#finally a funny april fools update

[kethsi]

FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111112

[alexxncl]

‼️NIGHTBRINGER LESSON 56 SPOILERS‼️

masterlist | all lessons | season 3 | lesson 55.1 | lesson 55.2 | lesson 56.2 | lesson 57.1 | lesson 57.2

giving us a tiny bit of romance at the very last second huh (yes i'm bitter leave me alone)

but WHY did raphael up and poof us to babel (if he's the one that did it at all)

and how is any of this, along with the rest of the loose plot ends, gonna get resolved in the next 4 lessons 🤠 cutting the in-game series off at this point feels like a slap in the fact and is part of the reason i haven't posted/read anything until now

that and finals season...sigh

oh i'm so sad

isn't babel's whole thing that you get one wish granted ??

did raphael wish to see the brothers and simeon in their angel forms one last time bc he knows he'll never see them like that again ??? bc simeon was the last connection to his past and now he's losing him like he lost the brothers ???? i'm gonna be sick

his will and longing for the past was so strong that it caused them to come to babel in his sleep...I'M SICK

ok or maybe i'm being overly sentimental. but i feel like the only person with enough power to do smth like this to raphael would be god himself or michael

maybe michael wanted to help raphael and sent him to babel to fulfill a wish bc he knows what's been bothering him ?? or maybe i'm giving him too much grace. idk. i'm still iffy about that man

now...he knows as well as we do that there's NO CHANCE in simeon being forgiven by their father

i truly truly truly hope the devs don't retcon simeon's fall from grace bc i loved that part of his development and what we've seen from him as a result. learning how to be a human only to have it be flipped on the head as he slowly turns to a demon is such an interesting concept and shouldn't be thrown away this late in the story. especially considering the fact that we have 4 lessons left after this and then we're done for good

solmare if you love me do NOT pull that shit

reading this kinda made the realization sink in. like we're not getting any in-game content after this

we don't get to see luke grow up anymore despite them building up his character so much this season

we won't get to see how any of the characters' dynamics with each other play into whatever chaos they're thrown into

we might not even get in-person stuff given the fact that a good amount of the fanbase isn't in japan

i'm so sad y'all. like truly. i've been playing this game since the week before covid lockdown and now it feels like it's going away for good. and i really don't want the fandom to die off like other fandoms i've been in

...the disappointment that coursed through my veins when i saw solomon

like sol baby i love you but not rn

the voiceline didn't even fucking SOUND LIKE HIM why would they fake me out like this

can't they at LEAST give us a michael design before the game stops updating. like nbs they've been talking about him since the first game and have yet to give us more than a 2 second long TEXT CHAIN

the dialogue after was funny asl i can't lie

what is going awn. like is his wish too strong to be fulfilled, or is his mental stability linked to babel or smth ?? ik he was supposed to be the one at the gate controlling who could and couldn't enter earlier in the season but what does that have to do with what's happening rn ????

oh they love pissing me off. why was this part of the lesson literally 2 seconds long. i'm tired of cliffhangers like actually

can they pull an early april fools and extend the game's run. i'm begging atp. like genuinely

[zeondraws]

Fellas, year is almost overrrr and it feels kinda surreal what I went through to reach this point.

I may feel nauseous rn but...! Today was a good day, my friends family and other relatives of her came today. I showed them my budgie too, he may be getting blind but people were able to hold him on their hands.

I haven't felt such joy in a while, I don't know how to put it. I remember the first years when I stayed at my friend's place around Christmas or so. It was fun but I was still dealing with other stuff that stressed me out. Especially last december was extremely stressful for me.. I mentioned it in another post? I think?

I unpacked some presents I got today. There was one special present in it, where I still can't believe of owning it.

!!! SWTD themed Christmas Jumper! Like?? Wow!! Still bewildered that one got sent to me, I mean this game is so much fun and I'm so darn obsessed analysing every detail of it whenever I can.

I literally played through it again on my PlayStation, I usually don't play such games multiple times but this one? It just hit me the moment I saw a Let's play of it. The first one I saw was from IGP, I really enjoyed him playing it, even tho Rennick JUMPSCARED me the first time I saw that scene.

First few times playing this game I got nightmares from Gibbo or my heart was racing while I ran away from Rennick. I don't know why, Gibbo's sentences haunted me so much. The pain in his voice was unbearable. (Same with O'Conner)

Trots still gives me the creeps, like he just has that aura on him. However, jumping over Trots is also very funny. And Muir's level I can now play in my sleep. I think 1/3 of my hours shown on steam is just me messing with Muir. It's currently at 154 hours played.

And Roper... my beloved *shakes my fists* poor wee man. He did nothing wrooonggggg. Sobs loudly. Foaming at the mouth and hoping there is more lore of him in the artbook. The wait will soon be over. I'm so excited.

But... I just wanna say thank you again to the devs and publishers for this awesome game. It very much helped me be able to get through the day for months. Considering it came out when I was still in a bad work environment, constantly getting bullied. I kept rewatching Playthroughs to stay calm.

I think I related to Caz a lot too, even if everything was basically falling apart around him, he kept going. Ofc he sadly couldn't get a happy ending in the end. But I just try to remember to keep going. Even if I needed to endure my old job for a bit longer, until my new job started.

It bring me so much joy being able to learn more about the gaming industry and the programs used to make such games. And ofc datamining the game and looking at every little detail. May it be the smallest thing such as a file called "CazYeet" or finding an entire unused level that was scrapped. Or even Muir's hit by prop sounds! My eyes WIDENED when I heard them.

I sometimes check artstation on multiple occasions, just to see if something new popped up. And whenever it does, I do a little mental happy dance.

(Petition to make an april fools update where the hit by prop sounds are enabled/JOKE)

Maybe one day I can finally switch over to the entertainment industry, but I need to teach myself so much first. I still wanna go to art school so badlyyyyy. I can already see I won't feel ready enough until I'm 30 or so. Although I'm going to be 23 in 2 days- I still have to practice so many skillsets ajshajsjaksnaksnksks *explodes* but I shall avoid spiralling in my thoughts.

I think I appreciate games so much more now, I still want to try out a bunch of them. But I firstly have to work on some swtd related projects. I'm definitely planning on making a big analysis video next year, which sounds terrifying, I need to practice talking in recordings first. ;a; But I can't forget to visit events too, I need to try out so much stuff;;;;

Okay before I ramble on endlessly... Just, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

@thechineseroom-brighton @wearesecretmode

I hope it's okay if I tag, I know I talk like a river at times, but since I'm a very emotional human being I usually like sharing my thoughts.

I wish the the fandom and devs a Merry Christmas and a great start to the New Year. May everyone heal from past wounds and form new positive memories.

Have this drawing of my OC Kirsten holding bird Roper in his arms.

[xxkylarthelonerxx]

Hey Kylar, I got an update for you about the sleepover:

...

.....

........

I made out with Darling.

We both liked it and Darling confessed that they like me! I finally know how you feel about them!

Everyone even congratulated us on our new relationship :D

I know this might be a HUGE shocker, but I think Darling and I would like to get married soon too and I'm inviting you to the ceremony!

And another thing...

🎉🎉🎉 HAPPY APRIL FOOLS 🎉🎉🎉 (I am not sorry)

-Darling's friend who didn't make out with them :)

i can't believe i missed observing your sleepover. i didn't know it was then! or i skipped over that information! damn it.

you can't just say stuff like that. stop it. it's not funny and it won't ever be. joking about them cheating on me, even if it was for april fools'... especially when i was at a weak point myself... you're cruel.

[itsjustjelly]

I was going through old Vox Machina posts, and I found one from @/eponymous-rose, where they came up with funny alternate titles for the episodes of the campaign. I stole that idea and did it with JRWI Riptide! Here you go:

(Spoilers for up to 115)

Episode 1-2 : "Everything Immediately Went Wrong (Unsurprisingly)"

Episode 3-7: "What's So Funny?"

Episode 8: "This Hot Purple Tiefling Can't Possibly Be Evil"

Episode 9-10: "Is This the Plot of The Hangover?"

Episode 11: "You Should Really See a Therapist, Jay"

Episode 12-14: "These Are The Most Viewed Episodes Because a Popular Minecraft Youtuber is in Them."

Episode 15: "What's a Little Battle to the Death Between Friends?"

Episode: 17: "This Isn't Techincally Kidnapping, Right?"

Episode 16: "The Best (Worst?) Ship Name"

Episode 18: "The Single Worst Possible Character Design Decision"

Episode 19-20: "Holy Shit We're Finally Doing Dungeon Stuff"

Episode 21: "How to Queerbait your Audience"

Episode 22-23: "Cursed Artifact is Given to Person Most Likely to Use it"

Episode 24-25: "Battle of the Bands"

Episode 26: "I Bet This Decision Won't Have Any Consequences (Sequel to Cursed Artifact)"

Episode 27-28: "This Feels Like a Sidequest"

Episode 29-31: "Violent Game of Capture The Flag (With a Frankly Absurd Amount of Pantsing)"

Episode 32: "Oh Yeah, We're in the Middle of a War"

Episode 39-40 "Oh Yeah, We're Still in the Middle of a War"

Episode 33-38: "Cat Fight (Literally)"

Episode 41: "That Decision Had Consequences (Cursed Artifact Part 3)"

Episode 42-46: "Making Bad Decisions (but it Works Out)"

Episode 47: "Finally Naming the Pirate Crew After Almost 50 Episodes"

Episode 48: "Really Feeling the Treasure Planet Inspiration Here"

Episode 49: "Was This Episode Real?"

Episode 50-52: "What the Actual Fuck Grizzly"

Episode 53: "Crying About Daddy Issues in Cosplay"

Episode 53-55: "The Mario Water Level of the Campaign"

Episode 56: "Why Would You Do That?!"

Episode 57-58: "Family Reunions and Lesbians"

Episode 59-60: "Our Friend Might Be Dead. Anyway, Lets Go Shopping!"

Episode 61-62: "Making Bad Decisions Again (it Doesn't Work Out This Time)"

Episode 63: "Loss of the Single Best NPC in D&D History"

Episode 64: "Reminder That Your Actions Have Consequences"

Episode 65-67: "Roblox Murder Mystery"

Episode 68-68: "No, That's Not a Typo"

Episode 70: "Fighting Our Friend's Inner Demons (Literally)"

Episode 71-72: "The Feywild is Insane"

Episode 73: "Hey, Where's Gillion?"

Episode 74-80: "Hee Hoo! This Arc Was a Fever Dream!"

Episode 81: "Oops, This One's Got Self Worth Issues"

Episode 82: "Gillion Hatches"

Episode 83-84: "Semi-consensual Attempted Murder"

Episode 85: "How to Lose All of Your Money In Three Simple Steps!"

Episode 86: "Fight to the Death Between Friends, but with Character Development"

Episode 87: "Fanartists' Hell"

Episode 88: "Return of the Single Best NPC in D&D History"

Episode 89: "We're Not High Enough Level for That Yet'

Episode 90: "Cat Fight (With Murder This Time)"

Episode 91-92: "The Riptide Pirates Get Blazed (and Then Eaten)"

Episode 93: "Oh Shit, Lore"

Episode 94-96: "Callbacks: The Arc"

Episode 97: "The Best April Fools Prank Ever"

Episode 98: "Gillion Doesn't Die (Somehow)"

Episode 99: "This Ended Too Well, Something Has to Go Wrong"

Episode 100-101: "Something Went Wrong"

Episode 102: "We're Finally High Enough Level for That"

Episode 103-108: "NO WE WEREN'T HOLY SHIT AAH AAAAAH"

Episode 109-110: "Chip Dies (NOT CLICKBAIT!!!)

Episode 111-112: "Tonal Whiplash"

Episode 113: "No Comment"

Episode 114-115: "Here's a Massive Cliffhanger, See You in Six Months!"

(Since the campaign is still ongoing, I will be updating this as new episodes release)

[knickynoo]

Back to the Future: The Animated Series, s01ep12 “Retired”

Previous episodes linked HERE.

In this episode: Jules and Verne's April Fool's jokes nearly destroy not only their family but also the entire town.

Quick update on the pic/gif situation. If you've been keeping up with these, you know my pics and gifs aren't being formatted correctly when viewed through a desktop computer. Instead of being in a row, they get enlarged and stacked vertically. Tumblr support has informed me that this is a bug they're working on. So, while it still bothers me and ruins the "flow" of my posts, I'm at least not losing my mind over it anymore. That is all.

Our visit with Real Doc begins with him hyping us up to see his latest experiment. He explains that it's taken months of research and hard work, but he's finally able to reveal...

He's finally able to reveal....!

Yep, Doc can't remember what it is. He goes totally blank, having completely forgotten what experiment he was going to show us. He's put hours upon hours of painstaking work into something and cannot for the life of him remember what it is. Doc panics as he tries unsuccessfully to figure it out. This is basically what happens.

He briefly ends the broadcast, then returns a moment later to make his second attempt at announcing his latest invention. Unfortunately, he still can't remember anything regarding what he was so excited to show us. "It can't be," he says. "Not my brain power."

This leads Doc into the story of another time he feared he was losing his mind, which all started with a prank on April Fool's Day.

The cartoon begins, and we watch as Jules and Verne put the final touches on all their planned hijinks for the holiday. Some of the things on their list of pranks include: salt in the sugar bowl, chocolate sauce in the shower nozzle, and pouring sparkling water on Doc's brainwave analyzer (which is less of a prank and more of just. breaking something lol).

One by one, the pranks play out, with Doc being completely unaware that he's being tricked. When his "automated jogging shorts" (which have been filled with banana peels) malfunction, he's confused but generally unalarmed. When Clara goes to shower and gets covered in chocolate sauce, he ends up thinking it was a skin-moisturizing feature he purposely built in and somehow forgot about. And when he tries to use the brainwave analyzer, which the boys had poured water on, it tells Doc that he's only got 0.01% of his brainpower left.

Doc tells Marty, who has stopped by for a visit, that he must immediately give up science in order to preserve the tiny bit of his brain that he's got left. He also says that he can't even risk conversing with Marty anymore.

Doc then runs straight through the wall of the garage and toward the house in an absolute panic.

Marty, meanwhile, is very bummed at the timing of this whole crisis. He's got a big upcoming gig with The Pinheads, and Doc had promised to help create some cool special effects for the show. But special effects require brainpower, which Doc refuses to use. Left on his own in the garage, Marty takes it upon himself to "borrow" a weather simulator machine Doc had invented. He thinks it'll make the perfect special effects for his concert and has no idea that Jules and Verne have also messed with this device.

We do a little time-jump then, where we see Doc sitting on the couch in his robe, watching mindless television. He's determined to not do anything that requires thought, and Clara is fed up with the whole thing. She tells him he's got to find something else useful to do if he isn't going to do science anymore. They have this funny exchange.

Unable to convince him to get up and do literally anything, Clara announces that she's getting Marty (who she feels is the only one able to talk some sense into her husband). When she returns with him, they find a note from Doc telling them he feels like a burden and has decided to run away. Yes, Doc has ABANDONED his wife and two small sons.

Also, yes, this is a silly cartoon for kids, but I also feel like there's a lot to examine here. Doc thinking he's used up almost all of his brain and deciding his family would be better off without him sort of says a lot about how his sense of self-worth is dependent on his perceived level of intelligence. The guy really thinks he has nothing to offer his family anymore and has decided to jump ship because he evidently can't see any remaining valuable qualities in himself.

Who did this to him? Doc, who damaged you like this? Was it Erhardt? Can we assume Erhardt is somehow responsible?

Meanwhile, Doc is wandering the streets, desperately trying not to think. And honestly? He should've brought Marty along, because Marty is well-versed in the skill of Not Thinking. He could've been a big help.

After a brief scene of Marty and Clara failing to get the police to take them seriously regarding Doc's disappearance—they think it's an April Fool's prank—we return to Doc, who has taken a job playing piano at a Hawaiian Luau-themed lounge. The patrons are less than thrilled with his rendition of "If I Only Had a Brain" from The Wizard of Oz.

Also, I'm no expert, but I'd say playing an instrument uses a significant portion of your brain, Doc. If you're trying to preserve that 0.01% that you've got left, you're not doing a very good job.

As a side note, I like that Doc can play piano. Unfortunately, he swiftly gets fired from the job for putting everyone to sleep.

We go back to Clara, who has resorted to wearing a sandwich board in order to bring awareness to her plight.

After his failed job at the lounge, we follow Doc on a montage of several more failures as he tries being a gardener, a parking attendant, and a pizza maker.

Things are not going well for him.

Apparently, the whole situation thus far has all taken place in the span of a few hours (I thought it had been days, lol) because Marty and Clara go to pick up the boys from school and inform them that their father is missing.

We go again to Doc then, who has decided to use the DeLorean to travel back to a time "when things were simple." As he flies off into the sky, we see a brief shot of a movie theater where Back to the Future is playing.

He ends up traveling to the Cro-Magnon period, where he attempts to teach the people there how to make fire. And I say again: Doc is doing a very poor job of not using his brain. He should've stayed on the couch watching mind-numbing TV if he was really serious about all of this.

After concluding that the temptation to invent things is still too strong, he seeks out a place where "no thinking is required."

Back in present day Hill Valley, Marty is preparing for his concert with The Pinheads. Wow, there's a lot of scene-jumping in this episode! We're all over the place here, bouncing between Doc and everyone else.

Marty is convinced that the best way to find Doc is to do his show because, "Doc told me he was coming, and he hasn't broken a promise to me yet." Awwwww. Very sweet. And he ends up being right about Doc showing up because we soon see him sleeping under some newspapers.

Turns out a rock concert is the perfect place to go when you don't want to experience a single thought.

Clara and the boys catch up to him and try to explain that the brain wave analyzer had been sabotaged, but Doc isn't buying it. The show begins, and Marty uses the weather simulator he had taken for his special effects earlier in the episode. Since Jules and Verne had also tampered with that device, it starts going haywire and creates a massive, dangerous storm. Marty is struck by lightning (he's fine), Doc is struck by lightning (he's also fine), and the sky turns into a swirling vortex of doom. There's a simultaneous thunderstorm, massive flooding, and snow. Clara and the boys beg Doc to use his brain to come up with a plan to save the town before it's too late. Btw, this is the current situation...

And I'm sorry but. I don't think Hill Valley can be saved at this point. Everything is completely underwater. The clock tower is almost entirely submerged. This is hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, and people are probably dead. It's incomprehensible destruction all caused by Jules and Verne's April Fool's Day prank. They should be brought up on criminal charges.

After being convinced to finally use his brain, Doc is able to turn off the machine and undo all the chaotic weather. The end result is only a slightly soggy Hill Valley. I guess no major damage was done by the 50-foot-deep floodwaters. Somehow.

We go to the Browns' kitchen table, where Doc falls victim to one final prank the boys had set up: salt in the sugar bowl. After choking on his salt-filled cup of coffee, we end on a freeze frame of Doc scowling at his children.

I also must address the fact that Doc's eye color was off again in this episode. If you've been keeping up with these posts, you've seen me mention this inconsistency before. There have been many instances of a character's eyes changing for a few seconds mid-scene (a Tannen relative's eyes going from black to blue, then back to black briefly, as well as Doc's changing to blue for a few moments) but this was like. The whole episode. They went from being black in all previous episodes to being green.

Left is how they should look (taken from a previous episode). Right is what they were like for this whole episode.

I'd really love to know why this show struggles so much with eye color consistency. What a weird little problem to have.

Real Doc closes out the episode with an experiment involving condensation and "creating clouds" but it isn't all that interesting, so I don't have much to say about it. The end!

This episode was kind of fun, even though Doc was super out of character. That guy would not ditch his family like that. It also made no sense how he was spent the whole time going, "I must not think!" while taking on jobs that all required significant amount of thought. The rapid-fire scene-jumping gave me whiplash, too. Fifteen seconds with Doc, then a thirty second Marty and Clara scene, then back to Doc for like a minute before we go back to Marty and Clara...I'm tired.

Why are Doc's eyes green now?

Join me next week for our final episode of season 1, in which Clara's mother falls in love with Marty.

[jcmarchi]

New deception tactics? British intelligence spotted a helicopter parked on a jet fighter in Russia - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/new-deception-tactics-british-intelligence-spotted-a-helicopter-parked-on-a-jet-fighter-in-russia-technology-org/

New deception tactics? British intelligence spotted a helicopter parked on a jet fighter in Russia - Technology Org

Various deception techniques are used by both sides in the war in Ukraine. Military dummies – fake weapons and other assets, built to provoke the enemy into wasting ammo and other resources – have been used heavily since WW2, but the war in Ukraine definitely saw an increased use of this technique. However, Russians are landing their helicopters on their jet fighters now.

Sukhoi S-30 is a twin-engine jet fighter, not a place for a helicopter to land. Image credit: Евгений Пурель via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Military decoys are usually inflatable or built from cheap construction materials. They are 3-dimensional things. In fact, old machinery that is beyond repair is often used for this purpose. However, decoys can be simply painted on concrete or asphalt. These 2-dimensional dummies cannot fool a low-flying drone or other close observation equipment, but they can trick satellite imagery.

Russia has been painting jet fighters in its airfields and ships in its docks. The idea is simple – satellite imagery will indicate the presence of certain assets. The defenders of Ukraine will send drones or cruise missiles to eliminate those assets. Once they reach the destination, it won’t matter if they figure out that it was a deception – it will be too late. Ukraine will waste its weapons and intelligence resources.

The Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom noted that at least 12 Russian air bases, including the ones in the occupied Crimea, have paintings of jet fighters on asphalt or concrete. Just the very fact that the UK knows that shows that these decoys are not 100 % effective and can be distinguished from the real fighter jets quite reliably. Especially if Russia messes up its own deception tactics.

Russian helicopters have been parking on faux Su-30s and other jet fighters:

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 02 April 2024.

Find out more about Defence Intelligence’s use of language: https://t.co/VLI1JhTxbL#StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/rGi9A7DqCR

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) April 2, 2024

Helicopters don’t normally land on other aircraft, which means that images like this are a dead giveaway. However, there are other ways to figure out even the most realistic painting from a real craft.

For starters, real jets move. If a jet fighter remains stationary for long periods of time, it is fake. No one leaves such military assets just standing there doing nothing for no reason, especially not in the time of war. Secondly, fighter jets might be sleek and slim, but they are still 3-dimensional objects. They cast shadows, which change depending on the time of day. Finally, Russian drawings commonly are incorrect size as not much care is put into their photorealism.

But these kinds of decoys can be deceiving and at least waste intelligence resources. That is why a misplaced helicopter is so funny – it removed any kind of doubt if anyone would have some.

Written by Povilas M.

Sources: The UK’s Ministry of Defence, Wikipedia

[koopalingsmagicmischief]

yes, this is a 100% true update for Magic Mischief:

the writing of the prologue chapter is now IN PROGRESS!!

enjoy the proof with this funny out of context quote

idk i just genuinely thought it would be hilarious for me to finally start writing it on April Fool's

[miximagic256]

Points of Interest (March - May)

Hey friends! It's been a while but rest assured I still want to keep this series going! Due to how the year is nearly over, I'm going to be double posting this and the next POI so you've got more to read!

(I should note with each topic I wanted to talk about there were supposed to be sketches accompanying them, however they've ended up taking longer than expected so for now both POI entries will have no pictures, but at some point they will be updated with the sketches, I'll be sure to leave an update notice when that happens)

With all that said...

April Fools Day

Honestly I don’t recall much happening for April Fools Day this year, and personally I’ve not released an April Fools video in over 4 years because I never manage to get any ideas (even the video I did release in 2019 isn’t up anymore since it was on my old YouTube channel and I’ve never reuploaded it). Sometimes April Fools events are memorable, such as in 2015 when YouTube included a button that when clicked played a sample of Darude - Sandstorm and any searches done in the YouTube site would suggest “did you mean Darude – Sandstorm by Darude?”

Alternatively on a smaller scale you have a specific person making something that’s memorable on said day, for example the YouTuber Jim Gisriel did an April Fools video where he “reviewed” the shows from Butch Hartman’s Oaxis streaming service, in the video Jim Gisriel talks about shows from the year 2032 that don’t actually exist which often parody other existing shows from Nickelodeon or even shows that you'd never expect to get mentioned like Attack on Titan. If you don't know much about Nick or Butch Hartman then the video won't really be noticeable to you as it's one of those cases where it's only funny if you know the context, but if you know the context of what's being referenced then that combine with how Jim is clearly trying not to break out laughing at several points in the video makes this one of my favourite April Fools videos ever.

I also like to give a shoutout to my friend Fupaboychris who updated his old cover of The Swamps Theme from The Smurfs NES game into a certain famous song used in bait and switches, it's a short and simple video but if you're like me who has knowledge of chiptune, high quality rips and the composer Alberto Gonzalez then you'll love this silly April Fools video for what it is.

London Trip

Okay so this is going to be a bit weird because I’m going to have to remove a lot of details for privacy reasons but it’s such a big event to happen I can’t not talk about it.

So for a long time I was involved in this expedition which involved a lot of activities relating to exercise, camping and teamwork which eventually ends with you getting your award for doing so, now what makes getting the award interesting is you have the choice to go to a ceremony as well and in my case, the ceremony was at Buckingham Palace! So the weekend was spent in London and when the day came I was sure to take pictures since being invited to Buckingham Palace is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I’m not sure I’ll ever get again. There was music, food and drink and event stalls where both other participants and noticeable presenters (like radio hosts) gave speeches relating to confidence, pushing yourself, etc.

I did do other things in London after the event but this one without a doubt is the main attraction for obvious reasons and honestly I still can’t believe that it actually happened, it’s funny because the expedition itself lasted about 8 years with there being an additional 2 year wait due to the amount of people that participated (and also due to lockdown), being invited to a grand place is always the end result of finishing the final part of the award so I wasn't too surprised but actually being in such a famous place is again, something that may never to me again and the day itself went by in flash. It’s one I’ll never forget for sure.

Washing Machine door seal repair- wait what?

Okay so this requires some backstory: When I was growing up, washing machines were my life (well I had other interests of course, but those took a backseat compared to this one up until I became a teenager), in fact my first exposure to YouTube was from the washing community (yes that’s a thing) around 2008 and because I watched so many videos about washing machines as a pre-teen it's resulted in many of those videos bringing a great sense of nostalgia to me as weird as that may sound (I could go into detail about individual channels I watched during that time but that would derail what this point is actually about so I’ll cover it another occasion, maybe).

I think around 2012 was when I started to lose interest in domestic appliances and started branch into more types of content (for example I remember this period of time was when I really starting getting into video game reviewers) which resulted with me not really paying attention to my old interest with domestic appliances anymore since I was now attracted by new types of content on a site that was rapidly growing and changing with each year (in fact in hindsight I think I spent too much time on YouTube but again that's a topic for another time), nowadays my “interest” relating to washing machines is less about them on their own and more so the fact I have an interest in electromechanical engineering which means sometimes domestic appliances are attached to it.

So imagine my surprise when not only did I start seeing washing machine content pop up on YouTube again (mainly as a result of memes e.g. the end jingle some appliances would play at the end of the cycle) but how I finally was in a position where my knowledge would pay off because the door seal on our washing machine had a tear, meaning water would leak out which lead me to look up information on washing machines that I haven’t done in a long time.

I admit, it was harder than I thought, despite using a video tutorial as a reference guide what I intended to take 2 hours actually took around 6 (I did have lunch during that time but it took way longer than I planned) however despite this the repair was a success! Honestly it feels so weird that after all these years that my knowledge would in fact be useful, albeit in a tricky way because I’ve had little experience working on domestic appliances and it's one of those cases where theory and practice can make a lot of difference in how good you are.

Topic End: Epilogue

So we've gone through a holiday event, a holiday I've been on and also something I did which I never expected to happen in my current life, this part of 2023 was certainly memorable!

Like I said at the start there's one more Points of Interest post I have after this so be sure to catch that one as well!

See you there!

[celtfather]

Fun & Funny #600

Wild, fun, and funny music for April Fools Day on the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast show #600!

The Crossjacks, Railcar Graffiti, Fire In The Glen, Chance the Arm, Kellys Wayke, Caliceltic, The Celtic Kitchen Party, The Out of Kilters, Brobdingnagian Bards, Madman's Window, Slugger's Rule, Wild Blue Yonder, the commoners, Drunk & Sailor, Shades of Green, Rambling Sailors, Paddyman

VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20 FOR 2023

This is our way of finding the best songs and artists each year. You can vote for as many songs and tunes that inspire you in each episode. Your vote helps me create next year's Best Celtic music of 2023 episode.  Vote Now!

Two weeks after the episode is launched, I compile your votes to update a playlist on Spotify and YouTube. These are the results of your voting. You can help these artists out by following the playlists and adding tracks you love to your playlists. Follow us on Facebook to find out who is added each week.

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THIS WEEK IN CELTIC MUSIC

0:11 - The Crossjacks "Whiskey Johnny O" from The Crossjacks

3:26 - WELCOME

5:01 - Railcar Graffiti "Wild Rover" from Going Across The Sea

7:52 - Fire In The Glen "From Amish To Irish" from Cutting Bracken

11:18 - Chance the Arm "Irish Rover" from All in Good Time

14:24 - Kellys Wayke "The Orange and the Green" from Kellys Wayke

17:48 - Caliceltic "One out of Ten Doctors" from 2023 and Me

21:25 - FEEDBACK

25:14 - The Celtic Kitchen Party "Covid - 19 Shanty" from Last Call

27:01 - The Out of Kilters "The Girl with the Shamrock Tattoo" from Hot Potatoes

29:31 - Brobdingnagian Bards "Jedi Mickey" from I Will Not Sing Along

32:26 - Madman's Window "Paddy Murphy" from All Guns Blazing - Live!

35:31 - Slugger's Rule "Finnegan's Wake" from Greatest Hits: Volume II

38:21 - THANKS

40:45 - Wild Blue Yonder "The Possum Crawls Tonight" from Bolt out of the Blue

45:38 - the commoners “Everybody's Irish For a Day" from What's Your Whiskey For

49:12 - Drunk & Sailor "Humours Of Whiskey" from Doing What We Do

52:17 - Shades of Green "I'm Irish" from Conversations We Never Had

54:55 - Rambling Sailors "A Sailor Ain't A Sailor (Last Shanty)" from Tales From the White Horse

57:57 - CLOSING

59:33 - Paddyman "The Secret of a Real Irish Pub" from One for the Road

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather and our Patrons on Patreon. The show was edited by Mitchell Petersen with Graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs.

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TRAVEL WITH CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS

Every year, I take a small group of Celtic music fans on the relaxing adventure of a lifetime. We don't see everything. Instead, we stay in one area. We get to know the region through its culture, history, and legends. You can join us with an auditory and visual adventure through podcasts and videos.

In 2023, we’re going on a Celtic Invasion of County Mayo in Ireland. We’re gonna explore the area and get to know Grace O’Malley, the Pirate Queen. Learn more about the invasion at http://celticinvasion.com/

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I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK

What are you doing today while listening to the podcast? You can send a written comment along with a picture of what you're doing while listening. Or how about a picture you took of a band that you saw.

How would you like to introduce an episode of the podcast? It’s super easy. Contact me for details.

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Paul Crowley replied: "Hey Marc, In answer to your third question, I've been working on learning a trad tune, The Deer's March, on my lever harp. Slainte!"

Shel O'Toole replied: "I am usually working when listening to the podcasts as I work from home.  The music keeps me motivated.  I often play a podcast more than once  during the week.

I celebrate my Celtic culture most Sundays  and every second Thursday at  local Irish sessions where I play bodhran, banjo or guitar.  One of my own songs has become a session regular and is a firm favourite of the patrons at the pubs where we have our sessions.

Cheers Marc, PS I love the podcast."

Mattie Dalton emailed: "This year, I will not be in the parade.  My plan at this point, is to cook a fantastic meal and have all the kids and grandkids over to share and enjoy their heritage! I'd love to hear all your music or anything you put out. Love you kiddo!!"

Ben Doran emailed: "While listening to the podcast, I am either doing light chores or culling through emails. Never too far from the speaker, or the playlist; so I can highlight songs/artists to take a further/deeper listen to.

I am going to be playing three shows on St. Patrick's Day, two with Ar Ais Aris, and end the night with a great Irish songs and tunes concert for the Wild Hog in the Woods Folk Cooperative. Then, after all that: either a nap OR some Bailey's and Jameson, then a nap.

Circling back: rehearsing, rehearsing this "holiday" season. Learning some new tunes, polishing up some old ones. Enjoying the fellowship while playing!"

Teresa Finley of IrishFest Atlanta sent photos from the attendance at the Atlanta St Patrick's Day parade.

  Check out this episode!

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

so, the results.

congrats everyone, the lie was: there is no such thing as an enchantment table! technically. i realized i made a small error.

there is in fact a ghost guest character who appears to stobbles and block during the finale, and we know they’re probably real as their name appears in sevaris’ credits. however, neither block nor stobbles have posted their finales, and i don’t expect we’re getting them anytime soon, as it’s been three months since the last finale was posted. so for the time being- is rofo a real ghost? yeah, probably, but it’s very funny to believe he’s not.

bees plural may be an exaggeration, as we only ever see drift talk to one bee, but we know she can actually communicate with him as he snitches on block and stobbles for lying to her.

it is an ENTIRELY vanilla series until they fight “the night lich” to unlock the end portal, at which point they fight the dragon. i’m not sure what mod the night lich is from, but i am CERTAIN he’s not vanilla, lol.

most smps are kinda notorious for not featuring many women (*cough* dsmp *cough* hermitcraft). there are 8 cast members on bloodlines, 3 of whom are women, 4 of whom are men, and frog uses she/they pronouns and the only type of gender label i know they’ve used is “silly little frog”, so one silly little frog. with such a small cast of relatively small creators, the fact that almost half of them are women makes me so happy. let’s go!

the bloodlines cast are quite lacking in “basic” knowledge of minecraft, as they were all regular villagers before going on their adventures. they’ve never seen most of the biomes, they don’t know what enchanting is for a while, they’ve never heard of the end or the nether, etc. they figure out most of these things through the course of the series, but as far as i remember, they never get around to netherite because most of them are terrified of everything about the nether. most of them never even get to potions.

the enchantment table very much exists, and is very much a plot point, lol.

it is in fact one degree of separation from empires and hermitcraft! one of the guests on the server, BrunoDanUy, also did a video on the most recent minecraft april fools update with Ulraf, Pixlriffs, and Ethoslab! i’m pretty sure that’s how degrees of separation work. i hope i’m not wrong.

now, this is where i messed up- due to a series of shenanigans, almost every horse on the server is named micheal. however, i forgot about block’s horse, sir marshall, who is not named micheal (though it is quite close). but seeing as sir marshall is unceremoniously and accidentally murdered, every horse that’s still alive is named micheal, at least.

ok i saw other people doing this with their favorite smps so here’s one for my niche fav!

[invertedfate]

I know it’s been a while, but what led to the decision to end Inverted Jape and make it pseudo-quasi-diagetic? Not judging, just… lamenting. T—T

Honestly, it just comes down to IF shifting into its final arc and us not being sure if there'll be time to fit in another funny joke update next April Fools. We'll see, tho!

[heloisedaphnebrightmore]

New home [Fred Weasley x Reader]

Title: New home Pairing: Fred Weasley x Female!Reader Word count: 1.2k Published: 2 April 2021 Author: Heloise Daphne Brightmore Notes: [x] Just a fluffy little nothing :D I know I was supposed to post tomorrow, but I decided to do it a bit earlier, don’t ask me why :D Summary: [x] Fred and you are moving in together finally, but he is being cockier than usual, so you decide to play with him a little.

Harry Potter Characters Masterlist | Masterlists

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You loved Fred Weasley since the moment you first laid eyes on him. As if it was fate, from on that very magical day, you just happened to be around him, accidentally bumping into him, having the only space available beside you in classes, giving him no option but to be seated beside you. For a mere second you thought it was a coincidence, but when he finally asked you out it became very clear that it was anything but a coincidence. Fred made sure to be around you at all times and it seemed you were the only one who didn’t know about his interest in you.

Of course, you fell for his bubbly, loud personality as much as his good looks. There wasn’t a single thing you didn’t like about him. He certainly got on your nerves at times, wanting nothing but to pull your hair out, but if anything, that made him even more irresistible.

You were walking towards a large black door, with two cardboard boxes packed on top of each other, trying to balance them in your arms. From the clattering sound, you were fairly sure it contained kitchen utensils. Gently kicking the door in with one leg, you stepped inside the house with a large smile across your face, stopping for a moment to look around and admire the interior. Moving wasn’t something you were comfortable with as you have lived in the same house since the day you were born. But knowing that particular day was the very first of many that you were to spend living together with Fred, having your own house to yourself made up for all the negativity within you. The simple thought of waking up beside Fred every single day made you smile foolishly.

“I love you, darling, but you are scaring me,” he snorted as he stood beside you with three other boxes in his hands, holding them as if they weighed nothing. “If I knew moving together with me would make you this happy, I would have asked before,” he added as he hinted a small kiss on your cheek and walked past you, heading towards the kitchen.

“Well, you could have,” you pouted, thinking about the imaginary scenarios you could have experienced with him if he had just asked you to move in with him sooner. Heaving a heavy sigh, you followed him to the kitchen. “Your timing has never been the best,” you shrugged as you placed the boxes on the dining table.

“What is that supposed to mean?” he frowned in confusion.

“It took you a year to ask me out, it took you a month to kiss me and it took you 3 years to ask me to move in with you. Let’s be honest, Fred, you love taking your time,” you grimaced playfully.

“It’s not my fault you didn’t show any interest in me. It took me months to even get you to look at me—,”

“Hold on a minute!” you cut him off. “I have liked you way before you liked me, sir,” you snorted in disbelief. “It’s not my fault you were too blind to realise it,”

“True—,” he nodded seriously. “I don’t even know what I was thinking. What foolish person could resist this?” he smirked as he ran his hands over his body in a comical manner, making you laugh loudly.

“Oh, I love your confidence,” you replied as you walked up to him, hinting a kiss on his lips.

“What can I say?! I’m pretty handsome and I have a quick mind. I’m quite a catch if you ask me,” he smiled proudly.

“I’m glad you are happy with yourself, do you care what I think?” you asked with a questioningly raised brow.

“I think I already know. You are moving in with me after all,” he snorted with a wide and proud grin across his face. You looked at him with a deadpan expression, taking a deep breath.

“Do you want me to turn around? I’m not sure I have space beside that huge ego of yours in this house,” you retorted.

“Come on, love, that’s one of the reasons you fell for me,” he winked playfully as he wrapped his arms around you. “Besides, you love me too much to pack up and leave,” he chuckled with a proud smile across his face. However, you wore a serious expression, one that clearly showed you were debating your options. You weren’t angry at him, you could never be, but for Godric’s sake he needed his ego to be humbled.

Removing his hands from you, you walked back to the table and picked up the two boxes, heading towards the exit. “What are you doing?” he asked with confusion in his voice.

“Don’t you know me?” you turned around with an innocent smile on your face. “I always do the opposite of what I’m told to do. Now, I will prove you wrong, pack up and leave,” you turned back around and continued towards the door. Sure, it might have been a low blow and not the most ethical joke, but if anyone, Fred had practiced the worst of his pranks on you at times. He deserved a bit of humbling experience.

“Hold up there, princess,” he ran after you with a panicked expression as if he really believed you were ready to leave. “I didn’t mean any of that. I was just joking around. Let’s just go back to the kitchen, we will make a cup of tea and sit down—,” he started looking around frantically as if searching for something. “well, we don’t have chairs yet,” he added quickly, searching for any other furniture that you could occupy.

“We have a bed,” you replied with a cheeky smile across your face as you placed the boxes on the carpet. Standing up, you met a very confused Fred, a deep frown sitting across his brows. You raised a questioning brow, trying to make him understand that you were only joking. “Where is your quick mind now?” you asked, chuckling.

“It wasn’t funny,” he pouted as he shook his head, realising you hadn’t even thought about leaving. Although he looked like a sulking little boy, he couldn’t hide the small smile in the corner of his lips.

“Fred Weasley, do you really think I’m such a fool to leave the best person that I have ever met? I would head to St. Mungo’s straight away,” you giggled as you wrapped your arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss, enjoying his arms sneaking around your waist, pulling his body flush against yours.

“So, we have a bed, huh?” he asked chuckling, but you just rolled your eyes.

“Yes, we do, and it will still be there after we finished packing,” you added with a cheeky smile.

“Oh, come on, we need to break it in,” he tried to change your mind, but you just shook your head with a content smile.

“How is that saying? ‘Good things come to those who wait’,” you giggled as you hinted a kiss on his cheek, picked up the boxes that you foolishly kept bringing back and forth and headed to the kitchen once again.

“You will be the death of me, woman!” he groaned, but reluctantly started packing, knowing the faster you were to finish with the boxes, the quicker he could get you to break-in that bed.

Notes: If you enjoyed reading this little piece, please don’t forget to leave a like, comment and/or reblog. Your opinion matters and gives us motivation. Thank you ^^

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Harry Potter general taglist:

@emmaev​ @montsepliego​ @marvel-ousnesss​ @iwritesiriusly​ @girl-next-door-writes​ @iamninaanna​ @jackys-stuff-blog​ @naviation-xx​ @iliveiloveiwrite​ @acuunaa​ @justmesadgirl​ @the-unmanaged-mischief​ @awritingtree​ @moatsnow​ @haphazardhufflepuff​ @pandaxnienke​ @nuttytani​ @bruxa0007​ @amourtentiaa​ @theravenclawgal​ @mesmerisedangel​ @earfquak3​ @harrypotter289​ @aguusmindpalace​ 

Harry Potter - Golden trio era taglist:

@acciocriativity​ @danistan99​

New Home temporary taglist:

@the-romanian-is-bae​ @famdomhideout​

[mizu-n-mist]

Hello!

I am now officially part of the prodigy team on this fine April Fools, here's some things I've implemented.

Sir Vey and Sir Vey alone is now romance-able

In the next part of the story line, characters will die that we just didn't like writing

I have had to shut down 531 NFT ideas and other god-awful ideas. You're welcome.

We are FINALLY introducing the Elves officially

Turns out, the reading game was much easier to complete! After much discussion, we decided there wasn't anything that couldn't be added as a part of an update. It will be releasing around next week just to make sure it isn't broken in any major way

Easy mode prodigy to those who genuinely are here for the lore will be released. Teachers, we recommend making accounts for students and disabling that option on your side ;)

Non members can now speak COMPLETELY FREELY, just in Morse code. Members will not have this option.

The puppet master is now canonically bi-ace, with a husband! It will be an explicitly closed relationship for now, sorry simps :(

We have bought Animal Jam and it will now be part of Prodigy lore

Your character will now be aloud to be customized from the Underwhere and back. (Yes, that was a Super Paper Mario reference. Everyday I think about it and cry.) These changes include: Nonbinary identities finally, as many hairstyles and faces as the quantum computer in the back could generate, species changes, and much more!

Behind the back of the coders, I made some funny glitches.

And much more! I'll be looking forward to this journey.

[ask-roxanne-ritchi-megamind]

Life in the Lair - April Fool’s Day

So, yesterday was interesting.

Megamind and I have an April Fools Day tradition that I’m sure we share with lots of other couples: PRANK WAR!

The problem, of course, is that my husband is a super-genius.  Have you ever had a prank war with a super-genius?  It’s even worse than the Scrabble, even though I know he goes easy on me.

Yesterday went a long way toward making everyone around me question their continued beliefs of my being a sane, reasonable person.  Or at least it did for anyone I texted.  Because no matter what I typed, the autocorrect feature on my phone changed it to some sort of completely BAT CRAP CRAZY statement about removing “the Curse of the Golden Wombat before the next rising of the sun,” or a suggestion to “improve the operation of your magenta dishwasher giraffe using the aromatic flavors of the number Q.”  Clearly Megamind’s unexpected new phone update changed not individual words but entire sentences. The BEST part was that he coded whatever ridiculous app he created and sneaked onto my phone in such a way that, rather than changing words as I typed them, it changed them when the text was sent.

So I had NO IDEA what was going on.

Because, seriously, who goes back a reads the messages they just sent?

I texted my boss to tell him that I was driving straight to the site of the morning’s first assignment and meeting the team there because traffic was running me late.  He responded with “Are you okay, Rox?  You know you still have plenty of time off if you need to take some, right?”

Which left me thinking: wow.  I mean, I appreciate it and all, but it’s just a little traffic.  I’ll survive.

I texted a friend who works in the production department to see if she wanted to go with me to lunch that day.  She replied: “LOL Roxanne!  You are SO CRAZY!  That is best one yet today!”

The best what yet today?  And, you know, she could have just said: “no thanks.”

I texted my cousin’s husband, Raould, to see how he was feeling after knee surgery, and got back: “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.  And why would you want to?”

Yeah, okay, he must be on some pretty strong pain meds.  He probably sent me the reply to somebody else’s message.

It wasn’t until FIVE-FREAKING-TWENTY in the evening, when I texted Minion on my way out the door that the light finally dawned.  I sent: “Heading home.  Need me to pick up anything from the grocery on the way back?”

And he responded with: “I think Sir has done something to your phone, Mrs. Mind.”

Wait, what?  I FINALLY checked my texts and saw that...

I’d sent my boss: “Have you seen all the massive fire-breathing narwhals in the sky today?  Why don’t people just sing to their vegetables more often?!  Geez!”

My friend had gotten: “Okay, but all things being equal, even the bravest of men fear two things: direct balls-punches and sporks.  Especially sporks.  Those things are just unnatural.”

And poor Raould, whose brain was probably already addled enough by pain pills, received: “I vote that after this we fire rubber band grenades at chipmunks and drink glitter!  Valhalla!”

Along with others.  So many others.  In all, I’d sent twenty-two texts that day, (many of which, for obvious reasons, elicited no response,) and not a single one of them made any damn sense.

I drove home determined to punch my husband straight in the balls with a spork.  Compared to this, my having filled his entire supply locker with Super Bouncy Balls so that chaos would erupt the moment he opened seemed like child’s play.

Thankfully, Minion is the real hero of this story.

An hour after I got home, Megamind marched into the dining room, where Minion was setting the table while I regaled him with the day’s horrors and little Miriel played on a blanket in the corner.  My husband scowled at us, (except for Miri, of course,) and demanded:

“Why is there a painting of me, half dressed and posed like a pinup girl, on the bottom of my hoverbike?!  People took photographs! They are posted online!”

My favorite fish gave him that sharp-toothed smile of his and mildly said: “April Fools, Sir!”

I got back out my phone and went looking for blackmail photos.  They were as hilarious as they sound.  The comments were even better.  I could hardly breath past the chortles enough to gasp:

“Serves you right!”

Megamind scowled for a moment, then informed me that there was only one way to deal with this.  He tossed me one of those toy foam dart guns, took aim with his own identical one, and grinned.

“May the best shot win!”

Which is why my husband and I ended the day running around the Lair, firing little bits of foam rubber at each other and howling with laughter, while Minion and Miriel cheered us on from the sidelines.  (Hey, Miri may be young, but she is Megamind’s daughter.  You can already hold a full conversation with the kid.)  The brainbots got in on the action, too, chasing gleefully after us.  I don’t think they knew what game we were playing, but they definitely knew they wanted to be involved.  When all of our ammo had been lost, Megamind and I started scooping up scattered bouncy balls from the floor to hurl at each other.

As funny and playful as my Love can be when he’s not saving people and solving crimes, it’s really no wonder that I find it literally impossible to stay angry with him.

I truly love that man.  And it’s a good thing, too.  LOL!

[dreadnought-dear-captain]

Update and a few asks

Hi everyone!

I’ve FINALLY posted an annotated bibliography for Baghdad Waltz. Thanks to those of you who requested and encouraged me to do it. It’s not entirely comprehensive, but I tried to pick the works that were most influential and probably the most helpful for everyone. 

I’m still very steadily cranking away on my newest fic How You Leave, and it’s completely strange to be writing ahead of my posting schedule (though I suppose that’s what happens when you don’t write 32k word chapters). This fic is HARD. But I’m very glad I’m writing it, and I’m so happy to have a small but mighty cohort of readers who are trusting me to take them on this journey. 

So, because How You Leave has been so difficult, I decided to accept an April Fool’s Day challenge from @licketysplittt​, who sent me the picture below and dared me to write a Stucky story based on it:

Needless to say, writing a “fun” one-shot is something of a foreign concept to me, but challenge accepted! The Premise: Yuppie liberal Steve Rogers moves to Daytona Beach, FL from NYC and decides to buy a gun from die-hard libertarian Army vet Bucky Barnes. Shenanigans ensue. Stay tuned!

Now some asks:

Thank you so much for the very kind words. I’ve been flat out horrible about working through BW comments, though I’m trying to get to a few every week (mostly because I’m blessed with so may long, beautiful comments that I want to answer thoughtfully, which does take time). I miss BW Bucky and Steve very much, and I’m so glad when people feel similarly attached to them. I’m also happy that it was a powerful emotional experience for you. I’m still not sure if I’ve fully recovered, lol [sob] 

It’s funny you say this, because one of the reasons I’ve had such a hard time coming back to the annotated bibliography is that there’s a visceral *UGH* I feel whenever I see anything about BW. I think diving into a new story so fast was my way of avoiding some of the emotional processing I needed to do (fortunately, there’s plenty of space there for me to feel sads). Because yes, BW is sad. But I’m happy that the story and the ending felt realistic to you. I also like the idea that they do the work they need to do to heal, not only from their trauma/grief but also from the damage this relationship has caused them. I think of it as a reset button, a process that could allow them to come back together in another way at another time and be really damn good with each other, whatever form their relationship takes. I’m just such a fundamental optimist that I can’t really see it cynically. I don’t even know how these people would not be in each other’s lives, somehow. Some way. Thank you so much for the kind words!

Thanks for asking these!

You mean a straight-up happy ending, like ride off into the uncomplicated sunset happy? I’ll never say never, but probably not. Those aren’t the stories I like to read, and they’re not the ones I want to tell. I just can’t do it, because I can’t buy into it. I appreciate an ending that has happy elements and some undertones of loss or uncertainty, which is so much more consistent with real life. I think this is based on the fact that I come to fandom not for escapism but for raw and honest storytelling. This means that I’m more often than not barking up the wrong tree, because so many people come to fandom because life is a little too raw and honest and they want a place with the endings people don’t get often in the real world. I totally respect that and think fandom is a great place for this. But to illustrate this difference, one of my most aversive fic experiences would be to read something that’s high angst, high stakes, high emotion and then... they get married and live happily ever after. I know a lot of people are the exact opposite! But fortunately, there is literally something for everyone in a fandom as vast as Stucky.

As for publishing BW, yeah, after I finish How You Leave, I’m going to start pivoting seriously to original work in traditional publishing. So I’m not sure how much more time I’ll have to devote to fandom writing after that, though I imagine I may push out one-shots or brief multi-part fics if there’s something I’m just dying to do. The problem is that, in order to publish something like BW, I need higher word count than any agent or publisher would give to a first time writer. So I need to try to get something shorter published so that I can establish a track record of marketability, which may increase my chances of publishing BW in a form I’d be pleased with. These are all wildly improbable things, so I’m pushing forward with few expectations that’ll I succeed in getting anything published. At least I like my day job lol! But I did say I was an optimist, so I’m going to give it my best shot. 

For those of you following How You Leave, I’ll have another chapter out today or tomorrow. I hope you’re all doing well!