#i am curious by how off putting that format would be

[bloodykora]

Hellooo. I am here to hurt everyone's feelings. This is a Viktor x reader however it will spoil season 2 act 1 so! Make sure you've seen that before reading this.

No use of y/n and its gender neutral!! It is angst but I hope y'all enjoy

Vik Masterlist

The gathering sat in circles around him. A barren scrap yard that had been used for shimmer addicts now brimming with a new hope. These people, his followers were waiting for something. And you had no clue what but you felt relief seeing him on his feet. It was a surprise reaching the lab after taking the break Jayce insisted on, just to find out Viktor had woken up and left. Thinking about it made your blood boil again. Storming out the lab to find the man who had awoken. 

It was off putting how quiet everyone was. They didn't dare to bother him, instead waited patiently until someone may be called up or spoken to. The outer rings of the formation had people without cloaks on, their backs and bodies looking almost completely normal until a spot. A scar? All the same scar but in different places. Some up the arm, or from their spine up the neck, swirling around the side of the back. 

You stand there, far back enough to not been by anyone. Not yet decided on what your actions should be. Would the mob try to stop you, would he? If he had pushed Jayce away then who is to say he won't do the same to you. He shifts, catching your attention immediately. Out reaching his hand, or at least what you assume was a hand. From the distance it just looked like a purple shape, perhaps gloves or something to keep him warm. You could see make out the shape of his cane but, it didn't seem he was as dependent on it as before. 

A person stands to their feet, approaching Viktor and taking their hood off. Your view of him is obstructed, curious on what is happening before shocks of bolts come from the pair. Wind now whipping out from them as well, you can see the stranger's  body beginning to light up with purple.. energy? Then a halo like ring appears, winding around and you can't even describe the pattern within it.  The rest of the members seem calm but intently watching as it happens. It finishes with a flash of white light making you close your eyes. You blink before returning your sight to them, the stranger now standing taller. Their hood now removed, skin bright and healthy, each hair placed almost perfectly, and that same scar. You could just make it out. 

You hear the thud before you see him falling to the ground. Your instincts now taking over as you flee from the hiding spot. Your feet seem to be so loud, adrenaline pumping in your ear as you run past all the hooded figures staring at you. 

“Viktor! Viktor.” Yelling to him as you approach, his head tilts up to the sound. His hand holds him from hitting the ground, hands, fore arms, shoulders running even past that purple. But not skin. There was no skin.  You drop to your knees right in front of him, scooping his face into your hands. It was the only part that seemed to be left of his flesh. Your thumb rubs his cheek as you stare at him.

“What happened? No, why did you leave? I was so scared that I wouldn't find you or you'd be hurt or worse. Why did you leave, you need to be checked out. You shouldn't have left, I can take you back okay? We're gonna go back and and!” You gasp in a breath, tears brimming your eyes as you shake your head in semi-shock.  His hand reaches up to one of your own, he doesn't stop staring at you but his brows furrow for a second before beginning to shake his head. 

“I am staying here. I have work here to do.” He pulls one hand of his head, still holding it with the hand not on his cane.

“Don't, no. I am not Jayce. You are coming home and we're gonna fix this.” His eyes, you realize they weren't golden anymore. They were like an opal, white and pale hues like pink and blue along with it. 

“I have no connection there, I am needed here. This is where I'm staying.” A small puff of frustration pounds through your chest at his stubbornness. 

“You have your apartment up there and me and all your work. Your books and and, you have to make sure that stray has her dinner.” He removes you from his body and stands, without speaking he makes it clear he has no intention of following you. You small head shakes become bigger, tears now threatening to spill down your face, cheeks heating up in anger.  You can't think or breathe, confusion overtaking most of the thoughts in your brain. Pushing off the ground with your hands, rising onto your feet in front of him.

You're breathless for a few seconds still in disbelief about what was happening. 

“Where is my husband?” A whisper from your mouth, mostly to yourself before deciding to repeat yourself. 

“Where is my husband, where are you?” Viktor's face still stays calm at the outburst, not cold yet unattached. His eyes hold no debate behind them, no trying to decide, no emotion. Flashes of him go by, memories of deciding which tarts were the best for morning meetings or nights you curled on the couch beside him while he stayed up writing notes, everything you knew of him. Everything that was Viktor. 

Now seemed non existent. 

“Go home.” Tears streaming down your face, shock and betrayal littered your face. 

Defeat. 

[genshin-squabbles-and-wobbles]

I hope the anon doesn't mind me stealing that request but I would've really liked to see the same scenario with Alhaitham pretty please? Have a good day and take your time.

Yes my beloved dear @kristalheartishere, I shall. I am not sure if you want like a scenario format or headcanon format, but since the original post was in headcanon format, I will do it in that format. I hope that is okay!

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ.───Alhaitham ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ.───

The reason for your break up with Alhaitham is due to his emotional neglect, you were someone who desired to be close to him. You want to connect with him, but him lacking the skin combined with him being stubborn about it, just was a strain for a long time.

Alhaitham was logical and rational but a relationship is abstract, he didn’t entirely understand how to nurture a romantic connection.

If he did something wrong, he will apologize, but nothing more.

If you wanted something, he would do it, nothing more.

Initiation is rare for him sometimes, as if he barely had needs in the relationship at all. Sometimes it would feel like he isn't apart of it.

The was a strain, making you feel unwanted, despite his mediocre reassurance, it wasn’t enough for you to feel close to him. Thus, you broke it off from him.

It didn’t even make a difference, of course you'd miss his touch and his alhaithamussy and the good moments, but the lack of connection outweighs that.

It has been about 5 years since then, you were in the desert collecting Scarab with your little girl. She had your face, but Al Haitham hair and unforgiving her intelligence.

However, your little girl loved exploring, she was always curious, no matter what situation came, she always seem to figure it out.

You were so proud of her, she was always so happy when you praise her for her intelligence and curiosity.

You were carrying a basket as you didn't go far in the desert, but just enough to catch Scarabs. The basket was almost full, as your little girl was looking in perfect environment for these brown beetles she is obsessed with now.

"Sweeite, let's go, the sun is getting brutal out here and we should get back home and find a place to put these beetles." You smile with pride at your little girl as she comes running with yet another beetle. "A successful scavenge and find my little one." You smiled and held her hand as the basket was braced on another hip.

While walking in Sumeru, you were walking through town as your little girl dropped one of her beetles.

You chuckled and bend to pick it up for her, as another familiar hand touches yours, you immediately jolted back and stood up.

It was Alhaitham, he stood up and placed the beetle in your basket, and looked at you and your little girl who was behind you, occupied with her beetle.

"Is....is that...?" He was looking at her, Alhaitham clicked right away, and figured it out.

"Is she mine...?" He kept his eyes on your little girl. You signed and nodded at him. "Yes, she is about 5 years old now."

He immediately crouches down and looked at her. "Do you like that beetle?"

Your little girl nodded and smiled at him.

"Those beetles are called Scarabs, found in the desert and even underground, it's said that the desert king turned people into these." Alhaitham began teaching her immediately about the beetle, and she listened interested in her lectures.

Alhaitham looked at you. "May I...pick her up..?"

You nodded, as he gently picked her up and took a good look at her. When his daughter started to call the beetles Scarab just as he taught her to, that's when the little girl became his and proudly his. "Smart little one, aren't you?" He smiled without even realizing.

You sigh. "She has your attitude, so good luck if you want to be in her life."

"I don't see that as a bad thing." He smiled and moved his daughter's hair away from her face to have a better look at her. He noticed that his daughter also has a green diamond onto her chest.

"You should cut a hole on this, these irritate skin." He was already caring for her properly.

Alhaitham looked at you. "What are we going to do?"

You shrugged. "You can take her 3 days of week, can take her 3 to 4 days of week." You looked at him.

Alhaitham sighed, "I was hoping we can be some sort of Fam-"

You shook your head. "No, I never want what you put me through,"

Of course Alhaitham would figure out ways to convince you to be with him and be a family with him, his parents died, he wanted to give his little girl what he never had.

However, once he sees you are stern, he would back off. He would try at least to start small talk with you despite him hating it. But he wants to try and reconnect, but you refused no matter what. He had his chance.

Eventually he left it alone, and he would teach his daughter, new things, take her on adventures, he would work as she slept on him.

He would spoil her with things and her favorite snacks.

However, for you, you haven't spoken to him for years, as your daughter grew.

[relenafanel]

threadfic posted to my bsky last week

[find here] as always, it's formatted to fit the character limit so probably flows weirdly as a block of text.

As always, author is 3 dick jokes in a trenchcoat. This is my oeuvre.

⋆˙⟡ —

modern au - comphet / oblivious wwx who is going through life blissfully unaware that he’s 1. into men, and 2. specifically super into lwj 🔞

⋆˙⟡ —

Sure, if asked he’d admit to being a 1 or 2 on the Kinsey scale because everyone is a little bi - you know?

but he doesn’t feel actionable about it 

Then he gets his huge slap in the face moment.

Is it because someone convinces him? No (and they have tried). Is it because he realizes his feelings for lwj? Also no.

It’s while he’s watching porn.

It would make sense if it happened early on in his porn watching journey but it does not. He’s had his account for a decade at least, is almost hitting his 30s himself. He’s been watching every video released by the same pornstar for 3 of those years and never questions it because he likes the guy.

Not LIKES likes but he‘s comfortable with him and enjoys his content. It never fails to get him off. It is, he assumes, based on how he interacts with his female partners.

Until the day he gets a notification for a new video and the partner is another man.

If there’s one thing about wwx he’s not squeamish but this situation is testing his resolve. There have been a few threesomes so maybe this is just the start of one of those? 

He deliberately doesn’t check the content description. He likes the uncertainty, he decides. It’s all about the surprise.

And oh boy is he surprised. But not by the sudden late arrival of a woman. No! He’s surprised that he doesn’t need the woman to get off, because it was always about the man. 

And fuck!!

Is he gay!!!

Did he figure out he was gay via porn!!! Like a 14 yr old or an extremely closeted middle aged man!!!

Oh god is he the extremely closeted middle aged man??? He's only 29😭

It’s ok! He can figure this out! Less intelligent people before him have figured out their sexuality, surely he can at least decide if he’s bisexual or what!

He should download Grindr!

He’s halfway to dling the app before he realizes that’s the nuclear option. He doesn’t want to sleep with them! He just wants to figure out if they’re hot. 

Then he shrugs and does it anyway.

“Is Grindr one of those apps that shows you matches based on location?” He asks Lan Zhan at brunch the next morning. “Cause you might see my account.”

lwj very slowly lowers his phone and looks at him.

“I’m just trying to get unsolicited dick pics.”

“Why?”

“For science!!” wwx says! “Hey do you think that rate my dick site still exists?”

“Science,” lwj echoes and looks poleaxed. 

“Yeah,” wwx says cheerfully just as lwj is taking a drink of his tea. “The science of figuring out how into the dicks I am.”

lwj chokes.

Aww shit. wwx is never going to convince him that meal time is talking time again. 

But he’s curious now. He knows lwj sometimes uses the app. He can’t imagine what for. Maybe putting together a bookclub? Bc surely lwj doesn’t just fuck people??? 

What does his profile look like? What pictures does he use? What does it say? What thirst traps could a man like lwj use? looking like that?

He picks up his phone and starts browsing. 

And finds it almost immediately. 

That’s lwj’s sofa. That’s lwj’s silk robe. That’s the edge of the matching sun tattoo he talked a drunk lwj into in uni. 

Fuck.

Fuckfuck. Abort. 

He can feel his face flushing, the heat crawling down his spine and settling in his gut. There’s some artful angles and draping going on and he’s not looking closely!! He doesn’t want his brain to even try interpreting that!! 

He 🔥&⭐️s lwj’s profile and goes to exit, but before he can he gets a dm in the app. He opens it (IN PUBLIC) and comes eyes to dick with the most glorious dick in the most familiar setting.

It’s the same picture as lwj’s profile, just significantly less artful draping and a whole lot more nudity.

“As requested,” lwj says, mild and unbothered.

And wwx is bothered ok!! He doesn’t know what’s fucking happening. That’s a whole lot of dick. He feels like he’s staring at a Rorschach test that at some point is going to reveal itself as a smaller dick.

It doesn’t.

He lets out a sound like a whistling teapot and slams his phone face down on the table so he doesn’t have to look at it. It’s just seared into his eyeballs but whatever. 

lwj looks mildly amused by the time wwx meets his eyes again, likely witnessing his entire face journey. 

“I’ve decided I’m done with this experiment,” he says in a haughty tone.

“inconclusive?”

“No. It’s conclusive.”

He’s super into Lan Zhan, specifically.

Suddenly, he’s just really exhausted. “I’ve got to go. You’ve got the bill, right er-ge?”

lwj stops looking amused. Wwx feels like a jerk for that because he likes it when lwj is amused at his expense. He just can't be at the same table as him and actually think, and he needs to THINK

lwj has texted by the time he gets home.

lwj: I apologize. I’d been under the impression that was what you asked for.

IT WAS! That was the problem! He’d asked to figure out his shit and he’d figured out too much!

wwx: it’s not your fault

wwx: you have a nice dick 10/10.

wwx: that’s the problem 

lwj: that it’s nice?

wwx: fuck

wwx: it’s not nice. It looks mean. 

lwj: ah.

He’s silent for a moment. wwx stares at his phone willing lwj to say something. What does ah mean??

lwj: you may need to broaden your search parameters. Do not make a conclusion based on such a small sample size.

SMALL? lmao.

Wait. What did that mean.

wwx: ????

lwj: do not dismiss your experiment just because you did not enjoy my picture.

What????

WWX hit the video chat button.

lwj answers immediately, frowning into the camera. His frown deepens as wwx laughs. 

“I enjoyed it!” he finally manages to say. “I just needed to think about that. Ruminate. Freak out a little.”

“You enjoyed it?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, I will speak with you about it tomorrow.”

that's a lot of pressure to put on someone. "we could just fuck about it," he offers instead.

"Yes, we could do that." lwj agrees.

(and they do)

(and honestly probably also speedrun a relationship and marriage)

[fin]

⋆˙⟡ — SHARE ⋆˙⟡ — FOLLOW ⋆˙⟡ —

[sighs-deeply-and-dreadfully]

HI SO HI UHMM I'm gonna try making this as non-weird and as short as I can even though I don't even know how to explain this rn-

Could I request hcs of Eddie and frank (together not separately poh) with a gn! reader that reminds them of a child kinda-?? SO TO PUT IT INTO WORDS UHH the reader is kinda child-ish and curious (like a child ofc😋) and a lot of the neighbors say that they're like a baby put in a /pos way! So technically the reader is frank and eddies non-biological child

Honestly- I imagine they got that one backpack with a leash for children for the reader or smth since the reader strays off a lot😭

Tinkyu 4 reading this and even acknowledging this even if I made some stuff non-understandable!!! This totally isnt that cute person that requested 4 astronomer reader (TOTALLY totally it isn't obvious right??) /j

KEEP SLAYING PO LABYU /PLATONIC

I just realized I made this so long i am sorey😢😔

WAHAHHA!! HELLO AGAIN HOSHI!! Love you too!!! /p

Hehehe.. found family… froths at the mouth, pacing in circles in my enclosure /lhj /pos

I am absolutely happy to write for this, and I don’t find it weird at all! No worries! Although I may use different wording at times :] /g /nm

Scampering, Scuttling

Frank Frankly/Eddie Dear x GN!Childish!Reader

Headcanons Format, All Relations with the Reader are Platonic (Frank and Eddie, however, are in a romantic relationship!)

When you first moved into the neighbourhood, your affinity for curiosity and lack of self-preservation quickly landed you onto Frank Frankly’s radar.

From scrapes knees to splintered hands, being stung by a bee, or getting stranded in a tree— your curiosity led you to many troubling situations. All of which Frank would march up to aid you out of with gentle lecturing.

“Neighbour, I am aware I told you of Bumble bees being one of the friendliest types of bees, but that does not mean grab them??”

You leave him in a confused mess of how you even end up in half of the situations you do. He ends up ranting (lovingly) about this to his darling partner, Eddie Dear.

“Oh-! The new neighbour? I didn’t know you two we’re friends.” He’d happily chirp to Frank, who was coddled up by his side.

“We are, yes! But they’re— like- agh-! Like an overexcited puppy!! I found them trying to pick up a centipede today!! A centipede!”

Do not be mistaken, Frank only raves because he cares! His extravagant expression of concern is how he shows he cares, along with picking you up after you fell into a river and drenched yourself. He isn’t truly angry! Just worried BAHA

“Awhah! I’m sure it isn’t too bad, butterfly.” Eddie would laugh cheerily, giving his partner’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “Maybe you could introduce me to them? Maybe I can help.”

And this, my dear reader, was how you got properly introduced to Eddie Dear.

To help you explore a bit (in a safer way than running through the surrounding forest), Eddie would take you on his paper runs— introducing you to all the neighbours.

Sometimes, he’d hold your hand on these runs— mainly just to get you to follow! He had quickly discovered you had a tendency to wobble off wherever you pleased, though you didn’t seem to realize half the time— leading to a few stumbles apologies when you eventually found him again. So, his solution was just to gently hold your hand as you two went on the routes!

.. He’d then buy you a treat from Howdy’s afterwards. He enjoys spoiling people!! But, ah, sugar rushes.

“.. Why would you let them eat so much chocolate?” Frank would ask, raising a brow as you ricocheted off the walls nearby.

“..They looked really happy about it.” He’d reply, with a nervous smile— soon laughing a bit at Frank’s soft sigh and playful eye roll.

“If they end up in a hole, it’s your fault, sweetheart.”

“That’s fine-!!”

Overall, it didn’t take the two long to start behaving somewhat parent-like towards you, more than they already had.

Frank would check you over for injures and plaster you in bug-themed bandaids, along with reading you “stories” from his books (and sometimes an actual story book).

He was a lot more reserved than Eddie, leading to most activities done with him being rather tame ones.

.. you could sometimes chase him around, though. Which, albeit he wouldn’t admit it, he does find fun in. Kind of like how people go to haunted houses for fun; he gets hunted in a house. /lhj

Eddie, meanwhile, would play with you a lot! He’d take you on walks of the town, and help you explore the place in a way that doesn’t have Frank screaming in worry at the end of the day.

He’s the classic “wanna play catch?” kind of person, to be honest, leading to a lot of playing ball and running around.

Both of them care about you very much! But still respect the fact you, very much, aren’t a genuine child and respect you like a friend. Because you are! You’re their friend!

But to say they don’t fret over you like parents would be a lie. BAHA!!

GWAAH this was so fun to write!! I’m sorry if it’s kind of short, though-!! But I still hope it was enjoyable :] I love writing for Eddie and Frank fhehrfnfnw froths at the mouth i love them. squeezes them both like those stress toys that have the eyes pop out /aff

[waroferas]

from one hyrule warriors enjoyer to another... i bestow upon you the scared question...

what are your favorite things about hyrule warriors?

i'm honestly just curious because your like, one of my favorite blogs when it comes to hyrule warriors and i would just be interested to get peoples different responses!! it's cool to see what people think!!

(p.s. your hyrule warriors art is so banger i would give you the BIGGEST hug if i could)

AWW MAN !!! THAANK YOU SO MUCH for giving me a reason to talk about this because i have actually answered this question before . but now that i’ve actually come to learn how the game works i hold a lot more respect for it overall LOL

i put forward Link’s arc with the master sword/temple of souls in the first post but i would rlly like to revisit that and get a bit more specific abt WHY i love it. under the cut bc it’s screenshot heavy LOL

to start out stage 12, they explain that link is Really jamming on the master sword

you start at the Front of the hyrulean forces and are immediately thrown into combat while Proxi cheers you on, and Impa seems apprehensive

Overall this stage is Overwhelming. you have lots of keeps to capture across the entire map, only one warrior to control, and they keep spawning Very annoying Very powerful enemies that immediately begin advancing towards Zelda. After you’ve neutralized that threat, Cia only makes things worse

this is awesome . this is actually so great . i LOVE dark link as a concept and i ADOOOOORE the way they really expand on the whole “manifestation of the darkness in your heart” thing by giving link Specific Flaws to be fighting against.

not to mention the fact that it’s a flaw that you could argue was present Before the master sword ie. ignoring his comrades and running into battle despite still being a trainee in the Opening cutscenes.

couldnt find a natural way to weave this in but i also find it so interesting that these things are Both true.

when impa told link that hes the chosen hero he “did not believe himself worthy of the honor” despite knowing he’s an excellent swordsman . really shows that when he embraces his role later on a little Too enthusiastically there is Growth .

i think i would kill for this game to have the capability of providing a more intricate and moment-to-moment narrative just to see how this arc would play out on an intimate level, AND what it actually means when link considers himself not worthy yet. but this game canonically spans a matter of Months adding up the several “weeks passed” timeskips so that would be crazy. i will have to do it myself >.o

this rlly is just about one thing . MY BAD!!!

a couple Quick honorable mentions:

i think it’s cool we get to play with characters who would never reappear in the franchise otherwise. its one hell of an excuse but i am still delighted by it

this seems like a Good strategy game as far as gameplay goes . it has been fun and challenging cutting my teeth on this new format

i reaaaally like the adventure mode . it’s whacky and Really Hard at times but bringing in the old maps ? deeelish.

LINKLEEEEEEE

SHEEIIIIIIIIIIIK . if anybody deserves to be the most op most broken breakdancing Freak it’s that blue guy . can you tell i’m a sonic fan

my fairy is comical in ways that delight me . TO THE SALON!!

i’m trying not to just name all the women on the roster . i LOVE WOMEN. impa just one chance babe

oookay that’s all i can think of off the top of my head . THABK YOU AGAIN FOR THE ASK !! and thank youuuu teehee i Love drawing . here’s a sneak peek of smth i will hopefully finish soon

[stormblessed95]

Hello,

I hope you are well.

I watched the first two episodes. I found certain parts boring whereas others were entertaining. The most entertaining part for me was Jimin and his sickness. I know I shouldn't laugh but he was dying 😭😭 and it was so funny how they were treating it. I also don't see what people are talking about when they felt that JK was cold. I do think that we saw less soft moments in the first episode but it could be because they were getting used to the format and one half of the duo was basically dying.

I have realized two things haha. Firstly, JK doesn't know how to entertain and I mean that in the nicest way possible. JK doesn't have the natural screen presence/ease that I feel Jimin has which then put pressure on Jimin to be okay and do things because he understands that it's hard for JK. Mind you the pressure wasn't by JK, Jimin knows JK and understands his needs.

Secondly, they seemed a bit off on the first episode but by the second episode, they had fully settled into their natural habitat. I wonder if its because in the first episode, JK was still ruminating over his performance which didn't go as well as he would have liked so he was upset about it but at the same time was also still fending his leftover sickness. On the other hand, JM was dying in bed. He is such a trooper. If that was me, I would have called it quits. So I felt the energy slightly off but by the second episode, I was then left wondering if I imagined the whole thing.

Anyways, I was hoping to get your perspective about two or three different things. I did read your reactions to the episodes but I was hoping to know your deeper thoughts about these moments. I don't necessarily think these moments are a make or break for me but I was surprised to hear about it.

Firstly, when JM sees him the first time. He says long time no see. I wonder if he is just saying that because JK had been in the US for a couple of days already but then long time no see implies a longer time. Is that just Jikook language?

Secondly, the one that confuse me the most is the car chat. I was confused if JK and JM were saying they have hardly spent any time together and wouldn't have seen each other if not for the show or is that like a translation thing? Because it then confuses me when JK says neither of them called each other when the other was busy and they were free. This is the one I have been ruminating about and can't seem to come to any conclusion. Are they saying that they didn't each other much last year? Or are they saying there was a bit of distance between the two? I know you didn't feel it but I felt that JK was slightly annoyed about that so I was wondering if I am thinking too much about it.

Lastly, I was curious whether JM stayed with JK when he came there the first night. I couldn't tell really.

Sorry I promise you I am not trying to be negative. I suppose I just needed to let those thoughts out and have someone listen to me.

I find I disagree with most of this. Lol but that's fine. Consider yourself heard out 💜

As for your specific questions, please check my other posts and read them through.

Long time no see is something Jikook say to each other after not seeing each other for a few hours. Chill.

Answered question 2 in a previous post

Unclear. The answer could either be yes, they stayed together and JK was up and out for his schedule before Jimin woke up. Or no, they didn't because JK had to be up out and early plus rested well for his schedule. You'll have to be satisfied with not knowing 100% I guess

[androxys]

Okay, I've watched the first two episodes of The Caped Crusader and am really enjoying everything that I'm seeing so far. It's obviously a send up to the Golden Age (which was a lot more dark and noir than I think people remember), from details like character designs to the general vibe of an early Batman.

One concern about telling stories with an early Batman, though, is the question of how to continue to show us characters we've known for decades, written by creators who have been making these stories for decades, without it feeling like something you've already seen before. That requires reinvention, and new twists on old characters! And I think an animated series like this is a good format for it.

I'm seeing some criticism for the show float around online, but I feel like a lot of the criticism I'm seeing so far tends to come from a place where people wanted this to be another BTAS. Which I suppose I get, since I also love BTAS. But this... isn't that. I feel like I took one look at it and saw "oh, Bruce Timm is trying something different." So lean into letting yourself see what's new.

All of this to say, so far I've been pleased! I've put a few specific details for Episodes 1-2 below the cut, so if you're strict about spoilers just move along.

I like this iteration of the Penguin. Bruce describes her as hiding in plain sight, and it's an interesting play on Oswald's typical need to be seen as powerful or be respected. I don't think that this isn't the case for Oswalda, but she seems to keep a cooler head and get farther for it. I'm hoping she comes back in later episodes, because I want to see her begin taking over organized crime as we continue on the traditional journey of old-fashioned organized crime (Rupert Thorne) give way to the costumed criminal.

I'm really fascinated by this Harvey Dent. Relentlessly campaigning for mayor and decidedly not the white knight figure we usually think of pre-acid Harvey being, I think his dynamic with Barbara and then Renee (in an episode penned by Rucka, of course) really pays off. Here is more of the ego that you may assume Penguin to have. He's obviously a bit of a ringleader among the many crooked cops of Gotham (which, I'm glad Bullock is. This is early Bullock. He sucks at first, then sucks but more ethically) and will continue to play off them as he tries to assume power.

I thought the aesthetics of this Clayface were really well done, and a good example of wondering how you keep old faces fresh. Once Basil Karlo's name was on screen, we knew Clayface was going to be the villain. And while some people would have been perfectly pleased with seeing the same mud-man plodding across the screen, I liked that they refreshed him and gave him a little more of a Phantom of the Opera feel! It leaned on his history as The Terror, and I think it worked out.

Barbara as a public defender is interesting. It lets her be in a position to try to help people, but I'm so incredibly biased and want her to always be a librarian when possible. I'm curious how her interest in justice will intersect with capes and cowls.

And oh, Renee. My beloved. I'm so glad you got back-ported into the Golden Age-ish-ness of it all. If Gordon is already in charge of the police, Batman needs someone to play off of who's making their way through corrupt Gotham City. I think Renee was a good choice for this, because we know enough about her to have some expectations, and then we'll be able to have those expectations subverted.

[torasteals]

The End Of Tora Steals Things: A GW2 Fan Comic/Novel

Hey! So with the end of Amulet Of Bolli having gone up on Dec. 23rd, 2023, it's time to talk bout something I've been putting off for awhile now.

You read the title, let's get into it: The End Of Tora Steals Things.

Amulet Of Bolli is the last story I will make for Tora Steals Things. That's it. There's no more. It's ending there as I move forward with Apocalypse Child (which launched on Dec. 21st at apocalypsechildcomic.com!).

So why is it ending?

Those of you who've watched my streams probably already knew this as I've been talking about it ending for awhile now. Hell, many of you may have figured out it was singing its swan song when I first announced Apocalypse Child, or changed the update schedule to once every two weeks, or changed it to a webnovel format... Many of you probably knew it was dying before I was willing to admit it myself.

Truthfully, I have roughly 16 or so stories left for Tora Steals Things, and I really wanted to make them all. TST means a lot to me: it taught me how to make comics and it brought me joy during some of the hardest moments of my life. I'm honestly so touched that so many people read and enjoyed it over the years. You guys made it worth it, you really did.

However, TST has long lived past its due date, and this last story proved that to me. Amulet Of Bolli Part Two took six months to write--six months where I had no time to edit past a first draft, could not build a decent buffer, and had no time to work on writing for Apoclaypse Child. Did it take less time than it would have as a comic? Yes, absolutely, but it still took far more time and energy than what it's currently worth. It exhausted me to my limit to make.

I don't know what else to say, really--I burned out on TST years ago but just kept pushing. I'm sad I couldn't complete it the way I wanted to, sure, but I can't tell you how relieved I am to finally allow myself to stop working on it.

For those last 16-ish stories, they're now available in written summaries as bonus material for the deluxe edition of the third and final e-book for Tora Steals Things. I hope that will satisfy those of you curious over where the story was gonna go, had I kept making it.

On that note, the last e-book collecting the last of the comics and prose for TST is out and available for purchase: Volume 3--Contract Complete which you can pick up here.

What's next?

As my focus moves onto Apocalypse Child, the Patreon for Tora Steals Things has been made to re-focus on that as well. I'm still keeping all the previous rewards for TST available on that Patreon. In the future, time-willing, I may collect those rewards to sell in digital bundles alongside the e-books so that those of you interested in just the Tora Steals Things sketch pages, scripts, thumbnails, and so forth, can just buy it instead of signing up for the Patreon. I'm also considering doing a live Q&A stream for the ending of TST near the end of the month. Might not do it. Depends on interest, really.

If this is something that interests you, I'll be sure to update this space or my twitter (@GriffinSBNorth) if and when anything happens.

All that said, I wanna just like, thank those of you who read my work all this time. Tora Steals Things was always a bit out there as a fan project and it means the world to me that so many of you loved my hot mess of a plant thief and all his friends.

Really, truly, thank you.

And please, feel free to ask me questions if you have any.

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

My Weekly Roundup CW 28

I had a little hiatus on this format, but I am back again. I missed writing about my favorite and not so favorite shows. This week was a real roller coaster! I have watched so much good stuff, but also so much meh stuff.

And yes, this will contain spoilers!

1. Be My Favorite (Ep 8)

Those two are my safe place at the moment. Kawi has understood. He understood that if he wanted to change the future so that no one suffers, he finally had to be honest with himself. It was a process that the drunken subconscious had already completed, only his sober self still struggled a bit to understand that Pisaeng is the one he likes. But we can put that behind us now. He has confessed his feelings to Pisaeng and has now given Pisaeng the chance to court him and I can't wait for that! What I found very successful realized this week was to show how solid Pisaeng is as a person. Even though his life isn't going the way he wants it to (stupid friends and a crush who probably, at this point anyway, doesn't like him in a romantic way) he is still at peace with himself. Our old friend, the little miracle fixer with a few magic tricks up his sleeve, asks him if he should give him a hand and Pisaeng simply replies that he can handle it. I don't even like to imagine what would have happened if he had accepted the help. Pisaeng has nothing to reproach himself for and doesn't regret his previous decisions. Once again, this series simply enchanted me. We all wish from time to time to undo events of the past, but don't think about what impact our decisions and actions would have on the lives of others as well. And Kawi has only thought until the next smile from Paer. But that he as a person was not even ready to shape the future according to his own wishes, he did not understand, which is why he ended up becoming an alcoholic and everyone around him is unhappy. He has had a life in his mind's eye that he thought would make him happy, which it wouldn't because he never got a clue about what would make him truly happy. Until now. And I think it's good that he's allowing himself to be loved and to love.

2. Tokyo in April is... (Ep 5)

I don't know exactly how many times this episode brought tears to my eyes. This series feels so hopeful on one hand and so melancholy on the other. I felt all the emotions along with Ren this week. There was this longing to be close to Kazuma. How he buttoned his shirt and Ren literally melted in this physical closeness. And on the other hand, still the fear of not being good enough for him. When Kazuma offer him the shirt, Ren protests briefly if it's really okay to wear this new and expensive shirt. For Kazuma, it is not a question at all, as he has loved Ren for over ten years. There's nothing but love for Ren, and Ren is worth so much more than a silly shirt. I suffered along with Ren trying to contact Kazuma after he had to go to France, and broke when the connection between them was cut off altogether. And I felt pure joy when the two pairs of shoes were in the doorway and Kazuma sent him the text message with the food and asking when Ren was coming home. I'm very curious to see how they will continue the Sanada story and how extreme they will get.

3. Stay With Me (Ep 5-8)

Whew, this series is killing me. But I love it. You can see parallels to Addicted, and in fact I'm actively trying to avoid comparisons so I don't denigrate the series itself. But we get told so much more than we did in the first adaptation. And it doesn't bother me that Su Yu and Wu Bi aren't as actively bl as Gu Hai and Bai Lou Yin. Maybe it doesn't bother me because I don't know the novel and can't compare the series with it. Anyway, they found out this week that they are stepbrothers and they despise each other again. Well, anyway, that's what they like to tell themselves, but Wu Bi has already stated quite drunkenly that he just can't hate him and doesn't want to hurt him. And Su Yu can no longer pretend that he doesn't miss him either. That's when his own subconscious snapped him out of it, when he thought Wu Bi was sitting in his seat again and a smile crept into Su Yu's face. I think it's just delightful and the acting is really good. Story-wise they do a lot of things right too and the narration feels natural and fluid. I'm absolutely thrilled with the series and it doesn't bother me in the end if we don't get any hot bed scenes. Maybe there's a kiss in it, maybe not. As far as I know, the series is not aired in China, which means they didn't suffer from censorship. The chemistry between Su Yu and Wu Bi is definitely there and great. And honestly, a jealous Wu Bi was already cute and fun to watch. And with scenes like the bicycle rid I am totally satisfied.

4. Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Ep 2)

While I found the first episode very exhausting, I liked the second one much better. It's nice to see what's going on in Minato's head. He can't show it to the outside world how much he loves Shin and as soon as he's with him a bit longer or looks into his face, he runs the risk of giving in to his emotions. Which Shin would have rather less of a problem with. It's frustrating to watch, but with a little more understanding of where Minato is coming from and how much he's suppressed his own feelings over the years, coupled with some internal homophobia, you can understand why he's always trying to control himself and is afraid to let go and live the feelings that burn inside him. The nice thing is that Shin knows who Minato is and appreciates and classifies the little things he does for him. And should Minato eventually get to the point of telling Shin how much he loves him, we'll probably see Shin rapturously slip away into another realm. But yes, with the second episode, the joy of the series has finally returned.

5. La Pluie (Ep 12 - Final)

I'll be honest, the show lost me by the tenth episode. Definitely Patts and Saengtai as a couple. And I also have to confess that I fast-forwarded half of the episode this week. Well, actually, I watched in rapture as Longfom finally told Tien in cotton-candy sweetness that he liked him, and as Tien accepted his confession and landed in his arms overjoyed I couldn't suppress a short squeal. And then came that half-hour montage of Tai looking for Patts. Yes, he had to do some searching, but instead of street impressions and watching Tai ask people if they've seen this vet, I actually would have liked a little more cosiness from Patts and Tai. I could have lived with a short time jump, I don't know, three years into the future. The end came a bit too fast, after all the torture we had to endure. And I don't even want to talk about the ending itself. What kind of shit was that? Should there be a spin-off? Nah, thanks, but I don't need it. Tien was happy for five fucking minutes. Give this boy a break! For me the series ended here:

6. Hidden Agenda (Ep 2)

It's not going to be my highly anticipated series of the week, but I at least liked the second episode a little better than the first. Joke has made it to the debate club and can now help Zo realize his hidden agenda of landing Nita and also tackle his own hidden agenda of courting Zo at the same time. I mean yeah, we know how it's going to turn out. It shouldn't be too much of a surprise at the end, the basic idea of the series is too familiar for that, but still, you can enjoy the ride to the end anyway. The only thing that might be turned off during the ride would be the radio….

7. Low Frequency (Ep 2)

Well, the story itself is interesting. It would just be so nice if the actors didn't just stop acting when they don't have a speaking part. I mean Mon on the one hand looks like he's permanently stoned and like his brain is very empty from time to time. The dialogue just doesn't feel natural, it feels very contrived, which I don't blame the actors for, the director should actually see that and explain to them how to do it better. Well, maybe he thought it was just right…As I said, I like the story and I'll keep watching, but it's amazing how natural the series still feels at 1.5x speed. Well, Thames is a ghost now, whether he's dead or not, I really didn't get Mons' explanation. All I know is that the good guardian spirit gave Mon the important advice not to fall in love with Thames while Thames is standing next to him, and there's never another word said about it, but let's not kid ourselves, Mon is already over the hill with his feelings. We also learn that Thames has been the victim of a plot and that they tried to frame him for the drunk driving accident. No alcohol was detected in the blood, but there was a smell of alcohol at the scene of the accident. Reason enough to cancel him, sure. Why the management doesn't go to the press and say that no blood alcohol was detected, I don't know…But in the end it's not that important. Because this way we can see how Mon will help Thames. How exactly we will see maybe next week.

8. Step By Step (Ep 12 - Final)

The series started out strong. That is, I liked the first episodes and Jeng was and is a feast for the eyes. But my problems with the series started very early. I couldn't really relate to the characters. Pat was whiny and naive. I couldn't understand why Jeng fell in love with him. I don't mean that in a bad way, I just can't see Pat as a potential partner. He's not nearly as mature in my eyes as he should be and as Jeng wants him to be. And Jeng, to me, is a toxic partner. One often thinks of toxic as partners who are either violent whether physically or psychologically or who cheat or manipulate, but Jeng is toxic in a different way. He doesn't leave Pat's growth to himself, but tries to push him into roles he doesn't want to take (yet). But in the process, he also forgets about normal processes and hierarchies. All of this wouldn't have even bothered me all that much if the side story had just been spun on. I still think it's underwhelming that Jaab and Jane were just erased like that. Their story started out so strong and I was really looking forward to it and then Jane breaks up with his boyfriend and Jaab is mad at him? Yeah, that's when it stopped for for me. And after that they were hardly a topic and worst of all was the finale, where they were given a short side scene and you only saw Jaab. It's absolutely unclear what their relationship is. And please, no spin-off! This can't be anything good. In the end, I'm really disappointed in the series and don't miss it. No rewatch potential for me.

9. Dinosaur Love (Ep 4)

To describe this series I would say it is the perfect series for a Sunday evening. After a busy work week and maybe a hectic weekend, it can't get any worse than this series. And for the new week, you can tell yourself it can only get better from here on out. In this fourth episode, Rak has now moved into the dorm, got a roommate who is a real asset to the series with his captivatingly quick manner, Dino has made contact with Rak's father in a creepy way (from where did he et the number?), Dino sang really, really badly, we realized once again that friends should not be trusted in this universe, and Mek is just plain dumb. It was a feast again!

Honorable Mention

His Man Season 2 (Ep 8+9)

I love watching this one so much! There is so much drama going on, but it is not in any cometition with the other series I watch during the week. It is a datin show, so I can't rate it like the full scripted shows. But I love every second of this and I love talking about it with @leonpob! Thank you so much for reaching out! 🤍

Dropped This Week

Yes, there are some shows I am not willing to waist my time with... Not that many, but lately I understood that I can't watch everything!

Be Mine Superstar

After the second episode I just couldn't go on. I don't like the mains, especially Punn. He was just annoying and a big nope for me.

[welcometogrouchland]

i'm suffering under the curse rn BUT. i am 3 episodes in to The Magnus Protocol and so far my thoughts are that it seems pretty good! on the one hand i should probably do my best to separate tmagp from tma but at the same time, i mean, the only reason i'm listening to tmagp is bc of prior attachment to tma, so it's interesting to me to contrast and compare them (though in all fairness it's been a while since i listened to tma).

the new cases are definitely cool so far in terms of allowing for more formats, i wonder if we're gonna get any future explanation for their eloquent presentation like we did in tma since idk if there's any hints so far at what the whole worldbuilding deal is with that so far in tmagp.

i will say that- do to the different formatting and immediate bigger cast who gets more focus and whatnot- tmagp feels more 'TV' in a certain way. which isn't a pejorative statement and i actually really dislike it when ppl assume something being 'TV' means it's low quality or shallow, lol. tmagp is a good example of something feeling 'TV' but it's a notable difference and is casting my mind back to the discourse/discussion about a tma tv adaptation and what that would look like back when archive 81 got one. i imagine it'd feel a lot more tmagp inspired.

cast is cool so far! i admire alice's actress for being able to pull of the extremely tumblrific dialogue (which i know is on purpose but was also VERY off-putting to me at first- it's the kind of thing that i love when written but spoken aloud in a fictional setting sometimes raises my hairs for some reason). i already love gwen, she's defs gonna be the toxic woman i get attached to and then regret it (assuming i listen to more episodes which i hope i do? i'm not great at it but i do like finishing things, my brain is just pulled into all directions rn if that wasn't already apparent). Colin you're great, i can't wait to watch you break down. Sam you're great too in a way that your personality rn makes me very excited for your potential future corruption arc (obligatory reminder i'm only 3 eps in and just making educated guesses based on what jonny and co did for tma, though i do acknowledge that there's a lot more fingers in the proverbial protocol pie rn)

in general i'm curious about the direction of the show, namely how they're gonna make it tragic in a way that's different to tma? bc i always maintain that the beauty of tma is the slowburn, and how everything happens so slowly that by the time you realise what path we're on, it's too late to stop any of it, and the more you learn about these people and this world, the more you realise it was always going to end like this, even if it didn't have to.

it's a tough feat to pull off and the inherently different structure of tmagp makes me wonder if they're gonna have to pivot what kind of tragedy this is. it's probably apparent right now to anyone who's properly caught up but as for me? i'm curious and cautiously interested. idk if i'm ever really gonna get involved with the fandom like i did with tma (bc that was a mostly great but also wild and formative experience for me and in general i'm bad at being multifandom no matter how much i wish i could be bc it would make my life sooo much easier. but unfortunately the shape of my autism (title of my new movie and/or hit single /j) does not allow for it with any ease. only struggle)

anyway i have an essay on political cinema to write so i really need to close this window lmao. will perhaps consider some kind of liveblog or sequel post to this as my listening progresses

[loveritas]

hi hello eris! i am here to inquire about you and veritas, if that is okies ꒰ ˆ ꒵ ˆ꒱ i was mainly very curious about your lore… from your selfship art with him it seems like you are a halovian eek!! how did you two end up meeting? was it on penacony? what were your first impressions of each other ﾉ how did your feelings evolve into that of love? 🥺💞 you two seem so sweet & perfect for each other!!

COCOOOOOOO I LOVE YOU SO MUCH OMG I LITERALLY MELTED WHEN I SAW YOUR TAGS AND THEN THIS ASK, WORDS WERE NOT FORMING, I WAS A MESS, THIS WAS ME, EXCEPT THAT GIF IS MORE PUT TOGETHER THAN I WAS

putting a keep reading because i am about to ramble & i apologise in advance because you've opened the floodgates coco

if the formatting of this is off, i apologise it's tumblr messing up :/ (on the app it looks normal but on desktop it looks terrible and it keeps moving my keep reading dash !!)

idek where to start but um actually i'm going to start with ily because i do & you're so precious and i wanna squish you (you were so right about cuteness aggression in your tags for me with ratio because this is me)

i think he just kinda sits there and takes it, he's used to me squishing him and biting him and he definitely gets so flustered but he tries his absolute hardest to hide it, even when a teeny weeny smile appears

his skin is great, i just know it, i am jealous but that is okay......the image of him wiping my face, i'm sobbing because you're so right, i look at him with heart eyes and he doesn't know where to look because he's blushing and i just love his cute little face ahh ( ˘ ³˘)♡

ALSO YES I DID NOT MEAN ANYTHING INAPPROPRIATE BY STAYING UP LATE, I KNEW AFTER I POSTED IT THAT IT WOULD BE TAKEN THE WRONG WAY BUT I ABSOLUTELY MEANT COSY DOMESTIC CUTE RANDOM THINGS (>‘o’)>

i am halovian hehe !! my wings are definitely very expressive and i think that if i'm hiding how i'm feeling about something, my wings always give me away so he tries his hardest to learn how to read them because he wants to make sure that when i say i feel a certain way, i'm being truthful :'))

---

oki oki oki anywayyy back to your ask, i just had to address that - for my general lore, i used to selfship with blade and so in my mind, that takes place in the same universe ヘ(^_^ヘ) in a summed up version, i grow up in penacony but i get bored so i try and travel but i'm struggling to find a place and i want to feel like i belong and kafka takes me in like a stray kitten so i follow the stellaron hunters along (blade happens during that time) but then sometimes i struggle with how they carry things out so as much as i love them, i do eventually take my leave, which is when blade and i end things, but i do keep in touch with them & i have a little reference to them in my next veris selfhip art !!

now this is where ratio comes in !! i think after leaving, i go back to penacony and i try and find my place there again. i think i jump into the first job i see, which ends up being a bartender & i come across aventurine a lot & sometimes veritas tags along so we've made a little bit of small talk there, but mostly it's with aventurine.

but then i notice veritas popping in more and without company. he doesn't talk too much at first and when he does, he's a little off with me, so i'm a bit snarky back and then we just develop this sarcastic annoying relationship where every time he comes in, we try and rile each other and make stupid remarks about one another, but it's clear there's no malicious intent behind it

he pisses me off a little but i love it and i can also deal with it because i get happy whenever i'm working a shift and his handsome face enters (but ofc i cannot show that)

i think aventurine catches on very easily when they're both at the bar together so he becomes a matchmaker of sorts and starts inviting me to hang out with their little circle so now he really has no escape from me *insert evil laugh*

& then later we both come to the realisation that we're annoying with each other because we like one another. ♡(ˆ⌣ˆԅ)

(this is us)

& then we become super awkward around each other and nervous and i mentioned it here but we talk our feelings out to stop the whole being flustered 24/7 in each other's presence situation and then have this little moment before we share our first kiss.....& then i think we take it slow, once we've moved past our initial dynamic, we actually take on healthy habits with how we approach whatever it is that we have & he's not the best at voicing love and care at times but he has his moments and does want to take me out on dates and stuff because he knows i'd appreciate that ꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡

for first impressions....well after we seem to be getting closer, i find out that he was off with me at first because i wear a stellaron hunter badge (despite leaving it, i wear it because the group is family) and he's a natural sceptic so he's wary of me at first before learning i'm harmless buuut despite that initial cautiousness, he was drawn to me and definitely intrigued by me, which is why he kept coming back and then after interacting a little, that intrigue turned to him finding me a little enchanting and endearing :')

my first impression of him is just holy shit this man is beautiful, i am 100% heart eyes from the get go, even if i try and (fail to) hide it....at first i'm nervous though that he does not like me because initially i couldn't read him and he was a bit distant at first but then when he kept coming back i'm like hmm i see you buddy, maybe you don't mind me......

so yeah, i fall first because i'm a bit more dreamy hopeless romantic and he's a little more practical but he falls harder because (self indulgent here) i get vibes from different characters on prior relationship experience and ratio doesn't give me the vibe that he has much........feel like he doesn't go out of his way to find it, because he's more focused on practical things so i think what we have sorta hits him in the face and then when he falls....he fallllls.

but coco omg thank you for your adorable tags and these questions and i’m sorry for the long answer i gave 😭 please forgive me beautiful…..also in another universe in my heart, xiangli yao works alongside ratio sometimes :’)) it was a random thought i had months ago and the fact that you selfship with him provoked me to mention it ! but ily <33

[lychgate]

Oh heck, my apologies (for not proofreading and/or being specific)

I was thinking more about like how do you figure out lighting, colour picking and the methods you use to finish up a piece. I was also really curious about your favourite anatomy tips and how you do so many dynamic poses.

Uhh tl;dr

I am fuckin stupid and I'm sorry

Lighting, colour picking, methods for putting the colours down, anatomy tips, and how do you do dynamic posing so well??

I only draw busts and it's making me mad :D

HMM lets see: I don't color pick unfortunately, it's not a method I use so I can't help u there sadly. As for lighting and shading, I don't really use any tutorials but I just apply the same types of questions to it that I would to any other part of my work while drawing, which are broad question types like : - where is my light source - is this piece calling for any unique light source? (universal/generic lighting is just fine to keep using!) - how MANY light sources do i have, and what are their distances to my figure - what's the MOOD of the piece, is dramatic lighting necessary - if im just here to have a bop and do an art what light source do I want to play with for practice If it was something like a more polished and finished piece I'd definitely be thinking on these questions harder, or multiple revisions and potential references would be pulled up. But normally for references I just refer to my memory of shows that I've seen, since it's a LOT of visual library, and animated or live action, light source is heavily calculated. So you'll get a good display of these ranges you can apply. Lately I've been watching The Bad Batch and I'll always recommend that and clone wars as good examples of environmental lighting, especially given the style of animation they do with how shapely their figures are. It's a good simplified breakdown of the planes of a figure, so paired with their hard lighting choices u get an even exaggerated easier format to look at for guessing light source. (very reminiscent of comics like the more stylized/cartoon you get in art the more u can push and pull these dynamics. or like easier to spot then live action)

SO UHH, im disclaimer: not in any industry and im sure gonna be missing some terminology, but I just nabbed some random images off the google of bad batch to show case a few broad categories of lighting:

Multiple light sources are ur most common type, and to me the most fun especially when it's like Two light sources. U can often play with the fun lighting types like rim lighting, u often have a warm side and a cold side for contrast/directions sake. The distance of the light determines how sharp or broadly lit something will be, and the size of the light can determine how much of that light hits the figures. So Omega here is surrounded by the lights on their ship, there's likely a very broad top light that's gently lighting the entire area, but the reds and blues of the buttons and screens around her are what's shaping the figure more dramatically. You can see the blue is coming from the top/behind her, where the red is more in front/bottom side to her, since it's the way she's facing and looking at you/the viewer. The second one, still on their ship, features the more broad top down lighting, but the screens in front of them are more important as they're all facing it. both lights in this image are broad wide lighting, so there isn't much of a sharp focus.

COMPLEX LIGHTING to me usually just means 'there are many light sources of greatly varying distances and brightness' or that there's a lot of figures in the image so it's got a lot more to organize so that the whole image may look readable at the end. You get a lot of environmental lighting for these types, meaning like hey the SUN is one of ur major light sources. it is super fucking bright but it is also FAR away, it's lighting EVERYTHING. and closer to sunset/sunrise u get more direct, highly saturated light from it because of the angle it's often shining- there's a lot to play with for just an outdoor lighting! The three images I picked here are a more morning shot, a mid day shot, and an evening shot. Talking about the angle of the sun especially at the last image with the grookey on Omega's shoulder, which casts a shadow over her and her friend. But her friend is positioned in a way so that she's not entirely over shadowed, because we're here to look at all three figures, and their faces matter in this shot. VS the middle images which is more about the scene/setting as a whole, and the figures are all more or less equally lit/shaded according to just standing in bright daylight.

there's also this fun lighting type, singular light sources can usually add a WIDE RANGE of emotion to the piece, depending where you flash the light. You've probably seen tons of light study gifs or shots where a face is shown with one light passing around their entire face and it highlighting the different planes that illuminate based on where the light is. So the first image, the classic Morticia Addams eye drama light, is focused hard on the figures, and what they're looking at. The second image of crosshair is another type of foreboding emotion, but instead with the eyes in the dark. Singular light sources aren't always for drama or asking you to focus on one specific thing but I feel like end of the day, the sharper and closer the one light source is, the more the artist is usually asking you to focus on the scene for. There's also some examples here of multiple light sources being used for the same storytelling dramatic effect. There's crosshair's entire front lit up to focus on not just him but by extension the rifle he's holding, with a backlight to catch the edge of his helmet and the barrel, because those are where we want you to look. They're the most important parts of the image, and they wanted to make lighting appropriate for reading that. With the last image there's what's his face (bro i forget my b) looming over him in a common type of dominant lighting. With how the lighting is assigned to this scene his face is shadowed, vs crosshair's who is partially under that shadow. IDK IM RAMBLING NOW i doubt this is the concise easy to read tips anyone's asking for sorrY I am not a teacher. IN SHORT FOR LIGHTING I JUST think about shows I've watched. I won't go into anymore but I think a GREAT example of super well done lighting in all categories of art are the John Wick films. They're both lively, highly direct, and superficially colored to fit the mood of each character and scene. I'll suck these movies dicks i'm obsessed:

Anatomy I always generically recommend people continue loose study/education from skeletal and muscular anatomy cause if you can build a figure from the inside out, the surface is going to be loads easier. And then when I'm too lazy to look up any muscular break down cause I sure don't remember every part at every angle I kind of just fudge it which is super common, like how many of us draw an ear correctly to it's bends and shapes. I sure as hell don't I just like to draw them the way I'm familiar with lining it (unless it's some really polished piece) cause end of the day my ear is still getting interpreted as an ear. So If I can't recall which muscle overlaps the other given a certain angle I just take a guess and usually it's not something blaring if I threw it down confidently enough. Studying not just muscle though, but how all body types sit and tense and move is crucial. Like fat is obviously going to have a much different type of hang and sit on the body, and then there's deciding how much fat to muscle you want on a figure. There's also skin to consider- older skin is looser, scarred skin has a tighter more custom pull to the areas, skin otherwise is just a big elastic band around ur body. So when that becomes overstretched or cut in any irregular way it's going to have a much different look to the muscles and bones it wraps around. Muscle reference I don't have anything specfic to refer other then using actual anatomy charts. Some 3d modelers have made great reference to body parts with full turn arounds i'd suggest. Since big fantasy muscles can be exaggerated so much (and they should!) it's the only reason why id only Lightly suggest for observing other artists individual drawings of buff characters. cause lotta us are fudging parts and u will end up picking up an incorrect anatomical trait (we literally all do it, just a silly unlearning process once ur hand is so familiar and used to drawing something a certain way) I think something specifically that's really helped me slowly gain a very diverse understanding of the fat to muscle ratio is getting into sumo wrestling. (NOT TO PUSH MY FAVORITE SPORT BUT I HAVE SOURCES IF U WANNA HEAR ABOUT IT/FIND A SPOT TO WATCH) In sumo there's no weight division like other forms of wrestling, and because of that you can have a very diverse set of ways to go about your own style of fighting. Entirely setting aside the fighting STYLES, there's broadly the categories of how much fat do you want to put on and the advantages that has against your opponents, vs how much muscle, or where that muscle needs to build on your figure, height and the like also play into it but basically 'what is my body shape, how can i build/ play it to the advantages of how i fight my opponents'

so like terunofuji is a fucking MOUNTAIN of a man, he's the current yokozuna (top banana rank) and his sheer height and weight plays greatly into his fight style. All of them are fucking jacked and watching Sumo has been a great general visual library builder because: - its a huge sport so it has a lot of coverage and footage on high def cameras - they're mostly nude and you're getting incredible displays of muscles in slow mo as they collide, fight, and throw each other. s2g you'll have an entirely new appreciation for the human body and just how many ways it can shape itself from watching this sport.

Always a ton of fucking leg muscle but Takayasu is one of my faves i gotta show him.

with no weight limitations not only are you seeing all the different levels of weight to fat, but you're getting an excellent display of how fat builds and forms on different people. there is no one way to gain fat, its pretty cool how diverse it can form, where it prefers to store fat, how quickly someone might gain weight vs overtime, genetics, what types of fats you're storing, lots of shit to look up on! this last image is ichinojo vs enho who are like usually one of the biggest and the smallest wrestlers, and both play to their size and shape and have become very high ranked. ANYWAY THIS POST REALLY WENT PLACES HUH idek if i answered the questions right i think i gave more questions back but i tried to touch a little on my thought process and where ive specifically gone in the art study journey. For poses I really don't look up anything I just try to think of the figure and do a lot of preliminary sketches. No i don't have the 'picture a perfect apple in my head' noggin i too suffer from looking at a blurry void when i try to think of shit so yes im hitting a brick wall by not utilizing all the model posing references that are probably out there hsuogjdhk

[foreverisntenough]

Just curious but have you ever thought about going back through some of your older works and adding links to items you've mentioned that aren't linked? LOVEEEE your fashion taste

Thank you for complimenting my taste level. That makes me happy. I wanted to share fashion with you all to provide a little further insight into my characters visually [and I guess subtly what I like too] 🤍🤍🤍

---

This is not directed at you anon nor is it meant with any animosity to any of my readers - just simply wanted to take this opportunity to share some comments on your question from me...

Regarding links... I've gotten told a lot that some don't work and I really am sorry. I feel so bad this is bothering readers.

I am not entirely sure how to fix this right now. Some of the links do work/ some don't. And It's not that i think you all don't deserve to see them, it's why I included links to begin with because I want to share! That said, with all the work I do on current fics and other works - I'm not sure I have the bandwidth. I'm not sure I have the time at the minute for me to go back and read all of my series and click every link to check them.

I imagine most of the links are the one's from earlier works but it could be the case for even something as current as 'Movie Night'... I just can't control when products get taken down off their sites

For now, it'd be most helpful when if someone is reading spots a bad link and they want to know about it, shoot me a quick dm message... That said, I am in no way asking my readers to do that for me but if you see one it'd be really appreciated!

Honestly I will try to see how to do this best go forward and fix any from the past eventually. I just am not totally sure how to go about this just yet.... Because if I change the items linked, the text surrounded them would have to change... and eventually those may disapear too...

Maybe I will add a quick outfit photo at the bottom of the fic? Idk. That feels disconnected because what if it's described in the first paragraph.... Feel free to send ideas....

I do have a few more thoughts unrelated to the links but related to my works and if you want to read you can... if not feel free to keep scrolling ...

First and foremost I want to clarify this is not a complaint. This is meant just to be Fie being vulnerable with my readers, not an accusation rather an opportunity for me to provide insight...

While I write because I enjoy it. The work I share is done solely for you all because I love my readers and the community we've built and in turn give and take would be really appreciated.

In saying I'm working 'for' my readers, I want to provide some context. Just from a simple google search (though everyone is different) writing 10k words, they generalize it to take two weeks to write…. And on average it takes some 40 minutes to read it... that's 0.0014% of the time I spent on it.

On Jan 31st I posted a 12.9k word chapter, on Feb 6 I posted a 13.3k word chapter, followed 5 days later with a 13.4k word chapter.... I really do put so much hard work into this. And I want to! But from ideation, character planning, character development, plot points, direction of the narrative, writing pages upon pages, and then writing scenes and scrapping them, editing them to flow, editing them to be best possible grammatically, linking items, reediting so it fits on tumblr's format.... I could go on it’s time and effort.

So please know... I really am trying so hard to deliver good work for Fie's community to enjoy. I am so sincerely sorry that sometimes I might miss something, or things like links don't work.

I can not reiterate this enough. This is not a complaint. It's just a lens into my side of things and why I appreciate my readers SO much, particularly those of you engage with my work. The effort I put in means so much more if my readers put effort into engaging with me,

I will keep working to put out content you enjoy, working on improving my writing, working on finding innovative ways to make things more engaging ,and most of all, working on making sure my community is happy here in the ForeverIsn'tEnough World.

xx FIE

[imunbreakabledude]

I've recently finished your long Maeve x Elena fic and honestly I'm obsessed. I've always liked Elena but the show didn't show to much so I was rather indifferent to their relationship until I found the maevelena tag on here and then your fics. You make them both so human . They're just two complicated women trying their best .

I was also pleasantly surprised by Ashley and Maeve's dynamic . I was not expecting to enjoy those 2 together so much . I'm glad that Ashley got over her crush on Maeve . Even though ,maevelena is my OTP but id be lying if I didn't enjoy Ashley's yearning. I would be curious about an AU where Ashley does win over Maeve maybe even with Elena . ( Although I think Elena and Maeve are to possessive of each other for that )

Poor baby Maeve ! All the parts talking about her childhood made my heart ache . I never gave much thought before about her childhood and how hard that would of been . I love the story as to how she came up with the Queen Maeve name . It's a shame her mum died as I would of been curious as to what their dynamic would of looked like

Anyway I'm going to stop rambling now . Thank you for the good read and I will eagerly devour any new content you post ❤️

first off, thank you! I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed it. that fic was a labor of love in every sense, and I wrote it for myself above all, but it really means a lot to me to hear when other people enjoy it. because it was a joy to tell a longer, serialized story in the style of a tv spinoff, for an active audience to engage with. (even if a very small audience).

I, too, didn't think much of Elena the first time I watched the show - I mean, she doesn't get a lot to do on the show, unfortunately. but as I rewatched and grew fixated on Maeve, i realized there was a lot more depth implied to Elena than first appears... and grew intrigued at filling in more about her while fleshing out more about Maeve as well, and... even though 95% of the elaborate history I've written for them is my own creation, a decently large percentage of it is actually implied by their few scenes in the show! I find them so fascinating and layered and fun to explore. "Two complicated women trying their best" is a great way to put it. that's exactly why I continue to love to think about them after so long. they're far from perfect, individually and as a pair, but so layered and really need each other.

glad that you enjoyed the maeve/ashley content as well! of course it had to go the way it did in the fic, being a maevelena story primarily (well, it's not necessarily a "ship fic" overall but that is certainly a primary relationship), but that one was very fun for me to write. and if you wanna know a secret... back when I was first conceiving this "spinoff" story idea, including ashley was one of my first ideas, and actually the first hazy version of it WOULD HAVE been maeveashley endgame. because for whatever reason, I didn't envision elena being a major part of it at first - a "guest star" at most. I think because i was taking a lot of inspo from Angel's format as a spinoff and once it occurred to me that Ashley could be the "Cordelia" to Maeve's "Angel", that felt so perfect, and I'm a sucker for their love story in the spinoff, so I envisioned a similar unlikely-but-perfect love developing between Maeve and Ashley. tbh, i think it could and maybe even WOULD happen if Elena was not back in Maeve's life for whatever reason.

As it is, though, Maeve and Ashley definitely have a weird, permanent, deep platonic bond in this story's universe though. a bond which is not the SAME as her relationship with Elena, or Annie, or anyone else but possibly just as important. and tbh even though I don't know that I can imagine an Elena/Maeve/Ashley throuple working (i am very creative with ot3s, but this one seems TOUGH lol), i do think Ashley becomes weirdly a sort of fixture/add-on to their marriage in again, a weird unquantifiable way. like it's Maeve and Elena... and Ashley. she's just always in their lives and even Elena comes to accept and maaaybe even appreciate it after a while lmao.

I'm going off on tangents now because I actually have sooo much more in this universe thought out, from some stuff that happens after the end of that fic, to miscellaneous snippets in the past/time skips of that fic, but I haven't written/posted much of it because... well... there was a small audience for it at the best of times and as more time goes on there's less and less interest in stuff about a character who hasn't been on TV since 2022.

so I wanted to emphasize, thank you for sending this message. for reading the fic and enjoying it and letting me KNOW that you did. <3 it may seem silly but this came at the perfect time, I haven't been feeling the best lately especially when it comes to writing, and I've been looking for a way to enjoy writing again... and getting feedback like this, that someone appreciated something I enjoyed making, helps a lot. and knowing there's maybe still an active desire for it, makes me want to dust off some of the many WIPs I still have about maeve in the pipeline. so, thank you for this message.

[freepassbound]

Laying out the Welcome Mat (WIP)

(the very reserved introvert's version of a welcome mat, anyway 😅)

For anyone who's interested, more after the cut:

Who are you?

I must know!

Get used to disap...

Well, not precisely. 😄

But if you do want to know more about me than what it says on the tin (the blog header), then you'll have to put in the work to get to know me. 🤷‍♂️

How would one do that?

Politely and respectfully - asks are open, and there is vast array of #ask prompts available to choose from... or ask your own thing! I love getting asks! 😊

(DMs are also open, but if I'm not already familiar with you, I'd advise proceeding with some caution - I'm not saying I can't be won over with a single line... just that it's a high degree of difficulty 🤭)

Anyway, much can be deduced by a reasonably curious mind just from flipping through the blog - or, for the particularly curious and dedicated, using the tags.

Tags?

If there is one thing I am known for, it is that my blog is replete with tags. Much of the time that is where I 'talk' (or ramble), but there are actually quite a few that lend at least some degree of organization to this eclectic space of mine.

#Best of Tumblr: bucking my own tendency to delay gratification by putting this one front and center - these are the what I consider the greatest posts on this webbed site; if you need cheering up, this is the ultimate medicine. (#😂😂😂 could also help with that - those are posts I find hilarious 😂)

#oh lovely: nature photos! #oh my...: also nature photos, but the best of the best (in my opinion) #ah... winter: winter-themed photos! #ah... waterfalls: photos - or better yet, videos with sound - of waterfalls! (or sometimes just rushing water) #pictures to stroll off into: nature photos... with paths! #the auld country: photos of Scotland! (one side of my ancestry - I'm still working on a tag for photos of Poland)

Those are the nature tags - here are some passions of mine...

#Trek stuff: posts about Star Trek! #Trek humor: funny posts about Star Trek! #music: music I enjoy, in various formats #history: a collection of various posts having to do with history

Posts from and about me (is this burying the lede? well, so be it - patience will be rewarded 🤭) (oh, and some of this is where we start edging into stuff that may not be suitable for public viewing, so... be warned)

#free life: random thoughts, vacation photos, stuff I've baked or cooked... just bits from everyday life #free thoughts: longer, considered posts (or replies) #free rants: longer... less considered 🤭 posts (or replies) #free floating anxiety: posts highlights my anxieties and fears (not hugely pleasant reading, but if you really want to get to know me... 🤷‍♂️) #free looks: pictures of me (if you really want to see) #free meta: stuff about the blog #free essentials: if you want to try to understand me (and this is also where it starts getting a bit naughty - but that's because I'm a human, and so am a fair bit naughty!)

A quick summing-up of the naughty stuff:

#relationship goals: not exclusively naughty, but some is! (just like a relationship would be!) #*SIGH*: the yearning #mmmph: pictures and ideas I find hot #perspective... 🥴🥴🥴: a particular sort of picture I find beyond hot, in fact downright mind-melting - probably because it's as close as reality can get to my wildest fantasy #macro: sometimes sappy, sometimes sexy, entirely focused on my impossible kink of being completely physically outmatched and overwhelmingly loved by a Lady anywhere from 2% to... a great deal more than that... taller than me #macro feels: stuff that isn't intended to be macro, but feels like it to me! #🥴🥴🥴🥵🥵🥵: in my humble opinion, the hottest stuff out there; also has a cousin, #🥴🥴🥵, which is also stuff I think is hot, but either not so incredibly hot... or I was just in a hurry 😅😂 #free-D/s: ideas around dominance and submission that I find either intriguing and/or hot af, and ones I would like to at least try in a future relationship and dynamic (there's a fair bit of overlap in these 😅)

And then, finally:

#ask prompts: I enjoy getting asks! These are all the lists and various prompts for them that I have ever reblogged - you can send any of them you'd like! (it would be very nice of you to 😊)