#it uses a very labor intensive stitch

[pocket-size-cthulhu]

Behold. A tangible representation of 8+ hours of my life: crochet pumpkins made for my sister

[discountalien-pancake]

I just need everyone to understand that we have hardly any surviving intact garments from before, say, the 1700s. There’s dozens of reasons for this, but one of the big ones is that people reused the materials. Things were cut up and refashioned into new things, over and over, until the fabric was essentially just rags, bc the labor required to weave cloth and stitch up a garment was intense. You would wear and wear and wear things until they were dead. This includes the elaborate garments of the upper classes.

And in the same way that today many people pick apart old things to cannibalize the buttons and trims and other salvageable bits, they did that too! No sense throwing away perfectly good buttons just because the shirt is shredded. Snip those off and sew them onto something new! We have lace cuffs that are incredibly old, but rarely the garments they were worn with, partly because lace was so fucking expensive you’d have to be insane to throw it out. You would save those and refashion them again and again as often as possible.

So what we know of medieval clothing has been learned from writings, often very vague, illustrations (also very vague), and other imagery like statues. We have bits and pieces of garments, often from funerary contexts, but the same context that prevented them from being chopped up and reused also made them susceptible to decomposing.

Which is all to say that we do not know the exact details of garment construction for any given period. We don’t even know all the ins and outs of the clothing of the 1800s, and we have hundreds of surviving pieces from that century!

Do we know how frequently and in which contexts hooks and eyes were used prior to the late 1400s? Not precisely, but we can make some good guesses based on artwork and later usage. But we may never really know, because guess what! Hooks and eyes are reusable. I guarantee they would have been snipped off of unusable clothing and sewn onto new pieces.

[end-otw-racism]

I’m so impressed by the energy and passion in this project, and of course I agree with the goal, but I am wondering: wouldn’t it make sense to channel some of this energy into volunteering with the OTW and implementing the changes being called for? The impression I’m getting from the OTW is that they largely already agree that the issues being pointed out are problems (as it says in the blog description they have acknowledged it years ago) and they would like to address them, they just don’t have the people to actually do that. If they did, presumably they already would have done it, right?

I’ve done some volunteer work in other organizations and every one of them had long lists of stuff they wanted to do, and every year similar wishes were brought up by new people coming in, but most of those things never happened because the people in the org spent most of their time just keeping the org running. That’s not to say that changes didn’t happen - they did, just slowly, and one at time. But each change required people in the org to either stop doing whatever work they were already doing and instead work on implementing the change, or for new people to come in and do it.

In my experience, if you want to see change in volunteer-based organizations, you need to be that change.

This response is going to be lengthy, so buckle in. And while this response may get a bit intense, it is not necessarily directed right at the asker. This is just a common deflection tactic we have seen time and again when people call for change.

To start, we’d like to remind everyone that we are only five individuals. The OTW might need more volunteers, but adding five more people to the bucket, when the OTW has around 1,000 volunteers, isn’t going to address the issue. 

Secondly, it has come to light - thanks in part to our protest - that the OTW is dealing with some serious structural issues including an inability to address problems because of the over-dependence on the Legal Department. These issues both mean that the OTW isn’t in the position to onboard as many volunteers as it needs and that volunteers are being harmed while being unable to enact the change they wish to see. Adding five more bodies into the mix would just result in five more volunteers being harmed by the OTW’s dysfunction. 

We have little faith that, should we enter the organization for the purpose of change we would not be undermined and hung out to dry much like Chinese fans have been recently.  

We agree with you (and the org does too!) that they do not have the actual people to do the work that needs to be done. Which is why we are specifically calling for them to do what they said they would in order to get it done: hire people who can actually do it. 

We currently, with this action and platform we are building, see ourselves as very much part of the change we want to see. Enacting structural change requires a multi-faceted approach. It needs voices outside an organization who are willing to speak up in identifying issues they see with the organization’s work, like Stitch and Dr. Pande. It needs the willingness of those within the organization to facilitate and enact change. But it also needs accountability. We feel our role as users impacted by the OTW’s actions (or inactions) but outside the organization itself, allows us to act as voices of accountability, to hold the OTW to its promises and demand it live up to its ideals and responsibilities. Our role cannot be fulfilled within the organizational structure itself. 

Volunteering is an act of labor that we feel we are currently engaging in within a space we feel safe doing so. Asking fans of color to volunteer to make changes within an organization with known toxicity and abuse towards its volunteers, that we know does not do enough to protect even its users from racial abuse, to join up to ‘fix’ things, to expect that we are the ones that should do the hard work of restructuring the organization, is to ask us to do something for which we have repeatedly explained we are not qualified to do and to ask us to fix something we did not break. 

To take the spirit of Taika Watiti this past week. We don’t want to be doing this. We don’t want to have to fix this mess. We want to be writing our silly little stories about our favorite little blorbos. But instead we have to be here, calling for the OTW to fix the mess that they created. And now, by saying ‘just go volunteer to change things from within’ you are demanding that we expose ourselves to abuse and toxicity to fix something we did not break. Fans of color did not set the current system up. We did not introduce racism into the OTWs organizational structure. Why would the only avenue for change that is acceptable be to put ourselves in harm’s way to do labor to fix something we did not cause in a space where we would be only 5 new voices within an existing entrenched organizational culture of nearly 1000 people? Where is the responsibility of the people who actually do have the power to fix things right now? 

And for us to do this all for an organization that has demonstrated a repeated unwillingness to change? When we feel that the work we are doing here is just as important and valuable? Should we disappear silently into the organization so you - the passive user with the privilege to be using the site without being harmed - can continue using AO3, oblivious to the harms it is perpetuating so you can continue enjoying that privilege with a clear conscience?

Volunteering at this point seems, to us, the least effective way to actually push for change and the one that will cause us, as individuals, the most harm while doing nothing to actually change anything for anyone.

When the OTW has demonstrated actual concrete actions towards change, hired the people they have promised to hire, communicated transparently with their user base about the scale and content of the proposed changes, provided evidence of protections for volunteers from known past toxicity and clearly identified what kind of volunteers they need, in what capacity, and with specific skillsets, then sure, maybe some of us involved out here may feel motivated to jump in and work for that change. We don’t object to laboring to improve a space we love, we object to doing it fruitlessly.   

However, all of the problems we have listed are characteristic of white supremacy culture in orgs: power hoarding, lack of transparency, defensiveness, believing there's only one right way, a culture of overwork, the idea that you as an individual could be responsible for the failure of the org because it is under constant threat. 

In order for any of us to feel safe in actually participating within the organization, the OTW has to make the first step to improving itself by addressing their internal structural issues. It can be painful to bring these issues into the light, but it’s the only way for the OTW to move forward in a positive direction.

[vidreview]

VIDREV: "NO CGI is really just INVISIBLE CGI" by The Movie Rabbit Hole

[originally posted march 19th 2024]

like a lot of folks, i've grown weary of the preponderance of CGI in Hollywood flicks these days. it's all but a cultural tradition at this point to watch John Carpenter's The Thing, sigh wistfully at the goopy silicone animatronics, and say "man, you couldn't make anything like this today." the Marvel/Disney machine has done a lot of heavy lifting to engender this perspective, particularly in the cape department where every aspect of the film is under intense and non-negotiable executive revision until quite literally days before theatrical release (as was the case with Marvel's The Marvels). it doesn't help that this shift has a lot less to do with what's best for any given movie, and a hell of a lot more to do with the lack of unionization in the visual effects industries making them a readily exploitable source of labor. in such an environment, films that nevertheless lean on practical effects are enticing (and, quite often, demonstrably better) enough that we'll sing their praises to the point of hyperbole.

enter Jonas of The Movie Rabbit Hole, here with a genuinely essential series of video essays to slap some sense into that hyperbole and bring us all back down to earth.

one of the more important directors for the development of unobtrusive CGI is David Fincher. i have my fair share of issues with his films, but credit where it's due: they're constantly pushing technology in ways that you absolutely would not expect. there's a crane shot at the start of The Social Network that couldn't be shot with a crane for safety reasons, so instead it was stitched together in post from footage taken on multiple 4K cameras at once. a shocking majority of the blood you'll see in his movies is CGI. the praise i've portioned for his recent films, even as i find him sort of a fundamentally anti-human director, is that he understands that visual effects work best as a supplement to existing footage, rather than a pure replacement.

i share all this to underline my use of the word "essential" in describing this series. i worked in film for a few years, i went to film school, i try to understand the production process as pragmatically as possible. i am under no illusions that Christopher Nolan flicks or the John Wick movies are totally practical. i'm not an anti-CGI evangelist! and yet, even then, i had NO idea just how wrongheaded i still was on the subject until i watched these videos.

Jonas brings 18 years of visual effects experience to bear on a series that feels very much like him trying to settle an argument he's been having for about as long. he has countless examples of films praised for their lack of CGI that relied heavily on their CGI, using the demo reels of effects houses as the smoking gun. Jonas speaks with a plain matter-of-fact-ness that's bolstered just so by an edge of smug frustration, the kind you only get after bearing a cross for years. but it's not just an "i'm right, you're wrong" affair by any stretch. Jonas does a fantastic job communicating a lot of complicated subjects in ways that are friendly to even the most casual of viewers, rarely blaming the audience for their ignorance when studios and market trends are the real culprit. and because he's a veteran of the industry, he's able to interview prominent figures that would otherwise be inaccessible for the average essayist, like Academy Award winning VFX supervisor Paul Franklin.

(and here we come up against a question countenanced more than once on this blog-- where is the line between video essay and documentary? i think this readily qualifies as the former given the first-person direct address shot-in-his-living-room style, yet somehow i feel a bit uneasy with the classification. oh well, a topic for another day)

the most eye-opening section for me is also one of the first, where Jonas confronts the public image of Top Gun: Maverick. i haven't seen this film yet, but i have seen the endless and unqualified buzz about its practical effects. and to be sure, these deserve quite a lot of praise-- they put real actors in real fighter jets for crying out loud! yet in all that crowing, a very important fact totally fell by the wayside: nary a single shot in the film is without digital manipulation. and not just in the basic touch-up sense, removing safety anachronisms and the like. the jets, the cockpits, and the actors themselves were all extensively replaced with digital doubles! i felt like an utter fool when he pointed out that quite often films praised for their lack of CGI will have more VFX artists credited than any other department in production. like, holy shit, it's all right there on the screen? what job were those hundreds of people doing if it was "all practical effects"?

which is the crux of the series' title: "NO CGI is really just INVISIBLE CGI." we have --or perhaps it'd be more honest to say i have-- a tendency to address CGI in binaristic terms. either it's there, or it's not there, right? Fincher's team can put digital blood running down Daniel Craig's face in the shower after he gets shot in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but it's Craig's physical presence that sells it. a film like Top Gun: Maverick makes its bones marketing the spectacle, and because there's such fatigue with CGI-heavy blockbusters any mention of intermediary visual effects carries with it a stain on the authenticity. but really, it does nothing to diminish the practical nature of the photography to also acknowledge how much of what makes it to cinemas is, essentially, an extremely realistic cartoon.

and this is what Jonas's series really exposes for me. a lot of what we're looking at here is rotoscoping, the longstanding tradition of animating over top of live footage a la Disney's Snow White in 1937, though the technique was truly mastered by Max Fleischer in the 1910s. is there some gradeschool nag whispering in the back of our head that a rotoscope is just elaborate tracing? that it's a cheat, because "real" animation is done without reference? (for anyone who has actually worked in animation, this is your cue to laugh derisively)

but the truth is that you do not get one without the other. it takes a lot of planning to film a scene with an eye towards being reanimated, just as it takes tremendous skill to make that animation look good. if Top Gun: Maverick feels viscerally real, it is because the visual effects artists had a real reference to work from. one is not inherently better than the other, more pure or authentic. this isn't the 80s anymore, man. i mean, to get real fucking technical, the instant we stopped shooting on film was the death of "true practicality" in cinema, because a digital sensor must by its nature interpret visual information as raw data and then translate it to something we'd recognize as an image. celluloid film is purely optical, but a digital sensor requires someone (or a team of someones) to write an algorithm to do that interpreting-- which is, inherently, subjective. different cameras have different image processing algorithms, different bitrates and dynamic ranges, to say nothing of custom LUTs and the extensive post-processing required to make RAW footage not look like complete ass. and even now, celluloid cannot be said to be truly pure, because any film shot on celluloid is then digitally scanned, subjected to the exact same post production processing as any other digital film, the final product re-scanned to celluloid to give it a true filmic look, and then yet again digitized for wide distribution (because most cinemas today only have digital projectors).

this is not A Bad Thing! it is simply the material reality of film production in the 21st century. it has many upstream and downstream effects, of course, many of which have negatively impacted the quality of films and television in various ways-- but these are not qualities inherent to digital technology! rather, they are the result of a profit-seeking industry eager to cut corners wherever possible. the existence of CGI is not to blame for the bad CGI in Marvel movies, it's the greedy executives exploiting non unionized labor, forcing crunch at every level with no regard for the human cost, endlessly meddling in the production with their indecisive market-analysis driven brand alterations. ah, the age of the executive auteur, when at last the soulless corporate mindset once commonly decried by artists and audiences alike has been fully naturalized and even embraced by people who call themselves fans, who would sooner throw a director under the bus than say a bad word about Kevin fucking Feige.

it's a pathetic state of affairs, and it can only be called a brilliant act of marketing that CGI burnout in the public has been leveraged to only further erase the essential labor of visual effects artists. Jonas here even points out, much to my slack-jawed amazement, that promotional behind the scenes footage today frequently removes green screens and other indicators of a digital-forward production as a way of unduly acquiring practical effects credibility. as someone who watches a lot of these BTS features, i feel lied to and manipulated, and ashamed of myself for not realizing that making-ofs are just as much marketing as they are educational, often moreso by a lot. it's all just an illusion! and it cannot be repeated often enough that this is an erasure of a historically under-unionized industry, one whose exploitation has been thoroughly documented for years. that this erasure is occurring at a moment when finally, finally, finally corners of the visual effects world have begun to shed the libertarian values inherited from the tech industry and actually unionize is pretty fucking conspicuous to say the least.

i call these videos essential because they reveal a tremendous blind spot in our media literacy, even among those like myself who've studied media extensively. we are, generally, pretty good at identifying the weaknesses in a finished film, but our lack of experience and our credulity towards marketing that doesn't feel like marketing leads us to utterly fail when we attempt to diagnose their cause. when our analysis lacks an understanding of the material conditions of production, as informed by firsthand accounts of those who actually do the work, we cannot help but embarrass ourselves and in so doing blatantly misinform our audiences.

it didn't used to be like this. i remember the late 90s and early aughts, when joints like ILM were praised for their innovations. how often do you hear about VFX houses today? probably only when they go bankrupt. it's such a shame, because what Jonas does in these videos most of all is reveal just how astonishing the work of visual effects artists actually is. these are the perils of an industry whose job is to be invisible, which is why it's so important that their labor be made visible after the fact, celebrated rather than papered over, analyzed extensively rather than mentioned offhand. the truth is that quite a lot of us have been boldly, profoundly wrong about CGI in movies for a long time, and we're well past due for a correction of the record.

all of which is to say that these are some really great videos and you should absolutely go watch them right now

NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: episode 4 came out and it's also great.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

Hi there! I was wondering if you had any advice on making your own tallit? I'm doing research into making my own and I just wondered if you had any advice.

Shalom, and shavua tov!

Thank you, and I hope you had a restful shabbos!

I'll preface this with a clarification that I am approaching this from a fiber artist lens - this may apply best if you are a seamster, a knitter, a crocheter, a weaver, or anyone else who I may not be mentioning. I am also coming at this from the lens of a crocheter!

Now, I think the best first thing you should do is to heavily think about these things:

What are you able to do? What can you do with that skill? For example, if you can sew, how proficient are you? What are you confident in? What skills would you want to challenge yourself with?

What materials are you willing to work with? What materials are off-limits? I cannot work with acrylic, for instance, so I am working with wool. An additional question: How familiar are you with your chosen material?

What are your price limitations? Are you in a spot where you can save up of possible?

What kinds of tallit do you find yourself loving or gravitating toward? Are you into the traditional length, or the modern, shorter lengths? Do you like the classic blue-and-white, or do you want yours to stand out in a crowd? Do you like fringing that isn't the tzitzit?

Are you able or willing to adhere to special care instructions for your material? So, for instance, if you cannot wash your tallit in a convenient way, are you able to follow that?

So, this is a lot, and I recognize that. However, I think these are all important questions to ask when you are seriously considering your options. From my own personal experience, this is a very labor-intensive decision. I have spent no less than thirty hours on my own tallit, no less than $70USD on the wool, and I am barely a quarter of the way to my desired tallit length (a more traditional size). I want you to fall in love with doing this, so I really encourage everyone to be realistic about their options.

The great thing about this is the tallit is made by the tzitzit that is tied to it - not because it's got blue and white stripes. You can make it, really, almost anything! It's technically not correct to call my crocheted tallit a tallit because it is not done yet. I only even call it that because I am fully intending to make it so - it is for clarity's sake of what its entire existence has been made for to others.

Despite how long this is, I fully encourage everyone to make their own tallit. I think it connects us* to those past us, people whose only option was to make their own garments, judaica, tallit, what have you. I feel connected to so many generations, and I wonder just how many people have also thought about all the bells and whistles they want on their own tallit - what their tastes are, what materials they had access to, how much love (and frustration) went into every stitch or every pass of the shuttle flying through the warp. It really makes me feel like a person, like I am alive, and it's a feeling that is unparalleled

[the-owl-tree]

pbelase talk more abt mlp the idea of actually delving into stuff like what u posted is so interesting to me. sits with my chin in my hands and kicking my feet like we're at a sleepover. if u ever wanna infodump I'm Here

giggling twirling my hair and then taking out a massive binder of thoughts i've had since 2012

idk if you mean my thoughts on magic as a whole or on starlight but ur getting BOTH. big warning, i'm going to take this neon cartoon very seriously.

magic in g4 is wildly overpowered and there's this huge underlying inequality between the pegasi and earth ponies compared to the unicorns - which is reinforced in how the show portrays class, wealth, and nobility. The upperclass Canterlot consists mostly of unicorns, and nobility that hasn't earned their status and instead inherited it (Duke Blueblood). honestly, you could make the case that the unicorn's old role of raising the sun and moon (and therefor the crops) allowed them to maintain control over the earth ponies. In the few earth ponies we do see in Canterlot, they're mainly put in typically lower class associated physical intensive labor work. Notably, we see a group of earth ponies striking in one episode, implying that unions exist in order to prevent exploitation of these groups (notably, fancy pants speaks negatively about them because they're delaying a swan thing, a superfluous ceremony that is purely for fun and not at all necessary).

But back to magic! magic TRUMPS the other ponies' abilities. we see it can turn back time, control weather, give ponies super speed and strength, help them FLY?? anything a pegasi or earth can do, a unicorn with enough magic and training could arguably come in and do (perhaps even better than them!). When i used the example of the bakery in canterlot, i was drawing from the show. there's a scene where Starlight is able to ice a cake in seconds and Mrs. Cake asks if she's trying to put her out of business to which...yeah! could an earth pony be able to match that level of output in a unicorn dominated city? sure, someone brought up the idea of artisanal goods, but could that really compete with fast well crafted baked goods that take a fraction of the time an earth pony product would take? the answer is no. the artisanal goods would be the exception, not the norm.

Unicorns in general have a huge advantage in coordination, we see that they dominate the arts scene. They're capable of doing precise stitching for clothing, something that a pegasus or an earth pony would need to do by mouth and wouldn't be able to match the fine motor skills that magic can do. An earth pony can only sew by mouth, a unicorn without any magical training can sew multiple at once. They're at a huge disadvantage comparatively!

That leads us to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, just unicorns. Earth ponies and pegasi are completely blocked out from attending a prestige academy headed by the queen of Equestria herself on the basis that they can't do magic. We know that Celestia uses the school to scope out proteges...but that means only unicorns are considered.

now this is where Starlight comes in and look. listen. i love a good hypocritical villain but if you want to claim that she has a point in the show, ur wrong. Cutie marks don't automatically make you good at something, they don't disqualify you from other talents, and they definitely aren't limited to talents (some are personality traits!). Most importantly, they're what makes you feel fulfilled and happy. Starlight's ideology is flawed and in the show, this is how it's portrayed, and that's good.

But gotdamn. her backstory suuuuuucckkss. you can't write your friend a letter? can't be a penpal? come on starlight try a little harder. I mean they hardly stay unequal, writer's pet- i mean starlight can little outpower an alicorn princess.

so like. if you want her to have a point, she should've been an earth pony against magic. Starburst goes to an academy she's barred from tending, letters that she has to write are cumbersome and difficult because she has to do it by mouth, a lot of her labor options are limited by her capabilities - i mean come on! listen to me people, the enemy isn't cutie marks, the enemy of g4 inequality is magic.

[deathfavor]

. There's a lot to unpack in this little section of Horo's interrogation so I'm going to break this into a few different sections because I want to dedicate time to a few big points that are actually right here.

No one in the mean streets could beat him.

I didn't really think too much on this the first time I read it. But sitting back and rereading it? We know how vicious Syndicate can be. There's lots of older people around who will attack younger groups. So Earl was probably fighting against lots of older people just as much as he was people around Horo's age or his own. And this is even AFTER extremely labor intensive work.

Which means Earl was probably once a SERIOUS threat and fighter. He was once very much on the frontlines, taking on anyone. A strategic fighter always, but he could afford to be a bit more reckless and direct about it. More like Zoya and Horor's approach. Someone no one messed with.

And then he lost his leg.

It probably was BRUTAL for Earl to go from being someone who could take down anyone and everyone who tried to mess or tease Horo, to having to relearn something as simple as how to walk again. The physical pain was awful, but there was a lot of emotional and mental pain that he didn't want Horo to have to see him deal with. A helplessness he had never faced but he also needed to be strong for Horo's sake in his mind. So he never let it show, yet it HURT. To go from a fearsome frontline fighter to having to be strategic. Sure, Earl awoke as a Sinner at that point and had powers now. But it was hard. Even now, Earl IS a capable fighter, but he's very much aware of his limitations. He's not as mobile or fast as he once was. It IS a weak point in theory (less so in practice but that's a different post). Direct combat isn't his forte like it used to be. It's a loss Earl took hard but never admitted to anyone. Instead he decided to become the best at strategy so he could crush people without having to need to fight. But sometimes? Sometimes he misses what he used to be. There's also the sad thought that Horo and maybe Zoya also had to see that shift from the front to the shadows.

He was our breadwinner

Horo mentions he's the breadwinner, which is no surprise. He's the oldest, it's both expected and what he wants to do. Horo mentions he did the work of two people. He pulled multiple shifts of labor intensive jobs because he wanted to provide for Horo. They only had each other. Sure, we know Jer was there to watch after them. But I'm sure Jer had his own family and his own needs. Earl didn't want to have to depend on people. He wanted Horo to be able to eat good food and have clothes and just...not have to struggle. If he had to work till he basically collapsed from it? So be it. Her smile was worth it, seeing her healthy and grow. Not that Earl ever turned down help, he didn't. But....he didn't want Horo to have to worry about going hungry.

And even dead tired, Earl always tried to make things better for Horo. Cook meals for them then (or some for in advance when he'd be gone) or play games or just listen to Horo tell her stories about the day (sometimes he fell asleep but he always tried!). Other times Earl would play guitar late at night just the two of them, or to help her fall asleep. Earl also learned how to do some basic stitching and mending for clothes.

He always thought that I was just a little kid who should hide behind him, and that he should shoulder everything himself.

After the loss of their parents, Earl wanted Horo to still try to be able to be a child. To not have to deal with the grueling reality and be able to laugh easily and play and dream of the stars. Which leads to this shot. It has NEVER been about Earl doubting in Horo. He DOESN'T. He knows she's capable. But Earl never wanted her to HAVE to be. Her line of That day was when I realized I must grow up quickly to help him. is EXACTLY what Earl NEVER wanted Horo to have to feel. Before the incident with losing his leg, Horo probably WAS able to enjoy being a kid. Sure, a trouble maker most likely, playing rough versus kids in East Side, but she could be a kid. She didn't have to worry about food or money or her brother potentially dying. That's what Earl wanted for her. Not her being forced to grow up, not her seeing just how bad and dangerous Earl's jobs were or what could happen.

Earl to this day still harbors an immense amount of guilt for Horo having to see him like that on the couch after losing his leg, injured to such a degree and fighting a fever and god knows what else.. Medicine is hard to come by, Earl probably had to use it very sparingly which is WHY he was kept up day and night writhing in pain on the couch. He could see and hear Horo crying and it made him feel terrible through the pain. He still tried to soothe her when he could but it was so obvious Earl was suffering while trying to take care of her. But you can't take away witnessing that. No amount of soothing would take away the image of those people carrying Earl in, of Horo realizing Earl's lost a leg, the sheer helplessness of it all.

It's probably what cause some of the tension and disagreements between them later on that are mentioned once or twice. Earl has ALWAYS fiercely loved Horo as his little sister. But...he does very much feel he has to carry everything and doesn't want to give the burden to her. As the oldest sibling in my family, I've always felt the need to be strong in front of my siblings too. You feel like you HAVE to be strong for their sake. Earl did too. He always felt he had to be the pillar, to never falter. And he did for a long time. But losing his leg hurt that, because it forced Horo to see Earl is human, and made Horo think she had to grow up and forget that childhood freedom. Earl didn't want her to, tried to dissuade her NOT because he doubted her, but just...so she didn't HAVE to choose that path if she didn't want to.

It's something that Earl struggles with in his survival verse as well. Because it's like seeing that all over again but WORSE. He's helpless and weak and Horo's crying beside him and she can't do anything again. And the threat of death is SO, SO much closer this time in the hospital bed. He feels that guilt all over again and worse when he sees Horo sobbing because he's faltered again.

Really? All Earl wants is for Horo to be happy, to live HER life how she wants to. Not because of feeling she has to, or Legion, or anything. He just...wants the best for his little sister.

[agridronespecialists]

Unarmed and Mighty: The Power of Drone Mapping in the Digital Era

Unlike traditional methods of mapping and surveying, drone mapping involves aerial mapping technology. Drone mapping entails using advanced drones to survey an area and gather numerous data. It collects detailed data that are greater in efficiency, accuracy, and safety compared to traditional mapping procedures. It speeds up the process and saves considerable time. It also reduces costs and maximises return on investment.

The drones take pictures from various angles from the air. The outputs are put together to create an accurate representation of any given area. It provides a comprehensive and precise representation of any topography, linking each project area to a physical global coordinate. This allows teams to digitally explore with greater detail and accuracy than the human eye can achieve. Drone mapping services offer a more cost-effective solution for data collection compared to traditional methods.

In an era where data-driven decisions are paramount. Understanding the lay of the projected land surface can provide businesses with unique and valuable insights. Unmanned aerial drones have become increasingly significant in this aspect. Drone mapping services are widely recognized as an innovative and promising technology within the drone industry. It can be a game changer in agriculture construction, real estate to environmental monitoring segments. They can capture high-resolution imagery and data. It can access difficult-to-reach areas and delivers unmatched accuracy and efficiency. This is why drone mapping services have become a powerful tool in the present digital age.

Drone mapping involves using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to capture high-resolution aerial images and videos. Further, these outputs can be transformed into detailed maps and 3D models. This process is more than just a cosmetic upgrade. It seems to be a strategic investment for most businesses. Drone operators or pilots fly the drones over a designated area following a pre-programmed flight path. They capture the images and data along the way. These are later stitched together to create a comprehensive, detailed view of the area.

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The detailed information gathered by drones reduces the risk of errors associated with manual data collection & its interpretation. It is very much productive in the construction and mining sectors. Precise data from drone mapping can greatly improve site planning, safety protocols, and resource management. It can reach dangerous or hard-to-reach areas without risking human lives. This is why drone mapping services are safer alternatives for site inspections and surveys.

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[ainews]

Songket, a traditional fabric from Indonesia and Malaysia, is known for its intricate design and deep cultural symbolism. But what many people don't know is that it's made on a miniature scale.

Songket is distinguished from other traditional fabrics in that it is hand-woven on a special tool called the songket loom. The loom only allows for a very small piece of fabric (about 30 centimeters by 30 centimeters) to be made at once. Because the pattern is only visible when the fabric is stretched out on the loom, it is not made in large enough pieces to use for clothing or other textiles.

The small pieces of songket fabric are then stitched together to create the final piece of clothing or fabric. The piecing together process is often referred to as “kupa”. Each piece of fabric is sewn together meticulously in order to create an almost seamless garment from the small pieces. This skill has been honed for generations, and can often take months or even years to complete.

The small pieces of fabric used in songket are also part of its symbolism. Since each motif symbolizes something, having more motifs on a single piece of fabric symbolizes wealth and social status. The smaller pieces of fabric allow for multiple motifs to be combined in a single piece of clothing or fabric.

Songket weaving is a very labor intensive process, and the small pieces of fabric used are a testament to the skill of the artisans who work for hours on a single piece. The complexity of the weaving and the meaning behind the motifs are two of the many things that make songket such a special and valuable fabric.

[juuheizou]

omg pleeease elaborate on the more explicit stages of intimacy w juuzou please, i'd love to know about the dynamics, what he likes and doesn't like, what feels good for him, how does he feel about being touched in certain places and all those things PLEASE don't be shy tell me everythinggg

I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED FRIEND. Shy is not in my vocabulary and as per usual, you anons say 'everything' and I have given you everything.

IMO the cut is somewhat self-explanatory, but more specific content warnings for talk of some BDSM stuff, bloodplay, some references to his past with Big Madam.

I'm just gonna start with dynamics and go in order of what you asked from there, since that kinda sets the tone and allows me to just list things when we get to likes and dislikes and all that fun stuff. He likes to stay on the giving end of sex and be the one in charge of the situation. Even the most well-intentioned attempt to find a versatile or switchy bone in his body (spoiler: he has none) makes him feel annoyed and restless at best, and at worst... that's gonna need its own paragraph, so hang tight.

He is also into BDSM in a big way, and in that type of dynamic he is a sadistic, dare I say Madam-like, dom. For much of his life, pain was a reward for him whether he liked it or not, so replicating that dynamic the way he wants it to be in a fun, consensual situation is as natural to him if not more natural (kinky aces understand) than sex itself and honestly? Probably keeps him out of trouble.

He would probably enjoy anything he doesn't actively dislike that makes his partner whimper and squirm and have a lot of fun playing with new ideas in and of itself, but we're gonna stick to his favorites that are all him. Shockingly I think Mr. Happily Stab Someone 60+ Times is a piquer. Would he be one, or be one to the same extreme, without Big Madam and the Restaurant? Who knows? Who cares as long as he's enjoying himself? While he doesn't shy away from what it is he really wants in that sense, penetrative sex is an easy outlet for that desire of his, whether with fingers, toys, or both. He has his things he likes and dislikes about all his options, but I especially think he would enjoy being able to put more of his body into it and leave his hands free using a strap-on, being the tactile person he is.

On the kinky side, and I don't think he can be separated from his kinky side, he's very much into bloodplay. Needles, knives, and hooks are his favorites as well as what he knows best, but I wouldn't put it past him to branch out and see how a whip or a spiked paddle feels in his hands. Don't even get me started on the possibilities he wouldn't even flinch at if he had a ghoul/quinx partner who could regenerate serious injuries as if nothing happened-- or if you do want me to get started, I do write many genres of fic and that is a... recurring theme, to say the least. Shameless self-promotion. Body modification as an S&M thing is also a given: he would definitely want to give his partner stitches, but I can see him going more extreme if able and motivated.

From there, though, he also has his ways to soften those base likes of his to adapt to a situation as needed, because sometimes it's just not a good time to use your partner as a pincushion. Extreme stuff is fun but it gets labor-intensive. Partner not feeling strong enough for colorful body stitches? Hot wax can also be colorful and make his partner jump and cry. Not feeling the first aid demanded by that spiked paddle? A less sharp and pointy beating will still leave some pretty bruises.

I think he would have fun rigging bondage, from a simple pair of handcuffs to a full body suspension with rope, even layering different implements over each other. It started out as something practical-- it wouldn't be good for his hand to slip! But I think once he started experimenting with it, it would become just as much of a fun, exciting craft as what happens in the restraints. Needles and thread go together, you know?

He also strikes me as someone who would enjoy dress-up and roleplay. All in my head, I know, but I just think the small handful of times he has a disguise or costume between the series and official art look like he really made them his own, or just flat-out made them, which leads me to headcanon that that's something he likes and cares about in general, so why wouldn't he like and care about it in his sex life? And he gives me 'still likes to play pretend in some capacity as an adult' vibes.

Onto some dislikes! One thing I don't think he likes, as much as he likes to kiss and nibble elsewhere on a partner's body, is giving oral. He simply doesn't like the taste, and he doesn't like the taste of condoms/dental dams either. I don't see him enjoying too strong a 'body' taste, just in general. Tasting like pain and exhaustion is fine. Sticky hairline and teary cheeks? Of course he'll still kiss it better. Unwashed and musky or, alternatively, perfumed to all hell, though? Take a shower or don't expect much in the way of physical reassurance.

Another dislike: though he likes dominance/submission, he's not so into the discipline aspect of BDSM play. At least not in the way most people, including me, think of it. When someone on his squad isn't doing things right, his way of dealing with it is very direct and in-the-moment. He doesn't go 'okay Hanbee, this is our structured plan for gradually improving your courage in the field!' He calls the guy useless and throws him into the deep end over the course of a single case. Knowing that, he doesn't seem like he would be a fan of frivolous rules, contracts, and structure just to reiterate what he and any sub with a sense of self-preservation already know. The fun to 'shit he then has to remember' ratio just isn't worth it.

As far as what physically feels good for him, he only really has sensitivity in his dick-- they don't have to be fully developed to have sensation or to be able to reach orgasm. Not that he gets to that point with any regularity, but that's another headcanon that has nothing to do with his mutilation. Hope you wanted a little education with your filth.

ANYWHO, I think it's more of a boredom/curiosity/need to do something stimulating with restless energy thing for him, but he does like exploring this a little bit on his own until he hits sensory overload or loses interest in his experiment of the day. His favorite way to pleasure himself is rubbing against one of his plushies; they're just the perfect size to straddle and super soft against his skin if clothes get a little constricting. Plus, they tend to be the thing he practices other skills and ideas on before they're ready for a living thing, so it makes sense that at some point he might wonder if his squishmallows are good for anything else.

When you factor in how he feels emotionally about sharing any of this with a partner, though, it's a different story compared to how unflinching and adventurous he can be on the giving end. For how much he adores his handholding, kisses, cuddling, and all the above likes, he can't do other people's hands or anything where all his scars are, which basically means his whole body underneath his clothes, and doesn't cope well early on in the rare instance that curiosity might get the best of him long enough to try. If one were to push this boundary, no matter how gentle or careful the touch itself, he would have a shutdown or hand his partner back a body part.

Those wires that are supposed to differentiate abuse from affection, loving touch from torture are just crossed in his mind from spending most of his life with Big Madam. This is also what makes turning the tables on a helpless partner so fun (maybe even a little healing) for him, but it also has its not-so-fun side and that's what it looks like. Besides, the drive isn't really there. Even the sexual things he does get up to are more about amusement for him and he probably feels a stronger 'need' for candy than sex, so trying to change his boundaries is another thing that just isn't worth it.

[soloclasseitaly]

Unveiling Elegance: The Timeless Allure of Italian Leather Gloves

Hello there! There are a few items in the world of fashion that never go out of style, becoming timeless emblems of sophistication instead. The Italian leather gloves stand out above the others because of the special way they combine artistry, refinement, and fashion. These gloves have become an enduring item due to their legendary quality and elegance; they are both functional and fashionable, adding a touch of the classic Italian style to any outfit. The Artisanal Tradition: The history of Italian leather gloves is steeped in labor-intensive handiwork that dates back centuries. Skilled craftsmen in tiny workshops around Italy craft each pair with an unwavering devotion to quality and an eye for detail. Creating these gloves has been a family tradition that has been carried on for centuries, and the quality of their work is a testament to that. Materials of Note: Quality materials are what really make Italian leather gloves unique. The most high-quality leathers are hand-picked by Italian artisans, who often visit the world-famous tanneries in Florence and Milan. The unique qualities of each glove are a result of the wide range of materials used, which may range from very soft lambskin to extremely expensive peccary leather. An unmatched sense of opulence is achieved by these leathers' inherent shine, suppleness, and longevity. We Have Designs for Any Occasion: No matter the event, you can always rely on an Italian leather glove. The wide range of designs accommodates both formal and informal occasions, with options ranging from traditional driving gloves to elegant opera gloves. These gloves are more than simply an accessory; they are a piece of art, thanks to the painstaking craftsmanship that went into the stitching, linings, and finishing touches. A Perfect Blend of Form and Function: Yes, these gloves are fashionable, but that's far from being their only use. Italian leather gloves are created with utility in mind, offering a useful and pleasant complement for the user. Their versatility, warmth, and tight fit make them an essential winter garment. These gloves are the perfect combination of style and practicality, making them ideal for a night on the town or a red carpet event in Milan. Chic Contemporary Style and Long-Term Viability: The classic style of Italian leather gloves has managed to fascinate new generations of fashionistas. In addition, sustainable practices are being prioritized by most in the sector. This history of handiwork may continue in a way that doesn't hurt the environment since many Italian glove manufactures are using eco-friendly techniques. In summary: Italian leather gloves are a beautiful example of the classic appeal of handcrafted goods and classic style in the world of fashion. Passed down through generations of craftsmen and into the hands of discriminating consumers throughout the globe, these gloves are a constant reminder that quality craftsmanship, exquisite materials, and a respect for the artistic expression that is distinctively Italian are more important than passing fads.

[the-king-andthe-lionheart]

Just as many women today enjoy sewing for pleasure and not because they need to, the medieval woman also enjoyed fine needlework and it was considered among a woman's finest achievements if she was accomplished at embroidery. Embroidery was an acceptable pastime of the noble lady and indeed it was considered one of her finer accomplishments. Many of the embroidery techniques used in the middle ages are still in use today- couching, split stitch and appliqué. Although this could also be a more practical employment for wages, most women were able to demonstrate their fine needlework on veils, bags, belts, garters and girdles. Much of this kind of embroidery was done for enjoyment. [x]

Medieval noblewomen only did embroidery as a hobby, and it was not a form of labor for them. Noblewomen often did embroidery to showcase that she had the time and the means to sit sedentary and do things she didn't have to do because she had the money and power to do that. Sorry to say it, but this was just how nobles were. They would showcase the whiteness of their shifts/chemises/tunics to showcase how often they could change their undergarments because of how many they owned. They wore excessive lace because it was very expensive to buy. They wore gowns that extended far past their feet, and long dagged sleeves to showcase they didn't have to work and they could wear impractical things. They wore those long pointed shoes to showcase the same thing, the longer the toe was the wealthier and more powerful you were proclaiming to be, and so on and so forth.

Sansa was not doing embroidery as a form of labor. She did it as an artistic expression, that she enjoyed, that was acceptable for a lady of her station. She wasn't out there doing embroidery from dawn til dusk or longer, everyday, in order to earn a wage like some small folk women would have been doing. No, Sansa was embroidering as a hobby, something she would do for maybe 1-3 hours a day by choice, mostly as something to do in social situations and to pass the time. Sansa would have just been embroidering for herself, not for textile use for the people in Winterfell, and her experience with embroidery would be no different from the average person doing embroidery as a pastime today.

Now I'm not dismissing embroidery, it takes time and skill to master, and we know Sansa is adept at it, and frankly I would like to learn how to embroider someday as well, however, to compare a hobby with what Arya and Jon have had to do, especially Arya, is ridiculous. Arya was a literal slave in a prisoner of war camp in the biggest castle in Westeros. She was doing intensive physical labor everyday, all day, at the age of 10. She was scrubbing the castle so much and for so long her hands would often bleed, she was carrying buckets of water up flights of stairs, she was running around delivering missives, she was forced to stand around and be subservient to horrible human beings and to wait on them every second of every day under the threat of torture, rape and death, while only getting the bare minimum of food. She wasn't even allowed to have meat, except for once every two weeks. So she was doing hard labor without even getting the nutrition she needed to do that labor. Just imagine how exhausting that would be. And yet, some idiot is trying to compare a fucking hobby of a noblewoman with actual slave labor? The audacity. Now, if a time comes where Sansa has to embroider from sun up until sundown to complete one commission after another in order to just survive, then we'll talk.

Ok, I normally don't screen shot people's deleted posts but since this was a reply to my own post and I actually spend time to reply back but Tumblr ate my post (bc meanwhile they had deleted their reply) I'll post my thoughts here:

Highborn kids learning some skill (embroidery, swordfighting etc) isn't the same with lowborn kids doing actual labor working as farmers, apprentices, servants or worse being slaves ( this applies mostly to Essos).

The only part I agree with the above post is that Bran and Rickon were supposed to shoeing horses. Neither where any of the other Stark kids.

All the Stark kids ( Jon and Arya included) enjoyed a life of certain privileges while living on Winterfell.

The difference between those two and the rest of their siblings is that they actually had to work once they left Winterfell. Jon when he joined Night's Watch and Arya when she became servant ( basically a slave) at Harrenhal and later when she joined the House of Black and White.

[gallusrostromegalus]

Herschel Has Discovered Tool Use. Again.

In january of 2021, deep in the throes of pandemic psychosis, we acquired a Corgi Puppy.

I would like to go on the record that we did not get a Corgi because they're cute. We got a Corgi because they're criminally brilliant and enthusiastic working dogs that were bred to bully cattle, which is the exact temperment a dog living in a house with three ADHD adults should have. Herschel does commit a lot of crime, but he also does his appinted service-dog job of "make everyone wake up, eat meals and go to bed at a reasonable and consistent time" extremely well, as well as his bonus jobs of "Keep the squirrels the hell out of the garden" and "Yell every time the cat does something". I didn't actually ask him to do that last job but it has helped in the "teach the cat to stay the hell off the stove" area.

But even with having a whole pack of humans another dog, and a cat to manage, this pales in comparison to his genetic capacity to manage several hundred sheep or cattle across the fields of Wales, and thus, Herschel has decided on further intellectual pursuits to occupy himself, namely, speedrunning the early phases of human tool use and terraforming.

I realized he has the brains of an entire hunter-gatherer tribe shortly after he got fixed, and within 24 hours and still dpey from anesthesia, he'd figured out that his plastic cone could be used to monopolize the water bowl and his favorite chew toys, and within a week, had learned how to carry three toys at once while leaving his mouth open by tucking the toys behind his enormous ears and under his chin. He also figured out that he could wiggle the cone to rest against his shoulders, and started using it as a shovel by literally running the bottom edge into the ground. But that wasn't making holes effeicently enough, apparently, and I ended up watching him figure out how to rotate the cone around so the two pieces of overlapping plastic were under his chin, then use his chin and the stairs to the deck to pinch both ends into a much more efficient V-Shape that let him gouge huge strips of dirt up in seconds. The anthropologists and animal behaviorists in the audience may recognize this as Tool Creation, a behavior normally only seen in higher primates, crows, and some parrots. Once a hole of suitable length, depth and temperature had been achieved, he very carefully rolled the cone around so the digging side was over his head and the smooth side under his chin, and splooted into his hole to cool his little tummy and stitches off. It was at that point that I realized that I was going to have to teach him how to garden, or he was going to teach himself.

He no longer has the cone (He was beginning to experiment with it as a battering ram), but his morning ritual is now "Wake everyone up at 8AM by screaming, locate everyone in house and jam my nose up theirs to make sure they're alive, go outside and scream at the squirrels. Now that Yard is Secure, go get Fun Parent who has hopefully taken their meds by now, and supervise them while they rifle through the plants (this is apparently KEY to their mental health), eating any pest animals Fun Parent points out, chase squirrel AGAIN, go inside and get Breakfast cookie." and BY GOD if we deviate from it there will be much screaming and destruction. If I am not home, it has been reported that he walks round the garden beds and sniffs the plants in the order I usually check them in before he will agree to come in. He doesn't quite know what the deal with the melons is, just that they need to be checked.

But we're out of the labor-intensive parts of gardening and now into Harvesting Season, and this is a bit boring except when I give him snap peas right off the vine, and he has decided to work on the complex physics problem that is Doorknobs.

And last week, he had a breakthrough.

Sometime in 2020, my mom sort-of taught her horrible crime herding dog Arwen how to open the back door so she could let herself out as she pleased during the day and stop interrupting Mom's Zoom calls. Arwen is a Kelpie, which means she's about 60lbs with full-length legs and horrible monkey paws that are one joint away from being hands, so when Arwen wants to open the back door, she sits up, leans on the door for purchase/to push it, and uses her terrible crime hands to *push* on the knob until it turns. She can pull the knob open by pawing and catching it on her toes, but she's 11-13 years old now and has mild arthritis, so she prefers to catch it on her central pad instead. She taught Charlie, the other equally brilliant but less criminally inclined dog, to do this but he doesn't like to go outside alone, so he rarely does this.

Herschel, ever the observant student, immediately tried copying them, but even though he is actually tall enough to reach the knob, his toes are just too stubby to get a decent grip on the knob, pushing or pulling, and the first few times, gave up and sat down to scream until one of the fullsize dogs or humans came to open the door for him.

Last week, we were up at my parent's again, and I watched him hunt around the living room until he found his slightly-sticky orange rubber ball (It's clean, it's just a kind of rubber that's always a bit tacky), carry it across the house, stand up on his hind legs at the back door, put the rubber ball on top of the gap between the knob and the wall, and then push down on the ball, which caught the doorknob and turned it for him, thus opening the door. He let himself out, had a merry time yelling at the squirrels, came back in, stopped a few feet inside the door, went back out, grabbed his ball, and brought it back into his kennel, a place he can leave toys if he doesn't want the other dogs playing with them.

This means he somehow worked out how doorknobs work, how fucking levers work, and that his orange rubber ball specifically was the one that would work (none of his other toys are the correct size/texture), that he'd need that ball specifically to open the door again, and yesterday he did the same trick with the bedroom door, so he knows that the rubber ball/skeleton key can be used on all doorknobs, not just that one.

I wonder if I can teach him to sweep.

___

If you want to fund Herschel's research into Tool Use and/or get me therapy for the ensuing chaos, please feel free to donate to my Ko-Fi, or get further Dog Content by subscribing to my Patreon.

[eternal-armin]

the mover.

you and jinx got caught in a fight in an alley in the undercity; unfortunately, you suffered a fatal wound. reader: neutral. cw: reader dies via slit neck, descriptions of blood/gore, light cursing, descriptions of intense pain, heavy distress.

you had forgotten what the fight was over. maybe it was territory, or these thugs were pissed about jinx’s standing with silco. but like a loyal dog, you fought beside jinx, even though fighting wasn’t your strongsuit.

even though jinx gave you a gun, you were scared to use it. and that was your downfall. one of the last thing you saw was the shining glint of a blade before you were butchered.

the skin on your throat divided cleanly, flesh immediately becoming sticky with gushing blood. you gasped for air like a fish out of water, looking down at your hand. through hazy and unfocused eyes, you saw a pool of red, warm against your tingling skin. no air was entering your lungs, weak and slight gasping noises escaping your closing throat.

“[y/n]!”

you looked up, trying to say her name. nothing resembling your voice came out of your mouth. all you could taste was hot metal, feel the blood dripping down your chin. you spit out what you could.

“no! no, don’t- get the hell out of my way!” all the sounds melded together, but out of the muck, you could just barely hear someone talking. it wasn’t jinx. maybe they were apologizing. then a gunshot. two. four. running footsteps got closer to you. all you could recognize was jinx’s azure hair before you couldn’t see anything at all. it wasn’t sleep. it wasn’t peaceful.

all you wanted was to wake up, you couldn’t die yet.

goddamnit, please, not yet.

somewhere far away, you could hear a mangled version of jinx’s voice. you tried to force yourself to wake up, to open your eyes, which felt heavy and tired. you couldn’t have been unconscious for very long.

“come on toots, come on…! you aren’t gonna die! i don’t care what i have to do, you aren’t gonna die!” jinx pressed the cleanest cloth she had to the wound, which was quickly staining red. her expression twitched and changed as thoughts ran in and out of her mind, trying to figure out what to do, what she was taught.

you tried to open your mouth to speak, but jinx quickly shut it, pressing your lower jaw snug against the upper. “don’t. don’t, don’t- don’t even try, don’t risk it. okay? it didn’t go too deep, you’re gonna be fine, you’re gonna be fine. i’m gonna destroy the fucking world if you’re not. i was gonna anyway, but,” she didn’t finish that sentence. shrill, nervous laughter finished it for her. she fumbled around in her bag, cursing with every passing second, for a thread and needle.

“it’s about to hurt a whole lot more, honeybun. you can handle it. you don’t have a choice.” she said a lot more, but your heart pounded in your ears. stabbing pain shot through your throat and head each time the needle dug through your skin and flesh. your hands contorted, clenching in and out of fists.

it was agonizing, but you had to abstain from moving your neck or screaming. the only thing in the world you wanted was to scream, shriek until the pain went away.

“you’re doin’ good, toots! just a few more stitches! a few more, alright? alright? fuck… fuck! shut up, shut the fuck up!” she barked at no one in particular, digging the needle back into your tender, reddened skin. you slammed your fist onto the ground until that, too, ebbed with pain. with the loss of blood, the agony torturing every nerve of your body, you blinked in and out of consciousness. it horrified jinx, seeing you go limp and then tense in accordance with it. biting her lip, ignoring her own labored breaths and trying to tune into yours.

“okay, okay, okay! it’s all done, it’s all-” she tied and snapped the string- “done! keep your eyes open, please, please, sweetheart!” tossing aside the dirty needle and the string still clinging to it. your wound had gone down from its waterfall of wine, but the blood didn’t stop. your teeth chattered at the pain, heavy body aching for anything to make it all go away.

jinx offered her hands to you, and you took them, digging your nails into her gloves. through teary eyes, you saw her face filled with fear at your state. around your wound, there was little but dried blood and reddened skin. but you were pale, sweaty. by now, anyone with an immediately fatal wound would have died.

jinx’s mind betrayed her by giving her hope.

“s-sweets? you… look at me. look at me, goddamnit!” one of her hands left yours to grasp the back of your head, forcing you to look her in the eyes.

yours couldn’t stop moving, glancing over her face many times over. her expression was so easily read. the fear in her eyes nearly equaled that of your pain. the adrenaline that once coursed through your veins was steadily phasing out of your blood.

you tried to speak again, managing only slight sounds.

“i-i can’t- i can’t hear ya, babe.” jinx sounded on the verge of tears. “oh god, i can’t hear you.” she echoed it to herself three, four times.

desperate to hear your voice for what could be the last time, jinx helped you sit up, cradling you in her arms. your body was, for the most part, limp in her grasp. she laid your head against her shoulder, holding you close, like you always liked to be held. you felt so warm against her.

“try again? just one more time, one more time. one more time, please, please.”

you did as she asked, like always. once again, you tried to speak, voicelessly manipulating the air you exhaled the best you could.

ᵢ’ₘ ₛcₐᵣₑd.

there were shards of your voice buried deep in those words. jinx sniffled, trying not to cry at the sound. even though what you said could barely be called words, she could practically see the fear in them. 

ᵢ dₒₙ’ₜ wₐₙₙₐ dᵢₑ.

“no. no, no, you’re not gonna, sweets. you’re not gonna. i promise, i swear to ya, you’re gonna live.” in lieu of anything else, jinx began to laugh. what used to make you smile was now horribly scared and small. shrill.

“i love ya, toots. i love you so, so much. to the moon and back, a million trillion times. and it doesn’t matter what happens next because i will never stop loving you. you’ll always be my [y/n], my perfect honeybun. even if ya die now, i’ll never love no one else. but you’re not gonna die. you aren’t.”

jinx rambled on, occasionally breaking her soft speech with kisses to your forehead. and they would arise from you a small smile, the sweetest one you had ever given her.

she cupped your cheek, making you look at her again. even though you were still shivering with pain, it seemed a little more bearable when she gazed at you like this. aside from the obvious worry, her eyes were filled with love for you. she gently caressed your cheek with her thumb, trying to silence her rising cries.

brushing away the blood on your lips, she pressed an ever-gentle kiss to them. she was quiet for a few moments, holding you as close as possible, cradling you in the lap of her crossed legs. she never wanted to let you go again. the perfectly sober, aware moment just placed more weight on her heart and her shoulders. “[y/n, i love you. and i don’t want you to die right now, i don’t, but… you’ll be okay. you don’t have to be scared. it’ll be peaceful and bright and everything you ever deserved. all the adventures you can have and the books you can read and the food you can eat. i’ll join ya eventually. i’ll be back by your side in the blink of an eye, okay? so don’t ya dare do everything without me.”

ᵢ ₗₒᵥₑ yₒᵤ. ₛₒ ₘᵤcₕ.

those weak, almost-words made her start crying almost immediately. she couldn’t look away from you, watching all recognition fade from your eyes. your body steadily went limp in her arms, the last breath leaving your chapped lips and blessing her skin. what jinx thought she was ready for just destroyed her. breaths becoming heavier and quicker, she broke down into sobs, tears rolling down her cheeks and falling onto your chest.

“no. no, no, no. no, i take it back. come back, please! please come back! no! come back, i need you, i need you!”

clinging to you like a scared child to their teddy bear, she subconsciously rocked back and forth. her voice cracked with each word she shouted, wishing it would wake you up. just to see your eyes open one last time, one last time, to hear you speak and not just whisper.

“open your eyes! breathe, damnit! please, please, just breathe! no, i can’t take it without you! please! please!”

[solarxpunk]

his wounds are an act of hatred; a goal to eradicate anything and everything that went against their new normalcy, a world in which neither eli nor i were not welcomed even if we wanted to be. people with our mindset, our voracious resistance to bending, and our dedication to dismantling the fortresses of systems built overnight were a danger to society; menaces they’d deem us…but the way that eli laid before me, labored in his breathing, pale from blood loss told a different story. i tended to his wounds carefully, as if every bead of cold sweat i wiped off his brow was a radical act of love, a rejection of what they hoped their actions would do to us: divide us. 

against my advice, he speaks and each time he does, the blurry picture of his circumstances gets clearer, my imagination slowly and intricately weaving a horrific scene — getting carried away as if often did. i imagine him bounded tightly to keep him in place — they never liked a fair fight. "i got lucky" — it felt like that all too often with them, despite the state in which you managed to escape from their grip (scathed and at the brink of destruction) there was always a lucky break. to me, it was what made them most infuriating — and what had long ago drove my desire to change that narrative. 

still, none of that anger seemed to compare to this feeling,  entrenched deep in the pit of my being; i almost lost him forever, and that somehow seemed unshakeable. 

his hand intertwined in my unruly hair brings me out of my thoughts, eyes shutting close to take in the fact that eli was still very much alive and here with me. i could feel him, and for that i ought to be grateful. yet i cannot fight off the fear that has settled in my bones, hiding in each tiny divot between the spaces where muscles and tendons don’t quite reach. because of that fear that i gently take the hand caressing my face, and bring it close to my heart for a brief second before placing it against his, a familiar gesture of our quiet understanding of one another. wordlessly, i stand from my crouched position and settle into the ritualistic movements that settle my heart, which threatened to break free from its rib prison. he jokes, letting the smirk tug at his lips as if it was any other day, but he does not see the reflection of the man i am seeing — how once more i needed to find a way to manipulate death away from him. 

quickly, i rack my mind of the supplies i’ve been trading in my travels and some that i managed to snag from my escape from hell. i list them carefully in my head, thinking of their respective properties, crossing names off my mental list until i settle on what i know i have at hand and plenty to spare, though he was worth any herb i had in my possession. 

chamomile:  a gentle sedative with antiseptic properties. calendula flower:  to promote new tissue growth, reduce inflammation, and fight off infection.  marshmallow flower: for his inflammation and pain. 

i busy my hands, trying to steady the shakiness that seemingly appeared out of thin air. from the corner of my eye, i see his paling face and the deep wound across his chest. he’s lost too much blood. i lower myself towards him again, finding the nerve to meet his eyes, hoping they don’t betray my thoughts to him as they often seem to do. “i need to stitch you up…and you lost a lot of blood…i can transfuse some of mine…but i’m very low on anything to numb you, besides some mild sedatives but they won’t do much for this part…” 

i feel i am talking myself through the process more than engaging with him, wishing for once i had access to supplies i abandoned back in salvage city — where nothing seemed limited and whatever you needed could be found. a perfect slogan to fool just about anyone into her trap. 

“no more talking,” i urge him, as i prepare the thread and needle, bracing myself before my cooler hands meet the blazen of his. the heat of my fire is intense, stealing the oxygen from the room and i am acutely aware of every breath that is drawn in the small confinement of this shelter. “stay with me,” words gingerly formed as another suture is drawn in his skin.

“if you die on me, i swear to all that is green i will kill you and somehow haunt you still,” i say hoping to keep him distracted from the lack of anesthesia at my disposal. i decide that talking helps me focus as much as i hope it helps him stay awake, and so i continue through the process, alerting him to every one of my next moves until the wound is stitched shut and i hastily cover it in a pasty concoction of blended herbs.

 i rummage through my bag for a large needle, inserting it into the large vein on my forearm until the thick liquid emerges. with a free hand, i wrapped my arm, ripping the bandage with my teeth before refocusing on my impromptu patient — it didn’t seem to matter that i wasn’t this type of doctor in this world. in a brief moment of humanity, i wonder what kind of savages we seem like, operating in non-sterile rooms, fighting for our lives…before i carefully share with him a part of my essence, hoping it’s enough to get him through the night. 

when all is finally done, a deep sigh escapes me, filling me with much-needed air again. i remove the crimson ichor from my hands on one of the cloths, tossing it into the fire not long after, and resettle myself beside him, cleansing the various gashes he seemed covered in. “sleep,” i urge him finding a gentleness in my voice now that the rage has settled and the adrenaline of the night begins to waver. “i’ll be here when you awaken,” i say it like a promise, one that i meant now and for as long as this earth would grant us still. 

this moment is moderately reminiscent of their previous encounter. albeit, the disbelief that once shrouded his memory of her supposed disloyalty had finally relinquished itself. granting him a clear vision of the woman she presented herself to be. a victor to adverse moments in history that were meant to knock her down a peg or two; worse, sentence her to an untimely death. while prominently modest in her behavior, willingly embracing the hand of a man who oftentimes thought the opposite of her, anger had burrowed itself deep. souring any plausibility of trust to shift front and center. in essence, he believed himself worthy of some semblance of understanding over it. the reality that her past played a large role in his assumptions, should've been more than enough to encourage the dismissal of his attitude.

birds of a feather, flock together.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎⸺‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎and to eli, it would always be as simple as that.

he was certain that to some degree, her name held the same level of significance as marcos'. a prime fixation of the federal government's eye for his extremist beliefs. energy catering to the likes of those who'd proven their willingness to bring the patriarchy down to their knees even if it meant hindering their own freedom; not that it generally rang without the exception of their inevitable submission.

in an unfortunate series of events, eli found himself in the same position and the recognition of familiarity almost causes a laugh to escape him. although, there wasn't much to chuckle about with both of his lungs struggling to expand as they normally would. ultimately lost beneath the constraints of brutality initiated by forces aspiring to teach him a lesson for going against the grain. the only difference between eli and marcos, was that he remained free from within their reach, grasp. eli almost left susceptible to the pierce of a microchip within the slit already sliced across the side of his wrist; to no avail.

before he has a chance to speak, lips part, blood gurgling from within their confines. there's no time for him to pause, acknowledge the bruises that littered the surface of his face, chest and arms. the torture had lasted long enough that he almost wished they'd rendered his consciousness useless instead. then maybe it would've hurt less. memory crippled beyond repair with no ability to recount the affairs of that night again. a part of him wonders if that's what they wanted all along. whether there was some realization that he'd crossed paths with risa once more. realigning his passage towards the road she'd taken. traveling alongside her with the same desire to bring their reign to a crumble.

for a long time, it appeared like nothing more than a dream, but he learned after awhile that it was possible with her by his side.

there's a sense of ease that suddenly consumes his body the instant she presses the damp cloth against his skin. a soft sigh relieves itself from within his esophagus, tension in his muscles alleviating them of the intense strain. eyes flutter shut simultaneously before opening again, mind now drifting into a space of serenity. an aura that can only be construed by the devotion and care she so effortlessly harbored within herself. even in cases when it was undeserving. this wasn't one of them though and eli knows that. as opposed to offering her an initial retort, he allows himself a moment to relax beneath her supervision; if one can call it that. his body already enforcing it without his permission. this instant only presents itself as a reminder that the mobility of their existence belonged to their cerebellum. the equivalence of equilibrium desired in further enhancement by man desperate to play god rarely, if ever, lost on the male.

"it was an ambush. i don't know ... how many casualties ..."

his breath quickly escapes him the more he attempts to speak. words minimized by each inhale taken and exhale that releases. the frost had nipped at his frame just as viciously as his aggressors. reminding him of his place in the 'wild'. if it wasn't the frost that got him, they certainly would've made sure they finished the job they started. that's how it should've ended, but they had other plans. a level of entertainment brewed out of eli's punishment. see how far he can get before he either dropped dead or the mongrels set to sic him ( caught ) him before he had the opportunity to get away. of course, it hadn't been accomplished on his own accord. the distraction of those more feeble than him had been enough to detract from his lone attack. offering him a break away; one more broad than he anticipated.

"i got lucky." he doesn't want to indicate or express exactly how or why. that the only reason he was capable of getting away was due to the hapless circumstances of those who'd been with him. when she mentions their union, the clear fact that she should've been with him, he slowly shakes his head in defiance of her sentiments. in their close proximity to one another, he slips one hand within the thick cushion of her tresses. it'd been long enough since he last had the luxury of touching them, and the only thing he cared to be consumed with in this moment was her. in whatever capacity he was capable of selfishly siphoning. a gentle graze of his palm and fingers are applied, gaze latching onto her own as he watches the tears fall, quietly. it's cause for concern, the weight of emotions that appear to burden her over his current circumstances. mostly because of the break in her typical stoic expression while in his presence. he's never witnessed her cry before.

it's unfamiliar territory for the male, but he settles the voice in the back of his mind that's telling him he's incapable of granting her the support necessary to alleviate her of those feelings. for now, he obliges to what feels the most natural to him. allowing his heart to flutter with haste in the face of adoration fueled from the love he fosters within for her.

the same hand that's nestled within her hair, delivers a benign brush against the surface of her jawline and cheek; one, two, several more strokes follow until he loses count. a soft smirk extends across his features as he glances up at her.

"i'm glad we weren't together ... if anything happened to you ... i'd never be able to forgive myself." he was speaking the truth, aware that no good would have come from her being with him. although, he would've done whatever it took to ascertain her safety, even if it meant renouncing his own. however, knowing that she was still safe, alive and well, was good enough for him. regardless of the hand he'd been dealt.

"we're together now ... and that's all that matters." part of him is nervous about the depths of his nearly perforated scarring. yet, hope remains nonetheless. working in favor of risa's ability to manipulate nature to her benefit. possibly, figure out a cure that could work on healing him faster.

"what d' you got up your sleeve anyway? i know you can put me back together ... easily." the same smirk continues to play upon his lips, his efforts of adjusting her attention elsewhere was bound to be difficult, but it was worth the attempt in his mind. "i'm in good hands." he's more than aware that that's what kept him going. the reality that there was something someone worth living for. someone worth taking a firm stance against death for if it meant finding his way back to them her.

[magicalhideoutengineer]

Legendary costume designer Colleen Atwood begins her design work on the Fantastic Beasts films with an appropriately magical flight of fancy. "We figure out where their wand pockets are, where they hide their wands and how they get them out," she tells A.frame. "Sometimes you see it in the movie and sometimes you don't."

"A lot of times it's on the inside of the sleeve or sometimes it's hidden in the inside pocket of their trousers," Atwood says. "I've done a couple of sheaths on the side of their pants, like a holster sort of setup, but that's mainly for bad guys."

Although filming was original slated for early 2020, the production was postponed until later that year due to the pandemic, resulting in a number of shutdown-related issues but one in particular that was unique to Atwood: "When I came back into it after COVID, two of my actors were pregnant!" she laughs.

"I was like, 'Oh my God, I have to rethink how to make this costume work on somebody that's going to be pregnant for three months while we're filming?!'" she says of costuming Alison Sudol, who plays Queenie, and Victoria Yeates, who plays Bunty. "I used the same ideas and textures, but I reshaped the original costumes. Then, as it goes along, you put stretch in certain places that you can't see. So, that was one thing that made it a very unique experience as the designer."

From the start, we give a nod to the Dumbledores of the Potter movies [played by Richard Harris and then Michael Gambon]. He was in those grayish, mauve-y colors that were his robes. And I wanted to not put him in the same color but have it be reminiscent that it could evolve into that. So, I used a really soft dove gray color.

With Dumbledore, I've always chosen very approachable-feeling clothes, like stuff you wanted to touch. Really lush fabrics, like beautiful cashmeres. They're not flashy at all but just have an old-world elegance to them. So, it's a soft, lux version of Dumbledore. And nobody can work a costume like Jude Law.

There's not a lot of what you guys call Easter eggs on Dumbledore's costume. He's pretty straightforward. He's always had these great stitched shoes that were inspired by a vintage pair that I saw. They have a certain spider webby pattern that's very Dumbledore. But other than that, his stuff's pretty straightforward, to be honest.

This [sketch] is where I started with her Grindelwald uniform. It's a severe version of the '30s style, a fashion-y, hard, kind of Fascist version of the soft colors that she wore before. This is her more serious, somber look. I didn't want to do, 'Oh, well, she's dark -- so she's going to wear black.' I wanted it to still have a richness to it and something that reflected power, but in a different, moodier way. [In previous movies,] she was in roses a lot, so I used dark red here. I took the colors that I used for her and plugged them into her, but in the deepest range of that color.

I did research the period for weddings and fabrics, and I was like, 'Those just don't feel right for her.' It was a lot of heavy satin and stuff like that, and I felt like she should have something that was light and caught the air. My influences were maybe all over the place, really, but that's how I ended up in the layers of organza and chiffon that it ended up being. At one point, she was going to have butterflies on her dress that were animated. So, she was going to be surrounded by all these butterflies. That didn't really happen, but it gave me the idea of making the sleeves these big '30s sleeves and having a train that isn't just a train of heavy satin -- it's alive.

That was so much fun. You have these workrooms with these amazing seamstresses, and two things get them really excited: A baby thing and a wedding dress. They were all aflutter while we were making that. It was really a very labor-intensive dress, because all those little cutout butterflies were handmade and applied on the costume as we built it up. It's a combination of butterflies and then these circles with glitter around the edge. And it was very time consuming. But, at the end of the day, everybody was very excited to see it finally hit the camera.

We meet him when he's sort of down-and-out and on the skids. He's living in the past and drifting. And what I really like about his costume is that it's magically created — Lally does the wand, and then, he's in that costume for the rest of the show, which was a fun take on it.

What I did is I took the idea of what he had in the last show and made it more everyman-ish in a way. He's always had a little bit of flair, but he's always had that body, so his clothes fit a certain way. And Dan lost a lot of weight on this show. So, he wasn't as big as he was before. I wanted to still make him feel very kind of huggy, so, I used Shetlands and those kind of materials to give him a little more substance physically. It just adds more bulk. And god, it looks like he's having fun through it all. Even though he's suffering a lot, he gives it a comedy-ness and sweetness that really helps the whole story.

I met with Jessica and we talked about the character and color. And I really wanted to avoid dark colors with Lally. When we first see her, she's supposed to look like an innocent librarian-type character sitting outside of Jacob's bakery, so we went darker for that [costume]. And it doesn't really show that much on the camera, but it's very aged, and a kind of shabby look on her. And then, she's transformed into what she wears for the rest of the story.

I felt like Lally was full of life, full of fire, and so we came upon these heightened, sort of African reds and oranges and those kinds of colors. I found a tweed to make her suit that she wears for most of the movie. I liked her to be as powerful as the guys -- but I didn't want her to wear pants -- so we sort of came upon a suit silhouette that was still feminine.

Jessica was totally in love with it. She hadn't really had costumes like that made for her before, so she was kind of giddy about it. I asked for any suggestions, and we played with jewelry, and we made her shoes to match. I love making shoes, so we both had fun ideas for the shoes, and then, she saw them and was like, "Whoa!"