#sometimes you just need to be alone with another character!!! it adds texture

[avelera]

My two favorite character-related cheat codes for writing that I've spent a lot of time practicing lately are:

1 ) When in close character point-of-view (POV, 1st or 3rd) ie, "we're in this character's head and no other, and we're set immediately in their thoughts", try filtering the description and narration through their POV.

Ex. "The coffee machine was broken." -> "The coffee machine was broken, because of course it was, just when Bob needed it most."

Note: Like all tools, this can be overused and it's not suited to every story, but narration flavored by the character's POV can really make a story pop.

Caveat: There can be limits as far as what this character would notice and describe when this deep in their head. For example, neutral narration might say, "Bob's cheeks darkened with anger." However, Bob cannot see his own cheeks (unless he's got a mirror or is going through an out of body experience, I suppose) and so even if one is not in 1st person, it can be jarring for the character to note things they can't see. Also applies to some descriptions like, "Bob's dulcet voice that called to mind a nightingale." Bob would probably not think that about himself, unless maybe he does, but that's a very specific type of self-confident character who thinks something like that about themself. Whereas another character can think that about Bob, or a neutral word-of-god narration style can.

2 ) If you, the author, don't know how something works in your story or what the character would do next, the POV character doesn't have to know it either! And in fact, exploring this can add richness and texture to your story!

This can be applied to multiple situations you might be stuck on as an author. For example, in a sci-fi story, maybe you feel under obligation to explain how the Space Widget works in space. But the thing is, most people don't know, for example, how their microwave works, let alone know it well enough to build one. You're absolutely allowed to have a character in a genre setting like sci-fi/fantasy, when confronted with the futuristic technology of their time, not actually know how it works or how to build it! Unless the character is a space mechanic, it's completely reasonable and can lend to humor and character realism if they don't.

Along these lines, coloring your narration with incomplete knowledge, whether it's true or false, and opinion is another way to enrich your story. Most people don't have perfect knowledge of the history of our world, let alone knowledge that's 100% correct! Two people having different opinions about that historical event that happened 600 years ago is a great way to do exposition and to reveal character, for example, if it was a peasant revolt a character with a peasant background might sympathize with the peasants, an aristocrat sides with the king! Also, people might just not know much about that revolt that happened 600 years ago, or perhaps it's been erased from history, or mythologized to the point of falsehood, or turned into propaganda for the winning side. When worldbuilding, sometimes it matters less what actually happened and more what people think actually happened. This also feeds into what are the opinions and the entertainment people enjoy to in this world? What does that say about your characters?

You can also use this trick for bigger questions like, "Should my character forgive their deadbeat father in the next scene?" You, as the author, might feel as if you should have this figured out but the thing is, realistically, your character might not have the answer either and it's a complex enough emotional question that it is, in fact, more realistic that the character doesn't have a ready made answer or decision too! Adding a scene where you, the author, sit in the characters head, in a scene, maybe talking to a friend of theirs going through their options of whether or not they should forgive their deadbeat father is another opportunity both for a character moment and for you the author to work through which option the character would pick as the character. You can always toss the scene later but then at least you have the knowledge in your head.

And finally, it's ok to have other characters react with surprise to the character's choice in the same way the reader or you, the author, would. "Wow, I really thought you were going to forgive your deadbeat dad, but you didn't, that's great/terrible!" That is a character revealing exchange and might be a great jumping-off point for future drama. Don't sweep it under the rug. As noted above, it's normal, human, and interesting for characters to have opinions about the world around them and the actions of people they know (or don't know, vis a vis, tabloids, famous people, current events, etc). Indeed, word of god objective truth rarely exists in the real world, history is a myth agreed upon, and everyone's got a different take on every story. This is extremely valuable to utilize when worldbuilding and constructing narratives/narration.

[chipped-chimera]

Okay since I'm actually awake now, (proper) HAIR UPDATE! ❤️🖤❤️

I wanted to add this onto my post from last night but tumblr hates reblog photosets. Anyways I was very aware that posting my V in the darkest corner of an apartment with black hair wasn't really ... showing anything - but it was very much her vibe and that's been the point of this entire project, buckling down and learning Blender from nothing, reverse-engineering mods and systems I was only NEW to about a month or so ago so I could figure out how to bring 'back' her hair, but like ... even more how I wished it was.

And it's finally done (well ... structurally).

More development rambles beloooow ~

I'm not releasing this (yet) as I'd now put myself in 'polish' phase, where I'll be tweaking some physics and other stuff like the vertex painting which influences the shine - brighter hair colours look a bit too blown out at the moment, and I'm not sure if this is because it's too shiny or because of my custom normals (may have to tone them down a bit, idk). You can see what I mean below -

Shadows are also behaving oddly at certain angles, and I wasn't sure if it was a harsh lighting situation but upon changing the lighting up ... no. Something weird is going on. So that'll need troubleshooting (for lighter colours at least). Also some textures just are acting weird on certain parts when I don't think they should look that way so yeah ... more ... troubleshooting ahead. :V

I'm also going to look into if there's something I can do for the 'efficiency' of this mesh because I noticed some pretty severe frame slowdowns taking close up shots - though only sometimes?? Not sure what that was about at all. I'm assuming it's my gpu being pushed harder as I get closer to the hair, but upon changing the hair in the character creator to another and then back it just went away again? So no idea what the hell was going on there. It felt a bit almost like a memory leak, but I didn't do a check to see what my system was doing so I'll have another look if it happens again.

Possible (hypothetical) causes:

Could be texture size, these hair cards have 2k textures apart from the alpha (4k) which is double vanilla textures so that is also a possibility as a fix (though I'd be loathe to do it).

Double rigs. I noticed last night when in my rigging phase with UUH4V that reducing it from three meshes and rigs to TWO meshes and two rigs significantly improved framerate lag (I mean it was minor but noticeable enough) in the character creation screen, so it could hypothetically be something to do with calculations of running two rigs at the same time. If that is the case, I could probably just rig this to the Alt hair rig. Currently I'm using Alt's for the back and left side of the hair, whereas the fringe at the front and the curl over the shoulder is rigged to Old Rogue. I'll probably still keep using UUH4V just … one rig only.

Last in the list? Hair cards. There are a lot. Maybe too many. They're also of a higher poly than last time. That said I've looked at other mods with heavier polycounts than mine (what gave me the courage to push further in the first place after my very low poly attempt 1.0) that caused more obvious frame slowdown in just the character creator alone. I feel there is still a minor slowdown currently but it's on the edge of noticeable (like, 30fps vs 60fps). As it goes though, this is still pretty insanely efficient (thank YOU Hair Tools for Blender).

BONUS: Mods. Other mods. The thing I use to hook in a DLL for pose control. Could always be that?

So uh, guess that's what I'll be working on. I don't know how much time I should be spending on getting this 'frame efficient' considering anyone using this would be primarily be for screenshots, and given the specs I'm currently running (AMD Ryzen 5 CPU and an RTX 2060) are being re-classed as the 'bare minimum' with Phantom Liberty coming out, and I am planning on upgrades to my PC anyway.

We'll see? (Though in my heart of hearts, I have have had potato PCs for years and I want to support the lowest specs I possibly can). I dunno let me know what you think about that one as a possible mod user (and someone who actually reads these, wow).

Anyways all that matters is jesus christ I finally did this. I taught myself hair. From scratch.

Promised tutorial ... soon. After I maybe do nothing for a few days lol.

[lichfucker]

you'll pry alternating pov from my cold dead hands

[stucky-starnes]

Gleam and Glow

Chapter 1

Pairing: Grey! Bucky Barnes x Fem! Reader

Word count: 3,374

Description: The reader has been held captive by their own mother their whole life, taught to believe the world is bad and that they need to be protected from it. That their gift needs to be protected from it. They possess 70 feet of hair with healing properties and some people will do anything for a chance at peace.

General Warnings: This story contains dark elements and various dark characters!! Do not read if this makes you uncomfortable!!!, kidnapping, violence, language, angst, whump, for the purposes of the story the reader has 70ft foot long hair that glows gold- this does not change regardless of hair color or texture, inspired by the movie Tangled.

Chapter Warnings: kidnapping, manhandling, betrayal, mention of trafficking (selling/buying of a human), John Walker, very naive reader, brief sexual implications,arguments, un-gendered pet names,choking, illusion to sexual harassment, language, please read at your own discretion.

DO NOT REPOST MY WORK, REBLOGS ARE WELCOME AND APPRECIATED

A majority of your childhood was peaceful. You got to do all the normal kid things- of course you were never totally sure what a ‘normal’ kid thing was on account of the fact that you’d actually never met another kid but, it felt normal enough. Aside from the very abnormal ‘birth defect’ you were ‘gifted’ with. You stopped considering your magical abilities as a gift by the time you were seventeen, when your mother made it abundantly clear that you could never leave the tower, you could never go outside, and you could never cut your hair.

The only thing more annoying than the seventy foot long tresses was your mother. According to her, your father was a sloppy one night stand she found in a tavern. He was a love em’ and leave em’ type of guy; he gave your mother one great romantic night and then disappeared off the face of the earth. You’ve never met him. You’ve never met anybody. Your mother has always been your only companion. She was a beautiful woman, she said you take after her more than your dad. While she was gorgeous and protective, she was also passive aggressive, rash, and ostentatious. If it was possible for her to get out of being “the bad guy” she lunged, dragging you under at the first chance. When you were younger she would tell you stories about the outside, she made it seem like a gorgeous place. She described the kingdom and the many villages outside its walls. She started with all the good things until you showed interest in escaping, then, she gave you the truth. She began to spin tales of roads rich with crime, vigilante gangs, covert groups of thugs, and rebel Viking camps. From what you could piece together, the rebel Viking camps were the greatest concern.

The rebel Viking groups weren’t actually Vikings. Your mother had said they called them The Vikings because of their rugged and brutal lifestyle. The camp they occupy is more like a small village, the structures following Norse architectural style, chalk-full of criminals and runaways. Runaways. Your mother had always explained to you that when young girls ran away from their mothers they ended up in that village living a life of crime. The very thought of falling into the wrong hands has kept you from sneaking out or from begging to leave the tower. You found ways to be content, ways to keep busy.

The tower wasn’t as big as it looked from the outside, the only living space was at the very top of the tower. The top of the tower had about two floors worth of open space, minimal and organized in the lower level and very maximalist in the bedrooms and wall decor. Mother said the rest of the tower below was sturdy white brick and vine, aged by time and the weather. Most of the exterior bricks were cracked or crumbling, so all the support for the turret came from the tower’s solid core. The roof was a chipped and rusty blue color mostly concealed by untamed ivy growth, which also hid the entrance to the tower’s turret. To your home. The only way in and out of the tower was an intricate pulley system made from twisted vine and rope. Originally, mother had used your hair to get into the turret, until one day a strand snapped from the pressure, dying and losing its magic. In an effort to protect your gift, you helped your mother make the pulley.

Crafting things was just one of the many ways you spent your time in the tower. After you’d turned eighteen your mother didn’t stick around much, if at all, leaving at night to go to the palace or the tavern, sometimes coming back in the morning and sometimes being gone for a day or two. With so much time alone the only option was to learn how to entertain yourself. Reading books, cooking, painting, testing the information you soaked up from all of the books, sewing holes in clothes, polishing leather, polishing silver, dusting, drawing in the dust. It’s a really long list. If there’s more to add you add it, forever stretching the possibilities. As the sun started to go down however, it started to seep in just how repetitive and predictable your daily activities had become. While you knew leaving the tower would be a horrible and dangerous mistake, you couldn’t help but long to be outside. To feel the grass between your fingers or to stand out in the sun, somewhere other than where it leaks through the turrets window entrance. It could never happen. Knowing this was an impossibility kept an icy grip on your stomach, a lonely sort of feeling, naturally touch starved by fate. It’s been years since the last time you asked to leave. Much before you knew how dangerous it really was out there. Asking one more time couldn’t really hurt could it? You’d be twenty soon enough, just one touch wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Mother had left early in the morning, off to do some much needed grocery shopping; if she hadn’t decided to stop by the tavern she would be home very soon. Too soon to come up with a better plan. Quickly you started to prepare for her to come home, sweeping the dining area and pulling out the utensils needed to make a special stew recipe you remember she had enjoyed. If she was going to say yes she needed to be buttered up first. Once the cooking utensils were nicely organized on or beside the unlit stove, and the dust was done away with, it was time to make quick work of anything she could use against your argument. Rushing to one of your most treasured bookshelves you pulled a discarded velvet scrap from the back of one of your more worn astronomy books. The midnight blue fabric had been torn from one of your favorite dresses when you were sixteen, unwilling to part with the shredded material, it was quickly fashioned into a long braided bookmark. Since then you’ve opted for shorter than floor length gowns or comfortable riding pants and tunics. The supposedly “masculine” style annoyed mother to no end but then again she really couldn’t understand how suffocating the corsets could become, or how difficult it was to fasten them without getting hair caught beneath the strings.

Unbraiding the bookmark allowed it to become one long thick strand, setting it on the dining table, you went to gather your hair. For the most part, you tried to keep it close to yourself. Getting any part snagged or wrapped around something was more of a pain in the ass than taking the time to gather it together. Gathering so much hair was difficult, it took time and it was unbelievably heavy. Once you were finally able to get it all in one place you started the tedious task of braiding. In order to braid it up enough to keep it off the floor you split it into three sections, braiding those separately before braiding them up into a complex Dutch braid. It took nearly two hours to finish so you could finally tie up the end with the dismantled bookmark. The complexity allowed the braid to settle halfway down your calves, keeping it neat and off the ground. Now all that was left to do was light the lanterns around the room and wait. Waiting for mother to get home was nerve wracking, if possible you’d busy yourself with starting the stew but you were fresh out of the most important ingredients.

“Y/n let down the vine!” Mother yelled from the bottom of the tower and the tension finally broke.

“Coming!” You sighed out in relief rushing to the window and lowering out the vine life you had made.

Once you were sure she was safely in the lift’s sling, you utilized the pulley system to begin pulling her up. The tower was around forty feet tall, making the trip up lengthy and difficult. When she was close enough to the window entrance you hooked the vine slack onto the wall hook, keeping it stationary, before quickly coming to help her in with the groceries. Taking the canvas grocery bags from her arms and into the kitchen, you started pulling out the items to take inventory on what she’d bought at the market.

“How was the market? Did that man give you trouble on the celery prices again?”

“Ugh doesn’t he always? Absolutely exhausting, he wanted double, and then there was a fight at the tavern again which I always have to break up.” She pulled out a chair at the dining table, sitting into it and slinging her feet up into the neighboring chair.

You slowed for a moment, pulling the bundle of carrots from the bag slower as you processed that she may be intoxicated which meant there’d be zero chance of having the conversation you desperately desired.

“You went to the tavern?” You asked, feigning excitement.

“Of course sweetheart, I promised that I would but I wasn’t there for long I promise.” She got up to meet you in the kitchen, resting her hands on your shoulders.

“Now what are we having? I’m absolutely starved.” She smiled.

“I was going to make that stew from last winter that you liked so much. Now that fall is settling in.” you started to add broth and small peeled potatoes to the pot.

“That sounds delightful darling, I’m going to go rest my eyes, call me when it’s done?” Mother started to walk away. It was now or never.

“Actually!” You cleared your throat., “Actually I was hoping I could talk to you about something.”

“Alright but let’s make this quick, mama’s feet are aching.” She turned back around to sit in another chair.

“Well as you know I’m almost twenty, an adult really and I’m already very responsible around the tower-“

“Y/n where is this going?” She interrupted, rubbing her temples.

“I want to go outside.” You turned to look at her.

“We’ve talked about this! It’s far too dangerous! You know what would happen if anyone discovered your gift!”

“I know, I know, but I’ve thought about it and no one would even know! I won’t tell anyone about it, and if they don’t know I have it then they don’t know how to use it, so it’s useless to them. If I just keep it braided I’ll be completely normal!” You came to sit across from her, hoping it’ll be convincing.

“No absolutely not, it’s much too risky! I have kept you safe for nearly twenty years! I am not stopping now! You’re far too young to understand but this is what’s best for you!” She got up and started to walk away again.

“But it’s not! I’ve never met anyone else! I’ve never had friends or met other people my own age! I’ve never even seen a real man!” You were absolutely desperate.

“Oh a man?! This is about men huh?! So you want to leave the safety of the home I built for you to go whore around for a man?!” She was absolutely furious, beyond cooling down.

“Mother no!” Your face was burning with embarrassment at the very suggestion of sexual activities.

“No truly I understand! You would rather leave this place and be used by men! Drained of your power in one of those Viking camps no doubt! I won’t hear another word, I’m going out for air and your attitude better be gone by the time I get back!” She walked over to the vine, untying it from the wall and setting it into a rustier pulley wheel that would let her down slowly, she was gone just as soon as she’d finished her sentence.

You had no choice but to sit in utter silence and shame. Swallowed by guilt that mother could ever consider you’d do that to her. As much as you wanted to leave and experience the real world, you desperately didn’t want to disappoint your mother or end up somewhere bad. Very quickly you dissolved into regret, backing over to try and undo what’s already been done, planning a way to forgiveness. Finishing the stew was the only way you knew how to start so you got to work, making this the best stew you could ever devise. Having never written the recipe down you had to go solely based on flavor and gut feeling. That was the best way to cook anyway. Once it had been spiced to taste you put the lid on the pot to let it simmer.

Almost immediately you found yourself overrun with anxiety, filled with a need to do something with your hands. To occupy your mind. There really wasn’t much to do in the tower to occupy you enough to erase this from the forefront of your mind. So you opted for the only thing that you could: cleaning. Your started polishing, dusting anything that you could and when there was nothing left you sat and you waited. The silence was absolutely deafening. You’d totally zoned out until you heard the rattling of the pot lid on the stove, snapping your head to it only to see the stew boiling over.

“Shit!” You rushed to turn it off, burning your hand in the process as you cleaned up the mess. Suddenly you were no longer hungry.

Opting to leave the stew on the stove for whenever mother would return you left the kitchen, going to your room as you cradled your hand gently. Tears stung your eyes, threatening to drip through your lashes and you curled up on your bed. Reaching for your braid with your uninsured hand, you gently took the end and rested it over your burned palm, reaching to wipe away some loose tears. Whether the tears were from the pain or from emotional discourse you couldn’t be sure. After drying your tears you closed your injured fingers around the large amount of hair, and began to hum a soft familiar melody. As the melody continued your hair began to glow a brilliant gold, almost glittery in color. Once the shimmer reached your palm, the heat faded and the wound healed. You were able to breathe. You looked to your palm, it was as soft and unharmed as it had been that morning. As it had always been. No scars or leftover pain. Just smooth healthy skin.

You couldn’t be bothered to really prepare for bed. The dress you wore was moveable, the corset easily undone as it tied in the front rather than in the back. Laying back you took a deep breath, closing your eyes momentarily to let go of all the stress that you could. After a minute of peace you pushed yourself up and off the bed, walking over to the dark wood armoire, opening it to look in the mirror, you sighed looking at your dress. There was stew on the navy skirt and what looked like a sizable carrot. You’d have to change to sleep. Lifting the skirt up closer you plucked off the carrot and disposed of it in the nearby waste basket. Returning to the armoire you flipped your braid back over your shoulder and checked the white sleeves of the off the shoulder blouse, slid your hands over the black corset, grabbing the tied strings from the vertex of the sweetheart neckline you untied the knot. Just as you’d finished untying the security knot you heard a loud grinding bang from the lower level. Pausing to listen you grew concerned.

“Mother? Are you alright?” You called gently.

When you didn’t receive a response you dropped the corset strings and left your bedroom, looking over the bannister you were met with the worst sight you could possibly have imagined. A large piece of the stone floor was broken and pushed out of the ground, slid off to the side and two large men climbed out of the dark hole below. Half a million questions filled your head. How was there a space under the floor? How did these men find you? Did they know who you were? There wasn’t time to think, you had to act. Silently and quickly you snuck back into your bedroom, burning out the lamps and climbing into the armoire as best as you could. Tilting your chin up to silence your breathing you listened. Waiting. Thinking. The men were much bigger than you thought a man would be. From what you could make out they dressed in dark clothing. Leather. Worn and hardly taken care of if at all. They were similar heights. One a redhead and the other blonde, both with rugged facial hair. You only had a brief look and the adrenaline pumping through your veins was making it difficult to focus.

“I am never doing that shit again, forty feet of crumbling bricks and thirty feet of rope, you seriously didn’t think that through?!” You could hear them arguing.

“It didn’t look that tall alright? Can we just find the chick and get out of here? I lost my good boots in a poker game with trash panda and if I don’t win them back he’s gonna tear them apart.”

It was clear they were coming for you. The only thing you could do was hope mother came home or that they didn’t see you behind all the other clothing in the armoire. The stairs creeped. Once. Twice. There was only one creaky step. They were both coming up. You held your breath.

“Food on the stove and the lamp in here is still warm. She was here recently.” They made it into your bedroom.

“If I had to guess I’d say she’s still here.” The footsteps stopped. It was silent.

Suddenly, the hem of your skirt was yanked-it had been caught in the door-and then the armoire burst open. The blonde man grabbed your arm as you struggled, ripping you from the small dark space and out into the open. He spun you around, pressing your back to his chest, his left forearm braced across your neckline and gripped your right shoulder. His right hand held a sharp silver blade to your heart.

“Well, well, well, Princess did we catch you at a bad time? These corset strings are so very loose for company.” The blonde man taunted, using the tip of his blade to pull on the cords.

You gripped this forearm, pushing back closer to his chest in an effort to get away from his blade as you struggled.

“P-please just leave me alone, I won’t tell any-anyone.” You stuttered, trying to stay calm the way your mother had taught you.

“We have plans for you, this hair of yours… hear there’s some people willing to pay a pretty penny for just a touch.” The red headed man stroked your braid, you jerked your head away.

“Oh oh oh” the blonde man laughed. “She’s a feisty one, are you sure we have to deliver her so soon? Could be fun…”

“Oh c’mon man don’t be gross he wants her unharmed. Mostly. C’mon just cloth her so we can go. Boots remember??” The red head said, grabbing your wrists and tying them together roughly. He took the dagger from the blonde, continuing to hold it in its position as the blond reached into his pocket.

“No no no no no please please I’ll give you anything you want just leave me alone!” You begged, swerving your head away from the blondes clothed hand as it moved towards your mouth.

“Bitch stop fussing around!” He slid his left forearm up to your throat, both choking you and effectively stabilizing your head long enough to clamp the cloth over your mouth and nose.

It hardly took thirty seconds before your vision started to swim and your vision started to fade to black.

“We’re already late. He’s waiting.” One of the men said as he slipped a cloth bag over your head. Your hearing went out, senses dulled as you gave in the the dark.

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

How Not To Fly

Using gifs from multiple movies and cartoons that display some problems with winged characters in media.

(Description: a gif from the Maleficent movie. Maleficent floats stiffly upwards from the ground with her wings slowly sweeping downwards, showing no real weight or effect on her motion.)

Exhibit A: winged character takes off from a standing position, but it's really obvious they’re just strapped into a device that moves them up and everything else is just fake cgi. There’s no jump off the ground and the wings don’t really push them upwards. No hard flaps, just some ethereal floating. This is also seen in hovering where the wings don’t really move at all. What is the point of the wings if they can just float magically? If you go out of your way to create wings that look big enough and strong enough to actually lift a person, commit to it!

(Description: a gif from the Constantine movie of the archangel Gabriel landing on someone. Her wings move in a somewhat realistic way, but they’re really obviously an angled frame with the feathers just sort of draped over them. The individual feathers do not look cohesive, seeming to "dangle" off the wings.)

Exhibit B: dangly feathers. The motion here is okay but it’s another issue I’ve seen with live action wings. Messy feathers that swing like they’re just loosely attached, and they don’t mesh with each other to create a solid wing form. This often also makes the top edge of a wing look way too thick and not tapered, and it’s often paired with very Z-shaped wing joints which look like they forgot to add the muscles and flesh underneath the feathers. Feather shafts do not sit loosely on a wing. They’re embedded in the wing flesh, especially the flight feathers that are rooted in the bones. Feathers also have a particular texture to them which helps them sort of "velcro" together, to avoid having the air get between the feather layers (because that wouldn’t be great).

(Description: a gif of Archangel from the X-men Apocalypse movie. He is just walking forward, but his wings appear to have an extra joint at the shoulder, creating a weird W shape.)

Exhibit C: nonsensical wing shoulders. These wings move alright, he kinda has the dang.h feather problem, and I wish his wing claws pointed down a little more. But my biggest problem is definitely those shoulders. It’s like he has an extra bone that sticks up out of his shoulder blades to create an unnecessary wing anchor and a weird extra joint no bird has. I’ve seen this in other places too. Sometimes birds do kinda look like their have raised shoulders, but it’s not an extra bone, it’s just like how you can raise your shoulders. It just makes the wing connection to the body look stiff and heavy, more like a moving prop than a real body part (especially since he is wearing perfectly normal clothes, how did he get his wings through the back of that heavy leather jacket). The real sad thing is I do remember an older X-men movie that actually did give this character really good looking wings (still not entirely attached to the body, but at least he didn’t have the Z-wing going on.)

(Description: three attached gifs of Hawkwoman from the Justice League cartoon. She is fighting three different villains. In each gif, she flies but her wings don’t really move much and seem more affected by her body motion than her body motion is affected by her wings. Her wings seem only to move at the shoulder, being shaped like classical angel wings that are just permanently folded into a nice arch shape.)

Exhibit D: paddle wings. It’s like they’re just a curved frame with long feathers hanging down. They usually rotate out from the shoulder alone, the tapered shape is kinda floppy and follows her movement, she flies like she is floating, just holding her wings stiffly behind her. It's particularly annoying because unlike the other examples this is a cartoon animation, not cgi on live action. You can argue for the live action limitations and how hard it is to make cgi wings really work there. But a fully cartoon animated work has a little more freedom in the way characters move and I think they could have put more effort into making those wings really function. Or at least be shaped like real wings. Or push the alien factor more instead of using the default classical angel shape.

And I should mention the clothing issue. Pushing wings through slits in the back of normal clothes will not leave them looking like they just have wings outside their clothes. The slits would need to be pretty dang big to fit a pair of wings through (so you may as well just remove the back of the clothes to begin with) and shoving wings through clothing slits would be a huge pain and definitely disrupt the feathers which would then require taking extra time to preen than back into place. So it really is best to avoid that altogether in my opinion. (And again my pet peeve on the lack of tails and having the feathers stop at the base of the wings instead of coming onto the rest of the body.)

So that’s my thoughts on some common issues seen with winged characters in film and TV. I haven’t actually watched all of these myself, but they’re the best gifs I could find (why is it so hard to find quality gifs of winged characters) I do have more gifs I didn't put here, I didn’t want to make this horribly long lol.

Next I will present some gifs I’ve made myself of some basic flight motions. And eventually I’ve got some longer animated things to show as well, but those are taking a while.

[clonewarsarchives]

Inside 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars'

By: Gerri Miller  (original article link on howstuffworks)

Sources

George Lucas interviewed August 4, 2008

Dave Filoni interviewed September 11, 2008

The sci-fi phenomenon that began more than 30 years ago with a movie about a galaxy long ago and far, far away has expanded exponentially ever since with sequels, prequels, books, games and animated spinoffs. Although the animated "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" movie, released this summer, has to date grossed a less than stellar $34 million, it was an offshoot of creator George Lucas' mission to create a TV series, and it served its purpose as a promotional tool for the weekly "Clone Wars" episodes that premiere on Cartoon Network Oct. 3, 2008.

Focused on the conflict briefly referred to in the original "Star Wars," the galactic civil war takes place in the period between "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones" and "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith." The Clone Wars pit the Grand Army of the Republic led by the Jedi Knights against the Separatists and their Droid Army, led by Count Dooku, a Jedi turned Sith Lord aligned with the evil Darth Sidious. Many of the characters from the "Star Wars" universe are involved, including Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and young Anakin Skywalker, before he was tempted to the Dark Side and became Darth Vader.

"I was lamenting the fact that in 'Episode II,' I started the Clone Wars, and in 'Episode III,' I ended the Clone Wars, and I never actually got to do anything on the Clone Wars," says Lucas. "It's like skipping over World War II."

To remedy that omission, he tapped Dave Filoni, an animator (Nickelodeon's "Avatar: the Last Airbender" series) and passionate "Star Wars" fan, to bring "The Clone Wars" to TV.

Ensconced at Big Rock Ranch, near Lucas' Skywalker Ranch headquarters in Marin County, Cali., Filoni and his team of artists and computer animators are making 22 episodes in season one and have nearly two more seasons written.

"We're way ahead. We've been doing this ever since I finished 'Revenge of the Sith,'" says Lucas, who hopes to do at least 100 installments.

He and Filoni collaborate on everything from story to design to execution in translating the "Star Wars" universe for television. It's a daunting creative, technical and logistic task, as we'll explain in the following sections.

Building the Universe

How do you scale down an IMAX-size spectacle for television and still have it make an impact, especially on a small screen budget? That's just one of the problems Dave Filoni has to solve.

"'Star Wars' is very famous for the scale of it, and how convincing it looks. So when you're doing a weekly television series, you have to figure out how to do things on that level," he notes. "Sometimes it forces you to be creative and come up with solutions that are better than if you can shoot everything you want," he continues, preferring to consider budgetary constraints a creative incentive rather than a limitation. "The team here is challenged to come up with these giant battles. We haven't shied away from anything."

While he did some of the initial character design, subsequently, Filoni has spent most of his time supervising other artists and animators, who number around 70 in-house and another 80 or so at facilities in Singapore and Taipei.

"Everything is written here, and the story and design and editing are all done here. The animation and lighting are done overseas, and sometimes some modeling as well," he outlines.

­"I meet with George to talk about the episodes and he hands out a lot of the storylines and main ideas for the stories. I'll draw while he's talking and show him the sketch," Filoni continues. "That way we communicate right off the bat about what something might look like."

At any given time, the director notes, episodes are in various stages of completion, "from designing to working on a final cut, or adding sound and color-correction. I have four episodic directors to help me, who each have an episode they're managing."

Rather than use computer animation to duplicate the live-action films' characters or continue in the very stylized vein of the 2004-2005 "Clone Wars" micro-series, "We kind of shot for the middle," says Filoni, who endeavored to blend a 2-D esthetic with 3-D technology.

"The 3-D model makers and riggers who worked on the prequels dealt with the height of realism to create convincing digital characters. I knew that we weren't going to be able to do that for the series. And we wanted it to be different than a live-action feature, to get away from photo-realism. It was a choice to simplify something in the character models, the same way we would do things in a 2-D show."

So how did Filoni stay true to the "Star Wars" legacy in this newest installment? Read on to find out.

Clone Style

Taking some inspiration from the earlier cartoon series, Filoni

approached the characters as a 2-D animator would, "but stylized the face a little more. If you look at Anakin, he has certain edges and lines in his face. I would draw an edge or a line that might be unnaturally straight or curved, and that would play into the lighting of it. I tried to sculpt in 3-D the way I would draw or sculpt an image in 2-D, with shadow and light. I wanted it to look like a painting -- you see a textured, hand-painted style on every character. I have texture artists who literally paint every single character right down to their eyeball, because I wanted that human touch on everything."

Advances in computer animation have allowed Filoni to accomplish much more than he would have been able to in traditional 2-D. "For eight years I worked just with a pencil. I never touched a computer. But working with George, we try to look at computers as an incredibly advanced pencil. The technical side helps the creative, artistic side," he says.

Battles filled with huge numbers of soldiers can be rendered faster than ever before, but they still have to be created, along with every other prop and character in an enormous universe. "'Star Wars' is so complex in that you're building a whole galaxy. We go to many different planets," Filoni reminds. "So every rock, tree, blade of grass, native vehicle -- every asset -- needs design. We had to create a whole bunch of assets for each episode, and the budget goes up for each element you have. Once you build it, you have it, but we can't go to a different planet and have the same chair there," he laughs. "On a schedule where we need those things right away, it's difficult to get it all built."

Since "The Clone Wars" is chronologically sandwiched between "Clone Wars" and "Revenge of the Sith," it has been a mandate for the creators to stay consistent with the mythology. "That's probably one of the trickiest things," admits Filoni. "We always have to keep in mind what the characters are thinking and feeling at the beginning of this and at the end. You have a lot of room to play with when you're in the middle, but you have to remember what people say in the third movie. With characters like Obi-Wan or Anakin or Padme, I have to pay very careful attention that it will hook up. And then there's the expanded universe of "Star Wars" novels and video games. I try to be aware of it all and work it in, because fans really appreciate it."

Filoni hopes to attract existing fans and create new ones, especially among the younger generation, but admits doing the latter may be easier. "One thing we have that's different from any movie that came before is we're an animated series. But there's an instant reaction to the word animation that it's for kids. How you get around that is with the stories you tell. We'll have our snow battles and we'll also have our lighter 'Return of the Jedi' moments. Some episodes lean older, some younger. But in the end it has a broad appeal," he believes.

The recent "Clone Wars" movie (out on DVD Nov. 11 ) served as a stand-alone prequel to introduce the characters at this point in time. In contrast, "The series has its small arcs and shows you the war from across a broad spectrum of episodes. It's not just Anakin Skywalker's story," Filoni underlines. "We can go left or right of that plot and deal with characters we have never seen. There's a lot of material. It's a three-year period in the history of the 'Star Wars' Universe, and there are so many stories to tell. The longer it goes, the more chance we get to tell fascinating stories in that galaxy."

Character Study

"The Clone Wars" shows a different side of some of the film franchise's most iconic characters. "In a series, you can do a whole episode about a character and learn more about what they were like, which makes what happens to them a lot more poignant," explains Filoni. "We know Yoda is powerful, but how does that power develop? How does he use it? We get to go into more detail that you just couldn't do in the live action films, because they're mainly focused on Anakin."

While few of the actors from the live action movies agreed to reprise their roles in voice over for "The Clone Wars," Anthony Daniels, the original C-3PO, is the exception. "One of the special moments for me was hearing Anthony on the telephone, discussing C-3PO with me and his experiences. That really helps us round out the characters," says the director, who enjoyed similar input from Rob Coleman, the animation supervisor who worked on Yoda on the prequels.

Of the new characters not seen in the live action series, there's the alluring but venomous Asajj Ventress, a disciple of Count Dooku. "She is, of course, a villain, and fits into the structure of the Sith," Filoni elaborates. "Darth Sidious -- Senator Palpatine -- is the main bad guy, and his apprentice is Count Dooku. Dooku is training Ventress in the Dark Side. She's getting more powerful. I wanted to make her intelligent, deceptive and also kind of sexual. She's kind of a forbidden fruit -- Jedi are not supposed to get involved with the more lustful aspects of life. She adds another dynamic to the series."

On the other side of the good/evil coin is newcomer Ahsoka Tano, Anakin's teenage pad­awan, or apprentice. "She's Anakin's student and helps us see him as more of a hero," says Filoni. "Once he gets over his initial reaction, he takes pride in her. He's unpredictable and the Jedi know that, but he has compassion and that is used against him and it later brings him to the Dark Side."

Ahsoka was created, says Lucas, "Because I needed to mature Anakin. The best way to get somebody to become responsible and mature is to have them become a parent or a teacher. You have to think about what you're doing and set an example. You look at your behavior and the way you do things much differently. The idea was to use her to make Anakin become more mature. We've made her a more extreme version of what Anakin was- - a little out there, independent, vital and full of life, but even more so. He gets a little dose of his own medicine."

"She's been a really fun character to develop," adds Filoni, who likes Ahsoka but admits that his character tastes tend to run a bit more obscure -- his favorite is Plo Koon, "a bizarre Jedi Master. It's been fun to develop him and show his personality beyond the fact that he's bizarre looking and carries a lightsaber."

Fan Fare

Just three years ago, Filoni dressed up as Plo Koon to see an opening night showing of "Revenge of the Sith," so it's not surprising that the 34-year-old fan is still pinching himself that he has this job. "It's a very creative atmosphere," he says of Big Rock Ranch, where the lakeside setting is "meant to inspire us artistically and definitely does. A lot of the people I work with grew up with 'Star Wars,' so we have a great time. It's hard, intense work, but George is very engaged in what we're doing. What more could you ask for? I have the guy who created the 'Star Wars' universe excited and interested in what we're doing. We couldn't be happier about that."

Asked why he thinks "Star Wars" remains a fan favorite today, three decades later, Lucas says diversification is the key. "We were always able to deal with different aspects of the story in various forms and I think that keeps it alive. It is a lot of fun and it's a universe that has been created to inspire young people to exercise their imagination and inspire them to be creative, and I think that always works."

"The original 'Star Wars' had broad appeal to everybody, and it holds up so well," adds Filoni. "I think there's a timelessness to it, even though Luke looks like a kid from the '70s with that haircut. Luke is a farmer boy and Han is a cowboy. Jedi Knights are like the samurai of Japan or the knights of Europe. Those archetypes work the globe over. It's a world phenomenon that speaks to everyone. There will always be a character you can relate to."

[anti-anti-a-la-bi-bi]

Can you rant about pkmn sword? Rants are enjoyable to read

Alright, so it took me a bit to get my thoughts in line. Lets start with how I feel about the pricing: I am all for having 30 euro DLC over a third version for the full price, however, I do think that if they do that, as well as with the dex cut, they should quit with having there be two versions. Nowadays, with internet communication, it doesn't really do much for social interaction, it's just another hurdle for those of us who wish to complete the pokedex(and especially when they remove the GTS and make you pay for it later). It's still a scummy tactic, and no one will complain if there's just one version+DLC. It makes a big difference in the pricetag, since being forced to buy nintendo online, or two switches and two games to trade, are both mandatory payments to make in order to achieve one of the encouraged goals within the game. Furthermore, people within one family will likely be using the same cartridge, so if there is only one version, all in all, it'll make a huge difference for people who use a whole switch as a family as well. Also, I do not think that sword and shield are worth 60 euros. I think they're worth 30 at most, since the base game is worse than x and y/sun and moon. They also locked following pokemon behind a paywall, which is bullshit and yeah, fuck that. I think swsh are enjoyable, but not when they sell at the same price as games with way more content, games that look much better, and usually both combined. For what the switch can do, swsh look really bad, actually. There are a few pretty spots, but that's the exception, not the rule. To add on to things that I think are horrible; the raid battles, especially the more difficult ones, in single player. I don't have switch online, and as such, I need to do all raids alone. But, the raids are near-impossible in a lot of cases unless you get really lucky with the npcs and ai. I got two gmax Toxtricity by using wide guard with Zamazenta for over four hours until I finally got lucky for each. This is both to blame on the ai, and the horrible selection of pokemon. Pokemon that should have evolved at level 60, well, they are still in their first form, so you have magikarp and mudbray at a 5 star raid. At least have them evolved. They have good moves, yes, but their base stats are so low that it doesn't matter. Also, the shield mechanic. It is predetermined how much damage you can do, and if you land a supereffective hit, it's not unlikely for it to only do a sliver of damage and then the shield goes up. It's annoying, makes battles extremely difficult because a lot of npcs just won't attack while the shields are up, and it just becomes a waiting game if your pokemon is just there to act as support(such as my Zamazenta with wide guard to prevent Toxtricity from 2-hit ko-ing all my teammates). Also, the fact that even if you beat a gmax pokemon, there is still a chance not to catch them. It often takes ages to even defeat them, and then, 'Congratulations! You just wasted over half an hour of your life! Get fucked!'. I had this happen with Applin t w i c e. Also, the wild area is... It's okay, really. Nothing exceptional, my immersion is ruined by the sheer amount of pop-in, something that happens even when there aren't a lot of models on-screen, the Onyx in Motostoke being a rather infamous example. The trees look like shit, the berry trees look like they don't belong, to put it bluntly, it looks like something a student would make in unity. You'd expect something better from the highest grossing franchise in the world. The ai of the pokemon is often pretty bad, with them just moving in circles, I have seen so many synchronized pokemon at this point that it's just... Egh. Also, the customization options are still so limited? Can't choose eyeshape, can't choose clothes that actually make your character stand out, and you can't even choose your challenger uniform after you become the champion. Why does Leon get a special uniform? I have never seen a pokemon game so set on making you feel like a celebrity after you win, yet you don't get to have much of an identity in the game even after you win. It didn't have to be difficult, just a customization screen inside the dressing room of the Wyndon stadium, perhaps some extra clothing options? As for things I like: I like the atmosphere. The music, though sometimes repetitive, does help my immersion. The gym leader theme is dynamic, shifting with what happens in the battle, making me feel like I'm actually standing there, and the ambient themes work well as well, though those were rarely encountered at all. I love the characters, the trainer cards giving you some backstory on them, they are, together with the Unova leaders, the most present gym leaders today, with a history of their own. It felt amazing to just read the trainer cards(and I enjoyed making my own as well). The towns have their own themes, and while I can't remember the names, I do remember each location well. But. There was so much wasted potential. The castle in Hammerlocke? The large building in the east? Hammerlocke's castle: the vault, 1 room and a roof. The large building? Nothing. You don't even get to see the attraction inspired by the London Eye. Wyndon is so small??? It has a small shopping street, the stadium and the inn and that's about it. Castelia City was bigger than that. Overall, the game feels rushed. The gym challenges at the start were cool, but by the end it's more of "battle these trainers in a row haha". Also, the animations. Gamefreak claimed to need to remake all models(they did not, the 3ds models were used with better textures), and to make better animations(only for newer pokemon, most pokemon used their pokemon amie animations and further animations from the 3ds titles). The animations are still bad, especially for something as powerful as the switch. I enjoyed the lore behind the region, but I really, really dislike Dynamax. I like gigantamax because the pokemon usually changes in a way that is distinguishable, but regular dynamax... Nah. Give me mega evolution back, perhaps update its mechanics so it changes the gameplay more and requires more strategy, but Dynamax just feels like something that is so low-effort. Pokemon but beeg. The curry making, on the other hand, I love. Pokemon should not be a cooking game, but it made me feel like I was actually bonding with my pokemon, that they were present in the mc's daily life. I would love to see more additions like that, the possibility to become the kind of trainer you want. Enjoy swimming? Perhaps go for a swim with your pokemon? It doesn't need to be complex, but I'd just love to see my pokemon interact with each other and with my actual character more. The routes are too linear. The last route is literally a straight line with some trainers, with next to no effort in it. I also think that the handholding needs to be talked about. When you get to Motostoke and have signed up for the gym challenge, a staff member will lead you to the in, which is literally one screen to the left. Such examples are found all over the game, and I hate it. They do let you skip some tutorials, which is a welcome change, but characters are so willing to force you to stop with whatever you're doing and make you listen to their speeches that it still often feels like a slog, especially because you don't get to do shit besides gyms until the very, very end, in which the fucking champion tries to catch a legendary in a regular pokeball, not even a great or ultra ball. The lore is great, but the actual story is so nonsensical that I just didn't bother to pay attention. Hop literally recycles Hau's animations. I would love for him to have his own, so he'd feel more separate, because they ARE different characters, with different goals. But Hop is even more annoying than Hau because he just won't shut up. You walk 5 steps and he shows up somewhere, for no reason at all. Meanwhile, there's this big event going down, a crowd has gathered, you get there and... Leon has already resolved it. You just get a picture, that was what you wanted, right? That sums up most of the game 'the adults will deal with this!' . The picture doesn't even look good. Swsh is fond of just showing you pictures, for example, right before the climax when Rose and Leon are talking. There's no background music or anything, just pictures and the sound of the textbox. It feels so low-effort. Also, if you have a character that is a singer, and he uh, he sings, it MAY be a good idea to include VOICE ACTING. They had someone sing in Black and White 2! Surely they can do it on the fucking switch, several years later? The mouths flapping about just feels incredibly awkward. I would recommend the game if you can find it somewhere for cheap, not for the full price. There is enjoyment to be had, but it's subpar in comparison to other games for the same price. I may rant further depending on how much time I have.

[alice-chan-chan]

hey alice! 7, 15, 24, 45 :D

Hi Cristen! Thanks for asking! ^///^

7: What is something you want to develop in your future creations?

I want to work more on my personal style. As of now, I feel like all my edits are a mash of different ideas that don’t blend into something complete. =/

15: Talk about some of your favourite creators: what do you love most about their creations?

There are so many talented people I admire! 

First of all, @hoshinoemiko. She’s not active now, but I hope she comes back at some point. Emi’s works are super creative, like, Emi even made some “fake” anime gifs that look 1000% canon and people keep on asking which episode they are from! Imo, that’s the highest level of badassery. *_* And even the simpliest works of Emi look exquisite and meaningful. On a side note, Emi’s creations are very inspiring; I started making edits because of my admiration of her works, and with the help of her advices. ^_^

Secondly, @aizawashoutta. Ana’s style is very unique and recognisible. All her colorings look so perfect, so complete, and you can always see how much effort Ana puts in each of her creations. Ana is amazing! Her preferred colors are vibrant and very satisfying for the eyes. Her lines are solid but full of grace, perfectly complementing each other - Ana is so good at choosing which line to make thicker and which one to make thinner (something I myself need to learn to do to make better lines for my colorings...). Also, Ana's choice of fonts is superb. *_*

On the other hand, @tsukiko-ciah is also a splendid manga colorist. I love all the colors, the shades, the lights in Tsukiko’s works. They blend so perfectly! Absolutely wonderful! And Tsukiko’s AMVs are masterpices, because each of them tells a story, created by the great choice of a song, animation and special effects... Tsukiko’s Soukoku AMVs are the best. *_* Not to mention gif sets and rare edits. *_*

And before this gets too long, I’d like to say a few words about @dicennio. Nana’s graphics is just... edit goals. That’s all. Nana can turn a simple screenshot into a piece of art, filled with symbolism and giving food for thoughts. And a set of images form a perfect, complete creation - a story, a manifest, a confession... I admire each and every Nana’s work, they are wonderful and eye catchy even if I do not know the fandom they belong to. *_*

Guess I’ll stop here, because I can tell much more about others. ^///^

24: What’s your step by step? How do you organise your editing process?

I think I do not have an actual step by step - but I do have some patterns I follow. :) Sometimes I visualize my future edit, in my mind or on a piece of paper. Sometimes I prefer to start with gathering resources that I drag into Photoshop and then think what I should make outta them... Anyway, the next step is cleaning, redrawing, removing the unneeded parts (such as backgrounds or other characters that I do not want in this very edit), sometimes recreating an image by “glueing” it from several bits, etc. Then I start to add backgrounds, textures, brushes, speech bubbles, text, special effects - whatever I think might fit my idea. Then I add my preferred psds and adjust them to my liking. Then I take another look at my work... and start to remove something that I don’t believe to look good, add more “ingredients”, adjust more layers, etc etc. If I make a gif set, I move to making gifs at some point. And the finishing line is the same as for most of us all I guess - saving my images in different versions and trying to get a satisfying result. :) Oh, and if I make a manga coloring, the process is a bit more complicated bcos it starts in SAI and includes outlining the manga cap, panicking, editing my lineart, coloring the image, more panicking, adding lights and shadows (don’t forget about more panicking, it’s essential), and at some point I move to PS and start to edit what I just colored. X)

45: Do you show your creations to anybody before posting them?

No, not anymore. My mom got bored of this and I’ve left her alone. XD

[youngjusticeslut]

Whispers in the Dark

Fandom: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power  Characters: Catra and Glimmer. Mentions of Adora and Horde Prime  Ships: Implied Catradora  Rating: General Summary: Alone in their cell on Horde Prime's ship, Glimmer and Catra have plenty of time to talk.

AO3

Catra and Glimmer still haven’t exchanged a word.

Glimmer keeps shooting Catra careful glares, almost daring to say something. For the most part, Catra pretends that Glimmer doesn’t exist. Every few hours, Prime’s clones escort one of them out for questioning. They return, haggard and weary-looking, but they don’t talk about it. Meals are eaten in such silence that chewing produces an incredible amount of noise. It was ironic, considering the sheer abundance they had to talk about.

Some of the silence is due to fear. They are alone in their cell, but that doesn’t mean Prime isn’t listening in. Any escape plans or attack strategies would never be safe to discuss out loud. Another part is exhaustion. Between the bright halogen lights that never turn off, the frequent clunking of metal clones and the nerves that never seem to let up, Catra and Glimmer aren’t sleeping much.

On the whole, though, the two don’t even know what to say to one another.

Both are consumed with guilt, for wildly different reasons. Catra hears Glimmer crying when they lie down and attempt to sleep, and does her best to pretend that she doesn’t. In return, Glimmer does the same when Catra thrashes from nightmares. They both know that at some point, one of them is bound to break, they just don’t want to be the one to do it.

On the third day, though, something changes. Maybe it was the clone who pushed Glimmer a little too hard when he shoved her back inside the cell. Or perhaps it was the morning’s meal, too revolting for either of them to stomach. On the third day, Glimmer breaks.

“You could say something, you know.”

Catra blinks. She’d been lying on the floor, counting all the specks she could in the ceiling when Glimmer spoke. Instead of getting up, she just lets her eyes glaze over. “What do you want me to say, Sparkles?”

“It’s not what I want you to say,” Glimmer scoffs. She looks down at her hands, balls them into fists, and glares back at Catra. “Don’t you have anything you want to say?”

“Not really.” She pulls a loose thread from her glove and tosses it away. It’s stupid, how both true and overwhelmingly false that statement is.

Glimmer narrows her eyes, waiting for Catra to continue. When she doesn’t, Glimmer lets out a frustrated sigh, leaning her head back against the wall. “I shouldn’t be surprised.” If it were anyone else in here with her, this would be easier. So much easier. She closes her eyes and takes a slow, careful breath before opening them and looking at Catra once more. “I guess I’m just tired of the silence.”

Catra understands. The silence grates on her too, so much that sometimes she thinks she’s hearing voices. Adora’s voice, mostly. She doesn’t pull herself up just yet, but she figures talking couldn’t hurt. “Me too.”

— 

It takes a few days for them to learn how to talk to each other. They start slow at first. Saying goodnight before attempting to get some sleep. Asking if the other is okay when they return from a questioning session. When they grow comfortable with their own voices, they go a little deeper.

Glimmer tells Catra what she misses at Bright Moon. She talks about the gardens, Bow, and Adora. Catra ignores the way her heart clenches whenever she says Adora’s name, but it isn’t too terrible to listen to Glimmer talk. She doesn’t have much to offer in return, but she can tell that Glimmer is grateful that she’s trying.

“If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?” Glimmer asks, trying to ignore her stomach’s incessant growling. The most recent rations were orange, and hairy. Catra had braved through most of it, but the texture made Glimmer dry-heave to the point where she’d take being hungry over trying to finish it.

Catra shrugs. “Gray ration bars, I guess.”

“...Ration bars?”

“The Horde doesn’t exactly believe in real food.” She pauses, pulling her knees to her chest. “I had an apple, once.” After she’d taken the civilians in Elberon hostage, she’d snatched the fruit from a bowl on the table. It tasted great at first, much better than anything she’d eaten in the Horde. But after a few bites, the sweetness turned cloying and she had to toss it away.

Glimmer hums, brushing her hair back from her face. “Apples are good.” She pauses, and smiles. “I’d eat pancakes.”

“Sounds weird.”

“Maybe, if you’ve never had them before.”

Silly as it was, Catra couldn’t deny that she was interested. She doesn’t think too much about food, but the more Glimmer talks to her about Bright Moon, the more she realizes how little she knew about the world outside of the Fright Zone. “Explain it, then.”

“Okay.” Glimmer props herself up, crossing her legs underneath as she gets comfortable. “You mix eggs, flour, and milk in a big bowl. If you’re feeling really fancy, you can add some spices.”

Catra raises a brow. “What are spices?” “They’re… I don’t know, like, powders you put in your food to add more flavor,” she does her best to explain, waving her hand around as she does so.

“Weird.”

“It’s not— You know what, it doesn’t matter. You combine everything, pour it out into a hot pan, and then you get like these little cakes.”

It’s a terrible explanation, but Catra’s mouth still waters. She couldn’t even deny it, the thought of hot, tasty food sounded incredible. “I’d take some pancakes right now,” she admits, doing her best not to look at the remnants of the fuzzy orange thing on her tray.

“Yeah, me too.” Glimmer lets her mind wander, back to a happier memory. “My mom and I would always make them on my birthday. She’d let the cooks make a whole feast for breakfast, but at night, when it was just me and her, we’d go into the kitchen and make them together. It was kind of our thing.”

Her face dims along with her tone, so much that even Catra notices. She tosses up a wadded napkin at her foot so that she looks at her. “Hey,” she says once she’s gotten her attention. “You’ll make them with her again.”

Glimmer shakes her head, letting out a shaky breath. “She got trapped in the portal, Catra. She’s not coming back.”

Catra’s dinner nearly comes up at Glimmer’s words, and it takes everything in her to shove it back down. The sick, clenching feeling remains, and grasps at her chest for the remainder of the day.

— 

Something is wrong.

The clones took Catra before their first meal, and now the third has passed and she still isn’t back. Glimmer paces for most of the day, trying to make sense of things. Would Catra leave her here? Probably. There’s a small part of her that would like to think better, but Glimmer can’t deny that it’s entirely plausible that she would. She attempts to get the attention of the clones when they pass by, but no one heeds her any mind.

She’s just about to fall asleep when the cell opens, and Catra is tossed inside. She’s physically unharmed— wounds and bruises aren’t Prime’s style— but her eyes are wide, and she’s trembling with such a ferocity that Glimmer knows Prime did something terrible to her. When the clones leave, she doesn’t think twice before scrambling to her side.

“What did he do to you?” she demands, her voice hardly above a whisper.

Catra brushes her off, shaking her head. “I’m fine.” Her voice comes out hoarse, and they both know she’s lying.

Prime didn’t believe in physically torturing them; no, his tactics were more subtle, mental. When he calls Glimmer to his side, it’s under the guise of questioning. She tells him what she can, but the limited answers are never enough for him; when he wants something important, he places her in illusions, painful scenarios that cause her to question everything. She and Catra don’t talk about what happens to them in their time apart, but it’s clear that this time, he did something worse.

“Was it… the illusions?” she asks, careful not to touch her. Catra doesn’t meet her eyes. “He does those to me, too.”

Catra keeps her gaze tilted towards the floor, her mouth curling into an ugly sneer. “What do you have to hurt over?”

Glimmer knows that she shouldn’t accept the bait. She knows that Catra is hurting and shaken and she’s acting in defense like she always does. But she’s also tired, and frustrated, and scared, and it’s all too easy to succumb to the raw emotions vying for her attention. “You want to go there?” she retorts, her heart pounding as she does so, ready for a confrontation.

But it doesn’t come.

She expects Catra to shoot back, but she doesn’t. Instead, she sinks down further into herself, holding her arms so hard that her fingernails are digging into them. “How does he know?” she whispers, finally looking at Glimmer. “How does he know about… everything?”

Any anger Glimmer has immediately drains. She sits beside her, wishing that she knew the answer. “I don’t know.” Catra doesn’t say anything else, so the two sit in silence. It feels like hours until Catra stops trembling. When she does, she picks herself up and lies down in the farthest corner of the room, her back to Glimmer.

Sleep won’t come so easily to Glimmer again, so she remains seated, trying to make sense of her thoughts. She wonders what Prime has to show Catra to get her so shaken up like that. Before they were locked up together, she wasn’t sure that Catra even had the emotional capacity to be afraid, or hurt.

“Glimmer?”

She glances at Catra’s body, still turned away from her. She thought she’d gone to sleep. “Yeah?”

“About your mom…” Her ears fall, and she’s unable to finish right away. Glimmer’s breath catches in her throat, and the room is so silent that she’s able to hear her heart pounding in her chest. “...You don’t need to forgive me for that. Ever.”

It’s not an apology, but Glimmer thinks it’s the closest she’ll probably get. And for now, it’s enough. She lies down on the floor, using her arms as a pillow and closes her eyes.

“Okay.”

— 

“Why did you do it?” Glimmer asks, on a day where she’d been taken instead of Catra. The brunette looks at her, her eyes wide with apprehension, but Glimmer holds her hands up in a sign of peace. “I’ve just… always wanted to know.”

She doesn’t answer right away. Her tail swishes around as she mulls the question over. Eventually, it curls by her side and she sighs. “It’s complicated. I don’t think I really know the answer myself.”

It wasn’t the answer Glimmer wanted, but she could accept it.

“If it means anything,” Catra continues, “It wasn’t personal. I didn’t mean for so much to happen.”

“Did you do it to hurt Adora?”

Glimmer doesn’t think she’ll answer. She expects her to hiss, turn away, and ignore her until the clones come to separate them. But she does none of that. Catra just takes a shaky breath and nods.

She won’t go into it; not with Glimmer, at least. Adora is all she seems to be able to think about, lately. When Prime puts her in the illusions, she sees her. They wrestle together, like they used to. Adora will pull her hair, and Catra playfully scratches her, light enough to make Adora shriek without leaving a mark. They lay in bed together, holding each other.

And then it all changes. Adora will suddenly stop, and start choking for air. Catra’s hands will feel wet, and she looks down to find they’re covered in her blood. Tears will blur her vision, and Adora’s blue eyes turn lighter as she asks Catra why, over and over until the illusions finally stop and Catra is shaken to her core.

She misses her. More than anything, she misses her, and wants to see her again. Even if she hates her.

Glimmer pokes her food around with her fork, turning the lump of blue sludge that’s supposed to be their meal into a runny mishmash. “Do you think they know we’re here?”

“She’ll do anything to save you,” Catra says without missing a beat. As for her, she doesn’t know. Odds are that she’d forgotten all about her. And she deserved that. More than deserved that. “I’m sure her and arrow-boy are working on a plan to bring you home as we speak.”

“What about you?”

Catra shrugs. “What about me?” Her ears fall and her tail stops swishing as she feels her stomach sink. “She’ll probably leave me here to rot.”

“Then you must not know Adora as well as you think.” Glimmer wasn’t blind. Despite everything that had gone down between Adora and Catra, she knows that Adora still harbors feelings for her. “You can come home with us.”

“And do what? Do you really think sh—anyone will forgive me?” she scoffs, her cheeks tinting pink from the slip up. “Do me a favor, Sparkles, let me know when you return from Dreamland.” She stretches and lays on her side, facing away so that Glimmer can’t see her face.

A soft smile stretches across Glimmer’s face. “Maybe not now. But give it time… I think she would.”

Catra hisses and shoves her tray at Glimmer, but her tail swishes around behind her. Glimmer hides a giggle with a cough, pushing her own tray away. Maybe, with enough time, she’d be able to forgive her too.  

[writing-prompts-for-friends]

Notes from Stephen King’s “On Writing” 05: Description, Dialogue, Creating Characters

Description

"Description begins in the writer's imagination, but should finish in the reader's."

We all know that too much description robs the reader of their imagination and bores them, yet too little description leaves them confused and scratching their heads. So how can we strike a middle ground with confidence?

"Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons why you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It's not just a question of how to, you see; it's also a question of how much to. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of writing will help you with the how. You can learn only by doing."

King says that he personally doesn't like to provide detailed descriptions of how his characters look. He would rather have the reader supply their faces, builds, and clothing. To exemplify, he says:

"If I tell you that Carrie White is a high school outcast with a bad complexion and a fashion-victim wardrobe, I think you can do the rest, can't you? I don't need to give you a pimple-by-pimple, skirt-by-skirt rundown. We all remember one or more high school losers, after all; if I describe mine, it freezes out yours, and I lose a little bit of the bond of understand I want to forge between us. Description begins in the writer's imagination, but should finish in the reader's."

Maybe it's because now more than ever we are obsessed with visual media, be it TV or film or social media, but I personally feel a need to give detailed physical descriptions of my characters. Does anyone else feel the same? But what King said really made a lot of sense to me--by keeping the descriptions of the characters non-distinct, we allow the readers to fill in the gaps and make a character that is even more relatable to them. I think that's genius.

On the other hand, King feels that locale and texture are more important to the reader's sense of actually being in the story. Describe the region the story takes place in (but don't go full Tolkein on your readers, please). Paint a picture of the house and town in broad, distinct strokes.

"For me, good description usually consists of a few well-chosen details that will stand for everything else. In most cases, these details will be the first ones that come to mind. Certainly they will do for a start. If you decide later on that you'd like to change, add, or delete, you can do so--it's what rewrite was invented for. But I think you will find that, in most cases, your first visualized details will be the truest and best. It's as easy to overdescribe as it is to underdescribe. Probably easier."

So let's say that you want to use a certain real-life restaurant as the setting of a scene in your story. This is a restaurant that you have actually frequented. Now close your eyes and picture that place. What are the first 4-5 things that come to your mind? Could be how to looks or smells, what sort of clientele is usually there, anything. Take those 4-5 details and only use those to describe the place in your writing. Let the reader do the rest of the work.

"In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it 'got boring,' the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling."

Oh man, I really agree with this. I quit reading LotR because I just couldn't force myself through another description of goddamn rivers and valleys.

On the Use of Similes

"When it's on target, a simile delights us in much the same way meeting an old friend in a crowd of strangers does."

When we compare two seemingly unrelated objects, we are sometimes able to see an old thing in a new and vivid way. But you have to make sure that the simile makes sense and isn't cliched. Don't use "he ran like a madman" or something. Come up with your own.

"The key to good description begins with clear seeing and ends with clear writing, the kind of writing that employs fresh images and simple vocabulary."

There are a lot of authors that do a great job describing things like king says, but there is one specific line from Neil Gaiman's Coraline that stands out to me. Coraline has just discovered the hallway that leads to the Other House, and the sentence describes the hall.

"It smelled like something very old and slow."

Simple vocabulary, yet very fresh. I love this sentence and its eeriness.

Dialogue

"It's dialogue that gives your cast their voices, and is crucial in defining their characters--only what people do tells us more about what they're like, and talk is sneaky: what people say often conveys their character to others in ways of which they--the speakers--are completely unaware."

You can explain through narration or backstory that a character didn't do well in school or didn't finish it, but you could also demonstrate that through dialogue. Conversely, you can show just how smart they are, or how honest/dishonest, lighthearted/serious they are through dialogue alone.

Have you ever read dialogue that makes you think, "Man, nobody talks like this!" because it feels so stilted or forced? I'm certain you have. So how can we prevent ourselves from crafting dialogue that feels inauthentic?

"Dialogue is a skill best learned by people who enjoy talking and listening to others--particularly listening."

Picking up the accents, rhythms, dialect, and slang of various groups helps give your writing a certain veracity that readers pick up on instinctually.

A Word on Political Correctness in Dialogue/Characters

"As with all other aspects of fiction, the key to writing good dialogue is honesty."

King says that not a week goes by that he doesn't get an angry letter accusing him of being foul-mouthed, bigoted, homophobic, murderous, frivolous, or downright psychopathic, and usually the people writing these letters are upset about certain lines of dialogue within his stories.

Sometimes you are going to have a character that holds unpleasant opinions and uses unpleasant words to get them across. That doesn't necessarily mean that what the character believes/says is what you believe. And, in my own opinion, I think it is important to have these non-pc characters in our stories. How can we combat ignorance if we do not draw attention to it? Sweeping it under the rug does nothing but prolong the problem.

So if a character is prone to swearing, don't substitute their expletives for words like "shoot" or "dang." Have them say "shit" or "damn." If a character is a homophobe, have them vocalize their sentiments if the scene deems it appropriate. Don't censor your characters.

Building Characters

"The job of building characters in fiction boils down to two things: paying attention to how the real people around you behave and then telling the truth about what you see."

Take note of the people around you. Many fictional characters are drawn piece by piece from people in real life. For King, what happens to his characters as the story progresses depends solely on what he discovers about them as he goes along. Sometimes their character grows only a little. But other times, their characters grow a so much that they influence the course of the story instead of the other way around.

"I think the best stories always end up being about people rather than the event, which is to say character-driven. Once you get beyond the short story, though (two to four thousand words, let's say), I'm not much of a believer in the so-called character study; I think in the end, the story should always be the boss."

Most readers want to see not only a progression in plot, but also in character development, so trying to have both of those is important.

"It's also important to remember that no one is 'the bad guy' or 'the best friend' or 'the whore with a heart of gold' in real life; in real life we each of us regard ourselves as the main character, the protagonist. If you can bring this attitude into your fiction, you may not find it easier to create brilliant characters, but it will be harder for you to create the sort of one-dimensional dopes that populate so much of pop fiction."

King goes on to explain how when he wrote Misery, a novel about a crazy nurse who holds her favorite author Paul Sheldon hostage in her remote house, he went to great lengths to give the reader a view of the nurse Annie Wilkes' perspective. To us, she seems psychopathic. But to her, she seems perfectly sane and reasonable.

"If I can make you understand her madness--then perhaps I can make her someone you sympathize with or even identify with. The result? She's more frightening than ever, because she's close to real. If, on the other hand, I turn her into a cackling old crone, she's just another pop-up bogeylady. In that case, I lose bigtime, and so does the reader. Who would want to visit with such a stale shrew? That version of Annie was old when The Wizard of Oz was in its first run."

What is really boils down to is making sure that each of your characters are three-dimensional within your own mind. As long as they feel like real people in your head, capable of making rational decisions and feeling rational emotion (as fits their unique nature), that should be able to be seen by the reader as the story unfolds.

On Creative Liberties

“Try any goddamn thing you like, no matter how boringly normal or outrageous. If it works, fine. If it doesn’t toss it. Toss it even if you love it. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch once said, ‘Murder your darlings,’ and he was right.”

Write however you want. Use whatever techniques you want. Have fun with it. It’s yours before it is anybody else’s. And you can’t please all the readers all the time, but if you can come out happy with the end product, surely you can please some of the readers some of the time, and that is enough. 

Source: King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Hodder, 2012.

[normal-thoughts-official]

Thoughts on Madzie?

sexy question anon

tbh like. i love her? she’s been through so much and yet she’s so sweet and kind (kinda like her uncle :)) and i definitely get the impression that she’s super smart from the few things we’ve seen about her, and i just. aaaaa

i mean look obviously she’s been through some trauma (first with iris and then with valentine) and i think that’s important to remember like. yes she’s sweet and she’s a little kid and she is cute but she’s also complex and has a lot of baggage, you know? i mean like most warlock and kids of color, but you get it. she was literally kidnapped by a nazi who wanted to use her to kill her own kind. that’s. a lot to handle at such a young age

so i think that madzie definitely needs to relearn how to be a kid, even if of course you can’t undo trauma. but like, i think part of the reason why cat and magnus and alec are so dead set on taking her for ice cream, adding sprinkles, taking her to the park, and just spoiling her in general is so she can have that childhood? because to so many people in the shadow world, childhood is just denied. by prejudice, by loss of family, by the fear they incite in mundanes (and with warlocks, being born into mundane families, that’s particularly tricky), by struggling to understand and learn how to deal with magic and mostly having to do it on their own.... you know. there’s not a lot of time to just be a kid and enjoy childhood. and i think they all wanted to make sure that she could have that, for obviously her sake above all, but also all of theirs. making sure madzie gets to grow up happy and doesn’t have to grow up even faster than she already has is kinda healing in a way, you know?

but even then it’s hard because it’s not like there are a lot of other warlock kids that she can play with, for example. we’ve seen only one other warlock child other than her (in 1x04). vampires and werewolves are usually turned later in life. seelies are closed off and we don’t know how regularly they’re born either. mundanes are possible, but there’s always a part of herself that she has to hide from them. shadowhunters are racist fuckers so interacting with shadowhunter kids would probably be hell tbh. so she’s always surrounded by adults. very old adults, too, except for alec

so i think that’s an issue she’s had to deal with - the thoughts of loneliness and alienation. and i also think that, in their attempt to want her to have the best childhood she could get, they might have tried to protect her too much and that might have come off, to her, as underestimation. like “oh don’t worry about it, it’s just a kid” and really they just want her to have a normal life, but what she hears is condescension. and it hurts and stings a bit that she can’t have that aspect of being with other people who are her age and going through similar issues and who basically, like, understand kid culture, you know? like when she goes to the park and such it’s always fun to be with the other mundane kids, but again, she has to always be hiding, and that’s frustrating and alienating

i think it takes a while for cat and the rest of their family to realize that, how much she misses contact with other kids, how she feels like both too much of a kid (with the adults) and too grown up (by the trauma) to belong anywhere. and i think that madzie also has trouble voicing her own needs, because, again, trauma. i don’t think she had a lot of room for that even with iris, much less valentine. she’s pretty quiet, too, and i think that plays into that - she’s learnt that voicing her concerns, feelings, fears, wants, isn’t always welcome. and to both iris and valentine, well, she was a weapon, and weapons don’t talk

also, thinking specifically on how valentine groomed and abused her, i think that adds another whole layer to the whole “she feels like she’s being looked down on” thing i mentioned before. because valentine was very condescending, and he used a lot of kid talk and kid culture and wants and interests against her, you know? like kneeling to talk to her, getting her ice cream, talking in that “talking to kids” voice - he used that whole “child caretaker” position and stereotype to manipulate her, you know? so she kinda hates it, hates it when they hide things from her, use that whole condescending “you’re just a kid” narrative, treat her like- well, like too much of a kid. because to her that’s not just annoying and insulting, but she’s learnt to see it as a weakness, as something to be used against her, and it fucks her up. because of course she deserves to be a kid, and be taken care of, and be spoiled, but there’s a tricky balance there, where she also needs to feel listened to and cherished and respected as an individual. and that’s already hard for most kids to feel when talking to adults because ageism, so for her it’s just. it’s almost impossible

but god catarina loves her, okay, so much. and she’s a firm believer in communication. she’s a nurse, so she’s used to the “explaining-the-problem, looking-for-a-solution, figuring-out-prevention” approach to problems. which is good because it means lots of talking. it means she asks madzie a lot of questions, and she’s good at directing those questions, so she and madzie can both understand what she’s feeling and what’s bothering her and how catarina and the rest of their family can help it be better both at the moment and in the future. also, catarina puts her in therapy pretty soon (let everyone have therapy!! you get therapy, you get therapy, you get therapy, everybody gets therapy!) and that also helps because she gets to deal with these problems before they take too deep roots. obviously it’s not easy, but she has the best support system

i like to think that she and raphael got pretty close, which is- very healing to the both of them. raphael is an amazing big brother and that is just facts and truth, and while obviously madzie isn’t rosa and wanting her to be isn’t fair to either of them, it feels good to put his big brother shoes again, to have a little girl to love and take care of and listen to. and madzie likes that figure too, because well. iris was raising a lot of warlock kids, so she was probably used to having siblings. and it’s good to have a bigger family. and with raphael being more of a brother than a paternal or uncle-sorta figure, it feels like they’re a bit more on even ground, and she can trust him, and afford to be unapologetically a kid with him. obviously raphael is not a kid, but you understand what i mean. their relationship doesn’t have that inherently unequal/hierarchical edge of parent-child or uncle-child

and it’s nice! raphael learns about her hair texture so he can braid it and comb it and help her take care of it, and he can spend hours doing just that and talking to her. raphael knows a lot of games she hadn’t had the chance to play before, including like, games for two because him and rosa were probably alone at home relatively frequently when they were kids. also he loves to cook for her, obviously, and she loves his food. she also soon realizes that she likes cooking, too, and he teaches her how to make a few things. she’s super proud when she manages to do a certain dish for the first time (obviously raphael helps with cutting stuff and anything involving the stove but you know) and she just has the biggest smile on her face and aaah :’)

and raphael keeps her secrets when she asks him to (nothing major, but those stupid things, like “i stayed up late yesterday to watch cartoons, don’t tell mum”, you know?) and doesn’t rat her out to the adults, because again, he’s used to that, i’m 100% sure that rosa was an absolute trickster of a sister and i’ll accept nothing less. and she probably dragged raphael along on a lot of adventures and he likes that and misses her. so in that sense raphael gets to be a sort of confidant for her that she can’t really find in other adults

but also they make an effort to bring her closer to other kids (raphael in particular seems to notice how she needs that. partially because again she feels more comfortable telling him about how uncomfortable she feels with adults sometimes) and slowly build a sort of, warlock parent club? lol like there are a few other people raising warlock kids across the world and they get in touch and get them together so their kids get to play together and do magic and be happy and it’s nice. some of the parents there are even their mundane parents, who are okay with them being warlocks and love them all the same and just want the best for them and everyone tears up a little to see them being there so comfortable with their kids’ magic and world. aaaaa

(and it’s cute because the mundane parents ask so many questions on how to make sure their kids have the best upbringing possible and make an effort to understand & participate in warlock culture. and they’re very happily welcomed by the whole community and they lowkey become everyone’s kind of parental figures. like bringing cookies and some other shit that most warlocks never got to have, you know, that sorta thing. i’m emo)

so yeah madzie becoming friends with other warlock kids please :’) it’s what she deserves okay. also warlock kid culture would be a riot, i just know it. imagine the games they could make up, the usages of magic, the music. imagine warlock kids watching movies with magical creatures and just being crazy about them, wanting to learn certain kinds of magic so they can get closer to them, glamouring themselves to look like their favorite characters (you know, like other kids wear costumes, sometimes for days in a row daouhsda) and play and stuff. imagine them playing “demon summoning” or something. or playing “brewing potions”. you know?

i also think that madzie is a damn smart genius girl because well, i said so. tbh for her age she was shockingly perceptive and aware of everything that was going on around her, so that adds to that. also, the fact that iris was so deadset on getting her back specifically despite the fact that she’s been growing warlock kids for a while now hints that she’s particularly powerful, smart, or somewhat special in some other way. and with her being raised by cat, in close proximity to magnus, two certified warlock nerd geniuses who love studying and inventing new stuff and learning, i think she would quickly gain a taste for it too. and that combined with her talents is just- wow, powerful. soon she’s a goddamn little warlock genius, creating her own spells and potions, studying all kinds of subjects, etc. she’s the kid who likes to get books on animals and watch documentaries and who definitely gets super interested in specific rabbit holes and knows everything about certain topics, you know?

i like to think that she creates a potion to allow raphael to eat because she wants him to be able to taste her food too :’) and she knows how important that is to him, and how sad it is for him that he can’t eat anymore, when food means so much to him. so she figures out a way that no one had managed to make work before (cuz i mean that’s hardly the first time anyone’s ever tried. obviously it takes some years before that happens, she’s already more of a teen than a kid, but. you know) and raphael just tears up because wow that’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever done to him and he just never expected it, and aaaaa

in short........ madzie loss deserves the world and a big family and friends and to be recognized & cherished & loved & to grow up as the kid that she is, happy and safe

[celinedgd]

The ugly AND beautiful sides of Autism Reposting because there’s too many people reblogging and faving the ugly sides one alone.  So here we go. (Also PLEASE feel free to add to the beautiful sides I’m begging you, help other autistics feel happier about their autistic selves.) The Ugly Sides; -Originally was going to post on DeviantART but changed my mind because I got too much shit on there to trust people. Not saying tumblr would be 100% better, but I know there’s a community on here and I had less if no bad experiences about advocacy in here so. Here we go.- In order to accept, you must also take notice of the bad sides of something. It will help you understand better and better manage those things. And thus I will talk about some of the bad, ugly sides of autism. Because it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, especially because of how other people treat us. It’s not all bad either though. And you must aknowledge this too. (TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of intense ableism, embarassing moments, mentions of functionning labels, mentions of abuse, mention of filicide and kamikaze/suicide, mentions of starvation, mentions of sexualization and sexual harassment.) But sometimes… Sometimes it’s having too many meltdowns in a row, or a shutdown at the wrong moment. (Advice for person who may be in presence of someone experiencing this; Be patient, if possible bring to a darker, quieter place, some water, a comfort object.) Sometimes it’s people not wanting to diagnose you, or vaccinate themselves or their kids because they would rather have a dead child than one like you, even though the anti-vaccine movement has been built on lies, an hoax debunked DECADES ago. (Self-diagnosis is okay. And vaccines work. Fucking. get. vaccinated. If your parents are anti-vaxxers, you can always find a way to get vaccinated another way.) It’s not necessarily having special skills that everyone will be mesmerized at, but being praised as superhuman when you do, and treated like garbage if you don’t. (Don’t worry, you don’t need special skills to be worthy of acceptance. Also, do not assume overcompetence or incompetence. Do not assume anything. Get to know the person and how they function and go from there.) It’s hurling insults around that you don’t understand are harmful or threatening to kill someone because it doesn’t sound that bad in your head, and everyone else is doing it, so it’s all right, right? (No it’s not. But if you encounter an autistic child yelling “I’m going to kill you!” , please try to understand that they are under extreme emotional turmoil. Be patient with them and explain as gently as possible that it’s not okay to threaten someone like that and perhaps why.) It’s having ‘caretakers’ saying how much you are a burden to them (you are not.) , it’s being too tired to function (though that might have to do with depression and anxiety more, sometimes you might experience too many things because of sensory overload for example. Or autistic burnout.) -In the same vein, it’s sensory issues and autistic burnout, it’s having you labeled as high-functionning or low-functionning depending on whether you can speak or not, and having your intelligence and capacities based on that, though it fluctuates sometimes. (your speech and your functions both.) It’s being so overwhelmed that you would hurt people you care about - you don’t mean it, really, it’s just a meltdown. People think they’re temper tantrums and thus that you are panicking on purpose, but they are not. - because you can’t see what you’re doing, and it’s made worse by your own parents filming you and showing you at your most vulnerable moment to complain about you, or having them laugh at you and being afraid that people would take it the wrong way if they saw you acting like this because what would they think? It’s not understanding your own body and for some of us, it might be feeling something a little too late, and being treated like a baby or a dog or worse. It’s banging your head on the wall to make the pain stop. It’s being lonely and feeling like you don’t belong, because no one understands, no one TRIES to understand, and you try so hard to do what you must to live, to perhaps fit in (you won’t though, no need to try. Just be yourself and you’ll find the right people to be with.) , and sometimes you feel like that because you feel like you have never been taught how to better be your autistic self because the world is full of allistics and you had no autistic mentor to tell you how it is, why you feel this or that way and why does THIS person do THAT, so you try to blend in and be with allistics, but they find you too weird. It’s not understanding what people around you say about you because they don’t care to make you understand or they don’t want to try harder. It’s having your own damn parents think it would be better if they sacrificed themselves with you, jumped over a bridge so the world wouldn’t have to “suffer” your presence or have to “deal” with you. It’s allistics telling us we are either angels or demons and creating wars where they don’t exist between us so there is this false sense of supremacy and distance between our “Types”. Having to explain that you’re not perfect and you don’t have to be, but people don’t understand. It’s starving yourself sometimes either because of texture sensitivity or depression, or both. It’s being starved for attention, but not being sure who to approach to talk about your special interests with and being afraid you’re a bother to anyone you do this constantly with. It’s not being able to trust people, because too many people left. Sometimes, it’s being a woman, and thus overly sexualized, but once people learn that you are autistic, it’s being desexualized and infantilized, or being told “It’s okay, I still want to fuck you.” and that you’re “easy”. It’s having people speak for you so much that you end up not knowing what to say yourself or how to make decisions by yourself. It’s having sleepless nights because you are crying so much over how you will survive in this world. It’s you trying to get a diagnosis but having people say don’t exagerate, you’re not that dumb, or that girls or PoC cannot be autistic. It’s having people use your neurotype as an insult. It’s not being sure who to listen to when it comes to advocacy and not knowing enough or being brave enough to speak for yourself and others like you. It’s seeing characters that are so stereotyped it’s not even subtle. And so much more. There are ugly sides to autism, but acceptance starts when you can accept not only the pretty sides to it, but also the ugly, and put a term to the bad things you did to us, taking responsibility. -------------------------- The Beautiful Sides; Because someone reblogged the “ugly sides” one thanking me because they wanted a way to tell people why they hated being autistic. And that made me sad. So I decided to make one for the beautiful sides. And that, too, can educate people, anyway. Now, I am only 23, and I am still learning about myself and what it means to be autistic. I did not have autistic mentors to teach me. The good thing is the community. See? That’s already one beautiful thing. Now let’s see… What are the Beautiful Sides of Autism? -It’s having special interests; Being so passionate about something that it makes you smile and gives you life, and makes your eyes sparkle with glee! -For some, like me, it’s a big sense of empathy, being able to see things through everyone’s points of views (well, almost everyone’s.) and making for a compassion so grand that it encompasses a lot in your life, makes you want to be a better person and spread kindness just to see people smile. (Low-empathy autistics are valid too, though. Much love to you!) -It’s stimming! Feeling things in ways that allistics could never even dream of. (No beef against you if you have none against us though.) -It’s the smiling faces even through all the pain that we’ve gone through. -It’s the happy echolalia when one of your favorite character says something funny, or when you love the way a word sounds. -It’s the brave and mighty who fight for us, knowing that we are loved; the solidarity and the community, picking each other up when we fall. -For some of us it’s those special skills that we pick up that amaze people and and the wonder in their eyes. (No worries, even if you don’t have a special skill, you are ALSO valid and loved and worthy of life. Much love to you!) -It’s seeing things a different way, thus helping others see things they might not have seen the way we do. -It’s finding the opportunity to make a joke, even when it’s a terrible pun. -It’s knowing how to find the perfect gift for a friend or loved one because you pay particular attention to people’s interests. -It’s simply being YOU. And it’s so much more than you might think. Okay to reblog for all. May Peace always find its way to your heart and may you find love for your beautiful, autistic self.

[otomequeen]

Get To Know The Game: Bad Boys Do It Better

Released: July 8, 2016 Company: Otome Romance (Voltage Inc) Opening: YouTube Download: Apple Store - Google Play - Amazon Store

Overview

So the plot is rather simple and easy to follow. Your family moves away but you stay behind. You move into a dorm, which surprise, is full of all boys. Who happen to all be your class, in another surprise, an all boys school. You are now the only girl in an all boy school. That’s basically it. You are adjusting being in a new school, living in a dorm, being separated from your family, and all that good stuff.

Note: I have previously made a post about this. It has since been deleted. This is an updated version of that post.

Aesthetics

I would say bold. There is only a few games that got released before this title that I would consider bold and vibrant. These colors are bright, and neon. The textures are amazing. And that’s just with the chapter cards, the characters are equally as bold and vibrant. Multi color hair, tattoos, piercings. It definitely stands out compared to previous entries.

Operating System

Now I was really happy with what Voltage (Otome Romance) did with this game. The first thing I want to touch upon is the special choice system. Instead of giving you three options to pick from, a heart will spin on your screen and you can either ‘go for it’ or ‘pull back.’ And as of right now, as far as I’m aware, this is the only title to get this feature from them. And I don’t know if that’s because it didn’t sit well with fans or what. But I loved this change of pace. It not only gives me an option that can sway my love meter, but I don’t know what’s going to be said. Sometimes after you play games for a while you kinda know what they are going to say in response to your choices. But if I don’t know what I’m going to say, I have no idea what is going to happen next. I can have a vague idea, but it’s a refreshing surprising that I felt I needed. 

Now I will say that since this title got moved to Love 365 instead of being a stand alone app this function is still within the game. But the heart no longer has English text. Maybe it’s just a glitch, or on certain routes/chapters. I haven’t fully completed everything to test that out. I’m super happy they kept it, but if you were going for a certain choice it makes it a little harder unless you read Japanese. 

The second thing I wanted to talk about was the text box. While it’s fairly standard just to have a square box at the bottom of the screen, usually in a pastel color that goes with the theme of the game that you can change the opacity of. Bad boys keeping with this bold aesthetic made it feel like I was reading a manga or comic book. There is a small extension from the box that points in the direction of the person who is talking. If there is more than one sprite on screen, the extension moves accordingly. 

And much do my dismay, this function didn’t translate with the merge to love 365. I can understand that they can’t have a mega app with small variances between all the titles and still have space to add more things. But it took a small part of the game away. It added to the experience and now instead of being it’s own entity, it’s slowly becoming just another title.

Endings

So this title has a love meter system. Which isn’t new to this game, nor is the idea of leading to two different types of endings that isn’t labeled good and happy. But I like how they labeled it for this game. I didn’t know what I was expecting initially, but I liked them. 

Additional Thoughts

So I thought that the plot was meh and the mc was also meh. Nothing really stands out about this plot line. You see it all the time in animes, and I get that its hard to make it different to stand out. But the more I played the game I started to think they choose this kind of plot to tinker with the OS and try new things rather than putting out a game with a lot of content. Because as of right now the game has a main story and epilogue for 6 characters, and then 5 or 6 sub stories. That’s it. And it’s not like they have a screen that says ‘sequel coming soon’ it straight up ends after the epilogue. Which I appreciate, I don’t know how you could keep this kind of plot going for more stories without it being super predictable. So for this kind of plot the mc fits perfectly. High school student that doesn’t really know love. All the typical mc behaviors that annoy a lot of people in different games. 

I am kind of sad they never made another character datable. I did a previous review of this game where I mentioned two characters you can’t date. But since then they have released one of those characters. So now I’m just waiting for the other one to get their own route. I think there could be a lot of fun things that can happen. I get the vibe it could be like Joh from Dreamy Days in West Tokyo kind of situation. But still. I want it.

Takeaway

I feel like this is a decent game. I’m glad that I purchased routes in it. It’s very cute. I don’t know if I will say people should play this as their first game. Since it’s very bland I guess. But I think it’s a game to purchase to play when you are waiting for another game, or taking a break. It’s a good way to pass the time. Not in the sense of ‘am I eating because I’m board?’ But between the OS, which I think is my favorite of all the games, and pretty graphics it’s a good change of pace. 

You also don’t have to worry about spending too much money on the game, since there isn’t a lot of content to buy. And there are no plans for future released, so you don’t have to worry about that. It’s a one and done kind of deal. You can fully own 100% of this game without breaking the bank. 

[webcricket]

Great Expectations

Characters: CastielXReader

Word Count: 1297

Summary: A five part fluffy 1st date drabble series. Castiel’s nerves nearly get the better of him when he realizes you didn’t realize that when he asked if you wanted to grab dinner, he was actually asking if you would like to go on a date.

Previous Parts: Pt.1, Pt.2, Pt. 3

Part 4: A Stairway to Heaven

“Open your eyes.”

Eager as you are to see the surprise Cas has in store for you on the bunker’s roof, your breath stutters when he lifts the warmth of his fingers away from where they loosely sheathed your sight. Replacing the dark shielding heat of his hands is a glow of gold against the thin skin shuttering your lashes – a gilded glow very much like that of a sun you know set hours ago.

Eyes flying wide as directed to seek out the source of that strange luminance, strings of tiny twinkling white bulbs crisscrossing the rooftop greet your awestruck vision. In the center, where the lines of light meet, a blanket spreads below; a picnic basket sits strewn to one side.

Suddenly feeling breathless and short on oxygen although you’ve been standing still, you sway backward at the onslaught of sweetness and into the sturdy pillar of the seraph’s frame.

He catches you; a gentle grip encircles your upper arms, easing your spine into the solid cushion of his chest to steady your balance.

“Cas, when-” you whisper, volume weighted in wonderment- “when did you have time to do all this?”

When he speaks, relieved the extent of his worried measures to make tonight special are enough to delight despite the misunderstandings of intent overcome to get here, whatever awkwardness he endured forgotten, the small smile of his satisfaction at your awestruck reaction hovers along the shell of your ear. “Nevermind that-” his rasping voice radiates outward from the spot, exciting pins and needles of pleasure in every nerve- “do you like it?”

You twist in his grasp, throw your arms around his nape, and murmur happily into the hollow of his neck, “I love it!”

Skimming and pressing his palms to return the fondness-fueled embrace, burying his scruffy chin at your shoulder, his blues close; the essence of his being endeavors to imprint the magic of this moment forever into a mind accustomed to only to the seeming certainties of doubt and disappointment.

The molten mingling of heat between your bodies, the way you melt into him as though puzzle pieces perfectly fashioned to fit one another, the subtle scent of lavender and something comelier than anything else in creation clinging to your hair, and the musical mayhem of the pulse reverberating through your ribs, is more succor than he imagined a fallen seraph might find in this world, let alone believe he deserved.

Yet, here you are, flesh and blood and vitality and - he dare not aspire too ardently because you haven’t embarked beyond a hug, heated as it feels to him, at the threshold of a romantic rooftop rendezvous- finally his.

He dare not dream, however, hope nonetheless flusters his senses.

Neither of you hastens to separate, the silent shrouding seconds stretch on in pure contentment.

The grumbling intrusion of your stomach, your stupid hunger-pitted stomach, the very same stomach ticklishly alive in a seraphim-induced swarm of butterflies in frenzied flight, breaks the enchantment.

“Sorry.” Leaning away from the angel, embarrassment deepens the pink flush of your face.

“Don’t be.” Seizing full advantage of the new vantage point of nearness, he brings a hand up to cradle the column of your throat and runs the rough pad of his thumb along the angle of your jaw as he memorizes every freckle and minute furrow upon your face, the glinting of the gaze fixed fondly on him as if he mattered more than anything in existence, and the trembling of lip where he concludes the caress and his careful study.

Self-conscious at the desire occurring to him then to steal a kiss from those petals pliantly parting under the intensity of his stare to hint at their willingness to seal with his own, his focus flicks upward to your eyes.

A soft sigh exhales through your nose - a subtle escape of regret that he did not yield to his obvious yearning, and remorse also that you failed to act on it when he didn’t and Chuck only knows if it took him this long to ask you on a date, how long it will be before you get a taste of actual Heaven. The boisterous growled demands of your famished belly again foul the romantic ambiance; you can’t help but cast him a glance coiled in unspoken anxiety of apology.

“That’s starting to sound pretty serious, perhaps we should eat.” Blues chuckling in creased amusement at your corporally insistent hunger, tender touch gliding to the divot dipped apex just above where your low back blooms into the roundness of a denim-supported bottom, he urges you, warmly brushing the sliver of skin exposed between your shirt and waist, to spin and shuffle off to the waiting blanket.

Moving the picnic basket into reach as you both sit, it’s he who wants to apologize for the humble pair of parchment and ribbon wrapped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches tucked therein; two, stuffed with potato chips – a Winchester family secret passed down from his dad Dean taught him to add crunchy texture and salt to cut the soggy amalgamation of sticky bread - to avert the awkwardness of asking you to eat alone.

“You made these?” you ask, watching glittery-eyed as he unpacks the picnic contents.

“Yes-” he admits, passing you one on a plate- “but they’re just PB&J.”

Just PB&J; for all the defeat damping his tone, he may as well have told you they were just his heart on his sleeve waiting to be trounced. “Thank you.” You pluck at the neatly tied bow on top to free what to you, because it was made especially for you by his hands and the best he has to offer when it comes to cooking, is an absolute feast.

“They’re perfect.” You lay a palm to his knee and squeeze until he trains his attention from popping the cork on the bottle of bubbly he hopes makes up for, or at least numbs your notice, of his lack of culinary acumen, to your glossy gaze. “Everything is perfect, Cas.”

That reassurance relaxes the tenseness casting shadows onto his confidence and his countenance enough to soothe a smile back into the camber of his mouth. “I’m glad. Very glad you said ‘Yes’ even though I wasn’t clear about this being a date.”

“Nevermind that-” you tease, echoing his earlier words- “I was always going to say ‘Yes.’”

His smile broadens; distracted by you and the joy expanding outward from the center of his being with every beat of his vessel’s heart in your presence, and never having poured champagne to gain an understanding of the rapid expansion of its effervescence, he overfills both flutes.

Giggling, you eagerly accept the brimming glass and clink it against the one held in his alcohol-wetted fingertips. “To us,” you toast.

“To us,” he repeats; a heaviness of emotion deepens his voice almost to a whisper. His eyes follow as you bring the champagne to your beaming lips to sip.

It’s not the first time - nor will it be the last time tonight, as you nestle nearer and nearer beneath the lights and stars in the cooling midnight air chatting about nothing and everything and sometimes saying naught at all and simply enjoying the sensation of being together - that the sea blue swirl of his longing gaze kisses the sweet pout of your lips, wondering at the signs – sentiments quietly spoken and movements molded by emotion - of love and acceptance surrendering themselves there to him.

And yet, perhaps his history of failures proving paralytic in affront to the proofs of your affection, Dean’s magnanimously donated mouthwash moreover not providing the minty liquid courage he needed, he hesitates to close the distance to claim a heart already his.

Castiel tag list:  (Closed, if you’d like to be removed please let me know!)    @jeepangel  @sammiesamness  @willowing-love  @blueicevalkyrie   @im-the-nerdiest-of-them-a11  @thesugargalaxy   @bluetina-blog  @dont-trust-humanity   @honeybeetrash  @bucky-thorin-winchester  @superwholockz   @tistai  @wordstothewisereaders  @gill-ons  @mrswhozeewhatsis  @marisayouass  @stone-met   @castiel-savvy18  @samualmortgrim  @trexrambling  @magnificent-mantle  @xdifsx @rockfairy  @peaceloveancolor  @unicorntrooper  @anisolatedship  @itsilvermorny  @aditimukul  @kudosia  @goofynerd-67babylove  @uninspirationalsonglyrics  @gray-avidan  @mishascupcake   @mishapanicmeow   @praisecastielamen  @roseyhxnt @sebastianstanslefteyebrow   @hisnameisboobear  @kristendanwayne  @fuschiarulerinthebluebox  @coolpencilpie  @jenabean75 @luciathewinchestergirl  @morganas-pendragons  @heyitscam99  @fangirl-and-stuff  @selahbela  @realgreglestrade  @splendidcas  @pointlesscasey  @i-larb-spooderman  @thewhiterabbit42  @thelostverse  @castieliswatchingoverme  @beccollie18  @dragonett8  @dixie-chick  @jtownraindancer   @carowinsthings  @passionghost  @ladyofletters67  @futureparent  @gabbie7-11  @myfandomlife-blog  @dreamerkim   @shamelesslydean  @earthtokace  @neaeri  @justanormalangel  @lone-loba  @supernaturalymarvel  @lilrubixx  @wings-and-halo  @lilulo-12  @x-cassiopeia  @thehoneybeecastielfollows  @musiclovinchic93  @81mysteriouslyme  @the-bottom-of-the-abyss  @jaylarkson   @missjenniferb  @jessiekay2010

[purplesurveys]

883

1. What kind of textures do you enjoy most in your food? Crunchy, crispy, soft, hard, grainy, slimy, etc? I love chewing on any meal that involves rice. Born and raised with it, can’t feel full without it. I’ll give a special mention to slimy too, because I love seafood.

2. Do you keep up any seasonal decorations outside of their season? No. My mom removes our Christmas decor by late January, which is when Christmas season ends here. We don’t decorate for other holidays.

3. Can you remember the most awkward situation you've ever been in? What happened? Ugh god. Any time I’m left alone with Gab’s dad is bound to be awkward because he’s very quiet and stoic and I tend to be a vibrant, cheery people-pleaser and nothing I do will muster more than two words out of him...but our most awkward moment has to be when I was at their place and he had to leave to run some errands. I stood up and walked over to give him a hug, but for some reason the floor was slippery and I started to do the world’s clumsiest and longest stumble. As an instinct, I held on to his arm and shirt so that I wouldn’t fall flat on my face. It was terrible and nothing I could’ve done or said would’ve saved that situation. EUGH I’m wincing right now lmao

4. Can you remember the most scary situation you've ever been in? What happened? [trigger warning] Would have to be the time when my grandfather got too drunk off his ass that he physically assaulted one of my cousins, then a toddler. My aunt (cousin’s mom) is a little on the delicate and petite side and couldn’t do anything to confront my grandpa, who went on his rage for like 10, 15 minutes. Certainly felt like forever. Nothing has traumatized me more and that’s saying a lot, considering it’s been 13 years and I’ve been through tons of shitty situations.

5. Do you do anything unusual to help you concentrate? It’s not very weird but I did install an extension on my browser that would let me list certain sites (usually social media) I’d want blocked whenever I have work. I suppose not everyone has that kind of program so it kinda counts as unusual.

6. Do you ever wonder what your parents were like as children/teenagers? With my dad, yes. My mom tells me enough stories. I know her family hit a rough patch when she was a teenager and they had to sell a bunch of their stuff, including a grand piano. She went from living a comfortable life to having to skip meals in college because she only had enough money for her daily commute.

7. Do you think suicide is ever "okay?" Groan, this is so triggering. I’m not elaborating on this, soz.

8. Would you rather a close family member/close friend/significant other die of suicide or murder? Why is this? “>> I think having to deal with a murder investigation would be terribly messy and intrusive, and would add more trauma on top of what I’m already dealing with.” < All of this. You don’t always get closure with murders, too. And I would hate that.

9. In your opinion, what is the worst thing someone could ever do? Raping an infant is definitely up there for me.

10. In your opinion, what is the best thing someone could ever do? Be a positive change or impact in someone’s life. Idk, I’m easy to please.

11. Do you think about any fellow xangans outside of xanga? I’ll change the context of this question to Tumblr so I can answer it. And yes I do, sometimes. Not in a creepy way or anything; it usually happens when I encounter something in real life that I know another survey-taker likes.

12. What military installation is the closest to you? Fort Bonifacio.

13. Do you still open your windows during winter? We don’t get winter but yeah, December is the best time to leave the windows open throughout the night. It’s also a great time to be able to save on electricity haha

14. How cold is too cold? How hot is too hot? I’ve lived in a tropical country all my life so I’m a big-ass wimp when it comes to the cold, even though I love it more. I start shivering at around 23ºC. Too hot is anything reaching the 40s.

15. Would you rather lose both legs or both arms? Why? Legs. I use my hands a lot more, so it would be slightly more difficult if I suddenly had to move about without them.

16. If you committed a crime that landed you in prison for the rest of your life, but were given the option to receive the death sentence instead, which would you choose? Why? Death. I get to have the infamous ~last meal~. Lol in all seriousness though, I’d pick it because it would be a quick release for me, I guess. It’s a big reason why I’m not a fan of death penalty...it’s too easy an escape for criminals who deserve a lot worse.

17. Is there any specific album you can listen to in its entirety and enjoy every single song? After Laughter - Paramore

18. Would you rather be a famous movie star, television star, or musician? I don’t have talents that would make me succeed in any of these fields...I guess it’d be fun to be a movie star though.

19. If you are not religious, have you ever eaten dinner with a group of people that were and said grace before eating? How was this for you? If you are religious and say grace before dinner, have you ever eaten dinner with a group of people that weren't and didn't say grace before eating? How was this for you? Yes. I’m from a Catholic family, so we pray before every meal. I do a sign of the cross but barely, just so my mom sees I move my hands when we start the prayer; but I haven’t recited grace since I told myself I was going to be atheist.

20. Do you think an evil Santa or an evil Easter Bunny would make a better villain in a horror movie? I’d go with Evil Santa mostly because I have no attachment to the Easter Bunny whatsoever, and because it’d be hilarious to see a man with reindeer be mean.

21. Did you ever think any fictional story-book character was creepy as a child? Do you still think any of them are creepy? Yes. That girl who wears a ribbon around her neck still gives me the fucking creeps.

22. Would you rather wear nothing but white or nothing but black? Is there any color you'd actually want to wear head-to-toe? Black. I’ve done that many times, so it wouldn’t feel weird.

23. What physical/mental health problems run in your family? Do you have any of the same problems? I’m almost certain there are underlying issues on my mom’s side but seeing as none of us have ever gotten ourselves checked (and most of them don’t believe in mental health problems anyway) I doubt I’ll ever find out what exactly’s wrong.

24. What is your mental and physical health like right now? They are both doing surprisingly well considering how long I’ve had to stay home and how much everything has turned upside down. I’ve only had two bad breakdown in four months and I’ve since recovered from that nasty fever I got, so I can’t complain.

25. If you found a suitcase (with no information about the owner) with a million dollars inside of it , would you turn it into the police or keep it? Be honest. ;] “>> See, a million dollars is an exorbitant sum. There is no way I could just casually make off with a missing million and not suffer repercussions. It's just too much goddamn money, and in this particular scenario, it's highly likely that it's a trap of some sort (whether set for me, or set for someone else and my dumb ass just happened to stumble across it). I'm not dumb enough to try it.

Neither would I necessarily want to turn it in, because that might cause me to get involved in something I didn't want or need to be involved in. The most logical course of action for me would be to leave it the fuck alone.” < Yeup.

26. Would you rather gaze at the stars or clouds? Stars. The fact that they’re so much farther away makes them more fascinating to me.

27. Are they any foods you used to enjoy but no longer like? Are there any foods you used to dislike but now enjoy? There’s a certain brand of frozen sisig that I used to looooove and would have multiple servings of every time I had it. But I had it one too many times and now I can’t even stand the smell of it. On the other hand, I hated chicken curry as a kid, but I can’t get enough of it now.

28. Do you feel much older or younger than you are? Why? Neither. I just feel 22.

29. Did you get along with kids that were older or younger than you? I mostly got along with kids of the same age. I found younger kids too rowdy and being around older kids always felt intimidating.

30. Do you know any magic tricks? Nopes.

31. How much would life suck for you if you had a wheat allergy? A lot.

32. Are you able to watch gory scenes in movies? Why or why not? For sure. I always want to see how far FX artists can go; and if used correctly, gory scenes can be super integral to the movie. Midsommar is a really good example.

33. Do you constantly check the time? Does time seem to move quickly or slowly for you? Not anymore. I used to check it a lot while I was still in school. Sigh, I miss that life so much. Anyway, time definitely felt slower during the first few weeks of the lockdown, but now that I’m used to it days just fly by. I can hardly believe we’re nearly in the middle of July. So much of this year has been wasted. It’s miserable.

34. Would you rather live in a nice house in a bad location, or a less-than-nice house in a great location? I’m taking the great location. I don’t know if I can last living in a shady area, no matter how beautiful my house is.

35. Have you ever been a witness to a horrible crime? What happened? Domestic violence is the worst thing I can think of. I enumerated one of them in one of the earlier questions, but I witnessed several other cases as a kid.

[edelvonhresvelg]

Hi so I really love the edits you've made and I was wondering if you have any tips for someone who wants to start making edits? I'm really interested in making some phone backgrounds and stuff and I was curious what software you use and how you did effects such as the gold Adrestian Eagle emblem. Thanks for any help you can give!

awww, thank you so much, anon! I’m glad you liked them. ♥

as for editing, I’m hoping I can offer some useful tips, since until a few years back I was also very new to editing with not a clue what I was doing!

firstly, the main software I use is FireAlpaca -- it’s free, which just makes it greater, especially when you only edit casually. it can be a bit hard to get your head around at first, but there’s plenty of help and FAQs out there for it, and I pretty much learned just by playing around with it.

another great editor is Pixlr -- I sometimes use this just to add on finishing effects like sharpening and such, but you can use this alone to make some basic edits. again, just play around with it and see what you come up with!

now, here’s a secret: the recent Adrestian/Edelgard edits I made? simply edited from this screenshot from the game:

pro-tip: always make things easier for yourself when you can. xD

when wanting to add characters to your edits, always look for transparent PNG images that you can just layer on top of your background -- there’s plenty out there. sometimes though you just have a really cool screenshot or something, and will need to erase (literally, use the wee eraser) the background yourself. can be annoying at first, but you get the hang of it!

many of my edits play around a lot with textures and layers -- but I won’t really go into that here, since you’re just starting out, and you don’t really need to use them to start making some basic and cool edits.

in summary: just play around with images you like on the different softwares/editors out there. explore the different tools. importantly -- you may finish an edit after a lot of work, only to look at it and think, “oh my god that’s crap” and move it to the trash -- and that’s ok! some things just don’t work out, and I’ve done that a LOT. just have another wee think and try again.

it’s like any sort of art, really -- it takes some practice, but you’ll get there! 

so...yeah, I hope that was actually helpful! haha. always doubt by ability to give advice and tips. ^^; but in any event, my inbox is always open if you (or anyone else reading!) have any more questions, and if anyone else out there can offer their own tips please feel free!