#i’ll probably make a larger info post at some point

[dusty-rubies]

im trying to draw stuff for this but. scp deltarune au. you get me.

[simpsdept]

Yandere Carmilla x Alastors! daughter reader (platonic)

Words: 2.1k

Requested: I_Love_Carmilla_Carmine

“Here to Stay”

A/n: sorry I haven’t posted for a while! I’m working on my school and have been busy! I’ll probably be writing more again on the weekend! Sorry the fight scene is bad!!!

Info: the reader gets left to Carmilla to take care of, Carmilla loved the reader like her own child, and doesn’t want her to leave. And Carmilla will go far to ensure she won’t

Sitting at her desk in her office, Carmilla writes and reads her documents. During this time she hears a knock on her door, she says a stern “enter” for whoever is out there. Turning around to face the door, she sees..Alastor? And a young child, you, near him. “Alastor? What is it that you need?” She asked stern, a little confused and polite.

“Hello Carmine! I have some business I need to attend to! And I came here asking for a favor!” He states in his usual radio and happy tone, a large smile planted on his face.

“Do tell..” Carmilla waits for what he wants, wondering why an overlord like himself would be asking for a favor in the first place.

“You see this little darling? This is my daughter [Name]! And I need you to keep her under your wing for a while.” He motioned to you, gently pushing you forward to see Carmilla. Shy and young, you look down and avert your eyes from Carmillas, she really was much more intimidating.

Carmillas gaze softened as she looked down at your shy form, then looked back at Alastor. “How long are you expected to be gone?”

“Oh, not that long..maybe a few days, but this little darling won’t cause you any trouble!” He said in his usual tone, smiling.

“I guess I can make some time for her..” Carmilla says looking down at you. She had a thing for children, she loved them, and when looking at you her heart softened.

“I give you my thanks” Alastor smiled and knelt down to you, a genuine grin on his face. “I will see you soon my dear, make sure you’re behaving for Carmilla here.” He said and gave your shoulder a pat.

“Okay..” you say and give him a quick hug, Alastor hugged back and stood up, saying his good byes and walking out the room. You turn to Carmilla, looking up at her.

“Come now little one..” she held her larger hand out to you, waiting for you to take it. You hesitated, but eventually took her hand, maybe you’d get use to Carmilla when your fathers out for the next couple of days.

…

…

…

Seven years. It’s been seven years since you’ve seen your father…that man that raised you in your earlier life..the man you wanted to see again. You got use to Carmilla after a few weeks when your father didn’t return like he promised. You were young and needed comfort, and study life and household, and lucky for you Carmilla was willing to give it to you, along with a caring mother figure, herself, and her daughters being your older sisters.

Though, she did act a lot more protective over you. You never had a mother so you just thought that mothers do this and it’s completely normal. It went from small things like telling her exactly where you’re going when you leave the house, and then started to get worse to the point she won’t even let you leave.

She grew possessive and overprotective. She was still kind, caring, and motherly, just more controlling. She loved you, like you were one of her daughters. You basically were, you spent seven years of your life at her house, being raised by her, she’s practically your mother.

Sighing softly, you stand up, looking around your room, which Carmilla had provided you a few years back. It was a medium room, larger than the one you had at your father’s place..and Carmilla made sure you had everything you needed. Clothes, a comfortable bed, and desk, food, everything. Right now, it was currently Saturday, so you headed to the kitchen, seeing Carmilla already making breakfast.

“Buenos Dias Hija, how are you?” She asked, serving you a plate of food. As always, the food smells and looks delicious, she really was the best cook you knew.

“Morning..I’m fine..” you say and start to eat. You’ve grown accustomed to her Spanish, she actually taught you how to speak it a few years ago. Odette and Clara woke up soon after, sitting in the living room and flipping the Tv on, like usual, this is how your older sisters started their Saturday mornings.

Turning your attention to the Tv in the living room, taking bites of your breakfast, you saw they were watching Vox’s channel. One of the VVV’s. Carmilla sighed and ignored the tv, she never liked the VVV’s, to her they were respect-less or inane, she never respected them as much as she did to the other overlords.

You watched it with your sisters, seeing he sounded like he was sorta singing? That was normal in hell so you weren’t surprised but…what he was saying caught your attention. “So, the Radio Demon is back in town”

…

…

…

…dad..?

He was back? You stopped eating and moved to the living room, sitting on the couch and watching…oh shit..he’s back..and you felt yourself grow excited that he’s back, wanting to see him, wanting to hug him, but also slight anger with how long he left you.

You stand up and rush to the door, but Carmilla grabbed your arm before you could. “[Name]? Where are you going?” She asked, worried.

“Didn’t you hear the tv! My dad’s back! I need to go see him!” You exclaim excitedly, thinking that Carmilla will be glad for you and let you.

Carmilla tensed and shook her head, eyes widening slightly at the thought of you returning to that man. “No..no my dear..it isn’t safe for you to go with him..”

You look at her, confused. “What..? Why not? He’s my father..” you asked, why was she keeping you from seeing him? She trusted him right? She trusted you right?

“That means nothing…he’s too dangerous and I will not allow him near you” Carmilla narrowed her eyes, and yanked you away from the front door. Carmilla sends a look at Clara and Odette, making them stand up and head to their rooms. “We will not discuss this any further. You are not going out to see him.” Carmilla demands.

You couldn’t believe it, your father finally came back and now Carmilla wasn’t letting you see him? You decided to fight back, not obeying her wishes. “No! He’s my dad! I want to see him! I miss him.” You say and tried to pull your arm out of her grip, but she’s stronger.

“I said we will not be discussing this! That man left you, he is the Radio demon! He is far too dangerous for you to be living with him!” She raised her voice more, usually when she did raise her voice, you’d back down..but not this time. You wanted to see him, you wanted to see your father.

“Let me go!” You yelled back at her, pulling and tugging at her arm, not letting your guard down, not going to give in.

“No! Listen to your mother!” She raised her voice even more, her pupils dilating at your stubborn form, she grits her teeth, her sharp fangs exposed.

“You’re not my mother!” You yell at her without a second thought. Carmilla froze, then she glared down at you. How dare you say that. She is practically your mother, the closest thing you had to one. And here you were, wanting to run back to the father who abandoned you.

Her grip tightens on your arm, she gave you a harsh tug and pulled you closer. “You will not see him. Do you understand?! He is not your father, he is not your parent and you will never see him again!” She snarled. You looked down, starting to tear up. You didn’t want to believe it, but it you knew it was true. “And for your disobedience…” she started, then dragged you upstairs to a room. She pushed you inside, slamming the door and locking it shut from the outside.

You panic and try opening the door, banging and banging on it, begging from the outside to make her let you out. But your cries fell silent on her, her heart hurt for your cries, but she knew you needed to be kept away, she knew you needed to be with her, your her family. And she will make sure it stays that way.

…

…

…

It’s been a few days. You ave been stuck in that room the whole time, crying. You knew Carmilla was protective but not this protective. She did come in and see you, offering you comfort and food. At first you didn’t take the comfort, mad at her still, but you gave in after the first 3 days, you felt so alone.

In her office, Carmilla was gathering and working on some paperwork, when she heard a knock on her front door, she demands one of her hellhounds to answer it, and then they come running back with their tail between their legs.

“Ma’am..it’s the radio demon” they inform. Carmillas eyes narrow. She stands up and thanked the hellhound, making her way to the door.

“Alastor?..Lovely to see you. I see you’ve returned after all that time..how are you?” She stated calmly with false politeness and welcome.

“Ah! Well I was quite busy you know! My business went a little longer than I wanted it to! “He continued to smile and speak in his usual upbeat tone. “Now for why I’m here…I haven’t forgotten about my precious girl, and I am thankful that you have been taking good care of her, but I can take her under my wings again” he said and held his hand out.

Carmilla narrowed her eyes. You were not his precious girl, not anymore. He abandoned you, and she wasn’t going to let that slide. “Actually..she is quite happy here now. She doesn’t wish to go back.” Carmilla stated, standing up tall and looking down at Alastor with a hard glare.

Alastors kept his smile, though a hint of malice was shown. “Oh I don’t think I was asking there Carmine. I want my daughter back.” He said a little more demanding.

“And I say no. You are no longer a guardian in her life. You left her in my hands to raise, and so I did. You are taking one of my children away, a mothers child. Do not come back here again” Carmilla sneered, trying to keep her cool. Alastors eyes narrowed at her.

“Now now, no need to get so pissy, just hand her over and I’ll be out on my way, don’t make me take her from you.” Alastor threats. He wanted to see you again. Sure he left you due to some…business, but he still loved you dearly.

“Leave. Respectfully. I do not want to force you either.” Carmilla placed her clenched hands behind her back, attempting to look more stern and calm. Alastor tried to walk into her house, but Carmilla blocked him, her sharp fangs bared and a glare on her face. “Leave us be.”

Alastor chuckled, angered and irritated. “I didn’t want to do this the hard way darling…” he grabbed his staff (???), and hit it on the ground, weird black tentacle looking things came out of the ground, headed towards Carmilla. Carmilla reacted fast, quick on her feet she dodged and jumped into the air, her angelic shoes sharp, she lands a kick on one of the tentacles, slicing it in half. Alastor sent another source of attack at Carmilla, some green gooish power. Dodging once again, Carmilla aims her attack At Alastor, kicking him harshly, Alastor grunts and gets thrown onto the ground, his mouth and head bleeding, smiling and growling softly he tries to get up, grabbing his staff(??). Bug before he could Carmilla stomped on it with her angelic shoes. Snapping it in half. She placed a leg over Alastors torso, inches away from sinking into it and stabbing him. “You have 10 seconds to leave before I end your pathetic life.” Carmilla sneered with pure venom.

Reluctantly, Alastor faded off, the black goo covering and disappearing while he leaves. “I’ll be back dear” he says before escaping to recover.

Carmilla led out a deep breath. Glaring at the small amount of black goo that was left behind. She looked up at the picture on the wall with you, her, and Clara and Odette.

“I will protect this family …no matter what.”

[wingfril]

I bought wayyyy too much merch recently. I realized that I now make enough to buy basically whatever (dgm) merch I want, so maybe it’s time to start a little series on the things you can buy and some info about them.

I don’t plan on collecting every piece of dgm merch — badges, paper trading cards cups, tshirts, and larger canvas arts don’t interest me much, and whilst I want to buy some of the original art replicas, I don’t have space to store them (yay for living near nyc). As such, I probably wouldn’t cover them much or at all. I will also only cover more recent merch as they’re easier to come by. This post will just be a little preview about things.

Almost all of my merch comes from mercari, there’s also a decent amount coming soon from the Chinese equivalent of mercari (the shipping is significantly cheaper but also takes significantly longer). The Chinese and Japanese side of the fandom can get fanatical about their merch, but I don’t hear about it as much in the US.

Most dgm merch is from the original art exhibition. There’s a few pieces selling for 10x their original value (I’m looking at you, Allen and neah acrylic board). They’re beautiful and very hard to come by at this point. I’ll go into details about them at some point.

Shueisha also sells merch directly, either in person at their stores or at jumpfest. Animate also sells dgm stuff every once in a while.

Then theres so stuff that got released with the anime.

There’s also some more exclusive items that only come from either attending an event in person or from lottery drawings. Those are the most expensive pieces. There’s a piece of plastic of Allen that’s being listed for about 1.2k usd. It’s not just listing price either — it has been sold for about 1k.

Also as plug I’m selling extra items I got here https://www.mercari.com/u/wingfril?sv=0. They’re basically the same as it took for me to buy them from Japan. Sadly there’s definitely some items that are more expensive to acquire than others just based off of how recent the artwork is and who the characters on it are.

[farahsamboolents]

As I said in my reblog, I am so incredibly grateful for you hard work on the map! Thank you so much from all Stranger Things fans and fic writers! I understand if you just want to bask in the glow of creation for while! I don't want you to think I'm out here asking for more immediately after this gift. But I'm curious and was wondering if you'd ever consider making another version one day where you add the rough places you imagine the homes of all the characters to be based on the info we have? I will be referring to your map for my fics from now on and I'll probably do some cross-referencing with the wiki info on where the characters live and add some notes and dots purely for myself on my own computer and never share it. But yeah, I was wondering if that was something you'd consider doing in the future? 😊

hi!!! omg thank you so much :D

first off, i actually totally am. i’m actually drafting a video right now where i speculate where at least the wheelers and sinclairs live right now, you can catch that on tiktok if you’re into that sort of thing — but really, the point of the video is to roast the hell out of the map because it kinda makes no sense 😂

i will also be making a modified version specifically for my sarge series fics (shameless self promo 😎) because in my fic i set the fire station at the top of the town and in this map it’s in the middle. plus a couple other things just for me. anyway, i’ll definitely specify where everyone lives in the canon of my own fic.

second off, i actually totally give you permission to modify and post the thing, as long as you keep the credit — i can even post a version where my username is larger if that makes you feel better about using it?

third off, THANK YOU AGAIN! i am so proud of my squiggly lines, and honestly im so so so hooked on making maps now, so we’ll see where this new hobby takes me from here on out!

[eddsworld-the-masquerade]

Blog update: “About” and “Characters” pages rewrite 

First of, happy new year everyone! Hoping this one doesn’t end me for good haha. 

As stated above, “About” and “Characters” pages have been updated with new info, character description, sheets and art (which you see in this post). You’ll need to open the blog in browser in order to view these pages. Keep in mind that it’s all subject to change given that the story is still in early development (I wrote down 1/4 of the script plan so far) and I might get rid of things I feel I can’t utilize properly. 

I’m also opening the ask box again, so if the text inspires you or makes you wonder certain things, you can drop your message there :) I can’t promise I’ll be quick to answer and I probably won’t be able to answer all of your asks but I’ll do my best to read through them all. 

Under the cut is rest of the concept art (and some of my rambling) so I don’t make the post too bloated to scroll through:

Edd’s style is still considered “weird” but in a more obnoxious and bold way. It’s screaming “Look at me! Look at me! I’ll have you look my way like it or not!”. I like the silly thought of him coming to embrace larger suits thanks to his sire. It is comfortable! And one of the kind - if you were wondering for what purpose Edd needs sewing skills, that’s the answer :)  

Tord lost his iconic sweater and scarf. I gotta say I wasn’t sure if bare chest idea would work out but I’m glad I tried it cuz heck yeah it did. Love it or hate it Tord doesn’t give a damn 😎   His fake horns are now slicked back which makes him look like a disgruntled kitten lol And I added a belt buckle, it’s a skull being crushed by a hammer (roughly designed after thor’s hammer as a nod to his origin); it carries a certain personal significance too 

Matt style is still inspired by vintage suits and illustrations but customized for personal taste. Like the vest being asymmetrical, or the suit being more “flappy” and with a big cutout on the back. It’s sort of a way of saying “I might be playing by the rules but I do it my own way”. He is ultimate bishounen now and his power is mesmerizing enemies with that iconic anime stare and sound effects (this is a joke, but a joke I love) 

Tom had it worst XD but also I had the most fun with him. The pale yellow parts on his body are supposed to be bone and um...shell...thing...you know when something spends a lot of time in the water in the open sea and you get it out and it’s covered in those THINGS yeah I can’t find the word but hopefully you got my point hahaha. It was hard to keep him as monstrous as possible but also recognizable but I think giving him the monster tom color palette did the job. Also yes he got scales. And the texture I did on his skin is supposed to be semi-transparent...like jello maybe? he’s hideous and a pain to color and i love him lol

I also did this little relationship chart to explain changes in the well relationships in-group! 

[three--rings]

Electric Sanding Book Edges

For a long time I didn’t trim my book edges at all, because I’d tried using a box cutter and that sucked and I tried a chisel and that tore my book up and so I decided it’s fine, I’ll live with rough edges rather than imperfectly trimmed ones.

But then a fellow @renegadepublishing​ person at Havencon told me they used an electric sander and showed me the amazing results.  (Forgive me because I cannot remember your handle...)

I keep telling people about this so thought I’d make a post with all the info to point at.  So here is how I sand my edges. 

SAFETY WARNINGS:

Wear a mask while sanding to keep from inhaling paper dust. And you probably want to wear eye protection as well.  Keep your hands away from the sanding surface while in use (cause finger on electric sander doesn’t feel good I can attest.)  These pictures are taken indoors in a crafting space because it was raining but its best to do this in the open air due to dust, although the sander does capture a lot of it. 

After you’ve sewn your textblock and glued your spine (or before if you want to trim the foreedge before rounding), you need to clamp the textblock in place.  For this example I have already rounded the spine and glued it because I like the look of the uneven foreedge for antique style bindings (and also I forgot and went ahead and rounded it.)

So I’m just sanding top and bottom edges.  So I’m using a 12″ wooden hand clamp from the hardware store.  This is pretty much the perfect size for the top and bottom.  (I intend to modify this clamp into a better approximation of a finishing press but haven’t yet.)  But you can also just use two boards and some clamps, which works great. 

Clamp the text block as tightly as you can.  Here I have some spare book board on either side, but I ended up taking that out because the text block was slipping inside the boards and without the board it stayed in place better.  And since this textblock has waste papers on the outside I’m not worried about marking it. 

Here’s my sander.  You can see all the fine paper dust in the filter.  You will need an assortment of sandpaper grits to fit your model.  I recommend something around 100 grit, and something around 600 grit.  You can also do a third stage of 220 grit in the middle if you want but honestly I find it’s not that important and I’m lazy so I stopped doing that.

In case you don’t know sanders, lower number is rougher and will take off more material.  So you start with the low number paper and sand the edge until most of what you want to take off is gone and the edges are even. 

I have this narrow cardboard box (that a pillow came in) that I rest this clamp on that leaves room for the book.  If you’re using boards and clamps hopefully there’s room for your book to hang down or you’ll have to prop them up on bricks or something. 

After a pass with the rough paper, switch it out for the finer stuff.  The 600 grit is really just a final polish so if you have more to take off stick with the larger grit. 

And here’s the final result.  All my books have some imperfection in the surface as a result of uneven stitching or rounding, and because I haven’t ever tried to take off a huge amount of the edge by sanding.  These files I’m using right now weren’t made with a large margin for trimming.  But overall the level of professional polish goes up SO FAR by sanding.  It doesn’t look nearly as handmade now. 

[kaijuposting]

More on magic in the Pacific Rim universe

I’ve uncovered more things relating to the existence and nature of magic within the Pacific Rim universe (which I first posted about over here), so I figure I’ll share ‘em.

So, I’d initially figured that Newt’s ruling planet being named as Uranus rather than Saturn in the Drift Space special feature to be a mistake. As Uranus is the ruling planet of Aquarius, which follows Capricorn, it would be quite easy for someone glancing at an astrology book to see and copy down the wrong name, and it’s not like del Toro never makes typos. But as it turns out, Guillermo del Toro is in the habit of giving people whatever ruling planets he sees fit. For example, where Capricorn is traditionally ruled by Saturn, he made Capricorn Stacker Pentecost’s ruling planet Mercury. Taurus is traditionally ruled by Venus, but Taurus Mako Mori has Venus and Saturn. (And as there is no objectively “right” or “wrong” way to do astrology, I think this is very groovy of him.) So not only is astrology real within the Pacific Rim universe, but it apparently works a bit differently than most people reckon it. It also means that we can rule out the model where the constellations of the zodiac get their attributes from a specific planet. Instead, it would appear that the planets work in concert with the constellations somehow.

I’d like to speculate that there might be some sort of system or logic that determines one’s ruling planet or planets, but knowing del Toro the answer is probably “whichever one feels right.” So far as magic in his works go, he’s generally preferred simple, intuitive forms that draw from things like folk magic and animism. His astrology sure isn’t Claudius Ptolemy's astrology, that’s for sure. And speaking of animism, here’s where things start to get really fun. The novelization of Pacific Rim contains a lot of extra info interspersed throughout the book that seems to have come from del Toro’s notes. For example, we have “personnel dossiers” that are basically trimmed-down versions of the bios del Toro wrote for the characters. One page in particular contains some very interesting info regarding the long-term effects of drifting. Some rangers begin to feel as if they are persistently connected to a consciousness other than their own, and empty jaegers have been known to show similar movements to their sleeping pilots. Pilots are also left with a persistent feeling that every action they take is enacted elsewhere on a larger scale. The text basically says that this raises the possibility of an “imprinted simulacrum of consciousness” in the jaegers. This appears to be a sciency framing of the old idea that your soul or spirit could be absorbed into objects you have a strong connection with, thus giving you a sympathetic link with said object. It’s also appears to be a sciency framing of the idea that inanimate objects can be imbued with spirit and come to “life.” Now, I say “appears to be” because we know that magic almost certainly exists in the Pacific Rim universe (because astrology can’t be real without magic in some sense being real), but it doesn’t follow that whoever is supposed to have written this text in-universe knows that. They may simply be describing it to the best of their comprehension, unaware that there is another force at play. And of course, if pilots can have this sort of link with their jaegers, it also raises the question of what else people can develop persistent links with, and how. I think we’re all familiar with the concept of ghost drifting at this point. I’ve also talked about the kaiju church, and how it seems likely that at least some people within it have some genuine psychic connection with the Precursors even though it’s probably unlikely they’re drifting with kaiju brains the same way Newt did. I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility that some people found ways to cultivate their own psychic abilities and reach out to the kaiju and henceforth the Precursors of their own volition, because trying to do this kind of thing has always been human nature, often forming the basis of many spiritual and mystical traditions. Again, we’re still left with a lot of unanswered questions here, but the ultimate point is that the Pacific Rim universe appears to be a lot weirder than many people realize, and there’s a lot of wiggle room for fans to plausibly add more overtly magical elements into the setting if that’s something that appeals to them.

[sirfrogsworth]

Alec Goddamn Baldwin posted this to 1.4 million followers. 

Oh bullshit, let me count the red flags.

First red flag... the right side is cut off and you can’t even read it all. I realize you can make it out with context clues, but if you believe you are trying to spread important medical info about a pandemic, maybe make sure all the damn words are visible.

I mean, what drunkard screencapped this? 

Oh. 

Well, good luck with those wine tariffs, Suzanne. 

Thankfully I found a non-cropped version that is just blurry instead. Let’s see what other red flags it contains. 

Second red flag? “A Japanese doctor.” 

No name. No credentials. Just some doctor in Japan somewhere. Are they implying Japanese doctors are smarter or more competent? Are they implying he has some ancient samurai medical wisdom? 

Red flag the third... What is a lung hospital? And is that where you are supposed to go when you get a viral infection? Wouldn’t a virus hospital be better?

Now we’re done with the Japanese doctor for a bit and have moved on to “Taiwanese experts” for our fourth red flag. Apparently, if you hold your breath for 10 seconds you can rule out infection. No need for a fancy test, just stop breathing! Plus, you might even cure your hiccups. 

Okay, back to the non-descript Japanese physician. He provides the “best advice” which is red flag number 5. The best advice is already out there. It was released by the CDC and WHO. The best advice would not be some low-key secret only a rando Japanese doctor would know. 

But let us look at this best advice for red flag number 6. 

“Everyone should make sure the mouth and throat are always moist.” 

That’s a red flag purely because I hate the word moist and wish people would stop using it. 

“Drink some water every 15 minutes. Why not?” 

That’s not terrible or anything. It’s the added “Why not?” that adds a 7th red flag. Can you imagine if doctors tried to convince people to take vaccines by saying, “Take all your shots. Why not?”

And then we get to the real bullshit. The ultimate red flag. The red flag larger than all the others combined. 

Apparently, if you drink the virus, your tummy will kill it. 

Because acid, I guess. 

What if the virus enters through the nose? Should you drink through your nose every 15 minutes? And wouldn’t better advice be about keeping the virus out of your damn mouth in the first place? Ya know, wash your hands, stay away from crowded places, cough in your arm. 

How is “Drink that damn virus right down and KILL THAT FUCKER WITH ACID” the “best advice”? 

So... now that we have determined this is bullshit, how do we counteract this shitty viral post about a virus? 

What is the best solution to quash this disinformation helped along by a glorified Donald Trump impersonator?

I say we fight fire with fire. 

I have created my own shitty screencap for everyone to spread. 

Sorry, I was hitting the wine pretty hard when I capped that. 

It was box wine because that bottled stuff is too pricey. Probably because of tariffs.

You know what, I’ll just copy and paste the actual text.

“Drinking more water, while good for your overall health, will not keep anyone from catching the coronavirus, according to Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University. Schaffner told The Associated Press, “We always caution anyone healthy and people who are sick to keep up fluid intake and keep mucus membranes moist.” He also said: “It makes you feel better; there is no clear indication that it directly protects you against complications.”

--Snopes

Let’s look at the difference. We have an actual doctor’s name that we can look up. We know where he works, which we can also look up. We have a direct quote that can be verified. And there is even a link to the Snopes page for you to read more and check sources. No red flags. No mention of going to the lung hospital. 

Though I am deducting points for the gross but alliterative “keep mucus membranes moist” which is just about the worst sentence in the history of sentences. 

[caffeinatedwasteland]

Campus Memories part 2

Notes: So this took like forever for me to do, only cause I didn’t wanna cut these scenes out of this part. I’m hoping later on to maybe do different routes? I’m just having a fun time writing something for the first time.

Words: Around 2k

The walk over to the science building was longer than I remember it being, occasionally glancing at the classrooms in passing I looked for any sign of the man I’m looking for. Deciding it might be easier to head to the faculty office to see if they have seen Eren. As I make my way closer towards the office I can hear two voices getting more distinct, standing out from the distant chatter of other students and faculty in passing. Rounding the corner I see Eren, or at least I think it’s Eren. With his hair still pulled back, putting most of his weight to one side as he speaks to the man across from him. The other man looks completely opposite to Eren, with his neatly styled blonde hair, freshly groomed beard and glasses resting above his nose. His clothes also give off a much more dominant presence than Eren, his button up looking freshly ironed with no creases, his fancy looking watch resting on his left wrist.

A light brown overcoat tossed over his left arm. Looking at the two and from both styles and how they seem to carry themselves it’s as if different cultures were communicating with one another, making me wonder how they could possibly know each other. Given their standing by the faculty office, maybe the man he’s speaking to is his professor? That could explain the ‘authoritative’ aura surrounding the blonde man, but Eren seems too relaxed to be speaking to someone with authority over him. Eren is clearly more carefree when it comes to not really minding his posture or how he presents himself in public, with a strong free aura about him, while the man in the suit who I can now only assume is the "Zeke" he talked to on his phone, is more dignified, and very "elite" with how his posture is perfect, everything looking tidy and sharp, like someone that doesn't leave any detail go unnoticed. 

As I get closer to the two I can make out words in their conversation. “Don’t be so overly dramatic Eren, you act like I asked you to walk miles.” The blonde man says with a slight chuckle. Before I had realized I was a few steps from them and I felt the man’s gaze catch my own. I go to speak but before any words come out he speaks first “Is there something we can help you with?” I hadn't noticed until now, but now that his strong presence is pointed towards me, I couldn't help but freeze as I was not expecting the sudden shift in focus he had, he didn't change his demeanor in any way compared to when he was speaking to Eren, but now that he's talking to me, I start to wonder how Eren can talk to him as an equal and not be crushed by the pressure he exerts.

 After what felt like an eternity I stuttered with simple words without even thinking. "A lost wallet? And you came all the way here to return it? Such a polite thing to do, I apologize for my scatterbrained brother's lack of attention bringing you trouble." He says as he politely bows his head to me in a respectful manner just before turning to Eren. "Well? I think you owe them an apology, don't you?" He says without giving it a second thought. The pressure I was feeling instantly went away as I noticed Eren's sudden realization of what was going on and how he suddenly bows his head down further than the tall Blonde figure next to him and without any control over his tone he basically shouts "Thank you for bringing this back! I'm sorry to trouble you! I will repay you in any way I can!" This sudden focus of both tall men bowing to me made me feel very self aware so I started reassuring them that it was no problem at all as it was just the right thing to do.

I sent Eren a small smile as I handed back his wallet and he thanked me once more before the man who I now know is Eren’s brother spoke up, “This might sound odd, but now that I’ve gotten a closer look at you, do you not work at the Coffee Cart?” I look at him slightly confused but nod “Oh yeah, I do, that’s how I found Eren’s wallet actually.” He nods his head, placing his hands in his pockets as he leans back slightly “I get my coffee there all the time, the owner happens to be one of my friends. Send Pieck my regards.” 

As I’m leaving the building I hear my stomach growl, when was the last time I ate? It must’ve been around when I first got to work this morning. Normally I get something to eat after my shift but I got caught up in returning Eren’s wallet. Deciding I might as well just get something to eat here since I’m already on campus before I head back to my dorm. While making my way closer to the cafeteria I hear a familiar voice behind me, I turn around to see Eren running towards me. “Hey! I hope this doesn’t come across as creepy. But I wanted to repay you for the trouble of finding me.” He pauses as he stops in front of me, looking a bit flustered. I raise my brow at him waiting for him to continue “Plus, Zeke wasn’t gonna let me leave without offering to repay you. Which I already planned to do! But uh, he suggested I treat you to some food given what time it is. So if you wanna go grab something to eat, Wanna come with me?” He looked down at me nervously shifting his weight from side to side. I adjust my bag on my shoulder and smile back “Sure, that would be nice. I was going to just grab something from the cafeteria before heading to my dorm anyways.” Eren’s eyes seem to light up at my accepting his invitation and he falls into place at my side “So, since we’re going to be eating together...what’s your name? I’m Eren by the way.” He pauses for a second before quickly adding “But you might know that from finding my wallet.” He lets out a nervous chuckle and scratches the back of his neck before turning his head to face me as we walk. “Oh, right! Sorry I forgot to introduce myself. My name’s y/n, it’s nice to meet you Eren.” I hold my hand out to him to shake, his larger hand wrapping around mine, giving a quick shake.

“Cool, y/n, gotcha, I’ll be seeing you around then.” He adds as he lets go of my hand and we start heading to the closest fast food place we both agreed on, “Kenny’s.” The walk toward the restaurant felt short as we spent the time just making small talk, even exchanging contact info, laughing at silly things, even petty things such as pointing out someone's fly being open. Before we knew it we had already arrived at our destination, I even forgot we were getting food by how invested I was in our conversation! It was really unexpected that I would make a friend just from bringing him back his wallet but it’s something I wouldn’t change. Plus despite seeming intimidating upon first glance Zeke seems to be polite and clearly cares a lot for Eren, hopefully he wasn’t offended by me feeling intimidated by him. 

I reach out and open the door, holding it open for Eren, the scent of varying dishes hitting my nose as I look over to see the hostess leaning forward with her chin resting on her hand and other arm on the podium in front of her before she notices us. She looks at us for a second and with what seems like her best attempt at covering the fact she is tired and just wants her shift to be over, forces a smile before picking up two menus and sets of cutlery from in front of her “Table for two?” She questions plainly. I nod at her as she starts sluggishly leading us to our table and I glance around the restaurant. It’s nothing fancy, just a little family style restaurant with warm lighting, booths lining the outer walls, each one having its own window and light hanging above it. In Between the rows of booths there sit some smaller tables, the whole restaurant is coloured with neutral browns and other plain colours giving it a more homey feeling. More well known for their breakfast foods over their lunch and dinner options, a good place to go after a long night of partying.  The hostess stops by a booth and places down the menus and cutlery “Your server will be with you shortly” she adds before turning around and heading her way back to her post at the podium, yawning as she walks. Eren and I pick up our menus, scanning over them to decide what to order. I get pulled from my thoughts by a voice asking us for our drink orders before I go back to browsing the menu. Deciding on my order I close the menu and place it on the end of the table, looking across the table at Eren I raise a brow, noticing his gaze following after the server as he walks away. “So I noticed you've been distracted by him ever since he showed up to take our drink orders, do you... you know... swing that way? Maybe have a thing for our server?” I question, Eren quickly turns back to face me “What? No! It’s not like that” he quickly waves his hands to dismiss the idea “he's my friend Reiner, but he's always so focused on work he probably didn't notice I was around” he lets out a small laugh adding “that’s so like him too, I’m just waiting for him to notice so I can bug him about it.” 

Eren puts down his menu as our server, Reiner, makes his way back to our table and places our drinks down in front of us and picks up the menus. As he takes my order I take my time to take in his appearance, he’s tall like Eren is but he’s more broad and muscular, even more defined by his work uniform. He has short blonde hair neatly styled, golden coloured eyes and a neutral facial expression. He looks rather intimidating, but Eren doesn’t seem bothered. His voice is deep, he’s polite but seems to take his job seriously, in contrast to the hostess. Reiner then turns his focus to Eren and his eyes widen slightly before relaxing “Oh Eren, I didn’t realize it was you” he states, looking more casual than before. "Responsible as always, aren't you, Reiner?" said Eren in a sarcastic but respectful way. "Haha, I guess so, what brings you here anyways? I don't see you here often" said the blonde man, his tone way more friendly than before but not losing that polite feel to it, either he must have worked in customer service for a long time before, or he's just naturally polite despite his looks. "Just repaying y/n here for them helping me out." said Eren as both their gazes turned to me. "O-Oh, it was nothing much, really. Just doing what anyone else would do" I hastily reply as the sudden attention catches me off guard. "Not many people would just straight up go across the whole campus to return a wallet! Even more so with all its contents still inside! You are a really good person, don't demerit yourself!" Eren replies adamantly, as if me not acknowledging my actions was somehow disrespectful to him. "He's right, you know. Not many people would go through all of that just to do a good deed, I respect that." added Reiner to it, just as adamantly as Eren but without the same amount of energy behind it that Eren put into it, but at the same time without losing the impact. I can feel my cheeks warming up as I can't help but smile at the compliments and end up just graciously admitting my loss in this argument and accept the praise. 

Reiner then picked up the menus and went to put our orders in at the kitchen. I then shifted my focus back onto Eren to find he was already staring back at me, leaning his chin in his hand “So, what do you think of Reiner?” he questioned while raising a brow before taking a sip of his drink. “He seems nice, I wouldn’t have figured you’d be friends” I reply with a short laugh when Eren looks at me confused, “not in a bad way, you just don’t look like you would hang out” I quickly add, nervously ruffling my hair, hoping I didn’t just accidentally offend him. Eren starts laughing as I just stare at him and tilt my head waiting for him to speak “Yeah, Reiner and I only met through some mutual friends of ours, so I get what you mean,” he says between his laughs. I hadn’t realized just how hungry I was when our food arrived, and it seemed like Eren was as well given we didn’t talk much and mainly focused on eating. 

When Reiner returned with our bill Eren quickly grabbed it before I could even glance at the total “You really don’t have to pay for me, Eren” I insisted while reaching out to grab the bill from his hands before he moved it out of my reach “No way! y/n I told you that I was gonna pay you back for returning my wallet and that’s what I’m gonna do!” Eren pushes my hand back and then opens the little book holding the bill, his expression falling slightly as he reaches to grab his wallet and seems to be counting bills. He pulls out some bills and places them in the book before looking sheepishly between Reiner and I, a faint flush to his face and ears before he mumbles “I might be a little short on cash” I immediately reach for my bag on the booth seat and start to look for my own wallet as I hear a laugh, but it’s too deep to be Eren’s, I look over and see it’s Reiner but he’s clearly trying to muffle it with his fist “Eren hand me the bill, will you?” He questions after clearing his throat. “Well you aren’t too short, so I guess I can cover you this time. But you owe me” Reiner adds, reaching into his pants pocket for his own wallet, I quickly retract my hands from my bag and quickly wave at him to stop “y-you don’t have to do that! I can just pay whatever is left on the bill!” Reiner looks over at me with a smile “No, it’s fine, Eren said he was gonna pay you back right? He still is. He just now owes me a little bit for helping to do that.” Eren nods his head “Thanks Reiner, I really owe you one now. Seriously don’t worry about it y/n, I’d feel bad having you pay after I made you come here.”

 Reiner waves his hand to say goodbye to us as he leaves with the bill in hand, wishing us a good night. I quickly find my wallet and place a few bills on the table as a tip for him after Eren has already started to head for the door. When we reach the door Eren holds it open for me and once we’re outside he says “Hey it’s pretty dark out here now, would you like me to walk you home?” I glanced around, noticing the street lights had come on already. As much as I would enjoy spending more time with Eren as I head back to my dorm, I worry about how my roommate would react to seeing him. She’s not a bad person just can make some weird and embarrassing comments at my own expense and I’d rather not have her be like that when I just met him. “That’s really nice of you, and I really appreciate the offer but I think I’ll be good to go by myself. Maybe next time you can walk me back?” I smile up at him and adjust my bag on my shoulder, hopefully he doesn’t think my offer of walking me home next time is too forward or something. I just had a really fun time with him and hope to be able to hang out in the future. 

Eren spends a moment just staring down at me, his eyes searching my face but for what I’m not too sure. “Alright, but you have my number so let me know you get there in one piece.” My smile widens at his response, he doesn’t seem weirded out by my comment so that’s a plus.  “Okay, I’ll send you a text so you know I’m alive” I joke as I turn to head towards the dorm, mentally preparing myself for the teasing I’ll get from my roommate when she finds out why I didn’t head straight back to our dorm after work.

[cidira]

How to Update TS4 Custom Skin Colors for Patch 1.69 with Sims4Studio

EDIT 12/22/2020: S4S has updated with a batchfix and several other related improvements; so I’ll be updating this post soon to focus more on editing already-fixed files (and to update the names of the fields). 

You can use this method to update any non-default custom skin COLORS, as well as defaults that are not texture-only (but not any other type of skin-related custom content, and not texture-only defaults which already needed updating after the October patch), that do not work after the December 2020 skintone patch. (This is particularly relevant to Macintosh users who can’t use CmarNYC’s automated tools, or to people who just want to do it themselves at least once so they have a better idea what’s under the hood.)

You can also use this method to change whether custom skin colors that already work in the game show up as Warm, Neutral, Cool, or Miscellaneous, or to change the values of the light-dark sliders on custom skin colors. (This is particularly relevant to people who have downloaded a creator’s own updated version of their custom skin colors, but have totally different ideas about where they should appear in CAS.)

It’s possible S4S may later add prettier GUI tools for at least some of this process. If so, I’ll update to mention it.

I am going to assume that you have some basic familiarity with Sims4Studio and not tell you how to open a package file in it. Skintone packages don’t have the Studio tab, only the Warehouse. You’ll see something like this (which is the upper left part of the S4S window):

(You might also see other resource types, but in this tutorial I’m only working with the things that say SKINTONE. This tutorial also doesn’t cover updating RLE2 image resources to LRLE, which may be necessary in some cases, as there are already multuple good tutorials on how to do that.)

There will be one Skintone resource for each skin color in your package. (That could be quite a few.) You’ll need to follow these steps for each one, or any that you skip won’t show up in game. (If you click on the Type header, it will sort the contents of the package file by type so that all the Skintone resources are together in the list.)

The fields inside the Skintone resources (and resources in general) are listed in alphabetical order in S4S, so we’ll update them in alphabetical order. Click on the first Skintone resource you want to edit, and here’s what you’ll look for next:

The F1-F3 fields are the slider values. (EA hasn’t shared the technical specs for the new version of the CASPart resource yet, so we don’t know what their proper names are.) You don’t have to change them to make the skin color work, but you do have to change them to make the slider work; sliders with no values are not disabled, but work poorly. If you’re fixing the skin color for the first time, all the numbers I highlighted in yellow will be zeroes before you change them. Unless you specifically want to fool around with these values, you should set them exactly as shown, which is the same way that EA skin colors  are set. 

If you do want to fool around with them, F1 is the minimum value, F2 is the maximum value, and F3 is the increment the slider moves by. If you want a larger or smaller range, you can try things like setting F1 to -0.07 and F2 to 0.07 (bigger) or setting F1 to -0.03 and F2 to 0.03 (smaller). Beyond that, you can experiment as much as you want; you can’t break anything in a way that can’t be fixed by changing them back to the EA values.

Next you’ll want to scroll down near the bottom of the Skintone resource, where you’ll see a section like this:

We need to make sure all three of these fields are updated. Unlike the sliders, these are needed for the skin color to show up at all. 

TanFlags might already be set to 3, since it was introduced in Island Living and your skin colors may have already been updated for that. If it is not, change it.

U1 is the field that determines whether each skin color shows up as Warm (U1 = 1), Neutral (2), Cool (3), or Miscellaneous (4). THIS AFFECTS GENETICS. If both parents have Warm, Neutral, or Cool skin colors, then their kids will have skin colors based on, but not necessarily identical to, their skin colors. (More on that in a bit.) If at least one parent has a Miscellaneous skin color, then their kids will get the same skin color as one parent or the other.

Version tells the game which version of the Skintone resource the skin color is using, and must be set to 0000000B. 

Once you’ve changed everything, save your package file for safety, then start over with the next Skintone resource and continue until done.

Re: genetics, my info is based on my own testing in CAS. Also, which skin color kids whose parents all have Warm/Neutral/Cool skin colors get is based on both those values and how light or dark the game thinks each color is is. 

If Sim A has the lightest warm skin color and Sim B has the darkest warm skin color, then their kids could have any warm skin color, but not a neutral or cool one. If Sim A has the darkest warm skin color and Sim B has the lightest neutral skin color, their kids could have any warm or neutral skin color. If Sim A has a fairly light cool skin color and Sim B has a very light neutral skin color, their kids could have any cool or neutral skin color that is fairly to very light. You can probably extrapolate from there, or do some of your own testing. A warm/cool pair does not appear produce any kids with neutral skin colors, so neutral doesn’t seem to be considered a middle point between warm and cool.

Miscellaneous skin colors don’t participate in this system because the EA Misc colors for humans alone include green, blue, red, blue-white, and a small range of greys. It’s just straight up one parent’s skin color or the other. 

Telling the game to put a skin color in the Warm/Neutral/Cool bins does not necessarily mean that the game will correctly understand how light or dark the skin color is. I have not played with this in the game yet (and EA’s own ordering of swatches doesn’t seem perfectly based on light/dark value either, though it’s clearly at least approximately based on it), but I have some ideas about it. If I learn anything useful later, I might add it, or make and link a separate tutorial. 

That’s all I’ve got! At least 95% of the important information in this post came from conversations with CmarNYC, who I’m pretty sure knows at least as much about CAS content in TS4 as anybody else who doesn’t work for EA. I just wrote it up and added screenshots to it.

Let me know if there’s anything in here that is unclear, or if you run into something that doesn’t match with the info here, and I’ll try to clarify/investigate. I’m also often hanging around on the Creator Musings Discord (as are many other people who may be able to help, that’s what it’s for!) since Tumblr is (still) a terrible way to have a conversation. 

[eevee-haze]

Aight so It's... not news to literally anyone that I like Ink sans a lot as a concept, and his birthday is today, so I figured what better way to celebrate his birthday than to make a brand new AU (or at least post the info for it)! Or I guess three since I'm working on Swap and Fell variants for it as well.

One of my main questions about the Underground was "how do they handle seismic activity" which was how this AU started forming. It's probably not at all scientifically accurate in the least, but oh well. I call it Rifttale. Cause the earthquakes cause literal rifts in the mountain lmao. I'll put the rest under a read more since this'll get long.

The idea of Rifttale is that Mt Ebott is located on a fault line, and all the hollowing out the monsters had to do made the mountain extremely unstable, and that problem only increased the more the underground's population grew. It's pretty dangerous underground in Rifttale what with the constant threat of cave in due to poor structural integrity and the fact that they don't really have much to work with to make their homes and businesses quake resistant. A fair portion of houses get rubble rained down on them and something always needs fixing.

All four sections of the underground remain, but the layout and placement are different. (And probably larger scale) For example, Snowdin is located near the top of the mountain since snow from the peak falls in through the cracks left in the roof of the cavern, and Hotland is at the very bottom of the mountain, where lava has surged up from the seismic activity. Both Waterfall and New Home are around the mid section, but are separated by a thick wall of rubble that followed a quake that happened maybe days before Frisk fell.

Sans

The man of many jobs adds two more responsibilities to the list rather begrudgingly in this AU. As one of the only Monsters capable of gravity manipulation and teleportation in Snowdin, he and his brother are tasked with being emergency responders in case of an earthquake as well as assisting with any initial construction steps in order to make bridges across newly formed gaps. Sans often gets called to other regions for his services too, but he really doesn't appreciate it.

Frankly he's convinced the mountain's going to crush them before they get the final soul they need, which is part of why he agrees to keep Frisk safe so easily. He doubts anything will change about their predicament with or without them. A No-Mercy route in Rifttale would see him saying things like "Couldn't have waited for the mountain to get us?" Or "I think I would have preferred a cave-in."

Something Rift!Sans doesn't really tell people is that he's blind in his right eye. When he and Papyrus were little, he shielded Papyrus from falling rocks during a quake, and one of them got him good just above his right eye. Most of the injury healed but it left a nasty crack in his socket which prevented him from actually being able to see. He can light the socket, and does so strangers don't needlessly worry about him, but it can't light up all the way like his left does.

Papyrus

Ah yes the sunshine boy. Personality wise he's not that different in this AU. He still wants to be in the guard and he's still confident and friendly, but sometimes he gets a little subdued and worried about Sans since Rift!Sans is much more obvious about his emotional/mental struggles. Another notable part is that he's being kept out of the guard mostly because he's more useful in the emergency unit. He's strong and capable enough to be a guard, but he's too soft, so they gave him a job that was helpful while playing to his strengths.... though like a silly he doesn't see the admirers he has and still hopes to become a guardsman one day.

Frisk & Chara

These two are interesting in this AU. Chara was around 13-14 when they died and spent years underground with the Dreemurrs before their death. They have a strong distaste for their own kind for several reasons, among which being the way they were treated (that led them to run away in the first place) and the fact that they forced such nice creatures into what is essentially a death trap.

They're a bit of a gremlin, but they're certainly not all bad like they consider themself to be.

Frisk on the other hand is a quiet child of roughly nine years. Adventurous and curious, but also blind. They hadn't seen the hole when they were exploring and ended up falling down. They rely on Chara to lead them around the more treacherous parts of the underground since they can't see it. (Chara is able to touch Frisk and tends to tug them by the wrist when guiding them.) Chara starts off really unhappy about guiding them, and depending on the route will even refuse to do so, not that it matters in a No-Mercy route. That's because in the No-Mercy route the Player is more of an active component. Frisk physically can't fight back on their own, and Chara would never help them do so. Essentially the Player is just an entity used by us creators to manipulate Frisk into a No-Mercy route since it wouldn't happen otherwise.

Asriel & Flowey

Personality wise the two really aren't all that different. Asriel is the slightest bit more skittish thanks to his timid nature and the uncertainty that comes with the constant tremors, and Flowey is the slightest bit more bearable. He still doesn't have much in the way of emotions, but it's pretty obvious their situation is bleak without him making it worse (As such, while he has tried No-Mercy in the past, most of his runs were seeing what effects smaller changes had. The volatile environment made it interesting regardless).

Though he's notably far more annoyed about losing his save and reload powers in Rifttale because he'd been in the middle of trying something when Frisk fell.

On the more technical side, Flowey doesn't tend to get around much when there aren't bridges over the chasms. While he can cross them himself, its a pain if they're too awfully wide. This means that the severe quakes tended to impede him a lot.

Toriel & Asgore

As a result of the meddling Flowey was doing, Toriel reclaimed her place as Queen and has been talking things over with her husband about everything that happened. Stuck in the ruins she hadn't gotten the news that Asgore amended his statement later on to say that they would only take the souls of humans that fell if they were hostile or after they died of natural causes. None of the children who fell were killed by monsters. (Many died in partial cave-ins or from falling into lava or the like, though so a quick death from a monster likely would have been preferable.)

Toriel still thinks that going out and just collecting the remaining souls they need would be faster, but Asgore argued a few points on that such as doing so likely angering the humans and giving them a further negative bias as well as the fact that whoever went to get the souls may well die like their children did.

They're still working things out but it's better than how it was before.

Toriel still spends a lot of her time in the ruins, but now its more out of a sense of duty since most of the children fell into the ruins first. She actually guides Frisk up until they meet Sans where she passes escorting them to him since he is more capable of ensuring their safety, and she needs to hurry ahead to make preparations for their stay and inform Asgore.

Alphys

Predictably not much different personality wise. She's actually one of the safer monsters since she never leaves her lab and it's reinforced to withstand rockfalls to some degree, not to mention the basement level with the true lab in it (though its hot as heck down there cause of the magma nearby.) Her primary goal is more geared toward keeping the underground as stable as possible so that they can hopefully last until they get the last soul. That's not to say the amalgamates don't exist, they do, but she's at least been looking busy as sort of an excuse why she hasn't answered back any of the letters. No time for mail when she's trying to save people, after all.

Undyne

Captain of the Royal guard, still. The guard does still exist, it's just less numerous and has more focus on recruiting strong members. After all they exist in case a hostile human arrives instead. So naturally Undyne is even more of a badass than normal, and she's ready in the event of a No-Mercy run. Even in a pacifist playthrough she's a bit wary of Frisk, notably not wanting to leave Alphys alone with them in case they were hiding their true intentions. This means she's the one who ends up escorting the human through the first little bit of Hotland after Waterfall, whereupon Mettaton would take over.

Mettaton

Considering a Human-killing robot was no longer needed, he was created with maneuverability in mind. The idea was that he could help others when needed, much like the emergency rescue portion of the guard, but Mettaton much preferred to focus on his career of course. He’s part of the reason Sans keeps being called to help out in other regions which gets him a healthy amount of resentment from the older skeleton.

Gaster

No major story involvement, but he does have plot importance. Gaster was the Skelebro’s father, and while he made them artificially, he did care about them a lot. Not much about him still remains and very few remember any details about him since he was quite a reclusive skeleton. He was close friends with the Riverperson however, so that’s who ended up essentially raising the two skeletons after Gaster fell into the Core. They provided for them despite being gone a lot.

Misc. Details

Children that stayed for an extended period were often called the “New Hope” a term coined when Chara first became a part of the Dreemurr family

Not all children opted to stay with the royal family, hence their belongings being stored in different regions

There were hostile humans that fell as well, but most met their fate in the lava and their souls were burnt up before they could be retrieved.

Frisk had fairly negligent parents. They weren’t outright abusive, but they really didn’t pay much attention to them.

Portions of the Waterfall part of the Underground have large nets bridging the gaps to catch the garbage that falls down that way nothing gets wasted falling into the chasms.

The Delta Rune on Sans’s coat is a reflective sticker. They told him he needed to wear something reflective for visibility’s sake and because he wasn’t willing to mess up his jacket, nor go without it, he cheated the system.

Papyrus wears a battle body just like normal, but he hot-glued some of the reflective material from human clothing that ended up falling down onto it so that he could both look cool and follow rules

Despite being a very neat and cleanly skeleton, Papyrus often ends up dirty as a consequence of his job. Because of that he takes care to meticulously clean both himself and the house before they go to bed.

[lucemferto]

Hi! I'd like to say that you've helped inspired some of the meta I've written recently—in particular, I got the point about suspension of disbelief from you, so thank you! This isn't really a spicy take but I'd like to ask if you come across any difficulties when doing narrative analysis on the Dream SMP? Personally I find it really hard to consume all the stream content and even though I prefer doing analysis on major plot beats than minor moments, I'm always paralyzed that I'm missing info.

Glad you could gleam something from my unhinged word salad!

Honestly, I wouldn’t worry too much about missing info. Because fact of the matter is that you probably will miss something - either because you didn’t hear about it or because it would unnecessarily bloat up the analysis (probably the latter, because the fandom makes everything such a big deal, it’s honestly harder to escape lore than to miss it ...)

Most of the time, when talking big picture, you don’t need to know all the little stuff. That’s the thing with the Dream SMP: It has an overwhelming volume of details, but very few of these details actually end up mattering in the sense that they have any impact on the larger narrative.

Like, Philza is maybe millennia old and I didn’t mention that at all in my video on him, because as long as it’s not brought up as, like, an actually important plot point that impacts his narrative trajectory, it literally doesn’t matter. He could have said he‘s canonically a four months old baby and it wouldn’t have made a difference.

If something is important enough to mention in a narrative analysis, it will come up often enough/in a way, where it will be impossible to miss.

Something I struggle with is finding the correct terminology and narratological tools to examine what I want to talk about - mostly because the Dream SMP is pretty idiosyncratic in the way it’s told.

Like, I have at least a little bit of a baseline from when I attempted to pursue a degree in that field, but most of that is still half-remembered, vague concepts. So, I’ll always try to do research into stuff like that before I post anything big.

[pyrolight]

Regarding an ask I got! from @thecottageinthedark

To Fe,

I’m sending this as a submission because it’ll probably be too long for an ask. i hope that’s okay.

I’d like to ask you for informational help re writing a character who uses a prosthesis. I’m writing a fic currently (for a small and obscure fandom I’ll explain a bit about if you want, but it’s not relevant directly) and the moment I tried to visualise one of the characters, I realised she had a prosthetic leg. This was a problem since I know nothing about prosthetics.

I tried googling but I got a lot of technical stuff and a lot of very simplified stuff and nothing really in the lines of lived experience or of what kind of prosthesis a person would probably have based on the kind of life they lead. So then I searched on tumblr and saw your post about [SPOILER]’s prosthetic. I’m not in the BNHA fandom but I really admire people who are able to bring realworld expertise into fandom.

And realworld experience is directly relevant in this case because the character I’m writing (she’s an OC and her name is Adrianna) is pretty much-in this regard-a completely plausible person who could exist in real life. She’s cis female, British, aged twelve, lower middle class family, lives in a small-to-medium town in England-probably in East Anglia. She lost her right leg in an accident when she was seven-a car crash, I think. She’s not super sporty but also not a sedentary nerd type. So, if it’s okay to pick your brains on the topic; what kind of prosthesis would she likely have? What would she need to do in the way of upkeep? What health issues would result? How would things go when she grew enough to need a larger one? And so forth.

I really want to get this right. It’s only fair, and even without the quality-of-representation issue I despise sloppy worldbuilding. I would really appreciate your help.

Yours, Lewis (he/him)

Hi Lewis, 

First things first, I owe you an apology, as I’ve not been on tumblr in about 6 months! I’m back online now, however I appreciate it must have been pretty disheartening to have sent this incredible letter and not had a response back. I’m sorry for that.

I know it may be a little late now, but I can offer some limited info, if it’s still of any assistance to you! Prosthetics is generally such a tiny field that ‘best practice’ can vary widely between regions, so it’s a nightmare trying to find any useful clinical evidence online, other than for very specific products. So the following info is purely based on my own local area. That said, I can VERY much recommend a document called the “Steeper Best Practice Guidelines”, I used it constantly when I was studying, it’s a simple but thorough run-down of different prescriptions, and the pros and cons attached to them. (disclaimer that I don’t work for the company that created it, I just think it’s really neat.) I think there’s a PDF available if you google it.

Right then. I reckon your OC would probably use a ‘modular’, or endoskeletal, type prosthesis. This involves a thermoplastic OR laminated socket, which is moulded to the stump, and typically lined with a soft foam material for comfort. Terry-towelling stump socks are usually worn on the stump, much like how you wear socks in your shoes. 

In terms of the actual metalwork below the socket: there would be a stabilised mechanical (typically hydraulic) knee beneath it, if she’d lost her leg above the knee - or just a metal shin tube, leading to a foot, if she lost her leg below the knee. At the bottom end of the shin, you’d have a metal adapter connecting it to the foot.

Something to think about is suspension, AKA how she stops the leg falling off. If she lost her leg below the knee, your OC would most likely use a “suspension sleeve”, with a one-way air valve built into the socket to get suction, in order to hold the leg on. These sleeves are commonly made of silicone, or gel, and are quite soft and stretchy. They do wear out, though, so generally need replacing every 3 months or so. 

If above-knee, the best suspension for a growing kid would be a TES belt, which is a soft belt made of neoprene, aka wetsuit-type material. Google is surprisingly good for pictures of TES belts, and of sus sleeves, actually! 

The biggest problem with kids prosthetics is growth. They grow so damn fast that it’s generally a good idea to have a review appointment every 12 weeks at minimum, at which point the leg will be adjusted to be slightly too tall - by the next appointment, it’s likely to be too short again! 

Other than that, issues are not much different than for other kids getting new shoes. Sometimes a leg will rub or cause a blister, especially if the kid’s outgrowing it, in which case adjustments to the socket, or a new leg entirely, will be needed - much like how shoes must be replaced when a kid outgrows them. Although there’s also external factors to consider, like hot weather causing extra sweating in summer for example, that can make life harder when using a prosthesis. 

Something crucial to consider is how your character copes psychologically with limb loss, and how other characters react, too; often, kids bounce back from this kind of trauma incredibly well, but their parents/guardians may need more support to cope with the change. A lot of kids will just sort of accept it, recalibrate, and move on; parent/guardians are more likely to feel guilty, or that they could have somehow prevented it. I think society is generally moving towards a place of better acceptance of prosthetics - lots of kids are actually now excited to show off their legs as something cool, but the older generations may (frustratingly) still see it as a stigma. 

This is a very personal thing, though, and it’s really down to the individual, and how they personally cope with it. Some kids like their limb to be covered up with foam or plastic covers, to make a ‘leg shape’ to fill out their trousers. Lots of others don’t. There’s no right or wrong way; it’s just down to what’s ‘right’ for an individual, and what will make them feel most connected to their prosthetic leg. 

I sincerely hope this is helpful, and I can only apologise again for the length of the delay to this response. I realise it may be too little too late - but I hope that I haven’t put you off finding out about, and writing about prosthetics - it is a very very very cool subject. 

[darkmachinedev]

Dev Blog #1: Crabs?

Hey there! If you’re here, it’s probably because you’ve been following the game on some of my other social media platforms (AKA: @futilrevenge on twitter or reddit.com/r/warisshell), but if not, let me give you a primer! 

War is Shell is a hermit crab PVP/PVE game where you play as cute hermit crabs doing hermit crab things. Here’s a gif of an ordinary day in the life of a crab:

And, er there are aliens invading. I guess.

And your shells are guns. That’s normal hermit crab stuff, right?

So whats the deal with these crabs?

Development of this game started around a year and a half ago. Since then it’s been a long road, but I’m really excited about these dang ol’ crabs and I just want to get them out there!

Even though it’s been in the oven for that long It’s still super early in development! I have a day job, and while I just took a new position that should be lighter on the hours this game still has a long way to go. But in the interest of transparency, and to kick my ass into high gear, I’ll be working to get these devblogs out every other Tuesday.

Just tell me about the crabs

Sorry to tangent there, here’s the deal with this game:

War is Shell is a Crab on Crab battle and survival game, where sessions are short and sweet, filled with action and ending before they become a slog. It’s visuals are primarily inspired by PS1 era games with vertex jitter and chunky polygons, with some fancy shader tricks thrown in to spice things up.

You play as an adorable hermit crab on various procedural islands using your claws, guns, rockets, saw-blades, laser beams, occult books, and magic wands to chop and blast your way to the top. Each session is unique, with different threats and mutators being combined to ensure that you are always on your feet. A Deathmatch might be interrupted by the lord of the sea rising, aliens may invade, your dead opponents may rise from their graves.

Maybe you need to team up for a moment to stop this boss from winning the match (And taking the win from any player!), before fighting over the spoils.

Or, maybe, you’ll team up with your friends to survive an onslaught, collecting components for your rocket to blast you all to the next island, where you’ll fight off even harder and harder monsters. How long can you survive, and what powers will you gain?

The game is split into two distinct modes of play:

PVP - War is Shell’s PVP modes consist of a number of gameplay variants, many of which are staples from the genre, while introducing some new others

Team Deathmatch & Deathmatch

King of The Cache

Rising Tide

Shiniest Shell

Longevity of these modes and the online community in general is a big sticking point in my mind. To supplement them, the game is built from the ground up with bot support and custom servers in mind (With server side modding planned)

If you want to host a server between you and your friends with some dumb bots to act as cannon fodder, or, you want to supplement your larger server with nasty machines that will act as a challenge for even experienced players, you will be able to!

Not to mention - the mutators, environmental hazards, map types, and more. I’ll be making a PVP specific post in the future, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

PVE - Co-operative play is my favorite aspect of online gaming, and over my years I have found myself drawn to these sorts of games more and more. Taking heavy inspiration from games such as Left 4 Dead and Risk of Rain, I really want the PVE aspects to shine. I’m going to make PVE it’s own post as well, so have your shells at the ready for that!

More info to come! Follow me here, on Twitter @Futilrevenge, or check out the Reddit: /r/WarIsShell

Any questions? Comment on this post and I’ll try to hit as many as I can in the next post. See you in two weeks!

[thinknicht]

what's your biggest challenge and what comes easiest to you when writing?

Interesting question. It’s really made me think about my writing style and how it’s evolved over the years (honestly, it had been one hell of a journey and I have no regrets), tbh, my only regret is not knowing your username so I could give you a shoutout, but in any case… thanks for the ask! I mean it. It made me think, and do so a lot, which I appreciate.

But you probably don’t care all that much. You’re here for answers. And fear not, my fair anonymous, for they shall be given.

I suppose I should be a procrastinator and go with the easier answer first. (Get it? Okay never mind ignore me. ) What comes easiest to in writing, hands down, is… (drumroll)

dialogue. Yep. You read that right. It’s harder for OCs but generally, once I start I can’t stop. Literally a recurring problem for me is that I often start to add stuff in second reads (once a severe is already completed) making it sometimes twice as long as it was originally. The downside of this ease at writing it is that my dialogues get way too long and then I have to make hard decisions on which pieces of dialogue need to be cut out and which get to live. (Or whether I think my readers would be fine with the surplus.) I know you were probably expecting me to say something else is easiest but yeah. Dialogues, definitely. They’re my best friend. They really help me flesh out new characters, relationships developing between them and add dynamism to the story.

As for my biggest challenge…? It really isn’t a fixed thing. For example, believe it or not my biggest challenge used to be humor of all things. Humor, which is now one of my strengths. Well, it wasn’t always. In fact, learning the art of humor (make no mistakes, writing humor and doing it well is a literal ART) was my main aim when I wrote Twisted (it’s on ffnet) with literally that one goal in mind. To learn how to write humor. It was something I’d been stewing on for quite some time prior to that, reading articles, starting to watch a lot of youtubers that appealed my own brand of humor, giving myself a push to start making more jokes in social situations. Basically it was a day to day effort to cultivate my own sense of humor and laugh more easily at things. This, I have to say, really changed me as a person and I was much happier for it. Going back to twisted now (my first ‘successful’ humor piece) I feel like a lot of it was kind of immature and a bit unrealistic, but it was a definite start and I learned so much from writing it. I am now a much funnier and happier person than I was before, have more friends and confidence in social situations and all… because I once decided to learn how to write humor scenes. Yeah. No lie.

Then came my next challenge, which was adding more layers of depth to antagonists. This is why I made danzo morally grey in MTE and why Hiruzen is also neither good nor bad, but rather someone with good intentions and bad executions. In short, I wanted to start writing contradictions. Real humans are full of them and I think realizing this is an important part of being a writer. Also, I have always wanted to try my hand at a Snape-ish type of character and my danzo in some ways resembles him (in some very limited ways) so that was a bonus! That actually I didn’t struggle with so much, but I think the important part was coming to the realization of wanting to make my characters like this. It is something I’m incorporating more and more as o write.

My next challenge was writing OCs that wouldn’t make people run in the opposite direction. I have to admit… I am still struggling with that. But! I have also made a LOT of discoveries in the process (I don’t want this post to go on forever but if you want me to specify, just say the word!) and I think I’ve gotten most of the ‘formula’ of dos and songs down by this point. Anyways I also realized that morally ambiguous FEMALE characters are way less well received than male ones, especially if they’re potential love interests, which made me wonder in turn about societal perception of ‘anti heroes’ as cool when it’s a man vs when it’s a woman. Make of this info what you will.

But anyways, there are many other challenges to writing I’ve been struggling with, such as pacing, the classic showing va telling, which can be observed in the larger scale of things as well as adverb and adjective usage, then there’s the order and length of scenes when you have many POV switches going on… another hard task for sure… and coming up with original metaphors… knowing when some comic relief is needed… honestly there’s so much stuff. But if I had to pick ONE thing? Again, I think you’ll be surprised but…

I pick writing romance and or mushy stuff, which I weirdly have a lot of trouble with, even though I love reading it. I cannot explain it. I guess I just find it embarrassing to share, in a way, something so deeply personal with the internet. Here’s to hoping I’ll do Sakura and Itachi justice!

Anyways, I think that covers it :) Peace!

[pinkplantmakesstuff]

Introducing my newest Guild Wars 2 character: Proto!

There were going to be a bunch more drawings of how they worked but I kinda had a weird day so I didn't get round to it, but I’ll write up their info anyway! I’m gonna put it under the cut coz otherwise this post is LOOOONG.

General About

Proto is a small robot orb designed and made by the inquest - the point was to make a sentient weapon they could control that changes shape on the battlefield to confuse enemies and kill them with ease. Problem is this was the very first one they ever made, and Proto actually didn’t want to kill people or be told what to do. Before they could calibrate it or remove their sentience or whatever, Proto managed to escape from the lab!

Some balooney science coming up: but the orb that Proto actually is, is protected by the light shield that forms the form they are currently projecting. The shield/hologram feels like very hot glass (think a window that’s been in summer sun all day) and can shift into whatever form Proto wants. The larger the shape, the more energy it drains however, which is why they very rarely assume the form of a Charr or Norn. Asura form the can go without recharging for a week, Human or Sylvari Form they can go every couple of days, and Charr or Norn or anything bigger then a person they have to recharge within a few hours.

Their original form was obviously of a glowing red Asura, but to spite their makers they use the colour blue, and also personally feel uncomfortable with looking like an Asura, though they do often give themselves bigger ears like their creator.

Proto choose the name Proto them-self. They are a small orb with not much world experience (at the moment) and are now disconnected from any and all asuran networks. They didn’t want to be called Prototype Designation (And then a bunch of numbers) so they just took the first part of the word Prototype. Their name and the use of they/them is the only thing they know solidly about themselves. They HATE being referred to as an It and hate when people refuse to call them by their chosen name (Which I think makes sense and probably fairly relatable but also they are an orb so are desperately trying to cling onto any form of identity they can claim as their own)

They do however quite like the form I drew them in; I’m trying to find a way that they saw Casey (Alec’s friend who I still haven’t drawn or properly written about) and decided they liked the way she looked so assumed parts of that for their own appearance. 

Proto doesn’t use traditional weapons, instead their body shifts into whatever shape they need. They often shift their arms into very sharp swords for combat, though sometimes turns one arm into a bow to shoot protected light arrows. And yes the hologram/shield HURTS. It’s very very hot, incredibly sharp light so yeah that can slice you in two. The inquest knew (mostly) what they were doing when they designed Proto.

With enough force you can shatter the hologram shield though to reach the orb, I have a scene I wanna draw where someone does that and crushes the orb because I need me some edgy scenes.

If they get injured/damaged they cannot repair them-self and have to seek help.

Initially Proto doesn’t have any legs on the orb part so they have to roll around which they find humiliating (they only do this when they need to sneak away, have run out of enough power to form the shield hologram or are too damaged.) At some point someone kindly makes them some small stumpy robot legs that they will kick you with (though it won’t hurt at all) if you call their orb form cute.

Their orb form is just as expressive as their hologram shied form too, as I tried to show in the drawings. It’s about the size of a baseball I think.

Personality/Behaviour

Proto is very playful, they love telling jokes and tricking people for fun. The biggest problem is they currently have no real concept of what is and isn’t acceptable.

 They also have very very limited capacity of Action and Consequence. For example, they might push you out of a tree because it’ll be really funny, but they won’t want you to get injured. Problem is you have to hit the ground at some point and might break and arm. Proto didn’t mean for you to get hurt but in that moment they wanted to do something becasue it was funny but hadn’t thought it through. This is partly because they initially weren’t designed to think of things like consequences (they were designed to murder on a battlefield with no remorse) and they are a tiny orb with very small rooms for data processing  and very little outside experience/experience with dealing with people and how they work.

Proto also isn’t stupid by any means. They are actually very intelligent. The problem is they initially have very cheap and small memory/data banks much to their own frustration so they find it very difficult to currently learn and expand their thinking. And without being connected to any network they have to try and keep their knowledge of the world itself at the forefront so they can literally survive as this little orb in the big world of Tyria.

They can learn however with time and experience (and maybe some updated memory banks), but will still retain their love of playing tricks.

They can also feel emotions, albeit in a way that most people wouldn’t understand. A real life example would be that Proto has Alexithymia - they can have limited emotions but don’t have the capacity to understand or process them (And don’t come at me about “You can’t compare people with Alexithymia to a robot” Most people haven’t even heard of Alexithymia and it’s something I very much have and I specifically decided I wanted to write into Proto so I could characterise them in a way I could understand. Wick also has alexithymia and so does Axelia. If people want/ I might do it anyway, I think I’ll make a post about alexithymia coz it genuinely has a massive impact on how I interact with the world and people compared to others)

They actually have a voice and it’s the blooming Google US English robot voice synthesizer. So you can definitely hear that they aren’t a ‘real person’.

ANYWAY that’s MOST of the stuff I could currently think of, I wanted to do a bunch of drawings of their weapon form/asura form but I had a kinda weird/bad day so I didn’t get around to it but I still wanted to post this. Overall Proto is like a poltergeist who doesn’t actually mean harm and just wants to make friends. Also I haven’t made them in game yet. I’ll probably make them as a blue sylvari and then try really hard to get one of those fancy effects infusions, but I’ll do that...at some point XD

Also just saying...it’d be neat if other people came up with hologram orb things too XD