker twisted the dreams of his victims like a genie and made them miserable while they ironically lived out their fantasies by twisting around their words? Instead, all of his “victims” seem pretty happy, which doesn't really do much to make him a threat in my opinion.

So the aforementioned Santa starts dropping presents like bombs near Marinette, Adrien, and Luka, and they're separated by a giant robot. Marinette quickly transforms into Ladybug, and gets Luka to safety, though as soon as she leaves, Luka goes to check on where he told Marinette to stay for safety, and doesn't see her there. Instead, he sees his deadbeat father (transformed into a crocodile) drowning and goes to save him.

Ladybug meets up with Cat Noir (who transformed off-screen) and the two easily incapacitate the robot before engaging Wishmaker, avoiding his blasts. Apparently, they'll get their secret identities revealed if they get hit, so Ladybug goes to get Luka to help out as Viperion while Cat Noir holds off Wishmaker. Ladybug goes to get Luka, leading to the funniest joke in the episode.

She gives Luka the Snake Miraculous and he transforms into Viperion, immediately activating his Second Chance. For newcomers, Second Chance allows the user to set a point in time when activating it and if something goes wrong, they can go back to that checkpoint in up to five minutes. Ladybug also summons her Lucky Charm, a stuffed dinosaur toy.

Back with Cat Noir, as he engages Wishmaker, the Akuma starts to tempt him with the idea of living out his childhood dream, because he genuinely doesn't remember his. As Shadowmoth orders Wishmaker to use his powers on Cat Noir, Ladybug and Viperion show up, but in the chaos of the fight, Ladybug gets hit by Wishmaker, revealing her childhood dream as the “Knitting Fairy”, and exposes her identity to Viperion, who uses Second Chance to undo the timeline.

In the new timeline, Cat Noir's vulnerability gets to him, so he willingly lets himself get his by Wishmaker, not only exposing his identity as Adrien, but tragically reveals his childhood dream, to be whatever his parents wanted him to be. I feel like this works a lot better than some of the other moments where Cat Noir defied orders or screwed around on the battlefield because it's clearly framed as a moment of weakness on his part, and it was naturally built up over the course of the episode. The reveal of Adrien's childhood dream is a real gut punch too, as it shows just how much Adrien's life has been controlled by his family.

In the third timeline, Viperon deflects Wishmaker's blast meant for Cat Noir and redirects it toward a man whose childhood dream was to become a giant stuffed dinosaur. The stuffed dinosaur in question goes to give Wishmaker a hug, restraining him long enough for Ladybug to steal for Cat Noir to cataclysm (It's a microphone, how hard is it to break???) before she de-evilizes the Akuma. Ladybug uses Miraculous Ladybug to force everyone to stop living out their childhood dreams, she gives Alec a Magical Charm, and Luka decides not to tell Ladybug he knows both her and Cat Noir's secret identities. Why did Ladybug expect Luka not to know her identity when the whole reason she recruited him was to make sure nobody else found out her identity?

Now, while it isn't outright said, it's hinted at that now that Luka knows Marinette is Ladybug and Adrien is Cat Noir, judging from his dejected look after finding out the latter, he may be giving up on all attempts at the idea of getting back together with Marinette, and may or may not start shipping the Love Square now, just like how Kagami decided to ship Adrienette in “Mr. Pigeon 72”. I'm not saying the idea of Luka knowing someone's identity is bad, but it feels like this only happened specifically to stop him from having feelings for Marinette because now he knows Adrien loves her alter ego, and vice versa. Maybe it'll be touched upon in a later episode, but this was just a dick move by the writers in terms of ending all chances of Lukanette like this in order to ensure the Love Square has absolutely no competition.

So the episode ends with Marinette and Adrien deciding to focus on their futures while Alec starts a new show where he helps people live out their childhood dreams, albeit dressed like Style Queen for some reason.

Eh, he still picked a pretty cool Akuma to dress up as in my opinion. A lot of people have viewed this ending as evidence Alec is a drag queen with how he dressed up, coupled with the fact that he said something that was very similar to famous drag queen RuPaul.

Alec: And now, we're gonna love one another, starting with everyone loving themselves! Because how are you gonna love other people if you don't love yourself?

Though Astruc, being Astruc, once again decided to be vague when asked about the subject on Twitter, though at least the subtext is better than when he said he didn't make Juleka and Rose girlfriends because of censors while making it seem like a noble act.

Overall, this was a really good episode, though there were some underlying issues that really kept me from actually liking it. For the most part, it had some good drama with the main character, a rare scene where Marinette didn't stammer around Adrien, a creative (albeit flawed) Akuma with some good action, and an interesting idea with Luka knowing everything about the Love Square now.

There are just two big problems that really got to me about this episode. Let's get the obvious one out of the way, Luka. Honestly, he really didn't need to be in the episode. Sure, he gave some sound advice to Marinette and Adrien about their careers, but it felt kind of strange to see someone their age talking to them about their future when Andre, someone who actually had experience struggling to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, was pushed to the side. And like I said earlier, I think the only reason Luka found out about Marinette and Adrien's identities was to discourage him from thinking about getting back together with Marinette. After all, now that he realizes how “made for each other” they are, he can't stand in the way of the Love Square.

The problem is that in the context of the episode, we don't really see what made him see things that way. At least in “Mr. Pigeon 72”, Kagami consistently viewed Marinette's attempts to get her and Adrien back together as a subconscious desire to be with Adrien. It was dumb with how she decided to go to Team Adrienette at the end of the episode, but it was something. I'm glad the episode didn't force in too many Love Square shenanigans, but I think more should have been done to contextualize Luka's feelings towards the reveal. I get the writers wanted to make sure Lukanette had no chance of coming back, but this just feels rushed.

And then there's Alec's redemption arc. While it's not a bad idea in concept, the problem is that it flies in the fact of a recurring theme this season, that being redemption. Because, here's the funny thing: Alec blatantly said he became an asshole TV personality because of his history of bullying, and decided to retaliate as a result, but he eventually saw the error of his ways and turned over a new leaf. For long time readers of this blog, I apologize for bringing this up yet again, but what exactly makes this different from everything Astruc said about Chloe? You know, when he said that you make your formative choices when you're fourteen? Just like how Alec decided to become a reality TV host making fun of people after a troubling experience from when he was a kid?

Let's say that I agree with Astruc's views about Chloe. How is Alec different from what Astruc's said about Chloe for almost two years at this point? What makes Chloe, someone who was the victim of a troubled childhood who never got help, an irredeemable monster while Alec, someone who also had a troubled childhood and had even more time to get help while never getting any, capable of change? I thought he Alec made a formative choice when he was young and stuck with it, just like how Chloe started to fully develop at the age of fourteen. I mean, Astruc, you yourself said that Chloe's troubled childhood “was no excuse to treat people like shit”, according to you.

I'm just saying, dude, if Chloe can't be redeemed because of the stuff you yourself said, then that shouldn't apply to Alec either. When you really think about it, it's almost like Astruc either made up a bunch of excuses to not redeem Chloe, or he's a massive hypocrite for going back on his word. You can't really justify this kind of hypocrisy relating to Alec's redemption when you remember just how much of a hardass Astruc was when explaining why redemption was impossible for Chloe.

This coupled with the treatment of Luka really drags this episode from really good to blatantly insulting to certain viewers. Then again, these two choices just got to me personally. I feel like if those two things weren't there, things could have made this episode a lot better for me personally. I can see why a lot of people in the fandom still like this episode, but I'm honestly not a fan of it.

[therealvikingstrash]

@not-that-syndrigast I know I already answered you, but maybe this will make it a little clearer on how much work goes into making gifs.

Killy (known as tlkvikings, formerly underragingwaves) got a really good tutorial for gif making, so even when you don't ever wanna create gifs, it is worth giving it a read just to understand the effort a little better.

First you need the source, which means you have to download the movie, show or specific episodes you want to gif. The higher the resolution, the better the gifs will turn out. Of course, you can also screencap it directly on your laptop or phone, but that will take away from the quality. I'm not shaming anyone who does it (I did it in the past), just saying you can expect it to be a bit pixel-y. You use a different program to gather the caps of the scene you want to gif in a file and then you delete all the caps you don't need, because otherwise the gif will be too long and take up too much space (mb). Which means you might not be able to post it on tumblr, since they got a restriction.

Then you follow the steps in the tutorial mentioned above (using another program again), which I won't elaborate here. Either way, when you don't do any work on gifs and just use them as they are then there is quite a huge difference (especially with Vikings, because Hirst thought it would be fun to layer the show with one abhorrent filter on another), for example, left is without any layer, right is the one I worked on:

same here:

and here:

and these are just the ones with the yellow filter being a nuisance. Vikings has a shitton of scenes where everything is cyan. But you catch my drift, right? It is really hard to give these actors their actual skintone back (sometimes I google them to see if I matched it alright, like with Pekitaulet). Hell, most of the awesome outfits get fucked over due to the filters stealing all the color and details.

Is the outrage a little easier to understand? We gifmakers don't just hit one button and the scene we picked is finished and ready to post. It's a long process and I think I can speak for all gifmakers that we're really tired of our work being stolen.

You can also find Killy's before and after photoshop gifs post here!

@vikingwarrioraragnarsson No, they are not from google. Those gifs you used are from a friend of mine and other gif makers. Stop being a stealing cunt.

How mature to block me instead of apologizing for STEALING other peoples works. I am so sick of this stupid fucking RPC. Fuck off. Seriously. Get lost. You have no place in the Vikings Fandom and NO right to use other peoples art, gifs or ANYTHING.