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jeonghantis · 1 year

Note

hehe since ur requests are open, is it okay to request a scenario with joshua? i've been missing him tons lately ahdhsq

how do you think he would deal with getting all pent up when he's overseas or touring around while his s/o is back home? would he prefer sexting, phone sex, or a full on video call 😭

ofc you can choose to ignore this if it's too much dw !!

✧ — MENACE! (h.js)

PAIRING ⇝ hong jisoo x reader.

TAGS ⇝ established relationship, smut, idol!joshua.

WARNINGS ⇝ language, gn!reader but with female parts & wears lingerie, use of the petname "baby", explicit sexual content (MINORS, DNI!).

WORD COUNT ⇝ 2.4k words.

note: kai.. :) here’s the thing, i do think with joshua would be up for any of those but sexting would probably be the most used out of them all. but here's a little peek into the development from sexting to video calls. i hope this'll help lift ur mood a lil. ♡ i hope you all enjoy! and and god i wish i could better format the texts but i hope it's not too confusing!

reblogs & comments are very much appreciated.

explicit warnings under the cut.

EXPLICIT WARNINGS ⇝ sexting, filmed masturbation (f & m), use of rabbit vibrator (f), pillow humping (m), squirting, cum shot, wap (wet ass pussy) reader, spit as lube, mentions of orgasm denial, mentions of penetrative sex, alludes to dom!shua (he can be cruel and teasing :) )

Joshua saw red.

It was not out of anger. It was much on the contrary.

Red lingerie. New red lingerie laced itself around your body, hugging and accentuating your curves in all the right ways. You sat on the edge of your bed with legs spread wide and the flimsy excuse of a thong you wore left little to his imagination. There was a smug expression on your face, and in your hand was something he recognized with ease. It was a violet rabbit vibrator, a gift he had given you and one he had intended to use on you himself.

Joshua saw red, a little bit of it now out of anger, for this image of you was not happening in real time before him, but on the tiny screen of his phone.

My Love: hi, darling! by the time you see this, you must be so exhausted from your concert. i could not be more proud of you for working as hard as you do :(( so i thought i might reward you <3

My Love: Sent a video.

Joshua didn't waste any more breaths and pressed play.

“Hi, baby,” your voice floats immediately from the phone speakers and fills the air of his much too empty hotel room, tone sultry and lilted. You were smiling and waving around the vibrator in front of the camera. “I thought you’d like to see me try out your gift for the first time.”

“Well, shit.” Joshua lets out a baffled laugh and adjusts himself on the couch, leaning back and spreading his legs wide as if to alleviate the building pressure between them. He could pull his sweats down, but thought better of it. He might have much better plans after.

Keen and hungry eyes watch your every movement. It’s unfaltering when you pull your thong to your side and bring the toy to your cunt already slicked and glistening to which Joshua could assume you had prepped yourself beforehand with your own fingers and the imagery didn’t help his waning sanity. As you begin to tease yourself and rub the blunt tip all over your slit, he catches a glimpse of your fluttering hole, grasping desperately at nothing. He remembered once how he had laughed at the sight, at your mewling, when he had denied you of your orgasm after fingering you so close to the edge. He had laughed again when he sheathed his cock inside you not long after, feeling that delicious pulse of your warm channel around him.

Joshua was very far from laughing now.

You finally slip the toy inside, and a long, strained moan is pulled from your lips. It looked like a tight fit and his eyes twitched at the thought and how it was just a thought to him. But he was proved correct when he caught the tremble of your thighs, your chest rising and falling with choppy breaths. And yet despite it, you’re still continuing to push the entire length of the toy inside until the handle is the only thing left protruding out of you. Regardless of the obvious discomfort twisting your features and the sweat beading along your hairline, there’s still a wicked curl of lip when you look back up at the camera, a flicker of pride, of challenge, in your darkened gaze. It stirred something warm deep in his guts.

Then, he hears a faint click, a buzz, and another moan right out of you.

Time was a muddled construct from then on.

Joshua only watched you fuck yourself with his gift, watched you slowly lose yourself over some mere piece of silicone. At some point, you fell flat on your back and he’s dismayed by your hidden face, but easily distracted when your feet prop themselves up wide apart, sole flat on the mattress. Now, he’s blessed by a much clearer and utter sinful view of how well your puffy cunt swallows up the toy, it becoming a blur of violet as it pumps in and out at a quickening pace.

And the fucking sounds. It was so wet. You were so wet, the squelches echoing in his ears with every other thrust made. More than that, your incoherent moanings had slowly formed into words—some swears, others pleas, but what rang deep in his bones were the airy mutterings of his name.

“Joshua,” you groan during one particularly hard thrust made.

He chewed on his bottom lip hard.

“S-Shua!” you cried, sharp and high, when your hips jerked up into the toy.

He threw a palm against his crotch.

Then it all ends too soon.

With a shattered wail, you yank the vibrator out of you and a gush of clear fluids spurt right out. You’re a whimpering mess. A hand reached down to rub fast circles on your clit as you wade through your pleasure, your lower frame stuttering up into it, your legs maddened with violent tremors. His name continues to fall out of your lips like a breathy mantra, like it was the only word you knew.

Joshua clicks his phone shut, places it on the table, and takes in a breath.

“Fuck.”

You might have pushed him too far with this, but in all fairness, your beloved, ever-so-sweet, and loving boyfriend Joshua has been nothing short of an absolute menace of a man since he had left for tour. Very often since his departure, nearly every single day, he has plagued you with texts filled with his lewd thoughts. You did love it, of course you did when it showed that Joshua still thought of you often and felt your absence just as much you did with his. But with the time difference, while he texts you during his evenings, you’d receive it in the mornings where you’d be drowning in your schedules.

shua! ♡ : You’re working?

shua! ♡ : What a shame :(( i was going to talk about how i want to fuck your tight little pussy just now :((

It still didn’t stop him from describing the imagery with very explicit details.

The days of missing him grew even more unbearable. You knew Joshua found delight in this and was probably cackling away in his hotel bed at your frustrations. But you also knew despite the front he puts up, Joshua was just as sexually repressed and wound up as you, or he wouldn't have bothered with this stint. Why not try to play him at his own games?

So, you did. A free day came in your schedule and you bought some new lingerie sets and shot your little video with Joshua's gift that lay unused in a drawer. You had your fun playing with yourself, imagining it was Joshua himself fucking your tight little pussy open. You were very pleased with yourself when you sent the video off, then you went on about your day like normal, or as normal can be with anticipation a steady simmer in your stomach.

Then came his response.

shua! ♡ : You think you can get away with this? :)

you: i have no idea what you’re talking about :) it’s a gift to repay you for your gift!

shua! ♡ : Sent a video.

shua! ♡ : Here’s to repay you for your repayment :)

you: ..oh no

The thumbnail of his video was less crude than yours. It was a full view of his unmade hotel bed. Joshua was nowhere in sight. Somehow this was a little more nerve wracking than your stunt.

With a pounding heart, you pressed play.

It’s eerily silent for the first few seconds, you could practically hear your own pulse thundering in your ears. Then there’s a rustle, a sigh, then Joshua comes into frame. He greets the camera with that sweet smile of his as he climbs up his bed. A black muscle tee fitted around his sculpted body, his toned biceps on full display. Then below –

Joshua wore absolutely nothing down below—no pants, not even underwear. His dick stood proudly, curved and bumping against his stomach.

A knowing, smug expression crosses his face as if he could see you through this video, and he takes his position, kneeling right in the middle of the bed.

“You drive me absolutely insane,” he said before spitting right into his hand. “Was the toy any better than my dick? Did it satisfy you?”

You let out a shaky breath just as he did too when his long fingers wrap around himself. He lathers the length of him in his own saliva and spares a little more every now and then, letting a string of spit thread down directly from his lips. You were too familiar with the gradual rhythm he set, with how his wrist twists a little more forcefully when he reaches the tip. It was the set of movements he particularly liked, the one that’s quick to pull airy grunts from him.

I could survive through this, you think to yourself, pressing your thighs together to temper the growing ache in between. You’ve given him handjobs before to expect what expressions would come about, what noises he'd come to make. This was fine.

But Joshua reaches for a pillow, and now you think all is doomed. This was absolutely far from what you were expecting. This explained the angle in which the camera was set up.

“It’s sad that I don’t have anything to replace you,” he clicks his tongue in disappointment, and places the pillow before him. “But I will have to make do.”

With growing horror (delight?), you watch with wide eyes as Joshua leans himself down, leveraging himself up with his arms, and starts to rut down against the cushion.

“y/n,” your lover grunts out. “Oh fuck, that’s good.”

Joshua lifts the bottom of his shirt up to bite on, revealing the chiseled lines of his torso, before he’s easing himself down until he’s laying flat on stomach. His thrusts are shallow, the muscles of thigh twitching and straining, and so are his breaths, muffled but gradually rising in volume. The pinkish tip of him peeks from where it's wedged in between and rubbing up against his hardened stomach, and you catch just the faintest rivulet leak from its slit, slipping down and staining the pillow’s white casing.

The pressure was soon not enough, you knew. The rising frustration was evident in how often he adjusts his position and the pillow, and how deeper and urgent his grinds became.

"Who am I kidding?" Joshua says with a dry laugh, pulling the shirt off of him and shucking it into an unknown corner of his room. "Nothing will come close to how your cunt feels around me."

Your core gives a euphoric throb at that and you press a palm against yourself with the softest sigh slipping from your lips.

Joshua, in the seemingly hopeless face of it all, is still trying anyway, seeking for some pleasure in this measly, soft thing. There had been a moment where you had thought he had given in when he sat back up and wrapped his hand around his throbbing girth again; perhaps he really had when he looked absolutely lose in the fast, blissful strokes made by the tight ring of his fingers. With fluttering eyelids and head thrown back, the first, more earnest moans falls from his lips, and before you thought he might be reaching a new high, Joshua drops back down on the pillow and rides the hell out of it once more, pursuing that same pace his hand had.

It was rare to see this frustrated desperation from him ever. Oh, how you loved to see how quickly his cool composure falls apart, ravaged the sight of his trembling body and sudden incoordination of all his limbs. Yet even with this smugness, you absolutely could not help this tang of envy that came with it, the longing ache for him only burrowing deeper. You wished you could witness this in real life, wished you felt his desperation thrusting inside you. You missed the warmth of his body, missed him.

Just how fucking long was this tour again? Holy shit.

You had been too distracted by your own yearning that you almost missed Joshua coming undone. It's his loud groan that yanks your focus back to the screen—loud groans of your name.

"I'm so close, fuck -" Joshua rambles on and scrambles to perch himself back up on his hands so you're given a full view of length gliding along heedlessly against the cushion, his hips stammering and losing rhythm. "I n-need you so bad, y/n. You have no idea how much I need you right now. Fuck, I miss you so bad. I'm going to come. I'm going to - "

Your name is punched out of his chest when white spurts out from his twitching cock. The spasms of his muscles were so visible, with each quaver gushing a little more of his cum out, the stain on the pillow only spreading from there. And Joshua is still riding out this high with languid ruts, coating his girth in his own glistening fluids until he gradually softens up.

After a few panted breaths from him, Joshua draws back and sits on his legs. He takes a moment to inspect the sight of his own mess, then his head tilts up at the camera and a tired smile pulls his lips. For a single beat, you stare at each other and even though you actually weren't, you still felt the weight of his gaze, a ripple of something crawling down your spine. Without any word but with that continuing smile, Joshua moves for his phone and shuts it off, leaving you in the deafening silence of your bedroom.

you: holy fuck, joshua.

shua! ♡: Yeah? You liked it? :)

you: absolutely not

shua! ♡: ?

shua! ♡: What really?

you: i absolutely loved it

shua! ♡: Could you maybe not do that? I was so fucking nervous the whole time

you: aw, my baby nervous? :(

shua! ♡: ...Yeah okay.

you: hehe :) i love you

shua! ♡: And I love you

shua! ♡: I have some thoughts though :)

you: oh no. STILL?!

you: WERE THOSE VIDEOS NOT ENOUGH?!

shua! ♡: Not at all :D

shua! ♡: Do you want to hear it?

you: fine

shua! ♡: Sent a link

shua! ♡: I bought you this :)

you: is this

you: a long distance vibrator...

shua! ♡: Yeah :)

shua! ♡: I want to see you play with yourself on call next time

shua! ♡: While I take control :)

you: fuck

you: of course you do

shua! ♡: Yeah :)

you: you're a menace

shua! ♡: And you love that about me

you: that i unfortunately do

shua! ♡: ❤️

shua! ♡: Tell me when it arrives, baby

shua! ♡: We'll have our fun together again :)

#seventeen smut #svt smut #seventeen fanfic #joshua smut #hong joshua smut #joshua fanfic #keir.rqst #hong jisoo smut #hong jisoo fanfic

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stuffnonsenseandotherthings · 7 months

Text

CityBoy_Log: Blurring the Lines Between Fiction and Reality.

I was doing my daily scroll through YouTube one day when a thumbnail (this thumbnail) caught my eye:

Now, at first glance I'll admit there's nothing exceptional about it. In fact, it's so perfectly run of the mill that I actually thought it was a vlog from a new K-pop band that I hadn't heard of before at first. The name, the picture they chose, the title.... all of it checked out and I had no reason to be suspicious that it was anything other than it seemed.

Anyway, I was bored, it had been a while since YouTube had recommended me anything K-pop that wasn't a group I was already subscribed to and I was feeling nostalgic for a good K-pop vlog.

It was only 5 minutes

What harm could it possibly do?

So I clicked on it.

And then I feel down a rabbit hole.

CityBoy_Log: The Drama

So it turns out that "CityBoy_Log" is not, in fact, a K-pop group's travel vlog series, nor is it a vlog series at all...

Well, it is...

But not really.

It's actually an 11 episode BL drama.

Summary:

Idol Lee Jae Jun, model/actor Lee Ji Han, actor Seo Byuk Joon, and rookie model Ahn Hyo Sang start a vlog channel about their trip to Okinawa, Japan for a photoshoot. The four meet for the first time (aside from JaeJun and Byuk Joon, who are longtime friends) when they learn they will be sharing a home during the trip. Though Ji Han's introduction caused some tension within the circle, the group's feelings towards each other start to change and grow as they keep vlogging. The vlogs show how their individual friendships develop by the end of their stay and after coming back to Seoul, some even beyond just platonic. (Mydramalist)

On the face of things, "CityBoy_Log" is a pretty straight forward drama (some might even call it mundane). Four friends navigating their relationships with each other on a trip. There's a main couple and a side couple and plenty of pining and love squares to keep the audience and the characters on their toes. Really nothing standout in a world where Semantic Error, Love for Love's Sake, and Eighth Sense exist, right?

Except the format.... the format is something else.

Because when the summary says "the vlogs", it really means the vlogs.

"CityBoy_Log" is a BL drama told entirely in character.

Like your typical k-vlog, the majority of the content comes from hand-held cameras carried about by the characters, only occasionally interspersed with aesthetic shots from their "camera crew". The characters talk openly to the audience, updating them on what's going on and what they're thinking and feeling; transitions between scenes are choppy and periods of time are missed due to "unfilmable" moments that we either only catch glimpses of or are told about later (or in some cases, have to fill in the blanks ourselves); dialogue is choppy and sometimes even awkward (especially as they're still getting to know each other) and voice cracks, nonsensical lines, and awkward pauses are all over the place.

It is feels messy, lightly edited, unscripted, and, for the most part, very very real.

Blurring the Boundaries Between Fiction and Reality.

Seeing how far the creators of the show have gone to make this drama feel realistic is fascinating. All the episodes are posted as vlog episodes on the show's YouTube Channel, they post additional shorts that follow the latest trends, and even have celebratory lives where they talk to fans. And all of this is done in character.

They also have an Instagram page and on MDL there is very little information about the actors (who use their real names for their characters) and no information about the team behind the scenes (although I suspect they're linked to whoever made Semantic Error because that show gets name dropped a lot and they even "audition" for the upcoming drama made by it's creators) .

Given how much effort has gone into making "CityBoy_Log" pass as real it shouldn't be surprising that there are quite a few people who believed it was real for a time.

Now personally I am a huge fan of innovative storytelling techniques and "CityBoy_Log" has really hit it out of the part creatively (it reminds me a little of SKAM in that respect). I applaud the actors for just how realistic their characters feel (I actually can think of anything harder than having to pull off "act like you're not acting" and they do it flawlessly at least 90% of the time) and whoever came up with and executed the show really did something special too. It's an incredibly compelling watch (I binged it) and I immediately felt connected to all the characters in a way it normally takes a drama a few episodes to set up.

Do I have my doubts about how wise it is to blur the lines between fiction and reality so much? I won't lie, yes, especially as this show is rooted so heavily in 2 fandoms where those boundaries are already heavily blurred but for now I'll trust that they know what they're doing (perhaps more so than many other shows that draw heavily on fan service). It does seem like, at least for now, while everything feels real and in character, that it does exist in its own little bubble and that the actors involved are able to leave it behind when they get off work.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how it progresses, given that a second season has been confirmed and there was.... a very interesting reveal at the end of the last episode. I'm looking forward to how they continue to play with the format and getting to spend more time with Jae Jun, Ji Han, Byeok Jun, and Hyo Sang

🔗Here's a link to the channel if anyone wants to check it out:

https://youtube.com/@CITYBOY_LOG?si=CKqz8QdfzySCqRyL

CityBoy_Log: The Vlog

Team Hyo Sang all the way. All this puppy wants is for his hyung to notice him and he is adorable about it.

Tagging @lurkingshan @twig-tea @respectthepetty and @rocketturtle4 because I don't know if you guys have seen the show yet!

#cityboy_log #kbl #i binged this show #and I have thoughts on the format #also the ending #because where are we going with this???#where ever it is it looks fun 👀

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certifiedlovergirlsstuff · 1 year

Text

dynasty

pairing: jake sully x neytiri x female omatikaya!reader

WC: 2.3K

warnings: pure heartbreak. not sure on the rules for the funeral process so i of course just made stuff up.

summary: it all fell down

A/N: fic inspired by this heartbreaking edit and also the deleted scene of jake and neytiri cleaning neteyam and jake starts to shed tears. my own gif (why does it change the format to a small square to the side?)

will do a part2 of mom!reader and neteyam in the spirit tree (if anyone wants one of course..,might still do one. we’ll just wait and see)

@alecmores my editor💗

been in the drafts since april 20

masterlist / jake sully

It was like your world was just thrown off its axis, everything became off balance.

The waters were choppy, crashing and biting at your boulder, another thing trying to knock you off your feet and drown you in pain. Eclipse was high in the sky, and everything was shadowed in darkness as if the whole world disappeared after his death. His last breath took the last shine of light from Pandora, took the calm, and brought the storm.

Your heaving cries drowned out the noise around you, they mixed with Neytiri’s wails of eternal heartbreak. Your hands clutched Neteyam’s limp hand beside you, his knuckles cutting into your cheek as you waited with bated breath for just a simple squeeze, just a sign to show he was still breathing and holding on. But it never came, his touch was cold and lifeless, and his soul had left the physical plane.

Your blurred eyes flitted around at your company. Lo’ak beside you with his head down and staring at his bloody hands, he probably felt Neteyam’s heart slowing down and stopping. Tsireya at Neteyam’s legs, her hands holding his calf and she rocked her body as she silently cried at the loss of a new friend, Spider standing behind her. Neytiri was on the other side of Neteyam as she thrashed and roared, her wet pleas to the Great Mother, asking her why, why her son. And Jake, Jake who stared into the open space, body motionless and eyes numbed before they squinted in the distance and his head looked away to the lone demon ship.

“Lo’ak… where’re your sisters.” His hoarse voice caused a shiver down your spine. Your time of grieving stopped as you looked for Kiri and Tuk, neither sat anywhere on the giant rock with your family.

“Lo’ak,” your voice wobbled as you turned to him and touched his cheek, needing his undivided attention, “where are Kiri and Tuk?”

“They-” “Where are your sisters!” Lo’ak flinched at Jake’s raised voice, his eyes watering.

“They were on the ship.” Tsireya hiccuped.

You and Jake looked at the vessel, its stability looked off as it tilted in the thrashing waves. The both of you shared a look, you knew what needed to be done and quickly. Jake moved to Neytiri and wrapped her shaking body into his arms, his chest solid against her shaking back. You walked to your two loves, one who was in visible distress while the other was walled off at the moment. You had to shut your emotions down seeing as your girls were in danger and you weren’t losing another child tonight.

“‘Tiri, oeyä yawnetu (my loved one). Our ‘ites (daughters) are in danger, we must save them. They will not meet the same fate as our Neteyam.” Your hands cupped her cheeks, her hazed eyes staring into yours. You gave a kiss to her forehead before turning to the children, giving Jake a moment to break her daze.

As you did with Neytiri, you knelt before Lo’ak and held his face in your grasp. You looked into the eyes of your youngest son, the one who held the most qualities with Jake physically and his reckless behavior when he was younger. Tears slipped down your cheeks, you couldn’t bear to part ways from him, but he would be safe away from the remaining sky people.

“I need you to stay here with Tsireya. Do not come to the ship, it is dangerous and I- I- we could not bear it if something happened to you or your tsmukes (sisters). Wait for us to return.”

“But I-” “No!” You leaned your foreheads together, shutting your eyes closed and holding back the tears, “Please, Lo’ak. Just- just listen this once.” Your voice cracked at the end, and the thought of something happening to him fashed over your mind. “Please, do it for us, for Neteyam.”

You felt his head nodding at your pleading words. A ragged breath was released at the simple action. “Oel ngati kameie, ma ‘evi (I see you, my child)” A lingering kiss to his forehead before you pulled away and joined Neytiri on her ikran.

The sun shone high in the sky.

A new day has risen, but you weren’t awakened to shouts and cheers of childish glee. You weren’t held in the warm embrace of your lovers, their scents and gentleness didn’t invade your five senses. You weren’t being bombarded with tickles or bodies jumping atop you, pushing the air from your lungs.

No. You were back on the boulder with your whole family, Tsireya and Spider included. Kiri and Tuk were safe, Lo’ak was safe, Neytiri and Jake were safe and you were safe. The adrenaline of the situation has worn off, you weren’t in a life-or-death moment anymore, and the water has stilled. So with shaky legs, you walked back to the lifeless body of your eldest son, not by blood, but by love- by family. His chest was cleaned of his dried blood, a courtesy done presumably by Tsireya, the poor girl was probably traumatized from the pain and bloodshed that her tribe never had to experience before. You collapsed on his left side, watching as Neytiri held his head to her chest, her lips speaking into his hair or leaving kisses on his temple. Tuk sat beside her, her smaller hands holding Neteyam’s right one to her cheek. Her tiny cries break your heart, cracks forming with each hitch to her breathing.

Your own hands reached for his free left hand, it just lay lifelessly on the rocky ground. You touched each finger individually, and felt his palm, before bringing it to your lips and leaving ghostly kisses on the skin. You lay his knuckles against your chest, right where your heart beats. Needing to bite hard into your lip to hold back the cries and pleas, only silent tears show your physical pain. Bringing his hand back to your lips you whispered words wishing he could hear them.

“I love you, oeyä fkew tsamsiyu (my mighty warrior). You were our first blessing as a family and we could not be more proud.”

“Paskalin (honey).” Jake’s touch and voice pulled you away from slipping. You looked over your shoulder and into his solemn eyes, his face covered in cuts and scars. “Jake…” your lips wobbled into a frown, vision blurring with fresh tears, “I- I-” He shushed you, hands gently pushing your face into his neck, his lips caressing your skin.

“We have to get back to the village.” He muttered in your downturned ear. All you could do was nod and hold Neteyam’s hand tighter.

“We must begin preparations for his funeral. Jake and Neytiri will cleanse his body.”

You stepped up, “I am his mother as well, I will help.” Ronal kept her back to the three of you for a second before turning on her heels, a sharp look pointed your way, “he is not your biological child, he did not grow in you. This is-” “He was my son! I do not care about blood! If you will not allow me to join my mates as they- as we bid our goodbyes to Neteyam in the Cove of Ancestors, I should be allowed to help prepare his body before we part ways.”

You always held respect for the leaders of tribes, but will not let something as simple as different blood be the reason you aren’t given proper treatment within your family. You were with Neytiri as she announced her news to Jake, you were with her as she went into labor and you had been with Neteyam since he took his first breath of air in the world. He was your child and you lost him when you were still getting to know him.

“Please Ronal. Let us have this one piece if she can’t guide him to the Great Mother.” Jake’s voice was firm but held a begging tone that was obvious.

Her sharp eyes darted between the three of you, her tight shoulders sagging just a bit. You knew the three of you looked disheveled, with puffy eyes and tear streaks over your cheeks. Body ready to cave in from an invisible weight held on your shoulders. Eyes staring into an empty void.

“Fine. Now come, there is much to do.” Her walking resumed, the three of you just behind.

She walked into a mauri pod, bowls of water and woven twine were set to the side. You stopped when your breathing faltered once again at the sight of Neteyam, just lying peacefully on the floor with his eyes closed and arms beside his torso. He looked like he was just sleeping, enjoying dreams of whatever he wanted most from his life. If you didn’t look close enough you could imagine his chest moving with every breath he took, but you did stare and his chest sat still, not a twitch of his fingers or a tickle of his nose.

With jagged steps you stalked further in the pod, knees bending under the weight of your grief and you toppled to a stop beside his legs. Hands touching his lower leg and knee, his skin was cold to the touch causing a sob from your lips. You bent your head and curled in on yourself, letting the tears flow and the weeps free.

Your son was dead.

Arms pulled your back into a solid chest and a second pair of hands tenderly caressed your face and lips leaving sweeps of kisses over your trembling form. The hands holding your face turned you towards them, your eyes meeting the hollowed look of Neytiri. Her face was devoid of emotions, with no scowl or smile on her lips that you loved to indulge in, no furrow to her brows, or crinkles to her eyes. She was just empty and tired, heartbroken.

“Ma tìyawn (my love), we must begin. We need to clean him.” Her thumbs swiped over your wet cheeks. You could only stare back into her eyes and swallow your cries before you nodded your head. Jake’s arms slipped from your shaking body and you walked away to grab a bowl of water and a rag.

You sat on your hunches and soaked the cloth. With a shuddering breath, you closed your eyes for a moment to collect yourself and when you opened them you shut down. You rang the cloth to dispel the excess water and when you were satisfied, the material touched his shoulder and you wiped the dirt off his skin. Neytiri soon joined the process, sat on the other side of Neteyam’s shoulder and she tipped a bowl over his skin, her eyes following the liquid.

From the corner of your eye, you saw Jake sitting next to Neteyam’s legs on your side. He ran his cloth gently over his skin, it reminded you of when he was a child and Jake would wash his body in the pond near your mauri. You dipped the rag into the water again and rung it out, the water starting to get muddy with grime. You moved your work to his face.

You leaned your body at an angle with your right arm holding you up as you used your left hand to swipe the rag over his stilled features. He looked so much like Neytiri, he was so much like Neytiri. Fierce and protective, a strong warrior. Gentle and friendly, reserved mostly but will pounce when intimidated. He would have made a glorious Olo’eyktan if he chose the path. You wish he could have been given more time to live as a child, not have to worry about battlefields or have a constant eye on his roaming siblings.

With a final swipe to his brow, you gave a teary smile at your boy.

You looked up at Neytiri. Her eyes were closed as her head was tilted to the ceiling, hands resting on her thighs. There was a crinkle between her brows that you wanted to smooth over with your finger or a kiss, but before you could do either, choked whimpers drifted into your ears.

Jake was hunched over Neteyam’s legs, his locs hiding his face, but you saw the shake to his shoulders. He was crying.

Without a second thought, you joined his side, arms wrapping over his shoulders as you pushed his head into your chest with your chin sitting on his head. His arms circled your waist and held you tight as his tears fell to your skin. You shut your eyes as a fresh wave came upon you, the salty drops splashing your cheeks.

“Oh, ma Jake.”

“I‘ve failed him. I’ve failed my job as a father.” His lips grazed your skin as he spoke harshly of himself.

A deep furrow to your brows at his self-derivation, “No, no. You have done no such thing. It is those sky demons who have forced this fighting onto us. You have been doing your best at keeping us, our family safe.” You burrowed your noses into his hair and gave quick kisses in succession, “Do not let our son's death be in vain. He would not want you to use his passing as an excuse for harshness on yourself.”

Your hand caressed the back of his head with the other settled between his shoulder blades, the muscles moving with each hitch to his breath. You squeezed your eyes closed once again and just breathed, focused on your breathing and Jake’s. One the silent crashing of the water surrounding the mauri and picking up what quiet hiccups of Neytiri.

You weren’t sure how long you were frozen in that position, the scene not changing. All you know is eventually Jake’s cries were subdued and then Ronal entered the space in a different outfit. All your eyes were on her as her head was held high, but her eyes were gentle.

“It is time.”

...

tags: @singular-itae

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swampbrick · 10 months

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Y’all have waited so patiently for me to get my shit together and format this post, and for that, I thank y’all endlessly (for not calling me out on my avoidant personality and procrastination xoxo)

Without further ado, I give you…

Swamp’s GhostSoap Recs

PART TWO

(electric boogaloo)

My qualifications to make this post are that I’m neurodivergent and have read over half the damn archive at this point.

If you see your fic featured here and don't want it included in a rec post, just shoot me a dm! Will remove any from the list without question or complaint at the author's request.

Notes: I tried to sort some of them out into some broader categories for easier perusal, however, some fics might touch more than one of these topics. I went with whichever category was the MOST relevant in regard to the fic's content. Fics in italics are under 10K words. Stuff involving religious guilt and heavy religious undertones are marked in orange. Some fics are privated by the author- in that case the link might not work for you if you’re on mobile, so just look it up by author and title once you’re logged into your AO3 account. Happy reading!

Random Fics I Enjoyed and Can't Sort Into Broad Categories

The Wedding Lt. by SomnolentPavana

Like Watching Paint Dry by Grangers_apprentice

Mission Briefs by BleedingTypewriter

Don't be Scared by the Starting Gun by Suliana

Afraid (of Changing) by EmpressCirque

HALO by Cryypticchaotic

Tough Love by The_neurodivergent_nerd

Smooth Sailing on Choppy Water by coderaven

Poison Apple by surveycorpsjean

Punch Drunk by Drolly

Tesco's Finest by Vanemis

If You Don't Stop, I'll End up Believing You by Hochseeperle

Assorted AUs

like the dust (that hides the glow) by ArcadeGhostAdventurer [soulmates]

In My Time of Need by WhisperedWords12 [omegaverse]

lotus flower by exavibus [tattoo artist x florist]

Damaged Goods by Red_Clegane [lawyer x prostitute]

Safety Hazard by Red_Clegane [president's son x secret service]

On Leave

No Reqiuem by ice_hot_13

set your teeth against my throat (give me something pretty to wear beneath my blood-stained clothes) by aetherealmoss

let these hills absolve me by flowersferns (THE SHEERP FARMING FIC SOBBING CRYING)

solemn prayer, poppy in my hair by congee4lunch

A Scottish Bastard's Smile by SnarlingGherkin

The Fairtytale of Manchester by MildLimerence

Injury and/or Discharge

all that's said in the low light by headlocket (my favorite fic of all time actually if you haven't seen my 9000 other posts saying so)

My frozen heart (would melt just for you) by Red_Clegane

Clue by Wispscribbles

I Woke Up Underground by WispScribbles

Vicissitude by crows_and_curses

Yours Sincerely by LeoDoesGames

i'm a fire and i'll keep your brittle heart warm by marviless

Affirmative, Sir by Wixiany

To Drive a Man to Madness by Crypticchaotic

This Is (Mostly) P0rn

After Dark by Sylencia (THE BDSM CLUB FIC WOOF WOOF)

If I ever saw you try to be a saint (I'd be appalled) by Xalethar

Chicago Whiskey by Serpentwyne

Make Me Bad by Serpentwyne

gimme just a little bit (more) by applepieces [09!ghostsoap]

Promise Ring by LXVERSOFFENSE

Want It All by TuxedoHummingbird

A Fool's Gambit by MildLimerence

tame me by MikaelLo

the human condition by bilbhoebangins

All the Sins You Never Had the Courage to Commit by mothbeast

The Worthy Vessel by MildLimerence

Hotline by MildLimerence

Bonus Fic!

Here's a Gaz Centric, Poly141 fic that has ghostsoap in it but does not focus on it heavily enough to go in one of the other categories. This is Kyle's time to shine.

Hand Around My Heart by Grangers_apprentice

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halfadoginatank · 10 months

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Simon and his father take a trip to the Scottish highlands for the summer, he knows only one of them will leave.

Johnny is a boy obsessed with filming explosions from fireworks he's not supposed to have.

Los Vaqueros are a group of Mexican teens derailed from their field trip waiting for teachers that might not come back.

Huge lore and plot dump below.

Mild tw for Simons father

Simons father has always taken him on hunting trips, sometimes he hated them, some times he liked them. But he'd never taken him this far from manchester. There are weapons in the cabin they rent, his father is eerily sober, one of them is going to die out here. Simon can only hope that Tommy won't be next.

Johnny meets him when he strays too far from his father. Part of it on purpose, he would never be on equal footing, more so when his father had the rifle and not him. He's in the tree's, at first simon thinks its prey, but there's a camera lense staring right at his scope.

Los Vaqueros come later, the leader arguing with a girl with choppy hair, Valeria and Alejandro trade glares while Rodolfo tries to mediate. Their bus broke down, leaving them stuck in town desperately renting a cabin near but far from the one simon is in.

It's the most interesting thing thats happened to johnny, and in the makeshift bonfire Valeria corners him and Simon. Her gaze is snakelike and a ring clinks on the bottle she's holding

"You say that he's an asshole yes? Your padre. Mine was the same, en mi opinión? It is kill or be killed."

Valeria nods at Alejandro, she tells them of a faceless force where she's from. The person sponsoring the trip for them, 'good will'. The five of them band together, the rest of the Vaqueros utterly ignorant.

Simon will save his family, Alejandro will get them home, and johnny? He's going to make the best home video.

Yeah so thats the whole plot, originally it was just going to be ghoap but somehow the Vaqueros fell into place. It kind of made more sense to have Valeria give them the idea? She doesnt have a whole bunch of canon lore so I figured she'd have an in with the cartel via her father, who was awful. And when Valeria killed him the nameless helped her cover it up and she got her own little spot.

Alejandro broke off their relationship after that, it's why they're on bad terms. He formed the Vaqueros as a funny joke that he started to take seriously when kids around Las Almas genuinely needed help that wasnt someway connected to the cartel, adults had that with rudys mother, so Ale and his childhood friend Rudy decided to help people their age in a way that doesn't rely on adults too much.

Everyone here is about 16-18. Soap is 17, ghost is as well but a few months older. Rudy Alejandro and Valeria are 18. And the youngest cowboy is 16.

Im trying to fit Gaz and Alex in? Im thinking that they both live in Texas, Gazs parents had a falling out since mum was from Texas hes there. Their school is on the same trip in the same bus a sort of cross trip to help the shitty american public school get a better name, as well as the cartels big PR move with having a class from one of Las Almas' schools.

Johnny is a bit weird here, but his motivation is he's suffering from extreme middle kid issues. Loves his family but since he's almost invisible is able to just kinda run off as long as hes back home eventually. He has a camera he uses to film any of his mishaps with, its essentially just jackass. As well as a video diary. Dont be fooled, its also an excuse for me to write some of it in script like format.

Simon is almost exactly the same as he is in the 09 comics, obviously a bit different. But childhood is the same.

I wanted farah to be here so bad but her childhood is literally a warzone and theres no way I can get her and her brother in Scotland. Because im trying so hard to make this somewhat believable, like yes its is a summer mystery horror au. But god I just really need things to make a little sense otherwise I cant do it. Same with Price Nik and Laswell. Like I could group Laswell in with Alex and gaz, and maybe I could pair her with Valeria for funsies. However Nikolai is in russia so... oopsie, and price? Like... how do you turn price into a teenager, he'd be what 19 or 20? Theres no reason he'd be in school, I dont think he'd be held back.

Also you may wonder, why is graves not here? Uh.... because I dont care, he wouldn't have a place here. The antagonist is Simons father, and honestly man? I just dont care that much for his character.

Man theres... theres so much I have here dude, I want to throw roach in there, and I THINK I could squeeze him in as one of ghosts school mates but the point is the first act has Simon completely isolated.

Anyway thats it. Bye.

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r0r0z-r1fl3 · 22 days

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can I get a reader who can break the 4th wall but like kuzco form the emperors new groove no one knows they can do it not even Caine

TADC x Kuzco!Reader

a/n- sorry if i took so long!! i didnt watch the emperors new groove so this might be OOC 😭 characters- kinger, jax, pomni, zooble, Gangle. (help how do i figure out the difference between imagines and head-canons) CW- mentions of violence (?) notes- Reader is GN and has similar traits to Kuzco (i HOPE. i never watched the film) credits- the-s1lly-corner for the format!! *POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 2!!*

things you'd probably notice

like how jax's teeth arent brushed and how they have LOADS of tar-tar

ragatha's stitching in-between her limbs

zooble's body parts are different textures (smooth, rough, fluffy, slimy, glittery, etc-etc..)

how pomni's eyes spiral like a merry-go-round when shes excited

how your partner/crush glances at you every now and then. but you try to pretend you dont see it happening so they look at you more. (if you have any!)

kinger's wood texture on his skin changing every day or so. (like the texture re-renders everyday)

gangle's ribbon texture. its so mesmerizing to see all the little ridges on her.

how after episode 2 (IF you were there) you could see the stitches on ragatha's torso from when she was impaled.

jax's messy fur after he showers or wakes up. and how it makes him look so innocent and adorable.

the casts body language. your like an eagle when it comes to this. (you can tell whenever one of them is upset. its optional if you help them or not)

how jax stomps his feet whenever hes threatened, upset and/or demanding attention (just like how rabbits IRL do! even though hes technically a jackrabbit.)

misc HCs/imagines

if you had a crush (or IF you were dating any of the character) every episode you'd either point it out in third person, talk so highly of them in third person or maybe you'd doodle hearts over them in the intro. probably just to make the fangirls/fanboys jealous

you'd probably help give context in third person to the audience.

IF jax ever caught you he'd probably think you were crazy. (since your like talking to yourself in his POV.)

whenever theres drama or something crazy happens you'd 100% look into the camera and break the fourth wall

omg maybe you'd spill some tea going on BTS (behind the scenes) during a mundane moment (in third person obviously..)

i have a strong suspicion you'd try to start drama just for the fun of it.

maybe you'll collect secrets of your enemy/ rival and spill them in third person!!

only the viewers can actually see and hear it all though. so you look crazy to everyone else (IF they caught you in the act)

you'll probably be a huge hit with the drama queens/kings and the theorists.

(A/N- thank you for requesting!! i really enjoyed writing this!! so sorry if this isn't what you wanted though!!) (also my English and grammar may be choppy!!)

#tadc #the amazing digital circus #tadc x reader #imagines #headcanons?#idkwhatcounts #tadc x Y/N #tadc x you #🧠#wattpad #also on wattpad #ty for the request!#first request #credits to the-s1lly-corner for the format!!

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tainbocuailnge · 9 months

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the rise in popularity of memes that use datamoshing (like the mom manifesting ketchup in a fridge out of the ether, or a lol player being taken back to their computer when they reach for a shower handle) and making my girlfriend read stay night has made me wonder if that might be a good way of representing gae bolg moving in an impossible direction when striking the heart, and that made me wonder if the number one cú liker has any thoughts about how they would represent that sort of thing in animation. tldr what does it look like in your head when gae bolg is used?

the way this ask started really made me wonder how this was gonna relate to me lol. i think the canon visualisation of a red line suddenly changing angle is probably the best way to do it in a visual novel format where you need to linger on the image a bit while the text is displayed over it and i think ufotable doing a kind of rewind effect over it is not a bad attempt to adapt that particular visual but i think if i were to take a crack at it i'd go for like, you blink and suddenly the spear is already in your chest. like in a manga for example i'd shuffle the panel order so that the "final" panel of getting stabbed in the chest is placed before the panels showing the movement of thrusting, maybe even overlapping those previous panels like it was pasted in there. anime doesn't quite have that kind of framing possibility but i'd do like choppy shaft editing that split second inserts the result before the action or something maybe. actually its tempting to want to show the movement but i think to really represent the feeling of getting hit with gae bolg you have to lean more on how that movement isnt really possible to comprehend because it by design turns the logical progression of causality on its head so maybe i would just not show the movement at all and have a weird choppy skip to the moment where the spear is already in the chest. or you animate him thrusting towards the ground but have a weird jump to him suddenly thrusting perfectly into the heart while saber maintains the same fluid motion throughout to highlight that dissonance. this is a cool question thanks

#yomigaeremukyuunoreikishi #king of asks

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cantsayidont · 3 months

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The INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE show is enormously frustrating because there's some really good drama, but it keeps being buried in stupidly and unnecessarily cumbersome story construction. It's perhaps the most high-profile example I've seen to date of fannish storytelling weaknesses: the fixation on constructing elaborate alternate takes on the characters (some interesting, some decidedly half-baked) at the expense of narrative coherency, punctuated by a constant stream of neurotic, self-referential metatextual asides that are sometimes amusing, but almost always throw you out of whatever mood or momentum the story might otherwise generate. This has been a common problem in comics for decades, but seeing it in a glossy high-profile Quality Teevee project like this is somewhat jarring.

The tragedy of it is that there are some parts of IWTV that are pretty compelling and that could have been great if the writers could have just stopped fucking around and told the damned story. The incendiary revenge sequence in the season 2 finale is a case in point: It has some cool action concepts, and I was certainly keen to see the awful vampire theater geeks finally get their comeuppance, but the climax is completely undermined by sloppy construction, choppy editing, and the exasperating insistence on talking over the whole thing, which prevents any of it from being either exciting or dramatically satisfying. It felt less like a season finale than an irritating podcast about the season finale; I half-expected Louis or Daniel to break in with a plug for Blue Apron. I hate podcasts and I loathe that kind of chatty video essay format, so this is a bug, not a feature.

#teevee #hateration holleration #interview with the vampire #amc iwtv #given the influx of fanfiction writers into more legitimate media jobs #i assume this problem will get worse before it gets better

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animehouse-moe · 1 year

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Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Episode 8: Shibuya Incident 3

This is what I was worried about, what I thought was arguably the worst case scenario for what we'd get for season 2. Thankfully, only a single battle falls to this effort, but we have no telling what the future may hold. Not entirely devoid of good, the episode is overwhelmingly still, but also oddly flashy. A brutal balance to strike, worsened by the ghosting and dimming imposed on it, I don't think it'll take long for me to explain what's going on with this episode.

So, first things first, the praise. This episode takes Geto's explanation of Domain Amplification and how to handle Gojo, and shapes it into something rather appealing compared to the manga. I think it's a good change, but one that I'm still curious about. The real fight between Gojo, and Hanami, Jogo, and Choso starts next episode. I'm unsure of the reasoning behind splitting up the explanation into parts that are stippled throughout. It would work equally well as a closer to prep the tension for the ensuing fight.

Gojo, the all powerful sorcerer, has a "weakness" that's being exploited, and so he rises to the challenge. Now, I'll state once more that it's not a critique of the anime's exposition, but just a question of why they chose to split it up instead of keeping it in line with the manga.

Anyways, here's Hanami, Dagon, and Mahito playing with the kids while Geto explains things.

Similarly, I think them condensing the respective fights was a good decision. With the pacing of them, consolidating them works much better to preserve pace and engagement.

Also, there's a good few ambitious scenes in the episode, that are arguably well done. I think disappointingly though, very few have to do with actual combat, and arguably fewer that are specifically animated.

Let's start with Yuji's reaction to Mahito being in Shibuya. Not quite the manga, but it's pretty comparable to his reactions from season 1. Because of the lack of animation though, you don't really feel that oomph like you did with S1 Yuji, which is somewhat saddening. Still, far from the worst.

You know, I think I might just speed things along. The very core of this episode is good layouts. Animation doesn't really follow, nor does it keep up with said LOs. Here's a few examples though, like Yuji's running cycle paired with his character acting. Solid and smooth, it's well done even though it's different from the first season.

Similarly, but arguably worse, is Choso's Slicing Exorcism. Solid idea, good boards, surprisingly good animation. Terrible composition and art. Which is a shame, it's a really solid approach to Choso's style of combat, and it's squandered by negative effort in its surroundings. Better than a blurred background, but still far from good.

But that's really as far as my praise can go. As I said to open, the episode is painfully still, but attempts to be incredibly flashy. Some boards work well, but they're largely limited to stills and non-combat sequences.

Grasshopper vs Yuji was nearly a complete letdown in that regard. Drawing out the comical/silly moments, quickening its pace while completely changing its scale, and offer a total lack of impact and weight. By all means, its a flunking score that even makes you doubt if what transpired in the previous episode was at all associated to the execution of today's.

And that doesn't even mention the weirdness of trying to mimic a JJK 0 fight scene of Yuta & Rika vs Geto. Choppy, sluggish, and the animation/choreography makes no sense. Completely changes the scale of Grasshopper as well as the limit of their abilities, as well as Yuji. Essentially what I said with the prior episode, the scale of combat has grown to an unreasonable scale that misrepresents their ability.

And then there's the whole rapid fire punching that takes place. Bad choreography in the first place (though a bit more forgivable in manga format) that's made completely unwatchable thanks to ghosting and dimming. No real words, so just watch this clip from an account on Twitter.

And I think that pretty well sums it up. Not a good episode, not a good fight. Praying for better times, and for that matter pacing. With the Kyoto Exchange Event as the benchmark for group battling as well as exposition, Shibuya is already struggle to keep on reasonable pacing. I think Shibuya moves fast in the first place, but I still believe that said pace has been quickened with the anime. For reference, this episode adapts "about" 5 chapters (some contents are piecemealed from other chapters and re-organized, so tough to perfectly gauge), while Kyoto Exchange averaged about 3 chapters an episode.

I refuse to say I'm ringing alarm bells, as I'd already done that before this season, let alone this part of it, began. This is just stating the facts of what unfolds in front of viewers now. I'm just disappointed that following the impressive work of the previous episode that we fall so far. Hopefully the following episode of next week can pick up the pieces once more.

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bindupthesebrokenbones · 1 month

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Today's Thankful Thursday exercise is to write a letter of gratitude. You don't have to send it if you don't want to - you don't even have to address it to a single person, or a real person.

For example, I regularly write letters to an angel, who I tell about all the things that are going on in my life. It's not quite prayer, and there's no structure to it, but having a solid entity that I address helps a lot with getting out the thoughts.

So, let's get started!

Step 1: Identify your target

As you may know, all letters start with a salutation. If you're writing your gratitude letter to a specific person, you would write "Dear Aunt Sally," for example, or "Dear mom". If you would prefer to write your letter to an entity, you can try "Dear God," or "Dear Frodo Baggins," or any other being of religious, cultural, or fandom/hobby significance to you.

You can also go with "Dear Diary," or "Dear Journal," if you'd like to keep this letter in your private journal. The idea here is to have a target that you're addressing, whether you intend to pass this letter along or not.

Step 2: Determine your format

If you're writing this letter to a specific person, then the format of your letter is going to center on what you're grateful to that person for.

"Dear mom,

Thank you for always being there for me. I'm so grateful for the way that you have my back in difficult situations, and how you stand up for me when I struggle to hold my own."

If you're writing in more of a diary/journal format, the letter will look a little different. It will be more general and broad, rather than focusing on a single person.

"Dear Diary,

I'm thankful for the bright sun today. The good weather made it easy for me to go out and spend some time with my friends at the park. I had a lot of fun that I might have skipped if it had been cloudy or raining."

And if you're addressing your letter to an entity, a higher being that you don't necessarily interact with one on one, or even a fictional character, you could pick either of these formats, or combine them.

"Dear Mr. Baggins,

Thank you for being the sort of character that I can admire and draw inspiration from. Today I went out with some of my friends, and while we didn't go on a long journey across the continent to save the world, we still had a lot of fun, and being so familiar with your story made me appreciate what I get to have and experience even more."

Just remember, a gratitude letter is different from a gratitude log - you don't have to write the letter like a list of things you're grateful for. Just talk about things that went well, that you appreciate, and that you want to call attention to as being positive.

Step 3: Write the Letter

Now that you've decided who you're writing to and how you're addressing them, all that's left is to write the letter. Try to narrow the focus in to a single incident or event if you can. Even if you're writing to someone and you feel that you have a lot to thank them for, or that your thanks are long overdue, you don't want to go on too much of a tangent - that way lies choppy waters. My recommendation is to write 1-2 pages. Less than that and you're not getting the full benefit of the exercise, and more than that and you might get overwhelmed or stress yourself out.

You can do this! And I'll see you all tomorrow for Finance Friday~

#thankfulthursday #thankful thursday #gratitude #gratitude letter #thank you note #letter writing #self care #mental health #health and wellness

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payidaresque · 2 years

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Photoshopping/giffing tips and tricks pt. 2

[in addition to this post i previously made]. Before we start, I want to say that i’m no expert in any way, and everyone should work in ways they're most comfortable with, i just want to share some knowledge i collected over the years with everyone who might find it useful and maybe improve their skills in making content. So, let’s get started! WARNING: IMAGE/GIF HEAVY!

Save workspaces. You can have multiple workspaces for different needs. For example, i’m making gifs more often, but sometimes i make edits as well, so having to switch the timeline panel off when it gets in a way, then go back to the view menu, then bringing it back again... idk, call me lazy, but it seems like a few extra clicks for me 💀 What you can do instead is save your current workspace and easily switch between them any time you want. To do that, align all your tools and menus as you want, then find this icon at the top right corner

Scroll down to New Workspace, and this window will pop up

Name your workspace however you want, and chose what you want to save. You can save keyboard shortcuts, menus and tools. When you click save and change your layout, nothing will happen. That is because you need to reset your Essentials workspace first (the one that’s usually the default). Now when you switch between your workspaces (if you saved multiple) everything should work as expected

How to change the speed of gif without converting to frame animation (PS 2021 and above). THANK GOD Adobe fixed the glitch where the frame rate gets all messed up when you switch to video timeline, so i would suggest upgrading whatever version of PS you currently have if you can, working with timeline is MUCH easier in my opinion. To change the speed, after you imported the video (photoshop reads only .mp4’s btw, so be sure to check if you have the correct format), click the little play button

and type in whatever number you want: 25% — the lowest value, but you can also speed the gif up by entering a number higher than 100%. Remember to do that BEFORE you convert your gif to a smart object (& before resizing it, bc after applying the changes video automatically converts into a smart object), because once you convert it, the speed can’t be changed without going back a few steps). When you slow a gif down, photoshop “eats” some parts of it (usually towards the end), so you need to extend the gif by dragging it to the right until you reach the end of your scene to fix that Normal speed

Slowed down to 60%. Sometimes slowed down gifs may look choppy, i explained the trick on how to fix it in pt. 1 (click the first link in the post).

Use plugins. There are so many great ones! For example, i found this plugin called Better Grids: it creates grids and converts them into shapes or frames AUTOMATICALLY based on the numbers you set within the plugin. It’s a lifesaver for me when it comes to photosets! DL (Google drive. M1 Mac users: for the plugin to work, you need to run Photoshop under Rosetta mode first. To do that, right-click the app, go to get Info and check Open using Rosetta if you have that option available)

If your disk space allows, do not convert media. It’s time consuming, messes up the original quality, and usually extremely hard on processors, especially not very powerful ones. Instead, just change the container to open your file in photoshop, It’s faster & less power consuming. I use Subler (mac) and Avidemux (mac & windows) to change the container to mp4, bc for me it’s the simplest ones to use

Handy thansform tool trick. When you try to fit your image into a certain sized canvas, this is probably what you’ll caught yourself doing

there's actually a much faster and easier way to resize stuff. when you activate transform tool, you'll see these boxes with numbers in the top panel

watch what happens when i change one of the numbers

isn't that neat? (make sure that little chain button is checked to mantain proportions. x and y values are for stretching the image horizontally or vertically)

Save document presets. In new document window, type in your desired dimmensions, then click "Save Preset", choose which options you want to save, name it however you want, click ok and you're done — congrats, now you have a saved canvas preset for further use!

So, i hope these little tips were useful. Have fun creating guys 🌸

#ps help #evansyhelp #allresources #completeresources #usergif #hisources

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memurfevur · 2 months

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==> Arceel: Find Ynygme's Bones

The countryside of the province was a mild reprieve from the concrete jungles Arceel was used to. The dirt roads varied in their width, and some were overrun by brambles and weeds halfheartedly planted by the hands of time. The uneven hills would later become the roads’ masters and make them obsolete. The woods and groves often tangled with each other, parting only for the busy ravines and rivers and streams some of which still were alive with their spirits while others had settled down to a still-water bog. What was between every warm and quiet half-city were weathered barns and hives that served as guardians to large fields of wheat and soy.

As the hills drew closer and more frequent, the less of a reprieve the land became. The ground had begun to break into choppy cliffs, and the hills rolled over each other as if they had collided in a violent clash. Occasionally they would mellow and flatten and cradle herds of cattle, grazing in the fields. They would glance up to the sky as Arceel flew past, their eyes too dark to be mindless. The jagged peaks of rocky outcrops and child-like mountains were almost unnatural in their formation, as if they had become hands desperately grasping to anyone who would make a welcoming grave upon their slabs of stone. The winds carried a different whisper in these lands; the spirits promised that there were horrors abound, watching from above, searching for something. Even the birds had abandoned their songs, as if singing alone would confront them with forbidden things.

The town of Direborough was no exception to this strange aura, swept in a gloomy haze of rain. The skies were dark, but every now and then the clouds parted and allowed the twisted sunlight to bless the shimmering cobblestone roads. The winds were cool and chilling, and howled gently among the naked branches of the trees, which swayed with its many pointed fingers. Looming over Direborough was a castle: a ruinous sentinel among the throes of cliffs and countryside that beckoned Arceel forth with a shadowy, wicked grin.

He had landed near a rustic tavern and changed back from his dragon form– an illusion of his former lusus– to his usual, Troll-like self. Arceel ran a hand through his hair, shaking beads of rain loose from his thick-waving curls. He had flown for most of the journey and navigation magic was hardly a problem for him. With Watch’r being near, he finally had a break from the constant, burning pain that threatened to crush his insides to pieces. And yet, despite such a smooth voyage, there was a weight Arceel could not shake from his shoulders. He refused to go near the castle without knowing more, so he turned and entered the tavern.

Hostility was imminent as soon as he entered the room. Locals teetering on the edges of their seats turned to look at him, brows furrowing at the outsider who stood among them. Being a well-dressed man in a poor town had its dangers, but Arceel ignored them. He stepped up to the counter to address the tavern’s keeper, who looked up at him with a quivering brow.

“Ya ain’t fr’m aroun’ here.”

“No, I’m just stopping through. I was wondering if you could tell me what you know of the castle up on that hill?”

“Trouble, and nu’in’ bu’ it.”

“Is that so? And what makes it so troubling?”

There was a moment of silence and an air of uneasiness that washed over everyone, broken only by a couple of snickers in the far corner from two drunkards making fun of him.

“Bes’ no’ ‘a talk abou’ it, if ya know wha’s good fer ya. ‘Is town seen things, stranger, an’ ‘is town does what it does t’ git by. You bes’ be headin’ the other way. No good in ‘at castle. ‘Tis a death sentence wai’in ta happen.”

“Don’t the Kiradas reside there?”

“Oh, no, not since I been hatched an’ I reck’n much longer than ‘at.”

Arceel could feel Watch’r becoming restless, the heat of his grin like a forest fire in Arceel’s mind. Are you sure you’ll find Ynygme’s remains here? It might just be a lost cause~

“Whateve’s left in ‘at castle is somethin’ terrible, though.”

Arceel tilted his head, “Is that so?”

Another patron spoke up from nearby, “It’s the Demoness, Sir! A fowl lich that prowls the halls of that once-noble name. A wicked witch, she’ll take your blood from your body and do unspeakable things. She’s a monster, half rotting in the face. She looks like a Troll, but there’s nothing Troll about her!”

“But,” spoke another, peeking over the rims of his mug, “They say if you visit her, she grants ya one last wish before ya die.”

“Idiots! What good is a wish if you're dead?”

“Quiet,” the tavern keeper hit his palm against the counter. “Ya know wha’ happens t’those who flap! I ain’t havin’ a filthy heathen at my step! Worshippers of ‘at lich, ‘bout worse ‘an she is!”

Realizing now that the townspeople were a superstitious lot, Arceel knew he couldn’t take them at their word. “That will be all. I appreciate it.” Arceel nodded to the keeper and turned to leave.

“Oy!” Cried one of the patrons, passing a mischievous grin. “At least leave the pretty lady. She looks like a fun one who could work at me stables if ya know what I mean.”

Arceel blinked and turned his head to look behind him, soon huffing in annoyance at the sight of Watch’r striking a suggestive pose against the wall. The Purple was quick to leave, and before long he took to the skies once more in the direction of the castle– wincing slightly until Watch’r got the memo and joined him.

… … … …

It didn’t take long to find an opening in the castle’s walls. From far away the damage seemed minimal, but up close there was no mistaking how badly the historical architecture had fallen to ruin. Worry began to take root in Arceel’s chest. Below the castle was a passage that would lead him to the tomb of many fallen warriors– every single one of them he had once led to pointless battle. The owners of the estate - Ceruleans who went by the Kirada family name - were powerful mages who protected the tomb from any unsightly soul who dared to desecrate it. But without them, he was afraid of what he’d find; he realized he did not have the heart to bear witness to any vandalizing that could have happened to Ynygme’s tomb.

“You’ve sure as Hells grown soft,” Watch’r appeared behind him with a yawn. “A little birdy told me you used to be a gladiator. Now you can’t stand the thought of seeing your partner buried six deep under, with maybe an oopsy-woopsy bad word painted on the stone?”

“It’s not like you would understand,” Arceel huffed as he stepped foot inside the castle. Cobwebs lined every corner and cranny of the place, and the floors were littered with debris. Statues of old heroes and myths lie crumbled on the ground; Arceel stepped over them without a backwards glance. Very little light illuminated the halls and corridors, relying on the patchy sunlight shining through the stained glass windows that lined the walls.

Each window pane depicted the story of the Kirada bloodline. What started as a family of Ceruleans, surrounded by fae folk and spirits and creatures from the time of the Ancients, slowly morphed into forgotten protectors of graves and wars. They had been warriors in an ancient battle against broken gods, then guardians for the villages their castle held sway over. Shaded glass depicted fields of blood that then bloomed into harvest fields. They were entrusted with a secret that the panels were too shy to show, and beyond that: nothing. Did monsters come back? Did their serfs turn on them? What had happened to kill off an entire bloodline?

Arceel turned to Watch’r with a tired weight to his brow, “I grow wary of these tales of friends I will never know again.”

“Sometimes not knowing is a mercy, pal. You shoulda learned that a long time ago.”

Slowly, the two had made their way to the palace of the castle: a room that, though better kept than the rest of the castle, somehow felt the loneliest of them all. It was quite spacious, with a black-and-white-checkered floor and an old moth-eaten red carpet that parted down its center. Lit-candles peppered the walls and iron posts, illuminating on either side of the room: large vats of corpses, suspended in strange liquid. Many bones clasped to the walls and hung from the ceiling, while others were tied together in sacred talismans meant to ward off evils. At the other end of the ragged carpet were shallow steps leading to a throne, with a corridor entrance flanking both sides. The throne was gilded with tarnished metals and stones which were all engraved with ancient runes that Arceel could barely remember himself. The back of the throne was home to a large rack of antlers of undetermined origin, and of which spiders had made their elaborate silken homes between the branches.

And upon this throne she sat; what must’ve been the Demoness that the villagers spoke of, for indeed she sported a half-rotten face, her sharp teeth poking through calloused muscle and torn sinew. The torn gown she sported was a deep ruby red, with a menagerie of bones and skulls strapped over her body. Her raven hair was long, making her slender face appear even longer, and her milky white eyes - void of any color and life - were startling contrasts against pale and scarred skin. Her horns were large poles that tapered into points and curved over her head, sickly and bleached. She wore gloves, no doubt hiding even more rot, and at the tips of the fingers were bone-like protrusions in the shape of an animal’s claws. One of these hands grasped a large scythe, with a blade and pole too long and heavy for what should’ve been possible for any normal troll to wield with only one hand.

She glared down upon Arceel and Watch’r with a face that betrayed no emotion, and yet Arceel could almost feel the scrutiny of thoughts that pulsed in her head. Worse, he could sense the magic that radiated off of her like a waterfall spray, and it was horrid in all ways he could imagine: it was Messiahn.

“Ohhh I haven’t seen one of these in a long time,” Watch’r snickered, slithering close to Arceel to place a hand on either of his shoulders, “A Whiteblood! That can only mean one thing~”

Arceel closed his eyes in dismay. So; the Kirada family had fallen under the vileness of the Messiahs, had they? It would explain the magic. A noble family, ravaged and destroyed by parasites that the eldritch abominations had engineered in the war. Arceel swallowed a lump in his throat; Watch’r was right, he hadn’t wanted to know.

“Greetings; I am Arceel, and this is Watch’r. Are you the one they call the Demoness?”

The woman on the throne remained silent for a heartbeat or two more. Then her ink-black lips parted, and a voice like liquid-smoke poured from her tongue– mature and strangely smooth despite the state of her decay. There was only a slight scratch to it, more credited to her age than the creaking of her exposed bones. “As my reputation calls.”

Arceel hesitated, and exchanged a glance with Watch’r. Even the imp was silent, the intrigue in his eye louder than any word he could mutter. Arceel turned back to the lich on the throne, “Are you a Kirada?”

This caused the Whiteblood’s head to tilt in a bird-like fashion. One could presume surprise occupied her mind, but it was hard to discern based on her face alone. “Not many come to learn of my name, or of the history of this castle, or of the connection between the two. They come and go to satisfy their greed.”

“Are the rumors true, then? Do you grant their wishes?”

“I welcome any company, before my soul lays to rest and becomes the monster that lives in my bones. Recklessness and stupidity are so often linked, but anyone who wishes to see me for what I am I cannot ignore. Do you have any greed to be rewarded for braving your journey? For braving me, most of all.”

“I come only to see the tombs your family was meant to protect. The graves of the warriors from the Mage War.”

At this the Demoness’ eyes narrowed, and her tone hardened. “That is a wish I cannot grant you. I don’t have much in my dying life. I know little of the legacy I was meant to inherit, but what little identity I hold onto, I must protect before I lose all of it.”

“Forgive me, for your family must have protected these tombs with urgent secrecy. But I must see them; something once lost to all time and memory has resurfaced. What was struck from history has been spoken back into existence, and their grave lies here beneath this castle. We need answers, Ma’am, and to work quickly before the Messiahs catch wind of it.”

“The fact you have knowledge of the tombs is concerning. Who are you and your strange friend?””

He looked back up at her, a sullen look to his eye, and yet somehow he carried with him the posture of a warrior. It was like he was transported back in time: him, a mortal man, standing among millions in a coliseum. Bodies lay crumpled on the ground, and he stood amongst them; with his arms outstretched and his head tilted back, his snarls like a feral hound calling to the skies. A tiger in a cage, dripping with blood. When the words fell from his lips, they were laced with a vitriol of the bloodied man he had tried so hard to leave behind.

“In the name of my former title, as the one who made the cosmos bleed and sealed magic’s fate long ago, as the cause of all these brittle bones buried in your crypt,” Arceel paused and took a breath to steady himself, to make him feel more mortal than he was.

Watch’r leaned in, humming a chuckle, intrigued, but Arceel ignored him and strength renewed his voice to a facade he hadn’t used in centuries. Dread weighed heavy on him, every word uttered from his lips like a laceration from Watch’r’s organic whips.

“I am Balerion the Mage King. I have come to seek a specific grave: Ynygme Ntrepi, the Void Mage Polybyus.”

The Demoness did not move nor make a sound for several long moments. It was soon hard to tell which Troll was actually the statue in the room. Then, “I would have called your bluff, if it were not for that strange name that had appeared to me over-day. Because of it, I will show you to the tombs of the people you let die.”

Arceel let out a shaky breath in relief, “Thank you, Ma’am–”

“Matild. Now, come.”

“Oh my, how forward!” Watch’r laughed as he leapt into the air, his legs fading away into wisps once more. “Time to finally meet this stupid little guy, huh Balerion?” Arceel swallowed a lump in his throat and followed close behind Watch’r and Matild.

…. …. …. ….

The corridors behind the throne room were narrow, and led to many downward staircases. Spiraling steps hugged one wall with no railing to guard the other side. Watch’r whooped and hollered just to hear the echo that would bounce back, taunting the trio of the fate that would follow after one careless mis-step. With a giggle, Watch’r flew to the bottom of the stairwell, deep into the abyss; Arceel’s mouth pressed into a fine line as Watch’r’s teases and jests reached back to their ears, telling them how slow and pathetic they were.

“A lively imp,” Matild commented dryly. Arceel looked to her, surprised, and she explained, “I’ve done my studies. The parasite within allows me to see your imp for what it is. A monstrous looking horror, that one. But very few things are inherently monsters at heart.”

After what felt like its own special segment of eternity, the two reached the bottom and emerged into a small, circular room. There was nothing there apart from a single empty cell, yet Arceel could pick up the faintest hums of magic seeping through the bricks. He tossed Matild a curious glance and watched as she approached one side of the room, raising her scythe to scrape the wall. Watch’r’s face scrunched, flinching away from the vibration of the noise that reverberated in their skulls. Runes whose etchings were previously unseen began to glow, and the brick walls began to pull themselves apart.

A blast of magic that could only be felt filled the air with a heavy aura. It made the hairs on the back of Matild’s neck stand, and even Arceel - though familiar with this specific magic - could not help but feel a shortness of breath. Watch’r trembled and clutched at himself, his singular eye wide with panic. He whimpered and scuttled back as far as he could, his ichor instantly making a wet and shadowy visage of his face. The magic soon began to take shape, and the fringes of the passage’s mouth were tinged with transparent nothingness, as if the bricks themselves were being erased from the physical realm entirely.

“Antimordial?” Watch’r gasped with a great tremor to his voice. “You use antimordial to guard a bunch of dead bodies? You people are crazy! I thought this no longer existed…”

“It does, in trace amounts,” Matild said. “This does mean you cannot come with us, Watch’r. This crypt is not meant for your kind to enter, lest you face death.” Arceel almost gave a visible sigh of relief.

“You can’t get me to come near that stuff if my life depended on it!” Watch’r faded into the wall behind him. “Remember, I’m protected, Arceel! If my masters find out you kill me, it’s all over for you!”

“That doesn’t sound very protected,” Matild commented thoughtlessly. At this, Watch’r yelped and hid from sight. The lich looked to Arceel, “Shall we go?”

Arceel nodded, and she began to lead him into the strange passage. The room around them had begun to shift, and it was quick to cease being vacant. Hundreds upon hundreds - if not thousands - of rows of graves filled the landscape as far as the eye could see. Statues of creatures and protective emblems cushioned the walls, acting as stand-in guardians for the deceased. Tombstones of various shapes and sizes marked the spot where every soldier had been buried, likely with a number of their valuables or spells with them. Each grave was covered in every inch by sigils, many forgotten to the world and others still widely used, and at their centers of these were names inscribed in another tongue. Arceel’s breath caught, recognizing his own dead language.

Matild swiftly guided him down a path that seemed to stretch forever, but at last she pulled him to a strange marker that– in a way he could not describe– set itself apart from the rest. Just looking at the name made Arceel light-headed and distant, as if he wasn’t fully there to comprehend the once-forgotten phenomenon. There, as clear as day, was the name of his former lover:

Ynygme Ntrepi

“So, Balerion,” Matild leaned heavily on her scythe, “You are here now, yes? Is this all you seek?”

“Not quite,” Arceel said and cleared his throat, the noise bringing him back to the present. “Ynygme for so long has known nothing but pain because of me, and I fully intend on helping them to escape it. I need their bones to bring them back.”

Matild studied him with furrowed brows, “Most things are never the same when brought back. To learn that you have been fooled into wanting to disturb the deceased - well, I do recall being able to feel this thing they call disappointment.”

“It isn’t like that,” Arceel said as he got to his knees in front of the grave. He placed a hand on the stone, touching it gingerly; could Ynygme feel that, wherever they were? “They’re not dead; they’re lingering, and never knowing peace. Their soul has been tormented for eons, for ages longer than most in this world have ever lived. Their tormentors have forced us to forget them, but now…now they are ready to come home. But I need their bones, and I need the spell.”

“I have no compassion for your cause. And that is by no choice of mine.”

“I need them,” Arceel couldn’t break eye contact with the grave, “I need them with me. This life is too lonesome while I’m unable to see it’s end.”

With the edge of the blade of her scythe, Matild tilted his head up to look at her, “Your legends shroud you in mystery, rendering your voice silent. Tell me, why did you wage war against the things so unspeakable that no man has ever written your truths? Why did you try to win the things that you are unwilling to lose? Look around; this is the consequence of your actions.”

“In what world does it hurt to try to fight for what is good? To fight for something better? To be free of pain?”

“It is pain that makes us mortal, Balerion. Without it, there is no love of life.”

“If something else controls your body, do you even have a life?”

Matild fell silent, with a slight narrowing of her eyes. Arceel moved his head from her scythe and returned his gaze to the grave, shame clouding his voice, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean–”

“I see your point. The parasite robs me of fervent emotions. It rots me inside and out, and someday it will move my limbs and speak my words. I reside here in this castle waiting for the end to come; and it will come, but I have no life because of it, and I dare not form one. I stay being an obedient puppet at the whims of a parasite’s developing hands.”

“It is your parasite’s creators I waged war with,” Arceel looked up at her. “And it is those creators’ creators that I sought to destroy, so people like you and I could have a choice. I refuse to believe that being a plaything in a story is all we’re meant to be.”

“I don’t understand these words, or the concept of creators of creators, or the allegory of stories. You know more than I as I would expect, but I see knowledge is not the same as wisdom for you. However, I digress.” She retracted her scythe and leaned onto it again, “There is a relic of a document I had recovered just recently after I rediscovered this grave. It’s in pieces, but I think it will serve you more than it would me. As for the bones: I will betray my ancestors, and dig up this grave.”

Arceel blinked, “Why the change of mind?”

“Because I once knew hope in the shape of what could have been a lover. And because I am lonely.”

#Arceel Obelis #Watch'r #Matild Kirada #oc arg #fevur writing

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timodimo · 2 months

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The chain of events that led up to this: (off-topic, but not actually off-topic, greentext-formatting is really just describing a chain of events with choppy bullet-points) > I thought of this funny greentext, that satirizes my current situation. > I don't have any social media, where I post. Last thing I had was DeviantArt for a year - years ago > been fomoing over not posting online, because sometimes I do think of something funny, that would make for a decent post > anyways, today's the day. > I do not want to post on 4chan, so tumblr it is also hello, I literally don't know, how to do this stuff. also sorry for using a format, that doesn't belong on this site, but it's not like stuff isn't getting reposted across all platforms anyway, so why not just cut out the middle man also this is supposed to be a meme or whatever. I hope it goes without saying, that I don't mean to attack anyone who suffers from adhd, etc. also if anyone can relate to the post, idk man, I haven't figured out how to solve my problems either. And while seeing a doctor(are the guys who diagnose this sort of stuff called doctors?) might be the correct thing to do, I personally won't, exactly because of the scenario described above. Oh right, I almost forgot to say this, I haven't actually been to a doctor. This just describes my reason, why I'm "afraid" of seeing one. I guess, this concludes my not-at-all weird first post on the internet in years. But I hear people on tumblr consider themselves weird, so maybe this blends just in. Sending this mess into the void now! o7

#greentext #first post #new account #am i doing this correct?#whenever i see tumblr-screenshots reposted elsewhere #you guys put funny stuff in the tags

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cloudmakr · 7 months

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Going on a little haterade rant about south park snow day here 😋

I'm NOT excited for this game. There are MANY reasons.

Graphics

The argument for 2d graphics is overworked, but a lot of people have that opinion FOR A REASON! South Park creators have tried (and SWORN off) 3d games before, which all regarded lukewarm attention from most fans, especially those who love the simplicity of the original construction paper feel (aka me). It's just disappointing to see the studio reach for ANOTHER 3d game despite ALL of the past failures, and it's clear that it wasn't well thought through. The mouths and eyes have serious "early pokemon games" energy, with no thoughts behind them and a sticker-like feel, and the hair texture for some characters (like Clyde) is just abysmal. It's clear in some frames that the animators tried to make it look choppy like the 2d we all know and love, but it just looks a little lazy and not well thought out in my opinion. The shading makes everything look cast in shadows, which could have been a conscious choice, if it weren't for how muddy the colors and shapes become. It almost looks like it was made in the 2010s. Overall, it just seems like a terrible choice when all three of the last relevant South Park games were made (beautifully) in 2d.

Story

I'm a complete sucker for all things South Park, which you know if you have seen my page, like, ever, but even so, I just don't feel compelled by the story as much as I was by other games (this is coming from someone that really didn't mind the pip episode). Personally, the moment when I heard Prof Chao's evil monologue at the end of TFBW, I couldn't wait for a sequel about being a minion of chaos! But this…just is disappointing at best. I understand that this might not be a direct predecessor to SoT and TFBW, but I wish they would make that game before creating a whole new one in a different direction! The whole game (as far as I can tell) is based around just going to stans house? And in general just doesn't feel fleshed out enough to be as enjoyable. I think it would be really incredibly hard to work in the same charm and excitement that came from cut scenes and (even small bits of) interactable characters in both other games. Which were one of my favorite parts. I feel like going on missions and following a long plot with all of the kids was what made it really outstanding, and characters personalities, flaws, and humor really got to shine through with the old format! A trouble I really have with the storyline is the multiplayer aspect, and I just pray to the almighty Comedy Central Gods that they make up some excuse for having multiple new kids, but even so, having a game where YOU are set as the SOLE new kid gave opportunities and amazing moments to the story of the original two.

There are more gripes I have with this game but I don't want to be rude to the creators, who I think have a great idea! (For maybe a mobile game made after a TFBW sequel). In general, I just feel really uneasy about this, and hope they come out with another 2d game soon.

#south park #south park game #south park snow day #south park the fractured but whole #south park tfbw #south park the stick of truth #south park tsot #sp tsot #sp tfbw

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fyx-ation · 1 year

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A Meandering Ramble on FFXVI

Firstly, if you haven't played the game yet or haven't finished the game yet, I suggest scrolling on. If you want a recommendation to play it, the best I can give you is a 7/10. Worth playing. Not the best thing on the market in the same territory but refreshing (I might use that word a lot going forward) and holds interest very well. Like a page-turner of a book.

That said, the rest of my ramble will be behind the cut to spare spoiling others.

Huh. What a strange little game. I actually just finished it, though I do need to go finish the chronolith things at some point. But I wanted to strike while the iron is hot, so this might be all over the place. I usually try to provide some essay-like structure when I write about a game... But I'm not really feelin' it since I've been working 5am shifts for a while and my brain is fried.

I have not read or watched any other reviews or summaries or impressions of the game. I didn't want my opinion to be tainted by bias because some creator or another loved or hated it.

It is Very Pretty. But perhaps not in a PS5 sort-of rock your eyeballs way. It handles like the Witcher III and Final Fantasy had an off-putting love-child. By that, I mean just the walking around and interacting with things reminds me of Witcher. Casual conversations are overheard from NPCs, and occasionally one that will actually speak to you (Clive) even if they aren't offering a quest or incentive. Facial animations, weather/landscape animations. Very Pretty but maybe a smidge outdated? How is that possible? Everything is lovely! But a little stiff if it's not an important, scripted, you-can't control your character here, sort of scene. The ones that aren't separately rendered cutscenes but still have extra polish? Yeah, not those.

You know what else this game reminds me of? Mass Effect (or Dragon Age). There's no open world to explore. There are pocket maps that you can return to from your Normandy Hideaway, but usually you're just sent there to do a mission quest or hunt or something.

So, let's deconstruct that a little. I think and hope that the producers of this game looked at what has been working and what has landed with the fan-base like a sopping wet diaper. Open world fatigue? Absolutely real. Stamina bars? Fuck right off. Pacing the game out with enormous, unskippable BS like a car ride because the plot is paper thin? Nope!

Does it work for a Final Fantasy game, though? See, this is where the conversation gets choppy. (While I didn't interact with reviews, I did see some plumes of smoke on the horizon in the form of thumbnails and the like). Some people are ride or die "this ain't MY final fantasy." Worse, some are like "this isn't a JRPG q_q."

Personally, I let that ship sail years ago. I loved the old turn-based games, don't get me wrong. I lament there aren't that many on the market anymore. But I've moved on. 16 is probably the biggest departure so far from that. Excluding the online games, they've been moving away from that format since 12. 13 was the last to have party members who you can actually control. (I'm not counting the 7 remake here, either) 16 doesn't have a party system. You can't swap Thane Krios (my space boyfriend) in when you fast travel from your hideaway to the next story beat. It's just the protag and whatever side piece is relevant at the moment, and that side character just does their own thing.

Do I like it? Ehh.... yes and no. Clive doesn't talk to himself or them much, so I feel like a lot more banter was needed. I could see why they left it out on the battle maps ("Hey, Clive, remember when were playing checkers and mom kicked the board because oh hello Mr. Behemoth."). But in city hubs? More banter, please. Even more conversations like the newer God of War games have would be most welcome.

And controlling just Clive? It's fine. I am A-okay with it. Combat's really fun, even when I'm not playing at my best and half-dozing on the couch. It's better than holding down the circle button (15 shaming is my kink). It's all amazingly refreshing in comparison to SE's other departures from turn-based battles. It's the first one so far (again excluding ff7r) to actually succeed at doing something different.

But I would not recommend the game to anyone on that alone. If they were looking for a hack n' slash pew pew magic pew game, I'd suggest the newer God of Wars first.

This is where I'm on the fence about how to judge the game as a whole because it isn't SPECTACULAR. It's good. Combat's good. Story is decent. Side characters are interesting (though some are woefully under-cooked, including Jill, whom I often compared to a piece of cardboard while talking to friends). Pacing a HUGE improvement from previous installments, though the last few hours of the game are weirdly smooshed into sidequests which aren't really sidequests because they are invaluable to the story and the game expects you to do them.

However. The world-building, which is very nice, is padded with lore directories just to clarify shit to people who have no idea what the fuck is going on or who have maybe missed or forgotten details that flesh out the motivations of everyone on the two continents. Did you forget who was fighting who while Clive was was off kicking boxes? Boy, do we have the right solution for that: it's LORE DUMP MAN and his faithful sidekick MAP TIMELINE WOMAN. I'm not saying they are bad things... just... odd. Heavy-handed? I love it when games offer some sort of journal to keep me on track or remind me of things, and yet they feel like they were put in this game because things are a bit blurry for the first third. They throw a lot of names at you, a lot of factions, and a lot of talk of different battles that you don't even witness so the only way to clarify all that is to be given Baby's First Overview. I think that might be indicative of a small failing on the game's part. Lots of telling with little showing often leads to lore dumps in RPGs, because it's critical that you understand for the sake of the story. Weirdly, there actually aren't a lot of exposition dumps in the actual gameplay. I guess they couldn't find a happy medium.

It's late. Gotta get up at 4, so I'll bring this ramble to a close for now. I'll talk about tone and themes later, probably.

Is it worth $70 and satisfying? Mostly. If you like button mashing combat and fantasy, sure. If you're a die-hard FF person, sure, but bolster your expectations as it doesn't really fit that mold. Anyone else that's curious, I'd say wait for a sale or promotion.

TBC

#final fantasy XVI #ffxvi #ff16

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