#resizing got rid of most of them but i still have to go over it by hand

[circlesroundthemoon]

man. look at these dumb fucking artifacts

computer just crashed for the first time in like three months. lost the morena wip and i think some other stuff that wasn't as important. but still.

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

fuck I still haven't done the rewrite of the Mutant Town AU that I specifically came off hiatus to write, like the Plant Witch Sam and Pharaoh Tucker posts were written to prep this au and I just got wildly distracted so uhhhh

yeah the concept is in the link but the gist is that the people and town becoming mutated by constant ectoplasmic contamination, we all know and love this concept right but I'm gonna expand on it

this is a direct result of the portal being opened, but they aren't getting infected from the portal, the issue is that creating a permanent opening into the ghost zone has weakened the veil between their worlds and Amity Park and the Ghost Zone sort of slip in and out of each other constantly

and because ectoplasm responds strongly to emotions (poltergeists being made from atmospheric emotions for example) it all tends to converge very heavily at the school full of hormonal teenagers

so Casper High becomes its own god damn cryptid, the teachers get so jaded about opening the door to a classroom and finding just a whole ass ghost zone on the other side that they just put a sign on the door telling kids to go to a different room, lockers swap contents with other lockers so kids have started putting their names on the inside so they know who's stuff they've just found

this also means the kids get super affected, like super affected, literally, they all get ghost powers, some are just physical mutations, some are just super abilities, or a general increase in natural ability, like a member of the track team getting super speed

it takes a while for Danny and co. to figure this out, Sam and Tucker should have been warning signs as they've spent the most time around ghosts and the ghost zone, but that's why the Witch Sam and Pharaoh Tucker posts are important

they have powers, but they thought they came exclusively from outside sources, they had no idea that their abilities were also strengthened and influenced by being highly contaminated by ectoplasm, which is why when one day Mikey sneezes and green acid shoots out of his nose and melts his desk, everyone is a little bit startled

the teachers have long since started using ghost detectors after the time Paulina spent a whole week overshadowed by Kitty, so Mikey gets a check over and other than the usual atmospheric reading Lancer gets nothing especially strong from him

there have been concerns about the gradually increasing ectoplasmic content in the air messing with ghost detector results, the devices have to be recalibrated constantly, so Lancer asks the one and only son of the local ghost hunters in the room if he has some other way to check

Danny's parents make him keep a few protective items in his schoolbag, so he tries some gear on him to see if anything comes flying out, but nothing does, Danny isn't too surprised seeing as he couldn't sense a ghost in the room anyway, but it definitely makes things a little concerning

even if it were a repeat of the Spectra incident and he wasn't being overshadowed, the Fenton's tech would have still gotten rid of whatever was causing this if it were an external influence

Mikey is sent home for the day and his parents are told to keep an eye on him

and then the next week, Star drops a pen off her desk and a strand of her hair whips out to grab it, she's also checked for ghost influence and sent home

a few weeks after that it happens again, a kid on the basketball team makes a leap to the net and stays in the air, they have to call in the cheerleaders to climb on top of each other to reach him and pull him down

Danny has been trying to figure out what's happening from the first moment with Mikey, and his parents have also been getting calls from worried parents who want to know if they can fix whatever's happening to their kids

over the next couple of months, every kid in the school has some kind of ability or mutation, Dash heals whoever he touches, which he discovers after punching Nathan in the face and curing his acne, Paulina turns invisible, which freaks her out at first until she realises it's great for eavesdropping, Wes can conjure fire (because I desperately needed him to have a polarising ability to Danny), Kwan becomes empathic and can feel and influence people's emotions

Valerie also had an early mutation that she didn't know about, when Technus gave her a new suit, her body pretty much just absorbed it as a part of her, Technus had not intended this to happen, and was pretty peeved about it, Valerie found out that she had stolen control over the suit when Technus had a big rant about it during a fight, and she put the pieces together once other kids started developing abilities

this whole thing causes a ton of chaos as kids are struggling to control what they can do, so Danny has to step in and help them out, he often has to run off to change into Phantom in order to protect everyone from an ability that's gone haywire, he ends up pretty much running ghost power training courses after school to help them control themselves

he's also gotten stuck in situations where he's had to step in and help someone without having the time to change forms, meaning he has to make up a cover story about having developed his own powers way before everyone else since he's been living on top of a portal for years, he only tells people about his ice powers

Jazz has always had a tendency to be able to reign in her emotions and keep a cool head, (the only ones who can really push her buttons are Danny and sometimes her parents, at school around other kids who look up to her she's often very in control) meaning she doesn't draw ectoplasm to herself all that much, and though Danny uses the excuse of having lived on top of a ghost portal to explain why he's already so familiar with using his power, it's actually not even remotely true, because the Fentons use specialised air purifiers to keep the atmospheric ectoplasm at a manageable level, the Fenton house ironically has the least atmospheric contamination compared to the rest of the town, that's how Maddie and Jack have had limited mutation to themselves (though they aren't wholly free, they've mostly just gotten physically stronger and tougher)

so even though Jazz develops her power a little earlier than everyone else's, it's not that far ahead, and she actually doesn't even realise she already has one until half the school has developed theirs

Jazz has the power to slow time in a little bubble around herself, she'd been using it without realising while studying, having gotten through hours of work in half that time, she always thought it was just her losing track of time or she was just getting faster at reading, she also spends a lot of time counselling other students and trying to help them sort out their problems, and they'd often comment that they felt like they'd been talking for so much longer than they had, again she just chalked it up to losing track of time

a lot of students had wondered why Danny developed a power early and Jazz hadn't, until someone walked in on Jazz helping a girl through a panic attack in the bathroom, and found them both talking extremely fast, a lot of her friends realised in hindsight that she'd been doing that unwittingly for quite a while, nobody had noticed because she always talked to people privately, so nobody outside her little time bubble had seen it happen

Sam and Tucker come clean about their abilities too, but they also don't give the full rundown, still keeping some things close to the chest to avoid standing out from everyone else

then there's the teachers

adults typically have a better time regulating emotions than teenagers, meaning much like Jazz they aren't drawing as much ectoplasm toward themselves, but this doesn't exempt them from developing something after a while, especially with the heightened stress of managing a school full of volatile super kids

Mr Lancer discovers that he can create shields, after an incident where he jumps in front of some students to protect them from another power gone awry

Tetslaff ends up with a sonic ability, able to project her voice like a megaphone (yes this is a Coach Boomer from Sky High reference don't @ me), Principal Ishiyama develops a physical mutation, growing to twice her size, she likes that she can tower over the students while delivering speeches, but she doesn't like having to stoop through doors all the time, she has the one to her office resized, along with her chair and desk

so as you can imagine, the town ends up erupting into chaos, a lot of kids very much misuse their abilities, Danny does his best as Phantom to teach people to be responsible, but sometimes he has to resort to literally kicking their asses to get them to straighten up

but for the most part, a ton of kids were already looking up to him, and are generally pretty happy to follow his example, especially the more popular kids, it's generally considered not very cool to get your ass kicked by Phantom, so weirdly enough a lot of kids get peer pressured into not causing any real damage or injury with their powers

this doesn't mean they don't absolutely misuse them, they're just more subtle about it

until a ghost shows up, a lot of the kids are more than happy to let loose to protect themselves and their friends, and Phantom for the most part is happy to let them, with some supervision of course, he still has to make sure nobody gets too hurt (including the ghosts)

the entire debacle makes Danny's life simultaneously a whole lot easier AND so much more fucking stressful

[hope-mikaelson]

HOW TO GIF USING TIMELINE INSTEAD OF FRAMES

I’m coming to change your life and teach you how to make gifs using timeline animation and screen recording. This is an update of a previous tutorial I made that used Quicktime Player but we’re going to bypass quicktime player in this one since I don’t find it works as well anymore. The benefit to this method in my opinion is that it’s fast, requires little set up per gif, and gets rid of any mess regarding frame skipping and glitching.

what you’ll need: photoshop, basic photoshop knowledge, an HD video, VLC player. 

 I know lots of people use frame animation. I used to always make my gifs that way. This is just a way that I found worked better for me and was a lot faster and made gifs come out cleaner (making frame caps got real slow on my computer for some strange reason). 

ANYWAY so what you need for this, most importantly, is an HD video, VLC Player and Photoshop. At least for the screen recording process. But if you are making gifs of short videos like youtube or something, you don’t necessarily have to record them with quick time as long as you download them. VLC player is super easy to download if you don’t have it already just google it. There’s a MAC and PC version. Now here we go:

First, I open the video I want to gif in VLC player. For this tutorial, it’s an episode of Legacies in 1080p. I get the video to about 30 seconds before the scene I want to gif (keep in mind you can do the whole scene, you’re going to cut it up later). Pause the video. 

Then you’ll go up to “playback” in the menu and select record. 

Play the scene through and when you’re done, go back up there and click record again to turn recording off. 

The video should save automatically to your video or movie folder on your computer. Mine saves in user/movies on a mac. You’ll see that they save with these VLC labels so if you can��t find yours, try searching for that. 

I’m going to click the one I want, and just drag it straight to photoshop. When you do that, it’ll open like this:

That window at the bottom is called “timeline.” If you don’t see it, go up to the menu, select window then timeline and it’ll appear. 

Now your video is ready to work with. The first thing you’ll need to do is change the speed and then the size. To change the speed, you’ll go down to timeline and select the tiny arrow in the far right corner of the video. 

[NOTE: IT IS IMPORTANT TO ALWAYS CHANGE THE SPEED AS YOUR FIRST STEP. Once your video is converted to a smart object in the resizing step, you can’t alter the timing as easily.]

Change the speed from 100% to 50% or 40 if you need it slower. 

Next, you’ll need to double the length of the video since you just cut that speed in half. Just grab ahold of the far right side of the video and drag it to the right until it won’t let you drag it any further. 

Now in the timeline, you’ll see three things: the red line, and the two gray ends at the left and right sides. Those can all be moved. Anything between the gray ends is what will be saved when you export. The red line effects what you see on your screen. I’m going to drag the red line to the point I want a gif of just to help guide my cropping process. It’s landed here. 

Now, you can use the crop tool to select the shape of your gif and what you want in frame. Since this tutorial is about giffing on timeline, I’ll assume you already know how to crop. But if you have questions, ask me. Cropping my gif got me here:

Now, I need to resize it so the gif isn’t 2930832 pixels. I go to image u in the top menu bar, and then image size. And resize the width to 540 for tumblr and here I am. 

Photoshop will ask if you’re okay with converting the video, select convert.

You’ll see the video get smaller and you’re here:

I zoom in to the size I want it for editing and now you can begin adding your sharpening and coloring. 

To sharpen, make sure your video layer is still selected over on the right, and then select filter + sharpen + smart sharpen

Now add your sharpening settings as you like them. Mine look like this, and as you can see when I add them, they are added to the video layer on the right:

Now that you have a sharpening, you can add coloring as you see fit. It’s up to you how you add your colorings. I like to keep mine inside the video group on the right. If you put the outside of it/above it, they’ll show up on the timeline as separate layers. That’s dealers choice. Once you apply your coloring, it should look like this:

Once you have your scene colored, sharpened, and properly sized, you can select the area you want to export as a gif. Use the gray sliders on the timeline to select the area you want. Keep it to roughly 6-8 seconds long for larger gifs so you can fit under the tumblr limit. But this will vary depending on colors and such. 

The little mountains with the slider underneath the timeline will help you to zoom in and out along the timeline to focus in on smaller chunks. 

As you can see down here, I selected the area I want to gif for my first gif. 

Now, I can hit file, export, save for web and export my first gif. 

[Full disclosure, I went back and resized mine before I added it here because I realized 540 was going to be too big for the tutorial but that’s the width i usually use for big gifs. ]

Once that’s saved, you’ll be brought back to your photoshop document. And now, you can go right ahead and make the next gif in your set without having to do or change anything besides the sliders. So I’m going to just move the sliders over and gif Rafael. 

As you can see, he’s a little off center. So I’m just going to grab right ahold of the video layer using the move tool, and move him over. 

Now I export + save for web again. And save my second gif. 

And I can keep going if I choose to. 

The beauty of this method is that once you get set up, you can make 934828423 gifs from one scene at once and you only have to color, crop, size, and sharpen once. Sometimes, you’ll need to make some coloring or placement adjustments along the way, but it’s al in one document. And you’ll also see that in time, the early steps like timing and sizing come in second nature and take just a few simple seconds making this method really quick and breezy. 

[kiekiecarrera]

Tutorial - Blending + Gradually Appearing Text

Okay so I got a request from Mary (@princess-seaweed​) to make a tutorial for blending and gradually appearing text, like this gif:

I still don’t know if I’m any good at tutorials, so this might be confusing/vague, in which case please hmu and I’ll try to make it as clear as possible.

Also, please know that most things I’ve learned on photoshop are through tutorials/tinkering with photoshop until I get an effect I like, so there might be easier/quicker ways to get these effects, but this is how I do it.

This is an advanced tutorial that requires basic gif making skills and basic text adding knowledge. If you need help learning how to do that, I can whip up another tutorial or find something online.

The first part of the tutorial will be about creating the blending, the second part about the text.

I’m using Photoshop 2020.

So, let’s start. Okay, so, as I said, this is an advanced tutorial that supposes that you already know how to create gifs, so the first thing you wanna do is make the two gifs you wanna blend separately, (resize, sharpen, add adjustment layers and whatever else you want to add), and then save the psd files (you don’t have to actually save if you have them open, but this is a precaution in case anything happens).

Make sure that the gifs have the same number of frames, so that they overlap perfectly when you blend.

Once you’re satisfied with the gifs, open your animation timeline bar to the frames animation mode.

I’m using these two gifs, both sized 540x400px and each one with 15 frames:

you’ll notice they don’t exactly fit the size of my whole gif, but it doesn’t matter because once we layer them over one another, they’ll align to hide the transparent sections.

I’m using the similar sizes for the gifs because I’m blending them side by side, but if you wanna, say, blend one within the other, you can use different sizes.

Now, the next step is very easy. You’re gonna copy one gif on top of the other. To do that, you go to whichever gif you want to layer on top, and select all the frames. In my case, I’m layer the gif with charlie and owen on top:

Now you’re going to click on the small menu on the right side of the animation bar, and select copy frames:

Now, you’re going to go to the second gif, select all the layers, open the small menu in the right corner of the animation bar and choose paste frames:

A window will pop up, asking what the paste method is. Make sure paste over selection is checked and click ok:

Your psd will now look something like this:

Notice how the coloring from the top gif is now also covering the bottom gif? The first thing we’re gonna do is the get rid of that, so that the coloring only applies to owen and charlie and jeremy gets to keep his own adjustments.

So to do that, you’re gonna select all the layers of the top gif which are now in the layer tray on the side, and group them by click on the folder icon in the bottom bar:

Now that your layers are grouped, expand the group, scroll down in the layers tray, select the first image layer in the top gif and choose the selection tool:

Right click anywhere on the gif and choose load selection from the menu:

Your top gif should now be selected. Go back to the top, select the group layer and add a mask to it by clicking on the mask icon in the bottom bar:

Now your group will have a small black and white window next to it, and the bottom gif should have its original coloring back, as below:

Now it’s time to blend. To do that, we’re gonna use the same layer mask we created. Click on the layer mask in the group layer (the small black and white rectangle), and then select the brush tool. Your colors should automatically appear as black and white.

Basically, what’s gonna be happening here is we’re gonna be using the brush to hide part of the top gif. If the top color is black, then using the brush will make part of the top gif disappear. If the top color is white, then using the brush will make part of the top gif appear.

So, you’re going to bring the black color to the front. I’m gonna use a soft round brush, size 183px, opacity at 33. The brush you use and how you use it really depends on the effect you want to get. For now, we’re gonna do a basic soft blending:

Make sure the layer mask is selected, and use the brush to hide the sharp edge of the top gif by dragging the brush to the gif and clicking on it. Since we’re using low opacity, you’re gonna click multiple times on it to get whatever effect you want:

And that’s it! Your gif should now be blended and look something like this:

Now we get to part 2, which is adding the text. I’ve already done a tutorial on gradually appearing text here, so check out that link to figure it out.

For this gif, my text is in “The Bold Font” set to bold, size 18. I’m using 3 shadow effects, all set to multiply and at 100% opacity, and a gradient effect (I’ll add images of the text effects below).

Text shadow effect:

Text gradient effect:

Once you’ve followed the instructions of the gradually appearing text tutorial (this takes a fair bit of time), save your gif and it should look something like this:

I know the text part is a little rushed, but I’ve already explained it in the other tutorial, so if you follow that, you should be fine. And just hit me up if you got any other questions!

[asongofmarvelanddc]

Nothing Will Ever Change (This Love of Mine)

PAIRING: Marcel Gerard X Reader

WORD COUNT: 3,335

WARNINGS: None. Just fluffity fluff fluff fluff.

SUMMARY: Marcel returns from war to his estranged family, and his fiancée. When Klaus threatens her, Marcel realises it’s time to come clean about who he is.

A/N: Title taken from the song by Jimmy Jules. Also, I have a headcanon that Marcel is fluent in French, so translations in italics.

JANUARY, 1919

Whoever said money couldn’t buy status had clearly never met the Mikaelsons.

You didn’t know much about them other than what Marcel had told you: that they were farmers who were orphaned but managed to find some way up the social ladder by acquiring property all over the United States. It would be a heart-warming story if they weren’t so...arrogant.

Everyone could see it when they walked into a room - the way they always expected to be approached and never the other way around. Sure, some of them were always polite for the most part, but they all maintained an air of superiority, spoke to you in a way that reminded you that you’d never be them.

You weren’t fond of the Mikaelsons, and it seemed like the feeling was mutual. They’d reluctantly invited you to the party they were throwing in honour of Marcel’s return from the war. Elijah - being one of the few who tried to make you feel like a part of the family - asked on his family’s behalf which made it difficult to say no. Still, the party was for Marcel, and you’d been waiting four years to see him again, so you graciously accepted the invite.

The party was already in full swing by the time you arrived. You looked around, searching for any familiar faces, but found none other than the Mikaelsons. They were surrounded by people - the mayor being one of them - who were tripping over themselves to be gracious to the Mikaelsons and gain favour with them. 

Not wanting to join the other guests in fawning all over the family, you stood alone at the bar, nursing a stiff drink. All you could think about was Marcel. Before long, you began to feel eyes burning a hole in the back of your head and turned to find Klaus Mikaelson staring at you. It wasn’t obvious all the time, but you got the feeling that he didn’t like you very much. 

Ignoring his glare, you returned to your drink - impatiently waiting for Marcel’s return. But alas, Klaus couldn’t take the hint, and within seconds he was standing by your side.

A charming smile graced his lips as he greeted you, “Y/N. It’s a pleasure to have you here.”

“Is it?” you cocked a brow, “Because I think you only invited me because Elijah asked you to. Not that Marcel would’ve stayed longer than five minutes if he found out I wasn’t here. ”

He chuckled.

“I see you’re not in the mood to exchange pleasantries,” he said.

“What gave it away?”

His smile dropped and he leaned in closer, “Look, whatever I’ve done to upset you-”

“It’s not what you’ve done to me, it’s what you did to him,” you snapped, “Do you realise we wouldn’t even be having this party if it weren’t for you people?”

He avoided your eyes, his confident stance wavering.

“You drove him away.”

Klaus was silent for a moment as your words sunk in. It was clear by the guilty expression on his face that he knew you were right. You expected him to leave you alone after that, but instead, another Mikaelson approached - a smirk on her lips and a champagne glass in her hands.

“My, my, you could cut the tension with a knife.”

You rolled your eyes and turned back to the bar, “I’m not in the mood Rebekah.”

Klaus smiled as he looked at his sister, “Yes, she’s feeling a bit pissy this evening.”

You glared at him.

“Leave the girl alone, Nik,” Rebekah said, “She has enough on her mind.” 

He shot a glance at you, a thoughtful look appearing on his face, but then he let out a quiet sigh and walked away.

A breath of relief escaped your lips once he was no longer in your presence. Rebekah stepped closer to you and tilted her head as she looked at you. 

“So, what’s got you in such a mood?”

You let out another sigh. “I just need to see him, Rebekah,” you said, your voice sounding desperate, “It’s been so long and I just...I just need him here.”

She nodded and placed a hand on your back. “I understand, dear,” she smiled, “Come find me later, yeah?”

You cracked a smile and let out a sigh of relief when she walked away, thankful to be left alone. When you went to down the rest of your drink, the ring on your finger caught your eye and your thoughts immediately travelled back to Marcel.

Putting the glass down on the table, you twirled the ring on your finger, deep in thought. You never did manage to get it resized, there was never any time. Marcel had given it to you the night before he left. You’d been going out of your mind with worry since he decided to enlist, fearful of what could happen to him while he was gone. He called it a proposal, but it was obvious that it was more of a promise that he would come back to you.

And tonight he finally would.

You were reminiscing about the days before Marcel left when you felt arms circle your waist, and a face nuzzle into your neck. Heart hammering in your chest, you reached up slowly and touched the man’s cheek.

“Marcel?”

He hummed in response and placed a kiss on your shoulder. “It’s me, baby.”

A gasp escaped your lips as you closed your eyes and turned around, pulling his lips against yours in a fervent kiss. He grinned as you kissed him, a laugh even slipping out as you wrapped your arms around his neck, your hand resting at the nape of his neck.

You’d thought as soon as you saw Marcel you’d feel relaxed, but instead, your heart was beating out of your chest. Every inch of your body was lit aflame when he placed his hands on your hips and pulled you closer.

“God, I missed you,” he mumbled against your lips just as you broke apart. 

He rose one of his hands to cup your cheek, his thumb wiping away a tear that had rolled down. 

“Hey. No tears, okay?”

You wiped them away, unable to stop smiling. “It’s just so surreal,” you said, “I can’t believe you’re here. I feel like I can finally breathe again.”

“You think you missed me?” he scoffed, “I practically drove the guys in my unit crazy talking about you.”

He still had his arm around you, not wanting to let go. You let yours fall from his neck, one hand resting on his chest, “Four years.”

“Four years.”

You shook your head in wonder as you looked at him again. From his perfect, dazzling smile to those loving brown eyes. Even after everything he’d been through, he looked exactly the same.

“You don’t look like you’ve aged a day.”

Without missing a beat, he said, “I could say the same about you, pretty girl.”

You looked away, heat rising to your cheeks, “Sweet-talker.”

He laughed again, surprised that he could still fluster you even after so long together. Glancing down, he noticed the sparkling ring around your finger.

“You’re still wearing it,” he said and raised a brow, “I take it I haven’t been replaced yet?”

“As if anyone could ever replace you, Marcel Gerard.”

He held your loving gaze for a moment before shaking his head in incredulity and leaning down to kiss you again. It was softer and much more tender this time. 

He rested his forehead against yours, breathing heavily. “Let’s get outta here,” he whispered, looking down at you with lustful eyes.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he said, laughing as he pressed quick kisses from your cheek down to your jaw and neck. He took your hand, leading you towards the exit, when Klaus suddenly appeared in front of you. 

“Marcel,” he said, his hands clasped together behind his back, “I didn’t see you come in.”

Marcel let out a heavy sigh, but the grin on his lips never faltered. “Klaus. Nice to see you.”

Klaus looked taken aback by the response. “On your way out?” he asked, clearly offended, “Didn’t think to pop over to your family and say hello?”

Marcel rolled his eyes. “I just wanted some private time with my girl, Klaus, it’s really not a big deal.”

You noticed the sudden change in Klaus’ expression. In a second, his polite smile and mischievous eyes morphed into a look you could only describe as evil. You’d heard rumours about the Mikaelsons. About Klaus. Rumours you didn’t believe. But if there were monsters in New Orleans - you had definitely just seen one. 

But then like a storm cloud passing, his polite smile was back. “Well, perhaps you and I could have a drink upstairs before you leave, Marcel.”

“Klaus, I really just want to-”

“Or...we could take Y/N out for a drink.”

You felt Marcel’s body stiffen under your touch at those words. His jaw clenched as he gripped your hand tighter, taking a more protective stance in front of you. 

Eventually, he sighed deeply and shook his head, turning to you. “Attends ici, ma chérie,” he whispered as he pressed a kiss to your cheek, “I’ll be right back.” (Wait here, sweetheart)

Klaus’s smile widened, clearly satisfied by Marcel’s decision. The two disappeared up the stairs and into the Mikaelson family room.

                            __________________________

“So, Marcellus,” Klaus began as he poured himself a drink, “We throw you this party to welcome you home, even invite your little girlfriend to make you happy, and yet you can’t even grace us with your presence.”

“You visited me while I was gone, it’s not like you haven’t seen me in years,” Marcel said, “And she’s not my girlfriend, she’s my fiancée. And I haven’t seen her in four years.”

“So, you’d rather spend your first evening back with her than you would your own family?”

Marcel didn’t respond, but his silence spoke volumes.

“I see,” Klaus nodded and downed his drink, “Perhaps if the girl is taken out of the equation you’ll remember exactly where your loyalties should lie.”

Marcel sped in front of the door, blocking it as Klaus stormed towards him.

“You are not touching her, Klaus!” he yelled as he shoved Klaus back, “You’re gonna kill her because I wanna spend time with her? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I assure you, Marcellus, my reasonings for getting rid of that girl are just.”

“Like they were when you daggered Rebekah for five decades?”

“You haven’t been the same since she entered your life,” Klaus said, “She has been tearing you away from your family.”

“She is my family.”

Klaus’ face hardened. “Is that so?”

“Damn straight.”

He stepped closer to Klaus and began speaking in a scarily low voice. “I let go of Rebekah for you, Klaus, but I am telling you right now,” he said, eyes burning with anger, “I would see this city burn before I do the same with Y/N.”

Klaus was silent for a moment as he mulled over Marcel’s words. It seemed he had lost the fight, until a thought occurred to him.

“And what if she lets you go?” he said, the hint of a smile on his lips and a glint in his eye, “I wonder what she’ll think when she finds out just what kind of monster you are.”

Marcel’s jaw clenched, “You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, I would,” he smirked, “I do believe that lasting relationships must be built on honesty and trust. I’d consider me telling her the truth a favour.”

Marcel balled his fists, looking away from Klaus to control his anger. He knew there was no winning a fight with an Original - even if he was burning with rage.

Klaus chuckled to himself and walked over to the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll allow you this one night with her,” he said as he walked out, “Welcome home, Marcellus.”

                            __________________________

Marcel was silent as you watched him put his hat down on your coffee table. He hadn’t been himself since you left the party. You twirled the set of keys in your hand, unsure of how to proceed. 

“You haven’t said a word since we left the mansion.”

He didn’t respond.

You let out a heavy sigh as you walked towards him slowly. “You know, I talked to a couple other ladies whose men came back from the war too,” you began, “They said that they weren’t the same. The things they saw over there...it changed them.”

You waited with baited breath for a response, almost afraid of what he might say. He hadn’t seemed different when you were at the party, but the quiet was making you think his mind was elsewhere.

“I’ve seen worse than I did when I was over there,” he said, his back to you, “That’s not it.”

“Then tell me what’s on your mind.”

For a second, you thought he wasn’t going to elaborate, and you felt your heart sink. Then he turned around slowly, a thoughtful look on his face as he spoke.

“You and I have been together for six years,” he said, almost like he couldn’t believe it, “And yet, there’s still stuff about me - my past - that you don’t know about.”

A nervous smile emerged on your lips as you moved closer to him. “What are you talking about? You’ve told me about your past.”

“Not about my parents. Not about the way I grew up.”

“You told me all that,” you argued, “You told me you never knew your parents. That Klaus’ family adopted you when you were young and you grew up with them as your siblings.”

He shook his head slowly, wiping his mouth with his hand in frustration and placing a hand on his hip. It was clear that he was wrestling with something in him - it was tearing him apart.

“Marcel,” you said as you took his hand, “Tu peux me dire ñ'importe quoi.” (You can tell me anything.)

He looked down at your hands, his eyes staying on them for a long time before he finally spoke. “I wasn’t honest with you about that,” his voice wavered and he paused to take a breath, “Klaus’ family didn’t adopt me...Klaus did.”

You froze for a minute, trying to understand what he just said because it made no sense.

“That’s impossible,” you said, “He would’ve been a boy himself.”

“I was born in 1810 on a plantation here in Louisiana,” he explained, “My mother was a slave, and my father, the Governor...he was her — our master.”

“What? If you were born in 1810 that would make you like—”

“A hundred and nine.”

Your eyes widened in shock as you snatched your hands away from his and stepped back, “Mon Dieu...” (My God...)

He reached out for you, but you took another step back, turning away from him to compose yourself. The stories you’d heard as a child, the ones every child in New Orleans has heard...they were all true.

“Demon of the night,” you whispered, “You’re one of them.”

“Yes.”

“And the Mikaelsons?”

“They’re all like me.”

You took in a deep breath and turned to look at him, arms folded as you eyed him nervously. He was standing a few feet away from you, clearly giving you space to digest everything. It wasn’t working however, because you had a million burning questions and no clue how to feel.

“The things they say about you, your kind...are they all true?” you asked.

“Some of it, yes. But not all of it.”

“So, the blood drinking and the mind control-”

“That’s all true.”

You sucked in a sharp breath once more and looked to the ground. All of this was difficult to hear. But it hurt more to know that he wasn’t honest with you.

“There’s a lot that I want to know,” you began as you lifted your gaze to meet his, “But I only have three big questions.”

He stepped towards you, surprised when you didn’t move back, and took your hand in his. “Anything you wanna know, just ask and I promise I’ll tell you everything.”

You nodded, mustering up a small smile before looking down again. “Have you killed people?”

“That’s a difficult question.”

“How is that a difficult question?”

“I’ve been a vampire for eighty-four years, Y/N,” he said, “During that time, I’ve fought in two wars. Yes, I’ve killed people, but never innocents. Not even when the hunger was unbearable.”

Again, you nodded slowly. You couldn’t deny the relief you felt after hearing that.

“Does Klaus? Kill innocents?” you asked, deciding on a follow-up question.

“He’s lived a lot longer than I have,” Marcel sighed, “I don’t think you get to be a vampire for almost a thousand years without getting some blood on your hands.”

“Wow,” you whispered. You’d always known there was something about that family, but you never would’ve guessed this. Suddenly you could understand the arrogance — you too would feel superior to everyone if you’d lived a thousand years of strength, speed, and the ability to get whatever your heart desired.

Marcel cocked his head at you, “You’ve been quiet for a minute. You wanna ask the rest of your questions?”

You blinked back into reality. “Yeah, uh...” you looked up at him, hesitant to ask him the next question, “This isn’t easy to say, Marcel, but I have to ask.”

“Go ahead.”

You bit your lower lip nervously, “Have you ever drank from me? Or used your compulsion on me?”

“Wow, um...” Marcel stepped back, your hand falling from his. He was taken aback. “No, I’ve...I’d never do that to you.”

“Marcel, I’m sorry, but I had to ask if-”

“I get it.”

“-we were ever gonna be comfortable with each other again.”

“Yeah, it’s okay. I understand. It’s fine.” He spoke the words quickly, hoping to sound like he didn’t care, but it was clear by the way he dropped his shoulders and avoided your eyes just how much the question had hurt him.

You walked towards him, this time being the one to take his hands, “Je suis désolé.” (I’m sorry)

“C'est pas grave.” He placed a hand against your cheek and smiled softly. You leaned into it, closing your eyes as you sighed deeply. Even after all you’d learned, he still felt like home. (It’s alright)

“Final question,” you said as you stood up straight and looked at him earnestly, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What?” 

“Why didn’t you tell me you were a vampire?” you repeated, “J'aime tout de toi, tu le sais. You’re my family, so why didn’t you trust me?” (I love everything about you, you know that.)

“I trust you, I just—” He paused to collect his thoughts. “At first, I was being selfish. You liked me as I was, and as a bonus, had a wit sharp enough to leave even Klaus speechless,” he chuckled as you rolled your eyes while fighting off a smile, “But soon enough it became about protecting you from all of that death and darkness.”

“Tu aurais du me le dire.” (You should’ve told me)

Marcel frowned and pulled you close, “Je t'aime et je ne voulais pas te perdre.” (I love you, and I didn’t wanna lose you.)

“Mon coeur,” you smiled as you placed a hand against his cheek, “There is nothing about you that could make me love you less.”

The way he looked at you when you said that — perfect and loving as ever — tugged at your heart strings. He didn’t say a word. He simply wrapped his arms around you and leaned down to kiss you. Your heart racing as he did so let him know that the truth hadn’t changed anything between you.

You pulled away and rested your forehead against his, “Dieu, je t'aime tellement.” (God, I love you so much)

“Tu es mon coeur, mon amour, ma vie,” he whispered against your lips, “Je t’aime.”

[inessencedevided]

(You can find the set that this gif belongs to here 💙)

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content!

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES: When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours

I was tagged by @aheartfullofjolllly. thank you so much Pat! it was really fun to reflect about my own process 💗 You can find her post here and @lan-xichens' post that started it all here :)

Also thank you @huigusu 🥰 (who tagged me for my nie brothers set) I'll get to that one in a few days!

Now Pat gave me two sets to chose from to show my process, so obviously I chose the more complicated one :P

I only work in Photoshop CC 2018. I know that there are programs out there for easier cutting and sharpening but I have only just figured out how to do that in PS and I am too lazy to figure out any other programs right now xD

1. Idea and Planning

This set, like most of my sets with lyrics started with me reading the poem, clutching my heart and going "oh shit this fits my favourite characters!!". The idea actually started with me thinking that the first stanza of the poem would go really well with wwx during the burial mounds arc. Then I realized that the last stanza fits lwj better than him and from there came the idea to contrast the both of them next to each other. This is when I realized I wanted to do a dark-light contrast set, though I did not know that I would go with red and blue at that time. My idea in the beginning was just to do a black and white set

I was really impressed by how Pat said that she plans her sets around exact timestamps. Because I don't do that at all ^^ I just get ideas for which scenes would fit (in this case the wwx burial mounds scenes and lwj's kneeling and punishments scene) and then I watch the scenes to narrow them down.

Back when I made this set, I still used a screenrecorder (AceThinker Screen Grabber Pro to be precise. They have a test version that allows you to record up to 3 minutes) and recorded the scenes I needed from Netflix. This worked well enough but now I have the entire show saved on an external drive and it makes a world of difference when it comes to gif sharpness

Now, in this case I had to repeat this step once because when I was almost finished, I realized that I wanted a gif for the lwj corner but let's pretend I didn't do that and that's the way this gif was always going to look because otherwise this post will be way too long ^^

2. Creation

Short disclaimer: The creation process for this gifset was anything but linear. Multiple effects I used here were things I had never tried before. I just had a vague idea and tried to realize it through trial and error. So whenever I say "then I did xyz", it is implied that I ultimately went back to that step several times and changed stuff ^^

I started with the Wei Wuxian part of the gif. I usually use a frame rate of 0,06 (with some variation depending on gif length and size). I work in timeline so I converted all the layers to a smart layer. Then I resized the gif into a square, leaving big chunks of the gif empty (as can be seen below.) I flipped the gif horizontally, so he is looking inwards. This was simple because I felt it fitted the composition better. Then I imported the Lan Wangji part of the gif, again with a frame rate of 0,06. (Image 2)

After that I created a layer for masking in a separate PS document by rotating a square until it was point down (is that a rhombus?). I sized it to match my gif (540x540 pxl) and copied it over. (Image 3) a bit of masking magic and ta da! There's the basic layout (Image 4)

I put a layer of solid black behind wwx to get rid of the transparent bits (Image 5) and then started adding more white and black to both sides by adding solid whit and black layers that i put masks on and changed the opacity as i needed (Image 6)

("reading" direction: from the upper left to the lower right corner)

Then I fiddled with the colours a bit. The first thing I always do is using the curves layer to get more contrast. Then I use the colour balance tool and the selective colouring tool to get rid of that cql-typical cyan tint after that it's just trying to have it look "natural" while the colours still fit the overall scheme. This was difficult here because wei Wuxian’s side of the gif was very dark and when i turned up the saturation to see which colour dominated it was a very weird mixture of multiple colours. That's when i decided that I'd just go with red on his side, since lwj's side was already so blue and those to look great as contrasts.

After that just came a lot of fiddling with selective colour layers and brightness and contrast unti I has happy. There really wasn't much to it ^^. (Image 1)

After that I added the text. I knew I wanted the two lines to for a square of some kind. So I tried different fonds until I arrived at the one below. The two lines are in seperate layers so I could move them around and change the spacing between the letters until I was happy with the layout. I also changed the layer mode for the text to "difference" (is that what it's called in english? my PS is set to german sorry ^^), keeping their colour white. (Image 2)

I originally hadn't planned adding anything else but I felt like the gifs (plural because I switched between the gifs of this set) was still kind of empty and lacking, so I added the tear down the middle (a tutorial for that is either coming up later or already posted. I recently got an ask for this :)) (Image 3)

It still felt empty after that, so I tried different overlays. Okay no, first I wasted a lot of time on different free image sides but then I tried out different ones until I chose the one you can see in the finished gif. I liked that one because a) I felt the round shape was a nice contrast to all the straight lines already there and b) because once I applied a black and white filter to it and switched the layer setting to "difference" (again, i hope this is the correct translation) it looked a bit like a moon. (Gif at the top)

("reading" direction: from left to right)

And that's it! :)

Although in general, these gifs took so much fiddling! I went back and forth between them a lot and sometimes almost redid the entire thing because I had no idea what I was doing in the beginning and by the time I noticed an error, the only way to fix it was ti redo everything. So yeah, this set definitely is the the one that took me the longest out of all the ones I've posted so far.

3. Posting

I save all my gifs to my drafts first to see what they look like put together and to check if they look any different on mobile. Usually i do this several times and change stuff until I'm happd enough with it to hit post. Once i am happy enough, i can't hold back. Doesn't matter if it's at a time when nobody is online, i hit post 😅

And that's it!

Tagging:

@lanwuxiann for this gifset (I adore it so much. I've looked at it and read it severat times since you posted it and the poem just kills me every time!)

@suibianjie for this gifset (The combination of static images and gifs in your gifs is always absolutely perfect! This one is only my favourite of yours because the light coming from behind wwx is just so pretty!!! ^^)

@sweetlittlevampire for this piece (It was soooo hard to pick a piece of yours because I have so many favourites! But this one is just so out if this world, I want to know how you worked that magic :D)

@wei-gege for this set (sparkling shijie! 😭 that set is so incredibly beautiful! I love how you matched the colour of the overlay with her dress!)

@purplexedhuman for this set (your gifs are always incredible! I chise this one because it showcases both your colouring skills and some really intricate effects)

If any of you have already been tagged or don't have the time or energy for this, obviously no pressure to do this at all! 🥰

(btw, I originally tried to place the actual text of this under a "read more" cut but somehow it always messed with the order of the images, so this ended up as a rather long post. sorry!)

[replaygifs]

»        𝐆𝐈𝐅 𝐈𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐓𝐔𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐁𝐘 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐆𝐈𝐅𝐒   !

hi folks! i’ve gotten a few messages on how i make my gifs, on what tutorials i used, etc. so i decided to make my own (since i didn’t use one) in hopes of helping a few people get their footing on how to make gif icons from scratch! this tutorial has been made with the assumption that you have prior knowledge of using photoshop (e.g. like smart filters), but please don’t be afraid to ask me any questions if you need anything explained or you’re a lil confused. however, do bare in mind that i am no photoshop genius, and have never become more advanced than what i required for my needs. anyways, without further ado, the tutorial on how you can make something like the above can be found below the cut. please like or reblog if you found this useful in any way!

some starting tips:

gif icon making, or gif making in general can be strenuous. do not give up if it doesn’t look like you want it to the first time! it’ll take time to find what you like. 

don’t compare your gif icons to other’s, which i’m guilty of, but your gif icons are unique and lovely in their own way and you should view them as such!

♡

i am using a macbook, with a mac operating system and adobe photoshop 2020. keep in mind that this is the way i make my own gif icons, and i’m just sharing what i know so this may not be the best/easiest way to go about things, like you can probably include scripts that save it for you, etc. but i prefer having more control over to process.

♡

screenshots will be distorted, for easier viewing i’ve added a link that will take you to the full size image.

♡

before anything, a high quality gif comes from a high quality video. when downloading your content, make sure it's either 720p or 1080p resolution.

♡

step 1: open up your .mp4 file

open it up as if you are opening any other file on photoshop. no need to import video frames to layers or anything of the sort. i find that way better for making gifs for gif sets instead of like 100+ gif icons. your photoshop should look like the image below.

this works best with shorter video files of around 1-3 minutes.

step 2: find your faceclaim

your video should now be open in photoshop as a video timeline, keep this the way it is, you’ll be able to move along the video to the next gif. using the timeline layers (see:layer 1), you can slide along until you find your faceclaim.

*extra info for those that don’t know. to extend your layer and make it easier to find your faceclaim, you can use the slider down below which looks like this:

this will essentially space the frames out more, if that makes sense?

step 3: select your gif focus and crop

use the rectangular marquee tool (circled in red) and select the area of your gif icon.

following this, use the crop tool (again, circled in red) to cut out the rest of the area. you are now left with a square.

step 4: select the length/frames of your gif

this step can be done pretty much anywhere between step 2 and step 7, depending on your preference. anyway, use the slider (red arrow pointing to it) to decide where you want your gif to end. 

then, bring the end of your video timeline (red arrow pointing to it) to where your animation slider is. your video timeline should now look something like this:

the space in between the lil sliders will only includes what will be in your gif. 

step 5: resize

using image size, resize your gif to whatever size you wish. i prefer 80px. 

following this, it should say that your file is going to be converted into a smart object, click okay. (i can’t show the pop up since i got rid of it). 

yet, now that you’re looking at your gif icon, you’ve realised you don’t really like the placement of it. simply cmd/ctrl+t to go to free transform. i moved it a tiny lil bit to the left. 

as you can see, the rest of the video area is still there. you can now transform it to your liking. this will be useful when you want to change the area again.

step 5: add sharpen settings

you now have an icon, you can sharpen it to your liking. 

i use smart sharpen and gaussian blur. i tend to have them in this order. 

you can change the opacity of each smart filter to your liking. i won’t be sharing my exact sharpen settings (not that they’re hard to figure out), as i’d like them to stay unique to me, but do play around with this and see what you like the most (the key is less is more). 

the trick here is to include the sharpen>blur>sharpen filters, which will give a sharpened appearance without overdoing it, and make your gif icon a lil smoother as well due to the blur.

**also, you may see the lil video group 1 in my layers there (and in your own too), this isn’t really necessary and is more of a pain in the ass that anything. if you have this, you can get rid of it by right clicking on it and ungrouping layers.

step 6: add your colouring

my colouring is a mixture of psds i’ve interchanged for years and i have lost the originals so do not intend on sharing. do look around at psds or make your own colourings that suit your tastes. 

BE MINDFUL OF WHITEWASHING!!! if you are giffing people of colour, use colourings that do not make them into a white sheet or a gray mess. i see this constantly as if it isn’t 2020. 

adjust! adjust! adjust! your colouring will not always work on different people or different scenes. adjust your levels, saturation, selective colour, brightness, etc to make sure the colouring works for your previous gif, as well as your next one.

even you can see here that my layers are mess because i adjust constantly. 

step 7: save for web

now that you’ve made your icon all pretty, save it for web and it should look like this:

step 8 (optional): speed

if you like your gif icons slower, you now have to upload the gif file into photoshop again. this will take you to the frame timeline. you can change the speed of your gif to whatever you want, and save again.

and there you have it, your is gif icon complete.

step 9: making more!

instead of going through this whole cropping process again, you can continue to move along the video timeline to different frames of your faceclaim, and making the next gif with just the exact sharpening settings, colouring, etc. this will make it super easy to make more gif icons in less time.

this can be done by simplying moving your animation timeline.

again you can use cmd/ctrl+t to adjust your gif placement. of course, this doesn’t always work, and you may need to revert back to your original video to crop the area again. an example of this is if you need a bigger or smaller area for the gif.

i just made this gif in a few seconds.

action

i use my own script to crop and have included the rest all in one action file. i did a lil digging and found this gif icon making action (resizes to 80px) that does essentially the same thing with no script. this will make it already 10x easier to make an icon. you can then make your sharpening into an action and you’ll basically have most of the job done for you in one click.

tips: 

make things into actions! for example, i cut down a lil on the speed changing process by making actions that change the speed for me.

save your actions! you never know when you’ll lose them

you might get tired of looking at your gif icons after a while, they might even start to look ugly but that’s most likely because you’ve been looking at them for too long, so don’t feel discouraged! 

crop close to the face, this is important! what in the fresh hell am i supposed to be seeing in a 70px gif icon if its so far away, or in general tbh

anddd that's about it! i hope you find this useful! again, if there are any questions, feel free to im me or send in a message and i'll do my best to help!

[finewalls]

#showyourprocess

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content!

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES - When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag up to 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours.

I am lowkey late but I finally have proper time to do this fun thing! Thank you  @tomthenetherlands for tagging me (check her process here). I was asked to explain my process of making this lyric animation so here we go

[disclaimer: I’ve deleted everything but the final product from my computer so I’ll mostly explain with text only]

1. PLANNING: Okay first I got this request on my ask box bc I was lowkey doing a series, so I knew the style I was gonna go with: simplistic animation. That’s pretty much all the plan was fhgsdjkfhksda

2. BASEWORK: Now first thing I did is choose the best lyrics for the edit and started searching for videos best fit to use as the base for the edit. Immediately knew to use a clip from the movie 1917 because of the burning city scene, for the first lyric. Then a clip from walls as I wanted to insert Louis into it and went through some true blood ship videos to find a good one of two guys kissing dfhgsdjfsk and for the last one I originally wanted a wedding scene but the one I tried to use was way too difficult to work with it so I used another part from the same video as base. Now that I got my videos I open up photoshop and get working

3. PHOTOSHOP: Starting with GIF number 1

Just like with every GIF I import the video and choose the frames I want yada yada. Now first before I start the ‘animation’ process I sharpen the GIF once and then I over colour the whole thing. Like over saturated and massive contrast so it’s easier to work with. Also in this case made everything super warm like yellow and orange all over. Then comes the fun part! I started painting each frame making sure it’s not too flashy and clear enough so you recognise what’s happening. Since this was the first of the edit I chose a simple colour palette I could use in the other GIFs as well. Ones I was happy with the frames I resize the canvas to 600x400px and compressed the GIF once and then open it again, added the lyrics on top and standard GIF making again. 

GIF number 2! This one took me about 3 times until I got it right. I did so much recolouring I almost gave up hdgjkaslga

But just like the first one, colouring, sharping etc. and then again one frame at a time painting the scene and making sure you see human shapes. As you can still see the right side of the gif is a mess bc why did't I just paint it all black idk. But with this I recoloured it again after painting bc I wasn’t happy with the shades, and then again and again bc fun. But yeah, resize, compress, add text, tha-da

GIF number 3, my fave

Okay with this one I cheated a little to get it done quickly. So otherwise same as the others, but instead of going frame by frame to paint, I just put all the frames through a filter at once to get the result. Which is why it’s the smoothest of them all too tbh. But just had to fix the colours with colouring tools but rest is standard GIF making.

GIF number 4, the one that I hated the most

Now see like I said, i had a different idea for this at first, but bc it didn’t work I decided to try this part of the same video (a married couple walking with their wedding party) First I turned everything black and white bc I figured this will be like minimalist (and easier to work with). Now I wanted to get rid of the other people so i basically painted all black and then went frame by frame getting the two people walking. Had to add the shadow of them as it looked painfully stickfigure-y without it djsakdgdfsh. Once I was happy with the animation I slapped on a pride flag bc I wanted it gay u know.. But to match with the rest of the GIFs I multiplied it and warmed up the colours a bit. Then again, compress, add text, standard.

ADDING IT TOGETHER READY FOR POSTING: Then I made sure all the edits match or like look nice together and the text was in the same level and such nice things and made sure I got them all in right size (in these I did 600x400px normally I go with 530px width) then it’s time to open tumblr.com

POSTING: Like with other edits I did for this ‘’series’’ I chose more lyrics from the song and added them as caption along with who requested it and saying do request more (still taking in requests btw even tho i didn’t get into the animation school)

I used the HTML to get the colours I used in the edit into the caption as well (used this when I first learned how to do that) 

now with tags I like to be talkative

I have the standard blogs I tag and bc it was Louis’ lyrics I tagged dt and I always use ‘[insert initials] edit’ for everything for my own navigation. And then I obviously make my own comments, which in this one are 100% accurate and I stand by them. I peaked here. 

ALL DONE: then I sit back and wait for the notes to roll in :) hjfgsdjkf

That is all thank you for reading if you did! I would like to see the process from

@curlyhairedprince for these motherfucking edits

@ltpolari for this edit bc colouring icon

@thesemptysounds for this incredible edit bc it’s my favorite thing ever and now on my wall forever thank you

@queersue for this edit (and many others posts alike) bc colouring legend

and finally @tomlinsun​ for this lil drawing which is also on my wall bc i love it so much!!

As always feel free to not reveal your process:

Thank you for coming to my ted talk I’ll see ya later.

[thewakingcloak]

Spacefarer Newsletter: June 2020

Well, month two of this newsletter! We’re still doing this thing!

This gif isn’t really related to anything in this newsletter, but I wanted to share this because 1) there will be a few paragraphs without images and I want to provide you with some interesting content, 2) I’m sort of possibly doing more camera rework which you may hear about next month... who knows, and 3) it’s hilarious.

So anyway, yeah, I got a lot done this month. I installed the GameMaker Studio 2.3 beta, created the ProtoDungeon 3 project, and put together the git repository. Of course, I ran into a fair few bugs when transitioning to the 2.3 beta. Namely, the player would always just slide to the right...

After quite a lot of debugging (is my input library working? is there an object on the player pushing the player? are there two players pushing each other?), I discovered that the player was pushing herself. Some stuff had changed behind the scenes that messed with one of my collision checks. Easy to fix though!

Then I fixed up some ancient camera issues that have been around since the dawn of time. The camera was originally created to follow the player with lerp (short for “linear interpolation;” this is what makes the camera move smoothly). This lerp caused all kinds of little visual quirks if I wanted to instantly move the camera anywhere because it was trying to “smooth out” that movement. And it was inflexible too. Well, now I have more control over it; stuff most people probably won’t notice, but it makes things much easier on my end and does actually get rid of those quirks.

As sort of another giant rabbit trail (bear trail?) from starting actual work on Episode 3, I implemented the new floating HUD. I thought I had a ton of code that would be impossible to untangle due to the way the camera compensated for the HUD being at the bottom... but this was surprisingly easy. Now, there’s some rooms that aren’t big enough causing problems, and I’ll have to go through and resize all of them (most of Episode I will be this way). Anyway, super pleased with the new direction on the HUD here.

Before:

After:

And then the main feature: I worked on the new boots! The boots have a lot of different functions, but I’m trying to get the main one: jumping! This also went much faster than expected. I do have a lot of polish to apply still, but it does work.

Fun fact: it’s the same sprite as the ring spell object, and it ends up kinda looking like the Mario jump. I dunno if it’s gonna stay that way... but it’s not bad?

Also, please watch these gifs. I had a lot of funny moments working on jumping.

Lastly, I ran into a tile collision tutorial, so I (perhaps unwisely) chose to convert my collision system to that. It’s much more performant and way easier to change in the workflow, but it will require me to fix a few collision issues I’ve sort of been masking until now. Will this pan out? Who knows.

I’m pretty excited at my current pace of development. Of course, I’m not over-optimistic enough to say this episode will be done soon, though. :) 

[basilone]

basilone’s gif tutorial (part I)

I have been getting so many lovely comments on my gifs (thank you!) that I feel like I can give something back to all of you who want to create that sort of thing but have no idea on where to even begin. A lot of people have mentioned the colouring of my gifs in particular as something they really like, so I wanted to do a little tutorial on how to achieve it!

Part I of this tutorial will focus on how to go from absolutely nothing to the most basic of gifs. Most basic, in this case, means entirely unaltered: all this part of the tutorial will talk about is how I create a gif. (Other people may have other methods but this is the one I’m most familiar with.)

Part II will include how to go from the basic gif we created in the first part to the kind of gif you see me publish in my gifsets, with all the colours and sharpening settings and all that jazz.

If you have any questions or need clarification on anything, please drop me an ask and let me know!!

What you need for this first part:

A video file of whatever you want to gif

KMPlayer

Photoshop (I use CS6, other versions are cool too)

A little bit of patience

My end result once I have followed all the steps of part I looks like this:

Step 1

Open your video in KMPlayer. I used episode 4 of The Pacific for this tutorial! Search in the video until you find the exact scene you want to make a gif of. (For the sake of part II of this tutorial, I’ve chosen a scene with lots of daylight and colours.)

Step 2

Pause the video, if you haven’t already, and then click CTRL+G. You will now see this box appear:

Use my exact settings (shown above) for this one. In Extract to, choose the folder you want the screencaps to land in. Make sure the option Every frame is selected. Now click ‘start’.

Step 3

Play the video until the scene you want to gif is done. Pause it again. Click CTRL+G once more and press ‘stop’.

Step 4

Go to the folder on your PC that you saved the screencaps to. You’ll likely have hundreds (if not thousands) of them, but please don’t panic! Delete all the screencaps that don’t belong to the part of the scene you want to gif.

Important rule of thumb! How many screencaps you need depends on the size you want to make your gif. For gifs that are 540x304px, use no more than 50-60 screencaps tops. For gifs that are 268x151px, use no more than 80. For 151x85px (please love yourself what are you doing), just go crazy – you can easily use more than 100 for that. (You don’t wanna be in the situation where you’ve created and coloured your gif, only to find out when saving it that it exceeds Tumblr’s petty 8mb size and you have to go back to delete some frames.. believe me. :’))

Step 5

Start up your Photoshop (yay!) and go to File → Scripts → Load Multiple DICOM Files. Select the folder your screencaps are in, then click ‘ok’.

Make sure you’ve got all the tools open that you’re gonna need for both parts of this tutorial. You do this by going to Window in the Photoshop menu bar and selecting the following:

Actions

Adjustments

Layers

Navigator

Timeline

Step 6

Timeline is gonna be your new best friend! Click on Create Frame Animation. Then click on the little downward arrow that has three small stripes next to it, which is gonna make this next menu appear:

Select Make frames from layers and watch how all the individual frames are loaded into the timeline. Good, right? (You can see the individual frames in the Layers box as well, which we’ll get to in a hot moment.)

Step 7

Select all the frames on the timeline and click the little arrow next to where it says 0 sec below the frames. We don’t want to set our gif to 0 sec. We want to set it to 0,08. So, we select Other and type in 0,08 and then click ‘ok’ like we know what we’re doing.

That’s the movement part of the gif done, believe it or not, so we must be doing something right!

Step 8

So, yeah, we got it to move. Now what, you might ask? ;) Now it’s time to actually make sure that Tumblr doesn’t freak out about us uploading it. Here’s how we’re gonna do that.

Make sure all the frames are still selected on the timeline. Now select the Crop tool, set it to 540 px by 304 px or whatever size you want your gif to have, and start fiddling around with the corners of the image. You can select the part of the frame you actually want in your gif that way. Double-click on your selection once you’re satisfied with it or click the check mark that appears on screen. Tadaa! Gif is resized!

Step 9

Now, I assume that you’re like me in this case but if you’re not please feel free to skip past this step. I always have more frames than I technically need. I start off with about 70 screencaps/frames for big gifs, which I then need to select down to ideally 40-50 screencaps/frames total!

What I personally do is that I will make the gif the way I just described with all 70 frames in place, and then I will play it a couple of times in the timeframe mode to see which sections can feasibly be cut away. You can do the same thing, try it! (And you get to see how nifty the gif is gonna look, too!)

Select the frames on the timeline that you want to get rid of and click the little garbage can on the timeline. That gets rid of half of the trouble, but now you gotta do something else. Remember me saying something about the Layers box? That’s gonna be your other best friend in this first part. Go to that box and select the layers you just deleted from the timeframe.

How do you know which layers you’ve deleted? Select all the frames you’ve still got on the timeline. Those layers will get a little eyeball in front of them in the Layers box. Any layer that does not have the eyeball is one you’ve deleted. Select those layers and delete them by simply pressing delete on your keyboard or clicking on the garbage can in the Layers box. 

(Alternately, as shown in the screencap above, select the first frame on the timeline. It will get an eyeball in front of it. Delete everything below that layer in the Layers box. Select the last frame on the timeline. Delete everything above that layer in the Layers box. NEVER delete frames in the middle, it’s gonna disrupt the flow of your gif like whoa!!)

Step 10

Almost there!

Click the button on the bottom left of the Timeline box, which will say ‘convert to video timeline’ when you hover over it.

Now select all your layers in the Layers box and right-click on them with your mouse. You’ll see the following pop-up. Select Convert to smart object.

Step 11

Save your gif as follows. Go to File → Save for Web. Use these settings:

Click ‘save’, give your gif a name, and you’re all set!!

[taeslovehandles]

HOW I DO MY CHUBBY EDITS:

STEP 1: Well ofc we gotta find an image that is suitable for editing. The higher the quality of the original image the better - more realistic - it will look. I considered the strawpoll but every member besides jk had the same amount of votes so I decided to take an image with everyone in it! >:3

STEP 2: Now I look at the details and decide which elements are in the way and need to be taken out. (I won’t go into detail with photoshop tools because it literally would take me hours.)

This is one of the steps that can be considered to take the longest depending on how much stuff I decided to get rid off such as logos, items that will be in the way later etc.

As you can see the above image shows the original look of the boys clothing and the screenshot underneath my edited version. I got rid of all the disorted puma logos because they will look terrible later on when I stretch each body part out. (more to that later)

I also decided to remove the shoes around namjoon and the one Jin was holding. Simple reason was because you wouldn’t be able to see Jins hand anyway with a bigger body and it saves me time. Namjoons shoes were in the way and they didn’t fit my vision.

BE GONE SHOES >:c

STEP 3: Cutting the members out. In this step it’s important to copy your original layer in case something unexpected happens or you fuck up mid way. You may have noticed that my selection tool alignes perefctly with the boys bodies but not their head. (I use a selection tool, which only really works smooth if the background has a high enough contrast with your foreground objects - the 7 members in this case -! Otherwise I will have to manually go in and re-select, un-select, remove and attach all lines with my mouse and that takes me a lot of time to do - for one member alone -)

To explain it shortly: The original layer will always be seen because we will be using the background of the original (in this case the grey areas etc.) which also still has the original boys on them. Since we will be making them all bigger in size it doesn’t matter later on because we won’t see the slim version of them.

We will only size them up around their faces and ofc their bodies which means the hair won’t be touched. Therefore it’s unnecessary to cut them out properly as we will be using the hair from the original photo in the back and overlay it with this layer (basically the layer underneath)

*pats* I’m trying really hard to explain it in a way that makes sense but if you never used any editing program it’s hard to follow... and I am bad at explaining. xD

STEP 4: Now we will be cutting out each member individually from each other and put each of them on their own layer to move them around freely. This will help us later paint them all bigger without interrupting the member next to them.

Each filter only interacts with 1 layer which means, 7 layers with 1 member each, 7 times the work without messing up the other members in the process. (you will see what I mean later)

STEP 5: Now we will be going into the filter. It’s originally a smoothening tool which also works as filter (filter in photoshop basically means an extra window with more options that tool offers.)

We will be using the smoothening tool that works like a brush. Imagine having paint on a paper in front of you and you put your finger on the paint to spread it out and make the splosh larger. You won’t see the white paper at all in the areas you went over with your finger and the different colors mix together and still look natural. That is what this tool does. It used the pixel around your brush (finger) and copies them.

STEP 6: Now you may have noticed that in the original we only saw Hobis arm infront. If we would use our finger brush tool all we’d do is make his arm way too large. To avoid that I went into the image, picked the white of his shirt as color and painted my own belly in there. I grabbed Hobis dark grey colors and used them like the actual coat as shadow.

In this rough state I used another tool to soften the edges of the shadow to look more like shadows on the shirt. After that I copied some of the fabric from his back and placed it on his belly to make it fitting to the rest.

As you can see very well here, the smoothening tool only expands or shrinks areas. It is not getting rid of any spaces. You see hobis knee? Yep, looking weird. Which means in order to fix that we have to go in and cut his leg out and put it on an extra layer.

We go back into out smoothing tool and expand the leg without interrupting his other leg and boom.

STEP 7: After sizing all the boys up with the same steps I showed with Hobi we will now give the boys cute little double chins. Double chins are one of the easiest to do because technically we already got the perfect base.

We make their faces rounder and bigger, now all we have to do is to select their chin copy paste it onto a new layer and move it up. Resize it and make it smaller. We smooth the edges and blend it with his skin and tada, soft chubby chin <3

You redo these steps with each single layer. I took an inbetween screen to show my progress. Yes, yes it takes long lmao.

Sometimes the boys angle is really bad for me to go in and make their cheeks on the sides bigger without dragging their eye or mouth with me. Since Hobi had a better angle for his cheeks I copy pasted his and put it on JK. (You wouldn’t even have noticed that without me telling you :D <3)

I also went ahead and cut JK’s head out to drag it down a bit. Basically putting his chin over his arm which most of the time makes a face look bigger especially if we fake a double chin. Fat faces and slim necks are semi okay though.

It’s not really a “next step” but I do it because in my opinion it helps to make their faces look fuller. I go back in and grab the lightest color on their cheeks and color over their cheeks in a big circle with my selected color. I smoothen the edges and boom, they look fuller don’t they?

Chubby faces are more shiny in general because of all the fat in the skin as well as them sweating more which works perfectly here. Of course the main reason they appear “fuller” is the fact that a round shape does not cast as many shadows. A slim face like the boys have would have multiple skin tones in there.

You might have to squint here it’s a really small detail but it does wonders for the “realness” feeling.

STEP 8: For the last step we put all our layers in a folder, copy paste it and combine them into one image. I decided that the image was a bit too blue and wanted more of their rosy cheecks showing. I changed the color key for the entire image and made it a bit redder to archieve that.

and then we are done! I put my watermark on it and save it lmao. I hope you liked this little documentary of my process of editing. This took me 2 hours without writing this humongous post. Hope you enjoyed!

The finished edit will be posted seperately as well for you <3 I’d love to hear your opinion on this. Was it interesting?, did you think that is how it works?

I’d love to interactwith you all and talk about this :3 <3 *hugs*

[s-k-y-w-a-l-k-e-r]

Tagged by @jimmytfallon for this gif meme. I’m not really sure how the meme started so I may be missing the point, but I think it’s to show overall skill with coloring and whatnot? Also this project presents a minor challenge for me, in that all my .psds and previous gifs are almost all full-width. So it was fun practicing with half-width!

Anyway, I have three different methods I use, depending on the source material, for getting videos to work with. 

For YouTube/Instagram videos of 720p or lower, I screencap the video, load files into stack, and use the basic method outlined here. I think it’s the best way to handle smaller gifs.

For YouTube/Vimeo videos of 1080p or higher, I directly load the video file itself into Photoshop and work off of that.

For screen recordings (most of the Pacific, BoRhap, and Robot gifsets I do are like this), I simply don’t have the option of screencapping—my computer records at almost 3000px width and the screencaps fill up my hard drive in a matter of minutes. So I open the screen recording in Photoshop, and after I’ve slowed the clip (in all three cases, it’s usually around 81% speed for it to be somewhat normal speed), I resize to the desired width immediately. This has to be done or my computer will crash and this thing is not exactly bottom of the line.

From there, I do my adjustment layers and then I sharpen. It doesn’t matter what order you sharpen in if you’re doing this as a smart object. You can turn on and off these sharpening effects—and if you’re feeling fancy like I have lately, you can do the same with the artistic effects like oil paint or half-tone.

Adjustment layers in order of preference/use:

Curves. You can literally do everything in curves if you’re really willing to learn how they work. Initially, you might think they effect lighting. The bottom left corner turns up and down blacks. Left of center, you’re changing how light or dark the shadows are. Right of center, you’re changing the highlights, and to the top right, you’re changing the whites and how bright they are. But you can also change colors within the different toggles of Curves. I don’t always do this because to do an effective job, you still have to create multiple curves layers—and why do that when you can just do...

Color balance! This is the absolute most important coloring tool that I’ve found to deal with Mr. Robot’s pallor. It’s so green-yellow that I find myself turning things back to red and magenta and blue to try and give Elliot a little bit of life back. In the gif above, you can see that it was almost a pea green tone over the whole thing, so I gave it back some peachiness (and don’t get me started on how dark all of Mr. Robot is).

Brightness/Contrast. I try to use this sparingly, but sometimes it’s just the simplest tool to get things done.

Selective Color! I didn’t know about this for a long time and once I figured it out, it was a game changer. When you just want a yellow robe to be a warm yellow without green undertones and you want high contrast in the rest of the image but not in the yellow robe—Selective Color is where you need to go. Hue/Saturation can only do so much for you here.

Solid Color. Lately I’ve been trying to vignette some gifs using this. And it can be really helpful to do so because it cuts down on flashing pixels that will add to your overall gif megabyte-age. So I’ll load one up in a dark color (if not completely black) and then use a layer mask to get rid of a lot of the solid color. This is not shown anywhere above, but you can see it in action here. It’s more valuable in extra-big gifs.

And then Smart Object effects

Plain old Sharpen. I always do this before the other. And sometimes I turn it back off after I’ve gotten the next step down. In the yellow robe gif above, I wound up turning off this sharpen layer because it introduced too much edge noise.

Smart Sharpen. Learning how to hone this is absolutely vital. 500, .3, 20, Gaussian is always a good place to start—and if that doesn’t mean anything to you, just try opening the Smart Sharpen tool and putting those four things in. Of course, once you get a handle on Smart Sharpen, you can go wild trying to get things just right. Layering it with other Smart Sharpen layers can sometimes help create a balance, too.

Oil Paint. I’ve been screwing around with this a lot lately and haven’t quite got it nailed down, but I’m having fun with it!

Other Useful Layers

Overlays. I love to layer up two separate video files! So much so that I now have a drop-down menu for them on my full browser layout. The YSL/Rami modeling overlay above is the perfect example. Want to see how I do it? Ask for a tutorial. I don’t want to give everything away in one post!

Layer Masks. For mostly-still scenes, especially in cinematography where the camera doesn’t move a lot (like Mr. Robot, or in an interview), you can take a picture basically of your gif, super-impose it, and then make a layer mask to make it smooth. Works really well in many of my Mr. Robot Rewatch sets, like this one. Again, willing to give a tutorial if you ask.

Captions. All of mine come out looking fuzzy and I’m not good at them so I don’t do them much. If you’re a gif maker reading this and have a method you like, please share because I cannot figure out why I can’t make this look good.

So anyway, as you can see, it’s a lot to work with. So many options! There’s so much that can go into a single gifset, and though I have a system down to where I can make certain gifs really quickly, it’s still usually an hour or two on even the simplest gifs. I like to think it doesn’t take as much brain power as a fic writer, but it does take a certain intuition and know-how that takes years to hone.

I love my fellow gif makers and would love to see how they do. Tagging @gwil-lee, @ewan-mcgrxgor, @ilygwilym, and @warmommy because I want to learn your secrets see your process if you’re willing to share!

[the--sad--hatter]

No Survivors - Chapter Two

Fandom: None, this is an original work of fiction.

Genre: Sci-fi, fantasy, space opera

Rating and warnings: 18+ ONLY. Contains scenes of graphic violence, death, gore, cursing, and scenes of a sexual nature.

Disclaimer: All content and characters are created and owned by me, and my work is NOT to be reposted anywhere else without my explicit permission. Reblogs are fine, and very much appreciated.

The No Survivors Tumblr Blog | Masterlist 

Blurb:

6000 years into the future and humanity is thriving, having made their home in The Emerald Galaxy, lightyears away from their home planet. They’ve come a long way since the days of Earth. Lifespans have tripled, interstellar travel is a daily occurrence and humans have successfully integrated with alien species. All is well.

But for Captain Ice, nothing has been well for a long time. The once distinguished Captain is now a disgrace and a liability, carrying the weight of the cost of war on her shoulders. All Ice wants to do is carry on drinking herself into an early grave pod, but the Emerald Empire has a use for her yet.

Deep in The Emerald Galaxy lies Sector 12, or The Empires armpit as it’s referred to in polite company. When Sector 12’s Captain retires, General Felicity Hart decided to rid herself of a nuisance and instructs Ice to form a new crew and take over the job of glorified janitor.

Humanity survived the annihilation of its home planet and a journey across the universe, but can it survive the adventures of a disgraced Captain and her mismatched crew, or will there be… No Survivors?

The tall towers of the citadel were dark and imposing, carved from the black obsidian that was abundant in the mine shafts of Heart. Inside the looming spires the same darkness was copious, dark marble and stone as far as the eye could see, onyx around every corner that J`ess`inca ‘Jess’ Crowley had turned on her way to the laboratory she spent every day in, though she’d come to see it more as a self-imposed prison. She idly pretended to be diligently taking notes as her boss talked very quickly and very inaccurately about cell stabilisation until she couldn’t take it anymore.  

“Doctor Marx it’s impossible, even if you were able to create a shield around each individual cell, the rapid shrinking would damage them inside it and that’s before you displace them and then resize. Teleportation just isn’t possible” She interrupted.

He paused and looked up from his screen, putting extra effort into his sneer so his lowly assistant knew how little he thought of her.

“You’re my assistant, you’re here to take notes not give your opinion.” He snorted derisively, the white wispy hairs of his unkempt moustache fluttering from the breath.

She didn’t know his exact age, but the wrinkles and grey hair indicated he had to be at least 260 years old. How someone could live for two and a half centuries and be so tactless and obstinate, she would never understand.  

“It’s not my opinion, it’s the facts.” She argued calmly.

Doctor Marx could look down on her all he liked, she would never let the opinion of someone she didn’t respect have any effect on her. Before Doctor Marx could foolishly rebut the logic, a sharp rap on the labs open door had the two doctors turning around.

“Yes? What do you want?” Marx demanded impatiently.

He was more than used to having to provide his services to the Empire’s army so he wasn’t overly concerned, though admittedly most Captains didn’t bother to come to him directly. He might have been disinterested with the woman standing impassively by the door, cutting an imposing figure but Jess was intrigued. Captains were not a rare sight in the Citadel, in fact the base was crawling with them, but none like this. She was clad in the standard garb, the leather Captains coat they were all identified by, but she didn’t wear it the same way every other Captain did. It was loose, worn and battered and ill-fitting and yet the woman wore it more naturally than any of the stuffy uptight Captains that roamed around.

“I’m recruiting for my new team and I need a scientist.” The woman shrugged.

Jess felt a little jolt of jealousy run through her. All crews required a scientist and a medical doctor to to accompany the teams across the galaxy and partake in their adventures. It was the kind of adventurous life she had dreamed of, but as bright as her future once seemed, she knew better now. Her life was never going to be more than surviving, never living.

“Well we’re busy. Go away.” Marx snapped.

He clearly thought his research was too valuable to be abandoned in favour of running around the galaxy with a group of trigger-happy goons but that was no excuse for being so disrespectful, especially to someone who outranked him. Jess sighed and walked over to her, extending her hand with an apologetic look.

“I’m Jess Crowley, Doctor Marx is in the middle of something. He doesn’t mean to be so rude.”

The Captain smirked knowingly and took Jess’s hand in her own, grasping it firmly.

“Pleasure to meet you, Doctor Crowley. I’m Captain Ice.” She introduced herself, watching carefully for the inevitable reaction.

Jess felt her own eyes widen as Marx looked back up from his screen in shock and awe. Captain Ice was more than legendary, she was iconic. Jess was too young to remember The War properly, the one that had taken her father from her, but she had heard the stories. Hidden away from the sharp ears of the Empire the truth was whispered reverently, ‘The Empire didn’t win the war, Captain Ice did’. Enough people had seen the Captain for her existence to be confirmed but she was so elusive that she had become something of a folktale. Nobody knew the truth about The War, who it had been with or why, all they knew was billions of people had died, an entire sector of the Galaxy had been destroyed and that when it was all over, Captain Ice had been the only person The Empress had personally thanked. Legend had it that The Empress had decreed that Ice was the only subject in The Empire who would never kneel for her, and that The Empress had herself knelt for Ice.

“Captain Ice, I’m so sorry, I had no idea. Please accept my apologies. Recruitment you say? By Ice herself? What an honour. I would of course be happy to accept.” He stammered.

Even Marx wasn’t immune to the reputation of the Captain.

“You can go away, I’m here for her.” Ice dismissed him, not taking her eyes off of Jess’s.

Jess physically recoiled, trying to stuff away the spark of hope that flamed to life in her heart, even as she protested.

 “Me? Oh, but I’m Marx’s assistant I can’t…”

“Doctor J`ess`inca Crowley, you received highest honours in your graduating class from the Empire Academy. In all fourteen of your subjects. You are most definitely the smartest person in the Galaxy and yet here you are, taking notes for a crackpot.” Ice interrupted.

“I beg your pardon?” Marx spluttered.

“Get out.” Ice ordered with all the care of swatting a bug.

“This is my laboratory!”

“Now.” Ice snapped in a tone that brokered no argument, fixing him with a chilling glare that had him looking terrified and hurrying away.

As soon as he scarpered from the room, practically tripping over his own feet in the process, Ice turned back to the young Doctor with an expectant look. Jess inhaled shakily before she straightened her shoulders and stood tall.

“I’m flattered, really I am, but I’m staying here.” She said resolutely, hiding her disappointment in having to pass up the chance to live out her wildest dreams.  

Ice hummed thoughtfully and nodded, wandering around the lab, peering at the screens with scant interest. She found a large model of the Galaxy in the centre of the lab and reached into the centre of it to snap the model of Planet Heart from the display and tossed it in the air like a ball as she regarded Jess thoughtfully.  

“Humanity cracked the secrets of space travel, broke the light and sound barriers, invented gravitational force fields and synthetic atmospheres. We have eradicated most of the diseases that threaten us, slowed the aging process, tripled our lifespans and we did it all six thousand years ago. We still haven’t got teleportation right, which means we probably never will. Even if we did, Marx isn’t going to be the man behind it, which means you can’t steal the technology from him.” She announced, her eyes glinting with mischief.

Jess swallowed her heart back down as it jumped into her throat. If Ice knew the truth then she was done for. The Captain wasn’t here to recruit her, but to arrest her.

“Steal it? I wouldn’t, that’s not what... I mean why would you think that?” She asked thickly.

“Because that’s what you are being paid to do, so you can pay off your brothers considerable gambling debts.” Ice explained.

Jess’s shoulders dropped. It was over, she had been discovered.  

“You’re here to take me in.” She whispered.

“No.” Ice corrected.

Jess frowned. For one of the first times in her life she didn’t understand.

“I told you, I’m recruiting you. I’ve paid your brothers debts. You’re free, so is he. Welcome to the crew Doctor Crowley.”

Ice tossed the model planet through the air one last time before she held it out to Jess with an expectant look. Jess reached out, her fingers tentatively closing around the miniature replica of the planet they were standing on, the rich green sphere pressing into the palm of her hand.

“Why?” She asked softly, squeezing the planet in her hand.

“I have a new assignment and I need a crew for it, which means I need a scientist and a doctor. You tick both categories because you really are the smartest person in the known worlds. And because Captain or not, I don’t particularly care about the law.” Ice scoffed, pulling a small tablet from under her coat and passing it to Jess.

“Now, according to The Code, I still need at least one cadet, a first lieutenant and a mechanic. Let’s get going.” Ice finished briskly, making a beeline for the door.

Jess stood there for a moment longer, tablet in one hand and… the whole world in the other. She laughed softly in disbelief as it all started to sink in. Her brother was safe from the thugs who threatened him, she was free from Doctor Marx and a living legend was walking down the hallway after literally just handing her the whole world. Slipping the model planet into her pocket she hurried after the her Captain.

 ~~~

He knew that most of Earth’s history had been lost, or twisted beyond recognition, but believed that the old tales of warriors who fought for the spectators were true. Standing before the cheering crowds with sweat dripping down his face and his opponent groaning on the floor beneath him, he knew it had to be true. The allure of adoration, the thrill of victory, the burn of exertion, it was addictive.

“You have a long way to go before you’re ready to rise up the ranks, Corporal.” He scoffed, stepping over the bleeding person he’d defeated.

When he’d made lieutenant he hadn’t for a second imagined that he’d end up here, stuck on the same planet he’d spent his childhood, stowed away in the training rooms so he couldn’t embarrass his family any further. He’d made the best of it, acting like it was a choice, using the opportunity to show off his combat skills. He spent his days preparing men and women for a future he couldn’t achieve and his nights in the arms of whatever adoring fan took his fancy, all the while trying to convince himself that it made him happy. So what if he never made it to First Lieutenant, never advanced up the ranks, never achieved the same glory his sister had effortlessly snatched from her competitors? He had everything he needed here, in the training pits below the citadel.

He eyed the crowd of cadets and citizens, eyes drifting over them until he found one that stood out to him. Someone he could wrap himself around, bury himself inside, a distraction for the night. Beautiful men and gorgeous women alike were considered and discarded until his gaze fell on two anomalies. Two women, standing together, one in a lab coat and the other in a Captains. That wasn’t what caught his attention about them though, it was the lack of interest in him that had him walking over to them. The lab coat didn’t even glance up at him as he approached, her eyes glued to the tablet in her hand. The Captain just stared at him impassively.

“Captain. Doctor?” He greeted them, slamming his fist into his chest as he was expected to do in the company of a Captain.

“Lieutenant Hart.” The Captain responded, stating his name blankly.

“I see my reputation precedes me, but I don’t know you two. Which is strange because I know most of the Captains, especially the beautiful ones.” He tried, turning on the charm that always had people warming to him.

“I’m Doctor Crowley, we actually have met. You tried to buy me a drink once.” The lab coat informed him, finally looking up at him.

“Tried?” He pressed, bemused.

“Tried.” She confirmed, firmly no less.

He nodded respectfully, accepting the unspoken terms of their interaction she had set out for him. The Captain cocked her head at the Doc, amused or confused he couldn’t be sure.

“I’m Captain…”

“Ice.” He interrupted her introduction. “The whole citadel’s talking about you. More than usual that is. The legend has finally returned and she’s taking over Sector Twelve. I’ve heard about your little recruitment drive and as soon as the doctor introduced herself I knew who you were. I thought you’d look more intimidating.” He noted.

The same day she’d been made into a legend was the same day he’d been branded a failure, and yet he had never crossed paths with the woman before. He knew all about her of course, well, as much as anybody knew. Probably a little more than most, though not much. The woman was shrouded in so myth and mystery that to see she was just flesh and bone, and not very tall, was anticlimactic.

“I’m not the only one with a reputation.” Ice reminded him.

He dropped the friendly grin and clenched his jaw at her vicious remark.

“You should be nicer to the people you are trying to recruit.” He snapped.

He knew why she was here, there was no other reason for her to seek him out.

“Trying to recruit? I’m a Captain, you’re just a lieutenant. I can draft you to my crew if I want.” She pointed out, far too smugly for his liking.

“My sister is the General, you can’t force me to do anything.” He spat, furious at having to bring up Felicity.

“I don’t see any other Captains offering you the chance to add First to your Lieutenant title and it was your sister who said I could have anyone in the Citadel for my crew, and look where you happen to be standing.” Ice told him, looking pointedly at the ground.

“I have no interest in patrolling the Armpit of the Galaxy for a washed up has-been of a Captain. If you want me, you have to fight for me.” He sneered, his lip curling back over his teeth.

He issued the challenge hoping to get a reaction of some kind, but she disappointed him, slipping off her coat without blinking. The Doc held her arm out for it, already so obedient for her new master. Ice stepped forward, rolling her shoulders to loosen them up.

“Terms?” She asked, raising her hands defensively and placing her left foot back.

“First person whose back hits the ground loses.” He suggested, a little shocked he’d been goaded into issuing the challenge and that she had accepted so easily.

Ice was unreadable, nothing tangible or recognisable behind her eyes. He wasn’t stupid, he knew that someone who could wear a mask that effectively only showed emotion if they wanted it to be seen, so he had a sick feeling in his gut that he was being played. She had reminded him of his reputation and put him down just to get his hackles up. Most likely so she could humiliate him, break him down and prove she was his superior.

He clenched his hand into a fist and struck out, aiming below her raised arms for her ribs. His fist never connected, she moved back and trapped his wrist between her forearms, twisting his arm between hers and pulling him forward, off balance. He let himself stumble forwards, falling to his knees and twisting his upper body so he could slam his elbow into the soft flesh of her waist. She didn’t even grace him with a grunt of pain, but it clearly hurt her because he was able to free his trapped arm and spin away, getting to his feet and facing off against her again.

“You’ve got a lot more fire than your name implies.” He snarled at her.

“Ice can burn you just as badly as fire can.” She smirked, waving him forward to try again.

He feinted left, like he was going for the bruise he’d likely already left and she didn’t flinch, reading his body expertly. He felt a flicker of begrudging respect. He opened his mouth to ask her if she was frozen in place but before he could get the words out she stepped forwards, faster than he had ever seen another human being move. He never stood a chance, the impact of her fist slammed into his ribs, knocking the breath out of his lungs. She wasn’t overly strong, but she was strong enough. It was her speed and dexterity that made her deadly, because as soon as her knuckles left his ribs she fluidly turned her back to him and stepped into his body, wrapping her arm behind her - around his waist. It all happened in a split second, too fast for him to realise what had happened, never mind defend himself against it as she leant forward, pulling him with her so he was flipped over her shoulder.

As his back slammed towards the ground something twisted inside his heart and it was only decades of Empire training that saved him. He got his feet on the ground first and threw his hands underneath his body, holding his back centimetres off the ground. He saw her raise an eyebrow at his gambled manoeuvre, and her nod of approval sent a wave of anger blazing through him.

He neither wanted nor needed her approval. She was the darling of the Empire, respected by every person residing within it. A life that should have been his, had he not fucked it up. He was the first son of the first family of The Emerald Empire, in the days before the democracy that ruled The Empire now, he would have been a Prince. She was a nobody who had risen through the ranks on nothing more than her own ability, earning what should have been his birthright. She was better than him in every way, and they both knew it. He didn’t want her approval, because it was just thinly veiled pity.

He used his upper body to flip to his feet, holding back the snarl inside his chest as he attacked, raining blow after blow down on her. Most of them were blocked with ease, but a few landed. The seconds ticked away as they engaged in a violent dance, spinning across the floor in a macabre and dangerous waltz. For every blow he managed to land on her, she retaliated with two more. They were far from evenly matched but though she was faster and nimbler, he was stronger and built to take more damage, thus neither of them achieved the upper hand. He realised it was going to be stamina that won the fight, and there was barely a sheen of sweat on her skin. If he wanted to win he wasn’t going to do it by playing to his strengths, he had to play to his weakness.

He waited for an opening, a chance to step forward and leave his face unprotected, steeling himself for the hit that would be coming as a result of it. He’d known it was inevitable, he’d opened himself up to it, and yet he still didn’t see her move. It was only after the side of her fist slammed into the space between his neck and his shoulder that he knew she’d done it, by the pain shooting through him. Agonizing as it was, it was what he needed. He stumbled back, wincing in pain. Ice almost casually followed and kicked his legs out from under him, letting him fall to the ground. At the last possible second he grabbed her wrist and pulled her body into his, cradling her against his chest.

The dull thud of them hitting the ground signalled the end of the fight, the silence that followed only broken by his laboured breathing.

“You lose.” He whispered, pushing himself upright until he was kneeling on the ground.

Ice lay on her back, stunned. He’d used his own fall to bring about hers, pushing her under him in a move she couldn’t have foreseen. After all, she was a warrior and in a real fight, he’d have just gotten himself killed.

He stood up and held his hand out to help her up, but was unceremoniously shoved out of the way.

“Are you alright? Did your head connect with the ground?” The Doc demanded, clucking worriedly and looking over her slightly bemused Captain.

“No, it didn’t. His hand was cradling my head, because he didn’t stumble at all. It was a manoeuvre wasn’t it?” Ice deduced, looking up at him with more of that respect he hated.

He forced a smirk onto his face to mask the ire, glancing around as he only just registered that they’d had an audience. They were clapping for him. For the first time in his life he turned away from the adoration and watched as Ice climbed to her feet, gently swatting away the Docs attempts to help.

“Well done, nobody’s bested me in a long time. A deals a deal, I won’t recruit you.” Ice declared, tugging her coat out of the Docs arms and slipping it back on.

“Seems you’re not washed up after all, you are as good as people think you are,” He admitted, “It just so happens that I’m better.” He added, unable to help himself.

She just nodded, seemingly agreeing with him and walked away. Apparently she meant it, she wouldn’t be trying to recruit him after all, and that meant she had no further use for him. Shaking off the gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach he turned back to the crowds and held out his arms.

“Who’s next?”

~~~

“I want to ask if you let him win but I can’t think why you would let your ego take a beating like that.” Jess muttered, side eying Ice with lingering concern as they left the training bays.

Ice pulled the door open and held it for her, frowning slightly.

“I don’t have an ego.” She stated as Jess passed her.

It wasn’t a rebuttal or protest, just a simple irrefutable fact.

“But you’re….”

“I’m what?” Ice pressed when the doctor trailed off.

“Captain Ice.” She uttered, like it should be explanation enough.

“Putting that massive IQ to good use I see. See Daniel, he has an ego,” Ice said, waving her hand in the direction they’d come from, back towards Lieutenant Hart, “And people with ego’s are easy to manipulate. They either develop an ego because people inflate it for them or because they need to inflate it themselves as a shield. Either way, you bruise the ego and you’re an enemy. I need a First Lieutenant, not an enemy.”

“So you don’t have an ego because you don’t want to be weak?” Jess formulated, trying to make sense of her new superior who was more forthcoming than she had expected.

It occurred to her that Ice wasn’t really being all that talkative, she was just answering Jess’s questions, treating her like an equal, letting her work her brain. It was refreshing.

“I don’t have an ego because I am weak, and I know it. Most of the tales they’re telling about me these days aren’t true, and the ones that are have been embellished. Listen to me Doctor,” She demanded, stopping dead in the middle of the corridor and staring Jess down, “Better people than me died in The War… My reputation is fuelled by their bloodshed and built on a foundation of their bones. You’re a scientist so don’t put stock in fairytales, examine the evidence yourself and form your own opinion.”

It was said gently, she wasn’t being scolded, but still, she had to prove that Ice was right to seek her out for the job, to save her from monotony and crime.

“Who’s coat are you wearing?” She asked.

Ice quirked her eyebrow and tilted her head to the side slightly, curious about the sudden line of questioning.

“Captain’s coats end at mid thigh, yours ends mid-calf. There are creases in the leather around the elbows from the amount of times you’ve pushed the sleeves up. The coat wasn’t made for you, it was made for someone much taller.” She continued, pointing out her deductions calmly.

The corner of Ice’s lip twitched minutely in a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ motion.

“You’re right, I was someone else’s. It’s mine now though.” She validated, starting to walk onwards again.

She wanted to ask whose it was but it somehow didn’t seem kind to press the issue any further. After all, most Captain’s didn’t retire.

“Why Lieutenant Hart?” She asked, moving to what seemed like a safer question.

Apparently she’d assumed wrong because Ice just shot a blank look over her shoulder instead of actually answering.

“Why do you need a crew at all? What’s the assignment?” Surely Ice would answer that one, since Jess was going to find out sooner or later anyway.  

“I’ve been assigned to Captain a sector.”

“Which one?” Jess gushed, rushing to fall into step beside Ice again.

A new solar system, dozens of potential planets to explore. The things she could learn and discover, the adventures she could have. Her mind filled with visions of the acid rains of Tregelorth in Sector 3, the black diamond moons of Artemis in Sector 412, the iridescent hallucinogenic gas from the trees of Fairthorlia in Sector 77….

“12.” Ice announced as she swung open the outer doors and stepped outside.

“The armpit?” Jess asked somewhat dejectedly, her daydreams shattered.  

“You were raised here on Heart weren’t you?” Ice scoffed, glancing up at the teal skies above them.

“Yes?”

“Then the armpit is an upgrade considering you grew up in the Empire’s asshole.” Ice informed her.

“What?”

Ice held her arms out, gesturing to the expanse of the Planet.

“This is where all the Empires shit comes from.”

NS Taglist (OPEN) 

@cateyes315​ @severepienerdturkey @justellu​

I can’t explain how grateful I am to everyone who has read this. I’ve had this concept in my mind for years and I have wanted to tell this story for so long. 

Reblogs (especially reblogs), comments, likes, anything you’re willing to give is massively appreciated. 

[tsarisfanfiction]

Uniform (Tales From The Heart)

Fandom: One Piece Rating: Gen Warnings: None Characters: Shachi, Usopp, Ikkaku, Uni

"Hey…" Usopp picked up a card from the pile in the middle, regarding it for a moment before settling it in his hand and discarding another. His playmates looked at him in askance. "So… I was wondering… Why do you all wear a uniform?"

Ikkaku laughed, picking up his discarded card to replace it with an unwanted one from her own hand.

"You've been in the engine room, right?" she commented, sighing when Uni dove for her own discarded card with far too much glee in his eyes and tossed another for Shachi to claim. "It's too dangerous in there without one of these, and it's just hassle to have to change all the time. They're comfy enough."

"Yeah..." Usopp dragged out, frowning down at his hand as Shachi's discarded card once again did nothing for him, picking a fresh card from the pack. "But why are they all identical? Aside from Bepo, they're all the same colour. Why haven't you guys customised them at all?"

The three Heart Pirates present looked at each other and shrugged.

"Never crossed my mind," Ikkaku admitted, Uni nodding in agreement. "It's been like this since I joined, so I just went along with it."

"And me," Uni added, fiddling with his neckerchief. The two of them turned to their third nakama as Usopp laid a card down from his own hand.

"Shachi?"

The ginger shrugged again, whining when Ikkaku picked up Usopp's discarded card and placed down one of her own before adjusting his hat.

"Honestly? We found these things onboard when we got the Tang," he admitted as Uni went for the pack for his next card. "Well, the originals. We've grown a lot since then, obviously." He laughed, before pouting at Uni's discarded card and picking up a new one from the pack, which was quickly discarded in a huff. Usopp very obviously refrained from lunging for it, picking it up with comically feigned reluctance.

"'Grown a lot since then'?" he quoted, very obviously looking the ginger up and down as best he could in their sitting positions as he casually discarded the latest reject. Ikkaku snatched it up.

"Well, yeah," Shachi said. "The Heart Pirates formed thirteen years ago. We're Grand Line rookies, but not pirate rookies." Usopp's eyes went wide and he looked around the recreation room again, taking in the rest of the present crew.

"Not strictly true," Ikkaku corrected as she discarded a card from her hand for Uni to collect. "Most of us only joined within a year of heading for the Grand Line. Some, like Jean Bart, we only got once we were here. It was just the four of them before that." Shachi laughed awkwardly, claiming Uni's discarded card.

"True, true," he conceded. Usopp frowned at his discarded card and grabbed another from the pack. "But these boiler suits date back to when we were brats, that's for sure." He rubbed at the side of his face, just under the arm of his shades, watching Ikkaku internally debate over the merits of Usopp's own discarded card before deciding against it and picking up a fresh one. "I mean… well, you know a bit about the whole Doflamingo thing. Putting it simply, we were hiding, and we hadn't exactly set out with much stuff, you know?"

Usopp made a slightly confused face, but it could have been attributed to Uni picking up Ikkaku's discarded card – not in the theme of his earlier selections – rather than the idea that they'd left home without much stuff. Shachi barely looked at Uni's discard before picking up another from the pack, discarding it with a sigh.

"Well, anyway," he continued. "These were in the Tang already, and we didn't have much to wear and they were practical so they kinda stuck. By the time Doflamingo left North Blue and we had some breathing room, it seemed stupid to get rid of them. I mean, we did," he said, watching Usopp go for the pack and discard the card immediately, disappointed. "But we'd come to like the design, so we just got ones that fit a bit better. We were only so good at resizing them ourselves, especially Bepo. So we commissioned new ones and stuck our flag on them, because they were ours, you know?"

Uni grabbed at Ikkaku's latest offering with a smug air and discarded a different card.

"Captain didn't stick to it but then again, Captain doesn't go into the engine room. He rarely wore the old ones, anyway. Said they messed with his concentration, or something." Shachi pouted at Uni's discard and grabbed another from the pile, which he stared at for a few minutes. "So yeah, that's basically it. Not exactly an inspiring story."

"Well not quite as much as the time I defeated a gigantic multi-headed cat with a thousand claws with nothing but a single pebble," Usopp mused, collecting Shachi's discarded card. "But still a worthy tale." He discarded a card of his own with a grin. "Rummy, by the way."

Shachi squawked indignantly as the sniper laid down his hand.

"No fair! I was collecting those!"

The others just laughed.

[eldritchsurveys]

1083.

Do you have a vlog? If not, have you ever considered starting a vlog? >> I don’t have a vlog and I’ve only considered it as a humorous thought exercise, not seriously. My own mannerisms and facial tics embarrass me when I’m aware of them or can see them on video, so I’d rather not put myself through that.

Did you go to AM or PM kindergarten? >> I don’t remember. Edit: I think at one point I was going to pre-K in the morning and kindergarten in the afternoon, because they realised I was precocious or whatever, but they didn’t want to just fully skip me to kindergarten (idfk, man, teachers are weird). So I went to both at the same time, and graduated from both at the end of the year.

What are your favorite youtube channels to watch? >> Wisecrack, Overly Sarcastic Productions, The Take, Philosophy Tube, ContraPoints, Ethys Asher, MTQCapture (just for FFXIV dungeon guides, but hers are the best), Final Fantasy Union, Implicitly Pretentious, NakeyJakey, Ask a Mortician... those are all the ones I can remember off the top of my head. I’m always looking for new channels, but it’s hard to find consistently interesting and well-made content that isn’t about things I just don’t particularly care about.

Which relative(s) do you look the most like? >> ---

Have you ever watched a live birth video? >> No.

Have you ever given birth? >> Heavens, no.

Do you remember when the Internet was a new thing? >> I vaguely remember when Internet for the casual at-home user became a thing. The Internet as a whole is a bit older than me, and I was very young when things like IRC came out.

Do you remember Y2K? >> Yes!

How old were you when the year changed to 2000? >> I was 12.

What was your favorite childhood vacation? >> ---

Have you ever wished you were born the opposite gender? >> I did think I was binary trans for a few years. Now I’m completely off the gender axis and floating in todash space somewhere. As intended.

What’s your birth order: oldest, middle, or youngest? >> I am the youngest of my father’s offspring.

Do you fit the stereotype for whatever birth order you are? >> I think if there’s any stereotype I’d be liable to fit, it’d be only-child stereotypes, since that’s how I was raised (my father’s other children were decades older than me and I barely knew them).

Have you ever worn overalls? >> Yeah.

If you’re a girl, how old were you when you started your period? >> I’m not a girl, but I was 11 or so.

Do you get cramps? >> I did. Awful ones, too, the kind that would incapacitate me (sometimes in public...). Which is the primary reason why I started taking the Pill -- I didn’t dare to hope that it would get rid of periods altogether, but I was very relieved and happy when it did.

Is your mom mentally stable? >> ---

Is your dad a complete jerk to you? >> ---

Where do you want to go on vacation next? >> I would love to go on a vacation to anywhere, but that’s not feasible right now.

What is one place you want to visit before you die? >> *shrug*

Has anyone ever committed suicide in your town, that you know of? >> I mean, I’m sure someone has, but I don’t know anything about it.

What’s your favorite type of crackers? >> Oh, god, I forgot what they’re called. But they’re long and thin and rectangular and they come in flavours like garlic and rosemary. Also, matzo. Love matzo, particularly the egg and onion kind.

What’s your favorite spice? >> I really couldn’t say.

Are you sensitive? >> Way more so than I’d thought I was. Turns out a complex system of protections and defense mechanisms was shielding a very soft core. (Thank god. As much as they can and do backfire and cause their own problems, can you imagine how much worse off I would have been without those mechanisms?)

Are you intuitive? >> I don’t know, really. How does one measure that?

Are you spiritual? >> Maybe. I don’t really know what people mean when they use that word, so I’m hesitant to say one way or the other.

Do you wish your life were easier? >> My life isn’t particularly difficult at this juncture. I just have... a very small window of tolerance and take things a lot harder as a result. I don’t wish my life was easier, I wish my brain was less on fire.

What color hair did your first crush have? >> ---

What was the name of your first crush? >> ---

Did you ever play on Mamamedia.com? >> No.

Do you remember your first email address? >> Yeah, it was ozonebaby30@yahoo.com.

Did you name your lego characters? >> I didn’t have LEGO. I had Tinker Toys and an Erector set, neither of which came with little people iirc.

What was/is your high school’s mascot? >> ---

What is/was your favorite class in high school? >> ---

Is college an adventure? >> ---

Do you take medication for anxiety or depression? If so, does it work? Does it help you? Or does it make you feel worse? >> I do not.

If applicable, what form of birth control do you use? >> The Pill. Not for the birth-control function, though... not having sex covers that pretty well.

Who is your favorite cousin? >> ---

Do you look your age? >> According to other people, who apparently care about that sort of thing, no.

What’s your favorite flavor of frosting? >> ---

Do you like toe socks? >> No.

Muffins or cupcakes? >> Cupcakes, but rarely. I just don’t like muffins period.

Have you ever had a bag stolen? >> Probably.

How old were you when you got your first phone? >> Seventeen.

Are you ready for summer?!?! >> I will be in a couple of months, you can guarantee that.

Is winter your favorite season? >> No.

How many people do you know who’ve said winter is their favorite season? >> Quite a few, actually. I feel like I’ve encountered far more winter people than summer people. I see people complaining about warm weather constantly. I will never understand (even as a person who runs hot, I will still never understand). Even with the side effect of getting SAD in the winter, I love being solar powered.

Are you unique in any way? >> I mean, probably.

Do you have any hidden talents? >> No.

Has anyone said you and your mom look like sisters? >> ---

Who was your best friend in high school? >> ---

What book or movie gave you nightmares as a child? >> None.

What song makes you cry? >> Plenty, but I can’t think of one right now.

Does anyone know who your first crush was besides you? >> ---

How many teachers have you had crushes on? >> I was thinking about this last night. Calling the obsession I had with that one teacher a “crush” is erroneous because... the reason why I felt the way I felt about him is because he was nice to me. Literally, that was it. I was freshly traumatised (and being in and out of the hospital was just re-traumatising me), had an attachment disorder and was emotionally neglected, and was used to being treated poorly. When I told That One Teacher that I cut myself, he gave me a hug. Like... groundbreaking! No one else had responded that way! Of course I was attached to him, he actually treated me like someone who deserved kindness and care. It’s really hard not to feel crushingly sad for teenage!me (and, as an extension, current!me, who is still bearing the effects of the past) when I think about that.

Did you make your Barbie dolls get crushes on each other? >> I don’t really remember what I did with Barbie dolls.

Did your Barbie dolls go on dates? >> ^

How old were you when you had your first kiss? >> ---

Do you like church? >> Eh. Depends on the church, I guess. I’ll always have affection for Black Church(tm).

Do you have scars from self-harm? >> Yep.

Do you have cellulite? >> A little, I think.

How old were you when you started getting zits? >> I had them through my teenage years.

Did your hair change at all when you went through puberty? >> I don’t think so.

Are you taller, shorter, or the same height as your mom? >> I’ve been taller than that woman since I was 12.

Would you ever consider adopting a child? >> If I was ever going to raise a child, this would be the only way it’d happen.

Who was your first roommate? >> ---

Have you ever had a teacher who was rude? >> Yup.

Is your mom paranoid? >> ---

Do you trim your own hair? >> I buzz my own head, yeah.

Did your mom read you bedtime stories as a child? >> I was not read bedtime stories as a child. I made up my own in my head instead.

What are all the things you remember being for Halloween? >> ---

What was the name of the first pet that you loved? >> Roxie.

Did you have your own room as a child? >> I did.

What color was your nursery? >> ---

Did your parents know your gender before you were born? >> I don’t know.

What is your name (first and middle)? >> Mordred Shadow.

What would you have been named if you had been born the opposite gender? >> My name isn’t related to what my parent named me, and I have no idea what he would have named me if I was born the opposite sex.

Do you like your name? >> I like the one I gave myself, yes.

What would you name your children? >> ---

Do you exercise regularly? >> I’m again trying to do the take-a-daily-walk thing. Again. I fail every time, but I keep trying. Can Calah says there’s something good about that, better than failing and giving up on ever doing it again. I don’t know, but I’ll trust him on it.

Do you have a healthy BMI? >> I don’t know.

What is your favorite season? >> Spring.

Do you look like your mom? >> ---

What is the origin of your last name? >> I have no idea. I assumed that in this world, Stephen King made it up, but maybe he didn’t. The “canonical” origin of my last name is Gilead-That-Was.

What is the meaning of your first name? >> It’s unclear.

What month were you born in? >> May.

Do you share a birthday with anyone in your family? >> ---

Do you have a sweet tooth? >> Nope.

What photo editing software do you use? >> I either use Paint to just resize or crop an image, or Pixlr if I need extra editing tools.

Where do you buy most of your clothes? >> There is no place where I buy the majority of my clothes. They come from all over.

[expelliarmus]

I saw that ask meme with questions for gif makers going around, but I felt like answering them all on my own lmao

1. What are your top 3 favorite sets you’ve made

This one, this one (if the timing works lmao), and this one (I’m so proud of my AU gifsets... where did all that creativity go??)

2. What is your least favorite set you’ve made

I honestly don’t know... I don’t think I hate anything I’ve posted though. If I don’t like how it’s turning out, I just won’t post it lol

3. Which of your sets has the most notes

The most notes ever is this one I think

4. A set that flopped but deserved better

I don’t know... there’s a bunch, but I’m fine if a gifset flops

5. What is your favorite movie/TV show to gif

DOCTOR WHO

6. What is your least favorite movie/TV show to gif

I really don’t gif anything else lmao...

7. Who are your top 3 gif makers

I’ll just pick 3 people off the top of my head :) @shatner​, @melodyspond​, @stupidape​

8. What gif trend do you hate

The pale/black and white gifs that are so hard to see.......

9. What/who inspired you to start making gifs

I wanted to gif my favourite parts of DW that I didn’t see anyone else doing, so I was like alrighty, time to learn how to do this!! I think the people that inspired me are long gone from tumblr, or I’m no longer following them because they’ve moved blogs (Natasha aka lumos-maxima... wherever you are, I MISS YOU... also Courtney aka needlebug I MISS YOU TOO)

10. What was the first gif you ever posted

THIS ONE! I remember being so happy about posting it, haha. Also, I still love that Confidential episode so much. I miss my space hipsters...

11. What is that one set you made that just won’t die

The Zoboomafoo one

12. What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever giffed

Everything I’ve ever posted

13. Where or from whom did you learn how to gif

Various tutorials on here and just by experimenting. I don’t even think I used Photoshop to begin with, since back in my Neopets days I used Paint Shop Pro to make graphics so I think that’s what I used first to try making gifs of videos.

14. How long does it usually take you to make a set

45 minutes to an hour or so?? It’s been taking longer and longer because the screencaps are so huge though and my poor laptop can’t handle it.

15. Have you ever had gifs stolen and reposted

Yes, and don’t think that I can’t tell when those are my gifs, even without a watermark!!

16. How long have you been making gifs

Since 2011...... my god

17. 10 sets, 8 sets, 6 sets? How many gifs to you prefer in a set

As many as it takes!!!!! But usually between 6-8

18. For the aesthetic, for the laughs, or for the feels what your preference

For FUN!

19. What is your gifting process like

Open video, find scene, screencap, load screencaps in Photoshop, resize to gif dimensions, add colouring, curse myself for picking a hard-to-colour scene, continue adjusting colouring and become increasingly frustrated because it’s not turning out the way I want it to, give up, add text, save gif, POST!

20. Mac or PC

PC

21. PSDs or original coloring for each gif

Original colouring. PSD who???

22. What fandom/movie/show/person etc do you gif the most

DOCTOR WHO and more specifically, David Tennant... I think his tag has the most :’)

23. What is the thing you gif when you don’t have anything else you want to gif

Any episode with Ten and Donna, or The Eleventh Hour, or the Day of the Doctor, or Blink

24. 480p 720p 1080p? What is the minimum quality you’ll gif from

I used to be all good with giffing 480p back in the day, but I guess now it’s 720p since the gif limits have gone way up.

25. Old dimensions or new dimensions and why

New dimensions because they look nicer on the dashboard.

26. How many un posted sets are in your drafts right now

ZERO.

27. Have you ever made a set, decided you hated it and deleted it? What was it

Probably at least one or twice, but I don’t remember.

28. Have you ever posted a set, regretted it and immediately deleted it

No, I don’t think so. I’m leaving my mistakes there for all to see!

29. Have you ever posted a set, realized you made a mistake later but it was already too late

Yes, I did this just the other day with that Missy, Bill and Nardole set. I got the dialogue slightly wrong lmao..... shh

30. How frequently do you like to post

I try to do at least one gifset a day if I can!

31. Do you schedule/queue posts or do you post right after you’re done

Right away. These gifsets are fresh off the grill.

32. What is your favorite tool/adjustment layer in Photoshop

Selective Color or Color Balance

33. Do you like to/can you make edits and graphics too or only gifs

Yes, I can do both but gifs are way more fun imo

34. A set that took you a long time/was really hard but you’re really proud of how it came out

I’m gonna say this one again because I was so proud of it when I made it, and I can’t believe I used to put that much effort into my gifs.

35. Do you change your giffing style a lot or do you have a set routine

I have a routine, as described above. My gifs are pretty much all made the same way as I describe in my colouring tutorial too.

36. Do you gif with something specific in mind or do you just wing it

Usually a mixture of both. I like to try to gif a different Doctor each day, so I’ll know who I have in mind but I’m not planning on a specific episode. I’ll just open up one of their series and go from there!

37. What sets if any do you have planned to make in the future

Idk, I was thinking of doing yet another gifset with Donna in it since I just finished her Big Finish series... but maybe I’ll do one with Eleven and the Ponds??? We’ll see.

38. What are you really excited to gif that isn’t out yet

The next Doctor Who holiday special?? :D

39. How often, if ever, do you delete old sets that you don’t like anymore

Never!! I love seeing how my gifs have slowly changed and improved over time.

40. Why do you make gifs

Because it’s fun, and it’s a way for me to relax after a long and busy day at work.

41. What is your least favorite part about your gif making process

When it takes forever for my screencaps to load, and when it takes forever for my gifs to save sometimes

42. How is your gif folder organized? Is it organized at all?

Lol nope.

43. Do you keep videos forever or delete them once you’re done giffing

I keep the episodes forever, but honestly I think I keep everything forever because I forget about getting rid of the other stuff like trailers and interviews... I should go through my downloads folder.

44. Ever had a gif become a meme? Would you like that if you haven't

I’ve had people use my gifs as reaction gifs and it is a weird feeling, especially seeing the gifs being used on websites other than tumblr. I remember seeing one of my gifs used in someone’s book review on Goodreads and I was like “WAIT THAT LOOKS FAMILIAR!!”

45. Ever gotten hate over a set

Not really hate, but I do get a lot people that are like “WHERE IS ______?” in their tags. And sometimes I just want to be like “Make your own gifs if you think they should be there!!!”

46. Ever gotten a really sweet compliment over a set

Yes :’)

47. Any advice for novice gif makers/people who want to start making gifs

Don’t give up!! Make gifs of whatever makes you happy, don’t worry about the notes too much, and use your tags! KEEP PRACTICING!

48. How would you describe your giffing style

I don’t know??? If someone else has a way to describe my style, then please let me know haha

49. How much would you say you’ve improved since you first started giffing

It’s been almost 9 years since I’ve started, so I hope I’ve improved quite a bit! :P

Well, that was fun. Congrats on making it to the end of this post!!! Now I will go make a gifset.