#eh just a quick one

[blitzbuckzowild]

[meteooru]

sleepy conversations

[aroaceleovaldez]

I was reading a post about CoTG and I realized: Rick has seemingly started to write every character pairing with the exact same dynamic, and he's not good at writing that dynamic and it doesn't make sense for 90% of the characters he writes it for.

It's that very specific dynamic of one half of the pair who is almost aggressive to the other party - "teasing" them constantly/insulting them, affectionately punching/judo flipping/maiming/etc, seemingly almost always exasperated with the other - and said other party usually just accepts this treatment or blanketly views it fondly, and may generally be framed as more incompetent than their partner and a little bit of a doormat (particularly relating to being insulted/teased/etc by their partner).

We start seeing this dynamic in HoO with Percy and Annabeth, as a sort of semi-inconsistent twist on their rivals-to-friends-to-lovers dynamic from the first series. Then the dynamic pattern develops further with Leo and Calypso. Then Magnus and Alex. Then Nico and Will, particularly in TSATS. And now in CoTG, it's Percy and Annabeth again but even more in this direction.

I know people have talked about Nico and Will's relationship over the series rapidly being shoehorned into Percabeth Two™, and it's extremely apparent in TSATS that Rick's doing it on purpose (including directly quoting Percabeth scenes but minorly tweaking them to be Solangelo). But recognizing it as an overarching trend in Rick's later books honestly reminds me a lot of how Rick started trying to apply the "Percy Formula" so-to-speak to nearly every protagonist in HoO (and then try to replicate similar character archetypes with Magnus and Apollo's narrations - moreso Magnus in being jaded and sarcastic, very much trying to be first series Percy. He only sounds unique because Rick failed at making him Percy 2. Apollo is more akin to later-series Percy characterization of being goofy and incompetent. Apollo [and Zeus] even got retconned to give Apollo a more similar backstory to Percy's). Rick seems to have decided that he thinks the audience wants this specific dynamic but 10 times over, except he's not good at writing it the first time because it's a bastardization of the time he did a different thing okay.

And Rick also seems aware of that too! Because he retconned Calypso and Leo at the end of TOA, probably because he realized how absolutely awful it was reading when they were written with that dynamic of Calypso just functionally hating Leo and constantly being aggressive towards him! The only time Rick's actually made the dynamic even semi-successful was with Magnus and Alex, because it actually fits within their characters, their dynamics with each other, and their environment. Alex beheading Magnus on the regular works out fine because there are no repercussions to that in Valhalla, Magnus will be fine, so it does genuinely come off as humorous. And Alex has been effectively established to be abrasive at times but have her genuine feelings shine through regularly, and that meshes well with Magnus' jaded-and-aloof-but-quietly-very-empathetic character. And Magnus has been established to, yes, not be great at combat, particularly compared to Alex. They are the only time that flavor of dynamic in that form was effective and cohesive.

Percabeth is no longer rivals-to-friends-to-lovers badasses on equal levels with shaky pasts who finally found some form of permanence with one another. Now it's super smart doting and affectionately aggressive girlfriend and her silly goofy 50%-of-the-time incompetent boyfriend who she judo flips/pushes off cliffs/etc - but affectionately~! Solangelo is trying to riff off of the early series "Poseidon & Athena are enemies" dynamic that Percabeth had but with Apollo & Hades being "opposites" but learning to accept each other, except it ends up with Will just coming off as a huge asshole and Nico being retconned to a complete doormat about it - when prior to that those characterizations would be completely contrary to their established characters (even just from TOA!). Calypso in HoO gets retconned from her PJO characterization to being snooty and aggressive, and Leo's false persona gets merged into his just normal personality except he just also becomes a doormat but more goofy than Nico with occasional haha-dark/depression-humor! Which Nico also got. Which was also a bastardized Percy trait that got redistributed.

It's exhausting. Rick write more than one relationship dynamic you can do it I promise

[mercurymacaroons]

arrives 15 min late with a latte

......sup

[chiliger]

Happy Yue

Inspired by @chiptrillino ‘s recent Ko-fi post. Check it out, they’re gorgeous! Link

[sysig]

A very normal scientist doing very normal gene splicing experiments (Patreon)

[shepards-folly]

[good-beansdraws]

Very silly sequel to my other Fuuta/Mikoto duet art -- it turns out both VAs were in this singing group anime together! (I haven't seen any other Milgram vas overlap songs, and now I've found two for them, huh...) I cut the songs together to make a fun little duet, but the individual versions are here: 🔥 ⚾

The outfits are courtesy of @clover0101 's au here :D

[improbable-implosions]

This one's kinda funny, I went into affixing that patch SO sure that the design of that sword of mine, Arma, would be plenty for that patch, but the longer I stared at it doing other mends for these pants, the longer I felt it needed _something_ else, you know?

First up, we've got to stitch on the patch itself! I did some nice even straight stitches, because initially, I was planning on a little area of sashiko mending.

But, in looking at the size of the chunk of dissolvable backing I had cut, there wasn't really any patterns immediately springing to mind that'd work at a scale that small, or, so I thought after seeing how that basketweave pattern came together on an earlier piece. For context, the whole patch is roughly the size of the palm of my hand, at 3.5 inches square.

So, instead, I decided to try something a bit more complex to render than I'd really tried out before, this art of Arma! (Despite the sword's design being my work, the art in question is by @razzmatazic, who I did ask if I tried to trace, and she had no problems!) And so trace I did, tracing the outlines of the major features of the piece, namely, the outer lines, and the shapes of the gemstones.

Unfortunately, in my haste (and, admittedly, my focus, since this was much higher detail than I normally tackle around here), I didn't grab any in-progress shots of this. Still, I actually really enjoy how this came out looking, even if it doesn't perfectly evoke the design or detail of the original piece, it certainly emulates the look of Arma well enough I recognize it, and very visibly reads Cool Sword, y'know?

Next up were a few colorful rims around the edges of the front pockets! They were fraying pretty significantly, so not only does this add a fun splash of color, but it keeps me from picking the edges of these seams apart while I'm not thinking about my hands. Initially, I was going to pick a different set of colors than that turquoise and purple, based on a fun fact about my hometown, but that color scheme was just calling out to me! I decided to lean into the somewhat royal vibes and went for a different, lighter purple, with two little bits of yellow thread, which, fun fact, I actually dyed with some yellow flowers I foraged back in the boston area!

As for these two little spot-mends, they were really more an exercise in frustration. Really, I'm mostly miffed the thread broke on the original patch in the one place the hole kept trying to expand through, but hopefully that little bit of randa stitching (which looks MUCH more like randa stitching should than my previous efforts, namely on my wallet and that previous pair of pants that we detailed, the ones with the segaihana sashiko) alongside some additional reinforcement along the edge of that original yellow patch, made from some thread I scavenged from a fraying bit of denim, should keep this particular pair of shorts from getting any more fixes right on the edge of the patch that has misbehaved TWICE now!

Last but not least, while I was wrangling those pocket rims and the spot mends, I really just had the feeling that Arma would look kinda... lonely, I suppose? Centered in the framing straight stitches like that, so I improvised a little open book next to her! (She's not a sword-girl, promise, it's she/her like you'd she/her a boat) There's actually some really nice dimensionality to the book, too, with some looser stitches to emulate ruffle-able pages, and those two knots along the spine make for a pleasant, crinkled texture to the cover lines! Can you tell I'm pleased with myself for getting that just so, without any guides?

All that said, hopefully that's all the mends my poor poor jean shorts need, I swear, just as I get one set fixed, the other winds up with another hole! Don't get me wrong, I'm starting to enjoy the whole almost boro-like vibe they're developing, with all these overlapping mends, but I'd like them to develop it slower, thanks! (And yes, I do plan to wear these at LEAST until they look like I've quilted them back together, they're comfy!)

[bloo-the-dragon]

Decided to combine my Bugs au and my Mer au to create sea slug Moon and butterflyfish Sun. They tiny!

[fallevs]

Once again inspired by @nicoise's adorable drawings; here's Blaine in his puppet master era

Can you believe that the hardest part was actually Kurt puppet???

Under the cut the second part of the drawing that I wanted to show but am a little ashamed of; I am very sorry if it offends you 😔

[fantastic-mr-corvid]

Attept 2 [the first is not seeing the light of day] I need to make her a proper pallet. This will take a lot of colour picking bc lighting effects but it will save time. The old one is badddd and idk what each set of colours are for... anyway her<3

[huntingrays]

Send me a number between 1-100 (either in ask or reply) and i’ll write a lil (valgrace) fanfic based on my 2023 Spotify Wrapped

i’m bored and just wanna write some cute/angsty lil quick fanfics

if i can’t do one with that specific song (for whatever reason, such as too raunchy or by an artist i no longer support), then i’ll skip it and go up or down a number

tbh, most of these sounds are kpop and t swift so this’ll be interesting!

In progress: 29

To write: 99, 14

Finished Numbers:

12 - S-Class

27 - illicit affairs

71 - The Archer

Couldn’t Do:

72 - The Horse and The Infant

[mikaelcipher]

“Utsuki.”

He blinks. Once. Twice. And then responds with slight surprise, “Tasuku. Isn't it late?”

“That's what I meant to tell you. I just finished grabbing a drink of water, so I'm heading back to my room.” Tasuku looks him up and down, taking in his business attire and his briefcase, where his laptop is kept. “Overtime?” he guesses.

“Mhm.” Chikage nods, leaving his shoes at the door.

“... Would you like me to carry you?”

“Huh?”

“...”

They stare at each other for a good long minute until Chikage realizes that Tasuku is serious. “Is it because—...” That one time he joked about letting Tasuku carry him? “I wasn't serious at that time, you know.”

“Still, you're probably very tired, right?”

In the darkness of the singular light in the living room, it's hard to tell whether Tasuku is wearing a sincere expression or what. “I'm not that tired,” Chikage tells him but despite that, he does bring his briefcase close to his chest. “But if you insist.”

And he meant to joke about that too but somehow, he's in Tasuku's arms, being carried through the halls of the dorm. He wasn't sure what to expect at first, maybe for Tasuku to throw him over his shoulder or to carry him on his back but — a bridal carry? Really?

They're both mostly quiet as Tasuku makes the short trip from the living room to Chikage's shared room with Chigasaki. It's an odd situation, he thinks... It's strangely calming. Usually, when his feet are off the ground, he wouldn't feel very safe.

It's a trip too short when Chikage's back on his feet again.

“See you tomorrow, Utsuki,” Tasuku says and Chikage doesn't make it show that his mind has wandered.

“Yes, thank you, Tasuku. I should make jokes like these more often if it means you'll give in to my whimsies.” He smiles a little.

“Give in to your whimsies?” echoes Tasuku, confused. “You just have to ask, really. If you want me to carry you to bed again tomorrow, just let me know.”

“... That won't be necessary, thank you.”

“Alright, well... Goodnight, Utsuki.”

“Goodnight, Tasuku.”

Maybe he'll go overtime again tomorrow.

[ebonytails]

hi did you pray today /ref

[waywardsalt]

the only thing keeping me sane here is the fact that i stay clocked in and am therefore paid for my time closing