#i had a lot of fun with this one except for when my editing software got stolen from me right near the end

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

The second part of my Life Series/PUNCH by Authoheart series is done! This time, we’ve got Factories and the Bad Boys. I hope you enjoy!

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 7 Minagoroshi pt. 11

Rika and friends have a nice lengthy chat about how they need to force the Children Consultation Service into helping Satoko out of her nasty situation. Rika becomes a lot more passive, because she's seen this scenario play out before and she's become overcome with depression over the fact it's happening again, and she just doesn't see it ending any other way than it usually does. She also becomes a lot more cavalier about mentioning events from other timelines (they eventually settle on calling them worlds) mentioning point blank to Shion that she's surprised she cares so much about Satoko this time around. After school they go off to the Child Consultation Service, where they're more or less given the brush off. It's only been one day since Teppei came back, and surely they're overreacting.

So Keiichi starts forming the plan to gather various townspeople together to help them show up to the CCS and show them how serious the situation is.

Remember, Teppei is a bad guy because he would sexually abuse Satoko if she were a few years older. Kameda is a goofy fun guy because he's a bit of a creepy loli weirdo. Or would Irie be the better contrast here?

You ever read a scene that you can feel it in your bones that if this had been translated even a few years earlier it would be rife with "edgy" jokes? I seem to remember reading somewhere that the MangaGamers version is a re-translation so I don't doubt that there's one that just is peppered with the occasional slur randomly in the dialogue. I would like to point out that to this day the version of Final Fantasy VII you can buy digitally still includes the scene where Tifa uses the r-word. Also, I just want to say this is a really weird tangent for Ryukishi07 to go on in the middle of this arc.

Tower of Druaga and Dragon Buster won't come out for another year Keiichi! You're being nostalgic for games that don't even exist yet you time traveling weirdo! Man, Keiichi is going to be in for the time of his life when the MSX or PC-88 becomes a thing. There's going to be so much pornographic mahjong games out there for him. Assuming he hasn't already seen them since, again, he's a time traveler reminiscing about the arcade games of 1984 he shouldn't have been able to play yet.

Please forgive the repetition for half of the screenshot here. Also, if you're not super loyal to Metal Gear Solid, the answer to the question is both. Although I think you should just grit your teeth and bear the burden of owning a PS3. You'll get some better games. The Yakuza franchise, for a start! Hell if Dead or Alive is really that big of a get for you, just wait, DoA 5 will come out on PS3. Although I guess you're missing out on DoA Xtreme 2. Anyway, I think Ryukishi forgot he wasn't posting on 2ch and accidentally wrote his "kids these days don't appreciate the classics" rant into his murder mystery.

Oh god, would Keiichi be that gamer? You know the type.

I kind of love how everyone's knee-jerk reaction to the Teppei situation is to just go immediately to violence. Except for the "reasonable" adults, everyone's reaction has more or less just been "let's kill the fucker."

Rika is being much more open about her desires to drown her sorrows. I think she might have a problem. (I'm quietly mourning my lack of photo editing software, or drive to edit Rika onto Stone Cold Steve Austin.)

Lighthearted silliness aside now it's time to get back to talking about the Satoko Houjou cruel abuse hour. During a meeting for the festival Keiichi and Ooishi talk about how they plan to go to the Child Consultation Center the next day and make them see their resolve. Ooishi talks about how hey maybe don't, cause it might cause issues if you know what I mean. Keiichi says nuts to that and he's going to do it anyway. He's gonna be the biggest, loudest, most persistently annoying thorn in their side, and no one can stop his manly resolve! Ooishi basically applauds this resolve, and the two have a manly fist bump affirming their manliness across the generational gap.

[justsomeguysadvice]

RIP FF.net: How to save your favourite fic as an epub.

So since FF.net seems to have been shut down, I’ve seen a lot of posts about backing up your favourite fics.

Just a quick FYI, m.fanfiction.net still works, for now. FF.net bookmarks on AO3 also seem to work. But get in quick to save your favourite fics because who knows how much longer those links will last.

EDIT: @kagenoneko​ has helpfully let me know that FF.net is not gone; to access the desktop version of the site all you need to do is add www. before fanfiction.net. So “www.fanfiction.net” instead of just “fanfiction.net”.

Now, the quickest and easiest way is to use AO3′s download epub option.

But if you’re like me and you don’t like how the file is organized/laid out (theres no cover!), or you love a fic on a site that doesn’t have that option coughcoughLiveJournalcoughcough then heres some guy’s guide on how to turn your favourite fics into epubs.

First of all, a download list:

Calibre (yeah, you can convert files to epubs online, but Calibre lets you customise the e-book metadata that your device uses to organize files.)

Firefox add-on “Absolute Enable Right Click & Copy” (Don’t use Firefox? Google “Download Firefox”)

Microsoft Word or LibreOffice (LO is free and just as good as MW!)

But wait, random guy on the internet! What is the add-on for? Well, FF.net thinks it can stop you from highlighting and C&Ping text. FF.net is wrong.

Anyway.

Now that you’ve got your software, go ahead and C&P the fic into MW or LO. I recommend adding a page before the fic with some general information. This helps you remember all that useful information on the fic page. Below is what my first page looks like:

(Am I using a Naruto fic for this guide? Yes, yes I am. I’ve reached a point in my life where I have no dignity and no shame.)

Save that bad boy to your documents. Do not change the fic, remember it isn’t your work!

Now, open up Calibre.

Go to “add books” in the top left corner. Calibre accepts .doc, .docx, and .odt (LO’s file extension).

Now, at this point, the information boxes should be empty of everything except the title and, maybe, the author. If the author is wrong, chill, MW and LO sometimes save you as the author. Just change it to the correct author.

Anyway, now you get the fun fun job of reopening the fic page if you closed it. (Or, if you’re smarter than I was when I was figuring this out, you left it open. Go you!) Go over one button from “add books” (Or hit that right mouse button and go to “Edit metadata” then “Edit metadata individually”).

Most, if not all, of the information you need should be on the fic page. Some sites, like LiveJournal, will not have a lot of info, so you might need to wing it. You will need to create your own cover if you want one (look at my quickly thrown together one, they don’t need to be perfect. Mine has just enough info for me to know what fandom the fic is from).

The comment section isn’t very important, whatever you add there doesn’t show on the epub. I personally like to had the quick summery from the info page mentioned above.

Once you’re happy with the information you’ve added, hit “ok”. The row should look something like this (give or take whatever columns you have (I’ve personally removed some)):

Still happy with the info? Sweet! Time to move on to converting the file. Two buttons over from “add books” is “convert books”. Clicky.

One final chance to be really REALLY sure you’re happy with the info added, double check that the outcome format is epub (pdf is also there if you want it, but for e-books, epub is best. Reading something made of images like manga? I suggest pdf. But I also suggest a different program for pdfs.)

Still happy? Yay! Click “ok”. In the lower right corner, an arrow will appear over “Jobs: 1″. You can click “Jobs” if you want, but the conversion should only take a few seconds. If you click it, you’ll get this pop up:

Hide your old jobs if you want, its not overly important. I do it to stop the list looking to busy.

Once your file is converted, it’ll be saved where ever you stuck your Calibre file. Mines in a book file where I keep my ever growing collection of epubs and manga pdfs.

Upload that bitch to whatever your device is, however you upload files to your device. Personally, I rename the file to “Author - Fic Name” then drag and drop it into books on iTunes.

And boom:

You can also now change the settings to your preferred reading settings.

Now, enjoy your fic without worrying about it being deleted, or the site its uploaded to going down.

[freetobeeyouandme]

Mike’s Monologue (Actually Romantic Version)

Hey y'all! So, a lot of the analyses I've seen about the monologue and things I noticed about it myself as to why it sucks ass were kind of just easily fixable things related to the editing of the scene. And because I have an editing software and thought it would be a fun way to practice...I fixed it. So here's what Mike's Monologue could have looked like if they had wanted it to be actually romantic.

Notes and process under the cut.

- Everything I used (except flashbacks) is from the original ~4 min sequence from them pulling El out of the water to her sending Henry flying (I’ll reblog with a link in a second)

-My version is ~3 mins long, shaving off a whole minute from the og. I did that by cutting out everyone else who intrudes on the scene, which is Will and Max but also shots of Lucas, Hopper, Eddie and Dustin in distress after the bulk of Mike's speech

-The ending is super interesting because El looks at Max and then frees herself, but as she does so we leave the mindscape and Surferboy’s: We cut to Max irl, getting her bones broken, Lucas beating Jason to go stand and look at Max dying, a shot of Hopper with a snarling demodog on top of him, Eddie getting eaten and Dustin calling out for him, and then back to Max and Lucas. Only then do we cut back to Mike still yelling "fight!" and El falling off the wall sending Henry flying. Which imo emphazises that this isn’t the kind of romantic love saves the day scene that it should have been if it was meant genuinely. It’s El remembering Max is in danger that pushes her to fight, not Mike, which is why we see all of her friends in danger as she frees herself. It’s not just Will between them in this scene, it’s everyone.

-Cutting all that was relatively easy because at this point Mike just keeps repeating "fight, El" so no dialogue was lost and I didn't have to futz with the audio

-Similarly cutting Will's prompting Mike was also so easy to cut, which just shows how unnecessary it was. Which, in turn, just hammers home how suspicious it is

-I simply covered Will and Jonathan's reactions to "hurt more" with a reaction shot for El, eliminating further intrusions on the scene by others

-The montage includes 15 different clips of memories, which is more than El has when she restarts Max's heart (10) and about the same as Max during Running Up That Hill (16).

-Making the montage made me realize how jarring the constant back and forth between Mike and El becomes, especially towards the end of the monologue, after that first memory: During Running Up That Hill we focus solely on Max after the boys put on Kate Bush, only cutting to them once when Max starts to float and even then Max is still in the picture, because we're in her head and need to see how she feels and how she's escaping. I tried to imitate that with my montage, but it's interesting that in the real version we get dragged back to Surferboy's and see Mike talk, making the scene not just about El and her fight to escape but also about Mike performing (when he should become just a guiding voice like the song)

-El's reaction in the montage except for the laugh after the t-shirt mention are all from after the monologue

-The most immediate and drastic change imo was when I changed the background music. Even without the montage the cut already works so much better with "Unambigious True Love" playing instead of "You're The Heart"

-I didn't have to do anything fancy to make the new song work. I simply underlaid UTL so the track lined up with the fade to black and it fit basically on the first try. The length spans the entire monologue, slowly building up and then cresting during the montage and falling as Mike calls for her to fight and the vines fall away. It would literally have been the perfect track to use instead of making up a new one and then naming it after Will's feelings.

-There are still a couple of things about the monologue that I couldn't fix, such as lighting, shot composition (Will is still visible over Mike's shoulder for example) and the actual text, which is still a bit weird, but overall doing this was very interesting because it made me think about what we should have seen if they wanted this to be genuine and the difference between what I ended up creating and what we saw on screen is stark.

In conclusion: They’re bones

[outoftheframework]

my proposal for tropes we as a fandom should adopt in all fanworks going forward: Duke Thomas edition

So every fandom has tropes and characterization quirks that have been generally accepted into fanon and, like, maybe? they were originally based on some obscure comic panel from the 80s or something but it doesn’t really matter because we’re all just,,, cool with it? Like for example- in the dc comics fandom, an art piece could show 3 of the bats that look virtually identical except one of them is holding a box of cereal so that one is obviously Dick Grayson. . . Y’know?

Anyway, these things usually come up naturally I guess but I’ve been here a while and it’s finally time to put my foot down. It’s high time for Duke Thomas to be more in fanon than “the sane one.” Because he might be the relatively new guy but he is certainly fears no gods or laws of the land just as much as the other bats, lemme tell ya. 

TL;DR here are character quirks (”canon-based” or otherwise) that we should all really latch onto seriously I’m begging y’all to make at least one of these happen-

Duke “Habitually Jumping Out of Moving Vehicles” Thomas

This one’s actually based in canon y’all; Duke did indeed yeet himself out of the back of a cop car and off of a bridge (in We Are... Robin). Normalize Duke’s wearing knee and elbow pads as Signal because jumping out of a car turns out relatively fine once and then suddenly Batman’s rooftop disappearing act seems mellow compared to the amount of times Gordon has whipped his head around to see a now Signal-less backseat. 

Like, he’s going 60 mph?? And he didn’t even hear the door open?? and tHE DOORS ARE STILL LOCKED??

Imagine this leaking into civilian life and Bruce waking up to a blurry photo of Duke mid-escape from a limousine on the front page of the Gotham Gazette.

(more under cut)

Duke “Puzzles are my Passion” Thomas

Duke is ~canonically~ very skilled at both solving and concocting riddles (as a child during that time where The Riddler just,,, controlled Gotham, he worked non-stop on riddles, trying to make the perfect one). Please y’all- let Duke solve puzzles. Have the other bats ask him for help after 36 hours straight of brooding over some brainteaser that Duke works out within the half-hour. He texts a picture of the solution scribbled out on loose leaf in the margins of his pre-calc homework because this boy shows his work. 

My guy is a word-cross FIEND. A mind-sweeper speed-runner. That guy who mails into the Gazette to correct a solution in the “fun & games” section and also ps that photo is not of me I am simply a polite young man who is much too busy writing into the paper in the year 2021 to jump out of limos-

I also would love to see this integrated into the type of cases he investigates / runs into on his daytime patrol. Like, obviously the criminal activity is going to dramatically differ before and after sundown, but that doesn’t make Duke’s work any easier or less important. It’s a different skillset; he has to work differently. Instead of jumping into fights, halting mob meetings, saving civilians in dark allies, etc. Duke has to sort through all of the moving pieces before they all converge into something catastrophic. 

It’s a known fact that criminal organizations in Gotham make and execute a lot of behind-the-scenes plans during the day specifically not to run into the bats. And Duke knows and monitors this shit all by himself; his work is crucial to logistics and information gathering for the bats as a whole. Now criminals have like, a 2 hour gap between bat-shifts to try and get stuff done. But Duke would 100% set traps on timers or lead them on this pre-set convoluted goose chase  to distract them until the night bats come out and to let himself enjoy the whole thing playing out on the news while he finishes homework that’s due at midnight.

Duke “I Know a Guy” Thomas

So in going off of the basic concept for the “We Are. . . Robin” run in combination to his general likability, Duke has a lot of friends all around Gotham. Okay, sure, he doesn’t have a Super best friend or a Speedster on speed dial, but he does know this guy who details cars up on West 35th and will tell them all about the new mods on Black Mask’s transport vans if they come through the third floor window and bring takeout. 

Bruce and Tim will be waiting for the facial recognition software to identify at least a partial match off of security cam footage when Duke pulls into the cave, takes one look at the screen, and says “Oh, that’s <insert name, address, abridged life story, and known associates here>.” This also brings in the opportunity for Duke to have some sort of perfect recall for faces, voices, names, etc. which I think could be a really cool element for his position as the batfamily member who has a lot more personal interaction with the people of Gotham.

I’m also into the idea of a lot of people knowing/telling stories about Duke. Not to reference the Chuck Norris meme but almost like the Chuck Norris meme lmao. Think about Jason mentioning his brother to someone and she replies, “Duke Thomas? Like that Duke Thomas? The one who swam across the harbor because he said it’d be faster than the subway and it actually was?” These stories have varying levels of truth to them but Duke will never confirm nor deny when he gets random calls from family members yelling “you dID WHAT”

So those are my top three, and the following is a little speed-round of headcanons :)

Duke has a super expressive face. Like when he’s relaxed around family, you can tell exactly what he’s thinking and how he’s feeling by his visual reactions to things

Duke rotates through picking up new and revisiting old hobbies at a pretty rapid pace. Some hobbies include: bullet journaling, origami, viola, cello, synth, conversational basics in multiple languages, up-cycling and embroidering clothes

Duke has a really fucking adorable smile. He can’t help it. He’ll try to grin sarcastically or smug to be annoying but his smile just cannot be anything other than endearing. He also has a very specific booming laugh that’s an absolute treasure to hear, because it’s the most genuinely happy thing ever. 

Duke unironically enjoys Signal by Twice even though the first time he heard it was after Steph had set it as his morning alarm.

So.

Come and get your food, I guess.

Feel free to add on if you’d like! I’d love to see anything you guys write/draw/etc. based on anything from here if you feel compelled to do so!

Stay safe and be well :) 

[nyxicnymph]

Writing request. What about the prompt ‘you’ve protected me, now it’s my turn’ - post-Season 1, Ivan Bruel protecting Marinette from a collapsing building during an Akuma attack after she helped him confess to Mylene. Fluff and Angst would be recommended in that he survives.

:0 thanks for requesting! I had a lot of fun with this! I can't believe this is like. the only thing I've written and posted for this fandom despite having been here for a long time! I really hope you like it!

Rating: teen+ Warnings: blood and injuries, possibly OOC Chat Noir but honestly the show does him dirty anyways, ending might be rushed or weird. Summary: read above <3 Notes: I... really really like writing Marinette's POV. Wordcount: 1878 words whoops

You’ve Protected Me, Now it’s My Turn

Marinette cursed her poor luck once again. An akuma just had to strike now?? While her class was on a field trip, and she couldn’t get away. Looks like it was time for the good old “get caught by the akuma” plan.

Except the Akuma was outside, and she was inside. And even for poor scatterbrained civilian Marinette, dashing outside just doesn’t make any sense, in addition to her being locked inside this room. She was going to have to resort to something else.

The Akuma was huge, and carelessly wrecking whatever might stand in it’s way. Marinette eyed it from where she was standing near Ivan and Mylene. Their group, including Juleka and Rose, had been sent away with a different guide to check out the music editing software that this company used to help boost big name artists like Jagged Stone or even XY to the top of the charts.

Juleka and Rose had had to leave for the restroom a few minutes before the akuma struck, and when it did, their guide panicked and left the room, taking the master key with him, and effectively locking these three in the room together.

Marinette bit her lip nervously as she watched the giant roam the street outside. The huge man was a shiny steel, but a small blue and red pin on his chest caught her eye. That had to be where the Akuma was.

“How are we supposed to get out of here?” Mylene asked suddenly, dragging Marinette out of her focus stupor. “Shouldn’t there have been an emergency release button in case of Akuma attacks?”

“That’s only a requirement for the newer buildings around here,” Ivan said. “This one hasn’t gotten around to adding them yet.”

“They should! This is dangerous! And terrifying…” she added, clinging closer to Ivan as a tremor went through the building.

Marinette hummed in thought. “We need to either pull off the keypad and mess with the wires so we can open the door, or break the door down with something. We’re too high up here.”

“I can’t believe our guide abandoned us!” Mylene shouted in righteous anger. “We’re just kids! Just because Ladybug can fix everything doesn’t mean we should be left alone in a dangerous situation.”

“I know,” Marinette agreed. The complacency of the adults in Paris was one thing that really frustrated her. If the Police would just work with her, she could expose or capture Hawkmoth! But they didn’t.

Ivan spoke up. “If Nino or Max were here, we could probably do the wires thing. But since they’re not…” He knocked on the door. “I can try to bust it down?”

“If it’s too hard, Ivan…” Marinette trailed off as he grabbed an empty table and started banging on the door.

She glanced outside and spotted a black speck dancing around the giant. Chat Noir had made it to the scene. But, of course, no Ladybug to be seen.

Marinette had left her phone at home that morning, something she hadn’t done on purpose but still regretted. Tikki was staring at her from her purse, clearly needing to say something, so Marinette turned to Mylene.

“Any updates on the Ladyblog?”

Mylene pulled it up. “She’s live streaming it!” The noise of the battle and Alya’s voice filled the room.

Marinette took her chance and dove under a desk. “I don’t know how to get out of here, Tikki!”

“You might have to take the chance of revealing yourself!”

Things must be bad if Tikki was saying that.

They had a quick talk, then Marinette tucked her purse away again, and stood up. “I didn’t find anything that could help-”

“Marinette, look out!” Mylene screamed as the building shook.

Ivan shoved Mylene under the closest deck before jumping for Marinette, sheltering her small body as the ceiling collapsed on top of them.

The dust cleared and Marinette’s ears rung. She pushed at Ivan’s shoulder as she coughed.

“Thank you.”

She was met with nothing more than a groan, and she panicked. She scrambled out from his protective grasp.

“Ivan?!”

His eyes opened slightly. “Marinette?”

Her panic increased as she saw the amount of building around them, and the wounds he had. “Stay awake!”

“Ivan!” Mylene yelled, clambering over from her desk. “Ivan, what were you thinking?!”

“Needed… to protect… Marinette…”

“Why?!” Both girls asked, Marinette’s panic getting worse by the second. She needed to get out of here, but she needed to know what he was talking about.

“She helped me with you… Protected me from myself… My turn…” His eyes slipped shut, and Mylene frantically shook him.

“He needs medical attention! Marinette! What are you doing?”

Marinette had made a decision, standing up from beside Ivan. “Keep him safe! And keep my secret!”

“Your secret?”

Marinette sprinted towards the now gaping hole in the wall, yelling her transformation phrase. Pink sparkles ran over her form, and by the time she jumped off, she was fully transformed into Ladybug.

Rage and fear coursed through her veins in tandem with adrenaline as she used her yoyo to speed towards the Akuma. She had to deal with this Akuma, now. She’d deal with the logistical nightmare of Mylene and possibly Ivan knowing her identity later.

She landed beside Chat Noir quickly, and before he could speak, she said. “No puns, I need to take him down right now.”

Her partner straightened up and nodded. He was not going to argue with the look on her face. “What can I do, Ladybug?”

“Let’s find out. LUCKY CHARM!”

A bag of flour fell out of the sky, and Ladybug had more sense than to catch it. She jumped back, and it fell at her feet with a dull “thunk”.

Chat Noir was just as confused as she was, and a little spooked. “Flour?”

She stared at it for a moment, and noticed on of the seams was close to busting. A plan formed in her mind.

“Swap weapons with me.” As he did, she explained the rest of her plan. “Take the yoyo, and swing up towards his face. Distract him and try to push him backwards, then I’ll trip him with this. His head is going to land on the sack of flour, which I’m going to put at the end of that road right there. The Akuma is in the blue and red pin, I’m almost certain of it. Cataclysm it once his vision is obscured.”

“Yes, Ma’am!” Chat saluted, taking the spotted yoyo, and the sack of flour. “I’ll set this up for you, as well.”

“Fine. Be fast, he can’t spot you until you’re ready to distract him!”

Chat nodded and took off, sprinting across rooftops with more speed and agility than she would expect from someone carrying a bag of flour. She started making her way down, not quite to street level, but close.

She eyed the immense destruction around her as her earring beeped once. This was by far one of the most destructive akumas, if not the most. She watched Chat set the flour down in exactly the right spot, and flashed him a thumbs up. Then he zoomed off past her to go grab the giant’s attention.

He did his part splendidly, and as the giant stepped backwards, Ladybug pushed the button on the baton that extended it out, holding it down until it was lodged sturdily between two buildings.

It happened quickly.

The giant fell backwards, and landed on the flour sack, obscuring his vision. Chat tossed the yoyo back to her as he activated his cataclysm and destroyed the pin. Ladybug wasted no time in catching, cleansing, and releasing the akuma, and as he returned to normal, she sprinted for the deflated bag of flour.

She grabbed it, and without stopping, threw it into the air. “MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!”

She watched it dissolve into millions of magical ladybugs, then joined Chat Noir beside the victim. She gave him a soft smile, noting his dirty work clothes, and a variety of scars. She offered his pin back to him, noting that it was a workers’ union pin, and everything clicked in her mind.

“The steelworks aren’t offering enough compensations, are they?” She asked. The man shook his head. “Then maybe I- we? -need to stop by with some authorities to help.” Her earring beeped for the second- no, the third -time, and she stood. “Leave a message on the Ladyblog, okay? I really have to go. Pound it!”

She fist bumped Chat Noir, and sprinted off, using her yoyo to get back to the building she’d started in as fast as possible.

She saw Mylene and Ivan by the window as she returned, and she nearly hesitated. She could try to pretend it hadn’t happened, but that wouldn’t be right. So she let them open the window for her, and she dropped the transformation as she landed on the floor.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, both of you,” she sighed in relief. 

Mylene hesitated. “Marinette…”

“Later,” she said, pointing to the door. “I’ll text you both about today, but our guide should be coming back any minute now. Please, don’t tell anyone.”

“Of course we won’t,” the couple said.

The guide returned then, and the rest of the field trip was promptly canceled, with everyone sent home to their families.

Marinette glanced at Adrien as he got into his family car. A part of her wished he’d been in that room with them, but it was already bad enough that Mylene and Ivan had been with her.

Still. As long as all her friends were okay, a little sacrifice was worth it.

And Marinette couldn’t lie to herself. It might be nice to have some people cover for her.

She’d just have to tell Chat Noir quickly.

She walked with Ivan and Mylene for most of the way, since they both lived in the same area as she did. Alya had long since split off, so there was no one questioning her about why she was with these two instead of her other friends.

“Can we talk about earlier?” Mylene whispered.

“You didn’t imagine it. It’s completely true. I’m technically not supposed to reveal to anyone, but even Tikki acknowledged that the situation would be incredibly hard to resolve if I didn’t.”

“Tikki?”

Marinette wordlessly opened her bag so Tikki could wave at the two of them over her cookie, before closing the bag. “She’s the source of the whole thing. No Tikki, no cool things.” Marinette purposefully worded her sentences so the people around them wouldn’t figure anything out.

“Don’t worry, Marinette, we won’t tell anyone. Cross our hearts,” Mylene said, Ivan nodding in agreement.

Marinette could have cried. “You have no idea how much that means to me.” She hugged them both. “I’m glad you’re both okay, I hope you know.”

The three of them stood in front of the Bakery like that for a few minutes, before Marinette pulled away. “I’ll bring you something before you guys go home. Consider it a ‘thank you’ gift.”

The couple smiled as she dashed inside and grabbed them each one of their favorite treats, paying her mama for them out of her own pocket.

And thus a deeper friendship was born.

~end~

[meichenxi]

Hey, could I ask you how you do shadowing? Like the different ways you do it? You mentioned in your tag that shadowing is good and I'd love to hear how you do it! I do not attempt shadowing much so I don't really know what helps, etc. ToT (my studyblr is rigelmejo)

Hellooo! Thank you for the interesting question!

Tbh I think I do it fairly basically - I don’t use any particularly fancy software, but software like Language Learning with Netflix has certainly made it easier. There’s a whole video on how to get the most of it here: [on mobile, link didn't work - How to study Chinese with Netflix! by Chinese Zero To Hero] (I’d recommend checking out all of their videos actually, they’ve done a bunch of livestreams recently and they place a lot of emphasis on shadowing + the course they are trying to sell you is…actually phenomenally good)

(Also, I have to preface this by saying that I have been very lucky in terms of pronunciation: I learnt about 80% of my current vocabulary by ear without characters or pinyin. I have been in China for eight months in total, and while I didn’t speak Chinese for all of that, I was constantly soaking in info on natural sentence intonation. I still often don’t know officially what the tone of a vocabulary item is, especially if it changes tone like 教, 为 or 相, but I don’t get yelled at so I have definitely internalised a lot of those changes. I definitely would have more trouble with this if I hadn’t had that experience - my other areas are waaaay weaker because of this though- my reading SUCKS lmao and I can literally handwrite about ten characters)

Anyway. How I shadow:

1) Quite simply by playing the line, and repeating it with all the emotion it has!! I usually use Netflix or Viki for this. I try to do it as fast as possible, and if I can’t do the whole thing, I ‘chunk’ it: if I were doing the sentence 我们还不知道他会不会来, I would start from the end with 他会不会来, then 不知道他会不会来, and then the whole sentence. Notice that this isn’t breaking it down into words or even grammatical phrases, but intonational phrases: it would be perfectly sensible to just do 会不会来 without the 他 but realistically, since this is a question, it’s likely that a strong stress will be placed on the first 会, and you wouldn’t be able to replicate that without also included the more weakly stressed syllable before.

2) I locate (intentionally or subconsciously) the main locus of stress within the sentence, and I focus on that accordingly. Tones may become less extreme if they are not stressed, and may become more exaggerated if stressed. This is always a good exercise. I accompany this with physical actions - I throw my hands down, I sigh, I groan!

3) I put away the text, and don’t look at the tones or even my computer screen - more on this below.

4) Finally, when I think I’ve got it reasonably accurate, I’ll record them speaking the line into my phone with an appropriate pause for copying and play it back to myself at various points throughout the day.

5) I then go and find other words with the same tone contour to slot in, and copy it again. After that, I find words that are slightly different tonally and pop them in too.

6) I finally do fun things like hold a conversation with myself. This can be really simple phrases imbued with some kind of emotion - 这个女子到底是谁呀？为什么不认识我？应该是新手吧。You can do this either really informally, or very formally, or both - trying to speak in the latter way is very fun! So then it’d be idk something more like: 那位姑娘是何人，来自何处？This is fun because you can really slow down your speech and sound as elegant as you like!! (this will sound stilted if you do it for modern speech, but it’s a very fun exercise)

Choosing your media!!

1) Don’t use donghuas. Seriously. The voice actors usually speak at a ridiculous pace and not with the same range of ‘normal’ intonation

2) Your Chinese is definitely good enough to recognise when anyone is quoting poetry or speaking in a paricularly sexy literary way so, uh…don’t do that. That rules dramas like Nirvana in Fire OUT.

3) Modern dramas and reality TV shows CAN be great, but they can also be quite intimidatingly quick and almost too mushy at times. I’d recommend informal speech in guzhuang dramas more, because they have professional voice actors and extensive sound editing, meaning that although it might be fast and the vocabulary harder, it’s actually much more accessible and easier to copy. You don’t want to be stuck with the awfulness of 50% failed foreigner and 50% 12 year old boy who can’t enunciate properly!!

4) CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON WISELY. I try to find characters that speak in a dramatic, whiny or childish way. This is so important! There’s literally no use copying Lan Wangji unless you want to be able to have that particular cadence and tone of voice you get reciting poetry. Childish/whiny/dramatic characters on the other hand stress some words very strongly, and rush others together - this is great for hearing what actual real speech sounds like. Whininess wins. In The Untamed, characters like Wei Wuxian (not yllz!wwx but just…regular wwx), 一问三不知 Nie Huaisang, Jin Ling, and Jingyi are all great. Also Jiggy, who is just very extra constantly and speaks much slower as well, which really helps. In SHL characters like Gu Xiang are good.

5) CHOOSE YOUR VOICE WISELY! If you are really aiming to copy them 100% (which you should try at least sometimes), you want somebody with your pitch range to sound normal. I have a sort of party trick in Chinese that because I’ve spent so much time listening to women in guzhuang dramas I can change my voice and sound like a) a scheming concubine with honeyed words, or b) the voice of the Beijing metro. My teacher found it hysterically funny. But it’s not my natural voice, and if I speak like that for too long it hurts. The women usually are too high for me, and the big burly manly men too low - so I’d recommend finding a man with a higher voice, or an older woman (like some of the female characters in Nirvana in Fire). Again, sorry that this is mostly the Untamed (I’m just most familiar with it) but the voice actors for Wei Wuxian and some of the juniors (+jiggy) has a higher voice. Likewise Chengling in Word of Honour.

On intonation in general:

- The thing is that whilst shadowing is useful it requires prior ability in a whole bunch of other skills that you can train - it relies on your ability to accurately mimic pitch, emotion and other contrasts. Training this in ANY language, including your native one, will help your ability to do this in Chinese - so I’d recommend spending a fair amount of time practicing shadowing (or speaking just after somebody whilst listening to a string of text, like monolingual simultaneous interpreting) in your native language too. Any training copying accents or mimicking other people is going to similarly help, regardless of the language.

So, with that in mind, further tips:

1) Hum / try to copy the intonation without any words. What this does is force you to pay attention to what the intonation actually is, versus what you may think it should be.

2) Don’t look at the text! Do! Not! Look! At! The! Text! If you look at the characters or pinyin you’re telling yourself ‘ok this is a third tone here’ etc, but you want to override the part of your brain that has gotten into bad habits and is supremely self-confident in how you’re pronouncing the third tone, and actually just go straight back to mimicking.

3) Don’t be afraid to do it with vocabulary that is way beyond your level. Actually, I find this can sometimes be helpful, because you don’t have a prior idea about how a particular tone pair should be useful - and you don’t know which tone you should be producing.

4) Learn vocabulary by ear - listen to a vocab podcast or even make one yourself (I often do this; I record my daily Anki and listen back to it through headphones copying throughout the day - if you’re not confident in your pronunciation you can get Google Translate to do it). Similarly, pick unknown vocabulary out of a longer segment and remember it, trying to internalise the tones instead of figuring out which tone it is.

5) Find emotional sentences, and copy them with emotion. This is SO CRUCIAL!!! We remember things when we relate to them, and when we imbue them with emotion - and it also helps in hearing exactly how an angry second tone sounds, for instance.

6) When you’re copying, look up, and imagine you are having an actual conversation. Carry yourself with conviction and poise!! Really try to whine like wwx or slime like jgy. After a couple of turns copying them, try to turn off the audio and keep delivering it in the same manner.

7) Swap individual words out. Once you have a line properly figured out, swap a word or two that has a different tone pair, and focus on delivering it with the same pattern of stress.

8) Finally, practice doing this in your native language too!! It’s a skill that we don’t use often, and it can be trained. Some people are terrible at it at first go even in their native language, but you can work on it!

About intonation in general:

1) I think a lot of pronunciation problems with people sounding unnatural or stiff ultimately come down to a fundamental misunderstanding of what intonation looks like across different languages. In English we mark it by pitch: and we are so used to the rhetoric that Chinese has ‘tone’ and not ‘intonation’ that we try and focus on blindly copying every single word textbook perfect without listening to how it actually sounds.

2) Chinese does have intonation!!! Except that, unlike English, when you stress a word, the pitch doesn’t change, but the tone contour is exaggerated - basically the only time you will ever hear a full third tone is in isolated or very exaggerated speech. If you have a Chinese friend, get them to record a sentence like the English ‘I didn’t ask her to steal his rucksack’, and put stress on the different elements of it - I didn’t ask, I didn’t ask, I didn’t ask, and so on. Notice and copy how the tones change. When shadowing, you should always be paying attention to where the stress is in the sentence: when you speak by yourself, practicing saying a sentence neutrally, and then with stress on one component, the next, and so on. If it feels unnatural, it’s because you might not have practicised like this before - it’ll get better!

Hope that’s somewhat helpful / interesting!

- 梅晨曦

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

Hey, did you saw the film theory on Invader Zim on Membrane that Low-key makes sense

NO. IT. DOESN’T!

Okay, maybe this is my personal bias shining through, because I really don’t like Mattpatt sometimes... No. Okay, I have nothing against the guy personally. More frankly, I don’t like his fanbase or the way he structures his videos.

The way Mattpatt words and structures his videos acts like he’s the first person who thought of this idea, it’s the main contributor to why I stopped watching his videos a long time ago.

He speaks in a lot of rhetorics and strawman arguments rather than just saying what he wants to say. Like “If you don’t believe me... look no further then...” and that’s the one thing I ABSOLUTELY HATE on theory videos.

And some of Mattpatts own theories he doesn’t take seriously, but this is what you get when you base your INCOME off of youtube ad revenue and browse the reddit forums for new ideas. A completely monopolized way of theorizing. (and this is why there are several paragraphs in my current chapter of Tech Support of Zim’s Computer complaining about the concept of youtube entertainment in general.)

Sure, I don’t think Mattpatt will run out of theories... but I really hate the structure of his videos follows along strawman arguments, acting like he’s always arguing with an imaginary audience for entertainment value rather than just say what he wants to say.

That, and people will often cling to theories of someone with good editing software and a youtube channel then Their own opinions.

Something that I learned was incredibly dangerous to do. I learned my lesson with “That Guy with the Glasses dot com” and I don’t plan to act like I know something or am better than someone else cause I agree with someone who said something on youtube once.

I do watch Internet reviews and theory videos for entertainment, but that’s all they are to me. I don’t like to watch youtube videos to give me opinions on how I feel about things. And I seriously think a wide margin of his subscribers lack critical thinking skills at times, as well as a majority of the youtube audience, or from what I’ve seen in the comment section.

However, remember... These are just my thoughts on the matter... My thoughts are not law and I never claim them to be.

Like when I first joined the fandom and posed my GIR analysis questions... I even said:

“I don’t know if the fandom has talked about this in depth or not... I just got here... or if someone put it into this many words before but...”  

Also... the thing that bothers me about his Invader Zim theory...

A lot of Mattpatt’s sources are just..... Wrong...

(for the next few minutes I will be talking about this video, feel free to watch or don’t)

Okay.. “Membrane is an Irken” this has been a popular fan theory since before I even entered the fandom and there are old fics about this. I have read Irken Membrane stories before.

It’s not personally my cup of tea, but it’s fun to think about.

But the straws Mattpatt grasps in his video.... Really upset me because there is some thought to the theory back in the day.. ... Like back in 2002??? but like.... NOW?!

Okay, I’ll pick apart this a little... bit by bit...

He says that Membrane takes a hard stance against anything paranormal.

Kinda... but no.. Membrane never outright denies the existence of aliens. (except in ETF... which he mainly says out of frustration...) This is what Membrane says about “there are no aliens” in the show:

Membrane just says that there are no “intelligent” aliens...None that are able to travel the massive distance to Earth, anyways... If aliens existed at all, (like the cryptoids Dib talks of) they would have traveled the distance to the planet and communicated with them by now.

However, this is a nitpick of a minor issue. One that a majority of the fandom tends to overlook when viewing Professor Membrane and Dib’s relationship in general. 

And I do find it weird that he used this for evidence when he cut out the most important snippet from the full lecture he gives Dib here.... JUST to support his claim... as if he’s intentionally leaving that part out.... hmmmm

However, I can let this slide, because it’s a nitpick and really doesn’t change anything that Membrane is very dissuasive of Dib’s alien-hunting hobbies. (I have a theory as to why and I explain it here in my own way)

The point is, Membrane is dismissive of anything alien... maybe because he’s an Irken...okay, good, yes. fair. 

A lot of Mattpatts claims from then on are pretty solid, and I won’t bunk them with “But in my headcanon/Fanfic verse...”  Because what he is saying is all true.

Membrane denying the existence of aliens even after being taken to space jail doesn’t have much of an explanation and is played for comedy and there are many ways you can go with this, and I am not going to bring up my fanfics or my own headcanons to argue with him here.

Because there is no explanation, and he is going with the “Membrane is Irken” theory... So that’s very solid when he’s talking about Membrane denying the Hallucinations. 

Mattpatt claimed that Membrane wore his face covering at all times and had been dressed this way since he was a child.

I will not deny this. This is true.

However, isn’t bringing up Membrane’s childhood kinda put a hole in your own argument?

MEMBRANE WAS A CHILD.

He had been shown to have childhood memories in the comics and the show.

Irkens don’t really have a “Childhood” per say, at least not in the way that humans do. They are a smeet, then elite, then Invader..

If he’s claiming that Membrane came to earth as an Irken SMEET....How, why, and when? 

That kinda raises more questions than it answers.... What are you proving by bringing up Membrane’s baby pictures on Earth exactly? It kind of works against your own argument? 

Saying that they’re Irken because they all have the same hair.... that’s just stupid... and he’s citing the Invader Zim wiki on this .... oh boy.

Yeah, Like before I watched the show I thought Dib and Disguised Zim were the same character or brothers...

But I don’t think character design here is a solid enough reason in this case... At least not when it comes to the hairstyles... That’s a stretch.

“Hmmm Membrane’s hair forms an M shape... What could the M stand for? Mirken?! SUSPICIOUS!” (this is just a joke)

Also... the lack of ears thing... He did say it would be hard for Membrane to hear if his headpiece was covering his ears, but not necessarily... The entire thing is a headset and he is the man of science, he can really do whatever the fuck he wants cause Science is like magic in a show like this. So if Membrane wears a headset that doesn’t obstruct his hearing at all, I can buy it... Also.. it’s equally possible his ears got blown off in a chem lab accident or he’s legally deaf and that headset acts as a hearing aide and HELPS him hear... 

Actually, I always noticed how in Membrane’s original design from the show, the headset looked a lot like a hearing aid. Specifically one with a head clip, It’s one of the things I first noticed about his design in the show.

And it’s just something I always assumed because he’s a scientist who deals with explosions in his face on a daily basis... (in fact he experiences one in episode 2B) So on first viewing, I thought that his headset served as a hearing aid as well as prescription glasses and a communication device. 

I’m just throwing out possibilities because the “lack of ears” is also kinda a stretch.

Mattpatt complaining about “lack of nose” however... Okay, yeah I’ll give him that one. It’s a character design choice that is a little odd for Professor Membrane, but it does fit with the Irken theory, since a majority of human characters, in fact, all have noses. So, Yes the “lack of nose” does fit more into the Irken theory. 

However.... Florpus anime Membrane DOES have a nose...

Meant to be drawn in a more semi-realistic artsyle, you can clearly see the bridge of his nose here.

And he looks very similar to anime Dib... Sooooo... Shrug-city... 

It’s likely that Membrane not having a nose in the show is simply a stylistic choice than anything else. Basically, the bridge of the nose is there... we just don’t see it.

Especially since Nightmare Membrane has a nose as well..

Membrane is like Home Improvement’s Wilson. We will never see his face, and that’s part of the gag. The man probably sleeps in his labcoat honestly...

I also find the voice pattern thing a bit of a stretch. Membrane and Zim are just eccentric characters who yell to emote or emphasize a point or emote stronger. And Membrane’s inflections are never the same as Zim’s.

Remember, no other Irken TALKS like Zim. Professor Membrane doesn’t really go around screaming: “I AM PROFESSOR MEMBRANE” either..... 

If anything... it just kinda proves both characters have auditory processing issues or hearing problems more then anything.

And there is a lot of screaming on this show.... Screaming from Dib, screaming from Membrane, Screaming from GIR, screaming from Zim... Screaming is funny... and characters scream so much that the characters with their mouths wide open is somewhat a staple of the show.

This is more because of Johnen Vasquez’s voice direction...

Especially since no other Irken really talks like Zim..

Zim’s manor of Speach is strictly a Zim thing and not an Irken thing.

Professor Membrane’s manner of speech is simply a Membrane thing and not a human thing.

I will give Mattpatt that. That a lot of tech in the show looks similar to Membrane’s. I feel this is mostly a stylistic choice, but it really does fit in with the Irken theory. 

Like that Zim just so happens to use the same operating system as Dib is played off as a joke. But it does add some small credence to the theory here... I need to point out when he does get it right... some pats on the back.

These are very good points and does follow through with what he’s trying to prove by the end of the day.

(even if Membrane was lying about the destruction of all mankind with the beans thing, but that’s a minor nitpick here) 

But his entire paragraph comparing Membrane’s tech to Irken tech is a really good one. Props there.

This whole paragraph about there being only Tall or short irkens cause their society is height based and there are no “medium-sized” irkens....cause they were “dealt with”

Okay.

....

Sure Mattpatt. Let’s just entirely ignore the existence of the Frylord and this entire character even though you mentioned it in the synopsis at the start of your video... Showing that Taller irkens are in positions of power against the shorter, also... Zim is a tiny irken... there are many Irkens that stand taller then Zim.

Being tall in Irken society is a rarity, and Almighty Tallest Purple said that he and Red “became” the Tallest. How? We don’t know, but we do know at one point the current Tallest looked like this:

How do Irkens get that Tall? Body modifications? Maybe... it’s never explained, but considering the Frylord is super big and probably eats a lot of snacks might have something to do with it. We don’t know.

It’s safe to say that being Tall in their society is a rarity and Tallests are either born or made special from the cloning chamber from the get go.

Not to mention, Membrane is Taller than the current Tallest are already...

 and you said earlier in the video that Membrane would have gone to Earth as a child...

When he was no taller than a wrapped Christmas box of socks...

So why would Membrane take refuge on Earth at this point? Mattpatt says that Membrane was sent on a mission to Earth because the Tallest felt threatened by his rule...

BY MEMBRANE’S RULE?!?

HE’S THE SIZE OF A CHRISTMAS BOX OF SOCKS!

What do they have to be threatened by? 

Because... Mattpatt DID bring up Membrane as a child earlier in the video... meaning Membrane came to earth when he was about the same size as Zim.

SO THEY HAD NOTHING TO BE WORRIED ABOUT AND HAD NO EVIDENCE TO BELIEVE MEMBRANE WOULD GROW TO BE TALL ORE EVEN VIEW HIM AS A THREAT

You bunked your own argument. Congradulations.

Membrane conquered the world through his inventions. In a way, sure. Membrane Labs does own a lot of stuff. But he doesn’t own everything. A majority of the Corporations that keep the population stupid usually don’t have anything to do with Membrane Labs and aren’t affiliated at all. 

But this does fit into the “Membrane is an Irken” theory so I will give him that one.

However, Membrane being an evil corporate dictator is a hot take I never really appreciate at all and I can never get behind it.

It hits too close to home in the real world, and I always like to view Membrane as a self-made man and a World loving hippie at his core who just wants to make the world a better place, much like his son, but he actively does something about it. (which can also be why he encourages Dib with real science so much cause he knows Dib wants to save the Earth as much as he does)

Just calling Membrane a capitalist billionaire that doesn’t care about the little guy kinda seems disingenuous towards his character for me. 

Especially when Membrane in “Ten Minutes to Doom” created a machine (foodio) that completely end world hunger... which was in BETA in the unreleased episode...

 but by the time the movie rolls around... Foodio exists... past his BETA, meaning that he’s probably no expensive than a common household microwave and can materialize food from nothing:

Yeah. Membrane completely ended world hunger off-screen. thanks. (something no capitalist would ever do...)

Membrane also does appearances for charity (in the comics), and often takes funding for sponsorships when he is low on funds and he had to find a cure for pig mouth. 

Sure “Membrane conquered the world” fits the Irken theory...

But I never appreciate that take on his character and that is admittedly, very personal bais. 

I just wanted to say my peace a little bit here about how I 100% don’t vibe with the “Membrane capitalist/billionaire scum” especially since he ended world hunger...and invented a cure for the un-common cold.

Works for the theory, so good on Mattpatt for that one, but I personally don’t vibe with it.

Mattpatt compared Zim and Dib’s head shape as something to argue... Like because Dib has a similar head shape to Zim... that Dib has to be an alien... Okay... But If you look at the Invader Zim artbook (which I own)

The show has a very distinct look on how they draw characters’ heads. It’s a very distinct stylistic choice and there are pages upon pages in the artbook describing the style and how it looks in motion, and many revision notes to the Korean animators.

There are lots of pages on the artbook describing in detail the differences between the main characters’ heads, what to do, and what not to do.

It’s a difficult style to replicate, and Dib having a big head was mostly a joke from the showrunners to the showrunners, cause they kept drawing Dib’s head slightly bigger to make him look more appealing.

A majority of the audience doesn’t really notice because all the children in the show have big heads. All the kids are like 3-4 feet tall and have huge heads. 

Also... Dib’s head is far more rounder then Zim’s in the comics and the Movie... comparing their head shape as an arguing point, when Dib’s head shape changed midway season 1 when the designs got slightly more streamlined is just... bad form..

Dib and Zim’s heads never really look the same from the early episodes as they do later on.

Comparing this character design similarity just because of the artstyle is really stupid.

This is the most infuriating thing about the video... because Mattpatt disproves his own argument with his own footage not a few seconds earlier. 

He claims that Gaz sarcastically mentioning she has a squeedly spooch is a canon fact...... but ... hmm.. Mattpatt... can I rewind the footage of your video, please?

Where’s her squeedly spooch?

IS IT BEHIND HER CLEARLY HUMAN ORGANS?! I DON’T SEE IT?

And this isn’t just a stylistic choice... here’s a picture of another human’s organs for comparison.

Mattpatt literally disproved his own argument and ignored the fact that we saw an X-ray of Gaz’s organs in the very same episode...

Gaz doesn’t have a squeedly spooch and she literally was being sarcastic.

and the whole thing is disproved very easily.

Everything Mattpatt says in between those two points, about Dib being taken aboard an alien ship as a baby, and that there is no mother, and the Clone theory... That is all good stuff and this is what the theory video should have speculated and focused on, because there is some digging to be had here... I feel he focused a lot on the wrong points in his video...

And this is the most outrageous point he makes in his video. It’s the thing that pissed me off the most... and lead me to write this essay in the first place.

He claimed Eric Trueheart himself confirmed the clone theory and had story plans where Dib would discover his clone origins.

HE DID NOT!

IN FACT, Eric Trueheart himself published Volume One of the Invader Zim script book AND THIS IS WHAT HE SAID:

Eric neither confirmed nor denied the rumor.

But for Mattpatt to blatantly say that Eric said that Clone Dib was a planned thing by the screenwriters?!

He is BLATANTLY putting words into a Screenwriter’s mouth! Something that you should NEVER do.

Because it is 100% a lie.

He had no source for this claim. He probably just read the same rumor on the wiki and has no source.

This is the reason why I don’t trust videos like Mattpatt. The truth is often stretched for entertainment value, or information is just made up to prove “they were right” about whatever the topic of the day was. He doesn’t even bother to cite the source he got “Eric Trueheart’s word of mouth” from... because it was wrong.

Sorry if this whole thing is more hostile than it intended to be... But Mattpatt was looking at the ENTIRELY wrong evidence for this show....

Irken Membrane is a fun theory... but Mattpatt picked the entirely wrong topics and points of discussion, even to the point of hiding the truth and straight-up lying to his audience about his sources.

It’s kinda like saying “Birds eat ghost peppers because they’re part dragon and dragons can handle spicy food”

While, yeah, Birds are descended from dinos, it’s kinda missing the full story there and it’s not the reason why birds can eat spicy food.

Irken Membrane is a fun fan theory... do what you want with it. I am not here to dissuade Irken Membrane headcanons...

I’m just here to encourage critical thinking, and perhaps NOT put words into content creators' mouths when there is no credible source for it just because it benefits your argument.

[earthstellar]

The Ultimate 90s Art Program Suite: My Childhood Computer, Inspired by Beast Wars Animation

Was watching some Beast Wars after work yesterday, and I got inspired by the famously funky animation to look up all the graphic design/illustration/3D rendering/etc. software that I had (and some that I always wanted) as a kid.

I mean, look at it. Beautiful. Terrifying. Powerful. 

Transmutate is still my favourite. Scared the hell out of me, yet I love her. 

(Quick aside, she’s in Timelines/Uprising, and they adapted the TFP Arcee model for her, and it’s great.)

The software below would create the sickest creative work computer 1996 has ever seen. 

This stuff is probably irrelevant to almost all of you, except my fellow art dinosaurs who might want the nostalgia hit, but I managed to find nearly everything on the Internet Archive, so enjoy! 

As far as I’m aware, this isn’t bootlegging anything, as all of these products/editions of software are either not licensed anymore or are now abandonware/no longer supported. I am not the original uploader of any of these items. 

I have asterisked some product names just to avoid making a mess in certain tags, where people may be looking for tutorials etc. for modern versions of certain programs.

You don’t have to download these; It might be fun to just look them up and see what the info surrounding each piece of software is, to get a better idea of how brutal it was trying to animate Beast Wars (or anything in 3D) at the time! 

(So I guess this is mostly for educational purposes only, but hey, the Internet Archive resources are linked if you want to check it out.)

The Sickest Art Programs of the 90s, Including the Stuff Used to Animate Reboot and Beast Wars:

Basic Setup if You Want to Try Stuff: 

DosBox 

VirtualBox

Operating System(s) Required: 

Win 95 

Win 98

Everything will be for Win 95, unless noted otherwise. 

3D Rigging, Design, and Animation Software: 

Log*Motion 2.1 

Bry*e 3D (The updated Edition, likely for Win 98: Bryce 4 and Accessory Assets CD)

P*ser 3

S*ftImage 3D 3.9 (May require Win 98; This is the higher end 3D animation software at the time, which was used to animate Reboot! Mildly anachronistic as this is a slightly later edition of the software, although still from that general era. You can read more about it here. It was also used to animate Beast Wars as well, at least partially, as the same animation studios worked on both shows.) 

Illustration/Design Software: 

C*rel Draw 8 Suite (May also be for Win 98) 

A*obe Ph*toshop 4.0 

(Here’s a version of AP 4.0 which also includes QuickT*me 2.1 and Acr*bat Reader 3.0!) 

Writing Software: 

PRO TIP: For fanfiction writers and zine makers, this stuff was top tier!  

C*rel Word Perfect Suite 8 (May also be for Win 98)

Creative Writer 2 (Note: You must have a printer set up for this software to work. As an ADHD kid with Dyscalculia, this was the only software I could use to get any homework done ever-- Lots of good memories with this one, too!) 

Audio and Music Production Software:

Creative Sound Blaster 16

Creative Sound Blaster AWE 64

Cool Edit 2000 (This is the software that would later become Ad*be Audition!) 

Ad*be Audition 1.0 (May require Win 98, slightly anachronistic as this wasn’t a 90s product, but Cool Edit had a few late 90s pre-release versions, so I’m including both of these here as both are from this general era.)

Video Editing Software: 

S*ny Vegas 4 (Requires Win 98 SE Edition)

---

NOTE: As always, if you want to actually try testing out any of this stuff, be careful when downloading anything! Be safe online and always use a VPN/antivirus combo. Like I said, I’m not the original uploader, and you also might want to check and see if it’s actually legal to download some of the stuff listed above just in case, because I don’t know anything about old software legalities. You wouldn’t download a car, et cetera. 

---

This is an incomplete list, but I’m getting ready to go to work lmao, so I’ll add stuff if I remember any more popular art/creative software from the 90s that people might be interested in. 

Checking out the above list might help give you an idea of how much of a struggle it must have been to animate Beast Wars and really anything else in 3D at the time, and I’m 99% sure a lot of scripts were typed up in C*rel Word Perfect software in general, lmao. 

[rankuros]

KINNGGGG i wanna hear ur SINGINgf also how do u do it on the internet ND SHIT

aw i'm so sorry i was asleep when you sent these. also i'm answering publicly because i worked really hard on this and i'm an attention whore <3

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/JtKieEFCV7BtZAXS7 here is my favorite solo ever but it's like eight years old hhhahha (in jp)

https://twitter.com/r4nsetsu/status/1499543423942017027?s=21&t=TymQWkkhekI-WtIskXK4tQ here is one of my karaoke songs since you said i had good taste JFJKEFJ (in en)

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/riJe3tAc3wCJwdbbA here is my comeback from last year (i failed at mixing this so i think i will re-mix it when i am better at doing that HFJKSJFJFK i do love shrieky vocals in my voice tho) (in jp)

https://twitter.com/r4nsetsu/status/1500281411185647619?s=21&t=giIbl15LU9WmTbn1hWY86g here's an emo mili song bc i am soo dramatic (in en)

https://youtu.be/onhI9oNXu7c here is my favorite collab ever!!! i am second from the right (in jp)

logistically how do i sing on the internet? i use:

1. blue snowball USB mic. many people will tell you to get an XLR mic, which is better quality, but also requires extra hardware to actually connect it to the computer so it's a higher price point. i wouldn't necessarily recommend that for just getting started! if i manage to record again when my current life situation is resolved i will probably upgrade tho because i am trying to learn to mix better so i want sexier mic quality. I HAVE ALSO USED THE MIC FROM ROCK BAND FOR THE NINTENDO WII which works SURPRISINGLY WELL. it was a USB mic i already had lying around and it gets the job done! in theory a mic is the only thing you might need to purchase to get started so it is a pretty low cost of entry hobby, i think my snowball was $50 ish but there might be better recommended USB mics these days

2. reaper to record and mix (technically paid software in the same way winrar is paid software, i have run it on an "evaluation license" for thousands of hours) it is unfortunately SUPER unintuitive and if you are open to p*rating adobe products i 100000% recommend adobe audition over reaper. however i am lazy and have never tried to get my hands on audition since i grew a pair and stopped paying for it :) reaper also has a built in manual TUNER which is soooooo nice because melodyne, while easier to use, is expensive (🏴‍☠️)

3. straight up just youtube and google for the instrumentals i need (i always make sure i can find them before i record bc most things have an instrumental available somewhere, but not all!). sometimes you can also find a reference for the harmony lines of a song and go really ham and record those too! or some people can just harmonize by ear but i am usually not very good at it so if i can't find a ref i just don't do it HAHA

4. soooooo many tutorials on youtube! i most recently learned how to time vocals without making them choppy, like how to stretch or shrink a syllable if multiple people are singing so they are more in unison. it's a lot of fun to learn things! (except EQ. learning EQ is part of why i'm on hiatus because it made me hate myself. all the homies hate EQ)

5. various video editing software which not everyone prioritizes anymore! the youtaite community specifically, which is where i have been on and off for almost 12 years holy shit, is youtube based so video is a big part of it. you can also usually charm ppl into making simple videos for you (i know this for a fact bc i am the ppl getting charmed into making simple videos for others)

and most importantly, i have

6. a ✨big fat ego✨ about my voice to allow me to sing on the internet because it can be really daunting!!! i used to perceive some really unpleasant tone in my voice and it took me a long time to come to terms with it, and i used to compare myself to everyone. karaoke and musical theater have done a lot for my relationship with my voice <3

[i was going to talk even fucking more about my Process here but i feel like i am writing a book. idk how much ramble you signed up for!! but if you think this is for you i would love to answer questions or help out]

ALSO IT IS SO MUCH FUN TO WORK WITH OTHER PEOPLE! oh my god! i did a chorus battle last year and most of my team was in GERMANY! that's so far away we would NEVER have met and we worked so hard and made something together!! talk about human connection!

also you can sing literally whatever the fuck you want. i have not joined the choir in my community because i do not want to be stuck singing what the choir sings. i have not done any musical theater since RENT because i do not care about most musicals. i want to sing whatever i feel like singing and whatever is most fun and meaningful for me. it's my voice and i get to decide what to do with it etc

in conclusion: singing on the internet can be so rewarding and there is a pretty hoppin community of other people who sing on the internet who will be nice to you and offer advice/answer questions and sing songs with you. and it is really goddamn time consuming but i like it a lot. bye

[the-mercurial-star-o-vesper]

I HEARD A SCREAM...

… in the woods somewhere.

What do you know about the Walten Files?

Theater Ahead. I like a good dramatic show, so I’m going to add some flaire. Some will be references, some will be questions, some will just be me being weird. Its all good fun, I assure you. Stuff like this usually is. The song being referenced is Hozier’s “In the Woods”.

Horror Ahead. Do Not Consume after Dark. Do Not Consume until 18+. If you cannot stand blood, body horror, horror and terror, the dark, and murderous robots, this is your final warning. Turn away. For some things should remain in darkness, and we only have a lighter for company…

Spoilers Ahead. If you haven’t seen the Walten Files, I’d watch them. I’d recommend some theory videos then, to make some sense of what you saw. We’re plunging into the dark and the deep, and the story here has both a helpful narrative and a malicious one. Someone is trying to help us, but someone is trying to stop us…

 [Safety in Pills, Sophie]

A brief summary, the Walten Files (made by Martin Walls on Youtube) are a VHS style horror-mystery series on Youtube, taking inspiration from both the Lost VHS FNAF videos and FNAF itself.

Our (Main) Animatronics this time around are: - Bon, the Bonnie-inspired central character. Definitely, explicitly, implied to be possessed by one Jack Walten, who is the center of our supernatural stuff. Whatever is going on, it leads back to Jack. We have not seen Jack Walten’s death scene, and that’s one of our biggest mysteries. Bon is HOSTILE DO NOT TOUCH. - Bannie, a purple female bunny character. Explicitly implied to be possessed by one Susan Woodings. She have a lot of implication of her death, but nothing confirmed. - Boozoo, what appears to be a human(like) circus master looking character. Implied to be possessed by one Charles (Walten?); we have not had any scenes, as of this writing, on when or how Charles died, only implication that he is possessing Boozoo. - Sha, a white female Sheep character (too easily mistaken for a Poodle). We know she’s possessed by one Rosemary Walten. We watched it happen. - Billy, a Clown animatronic. Likely possessed by one Ashley P, as we got to listen to her death screams as Bon stuffed her into the animatronic. Billy the Clown has a list of names on a tape, overriding a birthday party song.

Now, I’m not gonna go through any Mass Story theories and I’m not going to make a timeline, but I am going to point out some things I saw and found. Minitheories, probably, lots of speculation, maybe, and mayhaps, we’ll get some stepping stones. [You do not have all the clues to solve this]

 0. DEATH OF THE AUTHOR (OF THE RECORDING) … I clutched my life, and wished it kept.

Notice how every File ends in a Death? Mostly the Deaths of the Employees who made the ending video? File 3 is going to be interesting…

CONSIDERATIONS: - If the 3D distorting face was Bon’s recognition software, does it also have something to do with why Brian’s face was beyond recognition? A horrifying turn of events, if Bon was actively trying to make his head as the 3D imaging was trying to make the Identification fit some sort of Criteria.

 1. CRYING ANIMATRONICS … I saw new eyes were watching me.

One thing that separates Bon’s Animatronics from FNAF’s is that these guys cry. When in cartoon form, they’ll do one of two kinds of crying: Actual sadness and tears, which is to be expected from cartoons, and the black stream, which is to be expected from horror.

But there is importance here.

For one thing, they only seem to do this (except in one case, but we’ll get to that) when encountering certain entities.

For example, our mystery sprite, which I’m dubbing the “Shadow With Eyes”.

In the cartoon, where Sha introduces us to the K9 Facility, the Shadow With Eyes appeared on the second time we entered the Basement, blocking the bottom doorway. [How odd, I remember we visited this room already]

When she finally appears on screen, Sha starts crying with tears. (Her poster has blacked out eyes). When she attempts to go down to the blocked doorway, either into or through the Shadow With Eyes, the scene glitches / crashes.

The poster is crying the dark streams, and so is Sha.

Not long after, we’re introduced to the story and death of Rosemary.

We are treated with the image of her cartoon dismembered corpse, and to Bon, with bloodied hands (and a bloodied leg?), as he stuffed the pieces into Sha. However… He’s caught in the act, as the screen turns from black to white (lights on?) and the Shadow With Eyes walks through the Employee’s Only door. Sha is distorted…

But Bon is crying Black Streams.

We have been introduced to this before. The first animatronic who “cried” was Bon from the first File, with the dark streams, implied to be blood. And when he did this, it was in the middle of Brian Stells’ video recording.

Is it possible that the Shadow With Eyes is an Employee? Perhaps even a Facility Caretaker? It does appear in the K9 Facility, and the purple uniform is shown being worn by an Employee in the Relocate Project video as they pack Billy into a moving Van.

But wait.

What about Bannie? She cries tears, then cries black streams / blood. But there doesn’t appear to be anyone around.

But her room was glitching too, wasn’t it? She couldn’t leave, the doorways kept her inside. She was trying to get out, trying to get the “Owner’s” attention.

Perhaps… She had a Witness who ignored her.

[There’s something missing here…]

QUESTIONS: - Who is the Shadow With Eyes? Are they a Facility Caretaker? - Who was the poor bastard who walked in on Rosemary’s murder? - Does this give reason why Bon attacked Brian?

 2. LOOKIN’ FOR FRIENDS … I called your name till the fever broke.

Bannie introduced us to the Animatronic expressions, and while it doesn’t appear to be relevant yet. I should note, that when Bon (or someone) called Rosemary backstage at Bon’s Burgers… His eyes were also in “LOOKING FOR FRIENDS” mode, before settling on Rosemary. The same mode Bannie was tested on, before settling on the Viewer / Recorder.

QUESTIONS: - The Mode was introduced by the Revisions, so how the Hell did Bon have it years before? - Bon talks?

3. BACKROOM … I turned and ran, to save a life I didn’t have.

In the introductory cartoon with Sha, Sha tries to explain what the three doors have. But when she gets to the third door [Oh what does it Hide], her face distorts. With small blank black eyes, and a mouth that was clearly edited to be upside down [make that smile turn into a frown].

We do see this later. With Ashley P’s portrait with her friends, as she is being murdered or worse by Bon… After going into the Backrooms.

Every Facility Caretaker (and Tech it seems) is given a small key, and that small key goes to the Backrooms.

The Backrooms hide something, and its possible that it hides Billy (an Animatronic implied to have been on Stage, but not stored with the other Stage Animatronics) and a tape with the names (A hitlist?). But the end text says that Ashley “Saw” something, not listened.

QUESTIONS: - Was the Third Door the Backroom as the editing Implies? - Why are the Main Animatronics stored separately from all the ones in the Backrooms? - If the Techs were supposed to repair the animatronics, why not just take the endoskeletons and other parts from the Backroom, and place them where they can be easily found and thus make things go faster? - What did Ashley see, if it wasn’t the tape? Was it Billy? Another strange animatronic? (the Gray Rabbit?) - If there is something in the Backrooms meant to be hidden, why give a Key to the Employees at all? Why not keep it with those who are “in the Know”? Its almost as if someone wants something to be found… Murderous Bunny notwithstanding.

4. NAMES ARE IMPORTANT ... I prayed my mind be good to me.

The names of the characters all have meanings, and some of them might be important: - JACK - Gracious; Supplanter; Man - WALTEN - Foreigner; Wood; Wall; Stream; Ruler - ROSEMARY - Rose + Mary - SUSAN - Lily Flower; Rose - WOODINGS - Wood Cutting; Mad (?) - CHARLES - Man; Free Man; Warrior; Army - BRIAN - High; Noble - STELLS - Stella? Star. - ASHLEY - Ash Meadow; Ash Tree Meadow - ANTHONY - Son of Herakles; Priceless One; Flower - FELIX - Lucky - KRANKEN - Suffer (... Now that’s an interesting last name) + MARY - Bitter; Beloved; Rebelliousness; Wished-For-Child; Marine; Drop of the Sea. + HERAKLES - Glory of Hera + HERA - Beloved; Air

- SOPHIE - SOPHIA. Wisedom; Skill; Cleverness; Intelligence [Be Wise] CONSIDERATIONS: There are themes of knowledge, light, darkness, blindness, and last I checked... We do have a “holy” entity, Sophia, from Gnosticism and Gnosticism deals in themes of Knowledge, Light, Darkness and Blindness. A demiurge that created a suffering world... A world in darkness... A world where man suffers...

Hm...

[... With knowledge but never with...]

5. Sy05 (?) [?] … I spoke no words, no sound he made.

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

 To be continued as the series continues.

How many years I’ll know I’ll bear I found something in the woods somewhere.

[piratewithvigor]

Best Of The Best: My Top 10 Videos Countdown

Y'all liked them once, and I like talking about my videos and the making of, so here's the 10 wrestling videos I've made that have gotten the most notes and my commentary on them

#10: The Corporate Ministry & Stone Cold Steve Austin Blood Mobile Segment 7/19/99 except I edited out all the non-Undertaker parts

I have yet to name a video more accurately to the contents. That video made me simp hardcore, but unfortunately, there were far too many parts that didn't include Taker. So I took the fuckers out. Literally went frame-by-frame through the whole video and snipped. Have been tempted to make a second installment, but why mess with a good thing?

#9: The Very Best

My only Marko Stunt video thus far. Which is a shame cause he's an absolute delight. This was requested by @the--blackdahlia who wanted a video set to the OG Pokemon theme. Not many wrestlers who could fit it perfectly, but Marko can. I think it's because he's a meme

#8: blah blah blah…

The tricky thing about MJF is he does a lot of chatting and not a lot of wrestling. Which means it's hard to set him to music cause chatting and music don't go together very much. But when he wrestles, his personality comes through in spades. Having a style that shows you're a heel while still being fully legal is so tricky, but MJF does it and I wanted to showcase that in this request/suggestion/pointing out the song fits him by @theparaphoenix

#7: 30 Years of The Undertaker (condensed into a very speedy 5 minutes)

Taker takes forever to enter the ring. This is a known hilarity. I joked about that as part of a previous video, and decided to expand the gag into a full career-encompassing video featuring 1 entrance from 1990-2020 sped up to 4x and set to the Benny Hill theme. Do kids these days still know Benny Hill? Hell, even I don't really know Benny Hill. I just know that any sped up footage set to this theme is hilarious and 5 minutes' worth let me see every year (2003 gave me a lot of grief)

#6: ❤️YOU START A FIRE❤️

My first Hartbreak content. It had to be made when I found one of Bret's songs. As in, a song he sang. It's not a fantastic song by any means, but when paired with the bitch-facedness of the Screwjob, it's just *chef's kiss*

#5: Undertaker V Kane @ Wrestlemania 14: The Better Version

I must've been procrastinating when I made this. I know I was. I spent 2 hours just dicking around with a crack vid made from my favourite and most-viewed match of all time. Just wanted to add as much silly goofiness to it as I could. The opening bit inspired the '30 Years Of Taker' video and as a fun fact, the entrance was sped up to 4x, but the audio was an overdub that was only 2x, because otherwise the gong sounded like stubbing one's toe on a trash can

#4: The Story Of Kane (As Told By Kane)

This was an experiment of a crack vid with structure. Crack vid timing and style, but within the frame of Kane going to his anger management group. The hardest part of this one was fitting all the clips into a 5-minute frame (crucial, cause my software only lets me make 5 minute videos for free. Longer, and I have to pay)

#3: RKBrOut Of Touch Thursday

My very first true 'video'. I consider everything before it to be tiktoks or experimental videos to learn the software on. This one was designed to be a video in the style of these other videos and I have rewatched it so much. That being said, I am STUNNED that it is #3. I think I've only reblogged it myself once or twice, but even if I hadn't, it would have still ended up in the top 5. Guess it just hit the right funny bones

#2: Wrestling Out Of Context

I don't often blend companies, but this was an exception. The Jericho/MJF bit inspired this video, but it also gave me a place to use "The Cream", which is a mini-edit I'd made previously. I still have ~4 mini-edits from the spree that produced "The Cream", which have yet to be posted and unless I make a second installment, y'all probably won't see the other mini-edits.

#1: Danhausen In Exactly As Much Context As He Requires

Y'all just ADORED this one, huh? It has literally 6 times as many notes as the 2nd place video. My intention was to introduce tumblrs who didn't know Danhausen to him and also the Assboys running joke, and it worked like a charm. He's got at least one very nice, very evil new fan and if I hadn't been on a 2-hour time crunch to make this one, it would have included plenty of other videos from his channel in it.

[creativerobot]

Assessment Vlog Blog.

To start off my vlog I brainstormed how I wanted to present it. I went through ideas of stopmotion animation, simple pictures, a voiceover of me doing something or just talking to the camera with pictures popping up. I decided to settle on the last one so I could focus more on what I was writing. Also being new to editing trying to sync up other things would take me a lot of time.

After writing a script and going to record, I remembered I had a software called 'Facerig'.

Facerig is a software developed by a company called Halotech studios. FR tracks your face and allows you to embody different characters and creatures. I decided to use the base character Midori as other characters (like a dragon or a snowman) were a lot less flitting.

Facerig also used my mouth positions and audio coming from my mic to determine how the mouth moved. It wasn't extremely accurate but was still a lot of fun to play around with and use for my vlog.

For writing my script, I decided to split it into 4 sections.

The introduction (a little about me),

Part 1 (Why Uni/Why BCT),

Part 2 (My future/goals),

Conclusion (what is Creative technologies).

I believed this plan worked out pretty well, except for the Part 1 and 2 were a little too long, so I had to cut out the introduction. This was ok though as it wasn't very nessecary.

For editing I decided to use Wondershare Filmora. A friend had suggested it to me as it was very good for beginner editing. I picked it up and instantly it worked perfectly. In the end I made a vlog I'm pretty proud of. Though next time I'll work on my audio leveling as it was pretty quiet when I uploaded it to YouTube.

[livinginsunnyhell]

Ask game for fanfic writers! ⌨️🖊📓📝

1. What fandoms do you write for?

2. What pairings do you write for?

3. What is your most popular fanfic?

4. Do you write original stories as well?

5. What fanfic of yours should everyone have read?

6. What is a fandom you will never write for?

7. What is a ship you will never write for?

8. Archive of Our Own, FanFiction.net, Wattpad, Tumblr, etc. which platform do you prefer?

9. What are your favorite fanfics?

10. How do you stay motivated to finish what you’ve started?

11. What’s your longest fanfic?

12. Do you want to break your readers‘ heart or make them laugh?

13. What is your planning process?

14. What have others criticized about your fanfic?

15. OCs or no OCs?

16. Do you use sentence starters, writing prompts and/or fandom headcanons for your fanfics?

17. Do you use/follow advice from writing blogs/posts?

18. What is your favorite writing prompt?

19. Dead or overused tropes?

20. Can we get a list of all of your current available fanfics?

21. What’s your shortest fanfic?

22. Do you listen to music during your writing process? What music do you listen to while you’re writing?

23. Long chapters or short chapters?

24. How many WIPs (work-in-progress) do you’ve got?

25. How many WIPs will you finish?

26. First-person-narrative or third-person-narrative?

27. Do you take requests?

28. I will name you three things (drunk Ian — shared bachelor party — Gallavich): write a paragraph or two!

29. What’s more difficult? Fanfics or original work?

30. What writing software do you use?

31. Do you use beta/sensitivity readers?

32. Past or present tense?

33. Do friends and family know that you write fanfics?

34. How did you find the magical world of fanfics?

35. What is your favorite review?

36. Did you ever delete a work of yours?

37. Did your work ever get plagiarized?

38. Do you partake in any fanfic/writing events? (Big bangs, zines, NaNoWriMo, etc?)

39. Collaborations or working solo?

40. Do you have any rituals before uploading a fic?

41. What is something you don’t like about your writing?

42. Rudest review?

43. Guilty pleasure tropes and scenarios?

44. Does fanart of your fanfic exist?

45. Do fanfics of your fanfic exist?

46. Few long essay reviews or many short reviews?

47. What fanfic of yours is truly underrated?

48. What is your favorite sentence that you’ve used in a fanfic?

49. Where do you draw inspiration from?

50. Can we get a teaser for an upcoming chapter?

(Don't feel obligated to answer. Thought if you're into these kinda things, that'd be a nice ask. ;))

Oh this is so nice!! Thanks for sending this @annansmith

I chose a few of them to do. 

1. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, I’m writing for Shameless (Gallavich) but I’ve written for:

Veronica Mars (LoVe), Veep (Amy/Dan), Arrow (Oliver/Felicity), Once Upon A Time (Hook/Emma), The Old Guard (Joe/Nicky), That 70′s show (Hyde/Jackie), Sons of Anarchy (Tara/Jax), Vampire Diaries (Klaroline), Hart of Dixie (Zoe/Wade), Gilmore Girls (Rory/Jess), X-men (Rogue/Pyro), One Tree Hill (Haley/Nathan), and a few others.

2. What pairings do you write for?

Now I write Gallavich. 

But I’d say my top ones I love writing for now (my fanfiction writing has spanned about 14 years) are Dan/Amy, Veronica/Logan, Klaus/Caroline, Mickey/Ian.

3. What is your most popular fanfic?

My most popular fic on Ao3 is The Course of True Love (Arrow) and on FF Of Bloodshed, Babies, and Epic LoVe (Veronica Mars)

4. Do you write original stories as well?

Yes, I do. I’m working on a book, well, two books. But it’s going very slowly. The first is a memoir of my travels from around the world and the second is a vampire urban fantasy one. We’ll see how it goes, but I’d like to finish them by next year and see if I can get them published, but it’s hard so who knows. 

10. How do you stay motivated to finish what you’ve started?

Well, recently I’ve really been trying to finish everything I write. I have a lot of WIPs from years and years ago and even within the the last year, so this answer is pretty new. Basically, I focus on one fic at a time and write a little every day to stay motivated. Now, I try to update once a week on a certain day. I think comments/reviews and kudos and people being genuinely encouraging helps though. It’s also what’s gotten me considering finishing my older fics.

11. What’s your longest fanfic?

Of Bloodshed, Babies, and Epic Love (over 165k)

13. What is your planning process?

Now, it’s different. I have a doc of ideas and I wait to see which one I can’t seem to shake. Then I plan out each chapter with a few sentences and I have a list of things I want to focus on in the story. Usually, each story now has a kind of theme to it and a main focus. I sometimes will just want to write a certain situation/scene/focus and the story is born from there. But what really helps is writing down chapter 1, 2, etc. and having a sentence or two for what I want to happen. It doesn’t always go according to plan, but I never get writers block or forget what happened in previous chapters now.

16. Do you use sentence starters, writing prompts and/or fandom headcanons for your fanfics?

Probably a mixture of fandom (or my personal) headcanons. I don’t start with prompts unless it’s a challenge or sentence starters. Usually, I have a scene I already want to write in my head and then I sit down and write it.

17. Do you use/follow advice from writing blogs/posts?

Yes, I’ve read several books on writing. My undergrad was creative writing too, so I learned a lot there. I also follow writing instagram accounts which are helpful. I take everything I learn with a grain of salt and I see what is best for me. The best advice I heard recently was short sentences and so now I’m experimenting with that.

20. Can we get a list of all of your current available fanfics?

There’s a lot from many different fandoms. I used to be on FF.net as Psyc0gurl0 and now I’m ProstheticLoVe on a03. I like writing on ao3 better cause it’s easier and I love the tagging process. Plus the gallavich fandom on there is unreal. So to think about going back to ff.net to finish my WIPs seems like such a process now. 

Currently though, I’m writing an Ian’s POV 5 chapter fic called Chocolate. It’s not out yet, but it’ll focus on Ian from 1x06 to 1x09 or so and how his feelings for Mickey change and evolve. It’s the second part to a series called Chocolate and Cigarettes. Mickey’s POV was Cigarettes.

22. Do you listen to music during your writing process? What music do you listen to while you’re writing?

Yes, I listen while writing but I need silence while editing. I have a Love (lol) playlist. It’s basically all the love songs that remind me of couples I ship. So for example, The Acid is in there a lot because their music is great, but also Basic Instinct is so haunting. Overall, I like all music except country, so sometimes I’ll listen to my larger playlists while writing. 

23. Long chapters or short chapters?

So this has changed over the years. Initially, I wrote short chapters, then when I got back into fanfiction while writing klaroline they got a lot longer and now it’s just basically where the chapter has a natural ending. So the chapters are between 4 - 10k words depending. I try to get over 4k though. Right now, once I’m done with my current fic, I really want to write something over 100k.

24. How many WIPs (work-in-progress) do you’ve got?

A lot...none in Shameless though. Well, I guess my current one, but I haven’t posted that yet. I’d say I probs have about 10 WIPs spanning different fandoms. I know. But my goal for 2021 is to pick two and finish them. 

25. How many WIPs will you finish?

Not all of them. Some of them are from years and years ago. But I’d like to finish the ones that I still get reviews on. So there’s a SOAs fic I want to finish cause that fandom is so lovely. I also want to finish a klaroline one cause that was fun to write. And my Amy/Dan ones I’d like to finish. I would like to finish my Veronica Mars ones (I have two) but they need a lot more attention, so when people message me about them I tell them the planned ending.

28. I will name you three things (drunk Ian — shared bachelor party — Gallavich): write a paragraph or two!

“Fuck, Mickey, I probably shouldn’t have had the third Hot Toddy,” Ian grimaced as the world around him spun. 

Mickey laughed at him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Ian wanted to think his future husband just wanted to pull him closer, but he had a feeling it was to steady him.

“Probably should’ve cut you off earlier,” Mickey said tugging Ian closer. 

Ian wobbled and plopped down on the back steps of the porch. Mickey followed suit a moment letter and they both looked out toward the backyard where the Gallaghers, Balls, and a few of the Milkovich cousins were alternatively huddling around a fire, drinking, and dancing.

“I blame Lip for making us have this stupid shared bachelor party in the first place,” Ian grumbled.

Mickey kissed him on the forehead as Ian lay his head on his shoulder. “It’s Sandy’s fault too.”

Ian hmmed in response and Mickey knew he was going to fall asleep any moment. He ran his hand up and down Ian’s arm and watched as Debbie bounced over to them.

“Jesus, you aren’t even married yet and you two are like an old married couple. Are you going to come dance or what?” she whined.

Mickey looked down at Ian, whose eyes were already closed, and then back up to Debbie. She was watching them with knowing eyes.

“We’ll dance at the wedding. Go grab Lip, I need his help to get Sleeping Beauty upstairs.”

Debbie turned to go get her eldest brother and Mickey looked back down at Ian. In his sleep, he nuzzled Mickey’s shoulder, breathed deeply, and a gentle smile appeared there. 

3 more days and they’d officially be husbands. 

34. How did you find the magical world of fanfics?

I was about 10 and my cousin used to write a buffy the vampire slayer zine. There was a link to a site called buffyworld.com or something like that. And I found fanfic that way. There was a link on the site to ff.net and that’s how I stumbled across that. I stayed there for many many years until my second time in the veronica mars fandom around 2014 when I was lead to a03 and then I’ve been there ever since. On and off, my writing has fluctuated through the years based on my personal life.

49. Where do you draw inspiration from?

Everywhere! omg. It’s insane. Gallavich I love writing for. There’s so many different facets to them, but truly everywhere I find inspiration. I have a whole doc of gallavich ideas that have stemmed from other fanfics, headcanons from me and other people, rewatching episodes, what’s going to happen in s11, cute moments i’d like to see happen, holidays, and just general life. I saw a pic of WW2 vets who were in a long term relationship and i was like mickey and ian! another idea is born.  

[chocolatechubby]

Morph (Conclusion)

For three months after the Bloated Belly episode, Ben sequestered himself. Except for going to work, and buying groceries, he stayed in his apartment and immersed himself in the powerful morphing software. Every man in his department had become a casualty of his fantasies. He now worked in a world of fat men—no one under 300lbs. His days were filled with watching them sweating, waddling and squeezing themselves into places meant for much smaller people. His boss, now a 400-plus pound eating machine, had convinced Joe Dante of muscle-building fame, to allow gigantic Carl Hurley to become the spokesperson for Bodyworks. Dante then invested in the “Bloated Belly” chain and was now enjoying a wealthy life of immobility with a curvaceous Fat Admirer in Lake Tahoe. 

Ben, however, was miserable. The incident with Devin had sealed it: no more men. After he had left the restaurant three months ago, he headed for Chucky’s, but stopped himself. Hadn’t Chucky been laughing at him as well? His last comments: “Go on you two. I know you’ve got a lot to tell each other. It should be quite a meeting!” That was a straight man making fun of two fags. He had turned away from the Computer Cove and headed for home—his one refuge from the world gone. And he had put on weight. He had put all of his anger and passion into the morphs and eating. Somehow, when he was working, his appetite had become voracious—stuffing himself like Devin at the Bloated Belly whenever he could. His sedentary lifestyle had slowed his metabolism down, and it showed. In the past three months, he had put on more than twenty pounds. He was still nowhere near fat, and surrounded by the truly obese meant that no one had really even noticed. But sitting at his computer, he noticed. He was softer everywhere. And he had a belly.

One evening, after having just finished giving the superintendent of his building a beer belly that would have him squeezing through doors, he felt his own stomach brush against the computer desk. He caressed its curve and slid his hands under his belt. He had gone from a 32” to a 36” inch waist, and he liked it. He liked the power that size gave him. He also loved his new capacity to eat. He had discovered the great pleasure of feeling satiated—having your belly so full that it hurt. It was erotic. And then it hit him: he had been making the wrong people fat. Not that he minded living in a glorious world of blubber at his office, but the “something missing” was within. As he got off on others, he was really desperately trying to get off on himself. The artist must become the clay. 

He knew what he had to do. He stripped out of his clothes: a pair of 36’s, which had already begun to feel tight; and an oversized t-shirt that had become his uniform. He got his tripod and his digital camera and set them up by the curtains in the living room for optimum light. He took several full-frontal shots, and then some profile and rear. As he posed, his dick started to rise in anticipation of what was in store. Taking a deep breath, he sat down at his desk and began scanning the photos into the computer. His mind was a blur. Thoughts ranging from “how big do I want to be?” to “what will my friends and family think?” assaulted him from the right and left. The answers were going to be both frightening and exhilarating. He felt more powerful, and more in control of his life than ever before.

He found a shot that suited him and he went to work. He started with his face, already slightly fuller with the additional twenty pounds, and took advantage of the new curves to bring out the roundness. He used the clone functions to balance out each cheek and gave himself a generous double chin. His gauge of success was his penis: his hard on jumped and danced when the perfect blending was reached. Next, he worked on his torso. He recalled all of the men who had turned him on since childhood and began molding his image into an amalgam of those. He deftly sculpted his neck and arms, adding dimples and folds, so that the flesh seemed to flow and undulate even on the screen. He gave himself generous mammaries with large nipples for sucking—his own beginning to ache in anticipation. And his belly—a glorious mound of flesh, which lifted gracefully and fell to a curve just below a pouch of underbelly. 

He gave himself powerful legs, hands, and feet to carry the excess weight. He took a profile and rear shot and repeated the process on each. His butt became two voluminous balls attached to “childbearing” hips as his grandma used to say, and his back a series of bulges and curves sloping into massive love handles. Lastly, he had his mouse caress his penis—widening and elongating it just enough to suit the large man it was a part of. As he finished this, the program sprang into action and performed a function Ben had never seen before. All of the images he had been working on quickly formed themselves into one 3D image, which Ben could then rotate and examine for any edits. He feverishly worked, checking every detail and making changes here and there. After two hours, Ben sat back in his seat. Sweating, he surveyed his work and was shocked. There before him was a man who weighed at least 500 lbs. An enormous man, who would have real problems squeezing through doors and doing many everyday activities. Was this the man living inside of him? Was he ready for this? As he thought about his life—his relationships and his desires—he knew it was. 

He pressed “enter”, and the now-familiar prompt appeared “Are you really sure?” He clicked “yes.” “Are you really, really sure?” Again he clicked “yes.” Before Ben’s mouse had risen the slight distance up from the click, he felt the change. He was propelled back from the desk by the pressure of his stomach rising out in front of him. His head jerked slightly and was suddenly surrounded by a massive double chin obliterating any trace of neck. His entire body expanded within seconds. He had been wrong: he wasn’t 500lbs. He was now a man of 650 lbs.

“Oh my god” he whispered. His voice had adjusted to his new form. It was a full octave lower than before. Everything about him was massive. He shifted slightly in his chair and felt it scream at the added weight. He knew it would give up the ghost if he didn’t move soon. He had two very strong needs: the first was to see himself in a mirror—he knew the transformation wouldn’t truly become real until he did. The second: to eat. He felt a hunger, the likes of which he had never felt before. As carefully as he could, he braced the side of his computer desk and shifted his weight forward to stand. He couldn’t budge. Ben started to panic—what if he couldn’t get out of his seat? Was he already immobile? He tried again, his upper arms straining with the exertion. This time there was movement—not enough to lift, but enough to allow him to calm down and try again. It took him four tries, but he finally managed to rise. The feeling of the new weight both shocked and aroused him. It almost felt as if he were about to fall through the floor. His stomach hung past his thighs, almost to his knees. It pulsed and jiggled—tickling his member and sending him into paroxysms of ecstasy. He took his first step, and the apartment shook with the movement. He knew his neighbors below were probably thinking earthquake. All he could think about was “mirror.” The closest mirror was in the bathroom at the other end of the hall.

It took Ben fifteen minutes to get there—he had to rest so often. By the time he reached the doorway, he was glistening in sweat and loving every second. Once at the door, he made his next discovery: he was wider than the frame! He had to twist sideways to make it through, and his mammoth belly still swiped the door. As he cleared the frame, he made for the toilet seat and sat down with a clunk! One now filled a space that should have held at least two people. He again braced himself—now becoming used to the process and hauled himself to the mirror over the sink. What he saw astounded him. 

If he hadn’t known the reflection was of himself, he would have looked around for the enormous figure staring back. In the mirror was one of the fattest men he had ever seen. He put his hands up to his gigantic cheeks and chins, only to be surprised by the sausages that were now his fingers. He caressed roll upon roll of avoirdupois—grabbing and kneading each bulge and crease. He took a handful of what were now his mammae and found that he could bring his gigantic nipple to his mouth. On the first lick, his knees went weak and he went crashing to the floor. He knew he was in the body he was meant to have. And he wanted more. As he struggled to rise, his stomach brushed the sink cabinet and began to rumble. The hunger was real and insistent. He then began the arduous task of lumbering to the kitchen to take care of his second need.

Ben sat in his kitchen sucking a ketchup packet. He had spent the last 180 minutes devouring everything else in the room. He had literally cried when he remembered that he had just gone shopping, and had brought enough food and goodies to satisfy his new larger appetite for a while. When he opened the refrigerator, his penis sprang as if seeing the most beautiful guy in the world. He had started with a dozen chocolate éclairs and made his way through fried chicken and macaroni and cheese, ham, eggs, bacon, and pancakes. He hummed as he polished off Twinkies and pies and downed gallons of milk and quarts of soda. And he came. He came like he had never come before. 

Before he knew it, the kitchen was empty, and he knew he had truly come home. His stomach was stretched so far in front of him, he could not move. Moreover, he knew in an hour, he would be ready to start again. Ben let out an enormous belch and rolled himself to the telephone to have food ordered in for his next binge. He knew he had been saving for something—now he knew that his life savings would help keep him in food and clothing for quite a while…CLOTHING! He realized that he was butt naked! How would it look to have this gargantuan man answer the door for the pizza guy in all of his elephantine splendor? While he could wrap a sheet around (actually, would one fit?) for the present, he would eventually have to put on clothes. He knew that he had already surpassed even the top size in the big men’s stores. What was he to do? He would need someone to get him something to wear. 

Who could he call? His friends and family were going to freak when they saw him—he would have to prepare them, and himself, slowly. So who else? Devin? God knows he owed him, and Devin’s reaction would probably be good for a jack-off or two, but he wanted no more to do with him. Who could he call that would not ask a lot of questions, AND have access to the size clothing he would need? Then it came to him…Chucky. Before he could talk himself out of it, he looked up the number and dialed the Computer Cove.

Chucky checked the address again. He was sure he was in the right place, but he just wasn’t sure why he was there. The voice on the intercom sounded strange, but it was definitely Ben. When he had gotten the call at the Cove, he had been closing the shop. He hadn’t seen Ben in three months and had been genuinely happy to hear from him. “Chucky, this is Ben Washington—the guy that used to come into the Computer Cove a while ago….” 

“Ben! I know who you are! Where you been man? You sound a little different. You got a cold?” 

“Uh no, I’ve got…listen…I need to ask a big favor of you.” 

“Sure, anything man, what’s up?” 

The request had been strange enough. Bring the largest size sweats he could find—and a pizza. He always thought Ben was a great guy—never could understand why he hung around with that jerk Devin, but Chucky had learned a long time ago not to ask too many questions. At the moment, he had a million of them. He decided to hold them until he got inside. He rang the buzzer. A voice from inside said, “Come on in, the door’s open.” Again, it sounded oddly like Ben, but deeper and labored. He shifted his packages—he had raided his closet and found a couple of 6 and 7X sweatsuits that he had bought a while ago—and opened the door and walked in. 

There on the couch was the biggest man he had ever seen…and he was stark naked. He was sitting on the couch, breathing heavily. His fat was everywhere—his gut hung almost to his ankles and his round face and double chins jiggled as he shifted to hide his nudity—he needn’t have bothered. He must have been one of Ben’s relatives—the resemblance was clear. However, this guy must have been at least 500 pounds heavier than Ben. 

“Hi Chucky,” the fat man said. “Uh, hi…um…I’m here to see Ben Washington. Sorry to walk in on you like this.” 

“It’s okay…” the fat man puffed. “Chucky, it’s me…Ben.” 

Suddenly Chucky quavered. He looked closely at the eyes encased in the fat man’s face. He knew those eyes well. His knees went weak, and he dropped the clothes and the pizza. His mouth opened, but no sound emerged. “I know…” Ben started. “…It’s a pretty dramatic change. Let me see if I can explain….”

He was about to go on when he found himself tackled by the ex-football player. Chucky had bounded over the clothes and food and landed on the couch on top of the obese Ben, straddling him. Ben felt the unmistakable pressure of the biggest penis he had ever felt. Chucky was as hard as a rock. The football player took Ben’s face into his large hands and caressed him so softly that he moaned. Chucky then plunged his thick tongue into Ben’s lips and Ben found himself opening his mouth and welcoming the heat of the other man’s desire. 

They kissed for a full five minutes before Chucky pulled back, breathless. “I’ve had a thing for you ever since the first day you walked into my shop” Chucky panted. “I always said, ‘this man would look incredible as a big roly-poly ball of fat’…I don’t know how you did it, but you are the most beautiful man I have ever seen.” 

Ben took a good long look at Chucky. He too had changed. He had clearly added a good 50 or 60 pounds to his frame since the last time they had seen each other. He saw this golden brown linebacker as he had never dared before. He suddenly realized that all the times he had told himself that he had gone into the Computer Cove because Chucky looked so much like Devin, he had been lying to himself. He went because he wanted to be near Chucky. Chucky was kind, sensitive, generous, and compassionate. He had been falling in love. He was in love and had been for a very long time. What a day! He had fallen in love with himself and the man of his dreams all within a matter of hours. 

Chucky wiped away the sweat from Ben’s forehead. It seemed every activity caused the big man to perspire. “Make love to me” Ben whispered as Chucky caressed his cheek. “Show me how to enjoy this body.” 

Chucky made a deep growl, which to Ben sounded like a gigantic bear in heat. He could feel the linebacker’s member leaping in his tight sweats as Chucky began to lick Ben’s entire body. When he got to his breasts, he cupped each giant tit and began kneading. Taking it into his mouth, he licked and sucked—savoring each sensation. Ben realized that Chucky was eating him, very much like he would a sumptuous banquet. It made him hungrier for food and this man. Chucky found every spot and fold of flesh on Ben’s body and worked it the same way—fucking the fat with desire and hunger. They came together over and over again. Ben had never experienced anything like it. When it was over, they ordered 300 dollars worth of food and fed each other late into the night before drifting off to sleep in a miasma of gluttony and desire.

Epilogue:

There were several things about being immobile that Ben found frustrating. The most was not being able to see the fruits of his work over the past five years. From the station Chucky had built for him in the back of the Computer Cove, Ben had a view of the entire shop and the street beyond. He also had every modern convenience known to man—including a well-stocked supply of food to keep him company while he worked on his graphics. Now that he and Chucky were partners in love AND the business, he was able to use his skills to help open 10 more Computer Coves across the country. In addition, in his spare time create the world of his fantasies. The wire sources carried the first story hours after the NIH had released the results of their studies. 96% of American men had suddenly become obese. The average weight of men over 18 was 300 pounds. He had made the world fat. 

From his incline bench, he could see gigantic men waddling down the street and squeezing their way into shops. Fast-food chains were doing a booming business, with former Super Size meals now being the “small” on the menu. Brad Pitt was People magazine’s “Sexiest Man of the Year” weighing in at a svelte 400 pounds. 

Life would have been perfect if Ben could get out and see more of what he had created with his software. However, there were incredibly great things about weighing over 1500 pounds. His capacity for food was phenomenal. He could eat so much that feeding him became the sixth-largest source of revenue for the city. Moreover, with every feeding, his gigantic 600-pound husband loved him with more gusto than the pound before. Devin, however, did not find the same pleasure in his new body. Ben had morphed him into the fattest man in the world. Weighing in at over 3000 pounds, the National Institute of Health had sequestered him to be used as the prime case study in their obesity experiments. Life was extremely good.

“Ben?”

It was Chucky. Ben realized that he had been standing over the bargain bin with the “Morph” software staring into space for over ten minutes. “Everything okay?” Chucky asked, a genuine look of concern on his face. Chucky was so fucking beautiful, Ben thought. “Had a rough morning” was his reply as he placed the CD back in the bargain bin. “Just daydreaming a bit.” 

“Oh…thought you may have been pining over your buddy. Haven’t seen you and him around together in a while. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but…are you two still seeing each other?” “Oh, my GOD” Ben thought. “He DOES know about me!” Maybe coming to the Computer Cove after this morning’s office disaster wasn’t such a good idea. 

“Fuck it” Ben thought. He could lie and play it off like the brothers do, but he was tired of playing. “Yeah…” he said, “…we broke up.” Chucky stuttered, “Listen, I know I’m taking my life in my hands when I say this, but I’m glad. He just seemed like a real asshole. You deserve better. I was just wondering if we could go out sometime for a bite to eat. I just think you’re a real nice guy, and I’d like to get to know you. Besides, you’re hot as hell. A little more meat on you wouldn’t hurt, but hot as hell just the same.” 

Chucky blushed but held Ben’s gaze. “Funny you should mention that, big man.” Ben rubbed Chucky’s stomach. “I’ve been looking for someone to help me bulk up a bit. Are you up for that job?” Ben glanced down at Chucky’s crotch and noticed the unmistakable stirring of a sleeping giant. Some things you don’t have to make up. He knew he had hit the right nerve. On their way out to lunch, Ben glanced back at the CD in the bin. The strip glistened in the sunlight. As he prepared himself for the start of many very large meals with this man, he thought to himself: “That is some powerful software.”

The End

 Copyright 2003 by FBC. All rights reserved.