#scintillate

[mysticsparklewings]

Obscutober 2024 Day 1: Scintillate ✨

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Scintillate (v.)

to give off sparks; to shine as if emanating sparkle; to twinkle or glow

of a star or other celestial body: to vary rapidly in brightness; to twinkle

---------- Happy October 1st everyone! In case you missed it & it’s not painfully obvious, I’m doing things a bit differently this year, starting off with a personal rare-word favorite of mine. 😉

Click the "Keep Reading" and we'll talk more about my thoughts/process for this piece. ✨

⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

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And so we begin another October, another month-long daily challenge—This time and even further break from tradition than is typical of me. 😆 So before we go any further, you might want to check the description for the prompt list I'm following this year—and you can follow it too, if you want! There's some background information about how/why that's the list I'm using so I don't have to repeat myself here (or 30 more times this month, for that matter). All done/don't care? Alrighty then, let's continue: As I hinted at before, I normally break from Inktober traditions by doing a mini-magnet poem on an Ink background—So I still get ink in there somewhere, but ultimately my final results look super different from what you'd expect an Inktober to look like. I've done it this way for years, partly to honor the memory of Katherine Mackenett ( better known as @FridgePoetProject on DeviantArt), and partly—most largely, at this point—because I do genuinely enjoy the format and it's proven to be something I can do every day successfully. That's a key point to how I've been able to participate in Inktober at all over the years that loyal Sparklers have probably heard me talk about before: I know I 1000% do not have the hours in the day and the mental stamina to do "normal" art every single day for a month. There's just no way. I'd probably give myself a mental breakdown if I tried. The thing is this has already been a super-duper chaotic year for me, as my super-spotty art uploads should reflect. Add to that there are some obstacles that would make my mini-magnet format more difficult to use this year—External things like my ink supplies being expensive to replenish, not having a dedicated space to lay out the magnets, etc...And as I discussed when I posted the prompt list, I have been kind of feeling like some kind of shake-up was in order anyway.

Now, for what it's worth, what I've settled on here is nothing like what I spent most of September wracking my brain over. The general idea here didn't really fully occur to me until a few hours after I posted the prompt list, if you can believe that. 😅

Don't get me wrong, I did still want to use and heavily considered my usual mini-magnet format, but to make a long story short and hopefully not give any of you Sparklers the same headache I spent most of September with: Ultimately, I decided what I need for October this year is something simplebut it also does get me back in a creating & posting habit [since that's been a bit of a struggle for me lately; That's largely why I felt the need to still do some kind of daily challenge at all this year instead of just skipping out.]

And—again, to make a long story short—I've decided the best format to accomplish that is to simply, digitally, make a mandala and abstract background that relate in some way to the prompt word for each day, accompanied by the word/definition itself. I just thought the word-inclusion part was a cute idea, plus I'm also kinda posting the word as a "reminder" for anyone else following along with the prompt list. [...Y'know, ignoring the fact that today and probably many more days I'll be posting too late for it to really be a "reminder" for most people, but I digress...]

The last time I was making mandalas regularly was actually for NaPoWriMo 2020 and while I do genuinely enjoy making them, I was pretty burnt out on them for a while after that. 😆 But I've already talked about why I may never attempt NaPoWriMo again at length before, so I'll spare you those details here. (Suffice to say it was mostly the poems that were the problem, not the mandalas!)

Note that this is my first year tackling an October challenge digitally, as well. I did seriously consider sticking with traditional, but I may be doing more traveling this October than I'm used to, so I need something that can travel with me as easily as possible, just to be safe. Remember—I'm a "smarter, not harder" kind of gal with these daily challenges. But, as a bit of bonus, that does mean I may be able to re-purpose some—maybe even all!—of these pieces as mandala coloring pages when it's all said and done. We'll see! And I'm explaining all of this not because I'm worried about criticism from others—It's my challenge and I'll do what I want!—But to give the insight that I'm used to giving when I make things, and also partially as reassurance to myself that while this is so different from how I'm use to October looking, I'm trying to do what I feel is best for my own well-being. Best to complete the challenge successfully, best to not unnecessarily stress myself out, best to still get me back into more regularly creating and posting things, etc. "Work smarter, not harder," includes taking care of yourself so you can both be smart and work hard when you need to, after all. So yeah. We're starting off with one of my personal favorite obscure words—I just love the way "scintillate" sounds, and would you really expect anything less when you're talking to someone who's middle name is literally "Sparkle"? 😆

I do think this will be one of the "less involved" mandalas since I could only think of so many shapes/lines that reasonably fit with the idea of sparks, twinkling, stars, etc. So the background has to help sell the theme more, but that is part of how this format will still actually be a challenge. 😉 Although, it is probably better that leaves me with not as much to say about the mandala today so I could give you Sparklers all that additional context as to how we got here. And for the record: I do not intend for every piece to look this similar to the design I chose for the prompt list! 🤭 That was just a not-super-well-thought out coincidence on my part. And, to be fair, it actually looked even closer to the prompt list at first until I realized what I had done and shifted the background colors around a bit. 😅 Still, I'm very pleased with how it turned out and when I finished the image, I have to say I felt a pretty strong sense of, "See? It's going to be okay," in response to the constant, "OH NO WHAT AM I GONNA DO??" I was feeling for most of September. I cannot emphasize enough how much I needed that feeling; So I'm much more confident now that this is the way to go. If today was any indication, my biggest challenge this year is probably going to be getting these descriptions done in a reasonable amount of time...and not delayed 50 times by other things in my life. 🙃 But I'm hoping the rest of them won't take quite as long as this one did, now that we've gotten a lot of context out of the way...But there's only one way to find out...!

I think though that's everything I wanted to say for now, so I'll leave you Sparklers to it—Here's to (hopefully) starting October off strong, everyone! 🙌

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See the Prompt List

Artwork  © me, MysticSparklewings

Obscutober Concept Inspired by nikolas_tower

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⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

[geopsych]

A cobweb in the attic gathers dust... But a cobweb in the outdoors gathers dewdrops that scintillate in the sun. Get out. Find your hope. Read the Earth. It is an extraordinary book: full color, stereo sound, wonderful aromas, the wind. It is an extraordinary planet. —David Brower

[notbecauseofvictories]

just came off my shift as an election judge and I honestly think we should make people do this. I support abolishing the draft, and I even think that jury duty can get complicated, but everyone in the country should be forced to learn about election procedure, then have to sit around for 14 hours and practice being customer service for democracy. I think that would fix us.

[gealach-edits]

Bradie Tennell, “Lord of the Dance” SP || Shanghai Trophy 2024

[indie-summer]

The Cycling RPF Rec List

for @wtfanworkclassification

(tagging the blogs of the authors I know!!)

1. Favorite smut: a vocabulary, expanding by @strigimorphaes

It’s almost unfair that I made myself choose only one for each category, but yes, if I must, this is The One Smut for me. To put it mildly, it makes me weak in the knees every time I read it. It must have been like five times by now. To be read with the AC on and a glass of water by your side. Gotta love p*rn with feelings.

2. Favorite multi chapter: Faking It by @goingslightlymads

Am I biased when talking about this fic? Yes, because it was one of my Secret Santa gifts. Do I think I am unfair? Nope, not at all! I’ve never had any other experience in Cycling RPF like when I read (scratch that, binged) this one: it made me laugh and cry and it had my heart racing and had me hugging pillows at 3am. What a ride.

3. Favorite Sci-fi AU: jonas vingegaard goes back to the sea by @bakurasilver

Beautiful and clever. A reflection on the meaning of life and love, undercover as sci-fi. Bawled my eyes out with this one.

4. Favorite Fantasy AU: Fierce Creatures by @inbetweenpages

Great world building, incredibly fun and hot. Come here for wouthieu and stay for mathsper friendship, a very mysterious vampire!Jonas and a sentient house.

5. Favorite fluff: Worth it by @ridingupsaturn

Melancholic fluff. My favorite kind of fluff. Read it about ten times and had my heart fluttering through all of them. Love is kind of awesome, isn’t it?

6. Favorite angst: Drought by booming_business (part 2 of the A Study in Water series)

Shoutout to sad carpenter!Jonas who made a complete wreck out of me. The entire series is excellent, but this fic in particular is a masterpiece on its own! Also foundational exes!tadejonas fic before it was even a thing. Groundbreaking!!

7. Favorite drabble: doing what heroes do by @etapereine

I have two favorite types of drabbles: the one in which you feel like you read an entire story in just 100 words and the one that immediately makes you feel in absolute need of a 50k story as a follow-up because of all the possibilities it introduces you to. This one is definitely the second kind. I really need a full Percy Jackson AU long fic on my desk in, like, a week ago. Olympian demigods at the Olympics maybe??? Someone please???

8. Favorite crack/comedy: The 2024 Paris-Roubaix mass heat incident by Anonymous

Top 5 funniest shit I’ve ever read in my life and I’m not even exaggerating.

9. Favorite non-cyclists AU: all hearts in love use their own tongues by @thedeadparrot

I’m sorry, I’m not really a well-studied person when it comes to English literature. This is the only way I could ever read Shakespeare. I regret nothing.

10. Favorite remix/fix-it: Unbelievable, or only in Gotham by Lili_Writes_Banhof

Yes I’m parcial yes of course I am biased because it’s fixing one of my fics, but I don’t care. It’s cute, it’s fun, it’s fluffy (like all the awesome works from this author), you should all immediately go read it!

11. Favorite Soulmate AU: All your life by @interdisciplinary-disaster

I never once had given any thoughts about geese before this fic. Also this is the only cycling fic where the main character is not one of the cyclists, but an adorably exhausted old goose (at least the way I see it, because frankly, what a scene stealer). It changed my core!!

12. Favorite rarepair: Jonas is the boss by @mundanememory

Because ok, now everyone loves Jonas/Matteo but back in April it was a rarepair!! And this fic is awesome and hot and clever and features little big boss being… erm, well treated by a lovable giant ginger, so it deserves a million recs!

[all-that-jazz-93]

I posed this question in the Hawkahy community (sparking an entire day of discussion and possibly inspiring an upcoming Fic Fest asdfghjkl), and now I'm posing it to the greater M*A*S*H fandom: Do you think Mulcahy masturbates?

According to some statistics (I definitely didn't Google this what are you talking about) something like 80-90% of clergy masturbate, even though the Catholic Church considers it a breach of the celibacy vow.

We already know Mulcahy engages in certain other un-priestly vices (drinking and gambling, mainly), so I think it's fair to assume he's among that 80-90% as well.

[pwippy]

happy pride month to peak psychedelic androgynous voice villain character design

blue meanie from the 1960s yellow submarine movie, him from the 1990s powerpuff girls, butt witch from the 2020s tv show

[a-dream-seeking-light]

gretha cavazzoni featured in les scintillements du mat, december 1989 by sante d’orazio for vogue france

[ashestoashesjc]

this is the first time a bot stealing a username has affected me personally

i could've been fleshydomino. that could've been me

[teacupsandcyanide]

being someone who was a massive gothy Tim Burton fan throughout their teens, spending the last several years seeing Burton turn out soulless dry biscuit film after soulless dry biscuit film, then going into the cinema and watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and discovering it to be the most deliciously barmy, left-out-in-the-rain, toxic green slime cake I ever et, was such a delight for me. It was wonderful. I cut into that cake and it was full of real sets and B-movie makeup and soul. I felt like Gordon Ramsay when he goes back to the failing restaurant after they've gotten their shit together and he eats their revitalised menu and it's completely unrecognisable from the slop he was served before. I felt like breaking into Tim Burton's kitchen with my licked-clean plate and yelling, "Yes! Thank FUCK! Finally some passion in your fucking work, Tim!"

[thornaelle]

A portrait of my Pathfinder character Sabella's current mental state. She's having A Time.

▸ Everything she thought she knew about her life was a lie. ▸ Her great-grandfather is not just dealing with a fiends, he is one. He's a Rakshasa, has probably been several of her ancestors through reincarnation or impersonation, and he wants her to come home and be a good little pawn, sorry, grand-daughter. He particularly wants her back now he knows she can change her form and hide that she's a tiefling. ▸ But she wasn't actually born visibly a tiefling! Her older brother Cesare was though, and that was deemed unacceptable because they needed a respectable face for the family heir and not one that openly advertised that they had been dealing with fiends. Their second born, however, could be safely kept out of sight until they could find a way to permanently hide her fiendish blood too. So their heritages were swapped via horrible transmutation magic involving a painting stretched over a frame of magically re-shaped ribs, which has been hanging in her bedroom most of her life :) ▸ Totally unrelatedly hahaha; She's missing a rib! Cesare is probably missing one too :) It's fine, it probably contributes to her ridiculous acrobatics modifier she's real bendy :) :) It's fine :) Or could that be the ancestry involving a creature know for having wierd joints? Certainly no-one's looking at the way she moves with new eyes at all hahahahaaa :) ▸ Her parents may have been trying to protect her all her life which meant pushing her away and making her want to leave. Real shitty way to discover your parents might not actually hate you, might in fact love and want you very much. ▸ AND her dad has "business dealings" with the Azarketi ambassador, of the kind that mean they light up when they're in the same room and her mother is really pissed off. Is your family life not complicated enough already, dad??? ▸ Everything is Fine. ▸ :) :) :|

She's quite looking forward to getting to go and hit things that are completely unrelated to her fucked up family. (I am having a great time. Sabella may be in the middle of a nervous breakdown.)

[zeebreezin]

7 Minutes to Daybreak, or a story of the past told through a pocket watch. Flash fiction below the cut because the formatting made it long (it’s all item descriptions!)

-> [Check]

A pocket watch, brand new and sparkling in the darkness. You bought it with your first proper paycheck down here - the first decent wage you’ve ever had, really. Each tick sounds like an opportunity.

-> [Check]

Oh god, is that the time? Nights of recruiting for the Commodore’s little project have absolutely destroyed your sleep schedule, it seems.

-> [Check]

Your pocket watch. The casing has gotten a little pockmarked by the sea spray - or Zee spray, as that’s apparently sticking around. It’s a small luxury, one of the few you have on this desolate rock. At least it’s almost over.

-> [Check]

The way the dawnlight catches off your watch's face is rather hypnotic. You’ve had to stow the old girl in your breast pocket, for now. It’s so easy to slip into the light these days. But there’s work to be done.

-> [Check]

Small carved notches circle the face of your pocket watch, dividing it into 7 minute intervals. Your partner’s gotten into the habit of claiming he can get what’s needed out of a poor soul in 7 minutes or less - so the notches have proven quite useful, recently.

-> [Check]

Your pocket watch, recently shined to a sparkling finish. It sits warmly in the pocket of your new coat - a symbol of a rank you never could’ve dreamed of on the surface. Not a spot of blood remains on the thing, anymore.

-> [Check]

You can still remember the day you bought this watch, uncertain of the amount of money you held in your hands. Would the man who bought it recognize you?

-> [Check]

The tarnished metal of your pocket watch now bears what are most definitely bite marks in the metal. Perhaps you shouldn’t have let your son play with the d__n thing after all.

-> [Check]

You have a meeting tonight. You shouldn’t be late.

-> [Check]

Your pocket watch, once again stained by the zeesalt. The lights of Varchas are a long way off, yet. You count the seconds.

-> [Inspect]

The Gregarious Commander’s pocket watch. It’s easier to identify than his body is, despite the damage to its casing. It’s done.

-> [Examine]

Your father’s pocket watch. They gave it to you at his funeral, and among the hymns and weeping, the soft sound of its mechanism gave you some comfort.

-> [Examine]

It’s very, very late. Even through this haze, the watch will tell you that. Would your father have disapproved? Laughed at you? Laughed with you? You don’t know.

-> [Examine]

There’s so many scratches on the watch’s casing. The Theatrical Technician offered to help you set the mechanism in some finer metal, once, but you never accepted.

-> [Examine]

26 hours, 45 minutes, and a handful of seconds have passed since they abandoned you. You’re not sure when you’ll stop counting. Maybe you never will.

-> [Examine]

Your father’s old pocket watch. You’ve taken to wearing it more openly as part of your disguise here in London. It’s not particularly in fashion, but the weight in your pocket keeps you steady.

-> [Examine]

You’ve run out of time, haven’t you?

-> [Examine]

The entire trip back home, you were hoping there’d be a sign. One last clue. Something you could use, a reason to beg to stay. There was nothing. You watch the minutes tick away.

-> [Examine]

The pocket watch lays scattered atop a half dozen blueprints and schematics, plans to birth the dawn into a true sun. You have nothing else, anymore.

-> [Examine]

Your father’s pocket watch. The light - light from the sun you built - that dances across its metal tastes like freedom.

-> [Examine]

A new mechanism sits inside your old pocket watch. A necessary evil, considering the time difference between here, New Winchester, and London proper.

-> [Examine]

It’s lonely, up here. Every hour feels an eternity.

-> [Examine]

Your eyes glance across your pocket watch as the crystalline agony courses through you. How long do you have left?

-> [Examine]

Something’s changed.

-> [Examine]

The old, tarnished metal of your pocket watch burns hot in your hand. Hearts beat to its tempo. Eyes blink to its tick. You can never let it go. You can never fall out of time. Never.

-> [Search]

You scan the debris of the once dreaded locomotive for anything of interest that might float by. A metal banded glass hand clasps a small, brass pocket watch in a death grip, despite it being completely severed from its owner’s body. The watch itself is nothing to write home about - despite a complex mechanism, the style is hopelessly out of date. Not to mention the fact that it’s horribly banged up. If it wasn’t for the fading correspondence scrawled into its case, it would be completely unremarkable. Yet, the symbol exudes an undeniable power, despite the mechanism going silent within. There is not a doubt in your heart - this belonged to the Scintillating Harbinger, the glass wracked menace of the skies you just struck down.

[Take it? - Y/N]

[cantevenbeachhere]

Thanks for the tag @aeterna-auroral-avenger

Starting a new one because the other was really long

Your Aesthetic Word

Scintilla

In my language, scintilla is the Italian equivalent of spark. You're the spark that makes two people fall in love; you're the spark that lights up the sky when the fireworks paint our big blue ceiling with hundreds of colors. You're a bright little thing, aren't you? It's so endearing how open your mind is, how you're always ready to teach and to learn. What I wanna tell you is that sometimes we need to make sure we don't drown in our own feelings, even if they can be overwhelming. I can't wait for your back to finally greet your pair of wings.

Wow…

I like that. Like a lot.

No pressure tags: @eulalielatibule @gender-kenvy @goslings-girlx @guardian-rocket @heygirl-gosling @sobeautifullyobsessed @ultimategamernerd @elusivewildflower and you! 🫵🏻

[historical-hollywood]

Myrna Loy glitters in a black sequined gown in these promotional photos for Evelyn Prentice (1934). Photos by George Hurrell.

[Original caption for the first photo: "A sequinned gown designed by Dolly Tree for Myrna Loy in Evelyn Prentice (1934). Kimono-style, with tunic, the unusual shoulder detail with an uneven 'Jenny' neckline and no sleeves, was of particular interest."]

[andallshallbewell]

[andyoullhearitagain]