#edit: so apparently they're in the group shot but like I would like them to be faces in a cutscene with dialogue pls

[pausegame]

Neri de Acutis & Rook de Riva | Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024)

[patolemus]

Sterek fic recs: Time Travel AU Edition

As I promised @oldefashioned here is the start of my unending sterek fic reccing. I’ll go by category because this post will never end otherwise.

1. song of the phoenix by graveltotempo

In a last ditch effort to save Beacon Hills after everyone else has died, Stiles channels all of his energy and magic into cleansing the Nemeton and the magical core of the town. But he is more powerful than he knows, more connected to the Nemeton than anyone can guess, and a group of kids, teenagers and adults wakes up in the middle of the night ten years earlier with a second chance they didn't know they needed and a bond they don't understand. Stiles though? Stiles wakes up with a little more.

Notes: It's just. So good. It's kinda hard to explain but basically no one knows what's going on but at the same time it works. Kinda. They're working on it. Stiles is awesome in this, I especially love his relationship with the Hales, because of course I do. It's ongoing.

2. Twice And For All by novasillies

“Derek,” he said despite himself. The werewolf’s eyes sharpened. Scott gave him a distressed look. “Do I know you?” He asked tensely, and Stiles grinned in return. “Oh, no,” he answered, “Not yet.” - In which a well-timed conflict between the magic of the Ghost Riders and Stiles' spark sends him back to the day Scott got bitten. Stiles pointedly changes nothing and so God complexes, needlessly complex romantic drama, and pure, unbridled silliness ensue. (Updates every Thursday wink wonk)

Notes: This is to date one of my favorite time travel fics of all time, across multiple fandoms. Stiles in this one is just *chef's kiss*. Completely unhinged, I love him. Also, the sterek? Easily one of the best dynamics I've read. It's ongoing, only four chapters left!

3. Fly a Little Faster by mirrorkill

Everyone knows when you go back in time, you shouldn't step on an ant, just in case you accidentally kill your own grandparent or something. But what happens when you go back in time and, uh, accidentally interrupt the one event that apparently made the Grumpiest Alpha in Town into a ball of mindless manpain?  Well, if Marty McFly can do it, so can Stiles Stilinski. All he has to do is get Derek and Paige to fall in love before he gets pulled back to his own time. And before he makes anything worse. That's easy as pie, right? Right?

Notes: I liked this one because it's not the typical Stiles travels back in time after everyone else in the pack dies. It's got a different premise, still somewhat canon compliant (maybe??? canon enough), and it's amazingly done. It's complete.

4. Daybreak by TheObsidianQuill

"There . . ." Stiles swallowed and looked down at the bottle in his grasp as he slowly swirled the amber liquid inside. "There's really nothing left. For me. Everyone is . . . gone, and it feels like I haven't thought of tomorrow in years." His words rang in the air like a gunshot, he took another heavy drink. "I would trade every last breath I take to just have another shot—not even a guarantee, just a chance to make things right and bring back even one of them." ----- The pack was gone. He had nothing left. He had no one. With nothing to lose, Stiles puts everything on the line to go back in time to try to prevent the future from becoming his past. Broken, guarded, and haunted by his past, only one overgrown-pup of a wolf seems able to get past his defenses. Changing the future? Easy. Finding a place for himself in the Hale Pack? Impossible.

Notes: So good! Stiles is a traumatized bean and the Hales are just everything! It's complete.

5. The A Spark of Hope and the Butterfly Effect series by Phlinting

It's been eleven years since Scott was bitten by a feral werewolf and, despite his pack's many victories along the way, Gerard Argent's influence lives on. As the knowledge of the supernatural spread to the general population so did the hatred and fear of the unknown. The McCall pack has been picked off one by one and Stiles, Sheriff Stilinski, and Peter Hale are the only three left, on the run and barely surviving. But Stiles has found a spell. He has the magic, the spark, and his belief. He has his dad and Peter to help power it and he has the will and desperation to succeed. He's going back to the Hale fire and this time he's going to stop it ALL before it starts. It's the perfect solution. Too bad things never go quite according to plan...

Notes: The Sheriff and Peter are *chef's kiss* here! I really don't know how to explain all that happens here but it gets a little out of control in the best way. It's complete.

6. The The Long Way Round series by exclamation

A magical accident sends Stiles back in time. Now he's stuck in New York, living with Derek and Laura, and the only way to get back to his own time is to learn to use magic. Meanwhile, he must figure out how much he can tell them about their future. Can he warn them about the dangers they face? Can he change his own past?   And can he trust the creature known as Bookworm, who seems to know him better than he knows himself?

Notes: This series had me in a chokehold, I cried so much but it was absolutely worth it! Stiles doesn't plan to travel back in time on this one, this just... happen, and it all spirals a bit out of control. But don't worry! You may have no idea of what's going to happen, but the author certainly did and they did an amazing work. It's complete.

7. It’s Happening by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)

Derek stopped listening to him, brain going a mile a minute.   Derek, it’s fucking happening! Derek, please!   He would recognize that fucking voice anywhere. Two years. Two fucking years had passed, and now this little shit was standing in front of him, speaking his name, and grinning like an idiot. “It’s you,” Derek said, earning him a confused look from Stiles. “The phone call. Two years ago. It was you.” (SNYE - January 2nd - Time Travel)

Notes: This is not canon compliant. It's a whole other universe, actually, and it's so good. Good ol' Derek is losing his mind over here, but it's alright! Things work out just fine. It's complete.

These ones are not time travel, but dimensional travel. It’s similar enough so here you go.

8. The play it again series by metisket

In which Stiles goes along with one of Derek’s plans and ends up in an alternate universe as a result. He should’ve known better. He did know better, actually, and that means he has no one to blame but himself. “Laura wants to lure the kid in with food and kindness and make a pet of him, like a feral cat. Derek wants to have him arrested for stalking. They’re at an impasse. (And the rest of the family is staying emphatically out of it in a way that suggests bets have been placed.)”

Notes: I honestly don't know how to show the whole of my appreciation for this series. I think I've read this about five times since I found it last year. Stiles lands himself in a whole other dimension, where the Hale House fire never happened and Scott is human. It goes about as well as you can expect. It's technically not complete, but the main piece is.

9. The Home Across The Universe series by TricksterShi

You can lose your home and spend your whole life looking for it, sometimes you may even find bits of it again. But sometimes home goes out searching and finds you first. ~ The day he loses his father and his pack, Stiles is transported to a parallel world where his counterpart is nine years old and seemingly small changes have had a huge impact on the course of events in Beacon Hills. At first sticking to the shadows as a vigilante to protect his otherworld father and younger self, Stiles is soon drawn out into the light and onto a path that forces him to confront the traumas of his past so that he can make a place for himself in this new world.

Notes: Just. This absolute beast of a universe is seriously so well done, and so good. Imagine play it again, but much more depressing and waaaay longer. The angst is on point! The Stilinskis are the best in this one. And Derek and Laura have my heart, love my pookies. Stiles is not having the best times, but he'll be looked after, don't worry! Also technically not complete, but all the pieces in the series are done.

10. The Ley Lines series by forestofbabel

Stiles is back in town after many years, angry and bitter and disconnected from anything you might call pack. It might as well be a tradition at this point that he gets drunk and wakes up in the woods. Only, this time, something is different.  The ghosts that have weighed in his heart are alive and well, and Stiles gets to witness a life that could have been his. There is one thing he knows, though. No matter how much he may want to stay, he has to go home.  If the ley lines you should follow, and your dwelling at the end, and find your presence has been hollowed, your hereafter is to amend." *** Stiles is faced in this new world with someone he had been avoiding for a long time. Himself.  The Double Walker cannot survive where the Double Walker dwells *** Derek had an itch under his skin. There was something missing. He knew exactly what it was. Who it was. His regrets paraded themselves in a steady stream, and he had to watch as Stiles left time and time again, knowing it would be the only way to let the ley lines heal. That didn't make it hurt any less. Still, some part of Derek hoped.

Notes: I honestly just read the first part, but I thought I'd add the whole series so people know what they're getting into. The first part can be read as a stand alone, so if anyone wants to stop after that they absolutely can. The fic itself is a bit sad, but it has a happy ending! Stiles travels to another dimension, and shenanigans follow. The series is complete.

[novelmonger]

So I'm a pretty big LotR fan. And I'm a pretty big fan of the movies. No, they're not perfect, but they're a really good adaptation and a truly masterful work of cinematic art. I've grown pretty familiar with the movies over the past 23 years (@_@) - and not just the movies themselves, but I also love learning all about how they were made. I've watched all the way through all the bonus material in the Extended Editions at least five times (and some of the more fun bits way more times than that XD). I've even watched all three movies with the cast commentary.

But you know what I've never done, not even at the height of my obsession when I had way more free time than I do now? I've never watched the movies with the other commentaries. It looks like there are three more commentaries, with different groups of various people on the crew, and for some reason I never got around to listening through them. I can't for the life of me think why - maybe I thought I already knew everything they'd talk about? maybe I somehow thought it would be boring??? - but today that changes!

I'm going to just jot down the main things that stick out to me that I didn't know before. I've gleaned a lot of BTS information and stories about these movies from various sources, so I'm not sure how long this will be, but I'm sure there will be some new things that jump out at me.

From the FotR writer/director commentary with Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh:

There was a draft of the script where they didn't have a prologue, and all the information about Sauron and the Ring and Gollum and everything was going to be in that conversation between Frodo and Gandalf @_@ Can you imagine? I mean, yeah, it would be more like the book, but At What Cost? (At the cost of several memes and short attention spans, that's what.)

Peter Jackson says he doesn't like magic or wizards in movies. Um...sir? Why the heck are you making fantasy movies then???

The location where they shot the Ford of Bruinen was a real ford that was used during the gold rush in New Zealand! Because New Zealand had a gold rush around the same time as the one in the U.S.!

Hugo Weaving actually did the voice of Isildur when he claims the Ring and says, "No." I have...questions.

Peter Jackson says the journey through Moria is the best sequence in the book, and Fran and Philippa say it's the best-written chapter. Interesting! I don't know what I would point to as the best-written chapter of FotR; I don't think I've ever thought of that (though I might say some of the best descriptions in this book are in Rivendell).

They said they might redo the Gollum scene in Moria to make him look more like he does in TTT. Uhhh...it's been 23 years, guys, where's my remaster? XD

The Frodo-Gandalf conversation in Moria (the "all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us" conversation) was done with forced perspective??? I never realized that! I thought they just had Elijah sit a little lower than Ian so their eyelines would be right! They totally look like they're looking into each other's eyes, but they're not! :O

"Often in movies, that's a rare thing, to have shots in which nothing is real." - Oh, PJ, if you only knew what the state of things would be in two decades....

The scene of the Fellowship mourning Gandalf outside Moria was filmed before Ian McKellan had even arrived in New Zealand! :O So they were all mourning and reacting to the death of someone they probably weren't even sure what he looked like yet!

Sean Bean was apparently the only one of the primary actors who had any experience with a sword? Or at least he had the most experience. Viggo had to do the Weathertop fight scene on his first day, when he'd never touched a sword before @_@

In Boromir's death scene, the words sung by the chorus in the background is an Elvish translation of Faramir's line "I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend." ;A;

At one point, they were going to have Frodo fighting off an Uruk-Hai before he goes into the boat??? They even shot some of the footage?! Thankfully, they realized that was completely the wrong way to go about his end to this movie; it needed to be an emotional climax, not an action scene, and Frodo's victory is over his own doubts and the Ring's influence on him, when he grasps the Ring and marches forward to continue on his Quest, alone if need be. Thank goodness they realized that before it was too late.

SEAN ASTIN WAS NOT UNDERWATER IN THE SHOT OF HIM DROWNING WHAAAAAT MIND BLOWN

The shot of Boromir's boat going over the edge of the waterfall was actually footage of a barrel going over the Niagara Falls, and they just used CG to replace the barrel with the boat O.O

Fran Walsh: So Viggo's just put on Boromir's gauntlets... Me, a nerd: Vambraces, actually.

[rallamajoop]

Lab Photos and Documents from Resident Evils 7 & 8

Near the end of both Resis 7 and 8, the player character gets to explore a laboratory full of significant documents and interesting photos, textured and angled such that it’s very hard to get a good screencap. So here’s a huge dump of all the relevant image assets I could find to extract from both game files (plus some rambling about everything that got recycled between them, because spot-the-reused-asset is still my favourite game right now).

Photos from Lucas' lab in Resident Evil 7

The photo of Mia with Eveline in front of the tanker can be found at the end of the Mia video tape, though it also shows up again in Lucas' other lab in the Not A Hero DLC. That DLC also throws in a few new photos of Lucas' creations.

And moving on a game...

Photos from Miranda's Lab in Resident Evil 8

(Apologies for the long post above the cut, but tumblr doesn't seem to let you tile images below a 'Read more', unfortunately.)

What’s interesting is that most do seem to be legitimate photos of the characters’ real-life face models, not just renders of their 3D game models. Whether the human models themselves posed for these or whether their likeness was simply photoshopped onto scenes composed without them I haven’t been able to find out (though the latter seems more likely to me, given that most face models don't even seem to have known what character their likeness would be used for). Either way, there’s an eerie realism to these that doesn’t occur in many other parts of the game, and it’s effective in its own uncanny way.

Since both games refer to the same research at the same lab, it's probably reasonable that some of RE8 photos are just slightly-adjusted copies of those from RE7 ‒ those two shots of Eveline in the lab most obviously. And we're probably just supposed to politely ignore how obviously Miranda's just been selectively edited into that original pic of Eveline with the scientists. *cough*

In fact, if you look closely, even that big group photo of Eveline with the research team and transport operatives has actually patched in both Mia and Eveline from that earlier photo of them standing in front of the tanker. In fact, Alan (Mia's partner in RE7) isn't even from a photo at all: that's a drawing from a piece concept art (no wonder they've got him standing at the back!) As a minor role who appeared in no photos in RE7, I assume they just didn't have any good shots of his face model available.

I'm a little suspicious even Miranda's face in the group shot has been edited in from one of her other photos, but the match isn't quite perfect enough for me to be sure.

Even that photo of the needle going into the egg and the developing foetus isn't new: you can see the same needle shot in some of the RE7 documents, and even the foetus development series gets an angled scan-over in the RE7 ending sequence.

Mind you, some of those "photos of Eveline" may actually not be Eveline herself ‒ text on them in the lab itself suggests they're photos of other members of the E-series, sacrificed during necrotoxin tests. Which makes it rather odd that the figure in the second photo is an adult man who looks nothing like Eveline, so I can only assume some wires got crossed somewhere in the dev team.

(Also odd: the suggestion that there were multiple E-series subjects, some of whom were put down for experimental purposes, even though Eveline herself is labeled E-001. But let's not pretend RE lore has ever been super-consistent at the best of times.)

RE8's "lab photos" also include a couple of shots of a man in snow gear who's apparently Spencer of Umbrella-fame, presumably for all those fans who don't feel it's a proper Resident Evil game if there's not an Umbrella in it somewhere. They're both about as rough as that one piece of concept art of Alan, so I'm guessing whoever created them was about as invested in that topic as I am.

Somewhat more interesting to me are the two shots of Miranda with babies. The second obvious Eveline, but the first is presumably of Miranda with Eva, way back in 1920 or so ‒ demonstrating nothing so much much as that in a full 100 years, Miranda hasn't even slightly changed how she does her eyebrows. /s

[bodypaintsculptures]

High Priestess | Chapter 2: This Is Why

A/N: Hey lovelies!!! Happy Monday! Thanks for the great reaction to the first chapter of High Priestess! Just to let you know that I will posting a new chapter every three days while I work on editing the last edition, so please enjoy! Don't forget to like, comment and please lemme know if you would like to be tagged! H x

Synopsis: A down on their luck Welsh band, High Priestess, finally get the big break they were looking for - a supporting spot for one of the UK's biggest successes; the Arctic Monkeys. Was this finally the opportunity they needed to kick start their dream careers of being a successful rock band? Or will a tumultuous relationship between the two lead singers and a secret confession of devotion ultimately be too much to handle for the three best friends from Cardiff?

Word Count: 3.6K

Warnings: swearing, drug usage, mentions of death, mental health issues and sexual content throughout this fic.

────────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────────────

"Next." Alex mumbled after hearing just three bars of the song. This wasn't it, again. 

The frustration was growing inside of him with each passing minute, and each passing band they listened to. How hard could it be to find a support band for tour? Very, apparently.

They had been sitting there for just over two hours, going through bands like they were cigarettes and evidently, Alex had been doing the same, chain smoking his frustrations away, or at least trying to anyway. 

All they wanted was a band that captured their attention, one that fit their ideals, their aesthetics. They wanted a band that brought their own sound and with it, a new sense of performance.

And so far, nothing that they had listened to, came anywhere near that.

The shredding of guitars and heavy beatings of drums that burst through the speakers was all the band had listened to for the past few hours and it was beginning to become tiresome. Not to mention, that at this pint their ear drums were shot for hearing lyrics being  screamed at them. 

All Alex wanted was on band that captured his imagination like no other. Was that so hard?

He was sick of hearing the same old same old. It was boring him.

Of course, younger them would've jumped at the chance to sign every single band they had listened to so far to their tour, but now it was different. Now, they were older, more experienced. They understood what it took to be successful and how to entice a crowd, and what they had listened to so far would only make their fans ears bleed. Although there was an argument to say that some may enjoy a guitar being shredded for a whole set, it wasn't what they were looking for. So, their search, annoyingly, continued. 

"You can't just keep skipping 'em." James sighed from his position at the mixing desk. 

His back had slumped against the chair long ago, when no after no had began to reign in from different members of the group. He knew they were trying to get it right but they were beginning to vex him at how fussy they were being over this. How hard can it be to find a band for crying out loud?

"Well they're all shit." Jamie piped up from his sprawled position on the settee behind him. Guitar laying over him, he was mindlessly strumming at it, his gaze fixed on the dimly lit ceiling above as his interests began to waver in the process. "Absolute shite." He mumbled underneath his breath with a shake of his head.

James decided to ignore the guitarist's quip, knowing that the band he had played for them,  weren't all "shite". They just weren't what they were looking for.

With a puff of his cheeks, the producer glanced beside him to Alex who looked just as disinterested as the guitarist. His legs up on the mixing desk, head slumped against the chair and cigarette burning between his lips. James was about to tell him off for smoking in the small room but thought better of it, too tired and frustrated to even contemplate starting an argument with the lead singer. 

So, ignoring it, he instead tried to reason with him. "These are good artists, Al-"

"Yeah but they're not reyt for us." Alex cut him off with a huff, knowing where he was going with this and it didn't interest him. At this point the singer was more interested in the cloud of smoke that swirled around the small room as he puffed it out. 

Though that did not mean he wasn't as frustrated as his counterpart, because he was. He wished he could have picked the first band they heard. It would've made life easier on them and James, but that was not who he was, who they were. Instead, Alex was a man that was too invested and too much of a perfectionist. He was a man that was sometimes, too willing to take a risk, something he knew to be his Achilles heel. The singer knew what he wanted and he wasn't going to stop until he, and the rest of the band, found it. 

But at this point, it seems like his attempts to find that were proving futile. So much so that he was ready to give up on their search and just let the label pick whoever they wanted.

"Well you've gotta pick someone soon." James spat in frustration, his eyes scanning over the list of artists they had already said no to. "We haven't got long until your tour starts and so far we've picked one good-ish one and one maybe." His words were met with silence, which made him roll his eyes. "Can you guys please not be so fussy over this?" The producer glanced between the four men, though did not get much of a response for their lazed positions, more than a few hums of somewhat agreement. 

The only one to actually speak up was Alex, who craned his neck to look over at James and raised his eyebrow. "We're not being fussy, we're just trying to find someone, a--a band that..." His train of thought drifted off after that.

Sometimes he struggled to articulate his words properly, especially when it came to what he envisioned in his head. It was easier for him to write it down, in the form of a song or a poem, but he knew James' patience was wearing thin so he thought better of it. Though with this being their first stadium tour in the UK -- their home country -- he wanted everything to be perfect and right now, perfect was not what he was getting. 

Thankfully for the absent minded singer however, Matt seemed to catch on to what Alex was at least trying to express and carried on his friends train of though. "Encapsulates what we're doin'."

At that, Alex silently pointed to the drummer, who was reclining quietly on the settee behind them, in agreement. "We want someone, or summat, that can engage t'crowd, summat new, fresh... good." Matt continued, his thick northern accent laying heavily on the last part of his words as he stared at James, hoping he would understand. 

"Yeah better than the shite we've listened to so far." Nick snickered himself into the conversation for the first time in a while. But when his remark was met with a frosty reception, he wondered why he even bothered. 

Taking that reception as his cue to shut up, Nick went back to scrolling through his phone. He would just leave it up to the rest of the band to decide, it wasn't like his input mattered anyway. 

"Well thank you for insulting the majority of the bands signed on the label guys, it's great to know your opinions on that." James quipped sarcastically with a shake of his head. 

They were easier to work with making an album that was for sure.

Though James' words only made Alex groan loudly in frustration. "We ain't insulting 'em." He pointedly told the producer with the soured expression. Because they weren't, well, he wasn't at least. "They're just not suited to us." He shrugged, running a hand through his fluffy hair in frustration.

At that, James leaned forward in his chair for the first time in a while, glancing over at the lead singer and hushing his voice slightly when he talked. "And they don't have to be Al, you just need a supporting act or two for the European leg, that's it." His tone was almost pleading with him, desperate. "So please, for all the love of the two brain cells I have left, listen to these songs properly before you pass on them."

Puffing out a cloud of smoke, Alex carefully mulled over the producer's words. He could see the mans pained, exhausted expression and it saddened him to know that their indecisions had been the course of it. So, trying to think positively, the singer nodded. "Alryt, who's next 'en?" 

James wanted to punch the air in celebration but stuck with a crack of a smile as he looked down the list, reading off the next name; "Burning Bras."

As soon as those words left his lips however, a chorus of groans came from the band. Guess it's down to 2 bands then, he coldly thought, striking their name off the list. Though, he could see where they were coming from with that one, knowing the name just screamed heavy guitars and drums, it was vexing him further that they wouldn't even give them a chance. 

Running low on patience and more importantly, artists, James made a mental note not to tell them the men the name of the next band and instead, just play their song and see how they reacted. However, as he was about to do so, he stopped short with a frown of confusion. The next band on the list, he'd never heard of, never come across them and frankly, couldn't even remember writing that name down. 

Because that wasn't my handwriting...

Slightly irked, James turned to his assistant who was leaning against the desk to his left and question him; "Jay? Who are these? I didn't put them on the list?" He tone annoyed. 

Jay's eyes widened when he saw which name James was on about and nervously scratched the back of his neck. "Oh uh, I know, I um, I did?" His voice came out high pitched and questioning, slightly afraid of what his boss would say.

He had, in fact, added the band's name last minute, hoping that James wouldn't notice or even that the band would have found someone before now. But it seemed that their fussiness coupled with the fact that he was now being questioned by his manager, meant that the assistant wasn't so lucky after all. Or maybe he was, he wasn't sure. 

"They, um sent their demo to the label about a month ago, I've had a listen and I liked it so I thought I would just um... add it to the list?" Jay explained further, a nervous laugh falling from his lips. Is it getting hot in here?

"But they're not signed?" Jay shook his head. "Then they shouldn't be on the list." James added, his eyebrow raised disapprovingly, just as his words had been. 

Jay gulped at the sight of it, knowing how intimidating the producer could be at time. Hopelessly, the assistant tried to keep his composure at the mans unhappiness of the situation but still tried to fight his corner on the matter. He wasn't lying when he said he had enjoyed the band's demo. It was different, raw and unsolicited and in his humble opinion, exactly what they band were looking for. 

"I know I just thought-"

"Oh for fucks sake, fuck it!" James snapped impatiently. He was annoyed with his assistant and had just had about enough of him, so much so that he waved away any attempts he had of explaining and just decided to it play on the demo labelled; 'This Is Why'.

The band could make their own minds up, James thought, and considering that it was an unsigned band, he knew the answer would be no, but he was past the point of caring. 

Like every other demo they had listened to so far, the same guitar, bass and drum set up kicked in through the speakers but this time it was slight different. It wasn't straight in your face like the rest, instead it was mellowed, a few pulls of the guitar strings here and there, and a quietened thump of bass, while the drums teetered on melodically in the background. Then around thirty seconds in, the singing started.

"If you have an opinion, maybe you should shove it..."

James immediately recognised the song instantly. It was a cover of the new Paramore single that had dropped recently. They couldn't even send in an original piece?  The producer chuckled sarcastically to himself. He knew that this band had no hope in hell of ever getting signed if they did that, and half expected a collective groan to sound from behind him, but those groans never came.

It pleasantly surprised him at first but as time went on, and the song still played without objection, it only served to confuse the producer further. And when he glanced around at the band that had once been sprawled out, uninterested, he saw that all four men were now sat up straight, eyes wide open as they listened intently to the singer. 

The second Alex heard the voice, her voice, he bolted upright. This was it.

Yes, it was a cover, it wasn't an original piece like all the rest had been but it was raw, it was melodic, it was... what I'd been looking for.

"Or maybe you should scream, it might be best to keep it to yourself..."

The more the voice sang into the chorus, the more Alex felt his chest tighten. It was the sound he had been longing to hear, the voice he had been searching for. Right there in front of him.

"This is it." Alex stated as a matter-of-fact. "This is what we've been looking for." He added with a nod of his head, stuck in a trance of the beautiful melody his was being treated to. 

The singers voice wasn't as aggressive as the lyrics suggested. It was soft and gentle yet it got the point across. Her voice echoed around the room, penetrating his ears and danced along his skin, making the hairs stand on edge. It pulled him into the story that was being told through the nameless woman's mellifluous proclamations and made his head dizzy in appreciation.

James chuckled at the singer's reaction. "Well it's a cover-" 

Alex quickly waved that fact. He wasn't interested if it was a cover or an original piece, all he was interested in was the voice, her voice. What he had been looking for. 

Though James couldn't let the man get carried away, there were bigger problems than just finding the "right ones", namely; "They're an unsigned band, Al." He tried to get his point across, but the smile on Alex's face told the producer that he didn't care. 

Alex had found the sound that he'd been looking for and if James knew one thing about Alex, it was when he wanted something, he'd stop at nothing until he got it.

Typical bloody artist.

That didn't dispute the fact that this was an unsigned band and unsigned bands do not and should not be going on big stadium tours around Europe. It was unheard of, nigh on impossible. 

They really should pick another, James contemplated.

But as his eyes drifted between each member of the band, their expressions concentrated and filled with enjoyment, he knew that there was no chance of that happening now. Well, I'm fucked. 

"Lemme get this straight--" James started off, gathering the men's attention. "You want to debut an unsigned band on a stadium tour?"

Waiting for an answer to his ridiculous sounding question, the producer watched the four men looked between each other, all holding the same knowing smile that James dreaded. He could tell from that alone that their answer to his question was a unanimous "yes". They did not even have to affirm it with words but wasn't going to stop them from arguing that case.

"Well, if they sound good enuf-- which they do, then yeah." Matt spoke up first, a devilish smirk on his lips as he spoke. 

Jamie was next to voice his opinion. "We were unsigned once J-man, and now look at us." The guitarist chuckled with an overenthusiastic strum of the guitar on his lap. 

Although James hated the nickname that Jamie had given him of late, and the fact that they all seemed to be gunning for this unnamed, unsigned band, the producer could not dispute that fact. They were unsigned once. The Arctic Monkeys were once an unknown just like this band and now look at them. One of the UK's biggest successes. 

"Give 'em a chance." Nick argued as the song came to the end.

The bassist looked fully invested now, which was the first time today he had been. His eyes were wide with excitement, lips curled up into a smile as he lent forward on his seat, elbows resting on his knees. He usually hated picking bands to support them and would mostly leave that decision up to Alex, Matt and James, while he and Jamie would spend the time smoking and messing around with the instruments in the room. But now hearing what he has just heard, after the countless and painstaking hours of listening to shite, he was fully in this. 

Call him Bill Belichick because he was fully ready to draft this band as if they were Tom Brady.

It was now, after the song had finally come to its conclusion, that Alex, who had quietly been admiring the singers melancholy rendition of song, spoke up with a realisation. "What's their name?"

Right their name, they didn't even know their name. James sighed as he swung in his chair back to the piece of paper on his desk. He hurriedly looked for an answer to Alex's question, having already forgotten himself as his finger traced the line of striked out names until it fell on the one he was looking for. His eyebrow raising at what greeted him, he spoke aloud; "Uh... High Priestess."

High Priestess? Alex frowned as he took the name in, intrigued by it.

"Like the tarot card?" Matt shared the same intrigued look as Alex. 

Though the drummer's smile remained permanent compared, he couldn't say the same for counterpart sitting at the mixing desk, who now seemed deep in thought, stuck in his own little world. Nothing new there then.

James just shrugged and nodded, I guess. 

He didn't even know who they were, where they were from, what the band members' names were. It was, after all, Jay's marvelous idea to put the unsigned band on the list in the first place and James would make sure that he would be having words with assistant afterwards about his little trick.

Feeling his managers stony stare on him, Jay decided it was best to speak up and give the men a bit of knowledge on the band he had so brazenly added to the list. With a clearing of his throat and tripping of his words, he explained; "They're a Welsh band from Cardiff... a trio of girl--uh women."

The assistant could still feel the eyes of his manager boring into his with a disapproving annoyance but the the rest of the band seemed to hum at the little snippet of information that he had provided them with. What he wasn't counting on however, was the barrage of questions to start flying his way from them, questions that Jay did not have the answer to. Not yet anyway. 

"What's their names?" Matt asked curiously.

"We got any pictures of 'em?" Jamie chipped in.

"Can we meet 'em?" Nick poised hopefully.

"Are they fit?" The guitarist remarked unexpectedly. A chorus of tuts and disapproving looks from the rest of the room. "What?" He was just curious. 

Matt silently pointed his ring finger, giving the man a reminder that he was in fact married and probably shouldn't be asking questions like that. Jamie being Jamie, just shrugged amusedly. No harm in asking, right?

But it was Alex's question next that, out of all of them, that Jay seemed to have an answer for. "Did they have any more songs on the demo?"

As usual, the singer had been quiet while the rest of his bandmates had bombarded Jay with questions, while he just sat and absorbed the information that he had just been given. But mostly, he had remained quiet, unable to get the beautiful harmonies of the lead singer's voice out of his head, leading him to want to hear more of it, almost on repeat.

"Uh..." James stuttered on Alex's question. He wasn't sure for once whether they had either and reluctantly turned to Jay for assistance, who happily obliged.

His cheeks hurting from smiling at the fact that his little risk had paid off, Jay pushed himself off the mixing desk and took a seat next to James. "They had, uh, two songs on the demo, I think the other song is an original piece...I can't remember the name of it." He took the laptop from James, as they both searched for the song, stopping when he had found it. "Here it is, it's called uh... 'Lost Bloody Mary'."

"Lost Bloody Mary?" Nick laughed. "I like it."

He liked their style, weird but the good kind. The intriguing kind that made you want more.

"Play it 'en mate!" Matt encouraged happily, ready to hear another of their songs.

Before the assistant could press play, however, James turned to the band with an ultimatum. He was still concerned about the fact that it was an unsigned band. "Look, I know you guys are excited but this band needs to be scouted properly." He started, gauging their attention before he continued. "So, we'll send a representative to one of their gigs, film it and have it sent to you lot to decide whether you want them supporting you or not, okay?"

At James' words, they all nodded in agreement of the plan, apart from Alex, who was too stuck in his own mind to be fully coherent. 

For him, the decision had already been made. He didn't need to see them perform to know that they were the one thing that he had been looking for this whole time. He didn't need to see what they looked like to know that her voice alone was what he had craved. 

They were fresh, raw, uncut and rough around the edges. It was everything he had wanted to have on the tour with them, something different, something... imperfectly perfect.

High Priestess.

Alex smiled as the band's second demoed song, an original composition, began to filter through the studio speakers. 

They were gonna be the next big thing.

────────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────────────

Tag List: @alovesreading @indierockgirrl

[dribs-and-drabbles]

Dead Friend Forever ep 7

I LOVED this ep. Loved it.

This is so delicious. I'm trying to think how I would have reacted if I hadn't already known that Phee knew Non. Would I have remembered this fact when Phee was revealed at the end of ep 6? But WHY did Phee lie to the group?! This is so delicious. The mystery.

THEY'RE SO ADORABLE TOGETHER!

At the end of ep 6 I questioned whether Non's red bracelet was for Phee but now that I'm watching this beginning I'm reminded that in ep 2 I theorised that Phee was orange and...here Phee's in blue and Non's sat on the orange chair when they meet (with 'today will be a good day' on Non's shirt)???! Then Phee is in a rich orange and Non in deep blue in the next shot?!? I was so right!

(Oh that's Zo's parents house in Hidden Agenda!)

Oh they have matching bracelets!

(It hurts that they're so happy though)

Phee's dad is a policeman, yes? Yeah, yes yes yes. 👏🏽

Oh my god, Non's fucking t-shirts 🙈 'Moment' when they became boyfriends and now 'Positive Thinking' when Phee asks Non to move schools and Non needs time to consider it.

Wow, Non really does have three people after him - Phee, Jin, and I'm assuming the tutor. Boy's got the milkshake.

Oooo lies between Non and Phee. Non's not telling Phee about the money he owes, right? And he'll get it from the tutor by sleeping with him, and Phee will breakup with Non...

Oh those fateful words - 'I will never lie to you' - oh baby boy the demise of your relationship starts here.

Really?! A low battery and 'help me...' on his t-shirt when Non arrives tired at the house?!

I hate them. IhatethemIhatethemIhatethem. (Por/Tee/Top et al)

We still haven't found out what Non's medication is for, right? Is it for his heart maybe? (coming back to this at the end of the ep...maybe it's for his mind, some kind of mood stabilisers or antipsychotics or something...).

Non doesn't like being touched. I wonder if that's just Jin or by anyone (other than Phee I guess).

And now Non's shirt says 'create' as he's trying to be involved in the filming.

Oh no...no. NON, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! Is he willingly kissing the tutor or is this an exchange for the money? Has something been lost in translation? Oh no no no. Did Non just cheat on Phee? Willingly?

Oh, Non is a player! How juicy! 🤓

Oh the tutor is Khun Keng! I need to go back to my notes from a past ep for where he was mentioned before. (-> Ah yes, he was the potential hallucination that Jin saw in the temple who Phee apparently didn't see in ep 4...incheresting!)

Oh Non. NonNonNon... I love you. You're so deliciously flawed. How can you lie to Phee like this? But also, it's delicious characterisation. Because now it's even more difficult to know whose 'side' Phee is on in the future. Is he getting revenge for Non or is he a victim of whoever the murderer is as well? DELICIOUS!

Ahhhh and that's Jin's 'rejection'. I bet he's going to be the one to reveal to Phee about Non and Khun Keng.

Oh, or it might be Top and Tee.

Whhhhat is Tee up to? 😒

Actually, how are all these people friends in the future?!? They're all horrible to each other as well.

And then there's this guy, Khun Keng, who in one breath says he wants to stop the scammers and 'save' the students...but then in the next will take advantage of a student to shut him up. 🤦🏽‍♀️ Brilliant.

Please. I hope they lock the door though.

Oh no. No! Noooooo!!

Yep. And Jin is the one to reveal it. Yep. Yep yep.

That's some serious doxxing. And Jin! Jin who was the least worst out of the group has now done the worst thing to Non (who, tbh, kinda brought it on himself but also is a victim of a TEACHER. IT'S SO MORALLY GREY I LOVE IT). (EDIT: running back here after re-watching the scene [due to comments in the notes] and there are two laptop screens! - one light [Jin's] and one dark [owner unknown]. So Jin may not have been the person to post it...but he must have shared the video for someone else to do it. TASTY)

FUCK'S SAKE NON. 'ALWAYS BE YOURSELF' WHEN YOU GET CAUGHT CHEATING. WITH. A. TEACHER?! 😂 *HOWLING*

Ahhhhhh it got GOOOOOOOOOD. I love how morally grey everyone is. And how it's even more unclear who the 'murderer' might be in the future....because Khun Keng is also in the running now since he got doxxed by Jin. IT'S BRILLIANT. 😁

Por and Tee: we're gonna fuck with Non so bad 😈😏👺

Non: don't worry boys, I'ma fuck things up all by myself 😜😭🤦🏽‍♀️

[sea-owl]

I would love to hear more about kate, Sophie and Penelope becoming erotic models for Benedict. In modern or Regency terms.

Especially his brother reactions

So this made me do a quick look up of boudoir photography's history and apparently it started out in the 1920's when nudity in photography was still illegal. It started with a focus of plus sized figured women against elaborate backdrops, and during the 40's the focus shifted onto pin up girls in corsets and men's ties. I know a lot of modern day women have used boudoir photography as a form of self love because of how it can make them feel.

I feel like the self love approach is how Benedict got the three of them to be his models. So let's say that all three women all just had kids within months of each other, and they're still in that awkward post pregnancy phase where their bodies don't feel like their own. They feel gross, unsexy, and just generally uncomfortable in their own skin type of feeling.

Benedict goes up to them and says hey I know you don't feel your best right now but this may help. Genevieve also agreed to help with outfits. Just come to Aubrey Hall on this day. Leave the husbands at home with the kids but bring their shirts!

Feeling like this couldn't hurt the girls agree and meet Benedict and Genevieve at Aubrey Hall. Genevieve has several different outfits for each girl. Some romantic like the goddess inspired look with silk cloth draping over Penelope like an old statue. We got the woman charge for Kate who was paired with a fantastic strappy lingerie set completed with thigh high stocking, heels, and one of Anthony's business jackets. Sophie was put into her comfort of the outdoors and given a lacy swim suit for water shots in the lake. Thee was also shots done where the girls wore their husband's shirts while in their rooms at Aubrey Hall. There was also the ever favorite murdered husband robe, which a lot of the group shots were done in. Purple for Kate, silver for Sophie, and green for Penelope. Benedict even got in on the joke and did a group shot with each woman holding a (fake/prop) weapon, a shotgun for Kate, a knife for Sophie, and a bottle of arsenic for Penelope.

Benedict of course prepared a head of time and found different positions to put the girls in as he demonstrated with them which helped put them at ease and made the whole expense fun. They got to laugh at trying to get themselves in some of the poses, and sometimes helped one another. It was just a fun time.

Benedict also showed them the raw photos which did help the girls feel better about their bodies. The sexiness and beauty they felt was missing after their children borrowed their bodies was still there. They just needed help finding it again. Being able to see it for themselves definitely helped.

When the editing was done Benedict sent the photos Kate and Penelope with a promise they wouldn't show their husbands. It would ruin the Christmas surpise, he would tell them. Of course his chaotic sister in-laws agreed. They love messing with their husbands.

Artistic presents from Benedict during birthdays and Christmas were not that unusual. So Anthony and Colin didn't even really blink when Benedict gifted them both an album, saying it was co-created with their wives.

The whole family got to see Anthony and Colin open to the first page of those albums, immediately shut them with red faces, and refuse to let anyone else see. Not long after presents both men dragged their wives off to their respective bedrooms where some of the photos were taken.

Benedict had gifted his brothers an album full of those boudoir shots, and finished it with a painting of one of them. They are still debating if they are thankful or want to kill Benedict for seeing their wives like that.

Benedict also has an album filled with his wife's lovely boudoir shots, and may have a few with them as a couple.

[acaplaya-musings]

VoicePlay Visuals - what I got wrong (and other cool BTS stuff) (part 1/3)

So for those of you who still are unaware, I'm currently a member of VoicePlay's Patreon (and Geoff's too) (just for a few months), and I've been having an absolutely great time so far, especially in now having access to Behind-The-Scenes (BTS) content of each of VoicePlay's videos!

However, as I was whizzing through the BTS stuff, I was thinking about my VoicePlay Visuals posts, and about some things I said that weren't entirely true - whether I said something I believed to be correct that wasn't, or whether I simply made a wrong guess. I wanted to share my newfound knowledge with all of you (which is fine btw, people share this sorta stuff in the comments section of reaction videos all the time), but I didn't want to go back and edit a bunch of posts or reblog a bunch of them to add addendums, so I thought I'd do a sort of "addendum compilation" instead! (In three parts, just to keep these not too long). I'll also share some stuff where my guess was right, and additional interesting things I didn't originally know/notice. And you don't have to read a bunch of my previous VoicePlay Visuals posts before reading this (and I won't be mentioning every single post/video anyway), but if you wanna find the original posts I refer to, they're linked in each title.

Part 1 below the cut!

This Is Halloween: "I don't really have anything to say about J's full transformation, but it would be unfair of me to not include him as well, and it's definitely a very impressive costume. Almost like one of those rubbery fully-covering-the-head costume mask things, but like it's his actual face?" - I was pretty close! For the "full Wolfman" look, J was wearing a special prostethic face/mask thing, specially sculpted to fit his face, with just his mouth/chin area left uncovered! - Additionally, Eli's fake chin prostethic thing actually also goes up and over his cheeks, making them look puffier and making them look puffier and "blending" it all together more effectively. - And bonus fun fact: It was apparently Earl who carved all those pumpkins, except for like one that was done by Geoff 😁

Bang!: - Found out what leopard-print article of clothing Layne was wearing! His belt is leopard-print, apparently! (Okay, I can't actually take credit for this one, someone in the comments of the BTS pointed it out and I took their word for it as I forgot to look myself, lol) - The place they filmed the video really did have all those cool backdrops, and so many more, split between two large rooms! - J was the one who got to throw the giant rubber duck at Layne 😝

Butter: "Geoff is looking at his phone, Layne is taking selfies on his phone!" - Not quite! They were both filming! (At one point in the video anyway). The footage they took got included in the BTS video, it's great 👌 - Also the reason the height difference between Layne and Eli in the group shots doesn't look quite as stark as in something like the Wicked Medley is because here Eli was standing on a short wooden box or something like that, not even kidding 😂

Halo Theme: "Those shoes are definitely cool. Who was wearing them, I wonder?" - It was Scott! - Also when that blue pulsating light thing landed on Scott's shoulder in the video (the "red team! blue team!" bit), there was actually a blue light being shone on him from the side to get the proper lighting effect. - (Also did you know that Rek Dunn (whom the video is dedicated to) used to help film some of the BTS content? I realised when I was watching the BTS for the Panic Medley that he was the one holding the camera and talking to the guys for some of the clips)

Wicked Medley: "Love the giant clock backdrop, very cool" - Yeah, turns out the whole background is one giant flat backdrop, and it took like 4 hours to full set up! Man!

"I adore Emoni and Rachel's makeup looks in this one." - The makeup looks even better in natural light! - All VoicePlay videos are filmed after the audio of the covers has been fully recorded/completed, obviously, duh. Often the vocallists will be properly singing at least some of their parts during videoshoots, but the audio all gets dubbed over for the final product. Rachel was purely lip-syncing in this video, because she had lost her voice! Thankfully/obviously it happened after she had finished recording her vocals, but she still did a great job of making it look "realistic" in the actual video.

The Dragonborn Comes: "Apparently what Cesar is wearing is like legit chainmail or something and was fairly heavy. Go big or go home I guess?" - Yep, it weighed 20 pounds apparently (approximately 9 kilograms). In between takes, Cesar would often just lie down on the floor on his back to try and rest/not have to feel so much of the weight, rip - The metal-looking gloves were real as well - they came coated in some sort of anti-rust oil that had to be wiped off prior to filming - And yeah Layne's hair really was a vibrant blue - I'm guessing Rick did it with coloured hairspray or something.

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3

[kristinakyidyl]

The Bronze

Edit: rofl apparently they copied some of rheas runes right out of the codex runicus and despite having the damned thing pasted into the file I had these images in I didn’t notice bc they put it all out of order. 😂 ah well, it was still a fun exercise.

I have been feeling extra nerdy lately, and really into House of the Dragon. So when some stills from e5 of the Royce armor were shown last week, an idea started to form in my head. Here are the two pictures:

And what interested me about these is that we finally got a good look at the infamous house Royce armor. In the books, it is ancient bronze armor engraved with runes that are thought to protect the wearer from harm. Although this armor isn't bronze, it does have the runes. And I started thinking to myself "that's a pretty clear, high-res shot of the armor. I wonder how deep into the attention to detail their costuming department really went, anyway?"

I think you can see where I'm going with this. I decided I was gonna translate the runes on the armor.

If you're unfamiliar, the runes on their armor are futhark runes - an alphabet used most notoriously by the old Norse. There are several different versions of this alphabet, and of course it can be difficult to read them from the old examples because people had different handwriting, but generally speaking they are divided into 3 eras: The Elder Futhark, the Younger Futhark, and the Medieval Futhark. There are so many different versions of this alphabet. However, runes can be interpreted two ways. One, as a direct one-to-one translation where each rune is the letter of an alphabet. Two, by what the runes symbolized in a larger sense. Elder Futhark tends to be sharper and more blocky than younger futhark, like this:

And on the Royces' armor I noticed that the inscriptions on their bracers and the added pieces to the armor tended to be written more in the style of the elder futhark, so when I was making decisions about what letter I thought it might be, I took that into consideration.

As an aside here: this is why the phrase "runes on rocks" drives me crazy. The maesters imply that the First Men couldn't write because they left behind "runes on rocks". Runes ARE letters. And if they're being represented in the Royces' armor by the letters of the futhark alphabets, they absolutely are letters and not just pictures. The maesters are such poor scholars.

Now, a couple of notes and caveats before I show you what I did:

I am familiar with runes, but I'm not an expert, and even among experts the interpretation of a given rune can be subjective depending on context.

I did this from stills. I did the best I could to figure out which runes were which, but sometimes the image was too blurry or was blocked by something.

I'll be able to explain this better later on in this post, but sometimes it really was just up to my best guess, so if you disagree that's totally ok!

The first step I took was to outline all of the runes I felt I could clearly outline. It looked like this:

You can see what I mean here about how the writing on her bracer and the leather piece on his chest plate being more angular. Those : and ; between the runes in places are not other runes. They were used in medieval reconstruction writing as the equivalent of a modern space or period. They indicate separation in the groupings.

After I had that, I took like half a line on his and started doing a direct rune-to-letter translation to see if there was anything there that warranted doing a larger project. And, much to my disappointment, it was gibberish. It does not spell anything. However, there were a few things about the groupings and the letters that drew my attention. 1, they bothered to do them in groupings at all. Why? If you're just going to write gibberish it doesn't really seem like it would matter if we knew where the breaks in groups were. 2, the runes are a mix of elder, younger, and medieval runes. This is something modern writers of runes sometimes do when one alphabet is missing something they need. It's not at all historically correct, but it still happens in modern use of the letters. 3, They aren't in a pattern. It doesn't, from what I can tell, repeat. That could be a function of how it is inscribed and how their armor is made, but I didn't notice a pattern. 4, runes in spellwork and when being used for esoteric meanings can be written two ways: forwards and backwards, aka merkstave. A few of the runes on the armor are merkstave. Seems like a very purposeful choice if you're just throwing runes on there for aesthetic purposes. 5, It includes bind runes. Bind runes are complex runes made of two or more individual runes written together in one rune. They're extremely common in spellwork. It's the same thing as writing a word that has meaning to you, but taking all of the letters and artfully combining them into one complex-looking sigil. It's very personal to the individual working the spell, and is something of an art form.

After I'd noticed those things, I decided to move forward with transcribing the runes. First, I wrote them all in a more cohesive manner and then put the direct letter translations under them. Here's what that looked like:

Hers is left, his is right. The first line on hers is her bracer. The blue on his is the separate leather plate on his (I also thought it was a nice touch to have the runes written in one like long run on circle on this piece, as that's what they look like on a lot of runestones.). Green is a line break. ? are characters that aren't actual runes, so I've probably just gotten them wrong bc of where they were located on the armor. Both : and ; and . are breaks in the groupings. Here's an english letter transcript for those who can't see the image, or might have trouble with my handwriting. Brackets [] are a bindrune and parenthesis () are a merstave rune:

Her Bracer: TUUAR. MA. N

Her chest plate: H. N. KUTHRAWUA. ?HINIIK. AII. SAN. FIFFUH. RK. IKHM. R. [TA]W. FA. ALARIH. ATAR. UTATH. AR. ARAU. PK. FA. ALARIH. OIIAR. OAN. SUM. UIL. OK. HAN. LOSAR. HAN. SUM. F. TARAIKN. NIIITRAIK. THA. FRAN[TN]. NNAR. MA.

His decorative plate: SANO[KN]Y(A)FTUNLSRPLYOOWSSADISUTIIKOHIZRHROTH[OT]TKIL.

His breastplate: NKI. FIA. SIR. F. ATAR. F. U. LI. AN. A. FO. FI. F. AII. SAR. FI. RUT. AIAR. KPTU. RIH. NTAR. UTAI. ?IUINTIO[TO]KHAN. LOPAR. HA. M. KUNUNPUIL. OIH. UILIA. SAHH. H. DRAPIA. FRATH(A)AR. UILI(A). SAHI. Næ. MIN. AONAR. MAN. MATHAN. KUHU. IPRA.

Now, if you look at the images you might be wondering how two different symbols ended up being the same letter. For example, the H's in SAHH on his breastplate look different. That is because of the mixed alphabets. The letter H in elder futhark looks very much like a latin H and the letter H in younger futhark looks like a line with a little x on it. You'll also see that there are places where I just had to make a decision. For example, there is a run on both their armor that looks like a lower case h. There isn't a rune that looks like a lower case h. So I had two choices in that case, either it was a poorly written n or a bindrune that said "iu". Because the lower part of the rune was so small in comparison to how the U rune was written the rest of the time, I decided on the poorly written n. After all, perhaps there's a : or ; there that I can't make out because it's a photo.

So it's fairly obvious that the runes don't say anything, at least not in English, which is fair. Maybe they made up some First Man version of Westerosi. I don't know. but I'd like to take just one group of runes and see how it might work together as a spell because they are repeatedly referred to in the text as spells, not necessarily as writing. Ideally, I want one that is clearly visible and uses as few as possible medieval runes.

Let's go with the UILI(A) sequence on his breastplate. These runes all happen to be elder futhark (although some did carry over to younger futhark.). They are: Uruz, Isa, Laguz, Isa, and merkstave Naudhiz. Here's what they mean:

Uruz: it can be used for mental and physical health when used in spells, but when it is used in casting it represents personal success that is out of the control of the person. It stands for an aurochs (an undomesticated cow.).

Isa: It represents ice, and can mean that an activity should it is stopped, and a change should be made to restart it.

Laguz: Represents water, or moving and flowing with the world and tides around you.

Isa again.

Naudhiz: It doesn't seem to really have a merkstave meaning (a lot of times the merkstave meanings are just the opposite of the main meaning.), but it means restriction of power. Not really hopelessness, but more a sign that one's power is being restricted but they have the ability to break free of that restriction. It stands for need.

Taken together there are 3 runes for restrictions on power, for containment, for control, really. The other two are for healing, and deal with the environment around the person rather than the person themselves. It's all very subjective, but if I were to put something like this on armor, it would seem to be a spell for control and calm within the chaos of battle, and a request for healing and strength of mind.

Do you wanna do another one? Let's do another one because they're fun. Let's look at one from Rhea's armor. The one that says "losar". The runes that make up that set are: Logr(younger) or Laguz (elder), Fehu (the medieval incarnation.), Sowulo (both), Ar (younger), and Raido (older & younger). Their meanings are:

Logr/Laguz: same as above, but Logr also means purification. It has to do with cleansing or washing.

Fehu: Power and wealth, or the power to obtain wealth.

Sowulo: A light in dark places, seeing clearly in times of doubt and confusion. In the younger futhark, it is also associated with control exerted by the person via strength of will.

Ar: Bounty and rewards coming via the application of your own skill, not something left to chance. IE, reaping positive rewards for taking an action.

Raido: Being able to focus will and energy for positive outcomes (elder), or a journey that the user must go on (younger). Represents a horse, cart or riding.

If I were to take this group and put it together on armor, I'd use it to represent winning the battle, whether it be overall or just coming out of the darkness safely because you made good choices. It seems like it's a spell for winning.

What I think is interesting about both of these spells is that they have to do with personal choice and skill, and the boost they're looking for in the magic is to enhance their own skills and abilities rather than just, for example, asking the warrior to do it for them. It's more that they're saying they've prepared for the battle and they want that preparedness to mean something. They want to be ready.

Was this done on purpose by the showrunners? I mean...I think so, at least a little. I think they shouldn't have mixed alphabets though. Anyway, I hope you got at least a little amusement out of this terribly detailed random fandom thing.

As a bonus, here is the translation of the Royce shield on the westeros.org wiki:

Spoiler: it doesn't say anything:

It literally starts with lorem ipsum, but the creator for some reason weirdly chose to use an A rather than an O. BTW, do you see that letter I've marked as an N? Top row, third from the right? That is not a rune. They used it on the show, too. I checked like 5 different sites, including the one I've used for years for rune meanings, and it is *nowhere*. It's not even in the codex runicus so far as I can see, which is a medieval reconstruction of the futhark alphabet.

Anyway, if you're interested, here's how you write a couple of Royce things in runes (to the best of my ability, since the runes are just an alphabet and some of the letters - like the thorn - don't have a direct latin equivalent.).

[gillianthecat]

my thoughts on the GMMTV trailer drops: more or less in the order of my interest in them

Queer Love

Only Friends - I'm excited. I love mess and drama and entanglements. I'm into messy friend groups and people hurting each other because they're confused and have too many feelings and fears. The trailer also visually looked really good and professional. The show I'm looking forward to most.

Dangerous Romance: I am intrigued! I did not expect this of myself when starting this BL journey a few months ago, but apparently I am into high school romances. I like the enemies-to-lovers, spoiled rich boy x ambitious poor boy dynamic. I liked the feeling of this couple on screen together, and the style of humor. I'm kind of excited about this one actually. The trailer seemed very high quality - like it's edited from actual footage rather than just shot as promo - which a) makes me hopeful the series will actually come out and b) probably increases the show's appeal for me.

23.5 Degrees - I'm looking forward to this one too! I'm into crushes and pining, and popular one/wallflower romances, and as I said above, apparently also high school romance. I like that they're giving Milk and Love entirely new characters and not just another variation on Ink and Paa. The story seems sweet and simple from the trailer, and its hard for me to tell if it really is that basic or if it's just being presented like that for promo purposes, but either way I'm interested. And yay for more GL!

Hidden Agenda: I've seen people saying it looks derivative of 2gether 2 and some other shows, but I haven't watched any of those so it's not an issue for me. The trailer actually appeals, surprisingly. One character tricking another to seduce him could bother me but he seems so straightforward about his trickery, at least as shown in the trailer, that instead it seems interesting. I like crushes and "practice" kisses and inexperienced characters figuring themselves out. It doesn't seem too slapstick in its humor, which would be my main concern with something like this. And it looks a bit messy and apparently today I am very much in the mood for mess.

Last Twilight: The trailer looked very intriguing. I'm not sure how the story is going to handle a blind charter. It is in general a problem that most of the stories about disabled characters that get told are about the tragedy of them becoming disabled. I don't know how it is in Thailand, but in the USA we have way too many of these. That said, this show still intrigues. I'm not blind and perhaps I would feel differently about it if I was, but seeing characters have to adjust to a difficult major change in their life does make for a compelling story. The trailer looked expensive and well made, which always helps. I confess I don't find Jimmy as appealing as many people seem to -something about his voice and his face I find irrationally irritating. But that actually works well for the asshole character that he's playing here, so I think I would enjoy him in this. I like the asshole-for-asshole dynamic they start off with, and it makes it interesting to see how they will soften and fall in love. So I am looking forward to this one, but with some nervousness about how they'll manage it.

Cherry Magic remake: I am very curious about this one. I liked many things about the original Cherry Magic but was also frustrated by it, so the idea of another version does in general appeal to me. I've never seen Tay or New in anything (as far as I recall) so I have no thoughts on them in particular. I don't necessarily trust GMMTV to fix the things I didn't like, and I'm worried that they'll lean ever more into the slapstick stuff. Basically, what I want out of a new Cherry Magic is something that gets a little darker, a little messier, lets the Kurosawa character be more of a co-protagonist than a love interest, and digs a little deeper into this ideas of virginity and the Adachi character’s feelings around sex and desire. I could see GMMTV getting more into the stuff around sex and desire, but I don't nessarily have faith about the rest. The odd little interpretive dance piece they threw together at the last minute to replace the trailer and the conversation that was only 20% subtitled told me basically nothing. Hopefully they'll resolve their licensing issues soon and we'll get to see the actual trailer. In summary, I will likely watch this out of curiosity to see just how they decided to adapt this. (As with all of these, assuming it ever actually comes out.)

Our Skyy 2: I was so confused by this trailer until @heretherebedork kindly explained it's not actually a series, just a label for GMMTV's collection of "special episodes" of one-off sequels for other shows. I don't think I've seen any of their other special episodes so I don't know if I'd like them. Bad Buddy I'm probably interested in because I love Pran and Pat, and also their story wasn't one that felt like it needed to stay within the container of its series; it doesn't feel like it would take away from the original arc to find out what happens later. I confess I still haven't watched the final episode of The Eclipse (I had all these Feelings and kept putting it off and now it's become this big thing) so I don't even know yet if I want more of Akk and Ayan, but I probably do. I don't think I recognized any of the other couples, except Puen and Talay from Vice Versa, which I dropped at episode two.

Cooking Crush: I'm not sure what I think about this one. I have actually really liked Off and Gun in both things I've seen them in (Theory of Love and Not Me) but for some reason the idea of them in things never excites me. I also tend to be turned off by food themed shows. Part of it is my own current complicated relationship with cooking (and food) and part of it is there are just so fucking many of them and it somehow feels... lazy? derivative? I don't know what exactly. All these aesthetic shots of chopping/or food in a pan or glamorously plating a dish makes it feel like an instagram video. And I'm just feeling very over the metaphor of food as love. That being said, it doesn't necessarily look like Cooking Crush is going that route. The trailer does look very bare bones - like they just filmed the parts they needed to get investors, so I also feel like I really don't know what the show will turn out to be and am keeping an open mind.

A Boss and A Babe: I'm generally not a fan of office romances. Part of it is often when they get into the details of the business itself it annoys and bores me, but if they leave it too generic it makes the whole show feel too ungrounded. (Old Fashion Cupcake walked this line beautifully. Oddly enough Senpai, This Can't Be Love!, despite its many flaws, also did this pretty well.). Part of it is very much a me thing and about my complicated feelings around employment and office work.

And a third part, which crystalized for me while watching this trailer, is that while I do want shows about adults, watching an office filled with 22 year old looking actors, and a boss played by someone who looks like he could convincingly play a high school student in another show, somehow feels even less adult to me than university set and even high school set shows. It feels like a teenager's fantasy of adulthood, like the old CW type show about college students aimed at young teens. Something about that makes me feel even older and more out of touch than just watching university students. (That's another thing that was so wonderful about Old Fashion Cupcake, it was about actual grownups, played by actors who were visibly actual grownups.

All of that aside, while the power dynamics of a boss hitting on their subordinate often would bother me, the boss in this show seems so odd that it somehow doesn't here. Overall the show doesn't particularly appeal to me, but it seems weird enough that the tropes and humor style I normally dislike don't actually turn me off, and it's something I might want to watch when I'm in the mood for a certain type of ridiculousness.

Heterosexual Romance

Speaking of actual grown-ups, I think I will be giving Find Yourself a pass. Part of it is my general extreme pickiness with heterosexual romances, part of it is my recoiling from a woman who is actually slightly younger than I am being depicted as this super old character, and part of it is that the aggressive pursuit by the younger guy, which seems to be a staple of these noona romances, is really a turnoff for me. I am intrigued by older woman/younger man romance pairings as a concept, but this version does not appeal to me at all. I haven't looked into it much, I don't know if there are any existing ones that do. I would love a good one!

The Interest: It's a film, so I have no idea if it will ever be available internationally, but the trailer looked very moody and intriguing. Yet again, apparently I'm in the mood for messy and edgy. It appears it's going to be a het romance? I appreciate a trailer that gives me just enough to pique my curiosity without giving away the whole story.

Beauty Newbie: Love triangle(?) het romance that may also be an examination of lookism, beauty standards, and possibly even misogyny? The concept intrigues and could be wonderful if done the right way and very annoying/frustrating if not. The tone of the trailer did appeal though, so I may try it when it comes out, if I even remember its existence then.

Faceless Love: My same general feelings about office romances (especially with such young casts) and het romances apply, and this doesn't have enough in it that attracts me to overcome that. The leads both seem very appealing and I like their chemistry. I also like the male lead's suits. I wish they didn't give the female lead that generic looking make-over. sigh. My understanding of face-blindness was that it didn't stop people from recognizing facial expressions, but apparently that is true for some types of prosopagnosia. I can't tell how well they'll handle the depiction of a disabled character. Highly unlikely I will watch this, but you never know, I could change my mind when it comes out.

Loneliness Society: A While You Were Sleeping remake! Nostalgia alone is a big draw, but otherwise this trailer didn't actually appeal all that much, at least not enough to overcome my general reservations about het romance.

the one with no English title: Highly unlikely I will watch this. Extreme height differences and very baby faced female leads apparently fall outside of the narrow range of things that appeal to me in het romances these days. The story seems pretty bare bones as depicted in the trailer - a girl with a crush and maybe a love triangle? Even if it wasn't het, I don't know that I'd be that excited about it, but I might check it out anyways, if I even remember that it exists.

Not (Necessarily) Romance

Wednesday Club - The idea intrigues me, the trailer itself somehow didn't. Clearly I'm in the mood for messy friend groups because I’m into the drama of all these college kids creating a club based on feeling like outcasts and then creating these ridiculous unhealthy rules that guarantee drama. That said, the trailer made it seem like it wouldn't necessarily be well written. But it could also just be the way it was summarized and edited for a 3 minute pitch, so I will keep an open mind on this one too. I can't even tell if there will be any queer story lines in it, but either way I'm intrigued enough to check it out when/if it's released.

The Jungle: The trailer doesn't have subtitles yet so I'm confused about what's going on. Some sort of glamorous gang or something? It does not seem to be any sort of romance, queer or het, at least. That said, it looks very glamorous and "edgy" and dramatic and I am cautiously intrigued. As I said, I'm in the mood for mess. Plus Off and Nanon!

Enigma: The trailer did intrigue, even though I'm a bit of a scardy-cat about supernatural horror type stuff recently. I can't tell if it's going to be het romance or if that dude is going to be the bad guy, but the trailer did get me curious about him and this whole world.I may end up watching it.

Midnight Museum: The trader seems very much a promo sort of thing so I'm not drawing any conclusions from its vibe (which honestly feels pretty amateurish). I haven't been that into mystery type stuff recently (is it also kind of horror? supernatural? I'm not sure) but if I am in the mood if/when it actually comes out I might try it.

Double Savage: Mostly I was confused by the trailer. It neither appealed nor turned me off. Really I just have no thoughts on this one at all yet.

[roccinan]

Oh my gosh, there's a new "Money Heist: Korea" trailer and I have so many questions!! (Spoiler warning just in case!!)

First of all, a hug with the professor that seems to mirror the canon scene - so are they also brothers in this version? He does get a shot in the trailer where he says - presumably to the Professor - to not forget those who trusted him until the end, and it's giving me such "Andrés' last conversation with Sergio over the comms" energy?

There's also the shot of Berlin actually going outside? Does he survive this time around? Or does he, for some reason end up, going back into the mint? He does look a bit more tired in the scene where he's presumably talking to the Professor over the comms, so the scene from the outside would probably come before the convo (or even the hug) with the Professor? But that now raises the question of "what kind of plan would entail that they get out of the mint only to go back in?"

I'm honestly super excited for this Part 2, and I'd love to hear your thoughts too, if that's alright! :D

Hi anon! OMG Thanks so much for sharing the news with me- I looked it up the moment I saw your ask! Same here- I'm super excited, but I also have some questions XD

I also get the vibe that they're mirroring the hangar hug with that shot! So there's an even higher chance that the professor and Berlin are still brothers here; it's such a big plot "twist" so I don't think they'd do away with it but there's a chance that Berlin is the younger brother this time going by the actors' actual ages. Same! The way they edited that line makes it look like it's Berlin speaking to the professor (it's definitely his voice) but hmmm, I think it's also possible that this is Berlin talking to Tokyo before presumably taking command back from her and throwing her out.

Also possible that the "poor lives" refers to the people who left the concentration camp with him; maybe they're also involved with the professor's plan somehow. In that case, would make make more sense for him to be addressing the professor. Either way, it definitely feels like K!Professor owes Berlin more than he's letting on.

re: outside: I see him stepping out with the hostage girl and one of him with the whole group, but I think the first shot was him making a point to the camera before going back in and the second is everyone coming out either as part of a negotiation or proof of life (but the heist isn't over with so they all head back in anyway). So alas, I'm pretty sure he never makes it out of the mint at the very end.

As for other thoughts (thanks for the interest! of course it's alright!), I think I caught a shot of a hostage about to bash Oslo's head in, so he and Moscow will probably still die for sure this time. I'm curious about why Berlin threw Tokyo out this time around since she doesn't have any reason to do the Russian Roulette stunt XD And in lcdp, everyone was frantic because they thought the profe abandoned them; here, there's apparently a mole among them instead of among the police. Which really makes me wonder who the hell it is and if it's a wrench in the heist or another step of the professor's plan that wasn't in the original.

I'm most excited to see the differences between this and the original (ie. what the professor's goal is this time around, how Captain Cha will factor differently than Angel, if "Lisbon" still follows the professor to wherever he escapes to this time), confirmation for the brothers' relationship and how they reunited, who the "mole" is, how Seoul will contribute, why Tokyo gets thrown out, and of course, the various ways Berlin will undoubtedly suffer asdfasdf.

[smolfailure]

FUCK IT, DREAM SMP HOMESTUCK AU

but it's only half shitposts and there are actual Thoughts in there.

You don't need to have read the comic to understand because I tried not to spoil anything major, but it'd help if you knew basic stuff about classpects, SBURB and the hemospectrum.

disclaimer: i'm not a good pixel artist and this is my first actual sprites ever so please be kind to my weird pixels

The Kids:

Tommy

Fundy

Techno

Tubbo

tommy, tubbo and fundy one of the kids because they're the kids in dream smp canon (with fundy being son of wilbur)

techno's there because i want to make a dave strider reference (haha get it because techno's name is also da-- *gets shot) and also because they are both coolguys except instead of using irony, techno has adhd

The Trolls:

Wilbur Soohte (fuschia)

?????? Ehrret (violet)

J????? Shlatt (purple)

Nihacu Niikki (indigo)

Skeppy Diamon (cerulean)

Quacki Tthiey (teal)

Philza Myncra (jade)

Dreame Wastkn (lime disguising as olive)

George Notfou (gold)

Sapphe Nahfpe (bronze)

Badboy Haelow (burgundy)

don't come at me saying only females are allowed to be jades and fuschias; gender is fake and this is an au

more of the AU and the talksprites are under the cut:

Tommy

Lunar sway: Derse. Types in: Red

chaotic. the first person to be introduced.

when he gets introduced instead of the “Zoosmell Pooplord” bit, Tommy is initially going to be the name inputted but then backspaced it and decided that Tommyinnit was better and he was fuming until he’s named Tommy.

Gives me big Blood/Hope vibes. Blood because a lot of the conflict of the dream smp connected to someone breaking his trust or harming the things he cares about, Hope because a lot of the plot of the dream smp stems from Tommy starting shit based on his ideals and what he thinks is right.

the first to instigate fighting against the trolls

bbh contacts him once and tommy keeps cursing until he disconnects from frustration rip

wields Gunkind and his only strife weapon at the beginning is the Vlog gun. He has Gunkind as his strife specibus mainly because he looked up at schlatt and he imitates him.

Fundy

Lunar sway: Prospit. Types in: Orange

it was his idea to play SBURB but only through Dream.

he talks to dream the most among the other trolls fwt stans getcha juice this is the rosemary of the session

dream’s the one giving him exposition about the game so that’s how he knows how to play SBURB.

wilbur trolls fundy once and instantly adopts him.

“You’re my son.” “How does that even work??” “I was one of the people who created your universe. It’s basically the same thing.”

Fundy relents anyway.

Techno

Lunar sway: Derse. Types in: Pink

dave strider but dead-inside voice + rose lalonde english major vibes

he slices the text box when you try to name him "Dave " like in

techno gives me time player vibes (contantly on the move. his skyblock series, his “stays in the pit” monologue,) but also rage vibes (anarchy,  the “theseus” monologue, political alignment is Chaos) alas i am not sure what class

uses Tridentkind and claims "it came from god"

 it was dream, he accidentally transportalized one of wilbur’s weapon while he testing the transportalizer.

Tubbo

Lunar sway: Prospit. Types in: Green

the jade harley of this session. the only thing keeping them from going apeshit. where would they be without him.

but also jade harley in a sense that he seems nice and wholesome but also don’t fuck with them they can mess you up

Heart/Life vibes??? someone good at classpecting help

i put them in prospit bc of the "tubbo third eye" instead of tubbo having a sixth sense or smth, they see the future from the clouds of skaia when they sleep

wields Stress-relieverKind at some point

bonus: everyone’s actual hair colors

Ideas about the Trolls

no i haven’t done their sprites yet bc it would take so much time and i’m not even sure if people wanna see more of this au skjdkdsakdfkl,, but i have Design Ideas.

events of the dsmp revolution are just a FLARP session drawing parallels to how the homestuck trolls had a FLARP session that spoiler alert: destroyed friendships. dtrio, eret, will are involved. eret betrays will's faction and wilbur's still Bitter over that.

on the context of alternia (highbloods and lowbloods) lmanburg and dreamsmp have their roles SWAPPED.  the emancipation theme thing is completely gone since highbloods are in more power than the lowbloods (the dream team) . 

wilbur made a faction called l’manburg because he wants a place where he and his fellow highbloods could make drugs vibe.they take a piece of land that was owned by the dream team. in normal circumstances, they shouldve stood down because lowbloods aren't supposed to start shit with highbloods (especially a group of highbloods that has the alternian heir among them)  but dream turned it into an activism thing about lowblood rights. the story plays as close as possible without tommy or tubbo in it (which is pretty hard ik but this is the best can do).

like in the dreamsmp revolution, dream kinda let wilbur do what he wants but this time he has more reason to because he’s in a lower caste. dream really only fought back when wilbur announced that he’d be building lmanburg on their land and calling it theirs.

eret betrays wilbur by supporting the lowbloods and wilbur and co. technically won but only because he finally called the drones in, as a reference to how lmanburg absolutely got crushed by the dream team in the smp but technically won. l’manburg keeps the piece of land and the dream team scatter away to find a new home.

wilbur soot's a fuschia because a) he's in a position that has a lot of power, b) yknow how he wrote a song about squids and his thing with sally… yeah.

eret's a violet because nobility!! dream looks down on him because he's ambivalent on fighting for lowblood rights when he's in a power to do so "you just sit there, and you look pretty that's it"

also like eridan he has a minor aesthetic mutation (herobrine eyes) that won't classify him as a mutant.

jschlatt is purple because it makes sense thematically because of the gamzee parallels (a. substance abuse b. if you know what happens in act 6, you know this already but spoiler alert, he ruins the main protagonists' lives) also he's a funnyman he deserves the clown caste

 quackity's a teal because he’s a law student. moving on--

 ok but for real it also makes sense thematically because he's the one who wrote the thing that tricked schlatt into agreeing also he gets manipulated by schlatt which also draws parallels to certain events in the comic

skeppy and bbh are BEST FRIENDS despite being highblood and lowblood respectively. initially, skeppy just wanted to bother bbh but they grew to be good friends in time. y’know like how they actually becane friends :D

philza minecraft is a jade because dad friend. also works thematically, because spoiler alert he gets to murder a seadweller for going batshit crazy. 

he also god tiers early. he dies fighting his quick undead denizen (haha baby zombie) but the consorts of his land carry him to his quest bed because he’s treated them all so well.

dream was initially going to be another caste but then i realized that means i have to make his hoodie something other than green which is unacceptable so its a good thing the fact that he's a lime works out

dream was the one who thought of playing sgrub in the first place- initially only planned to have gogy, sap, and bbh in the session but then realized that they four won't be enough so he invited more into his session

he’s also the first to go godtier ez clap blind speedrun not sure what classpect tho

the only reason why dream avoided being culled at birth for being a limeblood is because his rng is That Good. he quickly picked up the fact that he’s not supposed to exist and masqueraded as an oliveblood and kept mostly to himself to avoid suspicion.

george is still colorblind but he has lazer eyes along with it instead. dream lives with him in the same hive since being a mutant means dream doesn’t get a lusus of his own (dnf fans getcha juice “and they were roommates”) 

despite living in the same hive, he never really figures out that dream is a limeblood. possibly because a) he’s colorblind and when he sees dream bleeding he just sees yellow b) he’s just that fucking oblivious and it’s so valid of him.

sapnap’s a bronzeblood mainly because i know he’s the instigator of the pet war with tommy also because i associate him with the color orang in my mind so bronze it is

that’s the end of this long-ass post!! if you have other ideas PLEASE i want to hear them. i don’t know the other streamers i mentioned in here very well so if you have ideas that would be fitting to them like with classpect or lunar sway that would be GREAT. 

the only thing i’m confident about in here are the kids’ lunar sways. i’m not an expert in classpects and homestuck lore so there’s that too!! i just wanted to make this post because adhd means that the idea wouldn’t shut up until i finished it. This initially started as a single shitpost edit of tommyinnit talksprite but then the hiveswap 2 trailer came out and that means i have to combine my two hyperfixations.

also i have ideas about potential quadrants but idk how much of that is breaking some streamers’ boundaries about shipping (even the non romantic quads such as kismesistude, morallegiance and auspisticism) so i decided not to include it.

edit: apparently people want more so i made a discord server as a place to brainstorm!! please pm me to join!

[michelemoutons]

and at last, the post that maybe three people maximum have been waiting for...

em's comfort retro rally videos: a masterlist!

in a much-needed return to this blog's roots, and as an antidote to all motorsport- and life-related chaos, i now present to you: the first edition of em's favorite retro rally videos!

general disclaimer/info: these videos mainly come from the group B era of the world rally championship (wrc), which generally speaking was in the '80s. i am only human, so expect a lot of bias toward my personal favorites...which will become very apparent as you read this list hehe. also i'm not even gonna pretend to be an expert on this or anything. a lot of these are literally just based on Vibes

table of contents

i. my top 5 rally coverage videos

mainly coverage for television, recorded on VHS and uploaded to YouTube by some truly incredible people

ii. honorable mentions

not rally coverage, but retro rally videos nevertheless

often documentaries, mini-doc features, interviews

for all videos, i have indicated the language (most are in english fyi); if any links fail or videos disappear, send me an ask or DM and i'll remove the culprit/find an alternative link.

and now, onward!

(TW for occasional flash photography in many of the night sequences of the videos, as well as a gif included in this post)

i. my top 5 rally coverage videos

in which my bias toward audi sport, mouton/pons, mikkola, toivonen, and vatanen are put on blast for all to see 🥴 i am not an expert in anything i am just very good at research and a whore for aud—[SNIPED]. for the sake of brevity, i narrowed my favorites down to 5. maybe another time i will share all the rest!

also, a general note about the commentary: sometimes, the commentary around michèle and fabrizia can get... weird. keep in mind, they were the most prominent female team partnership around that time, and the first to nearly clinch a wrc wdc, and to modern ears, the commentators really didn't know how to act around them. personally, it wasn't horrible for me, i just ignored the weirder bits, but i understand if others might find it off-putting. also for the sake of your sanity don't read the comments.

5. Rally of the 1000 Lakes, 1984 | finland

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: vatanen/alén/toivonen (full final results)

comments: this was definitely a rally for most of audi sport's drivers to forget: bar stig blomqvist, who came quite close to the podium finishers with a 4:14:01 to henri toivonen's 4:12:57! both hannu mikkola and michèle mouton had to retire from the race, which may lead you to wonder: why does this rank among my favorites? well, it's always fun to watch group b rally cars sailing through the air against picturesque scenery, and this video also contains an intriguing (at least for me!) look at the scrutineering process, with drivers at their most casual.

owie :( they were fine though!

4. Lombard RAC Rally, 1981 | britain

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: mikkola/vatanen/blomqvist (full final results)

comments: hannu winning by 11 whole minutes even after rolling his car in the middle of the forest is actual legend behavior! anyway this was michèle's first wrc outing in britain, and even though she and fabrizia had to retire, they still did quite well, consistently running high in the leaderboards after the first few stages. and that's considering the fact that michèle had a bad cold for much of the rally and had to ask fabrizia to drive the car to service park for her at one point bc she was so tired. which fabrizia did... with a pencil in her mouth. lot of big names in one video—also, jean todt makes an appearance as a co-driver!

shamelessly poached off of one of my text post edits

3. Marlboro Safari Rally, 1983 | kenya

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: vatanen/mikkola/mouton (full final results)

comments: ok can i just say how stunning the video presentation is?? the opening sequence is just!!! the shots of the wildlife! the sprinting giraffes! wow! anyway the visual of drivers in deck chairs just tickles me for no reason, and michèle please tell me what you ask for at the hairdresser's and also where you got that orange blouse (this is obviously not just specific to this rally, she always eats and leaves no crumbs). this was michèle's first entry and only finish in kenya (and of course it was a podium mwah). it was also her last wrc entry in the A1 quattro, as she switched to the A2 for the rest of her program in the '83 season. also this is one of my favorite podium pictures ever.

lksdjffnnkd there's almost too much to unpack... fabrizia somehow surviving in high waist jeans in a hot car... michèle's do-it-yourself shorts... this podium picture was the subject of a very frantic video chat conversation between myself and a friend at 2am a few months ago

2. Rallye de Portugal, 1982 | portugal

links: short recap (eng) | overall coverage 1, stuck in the middle of two other rallies. timestamps in descrip. (eng) | overall coverage 2, very vibey with cool music (ita... also peep walter röhrl speaking italian)

podium: mouton/eklund/wittmann (full final results)

comments: GOD I LOVE THIS ONE SO MUCH AAAA! michèle's first podium of '82 being a win? this rally being the one where there's footage of her going shopping with fabrizia afterward? (more on that later) them winning by 13 whole minutes? and that's not even considering THEE most poetic victory ceremony of all time! in fact let me talk about that bc the racing and the win aside, that's why it's so high up on my list! literally poetic cinema! it's night, they're standing on top of the car and floodlit and surrounded by cheering crowds but they may as well be the only ones there in their own little world, laughing at each other and barely even having to look to each other when they're raising their hands—like god! shut up! we get it you're besties 😭

i_just_think_theyre_neat.png

and now... last but certainly never least...

1. Lombard RAC Rally, 1982 | britain

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: mikkola/mouton/toivonen (full final results)

comments: firstly, if you were to ask me about my dream podium, this would be it. hands down, across all series of motorsport, my comfort podium would be hannu, michèle, and henri in any order. (there's such a cute picture of them from this rally on pinterest, standing in order on a staircase. henri is not looking at the camera because he is laughing at something michèle is saying and it's such a Vibe but i cannot find it wah). the battle for second between michèle and henri ran down to literally the last stage, and their times are separated by seconds, which is just wild to me. the context of this rally deserves another post, which i honestly don’t have the energy to make rn, but just take my word for it that it threatens to destroy me if i think about it too hard! anyway this is just such an awesome rally and i’ve watched this video so many times haha

i love this rally so much that i actually had a character in a story i was writing attend the ceremony captured in this picture as a small child and made it a formative moment in her life. no, there is nothing wrong with me.

ii. honorable mentions

(is it obvious who my faves are? yikes)

'Group B - Avec Michele Mouton' (eng) - taken from a longer feature presentation about group b, a segment specifically about michèle. a friend once described its vibes as ‘a synth wave edit of an 80s anime set in a cyberpunk world about racing’

'1983 Audi Sport National Rally with Michele Mouton' (eng) - in which michèle takes journalist sue baker as a co-driver for a spin in an A1 and a rally win. fun behind-the-scenes video

'Intervista a Fabrizia Pons, la Regina delle Note' 1, 2, 3 (ita) - very thorough interview which is mostly fabrizia telling all sorts of stories, including the very entertaining story of how she found out she was going to be michèle’s co-driver. also what a badass title

'2008 Otago International Classic Rally' (eng) - THE BESTIES REUNITE THE BESTIES REUNITE!!! michèle and fabrizia reunite for a rally that fabrizia convinced michèle to join, they suffer some problems but there are plenty of wholesome bestie moments to be had

'Michele Mouton hurls Group B Audi Quattro up Goodwood hill' (eng) - i mean, self explanatory. the sound of the chirping tires? asmr could never. very short watch if you want a quick pick-me-up

'1990 Louise Aitken-Walker feature' (eng) - a video featuring a female rally driver from scotland and her point-scoring run at the rallye monte -carlo. i am convinced that louise was john finnemore’s inspiration or at least an influence for the character of linda fairbairn. no my hat is not made of tin foil what are you talking about

hannu rocketing around michigan back in 2017 (eng)

hannu flying around goodwood in 2015 (eng)

sometimes i listen to fabrizia's recent onboards (yes, she's still at it!) and this one is one of my favorites, from 2016 (ita)

[hydr0phius]

Incorrect Quotes Generator Shenanigans

Here's the generator I'm using :D

Part 1: The Odinspawn

Frigg: I see the red flags, I acknowledge that they're there, and then I completely ignore them. .........................................

Cop: You ran a red light. Loki: So did you, hypocrite. Cop: I was following you. Loki: That was dumb, I'm a terrible driver. Cop: Get out. .........................................

Loki: Am I a boy? Am I a girl? It doesn't matter. I'm going to burn your house down. .........................................

Loki: *gets set on fire and screams in agony* Loki: Nah, I’m just kidding. Fire does nothing to me. .........................................

Hela: What doesn't kill me better start running, because now I'm fucking pissed. .........................................

Hela: I don't dab. I stab. .........................................

Hela: I'm allergic to death. .........................................

Odin: You know, studies show that keeping a ladder in the house is more dangerous than a loaded gun. Odin: That's why I own TEN guns. Odin: Just in case some maniac tries to sneak in with a ladder. .........................................

Thor: So according to the cease and desist order I got, apparently you can’t ‘legally’ be a lawyer if your license is ‘cut out of a cereal box’. .........................................

Loki: Are you really planning to shoot the demon? Thor: Don't worry, it's a holy gun. Loki: How so? Thor: It makes holes. .........................................

Thor: I sort of did something and I need some advice, but I don't want a lot of judgment and criticism. Loki: And you came to me? .........................................

Loki: Hela, what are you doing? Hela: Making chocolate pudding. Loki: It's four in the morning, why are you making chocolate pudding? Hela: Because I've lost control of my life. Hela: Here's your pudding, Thor. Thor: Oh that's okay, I'm not hungry anymore. .........................................

Frigg to Odin: Me? I'm the bee knees, but, you? You're just... Hela: Cockroach ankles! Frigg: Ye- uh, what? ......................................... Frigg: We've got to find a way to cut down our expenses. What can we live without? Hela: Odin, probably. ......................................... Loki: Frigg taught me to think before I act. Loki: ...So if I smack the shit out of you, rest assured that I thought about it and am confident in my decision. ......................................... Frigg: What's gone wrong, Thor? Thor: Hey! That’s one hell of a thing to say to a person. Just because I’m calling doesn’t mean there’s a crisis. Frigg: That’s technically true, I suppose. Why are you calling? Thor: Well... There’s a crisis. .........................................

Hela: Hey, do you know the password to Odin’s computer? Loki: Fuck you, Hela. Hela: Hey!! Loki: No, you misunderstood, the password is "fuckyouHela". Hela: Oh, no numbers? Not very safe.

Odin, texting in the group chat: I wonder what Apple shots would look like? Thor: *Sends a picture of of a syringe with an apple slice shoddily edited inside* Hela: *Sends a picture of a shot glass with an Apple poorly drawn inside* Loki: *Sends picture of person dunking a Basketball into the hoop but replaced the basketball with a poorly resized apple* Odin: I hate all of you. .........................................

Loki: Fight me! Hela, standing behind them and holding a knife: *mouths* Do not. ......................................... Thor: Hey besties- Hela: Die. Thor: What did I do to you- .........................................

Thor: Hey, you want a tarot reading? Hela: Those are Pokemon cards. Thor: You got a magikarp. Hela: ... Thor: It means 'fuck you'.

[nanasarea]

🇨‌🇦‌🇧‌🇮‌🇳

❆Prompt: your friends asked you to stay with them in a cabin for a bit of a vacation and you obviously cant say no to them

❆Genre: fluff

❆Pairing: reader x best friend!nct (dream focus)

❆Word count: 2.6k (ok longest fic I see you)

❆a/n: this was so fun to write and now I'm crying I want this also I might make a summer edition once it gets hotter bc I have IDEAS now

ALSO NOT PROOFREAD

❆Tag list: @bumblebeenct​ @socketpunch​

❆TW: toy gun (?), German, swearing (?) idk not much haha

“Get in, loser, we’re going out of our minds!” Donghyuck yelled from the bus. 

You had agreed to spend the weekend with your friends at a cabin in the woods. 

They all got some time off and wanted to spend some time throwing snow balls at each other and building snowmen, but they couldn't do that without you. 

It was Friday, the day of departure. You had just gotten a text to come outside from Jeno a few minutes ago and there you were, staring at the big bus with 23 grown men, which would otherwise be terrifying, but since it was them, it seemed fun, and only a tiny bit terrifying. 

“Haven't you already?” You yelled back as you walked towards the bus and saw Johnny step out of the bus to help you with your bags and before you could say that you got it, they were already put away on the bus. 

“Thanks.” You smiled at him, your neck slightly hurting from the angle you had to put it in, in order to look at him.

“Don't mention it. Or do, if you must.” He said dramatically and gestured for you to get on the bus before him. You stepped into the bus and Johnny soon followed. 

Immediately, you were greeted by Doyoung, who was sitting at the front with Taeyong, who asked you about how you were and if you slept well.

You quickly greeted back and told them you were great and that you couldn't sleep that well, because you were excited. Before you could ask them the same, YangYang yelled for you to come over to the back as Hyuck pulled you after him. 

You tried to greet as many people as you could before getting to the back, where Yangyang sat with Renjun, Haechan and Hendery. Hyuck quickly sat down on the far left, right next to Renjun. 

Next to Renjun was a free seat, and next to that one Yangyang, with Hendery at the far right. Renjun and Yangyang both patted at the seat and smiled at you, waiting for you to sit between them.

“I’m guessing my plan of a quiet ride was doomed from the start.” You dramatically sighed as you sat down between the two. 

“That was never an option and you know it.” Hyuck laughed, causing all 5 of you to chuckle.

You spent a good 40 minutes talking to Yangyang and Hendery as Renjun and Hyuck debated about something next to you, before you made the first stop. 

“About 10 minutes and then if you're not back on the bus, we shall leave without you, except for you, Jisung, we love you and would never leave you.” Johnny said before the group chuckled as Jisung got embarrassed.

You swear you could hear Chenle’s “of course we would, we have terrible memory.” and Jisung sighing before Renjun dragged you off the bus. 

You got off the bus and were met with Jaemin, who looked like he was about to kill someone, and Jeno, who looked he was trying his best for Jaemin not to give in. 

“Good morning.” You said “Whats so good about it?” Jaemin sighed, leaning against the bus and throwing his head back. 

You looked over at Jeno and tried to contain your laugh, to which he only mouthed “No coffee yet”. You nodded, chuckling a bit before following Shotaro, Hendery and Kun, who went to go get coffee for everyone. 

You barely got your own cup into your hands before you were pulled away from the three and into the store.

“Yn, come with me, I need it.” Hyuck said. “Need what?” You asked, following close behind. 

He didn't comment, he just dragged you to the toy section and showed you the toy gun. 

“You need a toy gun?” You asked “Yes.” He sassed “Its so pretty.” He explained “And it has fake bullets!” He added, excitedly. 

“Very nice, Hyuck. Here’s a deal, I’ll buy you the extra bullets if you promise not to use the gun on me.” You said, knowing very well that you need to make a deal beforehand.

“Deal.” He smiled, shaking your hand. 

Once you finished at the check out, you saw Jaemin pinching Jisung’s cheeks while Chenle and Jeno had their heads in their hands, they weren't surprised, but still a tad disappointed. 

“How many coffees did I miss?” You asked, causing Jeno to chuckle before returning to his disappointment. 

You stood outside of the bus for a while, talking to Chenle about his dog, well, him talking and showing you photos of Daegal while you listened and admired.

“Can I be her godparent?” You asked, placing a hand on his shoulder as Xiaojun’s head turned to you. “Godly parent?” He asked.

“God parent, but while we’re on the topic-” “DONT GET HIM STARTED, IM SITTING NEXT TO HIM AND I WANT TO SLEEP.” Kun cut you off.

“Haha, old man.” Lucas laughed before Kun looked at him and sighed. “I didn't sign up for this, I just wanted to sing.” He sighed. “You love us and you know it!” Yangyang teased. 

After a minute, you returned back to your seat and watched as Hyuck put the bullets into the gun already. 

You pulled out your phone and put in your headphones, before Renjun came up to you and took them away from you and put them in his pocket. 

“Hey!” you protested. “Wait a bit.” He said, laughing and sitting next to you.

“Now, is everyone awake?” Johnny asked, standing up once again. “Yes!” The whole bus yelled.

“What?” he asked, placing his hand behind his ear. “Ay, Ay, captain!” 

“I can't hear you!” 

“Ay, ay, captain!”

“Ohhhh, who wants the aux first?” 

A couple hands got raised, but Johnny sighed and said “If no one wants it, I guess ill be first.” and put on the first song, which was SHINee’s Lucifer, which made the whole bus jam out.

The songs kept going and your ears were in heaven, there were 23 professional singers singing some of your favourite songs, of course they were, but after a while, the atmosphere calmed down and you continued talking to Renjun.

You remember seeing most of WayV, Shotaro and Jungwoo playing a game, Taeyong play on his Nintendo while Doyoung watched and critiqued, Johnny and Taeil making Mark and Ten laugh every 3 seconds as Jaehyun and Yuta discussed something.

After some time, Jeno, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung changed seats so they were right in front of you, which resulted in you playing some games.

An hour later, you got to your destination. You watched as Jaehyun, Jeno, Lucas, Jaemin and Johnny bring the bags and the suitcases from the bus as  Kun, Taeyong and Doyoung went to go get the keys while you and the others stood before your cabins. 

Once the suitcases were out and distributed, you waited for the keys. Most of Wayv and Shotaro was standing on the porch and discussing something, half of 127 was cuddled up while the other half took photos, alongside Sungchan.

You and the dreamies and Yangyang however, were playing with the snow. Hyuck pulled out his fake gun and jokingly started pointing it at the others. He jokingly shot us, one by one and we all played along, expect for Chenle, because he couldn't bother to move.

First, it was Jaemin, then Yangyang, Jeno, you, Jisung and at the end, Renjun, who just so happen to be near a hill so you all watched in shock as he rolled down it, getting covered in snow as Jeno and Jaemin went to go get him. 

Taeyong walked over to you guys to give you the keys before he saw Renjun, who resembled a snowman and Jeno and Jaemin helping said snowman. 

“Renjun, you okay?” He asked as Chenle, Hyuck and Yangyang laughed their asses off. Renjun just showed a thumbs up as they made their way up the hill again.

You thanked Taeyong for the keys as he and Hyuck made their way to the 127′s cabin and Yangyang to WayV’s. 

You walked to the cabin and went in, leaving your bags at the door. Jeno started the fire in the fireplace as Jisung and Chenle browsed the cabin while you and Jaemin asked Renjun if he wants cuddles to warm him up.

“Normally, I would say no, but I'm really cold, so I shall allow it.” he said before you and Jaemin looked at each other and cuddled the melted snowman. 

After cuddling for a bit, Jeno suggested deciding roommates, so once Chenle and Jisung got back, they reported on the rooms and you used a random pair up generator, since none of you had any preference.

Jeno and Chenle got the ground floor room, which was closest to the kitchen. Jaemin and Jisung got the room one level up, which had the best bathroom and you and Renjun got the top floor room, which had the best view. 

“You guys hungry?” Chenle asked, to which everyone nodded. “I’ll call Doyoung and ask if they know what they're going to eat.” Jeno said, picking up his phone. 

“I’ll take the bags to our room.” Jaemin said, taking his and Jisung’s stuff and walking up the stairs. 

“I’ll do the same.” Renjun said as Chenle and Jeno looked at each other before Chenle sighed. “I guess I shall too.”

Now, you and Jisung were watching Jeno as he called Doyoung. Apparently, there was a take out place not so far away, which did deliveries so they decided on that. 

Once the others got back, you told them and you made your way to the biggest cabin, which was 127′s. The others also came to the cabin and half an hour of everyone on their phone, the food had arrived. 

Taeyong suggested they used his new projector to watch something, so you did. You all gathered on the big couch and floor as the movie started playing on the wall while you ate.

Two movies later, Kun suggested going outside to make snowmen, while Yangyang suggested a snow ball fight, so you did both.

You started building the snowmen with Taeil and Winwin, but once you felt a snow ball hit your back, you said fuck it and joined the fight. 

You got a few throws in before you all got really cold and went back inside for some hot chocolate. 

Xiaojun, Kun, Taeyong, Doyoung, Jaemin and Jeno went to the nearby store to buy what you needed for breakfast while the others stayed in the big cabin and played a few games before Renjun got mad at Jisung’s team beating him.

“Jisung, meet me on the rooftop.” Renjun commented, making everyone laugh. 

You ended up talking to Chenle about something, but you forgot the Korean word for it, and the English word for it, you could only remember the word in German, only because you remember Yangyang teaching it to you a while back.

“Yangyang!” You yelled, grabbing Chenle’s hand and walked over to Yangyang. “Yes?” He asked.

“How do you say schwert in Korean?” You asked. “You mean sword?” Yangyang asked, which made you mentally slap yourself for not remembering. 

“What about in Korean?” Chenle asked, causing silence from the both of you until you both yelled “Mark!” and so, you, Chenle and Yangyang walked over to him.

“Yes?” He asked. “How do you say sword in Korean?” Yangyang asked, to which Mark just stared at all of you.

“Johnny!” Mark yelled as so, you, Chenle, Yangyang and Mark now walked towards Johnny asked him the same question.

“Yeah?” He asked, turning around to face you all. “How do you say sword in Korean?” Mark asked.

Johnny just looked at you all before pulling out his phone and googling google translate. “검 (Geom).” he said, showing you the translation. 

“We’re idiots, aren't we?” You asked. “Yup.” “Totally.” “The dumbest.”

“Wait, how do you say it in Chinese...” Chenle wondered before yelling “Renjun!”

It was getting late, so you said your goodbyes to the others and went back to your cabins, where Jaemin insisted on making you all dinner, so while he made dinner, you sat down on the couch and turned the tv on and searched fort the new buzzed unsolved episode on the YouTube section. 

“You started it without me?” Renjun asked, sitting right next to you. “I was searching.” You defended as Chenle sat down on the floor and waited for you to hit play.

As Jeno helped Jaemin, the rest of you watched the episode, you and Renjun on the couch, his legs lightly tossed over your lap as he leaned against the arm of the couch while Chenle sat right below you on the floor and Jisung next to him. 

“Dumbass.” Renjun commented. “You would do the same.” You said, laughing. “I would not!” he yelled. “You would.” Chenle and Jisung said in unison, making Renjun huff and continue watching in silence as you pet his head, jokingly. 

By the end of the episode, Renjun had turned so that his head was in your lap and his legs were on the arm of the chair as you played his hair and Chenle and Jisung were lazily spread out on the floor.

“Kids, dinner’s ready!” Jeno yelled, causing the two on the floor to groan and slowly get up. “You heard your dad, go.” you teased the two as Renjun got up and held his hand up to help you up.

You got to the kitchen and sat down, eating the food that Jaemin and Jeno prepared in silence.

On the ground floor, Jeno and Chenle tossed and turned, not being able to find a good position until Jeno said fuck it and got up. 

“Jaemin is probably cuddling with Jisung so they have a spare bed, so....se ya!” he said, holding up a peace sign before walking out the door. 

Once he got there, he opened the door to see Jaemin with all of his limbs wrapped around Jisung and thanked god before walking to the other bed and fell asleep.

Back on the ground floor, Chenle tried to sleep again but couldn't, so he said to himself “If Yn and Renjun are sleeping right now, I swear to god.” before getting up and walking to your room. 

He opened the door, and there you were, lying on the floor as a Taylor Swift song played. “What ya doing?” he asked.

“We’re talking about alien li-” “Nerds.” Chenle cut Renjun off before entering the room and lying next to you. 

“So, what exactly were you saying?” Chenle asked, turning his head to face you.

“How aliens could be monitoring us right now.” You said, turning your head to face him.

“But why? You two are so boring, what's there to see?” He said, making Renjun get up and tell you to hold him back, which you did. 

“You're just mad at the truth!” Chenle yelled, propping himself up as he laughed. 

Renjun started laughing too, and so did you, which ended up with all of you back on the floor, laughing, before one of you changed the subject back onto alien life and next thing you know, Jeno was at your door to tell you that its time for breakfast.

Once you finished breakfast, you ended up taking your sketchbook out, and so did Renjun. You spent the whole morning and a bit of the afternoon drawing and doodling with Renjun as Chenle and Jeno played games while Jaemin and Jisung were on their phones.

You looked up from your paper and saw them all having fun and relaxed in your chair.

“There truly is no place like home.” 

[florenceandthemachine]

@jacksonstilinskis​ I deleted your ask because I am a dumb lmao but if I recall correctly it was about stackson and photos right?? oy I have feels.

and I have feels because stackson is always feels but I digress. YES Jackson and his cute butt would be fucking Tumblr famous in like six days and it would start off as an accident. 

have some really cute things after the mess that was my last reblog.

stiles would just be fucking around with his phone one day (probably in college, me thinks? sharing a terrible dorm together after Jackson divorces himself from his parents) after waking up one morning, looking over at the love of his life, and deciding he needed to see Jackson every day always. Jackson is sleepy and soft and the sunlight from the window behind him is giving him a full glow with his adorable hair and his ridiculously attractive face.

there’s even a little bit of chest hair showing, which stiles loves (getting Jackson to stop waxing was a fucking miracle of a chance—apparently Lydia had loved the smooth skin, and Jackson had just kept it up out of habit. Stiles was 100% here for not ripping out your hair, especially when Jackson told him it hurt even more as a fast-healing wolf) and his leg is stuck out, because even though Stiles does not doubt at all that “monsters under the bed” are real anymore, Jackson is confident he could take one on and apparently leaves his fucking leg out to tempt them all, because he is an asshole. an asshole that stiles is in love with.

and Stiles snaps the picture right as Jackson starts waking up, and saves it, and his heart melts every time he looks at his phone. 

he decides to post it on a whim. he’s a member of a few online communities based on abuse survivors (of the human and paranormal), some LGBT support groups, that kind of things, and he’s definitely not well known, so he doesn’t think twice about it—he edits the photo a little, cropping out most of Jackson’s face because people are creepy online, and posts it with some caption like “u guys my boyfriend is so cute I love him so much I can’t even handle it send help” to his Tumblr and then goes about his merry way, turning his phone off before his next exam, expecting maybe three or four replies from his closer online friends.

needless to say when he turns his phone back on, he only has a moment to appreciate Jackson’s face as his wallpaper before his phone is literally bombarded with notifications. like, over a thousand in three hours. stiles had never had a thousand notes in the span of a month, let alone a day, and he’s initially nervous when he tells Jackson what he did (”I know it’s creepy but I cropped most of your face out except your cute sleepy smile but everyone loves it so much this was so weird I am so sorry for invading your privacy”).

Jackson, of course, loves it. sure, it might be a little bit weird to have his picture on the internet like that, but the fact that Stiles posted it makes up for it. he's fine with it, and tells stiles that much, just asks that they go over any future pictures together. 

(of course, what he loves the most is that stiles posted it bragging about how cute his boyfriend was—not how hot, or how sexy, and he preens at that. at the same time, he realizes Stiles basically told everyone online that he knows that he loves Jackson, and he feels warm about that too.)

Stiles posts a few more pictures of Jackson, only sharing the candid shots he takes, no matter how badly Jackson wants to basically flood the internet with terrible photos of himself (stiles loves Jackson very much but Jackson has TERRIBLE taste in staging a photo. no one wants to see you supermanning on the beach, you ironic fuck). they're all VERY artsy. Jackson in soft lighting, Jackson’s body beneath a single sheet, Jackson bending over the counter as he brushes his teeth in a ratty pair of boxers. 

He’s still amazed that each photo garners more and more notes, to the point where he actually has a decent sized following on his blog now—he would feel weird about it, but now when he signal boosts an abuse helpline or a coming out safety list, he’s actually reaching more people, and he can’t be mad about it. 

what he CAN be mad about, though, is how badly Jackson wants to get a picture of Stiles on the internet. he fights it tooth and nail, going as far as hiding his head in his shirt whenever Jackson has his phone even moderately aimed in his direction. he’s not hot, okay? he knows it. it’s a wonder that Jackson finds him attractive. he doesn’t need the people of the internet to confirm that he is basically a troll dating an adonis.

Jackson, of course, gets around it, by being an asshole. he steals Stiles phone while he sleeps and snaps what he will later tell Stiles was a selfie, and posts it to his blog. there’s about a fifth of Jackson’s smiling face in the corner of the photo—stiles is front and fucking center, laying on his stomach in bed, on top of all of his sheets, superman pajama pants low on his hips, hair wild and pale, dotted skin on full display. Jackson captions it with “the photographer becomes the photographeee.” that’s it, no tags, no grabbing at validation, nothing. 

stiles is almost mad about it when he sees the photo that is getting more notes than anything on his blog ever has. people are obviously blind if they’re telling him he is cuter than Jackson. Jackson is smug, so fucking smug. 

one year after the first photo was uploaded, Jackson takes another photo (they've invested in some equipment—a tripod, a real camera, nothing fancy) of he and Stiles both in bed, bare chested, with Jackson’s left arm around Stiles as they spoon, matching rings catching the flash perfectly.

Stiles phone overheats and dies with the notifications that come in for nine days straight.

(also I can’t remember if you mentioned nudes or not, but stiles approaches the subject of tasteful nudity months into the photo experience, thinking along the lines of “posing like a live art drawing”. Jackson immediately posts a shower selfie, and Stiles lectures him for three hours about what constitutes a “tasteful nude” and what absolutely fucking does nOT. Jackson is laughing too hard to listen.)