#completely unrelated i just thought that's neat :)

[souldagger]

fun discovery from today's internet rabbit hole:

the first lesbian magazine published in the US, Vice Versa (1947-48), was entirely hand-typed by one Edythe Eyde (better known by her pen name Lisa Ben - yes, that IS an anagram for lesbian). she worked as a secretary with a ton of spare time on her hands, and her boss would tell her he didn't care what she was doing so long as she "looked busy"... so she decided to use her free time to type out copies of a home-made periodical for lesbians, writing most of the content - editorials, book/film reviews, poetry, short stories, and more - herself!

overall, the magazine ran for 9 issues, 16 hand-typed copies of which lisa would mail to friends (well, until one of them advised her she could be arrested for sending "obscene" materials) and distribute at lesbian bars :)

[cosmicheartz]

When The Chips Are Down from the Hadestown musical is Kitty Softpawscore

particularly the lyrics " Cast your eyes to heaven you get a knife in the back "

[vaguely-concerned]

Down Among the Dead Men Reread thoughts!

The Mourn Watch continue to be my faves. What a bunch of absolute Fifth House style freaks. The description of Myrna taking control over Karn's possessed and enraged corpse like she's 'walking a small but wilful dog' fhkdsafhash amazing. I can't believe bioware is giving me the ability to roleplay as essentially a magical janitor. a good-natured magical corpse janitor slash gentleperson scholar. what more could I ask

the only time Emmrich is the least bit brought out of balance in the whole story is when he gets flustered at the way audric/curiosity kneels to take myrna's hand when they create their spirit/watcher bond. which. fdjfaks okay. we might perhaps read some stuff into that. 'let the poor fellow up' alright okay uh-huh. just taking some notes don't mind me. he genuinely seems so sweet and like such a comforting presence, though, I really can't wait to get to know him better

the way the mourn watch interact with spirits is fascinating. of the human cultures we've seen they may be the closest to conceptualizing them as equals (within clear limits -- there's still a leash, and a hand that holds it, at the end of the day).

the city watch exasperatedly bringing possessed corpses to the mourn watch like someone taking stray cats to a shelter or something is wild and hilarious within the context of the rest of thedas

audric taking a moment to drag outdated orlesian fashion my beloved

the big 'uncatalogued' self-animating skeleton monstrosity seems like it could be connected to the huge high lord vollnir-ass skeleton we've seen in the trailer no? tho honestly there's enough weird shit going on down there that it could be a completely unrelated skeleton monstrosity too lol

I love the way chantry beliefs and older cultural traditions meld in nevarra. the fact that audric finds the idea of cremation disturbing even though he isn't comfortable around the dead is really neat.

the necropolis is going to be SUCH a banger of a level I just know it. escher-ass house of horrors and casual comedy. (the corpse that sits up to scowl at audric and myrna accusingly for waking it before just lying back down😭). the fact that there must be actual architects who must spend their whole careers creating vast halls that will only ever be wandered by the restless dead...

also there are public gardens attached to the necropolis! now there's the space for a picnic if ever there was one

[stars-n-spice]

Clone OCs: Dusk Company

I made these guys waaay back in March (?) of last year and for some reason never posted them here-

Randomly I decided to go back to them because I think I stopped working on them simply because I couldn't decide on a name for the group/color scheme but I got ideas and the time/motivation to digitalize my initial doodles, so introducing members of Dusk Company!

Dusk Company specializes in (surprise, surprise) stealth missions, thriving in the darkness and all of that. They're great to have when you need a retrieval or assassination mission done! Still working on their Jedis though.

Check out Dawn Company as well!

Close ups and brief Introductions under the cut!

Commander Milo:

- Just thought it would be a neat name - Mom Friend (Squad jokingly calls him 'Commander Mom-lo") - 2W1 on Enneagram - Constantly stressed and worried over his men (it's a wonder he doesn't already have gray hairs) - A very good listener - Hanging on by a thread guys please do not push him, he is one really bad mission away from completely snapping

Captain Eclipse:

- Eclipse because of night and also because he likes to 'eclipse' people and show off whenever he can - He's like subconsciously a show off though, he doesn't really mean to, it just happens - 3W2 on Enneagram - Has a tough time talking about his feelings and likes to pretend nothing is wrong and will laugh anything off - On a completely unrelated note, totally having nothing to do with all his bottled up feelings, but does someone want to hold him tenderly? He just wants to be held. - Incredibly stubborn to the point where it's almost reckless; has cheated death probably four times now

Ranger:

- Just thought it would be a cool name - Sharpshooter - Mute, uses sign language to communicate - Tongue piercing and eyebrow slit just because - Cool older vod kind of guy; will give you candy before dinner and won't tell your parents kind of guy - 6W5 on Enneagram - Really great at keeping secrets - One of the more reasonable clones in the Company and keeps the others out of trouble (if only they'd listen and take his advice)

Chip:

- Got his name because he's a technology buff - Was born with a mutation in his eyes for some reason and now needs cybernetics (like Wolffe) to see - Has orange tattoos just because why not? - 4W3 on the Enneagram - Doesn't like to talk much and will talk when needed (so he gets along with Ranger pretty well) - Eyes give him an advantage in the dark (sees a little better than his brothers) - Eyes are also reflective when you shine a light on them in the dark and this has scared a few of his brothers shitless as a result

Clicks + Buttons:

- A set, do not separate - Clicks has a nervous tic that causes him to make a 'clicking' noise, hence the name - Buttons likes to push buttons, both in a literal and metaphorical sense - Buttons is their pilot (he's not a great one but in his defense they haven't died from a crash landing yet) - Clicks is a 6W5 - Buttons is a 7W6 - Fives and Echo type of dynamic (Clicks is the only one who can tolerate Buttons) - Dye each other's hair

Tats:

- Clone Medic - Got his name because of all his tattoos and because he's the one to go to to get them done (he's got a ready steady hand) - Really chill kind of guy, has an incredible amount of patience - 9W8 on Enneagram - Keeps the Company together (is usually the voice of reason outside of Ranger) - Whattaman wattaman; knows how to treat people right - Extensive hair care routine

ARC Trooper Shark:

- Thinks sharks are cool (pretend there's sharks in Star Wars) + used to bite people as a cadet - Are his teeth sharpened? Maybe. - Not much of a conversationalist; mainly speaks in grumbles, growls, and groans - 3W4 on the Enneagram - Usually grumpy and tired (he's gotta put up with all the other knuckleheads of his company) - Honestly has no idea how to interact with others in a normal way - Is a little off-putting but I swear he's trying his best. Maybe.

ARC Trooper Leo:

- No real reason why he's named Leo, just thought it was a cool clone name - He's an ARC trooper and sometimes people question how and why - A little cocky and stuck-up but means well - Loves his time off (don't ask him what he does during it) - 7W8 on Enneagram - Dyes his hair that color; tends to dye it different browns/reds at a time - Got clawed by a juvenile Nexu once (hence facial scars)

[candy8448]

Timeline placement theories

Not gonna provide images cuz im not bothered

I have a few threories so ill order them 1-however many in order of which i like most-least

1. After the hero of legend or the hero of legend again (so after alttp, oos, ooa & la)

I think the downfall timeline is more likely. We have Ganon after he shed his humanity, which only happens in the downfall timeline, Zelda's dress looks similar to ALTTP zelda's blue dress, there are the hostile zora style zora, the la remake style (though that could just be for speed of making). However link doesn't have the yellow stripe that all of the downfall links have. We do also have two randomly seperate games between the hero of legend and hero of hyrule so what's one more? We can even hc it to be albw link and zelda is we really want. Also we have what seems to be an old impa. The only timeline of the slip timelines where we see impa being OLD is the downfall timeline (at least that i know of) but that is probably unrelated completely

2. Before botw (before the great calamity 10,000 years ago)

Now this could probably clash with my tears of the kingdom placement headcanon, or work with it. But we see both types of zora from the downfall and child timelines, and who knows? Maybe those rifts are what is reconnecting the timeline (why maybe the two zora types are confronting(?) Eachother) dont have much else to say about this but its a neat little placement. Also maybe the reconnected timeline is a way to show the new direction the zelda games are foing, at least maybe what they are thinking in nintendo hq or something. Also the sword and bow and cape that link had look kinda like the zonai tech. As much as i dont like the zonai and want this to be completely seperate from the botw/totk/aoc-verse, maybe they took inspiration. Especially with the ultra-build aspect of the echoes and similar ui

3. After oot, before alttp

Less plausible. I dont exactly remember the alttp lore but it feels like, and i love the fact that tge hero o legend arrived because of the fact that the hero of time died and he has to fix things. Hoever that could be what's going on. So i just like the idea of it being in the downfall timeline so much

4. Before oot

Less likely, but hyrule does seem to look a lot more thhriving and big. However, ganon only shows up for the first time and as a human in oot, and the hostile zora wouldn't have evolved that way yet since everything is peaceful and not corrupted. We also have a deku scrub, but idk what that means, also forgot what game they are from

5. (Worst) child or adult timeline

Child is slightly more plausible, but i really dont want it to be there. We do have the oot/tp style zora but it judt doesnt work as well.

Adult timeline i HOPE they dont touch it ever again. Not becausd i do t like it but because they made it so well that shoving another game in there would ruin it. The flow from ww to ph to st works so well and was clearly really thought out. Also hyrule is kinda flooded, and we have the gerudo desert so it can't be new hyrule, and it cant be before ww because the whole lore of that is there WAS NO hero to save hyrule so it wouldn't make sense. This is the worst option ever to place it.

In conclusion: theory number 2 is probably most plausible imo, but i would like it to be theory number 1 most

I was just thinking, imagine if nintendo decided to make a 4th timeline in the timeline split XD

Anyways

Goobye

[vidoeslot]

as a tech lover what do u think of ai. love ur art <3

Oh man. This is a hell of a question!!

I think right off the bat I want to say that “AI” as a term is so so deeply misused it may be beyond repair at this point. The broadness of AI cannot be understated. Even the most basic search and sorting algorithms are AI. Chessbots are AI. Speech recognition is AI. Machine translation, camera autofocus, playlist shuffle, spam filtering, antivirus, inverse kinematics, it all uses AI and has used it for years. Every single piece of software you interact with has AI technology in it somewhere.

All of this is mostly unrelated to what most people think of as AI nowadays (generative AI, like chatGPT or midjourney), both of which are entirely unrelated to the science fiction concept of an artificial intelligence.

That said, I'm assuming you're talking about generative AI since that's the hot-button issue. I think it's a very neat technology and one I wish I could be enthusiastic about seeing improve. I also think it is a deeply dangerous technology and we are entirely unprepared for the consequences of unfettered access to and complete trust in AI generation. It's what should be a beneficial technology built on foundations of harm – programmed bias from inextricable structural prejudice in the computer science world, manipulation of sources without creator/user/random person who happened to be caught on a camera once/etc consent – being used for harm – deliberate disinformation, nonsense generated content being taken as fact, violation of personal privacy and consent (as seen with deepfake porn), the list goes on. There's even more I could say about non-generative neural networks (that very reductive reference to "bread scanning AIs they taught to recognize cancer cells" so highly lauded by tumblr) but it just boils down to the same thing; the potential risk of using these technologies irresponsibly far and away outweighs any benefit they might have since there's no actual way to guarantee they can be used in a "good" or "safe" way.

All of it leaves a rotten taste in my mouth and I can't engage with the thought of any generative AI technology because of it. There's just too much at stake and I don't know if it even can be corralled to be used beneficially at this point. The genie's out of the bottle.

[wheelercore]

The Curious Case of The Dead Wheeler Granny

Also known as: I need to make a cohesive post that actually has context so i can add it to the ✨ master post ✨. So basically if you already know, you know. idk.

So... recently have been thinking A Lot about weird "production errors" (tm) and creel home fuckery + wheeler parallels. Its no secret that there are Many references to the creel home in the wheeler home for whatever reason, from the piano to the wedding dress to even the clock chimes (?) close to the the door way of the wheeler home.

However one of the most fascinating Choices was when the main urn that sat on the wheeler mantle place since s1 suddenly changed to a completely different urn during the convergence of the four gates at the climax of s4. What was the reason for this? It's also no secret that ST is riddled with what we can call "intentional" errors in objects, peoples positions, etc etc. But why a seemingly random object that has been sitting in the background of the home for 4 seasons w/o any special attention? And why at the important climax of the season?

Season 1

Season 4- before the climax

Season 4- after the climax

(and this isnt even to mention the fact that the wheeler dining room is covered in rose vases that mimic the OG urn)

If you reference this back to the mantle place in the Creel home... there is something quite interesting:

A few little trinkets, weirdly placed and evenly spread out. There is a little bird (dove?) statue like how the wheelers have two geese statues sitting on their mantle place. Next to that though? A strange looking golden vase. Mind you, this is happened when Virginia is having her "holding up the mirror" moment. As in this mirror is right there reflecting Virginia and this little urn-looking vase trinket and the rose-y wallpaper behind her (which is interesting given that the OG urn has pink roses on it with a framed picture of pink roses next to it).

Put the Virginia relation in your back pocket for now. Lets go up to the stuff in the Creel attic, which are heavily referenced in the wheeler home, in particular the wedding dress:

Where has have we seen a piece of a brides clothing in s4? In Suzie's home, where her sister Tabitha is wearing a wedding veil, and you guess it, a pink floral (roses? Honestly the color scheme is very similar to the creel wallpaper mentioned above) dress:

In which Tabitha pretends to die. She's not really dying. The joke here is that Tabitha's father had thought she was dying though ("it looked genuine"). And oh... is that the edge of a grandfather clock I see right outside the doorway framed right there this scene?

If I was extra weird about it I could also point out that the letter blocks on Tabitha's bracelet kind of spell out (M?)AMA. But its super blurry and I cant get a good shot of it so take this with a grain of salt:

A little sprinkle of Petergate here but Tabitha is a woman who was raised from the dead by Saint Peter:

Which I mean... If we're going to talk about lying about moms dying? The "Nanas got cancer" gag in s3 in which... Hopper lies about Mikes Nana being sick but then goes onto say:

There's nothing wrong with Nana

Mike then proceeds to repeatedly call him a liar. So... nothing's wrong with Nana? Would that explain the weird trend of people specifically lying over the phone about having a sick family member also in s3/s4?

(credit: screenshots from this @/heroesbyler post - unrelated to this theory, I just think its neat)

And if we're talking about lies:

(oh holly girl... wearing that pink + white outfit and that rose shirt lmao)

And of course: Papa lies.

(don't even get me started on how the grandfather clock most likely represents Brenner ("maybe hes a clock maker?" and s4 literally starting with Brenner setting a timer))

But this begs the question... If, by all accounts, nothing is wrong with Nana, so much so it would be like she was raised from the dead, then who's ashes do the Wheeler's have on their mantle place thinking that its their granny?

Could it be, thinking back to the weird trinket on front of the mirror in the Creel home, Virginia's ashes instead? Quick question, where exactly are Virginia and Alice buried? Did Victor get a say in his wife's funeral arrangements?

And if Nana Wheeler's death was a lie designed to conceal a truth and Papa lies... ah who am i kidding it was martin brenner. it was fucking brenner who else would do some weird shit like this. it was him.

Anyways things like this really make me question why exactly the Wheelers are one of two main families in the show. As far as I know they didn't do much in TFS, so hell, why not Patty? Bob? The Sin Claires?

Regardless, I would really like them to be kind and rewind back to whatever is going on here if you know what I mean

[runwayrunway]

No. 5 - jetBlue 2: Electric Bluegaloo

I am writing this post on the 15th of June, 2023.

I was going to publish one post tomorrow. It was going to be about a completely unrelated airline from a different country. I wrote it already. I have several other posts written already, because I like writing them, and they make me excited. I had a partially written post on jetBlue. It was going to be finished soon and uploaded after that. Just one in a sea of many things people have painted onto their airplanes.

I did not plan to discuss jetBlue tomorrow. I did not plan to finish my jetBlue post today. But they have forced my hand by announcing an overhaul of their 20-year-old livery at the most inconvenient possible time for me specifically, and I suppose I'm someone who reviews airline liveries now so I'm not just going to not talk about it.

Okay, let’s see. What they’ve been doing has worked for them for two decades, so I am very curious what they...

(image: jetblue) 

Oh.

Huh. Not...sure what I expected. This is really taking a moment to sink in. 

Well, okay. My immediate thought is ‘neat, they finally extended it past the tail’. My second thought is ‘thank goodness they're finally moving past their Eurowhite phase’. My third thought is...

Obviously they don’t have an exclusive right to this shade of blue, but does...does Southwest know about this? You two are probably the two biggest players in the low-cost market on the East Coast, should you be...being nearly the exact same shade of blue? Like, the rest of the liveries are obviously very different, you wouldn’t confuse them even from a distance, and I'm pretty sure jetBlue's is slightly lighter, but it just feels, viscerally, like someone’s nose gear is being run over a little bit. 

Okay. No. We are forgetting about this. We literally just talked about not comparing beautiful blue girls to each other. They’re going to stall or soar on their own merits. Let’s take another look at N982JB “A Defining MoMint” (neé “One Mint, Two Mint, Blue Mint, You Mint”), who is patient zero for jetBlue’s new rebrand. 

(image: jetblue)

There she is in all her eyestraining glory. I mean, there’s bright and then there’s hard to look at. jetBlue has, for some reason, decided to unleash a migraine machine onto airports across America and beyond.

jetBlue? I know you're reading this. Can we talk, jetBlue? There are a billion shades of blue you could have picked from for the main body. 

(image: jetblue)

In fact, here are five of them from your own most recent tail design. And you chose the only one that is extremely painful to look at in large quantities. So, unfortunately, we’re taking off from the wrong runway. But let’s hear what you have to say for yourself, jetBlue. 

I can only imagine how badly tumblr is going to crunch this, so here’s a direct link to the PDF jetBlue put out explaining their design choices. 

Well, it’s definitely one of the bluest planes they’ve ever made. I think Blueprint might actually be bluer, but that’s a discussion for later. It’s a reasonably, maybe even unreasonably, blue plane, and I think we can all agree on that. 

They’ve made a lot of changes that seem almost like direct responses to my earlier complaints. Robin N. Hayes, CEO of jetBlue Airlines, are you in my head reading my mind? If you are, I think I at least deserve a couple of scale models for all the advice I’ve given you. Come on. I’ll even proofread your website for you.  

Sadly, I have yet to receive my rightly deserved 1:100 model of the jetBlue retrojet, but they’ve at least recognized that I’m correct about a lot of things. The all-white fuselage is boring and the tail designs need to be allowed to unfurl from their prison on the vertical stabilizer. I’m absolutely with them on that. I actually can’t say how I feel about this new ‘mint leaves’ tail pattern. I think that I don’t like it, but it’s very hard to tell because looking at this image for too long without my darkreader on genuinely hurts my eyes. I’m sure it’ll be fine in person, but I haven’t seen this livery in person. I’ve had all of a day to process this through my computer screen, and because of that I think I sort of really dislike it!

But I also can’t commit to that opinion because it’s been a day and a half and there’s so much we still don’t know. Well, I know that this is literally the worst shade of blue that there is, but my least favorite color is orange and I think there are plenty of decent looking orange planes out there. It’s not about the base color. It’s about what you do with it. And what will they do with it? It’s...not really clear. 

The thing about this launch is that if Robin N. Hayes, CEO of jetBlue Airlines, can read my mind, I can’t read his. All I have is this PDF and a couple paragraphs of copy that really raise more questions than they answer. I'm just going to paste the important bit here.

Aptly named A Defining MoMint, the first plane to sport our new livery (our first-ever Mint pattern, coming soon to all Mint planes) is an Airbus A321 with Mint—which rolls into service on 6/15/23. Look for refreshed versions of our existing patterns to make their runway debuts as the rest of the fleet is repaint-ready.

This leaves so many questions unanswered. Is this for all Mint planes? That's not an insignificant portion of the fleet. Are all the planes currently wearing the ribbon and streamer tails going to wear this exact design, or will there be multiple Mint liveries? Will the ribbon and streamer tails be retired completely? They're pretty new, that seems a bit premature to me. What about the non-Mint planes? I assume the implication is that they're going to get patterns that extend onto their main fuselages as well, but are they going to also be repainted now or will there be a gradual rollout where it'll only be Mint planes for the time being? What is even going on? Seriously, does Southwest know? How did nobody notice the two massive typos on the liveries page of your website when you updated it with this new information? Ya blue it!

This is sending me into a bit of a tailspin. This redesign is everything I should want. It's spitting in the face of the design principles that I hate so much I started this blog. It's addressing some of my complaints. But I just don't...like to look at it?

I think what's bothering me here, when my eyes adjust somewhat to the sheer piercing brightness of it, is the overwhelming amount of stuff happening. When I do focus in I can see things that I like. For example, the tail pattern seems to be almost spreading onto the main fuselage rather than being isolated on a tail with its own background color. Some things I just can't entirely process. Like the PDF says they're using a new font but I can't really tell the difference between it and the old one. I guess it doesn't matter that much.

Anyway, I'm not done complaining. On the old livery, the engines were a dark color which contrasted with the light fuselage. This is pretty common. That's for a good reason. It creates such a weird visual effect when the engines and the fuselage are the same color. When you look at them from the side they look like they're merging. Also, despite them mentioning that they made the text in the front bigger to make the livery look less rear-heavy, and the fact that it's worked to some extent, it hasn't worked nearly enough. It would really behoove them to add something else to the front.

(I'm just saying, jetBlue...if you want to be America's Fun Airline, I don't think any defunct airlines have a trademark on painting cute little faces on your airplanes. Just keep that in the back of your mind.)

I ultimately just can't reconcile my thoughts on this. I keep repeating myself and I can't seem to convince myself to like this even though I really, really want to find some way to decide that yes, this is good, actually. This is an improvement. I can't. I can't convince myself. Maybe if I chew on it a bit longer. Maybe when they show off new tail patterns they'll all look better than this. Maybe it's just the mint green that's throwing me off and it'll all be okay. Maybe I'll wake up and a perfectly designed new jetBlue livery will be standing by the side of my bed, and I won't even mind that geometry forbids every part of that scenario, and she'll be beautiful and I will remember what it felt like to first learn that jetBlue has a plane named Blue's On First. Maybe. But right now it's the 15th of June and I'm feeling an emotion I can only imagine myself sharing with cosmic horror protagonists who have stumbled on some horrible secret that destroys the foundation which until mere moments ago undergirded their entire concept of reality. I don't know how to reconcile any of this.

jetBlue...how could you blue this to me?

Provisional* Grade: D(on't Blue That)+

(provisional because I'm being very dramatic but as I've said this is brand new fresh off the livery printer, Mint condition if you will, and I've barely had any time to process it so I'll definitely revisit it at some point. But probably not soon. I'm just about jetBlued out at the moMint.)

[monstrsball]

Iwaizumi drops a wrapped package unceremoniously into Suga’s lap as he joins him on the bed. He sits cross-legged in front of him, an expectant look on his face. 

“Your birthday present,” He nods towards the present when Suga just stares at him. “Open it.”

“It’s not my birthday yet.” Suga says as if Iwaizumi needs the reminder, glancing between him and the present. 

“I’m aware.” Iwaizumi chuckles. “But since we’re going to be busy tomorrow, I thought it might be better to give it to you early.”

Suga doesn’t really think they’ll be that busy tomorrow. It’s just work and then dinner with his mom and brother. Unless there’s something else planned that he is unaware of, which is starting to seem more likely with how odd Iwaizumi has been acting all day. He’s half-tempted to try to push for more information but his curiosity about the present ultimately wins out. 

He turns the package over a few times to inspect the suspiciously neat wrapping job. It’s wrapped in pretty teal tissue paper, complete with a white ribbon wrapped around it and tied into a bow at the top. The ends of the ribbon are curled and long enough to hang a little over the edges of the box.

It’s pretty, but it’s strange. 

Iwaizumi Hajime is good at many things. He’s an excellent cook, he excels at many different sports, and Suga remembers being really surprised when he learned just how much his boyfriend knew about gardening. However, gift wrapping is not one of his specialties. It is in fact the one thing that he is, without a doubt, awful at. Suga’s helped him enough times with wrapping things before Iwaizumi decided to just start using gift bags to know this. 

So, Iwaizumi has either magically and rapidly improved his gift-wrapping ability or he got help from someone. 

Suga hums, twirling one of the ribbon ends around his finger. He remembers his boyfriend going to his room to have a suspiciously long “talk” with one of his mothers right after they had arrived at their apartment for dinner earlier that evening.

“This is really pretty.” His lips twitch as he glances up to meet his eyes. “Does this have something to do with what you and Sachiko-san were talking about?” He teases, mostly in a feeble attempt to cover up how giddy he is. It’s silly, maybe, to get so worked up over such a minor thing but Suga has always been weak to anything and everything Iwaizumi does. 

Iwaizumi fake-coughs into his shoulder, ears turning a telltale pink. “That was entirely unrelated.” He mutters, barely loud enough for Suga to hear. 

Suga laughs, “Oh?” He says, leaning forward. “Entirely unrelated, huh? So-”

“Koushi,” Iwaizumi interrupts, in a tone that is somehow both affectionate and exasperate, before Suga can needle him any further. “Can you just open it, please?”

Suga clicks his tongue, “You’re no fun.” He says lightly, nevertheless redirecting his attention to the neatly wrapped box in his lap. He swiftly and delicately unties the ribbon wrapped around the box. He considers taking his time with the rest of it but Iwaizumi looks about five seconds away from taking the gift from him to unwrap it himself. 

He makes quick work of the tissue paper, tossing it to the side. The box isn’t taped shut so he’s able to open it immediately, revealing a gray sweatshirt folded with the familiar design on the front facing out so it’s the first thing he sees.

Suga furrows his brows, tilting his head a little in confusion. It just looks like one of Iwaizumi’s UCI sweatshirts. Not that he doesn’t enjoy wearing them, of course, but he doesn’t really understand why Iwaizumi would have gone to the trouble of wrapping it if it was just- 

Wait.

Suga looks over the words printed on the sweatshirt again.

UC Urvine.

He can’t help the silly grin that slowly overtakes his face. He can’t believe he almost forgot about it. He has trouble remembering how he had learned about the existence of the misprints but he does remember calling Iwaizumi almost immediately to beg him to buy one for him. 

And he distinctly remembers the disappointment he felt when Iwaizumi told him that they were already sold out. 

“You told me they were sold out.” Suga pouts, snapping his head up and pointing a finger at him accusingly. “And to think, I thought you were a honest man.” He sniffs dramatically.

The corner of Iwaizumi mouth turns up into a small smirk. “They were sold out, I bought one a few days before they sold out. Technically not a lie.” He looks a little too pleased with himself, smug in a way that he usually isn’t. It’s more attractive than it probably should be. 

Then, his smile softens into something gentler, more tender. “I saw it and thought of you. I wanted to surprise you.”

Suga is once again hit with the reminder that he is flustered by the most ridiculous things sometimes. His boyfriend wanting to surprise him with a silly, limited misprint of a sweatshirt shouldn’t be something that makes him feel all warm and mushy inside. He ducks his head down to hide the way his face heats up, running his fingers along the writing on the sweatshirt. 

“It was going to be one of my Christmas gifts to you,” Iwaizumi explains further, as Suga pulls it out of the box to pull it on over his sleep shirt. It’s a little baggy on him and the sleeves fall a little past his wrists, just the way Suga likes his sweatshirts. 

“But then you heard about it and called to ask for one so I thought it might be too soon to properly surprise you. So, I decided to hold onto it until your birthday.”

It’s a little ridiculous that he waited nine months because he thought that the sweatshirt still would have been on Suga’s mind three months later, but he admires the dedication. 

“So,” Iwaizumi says, sounding more unsure than he did just a few moments ago. “Do you like it?” 

He doesn’t say, but Suga suspects that what he really means is Was it worth it? 

Suga pushes the box out of the way so he can move closer and wrap his arms around Iwaizumi’s shoulders. Iwaizumi relaxes at the contact, placing his hands on Suga’s waist to guide him into a less awkward position on his lap before he wraps his arms fully around his waist to tug him a little closer. 

“I love it,” Suga says quietly, tucking his face into the crook of Iwaizumi’s neck. “It’s the best present I have ever gotten in my entire life.”

Iwaizumi snorts at that but says nothing about it, just hums and kisses the top of his head.  

“I’m glad, I was starting to have doubts.” He admits with a half-chuckle. “My mother looked like she was wondering where she went wrong raising me when she was helping me wrap it. I think she thought it was just a regular UCI sweatshirt.”

Suga’s shoulders shake as he starts to snicker, “I thought you said your conversation was entirely unrelated.” He teases, tightening his arms around his neck when Iwaizumi groans and tries to move away.

“Noooo,” Suga laughs even harder. “It’s my birthday, you have to put up with me making fun of you-”

Iwaizumi flips them around so Suga laying on his back on the bed, the motion knocking the empty box off of the bed. He props himself up on his elbows, his arms bracketing Suga’s shoulders. He’s scowling but there’s a slight upturn to the corner of his mouth, giving away his true feelings.

“It’s not your birthday, actually.” 

“You gave me a birthday present so that makes it my birthday. Legally.” Suga says, matter-of-factly. 

“I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“It totally is. It’s like an unspoken agreement. I can’t believe you don’t know this, Hajime.”

Suga expects him to argue with him more but instead, he just laughs and dips his head down to kiss him, short and sweet. 

“Fine, whatever you say.” Iwaizumi says with a small grin when he pulls away, still hovering a few inches above his face.

 “Happy birthday, Koushi.”

---

note 1: the uc urvine misprint sweatshirt is real. this was entirely inspired by a conversation i had in discord with ash (who told me about it) about how suga would want one. i had to come up with a reason for why iwa was giving it to him nine months later though fjsdlfkjds. because i really wanted it to be for suga's birthday.

note 2: there is indeed a surprise dinner of sorts planned for suga's birthday but it's not really why iwa gave him his present early. he was just starting to worry suga wouldn't actually like it and wanted him to open it somewhere he would be comfortable enough to be honest about it.

[teawinx]

This is completely out of left field for what I usually post, but I'm having thoughts and I wanna yap about it SOMEWHERE

Watched Empire of Death, thoroughly enjoyed it

But I've had a thought since watching

I really wish Rose Noble had been the third person instead of Mel. Don't get me wrong, I love Mel. But I think Rose needs some more screentime and stuff to do. Esp considering she works for Unit but doing nothing?? Heck, I'd want Rose to be a companion alongside Ruby, because I think there's a juicy character arc you could work with here.

She works for Unit, but only because she's related to Donna. She's here because of Nepotism, and she knows that and feels a great amount of imposter syndrome. Have her go on adventures with the doctor, gain experience and grown, then she can return to Unit a new woman. Basically being an unpaid intern with the Doctor, c'mon it would be kinda funny.

Plus I liked that she and Ruby got along really well, I'd love to see them bouncing off each other more. Yes I ship it don't judge meeeee

(Edit: I TAKE IT BACK. I didn't know Rose is meant to be 15, I thought she was at least 18 oops sorry)

So like, Use Empire of Death to settup Rose's arc and imposter syndrome, then come into Season 2 with her joining the team and proving herself I think that would be neat af for her

Unrelated nitpick but I really didn't like her outfit in the eps. I don't think it suited her at all, maybe a darker shade of green would have been better.

But this is really just me being nitpicky. I still really liked the episode!

[adobe-outdesign]

You knpow what I think you haven't done for a design review? Pineco and Foretress. Got to love Pinecone Bug and Walnut Cannon Shell in general.

At first glance, Pineco here looks like a sentient pine cone and like it should be a grass-type, ala Seedot. However, Pineco has a secret:

Pineco isn't a pinecone at all, but is instead a bagworm caterpillar, hence the bug typing. For those not familiar, bagworms are a kind of moth caterpillar that build cases out of materials such as pine needles and tree bark:

You can't see it in this photo, but there's a caterpillar in this structure (possibly already cocooned in this photo). In order to move, they stick their heads out of the top like a sleeping bag. :)

Anyway, visually, Pineco is perfectly fine, albeit somewhat generic if you didn't pick up on the "bug in a protective shell" thing. The individual pieces of bark, resembling the scales of a pinecone, are well structured, and having the eyes tucked under the top two scales allows them to pop nicely against the dark shading, especially with their red coloration. It also bears a slight semblance to a grenade, which is fitting giving their habit of blowing themselves up with little warning.

Female bagworms never develop into something resembling a moth and stay in their cases through adulthood. While this line isn't gendered, Forretress indeed isn't a moth but some other kind of organism entirely. The question of what kind of organism is a bit more questionable; it's presumably still a bagworm, but the case now looks more like a clamshell and it gains steel typing of all things.

My guess is that it's a walnut shell, keeping with the idea of protection and the tree theme—it looks a lot less rocky and a lot more organic in its original sprite above. The body has just hardened along with the modified case to justify the typing.

Regardless of what it is, I do like Forretress a lot, more so than Pineco. Like I said above, Pineco can seem fairly generic at a glance if you don't know the concept, but this red creature with an obvious shell and turrets sticking of it its body is super neat, and conveys both that it's a creature in something and that it'll explode and/or fire steel fragments in your face if you get too close to it.

I also like the design just in terms of pure aesthetics. The shell has teeth along its edge, and in each gap lies a turret—except for the front two spots, which perfectly hold its eyes. A black stripe runs across the middle of the body and helps to draw attention to the eyes. It's very nicely balanced. I do wish that it had a little more to connect it visually to Pineco however. I like the colors as-is, but maybe just making it green instead of red would've been enough.

My other nitpick relates to how we actually have an entire beta history for Forretress. It started as a unrelated bagworm Pokemon, then got a placeholder sprite, and then we got these early designs:

These designs confirm that the black band around Forretress' eyes used to be its mouth, and while I really like the design we got, there's also something super appealing in these sprites (especially the first one with the wiggly mouth that matches the shell) that feels like it got lost.

I think it's the expressions: the Forretress design we got has very flat and dead eyes, but early Forretress 100% looks like a creature that will explode in your face if you get any closer to it. If the eyes had kept the slightly maniac expression from this sprite while keep the design as the final version, I think we would've had the ideal Forretress. Like I said, a nitpick, just one I thought I'd point out.

Overall, this is a pretty solid line. I do think more visual continuity could've been maintained between the two stages, but the bagworm concept is solid and Forretress in particular is well designed.

Also, this has little to do with the Pokemon, but I don't feel like this review would be complete without bringing up the best Pokemon TCG move name of all time:

EVERYONE EXPLODE NOW

[intern-seraph]

Hello Michelle InternSeraph it's me again Matcha twstjam brought to you by Malleyuu brainrot again 👉👈

So I was reading a completely unrelated fic and it was like, a soulmate au so now I'm like "omg they were soulmates......." but Malleyuu yaknow?? There's already a few up on ao3 but they don't quite scratch the itch in my brain so I come before you again for your thoughts on it.

And if any ideas strike maybe even Liliyuu soulmate scenarios too bcs I feel like those could be really neat too 🤔

(As I wrote this I remembered this one Soulmate AU trope where a goose would randomly show up in your life and chase you until you run into your soulmate and I just. Imagine Malleus, a dragon, the crown prince of Briar Valley, and one of the most powerful mages of the world, being bullied by a magic soulmate goose agdjdghfhdks)

MAGIC SOULMATE GOOSE... the shenanigans.........

anyways here're some ideas:

i think for malleyuu the "being able to hear your soulmate's thoughts" trope could work well esp if we're maintaining the idea of malleus hiding his identity from yuu for as long as possible :0 or maybe even hearing your thoughts in your soulmate's voice — there's an aspect of questioning "is this really my soulmate or does he just sound similar?"

LILIYUU SOULMATES. FEELING EACH OTHER'S PAIN. works esp well with general lilia but also considering how lilia is faring in book 7 just. imagine the angst potential. there's also "whatever you draw on yourself shows up on your soulmate as well" which could be really cute and fluffy :>

[lookitsgrim]

Dragon by Night! (wwbn au)

Part 1: designs!!

Okay so, my friend has been subjected to so many ramblings and updates on these drawings and i think she’s sick of it by now lol so i’m putting all of it here as a starting point for everything else i’m gonna post eventually (bloodstone manor stuff, the bloodstone, jacks curse, etc)

for reference, this au focuses on how things would work if Jack, Elsa, and Ted were a part of the Wings of Fire universe (really great fantasy book series!! i’d recommend it if you’re okay with reading something meant for 11-15 [???] year olds).

To start things off, let’s look at how the trio would look on Pyrrhia!

——

I decided to make Ted half mudwing and half leafwing. In the books, a group of mudwings aka ‘sibs’ has a role called a ‘bigwings’, which is assigned to the largest of the unit. They protect their siblings in battle and in life, and i thought that was fitting for Ted. Leafwings are very entwined with the plant life in the poison jungle on Pantala (aka the lost continent). They have control over the way things grow and also have extensive knowledge on the local flora, which just screamed Ted to me. I kept most of the mudwing traits while including a few leafwing details such as the speckled scales and webbed back scales, along with the twisted horns.

——

Elsa is a skywing. In the books, they’re characterised by their immense combat knowledge and skill, and are theorised to be the original dragon tribe. they are also very headstrong and their loyalty can sway away from their family, which i thought fit her fairly well. Also i feel like monster hunters in general fit the theme, and i have some ideas for bloodstone manor involving the sky kingdom!! I made Elsa look like a typical skywing - deep red scales, slim face, pale wings. And I also gave her the bloodstone, which i’ll mention later.

——

Jack was a tough one for me. Originally, i wanted to make him fully nightwing or maybe even a silkwing to symbolise his change from man to wolf, but silkwings change permanently, so i feel like that wouldn’t work properly. Instead, i opted to make him half nightwing and half rainwing. In the books, nightwings are known as highly mysterious, rarely interacting with the other tribes - supposedly to keep their magic and power for themselves (until like… the fourth book, then it all goes to hell. but that’s unrelated), and are linked to both animus dragons and mind readers. I thought this fit well for jack with his ‘creature of the night’ vibe, and also nightwings have starry skies on their wings and i thought that was neat. Rainwings are also rare outside of their territory - the jungle next to the secret nightwing kingdom (also until the fourth book - yay dragon wars!!). they have the ability to change the colour of their scales to show their emotions, camouflage, and also to try and look pretty in some cases. I thought this wouod be nice for Jack in the case of his werewolf form. If rainwings don’t get enough sun their colours are dull and ‘boring’, and since the wolf wouldn’t technically see the sun he’d change to a duller, darker dragon. ALSO!! they can spit venom, which i just thought was neat. imagine walking through the jungle one night and a mostly camouflaged rainwing swings down from a tree branch and unhinges it’s jaw, spitting venom at you until your skin burns and melts. Anyway, I made jacks resting colour to be green and gave him mostly rainwing traits - the frills on his jaw, the prehensile tail, the longer talons; and then gave him nightwing horns and back spikes, the stars on his wings, and the head shape. i also made his smaller scales a similar colour to his makeup in the special since that’s not really a dragon thing?? like at all?? ALSO (AGAIN) rainwing was a whole aren’t huge on fighting, they spend most of their time relaxing in the sun and the thought of using their venom to harm other dragons is completely horrifying to them, this of course seemed very jack-esque to me so yeah! here’s both of his colours (normal and cursed form, which is really just altered colours and different behavior like i mentioned previously)

anyway i hope you guys like this so far and i hope it’s making at least a little sense, but if it’s not i am happy to explain and there will be more posts about this in the future!! i have a bunch of ideas, like my notes app is full of dot points to expand on eventually 😗‼️‼️

[qwesty-030]

hello ASP fandom

I’ve been lingering on the ASP tag for a while bc I wanted to find ppl that like the book as much as i do. I’ve seen all the beautiful fanart and whatnot. and I wanna thank yall bc I’ve been inspired to make my own post ✨! I too shall contribute to the ASP fandom too bc tumblr is the only place i can find an active asp fandom🧍

thank you and have a nice day

—

so uhm these are my designs for Finny and Gene. I drew these back when I started reading A Separate Peace in my high-school sophomore year. They’re pretty old drawings. At the time, I only drew these just to have some faces to put a name on (to help me visualize easier idk)

Well fast forward, my class finished reading ASP and I have been an ASP addict ever since.

okay im going to word vomit now

okay erm thought process of these designs:

Finny-

i tried to make him as book accurate at possible but ngl i actually i thought he was a red head before i looked up what he actually looked like. I genuinely wouldve believed he was a red head if i didnt looked it up (yes im referring to the ppl propagating redhead finny)

i gave him very sharp features and a somewhat messy hairstyle to symbolize his wild nature but also neat enough to get him by in school.

His shirt usually untucked or hastily put on. Most times he has his coat off or unbuttoned

he has some freckles and moles too YAY

Gene-

made him the most basic looking guy with the most basic features: black hair and brown eyes (okay ik his hair looks blue and u can barely see his brown eyed but i was limiting myself on colors GSSSYSHDHHSHA )

ofc i HAD to make him the complete opposite of Finny. His features are more squarish and rounder. because he always does random 90° angles out of nowhere

his hair is more neat and put together compared to Finny’s. It’s very structured to be square shaped. i like to think he uses a little bit of gel but it’s not a tight slickback. he lets his hair go loose bc he wants to follow Finny’s footsteps and be wild and free too 🤩🤩 yet he can’t help but follow the standard of having a neat slick hair and ofc follow school dresscode 🤷‍♀️

his fit is also more put together. he always makes sure his tie is neat and his coat is buttoned up most times

i gave him a mole :)

this was a fun one to make cuz he literally never describes himself in the book💀💀 i find that really interesting tho. perhaps it was on purpose so readers can relate to Gene more by emotion and not feel distanced by physical features

(yea i obviously put in a lot more thought into Gene’s design than Finny’s)

(i still love them both tho)

FUN FACTS YES THERE’S MORE:

honestly thought Finny was a latino and/or hispanic cuz of his tan skin. (im well aware white ppl can look tan and not be a hispanic but also hispanics and latinx could also look pale white i was lowkey a little ignorant back then 💀.) idk maybe he could have some hispanic blood 🤷‍♀️

do not mind the messiness and low quality, i did this in the dead of night on a note-taking app called Notability

that last note may sound absolutely unrelated BUT WAIT! I actually have a whole stock of ASP Notability doodles! More to come!! maybe…

if i feel like it…….

we’ll see

their hairstyles and clothing are based on actual 1940s styles :D it’s my favorite thing about their design especially their hair. it was fun researching and incorporating historical trends

the chair Gene is sitting on is supposed to be the Early American chair from Finny’s house! I did not put any effort into the chair whatsoever 😀

although i gave Finny short hair, I’ve come to see how good long hair Finny is

Yup that’s all for now. Thank you all who stopped by. It’s so nice meeting u guys!!

[shirshik72]

BiTomas week

Day 1. Hair care

Author's notes: the characters' images are taken from the classic games and supplemented with my headcannons. This is completely unrelated to "Mortal Kombat 1" (2023).

The sun was steadily setting behind the horizon, plunging the mountains of Greater Khingan into the darkness of the night. The day was running out, and with it, the strength of the inhabitants of the Lin Kuei fortress was running out. Many of them have already managed to hide within the walls of neat houses built in traditional Chinese style. The only people left on the street were unlucky passers-by, who became fewer and fewer every minute, and patrol officers who had to protect the peace of the fortress residents during the curfew. Watching the street became more and more boring. When only lonely watchmen remained outside, Tomas, unable to withstand mortal melancholy, tore his gaze away from the window, moving his attention deeper into their room.

The tart aroma of rose and patchouli incense permeated the entire surrounding space, filling it with extraordinary lightness and sensuality. The warm light emanating from several candles created a feeling of homeliness, which was truly priceless within the walls of a clan like the Lin Kuei. The pleasant, carefree silence was only occasionally broken by extraneous sounds, which, however, did not bother either Tomas or Bi Han at all.

Smoke, without breaking the general silence, stared at Sub-Zero, admiring his amazingly handsome man. There was something special about his silhouette and therefore uniquely beautiful. His powerful back, strong arms and long scars added to his image that rare and honest courage that charmed Tomas in their first meeting. Of course, some would say that Bi Han's long hair ruined everything, making him just an "effeminate fagot", but Smoke was ready to argue with that.

Bi Han's hair was luxurious. Especially now, when black, slightly curly strands cascade over his shoulders. Silently Tomas approaches his lover from behind, carefully touching the soft and silky curls. Sub-Zero gently flashes a short grin, feeling the alien, almost ghostly touch. He chuckles a little louder when he feels a short, neat kiss on the top of his head.

— I love your hair so much, — Smoke whispers into his ear, gently stroking the dark curls.

— Thank you, ­— Bi Han smiles briefly, looking at himself in the mirror. — It is only because of you that I haven’t cut them yet.

— What about the long-standing traditions of the Lin Kuei?

— Traditions can suffer when it comes to convenience in battle. It is terribly difficult to care for such a mop of hair.

— Why don’t you shave them off then? Well, it is so inconvenient.

— I already said that. Because you like it.

— Is this more important than convenience in battle?

— There is nothing more important than your desires and preferences.

— You know how to flatter, — Tomas remarks with a slight grin, again tenderly kissing Bi Han’s hair.

— There is not a drop of flattery in my words, — Sub-Zero notes with all seriousness in his voice. —To me, nothing really has the same value as you and Kuai Liang.

— Hmm... — Smoke hums thoughtfully, flattered by his lover’s revelation. “Then will you allow me one little prank?”

— Go ahead, — Bi Han, responds briefly, relaxing and allowing Tomas to do whatever he pleases.

Then he wordlessly strokes his hair along the entire length several times, as if deciding to carry out his plan. About two minutes later, Tomas, armed with an ivory comb, began to carefully and carefully comb Bi Han's curls. The activity is simple and pleasant, and very relaxing, which is why Smoke did not immediately stop it. Even when his hair became perfectly smooth, Tomas continued to run the comb through it with a thoughtful look, as if enchanted by this meditative and peaceful task.

Still, putting the comb aside, Smoke divided his hair into three strands, slowly and carefully starting to weave the braid. His movements did not shine with precision and speed, as usual. His hands simply forgot how to do this simple hairstyle. However, once upon a time he had no equal in this matter... It is not for nothing that they say that the Lin Kuei changes people. Now killing was much easier for him than make an ordinary braid.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Tomas still managed to achieve his goal. With the proud face of a winner, he secured the tight braid by tying a satin ribbon at its end. Stroking Bi Han's hair for the last time, he solemnly announced:

— Ready!

— Thank you, — Bi Han responded, smiling modestly and tenderly kissing the hands that created such beauty.

P.S.: I am not an English-speaking person and this is literally my first experience in writing a literary text in a foreign language. I apologize in advance for all my mistakes in this work and ask you to point them out in the comments or personal messages. Thanks a lot in advance to everyone!

Thank to @bitomas-week for organizing the event and inspiration

[maxbytes]

I really like the gem kid au. On a completely unrelated note, did you know that human babies can be born with PTSD if the person carrying them experiences trauma while pregnant? Just something I thought was neat.

wtf??????? unfair.