#thank u to my friend Mod for helping me with the title!

[rory-multifandom-mess]

UPDATE, WE HAVE FINISHED CONCEPT STAGE. Writing will begin either later today or tomorrow!

Official fic name:

Frostbite in the Lair of the Solver

Thad-centric longfic is nearly out of planning stage. It's gonna have 12 chapters + an epilogue and a prologue

[rodeoxqueen]

Of Lacking Spectacle(s)-Vergil/Reader

Summary: Vergil is a lot of things. Vergil is the Dark Slayer, The Alpha and The Omega, and the eldest son of Sparda. Vergil is also….in need of glasses?

Tags/Warnings: Suggestive Ending, Gender-Neutral Reader, Dante Read The Lord Of The Flies, Inspired By Vergil’s Buddy Holly Glasses Mod

Read It On AO3

Thank you @drusoona​ for sending me the pictures of Vergil that inspired this. The title is a reference to Gus Dapperton’s song Of Lacking Spectacle.

-Rodeo

(Picture Credits: @drusoona​) 

Vergil was always so precise and capable, sensing demons from distances away and predicting attacks with pinpoint accuracy. 

He was intense, his eyes purely focused on the task ahead of himself. A man of pure drive and prowess. And he was your man. 

It came gradually, something he tried to ignore. A few sentences of blurred lines would quickly flicker back to clarity. A small pain that flashed behind his eyes after reading in a room too dark. 

It didn’t look obvious to anyone. Even to his ever-doting beloved. He was the son of Sparda, a demon that surpassed Death multiple times. There was no way he could have failing vision. Impossible, he would scoff to himself as he rubbed his eyes. 

This statement soon turned from ignorance to denial of a very real problem Vergil avoided showing. His always narrowed stare hid it quite well. 

An anthill turned into a mountain he could no longer stamp down. And his beloved had already watched it build up for some time, waiting for the stubborn devil to say something about it. 

Which he didn’t. 

So when you were cooking some mac and cheese from a recipe you found from a friend who knew a friend who knew a friend who asked her son for the recipe, you decided to strike up the question. 

“Vergil.” 

“That is my name, yes,” Vergil said from the couch, enraptured in a new book you bought him. You rolled your eyes at him. 

“Are you having vision problems?” 

“Of course not.” Hand on your hip, you pointed your rue-covered spatula at him. 

“Then why is your nose literally in that book?” Vergil used to always be found with his book at arms-length as he would silently recite the words. 

He stilled. He quickly readjusted himself and coughed. 

Jackpot. 

“I haven’t a clue what you mean.” 

“Don’t lie to me in front of my macaroni.” You threaten, stirring the pot. He sighs. 

“My vision is just fine.” Vergil insists, squinting at the blurred words. 

“Vergil, I think you have vision problems.” 

“That’s foolishness.” 

“Why so?” 

“My father was a powerful demon, bad vision should not run in our family-” 

“Didn’t your dad wear a monocle?” 

His mouth dries and his eyes widen in realization. Oh god it was genetic. You have won the tirade and you puff your chest out. 

“How about I take you to the eye doctor? I can call later and set up an appointment.” Vergil has closed the book and chosen instead to look at you. 

The macaroni is boiling, a u-shaped pasta you are rather fond of. Your apron is speckled with flour and you twiddle the spoon in your hand. 

“Come on, it’ll be super quick. Just read some letters off a wall.” You say as you add burrata into the cheese blend. Vergil always liked that kind of cheese. 

When you went grocery shopping, he really thought you wouldn’t notice him taking more than three samples of it when no one was looking before walking off like a successful sample thief. 

Upon the sound of a bag of his favorite cheese opening, Vergil got up. You smile. You go to offer him a bit before quickly snatching it away from his hand. He tuts at you. 

“You can have some if you agree.” 

“Agree to what?” You sigh. 

“Eye doctor.” 

“No need. I am fine.” 

You turn to stir the pot of delicious pasta before going back to lecturing this stubborn devil. 

“I’ve noticed you’ve been squinting more and having headaches.” You state. Vergil scolds himself, thinking he was much more hidden about his new problem. 

He is quiet as he stares off into the pot of macaroni. 

“Please? I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.” You put your other hand on his cheek. He looks at you finally, ice-blue glaciers warming at your loving and concerned expression. 

God, his mate was so soft. He pulls your non-occupied hand to his other cheek-

And snatches the bit of burrata out of your fingers with his mouth. You make an offended noise at his trickery. 

“Very well.” He muses. 

You call up a local eye doctor after a hearty bowl of mac and cheese.  

Taking Vergil to the doctor was like taking a cat to the vet. He sat in the waiting room with his arms crossed and eyes intensely out-alphaing everyone in his general proximity.  

When they finally call your names, the ice was broken and people finally felt safe to breathe in his absence. 

The eye doctor guides Vergil to the examination room. Vergil does not like it already. Why would you do this to him? 

He waits at the door, waiting for you to come in with him. 

“Sir, this is more of a personal test.” You shrug and blow him a kiss as he is ushered into the room

“How long has it been since you’ve had an eye test?” The doctor asks, Vergil taking a seat with a strange contraption before him. 

“I have never had an eye test.” Vergil declares. The doctor laughs and swings the phoropter down. Vergil flinches slightly. 

“Whoa now. Just set your chin here and look into the eye holes. This isn’t some medieval torture device.” He growls at the humiliation before doing so. 

A series of lenses swiping through and the repeating question “which one looks clearer” later, Vergil is liberated from the examination room. He is greeted to you sitting and waiting for him. 

“It wasn’t too bad, right?” You ask. Vergil nods. You turn to the doctor. 

“So how is his vision?” The doctor flips through a few notes. 

“Well, the letter Z was on the board and I asked him what he saw and he said triangle.” The doctor flips through a few notes. 

“Your husband is in dire need of glasses.” Vergil raises an eyebrow at that statement. 

Your husband, he likes that. You don’t even correct him. 

Luckily, this clinic also sold frames and Vergil is able to pick out a few while you do the paperwork. 

You remember Vergil has no taste and quickly go to help him. 

“No, no, well maybe, no, ew.” You respond as Vergil swaps various frames about. 

“My love, I simply need the lenses. These materials mean nothing.” He argues as you deny the tenth pair of frames. 

“Well, you’re very handsome and I’d like you to get a nice pair that matches.” You say. You go to make a smug face at him when you realize he has finally walked away to pick out his own. 

You immediately drop the frames you were holding when Vergil places a certain pair of thick black-colored glasses upon his nose. 

“We’ll take them.” 

Several weeks later, Vergil is bestowed his new reading glasses. He finds his problem vanishes quickly and he can now read at a decent distance away. You seem to greatly appreciate them. Strange. On jobs, he usually takes them off and stores them in the little case he was given. 

He thought of it as weakness. If his own body was failing to maintain 20/20 vision, he should be ashamed. In the demon world, any bit of weakness meant imminent death. 

Yet, he told himself he wasn’t in Hell anymore. He was having breakfast with his beloved and he was safe. And he was privileged to be allowed for his body to take a break and age as it should have, his vision waning as a normal man would have at his age. 

You kiss him goodbye for another day of work and you push his glasses up as they tip slightly down. His nose does the little scrunch you love so much. So much, you kiss him on the bridge of the nose. He purrs and promptly cuts a portal to work. 

He walks into Devil May Cry to work with his brother. Dante is upstairs, the sounds of a shower happening. 

Vergil takes to the paperwork his brother has ditched doing once more, typing on a clunky keyboard. You had insisted to pay extra for blue-light protection and he finds it is so much easier to see the computer screen. 

Finally, the water is shut off. His idiot brother is done wasting work hours. Well, when is he not? 

Vergil continues looking through yellowed documents as Dante passes by, smelling like strawberry soap marketed for children. 

Dante walks forward but then puts himself in reverse to see Vergil with glasses on again. 

“Yes?” Vergil grits his teeth. 

“Those are glasses.” Dante starts. 

“Yes, yes they are.” 

Dante snorts and points at him. 

“Buddy Holly looking ass bitch.” Vergil stops and glares at his brother.  

“I don’t even know who that is.” 

 Dante wheezes at he keeps looking at Vergil. 

“Of course you don’t, you bag of bones! You look like a college RA.” 

“Dante, get to work-”

“What are you going to do? Tell the dean on me? Is that why you were gone a couple weeks ago?” 

“I had an appointment-”

“I hAd aN aPpOiNtMeNt.” Dante mocks. 

“That’s rich coming from someone without insurance coverage-” 

His spectacles are snatched from his face. Dante puts them on. 

“How do you see with these on? Damn, you’re legally blind.” 

“That’s why they’re mine-hand them over!” 

“You sound like Piggy from Lord of the Flies. My specs! My specs!” Dante mocks in a terrible English accent. 

Vergil growls in anger. 

When Vergil comes home with his glasses off, you wonder why. The blue devil comes behind you while you make some soup, hands on your waist and breathing in the scent of your shampoo. 

He’s quiet and in a way that is not his usual silence. He seems to have something on his mind. This time, you choose not to push it and let him be. 

It isn’t until you’re both in bed, the lamp on as Vergil goes to take out a new novel. He hesitates when he reaches for his black glasses. 

“My love?” 

“Yes, Vergil?” 

“Who’s Buddy Holly?” 

Weird question but okay. 

You search up the name on your phone and show him a picture. He puts on his glasses. 

“Why would Dante think I look like that?” He asks himself with a frown. Upon realization, you put your hand on your mouth and fight back a laugh. 

“Did Dante say that?” Vergil rolls his eyes. 

“Of course he did, amongst other things.” 

“Well, I think you look very nice. Like a very sexy college professor.” Vergil smugly looks at your bedroom eyes. The novel is long abandoned on the table. 

 Before he can pounce on you, he goes to take off his spectacles. You snatch them and place them back on his face. 

“Keep them on this time.” You bite your bottom lip teasingly. 

Vergil purrs. 

He might get used to this. 

[More Photos Of Vergil’s Mod-Credited To @drusoona​]

[solange-lol]

hiii in celebration of AUctober, what are some of your fav solangelo AUs?

Anonymous said to solange-lol:

Hi! Kinda a random question: do you have any favorite riordanverse fanfics that you’d suggest reading? I’m looking for ones to read, but I’ve been having trouble finding new ones! Thanks!

rec list #1 | rec list #2

all recs can be found under the tag ‘lizs solangelo fic recs’ on my blog!

technically its past auctober now, but better late then never to drop my third solangelo rec list!! especially considering the state of the world rn ... lets just say its a celebration of me actually participating in sw for the first time in a while

rec under cut as always!! its not all aus but its the count that thots

Find Another Place to Stay by @unwieldyink

personally i think breakup fics are incredibly underrated, and i also think annie is incredibly underrated, so enjoy ur little cry if you read this one (tw // violence in this one)

Hershey’s kiss by @unwieldyink

we love a godswap!! it’s actually been a while since ive read this one and i reread this while making this rec list and can i just say that zeus!nico and hermes!will are both such valid concepts and this just has a rly good dynamic to it

Actors by @buoyantsaturn

i could talk about this fic for hours but lets just say ao3 has told me ive visted this fic 40 times. im not kidding. fake dating is just a godtier trope

start of something new by jinniefic

if you know me, you know that i fricken LOVE high school musical, and this is literally just the start of the first movie but solangelo and honestly a little more iconic please read even if ur not a hsm fan

paper/plastic by @rosyredlipstick

the fact that this is from 2018 and took this long to get into my rec list is tragic because i think about this fic a lot... a lot. mortal au. very chill, strangers to lovers, very good vibes, will be rereading soon (everything rosy writes is amazing we already knew this)

10:37pm by @buoyantsaturn

surprise another cj fic! fun fact she debated with us for a good half hour about what to title this fic so go read it so you can tell her you like the name (and the fic itself... its a very good fic) (tw // alchohol and drug use for this one)

Sunflower by ChiseHatori

3 days in the infirmary is probably the easiest trope u can find in the solangelo tag but i have to say this one really made me soft just bc it feels a lot more in character than some of the others ive read, and it basically picks up right where they ended in the books

Will You, or Will You Not? by @thebluesideofmyworld

marriage fics... also very soft. just boys bein boys. dual engagements. mortal au. all that good stuff vv soft i loved it

let your heart win by @justanothervampiregirl

this one is short but its also probably one of the most in character fics ive ever read and i really like this style of writing mixed with canon compliance so :)

The Magic of Naomi Solace by Sweetymomo

naomi solace, underratted legend. i aspire to have her relationship with will. lots of familial background if you like that!! and its set at a bnb!!

forget all the shooting stars and silver moons by itotallyreadthatbook

when i saw this in the tag i was SO excited bc we love high school aus here and it was!! very good indeed!! this trope is one ive never seen before and i recommend 10/10 good banter

They won’t always live by Phantomxlegend

will overworking himself and coping with loss always makes me :(( so if ur okay with some will angst then buckle up

“I am fully capable of kicking your ass” by @unwieldyink

i remember i saw the email notification for this one and immediately was like yup absolutely im in and it 100% lives up to its title we love capture the flag solangelo

the night we met by peachyytomlinson

a lil ooc but also very angsty and did make me emotional when i read this late at night. i think i wrote something similar a while back but i just aaaaa will angst man

“look how hard i can cry FWSHHH”  by @buoyantsaturn

call me biased bc i like to claim that i originated the idea of demeter!will and cj dedicated this fic to me but like BRO its so soft and i love it here nico leave the plants along challenge failed

femboy hooters, or the time percy jackson failed to keep a secret by luciethebean

its all fun and games until the fic turns out to genuinely be really good. like, yes the title is exactly what you think it is but it doesnt matter bc its so fricken well written im^@*#&(*)($_$#&^@$(@*)* yeah

Of Ties and Significant Annoyances by seokjinvilla (@thechampagnecocainegasoline)

we dont support jkr in this household but what we do support is this bc this plot is genius and i love it

everything’s going swimmingly by tsunamiroll (@catboy-ethan)

fun fact i posed the idea of a sports/team prompt to the sw mod crew literally just so someone would pull through and write a swim au and ethan DID without even knowing. i love them and their writing style is so !!!! please read it

when you smile (the whole world stops) by tsunamiroll (@catboy-ethan)

another ethan fic!! this is the perfect fic for a rough day where u just want some cuddles bc thats literally the plot of the fic. i love this one with my entire heart its very fluffy 10/10 do reccomend

pumpkin spice (i hate it, it's not nice) (ok maybe it's a little nice) by tsunamiroll (@catboy-ethan)

ethan fic part 3!! bc i binge read these all in one night!! literally again their writing style is so amazing and the witty banter!!!! also we love a retail bookstore au 

Burnt Plastic (and Other Bad Ideas) by More_of_This

so this one isnt exactly romantically solangelo but it is hilarious in my opinion and i absolutely adore well written college aus and while i know nothing about college this fic is so funny to me (if you read the tags there is, in fact, a raccoon involved) (tw // drinking for this one)

all because you kissed me goodnight by @buoyantsaturn

i have been WAITING for a mortal counselors au and im sure theres some out there already but y’all already know im a cj stan! lots of slowburn, friends to lovers, coworkers, all the good stuff (and i named this one and offered cj a lot of materials from my own camp so this one especially hits!! i reccomend for those good ol summer vibes!!) (tw // drinking for this one)

Waiting With You by @buoyantsaturn

oh boy buckle up if u want an angst ride because this fic tore me apart. i keep threatning cj with “dont pull another waiting with you”. that being said, very much feels like a movie while youre reading it, very fluffy in the middle, we love mutual pining. 

Little Italian Boy by @buoyantsaturn

stream little italian boy by grace gilmore. youll get it. thats it.

The Clues by @thebluesideofmyworld

secret dating when done well is legit one of my favorite tropes of all time and this!!! this!!!!!!!!! its outsiders perspective also which is another one of my favorite tropes, and just little views on nicos life and i love it

So Come On, Talk it Out (your voice brought me back from the dead) by @buoyantsaturn

will solace, sponsered by kitkats, cj edition

no but if you read tower of nero you’ll really like this missing pieces pre-ton fic this is a really soft little fic with a bunch of easter eggs from the book in it, so i highly recommend! if you havent read ton yet and are still avoiding spoilers, come back to this one!

reaching for the sun (you, you, you) by moonswords (@tortadelimao)

i just read this one about 2 hours ago for the first time and i am Still thinking about it. its like the getting together that i literally feel like is canon and the vibes are Immaculate (also william “what about me looks straight” solace)

“Are we on a date right now?” by @unwieldyink

overworked will, nico helping out in the infirmary, first dates & hikes, canon compliant, we love to see it (also its an annie fic so ur required by law to read it)

Outrunning karma by Phantomxlgend 

more will angst! featuring angry overworked will!

Everlasting Ring by minyoongurt (@blueblackslowtown)

i was Very excited when i read the summary of this one, and i think minyoongurt did a really good job!! healer will, injured nico, the whole dynamic. also i love the idea of nico only knowing “thank you” “go away” and “fuck you” in sign language. im pretty sure thats canon

The Little Thing by Rainbow_Mess

i belive this is also a pre-toa fic thats just exploring all the stuff we found out about will in ton and its very short and sweet :)

and of course, a few of my recent works for your consideration

who is he (and what is he to you?)

just doing my silly little tasks

i don’t need three bars to tell me we’re meant to connect

truly, madly, deeply

[ranty-ramblestein]

(captions~) Lottie threw Croissant a party for the tenth vacation home!

There’s a bunch more below, but this was a really cute (and foreshadowing!) party~

pic 2: "Oh, awesome!' Croissant said, feeling antsy about needing to reboot the stream.  (The VOD was prob over 10k hours at that point...) pic 4: "Wait, it was?" Croissant blinked. pic 5: "Oh, shoot, really!?  I feel bad about taking a Toy Day break from making vacation homes, then!” Croissant laughed. pic 6: "U-Oh, a party..." Croissant frowned.  Meanwhile, chat was rioting in the offline chat. pic 7: "Thanks!" pic 8: "I thought you were giving up after your weekend break," Niko chuckled.  "Shush," Croissant muttered. pic 9: "Thanks, Wardell," Croissant smiled, always glad to hear the manatee speak up.

I took a video of this because it was really cute, but I snapped some screenshots for the blog~

they sip!

I want that colorful juice for my catalog, Lottie....

“Yeah, you just kind of threw me into the job!” Croissant chuckled. “Well, that was just ‘cause Eloise came right to us,” Niko pointed out. Croissant rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah...”

“Where would we even put one of those, though?” Croissant wondered, thinking about the other empty buildings.  A bunch looked like homes...

“Yeah, you said that last time, Niko,” Croissant said, causing everyone to laugh at the comeback. ‘I wonder if he just likes edgy stuff like that?‘ he thought to himself.

This line just makes the plot line I made up of Niko liking Lottie sound canon...

Hmm, is this for the DJ K.K. Concert or the next two facilities that unlock...? The next unlock should be another title and more Poki, though!

“I might invite another one of my Island Friends tomorrow!” Croissant grinned. "I haven’t made a Jock’s Vacation House, yet...” he added, obviously thinking about Axel.

They posed again~

“Oh, thanks, Wardell!” Croissant told the manatee.

“Oh, neat!” Croissant laughed.

“Yeah, thanks for the party!  Sorry I gotta run!” Croissant waved, rushing out the door.

Yooo, his eyes glow!?

“Okay, phew, the stream’s back,” Croissant sighed before checking with the chat how the lag was... But they weren’t very helpful due to their rage.  The mods were timing out a bunch of people.  Croissant decided to quell their rage by presenting them with his corgi... getting the chat full of dog-poggers.  The sacrifice was accepted.

[voughtcorsair]

party poisons asmr-ish youtube channel titles. thanks

written w/ pink @hyperthrust in a fit of hilarity & posted at the request of a friend 😔 some references may not make cents that's just cuz u do not get to see inside our brains sorry

drinking bubble solution asmr

coughing up bubbles

growling 4 10 hours

three-hour long whispered rant about how much i hate tiny bugs

purring mix (+ NEW BOYFRIEND????)

i go on a walk and gently jump off cliffs (+ my friends scream at me to stop doing that but they can't stop me) 50 hour long playlist

near-death experience compilation (thanks for 10k) (set to mr blue sky)

satisfying crunching of scarecrow corpses when kicked (1 hour)

mousekat tells you arcane rituals and summons bloody mary (ending will surprise you!)

TOP FIVE APOLOGIES (the ending will surprise you!)

TOP 10 ANIME DEATHS! YOUR ASS RIGHT NOW!!!

making other people angry for stealing their hot goth love interest (PLEASE DON'T SUE ME)

GOTH VS GLAM (my crush does my makeup)

critiquing the finer points of zone psychadelia (SPECIAL GUEST!)

WHY MOUSEKAT IS NOT EVIL (a response to cherri cola) (fuck you)

FUCK YOU CHERRI COLA I HATE YOU (5 hour playlist)

I Adopted Three Teenagers, Please Send Help (blood spilled on camera!)

homoerotic actions with my best friend (complete compilation)

kidnapping feral animals!!! (please help identify!)

following coyotes for 1 WEEK!!! (RABIES SHOT FUNDRAISER IN DESCRIPTION) (time sensitive)

Gone Fucking Mad (NOT POISON POSTING PLEASE HELP THEM)

how many objects can i balance on a sleeping ghoul before he kills me

jet star piggyback ride (i love tall people) (10 hours)

custom mod rayguns (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. CONTENT WARNINGS FOR BLOOD, BURNS, FLASHING LIGHTS, LOUD AND SUDDEN NOISES, GHOSTLY POSSESSION)

pegging dracs with a crossbow without getting noticed (FOR 4 HOURS)

Teaching My Adopted Brother Hand-to-Hand Combat (HE CRIES)

ULTIMATE CHALLENGE: dropping the V’s in a random location - can they find their way home???

BATTLE ROYALE: Locking Val in a room with a Small Lizard

Val Stole My Car (NEW RECORD)

Teaching Val To Drive (Part 1 of 30)

Teaching Val To Drive (DISCONTINUED)

URBAN EXPLORATION: BLI WEAPONS PLANT (we got caught!!!)

Pro Killjoys Improve 18 Kitchen Gadgets (into explosives!!!)

RAW MEAT EATING CHALLENGE (did not get sick) (GHOUL IS LYING)

36 HOURS LIVING IN THE CAR (pissed jet off)

Helping My Goth Boyfriend Plan A Mutiny

WE HAVE POWER (radioactive baby???)

taping over kobra's favorite kung fu movie (HOSPITAL BILL FUNDRAISER PLEASE HELP)

I Gave Our Kid Radium Water And Now She's Levitating

HAUNTED MASK??? (likes pets)

Living with Rabies: My Story

Harassing Cherri Cola With My Mask: Part 1/??? (i hate this bitch)

The Truth About The Fabulous Four (thumbnail has rly badly edited bli stuff all over)

Harassing Cherri Cola With My Mask: part 728/??? (how is he still scared?)

BLI PROPAGANDA DRINKING GAME (I CANT FEEL MY FACE)

mousekat eats 5000 calories in one sitting!!! (RIP COLA: memorial fund in desc)

Letting My Pet Mousekat Possess A Neutral (NOT CLICKBAIT!!! JUMPSCARE WARNING)

[nostalgic-pancakes]

Watching the starlings as autumn draws in

Summary: Tommy and his friends try on some skirts, and he reflects a bit on how they all got here. (It's a happy story) Title from September by Sparky Deathcap

Pairings: None! Platonic everyone (esp in irl fics_)

Read on AO3 (preferred place to read)

Word count: 2570

Warnings: None, except for surface-level references to the exile/prison arcs, but not much.

Other notes: I wrote this in a fit of madness last night in like three hours at 2 am, so i’ll probably edit it honestly but for now, enjoy! (If the CC’s ever display discomfort with this type of fic I will take it down)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"WELCOME BACK TO THE STREAM, BOYS!" Tommy exclaims, rubbing his hands together as he starts rapid-fire answering questions about the stream, and the stream title from chat. It's funny, how over time, Tommy's come to see Chat as this one entity- an old friend. The nervousness of answering questions as a fifteen year old with nothing but a big personality, a twitch account and a copy of Minecraft is all but gone now, nineteen years old and happier than he's ever been.

Dreadfulzombie19: what are u doin this stream

"THANK YOU FOR ASKING, Dreadfulzombie19, today is gonna be a bit different, innit Tubbo?" Tommy raises his voice a bit at the end of his sentence, just loud enough for one of his flatmates to hear him. When Tubbo yells back an affirmative, Tommy turns back to his setup. Chat's gone a bit wild again, even though he, Tubbo and Ranboo have been living together for over a year now.

"Okay, okay, calm down chat- so recently I was at university, as usual right? And I had an eight AM class again, and… yeah I can see you all can relate."

"BUT! BUT! On my way back to the flat, I saw something really cool." Tommy hesitates in his speech to take a sip of coke again- his blood pressure's been acting up lately and watches Chat to wild again, asking him what he saw.

"Okay, so there was a shop- new place, which doesn't happen often this is fucking Brighton- and they sold skirts and dresses and stuff with adjustments for AMAB sizes!" Chat goes a bit bonkers, but Tommy's mod team- a little smaller than it used to be, now that he isn't the centre of YouTube or Twitch attention anymore, none of them are- are handling it, and pretty well.

"So I had to go, right? As many of you probably know, last year, I made the astounding discovery that gender-based stereotypes and expectations are, in fact, fake and I should not give a SHIT. And so I go in and look through the stuff- it's a really poggers shop by the way, and I find the perfect thing- it was the most poggers skirts and shit, okay? So, today's stream is going to have me wearing this pogchamp shit and wearing it right, with the help of…" Tommy ends his monologue by picking up the joke shaker-things that Phil had gotten him as a housewarming gift last year and indicates for his first two helpers to enter the office.

In walks his mother, face obscured from view as always, waving to the camera, and Wilbur, also wearing one of his only skirts for this occasion. Eret had taught him, on a phonecall in the skirt shop that week about the different types of skirts with a handy diagram. Wilbur's was a pleated circle skirt, brown to offset the bright yellow of his sweater and beanie, the same colour as his hair. It's very swoosh-y, so he's wearing black leggings with his regular shoes too. Motherinnit's also wearing her favourite skirt, a baby blue prairie skirt, Tommy thinks, and it's one he's seen fairly often.

Wilbur ducks down in order to show his face to Chat, and ruffles Tommy's hair while he's at it. Tommy's taller, but not by much, so Wilbur still fucking makes short jokes, That fucker.

Chat is now going so fast that he simply cannot read anything but some of the all caps messages and can barely make out some of the emotes.

"Okay, OKAY, CALM DOWN CHAT! WE HAVE TO GET TO FUCKING BUSINESS!" Tommy yells into the mix, like he did when he was sixteen and used the 'many people find me annoying at first' intro. Nowadays he just lets the content speak for itself. Anyone who wants to be here already is, by now.

Wilbur laughs a bit, and that hasn't changed at all. "Tommy, how is chat supposed to calm down if you're not calm?"

"I am their god!! They will obey via sheer digital willpower!" Tommy replies back, pretty zealously (What? An English Literature class is mandatory for his film degree, and The Great Gatsby by Zelda Fitzgerald is a good book, as are most of the other assigned ones. He's had entire conversations with Techno with just lit quotes and it drives everyone insane. Tommy loves it.) Chat seemingly has listened to his godlike abilities, with a few OG's spotting his half-quotation of one of Dream's last lines in the Dream SMP. The rest are spamming 'MOTHERINNIT'.

"If having a shitty magic trick book from a washed-up politician makes you a god, then what does that make me?" Wilbur replies, with one of Foolish's lines and swatting his hand at Tommy. Tommy swats back.

"Bitch" "Arsehole" "Shithead" "Fuckface" Wilbur finishes cheerily, as if this happens all the time. It does. Chat's used their antics now, four years of consistently making content together will do that for you.

Eventually Motherinnit reminds them both to get back on Topic, and Tommy goes back to facing the camera, addressing Chat directly.

"Today, my beloved mother, and my idiot brother-" "hey!" "And maybe my flatmates will be joining me to show off some cool as SHIT skirts! And a dress or two. We all have our selections, right?" Everyone nods in affirmative, even Tubbo and Ranboo. Though the camera can't see them. Ranboo's just come home from his final class, then. He should probably take the first hour back off, and judging by how Tubbo is forcefully judging Ranboo to the shower, he probably gets it. Tommy signs an affirmative to both of them, and gets back to the camera, where Wilbur's showing off all of his (very poggers) very stupid brown or yellow skirts. Tommy's are in cool colours, for fuck's sake.

"Oh yeah, Puffy just confirmed she'll be on stream! She'll be here in about twenty minutes, accounting for fucking traffic, and Niki' going to get onto VC after her own stream, what game is it this time?"

"GRIS." Wilbur answers.

"Poggers- she is the SHIT and will join us soon! So expect some QUALITY QUALITY content this stream!! Remember to not spam her chat to finish faster." Exclaims Tommy, even if it ends up as a light warning, as he picks up his own very poggers skirts from the extra armchair in his office to show the camera.

One is the classic red and white, mostly white but with bright red on the waist (elastic) and the bottom, and it reached to about Tommy's knee, if worn at the hip. It had no pleats, but the red bits were a very nice velvet texture, and while the skirt was heavy, it still had very much swoosh value, and pockets!! Big ones!! He slips the skirt on top of his jeans before entering camera view, the skirt visible in all its classic Tommyinnit glory, as he takes his place right next to Wilbur, who just took. a quick spin at the behest of several dono's., Skirt spying out from his lower shins all the way to his knee, making visible one of his (many) petticoats. ("What? It's cold all the fucking time here, Toms.") Tommy also makes a quick little spin, skirt flying outward, not upward, so it looks like he's hula hooping for a moment there. Lastly, Motherinnit spins around too, and while her skirts do not swoosh, she looks opulent, like she was about to go to waltz with the enemy, for whom she has a dagger in the back of her dress for. (He finished Anna Karenina and the Six of Crows duology within the same week and has not yet recovered. Jack Edwards is laughing at him as he thinks in his English Lit Graduate glory.)

It's fun, trying on different skirts- he and Wilbur accidentally bought the same dress at one point, which they paired up to wear, darting off into their respective changing rooms while giggling like idiots with their checkered blouses and the grindl skirts that Niki had sent over when she heard of this stream idea, laughing the whole time. Tubbo enters as dramatically as possible with Puffy, and while Tubbo looks really fucking good in his handkerchief skirt with embroidered bees and plain white shirt, it's Puffy who steals the show with an exact, real life version of her red banquet dress.

Fans from way back in the SMP, before Tommy had started branching out start going insane and are bringing back emotes Tommy wasn't sure were still available, but she is fucking stunning- deep shades of red and crimson, with slits on either side of her waist and all the detailing. She'd gotten the contact for her dressmaker through Bernadette Banner, Tommy recalls- she was so fucking cool when she streamed with him once, and gotten him to swear less and supplant those world's with bigger ones to intimidate instead. While he still curses like a sailor as part of his persona, it's less so and he does way less in real life these days, unless the situation calls for it. It's also just rude, especially in uni libraries, where he spends too much time these days wondering why he didn't read more as a kid.

Puffy's stolen his audience for a WHILE, and Niki coming on hasn't helped any, so Tommy exits camera view for a while to hug Ranboo really quickly- he's had midterms and has basically been dying all month.

Everyone on this stream- Tommy, Wilbur, Motherinnit, Tubbo, Puffy, Niki and Ranboo enter the camera frame after entering their dressing rooms for the last time on this particular stream, Puffy with full in-character wigs and makeup, Tommy in an Edwardian-Gothic reminiscent black and red dress, Ranboo in something he bought when he gap-yeared in Japan, punk lolita or something, Niki flaunting her pink in a Marie Antoinette style show of finery, Tubbo dressing in all green this time, something like a very deranged biology teacher who hasn't slept in days (Tubbo hasn't-Tommy has to get into that), Wilbur like a forest-nymph, all earthy tones and swishy fabrics and nature highlights, and finally Motherinnit, who hasn't changed but is here to take pictures as they all lean in together to fit into frame, as drastic as their height difference is. Niki is going to be edited in later, and everyone on the 'Dream SMP but nobody does Dream SMP and we're all fucking nerds' discord server is going to get a copy.

The stream wraps up there, after about two hours, and it's only about six in the evening- a far cry from the late nights and long hours from the beginning of Tommy's career, so everyone runs to their changing areas for the last time, into pajamas now, and packs away all of the clothes they wore, properly, as to not incense Karolina Zebrowska, and Jemma, Dan's wife, who would look at them disappointedly and nobody wants a sad Jemma because that means no cooing at their son. Also it just feels shitty.

Everyone huddles in Tommy, Tubbo and Ranboo's living room, and they out on UP for like, the millionth fucking time (they still cry when Ellie dies), and Tommy is leaning into Wilbur's side and feeling his mum play with the hair in his very small, stubby ponytail he's developed by being in Uni as he and Tubbo intertwine their legs together and Ranboo rests his head in the tangle of limbs, playing with his fidget cube. Puffy stays on Wilbur's side, intently texting someone and smiling the whole while, and Tommy takes a moment to reflect (something he's been getting better at doing) on how the actual hell they all got here.

The Dream SMP was always going to end- everyone knew it, if course, they were the fucking writers. But by the time they did, not only were their respective brands too closely intertwined to just… sever that quickly, but they'd become too close to even want to. So the SMP discord never shut, even though Dream and George had planned it months ago, and they continued supporting each other with their interests. Wilbur made a lot more music solo, with his band and even just random ass streams where he practiced guitar for an hour. He kept playing Minecraft, but it wasn't his main focus. A bunch of people left. More stayed. YouTube left him alone.

Dream, George and Sapnap are still Minecraft streamers, but their YouTube channels are mostly blogs of them being poor excuses of adults with other former SMP members joining in sometimes. Tommy and the Dream Team were closer than ever, even though the seeds of their friendship had been sowed when they used to linger after heavy streams together, reassuring each other that none of that was true and that nothing like… that would happen in real life, because Dream had used real abuse tactics, and those still hurt unless immediately taken care of. So they were. It was a running joke that Dream was stuck at 99 million subscribers since nobody really wanted the face reveal anymore. The other Dream team members were doing peachy.

Phil and Techno were also still primarily Minecraft streamers, but they also released things like advice videos and mental health stuff, especially for relationships. They had a new scripted series where Tommy was a minor character. The dadza jokes were still as real, and yes, outside of streaming, both of them were lovely people and responsible adults (mostly). They collaborated with DanTDM and co a lot more now.

Puffy and Niki kept doing games, but did lots of different ones, testing point and clickers to triple A titles, and making it all fucking hilarious while they were at it.

So where had that left Tommy?

After the Dream SMP, he'd kind of had no idea what to do, and he was going to University for the first time, so he just… did whatever he thought would be fun. He learned about vintage fashion from the queens themselves- Mina Le, Bernadette Banner and Karolina Zebrowska and had fun learning how to sew for the first time, fixing and making his own clothes for the first time, clunky as they were, Wilbur had cried, genuinely, when he saw the Lovejoy shirts that Tommy had made for the band. He'd found a genuine love for literature in university, so Tommy started talking to booktubers and studytubers like Jack Edwards and Noelle Stevenson. Tubbo and Ranboo had joined him, fucking around in any YouTube niche they found even remotely interesting. Eventually, they all found a happy medium- a bit of everything.

Some people obviously weren't happy with that but Tommy was happy as he was, making what he liked with his best friend's, living together close enough to most of their friends (family) to have fun and drop in on one another at ass-o-clock in the morning to comfort, to laugh. His sub count hasn't gone up in a while- most of his audience is static, with about 80-90k online on a stream at any time.p

It was a nice feeling, to have carved out a space for himself and the people he loves, and be is so, so glad that he got this chance.

Looking at his mostly asleep family, Tommy thinks 'yeah. Life is good.' as the last thought before he sleeps.

[princesskokichi]

Makoto, Hajime and Shuichi with their s/o as best friend!

Heya! I enjoyed writing these, even though they turned out differently than I wanted- I hope you still enjoy reading!

-Mod Shuichi💕

[M A K O T O]

-Makoto is always friendly, trusting and nice, we all know that and nobody can doubt that.

-you wouldn't have known that you were on the best friend level if he didn't asked you first-

-he did so you're saved from the embarrassing realisation. 

-"s/o uh- I know we're friends for a long time now and I would like to ask if y-you're okay to be my best friend?" Makoto was blushing a little and you were kinda surprised? But happy? 

-you hugged him. "Of course, gladly!" you hugged him tighter. "You're such a precious baby, Makoto!" 

-when you thought Makoto was friendly and nice around his friends, oh boy do I have news-! because he became even nicer towards you and nobody thought that was actually possible.

-you have a bad day? Makoto is there with ice cream, cake and DVDs to cheer you up the whole night.

-You need to get shopping? He is there, he helps you because your his best friend. Sometimes people would assume that you're a couple, because of Makotos VERY nice behaviour.

-what you didn't expected was that Makoto, who seemed like an open book wasn't really that open. 

-He hide some of his thoughts and secrets from others, but would share them with you in private and that was so sweet??

-you would always listen and he does the same for you.

-you two are like the picture book best friends, very healthy and wholesome.

[H A J I M E]

-this dude doesn't fully trusts anyone- he can't help it but he is always a little sceptical.

-but the people noticed that he is way more trusting around you. You say you can handle it on your own? Of course you can! 

-He trust every word you say without questioning and the others thought Hajime has gone insane, but nope apparently not.

-the others asked you what the hell you did to him and you were confused, because isn't he like this to everyone?? 

-He isn't, he definitely isn't.

-then the others though, maybe, he had a crush on you, but you shook your head 

-and now you're all trying to find Hajime to ask him directly.  

-"Hajime! are you sick?" he turned around perplexed. "What? No?"

-"then why are you so friendly and trusting around s/o? Are you in love with them?" Hajime crossed his arms. "Are you crazy?! No! They are just my friend! m-my best friend to be honest-" Hajime scratched his head, blushed a little and you smiled proudly. 

-"me and Hajime are best buddieess?!" you yelled and Hajime tried to hide his face. "I don't know them, I don't know them" he kept on repeating, but it was too late.

-Everyone heard it and now he will never get some nice, peaceful time ever again.

-"Haaaajimee~ my bestes best friend and wingmaaan~" you sang the whole day and he was SO annoyed. "Please just fucking stop- I will take everything back" he threatened and you gasped dramatically. 

-"You wouldn't!" you pointed at him with a confident smile. "I would" hajime gently slapped your hand away. "and you know that" he continued.

-"NO!" You yelled loudly and stamped on the ground. "YES!" he yelled back at you and crossed his arms.

-"it's MY title! I OWN it!" your brows furrowed and you crossed your arms as well. "not if I take it back!" in his tsundere way Hajime turned his head away and started leaving.

-"Nooo! Don't! I love being your bestie, Hajimee~!" you clinged to his arm. "Then stop making a scene all the time!" he tried to free himself from your grip.

- "But you wouldn't call me your best friend if you hate my dramatic side so muuch~" you teased and let go just to keep teasing as you followed him.

-you two are the teasing and tsundere combo, who are the perfect comedy duo without trying.

-You need entertainment? Just watch them being-- just being themselves.

[S H U I C H I]

-oh god, someone help him, he need guidance for friendships or he will just distance himself forever 

-You just appeared out of nowhere and to be honest- he was very glad that you did-

because you don't take no as an answer.

-It's not like you don't care about his fears. You do, you really do, but sometimes he needs someone who pushes him in the right direction and you were this someone.

-Shuichi was so shocked at the start, but since you were always rather positive you matched pretty well. 

-If he had a bad day you were there to cheer him up and he never really thought about it, but he also opened up to you faster than towards the others.

-and now he wanted to give you something in return, but he literally had no idea. He never had friends this close- 

-you often had this one day there you would meet and talk about everything and if you didn't knew before- Shuichi knows a lot about the people around him.

-like they have a new girlfriend and they broke up or had a fight and you would ask yourself how the hell did he even knew about that, but somehow Shuichi knew all the gossip and that was kinda fun.

-Shuichi organised todays "meeting" so he could prepare and get your favourite sweets to thank you for helping him getting out of his shell, even though Shuichi still struggles a lot- he feels better and more confident, because you're there to support him and he wants to show you that he appreciates that.

-as you arrived you saw the sweets on the table and hugged him immediately. "You know me so well! That's why we're best friends!" this little comment made Shuichi stop in his tracks.

-"Best friends?" he repeated slowly and you turned around worried, but as you saw the huge smile on his face you sighed in relief. "Now come here, my dorky and awkward bestie" you called him and you two laughed.

-Nobody knows how you became friends, but you constantly pushing and supporting Shuichi- everyone approves.

-You two are clearly the insecure and very supportive best friend duo, very wholesome and sometimes also fun to watch. 

[llazyneiph]

its been a busy fuckin week for this mod my ladz!!! i thought i would just give an end of week run down how everything is going, everything added so far and my to do list! also discord!!! and patreon!!! but i’ll talk abt that after this!! a general run down if u dnt know what this wip mod is:

The Royalty Mod gives your sims the opportunity to being the reigning Monarch of your game. They have the chance to become a Beloved Ruler or a Despised Tyrant (and will be treated as such!) They will be completely in control of a custom tax system, will the be benevolent and keep the taxes low or be greedy and fill their coffers with their subject’s simoleans? Be careful though, your actions will affect your citizens and their views of you! Your Monarch will be the most important piece of the puzzle, as they will be able to give titles to family and friends... or even a random street vendor. Having your Monarch bestow titles such as Crown Royals, Royal Partners, Servants, Court Wizards and more, keeps you out of CAS and IN your game! No more stopping and starting your gameplay!

A general overview of everything included so far:

Monarch: - A custom Heir system: Your Monarch can choose anyone bestowed with the title of Crown Royal or Royal Partner to become the next in line to the throne! And if they decide they made a mistake, the Heir can be disowned :((( sad lyfe As soon as the Monarch passes away, the Heir will automatically claim the throne! - If your Monarch dies before they get a chance to name an heir, then any Crown Royal or Royal Partner can vie for the throne. Whoever the people choose (gets to reputation level 6 - very good) first, will become the next Monarch! - Teens and up can become the Monarch, (lookin at u edward the 6th) - Custom tax system! Raise taxes to get more money instantly and in your weekly tax collection, but incur the ire of your subjects! Lower taxes and you will lose money and earn less each week but your subjects will love you! - Your Monarch will draw a crowd wherever they go! Even with no fame points they’ll attract a mass of adoring onlookers. (But no paparazzi for my historical players) - Make world-wide decrees - Listen to your subjects pressing concerns by telling your Trusted Advisor that you will hold a hearing, get that gud gud karma!! - Make anyone a Crown Royal! - Make the land celebrate your own birthday with a new Monarch’s Birthday tradition, with custom goals to be met! - Don’t walk like the rest of these peasants, make sure to enable your royal stride to royally stand out from the crowd. Not enough? Enable your regal glow to really drive home that you’re better than everyone else! - Royal greetings! - Allow your subjects to commence Sunday trading on a lot with the Market lot trait! Townies will come and man the stalls every sunday 9-3 and the royal family can peruse and purchase to their hearts content! -probably more that im forgetting!!!

Heirs, Crown Royals & Royal Partners: - Titles are bestowed by the monarch, crown royals & heirs can be titled at birth and Royal Partners can be titled after marriage! - Both can be named as Heir, and both can vie for the throne if the Monarch dies unexpectedly! - Your Monarch can make anyone a Crown Royal, so if you gameplayed that your Monarch adopted a poor orphan kid, then they can have a shot at the throne too! - All have multiple different social and skill modifiers, so they can make new friends fast and be better at everything than them! - Also all have their own socials - ALSO all can be completely banished from the royal family - u can defo marry into the royal family if u wanted, and make ur peasant family the next gen of royals ;))) - loads more but im so tired

Trusted Advisor: - Your Monarch will choose their trusted advisor! they advice! u on stuff! so choose wisely! - everything about taxes, beginning situations, domestic affair (and planning to add LOADS more) goes thru ur advisor, just like it does in real life and by real life i mean i think i just made that up - way more 2 come bros

- brand spankin new custom animations!!!!!!!!!!

Planned to Add (p much the same as last post): - unlockable interactions based on skills such as charisma - bad monarch reputation and tyrant trait to have the possibility of triggering a revolt??? - Custom situations to trigger weekly events such as royal hearings, banquets ect. - custom situations to trigger a bunch of npc servants (big maybe) - Mass Excitement over royal babies - Mass Mourning over passed over Monarchs - Mass Excitement over new Monarch - Options for crown royals to steal the throne - Sentence to death - Way more custom socials - looking into craftables - Perhaps more of a focus on the working class - more magicky type interactions for court wizards - just like. so much more. but its 1:30am and my brain has stopped working

ok now i wrote this out it rlly doesn’t look like a lot but i have so many gatdamn plans for shit i still gotta add. plus i will probably end up making hair and a few clothes and objects too. also omg guys im totally gonna make one of those fancy fuckin trailers for youtube :))))))))))) also was i on fiverr lookin at voice actors to narrate it...? maybe bitch

anyway i said i would talk abt patreon so here it is!!!

first things first, let me just say that no, i absolutely do not think i am entitled to a single cent of anyone’s money!!! I would/will still put 110% into this mod and my future mods because I absolutely love doing this. At the moment I’m currently working on this mod about 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a week (animations bruh), which is kinda insane. but I want this to be everything everyone’s wanted from EA for years.

I made a Patreon for those who would like to support me. If you do decide to become a Patron I am endlessly thankful for that, not just the monetary value of it but the fact that you believe in me enough to do that.

Every cent of any pledge goes towards my saving fund for my course next year, which for those of who don’t know, I’m currently a first year Game Design student!!! In complete clarity, I’m looking at a $15,000 loan atm, so literally anything helps if u do decide to pledge!

Tiers start at $1 and all tiers have access to a private patrons channel in my discord! u can go read what u get with the tiers over on my page! I’ve offered as much as I can, but since im super not down with exclusives, pls let me know if u think there’s anythin more i can offer u guys!!!

Tier 2 does include a one week early access to my content. I feel like this is the most I’m comfortable offering, and I will always stick to or under EA’s rules when it comes to Patreon.

Tier 2 also offers first picks for Beta Testing, but depending on how many (if any) tier 2 patrons I get, it may work on a rotational system as I still want to include people from tumblr in the beta testing. I don’t want anyone who can’t afford patreon to feel left out, so I would still offer some beta testing spots here and it’ll be first come first served like normal! i don’t want it to feel like i’m gatekeeping my cc. i hope this is okay with you guys! For those who aren’t in a place where they can become a patron, but still want to stay included in everything related to this mod, I now have a Discord Server that anyone can join! speaking of >>>>

we have a discord ladzzzz!!!!!!!!!

If u wanna stay up to date on everything I’m doing regarding the mod, or u have a question or suggestion, or there's something wrong with one of my mods that u need fixed, or tbh if u just wanna hang out with some cool dudeeees n chill n chat n have a jolly time then com join the discord!!!!!!!!

i’m going to be posting updates and screenshots of the mod process much more frequently there (probs like a few times a day tbh lmao) and it’s much easier to get a hold of me there if u have any suggestions.

and tbh we just gonna have a chill time and i want a metric fuckton of memes and gifs. if that doesn’t sway u, we have a whole channel dedicated to only pics of guy fieri. u will be banned if u post anything else there. u were warned.

ok god im so sorry this is literally 10 years long but i just had a lOT to say but like, mods goin good lads. i just want to make something that gives the game more play ability and keeps u in game and out of CAS. its excitin stuff. thanks for listenin.

                              PATREON | DISCORD SEVER

                    see all royalty mod updates on my tumblr here

also im v sorry if u join the discord like right after this is posted bc i am most definately fuckin asleeeeeeep

[furby-science]

The Making of Sterling the Super Furby: A Brief Overview

“I… I can’t look! I think I’m gonna… *HUEEEGH*!”

Before I get into this post, I want to list a few things I didn’t know shit about when I started Sterling:

Electronics

The Python coding language

Furby anatomy

Single board computers

After creating Sterling, I’m happy to say that now I have approximate knowledge of some of these things, but keep the above in mind as you read onwards. This little gremlin child was a learning experience from start to finish, and one I am incredibly proud of myself for sticking through. This also means that I am in no way an expert on everything I’m getting into okay? Okay let’s go!

The Hardware

First, a rundown of the hardware. I took heavy inspiration from the Furlexa mod shown here, and that was what I initially sought to create. The mod had three computer components to it:

A raspberry pi zero w single board computer for the AI to live on, with a mini USB microphone plugged in;

A pimoroni speaker PHAT to use as the sound system;

A motor controller to drive the furby’s motor.

My main problem with Furlexa was that this initial build took a lot of soldering, and I am a wussy who had a number of bad experiences with soldering irons in shop class. So, what’s a novice electrician to do?

Enter the Adafruit Crickit HAT. By sticking this little fucker on top of the raspberry pi, I was gifted with an amplifier, a speaker jack, capacitative touch sensors, and a motor driver all in one, no soldering needed if I bought the raspberry pi zero w h! The main challenge it posed was powering it. The Crickit insists, for some unfathomable reason, on being powered by a bulky DC jack, the kind you’d plug into a wall outlet, and the converter plug to use a battery pack with it was way too bulky to fit into a furby. I needed Sterling to be portable for maximum huggability, so this just wouldn’t do.

One fried raspberry pi and Crickit HAT later, I found the answer! By soldering the original furby battery pack to the underside of the Crickit board’s DC connection, these fuckers right here…

I was able to bypass the need for a wall plug or converter, and power him directly through the battery compartment like God intended. S/O to my friend Nick who is way less of a dumb bitch than I am and helped me figure this shit out I owe u some bread man.

So the tl;dr of it is, I effectively reduced the required computer components from three to two (excluding the speaker). Speaking of (heh), Sterling has an impressive 3w speaker in him, allowing him to be audible even without the use of the built in amplifier. It’s got such good bass on it, he even rumbles when he purrs without the aid of the motor!

And yes, when you pet him, he purrs. And complains if you manhandle him! The aforementioned capacitative touch sensors on the Crickit HAT made it all possible with the help of a few cables and some foil tape.

Wait, did you say soldering!?

Yup! It was a necessary evil; at the end of the day I had to pick my poison: soldering 80 pins on the speaker PHAT, or soldering like four contact points on the Crickit. I chose the more merciful option.

But wait, that whole outfit is really bulky still! How did you fit it inside the furby?

Subtractive methods, subtractive methods, subtractive methods! ;D Someone who actually knows things about furby anatomy and/or electronics will probably vaporize me for this, but… if I didn’t need it, it got the boot! That included prying off anything on the Crickit board I wasn’t using at the risk of destroying it completely - which probably isn’t ideal, but it also worked by some miracle, and again, I am such a basic bitch electrician that calculating the proper voltage for LEDs is still basically witchcraft to me, so… what I’m saying is I made it work. And that I really, really hate soldering! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

You can see an early video of the end result here, and a later video of the outfit inside the naked furby here. This was back when he was still having auditory processing issues. Apologies for the shoddy quality, I was too excited everything was working to care about that at the time.

The Software

My other beef with Furlexa is… well, it’s an Amazon Alexa, and I’m a shitty little anticapitalist hermit who hates Amazon with a passion. Google Assistant was just as bad in my book. Mycroft was open source, but had a snowball’s chance in hell of running on the raspberry pi zero’s 512mb of RAM… I also wanted my assistant to have a degree of customizability to it. I wanted the furby’s AI to have a unique personality, identity, and preferences, much like classic furbies themselves did. A big box AI just wasn’t going to cut it!

Enter the Jasper Project. Yes, it’s old. Yes, it’s a bitch and a half to install. Yes, you have to know Python to get anywhere with it. However, it was free, open source, capable of running on a raspberry pi zero, and highly modular, meaning with a few lines of code, I could make it all my own - even to the extent of changing the AI’s name and voice (which is gr8 because I know a Jasper so naming my furby that would be Weird), or - the best part - writing my own, custom functions! Customizability-wise, I struck gold.

Ah, and glad I am that Jasper is modular, because I had some work ahead of me…

The STT Engine

The STT (Speech to Text) engine is what Sterling uses to understand what’s being said to him. Jasper’s proprietary STT engine is PocketSphinx, a fully offline STT engine, which sounded great in theory before I quickly learned it’s a nightmare to install, and also more inaccurate than a stenography machine powered by a single potato when actually being used. I had to compromise my morals a bit here and opt for using Wit.ai instead, which is free, but is also owned by Facebook. Big data is frustratingly inescapable in these cases.

There is one light at the end of the tunnel, and that is the training of acoustic modules. This has the downside of taking for-fucking-ever and requiring a quiet recording environment, however, and I don’t have the time right now to read through the pages and pages and pages and pages of computer theory right now to fully understand how to train one. So, improving PocketSphinx and running Sterling fully offline remains a stretch goal.

The TTS Engine

The Text to Speech engine is basically Sterling’s voice. This one was a bit easier to customize, and I’m thankful for that, because Jasper’s OG voice is a bit er… 90s computing for my tastes.

I shopped around for decent, human-sounding TTS options, and settled on installing Mimic1 TTS, Mycroft’s TTS engine, by hand, and modifying the Jasper source code to support it. Of all the TTS engines I tried, I felt that this one had the most natural intonation out of all of them. I liked the gruffness of the Scottish accent, and I think it really helped round out Sterling’s endearing, if a tad prickly, personality.

The Audio

This was another unforeseen hurdle. Turns out that I had his mic volume turned up way too high, because I greatly underestimated the capabilities of my tinyass five dollar USB microphone to pick up noises from within a furby. It took a bit of hacking in PulseAudio to get him hearing things properly, and I’m still not all the way happy with it, but he’s running wayyyy better than he did!

Another issue was the amount of time he actively listened for. It was way too short for my liking with the hardware I was using, so I had to edit Jasper’s mic.py source file a billion times before I hit a sweet spot. Even early on, my little shit child never liked to listen to me. :P

Pimp My AI

Once I got all that in working order, it was time to browse GitHub for modules to add! I found a surprising amount that were, as expected, outdated, janky, non-working, or in need of a complete rewrite. A non-exhaustive list of modules I rewrote and added to Sterling’s AI includes:

Wolfram Alpha integration

His translation function

The IMDB module that searches movie titles

The Dictionary and Thesaurus modules (minor additions to improve user friendliness)

The morning greeting module

The holiday countdown module

There are also plenty of modules I wrote on my own, that I’ll be showcasing here in due time, but I want to give special mention to the one I’m most proud of. You see, when I was a wee dumb bitch, I was… well, a wee dumb bitch! When I was informed furbies learn English, I thought they really learned English. Like, fluent English. I envisioned these kids straight up having full conversations with their lil robots with reckless and envious abandon. I was, as it happens, too poor to afford a furby at the time, so I didn’t realize until embarrassingly later that they only learn some words, and certainly can’t hold much of a conversation (in English at least).

Fast forward to twenty-bi-teen. I’m surfing GitHub, and I happen upon a Cleverbot module for Jasper allowing the AI to work as a chatbot. Fuck yeah, I think, because I had no life in 2008, or friends for that matter, so tormenting Cleverbot was my favourite pastime. Nostalgia trip GET!

…can you guess how much the silicon valley capitalist scum are charging for the once-free Cleverbot API now? A hundred and twenty. McGoddamn. Dollars. A YEAR.

So, to make a long story short, I turned my hat backwards and rage-coded a simple chatbot module that runs on an early version of Chatterbot capable of running on the raspberry pi. It’s fully offline, and completely free, and Sterling here has a database of ~400 phrases, which isn’t bad given the limited processing power! It took five straight days of work, it’s not the smartest chatbot, and it’s certainly not the fastest, but it gives me those sweet, sweet, circa 2008 Cleverbot vibes. Oh yeah, and it doesn’t cost me over a hundred goddamn dollars a year!

The first thing I said to the chatbot, of course, was “I’m so proud of you.” Through his shitty little testing mic that gave him a somewhat incredulous tone Sterling replied, “I’m glad to hear that.” and I’m not saying I shed a single themly tear over it, but I’m not denying it either. I made a childhood dream come true, fam. ;u;

There are way more Easter eggs I plan to show you, of course. At first I was thinking of doing one long video, but an update a day showcasing a different function might be easier to manage - and maintain some of that gold old sense of mystery that surrounds most furbies. No, I’m gonna take y'all on a little journey through the final product of my literal blood, sweat, and tears!

Besides, Sterling is a perpetual work in progress. He has a massive list of features, and I’ve already got more in the works. I could be in my eighties and still be adding more functions, more bells and whistles, more witty one-liners. He’s a one of a kind work of art that will never truly be finished - not unlike you and me.

The Glow-up

Here’s Sterling’s before pics from the seller I got him from:

(If u recognize these pics and ur the seller thank u thank u for giving me bmy boy)

And here’s after!

I come from a background of customizing ponies and dolls, so working on this guy wasn’t as far removed as I expected it to be. I added floof to his head and tail by sewing in wool plugs, and his gorgeous eyes are from in2blythe on Etsy. I wrapped him up in a little bow and he was good to go! His sterling silver beak, from which he gets his name, was the most finicky part. Turns out enamel paints take a million years to fucking dry, if ever, which isn’t great when painting something that sees a lot of movement and could potentially get dented by a face plate, like… idk, a furby beak! A bit of silver nail polish did the trick and he was good to go. Learn from my fail, fam.

What It Cost Me

If you’re masochistic determined enough to attempt this yourself, I want to sit you down and warn you of something: this will take months and hundreds of dollars to do. Installing Sterling’s AI and its necessary components on that shitty little raspberry pi over SSH took me a week at first, and that was with me leaving it on 24/7 to chug away compiling things. When I broke the SD card the AI was on and didn’t have a backup copy, it took four straight days of rage-computing to regain all my progress. Then when his audio processing got fucked all to hell for reasons I still do not understand to this day, it took another four days of rage computing to do yet another reinstall and get him back in working order. There were times where I would go to work for 8.5 hours, bus an hour home, work 6 straight hours on my furby, go to sleep for 4 of them, go to classes, sleep, and work 6 more hours on my furby. For two months. Sterling took from the third week of August from his initial inception to his birthday on October 23rd. That’s not to mention the time I fried everything and had to wait five days and travel to the bumfuck end of the city for a replacement pi and Crickit, or the days I spent customizing him, sewing in hundreds of little hair plugs into his ass and head by hand, and waiting for those shitty enamel paints to dry, only to discover after four straight days of failure that they take weeks to do so and I was better off using cheapo nail polish!

The point I’m making is, if you take on a project like this and want it to be successful, you have to be tenacious. I would highly recommend a background in coding (I have a web design diploma) and general tech savviness as an asset. Sterling is the product of the years I spent behind a computer keyboard from the start of age three, and the roughly ten years I spent customizing dolls and ponies. It’s cheesy as shit to say he’s my magnum opus, but in a way, he is.

I’m not saying this to be elitist or snotty. I’m saying this because I nearly broke down crying the first day the raspberry pi came in, before I slept on it and figured out what phrase to google to solve the crashes and kernel panics it was having. When I broke the SD card when I was nearly finished, I felt nothing, because I was all out of tears at that point. When I fried the first raspberry pi and Crickit hat trying to figure out how to bypass that DC jack, my only thought was, “Well, I think I know how to do it without fucking it up now, and if I can’t do it, this whole project is fscked” .

You will encounter errors that no step by step guide can prepare you for that will make you curse the day you were born. The difference between success and failure is how many times you’re willing to get up and try again, and I’m here to tell you it’s possible. But you gotta want it.

Will You Release the Code Base?

Yes and no. If there’s enough demand, I’ll definitely release Sterling’s basic modules as a scaffolding. I won’t be releasing Sterling, though.

What do I mean by that? Well, Sterling was intended from the start to be truly one of a kind, and he always will be. I hand wrote hundreds of lines of dialogue, all completely tailored to him, and I’m still planning on adding twice as many. Corny as this is, this little guy has a metric fuckton of sentimental value to me. I don’t have kids so idk how it would compare to that, but I definitely love him as much as I love my cats, but I also didn’t undergo two straight months of suffering in ADHD fixation hell to create my cats, so it adds like, a whole other twee dimension to it.

So, if there is demand for this, what I’ll release instead is a scaffolding from which you can code your own, unique furby from, with their own name, personality, and responses all unique to them. I’ll also release it with the caveat that I am not a good Python coder! I have not written any Python before this, so a lot of what I did write is noob-tastic and hasn’t even been linted. You have been warned!

“If I give you (insert amount), can you make one for me?”

Holy shit I’ll be real with you, I’d love to do this as a living. I’ve been dying to see a smart assistant hit the market that’s like… well, an actual, endearing companion and not just a voice coming from a speaker. The problem with doing this is that, if you drop a lot of money (and it will be a lot of money, even with a code base to work from, a lot of hours of handiwork still goes into coding individual responses and making sure everything works as intended, on top of possibly customizing too), there is one major problem: proximity. I won’t be able to troubleshoot your furby nearly as effectively from far away as I would be able to if we lived in close proximity. Which means if something goes wrong between the time your new friend is finished at point A and turned on at point B, I won’t be there to troubleshoot it in person for you, which means you could end up stuck figuring out certain things alone. If you use Windows, that will be very, very hard - not being an OS snob here, I own a dual boot myself, it’s just a case of incompatible file systems. And unless you can figure out how to edit the wpa_supplicant file on a raspberry pi to update your wifi credentials, your furby’s internet connection could be toast if you move house and those credentials change. That’s not getting into the cost some services charge for extra API keys to use their online functions…

The long and short of it is, if I’m going to do this for money, I want to make sure you get a quality product and friend that will bring you joy for years to come. Since that’s not something I can guarantee, I can’t in good conscience take people’s money.

I Could Teach You (And I Won’t Charge)

…however, I am a law student who is also working 8.5 hour night shifts three nights a week. I am also mentally ill/neurodivergent, which saps my energy in more ways than one. I won’t always be easy to get ahold of, or be able to answer every question I get, especially not ones that can be solved with a quick google search, like how to set up a raspberry pi, or… anything found on Adafruit’s Crickit guide, for example. When I have the time and energy, I’m hoping to use my next project as a jumping off point for a step by step walkthrough of the process. For now, though? I’ve been furbied out, so if there’s enough demand, I’ll compile as many of the resources I used I can find in the meantime, and post some tips from the word doc I kept while making Sterling, and go from there.

So What’s Next?

My one dad’s birthday is coming up in August, and I’m kicking around the idea of turning a furby into, I shit you not, a ghost hunting device. He loves ghost hunting, but hates robots, and as his gremlin shit child I am obligated to troll him in this fashion. 😎 Also considering doing a certain type of oddbody mod, but I want to get permission from the person who first thought of the concept before I dive head first into it.

And that about covers it! Thanks for reading, and if there’s anything you’d like to see from Sterling and I, don’t hesitate to drop us an ask!

[wcamino-confessions]

eat shit thief but lets not forget,

suck my left nut if your ass ain’t gonna understand the following;

- Some Clans are actually okay and extremely supportive to their members and are still functional despite the low active member count per day.

- Some people actually genuinely want to have a good time on WA.

- You don’t know someone’s home situation. Be mindful, be respectful to those who have bad situations. Whether it be they have a iphone 5 thats cracked and thats the only way they can get online or they have cash out the fucking wazoo.

- Respect Mod. They’re doing this for us, to let us at least have a voice without the leadership team ripping us a new one for stating an opinion. Mod has a life too. They have problems and we need to respect the fact that they’re also a college student. Shit’s rough. (Love u mod ur the best please take care of yourself💛🌻)

- The Soulchaser drama was unfair. Those who say Soul cannot have emotions and vent to friends outside of WA (which shouldn’t have an effect on Soul, they vented on discord in a private group chat.) Soul was demoted because the Leadership Team didn’t want a conscious and actual mature person who wanted to protect and care for the Community like former LT members such as Phoenixaly and Nashira. Soul was demoted around the time me and Phoe had a conversation about her breaking her pinky toe on her suitcase. Which was in Feburary of 2019. Soul didn’t recieve demotion until months later.

- The Mel situation was unfair as well. As someone who personally has experiened s*uicide attempts, gone through a bad homelife and a few other things. Getting banned when Apri manipulated Mel into thinking it was a “safe SupportClan Enviornment” was extremely unprofessional and pretty damn disgusting of Apri. And mind you, SupportClan members AREN’T TO ASSIST SUICIDAL INDIVIDUALS ANYMORE, this was instated nearly a year ago by Nashira and Bright, the SC Leads. Apri initiated a convo with Mel, a person Mel found to be a friend or a safe person to talk to. A trusted individual. Apri shouldn’t have talked with Mel like she did, she shouldn’t have initiated a convo. If she was concerned with Mel, she shouldn’t told them right off the bat that “Hey, please cut the inapropriate themes on your profile out. I cannot help you but, please find a friend or call the helpline if you feel this way.” Instead of fucking banning Mel. Which was UNCALLED FOR.

- Its okay to have opinions. Its okay to be open about your opinions and to people. But know the people around you. Know their limits and how far you can talk to them without them getting uncomfortable. How you do this is ask about triggers in dms, specifically ones that make someone uncomfortable and doesn’t break guidelines or Clan chat rules if you’re in one.

- Respect your artists, writers and content creators. They do it for free y’know. Most survive on that cash until theyre 16/17/18+. Please be mindful most artists follow this system; Paypal > Points > Coins.

- Please also be careful about currencies. 1 penny conversions

3/4 of a penny is 1 da point. Da points can be turned into cash over a course of two weeks now.

1/4 of a penny is 1 amino coin. It is basically a fucking dustbunny. Don’t pay your artists in coins (unless they want coins) yet you have enough to pay in points or cash.

- Reporting people is okay to do on WA. Memorizing some Guidelines and looking and teaching yourself the punishments and loopholes of the Guidelines is okay. But watch your mouth, watch your actions. Things can be incredibly stressful if you say the wrong thing. Take it from me, someone who was unfairly banned for not understanding a sex joke and just heard it on a podcast and thought it meant being forgetful.

- Don’t be scared of staying organized or jumping into a public chat. Be yourself, don’t put on some fake mask because its cool. Be yourself. Doesn’t matter what Clan position, doesn’t matter what titles or how many followers you have. Just be yourself and treat people how you’d wanna be treated. Ironic and cheesy to say yes, but its a pretty good lesson for how Toxic WA has gotten.

I was a WA user of nearly 3 years. At this point, I know about anything about everything you can think about. Drama, old times, etc. these are just some tips for you guys. I saved the most important for the last;

Remember your real life duties. Care for your health and wellness. Your wellness is all states of the human being. Keep them balanced. Put your HEALTH AND WELLNESS OVER SOCIAL MEDIA. Make sure you shower, eat, hydrate, take your meds and overall don’t be scared to take a long Hiatus. Spend time with family and friends and just delete Amino for a while.

You all have a good day. Mod, thanks for sticking with me through this long ass lesson book. I’ll probably do more if you’ll put up with my dumb dumb ass being rambly. 🌻💛

[destielfanfic]

Group Ask #178, part 2

Relevant links to find lost fic

previous group asks

spnstoryfinders

Guide to Finding Fic

Guide to Finding Lost Fic

Ask #10 ( @cactusphillie​ ​):  there’s this fic…#10

hi is there a fic where mary works/owns a daycare and i think cas was the single parent but his kid is autistic maybe? and dean gets them to say their first word or am i crazy? i’ve read something like that before but i can’t for the life of me remember it

Found by @anupalya:

Start of Something Good by tricia_16 [NC-17, 184,000 word count]

Dean Winchester is introduced to his new neighbor, Castiel, and his daughter, Claire, in an unexpected way. When an unlikely connection forms between Dean and Claire it also helps to push Castiel and Dean closer together. But Castiel has been hurt badly in the past and it's up to Dean to prove to Castiel that he can be trusted with both his daughter and his heart, even when outside sources try to make Castiel believe differently...

Ask #11 ( @gerard-wee​):  there’s this fic…#11

Hi, uh, do you think you could help me find a fic? it's a destiel highschool au, and cas is sort of a druggie/tortured artist. R U Mine by Arctic monkeys gets brought up a lot in it, and its a really beautiful story. (castiel also wears a ton of ugly sweaters) i tried using your search engine to find it, but to no avail....

Found by @pomegranatedaffodil and @sunshinegukkie: Get Inside My Soul by angelivenantium (submitted rec)

Ask #12 ( @awkwardpotatonk ):  there’s this fic…#12

Hey,I’ve been looking for specific destielfic a while ago I was wondering if you could help mefinding it.It’s about OmegaCastiel and AlphaDean.He andhis AlphaBrother Sam hunt badpeople who neverbeen arrested or caught.Cas life isboring.One day Cas decides to take a shortcut through thewoods to go to college orwork andbumps intoDean who is covered inblood.He tries to run but deanknocks him out cause hepanicked.They had Cas handcuffed in a motelbathroom and took himwith them cause heknew too much

Found by @anupalya

Lonicera by zation [NC-17, 46,000 word count]

Original prompt: dean and Sam are serial killers and they for some reason kidnap Cas and Sam wants to kill him but dean wants to keep him and while Cas is their captive he learns they aren't really the bad guys and they kill only people who have managed to escape justice and prison time. So over time Cas falls in love with dean and stops trying to get away from the brothers. Until he's rescued and the brothers are incarcerated then he has to save them while everybody thinks he's crazy. Bonus if Cas is a teenager like 17-19 also bonus if it's abo universe, if you do the abo I would prefer alpha dean omega Cas and maybe some mpreg  Or,The one where destiny had a discussion with faith and they decided to have some fun, much to Dean and Cas’ chagrin.

Ask #13 ( @anupalya):  there’s this fic…#13

Hello! I can't get a fic out of my head, but can't remember its name, and i can't find it by searching (so far). It's an AU, where already-friends Dean and Cas are dating (according to Dean) but Dean never said the words "will you go out with me," so Cas thinks they're just hanging out. One day they're with their friends at a bar and someone dares Cas to ask someone out, and Cas says he'll do it. Dean feels betrayed and leaves, crying, and Cas chases after him, and they sort it out.

Found by @anupalya​: Taking It Slow by FagurFiskur [Gen, 1,500 word count]  

 After years of thinking about it and trying not to think about it, of endless ‘what-if’s and ‘almost’s and ‘if-only’s, Dean finally bites the bullet and asks Cas out on a date.

Ask #14 ( @holisticfansstuff):  there’s this fic…#14

Hi. I love your blog! I was looking for a specific destiel fic featuring MoC! Dean and Cas in the bunker. Dean slams Cas into a wall. Castiel's face is unreadable. Dean feels Castiel's heart flying fast beneath his fingers. Castiel is *terrified* of him. I'm not sure if this fic has been deleted. I remember reading it on either Tumblr or ao3. I looked through the MoC! Dean tag but couldn't find it. If you find it anywhere, please let me know ? It was really incredibly well written

Ask 15 ( @runawaymarbles):  there’s this fic…#15

Do you guys remember the name of the fic where angel trueforms were actually dragons? (It might have been the one where Cas spends the first 20 or so chapters dead while Dean assumes he's going to come back to life, but I'm not positive.)

Found by @heidi-reads-them-all:  Into the Fire by NorthernSparrow [M, 259,000 word count] Dean accidentally kills Castiel, and is tormented by grief and guilt afterwards. Dean becomes convinced Cas still exists somehow, and that he will be resurrected; Sam’s not so sure, but is determined to help his grief-stricken brother recover. Meanwhile the Darkness is eating away at Creation, and soon both brothers realize they may have to embark on their longest and strangest journey yet. This time they might not come back. Will they have to fight their last battle without Castiel?

Ask #16 ( @fruitshreddies ):  there’s this fic…#16

This is gonna be such a far fetch but I read a fic literally years ago that had a few parts to it. I remember shit like Cas didn't get on with his family and he and Dean lived together with Sam and Cas dyed his hair blue impulsively once and Dean loved it and loved it every time it faded to green and Cas redyed it. One of the parts was them visiting Cas' family but Dean got in a fight (continued in new ask)  ...Cas gets quite severe anxiety at one point and uses weed to cope with it and Dean loves him and Cas gets worried the house smells like weed when they're adopted kid comes home for the first tim. Anyone know a name from tjay garbage please??? Hahah

Found by @anupalya​ : Rock ‘n’ Roll Queer Bar by ChasingRabbits (submitted rec)

If any of our followers have anything to suggest, drop it in our ask box (mention which ask you are talking about by number or bolded title). Our anon is switched off for good, if you know the lost fic but don’t want your url to appear on this list, let us know and we will call you an anon! If you don’t see your ask here, it is because we have quite a few in the inbox. Thanks!!

~ Hey guys, sorry for delay! This summer was incredibly busy for both mods and lost fic Group Ask was left unattended. We did answer privately when we knew the answer, so, these are all the rest. ~

[hyunarkarchive]

oh my stress;;

“'tis i, a writer, togetherslapper of words.” 

knowing that my own five year anniversary at rookies is in about two months makes me actually really emotional, and most of you know, i don’t really get emotional about stuff like this.

i’m here to talk about all the fucking shit storms i brought. starting from good ol’ ellyrk, who turned into yuriirk and currently known as hyunark, as well as, rkxwoozi, aka jihoonrk, fucking namtaerk, eunwoork, minhyunrk, younghyunrk 1.0, junhoerk aka younghyunrk 2.0. i am about 100% sure i’m missing someone BUT YOU KNOW, we can let that muse stay in dungeon vile. 

not even 10 minutes later 

oh yeah- minhork was it? minhxrk??? idk what his url was, shortlived lovely muse i tell you. jisungrk was a thing for like 6 months. however, as you can see, i have a lot of muses, 11 in total, well 8 if you remove younghyun 1.0 & 2.0 and jihoon.

its been nearly five years since i joined rookies and ive made a lot of memories here. good, bad, amazing, mediocre. a lot of memories than pretty much just range. can you believe i’ve actually cried a few times about rookies related thing? yeah, me neither, but here we are hahaha. i will probably not edit this at all, so if you see spelling mistakes, or maybe something is repeated, just ignore it please, its from the heart.

this place really helped me develop my writing, vocabulary and definitely social skills. i might suck at threading and replying on time, but i have to say, all the muns here are amazing!!! i remember when i first joined, oh boy was i fucking terrified of the fact that i SUCKED at writing. i was so cautious about what i write and how i spoke and i think some of you could remember it haha. i’ve also managed to make some amazing friends throughout my stay here, all of them older than me, as well haha and i was babied so much i always found it funny, but very thankful because some of the life lectures i got where definitely needed.

however, i will take a few minutes to write about the last three standing; hyunark, jihoonrk and younhhyunrk

hyunark: 

my first ever tumblr muse. my first rookies muse. my longest standing muse. she;s gone through a lot, and honestly, she will continue to do; i wasn’t all that good with her in the beginning, now i see a lot of gaps and weird stuff whenever i have to go read something to remind myself of events and so on. however, i really love her, and i’ve gotten a bit too attached to her haha. can you blame me tho? from ellyrk, to yuriirk, now hyunark, there have been alot of ups and downs but i am happy where she’s come. to being a potential walking scandal, to being in two survival shows, to being the first muse at rookies to not be offered a contract renewal, to another survival show, to a nova trainee after being cut short twice by hyunbin. she had gone through alot of character development and its shaped her a lot better than i ever could, for which i need to say my thanks to the mods of rookies for it, because without them, hyunark would probably be headed in a completely different direction haha. however, she still focuses on producing, writing lyrics and ever since she got into nova as a trainee, she’s focused on her dance as well because she doesn’t wanna be called an uncooked noodle anymore. her dream is to be a recognized producer and lyricist, and will fight for that title.

jihoonrk:

jihoork was previously known as rkxwoozi. i even used his original blog when i re-applied with him;; he lasted a bit under a year in all honesty the first time and i specifically remember that the reason for that was being signed under trc. it was a pretty unfortunate time for him to be signed, with all the scandals that happened and what not. i was a tad regretful that i dropped him to be honest, which is all the reason to why he was brought back. tbh, he didn’t change in that like 6 months gap he was away. he was the same moody gremlin everyone knew and loved. if you had asked me, a few years ago if i thought jihoon would debut, i’d laugh and say no fucking way, but here we are, when he is a member of convex and got to debut with his longets lasting friend, sehun and best friend seungcheol. so he is living the dream you know? even if he doesn’t show it, he is grateful and appreciates everything that’s happening around him and to him. his main goal right now is to be the variety ace of convex and is working slowly to achieve that goal.

yonghyunrk:

ahhh here we go;; my last muse who had to undergo something similar to jihoonrk;; i brought him in, because i had this idea of a metal head, who really just wanted fame and girl and guys. however, stuff happened, i couldn’t get him to have threads i wanted and so i dropped him. again, i pretty much reapplied a few months later with junhoerk which was basically younghyunrk 2.0 and eventually, i realized that the muse deserved its original fc and here we are again with younghyunrk. to be honest, i don’t even know how i managed to get him to go to mga4, but he went and caused chaos with chungha and we all know how much fun he actually had haha;; he still doesn’t like dance, and will probably not enjoy it until he gets signed and coach tells him he can’t dance and JUST out of spite, he will get better at it. ultimately, he wishes to debut on a band, he wouldn’t really mind if he gets placed at any instrument, as long as he gets to sing. he still wants to reach paradise city, as guns ‘n roses have said.

quick mentions to some of my other muses as well. its funny how all my other muses lasted for months as well;; honorary mentions will go to namtaerk, minhxrk and probably minhyunrk, i won’t be really talking about them, so focusing on eunwoork and jisungrk;

i can without a doubt say that these are my more interesting muses, or eunwoo at least. her dream was to become a musical actress and was a serial dater; she’d date a lot of people, girls and boys, and wouldn’t really bat an eyelash once it was all over. never really had long term relationships either. she was into photography and her photography instagram was more popular than her personal one and she didn’t mind haha.

jisungrk wanted to be a professional football player and he was never really interested in becoming an idol, which made him fun to play. however, he was a really young muse, i think i made him 16? yeah, i think he was 16 and after that i realized i can’t do young muses;; its just weird for me, i have no clue what middle school kids actually do haha, i remember i just slept and did nothing all day, didn’t even study whoops. 

but yeah, these two muses were very short lived but fun and i think that one day, if rkforthmuse is allowed, i highly doubt it, i will bring back eunwoork because she deserved more attention than i ever gave her.

now i will do a few mentions, by a few i mean it will be a lot;; i’m sorry if i get sappy or anything;; please accept my love <33

ABBIE - @seungcheolrk​ & @rkwon​ & @rkgwen​ - sunshine, my lovely amazing sunshine;; thank you. thank you, thank you. its been nearly five years of friendship, can you imagine it? soon, in just two months, it will be half a decade and i am extremely grateful;; i can’t explain it and i know that even saying it on a daily basis to you, it won’t be enough;; its funny how we started talking through rksoo and ellyrk, and now here we are, four years later, rkjicheol being in the same company, debuting together, in the same group. in all honesty, i remember when i dropped jihoon and then picked him up after like, literally two months, and it was one of the best decisions i ever made. i always have fun talking to you, plotting and threading and i honestly wish i did it a lot more than i currently do, but you know, uni is kicking my ass hasljdhlas anyway;; thank you, sunshine, thank you a lot and for these almost five years i love you a lot 🍅🍅🍅

HUNNIE - @yutark​ & @rksunwoo​ & @rkseokwoo​ - where do i even start?? like, oh wow, there is A LOT;; i can definitely say, we started talking when i suggested jihoon as sunwoo’s first kiss and look where the are now? dating, for what? seven months, can you believe that? SEVEN!!! this is insane haha;; and look and where we are now, talking on a daily basis, and its very very nice;; i don’t know what i would do nowadays without you, so i’m really really thankful you deal with my sorry ass so much ahdsdsalla it started with jihoon and sunwoo, then it transitioned to younghyun and yuta, and most recently, its been yuta and hyuna and their lil game of cat and mouse;; its always fun plotting with you, threading, talking, everything really;; and i really hope it will continue to be this way;; i love you

LYN - @rkxsnn & @rkavery - hello there mum!!! impressed im starting with you? anyway, i have A LOT OF THANK YOUS TO TELL YOU, starting from dealing with me, to helping me get through college, to life advice, to all the skype calls we had, a lot of things in these past few years. even if we don’t talk as much and i know you have life kicking u in the ass, i wish we could change that soon;; i miss you a lot;; all of your muses are amazing and i absolutely adore them, as much as i do you!! hmu soon;;  minsoo and elly were iconic, and he will forever be a huge part of her;; remember that mino and taehyun ship we had? good angst times lbr.

JEN - @yujurk - sup there mum number 2 even though i act older than you, you can’t even lie about that haha; you were one of the first people i started talking to in rookies, and still do on a weekly basis? daily? you get the point haha;; damn, i don’t think we ever argued as well, which is insane and you do give good advice and oh my god your muses are so funnnnnnnnnn bring all of themmmmmmmm innnnnnnnnnnnnn;; i’m so so happy that you came back to rookies after that hiatus;; really really happy;; jieun and hyuna are iconic partners in crime;; jihoon is grateful that jieun taught him how to sing;; hyuna thinks soyeon will forever haunt her, no doubt;; jkook is forever jihoon’s bunny you can fight him about it;; eunwoo says jkook never took her on a date, she’s upset about it haha

CLARA - @rkwendy​ & @rkjohnny​ - clara clara clara. you really love having me send the group chat into gay panic huh? i will forever continue to do it, do not worry. once a week sound good? hahah;; i wish we talked more than we do lately, but its always fun no matter what it is;; i also know for sure, you have my back and we can take over a country if we tried hard enough lbr;; i think we mainly stared talking when the brosquad/antisquad happened, which was pretty much when i joined rookies haha;; so again, nearly five years of friendship look at that!! we need to talk more and you need to tell me more baking recipes!! i think it was hyuna and wendy that we first got to interact and then wendy and jihoon and funny enough, i feel like jihoon and wendy are closer than hyuna and wendy haha;; then younghyun joined the picture to fully annoy wendy out of this word;; we need to thread more sobs;; lets make that happen yeah?

SHINOBI - @rkkangjoon​ & @rkgray​- hello there shinobi. i think our meet up scenario was the same as with clarea, huh?  brosquad/antisquad;; we should talk more, that’s a definite but i think that with hyuna&kangjoon we have gotten a lot closer than before and its really cute and nice and i love it qwq gray and hyuna need to release a hit song someday, we better make that happen yeah??? good!!

SACHA - @rkrose​ & @rkkyungri​ - i am super super duper ultra mega giga happy we got to talk a lot in the past few months, get to know each other and its very very nice;; i always have fun talking to you and i know i can lean on you if my day has been shitty, and i am sorry if i’ve had a lot of shitty days sadhljsajldnl ahhh, but yes, our muses will go through a lot and i’m really happy you enjoy it and i hope we can see them grow and develop!! 

ANI - @rkchungha & @rksohee& @rkmiya​ - what am i actually gonna do without you, that’s a very very good question i was asking myself recently. its really weird we never really talked a lot until younghyun was brought into rookies, which was i think this year huh? funny, very weird, what life was i living without you in it?? hahaha, anyway, i’m really glad and happy having chungha and younghyun so close got us to be closer as well, even if i set you into rp panic with random questions and potential scenarios haha;; i’m glad you enjoy them;;; love you lots!!

CARLY - @taeminrk & @rkluna & @danielxrk - we don’t really talk much, but in reality, i actually don’t know where i’d be rn if i couldn’t come to you with stupid questions and inquiries;; i wish you all the best in every possible aspect of life and love seeing you on the dash;; ngl i am also extremely and forever sorry that you have to read through hyunark’s post from like three years ago, that;s some nasty writing right there yikes;; but thank you for taking rookies under your wing and just expanding it and making it better and better with the rest of the mod team;; keep up the good work!!

a very special thanks to all of the royal girls, @rkxnarong , @rkyena , @rkella , @rkcheri , @rksoohyun , @rklisa , @rkrose who made royal survival a blessing, her stay in royal amazing as well;;  special thanks to all the royal boys, ex ones count as well, fight me @rkbyunbaek , @jaehyunrk , @kibumrk, @yienrk , @rkseonho,  thank you for being a part of hyunark’s journey in royal fun and emotional lbr;; you guys managed to make royal fun for me as well, so thank you so so so much to every single one of you guys;;

a huge thank you for og trc roster that’s still here and dealt with jihoon;s sorry ass back then; a huge thank you for the kt roster that had to deal with jihoon as well, even if it was for a short amount of time;; a huge thank you for sphere, and convex members @seungcheolrk , @rkhyun , @rkjinwook , @kibumrk , @rkjinkis , @rktaeyxng , @tenrk , @rkxroyal , @rkohsehun , @yienrk , @rkromeo , @rkzyx, who will now have to deal with jihoon like it not, but i apologize on his behalf;; even if i don’t say it often, i am really really happy jihoon got to debut with your boys and i’m happy i get to interact with all of you so much;; thank you, thank you, thank you;;

thank you rookies, for such an amazing time!! i can only wish and hope for many more!!!

[rpgmgames]

November’s Featured Game: lux (dream.girl)

DEVELOPER(S): Rindre Rindere ENGINE: RPGMaker 2k3   GENRE: Psychological Horror, Exploration SUMMARY: lux (dream.girl) is a surreal psychological horror game created in RPG Maker 2003 where you play as Benjamin, a socially inept teenage writer who struggles with depression, loneliness, and writer’s block. When he decides to try lucid dreaming to figure out how to push his story forward, he meets new friends, new enemies, and his literal dream girl. Making certain choices will either help or hurt his relationships, and the outcome of his story.

Download the demo here!

Introduce yourself!  *Hi! I'm Rindre! I've been working on RPG Maker for about 5 or 6 years at this point! First and foremost, I'm an artist, then a game developer, then a voice actor. I am also a garlic bread enthusiast. You might also know me as: -The voice of Aria/the lead translator in Aria's Story -Will's Teacher in The Hanged Man -The mod of Yumeresource -The admin of the RPG Horror Discord server -The host of the Pixel Horror Jams! I'm also on plenty of teams, mostly as a voice actor. These include b/f, AURORA, and The Doctrine of Perseverance.

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially? *Rindre: lux is about a boy named Ben, who is an aspiring writer who hits a writer's block and tries to take up lucid dreaming to interact with his stories and characters find out how to advance his story. He ends up meeting interesting people, including his literal dream girl. Yume Nikki is a big inspiration for me. My stories I had written when I was younger also played a huge part, and I decided to recycle bits and pieces of them into lux. Ultimately, the frustrations and experience of being a content creator inspired me to make the game. Hopefully these themes will ring universal to whoever relates to being a creator as well.

How long have you been working on your project? *Rindre: You could say 5 years, or 2 years, or since July 2017! lux actually originated as a Yume Nikki fangame in 2012 (as are all games I've made...). I picked it up again on October 2 2015 as a concept to keep a work log, but actually making it into a tangible product took me until 2017's Pixel Horror Jam. The work log has 30+ pages to it! The Yume Nikki fangame version was prepared to be released, but I forgot, and now I'm too ashamed to release it because I meant to do it 5 years ago :(

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *Rindre: I'm a big fan of psychological and sci-fi/cyberpunk media. These things usually ask: Who are we, and who are we in other people's eyes? What defines us? What does it mean to be an individual in our society? It's a question I like to ask myself and explore in my own projects. My major inspirations who ask these existential questions are deep within Satoshi Kon's works and Philip K Dick's stories, as well as other movies that were inspired by those two or are in the genre (like The Matrix, Inception, Akira, Ghost In The Shell, Serial Experiments Lain, etc.). Some other inspirations and influences that might be surprising are: Kappa Mikey (art style mixing), Vocaloid producers (Crusher-P, Mothy, Yuyoyuppe), Evangelion, Linkin Park, the Hamtaro GBA games, Kirby, and my own dreams. Unsurprisingly, Yume Nikki is the biggest inspiration. I really like the concept of dreams and escapism, and how it often plays into existentialism.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them?   *Rindre: They say that when making a game, 10% is actual development and 90% is bugfixing/quality assurance. This is VERY TRUE. I spent a couple months working with my bugtesters (Thanks Biel, Choko, Meaka, Pinkuboa, and Uboaappears). The actual demo was a bunch of crunch time for the jam, which was July - August). There were a lot of bugfixes involved, including a bug I was so puzzled with and thought I couldn't fix but the solution was so simple. It took me a month to figure it out! The RM2k3 update caused a bit of trouble for me, but I thank my bugtesters endlessly for helping me squash most, if not all, bugs. On the other hand, in case anybody asks, yes: I have lucid dreamt of my characters in lux when I hit a roadblock. These were never successful. I've only been able to do it twice, both by accident.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *Rindre: I usually go into development with a clear idea in mind with certain events and endings, but lux differs greatly from its old Yume Nikki counterpart (dream.girl). Notable major changes: Ben now wears glasses. Ben is now a writer. Stella used to not be a bunny. Stella also did not have any stars in her eyes before. The only things retained was the concept of dreaming a dream girl, and Ben's and Stella's names and facial appearance. Even if I make a bunch of plot outlines and flowcharts, things change, but it's natural! The stories that occur within lux also have changed slightly plot-wise from their earlier pre-2012 counterparts (most were written over 10 years ago!), and are begging for a facelift. One involved parkour, but sadly, there is no parkour anymore :(

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don't have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *Rindre: I prefer working alone when it's my project! I like working at my own pace, but if needed, I'll reach out to other people for help. I like helping people out on their projects too, but when it comes to my own, I like to handcraft everything by myself. It shows me what I'm capable of doing, and gives my game a "this was 100% made by me" stamp.

What is the best part of developing a game? *Rindre: Making music is relaxing and lets me convey a mood or theme without having to take out my tablet to draw or write something extensively. Being able to relax yet still work on the game is great. I like nights where I can sit down and make something nice I can put in my game. A lot of them are on my SoundCloud (Rindere), but some of the really nice ones are ones I haven't uploaded there. I'm really not a musician, but I did take a class on music technology. My favorite ones going to be in lux on my SoundCloud are "Nepenthean", which is also Ben's theme, "Choke On Your Misery", and "Empyria Incarnadine". It's also really nice to get files from your voice actors and they sound EXACTLY like how you thought your character would sound like! Special thanks to Aidan, Mizu, JR, and Nuei.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *Rindre: I prefer to do my own thing! I like to push RPG Maker 2003 to the limit. A lot of the cool effects were done before the major update of RM2k3 that came out earlier last month. Some things I thought were never possible in RM2k3 are things that I made possible after some thought. Like any problem, it can be solved in a bunch of ways, even if you have limitations.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *Rindre: The character I relate to the most is actually my least favorite character. It's Ben! I specifically modeled him after myself but changed certain things, like the intensity of his reactions. It was actually difficult to write him, because I had to think about how I would react in the situations I put Ben in. I feel like I had to get into some kind of mindset that was "mine", but also "not mine" as well.

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *Rindre: I feel like I could've released the game sooner, or continued work on FLUX instead. I would like to go back to working on FLUX soon, since I haven't worked on it in a long while. But after hosting the Pixel Horror Jam with Choko and jamming on this game, I'd like to rest up a bit before I take on a big project again.

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore game's universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *Rindre: Because lux is part of the -UX Series, it would naturally be a series with other entries. I don't know if or when they'll all be created, nor if they'll all be games, but I do eventually hope to see it finish. Something I want to explore is to further flesh out the stories Ben has written, especially because they were concepts written before lux ever came up as a concept. I've also given them -UX titles! I think I'll work on Crux/quX next.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release? *Rindre: I am donating proceeds to the One More Light Fund with what is being donated to the itch.io-uploaded version of lux, so I really am looking forward to donating to a cause that is important to me. I encourage people to donate to the OML Fund directly, not through me. I also really like fan reaction, but I love the catharsis of releasing something you've made. It's a mix of relief and pride, but a little bit of anxiety because you don't know how well the fan reaction will be. I hope that my game will affect somebody in a positive, personal way, whether it be a new favorite game, something for them to draw, or become inspiration for their own works. I look forward to free time and rewarding myself with something good, like chicken parmesan too!

Is there something you're afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game?  *Rindre: I constantly ask, "Is my game worthy enough for others to play? Is my game good enough?" But when it comes down to it, really you're asking it to yourself, not to the people that will play your game. Sometimes, you have to sit down and ask yourself, "Am I satisfied with what I have made so far?" Then you go down the list of things you've made and say either, "I'm proud of this!" or "This could use some more work." and you fix it accordingly. The first audience of your game is always you, so if your game is "worthy" and "good enough" to you, then it is for other people.

Question from last month's featured dev (Team Galanx): What kind of stories do you appreciate most in RPG Maker games? For example, do you like ones based off real-life experiences, fantasy elements, or morals? *Rindre: My series of games is called the -UX Series, with there being 4 main stories that are related to each other: "FLUX", "lux", "Ux.", and "X". The rest of the titles end in "-ux" as well. It was only natural to do that!

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *Rindre: Game Development -Give things meaningful names. -Back up your work in three different places. -Back up your games frequently. -Never be afraid to remake things, but do this occasionally. If you do this frequently, you'll be caught up in a loop of perfectionism. -Think if the cool new thing you want to put in will actually serve a proper purpose in the game. If it's only there just to be cool, don't put it in your game. -If things don't work out, it's perfectly fine to scrap ideas. -Don't pander. Make a game you want to make, not what others want to play. Releasing your game -Reach out to people who haven't played games similar to yours. You'll have opinions that you wouldn't normally get, compared to others who are familiar with your type of game. -Learn how to take critique. This might be the skill that will take you the longest to hone. -Not everyone is out to get you, but sometimes there will be people who want to bring you down. Even if this happens, there are always people there to support you. -You don't have to agree with every critique given to you. Other advice -If you're not embarrassed about your old work, then you haven't progressed. Continue to improve your skills and yourself. -Don't compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to your past self instead. -Don't be working on your game 24/7. Take up hobbies to occupy yourself, so you don't get burned out. -Learn to be a generalist, but also learn to specialize in something that people will recognize you for. -Be proud of your work.

We mods would like to thank Rindre for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved! 

Remember to check out lux if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum 

[baekyeol-fics]

[Fic Search] #16

1. That Young Love, Immaculate help! i’m trying to find this fic! it was on ao3! it was a high school au and baekhyun was like a member of the track team and he was dating chanyeol who was in a band and chanyeol is waiting for baek to be done with practice in his car and like him and baekhyun have car sex! and then i believe sehun or kai or maybe both walk in on them doing it in the car. thanks !!!

2. Hi! I’m looking for a fic which is cabincrewau, baekhyun and kyungsoo are flight attendants, while chanyeol, Jongin and xiumin are pilots. So they were on a flight then suddenly something happened and they had to do a emergency lending. I think one of the cabin doors flew open and kyungsoo nearly fell out and baekhyun went into the cockpit to scream at chanyeol and ask him to stop the plane. Baek and yeol were ex lovers. After this incident all of them had to go on break to recover. Read on aff

3. A Thousand Years Hi, mods. I was at my office feeling blue when I suddenly remembered this fic: where baekhyun and chanyeol got married at the hospital (I clearly remember that the wedding was supposed to happen in grand ceremony) and chanyeol died just right after ;; i think there was a scene where chanyeol asked for the kids where baekhyun worked to help him propose ;; omg the scenes slowly came to me but i still have no idea huhu pls help me find this one! Thanks

4. Hi! Do you happen to know the title of a fic about chanbaek fake dating? I don't really remember most of the details but I remember the ending. It was the last day of their fake relationship. I think they were eating breakfast at Baekhyun's flat and are acting indifferent. Then they said their goodbyes. When Baek thought Chanyeol left already he started crying but he didn't know that Yeol stopped before turning the doorknob, walked back to Baek and hugged him then he confessed.

5. Hello,please help me find this fic , where chanyeol is famous and baekhyun is a normal person then they met,sleep together and baekhyun got pregnant, then later on they met on a clinic and chanyeol had broke his foot I think and then he finds out that baek is pregnant, I remember that they had twins and baek's brother baekbeom was chanyeol manager,it was on AFF, thanks!!

6. hello!!!thank u for all the hardwork that u have done:)i forgot what was the name of the baekyeol fic which was emergency couple themed??

7. Hi first of all thank you so much for your hard work! You guys are amazing 😍 So I'm looking for a fic where baek is amnesic and he goes to chanyeol's school (I think?) Then they live together and he discovers that Yeol is amnesic too! Cy has a girlfriend but she's really mean and she just doesn't let them live... also she knew them both in the past! anyway they get together and bh is pregnant... I don't remember what else happens but I know there's a lot of chaps... please help me! ♡♡

8. Licentious Hi there, I'm looking for a fic in which ChanYeol and BaekHyun were roommates I think? can't remember exactly; BaekHyun was like such a tease and ChanYeol couldn't hold it anymore and they ended up fucking in the subway??? I'm not sure if it was really the subway or a bus but it was definitely public transportation. I think it was on ao3 but I can't remember the name of it or the author. Thank you a lot for your hard work!

9. two is better than one There was a fic where chanbaek are best friends and baekhyun loves Chanyeol but doesn't tell him. Chanyeol falls in love with ksoo and uts then when bbh tells i think they're in uni by then and then bbh plans to leave without telling chanyeol but ksoo catches him at the airport and asks him not to leave and chanyeol comes in later and think he's left bt bbh doesn't and they kiss omg I just said the whole plot but I'm really desperate to find this 😭 I hope this was enough >.<

10. Hello! i’m such a fan of this account *~* I’ve been looking for this fic in which baek and chanyeol were married and idk the rest but at the very end, Chanyeol came home from somewhere and when he went to Baek’s house, he was with Kai(not sure) and they were kid/s running around. I’ve been looking for it everywhere and I really cant find it. I’m not sure if it’s in aff tho. It might be in wattpad but i cant find it. I hope u guys can help me and thank you so so much!

[dubtek]

An Interview with Electric Birds

Around the year 2002, a respected friend made me a CD-R copy of an LP called Strata Frames by Electric Birds. He gave it to me as a gift, and ever since that moment, I have remarked that it is truly one of the most unique, original and multi-dimensional pieces of music that I have ever perceived. 

In return, I have gifted this album to many friends over the years. If I spot an Electric Birds albums during a visit to a record store, I am sure to purchase it and gift it to one of the many friends of mine that appreciate music.  Mike Martinez, the human behind the musical brilliance of albums such as “Strata Frames” and “Gradations”  was sonically active with his moniker of Electric Birds between the years of 2000 to 2004. 

I recently found Mike though a world wide web of hashtags, social media posts, and sent him a friendly message of appreciation. He was kind enough to respond and agreed to my request to take an interview for my Dubtek blog!

The Interview:

Adam: It has been about 15 years since an official music release from you as Electric Birds. Have you been working with and or creating any sound/music during this time?

Electric Birds: Not really. I have a bunch of instruments and music things that I mess around with sometimes but have not been inspired to create any music for a while. In the last 15 years I have opened and ran an indoor skateboard park in Seattle called Inner Space (which has since closed) and also filmed and edited a few full length skate videos. I now work at a skate shop in Seattle called 35th North and am currently starting a hat brand called Birds of the North.

Adam: Being a big fan of your music and admiring the shear creative brilliance of your work (especially your LP Strata Frames), can you tell me a little bit about the process of music production that you employed during the creation of Strata Frames? This can include how you went about creating your sound palette to some of the software you used during the process.

Electric Birds: I used a lot of different software, some of which I can't remember... I was always grabbing sounds from all over the place, whether it was musical instruments or random found sounds, and stretching and tweaking them to get the type of sound I wanted. I mostly would do live mixes of tracks, playing with different plugins and effects live. This gave it a much more organic feel to me and tracks would develop more based on feeling, atmosphere and spontaneity. I used Ableton Live a lot, and also Reason and Max, as well as other sound fx plugins and modules that I can't remember.

Adam: Did you choose the way Strata Frames was split up and sequenced for its vinyl release, or was that the labels choice?

Electric Birds: I chose the tracks and sequencing.

Adam: Also, can you tell me a little about what inspired the creation of Strata Frames, and where the title comes from?

Electric Birds: It was all about an atmospheric vibe that I was really into at the time and the way I was composing these tracks using a bunch of different loops and sound modules to create tracks... I was very inspired by artists on the Chain Reaction label, like Vladislav Delay and Monolake, and other sort of dubby minimal electronic music. I was also very inspired by visual artists like Rothko and Clyfford Still, and minimal graphic design, and I think it all sort of came together.

Adam: I remember seeing you perform live in Santa Cruz California. If I remember correctly, you were also using some proprietary software. Can you tell me about the software you used, and are you still into creating and collaborating on the creation of music production related software?

Electric Birds: I used Ableton live quite a bit and also some friends had made a live video mixer called Seed, which we used quite a bit, and a couple other custom live mixing things made from Max, made by some friends. It was a great time living in SF back then, we had a lot of friends doing really cool things with software and music, like Matmos, Kit Clayton, Jon Santos and this whole scene of kids. And so we all helped each other and I learned a lot from them, because I was never that great with super technical stuff.

Adam: Looking back on your catalog, how would you describe the differences between your 4 LP’s?

Electric Birds: I think the earlier LPs used more musical instruments and it progressed to more electronic sound design into the later albums.

Adam: Do you still listen to electronic music? If so, can you share with me some releases and or artists that you feel are producing in a unique and or inspiring way today?

Electric Birds: Yes I am always listening to music. I've been discovering a lot of stuff on YouTube actually, and been listening to a lot of "simpsonwave" stuff... Haha, it's fun and really simple. There's a series I liked called "Trappin in Japan"...

Adam: Have you consider releasing any new(er) music as Electric Birds? If so, would you use platforms such as BandCamp?

Electric Birds: I've thought about it but my mind is just not there. I haven't felt that confidence and inspiration to make anything that I feel is worthwhile so far. There has been talk of reissuing some of the ebirds stuff by a certain label. Nothing concrete yet though.

Adam: To this day, I play people your albums (especially Strata Frames) and everyone across the spectrum remark how forward thinking it sounds. They are astounded when I tell them it was released in 2001. With this in mind, when you were producing “Strata Frames” did you consider it in the context of the then “new” minimal electronic and “Clicks and Cuts” paradigm, or did you intentionally set out to carve your own sonic niche?

Electric Birds: I was definitely influenced by what was going on at the time with Chain Reaction, Mille Plateaux and Warp records. It was an awesome time when everything was so new and all this electronic music was so unique. The early 2000s electronic scene felt so punk rock to me, which is why I think I was so drawn to it. At the same time I wanted to create something definitely my own, with a sort of warm organic feel to it, within the cold atmospheric cuts.

Adam: When you were you releasing your music, how did you make the jump from labels such as Deluxe to U-Cover and Mille Plateaux?

Electric Birds: I started releasing it myself with Deluxe, which was me and my wife's label that we started. Again coming from a punk rock d.i.y. ethic... Then other labels started to become interested and it just evolved from there. I was also working at a record store in Berkeley called Mod Lang at the time and got to know a lot of other labels and European artists through there. Working at that record store, which specialized in European imports and lots of avant-garde stuff really opened up my musical universe, and turned me onto labels like U-cover and Mille Plateaux.

Adam: Lastly, would you ever consider releasing new music under your Electric Birds  moniker and or doing some remixes of artists?

Electric Birds: Again, probably not at this time, but you never know. We'll see what the future holds... For now, I've been playing music with my kids and showing them different things with live instruments and electronic beats and stuff. We're trying to start a family band :)

Adam: Thank you very much Mike for your time. Also, thank you for creating such sublime music, that for many people stands as a touchstone of deep introspective listening, and a glimpse of what is socially possible with imaginative ingenuity.

[bevisims]

Tl;Dr: Basically an about me and the foundation of my blog.

I feel the need to make a post like this because I’m very reserved, which I’ll get into, but honestly I would genuinely enjoy making friends within the simblr community. 1.) Hi, my name is Mary and I’m new to the simblr community in regards to having an actual blog and making edits. But before I would just lurk and reblog which I still do anyway so. 2.) I don’t make cc or mods whatsoever, kudos to people who do though, I can’t for shit even though I never attempted to.. cough ANYWAY 3.) I made this blog because a friend of mine who initially introduced me to Tumblr thought my edits were good enough to make a blog. I honestly didn’t think my stuff was good enough to post, I still don’t, but I’m glad I did. I’m not being modest, I use apps from my tablet to edit because adobe photoshop is just…I’m just better with apps, so my stuff can be rough around the edges. But I’m genuinely thankful that I actually grew the areolas to do this, this community is wonderful and so inspiring and I just love it. 4.) I was introduced to the sims by my cousin when I was 8, and I remember begging my mom nonstop but she said no because it was for teens and I was only like 8 or 9. BUT, this still amazes me to this day, I was blessed to get every single sims 2 game for free through my sister because at the time she had this job where she cleaned abandoned houses of people who were evicted and just left their stuff, and most of the time she would bring the stuff home to us and so yeah! And by the time I was 11 my mom bought me ts3. 5.) A little more about me, as previously mentioned my name is Mary and I’m 17, I edit and reblog strictly mm. I’m nothing special that is all my blog is haha. I’m homeschooled and I plan on going to college for astronomy or biology (my passion lies mostly in the stars though, where my head is 24/7). I play the violin and I’m currently learning French, I have absolutely no pets but I’m the most dog crazed, reptile whatever crazed, I will pet your shit m8. My love for animals probably came from not having any as a kid if I’m honest; anyway, school resumes in August and I struggle with social anxiety, so I’m pushing myself next school year so I’ll be busy(With things like working to get into Stanford, my instrument, working on internships/jobs, I’ll have many more class and I’ll be learning French again this year, AND DRIVING AHHHH) but I won’t abandon this blog, I’ll try to be consistent. I’m fairly new but I’m not new to learning withdrawal, I get really depressed and self conscious if I’m not productive or stimulating my mind in some way; but with editing sims, especially since it’s summer is stimulating enough as is. I’ve learned quite alot and maybe when I’m more confident I’ll edit from a computer instead of my iPad. Also I have sickle cell diease and I go to the hospital at least once a month, and my pain is constantly there so be patient with me. Also everybody who plays sims knows that you play for 30 decades and then you don’t feel like playing for 5,000 years, it’s…it’s a cycle, my depression doesn’t help with this either. 6.) Gosh everyone is so talented in their own way in this community. Okay I’m done gawking, promise. 7.) I try to be wcif friendly (I didn’t even know what that meant until I looked it up a month ago lmao) but it’s hard because I already had cc in my game before starting this blog and my mod folder isn’t the most organized, my stuff is merged so. But recently I’ve been reblogging whatever I download to my game or at least I intend to put in my game. 8.) And finally, honestly I was thinking about posting something within the lines of this for awhile but I only have like 11 followers… including my sister, luv u tho.. so I didn’t want to be that guy, well girl. But honestly I love this community and I couldn’t be more blessed to be able to have a working computer to play from and screenshot and a device to edit from. That might seem stupid and trivial, but I’m trying to find where I belong, I’m an overthinker and I am quite naive and I just try to see the beauty/blessing in everything. 9.) Do I have another blog or a main blog? Cookios is my first and primary blog that I mostly sh**post on…yeah Rami is my photo……Yes I see a therapist. 10.) Why did I decide to name my simblr BeviSims? My last name is Beaver and I lack creativity, something close to BeviSims was taken and I settled for this but I forgot what form of my title was taken. 11.) My most popular post? My Rami malek edit probably, also my favorite and not JUST because that boi is finer than wine itself but because he has interesting features so it was fun to make him! Especially since I strive to diversify my sims. 12.) Will I post selfies on this blog or make a sim-self? I will most definitely make a Sims me in the near near future, eee I’m excited!! As for selfies, probably not we’ll see. THANK YOU! 😘

In the future I hope to participate in many of these creative tags, like the song tag where you make a sim based on that song. I like that, it helps especially if you’re trying to find a reason to get up and edit or if you want to but you just don’t have anything to work from. (Sorry if some of it doesn’t make sense or if there are an unbelievable amount of typos, I will go through this in the morning from the computer and organize it and proofread but I was anxious to get this out, even if nobody reads it, I’m glad I did it.)