#first messy big post of da year

[spilledmilkfkdies]

Dunno if anyone asked this but like…Wizard redemption arcs?

I’ve got my own takes on them as well for my rewrite:

-Orgon would never, too goal-oriented

-Anagan probs would through Flora

-Duman’s a 50/50, he’ll probs stick with his band

-Gantlos is a wild card arsonist but I believe he can do it, may take a lot of time though (90% of this is headcannon skcjskxjsk-)

But those are my takes what about yours?

Idk this is kinda hard because like?? Not to be a stinky wizard apologist I am, but I like a bit of "you both suck wtf happened here bro" in my planet history, which makes a clear cut redemption a bit more difficult ig?? Like in whose eyes are they being redeemed? The fairies' who were also very much morally bouncy? Or uh maybe the audience idk- I forgive em.

That being said though, depending on if you try to tackle the whole group at once or take it one at a time, it could both be interesting.

I've had thoughts where you have Ogron, Gantlos and Anagan: No Circle (object), no Duman, half their powers if not a quarter, washed up and heavily in mourning- At that point just. Talk to them. They're in no position for a full on revenge spree, they are SAD, they're weak. Either just leave them be or talk them into joining a cause for mutual and equal benefits, then if they ever do get back to full strength they'll simply not bother you again. Rough concept kinda, but yeah. Side note that in this timeline, if Duman does eventually claw his way outta the Gardenia grave, he's not going to be happy. Actually maybe giving the washed up wizards their Duman back would do all the work by itself? They'd show genuine gratitude and Duman wouldn't be allowed to be mad. Win win.

Then we have one by one, many many many possibilities there too. Like the best order? There isn't one. Several delicious routes, some more difficult than others. Play onto Gantlos following Ogron to the ends of the world, Anagan already having been mentally done with the hunt for ages- Does modern day Ogron care deeply enough about the others to put their well being and safety above their goals? Or at least more so than early days/in his prime Ogron who CANNOT relate. Again, don't put Duman last though. Cornered animal core fr I'm so serious. Which is where my pLANS COME IN- jkjk

[scullymaxxing]

the real x files

is were they fuckin.

and from my hours of research, scouring countless delusional pro-g*llovny internet users, i can say that you all would make shit detectives. specifically the g*llovny blogs that compare pictures of DA and DD's kids and try to argue that they've have some secret elaborate 30 year long relationship?? theyre not actually the characters they portray, u guys kno that right? right??

ok good.

so basically...

i think DD and GA hooked up in the beginning of filming, before they knew they have to see each other for the next decade (link to website). and then obviously by the time GA was pregnant (beginning of 1993) she was with Klotz. theres a reason most of the msr gifs are from the first few seasons...

Her and Klotz divorced the same year DD and Tea Leoni got married, 1997. The 1997 golden globes (u know the one), was in january.

DD and GA's "dark period" was a year later, 1998, and i feel like they could have regressed in between the time of her divorce and his marriage (this slightly dubious interview from 2002 with GA claims just that) (context: interview transcript with GA, allegedly translated from an italian paper in 2002. even discounting this source, it is not implausible, but definitely left to speculation). they were also filming the movie around 1997-1998, and im certain that they were around each other more than their partners at the time.

Marketing

given that a lot of the DDGA confirmed sources are from magazines, im gonna agree with the claim that DDGA was kind of not that secret at the time, as well as a marketing ploy. anything they said or did in 2008, 2013, 2016-2017 was fully marketing idc. the revival era interviews (including 2008 in this era) do show different stages of DD and GA reflecting on their relationship which is insightful and there are countless interviews where GA kind of hints to stuff, but they were all promos for x files (interviews linked below the cut). they certainty fan the flame, though. and while i am certain it was not by design, their chemistry in the first season, whatever the catalyst may have been, was a saving grace of the show.

the Industry

also, i dont think g*llovny shippers on the Celibacy Website have a realistic grasp on the television/film industry or the business of marketing and publicity. luckily, i go to a college full of people who do just that, and let me tell u, actors fuck each other all the time, and i dont think sex was necessarily sacred or all that deep for either of them... (as with most actors,,, have you ever met a film kid??)

some potential drama given this analysis that i think about:

did GA get with Klotz to make DD jealous, or to move on? or both? GA and DD had a "professional" relationship until her divorce? and then post-divorce was when shit got real...

i also think a big reason to deny the relationship (besides, like the right to privacy as a human being), is because of their timing,,, like she was married and had a kid by the end of 1994, what good would admitting to an affair during that time bring? i dont think DD is the father or anything, but i think even admitting it given the timing would have cast messy implications on DD, GA, Klotz, and/or her daughter.

did DD marry Tea after hooking up with GA in 1997 as an apology and commitment to her, or to move on? the timing is odd if that one dubious excerpt is to be believed, but even without it, it would provide plausible context concerning the catalyst of the Dark Times.

there is the detail that DD and GA announced their divorces on each other's birthdays, which is... a crazy coincidence.

i NEED to know about the "dark times"... i literally can not imagine Hating someone and then being able to look deeply into their eyes. i need to see bloopers or something.

overly specific timeline with sources below the cut (i never said i wasnt as thorough or meticulous as g*llovny shippers, i just said theyre dillusional)

1992: CC writes the pilot, it is picked up by Fox, DD and GA meet at auditions.

sept 10, 1993: s1e1 pilot airs. we can assume they have been filming since or shortly after auditions. They would have known each other and been shooting for at least a few months by the time the pilot aired.

1994: This clip from Entertainment Tonight that i suspect was filmed around the time they were filming S1, in 1993. DD: "ive spent more time with gillian than anybody in my whole life... so, you know, it’s.. you know, you gotta be careful.. somebody could get hurt." GA mouths "me." the whole time GA is trying to suppress some mixed but kind of revealing facial expressions. idk u gotta watch it, but it looks very early on in the series, and is the type of banter that people trying to convince themselves not to fuck engage in.

sept 1994: Gillians daughter is born. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, they probably werent fucking for about nine months before this.nine months before sept would have been around december 1993 by the most liberal of estimates

so they essentially had from whenever they met in 1992 until around the end of 1993, though GA probably would have been with Klotz for a few months before she got pregnant around the beginning of 1994

1994-1995 Interview: (sometime during season 2 filming, post pregnancy): In an interview, around the 8 min mark, GA: "at the beginning we [her and DD] started out very close, and, um, as you work together... things change a little bit. we have a very professional relationship, very business orientated."

post-2003: there are countless interviews with GA where she sloppily evades the questions. 2008 jimmy kimmel interview , 2009 interview , 2014 interview GA: “maybe... there might even be more than an attraction.. but it’s not gonna happen”

personal psychoanalysis of strangers, by a stranger

GA:

2003: in a BBC produced podcast recorded around 2003, GA talks about having lethal depression as a teen and engaging in rebellious/self sabotaging behaviors while in the US. (honestly, it makes sense why scully resonated with queer emos, GA was one!)

1999: excerpt where GA describes her attraction to “dangerous” (ie toxic, avoidant, noncommittal) men and DD definitely fits the bill.

GA’s dating and marriage history is kinda crazy and impulsive in retrospect. of course i know she wasn’t thinking about that as she was living her life but, she makes wild moves.

GA was also so so young and new to the industry. Hollywood is infamous for its coercive business tactics and Gillian sure knows how to play the game. (the crown) or "bc the director liked her".

DD:

2008: DD sex addiction. and he probably thought with his dick and had very lose ideas about relationships for years before he came out with the addition. (like maybe 10 or 20 years of giving into the same self sabotaging behavior patters) tbh he 100% fits the fuckboy profile, he was just a Man in the 90's and none of the gen-z g*llovny sh*ppers are used to seeing a Classic Fuckboy.

u guys guys see too much mulder in DD. DD is an intelligent, rich, NYC jew who went to TWO ivy league schools.... youre a young, handsome, educated actor who just got signed onto his first pilot... thats gotta make a man bold and impulsive.

at present, he is a rich boomer podcaster engaged to someone less less than half his age who looks like a guy who would call me a slur in the street. DD isnt the clever, witty, crimefighting mulder or hank moody or any of his charming characters, hes literally just some guy. same goes for GA, shes just a rich white lady...

[sweet-honey-tears]

🧸When They’re Dads🧸

Part two —> part one

Characters: Shoto, Izuku, Dabi x GN!Reader

I’m back! This was kinda requested… idk. I went off the rails a bit with this one. Can you tell I love making Dabi save people who have crappy lives? Cause I do…I fucking love the idea…this darker then my past Dad post. SO IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO CERTAIN TOPICS, don’t read Dabis!!! Ideas are always welcomed, I hope you enjoy.!

Warning: Talk/ mention of child abandonment

❄️ Shoto ���

“Hey Hello there Little one.”

“You’re beautiful”

Shoto never really saw himself as someone who would have a family. There was a lot of unaddressed trauma that seemed to make any idea of a family impossible. Yet years later, here he is. Holding his 2nd baby boy, swaddled in a baby blue blanket. And 3 years after, Shotos is holding a baby girl.

Her Small hands grasp mindlessly at long strands of red and white mixed hair.

Funnily enough, all three of your children have different colored hair and refer to your husband in different ways. And it’s honestly adorable.

“Daddy”- youngest who has your hair color and two stripes of a lighter color in the front.

“Dad or Dad-da-da”- middle which has a messy yet beautiful mix of red and white hair.

“Dad” -oldest stark white hair.

Your two boys have found their main priority to be their little sister. After a quirk incident when she was 5- her quirk formed in school- and she started to get bullied. When Shoto was about to step in, his sons did it for him. Quietly and  subtly. Threatening the other children with the fact their father was a hero. And their little sister was just as powerful as him. You both do end up talking to them but still… it was fricken adorable

Shoto smiles the day he sees his two sons holding each of their sister's hands, guiding her through the pickup zone to find him.

Shoto doesn't push his kids into anything- encourage, yes.

Shoto is the kind of dad who doesn’t force his kids into any activities. He will offer the idea of his kids doing something but never force them. He will heavily encourage them when they find their passion. Acting like the proudest dad in the world when his little girl does her first solo in dance or his middle gets into the art show. It’s all a big achievement.

You know that whole middle child disappears minds thing? - yeah not a thing. Each child is even, no one is a favorite and NO ONE IS IGNORED.

You’re children know who Toya is- though they don’t really know who Dabi is. Minus that he and their father have a history. But stuff happened…

It happened slowly, the mention of ‘the man’ a walk with your daughter turned to her her talking about her day happily.

“I talked to a nice man! He has fun piercing and he kinda looked like Daddy”

You tell Shoto. Both extremely fearful.

Your middle child comes home one day with a black ring on his finger, his name- which seems to be carefully burnt into it, is written on the name.

Then your oldest, for his birthday got his ears per coed . And not soon after, a small box was left on your porch. “Sorry, I’m late kid.” A pair of white piercings rested inside.

Time passes, and you both notice how the villain Dabi seems to disappear from the news. And the visited from Touya becomes more stagnant. And a few years later, a polorde of a baby girl finds its way to your house… she wrapped in a dark purple blanket. Small horns poking out from her hair. A happy smile on her face… she’s adorable

There is little to no contact with Shotos farther.

They call Izuku- “Uncle Zoo”

🪴 Izuku 🪴

“We’re having a baby!” He starts crying- bawling really!

My man doesn’t care about gender or shit- they are getting All Might stuffy, and there are gonna be pro hero p posters in that nursery. The kid will have a room designed for them, and the minute your child says they have a new hobby, Izuku is on it. He’s buying stuff and researching. Watching videos on how to support your little boy in learning this new American sport he found. And later on, he’s sitting down watching hours upon hours of videos on hair for your little girl.

He also keeps his old hero journals, your children love to look through them. Talking as they mostly look at the pictures in the books.

“Un Might!” Your little girl yells

“Uncle All Might!”

Your children referred to All Might as their uncle almost as soon as they were born. Toshi appears at random for parties and school pick-ups whenever he can. And Izuku can’t lie, it’s fucking awesome.

Inko also is always in and out of your house- she lives rather close actually (courtesy of Izuku wanting to make sure his mother is comfortable and never lonely- she’s a god send when you both need a brake!!).

Izuku knows he can’t always be there, especially with being the new 1 one hero- so it’s no surprise for him to video call and talk to you all.

“I miss you all so much.”

“We miss you too Dad.” Oldest

“Miss ew oo!” Your baby girl babbles, her fingers grasping onto the Pro Hero Deku plushies.

Both kids own one. These are special though, there’s a little voice box built with the toys. Every time the kids squeeze the hand a little message comes out.

“I love you”

There’s a small one of him singing. Telling a short story.

Your Lock Screen is of your two kids opening up the present. Your son looks a bit confused holding up the stuffy while your daughter is already squeezing the toy and giggling. Your husband is standing nervously to the side with a hand on his neck. A somewhat worried but hopeful expression on his face. A large but sweet smile there too.

Izuku doesn’t care if his kids have quirks or not, he’ll love them unconditionally. He’s already taught them how they have a place in the world if they do or don’t have a quirk. How they are no different and just as special.

I imagine the two of you fight over your baby’s first words.

“It’s gonna be Mama/Dadda/Preference”

“No, It’s gonna be BaBa or Zoo”

And then you both look over at your baby babbling and go running over and you just hear an “Ight.” Does that count? No- you won’t count it but you look over at Izuku and this man’s eyes are stars.

“Izuku no-“

“First words”

“ZooZoo no.”

“All Might” he whispers out. And you just smile and shake your head. No, it’s not gonna count, but to Izuku it kinda does.

“Uncle Baky!”

“Unky Shoe!”

“Un’ id-E-uh”

“Auntie Ouch!”

Yes, Bakugou is considered their uncle.

🔥Toya/Dabi🔥

Dabi found your daughter in an abandoned house. Her cries led him to her. She was in the bare minimum for clothes, shivering at the cold air that burst through the broken house. Small arms swung in discomfort at the cold as Dabi approached. Your adopted daughter had small horns at the top of her head. And when her eyes caught Dabi’s, his breath left his chest. Big eyes that were a vibrant blue, almost glowing.

“Holy shit.”

Dabi leaned down and swaddled her in his coat, his quirk activating slightly to try and chase her shivering away. “Shh. Shhh. It’s okay, I got you.” His deep voice rumbled.

He’s the kind of dad that feels like he ain’t really- like it’s supposed to be. He’s like that boyfriend of a single parent- the father figure who’s always there for your kid but isn't the legal father. And when someone brings it up to him, he gets awkward and doesn’t know how to answer. But he’s there at every baseball game and there for the first breakup and graduation.

Dabi doesn’t have much to prepare him for suddenly adopting a child. But he did remember it when the others were little. Watching the adults take care of them all growing up. Watching his mother and sister.

He’s the first to wake up when your daughter starts crying at night. He is already halfway off the bed by the time you open your eyes.

“I got it, Doll.” He rumbles

You sneak into the room, finding him holding your swaddled daughter, her little hands grasping at his sleep shirt. A rumbled voice filled the air.

“The monstersare gone. He’s on the run and your daddy’s here.” His rumbled voice.

Dabi doesn’t say he can sing, he denies he can, but he can. And he only will for your daughter. No. Not even you, just for her. His voice is rough, like really gravely but calming.

He carefully rocks her, the street light illuminating the two of them just perfect to catch both their smiles.

“Beautifull, beautiful, beautiful. Beautiful girl”

He trains his daughter, ensuring she can handle herself in the world. She knows basic ways to defend herself and fight back.

Dabi also take a huge step back from the villain life. The public even takes notices because of the drop.

Dabi doesn’t tell her about her Uncles or Aunts, she finds them one day.

You and your toddler were at the park. You had always had your face covered during attacks. So unlike Dabi, Shig or Toga, you can go into public with no mask or anything. Your sweet daughter was swinging, the evening sky coming to a close. That’s when it happens, you hear someone clear their throat and look up to see Shoto standing there. His eyes are on your daughter.

“Can I help you?” Your tone came off defensive.

“Mama/Pappa/preference, he looks like daddy!” Your toddler happily stated. Oblivious to the tension in the air.

“You must be Da-Toya’s partner.” You pulled your daughter from the swings, pushing behind you, eyes narrowing sharply. “Toya sent a photo a year or two back” Shoto smiles “she’s beautiful” You’re almost confused- you remember when Toya sent the picture, but still. That was years ago. “My youngest made these for you,” he reaches far into one of his pants pockets slowly, and you watch him intensely. Half ready to have your daughter run to the meeting point if this goes south. But Shoto fishes around for a secound more before smiling, apparently finding the object. He pulls out a ziplock bag of string bracelets. They’re slightly knotted together, but otherwise fine. “She made them a few months ago- when Toya dropped off a present for her… I told her I'd pass them to you if I find you.”

And that’s how unofficially-officially play dates between your daughter and Shotos three children started.

And soon, your daughter ‘magically’ met Fuyumi and Natsuo and then Rei. With Toya hidden in the background of course

@thrivingaintmything

[unlimitedtrees]

so the game i made, 'UNITRES Dreams', is open source on github now

https://github.com/UnlimitedTrees/UNITRES-Dreams

hello. earlier i made my game 'UNITRES Dreams' open source on github. i want to talk about it. click the little 'read more' thingy to read da rest of this post. i had a lot of things i wanted to say about it and why i think open sourcing games is kind of awesome Lol !!!

also , By The Way, play da on newgrounds ehehehehe ~! or u can download it on itch.io too if you want

so. let me start off by saying that, although i was planning on releasing the source code for unitres for a long while, i was Not prepared to release it now. in fact, it kind of happened on accident.

in case you didnt know, earlier on twitter i was talking about how i wished there was a good way to release my archive of old builds for the game. i have a google drive full of old builds but i also i dont like using google drive. i sent a link to the drive in a reply to someones tweet, but there is one big thing i forgot: the game's project file is also in that drive.

anyways, instead of just deleting the reply or removing the file from the drive, i decided to just release the source code on github now, since i might as well. a part of me feels like i shouldnt have released it so suddenly... but also a part of me feels relieved.

you see, the unitres dreams source code is Bad. tons of messy code with almost no comments... a bunch of hackish solutions to tons of problems... everything is just incomprehensible unless youre me. considering ive been the only person working on the game for years, i understand most of the code and never needed to make comments (especially since making comments in construct 2 is Annoying).

my original plan for releasing the source code was to go back and clean everything up; improving tons of messy systems and adding comments explaining how everything worked. i also was planning on adding new content for a new update to the game aswell.. such as an options menu and maybe new levels and characters or something. i have Tried going back a few times to clean some little things up and work on a keybinding system... but i havent had the time to focus on it and do what ive wanted to do with it.

so, yeah. im kind of glad the source code is just Out now. it probably wouldve taken me Years just to do what i planned... and i think its best to just get it out now instead of just waiting years for something that might never happen, even if the source code right now is incredibly insane and unusable.

which leads me to something most people might be wondering: Why even release the source code in the first place? honestly, i doubt a lot of people will get use out of it, especially with the bad code and it being made in an old, dead engine that you cant even Buy anymore. but despite this... i think its good to release the source code for your games for a few reasons...

for one, its good for archival reasons. ive had a huge anxiety over losing all the source code for my games... its happened to me before and it really hurts. not only can you not use it in the future, but you lose a lot of work youve done, and for me ive lost a ton of games which were important to my journey as a game dev. nowadays, i try to hold onto all of my projects and have saved them to multiple computers and hard drives, but releasing them on stuff like github and google drive at least makes me feel a little better.. and hopefully with the unitres source code being public and the google drive for the old builds being out, it means that i wont have to worry about losing either of them.

another big reason is that, even if no one uses the source code for anything like mods or whatever, i think games having their source code out is good for learning game dev and understanding how games are made, even if the code is a big mess. even if i did get to go with my plan of cleaning up the source code... i feel like thatd be kind of dishonest, cus Most games Never have perfect code when theyre made. its good if you use the most messy code in existence just to get the game done... you can't always spend forever perfecting something, and at the end of the day the game eventually has to come out at some point. even big triple A projects will have weird code in some places... thats just a fact of life. i think having the source code out lets people see the kinds of crazy stuff that goes into a game, and maybe seeing my crazy code will influence others to do things a lot better in their own things. that's what i think, anyways.

and hey, even if My game never gets any sort of modding community, that doesnt mean Your game wont. there are a lot of communities out there who make some crazy things with mods.. and things such as open source games or decompilations can lead to some incredible stuff. with decompilations, youve got things such as mario 64 or the retro engine sonic games being ported to pretty much Everything, and then youve got open source games like Doom and friday night funkin which are being pretty much kept alive Because theyre open source and have a huge modding community. even if a game never gets as much interest as those.. it doesnt mean it never will, and having a game be open source can help a community grow so much more.

anyways umm yea. i think making games open source is awesome. there is a little part of me that feels weird about making unitres dreams specifically open source and the possibility that people might make fangames and mods out of it, as its something thats really personal to me (especially since the main character is named after me), but if people do make fangames and stuff with it i dont think ill mind, especially since a lot of my early work was fan games and unitres dreams takes a lot of inspiration from the media i love. all that i ask is that people include the original credits from the game in their thing, especially if you reuse any of the music from the original soundtrack.

i think, at the end of the day, my goal with this is to inspire more people to open source their games. a lot of good things can come out of it. that's all i have to say i think. play unitres dreams on newgrounds dot com ehehehe !!

[recolourrhys]

1 and 14 for the ask game please!

1. Show your most recent wip

Well. That would be a redraw I'm doing of a piece from the summer bc Rory's design has changed a lot LMAO I haven't started anything "new" yet!!

OC art gets posted to @digirhys bc I keep this acct just for fanworks!✌🏻 so that's where the final for this will go (a cropped version at least. The full will go on cohost)

14. How has your art changed over the years?

Oh boy. In almost every way possible, I think!! Save that I am still keenly focused on character art, from my love of storytelling :0

From a technical aspect my art has of course changed and improved tremendously from when I started drawing when I was still single digits lol the inevitable outcome of never really Stopping Drawing :V

I don't have records of old traditional art as much, so the oldest art I have that isn't toddler art was from when I was around 11-12 – those aren't these lol but I started using dA when I was a young teen, so I have those as archives of what I was doing digitally (the left group of drawings are from that first dA acct, as far back as when I was 14 :Y

I think on the more con/critical side of things, my creativity has been severely stunted. In part I think that's a natural progression of thinking as I've aged, but one I know can be combated! It just takes an active effort and approach to work creativity and whimsy like a muscle, and that's something I know I haven't done a great job of :'3

It's bittersweet looking at old art where I can see how much fun I was having and how there were no inhibitions, no worrying about things being OP or cringe or "Mary sue". It's heartwarming being able to see that passion in my own art, and simultaneously i feel a bit guilty n ashamed that I've let a lot of it get worn out of me by Life, in part by things out of my control;;;;;

It is DIFFICULT to throw those cares aside again! Almost all of the storytelling I used to do was in collaboration with friends I fell out with, and it was a bit of a slap in the face to realize last year/during 2023 that I never really told stories or built characters on my own, and it's been hard for me to find that joy and passion. I loved what I was doing with friends and miss that feeling of community, but I think it's important and I want to learn how to create and tell stories primarily for myself now, too. What's been most difficult initially is fighting against a feeling of embarrassment just while simply brainstorming – it was a lot easier to throw caution to the wind and just revel in the Fun of Creating Whatever when surrounded by ppl making things with me with the same abandon!! TTwTT when we're all having a good time who cares if anyone else thinks it's silly, yanno?

I haven't quite figured it out, but that's one of my goals this year. I love doing fan stuff too when the inspiration strikes but I definitely want to put more energy into working on My Art, and figuring out what stories I want to tell and the characters involved. I think it'll be a big step, making the effort to make that shift, in helping to further heal my relationship w art in general and continuing to relearn how to love it and the messy, sometimes frustrating processes :'3

[sarking]

17 and/or 29

Thanks for the ask! These are from I’m Bored and Anxious So I Slapped Together a List of Fan Fic Writer Asks

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

I know I already said too much about the LAPD, but I opened my file the other day, and I have a specific example now! The LAPD used feral cats for rat control.

For a Hamilton fic, I was wondering if rum from the 18th century was similar to today's rum, which seemed like an unanswerable question, but then read about a recent tasting of a bottle of 1780 rum (and a few other old ones, but not that old).

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

I wanted to put teenage Stede on Hornigold's ship with Ed and Izzy and Jack, and maybe Anne and/or Mary, and have them do pirate things, so I did!

It's kind of long and very rough, coming at you straight from my notebook and my brain at 6:00 a.m. (Actually, it's from pictures of my notebook because I knew I'd never get this answered if I had to crawl across the bed to get the notebook while I was at the computer. So I took pictures of the notebook with my phone while I was in bed. Always thinking!)

They raid a merchant vessel off the coast of Barbados. The loot's nothing special, and isn't that something, to be looking at more X and Y than he saw in his first sixteen years combined and to think, eh, this shit again. The'll sell it, though, divvy up the profits among the crew, and Ed doesn't think he'll tire of the coin.

Of course, the'll get more coin if they get all the loot, and for that to happen, he needs to find the fucking cargo manifest. A year at sea and he's gotten used to tracking the damn things down -- desks neat as a pin or messy as a pigsty, the manifest is always right fucking there, except when it's not.

He yanks a drawer out of the desk and upends it in frustration -- nice one, Teach, now you're going to have to sort it on the floor -- when he hears it. A whimper, like a dog, or maybe a girl.

Hornigold would like that, if he found him a girl.

Ed steps back and looks under the desk.

Eyes the color of a muddy stream before a storm stare up at him, terrified. They don't belong to a girl.

"Shit, is that the manifest?" Ed asks, nothing the leather book the boy is clutching.

The boy, blond and pink-faced with silent tears, looks at the book in his hand like he forgot it was there. "Oh. This? I suppose it is. Do you want it?"

"Of course I fucking want it." He'd grab it, but the boy hands it to him, and it's force of habit that makes him say, "Thanks, mate."

"You're welcome," comes from under the desk, sunny and melodic.

It feels rude to just leave, so first Ed says, "Right, then," and then turns toward the door. He's nearly out of the cabin before the boy's voice stops him.

"Aren't you supposed to kill me or force me to join your crew?"

Ed wrinkles his nose. He read something about that in the handbook, yeah, but he mostly avoids it. "Nah, we're good." He takes another step.

"There's a false bottom in the desk drawer," the boy says. "Top left. The captain's been transporting emeralds in it. They're not in the manifest."

"Emeralds." Ed turns around. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I'd really like to be a pirate."

Ed strides across the room and opens the desk drawer. His hand is still on the pull when the boy reaches in and lifts up the bottom.

"Ta-da."

Handfuls of polished, cut emeralds, just poured into the drawer. Ed wants to reach a hand in and sift through them, feel the cool, smooth stone against his skin. Listen to them rattle. There's so many, he can smell them, can taste them in the air.

"I'm Stede, by the way. I didn't get your name." The boy is beaming, shining more than the emeralds.

"Ed." Ed swallows. "Tell you what, Stede. You put these in a big bag and come with me. Then you'll be a pirate."

In the chaos on the deck, Izzy nearly runs Stede through, but Stede trips over a severed arm before the blade makes contact, and Ed is quick to block another blow. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Iz, he's with me."

Izzy scowls down at Stede. "Captain didn't ask for hostages." His lip curls as Stede nudges the hand and shudders.

"Well, he's not a hostage, he's a recruit. Mate, you want to grab that ring while you're down there?"

"R-ring?"

"On the hand."

"Oh. Of course. Excuse me." The last part he says to the hand as he grips the wrist and eases the ring off as gently as if the hand's owner were still attached. "Thank you."

A smear of blood stains his shiny blue breeches when he stands. "I don't suppose I can go back for a change of clothes," he says, a note of hope in his voice.

"Nah, but if they're half as fancy as your current get-up, someone'll grab them. Just gotta get to them while we're sorting the loot. C'mon, let's get these emeralds over to the Ranger."

The plank is stretched between the ships and Ed gestures to it. "After you."

Stede only hesitates a blink before lifting his foot onto the plank. The creamy white bow on his shoe sets off an alarm insides Ed's brain, and he reaches out to stop Stede with a hand on the chest. "Wit. Gimme the loot."

"So you can push me over?" Stede challenges.

"So if you wind up fish food, I'll still have 'em, yeah. Won't do anybody any good at the bottom of the sea."

Stede considers this and steps down from the board. "You can have it, but you go first." He hands the bag f emeralds to Ed. Then -- "Oh, right--" unfolds his first to offer the ring.

"You keep that," Ed says. "Far as anyone knows, you were wearing it the whole time. Goes with your fancy suit."

It's almost true. He and Izzy know the rind isn't Stede's; if they need to get rid of him, they can use that. And if they don't, well, it's a fair reward for the emeralds.

Ed hops up onto the plank and crosses to the Ranger. When he turns back to warn Stede not to look down, Stede is right behind him.

A fucking natural.

Ed holds out a hand to help him down, and the sunlight refracts on the stolen ring just like the sea.

"This is the Ranger," Ed says as he leads Stede across the deck. "Captain's Benjamin Hornigold. That's the ship's code." He smacks his palm against the paper nailed to the entrance. "I'm assuming you can read."

"I'm a bit of a bibliophile, in fact. I don't suppose you have much of a library on board?"

[mirohlayo]

F1 DRIVERS AND CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES

special xmas edition

inclunding mclaren, ferrari, mercedes + verstappen, ricciardo & gasly

warning : none

note : i rushed it and i just think it's super messy and bad written lol

!! english not my first language !!

ᦈ OSCAR PIASTRI 81

you love christmas because of course it means christmas cookies and pastries. you like baking, so when oscar offered to join you to bake some cookies, you obviously had to say yes. he would try to do his best, learning from you. he looks carefully how you manage to draw perfect shapes, and he tries to recreate it even though it ends up in a mess. his cookies are not the best, but he doesn't care since he spend time with you, the most precious person in his world.

ᦈ LANDO NORRIS 4

your tradition is to decorate christmas tree. this year, you came up with the idea of mixing red and gold colors, but your boyfriend does not agree with that. he asks for orange, since he wants to show how proud he is of being a mclaren driver. you argue with him, saying orange will look bad. but he's stubborn, so after a agreement you two ended up by putting orange and gold colors in the tree. it's not really pretty. but lando likes it anyway, and he'll thanks his favorite girl for letting him put his favorite color.

ᦈ CHARLES LECLERC 16

this man doesn't even know how to cook pasta, so no need to ask him to wrap the christmas presents. he'll make a pure mess. instead you made him responsible for buying the presents, and you'll wrap them. seeing you wrapping them, he would propose his help. you say yes because how could you refuse some precious help. but you knew it was a bad idea cause as soon as he grabs the wrapping paper, he rips it. you sigh and he would peck your face and lips in order to apologize. and it worked, since he finished by helping you, well more kissing you but that's a secret.

ᦈ CARLOS SAINZ 55

you literally love christmas market, so does carlos. you are so excited to see the different decorations and dishes, and carlos couldn't help but get excited too. he would bring you there, and seeing those little sparks in your eyes warms his heart. he'll buy you anything you ask, and even feed you some hot food. a big christmas tree is in the center of the place, and of course you have to take a picture with it. carlos will take it, and then probably post it on his instagram story, saying how good the day was and how cute his lover is.

ᦈ LEWIS HAMILTON 44

christmas also means movies marathon. well at least for you and lewis. it is one of your favorite activity of the year. you two would slip under the warm blankets, cuddling so close. lewis starts the first christmas movie, and the night passes extremely fast. laughing and talking about christmas stories, and of course kissing session is open. but soon you start feeling tired, and when lewis sees you falling asleep he would join you. pressing soft lazy kisses on your forehead, the movie still playing in the background.

ᦈ GEORGE RUSSEL 63

snowman. how cute it is. when you saw the first snow, you literally screamed and called george, getting way too much excited. and when the snow would stop falling, letting a large white layer on the floor, you'll run outside with george. you start building the snowman's head, and george build the body. of course you would throw at each other some snowball but it's just too funny. you finish by placing a carrot and some rocks, and ta da ! the snowman is just as beautiful as you and george. and he'll proud of it, but most of you.

ᦈ MAX VERSTAPPEN 33

karaoke night. max wants to spend his christmas holidays only with you, well actually all of his winter break with you. and he loves karaoke and you loves christmas songs, so obviously you had to mix these two things together. so here you are, on a night, playing christmas songs out loud in the house. he'll sing loudly over them, and you'll join him, screaming lyrics like you felt the music deep inside your bones. maybe the neighbors will complain about it later, but you don't care, because the moment was just so romantic and sweet.

ᦈ DANIEL RICCIARDO 3

ice skating is such a fun activity. and daniel wants to do it with you. so putting on your skates and going on the ice. surprisingly, daniel would be the one who fall literally every seconds. he firmly grab your hand, maybe a bit too much since you don't even feel your fingers, but even like that he somehow manage to slip and fall on the ground. taking in you with. but you don't really care, because after all it's just so funny. your laughs filled the air and daniel feels so happy about his idea. about ice skating together. and he knows for sure it will remains as a great memory.

ᦈ PIERRE GASLY 10

you literally hate gingerbread, so when pierre asked you to build a gingerbread house you refused the offer. but you know how much he wants to spend time with you and how much he wants to build that house, so you finally gave up. he would be so happy and after baking everything, you thought about contend for who will build the best gingerbread house. you would put all your efforts in it, so concentrate. pierre doesn't want to lose, and neither do you. so after building them, he'll ask on his instagram story who built the best one. and when he'll see you being the winner, he won't hide how disappointed but proud of you he'll be. because after all if it's you the winner, then that's all okay.

[impishtubist]

“bye, bus!”

Okay, so this post keeps crossing my dash, and I tried to bully the Discord into writing a Wolfstar fic for it, only to accidentally end up writing Prongsfoot for it myself instead ���‍♂️ I blame @theresthesnitch​. 

----

“You’re sure you have everything?”

Teddy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, Padfoot, I’ve got everything.”

Sirius crossed his arms, aiming a stern look at his godson. “You left your packing until an hour ago, so forgive me if I’m a bit skeptical.”

“If I left anything, you can just send it through the Floo, it’s not a big deal.”

“Maybe I’ll just keep it for myself.”

Teddy shrugged. “That’s fine, Papa will just buy it for me again. He’s rich, you know.”

“Oi!” Sirius reached up to ruffle Teddy’s blue curls, and the boy ducked away from him. “Don’t let Da hear you say that, brat. When did you turn into a teenager?”

“Three years ago, when I turned thirteen.”

“Two minutes!” Stan called from the door of the Knight Bus. Teddy’s luggage was already on board, so he picked up his smaller bag and slung it over his shoulder. Sirius felt a familiar pang behind his sternum. Teddy had spent one month with him every summer since he turned six, giving Remus and Kingsley a break while Sirius got to relentlessly spoil his godson. Teddy would be an adult by this time next year, graduated from Hogwarts and off on his next adventure. Who knew if he even wanted to spend time with Uncle Sirius after that?

“Stop that,” Teddy said, poking him in the side. Other passengers were saying their goodbyes and boarding the Knight Bus. “I’ll see you at the station on September first, yeah? And I’ll be home for Christmas. Besides, you’ll be so busy with your little rascals once school starts again that you won’t even miss me.” 

“You were one of those little rascals once, you know.” Sirius had been teaching at a magical nursery school for--Merlin, for almost twenty years now. He loved his babies to pieces, though now he felt painfully old. Where had the time gone? 

“Yeah, and I was a menace.”

“A very cute menace, though.” Sirius hugged Teddy one last time. “Travel safe, and call me through the mirror as soon as you’re home. Oh, and give your da a kiss from me.”

Teddy pulled back, a mischievous glint in his eye. “But not Papa?”

“Your papa can have a kiss from me when he sends me the Galleons he owes me from last week’s match.” 

Teddy was the last passenger on the bus. The doors closed, and Sirius raised his hand to wave as the engine roared to life. A few other wixen who had come to see loved ones off were also waving. 

“Say bye, bus!” Sirius said cheerfully, as the Knight Bus disappeared with a loud pop. 

“Bye, bus!” someone next to him said. 

Sirius froze. Oh, no. Two decades spent teaching little ones had instilled some ridiculous habits in him, like speaking cheerfully to inanimate objects and encouraging others to do the same.

Slowly, he turned to face the person who had unwittingly bade the bus goodbye, and found himself face-to-face with a man whose expression looked as mortified as he imagined his own did. 

“Er,” Sirius said lamely. “I teach toddlers.” 

“I have a six-year-old,” the man said. 

And then, they both burst out laughing. 

“I can’t believe I said that,” Sirius wheezed. “Oh, Merlin.”

“Do you--do you do that with everything?” the man cackled. “Do you say goodbye to cars too? What about broomsticks?”

“Stop it.” Sirius covered his burning face with his hands. 

“Do you talk to food while you’re cooking? ‘Hello, Mr. Tomato, are you ready to be chopped into tiny pieces today?’”

“You cannot tell anyone this happened,” Sirius said, lifting his head. “I’m going to make you swear an Unbreakable Vow.” 

The man’s laughter tapered off, though he kept chuckling, and he lifted his glasses to wipe his eyes. He had a mop of dark, messy hair on his head, brown skin, and a build like a professional Quidditch player. In short, he was fit, and Sirius’s heart tripped in his chest. 

The man put his glasses back on and considered Sirius, his eyes flicking from Sirius’s feet all the way up to his hair. 

“I might be persuaded to keep your secret,” the man said, “if you buy me a cup of coffee.” 

Sirius’s heart beat faster. Was he really--? 

“Thought you said you’ve got a kid,” he said cautiously.

“Divorced,” the man said. “You?”

“Single.”

“Great!” The man stuck out his hand. “I’m James.”

“Sirius, like the star.” 

James’s hand was warm, his grip firm. A shiver went down Sirius’s spine. What was wrong with him? Getting all flustered over a handshake. He wasn’t fourteen anymore! 

“Coffee, then?” 

Sirius grinned. “Coffee it is.”

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2022-10-03

Several parts for a project got lost in the mail and if I don't blow up a motor doing something ill-advised with transistors soon I'm going to become the Joker.

Listening: I went to see the Ndlovu Youth Choir, a youth music group out of Limpopo who became extremely well known after they got on America's Got Talent a few years ago. Great style, they do a wide array of different styles and songs over a pretty wide time period, here's two songs:

Reading: Mostly scraps of SCP stuff, but a bad week for reading

Watching: Finished Arcane. God damn. Yes I know it's been like a year since that came out shut up.

It's so good. The animation is beautiful, it's so carefully considered, there's so few shortcuts taken. There's a scene where Jayce throws up on the bridge and it's a really close shot that sells the physicality of vomiting so well, it's messy and unpleasant. Another studio might have cut to a really long silhouette shot for that kind of thing. The Ekko/Jinx fight might be one of the best fights in the show. Even basic conversations have thoughtful blocking and framing, very little simple shot/reverse, there's always a focus on body parts and movements.

It's very predictable, which is probably because it's very character driven and the characters don't change much, you could write a comprehensive study of most characters on a post-it. There's a few major pivotal moments and twists for a few characters which are huge, but for the most part you can just run what you know about them forward to predict what happens next. Even having no knowledge of LoL you can guess that the Firelighters are led by Ekko in like zero seconds.

Jinx and Jayce are the main sources of unpredictability but that's because she's Da Joker Baby and paranoid and has psychosis, and he's a very smart boy who doesn't know what he's doing so the moment someone suggests any kind of solution to him he immediately does it without thinking.

Every single characters' design slaps. They did not make the mistake of trying to be sensible. Why is the cop uniform kind of demure but hot in a sexy maid kind of way? How does Jinx maintain twin braids longer than she is while also being on fire some of the time? How does Ekko fight with all that stuff on? These are not questions to ask. The question to ask is how fucking cool does this look and the answer is very.

The levels of tragedy are off the charts. Every second episode there's an opportunity for things to be resolved and for peace to succeed and everyone to talk and it doesn't happen ever.

Viktor and Jayce should have fucked at some point if only to make the breakup even worse.

Playing: Brought my desktop's storage back online so I have somewhere to put games again, but I haven't actually done much with it. Fortunately since I moved to Arch again my Proton is more stable, I got Ace Combat working under Linux.

Making: weekend making time was lost to a number of minor emergencies, but I did have to pop a door off its hinges because the lock completely failed which was fun. Unfortunately it was the door to the toolshed so I had to scrabble together the tools to do said pin popping from whatever tools I keep in my desk.

Tools and Equipment: Treating a minor injury in the family so here's a reminder to check your first aid kits, I had to run out and grab a bunch of non-absorbing gauze because we were all out.

I'm currently in the process of stocking a more severe trauma care kit for the family because my dad is on anti-clotting and blood thinning medication for a while which makes all his wounds one level of severity worse, so also learn how to use Chest Seals and Tourniquets, there's good online resources but you can probably also find a Stop The Bleed training course near you, it's a big international programme.

[star--anon]

3 Times Wilbur Was A Lee + No That's It, That's The Post

Heyyyyyyy~! I left Tumblr for a little while, but don't worry! I'm back! And I've finally written the prompt that was sent to me over 2 months ago! Yay!

"Listen, I'm sorry, alright?" Tommy huffed out, resting his head on Wilbur's shoulder. "I didn't mean to! Honest! You're just being a big bitch about it!"

Wilbur didn't say anything back. He simply stared at the front door, waiting for Phil to come home with his fixed sweater.

While watching Tommy parade around the house in Wilbur's favorite orange sweater was, to some degree, amusing, it was not amusing when Tommy ripped the soft fabric. And although Phil had gone to get the sweater fixed, Wilbur was still incredibly upset with the seventeen-year-old idiot. He stuck a Post-It on Tommy's forehead with the words, "I am an idiot and Wilbur Soot does not talk to idiots," scrawled on the yellow paper in messy handwriting. He then resigned himself to the couch and waited for Phil to come home, ignoring Tommy's attempts at getting his attention.

It seemed like Tommy wasn't exactly on board with his idea, judging by the way he plopped himself next to Wilbur and began poking his shoulder, repeating, "...Answer me, answer me, answer me, answer me, answer me, answer me..."

It took every fiber of Wilbur's being to not whack Tommy on the back of his empty little head.

"...Answer me, answer me, answer me, answer me..."

The words, "Shut it", weighed heavily on Wilbur's tongue, and it took a massive effort to not let it slip from his lips. He had told himself that he would not talk to Tommy, and he was going to keep that promise.

"...Answer me, answer me, answer me, not gonna stop until you answer me, answer me, answer me..."

Gradually, as Wilbur remained unresponsive, Tommy's poking became quicker and more aggressive until he missed his mark. Instead of poking Wilbur's shoulder, he ended up poking his ribs. The older started and swallowed a squeak of surprise. He hoped that Tommy hadn't noticed, but that hope quickly sank when he saw him grin widely.

"I saw that jump, don't try and hide," said Tommy, poking his ribs again. As impassively as he could, Wilbur reached out and grabbed Tommy's wrists tightly. He never spoke a word and kept his eyes on the front door. He was trying to ignore the kid, after all. He squeezed Tommy's wrists and let go, hoping that the boy had gotten the message.

Don't poke me, he silently said.

Unfortunately, Tommy was never good at listening. The moment his hands were free, he immediately returned to poking at Wilbur's ribs, this time with renewed energy.

"Ahaha-!"

Wilbur cracked.

He dropped the ignoring act and squirmed away from Tommy. In his desperation, he made the mistake of falling off the couch and onto the ground, allowing Tommy to sit on top of him and poke him more.

"G-Gehehet ahahaway!"

"I knew it! I knew you were just ignoring me!"

"Tohohommy, gehehet ohoff!"

"Nah. I'm having a lot of fun."

"T-Tohohommy, Ihi'm seheherious!" Wilbur tried to flip over to throw Tommy off him, but he quickly abandoned the attempt when Tommy dug between his shoulder blades. "Juhuhust gehehet ohohoff! Plehehease!"

Although Wilbur's thin shirt was doing nothing to protect him from Tommy's poking, the blonde still decided to take it up a notch. He slipped a hand underneath the shirt and rapidly squeezed his ribcage. Wilbur just about shrieked, frantically and jerkily pushing at Tommy's chest. His arms flailed around; Wilbur was stuck between trying to push Tommy off him or covering up his red face to preserve what little dignity he could save. The younger grinned widely, easily grabbing Wilbur's hands and pinning them down high above his head.

"TOHOHOMMY, WAHAHAIT! I-IHI CAHAHAN'T BREHEHEATHE!" Wilbur was bluffing and Tommy knew it.

"Calm down, you're breathing just fine."

"GEHEHET OHOHOFF!"

"Awww, is this a bad spot?" Tommy made an exaggerated sad face. "This is a bad spot for you, huh? Your ribs are ticklish? Is that what this is? Hm?"

Wilbur whined at the teasing, turning a deep shade of red.

"TOHOHOMMY!" he complained. The squeezing and pokes to his ribs made it difficult to think, so he couldn't get out much more. Given the opportunity, he might have been able to formulate a proper and cohesive argument and rationalization to persuade Tommy into halting his petty actions.

He wasn't given the opportunity.

The laughing on his behalf and the tickling on Tommy's seemed to weaken Wilbur because he was finding it incredibly hard to do anything but lie there and take it. Take the digging nails between his ribs, the occasional raspberry on his ribs, the random squeezes and pokes and prods and wiggles and skitters and rubs on the bones and gently scratching...

"TOHOHOMMY! PLEHEHEASE, YOUHU'RE GOHOHOING TO KIHILL ME!"

"Calm down," scoffed Tommy. "I'm not going to kill you."

Still, he relented and stopped his attack, letting Wilbur (finally) take a breather.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeheheah..."

"Cool."

"Cahahan youhu get ohohoff mehe?"

Tommy blinked. This was the first time in memory that Wilbur had asked for something — and politely too.

"Hm..." For a moment, Tommy considered it. Wilbur hadn't flipped him over and taken brutal revenge yet. He had asked nicely to be let up. It looked like he was sorry for ignoring Tommy. Well, then again, it only looked like he was sorry.

"Maybe if you apologize for ignoring," offered Tommy, "I'll let you up."

Wilbur glared at him. It was obvious he was trying to gain authority and control of the situation by activating his Big-Brother mode, but it was less effective when he was at Tommy's mercy.

"Fuhuhuck youhu," Wilbur snapped. "Let me up."

Tommy just shrugged. "Your funeral," he said, scribbling his fingers over Wilbur's ribs. The brunet screeched in laughter and immediately gave in.

"OHOHOKAY! OHOKAY IHI'M SOHOHORRY! SOHOHOHORRY!"

Huh. Well, that had worked out better than expected. Tommy made a mental note about Wilbur's ribs. What? It was valuable potential blackmail for later!

"Very sorry?"

"YEHES! V-VEHEHERY SOHOHORRY!"

"And you promise that you'll never ignore me ever again?"

"YOUHU SUHUHUCK!" Wilbur whined through his laughter.

"I don't hear you saying it~"

"NOHOT SAHAHAYING SHIHIT!"

"Don't think you have a choice here, Wil," Tommy murmured. Once more, he switched tactics, going from dancing his fingers around to digging in between each of Wilbur's ribs. Every once in a while, he'd blow a raspberry and smugly grin when he heard Wil shriek. "I think you better say it."

"IHIHI PROHOHOMISE IHI'LL-" Wilbur broke off with a high-pitched squeal as Tommy blew a raspberry on a particularly ticklish rib. "AHAHA-! NOHOHOT THEHEHERE!"

"Go on," coaxed Tommy. "Say "I'll never ignore you again, Tommy", and I'll let you up."

"DA-DAHAHAMN YOUHU!

"Say it!"

"IHIH'LL NEHEVER IGNORE YOUHU AHAHAGAIN, TO-TOHOHOMMY!" Wilbur managed to babble out.

Finally, finally, Tommy stopped. This time, with no intention of starting up again. "Really?"

"Yehes," Wilbur breathily replied. His chest rose and fell as he greedily sucked in some much-needed air. "I forgive you, okay? I'll stop ignoring. I don't think you're an idiot. I don't care about my sweater." At first, Tommy thought he was just saying it so Tommy wouldn't tickle him again. But that thought quickly left when Wilbur reluctantly grumbled out, "I love you. And I'm sorry."

"Awww! Thank you!"

"Now get the fuck off of me."

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*

"Y'know, Tommy had a lot of fun telling me about his own tickling story with you," Philza helpfully informed, shifting slightly to better access Wilbur's underarms. He noticed that kneading circles made Wil's laughter go high-pitched, so he made sure to knead as many circles as he could. "But honestly, I think I'm having more fun than he did."

"AHAHAHA! PH-PHIHIHIL! PHIHIL IHIHI CAHAHAN'T! PLEHEHEHEASE! IHI- EEP!"

Phil grinned at Wilbur's reaction. He blew another raspberry on his neck and got the same response: a short, high-pitched shriek.

"You what? What is it, Wilbur?"

Wilbur simply shook his head, laughing too hard to be able to form coherent words. Had he not been sitting in Phil's lap, his arms held up with one hand and his underarms being tortured by a hand and a wing while another wing was running over his ribs, he might have been able to form a proper word. Phil noticed this and decided to give the musician a small break.

"...h-hehehe," Wilbur softly giggled. The tickling had stopped, but he still jerked and flinched and laughed like there were still fingers and feathers on him. "M-Mehehahaha..."

"What?"

"...mehahaha..."

"A-Are you okay?" asked Philza, starting to get worried. He hadn't taken it too far, had he?

Finally, after his breathing calms down and enough air gets into Wilbur's lungs, he whispered, "...m-mehehercy..."

"What's that?"

"H-Hahahave mehercy, Phihil." Wilbur shook his head once more, his giggles beginning to start up again. He tugged at his wrists, which were still held high above his head, and rocked side to side, almost like he was trying to evade poking fingers. The only thing was that Phil wasn't doing anything. "Cahahan't tahake ihit..."

"I'm giving you a break right now," soothed Phil. "I'm not an asshole."

"Yehes you ahahare," Wilbur cheekily said.

"Hey," said Phil. He ran his nails over Wilbur's ribs, earning a loud shriek. "I would be careful if I were you," he warned. "Don't forget, I know two of your spots now, and I fully plan on abusing my knowledge."

Wilbur squirmed in the avian's lap, his light-hearted threat forcing a whine out of him. His cheeks only got redder when he finally processed something that Phil had said earlier.

"Did he really?" he meekly asked.

"Did who really what?"

"Did Tommy really tell you about tickling me?"

Philza barked out a laugh. "You think Tommy's the type of guy to offer help in unloading the groceries?"

Wilbur flushed, his cheeks now a deep crimson. "Guess not," he grumbled. He had thought it was weird that Tommy was suddenly so eager to do a task that nobody liked doing — unloading the groceries — but he had just assumed that Tommy felt awkward around Wilbur after tickling him. He hadn't thought that... Wilbur kicked his legs as best he could and whined loudly.

"I can't believe you just stood there and willingly listened to Tommy talk about how he... how he tortured me to earn my forgiveness," he huffed.

"Torture," Phil snorted. "He didn't torture you. You make it sound like he had a knife and was drawing blood. According to him, all he did was tickle your ribs."

"W-Well, my ribs are very ticklish!"

"I noticed," Phil remarked. He dragged a single finger up Wil's ribs and smirked when Wilbur burst into sweet lil' giggles. Feeling a little evil, he added, "You know, he also told me get flustered easily~"

This, of course, flustered Wilbur. He buried his head in the crook of his arm, trying — and failing miserably — to suppress a goofy smile.

Phil took it as an invitation to continue.

"He also told me your laugh was adorable."

"Did he really-

"He told me you get all giggly when someone lightly rubs your ribs."

"Wh-What-"

"And that you get really red when someone tickle you."

"I don't-"

"You do, actually," Phil noted, eyeing the brunet's red face.

"Look," he said, booping Wilbur on the nose, "even your nose is red."

"I-"

"You look good though," Phil reassured. "Cute and a little messy, but good."

"St-Stop cutting me off!" spluttered Wilbur. The fact that Phil hadn't let him go yet probably meant that he planned on tickling him more, and Phil's constant interrupting wasn't helping Wilbur ease his nerves.

Phil's eyes widened at his outburst. "Well, there's no need to shout at your old man," he murmured. "I was just curious, that's all."

"S-Sorry..."

Phil hummed again, and the two fell into a comfortable silence — although Wilbur's nerves still didn't ease. Just as he was about to be asked if he could be let go, Phil said, "Aight, break's over. Let's start."

"Wait, what're you- AH! PHIHIHIL! NOHOHOT AHAHAGAIN!"

Phil cooed softly, drilling his wings into Wilbur's underarms while silently counting his ribs with his free hand. "I think Tommy was right; your laugh is adorable."

"FUHUHUHUCK YOUHUHU!"

Phil frowned at the vulgar language. He tugged Wilbur's arms to the side a little and began blowing raspberries on his ribs. Just as Tommy had told him, Wilbur immediately shrieked.

"AHAHAHA! WAHAHAIT! SOHOHORRY! PLEHEHEHEASE, IHIHI'M SOHOHORRY!"

Phil noticed that vibrating his fingers deep into Wil's underarms made him laugh louder than when he blew raspberries on his ribs. "Hey, I think your armpits might be more ticklish than your ribs!"

"PHIHIHIL!" Wilbur whined. "YOUHUHU'RE SOHO MEHEHEHEAN!"

"Me? Mean?" Phil gasped in mock offense. He ran the tip of his wing over Wil's left underarm while drilling circles into his right. The harsh contrast between the two sides was driving Wilbur insane! "I'm hurt, Wilbur. I'm genuinely hurt."

"IHIHI'M SOHOHORRY NOHOW STOP TIHIHIHICKLING MEHE!"

"Lemme sleep on it."

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*

"No, that wouldn't work either," Wilbur dismissed. He leaned back in his chair (or some stairs, depending on how you wanna look at it) and gazed out the window, a half-amused smile tugging on his lips as he watched Tommy and Tubbo assemble and reassemble a large pyramid puzzle. To Technoblade, he said, "Think of something better."

"I'm trying!" Techno frustratedly snapped. "You've been rejecting every idea I've come up with! Plus, you haven't come up with a single idea yet!"

"Yeah, because good ideas take a long time to think of!"

Techno rolled his eyes. "Yeah? Good ideas take a long time to think of? Seriously? That's your excuse?"

"It's not an excuse! I'm trying to focus, but you're distracting me!"

"I'm helping."

From downstairs, Phil tiredly sighed, pouring himself a cup of coffee. Wilbur and Techno were arguing. Again.

"What else is new," he muttered under his breath before sipping his coffee.

Sometimes, the avian questioned his decision to introduce his adopted family to Technoblade. At times, it was good to have his friend around; he was always happy to have a helping hand in organizing the family. Techno was a good big brother.

There were, however, some problems. Even though Technoblade was over a thousand years old, Nether piglins tended to live for millions of years. By piglin standards, Techno was barely a toddler. His youth — and therefore inexperience — caused some (read: a lot) of chaos and unnecessary bickering around the house.

For example, it was Tommy's birthday, and Techno and Wilbur had been assigned to give him a gift. Phil had initially thought it would be a nice team/brother bonding moment, but it just ended up being another excuse for the two to argue.

"What if we made him a giant cobblestone tower?" suggested Techno. "I have enough. We could build it all the way to the height limit. It'd probably make Tommy happy; he likes cobblestone towers of powers."

"No."

The piglin blinked at Wilbur's bluntness. He waited for an explanation. When none came, he prompted, "...Because...?"

"I just don't like the idea," Wilbur replied.

Techno threw his hands up in wordless fury. "You are impossible to work with," he stated. "Absolutely impossible."

"Think of some good ideas and maybe I'll be easier to work with."

Finally, Technoblade snapped. Wilbur had been rejecting every single one of his ideas with no satisfying explanation. It was honestly starting to get to him.

Making sure Wilbur was still distracted by something outside the window, he slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a book and quill. Flipping to page thirteen, he slowly trailed a finger down the paper, quickly reading all the bullets.

- A video where he's singing incredibly off-key - His secret drawer of photos of Sally - The one page in his diary where he talks about how amazing Tommy is - A video of him strumming an air-guitar like he's at a rock concert - That one time he accidentally encased himself in obsidian and I had to get him out - That time he started talking about how incredibly Tommy was before realizing I wasn't Philza

None of these help, Technoblade thought, slightly crestfallen. Usually, his book had all the blackmailing information necessary for any situation. But none of the bullets were helpful in this certain scenario. Eventually, he reached the final bullet on page thirteen, the page specifically dedicated to potential blackmail on Wilbur Soot.

- Ticklish ribs The words, "+underarms", had been hastily scrawled underneath.

Huh. Technoblade glanced up at Wilbur, who remained oblivious to his growing evil scheme.

"Alrighty then," the piglin sighed, standing up. "Villain arc time."

"Oh yeah?" Wilbur absent-mindedly murmured. "What're you gonna- AH!"

He yelped, caught off-guard, as Techno just about pounced on him and hauled him off his chair. He crashed into the piglin, sending them tumbling to the ground, each fighting for dominance. Though Techno was quite well-known for his strength and cunningness, Wilbur found it incredibly easy to wriggle his way out from his grasp.

Just as Wilbur had thought he had managed to get away, Techno "accidentally" hiked his shirt up and began squeezing at his ribcage. Wil immediately crumbled to the ground, feebly beating Techno's chest with a clenched fist.

"Ack! T-Tehehechno! Youhu cheheheater!"

"I win!" he triumphantly cried, flipping Wilbur onto back and settling down on his legs. Anytime Wil tried to resist, Techno would simply rub his top rib bones and watch (smugly) as Wilbur fell back down, giggling up a storm.

"Youhuhu cheheated!" Wilbur protested. "Thahat's not fahahair!"

"Hush," shushed Techno. Wilbur did not "hush". In fact, when Technoblade delved his fingers into his underarms, his laughter only grew louder. In mock exasperation, Techno snapped, "Pay attention, Wilbur, I'm showing you my really good idea."

"Thihihis ihis youhur idehea?!"

"It's good, isn't it?"

"Ihihit's ahabsolute shit!"

Techno's eyes widened.

"You take that back!" he demanded, not caring how childish he was being. It seemed like laughter truly was contagious, for Wilbur's loud cackling brought out a few chuckles from himself. Techno was glad that Phil had suggested for Tommy and Tubbo to go outside, because it would be very hard to explain why he, Technoblade, a deadly piglin who earned his title "Blood God", was currently sitting on top of a human and tickling him senseless, all the while wearing a large, goofy smirk.

"My ideas are great and you know it. Just admit it already."

"Fuhuhuck ohoff! Ihihi-" Whatever Wilbur was going to say was cut off by his own raucous laughter when Techno pushed his sweater up and blew a raspberry on his ribs (a trick he learned from Phil, who learned it from Tommy). "FUHUHUCK! WAHAHAIT! WAHAHAIT, TEHEHECHNO PLEASE! STOHOHOP!"

Technoblade did not stop. As a matter of fact, Wilbur's pleas only seemed to spur him on. Through slightly teary eyes, Wil weakly batted at Techno's shoulder as the pinkette blew raspberry after raspberry on his ribs. The hits didn't do much — Techno barely noticed — but it did throw him off a little when Wilbur missed his shoulder and whacked him in the face. Luckily, no one was hurt, but it made Techno flinch, and instead of blowing a raspberry on Wil's ribs, he blew one on his navel.

To which Wilbur screeched.

"NOHOHO! NONONONO! NO! PLEHEHEASE! NOHOHOHOT THEHEHERE! ANYWHERE BUHUT THEHERE!"

Technoblade grinned. He gave Wil's underarms a little break and moved to attack his tummy instead, skittering his fingers around the soft skin, occasionally dipping into his navel to lightly scratch around.

"Oh? Is this a new spot?" asked Techno. "Is your tum-tum ticklish? Is it? Is it so tick-tick-ticklish? Hm?"

"STOHOHOHOP!" Wilbur tried to demand. His squeaky cackles weren't really helping him make a point. He pursed his lips together and attempted to put on a mean, stony face. Techno dipped a thumb into his lil' button and vibrated it around, and his facade immediately crumbled. He squirmed underneath him, frantically trying to get free. "PLEHEHEASE! CAHAHAN'T TAHAKE IHIT!"

The piglin caught the strain in Wilbur's laughter and sympathized with him. He hadn't been tickled before, but Wilbur always tried to keep a strong, impassive reputation, and Technoblade doesn't know what he would do if somebody tickles him and reduced him to a red puddle of giggles.

"Alright, alright," he murmured, decided that Wilbur had had enough. "Just wanted to have my revenge for a little while. It gets annoying when someone keeps rejecting my brilliant ideas, y'know."

He slid off of Wilbur and walked back to his chair, where he had originally been sitting before he had gotten the random idea to tickle Wil. Before he could see what Techno was doing, the piglin quickly jotted down "+belly and navel" on page thirteen of his blackmailing book. He said nothing else — no apologies, no consolation, no explanation. Nothing. Zip. Zero. Nada. Goose eggs.

The moment Wilbur got enough air into his lungs and strength in his limbs, he staggered back onto his feet, face bright red and hair a mess. He ran a hand through his ruffled brown curls — like that would help — and sank into his chair, breathless.

"Ihi still thihink your ideas a-are shihit," he mumbled. He hugged himself around the stomach, ghost tickles still dancing on his sensitive skin. Technoblade glared at him. He had forgotten how annoying Wilbur was while he had been tickling him. He grabbed the first thing he could find — a marker — and pointed it at the brunet.

"I'll tickle you again if you're not careful," he threatened.

"I can take it," Wilbur arrogantly responded, eyeing the marker warily. His bluff was called, however, when Technoblade stood up and he squeaked. "AH! Sorry! Didn't mean it! I-I was just joking!"

Techno grinned. "You wanna admit that my ideas are good now?"

"No."

For a split second, Wilbur's stubbornness irritated the piglin. But then, after studying the marker in his hand, Techno's grin only widened, another equally wonderful idea popping into his head.

"Alright, I've got an idea I bet Tommy'll love," he said.

"And I bet it's shit."

Technoblade didn't say anything, simply grabbing Wilbur's wrists and raising them high above his head, which scared him.

"What're you doing?" he squeaked, voice high-pitched in terror. "D-Don't tickle me again! Please! I'm sorry!"

"Calm down," Techno soothed. "I'm not going to tickle you."

Wilbur relaxed a little. That is until Technoblade began pushing his sweater up, to which he shrieked, "What're you doing?!"

"I'm going to use this marker," was the pinkette's simple response.

"T-To do wha- EEP! Tehehechno! Nohohot ahagain!" whined Wil. "Plehease! Ihihi'm seherious, I cahahan't tahake it!"

"What? Seriously? You can't take a marker? Not even a marker?" teased Technoblade, more surprised than anything else.

"Ihihi'm tihihicklish!" the brunet defensively giggled.

"Well, that's good, because I won't tickle you all that much. Just stay still. I need to write something on your stomach. It'll be easier if you don't struggle."

"Ihihit tihihickles!"

"I know, but just stay still."

Wilbur tried — he really did! — but it was incredibly difficult to not laugh while Technoblade was writing something on his stomach with a black Sharpie. The soft tip of the marker was surprisingly good at tickling him, especially when it came close to the rim of his navel.

"Whahat ahahare yohuu even dohohoing?" giggled Wilbur. He couldn't exactly read whatever Techno was writing. It's hard to read upside down.

"I'm writing "TICKLE HERE" all over your stomach. And don't look at me like that," Technoblade added when the other gaped at him. "I know you're ticklish on your stomach, but I'm willing to bet Tommy doesn't~"

"Youhu wouhuhuldn't!"

"I would, actually," Techno replied. "Plus, I bet Tommy would love it. Admit it, Wilbur, it's a good idea."

Although Wilbur would continue to insist that Techno's ideas were shit, Tommy actually found Techno's birthday gift for him incredibly entertaining and enjoyed it immensely.

("Come on Wilbur, it's very rude to not sing me happy birthday~" "Ihihi'm tryhyhyhying!" "Try harder! Try to stop laughing. It might help." "Youhuhu suhuck!" "I wouldn't say that if I were in your position~" "ACK! WAHAHAIT! IHIHI'M SOHOHORRY!" "Don't forget to try his navel too." "FUHUHUCK YOU BOHOTH!")

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ*

I don't know why this prompt took me so long to do but I'm so fucking sorry Jesus Christ ᜊࡇᜊ

Also I'd just like to mention brag that the word count is 3,909 words.

-🌟

[queen-erika-the-songful]

I will probably re-do ALL of this thinking again later and make a proper chart but I just finished re-watching Dolphin Magic and have a lot to say about the Dreamhouse Adventures timeline, specifically how it fits in.

After re-watching Dreamhouse Adventures + Go Team Roberts and THEN watching Dolphin Magic, it really does just make more sense that DM came later in the timeline despite being released first and introducing this canon. Like I said in my last post about this, starting with the lesson of “you don’t have to question everything” (ep: “The Roof Fairy”), then transitioning into “mysterious things can just be mysterious (but also yes magic exists here)” (ep: “Magical Mermaid Mystery Part 1-4″), and THEN having the characters fully exposed to magical creatures in Dolphin Magic is a much more believable transition. If DM truly started this canon, then “The Roof Fairy” and especially “Magical Mermaid Mystery” do not make sense.

Putting Dolphin Magic later in the timeline also helps with the overall messiness of it. If Barbie is supposed to be in fact 17 during episode 1, “Welcome to the Dreamhouse”, which is confirmed in episode 4, “Nobody’s Cupcake”, then she must have JUST turned 17 during her last birthday, which is March 9th. We can also play around with this idea that her birthday in this series is different from her official birthday, so maybe she turned 17 at the start of that summer. For this idea, let’s just June 1st as her birthday. Either way, she’s 17 and Seasons 1-3 take place during summer. Then when GTR starts (Seasons 4&5 of DA), it’s still summer during “Magical Mermaid Mystery Part 1-4″. Then episode 5, “Sister Class Act”, comes around and Barbie starts a new school year. If she just turned 17, then this would either be her junior or senior year depending on her birthday and what age she was when she started school, which so far is unconfirmed. TV shows usually make a big deal about characters starting their senior year, so since there was no fanfare, I’m pretty sure its her junior year. I especially think that now since Barbie is spending an entire school year at the Handler Arts Academy during It Takes Two, which we know to be canon to DA’s continuity.

One more thing I have to mention is Barbie and Ken’s relationship. DA establishes them as neighbors who have grown up together since Barbie first moved to Malibu. The Roberts see him as family and he and Barbie are really close. Over the course of DA, we see them develop from “just friends” to “more than friends but not officially anything else”. They really like each other but neither will say it first. In the very last episode, “Dreamhouse Holidays”, Chelsea’s Christmas gift to Barbie & Ken is mistletoe. The episode ends with an ambiguous note from Barbie as to whether or not they actually kissed. We also have to keep in mind that "Curse of the Miner’s Ghost” from earlier in the season takes place at Spring Break, but if it’s still the same school year, then it would have to take place chronologically AFTER “Dreamhouse Holidays”. This would mean they didn’t progress in telling each other how they feel, but something is obviously there.

So, with all of this in mind, I have 3 ideas for where Dolphin Magic could place better in this timeline:

1 - Between Seasons 3&4 - This would have Barbie be introduced to magic the summer before her junior year and not interfere with the kiss or how their relationship develops.

2 - Between “Magical Mermaid Mystery” & “Sister Class Act” - This would again put the magic thing before the school year and not interfere with the Barbie & Ken development.

3 - After the school year of Seasons 4&5 - This would keep to the timeline of other stuff in DA as well as not clash too much with how DA+GTR transitions into Big City, Big Dreams and It Takes Two. It could take place during the very first week or two of summer, with Barbie’s time at the Handler Arts Academy coming right after. And if the Summer Program is for the entirety of June & July, then DM could take place during the very last weekend of May instead (some schools get out & start earlier than others here in the US, so it’s possible).

Or, we could go with the simpler idea: Dolphin Magic is just its own thing, as it should have been. We could also go the M*rv*l route and just say it’s part of a timeline that branches off into a separate continuity from what we have now with BCBG+ITT. The entire Barbie movie line has movies that may-or-may-not connect anyways, so maybe there’s just lots of timelines and timelines that branch off into other timelines and convoluted stuff like that.

I know I’m WAY overthinking this, but Mattel has been pretty adamant about staying in this specific canon the last 5 years, and it’s all pretty messy so I’m just trying to make it make a little more sense. I haven’t even tried incorporating Princess Adventure or Lost Birthday into this either!!

P.S. Also I was totally wrong about the resorts in DM and DA looking the same. They have similar layouts but much more different than I remember, especially inside the rooms.

P.P.S. Barbie’s age is not verified in BCBG and I believe not in ITT too so Barbie should be 18 now during this canon. But I find out that she’s still supposed to be 17 I will probably explode.

Again, going to re-do this whole post again later and use charts to figure this all out. I will wait until at least the second half of It Takes Two drops on Netflix. But I may also wait until the next two movies, Mermaid Power and Epic Road Trip come out too.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

May 2021 Wk 4

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Close Friend Ep 6 fin: (Imagine You/KimmonCopter) - Fan gets a VR of his idol, they fall in love, but does it transfer to reality? A unique story and great casting of Kim & Cop into roles that stretched both actors. My favorite of the series and a good closer. Close Friend as a whole is so uneven I can’t recommend it, but individual episodes (3 MaxNat, 5 JimmyTommy, 6 KimCop) are okay.

Top Secret Together Ep 3 - no subs as yet but I still found it enjoyable. I like this series, it’s quiet. Sure, the only really unique touches are the office setting and the gay advice dads, but honestly I’LL TAKE IT. Of course my favorite couple is the hazer + freshie back at uni. What can I say? I’m a sucker for the old OLD tropes. (Should I just do a SOTUS+S rewatch this weekend to get it out of my system?) 

Y-Destiny Ep 9 - Look, I’m just not a fan of the rake archetype BUT my favorite combo for this is another player, and BL almost never does that. But ta da! Y-D wins with f-buds + high heat pulp (well I suppose this is university-set Cheewin). I don’t love honest-gay messy in a long haul series (Friendzone... shudder) but I don’t mind it in short form. So I think this may be my favorite installment in this series so far.

Fish Upon The Sky Ep 8 - *big fat sigh* I thought they were going to redeem Pi by having him be genuinely nice to Meen, but no it was all to do with a dumb pin. Even though he suffers from crazy stalking in this ep, I still don’t like Pi but I’m TOTALLY on his side. Is FUTS taking us on a light weight The Effect journey? Because at this juncture I think I’d prefer that. 

Nitiman Ep 4 - honestly it’s like Nitiman is vested in showing FOTS exactly what it’s doing wrong. Both shows introduced faen fatales this week. But Nitiman did theirs with a sympathetic character, genuine interest on both sides, bisexual confusion, and sweetness. In every way the opposite of (and superior to) FOTS. Even claiming, outing, and stalker characters are happening but treated differently. It’s like parallel universes. Not sure how I feel about the ending kiss though. Still, this is my favorite currently airing show. I look forward to @heretherebedork explaining to me my own feelings and why I want to forgive Bbomb the kiss but not Mork for anything. Since I’m evidently morally hypocritically confused. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Love is Science? (Taiwan) Ep 10 (BL subplot) - Taiwan is experiencing a C19 surge right now so this series will be delayed at least 20 days. 

Be Loved in House: I Do (Taiwan) Ep 3 - dropped with subs thank heavens, all the usual tropes when you pair grumpy + tsundere: challenges, bets, crashing into beds, veiled threats... oh my! Gay boys in stripped sweaters giving advice in cafes is my new favorite thing. It’s the BL version of the “bartender is my psyche” trope. Still finding the boss character creepy. About Hank Wang (plays Shi Lei) anyone else obsessed with his sanpaku eyes? Just me? Fair. Also he keeps reminding me of Pluem Purim, I have no idea why. Something in the mannerisms, I think. They don’t really look alike. (This show may also be delayed.)

My Lascivious Boss (Vietnam) Ep 8 - continues to be good, we now have 2 faen fatales, blackmail, worried friends, and the secret identity slowly devolving. Looks like we get at least two more episodes and could be as many as 12? Very much enjoying this show. 

Most Peaceful Place 2 (Vietnam) Ep 3 (AKA 6) fin - it was fine, they always rush the ending a bit in Vietnamese BL. I found the first season much stronger than this second one over all. But since they aired in the same year and there’s only six total I feel like they should be judged as a whole. So I guess I’ll say, RECOMMENDED with serious pacing issues and some plot drag particularly in the second half. 

Gossip 

The cast of Until We Meet Again met together, ostensibly for their own amusement but speculation is that it has something to do with Between Us AKA Hemp Rope. 

Breaking News

Singto’s next starring role BL got announced Paint With Love. Between him and Ohm, they seem to be attempting to corner the market. I’m in favor. Singto plays Met, a wedding organizer, who hires Phap, a poor artist, to work on a wedding painting. Phap messes something up and ends up having to work for Med on a more permanent basis. Yet another office set BL from Thailand, following in Japan and Taiwan’s well suited footsteps... we hope. Phap is played by Tae (the original Forth in 2 Moons). No side dishes announced as yet. 

Pornographer Playback is airing, the third in the series from Japan (first 2 = The Pornographer AKA The Novelist & Mood Indigo). Not recommended unless you want non-BL gay cinema with high heat, and don’t mind the mess Japan always doles out to go with it. Such as: morally flexible characters, crass manipulation, gaslighting, cheating, seduction of a minor, so much smoking, het porn, and ambiguous, sad, or depressing endings. Part one of this final installment has dropped, part two is not yet available. No subs (even if they say they have them, they’re autiogen nonsense.) 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed later than actual air date for International accessibility reasons.

Things are looking dire. What will we do with our lives? 

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

[deep-hearts-core]

2011 - semifinal 1

originally posted 6/13/20

Poland The first adjective to spring to mind about this performance is sassy. This song just has a lot of attitude to it! I liked the dance performance and I think Magdalena sang well but there was some stuff that felt off at times, I think it might have been something about the camera work? But yeah overall this did not deserve last place at all. I know this was a really big semifinal but like. Come on. Norway This also did not deserve such a low placing! Stella Mwangi is maybe not the most talented vocalist ever but she sure does perform, and Haba Haba is really a fun and joyful song that always makes me feel energetic and happy. I did keep being distracted by her dress though lol, I'm certain that a different costuming choice would have made all the difference.

Albania I really love the more rock-style stuff that Albania sends. This performance is kind of messy - the song is much better in studio - but you can't deny that Aurela has an amazing voice and the song really holds the titular passion. Armenia I forgot how good this instrumental is? Like ok, the live performance sucked, but the instrumental is surprisingly good. A lot of things irritate me about this performance - the giant boxing glove and later the boxing ring, and also that backup singer who was really not doing a good job - but it's honestly not the worst thing Armenia has ever sent. Emmy herself is actually doing alright, it's just, this live performance was so bad. Turkey I really like the song and the performance is mostly okay, but the contortionist makes me incredibly uncomfortable so I have to pass on this one. Serbia I remember really loving this song when I first heard it, and I still really like it but I think I've lost some of the enthusiasm. Nina has a great voice and the visuals here were really fun, the costumes and the staging and the background were all just good!

Russia Get You as a song is just so incredibly sleazy... but I don't 100% hate it, mostly because Alex is doing a fine job of selling the song to the audience. I'm not a fan of his vocals, or the song, or the lyrics, but that stage energy is really something to be proud of. Switzerland The background here is such an eyesore. It's a nice song, it really doesn't suck and it's passively enjoyable, but Anna's performance here was also kinda lackluster, so. Georgia This performance is really great if you ignore the outfits! I especially like the rap section - this was the performance that convinced me originally to come around to the idea of rap at ESC. It's just good music! I like a lot of the Georgian entries to some degree or another but this is a standout because it's good relative to the songs in its year too. Finland We love good-natured youthful environmentalism on this blog! Da Da Dam is a really sweet song, nice to listen to and very timeless in a way, effectively simple.

Malta One Life is bad without the distinction of being creative about it. Montenegro 2012? Bad, but you sure remembered it for what it was. This song? Not so much. It's generic and absolutely forgettable but also I strongly dislike every second I spent watching and listening to this. San Marino I'm surprised by how good this staging is. San Marino doesn't usually do well with staging, and 2011 had one of those really difficult stages, but somehow it ended up working out. The song is another story though. Senhit's an OK singer but Stand By is just boring. I know she was due to represent San Marino this year - I don't know if they're bringing her back or not but I wonder what she'd be able to do with a good song. Croatia The triple costume change was the most interesting thing about this performance. The rest of it stands firmly in the territory of "okay". Iceland I need to get this out of the way, the seated guitarist in this performance looks like one of my professors and it throws me off every time I watch this performance. Okay... anyway, this song is really just wholesome, it's another of those timeless ones even if it is a bit cliche. Vocals good all around too.

Hungary I really like this as a song, but the stage performance really screwed it over. Kati isn't quite the problem here, her stage vocals are awesome, but her styling and what the backing singers/dancers were doing really just isn't it. Also, this song lowkey sounds like an uptempo version of Sweden's 2014 entry... hey Sanna, did you plagiarize? Portugal I'm uncertain about what the Portuguese are actually advocating for here, but it's a nice song I guess? Lithuania Another one that I strongly dislike. This song is so... saccharine, like it's not objectively that bad but it gets on my nerves. I think I dislike Evelina's stage presence here too. Azerbaijan I don't hate this, I'm even okay with it as a winner. 2011 was a weird year and Running Scared winning wasn't the strangest thing about it. It's actually one of the most modern-sounding songs looking at this contest from today's lens. Greece The sung parts of this song are quite good but the rap just ruins it all. I think this is possibly one of my least favorite raps in ESC, it's just... bad. How the hell did this get first in its semi???

My personal qualifiers Iceland Hungary Azerbaijan Georgia Poland Norway Finland Serbia Turkey Albania Miscellaneous thoughts That drumline interval was really cool! My siblings do drumline so that was fun for me to watch aha

[meruz]

Aforementioned long ask post please excuse me while i try to figure out tumblr's new text editor. I’ll get into the art meme questions first and then the rest at the end.

Ok first of all thank you all for sending in questions! Giving me an excuse to talk hehe. I’ll address these in number order. Here’s a link to the ask meme for reference but also I’ll restate the question for ease of reading.

1. When did you get into art?

Super cliche answer but I don’t remember a time where I WASN’T the weird art kid! I started keeping a dedicated sketchbook when I was about 12? But here’s a page from my kindergarten journal about what I want to be when I grow up.

2. What art-related sites have you ever signed up for? 

LOL this is a weird question. Not sure why so many people want to know. Anyways I definitely had a dA. more than one dA account. I used to browse oekakis when I was a kid but I think I was only signed up to some small ones that internet friends owned. What else...? Mangabullet,Tegakie, Paintberri, iscribble back when that was a thing, instagram if that COUNTs, I used to post art on livejournal and dreamwidth too. Patreon, I guess. Gumroad, inprnt, bigcartel, storenvy all for selling stuff.

In terms of resources.. I have a schoolism account that I’m sharing with friends. Used to take classes on coursera for free. I signed up to textures.com for work recently haha. I can’t remember if I ever had an account on posemaniacs. Did they have accounts...? I definitely used to visit all the time.

3. Show us your oldest piece of art you have on hand.

Alright here’s me actually logging into my old deviantart account. These are from September 2008 So I was 13 years old. I don’t have a deviantart account from before then because 13 was the required age for having an account and I didn’t want to lie about my age because I wanted people to be impressed by how young yet clearly incredible at art I was LOL.

4. What defines your artistic style?

You guys are probably more equipped to answer this than me but uh... I wanna say... Focus on colors. And... a slightly heavy hand? Like confident... not always well-considered mark making HAH...

Also I think I have a pretty healthy mix of american comics/manga influences. I feel like people who are into american comics always think my art is too manga and people who are into anime/manga always think my art is too american. And I’m taking that as a good sign.

5. Do you practice other styles/have you tried other styles in the past?

I like to think I switch it up a bunch! I mean, these are pretty different, right?

I think I’ve mentioned this before but one thing I really took away from art school is that, for an illustrator at least, art style shouldn’t be consistent. Your greatest weapon is changing the aspects of your style based on the task, the emotions and message you want to illustrate etc. So depending on the project I’m working on, the fandom I’m drawing for, whether I want something to be funny or serious or dramatic, I’ll change things about my style all the time.

One thing I don’t rly post on here is really tight polished work and that’s because I do that for my day job haha. If you’re not paying me... I’m probably not gonna color in the lines.

6. What levels of artistic education have you had?

I have a whole ass diploma LOL. Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration. from the Rhode Island School of Design. And I had a great college experience tbh. Besides the student loans. If any of you guys are thinking about art school feel free to e-mail or message me questions or concerns, I’ll be happy to help. Be as honest as I can be.

7. Show us at least one picture you drew or sketched recently that you did not put on a public site.

heres the wandavision kids. Uhh what else do I have...I feel like I’m rummaging for loose change here...

assorted valentines prep doodles

8. What is your favourite piece that you have done?

Well, obviously this is gonna change all the time and generally it’s gonna be my most recent piece LOL. So yeah, why the hell not. I’ll say it’s this one. I have a pretty short memory which I count as a blessing for an artist. I don’t dwell that long on older work and it keeps me moving forward.

10. What do you like most about your art?

I like that it’s something that only I would make! I had this thought fairly recently and I wrote it down in my sketchbook, it’s pretty cheesy and rambling but it felt revolutionary at the time:

So yeah. I like my art best when it’s the most me and for me. And I like it least when it feels like I’m just making something for social media or for other people’s expectations or whatever.

14. What do you like drawing the most?

Kids in baggy clothing are like my go-to LOL idk if that’s obvious. but also I like being challenged so lately I’ve really loved drawing multi-character compositions, environments, weird angles, etc.

oh i LOVE drawing the underside of shoes lol. And bandages. People that are kinda beat up.. I think it comes from getting a bunch of cuts all the time. I’m always patching myself up and I want to patch characters up too.

15. What do you like drawing the least?

mmm I try to find something to like in every drawing but lets see... I don’t like doing commissions of people’s dogs. Just because it’s normally like... a family friend and my mom volunteered me without my consent and I don’t even really know what they’re expecting me to draw and I don’t even get to meet the dog. Also I’m not that great at dog anatomy. Trying to learn though.

18. What is your purpose for drawing?

This could have a million answers! Uhhh to GIT GOOD??? But also to express myself... and also to make money... I mean it depends on what the drawing IS. I draw fanart mostly to connect to people in the fandom so if you ever see me drawing fanart please take it as like an open invitation to talk to me about the character haha. 

20. How would you rank your art? (poor, mediocre, good, etc.)

Good!!! I have a lot of self-confidence primarily born out of ignorance and a short attention span. If I don’t think too hard about how many other artists are mindblowingly unfathombly good... its easy to think I’m good too! LOL

In all seriousness though, I think the opinion a person has of their art is like a crazy balancing act, right? Like you have to think you suck enough to want to get better but also you have to think you’re good enough to not want to give up. I think we’re all walking that line, I know I am! But also I’m a glass half-full type of person so. Most of the time I feel good about it.

22. List at least one of your “artspirations.”

This is a good question because I’ve been trying and failing to put together one of those “influence map” memes for like a full month now. What’s giving me a hard time is I feel like none of these are actually really obvious “““influences”““ in my art? Like it’s hard to see a lot of them in the work I make...? But idk maybe you guys’ll see what I can’t.

And these are just a couple! God there’s so many more. I could talk about other artists for ages, from all different genres of art. Daumier, Rockwell like every illustrator out there, Dana Gibson, Alex Toth, Hiroshi Yoshida, a lot of the Brandywine School. Lots of current working artists too, Karl Kerschl, frikkin Masashi Kishimoto lol, Jake Wyatt, Richie Pope, Edouard Caplain, Matt Cook, Sachin Teng, - lots of big internet artists, Sophie Li, Freddy Carrasco, Milliofish, Angela Sung... like all my friends from art school too. I could just keep going but I’ll stop for now lol.

24. Do you have a shameful art past? (recolour sprite comics, tracing art, etc.)

I mean if that’s how we’re defining shameful?? sure LOL. It’s not sprite comics but I used to do pokemon sprite recolors all the time. And I used to trace manga panels and color them... Granted this was all when I was like under 12 yrs old so it’s not even embarrassing. Can you really call it shameful when a 7 year old wets the bed or whatever? Not really. In fact some of these are cool as fuck. Look

25. Draw a picture!

Man I’m so tired now but here.

I used to get a lot of compliments for drawing people smiling lol but I don’t think I’ve drawn a lot of smiling lately.. here’s proof I’ve still got it.

OK MEME DONE. onto the rest.

I read this ask first thing when i opened my computer in the morning and it made me really emotional.. I’m so glad my sketches could help you!!

I think a lot of artists on social media talk about the struggle of making art but imo not enough people talk about the joy! Like I know it’s corny but. I really meant what I said at the beginning of that sketchbook about re-contextualizing art around process and progress > product and perfection. I think its super important..! The strength of messy, unfinished, and energetic art! For the feeling of it, for the love it!

That's crazy!!! I hope you like 'em. The whole line of x-books is really good rn imo.

Hi! I totally have the answer for digital stuff on my faq lol. But in terms of drawing on paper.. it varies! I tend to use sketchbooking and any on-paper doodling I do as a way to loosen up/warm-up or experiment. But right now my go-to aresenal is:

from top > bottom

- kuretake no.55 doublesided brush pen

- tombow fudenosuke

- muji 0.38 ballpoint

- medium size poscas

- grey tombow double brush pens

- good ol bic mechanical pencil

not EXACTly sure which inking you referring to from my sketchbook but if I had to take a guess it'd probably be the kuretake no55. That's been my main inker, lately. Great for sketching with the thin end too.

You can print out and eat my art if you like. Just please don't mass produce or re-sell. <3

Thanks! I've come to accept that my art is always gonna be sort of gestural and painty naturally. It's getting it to tighten up enough to be legible that's hard lol...

uh yeah lol I agree actually. I think yolei is great.

I assume these asks are related? LOL

1) Yeah totally true. I love David.

2) I don’t take requests, sorry! But if you want to commission me to draw Legion i would be MORE than happy to. Just e-mail me at isellhotdogs@gmail.com.

<33333333333333333333333333

[harmony88]

As Dreamers Do

The Doctor and Rose, a couple of months after they are back to the stars, take a trip for baby food with their 8 month old daughter to a new planet, where they unexpectedly meet a man who thinks the TARDIS is the key to unlocking the one dream he's always wanted, but has never had.

First Story in my series Forever With You: Part 3 

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 

(Chapter 1 posted below)

He told her once not to make this place domestic.

To be fair, it had less to do with her and more to do with her mother, whom, at the time, he wasn’t quite sure what to make of and whom, he had to remember, came on board without permission. He rolled his eyes at that thought now, because he should have known Jackie Tyler wasn’t the ‘ask for permission’ type, but he’d been rather grumpy back then and mothers were a bit of a touchy subject. He also knew he hadn’t meant it, not really, but still, he’d said it, and he was thinking about it as he glanced around the galley.

A messy finger painting was hanging on the refrigerator. A gift from his daughter, crafted when Rose let her do some art the other day, and he’d been so excited about it he hung it up before it was completely dry. There were stuffed animals thrown about the hallway that led to the console room, his wife’s breast pump was sitting on the counter next to a photograph of all three of them he’d framed, and there was an empty carton of milk sitting in the bin, designed to serve a visual reminder that they needed to pick up some more.

The TARDIS was a domestic playground at this point, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. He had never been happier, and he thought about all the baby books in the nursery, the closet that was half his clothes and half Rose’s, the ensuite that had two toothbrushes in a gold holder, and the library that always had two coasters on the coffee table for both of their cuppas at night.

They’d built a life together, circling the vortex and traveling in between, and somehow, someway, the one adventure he never thought he’d have was exactly the one he was living.

What a privilege it was.

“Here,” Rose said, giving him a look when he just smiled like an idiot at her, and he took a jar of baby food from her hand, followed by a small spoon. She had one, too, and they both looked down at Alice, whose smile was reminding him so much of her mother it was making it hard to breathe, and he bent down to kiss her cheek.

They put all the stars to shame, the two of them, they really did.

She giggled when he kissed her a second time, and Rose laughed too, grabbing onto his arm and pulling him back. “If we don’t start soon she’s gonna cry.”

“One more,” he urged, kissing her other cheek with a pop, and Alice giggled so hard the sound imprinted on his hearts, he was sure of it. Rose bit her lip and held up her spoon, and like a sword pulled from its sheath he did the same, and he raised an eyebrow at her.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Please, this is child’s play,” she said, and the corners of his mouth twitched as they twisted the lids off of their jars, and each took a small spoonful. “Alright, Alice. You pick. Which one do you want? Daddy’s stupid bananas? Or Mummy’s yummy pears?”

“No, no, no, don’t do that, don’t use adjectives to try and persuade her opinion,” he scoffed. “Use science. Bananas, Alice, are much higher in potassium which you need. They also have about 44% more iron, 3 times the amount of magnesium, are higher in protein and will give you more energy and are the all around smarter choice.”

“But Daddy loooooves pears,” Rose said, and he lowered his spoon and turned to stare at her. “Eats them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

“Why would you say that?” he asked, and she smiled, her tongue playing with the corner of her mouth as they looked back at Alice.

“Goo-ba-da,” she said, smiling at them, and he sniffed.

“Go ahead, darling. Which one?” he asked her, and they held their spoons up to her face, waiting in anticipation as she looked between them, and she reached for the bananas. “YES! ALICE! BRILLIANT!”

Rose groaned and handed him 10 quid, and he did a happy bounce as he set the jar to the side and kissed his daughter’s head, only to pick it back up and hold the spoon out to her. Rose couldn’t even pretend to be upset, not when her child was about to eat some semblance of actual food for the first time in her life, and she found herself quickly mesmerized by the look on her face as the Doctor got her to open her mouth and slurp up the mashed bananas. Half of it fell onto her bib, then onto the high chair, and he tried again, and again, until she finally swallowed a bite and clapped.

She giggled.

“Oh my God, she likes it,” Rose said, biting her lip, and suddenly her eyes were watering. The Doctor, too proud of his daughter to notice anything else at the moment, merely smiled and got her to eat another bite.

“Of course she does, it’s a banana. It’s impossible to not like them. And now! Rose Tyler! HA! Now, we should always take a banana with us to -”

“Don’t start,” she teased, nudging his side a little, and he just laughed, until he noticed she was trying not to cry. His smile fell and the jar of baby food was forgotten about as he stood and cupped her cheeks, using his thumb to wipe away her tears.

“Oh, Rose…” he said, pulling her into a hug.

“When did she get so big?” she said against his chest, and he smiled. “She was in my belly, the size of a banana yesterday. Do you remember that?”

“Course I do,” he whispered, and the softness of his voice made her tears spill over. “Rose, it’s okay.”

“S-s-she won’t want my milk soon, will she? She’s going to be so grown and- and- and what am I supposed to do with all of it?” she sobbed. He smiled at her.

“You’ll stop producing -”

“And then she’s going to be talking and walking and then she’s gonna run faster than we can and then the next thing we know she’s going to be piloting the ship and we’re going to be -”

“Okay, shhhhhh,” he said, rubbing her back. “It’s just a couple of bananas.”

She fluttered her lips, and he smiled at her, trying not to laugh. She wiped the last of her tears away and collapsed onto a chair and just sulked for a moment, but when she scooped up a sample of the pears so she could eat her feelings like it was ice cream, and had the audacity to do it right in front of him, the face he made was nothing short of horrified. “WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!”

“Oh, God, it tastes like plastic,” she said, spitting it out into a napkin, and his skin felt like it was crawling with bugs. He began to stick his tongue in and out of his mouth, not hiding his disgust, and she started laughing. “Sorry! It was just there!”

“I can’t believe you just did that!” he shouted. “WHY?! WHY WOULD YOU...WHY!? I just gave that speech! Choose the bananas!”

His reaction was delighting Alice, who thought he was just being silly and she began to giggle and bounce in the high chair.

“Oh, not you, too. Don’t you dare, it’s not funny.”

She laughed harder, as did Rose. A happy high pitched sound coupled with a few syllables rang in the air as Rose got up to grab a glass of water, letting her own amusement subside as she gargled and washed the horrible aftertaste of that particular brand of baby food out of her mouth. He just stared at her. “I could have told you that was going to happen. Been saying it for years.”

“Mum told me that was the best one!” she said.

“And you believed her?” he asked, still unable to stop making a face. “I need you to go brush your teeth before I kiss you.”

“Are you serious?” she asked, and he raised an eyebrow at her. “Oh, please. It was one small bite and it’s washed out. Come here.”

She reached for him, having every intention of going to brush her teeth but she just wanted to watch him freak out a little bit more, and he jumped back and went to hide behind Alice, placing his hands on the edge of her highchair.

“Nope,” he said. “Superior taste buds. Palette has to be cleansed. I made an exception when you were all pickles and ice cream during pregnancy but this? Can’t do it.”

“You’re a bigger baby than she is,” she said.

“More adorable, too,” he said, smiling, and she just rolled her eyes. He looked down at Alice, and he winked. “Kidding.”

Rose smirked, but she knew how serious he was and she wanted him to be able to kiss him more than she wanted to win this battle of banter, so with an effort to rock her hips just to rile him up a little, she sauntered off to their ensuite to brush her teeth.

“Aaaaaaand we’re just going to throw this away, yes we are,” he said to his daughter as he picked up his wife’s jar of poison, making sure to use a tissue so he didn’t directly touch it, and it was in the bin faster than he could say Raxacorcicofallapatorius. Alice began to cry when he walked away, and he was at her side again instantly. “What’s wrong? You still hungry?"

He helped her eat more bananas, though she only consumed about a quarter of the jar. The rest was on the floor or her face, which was honestly better than he expected for her first time. He smiled at her and wiped her chin clean, and he let the TARDIS take care of the floor as he grabbed a bottle of breastmilk, too, figuring she was probably still hungry.

For a few minutes, it was just him and his daughter, and he smiled at her while she suckled the bottle, slowly rocking her in the chair as he did. “I love you so much, you perfect little thing.”

She started to fuss a little, and he shifted how he was holding her and the bottle, and he started to sing to offer a distraction. Her eyes widened at the sound, and she smiled, and he remembered how much she loved music, so he just kept going.

“Okay, so I -” Rose started to say as she walked back in, but she shut up the moment she saw what he was doing. She bit her lip, letting the cadence of his voice wrap itself around her, and she had to lean against the wall to steady herself, falling impossibly more in love with him, and thinking he really was the most wonderful man.

She waited. When the song was over he turned around to set the bottle down, smiling at her when he realized she was there. “Hello.”

“The Beatles?” she asked softly, pushing away from the wall so she could wrap her arms around his neck as he kissed their daughter.

“Well….she likes to hold my hand,” he whispered. Rose smiled.

“Not just her,” she said, proving her point as her fingers molded to his without either of them having to look, and a spark of arousal flew between them. “That was really sweet.”

He winked. “Did you brush your teeth?”

“Maybe. Kiss me and find out,” she flirted, but he could smell the toothpaste, and he kept Alice on his hip as he brought their lips together. She moaned a little, and he smiled.

“So much better,” he said, but she ignored him and just kept kissing him, until they both had to pull away when Alice tugged on her father’s hair. Hard. “Ow!”

“Come here, sweet girl,” Rose said, pulling her daughter into a hug. “Mummy loves you. I’m so proud of you. Yes! Good job.”

She smiled wider with every word Rose spoke, and he watched them hug. “We should go somewhere. Celebrate her milestone.”

“Okay,” she said, smiling. “Where’s the best baby food in the galaxy? We can get her to try it all.”

“Brilliant,” he murmured, kissing her again. “We’ll go in the morning. I promised her I would read her a bedtime story. Charlotte’s Web? What do you think?”

“No, that’s so sad, read When You Give A Mouse A Cookie,” Rose said, and he raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“She’s a Time Lord, I’m not reading that to her,” he said, and she rolled her eyes. “And, Rose Tyler, I'll have you know I happen to have the first draft of Charlotte's Web. Long story - how I got it, not the draft - grammatical errors left and right, but the plot is much better.”

“Oh, well now I have to hear it,” she teased. He laughed, and together they walked to the nursery, where Rose curled up on the rug and watched him hold Alice in the rocking chair, and as he read the story, she found herself falling asleep, too.

He stopped the chapter before he was even halfway through when he noticed they were both out like a light, and he chuckled a little, carefully bringing Alice over to her crib. Gently, he laid her on the blankets and tucked her in, and he aimed his sonic screwdriver at the lights, flipping them off.

The projection of the cosmos in the paint illuminated around him, spilling over every inch of the room. He clenched his jaw a little and looked down at Rose, making sure she was still asleep before he walked toward the bookcase, and he shifted the view, revealing the spot in the sky Gallifrey once sat.

He stared at it.

“Hey,” Rose whispered after a few minutes, slowly stirring on the floor. “Hum in my head.”

“Sorry, I’m fine,” he said, pulling his focus to her and helping her stand up. “She’s asleep.”

“You want her to stay here?” she asked, and he nodded. “What if she needs us?”

“Nah, she’ll be okay. She’s been sleeping through the night for weeks,” he said softly. “And we both share a bond with her. We’ll know if she wakes up, and she’s getting too big for the bassinet anyway. I think it’s a good day to do it.”

Rose bit her lip and looked at her, watching the rise and fall of her stomach. It was slow and steady, and she just nodded, but there was a lump in her throat that was hard to swallow. She wanted her to grow up, she did, she couldn’t wait for so many things, but two milestones in one day just felt like a lot, and this one she hadn’t been prepared for at all. “I just…”

“Come here,” he whispered as he pulled her into a hug, holding her tightly, and he kissed the top of her head. “I promise she’s okay.”

“No, I know,” she muttered. “I’m just... sad, I guess. I know it’s stupid. And I’m not...It’s a good thing, I know it is, but…”

“What?” he murmured.

“Can she sleep in our room tomorrow night? Maybe?” she asked, and he smiled at her.

“We can switch off, hm? Every other night for a bit? Until you feel ready?” he offered.

“Really?” she asked, and he smiled at the tenderness of her tone.

“It’s not stupid, Rose. I understand. I really do. I’m sad, too,” he said. “Even if we find a way to get her regenerations, which we will, she’ll never be this little again. I know that. But like you said. It’s a good thing.”

Rose felt tears well up but she held them back, and he hugged her again. She looked up at the projection over his shoulder, and when she saw the hourglass nebula he once showed her after they defeated the Master and Rassilon so very long ago, she froze. “Is that…”

“Hm?” he asked, and then realized what she was looking at. “Oh. Yeah.”

“You okay?” she asked, and he nodded.

“Just...looking,” he said. “Making sure nothing changed. Making sure it’s still...well…”

“Hidden?” she whispered. He just took a deep breath and exhaled sharply.

“Something like that,” he admitted. “It’s safe, it’s fine. I’m fine. I promise.”

“Good,” she said, and he kissed her, letting his tongue swipe across her lips. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he murmured. “Let’s let her sleep.”

He took her hand and walked directly across the hall to their own room, keeping both doors open in case Alice did end up needing them, but as soon as they were both washed up and laying down, he realized they were essentially alone, and he decided to take advantage of it.

“Can we…” he started to say, and she straddled him, apparently thinking the same thing. His hands roamed her back as they kissed, and she pulled her t-shirt over her head, suddenly bare chested and hovering on top of him. He began to explore her skin with his tongue like it was new territory, despite the fact he knew the map of her moles just as well as the stars. He was careful and almost tentative, and she let out a long moan when he flicked his fingers over the soft mounds of flesh that were right at his eyeline, giving them a gentle squeeze.

He rolled them over so he was on top of her, peeling his own shirt off as he found her neck, then her jaw, licking and sucking, and she panted his name. “I want…”

“What?” he asked, stopping and looking at her. “Tell me.”

She connected their minds, and he shuddered. She took over the kisses for a moment, bringing her lips to his chest, and as they shimmied out of the rest of their clothing he slithered down so he could explore more of her with his tongue, and he made her scream, which she somehow had the brain power to remember to cover with her hand so they didn’t wake Alice up with the open doors.

“Have I ever told you…” he began as he trailed kisses up her stomach, then her chest, until he reached her lips. “How much I love how you taste?”

“Mmm, no,” she said, smirking at him.

“Wait, really?” he asked, his tone suddenly more alarmed than sexy, and she laughed.

“Every single time,” she whispered, gripping his hair on the back of his head. “Even if you don’t say it out loud, I hear you. We share a mind, remember?”

“Good,” he said, his voice returning to its husky tone, and he kissed her again. “Because I do...It’s...there’s this sweetness to you I can’t get enough of. And also this tanginess that’s just...I just want it. All the time. It’s intoxicating ....Drives me absolutely insane....”

She whimpered, and he winked, then let her massage his scalp as they kissed. He couldn’t resist joining their bodies together, and they slowly started to move, exploring every inch of what the other had to offer. Every tightening of every muscle, every gentle stroke.

It lasted for a while, full of soft pants and quiet moans, and they both marveled a little at how incredibly addicting it was to be able to do this without stressing about timelines or diamonds or vengeful Time Lords; without worrying in the back of their minds about whether or not it would be the last time they got to make love at all.

It was just them, dancing and writhing and groaning between their sheets, letting time stand as still as it possibly could.

His forehead buried itself onto the crook of her neck as he began to make strangled noises, so close to bursting it was starting to feel like a fire inside of him, and when she thought the word ‘forever’ he came so hard he nearly broke the bed frame.

She was carried away with him, and they smiled as they caught their breath, glistening a little with sweat. He kissed her, and she pulled her hair out of her face as they settled next to each other on the mattress. “Think it’ll still be like that in seven hundred years?” she panted.

He chuckled.

“No,” he said. “I think it’ll be better.”

She smiled at him, and he gave her the most adoring look as he wrapped his arms around her, and this time fell asleep together, ready for whatever the following day would bring.

[mcrmadness]

Madness draws: Behind the Scenes of the “Alleine in der Nacht” die ärzte fan comic.

A few weeks ago I posted this comic:

This post is yet again just another drawing behind-the-scenes post but You can go and reblog the original post here.

And as always, all my ramblings are under the cut!

This one was relatively easy to do because I just woke up one morning and internally died from laughter because this idea just happened like a random pop up window in my brain. I wrote it down to my phone notes and later on also into my sketchbook:

I was laughing out loud when I was drawing those images, Bela’s face still is cracking me up :D And because I’m yet again trilingual with my comics, there’s only one word in my mother tongue and it’s: Bela laulaa = Bela sings.

And other fans might recognize the lyrics of the song, I needed to write them down in order to decide which ones would fit the comic the best.

This one is then again me trying to see how it will fit on a A4 paper. Originally I saw it in my head more like a short, regular comic strip with 3 panels but somehow I couldn’t get it to fit into 3 panels. And 4 panels was too many in a row so I decided to go for a full page then. That caused bits of trouble to me because I normally don’t draw the comic book faces THAT big and it’s surprisingly hard to draw them in bigger scale. (With pencil drawings it’s the opposite, the bigger the better. It’s much easier to draw an eye the size of a finger instead of a size of a tip of a needle.)

Here’s the first sketch! Just the shapes to see how and what I need to draw. Sorry for the awful photo quality again, my phone’s camera has really gotten really bad after these 3 years of use...

Anyhow, the third panel caused me some troubles because I knew how I wanted Bela’s arms and hands to be but I didn’t see them that good in my head so what I did next was to try different postures into my sketchbook:

I also tried this foreshortening technique I saw in a video of after a Tumblr post, even tho I don’t find that too hard to do myself anymore but it was still interesting and can really help making the eye and brain to see the image in 3D. So here I finally figured that I wanted Bela to have is arms like he was singing something very theatrically. I think it turned out pretty good.

Next I struggled with the bedsheets and I figured that I am a bit too good at blocking out information when I draw because I tried to draw unmade beds from reference photos and I’m able to follow a line but also able to completely not see any other lines around the line I’m following. Like I’d often follow a line to somewhere and suddenly notice that wtf there’s SO MUCH MORE lines all over the place in the photo but I just did not see them.

^Here’s two pages in my other sketchbook that I got for the comic stuff especially because the paper is actually white. The bigger sketchbook has light yellow tint to the paper so it can mess up with the colors when I need to try out and look for perfect colors from the colored pencils. (This sketchbook is also smaller aka A5 because Derwent sketchbooks are expensive but this was the only A5 one with a bit grainy paper in white. The A4 one is cheaper and from Mont Marte.)

After a while I was done with the besheet and the rest of the second sketch. I don’t have a photo of the comic with just the lineart, only a photo where the first panel is already colored and now I actually need to talk about the coloring.

That caused me lots of trouble because I really love playing with lights and shadows in everything (drawing, photographing... everything) and I do know how to do the night effect in black and white, but I have only once before done that with colors and it’s never that easy. Plus that one was my first comic when I started drawing again in 2018 and it was not that good to begin with.

I run some tests with the pencils, as well as some shading tests:

Käsi = hand, iho = skin. I use Derwent Flesh Pink (I have a 72 set of Derwent Watercolour pencils) for the skin color and was then trying out other colors to see which one would look the best for shading. It was actually really difficult to do and my sister suggested that I’d use only cold colors but like... how do you use cold colors on a skin without making the character look dead? :D

I imagined that there’s a moon shining in from a window that would be behind the “camera”. I almost ruined the first panel because I wasn’t exactly sure what was I even doing and what did I want from the colors:

Here’s the lineart and almost finished first panel in colors. I really liked the lineart and this would have looked so nice in black and white too, maybe even better. But I just saw that blue background so strongly in my mind that I just had to go for it.

The first panel was really difficult to do like I said and I almost ruined it at some point. But it also taught me something because with the rest of the panels I knew to start with the skincolors and end with the black (I started the first panel with black, I think... kids, never do that, always start with the light colors! :D) and I think the last panel is the best what comes to the colors in the final comic. I also added light blue here and there to make it look more like the colors of a moon at night:

I’m actually very happy with all of the other colors in this panel! It also reminds me of a book I had and used to read as a child. It was about this girl that went to an appendix surgery and all the images were drawn with either colored pencils, pastels or crayons and it looked grainy the exact same way as this one too. It also had lots of red and orange and brown colors in it. (I wonder if I still have the book here...)

Then there’s also the title and “Das Ende”. Originally I was going to do the late 80s logo they have e.g. on the 80s live vhs/dvd but then I just saw another post in my dä blog’s queue and I just needed to do this logo instead!

I had just a couple of weeks prior ordered a pack of white Sakura Gelly Roll pens and needed to test what would make the best compination and with which black!

I also had bought a white paint pen but it’s useless. As you see, it just looks grey after it dries and it just... doesn’t look nice. Plus it takes so much time to dry AND it’s extremely messy and I have paint more in my hands and a puddle on the paper but barely none where it should be. So my choice for the logo was to use either Pigma Microns or Promarkers (I think I chose the latter) and the thickest Gelly Roll aka 10. This was the result:

And I’m actually super happy about how it came out! Couldn’t do that good looking spots on the letters because can’t make splashes with a gel pen so I did a few bigger ones here and there and then just poked everywhere with the pen to make it look more random. You can actually see how it’s slightly whiter than the paper if you look closely, but it’s not too strongly whiter so it looks pretty nice like this.

So, this was less work than the “Widumihei” one but it was also an interesting piece to draw. And I think I have now this comic drawing more freshly in mind so that drawing the next ones (there’s three waiting for sketching already) will be much easier as well :)