#okay i don't know if it's allowed to make an edit with like basically the same concept twice but i did

[deadpoets]

DEAD POETS SOCIETY (1989) dir. Peter Weir

[ms-demeanor]

Why reblog machine-generated art?

When I was ten years old I took a photography class where we developed black and white photos by projecting light on papers bathed in chemicals. If we wanted to change something in the image, we had to go through a gradual, arduous process called dodging and burning.

When I was fifteen years old I used photoshop for the first time, and I remember clicking on the clone tool or the blur tool and feeling like I was cheating.

When I was twenty eight I got my first smartphone. The phone could edit photos. A few taps with my thumb were enough to apply filters and change contrast and even spot correct. I was holding in my hand something more powerful than the huge light machines I'd first used to edit images.

When I was thirty six, just a few weeks ago, I took a photo class that used Lightroom Classic and again, it felt like cheating. It made me really understand how much the color profiles of popular web images I'd been seeing for years had been pumped and tweaked and layered with local edits to make something that, to my eyes, didn't much resemble photography. To me, photography is light on paper. It's what you capture in the lens. It's not automatic skin smoothing and a local filter to boost the sky. This reminded me a lot more of the photomanipulations my friend used to make on deviantart; layered things with unnatural colors that put wings on buildings or turned an eye into a swimming pool. It didn't remake the images to that extent, obviously, but it tipped into the uncanny valley. More real than real, more saturated more sharp and more present than the actual world my lens saw. And that was before I found the AI assisted filters and the tool that would identify the whole sky for you, picking pieces of it out from between leaves.

You know, it's funny, when people talk about artists who might lose their jobs to AI they don't talk about the people who have already had to move on from their photo editing work because of technology. You used to be able to get paid for basic photo manipulation, you know? If you were quick with a lasso or skilled with masks you could get a pretty decent chunk of change by pulling subjects out of backgrounds for family holiday cards or isolating the pies on the menu for a mom and pop. Not a lot, but enough to help. But, of course, you can just do that on your phone now. There's no need to pay a human for it, even if they might do a better job or be more considerate toward the aesthetic of an image.

And they certainly don't talk about all the development labs that went away, or the way that you could have trained to be a studio photographer if you wanted to take good photos of your family to hang on the walls and that digital photography allowed in a parade of amateurs who can make dozens of iterations of the same bad photo until they hit on a good one by sheer volume and luck; if you want to be a good photographer everyone can do that why didn't you train for it and spend a long time taking photos on film and being okay with bad photography don't you know that digital photography drove thousands of people out of their jobs.

My dad told me that he plays with AI the other day. He hosts a movie podcast and he puts up thumbnails for the downloads. In the past, he'd just take a screengrab from the film. Now he tells the Bing AI to make him little vignettes. A cowboy running away from a rhino, a dragon arm-wrestling a teddy bear. That kind of thing. Usually based on a joke that was made on the show, or about the subject of the film and an interest of the guest.

People talk about "well AI art doesn't allow people to create things, people were already able to create things, if they wanted to create things they should learn to create things." Not everyone wants to make good art that's creative. Even fewer people want to put the effort into making bad art for something that they aren't passionate about. Some people want filler to go on the cover of their youtube video. My dad isn't going to learn to draw, and as the person who he used to ask to photoshop him as Ant-Man because he certainly couldn't pay anyone for that kind of thing, I think this is a great use case for AI art. This senior citizen isn't going to start cartooning and at two recordings a week with a one-day editing turnaround he doesn't even really have the time for something like a Fiverr commission. This is a great use of AI art, actually.

I also know an artist who is going Hog Fucking Wild creating AI art of their blorbos. They're genuinely an incredibly talented artist who happens to want to see their niche interest represented visually without having to draw it all themself. They're posting the funny and good results to a small circle of mutuals on socials with clear information about the source of the images; they aren't trying to sell any of the images, they're basically using them as inserts for custom memes. Who is harmed by this person saying "i would like to see my blorbo lasciviously eating an ice cream cone in the is this a pigeon meme"?

The way I use machine-generated art, as an artist, is to proof things. Can I get an explosion to look like this. What would a wall of dead computer monitors look like. Would a ballerina leaping over the grand canyon look cool? Sometimes I use AI art to generate copyright free objects that I can snip for a collage. A lot of the time I use it to generate ideas. I start naming random things and seeing what it shows me and I start getting inspired. I can ask CrAIon for pose reference, I can ask it to show me the interior of spaces from a specific angle.

I profoundly dislike the antipathy that tumblr has for AI art. I understand if people don't want their art used in training pools. I understand if people don't want AI trained on their art to mimic their style. You should absolutely use those tools that poison datasets if you don't want your art included in AI training. I think that's an incredibly appropriate action to take as an artist who doesn't want AI learning from your work.

However I'm pretty fucking aggressively opposed to copyright and most of the "solid" arguments against AI art come down to "the AIs viewed and learned from people's copyrighted artwork and therefore AI is theft rather than fair use" and that's a losing argument for me. In. Like. A lot of ways. Primarily because it is saying that not only is copying someone's art theft, it is saying that looking at and learning from someone's art can be defined as theft rather than fair use.

Also because it's just patently untrue.

But that doesn't really answer your question. Why reblog machine-generated art? Because I liked that piece of art.

It was made by a machine that had looked at billions of images - some copyrighted, some not, some new, some old, some interesting, many boring - and guided by a human and I liked it. It was pretty. It communicated something to me. I looked at an image a machine made - an artificial picture, a total construct, something with no intrinsic meaning - and I felt a sense of quiet and loss and nostalgia. I looked at a collection of automatically arranged pixels and tasted salt and smelled the humidity in the air.

I liked it.

I don't think that all AI art is ugly. I don't think that AI art is all soulless (i actually think that 'having soul' is a bizarre descriptor for art and that lacking soul is an equally bizarre criticism). I don't think that AI art is bad for artists. I think the problem that people have with AI art is capitalism and I don't think that's a problem that can really be laid at the feet of people curating an aesthetic AI art blog on tumblr.

Machine learning isn't the fucking problem the problem is massive corporations have been trying hard not to pay artists for as long as massive corporations have existed (isn't that a b-plot in the shape of water? the neighbor who draws ads gets pushed out of his job by product photography? did you know that as recently as ten years ago NewEgg had in-house photographers who would take pictures of the products so users wouldn't have to rely on the manufacturer photos? I want you to guess what killed that job and I'll give you a hint: it wasn't AI)

Am I putting a human out of a job because I reblogged an AI-generated "photo" of curtains waving in the pale green waters of an imaginary beach? Who would have taken this photo of a place that doesn't exist? Who would have painted this hypersurrealistic image? What meaning would it have had if they had painted it or would it have just been for the aesthetic? Would someone have paid for it or would it be like so many of the things that artists on this site have spent dozens of hours on only to get no attention or value for their work?

My worst ratio of hours to notes is an 8-page hand-drawn detailed ink comic about getting assaulted at a concert and the complicated feelings that evoked that took me weeks of daily drawing after work with something like 54 notes after 8 years; should I be offended if something generated from a prompt has more notes than me? What does that actually get the blogger? Clout? I believe someone said that popularity on tumblr gets you one thing and that is yelled at.

What do you get out of this? Are you helping artists right now? You're helping me, and I'm an artist. I've wanted to unload this opinion for a while because I'm sick of the argument that all Real Artists think AI is bullshit. I'm a Real Artist. I've been paid for Real Art. I've been commissioned as an artist.

And I find a hell of a lot of AI art a lot more interesting than I find human-generated corporate art or Thomas Kincaid (but then, I repeat myself).

There are plenty of people who don't like AI art and don't want to interact with it. I am not one of those people. I thought the gay sex cats were funny and looked good and that shitposting is the ideal use of a machine image generation: to make uncopyrightable images to laugh at.

I think that tumblr has decided to take a principled stand against something that most people making the argument don't understand. I think tumblr's loathing for AI has, generally speaking, thrown weight behind a bunch of ideas that I think are going to be incredibly harmful *to artists specifically* in the long run.

Anyway. If you hate AI art and you don't want to interact with people who interact with it, block me.

[purpdrawsthings]

You'll Be Back Mr Puzzles MAP!

No this is actually real soahsodhsoshsi

Hihi everyone saw my last post hahahhhh I wasn't joking 💀

READ THE ENTIRETY OF THIS IF YOU WANT TO JOIN ‼️‼️‼️‼️

I don't want no nobody to not understand anything

Anyways, onto the details!

Wait, what's a MAP?

Ah.. I should explain that shouldn't I?

MAP stands for Multiple-Animator Project. It's basically a collaborative project made up of numerous animations by different creators!

You might have seen these before in the art fandom, if not, you're not a real artist /jk /nsrs /lh

Jokes aside, these projects tend to be fun for most creators and I'm hoping that this would bring some fun to the people joining :)

Is this begginer friendly?

Why yes it is! Regardless you're good at animation or not, you're welcome to join! Just... At least put some effort rather than being lazy?

Regardless, everyone is welcomed with open arms here! So don't be afraid ;)

What canvas size should I use?

1280x720 preferably! Just to make sure it doesn't take up too much of my data ;w;

But you can use any canvas size you'd want besides that! A box shape, or that weird YouTube short form... Nvm exclude that one but anyways, yeah any canvas size that you're comfortable with!

Is there a specific theme?

There's actually none! The map is supposed to just be a silly Mr puzzles map :3

This includes the setting and etc like- go crazy! Do a sad, fun, crazy, angry moment or something! Do what your imagination can make out of that song using Puzzles ^^

Is it okay if I can't remove my animating apps watermark?

It's completely fine if you can't remove it! Don't worry you're not the only broke one here ;)

Am I allowed to put my watermark?

Yes! You're incouraged to add in your watermark so people know it's your part!

Dw, if you don't have one them I'll just put your name while I'm editing the entire thing :)

Can I include my OCS or my Mr puzzles design?

Yes you can! You can also change your Puzzles aus whenever you'd like.

E.g my Showman Puzzles on part 1 and my Puzzles kinsona on part 2

It's just an example! If you're adding ocs, it's good! But the animation should primarily focused on Puzzles! He can interact with other characters but it's mostly just him. Oh and if you're wondering, it doesn't have to be SMG4 OCS :)

How many parts can I take?

Hey hey don't be greedy /hj

2 parts! I want everybody to take their chances and do some cool stuff :D

Where should I ask for parts or send submissions at?

In the discord server I made! The link will be at the end of the post. I know I just replied to some in this blog and they got their parts, I will NOT be accepting any ask parts OUTSIDE of the server.

The same goes with submissions/finished parts, please do send it in discord.

Why is this? This is because I want everything to be easier for me so I could manage stuff. I get frustrated very easily so yeah 😭

Is there a deadline?

Well uh- I'm not sure! But it's probably going to be planned on the June or July, somewhere in the middle of the year. Though I will be making sure nobody feels rushed for their sake

Have you ever host a MAP before?

Wait where tf did that one come from-

No I haven't unfortunately, this is my first one! I've always wanted to make a MAP because of how cool the idea itself is.

Now that that's done, here are the parts! As time progresses a and people enter, I'll fill them up :3

Intro : me

1. @e-v-e-l-l-e

2. @rainbowrocketraichu

3. Entity-lol

4. @lari-the-dragon

5. @rat-n-atty

6. @madhalo

7. @mrtophat518

8. @fenicearts420

9. @cosmicoreo9

10. Entity-lol

11. @niranutcake

12. @madhalo

13. Me

14. @alex-dolmatescu2-0

15. @libbytwq

16. @alex-dolmatescu2-0

17. @rr3d2y

18. Me

19. @niranutcake

20. Rainbowrocketraichu

21. @messydoodlesyt

22. @messydoodlesyt

23. @icedbeverageenjoyer

24. @mrtophat518

Outro : me

Last but not least.. Please do enter your submissions in the discord server below this sentence :D

You can post your part outside the server if you want but I'm only taking the ones submitted in the server itself :)

Andddd that's about all! You can ask questions here and in the server. Yeetus chat!

[hollowed-theory-hall]

what's the one harry potter pairing u like that u mentioned in the tags of your hinny post?

Anonymous: Can I ask who that minor character you ship with Harry is? For some absurd reason my mind jumped to Stan Shunpike lol but it's probably not him.... Or is it?

Okay, so this is kind of a funny story. Like, my pipeline through hp pairings was a weird one. Like, I used to read a lot of Harry pairings, still do on occasion (some make more sense than others). None of them were ones I would point at and say: "that should've happened in the books"

One day, I was innocently writing a fic (canon divergence of GoF), and it was just for me, for funnsies, never posted it anywhere and not planning to. And I planned to pair Harry with someone there (honestly, I don't remember who because I didn't write the plan down) but when writing, Harry ended up with a different character. And it was so strange to me because that never happened.

Like, how do you write a ship accidentally?

But I did. I wrote Harry into a ship by accident. So I went back to the books to try and figure out why the hell would my subconscious decide that's the way to go.

I'll also preface it by all this being my subjective opinion and I do read other Harry ships in fics, this one just quickly became my favorite to write (and the only one I write). Also, I don't actually think this is a pairing that should've happened in the books, it's place is in fic and that's where I like it.

So, the character I accidentally shipped with Harry is... *drumroll*

Stan Shunpike!

Not really, it's:

Theodore Nott

Now, you might look at the name and go: "Who the fuck is that?"

And you'll be correct. Theo has 0 speaking lines in the entire book series. His name appears twice. He, himself, as a person, only appeared on page, like, 3 times in the background. The scene that gives the most information about him is other characters talking about him. He isn't even present.

That being said, I'm very good at extrapolating a lot of information from very little evidence. So allow me, to walk you through who is Theodore Nott and why I ship him with Harry.

Basic Information

So, let's start with the most basic overview before I pull out the quotes and go any deeper.

We know Theo is a Slytherin student in Harry's year. So he likely shares a dorm with Draco, Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle.

Theo's father is both at the graveyard at the end of GoF and in the Department of Mysteries at the end of OotP, so we know he is a Death Eater. We also know Thoe's father was one of the first and closest Death Eaters to Voldemort, who waited for him during his interview with Dumbledore in 1967:

“Then if I were to go to the Hog’s Head tonight, I would not find a group of them — Nott, Rosier, Mulciber, Dolohov — awaiting your return? Devoted friends indeed...”

(HBP, page 444)

We also know the Nott family is "as pure-blooded as the Malfoys" according to JKR in an interview. We also know Theo's great-grandfather (maybe? the family relation isn't clear), Cantankerus Nott, is suspected to be the one who wrote the Pure-Blood Dictionary, the book that coined the term "Sacred 28" and made that list (which the Nott family are on).

The name Nott is potentially to be derived from the name Nótt, which is the personification of the night in Norse Mythology. So it has been theorized the Nott family have a Nordic origin. Possible, but it doesn't really matter for this post.

Edit: Correction regarding the surname "Nott". It is either a later anglicized form of the name Cnut (considered most likely), which originates from a old given danish name, known as the name of a pretty famous old Danish king who ruled a portion of England in the Early Middle Ages or it originates from the Old English word "Knot", and refers to someone who lived on a hill. The name "Cnut" (older spelling of the name"Nott") can be found in the Doomsday Book (survey of England's gentry from 1086) as owning lands before and after the Norman conquest (different family members and different lands in the before and after), suggesting the Nott family have either old Danish or Anglo-Saxon oigins and predate the Normans, making them one of the older wizarding families in the UK. But again, all this doesn't really matter for this post.

What does, is that he comes from a dark, Death Eater, blood-purist family similar to the Malfoys. Even so, Theo never took the Dark Mark and never joined Voldemort in the books.

Now, that we have the basic information out of the way, let's look at Theodore as a person.

All the details I could gather from the books

Alright, now we get to the fun part. That is, me going through all the relevant scenes that mention Theodore Nott and actually creating a character psychoanalysis out of basically nothing.

So, the quotes aren't organized in a particular order. I'm just going to explain Theo and then explain why all this makes me ship him with Harry.

“Well, I pity Slughorn’s taste. Maybe he’s going a bit senile. Shame, my father always said he was a good wizard in his day. My father used to be a bit of a favorite of his. Slughorn probably hasn’t heard I’m on the train, or —” “I wouldn’t bank on an invitation,” said Zabini. “He asked me about Nott’s father when I first arrived. They used to be old friends, apparently, but when he heard he’d been caught at the Ministry he didn’t look happy, and Nott didn’t get an invitation, did he? I don’t think Slughorn’s interested in Death Eaters.” Malfoy looked angry, but forced out a singularly humorless laugh.

(HBP, page 150)

This is a part of the conversation between Draco, Pansy, and Blaise, Harry overhears when he is hiding in their compartment at the beginning of HBP. I have a few things to note regarding this scene.

Firstly, throughout this conversation, Pansy, Blaise, and Draco all call each other by their first name. This shows closeness, they are all friendly and familiar enough to use their first names with each other. Theo, though, is referred to as "Nott" by all three in the compartment.

He doesn't actually sit in their compartment which is in itself a sign about how he isn't really friendly with Draco's group. Considering the group is most of his year from his house, Theo is likely very lonely, and it will be apparent from other scenes I bring up later.

Secondly, Theo's father is in Azkaban. We know Draco is bothered about his own father's predicament. He mentions it to Harry and bothers him over it, Theo doesn't though. Theo doesn't seem to be bothered by Harry or his father's incarceration.

The only conclusion I can draw from this is that the relationship between Theo and his father is not a good one.

(I know some fics like to have Lucius be abusive towards Draco, for some reason. But the books really don't back this up. Lucius loves Draco and Draco adores his father)

Theo, though, Theo seems to be the one with a very strained relationship with his father. Strained enough that he isn't bothered the man is in Azkaban. What I'm saying is that Theo's father likely abuses or mistreats him in some capacity.

If anything more was needed to complete Harry’s happiness, it was Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle’s reactions. He saw them with their heads together later that afternoon in the library, together with a weedy-looking boy Hermione whispered was called Theodore Nott. They looked around at Harry as he browsed the shelves for the book he needed on Partial Vanishment, and Goyle cracked his knuckles threateningly and Malfoy whispered something undoubtedly malevolent to Crabbe. Harry knew perfectly well why they were acting like this: He had named all of their fathers as Death Eaters

(OotP, page 583)

This is a scene at the end of OotP after Draco, Crabbe, Goyle and Theo's fathers were caught at the ministry and sent to Azkaban because they are Death Eaters. There are a few important notes about this scene.

The first, Hermione knows Theo, while Harry and Ron don't really. This means she likely knows him from the classes she takes and Harry and Ron don't — Arithmancy and/or Ancient Runes.

The second, he is sitting with other Death Eater children, but I don't think it's by choice. I mentioned in the previous quote how he isn't close to Draco and his crew. He sits with them here mostly because he doesn't have another choice. Theo doesn't seem to really have any friends, so he sits with the closest people he has to friends — kids he has known since he was young because their fathers were in the same circle.

The other note about this is that Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco are all mentioned as being threatening and malicious towards Harry because they don't like that their fathers are in Azkaban. Theo, though, Theo doesn't threaten Harry, he isn't part of their whisperings. As I mentioned above, he's likely happy his father is in Azkaban.

A pair of blank, white, shining eyes were growing larger through the gloom and a moment later the dragonish face, neck, and then skeletal body of a great, black, winged horse emerged from the darkness. It looked around at the class for a few seconds, swishing its long black tail, then bowed its head and began to tear flesh from the dead cow with its pointed fangs. A great wave of relief broke over Harry. Here at last was proof that he had not imagined these creatures, that they were real: Hagrid knew about them too. He looked eagerly at Ron, but Ron was still staring around into the trees and after a few seconds he whispered, “Why doesn’t Hagrid call again?” Most of the rest of the class were wearing expressions as confused and nervously expectant as Ron’s and were still gazing everywhere but at the horse standing feet from them. There were only two other people who seemed to be able to see them: a stringy Slytherin boy standing just behind Goyle was watching the horse eating with an expression of great distaste on his face, and Neville, whose eyes were following the swishing progress of the long black tail.

(OotP, page 445)

“The only people who can see thestrals,” she said, “are people who have seen death.”

(OotP, page 446)

The stringy Slytherin boy mentioned here is Theo. This scene proves that:

He takes Care of Magical Creatures

He saw someone die

Let's explore the second one for a moment. The fact Theo can see Thestrals means he watched someone die and was old enough to comprehend what he was seeing. We also know Theo's mother is dead. So it's likely the person he watched die was his mother.

I also want to draw attention to Theo's distaste towards Thestrals. He could likely see them carrying the carriages every year since 2nd year, it's not his first time seeing them. But it doesn't stop his displeasure with their sight from showing. Which says something about him. It means he likely recalls his mother and her death whenever he looks at the Thestrals. and these are memories Theo rather not experience.

We don't know how his mother died, but I'd hazard a guess it wasn't natural. After all, wizards have long life spans, they are more durable to illness and injury, and don't usually die from accidents unless very extreme or magical. And there was no epidemic of dragonpox (a disease that does tend to kill wizards) in the time since 1980 and the books. So, she was more likely killed at some point between 1985(ish) and 1991.

“No, I don’t think so, sir. I’m Muggle-born, you see.” Harry saw Malfoy lean close to Nott and whisper something; both of them sniggered, but Slughorn showed no dismay; on the contrary, he beamed and looked from Hermione to Harry, who was sitting next to her.

(HBP, pages 185-186)

First, Theo is an O student in potions since he is in the potions NEWT class, and was probably meant to be there even if Snape was the teacher.

Second, again, Theo doesn't really have friends. He sits next to Draco as the only other Slytherin in the class. Also, they share the circumstances of being sons of Death Eaters currently in Azkaban. Although both of them seem to deal with it quite differently.

Third, Theo joins Draco in making fun of Hermione's blood status, but he does not initiate it. Considering the environment he was raised in and is in, it makes sense he would make fun of it. Whether he's a blood-purist or not, he would want to keep his image considering he doesn't have many allies. Hanging out with Draco is survival, not friendship. They aren't even on a first-name basis with each other.

“Amortentia doesn’t really create love, of course. It is impossible to manufacture or imitate love. No, this will simply cause a powerful infatuation or obsession. It is probably the most dangerous and powerful potion in this room — oh yes,” he said, nodding gravely at Malfoy and Nott, both of whom were smirking skeptically. “When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love. . . .

(HBP, page 186)

The final quote I have about Theo is from the same potions class as above. Both he and Draco are portrayed here as underestimating amortentia and its potential damage. It makes sense for their upbringing in the Wizarding World, which has no real laws or regulations regarding love potions that are seen as harmless fun more often than not.

I'll add Theo likely didn't witness a healthy romantic relationship. Considering his father is a Death Eater who is likely abusive and may or may not have killed his mother. With this as his reference to a marriage, it's clear why he'd look down on love and love potions.

Why I think Theo and Harry have potential

Okay, so now that we know who Theodore Nott is, let's talk about why I ship him with Harry.

I think Harry, in general, would get along best with a clever partner with the ability to be ruthless (Slytherins or Ron fall into this category). Because Harry isn't some golden savior; he casts unforgivables, and is very willing to poison Umbridge or Crocio Snape if he could get away with it. He needs a partner that won't be horrified by these thoughts.

Also, Theo literally never speaks on page. Even when spoken to, his reactions are silent. I think this quiet and no need to talk, the ability to be comfortable in silence, is something that would be comfortable for Harry. Harry in the books finds himself annoyed with Ron and Hermione's constant banter on occasion, so I think it fits well.

Theo would also be comfortable around Harry without a need to play a certain part. Because Harry wouldn't care about that. He would honestly rather Theo forgo the pure-blood Slytherin act.

I feel like Harry and Theo, have a good potential to understand each other. Theo lost his mother and likely experiences abuse from his father. It makes them very likely to trauma bond over their crap life and shared experience. Two out of three only ones who could see the Thestrals in the entire class.

The other thing I feel they could connect over is being lonely. Harry spent all his childhood until Hogwarts basically being on his own. Theo stayed on his own. Draco at least has his parents, he has other students he's closer to, not that he shares everything with them, but he has some support network. Theo has none. And this is something Harry knows well.

Theo, I think, wouldn't expect anything specific from Harry. He doesn't even interact with him, not to mock him, and not to idolize him, he doesn't care at all. And we know how much Harry appreciates being thought of as Harry and not as the Boy-Who-Lived. Theo would allow Harry to be himself without some mold he wants him to fit in.

The fact Theo never becomes a Death Eater, even though he was in Draco's year and his father was a Death Eater before Lucius (and in better standing than Lucius with Voldemort) is so interesting. It's somewhat surprising Theo wasn't marked. It means he didn't want to be. It means that Theo Nott didn't want to torture and kill muggleborns or blood traitors, or anyone really. And he didn't want to swear his allegiance to Voldemort. This is just a fascinating fact to me and something I enjoy considering. What life experience made him come to that conclusion? Was it just his dislike of his father that pushed him away? Could he have been another Sirius Black (Gryffindor in a Slytherin family) under slightly different circumstances? I mean, Voldemort likely wouldn't force him to become a Death Eater, but would his father? I don't know what at all went down there, but I like that potential story.

We also know he wasn't part of Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad, even though some minor Slytherins were mentioned to be part of it. He just seems to be an actually decent guy (I don't care what Cursed Child says about him, I know he's there but I avoided almost anything to do with Cursed Child so I barely know the plot).

Finally, this is a character Harry doesn't have as much drama to get over with. Yes, sometimes I want to read overcoming drama between characters before it becomes a romance, but sometimes I want something chiller than that. And Theo is a really chill, safe, Slytherin option for Harry.

[jarinnards]

About Messmer and Rellana

Spoilers will be under the cut, so if you haven't seen anything regarding these characters and you don't want to get spoiled, please scroll/click away‼️‼️

So regarding this post from (basically) yesterday, I want to expand on this topic a little and compile some bits I've seen people use as proof that Rellana and Messmer were in love and why I think it was most likely unrequited love on Rellanas part. I want to actually visit each of these points separately.

I will provide a link to each item description as it relates to each point where available. If there is no link, then it is because the point is self evident, (her sword having his flame) or there was no link I could find (the room where her shield is found) (since edited). If you know any lore or extra bits that I've missed, please do let me know and provide a source.

So on to the points I have personally seen:

She abandoned everything to "chase after Messmer"

She was given a sword imbued with his flames

There is a room in the Shadow Keep that has blue fire (like seen in Caria Manor and other locations associated with the moon) where you find Rellanas shield EDIT: added images to the appropriate section

She came to be known as "Messmers Sword" and was extremely devoted to him, even though she knew "the moon brilliance of the moon could not grant him succor"

Okay, so, starting with the first point:

She abandoned everything to chase after Messmer

I genuinely believe that could range from anything between platonic and romantic. With Messmer specifically, we see many people who showed similar devotion to him by abandoning their homes and swearing their undying fealty to him. Without further context, there's really nothing I can see that can be used in either direction to make this any more concrete, so I'll just move on.

She was given a sword imbued with his flame

I think point 2 is undoubtedly the weakest, as the Fire Knights were given swords blessed with his flames as well. In fact, all of Messmers soldiers had weapons blessed with his flame, or used his incantations. We see this with even the most basic Messmer soldier in game, so this point in specific I find rather baseless.

A room modeled after Raya Lucaria

I assume the reasoning behind using this as proof that they are in love is that it would be assumed Messmer himself modeled this room after Rellanas home out of his affection for her or something similar, and while that could be true given Fromsofts love of environmental storytelling, I do think this is too shaky to use as actual concrete evidence. Keep in mind, it is in a storeroom in the keep, and if you look, on the many levels of each of the rooms, we see numerous books, tablets, and other items used for study or knowledge, and many of them are based in different cultures and factions in the setting of the world, so having an area that would contain information regarding Raya Lucaria and associated magic or glinstone sorcery as a whole doesn't feel far fetched to me. Conversely, Messmer is shown to be very benevolent and caring towards those in his charge, so it would also be reasonable to assume that he would allow for her to have that part of the storehouse be modeled in a way that invokes feelings of home for her. But I don't necessarily believe that has to be romantic. I have no specific points to make on the contents of the shield itself, but I will link her shields description for any who want to read it.

EDIT: it seems to be an armory specifically. There are no books, and there are only shields and lances. Sorry I couldn't get a photo with all of the furniture intact, the Fire Knight destroyed it all... That said, I'm not sure if this being an armory would change any context, really.

She came to be known "as Messmers Sword"

This, again, doesn't feel concrete to me, as far as proving anything happening between them. After all, not only were many of his soldiers incredibly devoted to him, but the Fire Knights in specific were the ones who knew him best, and each of them were the ones who answered directly to Messmer, as well as wielding weapons with his flame and his incantations in tandem. They were closest to him. And then there's Gaius, who was outright stated to be Messmers friend and the leader of his men. Lastly, I think being devoted to someone does not always imply romantic love, nor does the title of being their instrument of battle. Blade of Miquella is Malenias title, and I do not believe those two are romantically involved.

Some additional thoughts

I would honestly say that the most convincing piece of evidence to suggest that there were romantic feelings on Rellanas part comes from her sword, which reads: "here, and here alone, were moon and fire ever together." This, to me, is far better evidence that there were deeper feelings on her part than just devotion. However, it also clearly states how they were never together, which I feel is very much the most important part of all of this.

However, in general, while I do believe that all of the in-game lore suggests she may have had romantic feelings for him, I also think it could be as deep as pure devotion. We see it everywhere in this world, both in base game and the DLC. Malenia, Blaidd, Leda, Ansbach... Radahn and Leonard. (sorry) Devotion is seen in all corners of this setting. Messmer in particular seemed to inspire a great deal from many different places and in many people, so it's not entirely impossible that it would be the same for Rellana, though I do believe she has unrequited love for him.

Another thing to keep in mind is Messmers situation. He is cursed and was waging a cleansing war on untold numbers. He is slowly being eaten away at by a serpent that resides in his body, and that says nothing of the flame in him that he utterly despises. He also clearly has many issues where Marika is involved. All of this, coupled with the information that the Fire Knights were the only ones who truly knew and understood Messmer, it feels to me like romance would not only be something he was not concerned with, but also something he might not allow himself. I feel like he's far more worried about more important things.

In closing

At the end of the day, the nature of these games is that of vague droplets of information, even with the most important story beats. So unless there is something I've missed, I genuinely believe there is nothing in the game suggesting that they were in love with each other or that Messmer in any way returned her feelings, and in fact I think the game suggest the exact opposite: that Rellanas feelings were one sided. However, the only person who could say for certain is Miyazaki, and something tells me he wouldn't care to elaborate on this.

So until supplementary material is released that reveals new information or there is lore within the game that I have not seen or has not yet been found, I'd have to say I think it's relatively certain that they were not romantically involved, and that the feelings were very one sided, if any romantic feelings existed at all.

[lulu-bin]

NSFW Alphabet: Koby Edition

AFAB!Reader, I write Koby as trans.

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

It truly depends on where you had sex. If it's alone in your room, or some hotel. He'll be clingy, cuddly, and lovey dovey.

Holds your hand and peppers kisses on your face and thanks you for spending the night with him.

"Thank you for letting me love you."

Will get up and get you water, or draw you a bath if you want.

He's always ready to take care of you, even if he was the one that just got wrecked in bed.

Koby always gets flustered when you're the one taking care of him after sex. You'll have insist on pampering him, he'll eventually let you.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Koby loves every inch of you. He'll never settle on just one part, but you'll notice he pays extra attention to your tits and thighs.

He'd happily smother in both if you'd let him.

Koby has a lot of body image issues, and he didn't have a favorite part of his body. You came along and changed that though, and now he has an appreciation for his eyes and his hands.

Melts when you stare into his eyes and hold his hands as you ride him, and loves when you beg for his slender fingers to be up inside your pussy.

He also learns to really love his chest, his surgery is obvious due his jagged and poorly healed scars. But with how much love you've showed him, he doesn't feel sick when he looks in the mirror anymore.

Koby learns to tolerate his cunt too, realizing that it doesn't emasculate him and he's allowed to feel pleasure from it.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Koby loves when you cum in his mouth, he'll happily drink it down and go back for more.

"Mm- so good. Baby, I want more, please give me one more."

Likes to make you squirt, just something about him being able to make you lose control like that gets his heart rate up.

His own cum and wetness was foreign to him before meeting you. But now he loves to taste his own cum on your lips.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Has fingered himself wearing your panties. He is so embarrassed by it, and he'd never admit it.

Koby came so hard from it though, his whole body trembled when he gushed all over his fingers and soaked your panties.

He licked them clean before putting them back in the laundry hamper

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Koby was a complete virgin before he met you. Like extra virgin olive oil.

He never masturbated, or touched himself sexually at all.

It's not that he didn't want to, he just didn't know how, and his dysphoria really inhibited him from trying.

He's so eager to learn and please you though.

He does his own "studying" to surprise you in bed, it's not like he needs it however. He's super attentive and is a natural when it comes to finding your sweet spots.

"Is this okay? Does it feel good? Can I touch you here?"

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

He loves when you're on top, riding his strap, humping his thigh, rubbing your pussy on his. Koby looks up at you like hung the stars.

He does love putting you in a mating press and pounding your cervix, he gets lost in this fantasy that he'd actually be able to breed you.

"Oh fuck! Fuck, I wanna breed you so bad. Fill you with my jizz and watch you swell with my babies." he'd babble as he rails you with his strap.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

He's definitely more serious in the moment, but will giggle with you if you're more goofy.

Koby is definitely ticklish and has laughed when you ghosted your fingers over his ribs. It turned into a game of who could make the other laugh more, and sex was completely forgotten about.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

The carpet does match the drapes for sure.

He doesn't shave anything, doesn't see the point in it and also has this idea that "men don't groom"

As Koby continues with his testosterone shots, his hair gets thicker. He gets a faint happy trail on his navel, and stubble on his cheeks.

His body hair is so light that you can feel it more than see it, and even with the testosterone he doesn't produce that much more hair.

He likes being clean shaven on his face, and asked you to teach him how to shave.

It was an oddly romantic and intimate moment, covering his face with shaving cream and gently running the razor along his jaw. As always, he looked at you like you were the only thing that existed.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Koby's very romantic, and he loves the workup before sex.

A nice date, intimate foreplay, and loads of aftercare. When he's with you, his full attention is on you.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Never masturbated before you came along.

He'd much prefer to have you in his bed when he's feeling horny, but sometimes he can't get what he wants.

The first time he masturbated, he tried doing what you did to him. Moving his fingers like yours, rubbing his cocklet, fingering his pussy, even shoving a finger in his ass.

He was so frustrated that he couldn't cum by doing all of that. He had to learn how to make himself cum his own way.

Koby would ask you to teach him how to touch himself. You lay him out on his back, and instruct him on how to play with his pretty pussy.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

In no particular order.

Giving: soft dom, rope play, overstimulation, edging, nipple sucking, hickeys, scissoring, breeding

Receiving: femdom, spanking, face sitting, squirting, hickeys, bondage, overstimulation, edging, spit play, anal

He wants to be used by you, he is the ultimate people pleaser and will do whatever you want him to if it makes you happy.

Even when he's domming, he'll prioritize your pleasure.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

He prefers to have sex in your room, a hotel, or anywhere that's absolutely private.

Koby is so scared of being caught. But he can't deny the rush he feels when you fuck him somewhere that anyone can just walk into.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Just getting attention from you.

But seriously, he loves when you talk dirty to him it makes him fluster and blush.

Especially if you're wearing a shirt that shows off your cleavage. Koby can't take his eyes away and wants his hands on you immediately.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

He won't hurt you. Don't ask him to hit or slap you. Spanking you is on thin ice already. So blood play is definitely off the table.

He isn't a fan of period sex, giving or receiving. Especially receiving. He hates the fact that he bleeds and has a uterus so the idea of bringing that into a place where he feels the most masculine makes him sick to his stomach.

He'll finger you or dick you down on your period, but he won't go down on you. Please don't ask.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

That boys favorite flavor on the planet is pussy, especially yours.

Koby is inexperienced at first, and nervous. Learns quickly and gets very enthusiastic when he gets to shove his face in your cunt.

He's a little pervert and loves the smell of your pussy, jumps the gun a lot and starts licking at you over your panties before you can even get them off.

It took him a while before he was comfortable with you touching his pussy, let alone allow you to come eye level with it.

Once you make him cum on your tongue, he's addicted though. Will hold your head down and shove your face into him.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

It really depends. He loves soft and slow sex, rolling his hips into yours and just feeling your bodies rub together.

But sometimes he's a desperate little whore and humps you like a bitch in heat. Begging to cum as he drags his pussy over yours.

When he doms, he'll go at a hard but slow pace. Teasing you as he rams your cervix, then pulls out painfully slow, only to slam back in.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Once again, it depends on his mood.

He prefers to take his time with you, so he doesn't initiate them often and really only ever asks for them if he's pent up but short on time.

Koby doesn't mind them though, just so long as you cum, then he's happy.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Koby doesn't mind taking risks and experimenting. He's entirely new to sex so he really wants to find out what he likes and what he doesn't.

He is afraid of anything that could get you both caught, or seriously hurt either of you.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

At first, he's exhausted after one round. But as he trains with the marines his stamina increases and soon it's you that's begging to stop and nearly passing out in his arms.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Again, he was such a virgin before you. He knew about toys, but never owned any.

You introduce him to strap ons and of course he's addicted.

Koby also loves your vibrator. He'll often steal it out of your drawer just to get off, and might even get himself caught just so you can torture him with it.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He's such an unintentional tease.

The way he licks his lips, or looks up at you. When he stretches and some of his tummy peaks out from his shirt.

When he's intentionally teasing it's even worse. Lingering touches, suggestive words, and when you call him out on it he just looks so innocent and tells you that you're imagining things.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

He tries to muffle his moans, and hide at first. As you get him used to sex, then he starts getting so whiney and loud

When Koby's fucking into your cunt with his strap, he makes the hottest groaning sounds

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Would have a threesome with you and Helmeppo if the two of you are willing.

Just a wild fantasy of his.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

His body is slender, but he starts to gain lean muscle as he trains. He's got strong arms and powerful thighs.

His pussy is so perfect. The outer part is always so puffy, and the inner labia has a lot to play with. He's pale and perfectly flushed pink.

His clit starts out as a little nub, then he starts testosterone, and it grows quickly. Within a year his clit become a little cocklet, nearly 3 inches and he loves it.

It visibly twitches and throbs when he's horny, and his pussy gets so wet so easy. It practically drools without even being touched.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

He got used to repressing his sexual desires before meeting you.

After starting testosterone, he gets so horny over nothing. He'll gladly fuck you every night if you let him.

Koby can easily suppress his desires most of the time though, and just trains harder or jerks off quickly if he can't have you.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

In the beginning he'd be out like a light after a few minutes

Now that his stamina is better he can get up and go about his day, even after you give him an earth shattering orgasm.

Of course he'll stay up if you ask.

[obsessivestar]

please for the love of god I crave a Ted x reader fluff of him teaching u how to edit smth and it’s just him being patient and it’s just sweet and happy live u Star u a pos

Patience is Key-framing

A Ted Nivison x Reader fluff fic

Just a small lil' one shot because you asked so nicely ♡ (literally made me laugh when I woke up)

//Warnings: Mentions of/implied anxiety, cursing, other than that this is pure fluff \\

Enjoy!

You had decided to try out this whole "content creation" thing after Ted's best friend Tucker had been telling you about the GameCube video he had been working on. It seemed like a fun little side hobby to help keep the creative juices flowing and you had quite an easy time with the script writing and filming of it all. Now, you figured you'd have an easy time editing it. Ted was nice enough to allow you to use his computer to edit and you've made little edits on your phone before. How complicated can it be?

You open up the editing software Ted had recommended, start a new project and you're hit with...way too much. Way, waaaaay too much. Why is there more than one bar at the bottom? Why are there two screens? What the fuck does 'Farlight' mean? No clips in media pool? THAT'S where the clip goes? What the fuck is the other square for then? What the hell are these icons? Wait why is the player over there if the clips go here? This isn't like my phone at all, how the hell does Ted use this? 'Export Metadata???'

You're hit with so much at once, it's difficult to focus on one thing. You end up in this sort of stunned state where everything in front of you seems a whole lot bigger than it probably is. Suddenly your fingers are sort of shakingly hovering over the mouse and keyboard, confused little 'Ah's and 'What's cutting out of your nervous voice. There's nothing here that makes sense to you. Absolutely nothing. It's way more overwhelming than you thought it'd be. Maybe you should use what's familiar...

"Your hand's supposed to be on the mouse, babe." Ted comes into his room with two bottles, yours and his, topped off with some fresh water from downstairs. He comes and stands next to you, giving you a gentle smile.

"How the fuck do you use this?" you ask with a shaky chuckle, placing your hand on the mouse to begin curiously clicking around. You're trying not to look as freaked out about this software as you are, but jesus fuck, what does ANY of this mean? "I'm not makin' any sense of ANY of this.."

"I did tell you to wait.." Ted tilts his head at you with a knowing smirk, his brow perking up in a sort of 'I told you so' way.

"Okay--I didn't think you meant 'don't open the software', asshole. I.." You narrow your eyes at him, giving him a shaky huff. How were you supposed to know this software was going to look like...this?

"Okay okay, that's on me, it's alright.." Ted knows you don't mean to snap at him. You can see it in his eyes, he knows you're overwhelmed. He reaches up to lightly pet the top of your head in an attempt to calm you down. "I'll help you through it, alright? I'll talk y--not like that--but I'll talk you through it."

A soft smirk spreads along your lips, slightly leaning your head away from his hand. "Don't pet me, it's patronizing.." you comment in a sort of snarky tone, crinkling your nose at him.

"No it's not." Ted let's out a snort. "You're just still thinkin' about me talking you through it."

"Your words, not mine."

"Oh come on. You spend too much time on Tumblr."

"They've got some interesting shit to say about you!"

"I'm sure they do, now let's focus. M'kay? Phone down now. Tumblr thoughts go away."

"Stop talking to me like I'm 5."

"It's calmed you down, hasn't it?"

"....Alright--"

Getting rid of all other distractions, you fully focus on the screen in front of you, listening to Ted as he teaches you the basics of how this software works. He helps take your attention away from anything you won't be using and keeps you focused on what you already know from using your phone. You hate to say it, but the friendly little teaching tone he uses with you is...kinda helpful. You hate it, but it's helpful.

"So let's drop a video from a clip I made the other day. You're gonna go up to File, hover over Import...yep, and click Media."

"What's Pre-conformed EDL?" You cut in, tilting your head. "What's that supposed to--"

"Ah ah ah, doesn't matter. I don't even use it. Click Import. That's where we get the videos."

So that's what you do. You click Import, find the video clip and double click. It brings the clip into the box on the left, way up in the corner. Oh!

"Oh, so this is like...where you keep all the clips?" You ask, feeling like a light has clicked on in your head.

"Yeah, like if you had more than one." Ted replies with a gentle smile, giving you a nod. "Keeps everything organized.."

That actually makes sense.

"Now, if you want to edit a clip, you just draw it down here, where all these white dial lookin' things are..."

When you follow Ted's instructions, the clip that you had selected now shows up in the right box as well as showing the timeline at the bottom, just like how it would look in the editing app on your phone. It's starting to look exactly like you're used to! Even some of the buttons on the bottom are starting to look familiar. Cut, Edit, Color..

"Oh shit, wait, so...if I wanted to cut this..." You slide the timeliness over a few seconds ahead and right click, but you don't see an option to cut that part of the clip. You furrow your eyebrows and glance at Ted, quietly signaling him for help.

"What, are you trying to cut the clip? Like to turn it into two?" Ted asks, standing at bit closer to you to get a clearer look at the screen. "OK, so to do that, you click the scizzor icon over here, and then you'd right click what you want to delete.."

You follow his instructions once more, and it all happens just like he said it would. There's a little green line in the timeline showing exactly where you cut the clip, then you right click, delete the right clip, and boom. That easy. You let out an excited little gasp and wiggle your hands in joy. You're understanding now! You're getting it!

"There ya go! That's good!" Ted praises you with a single clap, shooting you a proud smile.

"Ok! Ok ok ok, I'm getting it.." you let out a thrilled little laugh, placing your hands back on the keyboard and mouse. "It's a few extra buttons, but I'm getting it.."

"Oh yeah, you get used to it, honestly." Ted admits with a little nod, fluffing up the front of his dark hair. "Eventually you can learn to use the keyboard's controls once you know how everything works; everything that you need, at least."

"Keyboard controls?" You turn to Ted, tilting your head a little.

"Like how you can use Alt F4 to close a page, or Control F to search for a word."

"Ohh! Oh that's cool!"

"I know! It is cool!"

Suddenly, something that was easily overwhelming you on your own has become fun with Ted's help. He guides you through every step of turning this one minute of gameplay into a proper clip. He teaches you how to separate game audio and microphone audio so you can hear his commentary clearer, he teaches you how you zoom in and out smoothly, how to add text and how to key frame in other photos and shots to emphasize a moment in the gameplay. Once he got you to focus on re-learning what you knew from your phone editing apps, you were able to ignore everything else in this software that confused you before and focus on what you've learned! You eventually get good enough to go ahead of Ted's instructions, clicking down on the timeline to cut a few seconds of silence from the game audio with relative ease.

"There ya go! And the clip is done!" Ted takes a step back and holds his arms out triumphantly, giving you a proud grin. "That's it! Now you just do that with all the clips you've got from your video! You did good!"

"That's crazy.." You smile back at Ted before looking at the monitor again, looking over the editing software that had overwhelmed you so much before. You still had a lot to learn, but you knew enough to be able to do most of the editing on your own without having to ask any new questions. You kinda hate to admit it, but Ted is a good teacher. He did goto film school, after all.

"Thank you." You turn your chair to face Ted, giving him a cute little bashful smile. You can tell he's proud of you. You're proud of yourself, too.

"Not a problem at all, babe.." Ted slips his hands into his loose pockets, giving a little shrug and a warm smile. "It was overwhelmin' for me too, everything new takes a little time to learn. I'm glad you were okay with me helping you. Makes me happy too."

God, he's just so...

You can't help yourself. You move up off of his chair so you can wrap your arms around him in a big hug, almost trapping his hands in his pockets with your tight grip. He let's out a gentle little chuckle, slipping his hands out of his pockets so he can return the hug, his long arms able to wrap around my whole body. He smells nice...

"...Ted?"

"Mhmm?..."

"...Can you pet my head again?.."

"Yes I can.."

[ezisregrettinglifedecisions]

I saw a post by @bellenotthebeast about the hate drivers are getting at the moment and this is a written version of what I put in the tags of my reblog because I didn't realise I was going to go on a rant when I tapped on the reblog button.

734 words just in case you were wondering.

All of the hate that drivers get for making mistakes is getting absolutely out of hand. It's frankly ridiculous how many people will jump at the chance to nitpick and be rude about another driver and whatever mistake they made minor or not. (This is specifically in relation to comments taken severly out of a very important bit of context and actual driving moments, if there is something serious then yes I think they should be held accountable for their actions, just because they're rich and in a very elite sport should not make them immune from accountability even though it does appear to sometimes.)

The stuff with Lando is actually sickening with how far its gotten. None of them should have to see that. In fact, no one, f1 driver or not, should ever see or hear such horrible things that people are saying to or about them. The death threats???? Hello??? What the actual fuck were people thinking. The drivers are people too the fans of those drivers are people. Get a grip and don't fucking send death threats???? Is that really that hard to have basic human respect for other people???

I see hate so much. Be it in the comments of an edit on tiktok or on a fan page on Instagram. Even the drivers own comment section and the official F1 account. People. What the fuck. Be supportive of people, for goodness sake. Don't be dicks??? Is it so difficult to be nice to people? I can tell that, unfortunately, I'm going to be using that phrase a lot.

I want to see the positives in this sport too. I think with all of the hate, all the good things have been buried under the swathes of hate and pain ignorance in some cases. I want to read or watch a video on how driver A did something so well, even if it's small and insignificant in the overall. I really want to hear about the amazing defending, even if they did get overtaken eventually. I want to hear about them being so fucking happy with their Quali position. I want to hear them screaming down the radio when they get in the points. I want to hear the feedback on the drive, where things may have gone wrong, and even where people think things could have improved. I want to hear about the track and the conditions and how well everyone did and how the people and the fans and their teams are so proud of their achievements during the weekend.

The thing I do not want to see is - ew i hate driver B. EEK no driver C ruined everything. Driver D should crash into the barriers. DO YOU NOT REMEMBER WHEN THERE WERE COMMENTS HOPING DRIVERS WOULD DIE IN A CRASH. What the fuck is wrong with the people saying that???? That is NOT okay. EVER. Have you not seen how outraged Max Fewtrell was when someone said that they hoped Max V crashed and got hurt in his twitch chat room. He was furious. Saying how that wasn't okay and how fucked up it was to say something like that. Listen to Max for fucks sake please.

WE👏 DONT 👏KNOW 👏THEM👏.

They're public figures, and we only know the public side of them, not the side they reserve for behind closed doors. And for the fifth hundred time, we aren't entitled to know anything about them behind closed doors either. We dont have any ground to stand on to demand anything like that. Because who the fuck do you think you are to demand something like that. Seriously, some people need to understand that this ISN'T okay and the way these people are acting will NEVER be okay.

So just enjoy the sport.

Enjoy the drivers.

Enjoy watching their skills on the track.

Enjoy their interviews and their relationships together on and off the track.

Enjoy the side of them that we are allowed to see.

And stop hating unnecessarily.

Please, for the sake of the sport.

For the sake of the newer fans.

And for the sake of the drivers and their physical and mental health. You really need to think before you post. Think about the impacts it could have if something happens. Know that if your words are seen, that could be detrimental and how YOU played a part in something so horrible.

Thank you,

Ez

[jealousmartini]

Oh, nothing much, just a list of reasons why I am so excited to permashift to my ultimate 4d reality //better current reality//

∘₊ ✧───────────────────✧₊∘

— EXPERIENCING DESIRED SCENARIOS

I am a hardcore daydreamer just like my brother and sister shifters(you guys🫵🏾), and I can't wait to really live the silly imagines I always have in my head. Even if it's something relatively small, I will still get to live every second of them.

Idk if some of you guys will remember that one post where I mentioned Googlebox? But I'm mentioning it again🙄 because I scripted me, my love of my life, his sister who is my bff, my own girl bff and her boyfriend are part of the program teehee. I swear no one will ever understand how much of a comfort show Googlebox is to me and in general.

The idea of being on TV whilst watching TV and relaxing with my favourite people and eating my favourite food just makes me melt. It's such a core memory to me and idk I just love showing off how perfect my family is to everyone else

— FOOD

I can't wait for all the delicious food I'll get to eat. There will never be a single time where I have to eat something I don't like or don't want to ever again, because why should I have to? I'm mostly excited to have stuff like popeyes, McDonald's, seafood boils, those Korean and Japanese foods you see on mukbangs, loads of fruit bowls (I really do love fruit), basically everything meat/barbecue, pasta including ramen, and sweets too cus🧍🏿‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️

— NO UGLY CLOTHES ALLOWED

Never will there be a day or night where I will ever need to wear clothes that don't suit me or clothes I don't like. My closet is going to be full of the cutest and gorgeous late 90s and early 2000s skirts, shirts, bellbottoms, flares, jackets, oversized ts, shorts, belts, slippers, jewelry, panties and bras etc etc

— ALREADY COMPLETED WORK

In my better cr, I scripted that I am already miles ahead of everyone in college work (and best believe all my work is at distinction level) so I have all the time in the world to do what I want until the next brief; I also scripted the date of month that I will wake up in my better cr in is the 17th April last week so I will have only 3 days of college next week (because i go in on mondays, tuesdays, wendsays and Thursdays) and 4 weeks of freedom to myself. (I also scripted my teachers let me do my own art work in my free time in class, cus sometimes all a girl wants to do is draw their ocs🥺)

Edit :: 17th of may now!!

— CURRENTLY IN MY MOVING ERA

In better cr, I am kind of in the planning process of moving out of my house to my apartment penthouse with my friend group. I'm thinking of moving out at 18 or 19 years old since I'm 17 rn and I still want to explore my better cr house cus it's wayyyy better than this one. But even once I've moved out I'll probably keep visiting my old home where my mum and her husband lives because.

∘₊ ✧───────────────────✧₊∘

Overall, I am so excited to experience everything I have ever dreamed of. I know I deserve my freedom and peace, excitement, and joy. Being able to just do what I want when I want and always knowing that no matter what, everything is going to be okay.

Life is so amazing, and it's so worth living. I know I will manifest my desired reality in no time, and I know all of the stress, time, anxiety, and patience won't be for nothing. Life is mine to explore, and I can't wait to do so

@4ellieluv @livingmydreamlife5555 @theshifterbear @cocozydiaries

[ninyard]

nin reads the bonus chapters pt. 2 (TRK Edition)

Betsy's chapter (oh god this is basically going to be me quoting the whole thing)

Andrew pointed at him and turned a scandalized look on Betsy. "Working theory: Coach is allergic to sugar!" "How ghastly," Betsy said.

them! him looking at her like that. the banter between them. i love him i love her their dynamic is just my favourite thing ever pls

She half-expected him to sit as far from her as he could, but he took the chair at her side and spun his mug in lazy circles on the table.

sobbing. this is so soft

Andrew laughed and gave an exaggerated shrug, only to wince and reach for his bandaged temple. "Ouch," he complained cheerily, a second before digging his fingers hard into the gauze and tape. Betsy tapped the table in front of him in warning. He sighed like her request for restraint was unbearable but held onto the chair between his knees instead.

1) ouch. i feel ill 2) CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE TAPPING TO STOP HIM HURTING HIMSELF!!!!! CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW WE NEVER REALLY SEE ANDREW AS SOMEONE WHO HURTS HIMSELF BUT IN THIS CHAPTER WE DO?? IS IT BECAUSE HE CAN LET HIS GUARD DOWN IN FRONT OF HER?? IS IT SOMETHING SHE HAS TO STOP OFTEN??? PUKING 3) him holding onto the chair is so cute

Betsy kept her tone gentle like it would somehow make her next question less terrible: "Did you let them run a kit, Andrew?" "No choice, Bee." Andrew said, with a put-upon sigh.

PUKE

Betsy was less interested in his aggrieved front than she was in what his hands were doing: Andrew was dragging a thumb up and down his left forearm is short, agitated jerks. The force behind it would have torn skin if his sleeves weren't there to take the brunt of it. Betsy tapped the table again, and Andrew obediently reached for his mug with both hands.

PUKE_2

"You might not have noticed, but he and I look a lot alike! They'll look at him and see me, and we both know how little they think of me. Have to stack the deck in his favor somehow."

this hurts so badly. him doing the kit for aaron. him feeling like aaron's odds at getting out of this are fucked up because of him. him feeling like he has to do everything he can to fix this for aaron. PUKE_3

"I know how invasive a procedure it can be, especially on the heels of such violence." And there it was at last: A subtle chink in the armor his withdrawal was tearing away from him. In a year and a half of treating Andrew, she'd never seen him so still. [...] If she was kinder, she would leave it at that, but Andrew would react worse to being coddled than he would to what she needed to say.

PUKE_4 also,,, am i allowed to say how im obsessed with how accurate i've managed to get my fic about andrew and bee. like that last line hellooooo

"I don't imagine you allowed it last time." [...] How Andrew reacted - how much he would admit to, how much he would trust her in the wake of such trauma - was too important. "Oh, Bee," Andrew said, with a laugh she didn't at all believe. "You assume they were stupid enough to get caught."

why did she write this. was it specifically to hurt me because she won. it worked. also the fact that andrew feels comfortable enough around david to have this conversation with him in the room makes me feel insane

"Are you and Neil not getting along?" Betsy asked. David sent her a look of pained incredulity

he's like girl please don't tell me you ALSO haven't noticed. he literally can't believe he's the only one that's picked up on it. he's like youre his THERAPIST what do u mean are they not getting along

okay this next part i literally have so many thoughts i meant it when i said i was basically going to put this whole chapter here

"We have spent too much time together if you are so reckless," Andrew said, figeting with the bandages on his face again. "Lot of eyes, Bee, so many eyes. I do not think they will care about insomnia when they finally have the chance to nail us to the wall. Better safe than sorry, yes? They cannot keep him. I will not let them."

god once again the way he want to do everything he can to get aaron out of this whole situation. and just... him knowing how many people are going to be looking at him and reading him and everything just. hguhsudfusdfkgsd

Betsy put a finger to the tape at his cheekbone in silent questioning but waited until Andrew dropped his hand before trying to peel the gauze up. She sucked in a slow breath through gritted teeth at the stitches and bruises along his temple.

so gentle. so much trust and care and i feel SICK

"I didn't even get to keep it," Andrew complained. "How stingy. I've never tried brandy."

not him saying this about the bottle Drake hit him with. ANDREW

"You have done astoundigly well despite life's every attempt to crush you. I'm sorry," She said, trying and failing to catch his eye. "and I'm so, so proud of you."

sobbing

finally the words crawled out of him: "Everyone knows now, Bee." And that, she thought, was the harsh truth he would medicate to avoid processing. Not his uncle's betrayal or Drake's violence, but having his violation broadcast against his will to a family he wouldn't let go of and wouldn't let in. [...] Betsy would have gone to him if she wasn't so sure he would retreat.

SOBBING

"Who fears the monster that knows the taste of a whip?" Andrew asked.

literally puking. how beautiful and heartbreaking and such a horrible heartbreaking look into the way andrew views himself. this HUUURTS

"You could be their friend, their cousin, their brother. Don't you think you deserve that?" "Oh, Bee," Andrew said, a little too tired to be pitying. "With him on our heels?"

okay y'all gotta help me. is this about. drake? or like... who's him referring to

"Maybe letting her choose isn't the best idea." David said. Betsy put a hand over her heart. "David, you wound me." "Bee likes musicals," Andrew announced brightly, though David had found that out the hard way.

BETSY DAVID FRIENDSHIP I NEED ITTTTT

David waited until his back was turned before nodding an okay to Betsy. Trusting he would keep a discreet eye on her most precious charge, Betsy collected her keys and purse and left the house.

HER MOST PRECIOUS CHARGE

anyways! this chapter destroyed me and put me back together again! and i feel ILL after reading it! :D

[lemotmo]

Okay, allow me to be a little bit dramatic because I have no one to really vent to and you seem like a very nice person to ask. Assuming that Bobby really is dead……… How do we move on from this? I know it’s still fresh but I can’t imagine going back and watching the previous seasons with such a carefree feeling like I did until recently. It was my silly comfort show and with Bobby gone everything feels so tainted. I could be watching Jinxed and I know my dramatic self will only be thinking about how Bobby will be dead in 4 years. I can’t even bring myself to watch Buddie edits or any kind of edits because I’m so freaking sad. I assume it’s gonna get better at some point but I’m just so mad at Tim and him coming up with every possible scenario to just upset the fans. Even if Bobby is fake dead, I don’t even trust him right now to do Buddie right. Like, he really just ruined everything.

Thanks for believing so much in “Bobby is alive” theory because it’s the only thing that helps me get through these 2 weeks, even though I know we all could have our hearts broken even more after 8x16 it’s nice to still be able to have hope. 💘

I can't tell you how to process this Nonny. It'll be different for everyone I'm sure.

But I think it's important to keep in mind that, even if Bobby is gone, he will always be a part of the 118. He is everywhere in each and every story they have told on this show. He has grown so much over the seasons, from a depressed alcoholic whose guilt crushed him into oblivion to a loving husband, father and friend. Not to mention a great Captain.

It would be a disservice to his character and all he stood for to not appreciate all he brought to the table in all the other episodes before he died.

And also, he was a character that had such a big heart. He would have been elated to know that Buck and Eddie would eventually find happiness with each other. So don't let his death keep you from enjoying Buddie or from enjoying the future episodes. He would still be there in spirit, woven into the fabric of the 118.

Don't worry about Buddie. That train has completely been set in motion in the beginning of 8b. There is no way back now. However they choose to make Buddie happen, there will always be people that will be disatisfied with how it happened. That is the nature of fandom.

I have no expectations for how Buddie will get together. I have hopes and dreams, but I'll basically be okay with anything this show will throw at me. Because they will finally be able to be completely happy in a relationship, knowing that the other one knows them better than anyone else. It'll be perfection.

But Nonny, don't forget...

Bobby is still alive!!! Trust! 😌😌😌

[cowboylikeyouu]

why does everybody hate mcu clint so much??? i’ve read his comics but i still love jeremy renner’s portrayal of him and stuff :(

like i can understand being disappointed in some ways about how the character was changed for the movies, but i can’t understood all the hate for him

for me, personally, it's not that mcu clint is a bad character per se, it's really just the fact that he doesn't feel like clint barton. give him any other name and he's a fine character, but compare him to comic clint and they're in NO WAY the same person.

on one hand you have that responsible, serious husband and well adjusted father of three, who cracks a joke here and there but takes everything pretty serious most of the time, who has his life under control, while everyone else on the team is a mess. he doesn't have that much of a personality, no weird habits or (dis)likes, he really fades in comparison to other team members like tony, who's lines are always on point and who gets a back story and everything.

on the other hand there's this 6'3" disaster of a human being, who lives for coffee, dogs, tv shows and nothing else, is obsessed with purple for no reason at all, grew up in a circus after he escaped his abusive dad, can't take anything seriously and cracks the funniest joke all the fucking time, even makes fun of captain america on a regular basis (at least in the early avengers comics), runs away from himself and responsibility, fucks up nearly all of his relationships because he really sucks at emotions, but then forms those really precious bonds with people like kate, and who's just kind of an asshole really, but simultaneously a fucking ray of sunshine. plus he's deaf and we always love some representation. oh, and mcu clint is like the straightest guy ever, and then there's comic clint who is just so easy to headcanon as this bisexual disaster, and we all know how much fandom loves a queer coded character.

so, the mcu basically took away every fun part of the awesome character that is clint barton and it SUCKS. i really don't hate movie clint as his own character, i just hate hate HATE the fact that he's supposed to be THE clint barton because he IS NOT, and he'll never be. i'm sorry, but jeremy renner just can't pull it off, i'll never understand how they saw bigger-than-steve, blond-mess, purple-loving, coffee-addict comic clint and where like: "oh yeah, let's cast 5' 9" jeremy renner and give his character a huge, healthy family, and no mental health problems, that's just perfect😍"

it's just so sad to be aware of the awesomeness of comic clint and then watch the movies because you're constantly thinking "oh what could've been..." if they did comic accurate movie clint, he'd definitely be a fan-favourite and we'd have tons of edits, and ships, and merchandise, but NO, most mcu fans just forget about him or don't find him special or entertaining (bc his mcu version really really isn't) and he gets left out of all the casual merchandise you can find in random shops (i literally have an album on my phone that's dedicated to photos i took of cheap avengers merchandise with the "o6" avengers sans clint lmao)

you're obviously allowed to love movie clint and jeremy's portrayal, that's great!!! i was an mcu fan way before i even knew just how different comic clint was, and i loved mcu clint so much back then! but after reading the comics and thousands of fanfiction, i'm just really really angry that there isn't a good live action on screen representation of my all time favourite fictional character, and i think many people feel the same :(

okay, i think i'm done lmao.

anyways, shout out to avengers assemble clint, my one true love <3 the mcu should take notes.

[bazpire]

When you give a mouse a cookie

(or when you give a mutt your hole)

Cw: filthy smut w/ little to no plot, dom/sub dynamic, bottom Baaabe, top Asher, gender neutral Baaabe, puppy play (-ish), slight degradation, praise, breeding, edging.

(Edited in cause I forgot lmao sorry) Taglist: Both: @indigo-greer-collins @ch3zzz @kxemii @darlin-collins @plutocries @ambrose-mp4 @elles-roses

"Do you promise to be good?" Baaabe asked harshly, tugging their mate's leash.

Asher whined and pawed at their thigh. "Yes, yes, yes! I promise, I swear, please..."

"Hm," they tilted their head. "Really? Cause last time you were a dick."

"I promise, babe, please!" He borderline shouted. His cruel, beautiful partner had been teasing him all week with letting him top, alongside edging him and leaving him to take care of himself, never allowing him to even cum on their hand. He felt like his brain was on fire, and he'd probably cry if they didn't let him fuck them, or at least make him cum with their body.

They giggled while looking down at him. "Alright, alright, no need to get all fuzzy." They laid down on the bed, guiding him with the leash to get on top of them. "You wanna please your mate, don't you? You wanna make me feel good?"

Asher was salivating at the thought. "Yes, yes, I do. Please, babe."

"Mhm? You gonna fill me up and make me cum?" They asked lasciviously, looking up at him through their eyelashes. Even when below him, they were in full control, toying with his leash and moving him around exactly like they wanted him to.

"Yes, I will, babe, please, let me..." he pressed himself against their entrance.

"Go right on ahead, puppy. You've earned it." He pushed inside of them as soon as he was allowed to, gaining a low groan out of them, himself whining in relief.

"Fuck, yes, finally. Fuck, you feel so good, feel so good, babe, God!" He started moving, hugging around their shoulders and trying to get deeper.

"Oh fuck, Ash, gentle, gentle, gentle, fuck!" They tugged on his leash, pulling him away. He cried out. "What the royal fuck did I just said? Do you want me to put you in a cage the next week? Jesus..."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, babe, did I hurt you?" He rushed over to them, alarmed and worried.

"I'm fine, just... God damn it, Ash, what did I just say? Fucking gentle."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, I got carried away."

They sighed, laying back down and guiding him back on top of them. "Do you... do you still want to?" He asked them, still fussing over them.

"Of course I do, that's why I'm putting you back in, but this time I'm guiding. Plus, God knows what bullshit you pull if I make you wait another week." They didn't let him answer, as their fingers were immediately on his dick, guiding him into them.

Once fully inside, he started grinding, waiting for them to say that it was okay to move.

"Ah, Ash, fuck, you're so deep, go slow."

And so he did.

For about five seconds.

"Ah, ah, baaabe, can I go faster? Please? Please?" He licked and sucked all over their neck and chest, coating them with his drool and making them sigh in pleasure. "Please, please, pleaaaase let me speed up, I wanna make you feel good, wanna fuck you so so good."

"Fuck, fuck, Ash, you can go a little bit faster."

And that was them basically signing up for their demise, because as soon as he was allowed, he was drilling into them.

"Fuck, yes! Feels so good, you feel so good, babe, wanna fuck you so good, wanna breed, breed, I wanna breed you so badly"

"Ah, ah, ah, Asher- Ash! Oh my fucking god, it's so much, so good, fuck!"

He grabbed them by the back of their knees, pushing their legs up into their chest and thrusting even deeper, the quick pace never faltering. The pleasure was too much, their mind was in a haze where all they could see, all they could smell, all they could feel was their lover hitting every sensitive spot inside them. It was so much. They dropped the leash and grabbed onto him, wrapping their arms around him and clawing at his back.

"Ah- ah, Ash, please, slow down, I'm getting close."

"I can't, I can't, I can't, babe, I need to breed you, I need you to cum all over my dick, I need your scent all over me, please, please, please, I'll do anything, I'll make you cum as many times as you want, just let me fill you up, baby." He panted against their ear, licking and biting their sensitive earlobe, making them tighten around him.

Baaabe arched their back off of the bed, clawing at the bedsheets and shouting as they raptured. "Ash, Ash, yes, I'm cumming, cumming all over you." They grabbed his shoulders, pulling him in as close as possible with their legs on the way. "Cum, cum, cum in me, breed me, fucking claim your mate."

And without letting them wait for too long, Asher spilt inside them, coating their insides white and whining out in pleasure.

They stayed like that, panting and basking in their afterglow, enjoying each other's closeness.

That is, until Baaabe came back to their senses.

"Ash, you fucking asshole, I'm never letting you top again."

[onbearfeet]

Kat watches Moon Knight

Okay, so with the encouragement of several people on here and the emotional support of my roommate, I have finally (in February 2024) started watching Moon Knight, a show whose basic concept scares the shit out of me.

Context: I had an adopted older brother with DID. Note that I said "had". That's past tense because life treated him so appallingly poorly that he died (horribly, in prison) when I was 19. Part of that abuse was enabled by pop-culture depictions of DID in the 1980s and 90s that convinced everyone who knew about his condition (including the court system) that he was a walking time bomb.

One of my earliest memories is of my brother as a young adult, playing Super Mario Bros with my toddler self. Another is of him patiently teaching me how to make friends with a large dog. I never met any of his alters, afaik; I was small and cute and safe for him to be himself with, so he probably didn't need them around me. He was a profoundly gentle man when he was allowed, and it hurt like hell to see him turned into a monster in movies and on TV. I've turned off a lot of "psychological thrillers" in sorrow and disgust.

Ironically, I loved Moon Knight comics as a kid in the 90s, BEFORE he was retconned to have DID circa the mid-2000s. Because those comics came out right after my brother died in 2002 and leaned HARD into making people with DID seem like violently unstable monsters (for reference, see the cover of Moon Knight: God and Country), I stopped reading them around 2008, when I couldn't take being poked in the trauma by a comfort character anymore.

But I do love Werewolf By Night, and there's been a lot of good fic mashing Jack up with Moon Knight without dehumanizing anyone, and several people have encouraged me to try the show. So this post will be a place for my thoughts as I try to work my way through with my Essential Editions in one hand and my memories of my brother in the other. I'll add to it as I watch.

If this entertains the Moon Knight fandom or provides useful fic reference, so be it. Just don't be jerks on my post.

Also, anyone who chooses to be shitty about my brother will be eaten by bears. I don't make the rules.

Episode 1

Okay, we open with Steven as our POV character, and he's...convinced he's a sleepwalker. All right, not terrible. Steven is now a bumbling nerd, which is probably an improvement; good luck making a billionaire playboy sympathetic in the 2020s. Jake would be the logical everyman POV from the comics, but I understand from fic that he's got a different role now. I'm confused about the accent, but it's only episode 1, and Steven clearly doesn't yet know who Khonshu is, or that Marc exists, so obviously there's a ways to go here. (Is Marc ... undercover inside Steven? Ugh, this is a trope I have seen and do not like.)

Did Marc kill Steven's fish? Did Khonshu kill Steven's fish? I'm baffled by the fish. Which is a nice break from the larger anxiety. I'm gonna try to worry more about the fish.

The bits with Steven losing time and finding himself in odd situations were distressingly close to the old tropes, but both of those happened to my brother, so I'm not going to bitch about them quite yet. I want to be as fair as I can.

Oh, hey, I recognize Harrow from the comics. What up, dude. How's the cult biz treating you?

The end of the episode, with the jackal thing chasing Steven into the bathroom, came RIGHT up to the line for me. I realized that what I was most afraid of was that the story would assign "good" and "bad" labels to the alters--make Steven the sweet, innocent one and Marc (or maybe Jake, I guess) the monstrous killer. The early flashes of Steven covered in blood didn't really help allay that anxiety. And now Marc is demanding that Steven let him have control in a pretty threatening manner. But so far, it seems like the contrast between Marc and Steven is one of competence--Marc is better at fighting and Steven is better at ... panicking? Unclear. At least Oscar Isaac is playing the protagonist, so his character(s) might remain sympathetic. Nobody has been monsterized quite yet.

I finished the episode with every muscle in my body locked up, waiting for the emotional punch in the face. But I did finish it, and I think I'm gonna try episode two.

[sweetmage]

I was asked by @x-littlemoth how I do my VGP and I explained the basics here! This is a continuation of that tutorial with my own personal methods! For this tutorial you'll need this mod (in addition to the ones mentioned in the last post):

CharLi This is an excellent lighting mod that allows you to spawn individual lights and adjust their color, brightness, rotation, etc.

And here are some other mods I recommend, though they aren't necessary!:

Additional Portrait Presets I can explain more about why adjusting FOV or rotating the camera 90 degrees is useful below, but these presets save you the effort of tweaking yourself! Photomode Expression Megapack No tutorial needed, this just adds extra facial expressions you can select in photomode! Works exactly the same as the vanilla one and doesn't replace anything.

Appearance Creator Mod (ACM) I won't cover this one here because there is already a wonderful tutorial by PinkyDude who explained it way better than I ever could which you can check out right here! Briefly, this allows you to swap/toggle clothes, accessories, etc. on NPCs.

If you'd like any additional suggestions for pose mods, clothing mods, etc. or wants to know any mods I'm using I am very WCIF (where can I find) friendly so anyone can free to ask me any time! Additionally, if anyone would like a tutorial on my editing process, I pretty much just use my phone and a free app (and sometimes a paid app but that's not necessary) feel free to ask, I'd be happy to share :)

Let's get into the tutorial under the cut! ^^

Okay, let's continue editing our photo of Viktor and V using CharLi! So, open your CET menu and look for the CharLi menu and open it up. First thing I tend to do is go over to the settings tab (the gear) and shut off chromatic aberration and volumetric fog. This is all up to personal taste though, so do what looks best to you! Now, return to the main tab (click the light bulb) and let's spawn a light! Personally I always prefer to start with 1x as the others tend to be way too bright for most scenes. Play around with choosing whichever type of light you like.

In the end, I went with the type called Favelas as my main light source. Go ahead and play around a bit with the rotation, intensity, and other sliders.

Here's what I ended up settling on! I try to make sure that the character's aren't washed out or too dark and I try to make my first light light the characters fairly evenly. Now, for depth and flavor, let's add a second light! This time I chose spotlight and I adjusted the colors until I achieved a relatively blue color.

One last thing, for each of your lights go ahead and toggle these two badboys off. That will hide both the physical light object and the pink tracker so they don't clutter up your photo.

Adjusting the angles a bit more to my own tastes, here's what I'm left with without any external editing!

Now, let's try and outdoor photo! Following the steps in the last tutorial, I am going to teleport to my location of choice (I am using a teleportation preset found in PinkyDude's Roadtrip Through The Badlands AMM location addon). While here, I switch my Nibbles replacer to Fem because I'm gonna take some pics with Panam! Now that I'm here, I notice that the lighting out here could be better! I tend to adjust my weather and lighting outside of photomode because it doesn't always shift correctly in it. To make sure everyone is lit correctly, I tend to pick the character with the darkest skin or clothing that will be in my scene and spawn them from the spawn tab. I'll choose Panam, of course!

Note: Going to the tools section and selecting freeze target can help keep your spawned companion from walking away but I forgot to do that here lol For weather conditions, I like to choose light clouds. This makes the sky look nice and it also softs harsh shadows. This is up to personal taste and the mood of your scene though! Additionally, if you want more weather states and deeper control, you can use the Nova City mod. For now, let's just play with the vanilla weather settings.

I tend to prefer the look of early morning the best, but again this up to taste! I would definitely recommend avoiding middle of the day though as the harsh lighting can greatly overexpose your image while also muting colors. Now that we've got all that set up, let's banish her just like we did Viktor in the first tutorial. Unlike Viktor, this Panam clone won't respawn (the real Panam is safe and sound, this won't affect her). Now let's return to photomode (and ignore my boy's goofy Us Cracks pose). Follow the steps to set up your replacer just like in the first tutorial. Now that I have my replacer swapped out to Panam, I am going to remove her jacket using one of the built-in presets (for swapping outfits with ones not listed in AMM see the AMC tutorial linked above). To do this I am going to go to tools > target replacer > scan and then scroll to the drop-down and list and pick the one I want to use. Let's keep the harness but remove her jacket!

From here, choose whatever poses you like, set up CharLi however you wish, and now let's try taking a portrait shot! This is where those presets come in handy. If you downloaded them, go ahead and flip through to the portrait ones at the end and select the one you like best. Otherwise, let's set this up ourselves! To do this, I will go to Camera tab in photomode and set my rotation to either 90 or -90 degrees. This allows you to fit more into the shot while also allowing your portrait to be higher quality because it fills up the whole screen instead of being a tinier image with a lot of empty space on the sides. Next, I'm going to adjust the field of view. The lower the field of view, the less your image is distorted. While distortion can be nice for some styles and atmospheres, I tend to prefer a lower FOV for my portraits. I tend to prefer to set my FOV lower then 20 but higher than 10. Here I've chosen 15!

Now you can play around with the angles and take your photo! Here's the unedited one I got in the end:

If you have any questions definitely feel free to ask! This is certainly not the only or even the "best" way to do it, this is just my personal way :) Have fun!

[abysshare]

Wow..i saw the leaks and just. Wow.

I was hoping they were fake and its everything i hate in a series. I was biting my tongue until i saw the episodes but here we are.

Before i go into spoilers i do want to say that i AM grateful that we even got anymore of Arcane, but sometimes less is more.

Spoilers underneath

Edit: these are kinda messy thoughts.

My biggest gripes:

Too many plot points for a finale

Family trade in ( Bio sister for found sister for bio sister again )

Vander dying, Alive but fucked up, okay, fucked up again, dead, alive but fucked up, dead.

Not bringing up Isha at all??? Not even a quick funeral?

People being brought back to life but Isha and Jinx has to die.

Jinx has to sacrifice herself to save Vi and herself. 😒

The SEX scene.

Better explaination:

Too many Plot points:

I knew it was gonna be too many. I KNOW we needed answers/resolved plots, as well as needing things to make sense. But it.. was too much. Like most media at this point.

Family Trade In:

So... no one really talks about this trope? Or whatever you want to call it. But it bugs me, so much. If you don't know what I'm talking about..

To me a family trade in is when a Character, no matter their role, has family, turns evil or gets lost and finds a family of their own, and then when it seems perfect for them, they end up back with their original family because the new family died for them/their old family or they just.. don't belong/want to go.

Perfect example that isn't Arcane: Amphibia. Anne has to leave her adoptive found family from another universe and can never go back ( until she dies basically ). As well as her friends have to leave their found families as well and also cannot go back. Anne loves both her families..

And while i understand life isn't fair, and that people are allowed to not want to stay here or there.. it just bugs me the trope is to always trade back in for the old.

With Jinx, she "loses" Vi ( and yes Silco but it isn't about him right now ), And gets Isha. I KNEW the second i saw her she was gonna die ( this isn't a bash against those who didn't see it coming ( /genuine ) at some point. While i adore Isha and i am fine with Jinx adopting her, i am not okay with the writers choice of adding her just to kill her and be practically a trade in for Vi later on.

It sucks. I'll just say it out right.

And i want to be very clear. By trade in i do NOT mean replace. I know Isha was never a replacement for Vi ( or Powder ).

Again, i know life sucks, and you just don't get everything you want in this world, especially when it comes to war. But since this is a trope or at least a thing i see constantly, whether its in a pg way or an R rated way... its annoying.

Which brings me to....

People dying / Jinx / Vander:

Why? Other than shock value?

Jinx Dies, and it felts uncomfortable to me as a Psychotic/Schizospec person like her. She should have lived, she should have been able to find her own happiness after properly grieving Isha.

Isha Dies, happy to do so for her big sister(s), but like.. it ends up not being worth it. It both does and doesn't. She saved them time but then-

Vander. Vander is killed, then brought back to life in a fucked up way, then okay for awhile, then fucked up again, then dies ( by Isha ) and then is fucked up again and alive, and then dead.......... and then fucked up and alive again! And then dies, with Jinx!

It doesn't feel satisfying. Of course that one moment was very sweet and worth it. But oh my god? Why do it at all if you're just gonna kill and reanimate him again and again. Its not shocking its annoying by the third time and a joke by the fourth.

Viktor.. Same deal with him? And I'm not even clear if he is dead or just fucked off to space-time with Jayce, but still. It wasn't shocking anymore. Or thrilling. Just like "ah. Okay. Cool mask".

Heimerdinger... when i read the leaks i thought he was gonna die. Then i was watching and thought "oh no okay, he's gonna stay in that universe. Thats nice he deserves that". Nope. He's either also dead or also in space time. I just sighed really hard rather than be sad.

And finally.. The Doctor's daughter gets to live- AND HIMSELF- even he gets a happy ending? Over Jinx or Vi? What.. i mean yes Vi gets Caitlyn , but.. ? Ugh

The Sex scene:

I'm glad for Sapphic rep i really really am. I like Caitvi a lot as well. But this didn't feel comfortable for me. Not because it was an intimate moment, but because neither of them talked things out properly. On top of that it was really random.

Vi was upset, then suddenly horny for i guess.. make up or grief sex? Or both? And Cait was obviously fine with it, but then to suddenly try and talk about Maddie. I'm glad Vi wasn't the typical ">:( you fucked someone else while i was hurting?!" It was so... random. This is why they needed to talk before hand. At LEAST say it before getting into it.

And doing it in Jinx's cell? It feels so.. weird and wrong in a way? I don't know how to describe it.

TLDR: what in the five marvel hells was that other than visuals pretty