#freediver ending

[cherusque]

Mary Reschar 🇺🇸 (Deep End Fitness)

[catboybiologist]

Hi! I'm Sierra. Time for a pinned post refresh.

Otherwise known as CatboyBiologist, or @hi-sierra (my SFW blog [this one is SFW too, but less so]). This page is remaining active, but if you want to find me somewhere else, I use the same username on reddit, Instagram, co-host, and tech.lgbt. This is me:

Trans woman, PhD student in molecular biology, boymoder, shitposter, freediver, hot girl on your phone, hiker, rambler (this post included), tgirl tummy tuesday supplier and enjoyer, former femboy, bane of bioessentialist fuckwads who try to use biology to validate biogotry, flaming bisexual, 196 nanocelebrity… whatever was the first thing that brought you to my blog, I hope it’s enough to get you to stay! I post selfies, hornyposts (minors and people who are averse to that be warned), stuff about the ocean, posts about my growing sense of wanderlust, my adorable lil tortoise, tutorials for transfemmes and GNC people, rambles about science, documentation of my own transition, rambles about transness, rambles about the eroticism of programming a machine to feel arousal, rambles about nature, and random shitposts. Please send me pictures of cute animals in your life!

If you wanna support my science career and my transition, consider dropping a tip here! PhD salaries are notorious for being negotiated to be exactly the cost of living…. And then forgotten about for years as inflation drops that below minimum wage. So I’m always a little strapped for cash. Anything helps!

Links to some of my tutorials and relevant resources under the cut:

I'm tracking my transition, and some people have said they found this helpful! This spreadsheet is generally updated monthly:

Usually, I write a little journal to go with it when it updates- you can find that under the #trans journal on my blog.

If you're interested in checking out some of the things I'm trying to write, here's a post with links to individual stories I'm making:

https://www.tumblr.com/catboybiologist/741010247774306304/writing-consolidation-post?source=share

My femboy guide, written well before I started HRT, but still has relevant info:

A "boyboob" tutorial, aka how to make it look like you have cleavage in an outfit that looks better with it:

A quick and dirty guide to taking better selfies, with a specific emphasis on people who may have stopped hating their body recently due to transition:

And here's a few of my personal favorite little rambles and posts about my transness, in no particular order:

CW for transphobia on this one:

A massive shoutout to @foldingfittedsheets for this amazing art of the lil borgir holding a trans flag:

I adore this so much <3 if you want to support their art, her commissions are open and really sweet!!!!

And of course, a massive shoutout to @whalesharkcat for this lovely pixel art of my tortoise:

I still love this so much, and will continue to into the future <3

For preHRT selfies, search the femboy tag. For post HRT selfies, use the "trans selfie" tag. I've been on HRT since August of 2023, so I'm still very early in the process! Day to day, I present male, but I plan to change that around the 1 year mark.

I guess that's about it! One final note is that I've been alluding to video/podcast style things for a while now. With my aderrall prescription, I've actually put in a lot of research work that might lead to 1-4 of those, so that might actually happen in the near future! No promises of course, life always catches up to you.

And if you liked my previous pinned post better, here it is:

Anyways, if you read this far, thanks for sticking around and bbyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

Team work makes the dream work!

A shout out to all the players on team-merman for @ourflagonmax @rafaelvalladao 3D sculpted our scales in brazil. @metmobile printed the scales here in our studio and @an.introduction.to our master mould maker made fibreglass moulds into which we began casting casting and more casting…. 3000 individual scales in multiple colours with an array of glitters from @mysticartglitters … so so so much GLITTER! How cute does my man @metmobile look, delicately dusting glitter into scale moulds 😍

Then our lovely @homemade_byaline would come to the studio every evening and patiently trim excess silicone off scales with teeny tiny nail scissors late into the night. While this was all going on @thecreativetradecollective babes lent a hand with meticulously painting silicone scales onto our lycra tail skins (sewn and airbrushed by yours truely of course)

The idea was to have a combo of hand painted silicone scales and fully cast silicone scales. The end result was SEAMLESS!!! And again…. more glitter.

And I basically had my fingers in all these pies, sculpting, painting, sewing, liaising with our talented designer @gypsytaylor , casting, mixing, sparkling, sourcing, delegating, sleeping (no… no not sleeping!!!) Ironically myself and @an.introduction.to probably did the most hours, but we didn't get any fun posey photos with our work!!!

Always the way!!!!

And last but not least, we had a freediver Jose come and test run our fishy wares in my swimming pool (my neighbours must think I'm so weird!)… more photos to come of our resident merman.

source: hayleyegandesign on instagram

[ore-ion]

Finally watched Transformers One! Here's me and my irls reaction to it, lol

Edit; I went home and hugged the only megatron figure I had and just sat on the bed lmao 💀 that emotional damage wasn't joking

[Under the cut, I'll minimalise spoilers but I suppose it's mostly pics and commentary.] Nothing is in chronological order btw :D

Before:

I'm the guy in a dark red / magenta shirt

Anddd after the emotional damage;

And for the commentary:

NUMBER. ONE. INHALEESSSS;;;

Sentinel, GOD YOU'RE SUCH AND ASSSSSSS 🔥💥💥💥💥💥💥 my professor is going to hear about you.

2. Yes I carried around a camera to the cinema for a photography project no I didn't get to capture myself cry in 4k HD unfortunately, as much as I wanted that to happen.

3. THE..MEGOP ARC....HURT. SO BAD. Us 3 had to hug each other across our seats it's SO GOOD. It hurts. Ouch 👍 I knew i how it ends but God...that stabbed a little close to home

4. Saying "oh. Oh that's gore of my comfort character " so often it feels surreal

5. At some point in D's arc, I went "fuck you, I'm in!" And my irls looked at me like 'no you are NOT. ' like I would join another riot (I would)

6. Bee reminds me so much of my own friend and hearing him yap was so fun, live laugh love for this little dude. I will cherish his existence as long as I'm alive.

7. SENTINELLLLLLL. How dare you.

8. This is our old man, this is the Alpha Trion, which is the best peepaw. Je t'adore, vieil homme, you are very awesome.

9. I will personally kick Sentinel in the face too, D. Just not that far–

10. The speeches and use of language here is so good, you can HEAR the arrogance, sarcasm, etc etc and the intonation of characters so clear its amazing.

11. The parallels make me want to jump and freedive into the sky goddammit ouch

12. "Walked in knowing they're exes, walked out knowing why he's everyone's ex"

13. I'm still not over the emotional bond of D and Pax I'm not okay about them 😔

14. ELITA IS SO COOLLLLL LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE HER SO MUCH OH MY GOD???

More silly Images:

The best feeling ever: fuck you, sentinel.

[ourflagmeansbts]

Source (Season 2 - October 10th 2023)

hayleyegandesign: Team work makes the dream work! A shout out to all the players on team-merman for @ourflagonmax@rafaelvalladao 3D sculpted our scales in brazil. @metmobile printed the scales here in our studio and @an.introduction.to our master mould maker made fibreglass moulds into which we began casting casting and more casting.... 3000 individual scales in multiple colours with an array of glitters from @mysticartglitters ... so so so much GLITTER! How cute does my man @metmobile look, delicately dusting glitter into scale moulds 😍 Then our lovely @homemade_byaline would come to the studio every evening and patiently trim excess silicone off scales with teeny tiny nail scissors late into the night. While this was all going on @thecreativetradecollective babes lent a hand with meticulously painting silicone scales onto our lycra tail skins (sewn and airbrushed by yours truely of course) The idea was to have a combo of hand painted silicone scales and fully cast silicone scales. The end result was SEAMLESS!!! And again.... more glitter. And I basically had my fingers in all these pies, sculpting, painting, sewing, liaising with our talented designer @gypsytaylor , casting, mixing, sparkling, sourcing, delegating, sleeping (no... no not sleeping!!!) Ironically myself and @an.introduction.to probably did the most hours, but we didn't get any fun posey photos with our work!!! Always the way!!!! And last but not least, we had a freediver Jose come and test run our fishy wares in my swimming pool (my neighbours must think I'm so weird!)... more photos to come of our resident merman.

[cryptid-stimming]

Jasper x Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe) Stimboard (with themes of chains & water) for Anon

x x x / x x / x x x

[Image description: a 9 gif stimboard; from left to right.

First line: A close-up of an anchor chain on the surface of the ocean, light glinting on the moving water. A gif of a cloud of bubbles left under the surface of the ocean from a diver, the waves above glinting. And a gif of a freediver's hands using an anchor chain to pull themselves down into the ocean.

Second line: A gif of rolling waves sparkling in the sun and the sky above. A still screenshot of Jasper and Lapis from Steven Universe dancing together. And a gif panning over rocks in the ocean, waves crashing over them and spraying water into the air.

Third line: A gif of rolling waves, sunlight catching the water and making it sparkle. A close-up gif panning over an anchor chain underwater, bubbles rising around it. And a gif of an anchor chain attached to the side of a ship, waves crashing over it and making it disappear into the ocean.

End of image description.]

[seluneclerics]

I've read your fanfic and its recent update.....Initially, I was happy to have Miranda interested in Fraser. HOWEVER, having the interest of Alcina as well????? I'M FREEDIVING IN THIS GAY ABYSS OF AN OCEAN AND I DONT MIND DROWNING!!

Are you leaning to have a slow burn AlcinaxFraser paring as the plot goes on? or?

Excited for your next update hihi

aaaa i’m loving these asks so much, pls feel free to keep asking questions so i can ramble abt them forever lol

To get right to it though: the overarching slow burn pairing of this fic is Miranda/Fraser. Each chapter is Miranda slowly realizing that there is more to Fraser’s worth than what she initially thought, and battling what her own feelings mean. she’s basically unpacking what it means to fall in love with someone while actively using them.

Alcina on the other hand is the direct opposite. she is playing a role (as you will come to piece together), but somewhere down the line she started to realize she has genuine affection for Fraser. Unlike Miranda however, Alcina is more passive, pushing back what she knows she can’t truly have (given the circumstances, going into it would be spoilery but i promise just trust me) and the fallout that comes with her & Fraser’s relationship as she learns more of the truth.

Fraser/Donna is interesting in the aspect of Donna has yet to appear, but Fraser ends up leaving a lasting impact on her given their relatively short time together. You’ll notice that their relationship is a bit one-sided on Donna’s part, but that Fraser genuinely helps her embrace a part of herself she never had before.

Basically, no one expects Fraser to be the way she is, and it takes them all by surprise. They start to love her, each of them, in their own strange ways.

It makes the truth & what’s to come all the more devastating, because of who she is.

[heavensbeehall]

my elaborate mags headcanon

eta: lol i have edited this like five times to add details that I forgot.

Sixteen-year-old Mags Flanagan lives with her elderly grandmother who suffers from dementia, one-armed uncle (he lost it in the war but made the mistake of telling Peacekeepers a shark bit him) and cousin and is Reaped for the 11th Annual Hunger Games. She strongly suspects the Capitol-loyal Mayor of choosing children from Rebel families on purpose (he is naive in thinking eventually the Capitol will be appeased). Her Uncle feels incredibly guilty about her predicament. Her lobsterman cousin must race back from waters near District 13 (aka Maine) to look after the grandmother who should not be left alone. We learn the people of District 4 have always known District 13 was not destroyed (they can see it from their boats).

The small, redheaded girl has little hope of winning, especially compared to her tall, athletic District Partner, Tack, who is surprisingly easy to talk to and willing to team-up with Mags. She had thought him a bit of a jock. Tack's family were also Rebels and he has A Lot of Opinions on how the Capitol uses terror to keep the districts down. He would prefer to die at Mags' hands, or any other tribute than the muttations like the snakes that got Coral the year previous. He knows several District 4 kids who had nightmares about the snakes. He is very high minded, so obviously he will die. (Tack is blonde and has a polisci major vibe.)

Mags is more like Katniss in that she just wants to get back to her grandma. (She's old and might wander off a cliff!) But she does see his points.

Locked in cages, the tributes are interviewed by "the Gamemaker boy" (Snow), and Mags watches him very carefully as he charms some of the other tributes, particularly the female ones. Mags is, for once, grateful to be a lesbian because she forms a bond with Tigris, who is hired to make the tributes look presentable for the interviews, instead--both queer, both raised by their grandmothers and close to a cousin. She comes to realize Snow and Gaul never intend to stop the Hunger Games. She sees darkness in him and thinks he distrusts women (reader will know this is baggage from tbosas), thinking they are manipulative.

The Tributes are thrown into the ampitheater arena (same as 10 and prior) but it has been gutted and circus-themed, then filled with freakish muttations. There are different "rings" where different mutts are located. Mags and her partner work together and survive the lions, bears and--finally--an electric eel (as seen at the end of TBOSAS movie) which Mags evades mainly due to her ability to hold her breath for several minutes thanks to years of freediving in District 4. She is greatly affected by Tack's death.

When she emerges from the arena, she finds Snow made himself (the Ringmaster)--not the tributes--the star of the show, for political advantage. Mags is rarely allowed to speak in public--though her image is widely used for publicity purposes (see Capitol Couture) though Mags thinks it is Tigris who really made her striking. But she has a falling out with Tigris because she takes a dim view of Coriolanus, whom Tigris still thinks will stop the Games once he has more power.

Mags returns to 4 determined to spend as many good moments as she can with her grandmother (who no longer recognizes her, but that is okay because they are together) and hopes to prepare the children of 4 for the ongoing "forever war." She speaks out about her experience in the Capitol at events in 4 and eventually over the shipboard radios (mags basically goes on a podcast). Most people in 4 don't have TVs. Snow has her silenced with a poison that immobilizes much of her face. She helps her cousin run for Mayor in the hopes of finding a "better way" to chose kids for the Hunger Games--though she does not think any child should go only knows that it's not going to stop.

Slight Mags/Tigris but it doesn't work out. Epilogue set after the 70th Games, where Annie's disorientation reminds her of her grandmother. Annie very much wanted to be like the Mags of the posters the Capitol produced when she volunteered. But Mags knows that version of Mags was just an illusion. And Mags understands why the death of Annie's district partner nearly destroyed her. Themes about perception and reality, dementia, psychotic breaks etc.

Even though Mags' grandmother didn't know who she was at the end, it didn't matter so long as she felt safe and happy. Annie and Finnick give her a sense of family that she thought she had lost when her wife (who was not Tigris but that is okay) was killed by Snow. She is happy in this moment.

[teejaystumbles]

⭐  give us the bonus features/making of for your big bang fic!

Ooooh! OK!

For "Hell or High Water" it all started with a poll I made in May 2023 to decide which kind of fish half to give merman Hob. The British or Common Skate won and my merman Hob was born. The rest is kinda history lol.

For months I drew sketches and came up with a few scenes, like Morpheus being a freediver and dropping the ruby for Hob to find. I watched a documentary on freediving ("The Deepest Breath"), and skates of course. I talked a lot to mutuals like @amielot who helped me come up with some ideas for the story and whose drawings of Hob and Johanna shaped the way I wrote their relationship a lot.

Thinking about mermaids and movies with mermaids made me remember "Dagon", which has an ending scene that has very much made a lasting impression on me (and made me realise that I am quite a bit thalassophobic), and so I thought - "let's make it a bit creepy, a bit Lovecraftian."

I listened to "The Shadow over Innsmouth" and a lot of other Lovecraft over the next months, put together a playlist for writing and got to work on gathering more information to build my world. I decided to go with Lovecraft's love for ancient cultures as the cradle of weird/inhuman cults and made Hob's ancestors be descendents of Tiamat, originally living in the Mediterranean and Red Sea, using Accadian and Cuneiform writing as their form of communication. I have a whole Gdoc dedicated to notes for the fic, and another one for the story outline. I really put in a lot of effort but it was worth it. I love research and world building, I loved learning about freediving and revisiting my knowledge about Accadian language (I did two semesters of "Oriental studies" at the beginning of my time as a university student). At that point I don't think that I had decided to write the fic for the Big Bang, but then I thought, "why not? The pressure will help me actually write it." And it worked!

While writing I think I changed a few ideas of the story. For example, I had debated to let Thessaly try and romance Morpheus and make Hob even more jealous, but I decided to cut that short and let her focus on the ruby. I also needed a lot of time to figure out what to do about Johanna's selkie skin, there were different ideas, like have Morpheus stumble upon it where Jo had simply forgotten it. I think the final solution came to me fairly late into writing, but I'm very glad I thought of Rachel. It was my first time taking part in a Big Bang and I hope to take part in the next. There's nothing better for me than a project deadline actually forcing me to focus on one thing, as I tend to let my creativity wander and drop things halfway if I don't have to finish something.

Thank you for asking, I hope this was a bit interesting. 🥰

[porcelainseashore]

For Dávdna: Nephilim, Gangrel, Salubri

Aaaand for Kai: Bahari, Cult of Shalim

🖤😁

Ahhh Morti, you're the sweetest for sending so many of these over, thank you for being this invested in my OCs 🥹💓

Dávdna

Nephilim - What pleasures does your OC get out of their (un)life?

It goes without saying that Dávdna is an avid skipper and like those who enjoy long night drives, they can sail for miles on end and feel calm, meditative, and satisfied. Freediving!! What better opportunity to do so as a vampire that doesn't have to breathe, and can withstand most water conditions and creatures? They also have a beloved sea eagle famulus named "Láilá" whom they adore and sometimes disappear for nights at time with them on little adventures.

Gangrel - What is your OC's Beast like? Do they get along.. more or less?

Answered :)

Salubri - Ignore how many dots in Humanity there are. In your opinion, what's your OC's humanity like?

Dávdna has a sense of compassion for the living. This was largely influenced by their upbringing, being part of the tight-knit Sámi community and taught to respect the grounds they inhabited. It feels as if a higher entity wants to test them time and time again. One such example was them having to put aside years of oppression by the Norwegians to work with them against the Nazis. Another was when they fell into the semi-informal role of mediating the political tensions between the Sámi and Norse Gangrel. These "lessons" demanded a lot of understanding out of them, that even humans have trouble with, so I'll leave that to you to interpret how you wish.

Kai

Bahari - How well does your OC cope with physical and/ or mental pain?

Like this 😐 or like this 😏. Kai wears their death mask well most of the time, and it takes a fair amount of pain to unnerve them (thank you Fortitude). Trust that they will take it out on someone later on though, be it a young, naive, and aspiring musician in the orchestra, or their ghoul "lover" Thomas.

Cult of Shalim - What's the worst thing your OC has suffered so far?

I think this might be similar to what was asked and answered here. So either that or what they faced in The Other Son, because damn, those sewers were nasty, and who knows what hellish entities were down there? 👀 (To be revealed in Part 2...)

[xamaxenta]

Before May ends 🙏���� freediver spearfisher/fisherman Marco looking to pest control a reef of some very pesky n invasive lionfish

Unfortunately for him the thing that grabs his spear in warning is one very furious lionfish merman (Ace)

[catboybiologist]

1 month HRT update and journal thingy!

So as I said in my pinned post, I'm gonna be doing a monthly kind of progress check on HRT. Well, it's been 32 days, so here it is! Here's some measurements of interest:

But, I found that the raw measurements, and a single "other column" wasn't sufficient to really catalogue my experience. So I wrote a long, probably overly detailed account of some of the things I've experienced in the past month.

And holy shit, what a month it's been.

So first off, lets start with what’s not happening. Some good, some bad. I think I missed the skin softness gene or something. I’ve really noticed no change in skin texture, and that’s often cited as the first noticeable physical change from HRT. My skin was somewhat soft before, but nothing like the transfemmes I know irl, so this was a bit disappointing. But in all honesty, it’s not that big of a deal.

The other thing that I haven’t noticed yet is a reduced aerobic capacity or physical ability. I’m sure this will come in time, but the interesting thing here is that one of my main physical activities, freediving, is actually a far more direct measurement of aerobic capacity than most others. I can’t do this in nearly a consistent enough way to actually log it, but my casual breath hold times in the couple of times I’ve been freediving since starting HRT haven’t changed. On a fairly standard dive, I usually stay down 60-70 seconds, and that’s still true. With good prep and good air conservation on the bottom (I like to hold onto rocks and kelp, and stay motionless while looking around lol), I can get 90 seconds or beyond (I don’t like pushing it). Part of the problem is that so much of this is variable, and is highly dependent on how good my equipment prep is that day (insulation and weighting), water conditions (cold and rough=more energy=shorter dives), and my boy physiology (how much I’ve eaten, caffeine intake, etc). But in general, I haven’t noticed major physical fitness changes yet. 

Weight gain has been intermittent. I’ve always been a bit swingy on my weight, and can easily go +/- 5lbs in no time at all. At one point, I was 4lbs over my pre-HRT weight (3 week interval), but now I’m down to 1 pound over. My waist is slightly thinner than it was pre-HRT, but that seems to be normal fluctuation. Where did the extra 1-3lbs go? We’ll get to that, LOL.

My waist measurement hasn’t changed, but anecdotally, I do think there’s changes going on there. The 43 inches measurement is still at my widest point, around my thighs (which have always been pretty good). Now, however, I’m noticing what seems to be some growth on areas that aren’t covered by the exact circle I’m using to measure that. My butt seems slightly bigger, although I could just be lying to myself. Time will tell.

Onto the stuff that has changed!

Mood. Oh my god mood. My resting state is no longer a crackling misery. I don’t think I was ever suicidal because of dysphoria alone, but I was certainly pushed to that point far, far easier when it was a contributing factor. I also just… didn’t enjoy anything about my body. When I was happy, it was a distraction. Now, it’s already much better. I still don’t like my body. I got a long way to go. But, I’m seeing progress, and it’s been incredible.

Emotions overall have been more intense. I’ve had a couple of downswings, and I get misty eyed easier. I haven’t had a proper cry yet, though. I get excited about things again, which was a COMPLETELY dead feeling. And I have also gotten angry at some things, which is also something I killed as a teenager because I was scared of where it took me. It hasn’t been as uncontrollable as I expected, however, and the negative emotions I’m experiencing more viscerally have been immensely cathartic. 

            And then, there's the big one. Hopefully that's literal. And that's breast growth. Almost immediately I noticed some kind of perking up, but no breast bud formation and no immediate growth. At about week 2, I was able to feel the distinct disks of breasts buds under my nipples, and my bust size started increasing. Now, at 4.5 weeks in, my bust size is 1.5 inches larger than it was pre-HRT.

           This is ludicrously fast. As in, so fast it has me questioning if I'm actually intersex or something. I think my E levels will be enlightening.

I really, REALLY don’t want to get too hopeful. But overall, if some of these trends continue… I’m gonna get a LOT curvier. Honestly, my ideal body would be pretty tight and trim… but I’m fucking estatic anyways. I’m just really, really hoping that the breast growth trend continues, and also that the tiny observations I’ve made about a bigger butt and thinner waist are actually real. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to boymode like this LMAO.

There’s also the opposite fear: if my estrogen levels are too high, it could signal the end of “puberty” too early. It’s looking like a possibility, but I gotta wait until next week for my levels check.

There’s one final set of observations I wanna put here, but y’all gotta not be weird about it LOL. I WILL block you and erase this part if you treat this as anything more than impartial observations about myself. Got it? Good. NSFW warning for the next bit.

I want to make some remarks on libido and erogenous sensitivity in general, because that has also been one of the most notable changes.

First off, I heard so many stories about HRT killing libido. Holy fuck, this has not been true for me. I’m going crazy sometimes LOL. I absolutely have a somewhat higher libido on average, but its already changed the way its expressed itself.

First off, my entire body is more sensitive to erogenous soft touch. The right kind of touch and care on my waist will feel very similar to more traditional erogenous zones. I’ve NEVER had this before, and was completely blindsided by it. I’m absolutely fascinated by what neural change caused that, but its really cool even if I don’t know the underlying explanation.

Second off, my libido spikes and hot flashes sometimes. I think this is pretty typical of anyone going under a hormonal change, and tbh I’m not surprised.

Third off is the weirdest one, and something that I’ve asked other transfemmes about, and none have been able to answer. My chest sensitivity seems to be going through very distinct mini-cycles, on the approximate span of time being one full “cycle” per week. Essentially, when I started HRT, my chest first got very sore, itchy, and sensitive to sources of pain and itchiness. It stayed like that for a few days, and then all sensitivity to the area cut out. My nipples pre-HRT were always more sensitive than other cis men, and in this phase, they were actually less sensitive than they were pre HRT. This lasted another couple of days… and then there was a period of massively increased erogenous sensitivity. Soft touches made me wild, and I started wearing  bra not for the support, but to block my shirt from rubbing against them and distracting me. Holy FUCK, this phase is insane. And then after that, they went back to sore again, and then dead again, and then erogenous again. Right now, I’m in the erogenous “phase” of what I think is the fourth cycle here since I started HRT. I have no fucking clue what’s going on. It’s not the period that some trans women report getting, its not a monthly thing. It might just be my body adjusting strangely to new hormones in general, but yeah. Its weird, bc it seems like a pretty unique thing. 

So yeah. That’s a journal thing. I had a LOT more thoughts about HRT starting beyond just the initial measurements, because so much hit me way faster than I thought it would, so I wanted to write something long form. I think I’m going to write something similar each month along with my measurements update, but I expect future writing to be much, much shorter. It’s been incredible so far, but I’m guessing less will be novel- I think things will only be different when I change aspects of my HRT regimen. We’ll see.

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

Our Flag Means Death season 2 shot a crucial scene in the Avatar 2 tank

A behind-the-scenes look at how Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby shot their big merman moment

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Our Flag Means Death, Season 2, Episodes 3]

Season 2 of David Jenkins’ pirate comedy-romance-drama Our Flag Means Death has finally premiered on Max, with an opening three-episode arc that’s guaranteed to get the series’ fandom buzzing. The third episode in particular ends with a sequence that feels like it was intentionally crafted to inspire the crowds of fan artists who have turned the series into an obsession. Polygon talked to the series’ VFX supervisor, David Van Dyke, about what went into shooting that sequence — and how James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water helped out.

At the end of episode 3, Ed “Blackbeard” Teach (Taika Waititi) is in limbo after being assaulted and nearly killed by his crew. There, he meets his former captain Benjamin Hornigold (another of the series’ historical pirate characters, played by Mark Mitchinson), who tries to help him through his emotional crisis over being abandoned by Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby). Except Hornigold mostly helps by pointing out Blackbeard’s failings, then tying a stone to his waist and throwing him off a cliff into the sea — where he sees a vision of Stede as a fish-tailed merman, coming to save him.

“Just so you know, Rhys and Taika did very well underwater,” Van Dyke told Polygon about shooting the scene. “Rhys is not an Olympic synchronized swimmer, but he’s a strong swimmer. They were both very comfortable underwater. They both did a really good job of being mermen.”

Van Dyke says he was originally asked whether he could do the scene with CG versions of the two men, for safety reasons. He explained that it was possible, “but that’ll cost millions and millions of dollars, and we don’t really have that.”

Instead, he ended up shooting the scene practically. Season 1 of Our Flag Means Death was shot on a soundstage in Los Angeles, but for season 2, production moved to New Zealand. That gave Van Dyke a lot of advantages in terms of shooting natural backdrops to use on the production’s giant virtual environment screen, and in using experienced crews from past special-effects-heavy productions, from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies to James Cameron’s Avatar movies.

“There were definitely a few pieces that were serendipitously to our advantage,” Van Dyke says. “New Zealand was where they shot a lot of Avatar stuff, and there just so happens to be an enormous tank on the lot. There are a bunch of Avatar crew who are SCUBA certified, because they’ve been shooting in that tank forever. This was not something we had to figure out — we didn’t have to send a bunch of grips and lighting technicians off to SCUBA school. So they were there, they had really amazing underwater photography teams, and obviously a really good stunt team that was able to train up Taika and Rhys to make sure the scene was working.”

Van Dyke points to New Zealand’s thriving mermaid freediving community as a boon when it came to designing Darby’s merman outfit. “There are a lot of incredible mer-tails out there,” he said. “We were able to take those, and [costume designer Gypsy Taylor] and her team brought them together to make these beautiful physical pieces, so Rhys was able to actually sell it and do the performance underwater.”

For Van Dyke, the sequence really started with the cliff-jump sequence, which actually used considerably more CG than the underwater shots. “That cliff sequence was a great culmination of effects, merging physical photography and our LED wall, because you can’t really put those two guys on a thousand-foot cliff,” he said. “The insurance alone would be out of control. Also, we’re not really in the business of having people fall to their deaths.”

The cliff sequence began with sequences shot off New Zealand’s Bethells Beach, using drones to capture images looking inward from the ocean and photogrammetry of a specific ledge for production designer Ra Vincent and the art department to reproduce in the studio.

“The wide shots use production plates of those cliffs, and the tighter shots use photography we shot specifically to build out the stitching of the cliff sequence,” Van Dyke said. “Hornigold and Blackbeard are standing on a cliff set. We tied in drone plates of the actual cliffs so we can see the ocean and really set up how terrifying [the drop would be]. Then he falls into the ocean, falls into our tank.”

Once Waititi was in the tank, the next step was the shot where the stone tied to a rope around his waist pulls him deep underwater. That part of the scene required more conventional, practical production trickery than the rest of the sequence.

“The tank is massive, but it’s not 300 feet deep. It’s pretty darn big, but it’s never big enough, as they say,” Van Dyke says. “So when Taika is being tugged by the rock, we actually shot that sideways. By turning the camera sideways, you get more length to the shot. The problem is the bubbles — they should be streaming off him and then rising to the surface, but if you’re going sideways, they’re going to come off him and then go up, perpendicular to him. So we took over with CG to make sure our bubbles were traveling toward where the surface was supposed to be.”

The CG in the underwater sequence was mostly used to hide the lighting and rigging necessary to shoot it, Van Dyke says. “Anytime you’re shooting anything underwater, there’s gonna be a lot of gear. There’s no way you can get around that. So we’re making sure we have [convincing deep-sea] lighting and the bubbles. And then there’s his performance — that’s a real performance.”

For Van Dyke, the real complication was the costuming and makeup for both Darby and Waititi. “Taika’s wig — I was amazed that thing stayed on so long. It’s a long shoot. He was shooting all day, all weekend. But things stayed on. It’s a heavy weight. And Rhys is really working underwater, so his tail has to be working, so it all feels seamless.”

The shot in the underwater sequence that seems most likely to be a CG creation has both men just floating deep in the sea, facing each other above a seemingly endless abyss. Again, Van Dyke says, he used very little CG for that shot, and it was mostly to hide the tank walls.

“In that case, we were not shooting sideways,” he said. “It’s essentially a locked shot. It was about getting them at the right depth underwater, and making sure the shafts of light above them were working properly. We don’t have to track as much, we don’t have all these moving elements, we don’t have to worry about where the bubbles are going. That one was really just about cleaning up the tank, doctoring out the sides of the shot, where we can see the water receding into blackness, then giving the base of the tank true depth, so it really feels like they’re suspended a hundred feet below the surface.

“Obviously, a fair amount of CGI and visual effects had to go into it. But at the same time, it was a moment where we really needed to let the story take over, and have the visual effects just get out of the way, man.”

The first three episodes of Our Flag Means Death season 2 are now streaming on Max.

Source: Polygon

[lockwood-fic-recs]

Do you have any recs for fics with wellbuilt AUs ?

Hi anon! Thanks for the ask :)) ooh, who doesn't love a good AU? Not sure if you're asking for AUs built over time (long multi-chapters) or well-built oneshots, so I'll provide a selection of both! There's too many good AUs to fit them all in here, so there may be a part 2 of this list coming in the future 👀 stay tuned! There's also lots of good soulmate AUs that we recommended in this post <3

I'll be your new favourite tune by barronsfever | T | 14 Chapters (In Progress) | Locklyle with Background Ships | No Warnings

Actually, Lucy hated Lockwood and Lockwood had no idea why. He finally won her over during their joint school musical, just to run away in the end. Now, they're together at the same university and working together on yet another musical. Lucy has shut herself off completely, afraid to get hurt again. Lockwood is doing his best. [Enemies-to-Lovers Fake Dating at College AU]

2. No One Cares About the Nightwatch by Nomolosk | T | 23 Chapters (In Progress) | Locklyle | No Warnings

Lucy Carlyle is a Listener, a failed agent, a runaway, and now works the nightwatch in London. One might think her life a failure from start to last- but Lucy has goals. She will get a grade four certificate, and reapply to all the best agencies, and her life will get immeasurably better. [Nightwatch!Lucy AU]

3. Sink or Swim by WaitingForMyHogwartsLetter | T | 31 Chapters (In Progress) | Cot3 | No Warnings

When a turtle washes up on the beach after being caught in an illegal net, local freedivers Lockwood and George take it upon themselves to find out who’s responsible. It turns out they’re not the only ones interested in getting justice for the sea creatures affected. Enter: Lucy Carlyle, anonymous environmental activist and local mermaid. [H2O: Just Add Water AU; Mermaid!Lucy]

4. Pros and Cons by chahakyn | T | Oneshot | Cot3 | No Warnings

George, Lockwood, and Lucy have heists to pull off. There's no time to fall in love. And yet, it still somehow happens. [Now You See Me AU]

5. Perfectly Incandescently Happy by OceanSpray5 | G | 13 Chapters | Locklyle | No Warnings

After the death of her best friend, Ms Lucy Carlyle is given the opportunity to be sponsored for the 1815 London season by Norrie's aunt. Instantly compared to the Diamond due to their astonishingly similar looks, she befriends Lord Lockwood quite unexpectedly yet is left wondering if she was a fool for believing he'd look twice at a mere country girl. [Regency/Bridgerton AU]

Bonus: the longest fic in our fandom is both a) completed and b) an AU. If you want to binge a slowburn AU, then this fic might be for you:

Renegades by WaitingForMyHogwartsLetter | T | 50 Chapters | Cot3 | Warning: Graphic Violence

When a virus kills off half of the nation’s children, the ones left alive aren’t as lucky as they thought. With powers they can’t control and fear of what will happen to them, order and danger go hand in hand as detainment camps pop up all over Britain. Lucy takes refuge in the haven known as 35 Portland Row, but safety is uncertain as long as someone else is pulling the strings. [The Darkest Minds AU]

[mega-gogo-man]

How did June and Sheena meet

That's a good question. One I haven't fully worked out myself yet. A while back I decided to rewrite June and Sheena's backstorys but I've not written a full story about their meeting yet.

But the basic gist of how they met is that Sheena, taking a long needed vacation from her menial office job, was visiting a nearby coastal town and decided to take a stroll by the sea. As a child, Sheena was raised in a rural fishing village and was a natural swimmer, however as a teen her parents moved her into the city for her education and career. While she was moderately successful at her job she still misses living by the sea and tries to see it when she can.

It's then she finds a panicked looking girl, June, on the edge of a nearby pier overlooking the sea below her. Sheena asked June what was wrong and she explained her problem; it turns out June had dropped her phone over the edge trying to take a photo of the open sea. Modern phones are usually waterproof to some degree, but the problem was June was not a strong swimmer. Fortunately, Sheena was more than willing to disrobe right there and then, wearing only her lingerie, and dive into the sea to retrieve her phone. June could only watch as Sheena dove deep beneath the pier, where the water was apparently a lot deeper than it seemed. After what seemed like over a minute or two, June began to worry if something had happened, but before long Sheena emerged back at the surface, triumphantly holding June's lost phone.

June was incredibly grateful, and was so impressed with Sheena's dripping wet, toned and sexy body swimming skills that she actually asked Sheena if she could teach her how to swim. It turns out June was an aspiring freediver herself, except unlike Sheena, who was born and raised by the sea, June never learned how to swim as a child and was not very confident. After some pursuading, Sheena agrees to be her mentor and that's basically how they ended up being friends.

[mrv3000]

So Ahsoka's completely aired, and to wrap up there are things I liked, things I didn't like, and things I'm indifferent to:

Things I didn't care for:

1. It was rude to show Zeb in The Mandalorian and then not have him in Ahsoka!

2. A few of the characters were way too stiff. I'm not sure if it was the writing or the direction because I've seen some of these people in other things and I know they can act. What the heck?

3. So they go to another galaxy and wind up at one of the most bland-ass planets ever. Sure there were a few big statues thrown in here and there, and the boneyard above the planet was interesting, but Peridea itself is boring as hell to look at. It doesn't help that they've nearly desaturated those scenes. This is a screencap and I haven't done anything to the colors or the lighting. It's an intentional choice (it's a place you're not supposed to want to be at), but I'm still not a fan since it's the backdrop and sets the mood for lots of scenes.

4. Leaving out too much character stuff. Action and lightsaber duels are fun and all, but when you fade to black on things like the Ezra and Hera hug? You're denying the audience emotional payoff. If your whole plot boils down to moving pieces around to give everyone a new starting point for your next story, then you need more character stuff to give it weight. The Anakin and Ahsoka interactions were solid, but the other characters and those relationships? Not so much.

5. The Mortis stuff. I've never really been a fan. I just sort of sigh deeply and ignore it. The Star Wars characters are already myth archetypes, so creating even myth-ier in-universe myth archetypes just makes me tired. (I personally like to get all handwavy about it and think of the Father, Son, and Daughter as beings who went off the rails and were a cautionary tale in Too Much Force, rather than the Sledgehammery-Deeper-Truth-and-Foreshadowing beings they were meant to be.)

Things I'm indifferent to:

1. Thrawn. I get that they need a Big Bad in the Mando universe, but I'm not either wild about him or annoyed with him. He's...there. He's filling a role.

2. The Night Troopers. Maybe not so much indifferent (they were very cool looking) as confused about them. Were they originally stormtroopers pulled along with Thrawn and Ezra? If so, why were they called Night Troopers if they weren't a creation of the Nightsisters? They were zombies but only later at the end? Where did they get all that red ribbon?

Things I liked:

1. Anakin and Ahsoka. I fully admit that I'm completely biased because I'm more of a fan of The Clone Wars than of Rebels. This is what I was hoping for and I loved it. The only way I could have been happier is if we'd seen Obi-Wan.

2. Related: the live action Clone Wars. I thought it was fantastic. If this was a proof of concept for future live action Clone Wars, I think it passed with flying colors.

3. Live action Chopper lol. It was basically identical to the animation.

4. Sabine's cat. Not just because it's a cat, but because they used an animatronic instead of CGI. Please do more of that.

5. Baylan and Shin. They were interesting! (Too bad they and the story wandered off.)

6. Sabine using the Force. I do like that they leaned into the idea that the Force is something that's part of all living things. Compare Force use to freediving. Freediving is going to be a whole lot easier if you can automatically hold your breath for 30 minutes (ie "Force Sensitive"), compared to someone whose baseline is 60 seconds (ie everyone else in the galaxy). It's possible for ordinary people to use the Force to some extent, but it takes a LOT of training that most people aren't willing to do.

Overall the show wasn't flawless, but I did enjoy watching the series and I'm glad I did.