#so here's my version. totally not based on current events

[mordsfesch]

[fabbyf1]

Hi!

I’m not sure of this is how to go about this correctly.

I’m not sure what your position is on others drawing inspiration/directly from your incredible fan fiction writing but, on Ao3 there is a fic called ❤️lestappen- One shorts💙 by lestapeeen. The most recent chapter (14) is very similar to the monza chapter of long live(twwct) specifically the piggy back and proposal promise. some of the dialogue is exactly the same.

I figured you should know. If it’s a cool with you or if you knew already, sorry to be a bother.

DISCLAIMER: This post, by no means, is asking for ANYBODY to send this author mentioned (and tagged) below hate. On anon or main. I have been pretty damn clear with my feelings on the matter below. They know what they've done, and I won't stand for it. Nobody needs to make this worse by sending them death threats. With that out of the way, let's deep dive, shall we?

YOU KNOW WHAT?

First off, god bless you, bestie. God BLESS you. I want to smooch you on your incredibly wonderful forehead. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. I cannot be everywhere at once and cannot possibly read every fanfic posted to AO3, but it's not fucking cool for people to straight-up plagiarize my shit.

Secondly, I'd like to ask that if ANY of my followers come across something that looks very suspiciously similar to my fics, please let me know. You can for sure send it on anon, or send me a dm.

Now, with that being said, I clicked on this fucking fic not knowing what to think. I went into it with a pretty open mind, knowing that there are quite a few authors currently posting fics that are verrrrrrrrrrry similar to my writing style. I've gotten pretty close to calling a few of these authors out but haven't for a few reasons.

Fanfics based on the same ship, in the same canon setting, are always going to be... let's use the word "similar" here. The plot can only change so much when you're following canon events, you know? I don’t write AUs, so I’m only going off canon-inspired fics. My fics generally follow along with canon timelines and therefore, other author’s fics that follow the same timeline are going to be... similar. I get that and accept that.

Characterizations are bound to be... well, fuck it, let's use that word "similar" again. I'm gonna be pretty forgiving when someone's Max is damn near the same as my Max because one: I'm a good and forgiving person, and two: I think my characters (while totally fucking fictional) are very life-like to the real person. So, with that in mind, when I read a fic with characterizations similar to mine... I will usually give somebody grace... and accept that maybe, just possibly, they see Max Verstappen (the person) the same way I do (fictionally) and it’s a big old coincidence that our fics read so similar. You know? Does that make sense?

But with all that being said, I’m not a fucking idiot. 

And honestly? I give more grace than I should on this goddamn website. (lmfao, respectfully.) This is sadly not the first time that somebody has very much written in my likeness, and I know it won't be the last. But this is definitely the boldest version of plagiarism I've seen. I haven’t clicked on any chapter except for 14, and I heavily skimmed the first part, but let’s take a little deep dive into some of the highlights. Because I will show the receipts, bestie.

from their story:

from long live:

..... right, let's move on.

from their story:

from long live:

okay................. sure

from their story:

from long live:

If you're going to plagiarize my shit... you could at least put it in a different font, so to speak. "Hey, can I copy your homework?” “Sure, but change it up a bit.” 

Girlie pop, you stopped even trying to change it the fuck up. 

Let me be clear: I do not authorize anybody to translate, re-post or distribute my work without my written consent. This is in a disclaimer (that I will post below) in every single one of my fics. Taking MY dialogue is NOT okay. 

Direct quote from the beginning note of Long Live:  DISCLAIMER #4: This is 100% fictional, and I do not own any person, team, or sponsor referenced in this story. I mean no offense to any person(s) mentioned and characterized in this story. I am not affiliated with any part of Formula 1 or its subsections. Please do not translate, re-post, or distribute my work without my written consent. I will cry.

To sum up, writing is not easy, and it takes time and effort. Time away from my friends, my girlfriend, my family. Time away from my job and my other hobbies. Long Live is 76 thousand words and took me countless hours to write.

To have somebody so blatantly and disrespectfully post MY SHIT as their own and not even try to give me credit? To not write a note that said, “Heyyyyy go read long live, which I [clearly] really enjoyed!” or even a “Some of this dialogue was inspired by @fabbyf1” or even just a “lmfao some of this i didn’t write but the rest i did” really pisses me off.

Why did it ever have to come to this?

I am SO disappointed right now.

Happy fucking Friday, I guess.

For full transparency, here is the link to their fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55255699 and here is the link to their tumblr: @l-estappen

Here is the link to MY fic, which was posted on April 2nd, 2023, and written in Google Docs with revision history about a month before that. I have receipts out the fucking ass, my dear. https://archiveofourown.org/works/46190509/chapters/116284915

Be well.

[lil-shiro]

A (hopefully) half decent guide to get into watching figure skating

With the Junior Grand Prix circuit starting this week, I wrote up a little guide for my online pals and anyone else interested in getting into the sport. I'm going to be focusing on Elite Level Skating.

Disclaimer in case I put this into the main tags: I may make a metaphors or two to F1 for comparison since I primary post F1 related things but I do have a #figure skating tag

Honestly if you want a really good write up/guide I highly recommend the website So You Want to Watch Figure Skating and they even have a Tumblr where they post updates.

If you want to read my more condensed, lower quality version, then stick around.

General Info

The International Skating Union (ISU) is the governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines (not just figure skating but speed skating as well). They're like the FIA in this case and decide/vote on regulations and changes.

Each country has their own individual national associations that administers the sport at the national level.

For example, USFS (U.S. Figure Skating), Skate Canada, etc. These associations do things like assign their skaters to competitions, decide funding, hold national level competitions etc.

Figure skating has 4* disciplines - Men's single - Women's single - Pairs - Ice Dance

*(There's also synchronized skating but I don't really keep up with it)

The two categories I'll be focusing on are: Junior and Senior. You can read about the specific age requirements here

Scoring

A final competition score is comprised of the total score of two programs (segments) added together.

A Short program (SP) score + a Free program (FP) score*

The main difference is that the SP is shorter and the FP is longer. But you can read into the different technical element requirements that I linked since they vary from disciple.

*In ice dance the SP and FP are called Rhythm dance (RD) and Free dance (FD)

To break it down even further, each total segment score is calculated based on the following:

Technical Element Score (TES) + Program Component Score (PCS) = Total segment score (TSS)

TES:

Each technical element preformed has a base value of points (following the code of points) depending on difficulty (it's comparable to gymnastics code of points scoring)

The judges then assign GOE (grade of execution) that increases or decreases the base value depending on how well it was executed

For more detailed info and to read about what makes up the PCS, the USFS has an overview here and guide here.

Competitions

I'm only going to focus on major and easily accessible competitions for this guide. The goal of competitions is to place high and get world standing points.

National Championships Typically held mid-season ish (Dec-Jan). Pretty straight forward, each country hosts their own national champion competition (most people just call them Nationals) for each discipline and age category. Depending on the country, these results may have a little or big impact on which skaters they pick to go to international championships for the rest of the season.

Grand Prix Grand Prix are a series of qualifying events (each held in a different country) that lead to the Grand Prix final. Skaters earn qualifying points at each Grand Prix event and the six highest-ranking qualifiers meet at the ISU Grand Prix Final.

A skater/pair can only participate in a maximum of 2 events. And each individual Grand Prix event can only have up to 3 skaters from the same country in each discipline.

Senior Grand Prix: 6 qualifying events

- for break down of how to qualify for the final refer to this page - skaters are eligible to be assigned to events based on results at the previous World Championships, season’s best scores from the previous and current season, and overall world standing

Junior Grand Prix: 7 qualifying events

- the same requirements apply for qualifying for the finals - eligibility wise, juniors have no minimum score required, as long as they're old enough their country can enter them - there is also no cap on the total # of participants unlike in seniors - # of spots for each nation are designated by previous world junior championship results

Europeans (European Figure Skating Championships) As the name states, Europeans is an ISU Championship in which only European skaters ("members of a European ISU Member") compete for the title. It is regarded as quite prestigious since it's the sport's oldest competition (first held in 1891).

# of competitors per country at Euros is determined based on results from the previous year

Four Continents Championships (4CC) 4CC is like Europeans but with all the other continents [Americas (North America and South America), Africa, Asia and Oceania]. Skaters must belong to a non-European member nation of the ISU.

Each nation can have up to 3 skaters from the same country in each discipline

Each skater must have obtained the minimum TES score requirement in the current or previous season

*Europeans/4CC are senior level only events

Junior/Senior World Championships Aka: the most important competition of the season! (Other than when the olympics happen)

Just like Europeans, # of spots each nation is allocated depends on results from the previous year. This is how they're determined (wording from this reddit post):

A country can have between one and three skaters/teams per discipline.

Each country automatically gets one spot in each discipline.

To get a second spot next year, that skater/team has to place in the top ten. 

To get a third spot, that skater/team has to place in the top two. 

For countries who already have multiple placements, both skaters or the top 2/3 entries: 

must add up to ≤13 with their placements to secure/maintain a third spot (ie. 8th and 5th, 3rd and 9th, etc.)

or ≤28 to secure/maintain a second spot. (ie. 10th and 8th, 5th and 20th, etc.)

How to Watch

All the competitions I mentioned are live-streamed on the ISU YouTube channel. They also stay up so you can watch replays if a competition is held at an inconvenient time!

The Junior Grand Prix events were streamed on the ISU Junior YouTube channel but this year they will also be streamed on the main channel. You can still watching replays all the way from 2011 on it tho!

Occasionally you may find yourself Geo-blocked from a stream. I find this only happens when a competition is being hosted in your country because they want you to use the local streaming/TV service. For example, I'm based in Canada so I'm blocked from the Skate Canada GP event on YouTube because they're streaming it on CBC. I was also blocked from the World's 2024 Youtube stream because it was hosted in Canada. This includes full replays as well. But this is really easy to bypass with a VPN.

Refer to this page for more info

Resources

Here are a few resources to keep up with schedules, timing, standings etc.

Skating Scores: Overview of events, scores, and world standings

@/fskatecomptimes: Time-zone adjusted schedules for ISU-recognized figure skating events

So You Want to Watch Figure Skating: Recommending them again because they're awesome

Jackie Wong: Figure skating analyst, provides updates/live tweets from events

Notes :)

I hope this helps and is somewhat understandable. If you have any questions feel free to send me an ask or DM!

My advice is to just start watching and things will come naturally. I never thought I would be able to identify any jumps aside from an axel...but here I am watching competitions, finding myself calling under rotations on a 3T...

This season is the pre-olympic season and there's lots of skaters returning from injury/break so it should be exciting!

My figure skating tag

My favourite discipline is women's but I try to watch everything

I'm desperate for a Canadian skating revival (2018 you were everything)

Favourite ice dance team: Evgenia Lopareva / Geoffrey Brissaud

Current fave skaters (senior): Chaeyeon Kim, literally all of team Japan, Adam Siao Him Fa, Andreas Nordebäck, Alysa Liu + many more

*I would like to mention that just like any other sport there are a lot of issues within figure skating. It's an environment with a lot of young people whom are susceptible to mistreatment/harassment/abuse, so I just wanted to bring that to light since new viewers will probably discover shocking things that have happened/are happening. And overall raise awareness about being mindful viewers like not commenting on a skater's body for example and just advocating for the increased safety of the sport

There is also most definitely politicking involved when it comes judging, but we as viewers will never know how rampant and the details surrounding it. Some posts explaining it more here and here.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Perhaps it's just me being salty for the whole s4 and s5, Kuro Neko and Ephemeral in particular. But I couldn't see a possibility of Adrienette break up because, say, Adrien know she's hiding a major thing about his life and feeling betrayed by it, without Adrien realizing that Marinette was hurt by his "outburst" and then then say sorry for being so "emotional" that he hurt her, just like what happened in Kuro neko.

This show is really, really bad at letting Adrien express himself in healthy ways. I've mentioned before that I think Chat Noir is in the wrong in Kuro Neko and it's not because he's not allowed to be hurt or quit. He had legitimate feelings and concerns! It's his handling of those feelings and concerns that was deeply unhealthy and unreasonable. He kept those things bottled up inside, never talking to Ladybug about what was wrong even though the writers chose to actively have her ask if he was okay, meaning he was straight up prompted to express himself, but didn't. Since he didn't, Ladybug had no idea until he took drastic measures, which is a good example of unhealthy relationships and a real life issue that many of us have probably experienced or seen.

Someone does something that upsets another person, but the injured party says nothing because they think the offensive is obvious even though it's super not obvious. At least, it's not obvious to the person causing the offense. So they keep doing the offensive thing and the other person keeps feeling hurt until there's a massive blowup where both parties end up feeling hurt.

This is just a thing that humans do. We build up stories in our heads based on our own perceptions of events, personal wants, and personal beliefs, but those stories are often unrealistic or at least warped versions of reality.

"My friends never call me, so they don't love me," said by someone with a large social battery who would happily do things every night of the week. Meanwhile their friend is over here thinking everything is fine because, in their world, it's perfectly normal to go months without talking. The two friends' different perceptions, wants, and beliefs about what a good friendship looks like is leading to a conflict that would be easily solved if the upset person just asked the hard question.

I don't think the above really applies to the secrets Marinette is currently keeping. At least, they don't on Adrien's side. Breakups don't need a logical reason, but if they did, Adrien would more than enough logical reasoning behind dumping the girl who hid massive, life-changing secrets from him. Getting angry and yelling at her would be perfectly valid reactions. But I also agree with your worry about the show turning it into Adrien somehow being in the wrong because the show hasn't handled a single complex conflict well.

A lot of that is due to the asinine "every episode must stand alone" rule, which is a terrible rule for a show with an actual overarching plot. Sitcoms mostly stick to petty drama for a reason. There are very few serious topics that you can introduce and handle in 20 minutes. Add in the rule that every episode has to have some sort of fight, eating up even more of your run time? And it's no wonder the show is such a total disaster.

I would not be surprised if season six ends up being a sort of inverted version of season four's conflict or even a straight rehash, which is straight up obnoxious because what was the point of season four if neither of these characters learned how to communicate? Marinette is still keeping secrets and I have no doubt that Adrien will continue to fail at expressing his very valid needs if he's even allowed to have them. Add in the fact that Lila is the new villain and is it any wonder so many of us have hit a breaking point where we no longer want to watch this painful mess?

Can you tell that poor communication as a plot point is a major pet peeve of mine? About the only time it really works is in literary fiction that's supposed to be a character study. In plot driven narratives it's just obnoxious. The fact that this is a show for little kids makes me even more annoyed because this is not suited to a kids show. I've said it before and I'll say it again: they're writing teen drama complexity in a Y7 show and of course that leads to a terrible final product!

[highlordofkrypton]

1- Which of your fics would you keep the basic plot of but rewrite completely?

9- Thoughts on cliffhangers.

24- Thoughts on flashbacks/flashforwards.

26- What would you describe as OOC?

I would love to hear all of them!!!!! Especially on the OOC one because I feel like that is one that we all have different interpretations on based on individual interpretation of the character

OMG prepare for RAMBLES (maybe???)

I'm also gonna copy you and link the ask game.

1. Which of your fics would you keep the basic plot of but rewrite completely?

Definitely one of my DC fics. I have quite a few that I started as a weekly writing exercise, but I wish I had more of a structure. I feel like the chapters don't hit as well when I'm writing off ✨vibes✨.

If I had to pick one, it would be my crackship the sun & the sea -- it's based off my roleplay with my partner. I wanted to add the scenes in between that we didn't get to write and bind it for her, but it doesn't make sense without the roleplay parts. I would like to re-write it as a proper fic.

9. Thoughts on cliffhangers.

As a reader, REEEEEEEEE!

As a writer, EHEHHEHEHEHE. I love cliffhangers. I think I do too many cliffhangers? I don't know if they're actual cliff hangers, but if the scene needs to end there, then it will end there.

I view cliff hangers as a writing tool as punctuation and stylistic writing. You're telling your readers to pause here, and you're making them process and take in what they've read. Especially in a world where binging is more and more common, cliffhangers allow specific plot points to sink in. Not that they don't normally, but readers are forced to sit with it now hehhehehe.

24. Thoughts on flashbacks/flashforwards.

I don't like flashfowards because I'm too dumb to understand the time jump and I feel like they're... spoilery? I only really use flash forwards for opening scenes and then we take it all the way back.

As for flashbacks, I prefer to segment them with italics, some kind of formatting break or their own chapters because it's so easy to lose your reader if you haven't executed the flashback well enough. Visual media can rely on cues like younger actors, and setting, but as a writer you need to be detail-oriented enough to write all that out. I am notoriously lazy as fuck so... I don't do them. I don't mind reading them tho.

26. What would you describe as OOC?

I like this question a lot because as someone who lives outside of canon more often than not, I usually write crackships or take characters out of their canon worlds into new ones. For example, my greatest master piece with my writing partner is set in a The Boys x Supernatural universe (so their rules), featuring Geralt (the Witcher), Lambert (the Witcher), Lilith (Diablo 4), Erwin (Attack on Titan), Clark Kent (Superman), Gojo Satoru (JJK), Arisma Kishou (Tokyo Ghoul) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars). It was the single most EPIC story I have ever read and written lmao. THAT SAID, I firmly believe that there are base values that every character has that defines them, whether mental, physical or anything else. These are what 'anchor' the character. If it's a original story, then there are events that inform the character. Think big details, not small details.

From a fandom perspective, usually, the fandom will agree on the aforementioned base values. For example, Superman is kind, just and generally wholesome. People can put him in different situations, but you can still recognize the character. This is what differentiates good writing from bad writing; if you can change the character's name, upbringing and current occupation and you still can recognize the character from their inherent values and the way they act, that's totally in character for me.

If you're writing a character and you break the 'base value' rules without justifying it in the narrative, then that's OOC. For example, there are versions of Superman who kills or becomes a world ruler, but there are events that lead up to it so it makes sense.

So to me, pretty much everything is fair game if you can justify it in the writing (and not by telling me, it's gotta be earned).

WHEW THAT WAS A LONG ONE SORRY BUT I LIEKD THAT QUESTION A LOT!!!

[hypersomniagame]

HYPERSOMNIA MAY DEV LOG : “COOKIN' IN THE KITCHEN”

Hi! For all of you who follow HYPERSOMNIA, you should already know what the gist is here yada yada yada,

if you don't know what this is or are confused on what hypersomnia is read the other dev logs i've said this like every time lol

Hey! Hi! Hello! Welcome to the dev log!

I'd like to apologize about last month, I was going through a big block on development and I got practically nothing done. I've also been focusing on real life stuff which has been strange!

OK! So, first things first. Some of you might've seen on our Twitter, the new trailer is DONE! It's been "finished" for a few weeks now but I went back and made some small edits and now I can fully say it's complete!

I'm insanely happy with how this one came out. I went all out on it and I think you guys will agree when it releases that it just completely blows all our other trailers right out of the water. From music, to editing, to visuals, presentation, everything.

I'm more than excited to show you guys this trailer, and hopefully you all will be able to see it soon! It'll be premiering in this years MOTHER DIRECT (as always lol), so be ready for that! Tons of great fangames and indies are gonna be shown off, along with other MOTHER projects, so if you're interested I highly suggest you keep up with M4E.

Now, onto a more direct game update!

As of right now, the demo is about 50% playable!

This month has been almost exclusively eventing and scripting for the game. That 50% doesn't mean the demo is halfway finished, but it means that we're halfway there to getting the demo playable from start to finish. There's still a lot I gotta do, but eventing is the biggest hurdle for me currently, so it should only be up from here.

Also,

Pigeonville got a bit of a makeover recently! I wanted to make the town look a bit more lively and urban, so I took the time to redo and add a few different buildings. I'm really happy with how it changed the look of the town, and I hope to use this as a base for other areas going forward.

This didn't come without some challenge though. Both the game's prologue and first chapter take place in Pigeonville, and because so many different events are used between the 2 sections, I've had PV split between 2 maps, one for the prologue and the other for chapter 1.

I initially did these edits on the CH1 version of the map, but while porting them to the PL version, I managed to completely screw up almost all the events in the prologue. So while it didn't have to be completely rescripted, I did have to do some playtesting for like a week just to make sure I caught everything that broke.

-

Speaking of bugs, there's been a bit of bug-squashing going on this month. My friend Muffins (Who helps write for the game) and I both sat down and tried to just play through what we have so far, and it was an experience to say the least. The game was NOT this broken in March, so playing through it just showed me so much stuff that broke, and some of it was absolutely hilarious.

I didn't record any of it though! Which is a shame! I'd totally post a montage or something of just the absolute funniest glitches we encountered but I guess it's for another time.

And that's all for this month! Sorry it's not much, but I figured it'd be better to give some sort of update then just oddly go silent. Things will most likely pick up during the mid-summer months, I'll have more stuff to talk about, these logs will be longer like they were back in January and we'll all be home on time for Jay Leno.

It's a bit hard to talk about scripting stuff out for the game since I only can talk about so much before I start spoiling stuff. Will June be better? Will there even be a log in June? Will I survive the summer heat? Only time can tell. And the weather man.

If this is your first log you're reading, or even your first time seeing ANYTHING relating to HYPERSOMNIA, I got a whole bunch of links for you to check out if you wanna know more about me and my stupid little game.

TWITTER

YOUTUBE

STEAM

UNIQUE INDIE RPG'S [SHOW US YOUR GAME!]

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[a-den-of-demons]

Welcome to the Blog!

Current events:

Halloween Open RP Suggestions

Here goes my first lewd ask blog, based around a world and story I wrote. The rules will be listed below, and I reserve the right to ignore asks I don’t like. This is a monster focused blog, the lore being posed below,

1. Please be civil when not doing lewd stuff

2. Please do not control my muses too much in your asks, though feel free to set a scene. I just ask you don’t control their feelings or what they are thinking.

3. When sending something, please make sure to specify the girl and what version of the character you want. Also make sure to specify the species of your character as well!

4. I don’t mind crossover characters, but you can message me privately to ask if I am okay with certain characters or things

5. I am a full RP, so feel free to message me if you want an RP

6. My box is open 24/7, and I will get to them when I have the time and mood to do them, so be patient!

7. If I don't respond after 2-3 days, just send me a message or tag the thread.

8. I tend to favor M/F but I am totally fine with F/F and F/Futa

9. Until stated otherwise, two RPs is the limit for people. And two muses is my limit for playing in one RP at a time.

Kinks: I’ll do a lot, ranging from vanilla to NTR, incest and cheating. I don’t do stuff involving bodily fluids that aren’t light blood and cum. No inflation (a little at most). And no full BDSM. Also I don't do M/M.

My schedule for my queue is 8am EST to 8pm EST, but I will reblog others outside of that at my leisure.

Every two months or so I will take a reduced load, focusing on less RPs while the others are put in drafts. I will tell people when I do that.

If you have read to this point, send me "Entering the demon's den" as an ask so I know you read them.

Base Setting: Details are in the lore thing below, but effectively this is a world with monsters, monster hunters and the like, sort of like Underworld or The World of Darkness. I can adapt to other settings in messages, but keep that in mind when asking for RPs.

Open RPs

Ao3

Monster Club AU

Slutty Scouts AU

Muse Lists

Information the blog lore is below! Please read for the setting details!

Lore: You can find all the info you want here! Enjoy!

[kopathefox]

Characters :

Vyffor (the purple-ish novabeast thats BASED OFF my furry version of Vakuum from Pokemon xenoverse)

Losi (the razewing rathalos/blue winged red wyvern, in my AU his name is Losi instead of Ratha)

Kyle (as a grey-ish Corgi)

Vakuum (the dragon creature with the same patterns as Vyffor)

Avinia (as a blonde lioness)

Frostfamg (the barioth/Wyvern sabertooth monstie)

Cheval (as a red wolf with stegosaurus’s spikes on him)

Rathi (the Rathian/the green wyvern)

Ena (the blue-ish Wyverian dragon, that dragon creature is basically the way i draw the wyverians, Wyverians are basically humans with pale skin & long elf ears that can live for above 100 years and they will still look young)

Navirou (the small blonde & brown cat)

Tsukino (the grey cat with the purple clothes & pink human hair)

Zellard (the black Wyverian dragon)

Kayna (as a blonde-ish caracal)

Oltura (first appears as the shadowy figure, the colourful & bright dragon with 6 wings in total)

Forsaken winged Vyffor (the wolf-wyvern thing that is basically Vyffor’s monster form)

Explain time:

Yes! I got into monster hunter! But only monster hunter stories, i finished 2 but not 1 so please do not spoil me, so basically this is my Monster hunter stories 2 au of the arsism au (its not only pokemon anymore), so basically the protagonist is Vyffor, the lil strange-looking novabeast, basically it goes that way: this takes some years later after the events of the Pokemon xenoverse au, Vakuum still didn’t got an answer to his question, how come a mortal can have such a big & meaningful effects on someone? Specially a god like him (cuz Sorrel made him change for good), so he said “hm, this world of monsters & humans seems like its gonna have a new threat coming, why not testing it by overpowering a random mortal?”, so he basically blessed Vyffor with his power (which caused him to look like him), but despite that, Vyffor didn’t really had the best life out there, as you can see in the beginning, Vyffor sitting by the window for days, slowly getting sad & saying “Red?….”, he was waiting for his grandfather, who was the only one available to take care of him, but little did he know that Red was killed by a Nergigante (when he was 2 years old, he’s currently 13), as the other frame shows, “Homeless, moneyless, lonely, bullied, orphan, unhealthy, trauma, phobia of Kayna”, he was homeless for the entire main story & its prior events, he had no money to afford even food, he was lonely, he lived in the streets all alone, he was unhealthy because he lived in poor conditions & always had to eat from the trash, he is orphan (well, spoilers, later on his parents, Sivan & Sam, comes back after they long vacation, they just didn’t knew that Red, Sam’s daddy, died), he has trauma from both his rough past & his entire traumatic moments of his journey (like Oltura, everytime he almost died, Losi getting kidnapped, getting taken by force to Lulucion), Phobia of Kayna, while Kayna means well, she’s very rough with him ever since he was small, and he’s a big softie, so that causes him a fear as he sees her as a threat, bullied, he was bullied all his childhood, although when he started his journey nobody dared to bully him anymore cuz he had his monsties to protect him & they had no monsties nor weapons, so basically during his journey he met some new friends & even few enemies (like Zellard & his cult),

he met Avinia, Kyle, Cheval, Orgo (not shown here), Tsukino, Navirou, Ena, Vakuum (first met in a vision of Vyffor), Lilia (not shown here), Reverto (not shown here), Alwin (not shown here), he also befriended new monsties, Losi (same as the actual story, by hatching him from an egg from Ena), Lil Kitten (Nargacuga took from the nest of a dead Nargacuga), Kadachi (tobi-kadachi after slaying an hostile tobi-kadachi, he found Kadachi as a baby, all weak & starving to death so he took him with him), Dylan (Lagiacrus, that moment where the crew had to fight a Lagiacrus so the Lagiacrus was about to kill Vyffor until Dylan came out of nowhere & fucked the Lagiacrus up & joined Vyffor), Palamute (got an dragon palamute egg as a gift from Kyle when he wanted to confess to Vyffor so instead of a diamond ring he gave him a Palamute egg thinking its much cheaper but he had to buy a lot of better equipment so no, not really Kyle), Mizu (Mizutsune, Basically, when the crew were about to leave the Porome garden, Vyffor saw a Green Nargacuga killing a Mizutsune & trying to kill Mizu/its son so he saved Mizu & ran away without slaying the green nargacuga), Losi was the closest monstie to Vyffor that Vyffor owns, Vyffor views Losi as his big brother, although sometimes treats him like his child, without Losi Vyffor will go on scared-feral mode & will freak out, his relationship with the characters are: Kayna is like his predator in his view until some events after the main story (my own postgame events), where they’re simply friends, he sees Lilia as his aunt (specially after when he realises his parents are her childhood friends), she knows it & really likes that, Kyle & Vyffor are literally boyfriends, Vyffor sees Avinia kinda like his mommy, she knows it, she thinks its cute (specially because he’s a furry & he’s very cute-looking), but never comments on it, Vyffor’s relationship with Cheval is basically a father & son, Cheval even adopts Vyffor at a certain point in my exclusive post-game events, it wasn’t that hard for Cheval, after all, he raised Sivan (the mhs1 protagonist + Vyffor’s mamma) ever since she was 1 years old, so why would Vyffor be a challenge? Cheval is also really protective over lil Vyffor, Reverto & Vyffor are simply friends, Navirou & Vyffor are really good friends, Vyffor might sometimes cuddle him in his sleep, Orgo & Vyffor are also simply friends, Tsukino is really close to Vyffor because of his relationship with Kyle, exactly like Navirou, Ena is also kinda like Vyffor’s mommy figure (yes, 2 mommy figures & 1 daddy figure, totally normal), Alwin is very protective over Vyffor because of him being Red’s grandson, Vakuum really loves Vyffor mainly because he was the key to the answer to his question, How can a mortal have such a big affects on someone or something? Even mortals are meaningful, only because they aren’t some powerful beings that can create & destroy stuff with simple fingers snap doesn’t mean they’re weak & useless, they’re strong in their own ways, and he saw something really special in Vyffor as well, and thats it i guess

[astriiformes]

Someone reblogged the Lilith playlist with a tag saying it had 2014 8tracks vibes (as a compliment, to be clear) and I'm having a bit of a moment about it

Because not only is that exactly the era I cut my teeth as a little baby fanmixer back in the day, but also, two of the very first playlists I ever posted on there were aro/ace Mako Mori and Newt Geiszler ones for Ace Week in October 2014 (one specifically on a day for making aro fanworks, because this was before the ace and aro awareness events had totally diverged). Long enough ago that one of them has the old black-and-grey-and-yellow-and-green aro flag on it, which at this point is even more of a relic than 8tracks itself.

And now I'm just thinking about like.... obviously I haven't stoppped making ace and aro fanworks based off headcanons, but back then, it was because I didn't have anything other than headcanons and couldn't have made one for a canon character if I'd wanted to (and I really, really wanted to).

I vividly remember reading the same two or three aro Pacific Rim headcanon fics over and over again around that same time, and one in particular that centered on my favorite character being in a queerplatonic relationship. I was just a little baby aro/ace back then, too, and had only just started identifying as both the year before. And of course being in high school there were a lot of things I couldn't envision about the future, but I knew I was still looking for some version of it in those stories, even though there weren't very many of them. To the point that I started saving them for the nights I was feeling the loneliest and saddest about my future, because I didn't want them to lose their impact. Except even with their help, it was still hard to picture ever finding someone who wanted the same sort of thing as me.

So now I'm sitting here feeling some kind of way about being 26 instead of 17, and the community history stretching between then and now and those playlists and this one (the new/current flag design, ASAW being a thing at all), and sitting on the couch last year listening to the TOH charity stream and shouting across the room at Scribe when they played the reading of Lilith's letter, and the handful of other aro/ace characters I get to hold onto these days, and also about living with Scribe at all -- years and years after I met her because she got excited about another playlist I posted to 8tracks.

[kitkatt0430]

Six (Or More) Sentence Sunday!!!! Remembered to do this before getting caught up doing other stuff today.

“It’s a timeline based off what I remember strongest for the through-line life that would have made it to the version of the multi-verse crises that led to this multi-verse rebooting into the next,” Barry said. “There were a lot of timelines to sort through and reject in my memories. Still an ongoing project, getting my closet in order.” Eobard rolled his eyes. Of all the inane things to turn into his mind palace… an infinitely large closet. “Next up on the ‘who’s that criminal meta’ game, should be Danton Black. He’s going to be gunning for Simon Stagg. The way this timeline would have played out if I hadn’t gotten my head crammed full of future events? I’d have stopped him, barely, but Danton commits suicide rather than let me stop him from falling out of what should have been shatterproof windows. A gunshot won’t break that glass but a handful of determined clones can? Someone committed fraud with that install,” Barry rambled and then shook his head. “Sorry. I’m a bit talky today. Anyway. You killed Stagg anyway in that timeline. I’ve never been sure why, but no great loss there. Met enough alternate versions of him that for a half decent reason I’d happily drop him off the nearest cliff and call it a hiking accident.”

No one likes Simon Stagg. Especially not 'brain full of infinite realities' Barry Allen.

This scene is from the first part of the tentatively named fic 'Networking' for the Timeless Nonsense series. Barry was getting a little more work in on sorting out the timelines and plotting his next moves when Eobard dropped in to see how it's progressing. This fic will contain Barry heading over to Starling to drop in on Oliver, Felicity, and Dig. But also... Eobard winds up visiting someone he hasn't seen since before the accelerator explosion after learning this person is essentially on Barry's hit list for easier timeline management. He doesn't realize he's having a bit of an ethics crisis, but Eobard is totally having a bit of an ethics crisis. (Don't worry, it's not Simon Stagg. He's gonna die in the fic after this one and no one is gonna feel sorry about it.)

I also finally made some progress on The Story of HR Wells as a sort of back and forth between past and present that'll end either with Cynthia arriving on Earth-1 of HR lending Cisco the original copy of his World War M historical accounting. It's part of Coffee, Drumsticks, and Social Revolutions and I'm doing some world building in here that'll mean I need to go back and do a bit of editing on the fics already posted. Mostly minor things - Earth-19 refers to it's doctorates a bit differently now and other stuff that really makes it feel a bit more like a close-but-not culture over there.

By then it’s time for lunch with Caitlin before the apartment hunt began. He keyed Caitlin into the transmogrifier so that she sees him, not the part Randolf and part HR blend that he was wearing for the rest of the world. They chat about nothing in particular really, but HR can’t help but notice she’s hiding a second patch of cut-short hair with her barrettes today. Maybe it’s time to try the whole reaching out thing. Even if she doesn’t reciprocate, at least HR would have tried to help her. And she might still reach out in return down the line. He started with a mild complaint about his shoulder. “I’m glad I’ve got you along or I might just take the first apartment I see so I can put a mattress in it that won’t cause that nerve in my shoulder to pinch. Messes up my whole arm for the day when it happens. Or more than a day sometimes.” “Oh no,” Caitlin frowned, going into doctor mode. “You’re sure it’s just a pinched nerve?”

HR is trying to help Caitlin deal with what he still currently thinks is just PTSD problems, but it turns out the things he's about to tell her about his struggles with coping with the aftermath of brain damage from a war wound - in the first conversation they have here and a few subsequent ones - help her with her fears about how different her own thoughts become whenever her powers try to become active.

Obviously, what Caitlin's going through is quite different from HR did, but she's still struggling with her brain chemistry changing on her, altering the way she thinks and feels about everything. And HR understands how upsetting and frightening that is in a way no one else on Team Flash does.

[esperata]

20 Questions for Writers!

Tagged by @arcanemoody Thank you!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

419

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

currently 1,537,289 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

A lot of DC media (comics, movies, cartoons, games). Occasional Super Mario or Marvel franchises. Used to be a whole lot of Star Trek, which I still love.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

That's Amore (MCU) 1124 kudos Plans and Propositions (MCU) 663 kudos Five Times + 1 (Star Trek TOS) 519 kudos Wait... Was That A Date?! (MCU) 508 kudos Only You (MCU) 449 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes. I always try to respond within a day or two and with as lengthy a reply as the comment.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

From Bad To Worse (Star Trek TOS). I did eventually write a follow up fic to give McCoy some healing but yeah, this fic was left with an angsty ending.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of my fics have happy endings but I'm going to pick A Plague On Both Your Houses (Gotham) because its based on a tragedy which makes the ending here all the happier.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, generally not. I have had a troll on ff.net and some people who didn't apparently read my fic before commenting 🙄 but people are generally nice.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes. Hard to answer this. I aim for emotional, or sensual usually. Its some part of the relationship whether thats frustrated sex or tender love.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Not often. I did start one last year during riddlebird week, Gay Attorney (Gotham/Ace Attorney), but I lost enthusiasm (unrelated to it being a crossover)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge although who knows with the AI scrapers nowadays.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Several of my spones drabbles got translated into Spanish here and Olduvai (Star Trek AOS) got translated into Russian here.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes. I used to work closely with StellarLibraryLady and we co-wrote a series of Star Trek fics and drabbles called Plant Life. I have assisted and been assisted with various other fics such as The Dating Game (Batman media) with LordRobotnik and Far From Over (Batman movies 89-97) with TheDreammweaver.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Riddlebird holds the number one spot for having so many variations I can play with. Spones and hattercrow are also favourites.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you will?

Probably one called Gotham Gossip which has been in my notes folder for years. I have the template all done but can't muster any interest in writing it. The Gotham version of riddlebird is not my preferred fandom.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'd say characterisation and plots with heart. My stories revolve around the relationships so I focus on that.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

World building and visual descriptions. The first isn't needed in fanfic and I don't have the required visualisation for the second.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Nothing wrong with this as long as care is taken to try and get it right. Translations should be provided either as a footnote or with proper hover features enabled.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Knightmare, a British kids TV show from the 80s - 90s. I typed this on an old style word processor and still have it saved to floppy disc.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Tough question. Right now I'm going to pick Do You Mind? (Batman the animated series). I enjoyed weving the story with canon events and know it worked well.

Tagging, if they want, @thedreammweaver , @ramenflavoredchaos , @nerdcore-gf , and @gottaread2

[chattercap]

2024 Roadmap (January Edition!)

As we head into the New Year, here is my to-do list for the first half of the year! Note that if you're interested in the development of Actala, I've included a lengthy writeup regarding that project...and some comments about falling out of love with something that you used to hold dear.

The Deepwater Witch

The script for The Deepwater Witch is 100% complete and finalized, and the only thing left to do is CGs, which have been completely storyboarded. In total I have 10 to do, although I do want to take my time with them.

I won't pinpoint a concrete date for the release as there are a few quality of life features that I would like to include in the full version, such as rollback and save file renaming. However, I expect to release the full version of The Deepwater Witch around February.

And now for the other projects!

Kanau (previously "Tsunagu")

"Kanau" will be the prequel to "Karamu," set 11 years before the events of the previous installment. On his 10th birthday, Rakuo Kumode undergoes his family's initiation ceremony.

Kanau will be a mostly horror game with some romantic elements. Since it is set in the past, it will be kinetic, with switching POV protagonists.

If all goes well, I hope to release it around February/March.

(And, following the release of the prequel, I hope to release the sequel around the summer timeframe. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.)

MINDMINDMIND (previously "The Man Who Follows")

There is a man who watches you. He's been watching you for a long time. He watches, and he whispers.

MINDMINDMIND will be a psychological romance game featuring a creepy, but charming, yandere. There will be two male love interests, optional platonic/romantic endings (for one of them), and a customizable MC. I was tossing around some concept sketches for one of the LIs, Geist, earlier this afternoon.

I hope to release it around the end of March.

And last but not least...

Actala: The Hero's Shadow

This will be a bit long-winded and rambling, so skip to the bottom if you just want to know about the current status of development.

If any of you have been following, Actala was the first game that I released, around February last year. I released the demo for Steam Next Fest. It's my largest project, incorporating 5 different love interests and 6 different routes in an expansive fantasy world.

There are some people who saw Actala, played it, and supported me based on the demo alone, and for that I'm very grateful (your comments live rent-free in my mind). At the time, I was proud of it, and I tried to market it rather aggressively. However, the game didn't gain much traction, and after some bad experiences, I got rather ashamed of looking at it. I thought that it was boring, hideous, and poorly written. "How could I have ever wasted people's time with this trash?" I had once treasured that game preciously, wanting to show it off, and I started wanting to hide it in my closet where it couldn't be seen (I even thought about removing the demo from storefronts).

After that, I started working on other, smaller games. It's easier, working on smaller projects. You don't put as much effort into them, so it doesn't matter as much if they end up not meeting your expectations. (When people tell you to start small, they are correct.) My procrastination ended up being fruitful, at the very least. I think I improved a little bit in every aspect (sprite art, backgrounds, writing, GUI, and coding), and I got faster and more experienced at producing games. At the same time, I mostly put Actala development out of my mind because...I didn't want to think about trying to fix that ugly, broken thing. "I'll fix it when I'm better," I told myself. "I'll come back to it when I'm the best game dev I can be." I told myself that I would go back to it later because that was easier than accepting that I had fallen out of love with something that I had loved so much.

Around the time I was finishing scripting for TDW, I looked through my Actala scripts again to see how different my writing style had become. I was scared. How bad was it? I read it, and I realized something.

I did love it.

I remembered how much time I put into every facet of the characters - their backstories, motivations, goals, dreams, cultural backgrounds, costumes. I remembered how many timelines and lore documents that I made. I remembered how meticulously I planned the themes and messages, incorporating a lot of my own struggles with cultural identity, loss, and self-acceptance into the narrative.

Actala is a project that I care about a lot, and I want it to be perfect, but ultimately it will never be perfect. I just need to try my best with my current skills and hope that they're good enough that people can enjoy the story. So I'm ready to return to Actala's development now. I'm sorry for the delay if anyone has been looking forward to it, and I will do better in the future.

As for the current state of Actala's development, it needs a lot of work. It was originally built in Unity, and it needs to be ported over to Godot. Most of the art from the demo needs to be redrawn, simply because my sprite and background styles are VERY different now. So I'll be working on it in conjunction with my current projects, starting with refining the script, then working on sprites and CGs. I won't guarantee any sort of concrete release date for this simply because of how much work is required, but I hope to release an updated demo (with additional scenes for Rowan, Faye, Hugh, and Sei) in the summer.

Thank you to everyone who looks forward to playing my projects, and thank you again for your patience. I hope to make a lot of games this year!

[artistically-unique-girl]

It’s that time of year again (even though I really don’t do this yearly, more like whenever I remember to post) for me to post the art I’ve made recently. There will definitely be a trend of LMK (Lego Monkie Kid) art here because I’m currently hyperfixated on Monkey King things. (but honestly he’s a mood and I wish I could have someone like him in my life because I need that chaotic energy in my life). Anyways here’s the art, which is mostly ocs but I don’t care lol

Okay so to start us off on what I’ve drawn is (newest to oldest):

Xiaoyue (the first two pictures) is one of my lmk ocs. She is Mk’s sister and pretty much his Macaque just without the trauma (which comes during s2/s3 when LBD briefly gets into Mk’s head and causes him to attack his sister which results in her getting a scar. She is blind in that eye, but I forgot to show that so imagine her eye is a grayish color instead or she’s simply wearing a colored contact).

Next up is Red Son. Though it’s more of a redesign/AU design because I was on a redesign kick, but I really enjoyed his design in lmk (at least his outfit) so I just changed up his colors and added more bull features on him along with the five rings that Guanyin put on him in JttW (though I believe one is supposed to be around his head like with Monkey King, but I decided to put it on his neck instead. Sort of like a necklace).

Next is a lil mini comic thing (that I used a reference for that I found on Pinterest) of JttW Wukong and pre-curse Bao (another lmk oc who’s pretty much transcended to anything Monkey King related lol) when they first meet and pretty much fall in love with each other. Though they have technically met before then, back when Wukong was causing trouble in heaven for the Jade Emperor. The two never really interacted for various of reasons, but young Bao did find Wukong to be a breath of fresh air (metaphorically speaking) compared to everyone else in heaven. (If you want Bao backstory I’ll give it just send an ask and I’ll spill the tea lol)

Next up is Qingling (another lmk oc lol) who is a young goddess that can turn into the twelve different animals of the zodiac as well as communicate with them. The purple robe is from when she was placed to guard the map of the Samadhi Fire with Nezha, who pretty much became her mentor but not really (he just taught her how to fight so that she’d be able to actually guard the map). The red robe is from when she left her position, which happened some time before the events of the show, and met Mk (who she gained loyalty to and a crush/partner which is totally based off of a rp with a friend). She’s pretty much like Mk, but more on the side of being similar to early Monkey King (mostly because she used to terrorize people with her powers for the fun of it plus she honestly didn’t know how to treat mortals before meeting Mk since she was sort of taught that they were beneath her).

Next we have Possessed AU (my own little AU) Bao, which is about how Bao ran away from heaven upon finding out Wukong had been trapped under a mountain (she had a crush on him and was overreacting lol) and ended up meeting Lady Bone Demon, who used her powers to possess the vulnerable young goddess. Unlike “Mayor”, Bao is a mute and does what either LBD or Mayor tell her to do (she’s referred to as his receptionist many times to mostly hide her true identity). The staff was something created for Bao by LBD to channel her powers and allow Bao to use both LBD’s bone magic (like Macaque did in s3) and her own sunlight magic. (If you want to know more about the AU just send an ask, I’d be happy to answer it)

Next is actually a fusion design/redesign/AU design for Macaque. It’s a mixture of his 2009 Monkey King show design and his LMK design. I really liked the design of young Mac so I thought it’d be fun to merge the designs. It’s kinda like his true form, or at least my version of his true form. I’ll eventually draw the full body version of it lol.

Lastly is a random thing I wanted to make that got stuck in my head for days before I actually drew it and I love it so much. The two characters have evolved from just random characters to ocs that I’m slowly making a world around. For now they’re just referred to as the Princess and the Vampire since I don’t have names for them yet. Though I do know that he’s the “villain” of the story and their lives are intertwined with each other no matter what they do.

Alright. That’s all, for now. Feel free to send in asks about any of my ocs or AUs, I’m always down to talk about them with anyone who’d listen. Also feel free to ask my opinion on lmk stuff since it’s apart of my current hyperfixation. Anyways, have a lovely life!

[tleeaves]

alright had to ask, what is it about australia or living here that you don’t like?

Okay, I apologise but this might be nonsensical (and totally political). Also, I get pretty heated in some of my discussion. Please know that it is not directed toward you, this turned into something of a vent/rant.

I point out the obvious right now based on current events, how Australia failed our Indigenous population by the "No" votes succeeding in the referendum for the Voice, and how disappointing that is. Let me paint a quick picture of what it looked like the day I voted: outside the town hall, there were three elderly folks holding signs and loudly telling my father and myself to vote no right on the steps of the entry. We walked straight past them to the one lone old woman who had pamphlets for the yes vote in hand, heads held high, and took two pamphlets with grateful smiles. I come from an immigrant family on both sides. This land was never ours. At least half of my heritage is made up of people and cultures that my British ancestry have historically oppressed too. The Indigenous peoples of this land are the rightful caretakers of it and always will be, no matter the people that come here. I gladly voted "Yes" and would have done it hundreds of times over if I could.

Unfortunately, it seems my long-standing suspicions have come true: many Aussies can be some of the most ignorant, lazy bunch of tall poppy syndrome mob-followers I have ever had the displeasure to know. Many voted against the referendum simply because they were uninformed and misinformed about it. I'm sure there's a great number that just did not care, because "what's it got to do with me? What if it affects my life negatively? Just say no to change to be safe and be done with it." It is appalling to me that apparently so many people are willing to just bury their heads in the sand and call it a day; not doing the research, not inquiring, not even appropriately weighing up multiple reliable sources to determine how best to vote. This is not their country. If I could, I'd tell those who voted "No" to leave it. Just leave. "Go back to your country" and I don't give a fuck if they were born here since this is the kind of argument white as hell ignorants tell every one who doesn't fit their picket-fenced lives.

Because that's what Australia feels like to me. Just another version of that illusory "American dream". We follow the footsteps of America in a lot of things, I've noticed, particularly in politics and media. We have more freedoms, yes, but how long will that last? I do not trust this country, especially now. We cannot seem to escape the ghosts of British colonisation either.

And do you know what I have also learned while researching Britain for many years (primarily for writing purposes and settings)? Australia is pretty much a watered down version of it, from our houses to our laws. It makes sense. But we are a pale, ugly shadow. Australia was built on by and for the convicts, not European elegance. I keep seeing in my mind the country town I used to live in. Those houses are uniform, old things commissioned for the immigrants and whatnot that came to work at the power station and mines. You can see echoes of English culture. But that's just it. Only echoes. That is Australia. I do not see anything recommending this place even aesthetically, anything particularly unique. In Victoria it's dark and rainy and can get icy, and you're basically in Britain. Melbourne is New York, as @faithfromanewperspective has pointed out, and so we are also American-influenced. Queensland has been referred to as "the Florida of Australia" by Americans and Canadians I've met. Everything contemporary Australia seems to be, is just a melting pot of Western culture. Our own politicians laud that we have so many different cultures from all across the globe, but I do not think some people realise that Aussies are not an accepting people historically, and many of those who were around when immigrants from Southern Europe and the Middle East first came here for work in the decades that followed the world wars are still alive and still allowed to vote and campaign.

And look, I'm almost definitely not the first person to point any of this out. But it's all this knowledge that's been a thorn in my side for a great deal of time. I cannot truly like or love Australia, not when there is also all of this.

Onto more minor things: the public transportation? Pretty good, I can't really complain, and it's especially good in Victoria. The weather? Can be really nice in certain parts of the country. We so far have not reached the insanity that is America, and we fortunately have no border-neighbours to war with (though I admit we are neglecting our Islanders and their well-being in at least a few ways, and I think we may be able to expect rising tensions after the "No" votes won). Personally? I prefer colder weather and would move from here if I could -- maybe in future -- back down south or overseas. Our environment can be beautiful, thoroughly enjoyable and peaceful, but the bush and even rainforests are not exactly my favourite. There's something so dry and alien, even about the plants here. And the rainforest/tropical areas here are good for carnivorous plants, which I tend, but the constant weather changes haven't been very kind to my bones (or to my plants, actually, and I have to wonder about the role climate change is playing in making the environment increasingly harsh, even for Australia). Also, I hate humidity. The air? In summer, it makes you wonder if there is air. I've had panic attacks because I feel like I can't breathe, that everything is too thick, too close, too everywhere, if that makes sense (keeping in mind I have water-related trauma). I don't like that places outside of the cities have such small Balkan populations and so I struggle to meet many people with the same life experiences and culture that I do, which makes carrying on language and traditions passed down in my family feel like a losing fight. Really, I just do not want to live here in Australia. It is both home and not. If I have to stay here, I'll go back to Victoria or might even try out Tasmania (gone on trips there, but have not lived there before). But that's if I truly have no capability of leaving the country.

One more thing: something about the places I seem to live in this country is very anti-knowledge and learning. Especially Queensland when compared with Victoria. Everything is so fitness and sports heavy, there is simply a general lack of respect for education. I'd talk more on this but I've run out of brain juice.

Anyway, that was my long-winded, rambly rant of things I don't like about Australia and living here. I'm pretty sure I have more to add but this is mainly the stuff at the forefront of my mind currently.

[signalwatch]

We Watched Eurovision 2023 (from the US. Texas, no less.)

I will be accused of only watching Eurovision 2023 because this edition was co-hosted by actor/ singer/ performer Hannah Waddingham of Ted Lasso fame.  First - how dare you.  Second - she looked amazing.

We've all heard of Eurovision, but until recently, it didn't air here in the US that I'm aware of.  In recent years we'd see twitter going bananas for it, but it was during daylight and work hours, and it was very unclear what was occurring over there.  But folks of all ages and walks of life seemed into it, so I think that piqued the curiosity of some of us.

Right at the start of COVID, I remember watching the Eurovision movie starring Will Ferrell, and it gave me *some* clue as to what was happening and how it worked, but, honestly, raised more questions than it answered.

what needs no explanation is Hannah's gown on Night 2 of the semi-finals

Then, two years ago, Jamie left me alone at home in the middle of the day - and I cannot imagine where she went, because this was *prime* COVID-hiding time.  But, left alone, I saw on twitter that Eurovision was happening, and that it was on Peacock.  I planned to tune in for fifteen minutes to check it out, but wound up sitting totally locked in for probably 3.5 hours (the finals this year ran 4:15).  Returned home, Jamie caught a bit of it, but didn't get the full deluge of sitting, trying to figure out what the hell we were looking at as act after act took the stage.

Some of you will know the winners from that year (2021), Italian rock outfit Måneskin.  They're pretty solid!

Last year we had a multi-day family event and missed the whole thing.  

But this year, nothing was going on. And, again, Waddingham was there, so I tuned in.

One of the challenges of Eurovision, much like soccer here, is that it airs on commercial-free TV.  Asking American TV to carry something they can't break up with commercials every few minutes is unheard of.  Or was until the advent of streaming platforms.  And now I get soccer and Eurovision.  And probably detective shows about like, British cookie-tasters solving polite murders in quaint small towns.

I've mentioned to a few (US) people that I was watching, and to a person, they've said, "So, what is that?  Like... American Idol?"  

That's not a dig on the people who put it that way, but it is very hard to explain the scope of Eurovision to Americans who have spent two decades bombarded by terrible singing and talent competitions that mostly rely on your knowing who the judges are and listening to bad covers of music you previously liked.

I would judge all gowns here a smashing success

Eurovision is the final round of about 37 participating countries from Europe and Australia.  It's more like the World Cup of song competitions as each of these performers has already been selected by their country in local competition.  Of course, local competion means one thing in England and another in San Marino (which has a population of 30,000+ people).  

The finals see 26 countries, and - friends - I have no real idea how this works.  Like, UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain just show up for the finals but not the semi-finals?  

The music is pop, but it's not necessarily what Americans think of when they think of pop.  Not that, here at age 48 and with zero kids (I'm aware of) to my name, that I would know what current pop sounds like.  But I am pretty sure, based on the fact I live a part of the country where Cumbia and Tejano are gigantic going concerns, "pop" is different for different people.  So, across, 37 countries, you get some interesting stuff.  That's to say, don't necessarily expect (checks Billboard) Miley Cyrus. But get an Albanian family-band dressed in disco versions of local folk-wear and turning an anthem into a banger. 

It's also worth noting, the music swings between folks looking for radio stardom and folks putting it on the line as House or, really, Novelty acts.  I may vote for someone because they're entertaining as hell on this show, but I may not put them on my everyday playlist.  And that's fine.  We aren't making any life or death decisions here.  

what is a great decision was the wardrobe for the first part of the finale.  Great jacket, Graham.

Eurovision is a *friendly* competition that happens when you live in a place with actual history and less monoculture, and the overall competition is deeply not-American.  No one here gives a flying @#$% about the US and our pop scene.  But what they are celebrating is that they all bring their best game, everyone gets a chance, and you basically get to party in the audience for 4 hours.  

There are no judges influencing voting or destroying the souls of the contestants.  There is some weighted voting before the popular vote is counted that's a bit like the Electoral College where countries send their 12 votes in.  Oh, and, by the way - you can't vote for people from your own country.  Just imagine.  We'd burn the show down here in the US.

The performances have set pieces, light shows, screen shows, dancers.  It's big and it's... a lot.  And that's kind of the fun of the thing.  Everything is cranked up to 11, and it's pop songs, so even if one song isn't your bag, it's only going to be 3 minutes and out.  But the musicians/ artists really need their act together.  So every song is a little bit of performance art as well as delivery of a single.  

speaking of art: Hannah's final look from Eurovision 2023

Do they lip-synch?  I assume so.  There's a lot of dancing and rolling around and other things that make live singing seem unlikely.  Nor do people have instruments in hand all the time, or are bands seen.  And that's fine.  Who cares?  It's performing to a song as much as performing a song.

Whichever country wins then hosts the next year's competition, which, to be honest, does not seem like enough time to get all of this together.  But I'll assume they know what they're doing.  

However, this year's Eurovision was held in Liverpool, despite the fact the UK was runner-up in 2022.  The winner of 2022 was Ukraine, and...  Americans could do well to see how this was handled.  

Yes, the UK provided three hosts (including Waddingham and Graham Norton), but they also very much included Ukraine in the proceedings, starting with a Ukrainian rock-star host, Julia Sanina (who was really good, and realized she could also cut loose like Waddingham by show's end).  But there were also Ukrainian acts who played the voting interval and other segments, and repeated call outs to Ukraine.  

If Russia wasn't feeling isolated before, seeing dozens of European countries in complete support of Ukraine (and never mentioning Russia directly) had to have felt like a massive PR problem that no psy-ops are going to erase.  And, after the war in Ukraine has dragged on, it's a welcome reminder of the continued war and need to maintain and demonstrate support for Ukraine.

The show also both implicitly and explicitly made calls for inclusivity and equality.  And, friends, that's something I hope we can all agree on.  

I am unsure if I'll watch both semi-finals and finals next year.  It'll depend on time available.  As Sweden's Loreen won, Waddingham won't be involved next year (I assume).  But that's not a deterrent from watching.  

By the way, (a) it seems like non-Ted Lasso fans discovered Waddingham this week and are here for her, and (b) at least two guys who were announcing who their countries were voting for clumsily attempted to flirt with Waddingham.  Shoot your shot, king.

The voting is dramatic and stressful, and much more interesting than the hammy results delivery on most American reality gameshows.  The combo of scores to a total feels immediate and less...  architected.  And, I have no idea what the demographic is for the show, because Non-Threatening Boys did not do well, but hyper-real weirdos did fantastic.  

My personal favorite acts were Croatia, Austria, Moldova, Lithuania, Finland, and, yes, winner Sweden, who I had to keep my mouth shut about because Jamie was not having a previous winner coming back to win again. Also, all things being equal, the Italian guy was good but not my favorite.

Finland

Sweden

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[thelostrainbowthenovel]

Heyyy, sorry for the lack of uploads this September 😅 I had classes start up again, and in-between my classes, working long 9-10-hour shifts, and marching band events on weekends, it has been difficult trying to find time to do anything creative(save for like, a couple drawings and simple sketches). But even if I don't have much time to get a lot of larger/time-consuming ideas done, I still want to upload some smaller ones here-and-there so my page doesn't go totally dead. So, here is a sketch I did 4 weeks ago in the meantime!

As it may appear, these are the Alagona siblings when they are much older, circa 15 years older as they are based around this concept I had earlier this year of the younger royals' older appearances/lives. Murph's was low-key one of my favorite designs from that experiment(mainly the hair, as I was inspired heavily by Inigo Montoya's fluffy bangs/hair lol), so I really just wanted to draw his design again, plus I thought I should add his siblings in to to update their older designs too.

Updating the main characters looks was always a low-key idea of mine, especially because these concept sketches from 3 years ago are pretty outdated. I'll probably just do sketches like last time, but I think it would be fun to see how my ideas for them have changed since then! For now, I hope you enjoy, and here are some notes for these three's looks here! :D

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- Meredith(39): Has gotten more filled-out/curvy over the years and 'softer', having some left-over weight-gain from her pregnancies. Has kept her hair pretty long(as she doesn't like how shorter hair looks on her), but has changed up her bangs. She took her navel piercing out when pregnant with her first child and never got it re-pierced, but she has gotten more tattoos over the years(has about 6-ish total). Wears her glasses more often but still wears contacts for big events, and has more of a mature or regal fashion style, but still has fun wearing more jewelry.

- Brooke(37): Still pretty fit/toned as he has kept up with dancing and swimming, but has become a bit thicker/softer with age, especially after becoming a father. His hair-length has fluctuated over the years(he started growing it out in his mid-late twenties before getting it cut much shorter around his thirties), but he usually keeps it around its medium-length and changed his bangs slightly. Got a second set of lobe piercings + his right cartilage in his mid-twenties, and has gotten more tattoos over the years too(having about 9 total). His fashion style has become more toned down and 'mature' in a sense, but it still has its fun elements and he still enjoys wearing a lot of jewelry.

- Murphy(25): Has grown much taller(about 5'9") but still relatively average height, with an average build but a little more toned in his upper-body. Grows his hair out to be much longer and changes his bangs slightly. First gets his ears pierced at 13(his lobes), but after becoming an adult he gains a few cartilage piercings, and gets a few tattoos but mainly just matching ones with his older siblings. His fashion style becomes kind of an experimental version of his current style, but with a lot of androgynous and gender-neutral influences too.