#looking back on this the edits a bit funky but I was having fun so who cares

[goodtimeswithollie]

only og Jacklust fans will remember this…

to clarify tho just incase you don’t know this edit was made almost TWO YEARS AGO, just reposting it for some memories before this ship possibly goes down the drain ☹️

oh early days of the just dance 2023/jacklust fandom how I miss you…

what used to be a flex about how I created the Jacklust tag on tiktok might no longer be a flex 😭

[itsthesinbin]

Sins in Stardust (Bill Cipher/Reader)

OKAY SO. I've been thinking of Ideas since I got HORRIFICALLY fixated on Bill/Gravity Falls. I still do like the "bill's hot wife" idea but I gotta think abt how that wld work, logistically. I can't get off if the plot doesn't make sense. BUT I do have. Another reader insert idea.

Post Weirdmageddon and technically post Book of Bill. I couldn't read the full book in detail bc all I had was a kinda blurry pdf to work with so I'm missing some details.

This is the first chapter just 2 kinda gauge interest. I'm only posting it here rn until I write out a couple more :3 Feel free to leave a reply or tag if u reblog to let me know what u think

EDIT: Came up with a title I liked :3 I need to stop crutching on Hozier song titles LMAO

----------------------

You missed camping- you and your parents went at least once every summer, when you were a kid. A good old cross-country camping trip is what you needed, after the multitude of bullshit you’ve gone through. You quit your job, sold whatever shit you didn’t need and used the money you had to get out of your home as fast as you could. You’ll find a new place to settle, a new job in a new city with new neighbors and never have to worry again. All you had to worry about, now, is finding a fun spot to camp for the night.

You could sleep in your car- you have a few times since you started your trip- but it was a gorgeous night. The moon was full, the stars were so bright and clear this far out from a major city… It’d be a waste. You pulled your car off the road and trekked a bit out into the woods nearby. Hopefully your car would still be there in the morning. Please, God, let it be there in the morning.

You entered into a small break in the trees. The late spring breeze made the leaves sway and branches rattle softly. The starlight caught on the toadstools odd triangular spots. Eye-shaped spots on the trees seemed to follow you as you stepped into the small field. Like looking at creepy paintings in a haunted house, you felt like you were being watched. It was a little creepy, but you chalked it up to the full moon. Everyone was on edge during a full moon just because of stories and superstitions they all heard growing up.

The brightest thing in the clearing was a small statue, half buried in the ground. A triangle with a large eye, tophat, and bowtie. A single arm stuck out, as if ready for a handshake. The stone itself seemed to glow, but you chalked that up to the brightness of the moonlight that filtered through the canopy. You stepped a bit closer, noting how… quiet the area was. No birds, no crickets… Nothing. It was a little unsettling, you wouldn’t lie. Quiet woods never led to anything good. You really should go back to your car.

You pulled out your phone, first, though. You had to get a picture of this funky little guy. You were probably overthinking things. The statue was probably just someone’s abandoned art project, or store mascot, you thought as you snapped a few pictures of the lichen-covered statue. You smiled slightly. The little thing was kinda charming.

You decided to put your tent up anyway, despite the eerie silence. It was late, you were tired, and your car was still close enough to this clearing that you’d probably be in “danger” anyway. If you even were actually in trouble. The silence and the eye-spots on the trees were unsettling, sure. Weirdly enough, though, you felt a sense of calm here.

You decided against setting up a fire, opting to eat a can of cold pork’n’beans for dinner as you looked up at the stars. The sky was alight with blues and pinks and purples, seemingly swirling nebulas catching the attention of any being capable of comprehending beauty. You felt yourself smiling to yourself.

“Beautiful night, huh li’l guy?” You joked to the statue. You missed the way the eye-spots on the trees had stopped following you, instead focusing on the night sky. You threw the empty can of beans into a bag to throw away tomorrow, before rolling out your sleeping bag and laying out under the stars. You crossed your arms behind your head, and one foot over the other. Obviously, you were met with the same silence that had been here. Humans would be humans, though. Bonding with anything that even remotely had a face.

“Bet it gets lonely, stuck out here. Sure you got the view, but it sounds like nothing really drops by.” Nothing. The stars above almost seemed to move. You could almost make a shape out, but as soon as you tried it seemed to dissipate. You hummed to yourself, trying to find the shape again.

“I know how it feels to be stuck, buddy,” you offered, sympathetically. You sighed as a heavy feeling settled on your chest. You shook away the bad memories, the stars seeming to move again to keep your attention. It was getting a little weird, now. But you had heard that Gravity Falls was a pocket of weirdness in the middle of nowhere.

“I could use a traveling buddy,” you laughed. “I haven’t had… a friend in a long time…” You trailed off as the stars continued to twinkle and dance. You sat up with a heavy sigh, face to face with the statue again. Unsurprisingly, he stared at you stoically with his hand still poised for a handshake. You put your chin in your hand.

“And it’s driven me so crazy I’m talking to an old ARG piece left in the woods…” You rubbed your face. You stood with a stretch, the light around you seemingly getting a little brighter. You stepped in front of the statue.

“They use us and leave us to rot, don’t they? Hardly fair,” you mumble. You reach a hand out as if to grab its hand, but stop short of actually touching it. The hair on the back of your neck stood as you felt a million eyes on you at once. You look behind you, only to be met with the trees. You look up, and find the stars once again in the vague shape you couldn’t make out before. It felt like the very universe was watching this moment. Your throat felt tight. Strangely, though, you didn’t feel scared. You looked back at the waiting statue. Something prodded at the back of your mind.

“Maybe I will take you with me. Once I get settled somewhere, you can become a piece in my next living room,” you smiled. “I’ll get you cleaned up and see if I can patch some of those chips and cracks.”

You hesitated a moment, before you grasped the statue’s hand. Obviously, the stone limb didn’t actually move.

“I’ll get you out of here, you be my travel partner, and we both get to be free for a while. How’s that sound?” No response. Not that you expected one. You let the little hand go with a yawn. You kicked your shoes off near your sleeping bag and lay back down on it. The stars finally stopped shifting and swirling. They twinkled down at you as you covered yourself up for the night. You didn’t think it’d rain, so sleeping outside should be fine. You’ll deal with whatever happens, if anything.

You dreamt of the stars that night. They swirled above you, forming into a large creature that swam its way to you. You floated among the stars, eyes wide with wonder at the smiling creature. Its tail swept along the empty space beside you, leaving a small… child? It was a triangle with a huge eye, like the statue in the woods, but had giant shoes. It didn’t look at you at first, instead staring at the creature made of starlight and space dust in front of you. You also turned your gaze back to it.

The Axolotl stared down at you two, a peaceful smile on its face. You felt small under its gaze- like a child looking up at their parent. You reached out to pat it on the nose, finding your hand smaller than usual. You heard a squeaking noise and turned to look at the triangular baby.

“You see the stars too?” You didn’t know how he asked without a mouth, but you nodded anyway. Your 5 year old face was reflected in his large eye. He held a hand out for you to hold.

“You wanna watch them together?” You were quiet. You turned back to the Axolotl, only to find it swimming away from you. Back to depths of the universe you could only imagine. With no other option, you looked back at the kid next to you. His eye was turned up to show that he’d be smiling, if he had a mouth. His eye crinkled more as you grabbed his hand.

The stars began to burn.

You woke with a start, finding the sun creeping over the tree canopy and shining down on you. You groaned and covered your eyes with your forearm. You forced yourself to sit up, rubbing your eyes with your hand. Your head was pounding, the strange dream leaving you in a cold sweat. Maybe you shouldn’t have slept here.

A groan from in front of you made you freeze. Your head snapped up, making it throb. A triangular creature was sitting where the statue used to be, stone splintered and sprinkled around him. He massaged his singular eye, muttering under his breath. He looked up, tensing when he saw you. You both sat there in stunned silence for what felt like forever.

Then you both screamed.

[cumulo-stratus]

“You Do This Everyday?”

Pairing: Spencer reid x Male! Youtuber! Reader

Description: y/n has a pretty popular cooking channel and one day after y/n doesnt edit out spencer givving y/n a kiss when he gets home the fans go crazy wanting a video where you bake together so you make a vid answering questions while making a fall recipe

Warnings: possible swearing, fluff, spencer being a clueless little pookie <3

Flufftober day 12: cooking together

A/N: I saw a fic with he idea of spencer x youtuber reader and i loved it so here we are. i think this idea is so cute and has so much potential so i hope i do it justice <3 Enjoy!

The last of the afternoon light streamed through the windows of Y/n and spencers kitchen, and theirs laughs rang out loudly through the otherwise quiet apartment. Y/n had put his weight on spencer- his face stuffed into his spencers chest trying to muffle his laugh. When the laughing finally died down to giggles y/n lifted his face and said 

“spence- spencer we need to redo the intro!” 

“But we’ve done it 2 times already!”

“yes- and well do it a third and a fourth if you dont stop laughing whenever i start talking!” 

The loving bickering was only that- bickering. Spencer didnt mind doing another take, and another one, if it meant he got to see y/n laugh again he would do it 10 times. His attention was pulled back to reality by his boyfriend counting down, starting again.

“3, 2, 1, rolling. Hello ladies, gentlemen, and rats under chef hats, i welcome back to my channel- I hope your having a funky fun day becasue in todays video im going to be making minestrone soup- but with a twist! i read your comments- ive seen the requests, so today my lovely and beautiful and handsome boyfriend will be joining us!”

Y/n motioned for spencer to come into frame and he shuffled in while his boyfriend did jazz hands around him for special effects. spencer giggled at his boyfriends antics while he introduced him.

“everybody this is spencer- hes my boyfriend, and today he’s gonna help me make soup. And yes we will eat it for dinner afterwards!”

Y/n trailed off and stayed silent for a couple seconds for editing later before giving spencer a kiss on the lips- silently thanking him for participating in the video. 

“okay- now i need to start with the veggies- can you grab them out the fridge please?”

“of course m’lord!” spencer used a joking tone as he pulled all the bags labeled “for soup” and dropped them unceremoniously on the counter, eliciting a chuckle from y/n. After taking the vegetables out of their bags and setting them back on the counter, y/n went back and started the camera. Spencer giggled as y/n began to speak. 

"Okay so we're gonna start by cutting our veggies- but, and especially because my boyfriend over here is a bit of a germaphobe, we're gonna wash them first, thoroughly.”

spencer chuckled at this while his boyfriend poured the veggies into a veggie spinner that he had gotten him for christmas. After washing he brought them back to the island infront of the camera and said “Just like that- poof! clean veggies” (definitely thinking of the audio and just like that- poof! lola’s gone. wrong- im right here you fucking brusell sprout!) 

Spencer looked at y/n confused and asked "wait but- why'd you say poof? You washed them right here?!"

Y/n started giggling and took Spencer's hands in his and said "Spence- lovey I washed them off camera and then I'm gonna edit it to look like they poofed clean" spencer looked down for a moment before looking back up causing y/n to burst out laughing as he said “oh. i gués that makes sense, sorry..” and gave y/n a peck on the lips. Y/n pulled out the knife block and set it on the counter, starting the camera. 

“Okay so im gonna have spence prep my veggies and then I’ll cut them into peices about the size of my thumbnail, or a little bigger.” spencer nodded, understanding his job and started by peeling a carrot. not five minutes in of him cutting and peeling, and of course while you were filming a quick shot of you guys cutting the vegetables- did he cut his finger! y/n wa focused on dicing the onion when he heard a loud yelp from his boyfriend next to him. His headshot up looking at his boyfriend, concerned. 

"What's wrong love?" 

"I cut my finger" Spencer had the most doe eyed, helpless look on his face as he held up his finger, which was now streaming blood. Y/ns eyes knitted in concern for his boyfriend and he walked over, dabbing the blood with a dish rag. 

"Oh my poor baby- here lemme help you."

Y/n left a small peck on his boyfriend's hand, leading him over to the sink to wash it off. Spencer just pouted as the cool water splashed over his finger. Y/n chuckles before getting a bandaid from the first-aid kit in the kitchen, and gently placing it on Spencer's newly cleaned finger. 

After cleaning up the blood, and confiscating Spencer's knife and peeler. 

The couple then took a couple minutes to regroup, and finish the vegetables, before filming the rest of the video.

While y/n put away his camera and turned down the burner under the freshly made soup, Spencer flopped down onto the couch sighing and said "you do this everyday?" Y/n chuckled at this and to flopped down on top of Spencer, giving him a kiss on the cheek and saying "yup- and I still have to edit out all the clips of you just laughing" y/ns tone was teasing while Spencer's became defensive as he spoke in his defense, "hey- I don't do it for a living, you do! You know I'm a terrible cook y/n.. speaking of I think I deserve another kiss for that cut I got on my hand earlier.." Spencer trailed with a smirk. His boyfriend sighed in fake resignation and leaned for a kiss, holding back a laugh as their lips met. 

The End 

[nekropsii]

on the topic of Hussie's racism translating into the comic itself: the origin of lil Cal's name came from a racist comic Hussie made in his TeamSpecialOlympics line It's titled "Rollin with lil Cal" and depicts a black character adopted by a white dad that just goes "Shit! I be 29 years old mutha-fucka!" he either re-used this character itself throughout these comics or was just lazy, but what appears to be the same og lil Cal was in his comic "Underground Funk Railroad", which ended with "Slaves Recaptured: funky swagger to blame" as well as mocking systematic racism and segregation with the racial slur negro (which, historically by white people in that time frame, was pronounced similar to the well-known n word [re-stating out of habit to keep clarification of why it's bad/an actual slur])

From my research, "Lil' Cal" as a name actually seems to extend a little farther back than that. Looks like the origin of Lil' Cal as a character- or at least as a name belonging to a Black character- dates back to around 2005-2006, with the creator being Andrew Hussie's brother, Byron Hussie, also known as Byrobot. You'll see that username a lot when poking around archives of Team Special Olympics comics. I give the estimate of 2005 or so, because Byrobot's Lil' Cal strips predate Hussie's, and not only was Hussie's edition of "Rollin' Wit Lil' Cal" posted in (late-ish) 2006, but Byrobot closed his website in around early 2006, which is where that strip was originally hosted. Plus, I've seen a couple anecdotes that it was around 2005 when that first started being a thing... Either way, though.

Unsurprisingly, Lil' Cal wasn't exactly illustrated with much... Class. Here's Byrobot's first Lil' Cal strip. This is the first iteration of Lil' Cal ever posted online.

Yikes. Yikes on bikes.

To fortify your points, though, I'll post the strips you're talking about here.

Here's Hussie's "Rollin' Wit Lil' Cal", which depicts exactly what you said. This was posted on 08/01/06, as a part of the "Scribblettes" series on the Team Special Olympics website.

And here's Hussie's "Underground Funk Railroad", once again depicting exactly what you said. This was posted on 11/02/06, but is the same story otherwise.

I understand the anxious urge to do it, but I don't think most people really need an explanation as to why any variant of the N-Word is bad. Though, since you brought it up...

Have this. 12/20/06. I needed to curse someone else with it. Same story again, this is still a part of the Scribblettes series.

Regarding the speculation on whether the reusage of Lil' Cal was an act of laziness or not: TSO's Scribblettes have many recurring characters and recurring bits, Lil' Cal just happens to be one of them. Now, applying that same train of thought to Lil Cal's appearance in Homestuck... Homestuck is chock full of references, both to random things/media, and to Hussie's older works- like Problem Sleuth, Humanimals, And It Don't Stop, et cetera. Lil Cal, the puppet, was named the way he was as another throwback for longtime fans. Lil' Cal, the TSO character, was reused during the runtime of Scribblettes just for fun.

I have nothing profound to say about any of this. This guy sucks, lol.

[theultimatekamehamehavoc]

Okay, So, I'm playing THH havoc right and I think I'm just really easily amused cus I'm crying and laughing my ass off and I haven't even gotten past the intro. Like, I'm in the prologue Some things are interesting in hindsight cus I know what's gonna happen but also fuck this is too funny at the same time. Like, Makoto monologuing to himself in front of the school and talking to himself like he's planning out his memoir, the little jumpscare I got from him staring into my soul when he introduced himself. And imagining Makoto standing there in front of the school while passerby just watch him confused why this kid's just muttering to himself like that. And the way he like, goes and talks to the player makes my brain think like who am I in this narrative. Like, am I being told Makoto's tragic story in the future (this is a joke but it feels like that with the way it's written with makoto talking and all) Furthermore, there's them me getting used to the controls and having way too much fun wandering around and bumping into walls. What else can I say. I like wandering IRL and in games. Also, where I am right now, meeting the class and like, for one I did NOT mean to go meet them yet! i wanted to look around a bit more and all and comment on the funky hallway colrors and thinking on if that was just how the school always looked or if a certain someone edited the lighting or interior of the school on purpose for the funnies. Anyway though, in the room with everybody now and just the panning shot of them all staring into my soul cracks me up so bad. And when I took a moment, the panning shot just continues so I'm just imagining Makoto staring in dead silence while the others stare in dead silence for a full minute while Makoto looks back and forth. This game is killing me and not in the intended way and it's making it even funnier!! But anyway, back to gaming!

[star-trek-dumb-comics]

Ranking the star trek openings (of series I've seen) bc I have nothing else to do :

1- TNG season 1-2

Perfect 10/10. Love the Patrick Stewart narration. The music is just straight up happy juice every time I hear it. Makes me really eager and energetic and gets me in the mood every time. Only downside is that I think it shouldn't be used as a end credit music, because it create a pretty jarring mood whiplash with the endings of some episodes

2- TNG season 3-7

Pretty much the same, except I like the sorta "reverb" sound and chords of the first one better.

3- Lower decks

The theme song slaps sooo hard it was one of the few things that kept me watching in season 1 when back then I really didn't like the show. The visuals are pretty fun as well and look very good

4- TOS season 1-2

This may just be nostalgia speaking but the relaxed and content "home" feeling I get when I hear this theme is unparalleled. Also I like how short it is, which means I almost never skip it even when binging.

5- TOS season 3

It's really almost on the same level as the first one but I like the singing a bit less than the instrumental. But idk the blue letters do look a bit better

6- Voyager

Voy may be mid, but it does have a dope opening music. Really engaging and emotional. The visuals are fine but the ship just doesn't look as good as Enterprises sorry

7- Enterprise season 1-2

Okey HEAR ME OUT HEAR ME OUT. The visuals are really cool, and this opening would have made top three if they used Archer's theme instead of Faith of the heart like they planned at first. But hey. Ik the song is bad but like Enterprise itself, I have developed a weird fondness to it. I went trough the classic arc of hating it - liking it ironically - liking it unironically back when I first watched the show. Now I just sing along and almost never skip it.

8- TAS

this theme funky af

9- SNW

Still not decided on my feeling about this theme (like the show itself funnily enough). Feels nostalgia baity with the TOS remix but at the same time it is different enough from the TOS theme to be its own thing, and it sounds pretty good. Very cool visuals and love that they brought back the opening narration.

10- DS9 season 4-7

This may be my controversial opinion of the day but as much as I love DS9 I don't really like the opening. It feels dragged out as fuck and the visuals aren't very engaging (+ that meteorite looks ugly as shit sorry). Idk it's the one I skip the most often. This version feels at least a bit faster that the first one but the trumpets are slightly offbeat which is kinda infuriating.

11- DS9 season 1-3

Its sloooooooooow

12- Enterprise season 3-4

Really don't like how they remixed it. I don't even want to sing along, the added rhythm section is so distracting.

Edit : I wanted to add the first Disco theme since I've watched most of season 1 but I have no idea where to put it. I really like the music and the visuals but it just feels like it belongs to a completely different show than Star trek. Even the little TOS notes at the end feel out of place.

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

More Writing Advice - MoaH Edition

I got an message (thank you @doubtfulloser) asking for more writing advice, and I figured I'd try to get some more thoughts on the page. Right now I'm not entirely sure what else to add to my current list as more tangible advice, so I'm going to try instead to summarize the energy I try to get with Mark of a Hero, my current ongoing writing project. This is honestly going to be a little funky to word, so bear with me as I try to capture a vibe. This is also mostly about fanfic, but I've applied similar processes to my original works as well. Again, this is what works for me, but I hope it helps.

MoaH is very roughly outlined for the whole series. I know where the books need to go on three different levels: act arc, book arc, and series arc. Some of these are like. Three bullet points long, but it helps give me a trajectory. It helps too that in writing this specific type of fic (Legend of Zelda original legend/AU/there's no fandom name for this yet), I can benchmark the books by dungeons. Each book of MoaH has an introduction arc, at least three "shrine" arcs, a bonus dungeon arc, and a full dungeon arc. Those can be moved around, mostly, into the order they need to be to keep the books a little more varied. That's also a very pulled back way to look at it, but it definitely can help imagine a five act structure that way.

Also, don't worry as much about stories seeming formulaic. If someone knows there's a formula in storytelling, they'll find it. And in telling a story, you're going to see behind the curtains the most. Of course you will see a formula. But if MoaH is an example of anything, it's that playing with that formula can be part of the story itself too. The story sets up very clearly that Link in MoaH is in fact the Hero. But to everyone in the story, they don't know that. And MoaH plays a lot with expectation. Because the reader has expectations from the series, the characters have expectations from living in the world, and there's still the story being told because the premise of the characters being adults at the start of the story already skews expectation (this is why outfits have a huge role narratively as much as mechanically too).

And, if my other major fic, Goddess of Secrecy, taught me anything, it's that as long as the formula is fun (there were 14 dungeons in that one and people stuck through it), who cares? Sometimes a routine can be comfortable. And there's plenty of storytelling out there. You can be the comfort part of it and let other people write the mindblowing formula breaking stuff. (This will also get me into a tangent on accessibility in fantasy but we need more base expectation media too, particularly for adults to get them back into reading.)

But that was a lot more actual writing advice than I thought I'd get so I need to get back to what I said I'd actually talk about and that's vibes. Generally in writing MoaH, I'm trying to capture the energy of Zelda as close to Nintendo as I can. It's the biggest compliments I've gotten that have told me I've managed that in my stories. It's also the hardest to describe, so I'll try to outline the thought process my story beats go through to make sure they reach that vibe:

First, would Nintendo do it? In general, in any of their franchises, would they tell this kind of story? Usually this forces curbing the level of "maturity" of the story (Nintendo has never gone passed rated M), but it means relying on environmental storytelling and implication in exchange. This is the biggest cutoff of them all, but it also means figuring out ways to be more original with the ideas, and usually leads to better stories. To that point, Nintendo has also been a company that has used ever last bit of their tech to make good games, despite limitations. This moderation strives to do the same.

Second, is it fun? If we want to capture the energy of Zelda, even if it's going to include timeline junk, the core of Nintendo's philosophy has always been "make good game first, good story second." Writing an original Zelda novel then needs to have a similar approach. Is the plot focused on the spirit of exploration first and the enjoyment from exploring that world that the games have or on the larger narrative stuff I'm trying to do? How do we balance that better?

Third, how would it play out in a game? This is harder for MoaH because I don't think it could be a game ever. Not because the mechanics aren't there but because of scale (there are 9 countries). Still, in general application, how would the mechanics of MoaH play out. Using RPGs (western and Japanese) as well as TTRPGs like D&D to track power scaling helps a lot with this. The abilities should never be one to one, but as a reference point, this can help. It can also double back into the previous point, would this be a fun section of a game to play? If not, how do I fix that? It's also important on this point to remember how game plots and book plots are differently driven. Game plots can be paced by the player, book plots have to be paced by the author.

Fourth, honestly, can I picture this happening in an anime? Not to be an absolute massive weeb, but genuinely. Having not read Journey to the West (yet), capturing the energy of Zelda storytelling requires looking at Japanese storytelling. And my closest point of entry on that is anime. On what those stories focus on. And the basis of storytelling in Japan, like the Odyssey is in the west, is Journey to the West. From the Sparksnotes version of that I have, that's a higher emphasis on character(s) and interpersonal growth over the journey itself. There are still obstacles (dungeons) that will result in a journey, but the interactions on your three-to-five-man-band are way more central. This is, again, where RPGs can be good reference points. And it's why MoaH always has multiple named characters in the scene as often as it can.

Finally, maybe surprisingly to be last, does it fit Zelda? I mean lorewise generally with this, mostly because, Nintendo does not care about the lore connections between their games. While the timeline is fun to mess with, it should always be secondary to the narrative being built so that the games can be standalone. MoaH can be standalone, even though it has lore connecting it to my other big fic, GoS, and the timeline. The legends have always been loosely strung together. If it can incorporate the lore of another game, fantastic. But it is always the last concern because lore connections have never been the goal between Zelda games. And it's not the goal with MoaH. And to that point, as a narrative element within MoaH, there is reason to believe that in canon, that lore loss is due to time. How stories change over it, how they get recorded, how they get retold, how they become legends over history.

As a last half point to the previous but that paragraph was massive already, is this relying on a Zelda trope as a crutch or does it add to the story? It's very easy to namedrop a character. It's another thing to make them feel like that character in game. I can call my main duo Link and Zelda all I want. Do they feel like them? How are they still original to their plots? I think with MoaH a lot of folks will get thrown off on this one because it starts rivals to lovers. Zelda hates Link (he did also break into a temple and she currently sees him as a criminal). That's kinda antithetical to their whole eternal love story though. So why? Spoilers, mostly. But a huge part of Zelda's personality is following through with how Nintendo characterized her and how I see her growing up as an adult. Personally, I don't know a spirited, politically conscious, highly empathic femme who didn't grow up to be an angry (justified), politically active, still highly empathic adult. Of course she would be mad at Link for a flagrant disregard for the law and disrespect to a holy cultural site for self-imposed vigilantism. There are laws that need to be fixed, but there are systems to fix them (this is also a chaotic good x lawful good relationship).

There is probably a lot more I could break down on MoaH and its structure but it would inevitably give away the entire books and all the major themes. For now, I think that's all I can say (and this is already a lot), but I'll try to circle back on these points after one of the books is all the way out.

I guess, if anything else, read everything. Genres you like, genres you don't, traditional publications, self publications, fanfic, the gambit. If the goal of art studies is to improve your art, then reading is the closest comparison we have for writing. And also, it's ok to be kinda bad at something. That's where we all start. It's ok to be pop fiction, there's a reason it's popular. The more hoops you add to yourself about how original or stylized a story should be or the kind of reputation it's going to have, the more you're going to get in your own head about whether or not you can tell the story. Someone will always find a way to be judgemental. Don't let that someone be you.

[apprenticestanheight]

pls a Mark hoffman x male reader where him and the reader get cozy in a bookstore while it's snowing

Snow- Mark Hoffman x male! reader

ALLL right!! In the spirit of the fact that I am determined to get my requests under control coupled with the fact that a snowstorm blew through my province sunday night through midday yesterday, this request is a little holiday-happy-feely. It's also what I hope to be the beginning of a prosperous week--I have energy drinks, coffee and finally finished editing something I actually finished working on last week, so the goal is that I can focus on other things now and get stuff done lol.

Thank you for sending this in--I truly don't write for hoffman enough and I just knew, from the minute I read the request, that it was gonna come out really sweet. I love me some tooth rotting fluff and writing this was an absolute joy!

Fic type- fluff!!

Warnings- this is unedited (I was trying to finish it before the motivation went away and editing it hardly occurred to me bc editing is never motivating ever--but I did read through as I went to make sure the grammar and stuff wasn't TOO funky. Apologies if it still is tho)

You were standing in the bookstore a close friend owned, watching the weather forecast from a TV in their backroom while they finished up with customers when you first got the news of a very intense oncoming storm.

Jersey, as a whole, was looking at a median half a foot of snow over the weekend. Locally, though, two feet were the expectation. You had the thought to get home and make sure to turn the heat on so the pipes didn't freeze, but your phone was dead and you'd agreed to meet Mark at the bookstore and then grab a cab home together, so it wasn't really worth it. Plus--the snowfall in the first four hours wasn't expected to be too terrible. Driving conditions would be fine until midnight, at the very latest, which gave you plenty of time.

Your friend decides to close the bookstore early, and when Mark comes in fifteen minutes after they've decided to close, he's a sight for sorer eyes.

Your friend, having watched the snowfall to see just how inaccurate the newscaster had been, was setting up their backroom in case you all needed to spend the night there while you brewed up some coffee from the machine left somewhere to the right of the counter, right next to an advertisement stating that coffee, hot chocolate and tea all costed the hefty price of two quarters.

Mark is somewhat covered in snow--he shakes it from his hair and shoots you a happy, loving smile as he idly dusts it off his coat. Your friend greets him and Mark says his hello, running a hand through his hair as Quin--your friend--goes back to the backroom to finish setting it up.

"They said it wasn't supposed to be that bad," Mark notes as he approaches you in the dimly lit bookstore. "Strahm was a dick about it, though--sounded like he was sixty, complainin' about how storms in Jersey always seem a bit random. Perez had the graces to wish me luck, where Strahm just said to enjoy my walk. Don't think he likes me all that much, if I'm honest."

You shrug, passing him the mug of coffee you'd just made. "He's the new guy, Mark. Take it a little easy--not everyone sees the charm in Jersey, babe. Especially not with some serial killer on the loose. Maybe he's worried he's next for smoking cigarettes or something."

Mark laughs. Your heart swells.

"Think we'll get snowed in here?"

You laugh, starting another cup of coffee by placing a new K-pod into the Keurig. "I love Quin, but I really do hope not. As someone who studied for their college degree in that staff room, sleeping on that couch is not for the weak. I'm pretty sure it's old enough to drink, actually. I helped him move it in when he bought the place."

"Well, we'll figure something out."

You nod, grinning as Marks lips press a kiss against your cheek. "We always do, Mark. How was work?"

"It was work," Mark shrugs. "Shitty roads, more investigating, all of the fun stuff that comes with workin' at the precinct. How was work for you?"

"It was a day in the life of marketing," you shrug, wrapping an arm around his waist. "Numbers, people, crappy coworkers and slow computers. I can't wait for my week off on Monday--I will sleep in and for an entire seven days, I won't have to hear about Carol and her bunions or David and his grandmother. I hate the office I work in but the coworkers make it so much worse. Their incessant gossiping makes it hard to focus."

Mark laughs, and you laugh a little too while the coffee finishes pouring. You make it to your specifications and burn the roof of your mouth drinking it, but it's worth it because it tastes damn good.

Quin shows up with a defeated smile from the back room. "Hey, lovebirds," he greets. "You've got four hours before the roads start sucking ass to drive on, but from what it looks like, cab companies aren't going to let their drivers drive anyone home after ten. You're welcome to stay here and browse for a bit, drink coffee and Mark, I'm sure you'll have an excellent time while Y/N looks at the classics section that he loves so dearly, but I'll be leaving round ten thirty so I'd say it's best to be leavin' at nine thirty. That is, of course, if you have any hopes of getting a cab before companies start threatening to cut the wages of anyone still out and driving after the cut off."

You nod at Quin. "Thanks for the tip, Quinnie," you say. "We'll be out of your hair by nine thirty, we promise."

Quin shakes his head, waving a dismissive hand. "No worries, Y/N. Have fun with Detective Lip Filler."

Mark quirks an eyebrow while you laugh, shaking your head as if to say "don't ask, mark," and interlacing your fingers with his own.

Mark lets you lead him off, down one of many winding corridors in the bookstore. While you browse the shelves you and Mark talk--Christmas plans very quickly become a point of discussion, seeing that it's two weeks away and neither of you really know what the plan is just yet.

You know that Mark doesn't much talk to his parents--they're in their seventies as it were and subscribe to more...conservative points of politics and worldviews. Aside from them, he's not really got anybody and hasn't since his sisters death.

You figured he'd spend it with you, unless work got in the way as it had last year. Your tradition was simple--spend Christmas Eve at home, order Chinese takeaway, watch whatever crappy Christmas movies happened to be playing on the channel that was devoted to them during December and laugh at the bad acting.

Wake up Christmas morning, make cinnamon buns and bake a tray of brownies to take to your parents as you were always in charge of dessert. Make sure the gifts you'd bought for relatives were in your car and then drive the half an hour to your parents place. Spend the day there, leave with a quick hug to your parents and a promise to come around again around the new year, and then go home and smoke a bit of weed to relax and hit the hay early.

"You don't have to," you murmur, grabbing the penguin edition of Shakespeares 'Hamlet' and glancing the cover over. "It's just a suggestion--it's Christmas, Mark. Might be because I was raised with neighbors popping by for Christmas dinner, but Christmas is a shitty holiday to spend alone."

Mark nods. "I was hoping I'd get to spend Christmas with you anyway," he says, taking a sip of his coffee. "Will we have to act like we're just best friends, though? Or are your parents unopposed?"

"They know I have a boyfriend at present," you answer. Your relationship isn't new--it's been three years with him, but Mark has been busy with work and trying to keep a level head as things with Jigsaw have continued, so you've never really had the chance to introduce him to anyone in your family. "They also know what your name is--first, not last. And that you're a detective, and that you're really handsome. I promise, I haven't told them anything that would make them hate you. My mothers been eager to meet you since I brought you up, though. My exes were horrendous, according to her."

Mark laughs, and you let yourself grin. "I'll do my best to impress, then," he says. "We'll have to get them gifts, though."

"I've been meaning to do some Christmas shopping anyway--we'll go once the storm has cleared," you say. "And at this point, I think my parent's won't care about gifts, really. They just really wanna meet you."

You put Hamlet back onto the shelf and grin as Marks arms wrap around your waist after he's set the coffee mug on an empty shelf. You do the same and let your arms wrap around his shoulders, and silence settles.

You close your eyes for a second, listening.

"Can you hear it?" You ask after a minute, maybe two.

"Hear what?" Mark asks. "It's completely silent in here, Y/N--there's nothing to hear."

"The snow, Mark," you answer. "It might just be because my ears are good, but I can hear it hitting the windowsills."

"How?"

"I dunno," you shrug. "Just been able to since I was a kid. I knew it was snowing right when I woke up some days."

"I will add that to the catalogue of random things that've come to light at random times," Mark grins as your eyes open again. "Among the fact that your favorite color was green until you were twenty four, and the fact that you once got bitten by a stray cat so bad that you had to be put on antibiotics during your college days, and the fact that you've never liked daisies."

You laugh, shaking your head. "You love me and my randomness, Hoffman."

Mark nods. "That I do," he says.

The two of you end up sitting at one of the desks by the windows, drinking coffee and chatting until nine, when you leave to grab a cab home just to sit by your windowsill and watch the snow until you grow bored of it.

All in all, for a night in the middle of December, while the beginnings of a snowstorm rages on outside, it's a pretty good night.

[umazane-muesli]

Well I ended up watching the concert movie in the middle of the night like some kind of lunatic (I haven't had a real sleep schedule since i was like 14) and wrote down a few of my favourite moments. They're not that interesting or original so i'll put them under a cut, but I wanted to keep a few of my thoughts on this blog <3 And you can also read this if you're debating whether you want to rent the video or not, maybe it'll help you make your choice. (it does contain "spoilers" though, if you can even call it that)

- JURE MAČEK!!!!!!!!! Holy shit I hadn't realised how starved I was for Jure content, having so many shots on him was the highlight of the show for me I love this funky little drummer!! Back shot and side shot and seeing his little face!!!! 🩵🩵🩵🩵

- I love the trumpet player! The trombone and saxophone players as well of course but trumpet man you are the star to me. The 3 guest musicians were such a cool addition to the show, it was a good way to make this concert special, and it was so cool to incorporate them not only in SSOL but also in ASTP and Ona. (Also, tangent sorry, but I keep saying "brass ona" because it's fun to say and I'll probably keep saying it but. I have a confession to make. Saxophone is not a brass instrument lol it's a woodwind. Anyway)

- Kris' transition from Bele sanje to Plastika. I know we've already talked about this but it's so good. And Jan vibing to it!!! Love it

- The melodrama of Bojan's performance of Plastika. This man needs to do The Most at all times or he'll explode. 10/10 please keep doing this mr Cvjetićanin

- One of my favourite things is when Kris stretches his arms out and he looks 4 meters tall. I love you giraffe man

- Sweatyyyy (look, i didn't say my thoughts were going to be profound)

- Every time Jan MARCHES down that catwalk I swoon a little bit, ngl

- The bts sections are interesting and pretty well incorporated, I enjoyed them a lot. If I had to say one negative thing about the movie it's that the subtitles are pretty inconsistent, the same way they were sometimes in the carpe diem and wwttb vlogs. Sometimes there are lines missing and the quality of the translation seems a bit uneven. (and apparently they were not added immediately when the video became available, but I rented it only later, so I didn't see that). Still, I was glad they added these bts sections, we got to see the prep, the crew and their roles (I'm always very interested in that), fan interviews and even a tiny bit about Jan's green guitar.

- Bojan melodrama part 2: floor edition

- the Padam montage was pretty cool, but I found it a little bit funny that they mixed footage of actual difficult moments (like them getting sick, etc.) with "joke" difficult moments? (Like "fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, I'm leaving this band"). But anyway, the way they used the screen during the show was pretty smart throughout, I thought.

- Mark Pirc' passion for black and white video needs to be studied

- Omamljeno telo made me want to be there SO BAD, it looked like so much fun. When they all (well, except for Jure) come on the catwalk together!!! <3

- Bojan's little bow to let Nace, Kris and Jan pass on the catwalk. silly and cute

- Martin hug. Need I say more

- So many moments where Jan and Kris' guitars compliment each other so well. I love when you can really hear their two melodies intertwine together. And actually properly seeing that is so cool.

- Nace's energy in Tokio. I mean his energy is great the whole time but during Tokio he gets Silly and it's very fun to watch

- Novi Val was so emotional <3

- it was a lovely idea to include a bit of footage from their vacation during the credits. Very cute. And saying that they missed Bojan and Bojan missed them 😭

I'm sure I would have had more to say but this is already unnecessarily long and I sort of forgot to write things down towards the end, so I'll stop there. But I really enjoyed the concert movie, I'm very glad to have watched it (would love to rewatch it at a normal human hour). I'm still holding out a tiny sliver of hope that it will be available to buy and permanently own someday, but in the meantime it was a very well-spent 8€ (well, 7.45 chf).

[chipped-chimera]

WIP WEDNESDAY - 21/06/23

(I mean it’s technically Friday now between timezones and spoons but have this otherwise I’ll keep forgetting) My first WIP Wednesday! Thanks @theviridianbunny​ for the tag! I’ve been really getting stuck into modding - as well as falling into my usual mod habit of ‘start like six project at once and end up with a million WIP files' but I guess I’ll talk about the major ones.

Graphic design is my passion ...

(Long) rambling about mods I'm making + things I've learned below the cut~

My V’s tatt project is still ongoing, and I’ve (somewhat begrudgingly) been trying out Substance Painter to work on bits of it, mainly polishing seams between UV maps. It’s definitely got a lot of benefits, especially for graphic placement in really tricky areas (like anywhere in the entire head mesh region for example) but I still think a lot of the heavy work will still be done in Photoshop so I’ll probably be writing up both experiences with them when I do that tutorial I keep hinting at for complex tatt work. I’ve started drafting a tumblr tutorial but I wonder if that’s the best format, maybe a PDF? Google doc? Github wikis look cool? (tho I think I need to pay for that) - if y’all got suggestions for tutorial formats pls let me know!

As for the other arguably overly-ambitious-project-where-I-bit-off-more-than-I-could-chew ...

H A I R.

Hair has been the bane of my existence for about the past week( ... weeks? Maybe two?), most of it involving cursing, a lot of reverse-engineering game meshes and smashing my head against blender. But if not already evident from my monowire post - I am a stubborn bitch with too much time on my hands so even though there were at least two moments where I wanted to curl up on the floor under my desk and just stay there - we got there.

This all started because my favourite hair mod which I cannot split from my V’s identity was acting funky and the shape of it had been altered since a physics update. It wasn’t her anymore. So I needed new hair. I tried editing the existing hair. I tried importing the old hair mesh. I tried so many things and they didn’t work out one way or they threw a million errors or there were an obnoxious amount of verts.

I even tried looking for replacement mod hair. None of them fit, all of them felt too ‘clean’ for my V. So I just concluded: FINE. I’ll make my own damn hair. From scratch. At least then I’ll actually KNOW what’s going on with the mesh, right?

Problem with hair is tutorials are very limited in respect to Cyberpunk, so I had to learn a lot of this by myself and looking at other processes used for building game hair. I’ve had a previous stint in game design at uni but it was very introductory and more broad-strokes concepts not specific stuff like what ‘real time hair’ is and how you actually go about placing hair-cards (there’s a million different ways btw) but after another 3 days smashing my head against blender I finally got shit to work to a satisfactory level using hair tools for blender and the particle hair grooming system (not the 3.5 blender system, maybe more on that at some point).

Putting together the hair cards I was 120% convinced this was going to blow up in my face, primarily through vert count. But this hair tool plugin? Alarmingly efficient. I was frequently checking my work against Alt's hair mesh (one I was planning on rigging to) and here's the final-ish stats -

This is with only Alt's hair mesh selected (no cap) and then only my mesh(s - lots of layering to build it up), and by comparison I felt I'd built up the density of a chinchilla. This is not a brag, this is mostly genuine confusion over how efficient this plugin is, all I did was smack around hair curves. It did all the UV mapping junk on the fly.

Although structurally complete, I still consider this a WIP (yes I know there's a reeeeal fun vert funkiness in that second render, it's been fixed) since I'm having to go back and fine-tune some of the UV's the plugins mapped that I'm not happy with and generally figuring out my density problem because if anything, after putting it in-game it felt too dense.

Because yes, somehow I got it in game.

WITH. PHYSICS.

This may have driven me absolutely up the wall between having to learn blender from scratch then what the heck real time hair is and how that works etc. etc. but ... god, seeing her move back from the mirror and just feeling that instant catharsis of 'IT'S HER!' made it so. Damn. Worth it.

It looks too thick - this might be because I chucked in the 'doubled' feature Wolvenkit comes with because I hadn't spent any time doing backfaces. But it also might be because it's black? That's going to need investigating.

The physics need a lot of work too, I did a pretty rushed weight painting job last night on a merged version of the mesh because I was worried whether it was even viable and I'd already dumped an insane amount of hours into this between trying to salvage the old hair and building a new one (with some more bells and whistles. Mainly - curly). That wasn't without it's issues -

This almost fucking cracked me, given this was one of the issues I was experiencing before trying to fix an existing mesh mod. Turns out I was just being dumb and forgetting to export the armature, which I'd thought I wasn't supposed to do after having blender throw a bunch of errors on other hair attempts. I gave it a try after one last shot and boom. Worked. (I dunno what those errors were about man but now I know armature? very important).

Will I release this hair? no damn clue, depends on if I can get it to a level I feel is 'releasable'. I already know what I'm calling it though - Venatrix her side-handle I've decided on.

I look forward to adapting it into maybe a comb-back version, as well as a tied up version, so I can show off both her undercut + have the option of NOT hiding every damn tatt I've obsessed over placing on her neck haha.

In other news -

My much-needed wacom tablet replacement arrived (as well as other things I was looking forward to 👀) meaning my Wacom Cintiq, workhorse of ten years can finally enjoy her retirement. Her controls were getting funky, she had a few dead pixels but man. I'm convinced they won't make them like her ever again. Either way she's done unfortunately - upgrading my monitor to 2k made this painfully obvious. I don't think it's even running in full HD, it's that old. And with Phantom Liberty coming out this year? I'm probably going to need a new videocard and DVI compatibility isn't really a thing anymore.

So for future I think I'll just stick to the basic tablet set up, invest in screens. Also now I FINALLY know what her hair is gonna look like and with the tablet here, I can get back to work on the tattoo bodysuit.

Anyways, that's it for now! (Jesus Christ did you really read all of this? If you did you're a fucking trooper). Sorry for the extended ramble but MAN I did a lot, I needed to yell.

Till next time Chooms! Thanks again @theviridianbunny for the tag~ <3

Oh shit wait, have the blender renders before I forget because hahah I figured out how to do that too lol -

[littledraga]

Becile Birthday!

It’s @ask-the-becile-boys 11th birthday for the AU! Had to do something special for it! Not sure if this is it, but it’s what I did! It’s late, it’s only half edited, have fun with that. :p Thanks for keeping these funky dudes alive!

Maybe it was a little weird for Scratch to give Tatters a little scratch post a month after Christmas. It wasn't like her claws needed it, but no one said anything. And Tatters did like beating it up and napping on top of it.

When he got Locksmith mustache wax at the end of March everyone was confused. No one more than Locksmith himself. It was left with a card with a cake covered in candles. Odd? But who was he to turn down such a thoughtful gift?

Dee screamed when someone other than Hare knocked on her door. She threw open the door, intent on clawing at whoever was there. Instead of a person, there was a box with a bright bow. Inside were old records and a little bear with a loud sweater. Holding the teddy close, she looked around before slamming the door hard enough that some walls shook. Jazz filled the halls while she slowly danced around with her new little friend. It made the stifling heat as summer crept closer a little more pleasant.

Later, when summer was fully on them, Hare caught Scratch wrapping something in the lounge, struggling with tape that had gotten stuck on his shirt. Turning around this way and that, more and more tape unrolled and he huffed behind the respirator.

Hare huffed a small laugh as he walked over to take the tape before Scratch became a mummy.

"Whatcha got there?" He asked, trying to look over Scratch over his shoulder.

At first, Scratch tried to cover it with his body before his shoulders slumped. Sitting up, he offered a small wrapped box to Hare.

"I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I guess a day early won't hurt," he signed.

Taking the box, Hare tilted his head, looking at it carefully. "What is it?"

Scratch laughed enough his shoulders shook.

"It's a present. For your birthday." He paused and tilted his head a little.

"Power day? Turn on day?" He signed, not really sure what to call it.

Smoke billowed out of his cheeks.

"Wha? You remember sometin' like dat?" Looking at the wrapping paper, he scrunched his good eye.

"Uh, thanks?" He said before tentatively opening the small box. Inside were three small locks. More confused, he looked at Scratch.

He looked confused and tugged at his sleeves a moment before he explained.

'It's a lock picking kit. I know you've been practicing. So I thought you'd like some new locks." It may have made him a little uncomfortable, but he didn't think of Hare as a bad person. And he did seem to actually enjoy picking locks, just because.

Hare grinned, at least as much as his faceplate would allow.

"Thanks! 'Priciated." Hare shuffled a little from foot to foot, not sure what to do. Another quick thanks and he hurried off to put his new locks in his room.

It wasn't long after that that Scratch came up to Jack, looking nervous and holding a bag behind his back.

Jack was in the garden, watching the birds and twirling a blade of grass between his fingers, enjoying the freedom now that Riker had fixed his wires.

He noticed Scratch's shadow first. Turning around, he smiled warmly up at him and hopped to his feet.

"Good morning, Scratch! It's good to see you." He paused when he saw how nervous he was. "Are you alright?"

Scratch stalled a moment before quickly holding the bag out in front of him. Waiting for Jack to take it with a confused look, he finally explained.

"I wasn't sure what you would like. I hope it's okay?"

Blond curls bounced while Jack tilted his head.

"Oh? I'm sure whatever it is, it's lovely." Digging into the bag, Jack pulled out a short top hat and a new bow. They were older, and it showed, but still in good condition. His face split into a wide grin.

"Oh! These are lovely! Thank you, Scratch!" Holding them to his chest, he did look a bit confused.

"But I'm afraid I don't know the occasion? Surely it's not so late in the year it's Christmas again, is it? I haven't gotten you anything."

Scratch laughed, though mostly his shoulders just shook.

"It's to celebrate another year, Jack. From when you powered on first. A birthday," he signed, smiling as much as his limited face would allow.

"Oh my! I had completely forgotten about that! Thank you, Scratch! This is very sweet." Something for his first birthday since he was repaired.

"You're welcome! I need to wrap Skull's now. Take care!" Waving him off, Scratch hurried off back inside.

By now, the manor had caught on to what he was doing. So a few days later when Skull saw him from the corner of his eye while he was taking a rare moment to relax and knit, he put his needles down.

"Hey, Skull." Scratch lifted up another bag.

"Happy birthday. Or um wake up day? Or?" He still didn't know what to call it.

Skull watched him for a moment, pretending not to notice the bag in Scratch's hand.

"Birthday is fine." It was a human thing anyway.

"Thanks," he huffed. But before he could pick up the needles again, there was a bag in his lap. Looking up, he saw Scratch looking at him expectantly. Smoke curled from his neck as he sighed.

Looking inside the bag, he carefully pulled out skeins in various colours and a new set of needles.

"I know you have some yarn already, but I thought you might like having some new colours," he explained.

Skull's face softened. Or at least as much as his faceplate would allow.

"Thank you. They're good colours. And I did need some new knitting needles. I appreciate it." When Scratch beamed, he laughed. Just a single chuckle.

"You've been busy."

Which made the man beam more. Or as much as he could.

"Everyone deserves something good on their birthday. It's important!" He enthusiastically signed.

"We always had big parties when I was growing up."

Skull hummed at that. He wasn't sure he remembered any kind of birthday celebration. Even when Thaddeus was alive there were no celebrations at the manor. Frivolous things he would call them. But Thaddeus wasn't here anymore.

Things were quiet, for a little while. Then Scratch took to the kitchen at the end of July. He was cooking up a large batch of chicken and dumplings and sides. Something that had the robots peeking around the corner.

Hare spoke up first, walking over to look over Scratch’s shoulder as the man seasoned some chicken in a pan with what looked like dough in a bowl.

“This doesn’t look like a smoothie,” said Hare while he tried to figure out what was going on.

Scratch stopped long enough to quickly sign.

“Chicken and dumplings. It’s Riker’s birthday. So I thought I’d make him something while he was down in the workshop.”

Hare looked at Skull, who was still at the doorway. He just shrugged.

“Looks like a lot of work for someone that just eats ramen. When he eats,” huffed Hare, moving when Skull gave him a hard look. It wasn’t like it was his fault!

“It’s his birthday,” explained Scratch simply.

“Everyone needs to have something nice on their birthday.” And he was back to cooking away, leaving the two to look confused. It wasn’t like they had a lot of experience with birthdays.

After too long in the workshop, trying to keep the tools from getting too rusted to use, Riker nearly cried when he saw a banquet set out just for him. Scratch had to push him into a seat to get him to eat.

“Man, this is better than Ma's from when I was a kid.” Riker suddenly stopped, spoon halfway to his face to glance at Scratch who was looking rather proud of himself.

“Don’t ever tell her I said that.” As if anyone here would likely meet her, but a man couldn’t be too sure.

Scratched crossed his fingers over his chest before putting away the leftovers. At least Riker would be eating real food for a couple days.

A week later, Riker found himself cornered in the workshop by three robots. Even if they, probably, wouldn’t hurt him, it was still unnerving. Crossing his arms over his chest and a cigarette hanging off his lip, he watched them, waiting for some explanation as to why they were ganging up on him. Jack broke first.

“What do you do for birthdays?” He asked and stepped into the room, careful to give the workbench as wide a birth as he could.

He grinned a little, just a smidge. “It’s about Scratch’s turn, ain’t it?”

Hare huffed and followed Jack in.

“Yeah, and we wanna know what yer ‘sposed to do for a birthday.”

Riker just shrugged.

“Been a while. Mostly a lot of drinking, but I don’t think Scratch would be real interested in that,” he told them as he put out his cigarette.

“I’ve heard that people like surprise parties. Do you know about those?” inquired Jack innocently enough.

A brief memory and Riker shuddered. A surprise of people, never something he wanted. When the other three looked at him with concern, he quickly brushed them off.

“A surprise birthday party would mean keeping him out of the manor or at least part of it. Guess this place is plenty big enough. Normally they decorate the room, have cake and presents, and do stuff the birthday person likes,” he explained.

Tapping his chin, Skull thought that over for a moment. Smoke curled from his neck vents as he started to plan.

“Cake wouldn’t be a good idea. Scratch can’t eat it,” he reminded them.

When Hare shoved his hands into his pockets, pretending not to pout, Riker tried not to laugh.

“Probably a bad idea,” he agreed.

“But they have ice cream too. Could probably make him a shake?” he offered, leaning against one of the tables.

Skull looked up at that.

“There’s probably some kind of birthday milkshake. I’m sure I can find something.” With his mission decided, Skull made his way back upstairs.

“Well, that’s one thing settled,” huffed Hare, still looking sour.

“We could decorate the lounge?” offered Jack with a smile.

“We’ve seen movies. I bet we could do something spectacular!” When Hare perked up a little, Jack’s smile grew. Taking Hare’s arm, he gently tugged Hare away They had planning to do.

But at the door, Hare turned to look at Riker, pointing a gloved hand at him.

“We’ll get it planned, but you gotta keep him busy for a while, got it?”

Riker rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll tell him I need to check his leg or somethin’. Now get goin’. I need a drink.” he muttered as they all left. There was plenty to do.

It was hot when Scratch’s birthday came around, it was easy to get him down to the workshop for a look over. At least it was cooler in the basement levels.

“I haven’t been having any more trouble than normal,” he explained while Riker was looking the knee over. It may have been a cover, but it didn’t hurt to look while he had the chance.

“That’s good. Everythin’ looks fine. I just want to make sure I ain’t missin’ somethin’,” he explained. Eventually, Scratch got a clean bill of health. Or at least the machine part of him did. There was no way anything ‘living’ was going to be healthy here. But still, Riker kept looking. At least until he heard three bangs on the floor above him.

“Looks like you’re right as rain!” He sarcastically cheered as he backed up to let Scratch get to his feet as he put his tools away.

“Why don’t we head up and get something to drink? Should be something cold in the fridge.”

Scratch nodded and would wait for Riker.

“Wish I could eat popsicles,” he signed while they walked.

“Used to be the best part of summer.”

“Ya know, that does sound pretty good,” he agreed as they walked.

“But I can think of something better.” As Scratch looked to him for an answer, Riker stepped into the lounge and waited for him.

Inside was a messy banner that had ripped in three places when they tried to hang it up. A few messily wrapped boxes sat on the coffee table as well as two oversized shakes covered in tiny sprinkles.

Everyone, save Dee, who refused to come downstairs, was waiting for him. Jack was smiling brightly.

“Happy Birthday!” They all said at once, some with more enthusiasm than others.

Scratch stood still, looking at everything. His remaining eye teared up.

“Thank you,” he signed once, twice, and again, and again. There was static from the vent. It was hard to tell if it was laughter or a sob.

Skull stepped over with his gift, handing it to Scratch.

“You told us birthdays were important,” he reminded him as he pressed the wrapping paper into his hand. Inside was a box set to an anime Scratch had been talking about.

Scratch took his time with each gift, gushing with everyone. Even Locksmith was at least, mostly, agreeable for the party. He’d be up late with his new anime and shipping on yet another birthday cake shake. Best birthday.

[spacemagicandlaserswords]

The Clone Wars 1x5 ‘Rookies’ Reaction Take 2

STILL SCREAMING

(I wrote this as I rewatched the episode, pausing as I went so that's why it's probably disjointed and all over the shop). Edit: Adding gifs to this because I can and I feel like it suits the more live-blogging style that these types of reaction posts end up being.

Lmao @ the GAR radio hologram

Omg Echo. It’s baby Echo! Look at him and his reg manuals!

Hello Sergeant Reed Richards and your lovely silver temples. Is this Sergeant O'Niner? More silver fox clones plz.

Are his eyebrows grey as well?

Deep Thoughts with Kenobi

Lol look at Obi Wan, so happy to see his space husband. Or its just the dated animation. But we’re all delusional here so let’s go with the first option.

Ah so this is where the ‘Good man, that Cody’ line comes from.

Rip not getting to know more about the lovely clone with the facial hair. Was this Droidbait?

Oof, foreshadowing for Hevy rip

Rip Sentry

Oh hey Fives has his little 5 Aurebesh tattoo already!

Droids! Well that was subtle lmao

I know this is very early on in TCW but there are some funky accents going on with the clones.

Rip Sergeant Silver Fox

Ventress is hilarious. She’s so completely beyond OTT. Ridiculous. I love it.

The entire comm exchange between Cody and the commando droid pretending to be a clone. CACKLING

Droid: Roger roger Rex: *narrows eyes*

Lol @ Cody palming off his problems to Rex. Have fun being in charge of this one!

“The reg manual says that the next–” Omg Echo. 

Rip Cutup. What a gruesome way to go.

“What the hell was that?” A “bad” word? In my animated children’s television show?!

“Ah, that was an eel.” Yes thank you Echo

“Now, that’s why we have the regulation not to go outside.” omg I love him

Lol @ the fanfare when Cody and Rex turn up. The heroes have arrived.

I know I’ve said this before but Rex looks all special with is kama and captain’s pauldron and different helmet and whatever else and then Cody just gets some golden painted bits of his armour and 2 aerials? What is he, a designer retro TV?

Omg the droid pretending to be a clone. You can just tell the animators had a field day with that one.

Thank you for visiting and have a safe trip back? Question mark?

Gif from this post by @dindjarism

“A droid attack flare?” OMG REX DID NOT HESITATE. Even Cody was shocked.

At this point, “Roger, roger” is basically enough to send Rex’s spidey senses into overdrive.

“Woah, Rex! What the heck are you doing?” An even less of a “bad” word? In my animated children’s television show?! 

Also lawl @ Rex’s drawled “Relax” after shooting the droid disguised as a clone at point blank range.

Does Cody not have his gold paint yet?! His armour looked distinctly grey, though they are on a moon so the lighting might be why it looks grey.

“Off the platform!” Rex you just yeeted yourself. And Cody. You actually want to be yeeted don’t you Rex?

Cody is the kind of friend who would jump off a cliff if his friend said to.

What happened on Tibrin? I must know. Is this The Clone Wars version of what happened in Budapest? Will we never know?

It’s a tiny little exchange but you can really tell from the change in voice how familiar Rex and Cody are with each other already.

Also that shot of Rex after he lands from their lines under the platform is absolutely a hero shot and hero pose. There’s quite a few of these throughout the episode and you can really tell that this is absolutely the introduction episode of Rex. So many moments throughout this episode exist just to show what an absolute BAMF he is. Seeing as the character was originally supposed to be Alpha-17 it makes sense. You can really Rex’s jaig eyes really prominently throughout this episode too. Makes sense, seeing as they’re on the front of his helmet, but it almost feels even more emphasised that you’d expect.

Sun bonnets!

Rex just turning around and one shotting the Rishi eel like it’s nothing omg sir stop

Gif from this post by @dindjarism

Echo gets his Rishi eel blood hand print from Rex! Seminal moment unlocked!

Lmao at Anakin and Obi Wan snarking about their clones.

Rex calls Echo kid! I AM WAILING!

Rex old boy? Since when was Cody bri’ish?

Rex, your ideas are as bad as Anakin’s.

The whole scene with trying to get in the blast doors and Rex kneeling there holding up the decapitated head of the commando droid? CACKLING

Cody is so done with your nonsense Rex

That was the most badass delivery of “Roger. Roger.” I have ever seen and we’re only 5 episodes in.

Aw Echo is already worried about Fives.

Rex is basically the personification of ‘so anyway, I started blasting’ at this point.

Rex, Sir, you did not have to go so hard in taking apart that droid with your bare hands

<insert line about hell in a kids tv show here>

Is this the first hero shot we get of Rex, Cody and Echo together? Sure looks like it! Look at Rex looking all noble in the background.

More foreshadowing for Hevy rip

Closest thing we clones have to a home. SOBBING

The little nod between Rex and Cody.

Random gronk droid.

"Didn’t say please." There are so many good cheesy one liners in this episode it's like an 80s action movie. I love it.

"We could use a jedi about now." I think Cody is missing his space husband.

That admiral definitely feels like a stereotype of a posh british officer from WWII or similar

Oh damn this is Hevy's last stand. What a way to go out.

Hevy nooooo what are you doing

“I don’t like your tone rookie” Rex was that a growl?!

Hevy just yeeting the machine gun at the droids.

Noooo Hevy

"I don’t." Wow those were some last words. Rip Hevy

Gif from this post by @theclonewarsdaily

Naw Echo and Fives getting medals. And joining the 501st! Also their completely in sync salute and about turn was the definition of crisp. I know it’s probably just the same animation copied and pasted but we can ignore that and focus on how it’s totally cause they’re the twins in their batch.

OMG THAT EPISODE. MY HEART. CLONES. THE CLONES HAVE MY HEART. EVERYTHING FOR THE CLONES. 

I think I’m going to have to go back and watch some episodes again because when I first watched this I a) didn’t remember most of it and b) hadn’t started to fall in love with the clones. I should imagine coming back and watching important and memorable episodes again after the finale will have another different meaning to it all as well. Though, given what happens in the finale, I might need to wait a bit. Maybe I’ll come back to it after watching Rebels and a few other things I want to catch up on. I did realise though that I did actually watch this episode when I started watching The Clone Wars, I just didn’t remember most of it. The only bits that I remembered were when the 4 clones (Echo, Fives, Heavy and Cutup, I think) escaped through the tunnels to outside the base, right before Cutup got eaten by that eel. 

[avaitor]

Avi’s HC’s: Kingsman Edition

Since I always have a shitload of silly lil ideas and HC’s bubbling in this empty bone cavern, I have decided to share them with you uninterested folks

Anyways, here are some HC’s for my bbg, James Spencer, also known as Lancelot, who had very little screentime

⁍⁍ He cannot cook. I love and adore him, but he simply cannot.

⁍⁍ Pranks. No one is safe, not even Arthur. He’s only still an agent because he is (was) so good at his job.

⁍⁍ Roxy’s uncle. The man spoils her rotten.

⁍⁍ Pure, unchained theater kid energy. He has a flair for the dramatic, and sometimes injects old-fashioned phrases into conversations.

⁍⁍ Absolutely loves dogs, never had to go through the dog test and has zero knowledge of its existence. Percival doesn’t have the heart to tell him.

⁍⁍ Prefers not to wear his glasses because “he doesn’t need them”. Also thinks that they negatively affect his “devilishly good looks.”

⁍⁍ This man is a dork and kind of a dumbass but he’s my skrunkly. My bbg. Perhaps even my funky lil guy (even though this man is much taller than my 5′1 ass.)

⁍⁍ Cares very much about his looks, one of the peacocks of the agency. On par with Harry when it comes to preening.

⁍⁍ He has the worst fashion sense out of all of the Kingsman agents, and he’s kinda extra. A few times he has almost gone on missions while wearing the most god-awful ties.

⁍⁍ Speaking of missions, he’s a bit of a wild card. He likes flashy entrances, fire, and explosions. There are a few times where he’s managed to level entire buildings somehow. 2nd major cause of poor Merlin’s hair loss.

⁍⁍ He also believes that Lee should have been Lancelot, and that he was only picked because he was the one who lived, the runner-up. Perhaps he suffers from a bit of survivor’s guilt.

⁍⁍ No matter how much he tries, he cannot/is afraid of taking things seriously. His first instinct is to joke or lighten the mood, or even dismiss what is mentioned because he is afraid. He’s so used to being the “fun” one, and just doesn’t know how to handle anything else.

⁍⁍ Very physically affectionate, in contrast to Percival. This man would give the best hugs.

⁍⁍ He’s great with kids, but sucks at babysitting because he usually goes along with shenanigans.

⁍⁍ Gets along well with Harry, and probably would’ve gotten along with Eggsy if it hadn’t been for his untimely demise.

⁍⁍ He’s like a golden retriever personified, and he hates sitting for long periods of time.

Sorta au-ish stuff under the cut

⁍⁍ He did not die, I am in complete denial, he somehow avoided death and comes back after Golden Circle. Maybe they find him while on another mission, or maybe he just shows up, I don’t know.

⁍⁍ Very, very out of the loop, but once he meets Eggsy, the two are certainly a force to be reckoned with.

⁍⁍ Tearful reunion with Roxy, who is also alive because I said so, maybe he’s a bit panicked because she almost died.

⁍⁍ A bit stunned that Arthur (Chester)  is dead, but oh well.

⁍⁍ Percilot. He’s lowkey had it bad for Percival for a while, but after he comes back boom it’s confession time, they get together, and they’re both happy.

⁍⁍ He’s so sweet with Perci and they love each other very much. Again, he’s such a dork I adore him sm.

[gaysforbyler]

get him back! character references masterdoc!!

Will outfits:

1-3: self explanatory, he’s emo 🖤 For 1, if the pants were black, that’s literally him (and that IS his room. That’s what his closet looks like)

4: just the bottom half, BUT THATS HIM. His boots and his pants and almost his belt.

5&6 are his transition from black to color. Just a flannel <3 AND THE STAR WARS SHIRT ON 6??? HIM.

7-9 are his Color (the last shirt saying “boycrazy” is insane)

Will hair:

- LEO BABYYYY (it’s actually a lot longer than that, but I couldn’t NOT include him)

- TROY!! He’s definitely the most accurate. The rest of the party makes fun of him for it bc hsm1 just came out

- Rodrick my son. That’s actually Will on the right, eyeliner and everything.

- and some random dudes, idk

Mike outfits:

So this issue is that Mike just happens to like black, so his style is pretty similar to early Will’s. In summary: hoodies. Hoodies beneath cute little jackets (and his leather jacket i love so much)

4: it’s like his canon jacket in that one leak <3

6: this is so him, what the hell?

10: I LOVE HIS SWEATERS, yes he still wears them in this

Mike hair:

Just… Conan.

The boy EVER, I love him so much

M*tt

This is who he is. There’s no other picture needed, just this.

I actually had no image in mind this entire for him, but I saw this picture and was like 🫢👉

(Okay, not entirely. I would consider his hair a bit darker, and maybe an inch or two longer, but other than that…)

Rich boy polo, obnoxious sunglasses, arrogant walk (I’m so sorry to the dude in the picture) very Straight Boy. Homophobic gay man.

Max:

1: she steals Will’s clothes a lot

6&7: hair. She has THOSE bangs and she ties it up like 6 sometimes

8: that’s Will and Max if Will shaved his head

El:

1-5: THE 2000s clothes. Very disney vibes

6-8: hair. She likes to do those funky little hair styles that take 5 years to do. And butterfly clips. VERY Lizzie McGuire coded

9: El, Will, Max, 2005– Colorized.

Lucas:

I fee like I made his clothes inconsistent but WHATEVER.

Yes, 4 is the same as Mike’s, because they have a very similar style (bestie things)

7-9: hair. ADNRE MY BOY I love him

Dustin:

1-6: polos and button downs bc he’s a nerd who would carry around a calculator in his pocket

7-8: hair. Self explanatory. The dude on the left is creeping me out.

If for some reason you needed it, here’s the boards https://pin.it/2PEltDRN7

I’ll definitely be adding to this later on. But I’m tired and I’ve been doing this instead of editing ch 24 for the past three hours. So bye!

[thebreakfastgenie]

What do yo think of the new Vienna music video?! 😄 I had no idea that there wasn't an original! I just assumed!

In your opinion, if Billy had done one when the song came out, how different do you think it would've been?

I love the new video!! I love watching the lino cut be made, it ties in so well to the history of Vienna as an artistic center! And I love that it’s animated. When it showed the old woman sweeping the street I said “the old woman sweeping the street!” out loud because she’s part of the lore of the song. I also wonder if showing a girl so much was a nod to the song gaining such traction with younger women, and if so I like it.

There wasn’t a video because Vienna was never released as a single! It’s an album track but it’s always had its supporters; Ed Sciaky, a Philadelphia DJ who features prominently in the Billy Joel lore liked the song and played it quite a bit, it’s also one of Billy’s personal favorites. It’s gained enough popularity now to be a regular part of his setlist but that’s fairly recent!

A few years ago for some anniversary or other they did animate music video for Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, which was also never a single because it’s too long, but has been a live staple since the 70s.

1977 was a little early for music videos. MTV really took off in the 80s. There are some videos for songs from 52nd Street and I think The Stranger as well, but they’re basically just him performing the songs with some funky editing.

I think if there had been a music video for Vienna in the 70s it would have been something like that, just a basic performance video. Maybe with some shots of European streets and cafés. In my dreams it would be directed by Jon Small.

I’m kind of glad there wasn’t one, though, because Billy does not like making videos. When they made the Turn the Lights Back On video Freddy Wexler asked “can you admit that any part of this is fun?” and he said “I don’t like making videos.” He’s also described the process as “torture.” So he basically had nothing to do with the ideas behind any of the music videos he made. He just showed up, tried not to look as miserable as he was, did his part and went home. With other songs it’s funny to watch the videos and know he made them under duress but this is Vienna…

[sourearth]

continuing the drawing wip updates (og post) bc im having fun with it!! this time im gonna share how im incorporating 3D & tech art elements bc i am very good at making my life more complicated than it needs to be

so when i first started this i drew ontop of a 3D blockout i was already working on - i wanted to model & render my characters living space in unreal engine with funky stylised shaders!! long post under the cut

so to build that i modelled a bunch of stuff in maya (and a couple soft things in marvelous designer)

and started pulling the scene together in ue5

note the scene is very early WIP and stylistically inconsistent, im still experimenting @ this stage! these are some of the assets i made to try figure out the art style, so im hoping i can eventually get the whole thing looking like these:

but its a long way from getting to that stage! for the drawing, i realised that the perspective was starting to get a little bit janked (i blame my lazyness and procreates subpar perspective tools) - so i tried to take it into photoshop to use the vanishing point tool, but the drawn perspective was too iffy to work off properly

soooo i spent a stupid amount of time going back into engine and re-positioning and adjusting a camera to match the drawing - and then i made a post-process material to apply to the camera that overlays the drawing over the top of the scene so that i can lerp between viewing that and viewing the 3d scene

and THEN i edited the main shader on the scene (which is one that gives a stylised post process effect with outlines based on detecting edges in normal direction and scene depth - it looks like this and was the bane of my existence last summer)

i changed it to give me an option to turn the scene into a black & white outline effect, which would make it look super clear

so this is a render from the perspective checker camera!

so now its gonna be easier & more accurate to take into photoshop and use it to set up vanishing points, and fix the perspective!

this has been a long post, but in conclusion: