#but i'd hope i could find a small community lol

[astheforcewillsit]

I have this urge and want to interact so badly with the pro-jedi/jedi appreciation crowd because I respect the Jedi as a religion and spirituality, and something about their integral connection to the Force and how it influences everything they do--

From the way they speak, from the way they dress, to the way they interact with other--

speaks to me on a spiritual level. Like the Jedi are the light side of the Force personified, imo. If the Force has a face, I believe it would partly be the Jedi.

I love an organized religion (?) that's done correctly, that's not based on gendered oppression, that provided guilt-free healthcare and a path to follow, that operates as a family and a way of life.

like i could write about how they radiate Catholicism if done correctly till i'm blue in the face. And it's fine if you don't see the Christian parallels, but they exist and their a positive spin on what it could be.

That these people who would otherwise most likely be mistreated without the Order find each other. And raise reach other, and teach each other. They don't have biological children, but they believe it's their responsibility to train and raise children that aren't related to them, just like what was done for them. People like to say the Jedi "lost" everything when they left their families (left, not taken) but they gained so much more.

I want to interact with fans just to talk about this with, but i'm terrified of the "The Jedi did nothing wrong to the clone troopers" and I'm back to square one lol.

like is their a place to exist where I can love the jedi but acknowledge this was their one fuck up?

[parasolladyansy]

hi!! i'm the same anon from the languages ask. (thank you for answering btw!! it was very interesting!) i've been having thoughts about pokemon languages for a WHILE, and i'd like to know what do you think was the expansion of "japanese" (let's say hisuian) from hisui to the other regions. if the pearl/diamond clan speaks "japanese", then the galaxy corps learned it from them, yeah? or were they settlers from before that were ALREADY speaking "japanese" (therefore there is no conflict with kanto, johto and hoenn speaking "japanese" too, even if it might have evolved slightly differently)? i have this headcanon that celestica people (who were there even before than the clans) spoke our equivalent "russian" instead, what do you think of that?

also THE LAST CHAPTERS OF THE D&P REWRITE HAVE BEEN HEARTBREAKING AND AMAZING THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SMALL REUNION I LOVED IT ;;;

also if i am annoying feel free to tell me to stop i am Sorry ;; i just like languages a lot.

Hm! I would imagine they were all speaking Japanese, if we were to believe that they all came from “Japanese” regions originally (which I find very likely - there are a couple who have descendants further out in the world like Unova or Kalos, but for the times, I think it makes more sense for them to be from Kanto, Johto, or Hoenn).

I would actually guess that the Celestica people would have spoken “Ainu”, as I think the Celestica people are supposed to represent the indigenous people living in Hokkaido, the Ainu (the story of Legends Arceus being based on the colonization of Hokkaido in the mid-1800’s).

Another thought is that they could be speaking the Pokemon equivalent of an ancient Hellenistic language like Latin, as all the ruins & the Temple of Sinnoh are more styled like ancient Grecian / Roman architecture:

If so, my memories of Art History make me wonder if it’s a reference to the Silk Road at all? Though honestly, I think it’s to communicate that the Pokemon world is a lot more multicultural & diverse than ours is / was (like people who live in “Japanese” regions don’t seem to necessarily be genetically Japanese you know? Ikrit’s an example of that, being white rather than asian) &/or it just “looks ancient” lol.

As for Russian - the Ainu people lived (live?) in Russia as well as northern Japan, so maybe? I could see it being a substitute for Ainu, seeing as it’s an almost dead language, & could make sense in universe? Depends on the direction one wants to go in I guess! If it were me, while I COULD try to excavate my old memories of high-school Latin lol, I’d want to try including Ainu in some way, even if it’s a couple words or a phrase. ;u;

Thank you very much! I hope you keep enjoying the story (lol it’s all good - I love world building, & languages are a part of it!)

PS: Oh! I forgot - while all the “Japanese” regions probably speak “Japanese”, different parts of Japan have their own dialects, much like how different parts of the US have their own words, phrases, & accents.

This showed up in Legends Arceus when Kamado had a moment of losing his cool - in the US English, he seemed to have an almost Southern / country accent, but in Japanese, he talks in a Kansai accent (aka Johto accent). It’s also worth noting that the fire caused by Ho-Oh in Ecruteak City happened about 150 years ago, & as of PLA (set about 150 years ago), Jubilife Village is only 2 years old…

[chadfallout76podcast]

"Deah Shroud!: A Nick Valentine Mystery" EXPLAINED and AMA

It never occurred to me to do this last year, but a lot of people have asked me questions about our Fallout 4 play in the last year in the Discord, so I wanted to open an AMA but also explain "Death Shroud!" and some of the broader themes involved in it.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

Part 1: Pre-production

Before I get into the story, I wanted to explain how this production even came about. Over the years after working together on some official community projects with Wes Johnson through Bethesda, we became good friends. I took a couple of his acting classes and he talked about the Fallout For Hope charity initiative I started and asked for help in organizing the gaming community for his Alzheimer's Association fundraiser. The idea was to host a month-long digital event of discussion panels, game shows, improv and a play with as many different voices of video games, film and TV as we could round up. In our second year of his VoiceAPalooza fundraiser, I wanted to do an original old time radio show and see if could bring back as many of the cast that we could from Fallout 4. It was Wes who first suggested an adventure with his Silver Shroud character (that he voiced in Fallout 4's radio plays) teaming up with Nick Valentine (voiced by the amazing Stephen Russell). Valentine is, for me, one of the best written, unique companions in Fallout lore.

So, I reached out to Stephen Russell who had joined us before for charity work and he was all in on bringing Nick Valentine back to life! After that things moved fast with Bethesda's Pete Hines and Emil Pagliarulo joining us to have some fun for a good cause. We tried to get EVERY companion from Fallout 4 that we could, but schedule wrangling is tough, and some people are just impossible to track down or find. Matt Mercer would've loved to have joined us as Macready, but unfortunately scheduling didn't work, so the best we could manage would be a holotape (the only reason our snarky gun running merc had to take the big sleep in the story).

After having everyone plugged in to reprise characters, it was time to put fingers to keys and find the story...

Part 2: The Deep Lore

The origin of this story started with a thought: how would the NPC's and characters we love perceive modification of their universe by us? We, as players aren't the true creators of this universe or these characters (Bethesda is). If anything, we the players are the equivalent of "lesser gods", reshaping it in new ways, unexpected and subjective ways, and sometimes even chaotic ways (I'm looking at you avalanche of adult mods with realistic jiggle physics and Thomas the Tank Engine Vertibird).

It started with a mental image of the small ways in which we start out modding games, or even the first mods we (using the "Engine of Creation) actually create. I had a mental image of Magnolia doing her thing, singing away sultry in a crowded and smoky third rail when she looks one way, back the next and sees new curtains. A subtle thing, something a little startling, but in a universe where recreational drug use is met with a YEEE YEEEE WHEEEE...a change you simply dismiss as being overtired or a little too juiced.

I'm a sucker for old time radio. I grew up listening to classic radio horrors like The Whistler, Suspense, and Lights Out on vinyl records and cassette tapes when I'd spend summers with my grandmother on a little island off the coast of Canada. Getting the tone, feeling and sound to stage an old-time radio show was the easiest part of this whole process...it's baked into my brain lol. The key of course is finding the right narrative voice.

Enter: Bill Lobley. If you play Fallout 76, he is the announcer for the "Tales from the West Virginia Hills" holotapes, but before that he's a prolific voice actor, maybe best known for his role as the truly vile Jeremiah Fink in Bioshock: Infinite. He has a FANTASTIC transatlantic voice for old time radio and was perfect as narrator in the script.

Part 3: What Is Going On?!?!

I had the base idea, the voices to pull it off, but what was the meaning and message of the whole thing? I always start there. From a meta experience level, the story is about dealing with subjective reality that’s being torn apart. After Fallout 4 launched in vanilla, we the players changed that world and reshaped it with mods. The small changes in perceived reality are meant for the omniscient player (us) and are not meant to be perceived by the characters themselves...and yet, what if they were? And if they were...WHY?! The answer was right in front of me: there's a difference between something born into a world and something MADE into a world.

You take someone like Magnolia or Nick, both synths, that obviously weren’t naturally born from two people. They were conceived as an idea...a human idea sure, but still they were made, not born. Without even needing to say in the script, the Trickster from the Grognak comic books who shouldn't exist yet does IS also an idea. Some MADE into a world but not born...a different world sure, but still the creation of it. Nick, Magnolia, any synth as ideas themselves would sense that the world was wrong and being changed in a way no one else would because of fundamentally who they are and what they represent.

Everything that unfolds is because Nora as a keystone event in the Commonwealth, a focal point of the causal nexus making her a unique entity in that world. A causal nexus is the link between a cause and its resulting effects and ignore the science mumbo jumbo, because here's an example of how that works:

The Sole Survivor, Nora, listened to Kent's message, chose to answer him and put on the outfit of the Silver Shroud. As a unique figure she shifted perceived reality of everyone in the Commonwealth by becoming the Silver Shroud, acting like him and making people believe that a fictional character exists.

Unfettered belief and faith in an idea = manifested reality.

Rejected belief and faith in the idea = dispels that reality.

This HAS happened before in Fallout lore in the instance of people with horrifying backstories and personal tragedies choosing to become someone else such as the Mechanist (Fallout 3 and Fallout 4) or even the Ant-Agonizer (Fallout 3). This time however it was a unique figure who did this, a figure fated and meant to reshape the Commonwealth for good, bad or ugly.

This opened a door, the door through which another figure could influence and enter a new universe provided it take the form of something already in it...a reality side-step into the form of the Mechanist. Concurrently, the moment that happened, reality counterbalanced by making the Silver Shroud who was already believed to be real BECOME real as the ying to the Mechanist/Trickster's yang.

Now at home in reality, the Trickster found himself very much alive and unbound by story but had very little power to do much at all. He needed something more, an idea and faith that already existed in the Commonwealth with the infinite universe of ideas made, but not born like himself. His goal wasn't power, it was to sow chaos, reshaping reality into a realm for any and every idea despite the consequences to reality itself.

So what did he need? The belief in the Old Gods and a focus point of belief in the idea: a staff. The universe is as adaptive as it is remarkable and where the Mechanist had its opposite: the Silver Shroud, the Trickster needed its twin: enter Sheogorath...because what better staff to tear apart and reshape reality than the Staff of Sheogorath. There is a quest added in the new Skyrim Anniversary Edition in which you can build it for yourself with a few items: Branch of the Tree of Shades, Ciirta's Eye, Fork of Horripilation. In this universe it would have to fashioned with things FROM this universe.

Two eyes were needed:

The eye of a True Believer: Kent Connolly

The eye of a True Seer: Mama Murphy

Affixed to the top of a staff of the purest heartwood from a Twice Born Tree. Living wood from Harold, born a man who eventually mutated into a living tree.

Lastly, it had to be soaked in the tears of ages end: barrels of radiated blessed waters courtesy of the Cult of Atom.

The Trickster had no magic of his own in this universe in which to act, but thankfully courtesy of some powerful allies, he was able to make contact with shadowy cults and worshippers of the old gods who gave him the name of someone truly of faith in the old magic to make all of this work: Jebediah Blackhall, who in this spin of the universe did unfortunately get his hands on the cursed book: the Krivbeknah.

Finding allies was all too easy, as the events post main quest left the Commonwealth changed. To many, the Sole Survivor and his/her companions would be hailed as heroes. To others, they would be villains, particularly in light of what Nora CHOSE to do to the Railroad to end the synth threat for good. That's a lot of blood on the hands of heroes...

As the Mechanist/Trickster, Blackall and the Lombardos began using the staff, its changes and shifts in reality rippled backwards through time, as changing one specific thing would change its entire existence. You change some curtains and the manufacturer of those curtains only every made one pattern...the world object becomes changed universally. Tapping into the Engine of Creation to make these changes, leaves anyone MADE not born aware of them as they don't fit into the design as it shifts around them. Nick, Danse, Magnolia would all feel and see it, be thrown off for a bit before settling into the changed reality state.

At the climax when everything starts falling apart and you get everyone from GlaDOS and the Joker strolling on in, the only way to end it all is to separate the Trickster from the Staff and restore the saved intended state of reality. The Silver Shroud finds himself powerless against the Trickster...only someone from this universe would be able to intercede, hard wired into the Engine of Creation itself as an existing element connected throughout its framework and history. After sending the Trickster off packing to the moon (thanks GlaDOS), but its a little too late for reality. It collapses around them, finding themselves elsewhere...the point between the mind, creation and the outcome of reality.

After the Shroud fades away, Nick has the power and choice to roll the universe, his universe back along the tapestry of choices that led him here. They all were haunted by the choices they made the first time around, something Nora couldn't live with...that ultimately led her relationship with Danse to fall apart. So Nick decides to go back further, as far back as he can go and he finds himself back in his office with Ellie waking him up.

There are consequences to what he's done, that he's not yet aware of, ones that will become clear in our next episode. The synths remember, as he remembers...Danse, Magnolia and everyone else remembers the fall of the Institute. They all find themselves at their starting point, moving towards their intended fated position to encounter the Sole Survivor. For Nick? He's starting down the path that will led him to be held prisoner and meet the Sole Survivor for the first time.

As he'll soon discover however, things don't play out the same way this time. Moreover, while he was rolling back reality to an early saved state, he made a huge mistake and completely forgot about something and someone so incredibly important...

You'll have to wait to see what that is...

[studioboner]

ur art iz soso cute and pretty!! do you have any tipz for when working with watercolor(or paint in general)?

Sure!

Dont bother buying expensive materials if youre just starting, cheap or intermediate stuff is more than enough to start off and decide if you really like it and want to continue. Plus some mro expensive materials are harder to use if you dont have practice. I would never recommend a natural hair brush for a begginer watercolorist Those videos about essentials skills to have, or most common mistakes made CAN help, dont let them limit how you experiment with watercolors though, there are no rules. Those are usually tips given to make it easier to do a technic the most common way. You're free to try different paths Aim for an in-between level of "too easy, i can do this" and "too hard thats not on my skill yet". You have to find a middle ground to do it because that's what help keep people interested. If you only paint the very easy watercolor tutorials you see, theres a chance you'll grow bored and tired of it as it has become "too easy". Doesnt have to be every time of course, but it helps alot to not grow bored. It'll take a while to get used to watercolors, even if you know of many technics, practicing them and knowing how they will turn out by experience is another story. Don't feel bad if something didnt go the way you expected, you can always try the oppossite next time and see how that goes.

Copy Master's works, this doesnt have to be just dead masters, living ones too! Copying is a genuine good way of studying. As long as you dont claim them to be yours and give them proper credit, it's not plagiarism. It doesn't hurt to ask though, specially if the artist you are going to be copying to learn is not a big name. In my experience though the artists i've asked if i could copy to study tehir work they had been flattered that i'd want to do that. Theres no need to ask for some big name tho just credit lol, like for example doing watercolor studies of studio ghibli's storyboards..... that's a good one btw! their storyboards are pretty and have GOOD colors but still are super simple! Usually just one layer of paint, minimal wet in wet shading or glazing.

Share Your Works, i know specially for begginers this one can be scary to do, but i promise you that the number of fellow begginers who will feel encouraged by you posting is a great number. And experienced artists who are GOOD people would never look down on a begginer. Rather than "man they cant draw lol" it'll be a sentiment of "i remember when my skills were a similar level! i hope this new artists has a fun time with art :D" Sharing your works and getting feedback and building a small community with other artists or even some fans is a massive encouragement ! [it's not everything of course but it's nice to be appreciated] Uh mind you, this step might take a long while. i've been posting art for nearly 10 years and it took me maybe 8 or so years of posting for something of mine to get more than 70 notes or so. [70 notes is already alot tho! wohhoo!

[mandowifey]

Helloo if i may, i'd like to request the ethan char assigning 👉🏻👈🏻 People usually calls me Alvin and i goes by any pronouns, but i mainly use She/Her. Im an Androgyne who is significantly short ( less than 5 feet lol). I p much love to explore new places and nature especially mountain and beach. My love language is basically teasing and being mischief JABDAJJAJAJ. I think that's all 💖💖

(THIS TOOK ME AGES I AM SO SORRY AND HOPE YOU'RE AROUND...)

But seriously, thank you for waiting so long for your piece. I cheated a little and checked out your profile. (Oops) So that being said, I assign you...

Arthur Harrow.

Arthur Harrow x GN!Reader

Warnings: Fully SFW, Implications of manipulation, heights, reader has amnesia. This was also not proof-read!

• • •

Amidst the town tucked inside the Austrian Alps, you had found your home.

The people had welcomed you with open arms, and you had quickly adapted to this new life. It was difficult for you to discern how you ended up here to begin with, as your memories grew fuzzy whenever you attempted to recall your life outside of the compound. Regardless you trusted them, and Arthur especially, as your new family. Anything that existed before coming there no longer mattered to you as you had let it go some time ago.

A series of gasps tugged you out of your thoughts.

At some point you had decided to scale the bell tower in the middle of town and situate yourself at the top. This spot was one of your favorites as it was the highest platform in the little community which granted you a 360 degree view of the mountains and planes surrounding you. The problem with this location wasn't the fact it was over 30 feet off the ground, but in fact that it was so old. With a sinking foundation and old wooden support beams, this tower was overdue for repair. Arthur had scolded you the first time you'd been caught climbing it, warning you that one wrong move could collapse the entire structure with you under it.

This was why you couldn't understand how you found yourself perched at the top once again.

"Y/N," Came Arthur's firm voice from down below.

Looking down amidst the crowd of concerned faces, you spot the leader of the flock staring up at you. His expression from this height was difficult to read, though you knew he was displeased. Arthur stood at the front with his hands resting on the cane in front of him, his brows vexed. He knew you had a penchant for exploring and roaming where you could, but he had warned you about this particular place.

"Can you come down? It's quite dangerous up there." He called again, though his voice never reached the intensity of a shout. Arthur had been handling business when a few concerned followers had come to him, alarmed that you were back on the tower and in danger of falling. Seeing you there once again irked him, though he figured with your amnesia from the accident you couldn't be faulted. Your spirit lasted even while your memories did not.

Embarrassment lights your cheeks in reds and pinks. You had caused a scene without ever intending to. Carefully, you descend the tower and mind your footing, even more aware of yourself than before. As you ease down to the ground, a sigh of relief washes amongst the crowd. You feel a hand on your shoulder and turn instinctively into Arthur's chest, your small arms winding around him and holding tight.

"I'm sorry."

Warmth encompasses you as Arthur holds you into his broad chest. He's warm and smells of tea, a scent that has been a comfort to you for some time now. As you sink into his chest and breathe him in, he rumbles like thunder. "We are going to have to find a safer way to satiate that explorer's appetite of yours, little one." A smile tugs your lips, and you press more into him.

"Perhaps we can take you for hikes along the trails, hmm?" His hand drifts from your back to pet along your neck, then up into your hair. He caresses you, squeezing gently and reassuringly. Arthur was not angry, and you knew, though you always felt uncomfortable at the notion of disappointing him. "What about your feet?" You look up towards him, eyes round and doe like. The man smiled down at you and breathed out a soft chuckle.

"I would not offer if I could not handle it." He promised, leaning down to press his lips to the center of your forehead. Warmth blooms under your skin, and you tilt, wanting to catch his mouth with your own - but he pulls back before you two can connect. "Let's head back." His hand pulls from your scalp, and he begins to limp towards the trail that leads to your shared home.

Arthur had a habit of leaving you hungry. Hungry for his affection and hungrier for his approval. He was good at leaving you on the edge, baited, and ready to spring. You smile and jog a few steps to close the widening gap between you. "Maybe we can go tomorrow?" You offer, eyes twinkling in the late day sun. The wind rustles the tall grass, lining the ascending hills towards your building.

"Tomorrow it is." The older man chuckled softly. "So long as I do not need to coax you down from anymore towers," There was a playful lilt to his words as he tossed you an amused glance. Your heart skips a beat, and your smile broadens. "No more towers, pinky promise!"

You lift your hand and offer your pinky towards him. Arthur comes to a stop to look, and his smile stiffens. It was something you did often and upheld with the highest of regards. He couldn't wrap his head around the notion that pinkies meant anything more than digits on a hand, but he knew what it meant to you. Offering his own, the two of you curl your fingers together, and your head nods affirmatively.

"No more towers." He reiterates, breaking the connection finally and putting his free arm around you. You smile and lean into his side, taking in the view that you never grew tired of and noticing a large tree in the distance. You wonder briefly how difficult it would be to climb.

[witchthewriter]

Hi!! Would you be okay doing a big 6 birth chart ask, like you did for the anon for Jax Teller a while back, but for Eddie Munson? 

I keep getting stuck on whether he’s Leo, Aquarius, Scorpio, or Aries. You seem really experienced with this sort of thing. And in the last ask you said that you loved this kinda stuff, so I was hoping you could help me☺️ [I may or may not might be trying to find out if me and him would be compatible if he was real👀 I have mostly Scorpio in my big 6, except for my mars which is in aqua🥴]

Also, I hope you’re having an amazing summer. I live in California and over here it’s soooo hot, I feel like I’m dying. 

I'd love to! I do love doing characters' birth charts. Thanks for wanting my opinion lol 🌿Oh and I also have a Stranger Things Soulmate quiz, if you wanted another way of finding out.

To me, Eddie doesn't really scream Scorpio - but that doesn't mean a Scorpio has to be matched with another Scorpio.

I would deduce that he has a lot of Gemini in his chart; to me, Eddie is very quick-witted, he's funny, thinks outside the box and likes to come off as a badass but really he's just a big ol' nerd. But the outside image is to protect himself.

𝐒𝐔𝐍

𝑳𝒆𝒐.

Passionate, outgoing, humorous.

The sun in a person's chart represents your ego, your drive and possibly even your ideal self, i.e, the image that you want to put out to the world.

Eddie shines, and with Leo in its native house, it means a person likes to be the centre of attention, they're bold, they like rocking the boat, but they can also be great leaders and say what needs to be said. They speak up for others.

𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍

𝑨𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔.

Rebellious, imaginative, intuitive.

Signs in a person's moon aspect mean stereotypes are more obvious. Or rather, the moon in a person's chart makes the traits of the zodiac sign emboldened.

The Aquarius sign has two sides to it: the rebellious spirit and the humanitarian. I see the rebellious side of Eddie, but he doesn't seem like much of a humanitarian (not saying he doesn't want equal rights, he's just not framed that way).

But he does have a very imaginative and often feels like the odd one out. He's a loner at heart, even though he can be very sociable.

𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆

𝑮𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊

Curious, quick-witted, expressive.

A person's rising sign is the way one presents themself to the world; from your personality to your phyical appearance and mannerisms.

Gemini rising's are also very restless, and have we really seen Eddie sitting still? He's always fidgiting or waving his hands as he talks etc. He's interesting and fun, and his friends always want to be around him. He can be very magnetic.

Usually Gemini's can come off as unfeeling or less compassionate, which levels out with Eddie's Leo Sun - it levels it out.

𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐘

𝑮𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊

Eclectic, knowledgable, charismatic.

Mercury is the ruling planet for Gemini - known as the planet of communication, thought and focus. It represents a person's mind and style of communication.

There's an air of mischevious about a Gemini in Mercury. Fred and George Weasley also have this placement. They're smart, very intelligent but they aren't overly known for it. Their playfulness almost outshines it.

The very best at banter; they think fast but also speak without thinking. It usually gets them into trouble.

𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐔𝐒

𝑪𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓.

Caring, intuitive, sentimental.

When a Cancer Venus decides to love, they dive in deep - no small talk, no flakiness or flighty behaviour. They're all in. And although we don't see Eddie fully with a romantic partner, we do see him talk to Chrissy and he immediately brings up their shared past and his emotional link to his band.

Even when Eddie and Steve are talking, Eddie admits that whenever Dustin talks about Steve or opts to spend time other than with him, he gets jealous.

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐒

𝑺𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒔.

Go big or go home, restless, impulsive.

Having this placement means this person is ... loud. For example, Eddie has an obvious hate for all things stereotypical in Hawkins - especially those who abide by the social rules. Remember the first scene with him? He jumps up on the table in front of the whole cafeteria to berate the people he dislikes.

This placement means whoever the person dislikes is obvious. Unlike some who hide their hate/anger/dislike and use other methods, a Sagittarius Mars is open and upfront.

[skellagirl]

I am, as usual, late lol, but Y'KNOW. This is gonna be a long, rambly post lol, sorry, I have a lot of thoughts.

2023 was a weird year for me, artwise. When it began I was still deep in my Art Block From Hell, which had begun in mid-2021 and lasted the entirety of 2022.

Being in the thick of such a ridiculously suffocating art block, for TWO AND A HALF YEARS, is like... I can't describe how fucking life-draining it is. It felt like something was fundamentally wrong with me -- like a part of me, which used to be as effortless as breathing or blinking my eyes, had ceased to function altogether. It wasn't just a regular art block, it was a complete identity crisis. I could no longer trust the instincts I'd honed over twenty-plus years, could no longer trust my sense of observation or my ability to recreate what I saw. I felt BROKEN, and every single time I picked up my tablet pen it was like I was scraping my insides with a spoon, trying to pick up whatever tiny dregs of dried-up, crusty shit I could manage to puke up onto my canvas. It was fucking painful and humiliating and completely demoralizing.

I'm not really sure what finally got me to do so, but sometime in summer (my memory is shit lol) I downloaded Game Maker, found a video tutorial on youtube, and just... gave myself over to it. I made myself learn how to use Aseprite, and working with pixels, making teeny-tiny little sprites, forced me to work in ways I usually don't. It was a lot harder for me to find the flaws in my art when my art was thirty-five pixels tall and the anatomy was stylized to communicate clear information rather than be a recreation or approximation of reality. I think I really do credit that time working on game dev as the thing that finally cracked loose all the gunk that was keeping me stuck -- I could not perpetuate the cycle of toxicity I'd fallen into because I could barely even conceptualize what 'good' or 'bad' pixel art even looked like lol. I just knew that I was making art, and for the first time in two years, it didn't feel like I was having to desperately beg the emaciated husks of my sense of self-worth and confidence to cooperate while doing so.

(I actually sort of abandoned my foray into game dev around August/September lol, as my adhd-brain, flitting around like a little hummingbird to every dopamine-rich-flower, is wont to do 🥲 But I wanna get back into it at some point!)

From there I had a rush of inspiration for an original project I've been mulling around in my head for years, and I wrote thousands of words in my worldbuilding document, made a map, developed the shell of a possible actual STORY. I returned to sketching. Conventional sketching. It was, at first, largely still comprised of that same demotivating struggle against myself, but I was so deep in the throes of inspiration (after several years of this project laying dormant in my google drive) that I NEEDED to sketch. So I kept going. And after a while, it got....... easier. And I started hating everything I made a little less. I painted, properly, for the first time in years. I stayed up late into the night, even if it meant I would be tired at work the next day, because drawing felt so damn GOOD again and I had missed that feeling so much. All I wanted to do was draw. For the first time in two and a half years, I could finally see the light at the end of the fucking tunnel.

I still don't think I'm quite out of the woods yet. My style is changing, as all artists' styles do over time, and that comes with stumbling adjustments. My confidence is still small and shaky and recovering; I still catch myself second-guessing what I've drawn, and even looking at some of the things here on my grid makes me cringe a little bit for one reason or another.

But compared to both 2021 and 2022, the volume of art, and in particular the volume of art I don't actively despise, is WAY higher, and I'm really really hopeful that that means I'm finding my footing again.

So! Here's to 2024, and to continuing to move towards the light at the end of the tunnel 🙏🌟 I'm gonna try.

[webcomic-character-tournament]

Genuine question. Why are comics from online only publishers discouraged? What is the goal behind discouraging paid webcomics?

sorry for taking so long to answer this!

i got really excited about answering this but also am not very good at communicating things clearly, i often get lost in the details in my passion about stuff like this, so i hope this is still interesting to read and intelligible lol!

i dont think there is any one thing that inherently defines what is and isn't a webcomic, it's an amorphous category that i enjoy the ambiguity of. but for me, what first led to my wonder for them as an 11 year old, and what has been a major factor in my passion for them even as an adult, was their low barrier to entry in both making them and accessing them. if you have internet access and time, almost anyone can make a webcomic if they want to! of course, without editors (or often even full story plans) or sensitivity readers or more people on a team to collaborate and contribute to the comic's vision, and the huge effort that it takes to do all the tasks of writing, inks, coloring, lettering, etc. all on ones own often without professional resources to facilitate that, that means that a lot of webcomics are really rough in some way or another. but a lot of people have interesting ideas they want to work with, but don't have the technical skill, desire or ability to market themselves or be beholden to external work deadlines, or connections in some way or another to be able to share those ideas through traditional publishing. regardless of skill or ability, a lot of marginalized people are barred from having their stories accepted by publishers due to bigotry and expectations about what kind of story is profitable.

as a disabled lgbt kid, i definitely read a lot of really bad webcomics i wish i hadn't, but also some of the media i was exposed to that most represented me back then was in the form of webcomics from people a lot like me. and i could read so much of it easily and for free without having to risk much to access it behind my parents' backs!

obviously that isn't the case for every webcomic, but for me and my history with them, them being easily accessible to both publish and read has been really important.

there are absolutely a lot of good points to be made about how publishing free to read webcomics isn't always the most accessible thing for a lot of people, especially for poor and disabled people. making webcomics takes a huge amount of time and effort, and sometimes even if people are passionate about making a comic, they just can't afford to find the time for that around all the other responsibilities of their day to day lives unless it can be a consistent income source. thats why even if paid online comics arent my platonic ideal of webcomics, i absolutely would never exclude them. i want small creators making stories i want to read to get the money they need to survive and keep telling stories without burning out!

it could be argued that online publishers who specifically focus on webcomics don't always present the same barriers to entry as traditional publishers, and many don't restrict the scope of marginalized creators' stories at all or to the same extent as people have struggled in other more mainstream avenues. and from my outside understanding of publishers like hiveworks, i'd absolutely agree with that! i love a lot of hiveworks comics and think its an awesome thing! (of course literally my icon is from a hiveworks comic, tiger tiger!) nonetheless however, part of my goals with this tournament is to highlight lesser known comics, and as publishers like hiveworks help advertise and promote their comics, even if i still want everyone to read all my favorite comics published by them, and certainly there are limits to those advertising resources, they still don't need as much help as other comics without that support. so its not as much 'try not to submit these' and more 'as you submit stuff like this, try to submit stuff with less advertising resources and popularity too!'

going into this tournament i also had a similar sentiment for stuff like webtoons originals. there was an added element to me in how i feel like i know a lot of people nowadays who read webtoons but don't have much awareness of other forms of webcomic, but even if in my love for webcomics i want people to come to appreciate all the breadth of ways they can exist in, thats obviously not something to make a huge priority. it's incredible the amount of forms comics can take (sidenote but reading scott mccloud's "understanding comics" a couple years ago was really formative for me in cementing how much i appreciate that, i'd highly recommend it!!!), and the way infinite scroll comics like webtoon style comics more fully make use of their digital medium, using time scrolling to pace things in place of traditional gutters and panelling, is really really cool. of course they're becoming more popular in a world where more people have smartphones, where webtoon style comics are a lot easier to read than many other forms. i love a lot of webtoons, and id feel regressive to discourage stuff like line webtoon original comics any more than stuff like hiveworks comics, just to go against current trends in what comics people seem to prefer. they have a similar low barrier to entry (through contests) as other online publishers, and it's cool to see creators get the opportunity to get paid for their work and get help from professional editors and stuff

but in the past couple weeks of running this tournament, i ended up reading a lot more about the behind the scenes of what its like to be a line webtoon original creator. line webtoon's expectations for their creators are incredibly unrealistic and exploitative, with grueling deadlines leading to a lot of creators to get repetitive strain injuries, all while working for well below industry standards. obviously a lot of webcomic creators make an inconsistent poverty level income out of it as independent creators, and that shouldn't happen either, but it's absolutely inexcusable for a company to profit off this labor and then manufacture these same conditions. without any organized labor movement surrounding that issue, that of course isn't an argument against reading or promoting these comics on its own, creators are more likely to get more income if their comics get more popular, and despite the promise of popularity by becoming an official comic, they absolutely still aren't all promoted equally. what has made me want to slightly more discourage (but still absolutely not disallow!) stuff like line webtoon official comics has been the combination of that along with learning that much of the editing of webtoons originals carries less of the benefits of having experienced creatives collaborating with creators to elevate their stories to new levels, and very often instead ends up taking the form of 'simplify this plotline and make this character look more attractive and fit this archetype more fully so we can market this better and have readers easily consume each update while they're scrolling their phone without having to think about it too much'. while obviously there are a lot of amazing webtoon official comics in spite of what i've heard anectdotally, hearing that just really went against so much of what i've most valued about my experience with webcomics!

i want creators to be able to tell stories no matter how weird and unmarketable, where they'll never have to worry about pushback for making stories with characters and themes that resonate for them as a member of any oppressed group, and where there's as little pressure as possible pushing them to work harder or faster than they healthily can or want to! so for me, even if i still love a lot of online published comics and want them to be celebrated and want their creators to be able to make a comfortable living out of them, i still just want to highlight stories that had that level of freedom that has created some of my favorite experiences with webcomics just a little bit more.

[thedawningofthehour]

1- the tigerclaw asks

It was in the window episode, if I remember correctly (which I might not, due to my brain running like a crazy train while reading) when leo falls to the ground, tigerclaw finds him, he points a gun at his head and it's not until Draxum communicates with him that he back off.

If he is a spy, then so far I can only think of two possible parties you could be working for: Big Mama and .... Bishop.

We know next to nothing about what your Bishop will look like, but if he goes the 2003 route, it could be a possibility. the building thing would take points off this theory, but we'd have to see. I know they thing You can pull out off your butt.

2- about the comic

Yeah I understand, I was pretty optimistic at first but considering how nickelodeon treats their series lately that hope became pretty small, still, a comic would be much more likely, it would be significantly cheaper to produce and wouldn't interfere with whatever they want to do with mutant Mayhem. It would basically be what they're doing with the 80s ones at IDW right now. Even if it's just a miniseries, I'd be happy.

Went back to that scene because I didn't remember Tigerclaw pointing a gun at him lol.

So Tigerclaw never actually points his gun at Leo. His gun is brandished, which is protocol considering they're in an uncleared building and they were literally in a fight two minutes ago. But he never actually takes aim. Very big distinction between just having a gun out and pointing it at someone. (you don't point your gun at anything you aren't 1100% okay with being dead, gun safety 101-Tigerclaw might disregard a lot of safety rules but he is a responsible gun owner dammit)

I'm not gonna talk about what he's thinking here because I don't want to give spoilers. I will say that Tigerclaw has killed kids before, so it's not a line he's unwilling to cross or anything. He doesn't like doing it, he'll avoid it if he can, but he will always default to obedience in the end.

I'm so excited for you guys to see my Bishop you have no idea. I feel like I've been saying that for such a long time but it's just because I've been taking so long lately. We're currently on track to meet him in chapter 11. Like, I actually have it outlined, I never do outlines. It's very minimalistic, like one scene is literally just 'drunk bella' but it's an outline! Unless I remember some other critical plot point that has to happen before [REDACTED] it should be smooth sailing.

[northwest-cryptid]

I feel like people I talk to about streaming are on a different wavelength than me. I don't mean to say this as if to suggest I'm somehow "better" than them or anything. I just think we're different.

What I mean is that for a lot of the people I speak to, who talk about wanting to be a successful streamer; they see it like a hobby. Which like, yea they should, that's what it is for them ya know? However when I explain that I'm doing what I'm doing as a sort of portfolio a lot of the time I get a question, the same question;

"what if they tell you to hide it or get rid of it!?"

I always answer the same way,

"then I will."

They almost always without fail act like this has in some way wounded me. Like I am being forced to delete a part of myself. It feels odd to me. Because this is part of the process right? This is part of signing on with an agency, you might have to hide your previous work. That doesn't bother me, for several reasons. A pretty big one though, is the simple fact of the matter; that streaming is a job I actually enjoy.

I think about people living their day to day lives and not hating their jobs, I've lived and breathed retail for about as long as I can remember. I've been on almost every side of it that happens within the building, returns, cashier, cart collector, clean up guy, customer service; even upper management. People I've been around, they're not happy with their jobs; but then I walk into a library, or I talk to the barista at a small local cafe; and these people are happy. Not happy like customer service voice happy either. I typically get to know these people outside of their jobs and they'll explain to me that they work at a place they enjoy working at because it's such a big part of their life. That notion confuses me; I've never imagined doing something like that. A job, I actually enjoy? That doesn't exist for me. I'm a retail employee, that's all I'll ever be because I don't have qualifications for anything else. Even with what few engineering credits I have, I'm not qualified enough for any real work; and would I even enjoy engineering?! Even if I wasn't disabled I don't know if I'd be happy doing any jobs like that. Retail is an important service, and I don't look down on anyone working those jobs; but I know I wouldn't be happy working those jobs my whole life.

But when I talk to people about streaming, I find myself genuinely enjoying the idea. The more I've gotten into streaming over the last few years the more I've understood that I do in fact enjoy it. When Hololive EN dropped, I didn't just watch that stuff; I began to study it, I wanted to figure out how to do what they do. Because that was really the first time I saw people streaming for a living, but not as an indie streamer. They got hired by a company, that was something I was good at; I could get hired by a company, I've never been popular enough to make it on my own but a company? I could do that!

When I discovered Holostars I was ecstatic because I understood very well that if I was going to actually apply to the only company I knew of that was doing this; they weren't going to see me as anything else than a man, and if I need to D&D roleplay myself as a man, I'm perfectly good at it I lived with my family for nearly 23 years lol.

Thing is I have never been quite as let down as when I encountered the EN Vtuber Indie community, it was so much pointless infighting and fandom drama. Not to mention these guys wanted to be self made stars, not corporate; "corporate is bad" they'd tell me.

So I tried to swing going indie for a while, that never quite got me anywhere and it's still only slowly picking up for me. But streaming with the intent to apply to corporations, cover or otherwise; has given me some kind of hope. I don't necessarily even enjoy Vtubers any more than I enjoy any other kind of streamer, but I study cover, vshojo, and even what happened with niji because I want to be able to replicate it. No different than how I got my retail jobs and climbed the ladder by being able to identify what a manager looked for, and emulate it. With everything I've put together in a portfolio I'm just about a model vtuber for them to hire, the only problem is I'm... actually not popular when it comes to streaming.

That's why I've sat down and really done my research into what works and what doesn't, how to become a self made indie streamer to catch the eye of a potential hiring manager at some kind of agency that will give me a proper salary for you know, streaming.

People act like I'm some kind of sell out or something, but the truth is I'm disabled, I can't work a normal job; and I can't collect disability because the states literally want a lawyer to tell them I'm disabled or no one at all. So it's either I do this, and I do this right; or I fuck it all up and get forced to work at some retail joint so I can keep a roof over my head; and if that happens a job will very likely kill me or disable me more than I already am, to the point I literally will die from being poor because I'll lose my job again.

I'm not in this fun hobby like everyone else, I'm in this do or die state of "I either succeed or I die trying" but it's nice to see that I'm genuinely enjoying the job, and it's great to see that I can actually get support while streaming what I love.

Anyways, sorry for the personal rambling tonight.

[writingmeraki]

tag games 🎉

rules : write a favorite among your works, your least favorite work, and one you think deserves more hype. Then, also post a screenshot of your recently saved on Pinterest.

aight let's get this bread!!!!

tagged by : @tranquilpetrichor ( thank u for the tag mwuahhh 🫂)

tagging moots ( no pressure to do this but I'd love to see your responses too hehe ) :

@kpdlvr2 ; @bambikisss ; @misoxhappy ; @enluv ; @weoris ; @redm4ri ; @hsgwrld ; @strxwberry-skiess ; @hqrana ; @invuwrld ; @seungiepup ; @byuqi 💗

also u can join if u want to !!

[ favourite works ]

angel kisses

I don't even think I need to explain this tbh, it's pretty simple but ah just the idea of it is so so cute to me :( I find moles so beautiful and when I learnt they are also called angel kisses, this idea was born lol, gotta be one of my fave drabbles definitely

[ 11 : 37 ]

lol this one was v v random ??? but like it was so fun to write too...yeah I just like the cuteness of it ^^

you're no good for me

now this one was my biggest oneshot so far and man I hit some points of hating it but in the end I was pretty happy with it ^^ I'm glad many liked this as well :)

all my hcs !

lmao I only have like two rn but idk I find hcs fun to write kinda like a mini short stories with the writer inserting their own notes in between dialogues....or at least that's how I write mine 💀

[ least favourite works ]

fools of love

HEAR ME OUT hear me out before you end me for this but BUT this is one of my first works on here, I wrote this in a damn hospital 😭 KDJSKAKKW it was wild ngl. but like the first chapter is alright, I feel like the problem comes in at the second because if I'm being honest my ass did NOT plan it out well, I just...went with the flow?!#?#?? it got random and I felt it could have been done way way better !

worth it ?

dang another guesung one....dont k word me for this pls I beg............it was rushed and um yeah that's probably one of the main reasons its my least fave...but good news I might just re do the whole blind date plot...someday....sometime.

[ works that deserve more hype ]

hey stupid, I love you !

its actually not a problem of people not hyping it but mostly cause the sk nt community/fanbase here is pretty small...no one's fault but I hope more people get into them cause they deserve it !

blood red strings

hear me out I love this oneshot, I love the idea of it but maybe I didn't portray it well enough which I hope to redeem by making it into a proper fic sometime.

[ screenshot of last saved on pinterest]

( u will ignore the fact that they are hyung line enha pics more and not because I need them for something....)

um yeah that's basically about it ! I can't really think of anything more rn, still thank u fro reading all the way till here hehe <3

[jinnie-ret]

hi!! i was wondering if you had any tips or stuff on how to start writing and then getting the courage to post it..? i've been on tumblr before (back when i was like 13 and had time and ideas to write almost everyday) but now i'm in my last year of high school and it's honestly super hard lmao

even if i do end up writing something, even if it's small, i get too chicken and end up not having the courage to post it and sometimes deleting it-

but if you don't have tips then thats 100% okay! i hope you have an amazing day and i love all of your fics! (disclaimer: i'm 17 so if you're uncomfortable with minors on your page i'll be happy to unfollow you and then follow again when i turn 18. don't wanna make you uncomfortable or anything!!)

hi love! First of all aw thank you for being so considerate! 🥰 it's fine you can still follow this blog as there is no nsfw content and I'm comfortable with minors interacting so you're all good! how you've been having an amazing day today as well, I have, even though I've not long woken up lol

As for writing tips hmmmm, well I can describe how I end up writing my fics, which is I think of it initially with a goal in mind, like what am I trying to achieve with this fic and why am I writing it? This is more so with fics from my own ideas rather than requests because with your request you already have that goal there.

Then I write it in note form trying to map out how the story will go, so with my fic people pleaser, which took place in one kids room, I had to figure out where that would fit in. So I wrote it in note form at the start very similarly to this:

- One kids room intro

- Different moments with the boys

- Overcoming people pleaser habits explained in - one kids room episode

- last statement showing good change

After that all of my ideas developed more and more so I could keep it under each section and I'd say always write down an idea when you have it! Don't just think you'll remember it for later because it's possible you could but it's more likely that you will forget it and then be sad because you forgot an amazing idea :(

Other writing tips I would say is show don't tell, vary your sentence structures, incorporate the senses to give more depth and help the reader feel like they're there in the story. There are a lot of good writing tips you can find on Tumblr fortunately that would have explained it better than me lol.

As for courage, all I can say is you've just gotta post that first fic! Just gotta rip off the bandaid. Stays are a really nice community so you'll get people reading and being kind to you. Interact with others to make moots! I started doing polls to have more of a connection with people who like my blog and then they also get an input because it was a vote to what I post next. Be proud of what you write because it's come from this small idea in your head and has developed into an amazing piece of writing!

hope this helps lovely <333

[mermaidsirennikita]

Hello! I hope you're well! I was wondering if you happen to have any recs for contemporary small town/rural based romances (in any country). I know this is a massive genre, so I was hoping you could cherrypick some good ones. My only caveat is that I'd prefer neither of the MCs to be police officers or in the military.

So I will say, my problem as the recommender here is that I have a hard time with small town romances. It's not that I hate all of them, but it is hard for me to find many I enjoy. So my recs will be limited, but I have a few. No cops/military in these, as I do not read books with that involved if I can avoid it.

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn. Kate writes very heartfelt, romantic romantic contemporaries. In this one, the heroine's job as a personal assistant to a celebrity ends and she goes home to a small town in Virginia. She finds this notebook she kept as a tween of all the things she wanted to do as a young adult, and decides to try to accomplish them with the help of this rough around the edges guy, who's actually the brother of her adolescent dream boy.

The Dive Bar trilogy by Kylie Scott. I don't think this one is super rural, but I definitely got small town vibes. It's basically a set of books focused around a dive bar, and it begins with the first heroine dipping on her wedding day after being sent a video of her groom hooking up with his best man. It's not my favorite set of books by Kylie ever, but they're cute and cozy and very small town homey.

End of Story by Kylie Scott is one I liked a good bit more. I don't remember exactly where it's set, but it does kick off with the heroine inheriting a fixer upper house right after getting dumped, so it has that sense. Her ex's friend turns out to be the contractor she hired, and at first they're like "shit" but the end up working together... only to find, in the walls of the house, a divorce decree dated ten years in the future with their names on it??? It's not heavy on the supernatural, there's just a bit of a magical vibe added to what is really a contemporary.

It Seemed Like A Good Idea at the Time by Kylie Scott. This one is set in Australia (where Kylie is from, I think) and I think it's in a somewhat rural area? Of all the books I've recommended by her in thiks post, this is my favorite. The heroine is coming back for her father's wedding at 25, and the reason why she was basically banished is because, at 18, she misread some signals and tried to seduce her father's close friend and business partner (who's 15 years her senior) and her dad walked in on her like, straddling this man with her top off, lol. This guy is understandably a bit bugged that she almost ruined that friendship (and he really did not engage, so it makes sense) but now that she's back and older/more mature, the vibes are THICK.

Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan gave me small town vibes, and it's set surrounding this tight-knit friend group, with the backdrop of the hero and heroine owning a restaurant together and trying to convince this family to sell them this other restaurant so they can kind of reno/restore/preserve it. Buuut it's also pretty emotionally intense, if incredibly well-written. The hero and heroine are actually divorced parents, who were in love since a young age but split after their third child was stillborn. They have an amicable co-parenting relationship, but as he begins to move on, they start to realize that they never actually fell out of love (or lust). Superbly angsty, and Kennedy is just an incredible writer.

After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina M. Lopez. This one definitely is heavy on the community presence. The heroine is a well-known, very combative bartender who's returned home to try to revamp her grandmother's bar. But the tenant above the bar, this intellectual professor guy, opposes her on it. They end up having to work together, despite their issues (and despite them having sex pretty much immediately upon meeting before she decides to hate his ass lol).

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy. If you're ready for some pre-holiday holiday vibes (or want to put this away for the season) I loved this book. It literally takes place in an area that exists to be filmed for Hallmark-style Christmas movies. The heroine is a plus size porn star who wants to break into mainstream acting, and after the star of this TV Christmas movie has to back out at the last minute, she gets the lead. Her costar is this former boy bander who's known for a massive scandal in which he apparently fucked a figure skater at the Olympics and ruined her chance for gold (IT'S HONESTLY HILARIOUS) and he alsooooo immediately recognizes the heroine because he's a biiiig fan of her on what is essentially OnlyFans. I LOVE THE "I LOVE UR WORK AS A PORN STAR" SETUP. EVERY TIME. Anyway, he can't even begin to contain his boner as they're filming, it's hot, the tension is thick, everyone is queer, I love it.

[automaton-dolly]

just thinking

i wish sometimes that I could feel nostalgic for the internet years past 2016 (year of the clowns lol). Wish I could remember the communities here and there in ye Olde cyberspace. But I don't. I was 10 the first time I even saw a small glimpse of what the internet had to offer. And I wouldn't become a 'regular' here in interwebs until at least 2 years later. My internet nostalgia is creepypasta YouTube videos, fnaf let's play, and 10 ten videos that were #scary. I wasn't on tumblr then and I wouldn't be for awhile google + was my home before this place was. The rp, the dramas, the bat shite crazy things we did on there, now a bitter but sweet memory for me. We weren't all that nice there, and we fought with each other more than we did not. But we cared. In a way I'm glad it's gone, it was toxic place, but I still miss the days when shite wasn't so bad. Sometimes I wonder what life would have been like had I found the internet sooner. What communities I might have found (that are long gone now) would I have liked them. I ponder the chaos and drama of that time, was it different from mine, or so similar it's like mirror. I don't know, I'll never know. I only know my nostalgia. The months I spent trying to find footage of the musical the newsies cause I knew I'd never see it live. The days I spent obsessing over the fnaf timeline. The sleepless nights I spent read stories on watt. The videos I watched hoping for proof of ghost, and ghouls, like the ones haunting my thoughts and mind. So much has changed since then despite what people might think. I wonder sometimes do some people long for 2006, like I long for 2016?

[tiffanylamps]

I'd like to know more about 'delicate' 👀

heyyyyyyy!!!! Thanks for showing interest in my wips!!! You've picked one that is being a right pain in my arse. It's very much on the backburner at the moment because I can't quite figure out what I want the story to be (it can go in two directions). So I'm letting marinade, for now. wip list So, Delicate is the provisional name I've given a post-canon fic where we follow jwds over the course of an evening. It's basically Joo Won struggling to deal with the fact that he now lives with someone he really loves (and who feels just as strongly for him). There's repression, a small amount of bitchiness (well, let's be honest, it's my version of jw, so there'll be an unnecessary amount lol), some sex (including kink exploration), and jwds learning how to communicate healthily. Just two boys who are bad at communication trying to make their relationship work (with joo won being terrible at voicing his concerns and dong sik being very patient with him)

There is sorrow to be found in life’s extravagant glamour and an unfathomable amount of beauty in the mundane.  Joo Won hadn’t been expecting to find such domestic niceties in the rich warmth of Dong Sik’s home- their home. A house Joo Won had once dissected and disembowelled like a surgeon’s scalpel or a butcher’s blade. He had cut it into digestible pieces until it became nothing more than an element to a story, fashioned into the image of his own design. He found a way to make this family home fit for a crime, and its remaining resident, a criminal. Now, Joo Won spends his mornings and nights here, wrapped in its splendour. It’s no longer a crematorium, tomb, display counter, or cage; it is now a nest, where two healing souls are trying to find their peace of mind. Dong Sik redecorated a few years back. He even decluttered as much as his weathered heart would allow, resulting in a lighter space that is comfortable with items that belong to him, instead to those he lost. Joo Won tried to help along the way, adding what he could: a decent knife set and thick set of curtains that he got from a far-too-fancy and far-too-pretentious artisan shop in a popular spot just outside of Chuncheon. Then there was the bookshelf, a writing desk, two rugs, clay pots for Dong Sik’s fresh herbs, new pillows and separate duvets for the changing seasons. Coffee, music, art, wine, his running shoes, a downside collection of his coats, most of his watches, his drink’s fridge, and himself.  All of him. Even the parts he hoped didn’t exist. He brought all of it with him, in bits and pieces, bread crumbs and documents. After all, it was decision and follow-through that led that one-night stand to what they are now. Joo Won knows what they have is still delicate, but with that delicacy, he wishes for a singular hope: Dong Sik will give him the achingly complicated but simply sweet thing of letting him have this. Them. Together. Dong Sik accepts him with open hands that seem to be able to carry whatever Joo Won gives him to hold. He accepts, sometimes takes, but never holds on too tightly.  He keeps things steady, like a fishing line bobbing with the water’s gentle sway. 

There you go!!! I hope you like it 😊😊 I will note before I go that this fic was originally inspired by the song Sweet Nothing - Taylor Swift.

[sapphire-weapon]

Substance abuse rant anon here:

This is so stupid but I wanted to leave a small thank you message, because your reply genuinely made me feel a bit better, lmao. Your breakdown of the scene does make more sense in that context. I kinda tend to give the CGI films too much credit and got reactive about it.

I just wanna say thank you also for being open and empathetic. It's a touchy issue and I immediately regretted sending that, as I'd never want to make people uncomfortable with my own projective-rants about fictitious scenarios. It's a silly escapism thing, but I'd never intentionally force those feelings into someones ask box. Especially taboo topics, so I'm giving you a virtual hug for being so courteous!

Lastly, to end my rant, I hope the remakes highlight this issue even a little more. Though, it's not exactly a popular Leon trait amongst the larger fanbase. Idk, I never viewed him as "Flawless Attractive Hero Who Does No Wrong", he's actually incredibly human and I adore how the remakes (and a tiny bit of the films) show that. He's so complex and awkward and fucking stupid at times and it's why I like him so much! He's vulnerable, kind and a dreamer. It's why I like Chris too and Ethan and Rose. They're great.

Final thoughts: I'll be delulu and insist that maybe Chreon could be canon someday because Sad People Who Actually CAN Provide A Healthy Outlet, Humour, Closeness And Shared Moral Beliefs make such a great power couple and I'll die a Chreon truther (cackling at my own sad absurdity here! Lol).

So, the events of earlier today taught me that there's two realities in this fandom. There's Twitter (and ig TikTok?) fandom, and then there's everyone else. Maybe Twitter fandom sees Leon as a flawless hero, but the rest of the fandom does not.

The parts of fandom that I'm most familiar with -- content creators, Reddit, and ResetEra (and hell even people here on Tumblr) -- like Leon specifically for his flaws and literally rejoiced when they saw his portrayal in RE4make, because they all felt it was long, long past due.

And that's the part of the fandom that Capcom actually listens to. These are the same folks who got Aeon retconned.

Leon's a fan favorite not just because he's cute and fuckable and is the playable protagonist of the best game in the series and one of the best games ever made period, but because his issues always felt more real than those of the rest of the cast, and they were written more consistently. RE6's sin was stepping out of line with the rest of his arc.

So like. This is just another reason/incentive hopefully for us to start ignoring the fuck out of shithead virgins on Twitter. They literally don't matter.

And also like. Aside from all of that shit.

bro if we can't find community among fellow addicts, then society has failed us on a much greater scale than just fandom. of course I was going to be real with you about this. I got u.