#i'm still really proud of how cinematic it looks

[rogisinspace]

Dalek Progress Blog?

So uh.... idk how many of you know... I kind of have a Dalek.

Actually it's two Daleks

And I post progress on the work I do for him on Project Dalek but you need to make an account and wait for it to be approved in order to see posts. This kinda sucks when I wanna share updates with friends and stuff.

EDIT: too bad I did it anyways. @imadaleknotanengineer

[felassan]

Snippets. 🐺💜

Nathan: "This team has done some amazing work 😍" [source]

devs Mack Carruthers and Greg Towner worked on Morrigan's transformation in the new trailer [source]

Violet: "🥰 can't wait to share more with you guys 👀" [source]

Violet: "Happy to finally have my first authored blog (with help from my AMAZING TEAM of course!) to share with you guys!!! Check it out and pre-order DATV now! 🥰🥰🥰" [source] [bloglink]

In this thread, Derek highlights a compilation of shots from the trailer that he made, worked on in-tandem with others, or polished

Derek: "And that’s all the stuff from me in the trailer! I feel so incredibly lucky that so much of my work made it into this AMAZING trailer. Can’t wait for you guys to see more. 🧡 I wanna add: it takes an army to make these scenes. While I did character layout, camera animations, animation polish, bug fixing and technical stuff, there’s still a plethora of folks who touched these scenes. Matter of fact, our work still isn’t done. So I gotta thank: writing, level art, VFX, lighting, sound, character art, performance capture, actors, production, and my fellow Cine folks who I worked on these scenes in tandem with. It all came together into one incredible package. 🧡 For anyone who’s curious, here’s a breakdown of what I do: - mocap assembly - scene layout (characters, props, cameras, mocap) - camera work (animations, framing, polish, etc.) - scene polish (character and camera animation polish, bug fixes) - integration - bug fixing" [source, two, three, four] Derek added: "PS: I count these as Cine folks, but to clarify - also huge thank you our incredible Creature and Character animators. They did some really insanely mind blowing shit. Dunno how they do it." [source]

User: "Okay, but is it on purpose that the drink/flask thingie is positioned almost like the stomach in Manfred It's like kinda in the correct area too if I'm not mistaken [image of Manfred]" / Derek: "Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what character art was going for here 😂" [source]

Dev Tony: "Been hard at work bringing these scenes to life with an amazing team of cinematic artists and designers. Enjoy a small teaser of our work." [source]

Derek: "I worked on a few of [Lucanis'] best scenes. HE OWES ME." [source] / User: "Very much looking forward to seeing where his story goes. I have a feeling it'll be spicy." / Derek: "Oh it’s a doozy." [source]

Derek: "The hair in our game is ASTOUNDING." [source]

Derek: "Our lighting team are absolute MASTERS at this, every bit of work they did was incredible!!" [source]

Derek: "I can absolutely tell you that there are a PLETHORA of dialogue options, major choices, and a huge amount of variability. Trust me - it’s been challenging to work with all the variability LOL" [source]

Carly: "game dev is so collaborative, a lot of stuff in the trailer i've helped out on! most of the work id say i "own" isn't gonna be in flashy trailers, but hope we get to see some of it over the next two months ! :)" [source]

Crystal: "Some really beautiful cinematics shown off in this one. So proud of our team!" [source]

Carly: "ive worked on at least one romance scene for each follower and i still squeak when they flirt with me im With y'all" [source]

Dev Matthew: "👀 This is so hype! Might be a tad of my work in there as well. 😉" [source]

Siggi: "It's so exciting to see the some of the shots I worked on and worked along-side come to life! I was afraid that my work would never see the life of day. I can't wait for October!" [source]

Siggi: "My biggest contribution was the assan work I think. I got to do a lot of look and movement development on him. I even animated his whole intro scene." [source]

Siggi: "Look at my babies! LOOK AT THEM! They're smiling!" [context: Assan and the dragon that rises from the water, and having worked on them] [source]

Carly: "forever grateful to siggi for helping me onboard but okkkk their animation work is sooooo killer, set an amazing standard for the cines !!!!! 🙏🙏🙏 so excited for y'all to see" [source]

Dev Zara: "October 31st!! So excited for folks to enjoy it. And to finally be able to publicly share my animation work." [source]

Camille: "Time for you to meet some of them dragons ! And I don’t think you’ll be able to slay them so easily hehe" [source]

Varric's Bianca: "That’s us!! That’s our game!! 😭❤️ never in my wildest dreams would I have predicted that I’d end up where I am, working on my dream project. I’m so immensely grateful to this amazing team!" [source]

ikhandle: "Congratulations team! This has been an honour to work on! Amazing job all around." [source]

Michael: "the team really, really cares about PC." [source] / User: "The trailer was awesome! How soon do you think we'll hear about PC specific features? 👀" / Michael: "pretty soon! i know its in the works." [source]

For a while there was an error on the Steam listing of the game's PC specs. it said the recommended PC spec is the same as the minspec. the recommended PC spec is PC spec is i9-9900K. it looks like this has now been fixed [source]

ikhandle: "One of my dragon shots just made the trailer! 🐉🐉 Huge shoutout to the Cinematic team for absolutely crushing it—these are some of the best cinematics I've seen in years. Truly an honor to have the privilege to work on Dragon Age. Congrats to the whole team on their outstanding work!" [source] (context: dragon shot at the end of the trailer when the red one pulls a pike out its body)

ikhandle: "Had a lot of fun animating this big boi. Y’all not ready for him 🦴☠️🪓" [source] (context: the giant skeleton) / User: "Does he have a name? 👀" / ikhandle: "I’ll ask 😂. I’ve named him SeñorBones for now." [source]

The cinematics in the trailer are running REAL time in engine [source]

ikhandle: "Everyone has done such an amazing job… a lot of hard work to get these out. Shout out to the whole team!!’" [source]

Jess: "😎 I'm uncontrollably hype and I work on this….." [source]

Dev Yanni: "Dragons go roar! *internal screaming in excitement*" [source]

Nick: "Nuts to see how far this has come. Way to go to the BioWare team." [source]

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

can u just ramble about your favourite scenes in the arcs? im interested :D

Sure thing!

Tpb: Oh gosh, lot of contenders here.... Let's pick a random favorite....

The Tigerstar reveal. It's so... Cinematic, to me. I'm shocked I've never seen it in any animations! The drama of it, the realization for the reader that Fireheart is gonna have to tell Bluestar, and wondering just how far the new leader is going to go...

I'm gonna have to tie it with Bluestar's downward spiral. A lot of people hated her for it, and I think that's a shame. Stuff like this makes a story GOOD.

Runner ups: Silverstream being a brat but also making an incredibly good point about the Warrior Code, Yellowfang killing Brokenstar, Bluestar's death where she finally gets to connect with her kits, Fireheart saving Sandstorm (which I think they tried to replicate in TNP with CrowLeaf)

Tnp: This one is gonna be controversial, but I actually quite like the part where Leafpool runs away with Crowfeather. Mind you, I hate him, but Leafpool being happy? That was nice. That was the happiest I think we got to see Leafpool in a long time, and the be honest, I... Don't think we ever get to see her that happy again.

Also, just... The 4 Clans together. I loved seeing them finally work together for something that wasn't war. I have a whole AU for the scenario where they just... Never split again. They settle into 4 camps, but without boundaries. Cats go where they want as 1 huge Clan. I love AUs where the Clans fuse!

Po3: Okay, I'm gonna cheat because I.. Haven't actually read Long Shadows or Sunrise. Otherwise I could use the easy way out and say the Fire Scene... But I've never actually seen it!

My favorite scene is all of the ones with the Tunnels from Dark River, but specifically the ones with the GorseBeech kits. I still love Dark River. Perfect mix of slice of life and tension building. I love the darkness and mystery they hold, and how alive the environment felt. The earth was alive and it did not care if you drowned inside it. Also the kittens were adorable and had a lot of personality! It showed Heatherpaw being a natural leader and Breezepaw getting to be a kid.

OOTS: Oof... This one is hard. Oots is getting a bit blurry in my memory... I think I have a tie! In no particular order:

1. Redwillow's death, probably for all the wrong reasons. When I tell you I CACKLED at him getting One Punch Man'd by Blackstar after this dramatic edgy little speech... It was charming enough that I couldn't NOT expand on his character. While he is still getting One Punched, he and Ratscar do manage to take Blackstar down!

2. Dovewing realizing that The Dark Forest is about to attack. It's... Really not clear to me anymore what happened, I don't really remember it well, but I remember how it made me feel. I really thought we were gonna lose her. I can only describe it as "standing at a busy, happy party, looking out the window, and seeing a tsunami on the coast". That "Oh. This is probably gonna be bad, eh?" The battle itself I remember was confusing and a lot of running around while the writers scrambled on remembering how to write fight scenes, and I have my own thoughts on what cats should have went down and who should have killed who... But that might be it's own post. (Bluestar should have destroyed Thistleclaw, Ivypool should have destroyed Hawkfrost, and Brokenstar should have killed Spottedleaf)

AVOS: Okay, keep in mind I haven't finished book one, but... I can safely say that at least right now my favorite scene is the cats eating fried chicken out of the garbage. It's so... Cute! It's the calm before a storm, and Alderpaw calling it "freshkill" made me snort, like, yeah, sure bud, let's call it that. Funny that Sparkpaw had some, as her future son would go on to steal a whole ass rotisserie chicken from a fair. I think she'd be proud.

TBC: I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS ONE. Okay, yes, Bristlefrost's death was iconic, but can we talk about how horrifying the Prologue from The Silent Thaw?

Bramblestar watches his own dead body begin to move, assumes he is going to go back into it, only for its eyes to open, standing up without him, and beginning to speak with his Clanmates...

That right there, those 4 pages, sent actual chills up my spine. The thought of being in scenario is terrifying. Sure, we know from Lost Stars' final chapter that Rootpaw can see him and that Bramblestar's spirit and body are separated for reason currently unknown.... But Bramblestar doesn't know that. All he knows is that his body and mind are no longer one, and nobody knows except for him. That was bloodchilling.

Tbh I think it would have been better to cut Lost Stars chapter 24 completely, and just use that Prologue. Move the VioletTree family meeting to The Silent Thaw's early chapters and do not be afraid to actually hide your plot points.

ASC: Mistystar getting Ratio'd by Duskfur. As much as I desperately wish it had been more emotional.... God it was funny. It felt like a relief. Like... Finally, finally this is over. Riverclan has an interesting plot, a potential murder mystery (that later became a real murder mystery and then... Yknow).

I think another scene is The Curlfeather Reveal. Look I know the writing for it is sloppy, but the way it describes her looking calm and peaceful, speaking as if she's talking to one of her beloved children... WCR!Curlfeather was written with the song Brutus in mind. Elegant and brutal, and I wanna make sure she lives up the the image that much better done comics and fanart.

[pumpkin-spike18]

✨Weekly Progress #25-26✨

Lately, it feels like I'm a pumpkin running around without its head~

I really can't tell how much I do each week until I look back on my success journal.

Weekly Progress #25

Wrote 700+ words for BWBOK

Made icon for SFB

Linearted SFB CG 1

Flat colored all SFB art

Answered BWBOK comments

Raven intro tweet

Finished SFB Ani 2 & Ani 3

Coded SFB sprites

Finished SFB Ani 1

Designed SFB gamepage

Started coding SFB gamepage...

Weekly Progress #26

Updated SFB textbox

Finished SFB CG 1

Generated SFB animation pieces

Scripted SFB s1-s2

Added music & SFX to SFB

Finished SFB CG2 (Raven + Avia)

Coded SFB CG 2

Added SFB credits

Finished SFB gamepage coding

Posted SFB demo

I'll keep showing off this gif because I'm proud of it ahahaha~

🕊A Sky of Falling Birds demo is now available to play on itch.io! 🎉

You can read the formal release post here!

Mmm, yeah most of my days in the past 2 weeks was rushing to finish the demo for BAF VN Jam... 😅 It really destroyed my sanity because... I basically did 6 illustrations (4 of which planned as animations, and 1 was actually a 3 character sprite with a my minimum set of expressions!) for 2.2k+ word demo...

But sometimes, sanity is only holding you back. One day I hope to make a truly cinematic game so this is just the first step. This is just practice for what's to come...

(Or something.)

(idk, I'm still questioning my sanity.)

The demo was quite rushed so I hope to give it an update before the year ends to really show the vision I had for it.

If you'd give it a play, leave a comment, or rating, I'd be really grateful!! 🙇‍♂️ I promise to keep working hard to bring a good game to everyone!

The Beauty Which Only Beast Knows

Unfortunately, the deadline for Otome Jam was the same as BAF VN Jam, at least in my timezone it was the same day. So I had to make a choice as to which one to focus on.

We still made quite a bit of progress over the past month! The script is going through the end of the editing process and over halfway through proofreading!

Okay, no lie, I want to take a break this week. But marketing waits for no one...!! And also O2A2 starts in a week.

[a-pepper-honey]

4, 18, and 21 for the ask meme maybe!!

4 - Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you're really proud of (explain why, if you like)

I wanted to pick something from one of my WIPs, and I rediscovered this passage in an old angsty VoE fic I should really finish at some point:

Like he always does when he’s drunk, he thinks about Laurence. Laurence is his only solace, because hating him is the sole comfort Ferris can think of in his wretched pool of loneliness and wallowing. He wants to kill the man. Drown him in this fucking grog. Rum, sodomy and the lash: he can’t decide which seems the most proper punishment for that Navy bast— Here Ferris stops himself, and looks at the bottle in his hand—he’s long since abandoned pouring it in a glass—and clutches it and sobs. Because even in this state, he can’t bring himself to insult his captain. His captain. His brave, selfless, competent, fiercely loyal captain. And truly, truly, Laurence is not his captain as much as Ferris is entirely, completely, irredeemably Laurence’s lieutenant.

Ferris' POV is still very hard for me to get correctly, but I love the progression of his thoughts there!

18 - Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

I... can't think of any?

I don't usually plan fics out before I start writing them, apart from the ending and a vague idea of how I'll be getting the characters there. I also write in chronological order, which means I don't have any 'bonus' scenes or alternative versions because I mostly,,,, don't stop to consider the plot until the fic's done.

21 - What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)

Animated series all the way, for most of what I've written. I'd go feral over it. However, I do think Typhoon (Granby/Little pilot x rockstar AU I'm working on) would be amazing as a musical <3 Not on stage for practical reasons, but a movie would go sooo well with the cinematic description I'm trying to use in the concert & flight scenes

[thenightling]

I'm going to sound like an old fart here but after seeing some posts of Nightmare before Christmas Valentine's Day merchandise and seeing a Youtube video complaining about there being too much Nightmare before Christmas merchandise allow me to give you a weird throw back.

Imagine being eleven-years-old in 1993. Nightmare before Christmas comes out and you are fast obsessed. One night during SNICK (Saturday Night Nickelodeon) you see a commercial for the action figures. Your loving mother buys you some of the figures at Toys R Us as fast as she is able. But then... A few months later it all disappears from store shelves. No Nightmare before Christmas merchandise anywhere to be found.

This was my teenage-hood. Between 1994 until 1999 Nightmare before Christmas merchandise was VERY hard to find. I had a shelf in my bedroom dedicated to what I could find. For part of the 90s I was lucky to find one item a year.

A neighbor even gave me a Sally doll without a head (her son lost the head) and my mother cleverly constructed a replacement head that looked surprisingly genuine for the doll. She used a pillow case the same color as the doll's skin, dark red yarn for the hair, a tennis ball for the interior head wrapped in a white sock for the whites of the eyes, it was really well done. I cherished her. And when my mother finally saw the original doll head on a reproduction from 2003 she was proud of herself at how accurate her own version had been going just by the movie appearance of the character and some old sketches from the Making-of book.

In 1999 or so Nightmare before Christmas became popular in Japan so new merchandise started to slowly creep over back the US, especially through Ebay (Nightmare before Christmas was one of the first big searches on ebay when it was new).

In 2003 there was the Nightmare before Christmas 10th anniversary and much of the 1993 merchandise that had become scarce was now being reproduced.

In 2006 Nightmare before Christmas was released again cinematically, this time in 3D. And Disney had finally put its name all over it, instead of their Touchstone division to distance themselves. This is actually an important distinction because the older merchandise with the Touchstone logo and no "Disney's" are still the more sought after collectables.

From that point on Nightmare before Christmas merchandise became... well, common. Particularly around Halloween. Today I can't even keep up with what's out there.

But when you talk about how over-marketed Nightamre before Christmas is, how "Hot Topic" it all is, and how Jack is more of a brand than a character, please remember that eleven-year-old who had to roam store after store just to find a plastic wrist watch in 1994. And how those of us who loved it from the start were starved for nearly a decade because it hadn't achieved "Cult classic" status yet.

Sometimes I think eleven-year-old me would be jealous but maybe she'd also be burnt out with how common it is now. It's not something private and personal anymore.

I still remember listening to the soundtrack on audio cassette with my walkman and some kid asking what I was listening to and when I said "Nightmare before Christmas" I got a "Never heard of 'em." I think how jealous eleven-year-old me would be of hearing Danny Elfman's original demo recordings (which weren't available until 2006), his annual concerts of the songs, and even the unreleased unused song "This Time" song. How twelve-year-old me would have killed for that.

[bringbackmaes14]

I think about my best friend of 9 years and how they don't leave their house for medical reasons and how excited they are when I come to visit them every summer because I'm the only non-family member they have who does that.

I think about one of my friends from my second high school, and how they weren't allowed to watch TV/movies as a kid, and how there's so many pieces of media I still want to show to them.

I think about my dog Chunk, and how he gets so excited to see me every time I come home, whether I was away on a week-long trip or he literally just stood at the window and watched me walk to the mailbox and come right back.

I think about how I cause my mom near daily mental breakdowns because I have so many mental and physical disabilities that she has to help me with, but she loves me so much that she helps me with all of them and she tells me how thankful and proud she is of me that I decide to get out of bed every day.

I think about that gen ed writing professor I had in my freshman year of college who told me she desperately wanted me to come visit her again in my junior year so she could fix me up with a writing internship (I'm only in my sophomore year rn).

I think about my gen ed history professor who I love so much, and his wife who's gonna be my mentor in graduate school, and how he told me that the two of them would figure out a way to be up on the stage when I graduate so they can hand me adoption papers alongside my diploma, and I wanna see if he'll actually do it.

I think about every bad thing my dad told me was true about myself, and I tell myself that my life goal is proving him wrong. That everything is not my fault and I am not a bad person or a mistake. That I have a purpose.

I think about how my older sister just found out she's pregnant, and I really don't like kids, and I'm terrified of ever being put in a situation where I have to take care of a little one, but I literally cannot wait to meet this little human being. I want to be a good uncle.

I think about all my WIP fics and how I definitely want to finish them and share them with my friends.

I think about how funny it's gonna be to be in my late sixties and embarrassing my nieces and nephews cracking jokes on April 20th, 2069.

I think about how I've always wanted to learn how to play the Ouran High School Host Club theme song Sakura Kiss on the piano.

I think about how, even though I don't even have a crush right now, someday I want to get married, and instead of throwing an actual wedding, I want to throw a costume party and surprise my friends and family and have a good time.

I think about how if time stops right now, I won't get to see Eddie and Venom be gay married some more in Venom: The Last Dance. I won't get to see Rockstar Lestat. I won't get to see King Laios. I won't get to see the inevitable amazing ship art of Doc Ock and Kaecilius once the Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man animated series comes out and Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy will have officially brought the Hannibal Extended Universe to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I think there's a difference between things you can't do because they take strength you don't have, and things you can't do because they take time, and when things get really hard, I try to focus on the latter. I focus on things I'm looking forward to that maybe I can't have right now but I can be excited about them, and then I can love them when they arrive, like the venom movie or my sister's baby or that summer trip to see my best friend each year.

I'm very sorry to ask something like this, I've really been struggling with this question, and I wanted to ask the combined wisdom of the people on this site

I would like to know why you keep going, and what drives you to keep living. I know there are a lot of reasons to stay alive and enjoy life, I can think of a few that personally resonate with me, but I really want to know what your reasons are

You do not have to comment on this if that's too big of an ask, and I'm very sorry for asking something like this, I really need someone's help, I feel like I don't have much purpose

Also if I may ask, please don't post any suicidal ideation in the comments of this post, I really can't handle something like that right now

[thevalleyisjolly]

uno reverse card for you: top five favorite things you've written! and also, top five most memorable moments you've gotten to play with your character(s) in a ttrpg?

*proceeds to draw 4* This is how you play Uno, right? XD Thank you so much, this is a lot of fun! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Favourite Things I've Written:

To date my most popular fic, in the face of death's mystery is one of those rare things I've written where I look back on it and I remain satisfied with how it turned out. It was a big passion project that started out as a crack post and then turned much more serious into an actual story with themes and arcs. After months of writing and rewriting sections, I can still remember the thrill of realizing one day that it could be finished in time for ACOC Week 2021 (all credit to Jackrabbit for putting that together!) and that really gave me the final push I needed to get it done.

My Middle English literature course did a capstone project where we performed some of the York plays, and since there were far more people interested in acting than there were roles, me and two other students formed a scriptwriting team to combine the plays and write new characters and lines. We didn't write in Middle English, but I'm still really proud how much we managed to capture the rhythm and patterns of Middle English verse in contemporary English rhyme.

The credit for this one starts with you, because I read One With The Shadows and it not only inspired me to write ACOC fic but it also specifically inspired me to write the manner of things (in the dark). Probably the most poetic prose I've ever written, and I'm still really happy with how it turned out. Writing body horror and eldritch imagery is pretty far from my usual wheelhouse, so it was really fun to experiment with a new style and dive into the characters through this lens.

Perhaps it's recency bias, but I just had a lot of fun writing Contrapuntal Calculus. I know my writing thing is very niche fics with incredibly specific scenarios, but this was particularly niche even by my standards and I'm still quite happy with it. It's also serving as a nice little reminder to myself to write the fics I want to write and not worry about how it's going to be received. Get ready y'all for more incredibly niche fic concepts once I figure out what a writing schedule is ✌️

I once took a Shakespeare class where one of the projects was to reimagine Shakespeare in another medium. Being a musical theatre kid, I rewrote and performed "Satisfied" from Hamilton for Lady Macbeth as "Safe at Night." I'm not posting the recording because I'm not a singer and it was bad, but I stand by my parody lyrics because they were fucking incredible.

Memorable TTRPG Moments

My character technically wasn't there to witness it, but we were infiltrating a temple of our cleric's god to find out whether its priests were on the side of the villainous pirate lord (not to be confused with the non-villainous pirates), and our DM narrated this absolutely incredible scene where our cleric looked into the scrying pool and saw the pirate lord's forces attacking his home town, only to be met out in the harbour by one of his oldest friends, a fellow cleric and pirate. He sailed his ship into the middle of the attacking fleet, killed one of the pirate lord's lieutenants in personal combat but suffered a deadly wound, then messaged our cleric farewell and ignited all the gunpowder in his ship. It was such an emotional and cinematic moment, beautifully narrated by our DM, and it'll stay with me forever.

That time Vyce, with a handful of HP left, leapt over a burning tar trap, jumped up onto the back of the giant undead corpse of the villainous pirate lord, stabbed out his cursed emerald eye, and then yanked his head back as he fell so that our cleric could behead him. Simply an incredible HDYWTDT, that was about the coolest Vyce has ever been and it was the coolest he'll ever get.

I played a goblin monk in a Spelljammer mini-campaign, and our DM ruled that monks could use their Deflect Missile ability on large missiles in ship-to-ship combat. Me and the other party monk (yes we had two monks, yes I apologize to the DM but hell yeah, we had two monks) spent every single battle standing on the prow of our space ship just deflecting giant ballista and boulders with our fists. At one point, I rolled a Nat 20 and the DM narrated this tiny little goblin catching a whole boulder and lobbing it back at the other ship. On the flip side, I also got one-hit KO'ed after getting hit by a Nat 20 boulder (we were playing with brutal critical rules), but that was equally awesome in a different direction and our very merciful DM allowed me to live if the ship took damage instead.

That time I played polecat!Matt Murdock, started flirting with a big beefy otter sailor, rolled so well that we became boyfriends, and then we ended up adopting a child together <3

Before we found out his backstory, Vyce's nemesis was a mysterious bard named Frode who kept appearing, dropping lore, and generally being completely insufferable. During one such encounter, Vyce attempted to intimidate him by taking a bite out of a whole lemon with the rind still on. Now, Vyce has a -2 to Charisma, but I'm sure you can already guess what he rolled on that check. The fact that Frode was just mildly amused made it all the more worse for him and all the more entertaining for me. I love my cringefail uncharismatic son so much <3

[thedaveandkimmershow]

It's Linzy's birthday today and what I shall forthrightly and adamantly avoid is to post pictures of when she was a newborn or when she was a kid.

She's 26 years old, for crying out loud. I shoulda stopped doing that more than a decade ago. 😐

I shall also forthrightly and adamantly avoid making today about the missus 'n me. Because, you know, we've got stories. Stories that are still easily accessible right at the tips of our fingers kinds of stories.

I could tell you one right now about the day Linzy was born...

But I'm not gonna.

Instead, I'll point out how we still feel what our twenties were like. And we can very much see through Linzy's eyes what they're like right now.

In many ways, her twenties and our twenties aren't that different. At the same time, they're nothing like each other. They couldn't be more different.

By which I mean to say that the fundamentals of being a twenty-something haven't changed whilst the environment in which present day twenty-somethings exist is breathtakingly, profoundly different.

Profoundly different.

They're basically living a reboot.

As if the cast of a Western film classic like "High Noon" was reimagined into the middle of a Science Fiction classic like "Blade Runner".

Same people.

Wildly different environment.

And oh yes. They're also living a fiercely different story.

If you don't believe me, God. Just look around. Because this, all around us, is a fiercely different story.

So when we say we're proud of our daughter... it's because we know her story.

From Day 1.

We know her, we know her story, we know the cast of characters who've taken the stage with her (all manner of heroes and villains), and we know the world she's navigating.

And yes.

We remember the twenty-something gig.

So when we say we're proud of her, we say that with the full knowledge of having done the twenty-something gig and recognizing what that's like today. Right now.

This very moment.

With that in mind, we're impressed as hell by her relentless pursuit of her music career. Her dreams. We're impressed by the unimaginable work that goes into being in two successful bands and performing to packed audiences. In fact, by this time next month, one of those bands, The Little Lies, will have performed in front of an arena filled by a crowd of thousands at a Kraken game.

Did not, by the way, see that coming.

Really did not.

In many ways, we're still her first audience for song demos. At least we like to think we are.

We're probably nine and ten on the list 'cause she's got a lot of friends who are professionals in the local music community.

Aside from those demos, I thoroughly enjoy kicking ideas around with her when it comes to her Dream Patrol brand, the wing of her creativity reserved for the techno/pop/cinematic/layered vibe she does so well. It's also a completely engaging exercise to talk about the difference between one of her songs produced as a Linzy Collins production versus a Dream Patrol production. And then imagining what a live Dream Patrol show looks like.

It's her future actively being written before our very eyes.

You know?

Linzy's always been a hard worker which, I admit, I hate how that doesn't sound like one of those cool things of which to be proud. But in Linzy's case, from learning to play the piano, the guitar, the clarinet, the trombone, the cello... to interior and exterior house painting to filing to spreadsheets to high-end home cleaning with an agency... to putting bands together to the DIY nature of being a band in the PNW handling everything from songwriting to arranging to producing to recording to sound mixing to cover art to marketing and promoting and rehearsing and rehearsing and...

Rehearsing.

Maybe "hard worker" isn't the way to put it. Maybe "relentless master of her pursuits" works a little better.

Okay. A lot better. 😁

Because while she has the whatever it is people have inside them that keeps then going... she also has the bandwidth, the intellect, the emotional IQ, the verbal skills, the professional vibe, the work ethic, and the sheer creative prowess to prevail at something that was barely a dream once upon a time that's now an actual, paying, honest-to-God career with plenty of success behind her and plenty of room above her to keep reaching ever upward propelled there by her solo work, her band work, her Dream Patrol work, her production and songwriting services, and so on.

All that atop the reality of living in a major urban center, in her twenties, in today's world.

The challenges are intimidating, of course. I won't lie. They're suffocating, sometimes demoralizing at times. Not just for her but for anyone pursuing the life she's choosing, this passion she's following, this craft she's absolutely mastering alongside the community of professional musicians she calls friends, collaborators, bandmates, and badass gifted artists.

It's a helluva thing to watch, this life she's challenging, this career she's building. And yes yes yes. Of course we're proud. Of course.

But it's also exciting as hell.

☺️😎🤯🥳❤️

[lookwhatilost]

the fundamental flaw with the sacrificial trash hypothesis of media discourse is that it falls into the same psychological bias that conversations about media representation always do. because people tend to have more of an emotional attachment to television and movies, they're generally less willing to see them for what they are (a product that exists to be sold to you) and overvalue the "art" element of it. but the art bit of it has an inverse correlation with how much money is backing something.

so "sacrificial trash" works for something like high guardian spice, where the budget was clearly ten green beans and a box of baking soda. but it falls apart completely if we're talking about something that's being produced by aol-time warner-pepsico-viacom-halliburton-skynet-toyota-trader joe's, also known as disney. rewatch the force awakens and be disappointed to realize that it was very clearly designed for people to react to it in the exact way they did.

i won't spend another three hours bitching about it – which, i'm not proud of, but it needed to happen – so i'll just self-plagiarize and pull from that rant:

They definitely leaned into the showboating with the marketing for the next two movies, too. “Actually, this movie is very diverse, and it’s queer, and it’s feminist, and you’re one of the chuds if you don’t like it, and you have to like it, and if you don’t, you don’t want women to have fun. You don’t want women to enjoy Star Wars.”

It’s crazy how effective this was as a marketing tool for a while. I feel like the efficacy of that may be waning now – maybe – but it worked for a few years. People have caught onto it, I think, but it drove me mental because I knew right away it was that shit. It was so obvious to me, and seeing other people buy into it kind of drove me insane. And it was hard to talk about it, because if you dude, people would be like “there’s another purist who’s just mad that they put a woman in a star war”. This was an era of people just responding to the threat of an ideological straw man. The whole thesis of the essay I linked earlier was Kylo Ren as a surrogate for the kind of people who were really pissed off that this movie was led by a woman and two men of color and being like “this is SJW propaganda”. It’s, like, you’re so caught up in that discourse and dialogue, it never occurs to you to take a step back and consider the business side and capitalist implications of Disney acquiring the Star Wars franchise and this was all a business and being run for profit. Why this stuff is there is purely to get people to go buy the product.

[...]

It’s the same thing for me with [Marvel] and the high budget cinematic universe stuff, people still interpret it like it’s art being made by people at least halfway, and never ever look at it as a product like you would a Ford pickup truck. We need to get better about this as a whole: looking at these things first and foremost as industrial products. Iron Man was a turning point for the blockbuster movie landscape that got us where we are now, but just as important, if not more fateful to where we are now, is Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm. We live under the Mouse Monopoly and it sucks. It’s brutal. The people who were pissed off and worried when Disney bought the Star Wars franchise were completely justified and vindicated in the wake of the completion of the sequel trilogy.

[asylumwise]

I've just started watching the rerun and I think I'm gonna cry??? The brainrot is real. Gonna just liveblog in this post so I can reread my train of thought later. So, for your entertainment: my rundown of the KPWT

(edit: added skit titles for clarity)

That intro is just... ✨cinematic masterpiece✨

But can you image how it must have felt for them? Standing there in their swag outfits just waiting for the screens to rise while that thriller music is making your heart race and you hear a whole arena screaming?

They all look so fucking proud of eachother during the introductions 😍

Them welcoming us in different languages is also verrrrry... 🥵

I know live translating/subtitling is a noble art but was there no way to prepare the scripted parts in advance?

(TayTimeTem skit)

Love this first song, had it in my spotify playlist since watching the live stream 😂 I'm also getting really good at singing in phonetic Thai

Having not read the original novel, I was never really into the TayTimeTem-thing, but omg this show makes me wish we had 20 eps so they could have explored that storyline thoroughly as well. Especially Us would have given us everything

(Jeff solo)

I can't begin to explain the way "Why don't you stay" pulls on my heartstrings. For me, it's up there in my top 5 of most beautiful songs ever (with Harry Styles' Sign of the Times & Pink Floyd's Wish you were here, for example). It breaks my heart to hear how Jeff's still a little hoarse after his covid infection 😭 there were definitely some flat notes there that wouldn't have been there otherwise

(Slot Machine performance)

Wish I could see a live performance of Slot Machine one day, looks like they're amazing live. I've been listening to them on Spotify and I really love their music!

Pretty sure that Mile's more showing off and having a good time than actually playing and I love that for him. He's so fucking precious.

Jeff. Look at you. Jeff. Gorgeous rockstar. You were born to stand on such big stages. Jeff. Please conquer the world. I wanna see you live one day. Love you Jeff

My mouth fell open the first time I heard him hit those notes in Lost Stars - he's a fucking talent and I'm sure he can be the next big thing in rock. It's quite hard to explain to people in the real world how much I love him 🤣

(VegasPete skit)

Bible YES. Do it to me. Props to the music and choreography team. And the scene setting 👌 also A+ on the BibleBuild acting.

(Nodt solo)

OMG the Big sequence 😭😭 I don't know who came up with it but Nodt is killing it. You can almost touch the pain on his face. I also love it how the crowd goes wild when he confirms Big was in love with Kinn.

(Us & Build duo)

Having just been to Tomorrowland, that amount of EDM and laserlights is really triggering 🤣 But omg their dancing looks so much fun

(Anita & Barcode stuff)

YES MOM. Having Anita dance to Doja Cat makes no sense at all (not for her character nor for her amount of screentime) but I'm so here for it. Might be the pansexual in me speaking.

And BAM suddenly we understand why everybody's always hyping up Barcode. That kid is gonna be BIG. He's a totally different person when he's on stage doing his thing - hard to imagine the cute and shy kid he is rest of the time.

Love how Anita/Namphueng is like 'let me put a coat over you' while he's already wearing like, 5 layers

'My older son is handsome, my younger son is sweet' - 'isn't my mom handsome?' WE WERE ROBBED

I know it's controversial but I love that little grain of KimChay closure they've given us. I liked how they ended in the series: Kim realising that he has a lot of groveling to do and Chay taking agency - but not ending together, giving Chay space and time. He's 19 - I like to imagine he takes a few years to grow up and learn to be himself before they collide again, and take it from there.

(Jeff solo WDYS english version)

THERE IT IS. I was waiting (after having watched the clips on youtube for daaaaays). This is devastatingly beautiful for me (again, for reason I can't explain myself). It's not even the fact that it's in English - by now I've become so used to the Thai version that the sounds are wrong. But omg the scenery and setting. The piano, the build-up, the choir and Jeff just releasing it. I honestly don't know why this man isn't world wide famous yet (yes I will die on this hill). It will take a long time before I'm over this.

(KinnPorsche beach skit)

Honestly the beach bar part is one I liked less. Even if we have KinnPorsche being adorable and MileApo going 60% tiddies again. Mile has an amazing and soothing voice tho. And his fingers while playing guitar are 🥵

At first I thought the places on the those wooden signs might be clues to future stops of the world tour, but 'Iceland' is on them and although that would be awesome, I don't see it happening anytime soon 😅

(Minor family skit)

It will never not be funny to me how they give us a Minor family montage with the melancholic music and sad Vegas moments and then have Bible flying over the stage half naked to Imagine Dragons' Believer.

And that's not even mentioning what comes next.

Ta entering on skateboard is such a Macau thing. But I have conflicting feelings about the outfit - but only because I thought Macau was like 15 and that makes my tingly feelings very inappropriate.

Ex is the finest daddy to ever daddy (or more like, ultimate zaddy). Do you think this is just a regular friday night in the Minor family household?

Just, what was the train of thought behind this act? What was the process? Who came up with the idea "the minor family is hot, let's put them in leather and harnesses". I have questions.

Ex has a very peculiar accent, lots of rolling r's.

(Sailor Moon skit)

Oooh this is the part I missed during the livestream! I know what's coming tho and I have even more questions.

But Perth is clearly living his best life so good for him.

I should have watched Sailor Moon as a kid.

So much respect for them doing that skit in high heels. And omg their legs? How are they so elegant??

Tong, you absolute king. MVP.

The state of Perth's wig is atrocious.

(Justice Bao skit - had to look that up)

Next part. I love how Apo is hanging there literally going 'This was all Mile's idea and I'm just going along for the right because I (platonically) love that bastard'.

(Bodyguard/Magic Mike skit)

Wait you're telling me there was a poledance and it wasn't Bible doing it?

As someone who often comes into contact with high-end events & awardshows in their professional life, I'm really impressed with the production value of this show 😳

That bodyguard/Magic Mike part. How did the people on the front row SURVIVE???? 🥵🥵🥵

I've been using the 🥵 emoji a lot.

(Pond intermezzo)

Oh those clips 😊 little babies <3

I want that t-shirt. What was the deal with the merch again? When is it open for international orders?

(Cast speeches)

Hello I'm in love with Perth's Australian accent. Hello Perth baby sending love from Belgium!

Even though I only understand half of what they're saying (due to the slow subtitles), I'm so fucking touched by all of them. Love how they're all getting emotional the longer it takes. I'm really enthralled by these sixteen (16) men. How they clearly like and love eachother and lean on eachother. How they all express their gratitude to everyone and especially P'Pond. I love that man so much for what he did for them. And us ofcourse!

STOP IT BUILD I'M GONNA CRY WITH YOU

Apo's speech I'm - 😪 And omg Bible?? Who ever made these babies feel bad? Imma smack a bitch.

I feel like the translator just gave up halfway Mile's speech. Fair enough 😂 he's giving off real "I do what I waunt" vibes, mr. one-of-the-CEOs-of-BOC. But oh the 'family' part 😭

(Cumulus)

Aaah the long awaited Cumulus. They're really good musicians and what they're lacking in the vocal department, they're more than making up in fun.

Thai pop/rock music has some absolute bangers. These are alle going in my spotifiy playlist.

Yeah I'm gonna need about 200 high quality photo's of Jeff and Barcode singing together with the latters foot on Jeff's knee.

I hope they're saying sorry to those background singers for being such a bundle of chaos

(Finale)

THAT TRAILER I don't know what to say guys, this movie can actually only disappoint after the expectations that trailer raised.

I want to go clubbing with these guys so bad. Or even better, go to Tomorrowland (biggest and best EDM festival in the world) with them. I'll secure a spot on the bill for Ta, he's doing better than 50% of the dj's I've heard there.

Their dancing is... sorry sweating and dirty thoughts only

How is this WHOLE cast so exceptionally beautiful?

However much I love this and however much fun they seem to be having, they also look dead on their feet. But who wouldn't be after this marathon of a show?

Ooooh the famed Macarana remix! This is actually... really good? I want this in clubs this summer! (not that this mom of two is doing a lot of clubbing nowadays)

Wow Ta is actually a really good dj

(the end)

Bye boys, love you. So happy I got to see this show in full and with complete concentration. Thank you for giving it your all!

I don't think this full show is going to be the one that's going on tour, it'll probably a much smaller version. I'm very curious about what it's gonna be tho and if it's coming to Europe (to an easily accessible city), I'll sure as hell go see it!

The show's over and I have 6 minutes to spare so that's me rewinding tot 01:58:00 for Jeff's WDYS on piano kthxbye

[peachyloveswriting]

Questions concerning this post

Hi, I posted a sneak peak of something I'm working on, the link is in the title but if you don't see it here you go.

(the post)

If anyone has any questions concerning the fic don't be scared to drop by my ask box or message me, I don't mind answering your questions. That aside I actually want to discuss something different. It's come to my attention that a few people are interested in the fic and would like to read it so I'm making a public announcement about it. I'll be addressing a few other things as well including about the fic so if ur interested u know what to do.

I'll be talking about:

The new fic + my disappearance

The Yancy fic + why I stopped working on it and what's in store

What's going on now

The fic is unfinished, I'm still in the process of writing it. I haven't really told anyone about it because I feel like if I told others I might not finish it. So I won't be giving away many details about it (I'm sorry for those that were hoping lol) I stopped posting because I was working on this story day and night, I wanted it to be perfect and I still do. I've been working on the book for about two months, and during this time school started back up. I've been working on it every moment I get the chance and I'm really proud of how far I've gotten. The book is currently 95k words and part 1 has a confirmed 27 chapters. This is by far the biggest thing I have ever worked on the and most important project to me. I can't wait for when I finish it and I'm able to post it for everyone to see and I hope your as excited as I am.

My disappearance and the fic isn't the only thing I want to talk about, I also want to bring up the Yancy fic for those who are curious. If you don't know what the Yancy fic is, it's a story I started two months ago and never finished. Sadly I do not know if I'll finish it and I apologize heavily for that. The reason I stopped working on was I was having an extremely hard time figuring out how I actually wanted the story to go. I don't know Yancy's character well enough to write something that huge, I was way in over my head and I knew I was falling out of my obsession with Markiplier I shouldn't have started it to begin with. I apologize to everyone who was waiting for the next chapter, don't get your hopes up but if I get motivation I'll finish it. I'm sorry.

After deciding to take a small "break" from the Yancy fic I started losing interest in the Markiplier cinematic universe; I still love the characters and everything my obsession just isn't as strong and that's why I fell of the wagon. After that, I started looking for something else to attach to but nothing new was catching my interest so I resorted back to my old obsession with the batfam. The last time I was in this fandom I was about nine years old and now I'm 17, it's amazing lol. But jokes aside my Batman phase is what started my writing career and to think I'm coming back to it now that I'm so much better makes me happy especially since my mental health was at an ATL before I grasped it again.

I hope that my Yancy enjoyers will forgive me and the rest of your I'll stay for my rollercoaster of obsessions, love you all. Don't be afraid to ask em stuff in my inbox, I'm always happy to chat.

[literalite]

6, 11, 25 and 26!

6. give us a quick breakdown of your editing process

answered here!

11. tell me something you really like about how you edit

i really like how i edit eyes... they're like the frosting on a cake idk like you edit the eyes right and the whole thing just comes alive if that makes sense

25. which edit took the shortest amount of time to complete?

i remember blitzing through this edit super fast but i think it was mostly due to that not being my screenshot and also just actions on top of actions on top of actions

26. which edit took the longest amount of time to complete?

this was the first time i'd gone so far in terms of making a set/cinematic lighting/doing the little doodles in the corners of the card so it took me ages but it's one of my fav of the edits i did relatively early on in simblr so i'm still proud of it although my old super smooth waxy looking vibe i don't like so much now

[alishad123]

What Could Have Been {Arcane Fanfic}

Chapter Two - Across the River

ARCANE: Dear Friend Across The River (The Bridge) | CINEMATIC COVER (feat. @Rachel Hardy) - YouTube

(One Day Later)

It's been one day since the fight between the Undercity and the Enforcers, during that time Vi begins to worry about her little sister hoping that Vander finds her soon but she still doesn't give up hope.

Later on Vander made it home as Vi got up from the couch and ran into him.

"Did you find her? Please tell me!" She said with a worried yet fearful expression

"I'm sorry Vi, I really am. I tried so hard to look everywhere, even in Piltover. I've talked to some old friends of mine and none of them hasn't seen a little girl at all. I'm sorry Vi, I'm afraid that…..your sister…is gone." Suddenly Vi began to break down in tears and fell on her knees.

"No, no, no, no she can't be gone! This is all my fault I should have gone after her!" Vander then held Vi into his arms to calm her down.

"Hey, hey, hey it's alright, don't blame yourself kid none of this isn't your fault, you did everything that you could to protect your sister.”

"No you don't understand, I made a promise to my parents that I will protect her…"

“Vi look at me, I know that you are not a bad person, but you did everything that you could to save your sister. Your parents would have been proud of you." Vi understood everything, she wiped her tears away and took a deep breath.

"Why…do all of the Enforcers hate us?"

"I wish I could know everything kiddo, but that's how our world works…" he said.

"I swear one day, they're gonna pay for what they did…" Vander didn't say anything after that, he knows how Vi felt after everything that she went through, she has lost everything, her home, her parents, and even her little sister. They then were interrupted by Mylo and Clagger.

"Mylo, Clagger, it's great to see you boys there's someone who I want you to meet. Boys this is Vi, Vi these are my boys Mylo and Clagger."

"Hi." Said Vi,

"Hey Vi." Mylo replied.

"Hey Vi, it's nice to meet you." Clagger replied.

"Hey boys, why don't you show Vi around town. But do not go to the topside, I'm gonna have a word with Benzo." Said Vander as the kids start heading out.

(In Singed's home)

Meanwhile Powder was in her room by herself coloring while Silco went to visit Singed in his office.

"Alright, can you see anything?" Said Singed as he held some pictures for Silco to see.

"No, it's all very...blurry and red."

"Hmm I see, can you describe to me how your eye feel?"

"It's like it still has this…toxic inside me, and it's eating me from the inside. And I have this hallucination in my head.”

"Hmm, I'm sure that I have something for your eye." Singed said as he pulled something out of his desk.

"This is what I wanted to show you."

"What is that?"

"This is called Shimmer, this will help to keep your eye stable. But you have to inject your eye every single day."

"What happens if I don't take it?"

“Then it will get worse, once you miss a day you'll be addicted to the shimmer more than ever." Silco nods and he grabs the shimmer injection from Singed's hand.

"Thanks, Singed."

"Of course, by the way, what are you planning to do with the little girl that you have in your room?"

"Honestly…I'm not sure? Her parents are dead, she lost her sister, she lost everything. So I'm not sure what I am going to do with her."

"Hmmm, I understand but if you don't have any ideas that's okay you two can stay here as long as you want."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay thank you, I should better get going."

(In Silco's room)

Later on Silco went back to his room and checked on Powder. She then sees him coming in.

"You came back!" She got up and ran into him and hugged him. Silco was surprised at first but yet he softly smiled and patted her head and kneeling down to her.

"Sorry that I took too long, by the way I got you some new clothes for you to wear." He said as Powder smiles with excitement and she checks out her new clothes but then she finds a gold needle thingy.

"Huh? What's this Mr Silco?" She asks as she shows him the needle.

"Oh, sorry child, it's my um…medicine."

"Your medicine? Are you sick?" She said with a worried expression.

"No dear, it's for my eye."

"What's wrong with your eye?" she curiously asked him but he thought to himself.

"Shit, she hasn't seen it yet. I don't want her to scare her." He sighs and unwraps the banges around his head and shows it to Powder.

His left eye is no longer normal, the outer eye is pitch black while his eye color is a mix between yellow, orange and red, more like a fire color.

"Does it hurt?" She touches his face.

"No dear, I can't feel anything in my left eye." She was speechless but then she gave him his needle.

"I'm sorry if this scares you Powder."

"It's okay Mr Silco." She softly responds. He smiles warmly but then sees a bunch of drawings, blank papers, and oil charcoal.

“What’s your drawing over there?” he said as Powder grab Silco’s hand and walk over to her artwork.

“I made this one for you.” She shows him the picture, it was a stick figure of Silco.

“Oh Powder, this is wonderful thank you.” he said with a soft smile.

(Later in the Lanes)

While Vi, Mylo, and Clagger were out, they took her to their hang out spot to meet their other friend.

“What is this place?” Vi ask.

“This is our hangout spot, it's not that pretty but .”

"Looks nice." She said as she saw someone hiding in the corner.

"Hey, who's that over there?" She pointed at the corner.

"Oh that's Ekko, he's our friend." Said Mylo

"It's alright Little Man, she's friendly." Said Clagger as a small child slowly appeared out of the corner.

"Ekko this is Vi, Vi this is Ekko."

"Nice to meet you Ekko." She said as she let her hand out, Ekko slowly grabbed her hand and shook it.

"So what do you boys normally do around here?"

"Eh nothing much, we mostly do whatever we want around here in the Lanes."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"But sometimes we can mess around with the Enforcers."

"Why would you do that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you know that you're gonna get yourselves in trouble or worse, dead."

"Woah, sorry I mean it's not that big of a deal."

"Uh it is Mylo, don't you remember what happened with those guys last week? What they did to the Enforcers!"

"Yeah i mean that's diff-“

"It doesn't matter if it is different or not you can get killed no matter what you do to piss the Enforcers!!!"

"I…I'm sorry Vi…"

"No I'm the one who is sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you guys, but that's how the world works now…"

"It's alright Vi, hey there's one more place that we wanted to show you." Said Clagger. Vi smiles a little and they start heading out.

(In Benzo's Shop)

“Benzo, you here?" He yelled out for him.

"Vander, where the hell have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere! Did you find them?"

"I only found one of their daughters."

"One of their daughters? What the hell are you talking about? Where's Henry and Jessica?"

"They're…dead, and so does their…younger daughter as well…Vi is the only one who has survived. And it's all because of Silco! That fuckin son of a bitch! He will pay for what he did!" He said as he slammed his fist against the wall.

"Bloody hell, that's terrible! Where the hell is Silco now? I swear once I see him again I swear I-"

"He ran away right after he stabbed my forearm."

"...where's Vi now?"

"She's with my boys, god that poor girl…I know her father too, we all did. Remember what we called ourselves?"

"Heh, how could I forget? The Children of the Undercity. Man that brings me back…"

"Yeah but…we all change and it's not the same anymore."

"I'm so sorry Van…"

Benzo put his hand on Vander's shoulder, but then they heard the door open and it was the kids walking into the store.

"And here is- oh shit sorry, I didn't know someone was in here." Said Mylo

"It's alright, and what did I say about you swearing?"

"Sorry dad."

"It's alright Mylo, it's almost sundown you ready to go Vi?" He said as Vi nodded.

"We'll be right back."

He picked up the small bag of money and they started heading out.

(Later that day)

After Silco took a shower, he looked at himself in the mirror and saw how terrible his left eye was. He can see the fire in his eye. It feels like it is eating him from the inside.

But he was still thinking about the night with Vander, he thought to himself "Why would he do this? After everything that we've been through! I thought that I could trust him! BUT HE BETRAYED ME!!!!!"

All of those thoughts in his head have kept repeating itself over and over again.

So he took out the shimmer injection and put it together, he stared at it for a moment and slowly aim it at his left eye. He was making sure that it was at the right spot, he took a deep breath and…

*Click*

He pushed the injection down and it stabbed his left eye with a little bit of shimmer. It stung him for a second but he took a deep breath and tried to ignore the pain.

Later he changes himself and walks around for a moment, he then sees Powder while still drawing on her paper but she looks so happy here.

He smiles softly but then thinks of himself again.

"What the hell am I going to do with this child? Come on Silco get a hold of yourself! She's not even your kid! Why should you be worried about it? Why am I feeling like this?" He stopped himself for a moment and went outside for a moment.

(At the Bridge)

During the afternoon both Vander and Vi went back to the bridge where they dropped off three flowers and sat them down.

They took a moment of silence but then they were interrupted by one of the Enforcers.

"Hey, you two can't be here!"

"Listen sir, her entire family just died last night. Could you give us a moment?"

"No, you two shouldn't be at all!" Suddenly there was another Enforcer.

"Is there a problem Marcus?"

"No Chief…"

"Good, I'll take it from here now. You're dismissed." He nods and leaves.

"I'm sorry about Marcus here, so your Vander?"

"Yes, and you are?”

“Grayson, is that your daughter over there?”

“Um no she’s…she’s Jessica’s daughter, maybe you know her.”

“Yeah…i’m so for your lost little one.” She said as Vi glared at her with an angry expression on her face, she then turned away from her.

"Apparently she is not very happy to see any of the enforcers now."

“I understand…, can I speak to you for a moment?" Said Grayson as Vander gets up and walks an inch away from Vi.

"Listen Vander, I'm terribly sorry for your loss but we don't have any choice."

"Of course that you don't have a choice, you just kept killing us more and more and yet none of the councilors ain't gonna do nothing about it!"

"I understand Van-“

"No you don't! You have no idea how much risk that I have to take! I kept my people safe from the Enforcers and all over Piltover!!!" He stopped for a moment and took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

"Vander, I wish that I could do everything to stop this hate between our people and yours, and I'll do whatever it takes to not harm all of you. I know that you all aren't bad people. How about this, how about you and I will make a deal."

(Few Minutes Later)

"Vander, could you at least just…think about it."

"Of course, it was…nice knowing you, Grayson." She nodded.

"Come on kid, let's go home." Vi gets up and they walk home.

(At Night)

Later on at night, Powder began to whimper in her sleep, shaking so much, she was having a nightmare from the night of the war.

“MOMMY!!! DADDY!!!” She screams in fear which causes Silco to rush into her room.

“Powder? What’s wrong?” he said as he turned on the light and walked over to her bed.

“I…I had a nightmare from that night, I'm so…*sobbing* I'm so scared!” She curls herself into a ball while crying her eyes out but then Silco pulls her in and holds her.

“Shhh there, there now. It’s gonna be okay, you're in a safe place." he rubs her head and comforts her.

"I miss my mommy and daddy, and I miss my sister too."

"I know you do, my dear child." He said in a soft tone of his voice, He wiped her tears away and let go of her and walked away. She sees him and immediately ran after him and grabs his hand.

"Wait, please don't leave me.” He stops and turns around.

“Could you stay with me tonight?" He took a moment to think about it.

"Hmm, of course child." He said as he turned off the light as he put a small candle on top of the dresser for a nightlight and he started laying down next to her.

"Could you sing me a lullaby?"

"I'm not much of a singer child."

"You could try?"

"Hmm let's see." He thinks of a song to sing.

"Dear friend across the river. My hands are cold and bare." He began to sing while Powder was surprised because her mother used to sing that lullaby to her and her sister every night.

"Dear friend across the river, I'll take what you can spare. I ask of you a penny, my fortune it will be." Powder sighs softly as she closes her eyes and sings along with him.

He looks down at her and starts rubbing her head slowly and closes his eyes as well and they both start singing together.

"I ask you without env, we raise no mighty towers. Our homes are built of stone, so come across the river. And find…the world below." She slowly falls asleep and Silco smiles softly but then hears her saying something to him.

"Goodnight…daddy…" Silco's heart crunches after hearing those soft words from that small child who he only knew for a day but then suddenly he felt something that he never felt before.

He feels like he wants to protect this little girl. Even though it isn't his, it doesn't matter to him.

He'll take care of this small child for the rest of his life and promise her that he will always be right by her side.

"Goodnight, Powder." He kissed her forehead and they both fell asleep peacefully together.

(To Be Continued)

[battlestar-royco]

I haven't read the books yet so I'm a big newbie when it comes to the Dune story, but I've managed to pick up on *some* info regarding the world building from wiki pages and yeah, regarding the character arcs I feel like the movie cut off way too much than what it could've had regarding the characters. Oddly enough the most moving part for me aside from the Duke's death and how even in the catatonic state he was in, mourned his family, was Paul's visions moment. I still don't know how I'll get around to feeling about his character later on (I do know that you're not supposed to think he's a hero or is right at all), but I feel like *that* moment established how what's to come for him will not be good in the slightest. I feel like they could've easily made it more positive or less ominous if they wanted to, and it would've helped to establish him as an actual savior (though obviously a white one) if they wanted that, but the music and his obvious distress over it just made it clear that what the potential future for him will be is /not good/. And granted, I don't want to excuse him by saying "well this is what he's meant to do" because frankly he could've allowed himself to die in his battle with Jamis! Like if you know that so many of the visions you get are not good then maybe it IS better for you to go! But nope, he doesn't.

I am sad to hear that Jessica and the Duke's emotional bond and trust was a more watered down version of the book because the concept sounds really intriguing. Because technically she IS supposed to be manipulating him from the start by making sure that she has his child for future political treaties through a marriage and she has to give him a daughter for this, but ends up giving him a son because she loves him? Whereas in the movie I feel like the mother superior telling her "you're so proud of yourself you think you could bring the holy messiah to earth" kind of made it look like she did it more for herself than because she loved Duke so much that she was willing to "betray" her superior and her teachings for this. Idk how Jessica will handle the role Paul will get later on I guess but what I could see from the movie is that she def loves him as her kid, and not just as this actual supposed superior being. I kind of wish we just got more scenes between Paul and the Duke because I feel like that relationship lacked more emotional depth and nuance? In comparison to Paul and Jessica as son and mother, but idk if they're just more distant in the books so this is how it's supposed to be. Regarding the other characters I VERY much agree with Yueh's betrayal feeling lackluster. Idk how it is in the book but his role felt kind of subpar that when it happened, while the overthrowing was grandiose on a cinematic scale, on a personal one, it wasn't as good? Like he just seemed a more distant character from the family members and the fact that he did it because he wanted to save his wife isn't really shown enough for an audience member to feel for his character more. He's essentially trapped and he did it because it was either his wife or this family but like....it all happens so suddenly that by the time he's dead you're kind of 😐 about it.

This ask is too damn long and I'm sorry, but yeah my basic 2 cents as a newbie.

Okay I love the energy of this long ass ask.

I wasn't totally feeling Paul's vision--except for the shot of him and Chani above Caladan (so ominous)--but I'm glad it worked for you! I think they could've done more to make Paul's trajectory more clearly evil if that was what they were going for, but it did feel ambiguous. I didn't get a triumphant/heroic impression of the Atreides, especially not from the Fremen. Personally, Leto's singular tear really did me in.

Jessica and Leto's relationship in the book was a major emotional anchor for me, so I too was disappointed by their depiction. Removing the "traitor in the house" plot also removed the implicit, deep trust Jessica, Paul, and Leto had in each other and their allies despite all the other fuckery they get into. There was so much more going on between just Jessica and Leto, let alone how they delegate their people. The movie didn't impress upon us how coveted, talented, and integral Bene Gesserit are to the galaxy, which in turn definitely impacted Jessica's relationships and the way she drove the plot. I die for complex marriages whose conflict doesn't come from infidelity or abuse. Also women with powers and dark agendas.

[takaraphoenix]

Ofc I'm excited for the new chapter phoe, I am so starved for Jason content that even the suggestion that I'm going to get some (esp QUALITY Jason content like urs) makes me unbelievably giddy and I'm fr checking my phone to see when it's gonna be update time in ur timezone 🥺✨

Oh gosh, you're so sweet. Your messages always delight me a lot and since Jason took kind of a backseat today in favor of the build up of the secret reveal, yooou get a small, Jason-focused flash-forward into their future. ;) also because I actually have time to write again fdklghaöklh

--

Sky-blue eyes were large as they quickly flew over the words in front of him. His mouth was in a small oh-shape as he absorbed every little bit of information that was given to him. And then it just ended.

To Be Continued...

No, no, no. That couldn't possibly be! This was too exciting, it couldn't just end like that! His sister next to him made a squealing sound as she also reached the ending. She grabbed the comic book out of his hand and tried turning the page, hoping against hope there would be more.

"No, no, no," she whined frustrated and threw herself back onto the bed.

After a moment, her brother mirrored her. The two groaned and whined until their current babysitter walked in, a frown on his face. He brushed hazel-hair out of his face.

"What's gotten into you lot?"

"The comic ends, uncle Tyson! It just ends! And the next issue won't come out until next month, but it just got really, really exciting!" he heard his sister complain.

"Grace is right! This isn't fair. Cliffhangers are unlawful and inhumane!"

Tyson laughed and approached the bed to sit down between his niece and nephew. "I think I gotta talk to your parents about your definition of unlawful and inhumane, Jacky."

Jackson huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, pout in place and sky-blue eyes dark like a brewing storm. When it darkened in the room and rumbling could be heard from outside, Tyson frowned concerned and cleared his throat.

"You guys do know that you could just... ask your parents, right? They were right there. They know exactly how all of this unfolded," offered Tyson.

He took the comic-book - issue 13 of The Adventures of the New Olympians - and closed it to hold up the cover, where Jason di Angelo was standing heroically in his Blue Lightning uniform, fighting a giant space-octopus. Jackson frowned and turned to look at his sister.

"I dunno", admitted Grace. "Dad is like... dad. Not Blue Lightning. Dad sings bad old boyband songs in the shower and steals daddy's blue cookies and baby-talks to Mrs. O'Leary."

"Yeah. These comics are totally fiction, uncle Tyson", agreed Jackson seriously. "Dad's a total dork, not a superhero! He isn't like daddy and papa."

Tyson huffed a little at that, fond smile on his lips. "He isn't now. But when push comes to shove, he always got our back in a fight. Because he could never bear standing aside if his family gets hurt. Go and ask him about it, mh."

"Tyson? Where are you?", called his wife from somewhere else. "Jason is here to pick up the kids!"

"Ah, your cue, pipsqueaks", Tyson grinned and ruffled both their hair.

Grace quickly grabbed her Wisdom Warrior doll, while Jackson took the comic book, both kids quickly running out the room and downstairs. Grace just lept off a few steps before the end of the stairs, jumping straight into her dad's awaiting arms. Jason was smiling softly, hugging her tightly. Her blonde curls bounced as he whirled her around once.

"Hey there, kids. Had fun with uncle Tyson and auntie Ella?"

"Ye--es", chorused Jackson and Grace.

"Thanks for watching them, guys", Jason turned to offer Tyson and Ella a small, grateful smile. "With Perce and Nico still in Canada about that... maple syrup fuled robot apocalypse... it's been kind of stressful. And then Thabi got into trouble at school and-"

"No need to explain, or to thank us", assured Tyson, patting his brother-in-law on the back. "That's what brothers are for, Jay. We got your back. Besides, we love those two."

With a last smile aimed at the couple, Jason herded the twins out of the house and toward the car. He made sure their seatbelts were fastened before he got in the driver's seat and started the car. In the rear-mirror, he could see the twins whispering with each other, but neither speaking up. He decided against asking, for now. They'd tell him whatever was on their minds when they were ready.

Once at home, both of the kids ran off to their rooms and Jason was so busy with things around the house that he nearly forgot about the kids' strange behavior. That's what they got for having a ridiculously big house and stables, but then again, they did need the grounds to allow their companions enough space to roam free. He'd just finished feeding Tempest and Blackjack when the twins suddenly stood behind him, serious, matching frowns on their faces.

"We have come to the agreement that we should ask you", declared Grace.

A nine-year-old with pigtails had no right to look this serious. Jason smiled a little at that, nodding and waiting for more.

"We know that daddy and papa are superheroes", continued Jackson as the three headed back toward the house. "But you aren't! You're just... dad. Right?"

"Ouch", Jason huffed out a little laugh. "Just dad, huh?"

"I mean, you're normal, like us", corrected Grace with a frown, motioning at the posters at the walls when they entered the living room. "You're only a hero on the big screen! Not in real life!"

The smile on Jason's lips turned more nostalgic. His dorky, dorky husbands had decided to plaster every wall that wasn't filled with family pictures with posters of his movies. Right now, Grace was motioning very decidedly at The Twelve Tasks of Hercules. Hercules was his most popular role, a fictional superhero clearly supposed to be the son of Zeus but never actually name-dropping Zeus in the movie series. Or the spin-off TV show. It had spanned a whole cinematic universe about fictional superheroes after they had introduced Theseus, a water-powered superhero who was a thinly veiled homage to Percy, in one of the movies. Theseus got his own solo-movie, then a sequel and over the years, they had established more and more heroes in this universe. Jason was so incredibly proud of it, not just because he played the hero who started it all, but because he was also creatively involved; he had pitched the character of Theseus.

Sitting down on the couch, he let his eyes wander just a little. A poster of his first big breakout role as Jace Herondale in a TV show adaptation of The Mortal Instruments... naturally, Percy had chosen the poster where Jason posed shirtless, showing off the runes.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?", asked Jason softly.

"I wanna take over granny's bakery", declared Jackson with a puffed-out chest. "I'll learn all of her recipes and become the best baker in all of New York."

"I dunno, dad. I'm nine", huffed Grace with a pointed look. "Maybe I'll become a great fashion designer like auntie Silena! Or a teacher like auntie Annabeth. Or president. Or astronaut. Oh! Or doctor."

"Okay, okay", Jason interrupted her, laughing. "But neither of you wants to become a superhero like your dads?"

The twins exchanged a silent look before shaking their heads and Jackson answered. "No. It looks scary. It looks cool to watch but I'd be super scared."

Jason nodded slowly. "But if Gracie was in danger, like really, really scary danger, what would you do?"

"I'd help her!", exclaimed Jackson immediately, grabbing his sister's hand.

The smile on Jason's lips grew some. "Being a hero is really, really scary and really, really dangerous. And I never-ever wanted to be a hero. I'm not as brave as your dads when it comes to that. But when there is something very big and dangerous that your dads can't handle on their own, I'll put my own fears aside. Because you know what is just... so much scarier than being a hero? It'd be if something happened to your dads. And I couldn't help."

He knew their kids were under no illusions; they knew Nico and Percy led dangerous lives and they knew something could happen to them. Nico had already been hospitalized for a longer period of time a few years ago.

"So when they really need me, I'll be very brave to help them."

"So... So this is really real?", asked Grace softly, holding up the comic-book.

Jason snorted a little at the extremely overdone hero-pose he was striking on the cover. "It's... more or less real. There's some... made-up stuff there, because those who write these comics, they only had the news coverage to go by, they weren't actually there when we met in private and planned and talked. But yes, that happened."

Jackson straightened up at that and took the comic from his sister to open it on the last page, putting it down on Jason's lap and very decidedly pointing at the To Be Continued in the lower corner.

"How's it end!?", asked Jackson eagerly. "We don't wanna wait!"

"Ye--es! Did you save the day? Did you rescue daddy when he got abducted by the alien octopus?", wanted Grace to know, eyes large.

Laughing to himself, Jason leaned back against the couch and opened his arms, both his kids immediately snuggling up to him and eagerly awaiting the story. Jason wasn't the greatest story-teller in the family, Piper was the author, but he did his best to actually tell the story as exciting as possible. He talked and talked for over an hour and by the end of the story, both twins were deep asleep. Asleep on him, not giving him a chance to move from the couch either. Though he was tired too, so he closed his eyes, just for a second.

"I'm de--ead", groaned Percy softly and something shifted.

Jason blinked sleepily, turning his head toward the source of the voice. His face lit up when he saw Percy snuggled up to Grace from behind. When he turned toward his other side, he saw Nico behind Jackson.

"I'm sorry we were both gone, amore", whispered Nico as he leaned over to kiss Jason sweetly. "It was an all-hands-on-deck situation..."

"You don't have to explain", Jason smiled faintly. "You're the leaders of the Olympians. They rely on you. Especially now with all the newbies, they need your guidance."

"Yeah, but we promised you we'd step back some", Percy sighed frustrated.

"You can't control when a weird Canadian wants to start the robot- apocalypse", Jason chuckled amused. "I'm proud of you both. And you have been stepping back a lot."

Percy hummed in agreement, eyes slowly closing as he rested his head on Jason's shoulder. Within moments, he was out cold. So the entire family was going to sleep on the couch today, mh?

"How did your meeting go?", asked Nico, sounding sleepy.

"Good. I mean. Really good. The studio is still so stubbornly thinking that female superheroes won't sell, but we finally pushed through. We got the Helen of Troy spin-off greenlit", replied Jason with a puffed out chest.

Nico smiled at him, kissing his cheek. "Good. I'm proud of you."

And then he yawned and snuggled closer to Jason. It filled Jason with warmth to just sit here, with his husbands and children, in their home. Safe and happy. Yes, he worried for Nico and Percy when they were out there, but he also knew that this was their dream and they loved their job. And ever since the twins had been born, the two really had stepped back, leading from the headquarters and training new heroes, only going out themselves if it was an emergency and the others needed help. Jason couldn't be mad about that, wouldn't want to be either, because he could never resent his husbands for living their dream - they had, after all, always supported Jason and his dream. Even when Jason would be in another country for months filming a movie, they never complained, they took care of the kids and were proudly at his side during the premieres.

"I love you two", whispered Jason, carefully kissing the top of Nico's head on one of his shoulders and the top of Percy's head on the other. "My heroes."