#having fun but its trial and error but i have learned i quite like these games mwah

[chadsuke]

[ID: A screenshot of the game Tokimeki Memorial, showing a date with Mio at the amusement park on Sunday, December 22nd, 1996. She says, "I'm so sorry... There's a lot of things that get to me. I'm glad you're so understanding, though." End ID.]

Tokimeki Memorial/Heartthrob Memorial (Konami, 1996). English translation patch by translated.games

[misspygmypie]

What's That Brush For?

Pairing: Lando Norris x reader Requested: Yes Summary: Lando is fascinated by your morning makeup routine :) Words: 765

Please do not repost, thank you, and leave some feedback :)

Lando stood in the doorway, his eyes wide with fascination as you meticulously applied your makeup. The morning sun streamed through the window, casting a warm glow that made the whole process feel even more intimate. The Brit had been standing there for a good five minutes, observing you while you were pulling your hair into a high ponytail, without saying a single word. 

As you had moved on to doing your makeup for the day he just kept watching, mesmerized, as you skillfully blended foundation and brushed on eyeshadow with precise movements.

“Wow,” he said, leaning in closer, his voice tinged with awe. “I never realized how much goes into this. What’s that brush for?”

You watched as he picked up the little tool and looked at it wide-eyed, bopping its soft bristles with his index finger before bringing it up to his eyes and inspecting it closely.

You glanced up to your boyfriend. “This is a blending brush. It helps smooth out the eyeshadow so there are no harsh lines in between the colors.”

Lando nodded, clearly enthralled by the whole situation. “Can I try? I mean, I probably won’t get it right, but it looks like fun.”

You smiled at him, amused by his enthusiasm. “Sure, give it a go. Just be gentle and please don’t poke my eye out, I kind of still need it.”

“Shut up, you muppet, as if I was that clumsy…” he gave you a sour look and you chuckled, remembering some moments he definitely had been that clumsy.

As he carefully tried his hand at blending the different powders on your eyelid he asked, “Does it always take this long? I feel like I’m messing it up.”

“Practice makes perfect,” you reassured him, watching as his concentration intensified, his tongue now poking out of his mouth making him way more adorable than should be allowed. “It takes time to get the hang of it. And don’t worry, you’re doing fine,” you ensured him after a quick glance into the mirror.

He looked at the result and grinned, a mixture of pride and humor in his expression. “This is really cool. I had no idea it was such an art form. How did you learn all this?”

You laughed softly, appreciating his genuine interest which is something you never would have expected. But then again, this was Lando and he always was full of surprises. “A lot of trial and error, plus some tutorials online. It’s like anything else, practice and patience.”

Lando’s eyes twinkled with enthusiasm. “Maybe I should start learning more. Who knows, I might end up being a makeup artist on the side.”

You chuckled at the boy next to you. “You never know. It could be a fun skill to have. But don’t quit your day job just yet.”

He grinned, returning to his spot by the door, crossing his arms in front of his chest and leaning against the frame. “Fair enough. But if you ever need an assistant, I’m your guy,” Lando announced proudly, pointing at himself with his two thumbs.

“Thanks, Lan. I might just take you up on that offer someday. You know,” you said, applying a bit of highlighter with a deft hand, “makeup can be a lot like racing in a way. It’s all about precision, timing, and a bit of creativity.”

Lando raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Really? I never thought of it that way.”

“Yeah,” you explained, smiling as you looked at him. “Just like in racing, you need to have good technique and an eye for detail. And there’s always room to experiment and improve.”

He nodded thoughtfully, clearly processing the comparison. “I guess it makes sense. And I suppose the same principles apply, practice makes perfect.”

“Exactly,” you agreed. “And it’s all about having fun with it, too.”

Lando’s grin widened. “Well, I definitely had fun. Thanks for letting me try it out. Maybe next time we can swap skills, I'll give you a few racing tips if you show me more about makeup.”

“Deal,” you said, laughing. “Looking forward to it. But how about a cup of coffee first?”

“That can be arranged,” Lando smiled and gave you a quick kiss before he headed out into the direction of the kitchen. 

As the door clicked shut behind him, you tidied up the bathroom counter, feeling a small bit of excitement about what had just happened. It was one of those small moments that made you appreciate Lando just that much more and perhaps you soon would learn something new about his world too!

[reallyhatethiswebsite]

read this post by @bitethedevil and ended up writing this idk don't take it too serious

Read on AO3

-

Tav's fingers skittered over the red skin of Raphael’s naked back. It was always hot to the touch and smooth, its texture almost like leather. Patches of tiny scales grouped together in different spots, especially around the big joints connecting his wings to his body. Raphael fascinated Tav - not quite in the same way she fascinated him, but they were birds of a feather, so to speak. In fact...

"I've been wondering about something," she said, breaking the sleepy silence that had settled between them some time ago.

"Mm?" Raphael was utterly relaxed, the laziest Tav had ever seen him. On his belly in his (their!) bed, shirtless and shoeless - the scandal! He'd been enjoying her aimless touches. His Majesty, indeed.

"Can you fly?" She ran her palm across the thin membrane of wing she could reach, then the sturdy bone. "You've got these huge wings, but I've never seen you use them." She'd witnessed them fully stretched out once or twice, but otherwise he always kept them folded close to his body. A shame. They were magnificent. Heavy as anything, though - especially when he was dead asleep. Tav had almost been suffocated a few times trying to spoon him, and he refused to sleep in his human glamour just to let her be the big spoon. Waste of magic, he said. Spoilsport.

"What an inane question." Raphael didn't even open his eyes. "Of course I can. My wings are not for show, little mouse. No more so than a bird's are."

"Well..." Tav chose her next words carefully. She'd learned through trial and error how much she could prod her devil and when. Most of the time he was amenable to light teasing, but sometimes, when he was in a good mood like this, she could have some fun. "There are some birds out there who have wings but can't fly, you know. Peacocks, for example. They're kind of like big chickens, if you think about it."

Raphael slowly lifted his head, turned it so he could look at her over his shoulder. Tav bit her tongue in a futile attempt to squash her impish grin. His orange iris burned in the inky depths of his black sclera. A few locks of his hair were free from his usual coiff.

"Big chickens," he repeated flatly.

"Yes," said Tav, her voice strangled by the giggle she was trying to suppress. "How do I know you aren't an infernal peacock?"

"I can fly, you insipid little gibbon," he snapped, but he wasn't angry. She could tell by the twitching at the corners of his lovely mouth. Tav coughed, choked on a laugh.

"I think you should show me."

"Do you."

"For posterity's sake, of course."

"Of course."

Tav waited, watched, moved to make space for Raphael as he sat up, languidly stretching like a big cat. Accidentally whacking her with those wings she was so obsessed with.

"Apologies, dear," he drawled, about as sorry as a horny kobold in a bathhouse. He smiled when she scowled. He stood to his full height, preening as she ogled him. In nothing but a pair of trousers, he truly was a sight. Without warning he beat his mighty wings and took off, soaring across the room to land on the other side, where he nonchalantly poured himself a glass of wine. Tav spluttered in the wake of that massive gust of air. Raphael sipped his wine, staring at her as if to say, "well?"

"Good distance! You looked a little wobbly with your execution, though," Tav said. It wasn't true. He was majestic in flight, but he didn't need to know that. His ego was big enough. She combed her fingers through her rustled hair, grinning when Raphael’s eyes narrowed.

"Perhaps you're right." He put his glass down and sauntered towards her. Tav's heart leapt into her throat, fear and excitement together. "I need a counterweight."

"A what? Hey!" She didn't struggle when he picked her up, shifting her in his arms until he was holding her bridal style. It was a thrill to be held by her devil, and yet. She giggled nervously, her cheeks warm. "What are you doing?"

"Why, showing you that I can fly, of course!" He declared, making a scene of looking around. "But we simply cannot do it here. There's hardly enough space. Hm...ah, perfect."

He walked them to the balcony overlooking the endless landscape of Avernus. Tav sucked in a sharp breath, suddenly aware of what he was about to do. Now she began to try and wriggle free, but his grip was iron.

"Okay, you've proven your point! There's no need for a second flight, your technique was perfect!"

Raphael had no mercy. He smirked down at his little mouse, showing teeth. His eyes alight with dark mischief. "Big chickens, Tav," he said, and leapt off the edge. She shrieked, clung to him like a limpet, feeling and hearing his chuckles as he effortlessly flew them around.

After the intial spike of shock, Tav relaxed, just a little. This wasn't so bad. Raphael was an adept flier, and if she ignored the monumental height she was suspended at, it could almost pass as romantic. Soaring about the hot skies of Hell in the arms of her underworld Prince. Feeling every powerful flap of his wings. His strength. Avernus, from a distance, was beautiful in a devastating way. Unfortunately for Tav, she'd forgotten quite how fiends liked to play.

"Oh dear," Raphael said, stoic. He'd been waiting for her guard to lower. Tav's stomach lurched when she sensed his grasp on her slacken. "I seem to have lost my balance."

"RAPHAEL NO DON'T- AAAAAAHHHH!"

He dropped her. Tav screamed as she plummeted to the ground, terrified and betrayed. Raphael was rapidly becoming a shrinking red blur as she fell. He was probably watching her with sick satisfaction. She cursed him. She cursed herself. Mostly she cursed him. Bastardbastardbastard -

"Fret not, little mouse," he purred, hideously amused. She was in his arms again. "I've got you."

Tav couldn't speak; could only tremble, dig her fingers into him. He laughed the entire flight back to the house, deep and rich and raw. Tav planted herself on stable ground the first moment possible, glaring at him.

"You're horrid," she hissed. Raphael cackled.

"Oh, come now. You didn't truly believe I would allow you to fall to your death, did you? Such little faith. Ah, but how sweet your screams were...I shall be hearing them in my dreams for weeks."

"Horrid," Tav muttered again. She wriggled between the bedsheets and buried herself under the covers. It didn't take long for him to join her, surrounding her with his cloying heat.

"You'll forgive me, won't you?" He murmured sweetly into her ear, raising goosebumps all over her skin. One big clawed hand slipped beneath her shirt to gently rub her stomach just the way she liked. Wordlessly she pressed into his touch.

He played her like a fiddle, always.

[plutoons]

Can you do a tutorial on how your art process is done I’m about to quit on Art everything I make fucking sucks .

hey anon !! My art process is almost non existent cause i haven’t been able to stick to One definitive way and i don’t want to cause i think its limiting. I still have a long way to go for improving my skills and learning new things and figuring out different styles !!

Heres a quickk drawing showing what my “main” process is

This is something i generally have stuck to for most of my posted drawings (i can post things specific to some drawings on a separate reblog ^^ im just to lazy to get pictures of em for examples rn)

Doodle !! I cant visualize shit, and usually have a very vague idea of what id like to draw Or just nothing at all. So I doodle messily with expressive gestures till’ i find something that sticks

choose one final concept/sketch and clean it up a lil so i have a way better idea of what im getting myself into

Base colors cause i hate doing lineart. So i just go straight into colors casue its fun and i like fun!! Right on top or on a diff layer it doesnt matter. I color pick with my eyes and put base colors or anything i think it would be cool. No pressure and it can messy cause I’ll clean it up and figure shit out later

fuck around and find out (rendering ig)—> i cant explain it super well or definitively. I just layer and throw colors on top till im satisfied or Done with it. I flip my canvas a bunch or check my values to make sure the results come out to look more coherent regardless of the mess of color

Im just a simple person and cant handle something that requires too many steps or things that havta be done Just right so this works for me atm. This may not be your jam but finding a process in that works for you through trial an error is just a part of art. Do what works for you!! I think experimenting is so important even if it sucks in the end

(more Words / “advice ?” under cut)

I have so many shitty drawings and sketches and even colored things that outweigh the tiny bits of art i decide to show off

I totally get that creating art can get really discouraging at times; not getting the results you want when you want them no matter how much effort you put in just sucks, but it won’t always be that way :] even if it takes you 10 years to find your groove and see improvement or 2 years, it’ll happen. I find that i’ve only improved when i actively didn’t give a fuck about how my art looks and only cared that i was having fun through it all, and thats hard cause perfectionism is a bitch and its hard to get rid of. You could improve with studies and daily practice for sure but moving towards improvement can be as fun and light n breezy as you want to make it, like taking a break to explore different hobbies or changing up mediums or fucking around and experimenting with it can help !!! Allow ur art to be bad; cause fuck it, at least you made something and thats really really cool. Once you cut urself some slack it’ll be easier to improve upon your skillset and slowly but surely get to where you want

Sorry im a bit tired idk if this is coherent so heres a more direct thing i’d like to say:

Maybe ur art isn’t where you want it to be rn and ik it can kill ur motivation to keep going at it (i’ve experienced this feeling a lot and im sure so have many others). But you gotta ease up on urself and stop worrying about results so you can allow yourself to experiment and have fun!! And its hard getting into that mindset but you gotta keep trying and you’ll find it getting easier

[hauntedberries]

my 30th attack gets a whole post to itself because its SPESHIL and i spent a WHOLE DAY ON IT!!!!!! attack for GravellyMistaken / @graveys-art-blog featuring their twp guys YAYYYYY

extra analysis bits under the cut (shamelessly copy pasted from my twt). mwah!

the first sketch is so funny to me i put all my energy into sam and then went eh fuck dat for the other two AHAHAHAHA im sorry i swear i have better sketches of vitor and uri im too lazy to pull them out

initially i wanted the soldier poet king themeing hence the arrangement (sam soldier, vitor poet, uri king), n u can see here that uri was supposed to have a blood splatter crown for the 'king' part but it wasnt coming out right.. i really had 0 idea what to do w her background until i Had to do it. it was just all trial n error and i was working until 4am so brother were there Errors. but i think it came out nice in the end! and while drawing i realized uri's themed after the king of diamonds/hearts so it looped back into the king themeing luckily AHAAHHAA

speaking of uri's bg tho, one random detail i like that somehow made it better for me was this streak at the back which could be interpreted as a river of blood OR smoke from a gun. cool fun stuff

i also wanted to do a thing w the composition where its like.. this is so scuffed but this. just so their poses didnt look completely random? sam n uri have one arm folded and the other doing whatever, while both of vitor's arms are folded. so it kinda has some sense of cohesion

and the border! i am a big fan. i took a lot of inspo from the tarot card series ive yet to continue. here's a wip image of it from april though. u can see the similarities of it w the one here!

THE top is the symbol i use for twp, which is a butterfly with eyes and the morse code for SOS. its encased in whats supposed to be the portal w 7 tentacles coming out of it to represent eri's 7 fragments!

as for the side border, its supposed to be quiro, lanluy, burmelio, then kh'elle, which is the order of the kingdoms the spinoff party visits in their adventure!!!! u can also see the morse code repeated :3

lastly their body language! sam is closed off, quite literally shielding their heart w their sword. they both look ready to strike but defend too.

vitor is juggling but i also wanted it to look like he's shrugging! to represent his kinda go with the flow attitude, but also how his arc has themes of being left in the dark bc my ouppy is a . fucking. dumbass

u can also see above that at first uri's pose had her holding the book closer to her but it made for a bad silhouette.. and it felt more ic to me to have her have a more open pose? bc she's eager to learn and spunky and confident!

e knee way those are just my extra thoughts on this piece. i had a lot of fun making it and i hope u have just as much fun Looking at it HAHHAHAHA im really proud of this one >_<

[popawritter12]

"More than 100"

Yandere!Aphelios headcanons

✺◟(∗❛ัᴗ❛ั∗)◞✺✺◟(∗❛ัᴗ❛ั∗)◞✺✺◟(∗❛ัᴗ❛ั∗)◞✺

❣First impression

Somehow, his sister is the one who tells him about you. Because if it doesn't have to be a very specific situation for you to get so much attention.

❣Infatuation

For this you must take the first step. Talk to him? Yeah, doing favors or just be good friends? Yes, or even flirt? Yes, Yes, Yes. Even if you are just looking for a friendship with him, this can evolve. Just like the butterfly effect.

❣Start of "Yanderism"

He begins to see that he enjoys being with you more than with other people; Slowly it is he who begins to look for you, to want to spend time with you, and he tends to defend you in case of a dangerous situation. It can be confused with a normal crush.

❣First murder?

His first murder is going to be with a Solari, it is unlikely that he will kill any Lunari for obvious reasons, but even when the Solari in question turns out to be your best friend, dad or even dare I say romantic partner, sooner or later they are going to appear murdered, and he will probably play dumb.

❣Relationship or kidnapping

I see a sentimental relationship more likely than kidnapping. And just like with Akshan, only if it's a very constant danger or a near death situation does he resort to confinement.

❣Coexistence

He is much calmer than other Yanderes, and I mean that he lets you have friends (the only exception being the Solari), see your family, etc. In fact, I dare say that everyone would support your relationship with someone like him.

❣Marriage and family

As I always emphasize, marriage can exist in different parts of Runeterra, or even not, but each one is different in its own way. But we can say that after a year or a handful of months, Aphelios decides to ask you to marry him. In terms of family, we can say that yours supports him to infinity (with the exception that they are against the war that exists between the Lunari and the Solari), and all you need is for his sister to like him.

↘In case it is possible, children?

At most 1, or 2 in a very specific case. However, I think it would be like in the long run, like after 6 or 8 years of relationship.

❣Bad ending

Through several fights, and conflicts, he realizes that he can't let you go; Your existence is vital for him to stay sane, so in some way or another, you are going to stay with him; It doesn't matter if he has to kidnap you, manipulate you, or until you realize how he really is. You can't leave, never, ever, there's no way you can leave him.

o(^▽^)oo(^▽^)oo(^▽^)oo(^▽^)o

o(^▽^)oo(^▽^)oo(^▽^)oo(^▽^)o

-Extra things:

-His love language for him can be quality time together, although sometimes he can leave his comfort zone and be affectionate with physical contact.

-He can become less "annoying" if you show him affection like a normal couple, but if you deny him, he will slowly become more unhealthy with his relationship, and it will be a process that you will rarely see.

-He likes to sleep next to you, even if he just lays on your shoulder or vice versa.

-He is quite interested in what you like, and he is willing to learn things you like just for the fun of it.

-You two cook together, and if you are also a beginner, they both learn by trial and error.

o(^▽^)oo(^▽^)oo(^▽^)oo(^▽^)o

✺◟(∗❛ัᴗ❛ั∗)◞✺✺◟(∗❛ัᴗ❛ั∗)◞✺✺◟(∗❛ัᴗ❛ั∗)◞✺

[pricechecktranslations]

the heavenly yard blog infomine, part 3: Re_Birthday, making Servant of Evil, more karaoke, surprise Luka

Yada yada, these are not translations, yada yada

Blog link for anyone who missed it the first time

14 December 2008 ~ 30 January 2009

---December 2008---

14th

-mothy is making a Len song for the Kagamine's anniversary but he doesn't think he'll have it done on time.

24th

-he has the song done, but he doesn't think he'll get the video done in time. he's been quite busy

27th

-appropriately, the Len song he uploaded for the Kagamine birthday is Re_Birthday.

-He didn't have time to recruit illustrators for this one so he just made the art and video himself.

29th

-mothy provides a bit more commentary on Re_Birthday, how it's sort of a compilation of the songs he's made until now. The "Re" in the title sort of references Regret Message, making it an answer song to it, in a way (in addition to just plain old "Rebirth").

-He wishes he'd been more prepared, there was a lot more he wanted to do with the song (like add in other VOCALOIDS, something he does do in later editions of the song might I add). It's taking him longer and longer to make songs now, before it used to only take him like 3-4 days.

-He replies to comments. Someone asks if he's going to collaborate with Shimoda from Piapro (Asami Shimoda, I think?), which he isn't sure will happen. Another person brings up how Rin is singing alongside Len at points in Re_Birthday.

-2008's been a good year for him

31st

-mothy does a roundup of all the songs he's uploaded this year, sharing his thoughts on listening to them now.

-10ML he thinks sounds pretty bad, but it's also his first song so he still likes it. Wordplay feels like a "trial and error" type work to him. Clockwork Lullaby is something he was really proud of making so it struck him that it didn't get popular--it was around this point he really wanted to make something that got big on NicoNico. He's made a remake of it that, to him, sounds totally different.

-Daughter of Evil is naturally his big hit, and it sounds very unique among the songs he's made. Servant of Evil he says feels like it's "walking on its own"--he admits he was trying to replicate the success of Daughter of Evil, to an extent, though he had fun making it and he's proud of it with all its ups and downs. He wants to surpass it someday. Regret Message on the other hand he feels he's improved a bit on his VOCALOID voice mixing (or at least he did it better accidentally). It seems to be an audience favorite.

-For Girl of the Miniature Garden he basically says that the Clockwork Lullaby series is to stretch his skills with song types he's not good at, and he doesn't think the instrumentals are as good. Still, he found Miku easy to use and he'd like to use her again. He did remasters of Daughter and Servant of Evil with RinLen act 2, which he didn't hugely care for, but he does think he learned something useful doing it.

-He was originally going to call Tale of Abandonment on a Moonlit Night "Inokori Doubutzuen(Zoo Detention)", and the lyrics were apparently much darker? Then he changed the subject matter to be about Hansel and Gretel (he writes Gretel as GLAY☆TERU, not sure what that means). Someday he'd like to do "Zoo Detention", but milder. As for South North Story, he learned a lot during the collaboration and surprised himself by making something so upbeat and positive.

-Re_Birthday borrows motifs from previous songs, of course. Originally it was going to have the melody for Servant and Daughter of Evil in its interlude. And he thinks he made the low tones in the mix too weak. And, in generally, he'd like to try making something new next year.

-Also replies to some comments, only relevant one is that he does allow iterative works of his songs.

---January 2009---

1st

-mothy wishes his readers a happy new year and expresses his intentions to talk about the making of Servant of Evil in commemoration of his karaoke success.

-he replies to comments, which--again, because I'm not seeing what he's replying to, I can't really summarize them properly. He does, however, discuss his name a bit.

-So, apparently the correct pronounciation of "mothy" is "mocchii" (mo-chee). However, I'm assuming that's because "thi" isn't a syllable in Japanese, so I'm going to continue pronouncing it the American way I do (moth-ee). Apparently a lot of people tend to pronounce it "masshii" or "maashii". He also says that it should probably actually be spelled "motty" (and that it used to be in the past), but for arbitrary reasons he's going by "mothy" instead. Not 100% sure of what to make of this but perhaps his "arbitrary reason" is that it stands for "master of the heavenly yard", which I believe is the reason given at present day.

2nd

-mothy finally begins discussing the making of Servant of Evil, which he essentially was motivated to do to capitalize on the positive reception for Daughter of Evil. There were a lot of people asking to see the perspective of the "blue", "green", and "red" characters, as well as those curious about the servant (or rather, lambasting him for being a "HetaLen", a pun which means "useless Len").

-He wound up focusing on Len for the song because he didn't have any other VOCALOIDS at the time.

-Looking back, he sort of wishes he'd used the word "princess" rather than "daughter" for Rin's song so it would match the title of "Servant" better.

4th Page 1

-mothy uploads a remaster of Clockwork Lullaby onto Piapro, and responds to comments.

-Apparently mothy didn't share Servant's vsq because he had to mess with it so many times that if he did, it would not sound like the finished song at all.

-He addresses how people thought poorly of Len in his songs before Servant of Evil came out because, naturally, it looked like he just abandoned the princess to her fate.

Page 2

-more on Servant of Evil. He made it into a four-part composition (I think? I'm not familiar with this word but basically it's four distinct narrative pieces to the song) to contrast it with Daughter of Evil, saying it's a convenient model for story songs. He also wanted it to be understandable even if you haven't listened to Daughter of Evil. He also wanted to put the chorus in the opening of the song because that's what hit songs do? (again, sliiiightly confused with the musical terminology he's using). Girl of the Minature Garden is the only other song where he's done this.

-He also wanted to put in lines from Len everywhere.

-He went back and forth a little on the tone of the song. Originally, he conceived of the twin switch as having been Rin's idea, but eventually he went with it being Len's, to make it more of a tragic story than a dark one to better fit the melody he'd made.

7th Page 1

-reply to comments. People are finding his posts on his songmaking interesting.

Page 2

-more on Servant of Evil. He began work on the song as soon as he had an idea of what he wanted to do (he also prefaces this by saying that he's by no means on expert on making lyrics and that he may have made mistakes in explaining it).

-So, basic lyric construction--opened with the chorus, introduced Len's relationship to the Princess. There's two meanings in Len saying he'll "even become evil", which we'll get to later. Len gets more explanation in this first section of the song, with his character background in the next stanza (with the "A" melody) and his mindset in the one after (the "B" melody, which was apparently half the length that it is now at first but this made it too hard to work lyrics in). Then back to the chorus.

-He was trying to make sure that everything was explained while using the bare minimum amount of detail.

9th Page 1

-Luka's release has been anounced. He's interested, but he also owns several VOCALOIDs at this point that he hasn't used yet, so he might hold off.

-Mothy replies to comments. Largely inconsequential, but he does laugh with someone over the fact that he wound up buying all the Japanese VOCALOIDs after only having the Kagamines for a while.

Page 2

-Back to Servant of Evil, getting on the second part of the song. He figures that since he said Len would "even become evil", he needed him to do something evil. It's at this point that he started trying to work in the parts he cut from Daughter of Evil, though he couldn't work in the bit with the glass bottle (where Allen kills Leonhart) due to syllable space. (note, this section follows the "A melody equals plot, B melody equals character mindset" pattern from the previous section).

-The "today's snack is brioche" line is to contrast Riliane's "Oh, it's teatime" line, and also reference what he'd learned about Marie Antoinette. And, it shows the main character, who is a servant, doing servant things.

-As a tangent, he brings up how little we know about the Miku character just going off those two songs--we don't know who she loved, whether she actually died or not, or if she was even human to begin with (basically teasing the Michaela reveals in Daughter of White, I think).

-He does state that like the princess and swordswoman, she is modeled after a character in a story, she is not a princess or high status, and she's not the miniature garden girl.

13th Page 1

-More news on when Servant be released on Karaoke, and sharing his remastered Servant of Evil and Wordplay.

-Replies to comments. Again I don't have context but I think he clarifies that some of his concepts on the Miku character that he just shared came about after the fact, but he was picturing a character from a different work when making her during the song's production.

Page 2

-Onto the third section for Servant of Evil, which he says was the most important and so took a lot of trial and error (the twin switch, of course). Eventually what he ended up doing was having the "A melody" section contain both the plot events AND Len's character psychology, and have the "B melody" section consist solely of dialogue. That way he could leave the characters' feelings during the switch up to the imagination of the listener.

-As a small note, Len is using honorifics when he tells the princess to run away wearing his clothes. mothy claims this was inspired by a nursery rhyme (in English it's often called, "The Other Day I Met A Bear"), where in the Japanese version at least the bear tells the girl to run with the same honorifics (despite that being uncharacteristic of a bear), which he liked, so he put it in here. I am not 100% sure I believe him.

16th Page 1

-mothy shares a remastered Regret Message

-he replies to comments. He's not sure what decides the release schedule for JOYSOUND's karaoke, he thinks it's due to song vote ranking. Apparently there are also people saying the "of evil" songs are their first VOCALOID songs, so that makes him happy.

-Again I don't have the original comment but I guess someone asked what the gender is (without specifying whose), so he confusedly replies that the princess is female, the servant is male, and he, mothy, is male.

-mothy makes clear that though he is incorporating a lot of fairytale knowledge into his work, it's not a result of research but rather his own childhood memories, as he read a lot of books when he was young.

Page 2

-Onto the fourth part of Servant of Evil. Here he repeats the lines from the ending of Daughter of Evil, but with an entirely new context behind them and some minor tweaks to match the new subject of the song.

-The first iteration of the chorus shows Len's determination, and this final one shows that he has accomplished his goal. The lines about how the princess ignores the crowd is the people talking in Daughter of Evil, and in Servant of Evil it's Rin talking. And, in general, when Len says "I will even become evil", that includes becoming the "Daughter of Evil" himself, in a sense.

-Basically just lots of repetitions but with the meaning changed.

-Mothy added on the bit with the music box after the song was done, as a final tearjerker.

20th Page 1

-Responding to comments. A lot of it is fans expressing their admiration which is sweet, but not really worth summarizing. Here's some tidbits though.

-Mothy used to use 私 a lot as his personal pronoun, but since he keeps getting mistaken for a woman he's started using 僕.

-The last line in Servant of Evil was meant to kind of bring out the servant's inner childishness.

-Mothy's first encounter with VOCALOID was before Miku was even released, and he was inspired to buy one after hearing a certain song on NicoNico (he may, or may not, explain this later).

-Though he tells a commenter to leave it up to their imagination, he does hint as to having plot reasons why Len's character was made a servant rather than a prince.

Page 2

-He goes in very briefly on the process of making Len sing the lyrics of Servant of Evil after he'd had them written. Apparently it was really hard. The Kagamines are apparently harder to work with than Miku, and Len moreso than Rin. There was a lot of trial and error involved--eventually he just settled on something and went to the tuning stage.

25th Page 1

-Mothy's other songs are now up for voting on JOYSOUND. He encourages people to give South North Story priority in the voting. He's also remastered Tale of Abandonment on a Moonlit Night, though it's not very different.

-Comment replies. Mothy is not very fast at making songs.

-He shares the website he got the stock sound effects for Servant of Evil, and tells someone that he's considering releasing CDs of his work.

Page 2

-(again discussing the production of Servant of Evil) MEANWHILE on Piapro, mothy got carried away chatting about the setting and backstory behind Daughter of Evil in the comments for it, apparently, because it was still getting attention. He finds that funny because then someone correctly guessed the twin switch, so he wound up having to be very noticeably vague and mysterious about it (in a complete 180 from his other comments) to avoid spoiling anything.

29th

-Luka is taking the community by storm, but mothy is making a song with MEIKO instead.

-he's been getting some questions about a collaboration with Asami(I think) Shimoda, but he refuses to comment.

-Other comment replies that I won't summarize because I don't have full context (nothing terribly important, mostly just being humble or asking for patience with his slow speed). Apparently one of the commenters spoke to him in English, though, which is interesting.

30th

-mothy finally finished Servant of Evil (he recounts having dubious impressions of it at the time, such as not being able to understand what's being said, worrying that it's too different from the tune of Daughter of Evil, and being a little moved by it himself.

-He uploaded it onto Piapro and recruited illustrators to make the PV.

[medievalcellphone]

leo sun … aries moon ……. sag rising. cancer venus ….

hahahah whoa. surely you are incredibly passionate about whatever it is you like. people places things concepts. vibes. etc etc.

sun moon and rising in all fire placements is always crazy like sometimes they will be the quietest mfs you've met and sometimes they will be the most obviously owns a leopard print coat probably 3 person you'll ever meet. cancer venus.........................tell me ur mercury and mars i must know

um okay so the sun is the way we find our will to be ourselves. basically. consciousness. copernican ego centrism. its like, what motivates us, pulls our personality through life, lets us recognize who we want to be. leo is ruled by the sun, and imo is the most self conscious/self aware sign because of that... every leo i've known has been very different but always, undoubtedly, the most ~i'm here to be my self~ sort of person. like. you are heartfelt, you don't want to mislead people, you want freedom of self expression (and with an aries moon!) basically you want to be seen for who you are. even if its painful or hard or scary. i think leos are so brave as a sign. there is also the whole people can't help but love them thing.

i would assume you are dramatic for better or for worse and reactive about certain little things but in a way that doesn't cause too much internal angst, you might get super heated and then a couple hours pass and you don't remember why. you are not too self important but also know your sense of worth, sag risings are always obsessed with a bunch of different unique things, combined with leo sun you probably actually the drive to follow those things. don't doubt it. there is a sense of general optimism and kindness that adorns this combo.

like i was saying in another ask a sag rising will take u on the most fun little adventure ever. even if its not literal. like forcing enthusiasm of interest on someone bc u know they will love it and they do. or like sending the best playlist ever that changes ones music taste for the better. or. literally ending up wading through a marsh on a lovely spring day. sag risings are on an eternal quest to learn, you have the presence of self and magnetism to really do what you want. this is a chart that makes me think u are inherently blessed with artistic talent maybe photography or concocting narratives or music. Also, you have to be the biggest animal person like whoa !

aries moons are quick to react... fast twitch brains. your experience of life is very truthful. u gotta make sure to balance reason with emotion when reacting to anything. you might be very insecure in a way you keep deeply hidden, you might wanna prove yourself a little too much. trust people, but don't let people take advantage of your kindness. you might have a hard time keeping in touch with people or making big promises that don't come to fruition. make sure you actually listen to the advice you say you already know about. (that goes for aries suns and risings as well)

okay but yeah at times maybe u are quite temperamental. leos and aries both just hate being wrong. i think sometimes it takes a long time to learn your lesson. like its a trial by error thing. you love people very intensely. like that cancer venus also. changeable but steadfast. you might be so busy searching for security that you end up with a series of wrong people out of impulsivity. but when you find people you connect with thats lifelong.

a song another song and a movie for u

[danpuff-ao3]

Comfort Characters

@givereadersahug wrote about Comfort Characters and I thought I'd do the same!

This was always a weird concept for me to consider. Like...do I have a comfort character? The answer feels sort of obvious, but in the way that both yes and no feel obvious. Thus: the dilemma.

When it comes to fandom, I read so much angst, whump, darkfic, etc. And I favor portrayals of characters that are real, gritty, imperfect, and messy. My fandom preferences feel a bit at odds with the word "comfort." But...I do find a strange sense of comfort in these subjects and these characters, don't I?

And with that in mind...let me answer the dang question, yeah?

To really get the full picture, I think first we need to focus on what the Harry Potter books mean to me.

In recent years, with the author's outrageous and shameless vitriol, being a fan of HP has been challenging. It feels wrong to love this fandom so much, when the author shows such unmitigated hate.

The problem is: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was published in the U.S. in 1998. (Usually I remember HP was published in 1997, but I just did a Google check for the U.S. publication to make sure I had my facts straight!) I was six years old when the books came out here. I was a bookworm since I could read! I inhaled books at an alarming rate. But no book from my childhood stuck out to me more than Harry Potter. I don't remember life before those books. And they were probably the first books I ever reread. And I never stopped rereading them. I'm not sure I've read anything more times than I've read those books.

Are they a literary masterpiece? Of course not. But they are whimsical, magical, joyful, colorful, touching, adventurous, and just plain fun! More so when I discovered fandom properly and my creativity ran loose in fanfiction.

My childhood was not especially good or happy, and these books were my escape. The fandom was my escape. Whenever life was dark or scary or hurtful, I had somewhere to turn. I had no one in my real life I could turn to. But I had these characters. And I had the friends I made through fandom. Facts that hold true even to this day, though I've escaped all the worst life had thrown at me (up until this point, at least!)

The books and fandom were a great source of comfort to me. And a large part of it must be because of the characters that were such a comfort to me.

Of course, my two comfort characters make up my beloved OTP.

Severus Snape, who I loved from the start. Which is funny when you think about little 6 year old Danni mooning over the "mean teacher." The dark mystery of him seduced me even then! He was clever, and creative, and cutting. He was the bad guy who wasn't really a bad guy, which blew my little socks off!

Harry Potter, of course...our titular character. My partner now likes to joke that I'm a "main character simp." (Hello, Harry Potter and Percy Jackson and Rand al'Thor...) I can't help it, okay? But Harry was always such a precious bean. Wide-eyed awe for magic. Spunky and bold, in spite of his poor life circumstances. The sort of fearlessness I admired, but could never quite replicate. My whole life was tied up in fear. I was scared of so much for so long. Harry's openness and honesty and bravery drew me in.

But those were the simpler, surface-level attractions for a young girl. But I'm not a young girl anymore. I'm a woman who grew up with these characters. I watched Harry grow and change; I watched him learn; I watched his trials and errors; his failures and his successes; I watched him save the day. And for Severus Snape, rather than moving forward, we looked back. I watched his story unfold in all of its horrible, messy glory. And I fell more and more in love with them both.

Harry and Severus both came from troubled backgrounds. Severus represents the stark reality. How deeply those wounds impact you, and how they don't always heal. Harry represented the ideals. All that I hoped to be; the behavior I respected and the principles I learned.

Harry overcome his circumstances and became a truly good person in spite of it all. But "good" doesn't mean without flaw. And his strength doesn't mean no damage was left behind.

On the flip side, Severus' trauma pushed him along a dark road. He reacted poorly. He made bad decisions. But hope wasn't lost, was it? Bad decisions didn't mean he could be written off as a villain. He was so deeply wounded, and he carried on despite that. The pain of his past plagued his every moment, but he still moved forward and kept fighting through it all. And for all the ways his trauma had made him flawed, there was still goodness in him. He was still worthy of love and respect. He was still capable of great deeds.

They are both men who were hurt by their life's circumstances, and who were bound by terrible fate. And they chose to embrace that. They chose to keep doing and being better, even when they screwed up. They never let life keep them down.

So much in them speaks to me. They can share my pain. And they give me hope and strength to keep going. And in them and all their messy, imperfect glory, I can reflect upon myself. And in loving them for their best and worst qualities, I can accept and love them in myself.

...and then I make them fall in love again and again and again (and again and again) (and again and again and again.) And that brings me even more comfort. And joy. And endless entertainment. And emotions. And basically all the good things life has to offer. Snarry for life, if you didn't already know I was a massive Snarry stan.

[storyoftest]

Text Log - William Samuel Part 2

Regu — 03/20/2023 5:38 AM The results were that William and his electricity powers and Samuel, unnoticed by him, was extreme durability William was also able to turn into a sort of were-possom beast made up of lightning when an immense amount of electricity is coursing through him Samuel could survive even the most deadliest of blows and also has impressive regeneration to go along that Wanting to see these abilities in action Rex's had the two of them go through many trials and see them in action [5:41 AM] During the off time Rex isn't paying attention to them they make a truce and work together to escape during the trials They mainly fought multiple enemies for their trials along side some random games that where only established when Rex got bored of watching them fight everything

Regu — 03/20/2023 5:47 AM Eventually they manage to escape the testing halls and confront Rex face to face William gets emotional with was surprising to Samuel as he learns more about the two's past and how they were a romantic pair and everything Unfortunately Rex's ultimate goal is to wreak havok with the powers held within the fallen meteorites around the world Before they could learn anything more they get overwhelmed by Rex's robots and they make their full escape from the lab (edited) [5:51 AM] Things are a bit awkward as Samuel and William try to find their way home Its quite a long journey back and along the way William open up more to Samuel abt his past and everything up to now They clear up a lot of things between them and find themselves not able to see the other as an enemy anymore but still not quite on friendly friend terms March 24, 2023

Regu — 03/24/2023 2:21 AM On thier long journey home many events take place ranging from fun but odd to high stakes battles [2:25 AM] Often they work together within these situations and from these they increasingly start to worry about the other Within periods they are in a safe location without monsters/Rex's goons they make a habit to train together so that when it comes to a battle they are relatively in sync [2:26 AM] As a sort of time frame it took around 3 ish months to get back home by foot/car since even tho both fellas escaped Rex's set up obstacles and challenges to continue on his experimenting on them

Regu — 03/24/2023 2:31 AM Said challenges are Mad max ish mario kart racing - some races mixed with musical battles Underground Battle pits Robot monster hybrid boss fights One of those battles includes  a battle between Rex and Williams robot son Jr [2:34 AM] Another side quest like thing to this act is William and Samuel taking on odd jobs in the towns/villages they stay in for money as they escaped with nothing Such jobs relate to the guys previous jobs like delivering mail or electronic error fixes

Regu — 03/24/2023 2:39 AM One boss fight thats planned out is one against a giant mutant bee they stumble across as they traverse a plains filled with mutated flowers that produces sickeningly sweet smell [2:40 AM]

Cold Rock It - 2 Mello

Song here gives the vibes of the fight i have associated with it

Regu — 03/24/2023 2:51 AM Theres also an encounter battle between Darius with William Darius more known as the Lone Lion is a sort of a random figure outside of the main cities. While not working as a sort of phantom thief, he works for a organization that also wants to stop the experimentation of humans with altered dna Due to Williams background Darius engages in a fight with William not knowing his change of heart It get sorted out when Samuel hears the commotion and they exchange info about  Rex They part ways after this and dont really meet up again after the Dakota Story end [2:58 AM] Another encounter battle happens between Regulus in his mind controlled state This occurs when Rex manages to capture Samuel and they are at a stand off in an airplane setting Rex continuing his curiosity has the two of them fight Regulus and see how long they last Rex leaves the plane to the two of them as a defense since its on auto pilot and its path is directly in Regulus' direction They both try to control the plane while fending off the creature and eventually they succeed and escape but still make a rough landing

Regu — 03/24/2023 3:10 AM Space Police in the Sky - Space Channel 5 OST Song vibe of battle

Regu — 03/24/2023 3:17 AM Within the off time where William and Samuel rest at motels and the like they slowly start to talk to one another more At first it was general thoughts about how they should continue forward and other planning but later grew into small talk and learning more about each other [3:23 AM] It became a small way to decompress after a day and allowed them to be more comfortable with each other One night William told Samuel his full story Rex and William were at first merely pawns of a larger corporation who worked similarly to unethical scientists however their talent and skill had them rise in rank and then Rex one day became lead of a project which William was his right hand man

Regu — 03/24/2023 3:26 AM They worked and made weapons made from materials not easily obtainable mainly pure light or electricity They created robots as well and led to them creating a very intelligent and sentient robot [Jr] Many of these weapons where mainly failures sans a barely stable prototype of William Electricity Dual Knives [3:31 AM] William at this time was not trusting in others to test out the knives at an unstable state and opted to test them out himself while he mainly used it on mundane things somehow he learned that someone stole them and tested it in a way he didn't want to, through assassination

Regu — 03/24/2023 3:40 AM The devastating damages caused by the knives on a live target impressed the higher-ups however and wanted the refinement of the knives This made Rex felt betrayed in a twisted way that William was able to create something more dangerous that he did. He started to become colder to William and let to an obsession with the dangerous One day Rex's created something that eliminated the higher-ups and from there he established his dominance and became the leader of the facility [3:44 AM] William at this point didn't want any part of this take over and he sought out to escape with his knives He also allowed others to escape with him and together formed a gang set on stopping Rex's havok

Regu — 03/24/2023 3:50 AM However at the start William did go down the dark route of using his knives for assassination of Rex's associates despite his previous objections This lasted for a long while before he got caught up in the explosion that sort of snapped him out of it realizing that even though he thinks he's halting Rex's plans hes still not doing any big damage and after recovery sets out a proper plan to stop Rex himself (edited)

Regu — 03/24/2023 4:16 AM Samuel was sort of perturbed after hearing this at first but seeing William actively trying to cover him in battle shows that William wouldn't necessarily do harm. He still worries about how he would go about stopping Rex givin that his number far exceeds both of theirs combined Still Rex did have to be stopped before more harms comes to more innocent people (edited)

Regu — 03/24/2023 4:37 AM Eventually when they get back to their main bases they split off in a sort of hesitant manner They go back to thier previous responsibilities and act like usual with the antics of trying to protect themselves from the king of the hill battles [4:41 AM] However despite going back to their old lives, they find themselves secretly meeting up whether its go train or just talk and hang around each others company

Regu — 03/24/2023 4:49 AM They often talked deeper about their fears and worries and past experiences together and undergo a sort of bond between each other It would be a long while where their crews would learn about their meet ups and partnership when working together towards stopping Rex March 29, 2023

Regu — 03/29/2023 2:49 AM Side info William has possum traits mainly seen in the ears eyes nose and tail. he also can be found wearing a gas mask to hide his face completely so no one can recognize him. is a big fan of punk/metal rock and wanted to initially become a singer. Samuel is a big baseball fan and even owns a bat. he also uses the bat for defense if it comes to it. Samuel is mixed black and Menominee alongside Dakota, they are cousins. [2:55 AM] William owns a motorcycle and is knowledgeable in mechanical stuff relating to fixing them Samuel has a big interest in bugs and such which is why he wasn't afraid in encountering a giant tarantula creature

Regu — 03/29/2023 3:09 AM William still has a slight australian accent

[skewbforty]

My fear of asking for help

Have you learned guitar? If not, what do you picture should you ever learn it? Is there a teacher involved? Well, most likely, the answer is yes. While some people do indeed self learn guitar, who in their right mind has the time for that? Learning every technique and chord through painful trial and error? No thanks.

It's almost a no brainer that you'll have a tutor to guide you through the world of guitar playing. But what if it's not something as ambitious as guitar playing? What if it's just something you like to do in your free time? Something that's meant to be fun first and foremost?

I'm talking about video games, and why I have a fear of looking up its solutions.

While there is a bit more debate on whether games fall under the same category as guitar playing, the general popular opinion is the same. I read this reddit post on how long you ought to wait until looking up something you're stuck on.

I should point out this was the top voted comment on that post with over 200 upvotes. It's quite clear there's no shame in being stumped in games.

So why DO I feel shame? Tbh I have no fucking clue. Only that it's destroying my relationship with videogames.

Let's face it. I suck ass at video games. I couldn't even pass the tutorial level in Yoshi Touch & Go. So why the hell should I hide it? What's so inherently immoral about being worse than about 100% of everyone else about something so niche? Am I really that dumb to automatically assume being decent at games makes me more likely to guarantee me a good life?

But at the same time. Never getting anywhere with anything I ever buy with my own money is kinda... Excruciating.

I guess the point I'm trying to make here is... Is there any way I can convince myself to not get agony at losing at everything, or are videogames just not for me? That's what I have to figure out now. Because as is, I am not having fun with anything I play. And I'm only strengthening my hatred of myself by playing whatever I play.

If it's not obvious, I need therapy.

[sa7abnews]

Postcards from France - is it a real croissant?

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/06/postcards-from-france-is-it-a-real-croissant/

Postcards from France - is it a real croissant?

Dear Francophile, here we are in another Francophile postcard from France. Just like the podcast where we've started exploring the Côte d'Azur, the weekly postcards from France are a little moment of what Francophiles love about France. Those quirks, moments and places that just bring France alive even when you can't be there.

Today's postcard features a lot of butter and something very delicious…croissants, of course! But can you be sure it is an authentic, traditional croissant?

Today's postcard is all about that delicious moment in the early morning when you've ventured out to the local boulangerie, and bought the light, warm and buttery masterpieces that are freshly baked croissants. Those early morning walks through a town or village just smell so divine. I particularly love the early summer mornings with the quiet streets being cleaned, the sense of anticipation of another beautiful day dawning and the unmistakable aroma from the boulangerie (which is already open) serving customers. Regulars are waiting in a wedge to order their usual and pay at the counter, clutching their daily bread and morning pastries as they leave with a cheery "bonne journée". It's a ritual I simply never tire of – in fact finding the boulangerie you really love while away on holiday is part of the fun, isn't it?

So, if you want a good croissant, what are you looking for and how can you find it? Well, whether you're in Paris, Nice or La Rochelle, the same rules apply. Smell the butter! Yes, you might be surprised to learn that many croissants are made with cheaper margarine fats instead of butter (and those in supermarkets, well, please avoid them!)

A truly delicious croissant should be straight, this is the first tip for finding a proper butter croissant. The ordinary crescent shape ones are usually those not made purely with butter. A croissant au beurre is vital to your experience and enjoyment of this yummy viennoiserie. So look for the shape, and check the signs outside the shop to see if the products are made onsite (fait maison). A huge 80 per cent of croissants are made in factories, frozen and baked at bakeries across France. If you want a more artisanal approach and to avoid the factory-made or margarine croissant then the choice of bakery is pretty important!

Unlike the baguette tradition, which has to be made from four simple ingredients and made from scratch on site at the bakery (its production is subject to regulation), pastry does not have the same designation or controls. So if you were surprised, like me, that the macarons of Ladurée are all made in Switzerland (which you can find out about here), you might want to know where your croissant is made. Why not find out and buy where you feel good about the ingredients and process? It can be trial and error to find the croissant you prefer with just the right pastry crunch, soft interior and delicious smell. It's a hard job, but someone has to do it…

Here at this boulangerie in Nice, which supplies the delightful luxury Negresco Hotel, you can find a real croissant made with pure butter and taking three days to make. That is the reality – a lot of good things, like slow fermentation bread and good croissants take time.

This great Insider report on real croissants, with some behind-the-scenes footage to see the dough being made in all its precision, contains lots of information on what makes a good croissant (in French with English subtitles.)

So choose your artisan boulangerie and find those straighter croissants (although confusingly in the video the croissants can be quite like a crescent even though they are made with pure butter and on site!) Yes, every illustration of a croissant tends to be crescent shaped but those are generally the ones to avoid. Since the 1970s, croissants and food industrialisation means that croissants in the classic shape are usually margarine-based and factory-made. You can buy ready-made industrial doughs in the supermarkets to bake at home but is that the pleasurable moment at breakfast you were hoping for?

The flaky, beauty of a pure butter croissant in the form seen today has been around since the 1920s and the story goes that the croissant has had many previous incarnations with a history that people still write books about!

In search of the perfect croissant, in One More Croissant for the Road, journalist, author and cyclist Felicity Cloake cycles her own Tour de France, a journey around the hexagone in search of the French regional classics as well as good pastries. As she cycles, she rates each croissant and details her meals (or lack of them) from cassoulet to crêpes, Basque cakes to croissants in Paris. For more on her wonderful and amusing trip around France you can find her story here. She includes the 'vital statistics' of the trip at the end of the book where you can see she cycles over 2,000 km and ate fewer croissants than I expected (35 in case you're wondering.) Cloake writes a column about the perfect version of dishes and cakes, which you can find at The Guardian and in her other book gathering these recipes.

Love pastry but prefer no gluten? If you’re looking for gluten-free pastries, then there are a few options across Paris including Noglu. Are you gluten free by preference or a celiac? If you don't speak fluent French, you can get a detailed card to take with you to restaurants, cafés etc that helps you to explain what you need in French. It's written by a celiac and fluent native French speaker so it's bound to be useful. A great idea for safe travels!

For croissants made entirely laminated by hand, try Liberté on rue Poncelet (17e; also in other arrondissements of Paris.)

Where did you have your favourite croissant? Was it breakfast on a café terrace watching the world go by, or sitting at the zinc and having a croissant from the basket on the counter? Perhaps you are the one who ventures out to buy the bread and pastries in the morning, returning to the apartment, gite, campsite or villa with breakfast for everyone.

Whichever way and wherever you eat your croissants, enjoy! Bon appétit !

If you’d like to have a go making croissants at home, this is a recommended recipe and instructions. I haven't yet dared to try to master this technique but if I can prepare myself for some buttery disasters, and keep going I might just manage it! For more on making viennoiseries, I love Christophe Felder’s wonderful classic, bright pink book called simply, Patisserie. The brioche is delicious, so why not try making some more from this fabulous book?

Do you enjoy an artisanal, traditional croissant when in France, or something else?

These postcards from France remind me of the happy times I've travelled through France and yet there's still more to discover. There's always another region, another town or beautiful village (officially a Plus Beaux Villages or not). There are customs and regional food and wine to discover as well as accents and words you might have never heard before.

Tell me, what do you love about France? It could be a fragrance, a texture, a town or city, even a museum or view… let me know by contacting me or on Instagram. I'd love to hear from you. Let me know if you enjoy croissants too!

Before you go, dear Francophile…

For more France, why not join the curious Francophiles exploring France every month? The free newsletter goes out every first weekend of the month and includes events across France and often dips into delicious food, culture, travel, music, film, style and more. The France in Five feature brings together the month's top highlights with stories, links and classic French traditions.

It brings France to where you are. So if you're newly enamoured with France or a Francophile of long-standing passions, join us now!

By joining you'll also receive every Postcard from France delivered to your inbox in the blog digest. I'd love to talk France with you, so join me in France, wherever you are. Subscribers get all the podcast news before anyone else and are the first to get exclusive news, giveaways and future offers from Francophile-friendly courses and online stores too.

Sign up for the newsletter here (it goes without saying that there's absolutely no spam and your privacy is protected. You can subscribe at any time, but I hope you stay and make 2022 a year to delight in the country we love so much.)

Welcome to France Where You Are!

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[fpgame]

Evaluation

In this project I used MagicaVoxel to make all my models in my game and I really enjoyed this creative aspect of the project as it is something that I have always wanted to experiment with. At first, I struggled with the 3D part of this project as we were taught to use Maya at first which I found very complicated and overwhelming. So when we started to learn voxel art, I felt much more comfortable. Trial and error was a technique that I have become more at ease with, in reference to both art and coding, as it was something I avoided when I started this course. In regards to the research that I carried out to problem solve and find cool ideas, I think finding similar games that have been made with a voxel or low-poly art style was really helpful as I could figure out what the most important elements were and replicate them.

My main way of identifying issues and investigating the best way to solve them was working alongside my peers. This is because it is useful to see things from another perspective as I often find myself becoming absorbed in an issue and getting frustrated with it. With coding, asking other people for help made me feel more confident that I was going in the right direction when trying to implement something. Whilst coding had its challenges which took some time to overcome, making models and landscaping was quite a rewarding process as I found myself enjoying it more throughout the time we had to do this project. I already had this game idea in my mind before we were given the concept for this project so I had a good idea of what I wanted to achieve, this really helped to visualise the most important elements. MagicaVoxel felt suited to the style of game that I wanted which allowed me to fully explore the software as I knew I would like the outcome.

I feel like I have made a lot of progress overall in my game design abilities in this project. The game came together within the last few weeks as I added in the final touches like the HUD and the title screen so I am very happy with it. My expectations for the game were quite higher than I should have made them but I believe that this gave me the opportunity to challenge myself and learn new skills. The project fulfilled the brief we were given even though I went down a different route.

Despite being satisfied with the project and feeling quite proud of the final result, there is always extra that I would have liked to do. For example, the game itself only goes on for 30 seconds as I rush to input a win/lose state into the game. Therefore, I feel like I focused a lot more on the art as I limited myself due to the time I gave myself. However, I think if I had the choice to make another 3D game with the same software - I would do it again. So far, both the 2D and 3D projects have been really fun and I am looking forward to the next project where I improve my skills and make something really cool.

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @still-life-mostly​

Muhammad Hardi Saputra, familiarly called Hardi, is a self-taught miniature still-life photographer and stop motion artist. His work is a mix of craft, comic, and fantasy elements. It aims to bring peace and tranquility to the viewers through their imaginations. His childhood dream was to create pictures that would make people happy just by looking at them. He has found a way to do exactly that by combining the beauty of miniatures with the art of photography. The stories he tells through his photographs are full of life and give the viewer a sense of nostalgia. He loves crafting and creating art that has a story behind it. To him, each piece has a life of its own, and he allows it to speak for itself. He says, “Art is a collaboration between the artist and the viewer. The work you do is only a part of the journey.”

Check out our interview with Hardi below!

How did you get your start in photography and stop motion?

My hobby started when I was still a kid. I was fascinated by claymation on TV. Around the year 2003, when my sister got her first smartphone (it was Nokia 3650), I borrowed my sister’s phone to make a stop motion with my tiny robot pencil toppers. I didn’t use photos and turned them into videos. Instead, I used the r cord and pause button immediately. So the stop motion is basically a compilation of 0.5 seconds videos. It was really fun. Then when the smartphone got faster, my pause and record button trick didn’t work anymore. My stop motion video-making ended, except for my photography.

Then after I got into college, I found a photographer sharing his works on Tumblr, and I knew that day that I wanted to be a photographer. Then, my parents bought me a laptop and camera around 2013. I started shooting some photos. When I saw a looping cinemagraph video on Tumblr, my old stop motion video ideas sparked again. So I researched on YouTube to figure out how to make a looping cinemagraph GIF just by GIMP. After some trial and error, I managed to get it working. So I used my laptop to make my first ever looping cinemagraph GIF video.

Later I ran out of stuff to make a cinemagraph, so I experimented with stop motion with any objects I could find in my bedroom. After a while, I realized I could make animations using paper. These small moments are captured on my Canon Eos M., and this is how my photography journey began. So, I thank Tumblr for giving me the inspiration and a platform to share my stop-motion GIFs.

What do you wish you knew when you first started out creating art that you know now?

I have learned that investing in a new laptop would have been a better choice if I had to choose between a laptop and a smartphone. I used to buy a new phone every two years, and as a result, I didn’t have enough money to upgrade my laptop. I realized that my photo and video editing must be faster, so I can have more time to make creative choices like what kind of color should I tune, which object I could animate and so on. This new smartphone only solved the social pressure to keep up with what everyone was doing.

Now, I saved my money to upgrade my laptop so I can create more content in less time. I also stopped watching smartphone reviews because they influenced me to buy a new smartphone. I decided to learn more skills like 3D designing or photo and video editing on YouTube instead.

What is the hardest part of your process?

I use resin 3D printers to create my subjects. The process of printing them is really simple, but it does take a lot of physical work to get the prints looking their best. Sometimes they got like blemishes that need to be sanded down or parts that need to be glued on. These steps aren’t exactly my favorite parts of the process, but the results are totally worth it!

How has your style developed over the years?

My first stop motion GIF is this blue butterfly. I put my camera on a table and made a butterfly out of paper. It was initially quite challenging because the camera moved when I pressed the shutter button. Luckily the touch screen can also trigger the camera, so I touched the screen lightly so the camera didn’t move. After that, I got a loop of about 1 second of motion.

Then, I made another butterfly. This time I use the photo levitation technique in my stop motion video. I use wire and remove the wires frame by frame. GIF with floating subjects takes much more time to finish a frame than the first one. However, the result is really rewarding because it’s more natural looking.

Right now, after I got my 3D printer, I chose astronauts as my main subject. At the moment, only the secondary subject moves, such as flying rockets, clouds that are moving across the sky, and ocean waves. In the future, I look forward to making a moveable astronaut, probably a robot, because they have joints. Or a wiggling alien or any kind of sci-fi space creature that could be explored in a galaxy far away.

Have any of your projects surprised you with its outcome?

The project that surprised me the most with its outcome is this Astronaut Diner GIF. The color looks like what I wanted. I didn’t know that adding checkerboard tiles could make me feel so nostalgic. I sanded, painted, and glued every piece of the tiles. It felt like building a miniature interior set.

My favorite part of the project is the coffee steam. I use a tiny piece of thread from a cotton ball to make it look like the steam coming from the cup. I animated the steam using Photoshop. I chose to animate the steam because I thought it would be an interesting way to add movement to the image. I didn’t think it would look very realistic if no movement existed.

Biggest pet peeve as a photographer?

Batteries. Sometimes when I was shooting some frames, my camera or flashlight battery died because I forgot to charge them before I started shooting my stop motion photos. I have to restart taking photos frame by frame because the camera angle will lightly change after I take out the battery.

What does your work set up look like?

My photography setup is just a table with one flashlight in a softbox and another flashlight in an umbrella. I use a Canon Eos M camera to take photos. I enjoy taking photos in my bedroom because it’s straightforward to set up. For example, I just set up everything on the table and snap away! It’s also very easy to clean up because I just have to put everything back in place when I am done. The setup in that photo is the setup that I used to create this article banner photo.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

John Carey of @yesterdaywasonly. Because I probably wouldn’t know Tumblr if he didn’t make a Tumblr profile for me to follow. I follow him because he shares wallpapers, and I am still using photos from his website as my laptop wallpaper.

Thank you so much for stopping by, Hardi! For more of his creations, check out his Tumblr, @still-life-mostly​!

[a-hazbin-spider]

Don’t look at me like that, he can see those eyes and it makes him feel the need to squirm. But the headless had dropped it sooner than later. The eye able to look back to what was needed. Whether or not more was thought, nothing was said, so he could keep the scraps of dignity he had, and that was all that mattered. At least on that side of the ordeal.

Vox’s head and important bits being safe and in working order were actually more important than he’d be inclined to say. The fact that he cared about these overlords at all- to any degree was probably testament to how fucked up a masochist he really was. Or maybe it was pointing to Hell trying its best to make everything absolute dogshit.

Oh well, no matter. It didn’t get in the way of him following instructions. With how often that moth bitches about him recently, maybe anyone would be surprised he remembered how to follow orders! This- however, was easy. Straightforward, a black and white right answer he could follow. He thanked his lucky stars that it really was as simple. Where one hand could hold and feel the ‘plugs’, the other side would feel out the ports. He could line them up easier that way. And was thankful he had enough awareness to see detail, quite well at that.

Directions were short, and clear, and the calmness allowed him a bit more of a comfortable space to work. Though it probably isn’t missed by Vox when he raises his guard, or stalls his movement when Vox took closer quarters to fix some of it himself. Granted, he was careful and checking each pair closely before plugging; It just put him on edge. Mistakes- especially recently, make him expect a bit of… retaliation, or harsher correction. Things that never came.

Maybe it was easy to notice the sigh of relief when the screen was lifted to set back on the open neck, and weigh once more on Vox’s shoulders. He expected a little bit of trial and error, but, he was also hoping for the best, foolishly was he hoping. Most everything worked out at least. There was just… one pretty important missing piece. His signature piece, and brand- even moreso than his logo. The face people were meant to trust. Briefly he debated clunking the monitor with his fist, like a crt tv. He’d even raised his hand before deciding he’d rather not go through Limbo for this.

Perhaps it was smarter than smacking Vox over the head, but it might be a bit foolish to cup his face to inspect further. Eyes scan after the light cuss, a low hum indicating that he’s thinking. The Camera… like his eyes? No- perhaps it really was just his face. Either way, not particularly easy on the man in such rough shape. “Do you wanna lay down? Maybe I can check the inside is correct? Or, you could take a seat, I can double check your head? You prolly ain’t get many opportunities to have me inside of ya, eh?”

Angel will regret that, probably. It just slipped out. And he might be able to tell you himself that Vox didn’t seem ready for making light of his frustration. “Anyway, if that ain’t connected to yer antennae…” he continues quickly. “If they pair up easy as above, I can prolly make sure everything is connected. If that’s fine with you at least. I know well enough it ain’t exactly fun having a shady bitch messin with your insides and tuggin’ shit everywhere.” That’s actually a truthful statement, even if he wished it wasn’t. Still, Vox is trusting him, it’s best to keep it. Sure they aren’t having sex, but checking for consent is pretty universal- shocking as that may be to hear from someone who has lived and breathed sex for decades.

But he also learned enough of getting accustomed to new fads, new words, and new mechanisms quickly. Even with very minimal schooling, he can read scripts now, and understand fancy inflections. He could figure out cables and cameras before too, it shouldn’t be too terrible just because the subject is sentient. That just gives him quicker feedback! Hopefully.

[ alone ] for one muse to find the other trying to treat themselves /and or

[ drugged ] for one muse to take care of the other while they’re delirious

@a-hazbin-spider ?

[ alone ] from the injury/hurt prompts list!

~

Vox usually likes to be alone after a fight; to lick his wounds in private, so to speak. He has a habit of walling himself off in his sanctum, free to keep tabs on everyone while secure in the knowledge that no one could see him. The solemn darkness of the space was the next best thing to real reassurance that things were going to be okay, and much easier to get ahold of.

He's careless, perhaps. Maybe too injured to think as he stumbles inside, a prominent trail of black oil and bright blue coolant marking his path from the nearest CCTV camera to the door. He forgets to lock the door on the way in.

So it's a nasty shock some time later when the door slides open in the middle of his work. The bright glare of the hallway floods in, illuminating both his headless form and his TV on the table in front of him, its case pulled open and innards exposed for repairs. In lieu of his normal vision, each of the many screens around all swivel to look at the intruder, all displaying a single, familiar red eye.

Vox snarls as he recognizes the silhouette, sinking claws into the table. His speakers blow out and warp his voice as his audio processors fail to keep up.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Angel Dust?"

[sins-and-hubris]

It is time,,,,for Elden Ring junkcanons, ft as many characters as I can think of for the time being. If a character ain't here its bc I either forgot about them or don't care

(nsft descriptions below the cut)

Godfrey: Starting out strong with the dude with the biggest shlong, Godfrey's got both length and girth for days and hairy fuckin' balls that would put any other man to shame. Doesn't even think about how huge he is unless he's fucking his wife, of which it suddenly becomes a major issue despite Marika not giving a fuck. Uncircumcised.

Marika: Thick outer lips, thin inner lips and a heavily pronounced clit, close almost to a tdick in size. She's got zero body hair, and though Godfrey often fussed over hurting her, she's got a pretty much uncanny ability to fit (or push out- birthing Omen twins cant have been fun) anything in her vag with little issue. It's kind of eerie, actually, but then again, everything about her is anyways.

Radagon: Very slender, elegant penis, goes more for length than width. Has a noticible cleft midway down his shaft and over/behind his balls that Rennala was quite fond of tracing with her tongue. No body hair, just like his female half. Kind of unremarkable if his dick wasn't somehow the only penis in the world that could be considered 'elegant'. Not circumcised, but he has no foreskin either.

Rennala: f u z z y. The Carian queen does not shave, so she's endowed with lots of thick black curls that contrast prettily with her milky white skin. Her clit is thin and somewhat tucked away between her lips, which are long and folded over in a way that puts ye old yonic flower metaphor to shame. Has some scars around her vaginal opening from giving birth, which Radagon privately used to think of as quite endearing/attractive.

Godrick: His cock is the most average thing about him, honestly- there's just nothing remarkable about it. It isn't big, it isn't small, his balls certainly are there. The only thing that distinguishes it as his is the pale hair at the base and his vaguely wrinkly foreskin. Suffers from erectile dysfunction to boot, partially because he really just fucks bc its the Expected Man Thing to do and partially because there's usually not enough bloodflow going to his crotch to support a full erection. Genuinely prefers eating people out and using toys over his own penis, because he had pretty much no sexual education whatsoever despite getting a lot of cutting remarks about needing to sire an heir, so his relationship with his own masculinity is...tenuous. Uncircumcised, learned what sex was via trial and error.

Morgott: He's got an absolutely MASSIVE cock, except he sees it entirely as a bad thing after he heard some (extremely jealous) soldiers jeering about how the Fell Omen was hung like a beast during some Gelmir conquests. Most of the time it's sheathed, and completely covered by the thicker fur running down his body, but during rut it often makes an appearance regardless of whether or not he wants it out. He's got a thick, bulbous head with the edges covered in a variety of knobbly bumps, a shaft that thickens in the middle, and a knot that swells up when he's close to coming, with similar knobs on it for Extra Texture. He treats it like an alien entity and generally deals with such ruts by hiding in his room and trying his best to ignore it. Doesn't really know what sex is, but he's got a faint idea of the general concept and knows very well that normal people's bodies Do Not do what his does when he's aroused, which means that he never masturbates and is thus an absolute subby disaster when someone who IS into him gets their hands on him.

Mohg: He's got barbs. Dick barbs, primarily situated around the head and down the underside. He's also very thick, has a lot of scalelike ridges going down the sides of his dick, and it's similarly sheathed like Morgott's, though unlike Morgott, his balls are halfway wedged into his body instead of hanging loose like a mammal's would, and his dick is only a slightly lighter colour than the rest of his scales/feathers (with the exception of the head) because he's not furred all over, like Morgott (who has grey furry balls and a bright pink cock). Has very skewed rut cycles because he stays underground all the time, but he knows that jacking off makes it go away, so he's fine to just sit for a quick wank and go about his day instead of wallowing about in misery, figuring that its just some sort of periodic escape of humors that his body needs to do sometimes. Does NOT know what sex is, but would probably be delighted by the concept if someone explained it to him. Sharing fluids is kind of his thing, after all.

Miquella (THE FUCKED UP ADULT THING CURRENTLY IN THE COCOON NOT THE CHILD NOT THE CHILD NOT THE CHILD.): hes trans and has weird pheromone tentacles like that one Australian moth. That's all I have to say. Frankly Miquella terrifies me, and the fandom's obsession with sticking with his child visage vs the thing in-game means that I have a mental roadblock to thinking about him in any sort of sexual context whatsoever

Malenia: Her cunt is so heavily scarred from the rot that it's honestly kind of a miracle that she can feel anything down there at all. While her rotussy does not, in fact, give you scarlet rot, it is acidic enough that going down on her is somewhat of an,,,experience. Her external clit's gone, so she needs a lot of really hard rubbing on the spot it used to sit for her to feel anything- think deep tissue massaging that pussy. Internal penetration that focuses on targeting the g-spot and that one sweet spot near the cervix also goes a long way. Unfortunately, she has no idea what sex is, and any attempts to show her will likely end up with you getting kicked halfway across the bedroom (either out of shock or bc she thinks its some sort of attack).

Ranni: On her doll body? She's got nothing, at least not until she takes you as her consort. Then she'll likely just either install a fleshlight to tide you over or buy a dildo and strap-on (I hc her as trans so giving herself a penis directly would incite dysphoria she'd never want to admit to). She DOES intend to give herself a nice vagina, it's just that she kind of was too busy with killing god to think about what she wanted her own cunt to look like, and now that she DOES have the time, she wants to sit and pick one out. Give her some time. Knows what sex is and is very smug about it.

Blaidd: What can I say other than big thick knot? He's a wolf guy, having a big dick and a big knot is mandatory. Unfortunately, he also doesn't really know what sex is, because I think its funny. Or, well, he knows the basics of how it works, but only through the pipeline of others talking about it, so his actual perception of how sex is supposed to work is way off the mark.

Radahn: Hung like a horse, hur hur hur. But seriously I have zero thoughts about this guy. He's great but the closest thing I can get to visualizing him with any sort of sex thing is him sneaking away from sex ed lessons so that he could go ride around on Leonard, and then only realizing once he got too fuckin big to fuck that skipping out on the only adequate sex ed tutorial in the entire Lands Between was, in fact, probably an issue. The Golden Order's teachings on sex ain't shit. Circumcised.

Rykard: Used to have a pretty average dick, up until the point that he fused with a giant god-devouring serpent. Now he's got a pair of hemipenes that are each the size of a man, barbed down the entire underside, and has pubic hair (???) thats made of writhing tortured souls. He's got an entire hardcore bdsm dungeon, so he def. knows what sex is. Circumcised prior to the vorefest.

Varre: Pretty average sized dick, unremarkable apart from the fact that it has a kink in the middle that points to his left, making positioning kind of interesting sometimes. That's not too much of a bother to him though, as he enjoys the challenge and likes to be fucked and dommed just as much as he enjoys fucking and domming. Multiple tiny scars on his cock and balls from knicking himself with a knife during masturbation. Unfortunately the only person in the entire Mohgwyn dynasty that knows what sex is, and either uses that knowledge as ransom or gives out horribly inaccurate information for the laughs. Self-circumcised.

Rogier: He's trans, and he went and nabbed himself a penis as soon as he realized that Fia's magic mirror does free sex change surgery. He's got a nicely curved, slender, right-leaning dick that he's quite proud of, and a neatly trimmed bush of pubic hair to accent it. Circumcised.

Fia: Thin-lipped and whispy-haired, with a similarly thin yet prominent clit. Unfortunately, she has an unusually large hymen, so vaginal sex is typically quite painful for her. She and Rogier had a sort of fwb relationship where they fooled around while talking about death

D: Kind of short and slightly thick dick, very sparce body hair. Wishes eternally that he had a chance to bury it in Rogier's ass before they parted ways. Regularity hears Fia and Rogier fucking and absolutely hates it. Surprisingly for a Golden Order boy, he's circumcised.

Master Hewg: His cock is as rough and knobbly as the rest of him, with a lot of ridges and bumps along the shaft. His balls are similarly scaly, and constantly hang low from the heat of the forge. He never fucks anymore, though, as it reminds him of the days before Marika stuck him in the Roundtable Hold, so sex just makes him depressed.

Millicent: Basically Malenia's pussy, but unrotted! She's got plump lips, a moderate amount of red hair, and a short, fat clit yet untouched by rot. Her cunt is similarly acidic, however, so check that you don't have any wounds on your hands or your dick before fucking her, or you'll feel it. Learned about sex while roaming about Caelid, but she's still a virgin due to it being, well...Caelid. Not much worthy of fucking in Caelid

Coryn: Most boring penis in the Lands Between. Not that it matters much to him, because he's too busy thinking about god to entertain matters of the flesh. Picture a genaric white man's cock and you have Coryn's. Uncircumcised, vague idea of what sex is. Luckily though, he doesn't look down on people for having it- the Golden Order, while genocidal as shit and quite reminiscent of crusader-era Christianity, is just really fucking bad at general education

Enysha (or however the fuck you spell his name): This Old Man Cunt Can Kill A Man

Gideon Ofnir: Why would you want to fuck him? He sucks. That being said, he's acceptably well-endowed and knows pretty much all the tricks in the book, so if you really want to know, he's probably not the worst guy to ask. In fact, this dude probably hoards all the sex ed knowledge in the Lands Between. Fuck you, Gideon

Dung Eater: Don't ask.