#the most fun thing is making textures.... I really like just moving the camera around to make the shiny things shine

[aolyxe]

Thanks to everyone who praised my Krobus 3d model... I felt confident AND II I VENTURED TO MAKE A HUMAN 3D MODEL (SIMPLIFIED OF COURSE). THE FIRST VICTIM WAS MR QI BECAUSE I LOVE HIM

LOOK AT HIM WTF

IT WAS REALLY DIFFICULT, but I'm very proud of this 3d dude... THE MOST DIFFICULT PART WAS THE HAIR, I DID IT FOR A VERY LONG TIME AAAAAAAAA AMA CRYING

[adhdemongirl]

I just finished my first playthrough of Metal Gear Solid. It was mostly blind (except for some pop-culture osmosis) and on normal difficulty. I wrote down a lot of my thoughts and live reactions because I thought it might be fun to read through. So have fun doing that if you want to:

-I really like that you have to watch the briefing through an extra menu option before hitting start. Just adds too the vibe

-50 Huskies. Genuinly why haven't I heard of that before?

-The controls are definitly something. I also kinda hate that the camera is so zoomed in that I spend most of my time looking at the radar

-God, I love ps1 wobbly textures so much

-The Hind is so sexy

-Why the fuck are chokehold and throw on the same fucking button?!!!

-Snake seems to be only slightly less horny than Kojima

-So was the Darpa Chief a psycho mantis illusion? What's going on here? Really nice intruige building btw

-Revolver Ocelot is such a bastard. I already love him.

-This boss fight was so weak. Teally hope the rest isn't that bad, but I honestly do not exspect much.

-I really love how Grey Fox (at least I think that's him from cultural osmosis) has a really wobbly eye. It clearly isn't part of his base texture. Just keeps moving around. I don't know if that's on purpose, but it's a great effect.

-This game really has some opinions on the mic, huh? Good for it, honestly. Shame that it has "the Gundam problem™"

-Did Meryl just say she hid the key in her pussy?!!!!

-Smoking damages you. Amazing

-Deepthroat

-Vulcan Raven feels like he's probably really problematic. I don't know enough about the first nations to know for sure, but I also don't think Kojima knows shit. That being said, I still think he's kinda cool

-The boss fight wasn't though. I feel a bit sad, yet vindicated.

-Uii, they're just toying with Snake! Fox-Hound are such cocky bastards. I love these guys so much

-Yooo, it's just like my japanese anime!!! (also piss. but that's like some anime too, I supose)

-Nice gimmick with this boss, sadly still shit

-Have I mentioned how much I love the wobbly red eye?

-Otacon is so pathetic. I love him.

-Who could have predicted that building the torment nexus from my favourite anime *do not build the torment nexus" for the military might be a bad idea? At least he knows he fucked up I guess.

-I haven't mentioned this so far, but the pacing of this game is honestly really good. There is always something happening, some gimmick being used, it's really great work

-Having to follow Meryl into the womens restroom to talk honestly doesn't feel that good.

-Holy shit, thry put so much efford into Meryls textures. Kojima is so fucking horny. Why can I see her nipples?!

-Psycho Mantis gas a really neat design, but I might also just have a thing for gasmasks.

-So I'm playing on pc and the way they did the "switch the controler port" thing is by having you switch out your controler for the keyboard. It's a really cool idea for how to preserve that moment. Unfortunatly, keyboard controls feel somehow even worse. 4/4 on kinda shit bossfights so far

-My dude is death monolging for so fucking long

-"Oh no, a tense moment! Better make the player run through half the map!" Insane design choice. Honestly dogshit.

-Using the sniper felt like dogshit as well. 5/5 on shit boss fights

-omg she's so fucking hot arf arf arf

-Liquid is such a whiny bitch. Only member of Fox-Hound I didn't love on sight. But maybe I could love to hate him. We will see. Also more Revolver Ocelot, yay :3

-I can see what they were going for with the torture minigame. Forcing the player to mash a button, thereby hurting/"torturing" them outside of the game as well. Neat idea.

-I like the negativ opinion this game has about nationalism, (liberal) politics and america

-"At least 20th century Russia had an ideology" I love both Shalshaska and this game

-"That's paricide! -yup" lmao

-I adore the 2D maggots

-Otacon is crushin on sniper wolf almost as hard as I am

-They are really stretching playtime by having you run back to the same point over and over again. It'a noticable and definitly not in a positive way

-the time bomb is a nice touch

-omg the hanky makes the doggos luv you <3

-I literaly just went through this part, why do they play a flashback?

-Naomi is shipping Snake and Meryl so hard lmao

-PS1 RATS!!!

-I hate those stairs with a passion

-The Hind is so sexy

-You know "Do you think love can bloom, even on a battlefield" has been memed to death, but it's honestly such a good line

-The Hind was the first boss fight that was really fun for me.

-The Elevator ambush fucking got me lmao

-Noooo, I don't wanna kill her (especially because it'll probably be another shit boss fight)

-I hate being right sometimes

-Wait, she's kurdish?! I should really check up on rojava, give a bit to the kurdish red crescent again

-Wow, her death really did make me feel bad :( (even though she took even longer to die than Psycho Mantis)

-That whole scene also made me really apreciate the music in this game. It's been great the whole time, but here especially so

-Master Miller being like "her story is bullshit, Hoover was to racist for that" is so fucking funny.

-I sadly already know that he's Liquid, but that whole convo is also so fucking sus

-In the intro for the Vulcan Raven rematch now. This game is really trying to be as racist as Hoover, huh?

-Wow, those were some fast working ravens

-Wait, did Naomi actualy kill The "Darpa Chief" (Decoy Octopus)? Did she inject Snake with some gene-bullshit in the beginning that kills certain people? She is a genetecist after all. Maybe something targeting those "soldier genes" the game keeps babbleing about?

-I like how they wrapped up the "new kind of nuclear weapon" plot. Sure, a railgun is kinda insane, but they manage to justify it.

-Can you imagine a world with less US-american SDI spending? Incomprehensible plot point tbh

-Ha, I was right! Naomi fucking killed them! I feel so smart! (FoxDie is a bit on the nose though)

-Love how Metal Gear Rex looks btw. A rwal beauty. Even more sexy than the Hind

-The russians involvement in all this does honestly feel very in character

-Are they going to make me activate the nuke for Liquid? Would be a nice twist.

-Why does it feel like Liquid is so horny for Snake? He's so obsessed, it's embarrassing

-I hate how they make me run around to change the key. Honestly just stretching out the game. Kills some tension too

-a fucking trapdoor got me lmao

-The runback is soo looong!!! It's okay, your game is allowed to be 20 Minutes shorter, you don't have to stretch it this way

-Final confirmation for Naomi being a tier one assassin

-She's Rhodesian?!!

-I kinda love Naomis character and her motivations, I think

-Cambell is a bitch as motherfucker btw. He has been for the whole game, but I feel like I need to mention it at some point

-Ha, fucking knew that thing with the nuke

-The Liquid reveal is really well made btw.

-Liquid Snake doesn't know shit about genetics. "I got all the ressesive genes" Dumb motherfucker

-Rex is so fucking sexy

-Otacon designing Rex with a weak point because he thought Rex would be cuter that way is so fucking valid

-Nice Gray Fox backstory

-Boss fight is shit as well btw

-Wait, this game does the whole hotline miami "You enjoy hurting people" thing???

-Super Baby Method

-Liquid (and by extension Kojima) still don't know shit about genetics

-I like the fmv bits a lot btw

-I should look into both Iraq wars I think

-The voice acting in this game is surprisingly good btw

-The final fist fight on top of Rex was almost comedic

-I don't completely buy the romance with Meryl

-On the other hand, I completely get why people ship Snake and Otacon

-Wait, Liquid's still alive?!

-Well, now he isn't

-I really liked the ending. Nice message

-He's called David?!

-I liked the game way more than I exspected, even though it has a bunch of flaws

-It also had a way smaller focus on stealth than I exspected

-I'll probably do a short, comprehensive post on my thoughts as well

Thanks for reading. Feel free to ask me stuff

[ballcrusher74]

Genuinely, how do you work with the lc 3d models n render them so cool!? Especially the customizations, I see a ton of lc skins but I don't know what ppl work with or how they do it so well!!

SHEER WILL POWER.

But for actual answers, the short answer is a lot of fuckery. And the long answer is

Firstly all the shit I do is in Blender, and it involves a lot with the camera and the posing of whoever I'm playing around with. My rule is that if it's not gonna be seen by the camera angle in the final render, then I really don't have to give a shit about how it looks. It only has to look good for the camera. A small example of this is with Fencer, because his tailcoat is just a little jank, I have to move it around a bunch for it to look good, which results in it clipping through his ass. Yet, you're not gonna see that ever in a render now, will ya ?

Another example is something in my most recent render, in which Doc is slightly clipping through the floor just so I could get him in the right position for the camera, but I didn't have to care about this because it's only his upper half showing ! (Also from here out, I'll probs be using the render as prime example so yay)

Another thing I do (sometimes) is if there's more than 1 element in the piece, I will render them out into separate PNGs with transparency. This will include the characters, the background, foreground, etc or whatever I need.

NOW WE MOVE ONTO PAINTING OVER IT ! This is where I take everything into my main program, FireAlpaca, and touch everything up to look nice. One of the main things I do is fix up shading / texture / clipping mistakes. Here are some examples of that

Painting over everything also allows me to add small, fun details to the render ! Such as the small rim lights, glow, shine, blur- fun things that would otherwise make me want to rip my hair out doing in Blender ! I also adjust the contrast / colors to how I want them, and paint on some of the lighting if I feel like it's needed.

And then after applying overlay textures (if any) and a bunch of other small things, the render's done yayyyy !

There's probably a couple things I could do in Blender to ease up this process, but this is just how I personally enjoy doing my renders. If you look around, there's most likely tutorials or smth to get cool effects in the program itself and waste less time, it's just that I'm a little pea-brained and don't wanna bother with that LOL

Moving onto custom suits, I just use a cruddy scavenger model from sketchfab to easily texture paint on for the suits. Cosmetics (hats, visors, items, etc) are completely modeled by hand and not pre-made assets, either by friends or me. Texture painting and modeling is an even LONGER thing to explain, at least from my perspective, but there are a bunch of tutorials out there for that kind of stuff, and also tutorials on how to create your own custom LC stuff !

anyways ok this answer was LONG as FUCK um. oops !

[bionicboxes]

Other Indigo Park Observations. done in semi-real time as im playing?

a fun little detail is these cameras that follow your movement; its pretty heavily implied this is how Rambley is seeing the player.

these keychains in the Critter Corner are the only place you'll see merch of Salem (i think that is their name?) Interestingly, there aren't any keychains of Rambley left. also this is a small non-important texturing thing but Molly's uses the same texture as her cutout (I assume they all do) which causes it to have the same wear and tear on it. and the same cardboard texturing.

also ive been to a disney park so i can appreciate the format of the entrance mirroring that.

some of the boxes backstage have Indigo Park branding on them and i think thats a fun cute little detail.

also Lloyd has a bronze statue like Rambley's statue with the park owner. interesting.

no screenshot to go with this but i do think its kind of a missed opportunity that Molly doesn't stalk you in the outside 'main street' area at all. she's a bird, have her perched up on one of the buildings! an ominous silhouette, with only the light reflecting off her eyes to tell you she's there. watching. idk.

Also I gotta give the game credit for how annoyingly good they did at stopping me from Hardcore-Parkouring around in places im not supposed to.

i will also thank this game for letting me brute force the puzzle and not having any kind of 'check' for if i actually have gone through the playhouse.

I also wanna say! this game is pretty spooky! i will say i AM a little baby coward, so that helps, but i got tense going through the backstage and playhouse even though i KNOW that there's not an actual threat in either; the sound design is spooky and my brain kept wondering, 'but what if?' so thats very solid. with that said wish me luck on the ACTUAL chase lmao.

Ah. real time update. my game lagged out hard during the start of the chase and I promptly died (which was also pretty lagged out). given that and that my computer's actually starting to run a little hot, I suppose i will save that for a later time. now that the real-time stuff is over its time forrrrr:

Boxes Nitpick compilation!!

dont take this too seriously its basically just me pointing out things i think are a little weird looking but this isn't any real deep criticism of the game. a normal player wouldnt notice this stuff most of the time i only notice this stuff because im actively looking for it:

There's a few places like this where the 'tiling' is super obvious as one texture just cuts off into another one. nothing that serious but its super jarring here in my opinion. There's also a few places like this:

where the floor tiles don't align right (first image) and you can see through them. its a minor thing that really only appears in areas the player won't see unless they're looking around though. there's also a few little clipping errors (second image)

also the dirt texture here works way better than the grass texture used in the beginning area (see first screenshot in nitpick compilation) and they should probably use this instead of that. imo.

i think the trash scattered around the park doesn't really.... work? Rambley makes it apparent no one's been INSIDE the park in years, thats why there's only graffiti on the otuside, so this isn't trash from people breaking in, and from how Rambley described the shut down, it shouldn't just be... scattered lying around like this. Like i said, its nitpicky, but I just don't think this works.

I think Indigo park should be 'clean' but falling apart. There's no real reason for trash to be scattered about in the WAY that it is. papers and food wrappers and drinks, yeah, sure. but the actual trashbags and boxes?? aren't doing it for me. it inherently implies that there was stuff being moved around and then it got interupted, which doesn't really align with how Rambley described the shutdown.

The Railroad ride is just surrounded by solid black texture squares that don't reflect light. I understand WHY they did this, but i think its kind of a missed opportunity to have catwalks and such visible up above. Of course, they didnt do that because this is an indie project without a big budget, so i dont fault them for that, but its something I think would've been neat nonetheless.

they could make the invisible wall that stops you from going back on the train less. Obvious. by just putting a gate here. ive been to disney a lot of rides have that you can just put a little walk through gate.

and lastly, this isnt a nitpick but there's a really tiny Lloyd cutout near the beginning of the backstage area for some reason and i dont know what to do with this knowledge. its not a keychain those are bigger.

anyway. solid lil game, fun lil atmosphere, excited to see where it goes.

[vwk7121]

ADRN631 Saskia Norman Week 3

These are the only materials that I had access to or could find for the DIY studio photos I tried taking at home, so it wasn't very affective, especially since they weren't really big enough to have far away from my head. With the plastic sleeve I could only get any reflectiveness to show up when having it right up against my skin, which meant it would show in the photo. The tin foil also didn't work out so well as a reflector without being very close up to me.

This image was the only good result I could easily get without having the tin foil cutting into frame, and the only real difference from what the lighting was like without it is just that my neck is a bit less shadowed.

In this photo I was trying to use baking paper as a defuser, which also didn't really work, but it was the closest thing I could find even if it just blocked out the lighting a bit. I was trying to take away the brightness of the ring light I was using but it didn't much of a difference since I didn't have the proper material.

This is the contact sheet for my SDL and I chose to take photos of my brother. With my ring light I was able to try all the different light angles and moods, but he wasn't comfortable with having his body in the photos so I could only do close ups for the composition.

Marti Friedlander

This is a self portrait photo the reminded me of the SDL task in the first week. This photo is taken in a mirror, which was most likely the only way of taking a self portrait while being able to see yourself back in 1973. Since this is a black and white photo the dynamic range and contrast of lights and darks is important depending on the mood, and the dark clothing, hair, and shadows created by the camera over part of her face add to the mood that this is not just Friedlander messing around with the camera for fun.

The composition is half-body framing, showing a lot more of the body/torso as a close up photo, and this shows a very clear view of how the photo was taken through the mirror. Even though the camera is centered she is slightly to the right, most likely to move out of the way of the camera so at least some of her face is visible. The mood created from this image is somewhat serious, with the focused look on her face, but also not really once it's understood that this is a mirror self portrait.

Isabella Bubola

Although it's taken in landscape, this portrait photo caught my eye with the use of sky reflection in the glass as the main source of bright lighting. It's bright enough that it's hard to see her eyes clearly, and combined with the blurry glass texture it makes her face feel very far away from the rest of her body. The dark of the ground/plants being reflected in the glass create the perfect black background for this photo, really bringing out the highlights of her hand when attention is already being drawn to her face.

The composition is a close up frame, but because it's in landscape the top of her head does get cut off to prioritise the landscape that's being reflected. The whole photo gives off a very soft and tired mood, almost feeling dreamy with the way her face looks with that reflection layered on top, and the faint raindrops on the glass add the the calm, sleepy mood as well.

Annie Lebovitz

This photo is another side profile that interested me because of how few I was seeing. The lighting in the photo has a lot of dynamic range specifically with the shadows, which is useful for the mood created. There is especially a lot of dark area created from the shadow of the hand against the wall, and the sleeve as well. The dark parts of the photo grab the most attention and create a strong, intense, and mysterious mood already, but the other focus is the composition of the pose.

The composition is another landscape close up, but this time the hand is included as part of the symmetry in the positioning and balance within the photo. Having the hand held up and the subject looking at it makes you wonder why she's looking at her hand, or if there's something more to this photo, adding to the mysterious part of the mood being made.

'Whose Migrant Mother was this?' Video Response:

I think that my opinion on the ethics of this photo and the circumstances around how it was taken is very neutral for the most part. The only part that really stood out to me when first watching the video was the fact that Florence Thompson and her family were not part of the pea pickers that Dorothea Lange was originally there to photograph, which I thought was a bit unintentionally bad due to the potential for misrepresentation. Because of this I also think that Florence was valid in her feelings about herself being a misrepresentation of what the real pea pickers were going through in that camp and at the time.

But then, on the other hand, I also think this photo didn't have that much of a misrepresentation issue because everyone was in a similar state and life at the time. There were a lot of other people who were probably in very similar living conditions that weren't also pea pickers, and it is used to teach about the struggles and hardships of people during the Great Depression, so it's hard for me to say that the use of the image and the meaning put behind it is a hundred per cent unethical.

[mrs-gauche]

Hello, would you mind sharing what program you use to create gifs? They are so gorgeous but everything I can find is a much lower quality. ❤️

Hey there! :) Thank you so much!! I feel so flattered and I really appreciate the ask! <333 So, I've actually seen quite a lot of people asking how I create my gifs in the tags or comments over time and even though it kinda feels like being an illusionist revealing their little magic tricks, I'll try my best to show what my process is and why it often takes me a lot of time (and tears of frustration) to get footage like this. 😁

Generally speaking, all my screenshots and gifs are taken with the DAI Cinematic Tool or so called "flycam" (here’s a link to download it, older links don’t seem to work anymore), which basically allows you to move the camera freely within the map or a cutscene and let's you change some settings, like contrast, saturation, depth of field or lighting for example.

Outside of the flycam settings, the only mods I use for my gifs are animation or clothing mods, like for example the invisible weapons mod, the Trespasser armor for Solas or the "no frown face in idle animation" mod. (Fun fact, I don't use any cosmetic mods that change face textures/facial features. All my gifs and screenshots are vanilla Solas as he looks without mods. 🙂)

There are people who have done a far better job than I could ever do at giving an in depth tutorial on how all the controls and features of the flycam work (like here, here or here!), but the best advice I can give and that I've seen, is actually to simply mess around with it until you get the hang of it and figure things out as you go. 😁 To be honest, although I've always loved taking screenshots and gifs for myself, I've only gotten into using the flycam tool more seriously like a year ago and the way I take my footage just sort of evolved over time by, again, just messing around and experimenting a lot. So there might be a far more efficient and easier way to do this, but that's just the way I do it and how I like it. 😁

That being said, since there's still a lot more to it than that, here's a step by step process using an example under the cut. 🙂

1.) Ok, so the first thing I'll do is to make sure to have the right setup in order to take the footage.

For that, I basically use a split screen to have both the game and the DAI Cinematic tool windows open at the same time. This, for one, allows me to use the "freeze time" feature of the flycam (putting the entire game on hold/pausing it) at any given time, which is especially helpful when capturing cutscenes.

This doesn't work with every cutscene though, because there are scenes that will actually continue to play while pausing it.

(Cutscenes like these are the most difficult to capture, because without pausing it, you'll have to take your footage in "real time", so to speak. Meaning that you’ll only have a few seconds (or even LESS 😂) to capture the right moment. So what I'm doing then, is to basically go through the cutscene repeatedly using the flycam to watch it over and over again, until I have sort of memorized how a character will move at what time/in which place, in order to move the flycam to the right spot.)

The split screen also allows me to use this little trick, where I can just click outside the game window, so the game will continue to run but I can still move the flycam without moving the characters in-game.

The second most useful tool I use is an Xbox controller with USB adapter to connect with my PC. The cool thing about flycam is that it can be manually controlled with a keyboard and/or a console controller. This is incredibly helpful in navigating and moving the flycam *much* more precisely than with just the keyboard controls. But even when setting the movement speed of the flycam at the lowest, it's still super difficult to navigate the camera "cinematically", since it usually moves very fast and abruptly and is super sensitive to even the slightest "nudge" to the controller’s joysticks (which can also lead to some people getting kinda dizzy or even cause headaches when using the flycam). The key here is to move the joysticks and push the LT/RT buttons as delicately and slowly as possible, to create the effect of natural camera movement.

And this is actually the main reason why it often takes me many many many attempts to get the perfect shot, because most of the time the flycam will just.. go off if you're not super careful and delicate in your navigation. 😂 And with cutscenes, you also only ever have one chance to get it right, since otherwise you will need to reload the scene over and over again and redo all your settings (not to mention cutscenes that are unskippable in order to get to another.. The amount of times I had to sit through The Dawn Will Come, I tell ya 💀) So you see why it can take *a lot of time*. 😁

2.) So with everything set up, it's now time to choose a scene/location, camera position/angle and decide what are the most suitable settings. A lot of this is actually about experimenting with different settings. I personally don't really have a standard setting I prefer, as it always kinda depends on the scene, but here are a few settings I use a lot:

The things marked in red are what I use most often, everything else really depends on what I think looks best for each individual scene, so all of this can still differ a lot. Again, it’s all about experimenting here, which to me personally is actually the most fun part in this. :)

(My advice, don’t mess around with the MISC settings too much, because this is what upscales the game’s resolution and will be heavy on your computer and can cause the game to crash if you combine it with a heavy blur factor for example. (-1) is the default. I usually scale it up to 15 - 20 in cutscenes or even lower if I want to do a super enhanced close up shot. To avoid a crash, I advice to simply scale down back to default after you’ve taken your screenshot.)

Here are a few examples for how the flycam settings and a little bit of editing can transform a scene:

Ok, so we’ve chosen a scene and the right settings, now it’s time to actually capture the footage you want to gif or screenshot. Here’s a step by step process using a cutscene of Cole’s personal quest as an example:

So this is the cutscene as it's played without flycam or any changes to the settings in-game:

The same cutscene from a different angle using flycam, paused with the "freeze time" feature I've mentioned: 

Choosing lighting, saturation, contrast, depth of field, fog, tonemap settings.

Step by step:

End result compared with no settings: 

Set the flycam movement speed to (1). Disable "freeze time" feature, play the cutscene, while simultaneously moving the left joystick of the controller veeeery slightly to the right and the right joystick to the left.

(Of course, make sure to always have your screen recording program running in the back. The most frustrating thing that can happen is if you manage to capture THE perfect moment and then realize it wasn't recording. That's actually why I have something called ShadowPlay by Nvidia Geforce Experience, which always captures the last 30 seconds of your screen.)

3.) So! Now that we have our footage and the most difficult part is done, I will pick my favorite shots and put them in a video editing program. Here I need to crop it (cut away the split screen), cut the footage down to the moments I want to gif, slow it down to about half the speed (more or less, depending on what looks the best for the scene) and then lastly, edit it slightly with a few filter effects. After all that's done, I will export the footage to MP4 video format.

4.) Finally, I will import that video into photoshop, change the image size, choose the right number of frames, adjust the delay time of the frames (if needed) to partially slow it down/speed it up and make some final tweaks on brightness, contrast and color balance. Export it into gif format and make sure it's not crossing the MB size limit for gifs on tumblr. Aaaand it's done! 🙂🙂

As I said, it took me some time to figure all this out myself and the process really evolved over time as I was trying out different settings and experimenting with the flycam. :)

With Inquisition being almost eight years old now and having played it so many times many of us know most of these scenes by heart, what motivated me to do this and what I try to do, is to simply look at this game from a perspective that no one might have seen yet (and to make the wait for DA4 maybe just a little bit more bearable 😂) and even though it can get very frustrating at times, I still have a lot of fun creating and I think the end result is really worth the struggle! 😁 <3

(Also, I just really love Solas. lmao <3)

I hope this helped for better understanding, I know I skipped over many of the technically details of the flycam, but the links I put in at the beginning will do a far better job than me to explain them, so please check them out as well. :)

All this being said, I can’t wait to make gifs of *actual* new content when DA4 finally arrives!! I’m brimming with excitement at the prospect of next gen graphics and... improved camerawork, animations and cinematics, because tbh although I love Inquisition despite all its flaws (and it looks amazing for a game that came out in 2014!), I can definitely see the restrictions and difficulties the poor camera guy at BioWare had to face, while using the Frostbite engine for the first time. 😂

[shingia]

✗ HQ BOYS DOING YOUR MAKEUP

-> this random idea popped in my head recently and i thought it was pretty cute so here it is ( ͡❛ ‿ ͡❛)

-> general plot : basically, you broke your arm and need them to do your makeup for you 

-> suna, akaashi, tsukishima, semi, bokuto, kenma

— SUNA

• he’s living his youtuber fantasy, let’s be honest here

• and by that i mean that he records every step of the process. he also does this thing where he shows the products to the camera with his hand behind to make the lens focus

• i’m pretty sure he would sit you up on the counter and make you wrap your legs around him to keep him close (bye i’m evaporating)

• getting your eyeliner right on the first try is a huge flex for him. getting it even on both eyes is an even bigger one

• and he brings this up every time you’re mad at him

• « ok yeah i forgot to make dinner. but that eyeliner from last week tho… »

• most definitely has a playlist playing in the background, and you get to choose the songs because you don’t have anything else to do

• he only realizes how much he enjoyed doing this after many hours, and he probably ends up asking you to do it again at like 1am or something

• and if you accept, watch him go above and beyond to do better than the last time, because this time he is committed

• even if he knows you’re not going anywhere btw, he doesn’t really care he just wants to take a few pictures of you before you take it off and go to bed

• (he made her promise not to say anything but he definitely asked his sister for advice just because he wanted to impress you)

• oh and, he puts too much lip gloss on purpose, because he obviously has a good idea to take half of it off :)

— AKAASHI

• obviously he immediately accepts - with your arm in a cast, you could ask him anything and he’d do it in the blink of an eye

• he insists on watching a youtube tutorial because he’s not confident enough to do it without any guidance, and he follows it diligently from a to z

• he’s probably the slowest of all but that’s just because he’s scared of messing up

• and also because he thinks you look really pretty when your face is so relaxed, he can’t help but give it a few kisses every now and then

• after every stroke of the brush, he takes a step back just to make sure that it still looks good - and it does

• he also starts humming at some point, and he would be very pleasantly surprised if you started humming with him

• he refuses to use the eyelash curler because he thinks it’s absolutely terrifying (i have to agree with him)

• however, he asks a lot of questions about the rest of the products because he’s genuinely interested and wants to learn new things

• but tbh i don’t think he would be completely clueless, for him the basics of makeup is just general knowledge

• he also keeps a few samples of your products in his bag in case you need to do touch-ups during the day

• also he cleans the brushes when he’s done <33 what a king

• and he definitely offers to do your hair afterwards since he knows you’re struggling with it too

— TSUKISHIMA

• « not doing that, no way. ask someone else » is his first reaction. but it’s just because he knows he’s going to be terrible at it

• but he accepts after a few minutes of negotiation (because he wants you to stop whining)

• so you drag him to your bedroom and sit between his legs by the window to have a better light ; honestly, it’s ideal work conditions

• surprisingly enough, he does a very good job with eyeshadow. which means that his confidence is now through the roof

• but it all goes back down in a second when he gets started on the eyeliner

• he tries to avoid this step by telling you that you would look much better without - but you really really want to see him try, so he has no choice but to give it a chance

• it looks awful

• he gets it right after his fifth try tho, but your eyes are very irritated

• because he put so much effort into this eyeliner wing, he spends the rest of the day making sure that you won’t rub your eyes and ruin his work

• although he will never admit it, he thinks it’s actually a pretty fun thing to do and he wouldn’t mind doing it again

• but he would rather do it on a day where you don’t have anything planned, because he could start making out with you without hearing that « we don’t have time for that »

— SEMI

• oh it’s definitely not the first time, he’s already pretty experimented

• which means that you don’t have to check on everything that he does, just let him do his thing and you won’t be disappointed

• he probably asks you to show him your outfit so that he can do a makeup with matching colors <3

• there’s one thing that drives him absolutely crazy, and it’s dark red lipstick. so brace yourself because he will put it on you no matter what

• oh and, remember that tongue thing he does before his serves ? yeah well he does that when he’s applying the lipstick as well

• i think he would eventually want to try bolder makeup looks, and if you’re too shy to wear them outside, he would !hype!you!up! until you change your mind

• if i’m being honest : your makeup has probably never looked this good

• it’s pretty frequent that he ends up putting on some eyeliner on himself, and he wears tf out of it

• since he can get pretty protective, he’s usually not a big fan of other people praising you. but he won’t mind if someone ever compliments your makeup

• but what semi loves more than makeup itself is that he gets to take a very good look at your face from every possible angle

• and he loves to discover new things about you, like a hidden mole next to your ear or a dimple under your lips for example

• honestly he knows your face so well that he could probably draw a realistic portrait of you without looking at any reference picture

— BOKUTO

• really really excited about it, and also honored to know that you trust him enough to do that !

• so get ready to spend the next thirty minutes sat on the bathroom floor surrounded by literally every product you own, because bokuto is very curious about a lot of things

• he is so frustrated to see all the different eyeshadow colors and not getting to use them all

• so he’ll probably ask to do your makeup another time just because he’s really intrigued by ‘this sparkly purple shade’

• he’s also very interested in touching all the different textures of your products, so he tries them all on the back of his hand (which looks like a mess by the end)

• he has a hard time finding the angle he’s most comfortable with so he probably moves a lot

• one second he’s sat in front of you, the next he’s behind your back and tilting your face up

• i think he would definitely squish your cheeks with one hand while putting lipstick on with the other

• he also needs constant approval on his work so he keeps a mirror within reach and waits for you to confirm that it looks good every now and then

• you might have to lie to him on his first tries tho, because he’s definitely not a natural (but that’s ok, he’ll get better)

• however, he is always proud of his work and shows you off 10x more than usual for the rest of the day

• and he gets really sad when you take it off in the evening (cue sad puppy eyes)

— KENMA

• if kenma’s going to do your makeup, he’s going to do it right

• both sat on your bed, he’s holding your head still with one hand on your cheek. and don’t you dare sneeze, smile or breath too loud : he needs to focus

• he is so concentrated that he even sticks the tip of his tongue out, and he has a frown on his face the whole time, like a painter working on a million-dollar canvas

• especially for mascara, he’s so scared to poke you in the eye that he requires absolute immobility

• and yes, he will get mad at you if you start to laugh or move too much, i mean come on he’s trying to do serious work here!

• but he just looks really cute when he’s so focused <3 you can’t help it

• however, he goes back to being his laid-back self as soon as he’s done. and he spends a lot of time staring at you for the rest of the day because he’s lowkey proud of the result

• also, don’t let him do your makeup in his bedroom, because the light coming from his setup is probably terrible - so you’ll have to drag him out i’m sorry

• he might lay you down on the couch and straddle you so that he can rest his elbows when he leans forward to reach your face

• oh and : seeing you wear « his » makeup and his clothes simultaneously drives him absolutely crazy

@toworuu @catwithangerissues

[bitchassbucky]

Ｂａｃｋ Ｔｏ Ｙｏｕ (Ｓａｍ Ｗｉｌｓｏｎ ｘ Ｆ!Ｒｅａｄｅｒ)

📎Word Count: 1.5k

📎Warning/s: some heckin’ words. Bucky’s in this, he’s a bit annoying (affectionately) <3 MINORS DNI.

📎A/N: omg my first Sam fic! i wanna thank my boo @babyboibucky for enabling me hsakjdhak ily! this is for you, bee!

📎Masterlist || Ask || AFTERDARK

📎 Follow the story: Back To You, Dimples, Inked

“Are you even listening to me?” Bucky says, annoyed that Sam has been looking down on his phone, remotely giving attention to their conversation.

Sam grins, fingers dancing over the keyboard on the screen, “Yeah, yeah. Something about motel rooms—or beds.”

“I said that they gave us two beds in one room,” the former spots their door number, quickly walking to it. The tactical bag swinging over his cybernetic arm freely.

The night was warm, the air blew the ocean mist towards the town. The parking lot is empty save for a black sedan that’s already been through a lot. They chose to stay low instead of getting a room at a decent hotel close by–something about them not likening the crowd.

Once inside, both men cleared the room in 30 seconds flat. The window opens out, the door stays closed and locked. The TV has to be on but kept on low volume. The beds are made, it’s clean; beats the flat beds on the plane.

Sam throws his bag over to the bed closest to the window, calling dibs. “Hey, you got headphones?” He asks.

“No,” Bucky answers, settling his things below the foot of the bed, “why?” He catches Sam again smiling giddily over something, “what you got a girl there or something?” 

“It’s none of your business,” Sam retorts, quirking his eyebrow upwards, “well? Do you have headphones?”

“If you listened to me, you would’ve heard me say ‘no.’”

Bucky should’ve had brought headphones. Sam has been droning on and on with a ‘friend’ over on a video call.

Not that he’s eavesdropping and nosy but he saw how Sam lit up when a voice came in from his phone.

“Hey, Sammy! I finally get to see your face.” You say, your voice crackling over Sam’s speakers, “am I on speaker right now?”

Sam smiles, focusing on your background and seeing pictures and posters plastered on the wall, “oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot my earphones somewhere.”

“What? Old man Barnes rubbing off on you?” You laugh, your glasses reflecting your laptop’s screen. Your joke sending Sam into a laughing fit.

“You know he’s in the room, right?” Sam clarifies as he turns the camera to Bucky, much to the former’s dismay. But despite himself, Bucky waves to the camera.

“Heard a lot about you, Barnes! Hope you’re ready for frequent bathroom trips from this one.”

Sam faces you again, a mischievous glint shining in his eyes, “Shut up or I’m gonna drop the call.”

You quickly send him an emoji via text, Sam rolling his eyes as you giggle. “Anyway, since you can’t join in on the fun, you’ll be my audience tonight.”

Sam gives you a confused look, a hint of crease appearing between his brows. “Tonight? What’s tonight?”

A fake gasp and an overdramatic show of hurt had him chuckling, “You already forgot the karaoke night you promised me, didn’t you?”

He grins apologetically and looks at the camera, as if looking into your eyes, “I’m sorry. Been busy these past few weeks.”

You smile softly, the imagery giving Sam a burst of butterflies in his tummy, “it’s okay. I was just being dramatic. I got that from you, you know.”

You are not a good singer. But you confidently belt out the highest of notes like one. Complete with hand gestures, you hold out the last note of the song.

“Thank you,” you bow down to your imaginary crowd off-camera, “I’ll be here all night.”

“On god, please don’t,” Sam interjects with a tender smile and soft eyes.

“Sammy!” Your eyes glazing over your screen, a deep pang of homesickness hitting you, “I missed this. I missed you.”

He nods, his lips pressed tightly as he tries to find the words to respond, “I missed you too, bub.” 

A soft note of a love song sounds over your speaker, traveling to his, “you love this song.”

Sam nods, reminiscing the moments he had with you during college. The one time you almost kissed—where are these memories and feelings coming from?! “Yeah, and---”

The doorbell rings on your end. Your eyes glinting as you stand up. Food delivery!

“Hold that thought, Sammy. My food’s here,” you say, your voice faint as you’re practically halfway through the door.

“She is a god-awful singer,” Bucky expresses, “but you love her, don’t you?”

“What?” Sam quickly taps a button on his screen—stupid Bucky and his stupid mouth. He covers his phone’s mouthpiece as if that could help, “shut the hell up.”

Sam’s changed demeanor confirms Bucky’s growing suspicion, “so you do love her!”

The latter glances at the empty screen, hoping you didn’t hear anything. Or maybe, he does?

The only sign of life from your end is the sound of various utensils cluttering and a metal bowl falling to the floor, making both men wince at the sudden noise.

Sam lowers the volume of his phone, facing Bucky from their respective beds.

“Shit,” Sam exclaims, running a hand over his handsome face, “maybe I do.”

This time, he finally lets himself go through the memories you made together before he left for the military.

The coffee dates, the late-night calls, the breakfast hangouts, the study sessions. You light up even the most boring of things. The texture of your skin, the sound of your laugh, the twinkle in your eyes bring Sam into a warm place.

You make him feel enough. You see him through and through.

Oh shit, he is in love with you.

Bucky just looks at him, boring holes in his face, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. “You really just realized, just now?” Sam’s not sure if it’s a rhetorical question.

“The way you talk about her. The way you talk to her. You see her and the things she like everywhere we go and you realize it just now?” So, it is a rhetorical question.

The revelation leaves Sam amused but unable to form words, “I… Do–I do love her. I’m in love with my best friend.”

A silent beat drops in the room—save for the faint hello? coming from Sam’s phone.

Ah, fuck.

Bucky put on his jacket planning to head out (to the motel’s ice machine) to give you two privacy. He bids Sam good luck and you a good night before walking towards the door.

As soon as the door shuts, Sam increases the volume on his phone again.

“Sam?” You call out, “I can’t see you, your cam’s off.”

In panic, he realizes that he tapped the wrong button—maybe Old Man Barnes had rubbed off on him.

You smile and sat up a little bit straighter when his face lights up your screen again.

“So… how much did you hear about the whole thing?” Sam wants to tread carefully around the subject, the first time he feels uncomfortable opening up to you.

He fully expects you to dismiss the topic, turn in for the night, and leave him lamenting about his feelings. And he’s somehow okay with it.

“Kinda, everything.” You confess, there’s nothing holding you back now, “I, you know-- I’m glad you got ‘round it. Even if it took you years.”

Another pin drops inside Sam’s head, “what do you mean?”

“Look, I confessed to you before we graduated but you never acknowledged it. So, I never brought it up again.” Even miles apart, Sam’s presence was around you. The bracelet he gave you during junior year, his favorite mug you borrowed from him, a ton of his shirts and hoodies that he gave to you before moving out after graduation. 

“You confessed to me? When?” Sam racks his brain for the smallest of details, for the quietest of whispers.

“I wrote you a letter. Remember? I slipped it under your door after finals week.”

After all these years, Sam never quite found out who wrote him that letter, “you never signed it.”

Sam didn’t expect you to laugh, to double over such a serious conversation, “dude, I did, I signed it. Why would I send you a deep proclamation of love without signing it?”

“It was written on pink paper, right? I still have it. You wanna bet that you don’t have your name on it?”

Your eyes widen in embarrassment, heat creeping up your cheeks, “oh my god, are you serious? I didn’t sign it?”

Sam laughs softly, his eyes crinkling the same way. There are lines decorating his eyes but he was still your Sam.

“No, ma’am.” He declares, the air somehow lighter now, “if you did, I would’ve said something.”

A hum escapes your lips, curling into a gentle smile, “good to know.”

The comfortable silence envelops the room, years of yearning and pining finally coming to end.

“Hey, after this mission - I was thinking if you want to go out. Catch up and you know, finally, talk in person.” Sam asks, there’s still a tiny voice inside his head not believing the talk that had transpired.

“I’d love that, Sam.”

The sentiment crashes and closes in on itself as Bucky barges into the room, holding a bucket of ice in one hand and a pack of beer in the other, “congratulations, idiots.”

[souplatypus]

Space medusa

I work an unusual job, or so I’ve been told. Pretty lonely, too. That’s fine with me, people were never my favorite thing and the opposite is also true..

So I found myself a job that was weird enough to not seem boring, that allowed me to travel and most importantly to stay alone, whilst not being truly alone. I keep my pack. Not sheeps, no, not even horses or such. My thing are medusas, or as many people call them : space jellyfish - quite frankly it’s the simplest way to put it.

They’re not really animals. Not plants either. Some scientist has a theory that they are a very special type of mushroom. Personally, I don’t know about that : they are my babies, that’s all I need, I don’t care about the theoretical classification.

To the public, they are known like platypi were in the time of Earth : weird animals, interesting curiosities, fun designs with cool abilities that live in unusual places. Except instead of Australia, a weird place on Earth, it’s space. “But how can it live in space ? That’s not possible ?” says pretty much everyone I meet.

I don’t know. It eats sunlight, or so I’ve been told, otherwise they have a jelly texture and are stupid. “How stupid ?”, they ask. Very ! Very very much ! In space it’s difficult to control your direction as there is no air to move around and push, so they just float in one direction until they hit something.

That species survived many years. How.

They try to stay a pack, but when you float for so long every centimeter matters, so you see them floating in slightly different directions, and they can’t change a thing. So my job is to keep them packed, more or less.

“How fast do they go, though ? They must be very slow ?” doubt people. Their doubt is understandable but still wrong, so wrong. How fast ? Depends what you call fast. They eat pure sunlight, and are really weird : that combo somehow works and they go like your average spaceship. We don’t know how. It’s a real field of studies, which is hilarious - it’s called “medusaelogia”, so pretentious.  

It should be mentioned that how fast they go just usually ends up reducing their lifetime. They have a passion for throwing themselves in suns or black holes. I deviate their course, so they don’t die : that’s my job.

“How do you make money ? Do they produce anything ?”, I hear the crowd saying.

Depends. Depends how you define producing. You see, when medusas encounter rocks or ice, like in a meteorite, they bounce on it. They absorb the impact, and the meteorite. You’d think that they’d be crushed, but no, they’re just doing fine, digesting the meteorite and separating its composants. They’re hard to mine, meteorites. And the metals are rare.

So I collect what they leave behind. That sells well.

I also have a photography business. When you’re on a trip in space for years at a time, you have time to take out the old camera and take pictures. No one does that anymore, except a few weird collectors - the good thing about those is that they’re ready to pay a good price.

They’re good pictures, too. The medusas help, of course, not even mentioning the beauty of space, that everyone in the whole universe can appreciate, I think, even if we tend to forget it, now that space travel is more common.

I don’t know if I have properly described the medusas until now. They are all very different, of course, but I can still describe some of the pictures I took. They are pretty translucide, to a certain degree, and you can see light through them. It comes out a little bit different though, as it is another environment, and they have a magnifying glasses effect. They grow during their life and there isn’t a limit known to how big they can get.

However, they reproduce by splitting at random times, which means they don’t usually get bigger than your standard moon, but I’ve seen some bigger ones.

The spores that they produce (do not forget that they are more like mushrooms than animals !) leaves a silver, gold, or blueish trace behind them, depending on the type, the age and probably some over factors. Some purple and green ones have been seen too, but they are rarer.

All that is the perfect combo for photos.

Shots with a volcanic moon behind them, the orange fires reflected in as many directions as they are medusas, the dark ash only troubling the bright colors as, in other circumstances, glitter would send a plain color sparkling with joy.

Zooms where you can see an entire galaxy, deformed and looking almost clumsy as the jelly-like structure modifies it.

Angles where there are so many stars, and then, a lack of them : a black hole, light radiating at its limit and otherwise the darkest of blacks. All that, slightly deformed when uncaring strange mushrooms that will outlive you if they don’t end up in said black holes float peacefully, living their lives and letting a trail of bright spores in the silent void.

Anyhow, the photos sell well to eccentrics, poets, and travel agencies.

There’s only one picture I didn’t take in the spaceship, and it’s above my bed.

It’s me and my fiancees. The last time we saw each other, we were so happy, smiling and unknowing of what would happen. Our eyes were full of the stars that we were going to visit. We had so much to live for.

But the past must stay in the past, as you can’t change it.

________________________________________________________________

thanks @flashfictionfridayofficial for the prompt it was very fun ! allowed me to talk about my dumb space medusas, which i always love

[midzelink]

So, as some of you might know, one of my GIFs was recently featured on the Tumblr Radar - which is pretty cool!  I was fairly happy with how that one turned out, especially considering that I made it rather last-minute on a whim to acknowledge Valentine’s Day.  It understandably received a lot of attention as a result of this, and I’ve loved reading through all the comments and tags (especially all the ones about how people want to eat the heart containers from TP); however, I wanted to clear up a bit of a misunderstanding surrounding the creation of that GIF, as there were additionally a lot of tags along the lines of #3d art or #artists on tumblr in that influx of reblogs.  I don’t want to take credit for something I didn’t do, even accidentally, and so allow me to be perfectly clear: the heart container GIF is not something I modeled and rendered myself! It is the original in-game model, recorded in-game using the Dolphin GCN/Wii emulator, with very little done in the way of post-processing in Photoshop.  If that sounds impossible or confusing (which is perfectly understandable, for those of you unaware of what Dolphin is capable of), I’d like to take this opportunity to give you guys a bit of a “peek behind the curtain,” as it were, to show you guys exactly how I made that particular GIF, as well as similar ones I’ve made (such as those in my #items tag).  

I didn’t take screenshots of my initial process (nor did I save the edited textures I used), so I’ll be recreating it from the ground up for the sake of demonstration, but that shouldn’t be a problem.

First thing’s first: finding a heart container! For this particular GIF, I wound up using the one that spawns after the Morpheel fight at the end of Lakebed Temple.  I’m sure many others would work just as well (I think, at the time, this one just happened to be the most accessible to me), but let’s use the same one for the sake of it.  

Morpheel: defeated.  And I didn’t even need Zora Armor! (Seriously, we do that in the speedrun.  But I’m getting off-topic.)  Of course, we’re going to need clean, close-up footage of the heart container rotating in order to do what we want to do, so let’s shift into first-person mode and and get a bit closer to the thing.

Now, because the only UI-element in this shot is Link’s health (and it’s in the corner and relatively non-obtrusive), removing it isn’t strictly necessary - but I’ve already made a texture pack that removes UI elements as part of my Text Free TP project from a while back, so let’s load it anyway, for the sake of being thorough.  This shot is also still a bit too far away, so next we’ll be utilizing Dolphin’s free cam feature (which can be accessed by going to Graphics > Advanced > Free Look and checking “Enable” in Dolphin) in order to get the heart container in a more central position. Now we’re left with this:

And we’re already looking well on our way to making a nice, solid color background GIF.  But how do we get the solid color? Well, that’s where more texture editing comes into play - and here I have to give credit where credit is due, as this is a trick I picked up from 186px, after wondering how they were able to make this GIFset of Link fighting Ganondorf in The Wind Waker in a great, black void.  (Seriously, shoutouts to them, their stuff was and still is amazing.)

But, very basically, we’ll be using Dolphin’s texture dump feature in order to find the textures that need to be edited so we can replace them with pure black ones.  Texture dumping can be enabled by going to Graphics > Advanced > Utility and checking “Dump Textures,” and the file path for these dumped textures by default is Documents > Dolphin Emulator > Dump > Textures > [Game ID].  (In the case of Twilight Princess, the Game ID is GZ2E01).  After dumping the textures in the Morpheel arena, my GZ2E01 folder looks like this:

When editing textures, sometimes you’ll have to endure a bit of trial and error until you find the correct ones.  Luckily, in this scene, the textures making up the sand floor and the stone walls are rather large, so let’s isolate the ones we’re pretty sure are responsible (plus a few others that are obviously environmental, just to be safe).

Now, when loading custom textures, it’s important that the file name you’re trying to load matches up exactly with the original texture that you’re trying to replace.  I have a plain, black, square PNG that I keep on my desktop specifically for this purpose; I copy the file names of the textures I’ve isolated, then rename and drag and drop the black PNG into the folder where custom textures are loaded (Documents > Dolphin Emulator > Load > Textures > [Game ID]).  Like so:

And now, to refresh our custom textures by disabling and reenabling them in Dolphin’s graphics settings:

And voilà! We have something that very nearly resembles the GIF I made (well, a still of it, at least).  I skipped over a few details, such as the fact that TP has a pretty significant amount of bloom surrounding just about everything, which I’m fairly certain I disabled using cheat codes when I made the original GIF in order to give it an overall cleaner look.  It’s hard to tell from this still, but TP’s heart containers also sparkle considerably in a way that’s random and not loopable; I found the texture responsible for this sparkle and replaced it with a transparent 1x1 PNG, in order to remove it entirely (as well as the texture behind the “glow” of the thing).  After that, it was as simple as recording the game with OBS, dumping the MP4 into Photoshop, cropping and cutting it to make it loop, and adding some adjustment layers for contrast and color.  So...yeah!

I hope this has served to clear up any confusion about some of the things that I’ve made in the past.  I’m not a 3D artist - just a person with an emulator and way too much free time on their hands.  This stuff is really, super simple, and also lots of fun, so I would highly encourage anyone with the means to mess around with emulation on their own some time to see what they can do!  (Even if you don’t have Photoshop and can’t make GIFs, there are always edits, such as this one I made of Midna.)  For Twilight Princess in particular, I also highly recommend checking out TPGZ; it’s a patch you can apply to a clean ISO of the original game, designed with the purposes of helping folks learn and practice the speedruns (yes, I had to bring up speedrunning one last time, kill me), but it’s got nifty features like built-in savestates, cheat codes, and HUD removal, as well as the ability to freeze actors while maintaining the ability to move the camera freely, among other things (all things that are very useful as far as making unique graphics go).  Sorry this post got as long as it did, but I at the very least hope that some of you found it educational and/or interesting.  Cheers!

[13uswntimagines]

Leave the Cooking to Me (Sam x Rose x Reader)

Request: Sam x rose x reader. Where R was a part time chef so she’s always cooking their meals and the team is jealous of the good food

Author’s Note: Special Thanks to @literaryhedgehog. We had way too much fun doing this one and spent way too much time looking up random food things. Gotta say that we are both a sucker for writing for Sam. 

Sam and Rose were lucky and they would tell that to anyone who would listen to them. You weren’t just the sweetest human being they had ever met, or the most thoughtful. You were all of those things, and you knew how to cook. Not just recreationally either. You were the full fledged winner of Top Chef season 19, and the Sous chef at one of the hottest restaurants in Washington D.C.

“How can you make such good food dressed like that?” Sam asked, leaning over the island and resting her chin on her hand. 

“What do you mean?” You raised your eyebrows at the woman, continuing to run your knife along the onion without looking at it. 

“Don’t all of your skills come from your chefs coat?” Rose asked, sliding up beside you, her hand trailing under the back of your shirt. You shivered at the cold hand touching your skin. 

“I’m not Iron Man. I can function without an outfit,” you said, rolling your eyes, as you grabbed an egg. You happened to like wearing an oversized pajama shirt and short-shorts while cooking. You never felt bad about spilling anything on them, since you didn’t exactly wear them in public. “Sam, since your hands aren’t literal icicles-” Rose stuck her tongue out at you playfully “- can you hold this and warm it up to room temperature while Rose helps me hold the pastry?” 

“Ohhh what kind of pastry? Why is that filling purple?” Rose squealed. You knew how much she loved when you baked for them (especially considering those croissants you made them for special occasions). She pulled the bowl closer to her, and scrunched her nose when she saw the contents. 

You may have had a good track record, but that color was crazy. 

“It’s Spanakopita, but we’re going to experiment just a little bit. If you don’t like it you have to eat it anyway,” You shrugged, rolling out the dough onto a cutting board, and positioning Rose’s hands right where you wanted them. 

“If you make it, we’re going to like it.” Sam snorted, and Rose raised her eyebrow at her. 

You bit you lip, wilting just slightly. “I just got inspired, cause the beats are going to look so good in the risotto for the Arancini,”

“If it’s anything like that curry you made last time you got inspired, I think we’ll be ok,” Sam said, kissing your neck with a grin while you worked. You squeaked a little and jumped, hip-checking her to keep her away from accidentally touching the food. 

“It’s just a shame Valentine’s day already happened,” Rose said, looking at the three bowls of filling in their various places on the counter or in the fridge, “Pink, red, and purple dishes would have made great themed appetizers for your restaurant!” 

You snorted and shook your head. “I wish, we could do anything this interesting.” The arancini, maybe. The other two would probably be avoided like the plague for fear of any garlic or other lingering spices. “People are too bougie to enjoy the simple things like strangely colored foods.” 

“Good thing we’re not!” Sam smiled broadly, stealing a piece of orange-colored pork from the bowl to your right. 

“Yeah, we get all the sass and none of the class,” Rose giggled, barely avoiding your slap at her hand as she also stole a piece of pork. 

Just then you heard singing from the couch. “We are family,” Sam stuffed the piece of pork in her mouth and jumped up to grab her phone from where it was wedged between the cushions. “I’ve got all my sisters and me.”

“Tha’s Kwsten,” She spoke through her mouthful then swallowed. Do you mind if I go take this?” 

“Go for it, we’re about to stick this stuff in the oven anyway,” You nodded, giggling when she tripped over a chair on her way to grab the phone. “Make sure you swallow before you answer,” 

“Took you long enough. What were you doing, trying to find your pants?” Kristie’s voice rang through your apartment the second Sam answered the call. You smiled when your girlfriend’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink. 

“No, Y/n is cooking. She’s so good with her hands Kris, it’s not fair,”  Sam said shaking her head. 

Kristie snorted, wiggling her eyebrows at the woman. “I’m sure she is,” 

“Stop trying to turn everything I say into a euphemism.” Sam groaned, sending a glare at Rose who was cackling like a madwoman. 

“But you make it sooo easy,” Kristie teased, “I mean what was it you said last time, ‘she kneads aggressively?’”

“Bread, Kris. She was making bread. And you’re supposed to do-I mean knead it aggressively, that’s how gluten develops.” 

“Stop trying to explain it babe,” Rose sang, her voice bubbling with suppressed laughter.  

“You’re just making it worse,” You nodded along. 

“You know, I’m not this mean to you when Emily and Lindsey pull this shit with you. I was even sympathetic with the Sketchers thing,” Sam pouted. 

“We agreed to never mention that again,” Rose said menacingly, but Sam was distracted as you handed her a plate with the Spanakopita.

Sam’s pout melted off her face at the sight of the plate. “Ooo goodies. Thanks babe,” 

You kissed her cheek and waved to her sister on the phone before heading back to the kitchen to finish the next set. 

“What is that?” 

“Just course one of the amazing appetizers lunch my wonderful girlfriend is making for me.” Sam bit in and rolled her eyes at the taste, holding up the other half of the Spanakopita so she could see the gorgeous and delicious purple filling. 

“For both of you Sammy. Don’t leave Rosie out, that’s mean,” You called out, your tongue poking between your teeth as you stirred the pot on the stove. 

In the background of Kristie’s call, Sam could see other teammates gathering around the phone to see her food. She stood and walked back to the kitchen, turning the facetime camera around so they could see the two trays out of the oven and then you stirring at the stove. You waved your spoon but stayed focused. The rice was just at the point when it was most likely to burn and you needed to make sure the texture didn’t go from delicious to goopy. Risotto wasn’t for the faint of heart. 

“Look at how fluffy this Bao is!” Sam said, slowly tearing one of the dumplings in half in front of the camera. Sisterly torture went both ways- her sister may turn half of what Sam said into sex jokes, but Sam could rub the delicious food in Kristie’s face. 

“Why is it so orange?” Emily asked, piping in from behind the older Mewis sister. 

“Some awesome Indonesian spices that Y/n thought would be good,” Sam said, taking a huge bite out of the bun. 

“Tamarind and Turmeric in the mix,” you called out from behind her.

“It’s not fair that your girlfriend is a literal chef who enjoys cooking in the weekend,” Emily whined, followed shortly by a “shut up Sonnett” from Lindsey and a thump. 

“Experimenting apparently,” Rose said, mischievously. 

“Not helping dear. Anyway, what were you calling about Kris?” Sam said pointedly. 

“We just wanted to know what you eta for camp was?” Kristie asked. 

“Um, the flight leaves tomorrow at what time was it again Rose? 8 am?”

“Try 4:30 am Sam,” You rolled your eyes. It was going to suck, but you were going to make sure to pack some tasty overnight oats so no one was grumpy on the plane. 

“Ugh. That’s bullshit. Anyway, takeoff at god-awful early in the morning, and then we’ll see you when we land!” Sam said. She hung up the phone and moved back towards the counter. 

“Don’t worry babe, I’ll schedule the flight next time,” You leaned up to kiss her cheek. “Now how bout you help me roll some balls?” 

*****

“I don’t know what we did wrong this time?” Kelley said, poking the overly pale cinnamon rolls that had just come out of the oven. Then she turned the roll over to see a crisp black scorch on the base. “It looks like we took them out just in time though?”

“They’re pale on the top and burnt in the bottom,” Rose whined, tapping the middle of one of the rolls experimentally. 

“Kind of line you Rose,” Sam laughed, patting her shorter girlfriend on the back. 

“Haha, at least they’re not hockey pucks like the last batch,” Rose grumbled. 

How they had let their teammates talk them into this, she didn’t know. What she did know was that cooking with you was way more fun than doing it with this bunch. At least with you everything turned out tasty in the end. And if she accidentally messed something up you always knew how to fix it. 

“Stop that,” Kelley swatted Alex’s hand away from the bowl of icing. “That’s unsanitary. Let us drizzle it on the rolls first and then you can clean the bowl.” 

“But then what are we gonna do with this caramel you insisted I stir?” Emily asked, looking up from the pot in front of her. 

“It’s for the next batch. You put it in the bottom before you bake,” Sam answered, beginning to roll out the next set of cinnamon rolls. 

“And technically, we didn’t insist you do anything Sonnet. We mentioned our idea to make caramel for the cinnamon rolls and you jumped up and said “I volunteer as tribute”” Rose grumbled. “You didn’t even let us suggest a recipe.”

“Which considering the success of the other recipes you picked, might have been a good idea,” Emily said, frowning slightly at the bubbling mixture in front of her. She was stirring but the bubbles weren’t going away like they did with pasta. Maybe because it was thicker? She stirred faster to compensate.  

“Hey guys, what are you-... oh shit,” You raced over to the stove, nearly barreling into Emily as you grabbed the practically overflowing pot of molten sugar and moved it off the heat, praying you had gotten to it before it was too late. You really didn’t want to have to explain to the trainers why you and Emily had third-degree burns if the pot exploded. 

You spun towards the group of older players, glaring at them. “Who let the child do the most dangerous job?” 

“Dangerous?!?” Kelley and Rose sputtered. Sam just blinked at you

You shook your head and pinched the space between your eyes. “If it crystallizes and you don’t take it off the heat it can explode. You don’t stir sugar,”  

“Oh. Well. At least there’s still icing?” Sam grabbed one of the better rolls and gave it a hearty helping of icing before handing it to you.

“What did you use, because Alex is vegan and she’s been eating it?” You narrowed your eyes at the offered plate, glancing sideways at a set of very pale rolls and a set that were very burnt and flat. 

“Flaxseed and applesauce instead of eggs and oat milk instead of milk. And margarine instead of butter.” Kelley said, automatically. She and her fiance had been making vegan substitutes for a while now, and while they might not have been traditional cinnamon roll ingredients, she knew the measurements by heart, so that’s what they had used. 

You bit your lip and squinted your eyes as you reached out and swiped a bit of frosting from on top of the bun and put it into your mouth. 

You gulped when the salty substance hit your tongue, trying and failing to conceal your wince after the flavor. Your girlfriends were a lot of things, but apparently good cooks wasn’t on that list. “Hey, what container was the powdered sugar that you used for this in?”

“Um, this one?” Kelley said, sliding you a container. 

Your eyes widened at the blue-lidded container. You had been experimenting for a new dish at the restaurant and had gotten a hold of some micro powder salt flour for it. You thought it would give the new cracker-jack-themed desert a better taste, and help to balance out all the sugar from the Caramel ice cream. 

“That’s not sugar,” you said weakly. 

Alex dipped her finger into the bowl and tasted it, gagging. “It’s salty!”

Sam frowned down at the plate in her hand. She hadn’t wanted to do this, to begin with, but the team had insisted. Assured her they knew what they were doing and that you would love the surprise. Instead, Emily had almost burnt down your kitchen and everything was a mess. 

“Is none of it alright,” Rose asked softly from behind you, her lip jutting out. 

You scanned the kitchen, looking from the still ominously bubbling ooze on the stove, to the cinnamon rolls so undercooked you could catch salmonella from them to the icing, then finally to a glass on the counter. You grabbed it and took a large swig of vanilla oat milk. 

“Your milk tastes great!” you said enthusiastically, as the others started laughing. 

Sam and Rose just wilted further. You sighed, wrapping your arm around your taller girlfriend and holding your hand out to Rose. “It’s the thought that counts guys. And I love the thought,” 

“That’s what your parents tell you when you give them shitty presents so you don’t feel bad,” Rose grumbled, and Sam nodded. 

You sighed, unable to keep your lips from tipping up in a smile. It was just. It was so bad it was funny. “Maybe next time start with something a little easier? I’d love some scrambled eggs and toast!”

 Sam sighed. “You hate eggs,” 

You laughed again. “But I love you, even if you two can’t cook,” 

You leaned up to kiss under Sam’s chin and over to Rose’s cheek. You loved them and would remind them that their skills were on the field. They should leave the kitchen stuff to you. 

[lunzoic]

Review of Scarlet/Violet so far (NO SPOILERS for the story or specific new mons, just general gameplay)

The Pokemon: I'm hella biased as someone who basically loves all monster designs and little guysTM, but I've genuinely liked every new Pokemon encountered. Some really knock it out of the park in terms of overall design and concept. Some I didn't like when I saw them in a still image, but really grew on me when I actually caught and used them in-game. I'm surprised by the number of animations some Pokemon have for attacking, moving around, and interacting with things, which is small but really makes the whole world feel more alive. Also makes it more understandable why 'just importing' every Pokemon in existence is not that simple (I'm bitter to admit). I'm spoiled as to the general look of most new mons, but encountering them in-game and getting to see them in action is really on another level this gen. I have... so many surprise new precious babies...

The core gameplay loop: still great. Exploring and finding a new area or hidden cave or TM or rare Pokemon while traversing a bunch of varied environments is really exciting. Suffers a little bit from same-ness in spawns if you go to every nook and cranny, like there's some areas that don't have many unique Pokemon to encounter. On the other hand, it can make hunting for a particular Pokemon more fun since you may have a bunch of different locations to choose from. I'm enjoying the methods you can use to boost spawns and the visible scale differences for unusually tiny or large Pokemon (but WHY is size not a innately part of a Pokemon's summary... you just have to guess until you go and ask one specific NPC, afaik). The challenge of fighting trainers and gyms has is about as easy as it was in SwSh (if you stay to the recommended quest order), which is to say it's not challenging at all. Actual battles with NPCs seem to take on a much smaller role so far compared to the appeal of just exploring and catching wild Pokemon, which I don't mind at all but some players might miss the thrill of running into a really tough random trainer or a particularly fiendish gym leader (there have been some non-gym boss battles that were definitely pretty tough, however, and I expect some of the later story battles will give a bigger challenge).

I haven't had any bugs that actually affected gameplay in any way, although having the fore-knowledge that this is Pokemon Skyrim edition has made me cautious in avoiding things that I think might result in glitchy behavior. Restarting every few hours seems to avoid significant memory leak stutter, and the only immersion breaking graphics I've seen are the stop-motion movement on distant characters and the shadows randomly deciding to turn on or off depending on camera angle (which I've actually found very handy when getting pictures from all sorts of angles, but uh, probably not an intended feature?).

Wilderness landscape textures and meshes: no getting around the fact that there is a lot of ugly here. Cliffs and stony areas are a travesty in terms of repeating patterns and looking like play-doh in the distance. I also noticed something I haven't seen since playing janky user-made level in Spore, where in some spots the mesh also appears squishy like play-doh and warps up and down depending on how close you are (I don't know enough about 3D rendering to know exactly why that happens, but it's definitely a phenomenon that seems to occur in unpolished and 'underbaked' level meshes, or out of bounds areas no player is supposed to see). It... really brings in to question if there was a reluctance to hire more 3D map artists? I get staying loyal to a core dev team and wanting to reduce potential for leaks, but even just external devs/consultants who work solely on non-Pokemon related lighting engines, environmental textures, meshes, etc.?? Maybe they did actually do that but it just doesn't show in the final product, because even a whole team of talented people would create 'underbaked' maps if forced to rush. Unpolished textures and rendering are not that impactful on actual gameplay, the whole concept of the entire game being one massive wild area & open world was insanely ambitious and I'm not surprised to see mixed results, but it is still really jarring to see how unfinished a lot of the wild areas of the game look.

Town design, environmental props, etc: Props and non-wild areas honestly feel on par with X&Y so far with with just a higher resolution and more intricate level design. I maintain that that X&Y had such a fantastic look and art direction, especially for its time and the limitations of the 3DS, that similar graphics & aesthetic still feel serviceable even now when playing on mobile, but it's a little sad that the 9 year later successor doesn't blow X&Y out of the water. That being said, it is really fun jumping off buildings and around rooftops in town with your living bicycle (if you keep in mind finicky collision on edges), all the towns are really beautiful to look at (if kind of devoid of actual gameplay things to do besides the gym), and the seamless transition from most towns to wilderness is really lovely (but I do wonder what serious optimization costs/design considerations that decision came with). Now, NPCs within towns... are basically non-entities, sometimes literally due to pop-in and phasing while walking around. The random NPCs were never a big draw for Pokemon, usually just a chore to find out which ones give you important items/quests, but I've found so few NPCs who say anything more than 3 words that I'm actually starting to miss walking into a house and someone's grandpa regales me about how much he loves looking out at the sea with his Pokemon... and that was the entire point of that house. I guess it is kind of antiquated game design to add flavor in this way and far more labor intensive to create interiors than it was in previous games, but it is something quintessentially old school RPG (which I'd argue Pokemon still is!) that is now almost entirely missing. Named NPCs do have a hell of a lot to say, on the other hand...

Main Story and Characters: I have the least to say here because I haven't gotten too far, but it does seem promising? The whole school thing is kinda weird, I don't think this game was promoted as being academy-core, but good for the people who are into that I guess? The actual characters have been great so far, I don't play Pokemon for the human character designs but the devs clearly know that a lot of people do... The story NPCs have definitely had a lot of love and care put in to their looks and personalities, even though not many have really stood out narrative-wise so far. I have heard good things about where the story goes, and I'm especially interested in the sandwich questline (can't believe I'm saying that but it's true).

Difficulty: Definitely pretty bad so far. Making the exploration so compelling was really a double-edged sword for me here, it is way too easy to get distracted from whatever you're supposed to be doing and wander into an area that will crush you. I figured out the rule of thumb that if you get a zone transition and there is no recommended quest in that area, get the hell out. But it's difficult to keep track of which quests you are even supposed to do next. And if you do explore a lot within the recommended quest areas first, you can easily get overleveled for that set of quests and make them a cakewalk. OTOH, this definitely makes it the easiest Pokemon game ever to have a team composition of way more than 6 mons and rotate them, since powering up newly caught underleveled Pokemon is very easy with the exp share and exp candies. Autobattling makes grinding very easy too, if you gotta do it, and rare candies are actually fairly common scattered across the landscape. I've been using rotating teams to play through Pokemon games since X&Y, so I welcome the ability to use as many Pokemon as possible throughout the main storyline. As for accidentally getting to areas you are underleveled for... there's really no excusing the lack of signposting for what level the enemies in a given area are. Since you can avoid both wild encounters and trainers fairly easily, there's nothing stopping players from getting to a new zone and making a beeline for the boss without even realizing they have no way to beat it. Even just displaying level on nearby wild Pokemon and putting slightly stronger spawns in the area leading up to a tougher zones would do a hell of a lot, and is something that any RPG with freedom of exploration would do. It really reeks of lack of play-testing. Pokemon games have not always been great in terms of having what feels like a well-tested difficulty curve, but making every time the average player strolls into a new zone feel like a sequence break really takes the cake. I do wonder how well actual kids are going to be able to get through this game?? I know that every Pokemon Center has the 'where to go next' option that gives you a waypoint too, but kids are absolutely not going to remember that as an option (and a lot of adults aren't either. I'm also not sure how useful it actually is, given it's already recommended I go to the 4th gym when I haven't done the 3rd gym yet? I had to look at a guide to even know that I haven't done the 3rd gym though). On the OTHER other hand, it is kinda interesting to be able to get to lvl 40+ areas right off the bat without any exploits at all? Not good game design, not fun for a lot of players, but could make for some insane challenges. People finding routes for 100% speedruns and the like might be crazy entertaining.

[trashyswitch]

The Strange Flower

Logan and Roman take a walk in the imagination. Not long after, Logan is plagued with the giggles and phantom feelings! What ever could they be from?! Whatever it is, Roman is loving it!

I'm gonna be gone to the cottage for a week starting today. So, I'll be working on fanfics a little, but less than usual. It's a vacation!! I'm actually really excited!

This fanfic prompt came from @little-lee-lo-simp. Thank you so much for the prompt and I hope you enjoy the fanfic.

These are the morning Giggles:

Logan was walking around with Roman in the imagination, admiring the many flowers and trees surrounding them. There were so many colors! And so many different fruits and things hidden within the trees! From creatures to vines and flowers, it was beautiful.

There were poppies with smiley faces on them, different fruits that were covered in ‘paint splash’ syrup, there were lettuce bits that could be fresh, sweet or crunchy depending on your preference, and there were banana-shaped fruits that had edible skins and pomegranate-like seeds in the middle of the fruit.

There were vines covered in pickable sticks that were edible and used for healing purposes, and twisty flowers that had yarn-textured petals yet, were still real and growing on their own. There were thick leaves that held different-colored inks in them that could be used for mixing and writing, and there were thin large leaves that could be written on like paper without ripping when written on with a stick.

Many flowers looked like they were squirting different things. One flower had honey running down the stem. They were labelled ‘Buzzy suckles’, a wordplay of honey suckles. There were even different colored roses that looked like they were splashed with layers of watercolors. Red, yellow, purple, pink, they all covered the roses in a drippy paint-like pattern.

Logan smiled as he knelt down to look closer at the small cluster of roses. “These are beautiful, Roman.” Logan reacted calmly, filled with awe and delight.

Roman smiled at the complement. But when he looked upon the flowers that Logan was looking at, Roman tilted his head in thought. He...didn’t remember what he had called those specific flowers. Obviously they were a type of roses, but he liked to give them a spinney, cute kinda name to go with them. But...Roman had forgotten this particular cute name.

But he most certainly remembered how beautiful they were! “Thank you!” Roman replied.

Logan picked one of the roses and put it behind Roman’s ear. Roman giggled at this and wore the rose with confidence and pride. The flower started blooming little sticks that had...rectangular flags on them? And they had the gay flag on each one of them!

“Awww, it knows you’re gay!” Logan reacted.

“Yup! This flower can specifically tell what sexuallity you are. If you were straight, you’d have a straight flag. If you were pan, you had a pan flag. If you identified as multiple things…” Roman looked at the flower and pointed to hated multiple Gay pride flags that popped out. “Each of these flags would be different, to identify what kind of person you are.” Roman explained. “And if you’re more than 3…” Roman poked it and watched as a single LGBT flag poked out. “The LGBT community flag will pop out, specifying anything!” Roman explained.

“I love it!” Logan reacted.

“You can also use this flower to find out what you are in a few seconds.” Roman added.

“But it still has the usual sexuality journey, right?” Logan asked. “Cause everyone needs a journey.”

“Yup!” Roman replied proudly.

Logan continued to look around at the different varieties of flowers and plants that filled the imagination. There were even weeds that looked surprisingly pretty! A few of the weeds had pretty leaves and pretty flowers that were hidden within it. Even the dandelions were nicer to look at. They were more of an orangey yellow color, and were slightly bigger than the usual dandelions.

But in a specific spot: a small field of these strange flowers had been planted. They were blue flowers that looked a lot like Morning Glories. But...they resembled a heavenly blue version, and had a very visibly yellow middle. “Wow..I’m gonna head over here.” Logan decided.

Roman didn’t think much of it. “Okay.”

Logan walked to the blue and yellow flowers, and laid down inside the flowers’ fields. They looked so pretty...and very detailed when he looked closer at them. They had these dark green leaves that extended out of the stem. The flowers actually looked like they were dancing in the wind like Groot did in Guardians of the Galaxy. It looked really cute. It also seemed to be spirting out tiny bits of pollen. Logan tilted his head and placed a finger closer to the pollen. It was yellow looking, like all pollens were, and looked fuzzy.

Strange...

Logan got up and walked away from the pretty flowers a little while after. He dusted off his fingers on his shirt and pants to get rid of the pollen and walked to Roman.

“You have some really pretty flower and plant ideas. I love them!” Logan reacted.

Roman smiled eagerly. “Thank you! I worked really hard to make sure every single one of my flowers were distinctive and different in their own way.” Roman declared proudly. “Now: Cherry?” Roman asked, holding up a black cherry to him.

Logan smiled and took it. “Thank you, Roman!”

The two boys walked themselves out of the imagination and back into Thomas’s house. Logan was feeling a bit of an itchy feeling, but he didn’t think much of it. He just kept scratching it and continuing with his day. But soon the itchy feeling turned tickly. And it started spreading.

Logan attempted to ignore the feeling and hid his smile, but it felt like a single finger was scratching at one side each. It was distracting and made him wanna tense up. Soon, the feeling moved to his ribs. It felt like poking and wiggling in between his ribs. Logan could barely hide his smile without looking like a doofus that was trying not to laugh at a stupid joke. Logan looked away from Roman in an attempt to cover it up. But Roman could tell something was up.

“Logan...What are you smiling about?” Roman asked. “Are the smiley flowers making you smile?” Roman asked, referring to purple poppy’s that had a smiley face on each petal.

Logan shook his head and hummed ‘no’.

“Huh...I thought that may have been it. What’s making you smile, Logey Bee?” Roman asked. Logan accidentally let a giggle slip at the weird and strangely cute nickname. “Ooooh, you’re a giggly bee! I see now!” Roman declared. “What’s making you so giggly?” Roman asked.

Logan shook his head and couldn’t stop the giggles that left his mouth more and more. That’s a good question! What IS making him so giggly? He’s never like this!

“Iiiiis it a funny joke?” Roman asked. “Hey I’ve got one for you:” Roman cleared his throat. “What do dentists call their X-Rays?” Roman asked.

Logan frantically shook his head. Even if it wasn’t funny, any amount of jokes is gonna worsen his giggles!

“Tooth Pics! Dentists call X-Rays tooth pics!” Roman declared proudly.

Logan squeezed his eyes shut. That was a bad one...An obvious joke- “Hehehehehehehe!” Logan giggled. SHIT!

Roman gasped. “PATTON! PATTON, I MADE LOGAN LAUGH AT A JOKE!” Roman shouted. “YESSS!”

Logan growled through is giggles. “Nohohohohoho! Stahahap ihihihit!” Logan begged. Logan covered his belly as his inner stomach was attacked with the strangest phantom tickles he’s ever felt in his life. “Thahahahat tihihihicklehehehes!” Logan giggled, nearly falling over. He was beginning to lose his balance.

“Tickles? What tickles?” Roman asked, getting closer. “Does your belly tickle? Maybe your sides? Or your neck?” Roman asked.

That word was enough to throw Logan into full on laughter, mixed with giggles in between. “HAhahahahahaha! Rohohohomahahahan whahahat dihihihid yohohou puhuhuhut ihin yohohour flohohohowehehers?” Logan asked.

“Well that depends. The smiley Poppy makes you smile uncontrollably. The blue and red Mushrooms make you overly hyper. The morning Giggles make you- Ooooooh…” Roman turned to Logan. “Did you cover yourself in the pollen from the Morning Glory flowers? You silly, giggly goose!” Roman teased. “Those are called Morning Giggles! They make you giggle and laugh through means of tickling and softly teasing your ticklish spots!” Roman declared.

Well, that seemed to be the most conclusive answer.

“But when did you get in contact with the morning giggles? You never struck out on your own until the end- Oooooooh…” Roman smirked and leaned into his ear. “You brought this upon yourself, Giggle berry~” Roman teased.

You could say that again...He really did get himself into this. But why didn’t he warn him!

“If I had known you were gonna look at the morning giggles, I would’ve warned you! But nope! Telling by the spot you’re holding so tensely, it looks like you decided to lay on your poor, ticklish belly to admire the beautiful, giggle blooms!” Roman declared. “Does that sound about right?” Roman asked.

Logan finally kneeled over and flopped onto his side with laughter. With his feet free, Logan started kicking and squirming on the ground, unable to contain any of it. The pollen was tickling everything it touched. His belly, his thighs, his nose, his neck, his abs, his feet, the tops of his feet, even his armpits were partly covered in ticklish pollen! It felt like the pollen bits were jumping around and snuggling into Logan’s ticklish spots on his body! Even his hands were being tickled by the micro-sized pollen bits! What a strange conundrum!

To make things even worse, Roman’s teases were flustering him beyond saving. Logan was practically the color of a strawberry! How dare!

“Aww! Listen to that sweet little laugh! It’s so fun and cute!”

“You should laugh more often, Logan. It suits you! And you of all people know, laughter is very good for you!” Roman teased.

Logan covered his face and cowered into the fetal position.

“Where is my camera? I need to get a picture of this. Or maybe even a video! Or 5!”

Logan whimpered and whined. “SHUHUHUT UHUHUP!” Logan ordered.

“Are you whimpering now? You be careful doing that! Patton just might think there’s a puppy in this house!”

Logan whimpered again and covered his mouth. Just about every part of Logan’s front side was being tickled by the bits of pollen. It was so much tickling at once.

“HEHEHEHELP MEHEHEHEHEHEHE!” Logan begged.

“Hmmmmmm...Maybe in a bit. I wanna enjoy this for a little longer! Then I’ll dust you off!” Roman decided. “How’s that?”

Logan whined and groaned. “FIHIHINE…”

Logan handled the tickling for a little longer, despite his want for it to stop. It was getting to be too much light tickles for him to handle. “Ihihihit’s soho lihihihihight!” Logan reacted.

“Ohh! Do you want more? Does the blueberry Logan bean want the stronger tickle tickle tickles?” Roman asked politely.

“Yehehehes plehehehehease!” Logan begged.

Roman nodded. “Your wish is my command, your royal blueness!” Roman grabbed Logan’s hand and started tickling his palm.

Logan’s laughter TRIPLED in volume! “OHOHOHOHO NAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Logan screamed!

“WHOA! Okay! What’s up with you?! You sound like you’re gonna rip a vocal cord if you keep screaming like that!” Roman reacted.

Logan cackled and laughed hysterically as his hand was attacked by Roman’s hand. His hand was moving the pollen around, which only made it tickle even more! And the pollen in Logan’s armpit was more free to move around, making the pollen tickle much worse in that spot too! There was just so much tickling!

Not that Logan minded, of course…

Logan squeaked, squealed, cackled and snorted through the whole thing. “OHOHOKAHAHAHAY, OHOHOKAHAHAHAHAHAY! EHEHENOHOHOUGH! IHIHI CAHAHAHAHAHA!” Logan couldn’t even get some of his words out properly at this point.

That was when Roman realized he should probably stop. Roman let go of his palm and placed it down. Then, Roman summoned a big broom-like paintbrush and brushed off the pollen. Though the pollen did end up coming off (Which lessened the tickling), the brush itself tickled as well. Even with the shirt and the pants on, it tickled! Logan giggled and squirmed around as Roman brushed the pollen off his poor body.

Roman soon stopped and looked at Logan. “Alright. I have a new plan.” He decided. “Let’s get you into a shower to let the pollen wash off you.” Roman decided.

Logan nodded as he held his belly somewhat lightly. Roman walked to the shower, started it up, checked the water, and left the bathroom so Logan could get in.

30 minutes later:

Roman was playing a game on his iPad when Logan walked in with his hair somewhat wet, and his body in new, yet identical clothes. Logan had a small smile on his face. “That was quite the ordeal.” Logan admitted.

Roman giggled. “I’ll say. I guess you gotta keep in mind the morning giggles from now on. And some of the other ones I mentioned.” Roman added.

Logan sighed and looked at him with a serious face. “I have another idea:” Logan picked up a sign that said ‘Morning Giggles: Pollen makes you laugh’ on it. “How about placing signs in front of the plants?” Logan asked.

Roman nodded and took the sign he made. “Thank you Logan. That’s a better idea than I could’ve come up with!” Roman reacted.

“No problem.” Logan replied. “Though I will say…” Roman turned to face Logan as he continued. “I would consider laying in the morning glories- giggles again.” Logan admitted.

Roman bursted out laughing at that. “Yohohou know you can just ask people to tickle you, right?” Roman added.

“Yes, I am aware of that. But doing that would ruin my image. I would much prefer there being an uncontrollable reason to my giggles and laughter.” Logan explained.

“Okay. Suit yourself.” Roman replied, sneaking a poke to both sides.

Logan jumped and shot a wobbly glare at him. This just made Roman laugh at him more.

Roman’s imagination is filled with thousands of different flowers. But only one flower’s pollen can make the most monotone person laugh beyond their years:

The Morning Giggles.

[felassan]

Gamers For Groceries 2 event

A Twitch stream event from a few days ago. It can currently be re-watched here (it was fun & interesting, so I do recommend to check it out direct). This post contains some notes on things of particular interest & relevant timestamps, in case this is useful to anyone (for example bc of accessibility reasons).

First up is the All About Animating panel, a series of mini-interviews with game devs (animators) asking what they do, how they got there, and advice for anyone interested in getting into the industry. Some or all of the devs that were interviewed are currently working on DA4. They talked a bit about their day-to-day work and a lot about the craft of game dev animation in general. This segment runs from timestamp ~38 mins 40 secs to 1:07:50. Some notes:

[sounded like DA4] Right now the creature team are working on different creatures in a way which involves going through a lot of mocap data

At BioWare they have a pretty big technical animation team, to support their animators, so each tech animator has a different specialty. Tech anim involves animation support, character art support, and rigging the characters so that the animators can pose them

[not sure if re: DA4 work specifically, another project or a general comment on the craft] One of the featured animators’ area of specialty at the moment is faces and hair (building the control structure for face animations). First they had to decide how the face rig and its control structure would work. This involves a lot of performance capture of live actors for things like cinematics and gameplay animation, therefore the rigs for bodies and faces have to be able to accurately capture the full range of expressions and emotions that the actor is portraying. Right now the stage that this dev is working on most is setting up the heads that they’re getting through the pipeline from character art e.g. making adjustments based on feedback from the cinematics team. “Polish - just trying to get realism”

Hair tech has come quite a long way in the last few years [in the industry]

[not sure if re: DA4 work specifically, another project or a general comment on the craft] Hair is very complex to get right. “In the past most games have used card-based hair, which is basically like sheets of polygons with a texture on it that looks like hair, through layers of transparency. But real hair is strand-based, digital strands, so we’re starting to look into that kind of tech - try to get more realistic, more beautiful hair, but there’s always a performance cost to hair. Layers of transparent things are always an expense, they need to balance like, it looks good and moves well, but it doesn’t make your computer or console chug. [...] I guess we’re in the prototype stage but we’ve almost got a set pipeline. It’s always fun to experiment”

In Mass Effect 2 or 3, Miranda’s hair was as expensive as a whole character (!)

[on balancing hair costs/performance, general] It depends on things like character importance and how many characters are on-screen at the time. When you’re in gameplay fighting a bunch of monsters you’re not going to be giving full beautiful hair to all the characters and the monsters, as it will cost too much. (Having a helmet on is a convenient way to get rid of hair.) But if it’s a cinematic scene, with 2 characters talking to each other in a dramatic context, there’s a better budget for nice hair allocated

Some of the hair in Anthem was quite expensive in cinematics. They kept getting bugs from QA saying (for example) that a character’s hair was tripling the performance cost in the scene, so it would go back to character art so they could take away some of the hair cards. “Tough balance, quality versus cost”

“I wish all the characters could have beautiful strand hair”

For p-cap, a lot of the time they don’t want to be too prescriptive in terms of the direction that they’re giving the actors, as the actors know what they’re doing and have a lot of experience, so they give them vague instructions that they then riff off of

[sounded like DA4] They recently did a mocap shoot

[sounded like DA4] There’s a bit more productivity happening now in the pandemic situation; now that the animators are not all going to the capture lab in Vancouver in person for shoots, if it’s not their turn to direct a shot they can instead be working on something else on their computers (multi-tasking). ((Lead DA4 Producer Scylla Costa recently gave a talk at a games festival on the challenges of DA production during the pandemic. In part of this talk he talked about various benefits and drawbacks to the remote-working situation. He also talked about and showed some behind-the-scenes stuff for p-cap and mocap. Notes, images and link here))

[sounded like DA4] Special mocap suits were sent out that they can use with a laptop to go anywhere and shoot motion capture. It’s not as high fidelity as what comes out of the capture lab, but it’s really good for prototyping stuff. Before the pandemic they did some of this (going to a park and shooting some running around)

[sounded like DA4] In one of the shoots they had some actors who were really well-trained in dancing. They were trying to get them to do some combat stuff. This was a bit challenging in the pandemic situation as there’s only so much they can demonstrate/portray as an example to the actors from a distance on camera. “It’s hard to describe what a ‘dodge to attack’ is through the camera to somebody who has no idea what combat looks like in video games”

[not sure if re: DA4 work specifically, another project or a general comment on the craft] The pandemic has really affected performance capture for the face side of things badly, as in order to record, the actor gets dots painted on their face in specific locations by a makeup artist. They can’t do that right now because of social distancing/restrictions, so they haven’t been recording faces at the moment

The more detailed a face, the more joints it has, the more the cost to performance is

---

There was also the Writers’ Block panel, featuring DA writers Mary Kirby, Sheryl Chee and Patrick Weekes, and DA editor Karin Weekes. The timestamps for this segment are ~2:37:50 - 3:26:20. Some notes:

PW has never been weirder than when they were writing Cole on DAI

PW thinks that they accidentally wrote part of “Timber” by Kesha into Solas at one point and they were like “Well, okay, I have to stop listening to Kesha”

For Sheryl, after a while Blackwall’s VA always nailed doing his lines. She loved the quality of his voice and so after a while would always hear his voice while she was writing. This really worked out

^ Mary had this with Merrill. As soon as they cast Eve Myles she listened to several hours of her in Torchwood, and then just wrote to the way that she spoke as much as possible

^ PW had this with GDL as Solas and FPJ as Bull. As soon as they heard FPJ’s delivery, they were like “Oh, okay, I have to write some lines differently, because Bull is smarter than I realized”. With GDL they were like “Okay, he’s going to put poetry into anything I say, in the best way possible”. In early drafts of Solas lines there were parts where they [PW] wondered “Is this too melodramatic? Is this too tragically-angstful?” and then they would hear GDL and be like “Oh! [It’s fine] Game on!”

For localization, German words are often quite long so they often have to make sure that everything fits on the GUI

They think scenes like the romance scenes sound prettier in the Italian versions

Behind the curtain in creating the in-world languages: PW: “There are some awesome websites that have every elven word, like ‘Here are the translations and verb tenses and conjugations’ [etc], [...] and usually Mary and I get very sad slightly looking at those pages going like ‘Does that mean that we have to stick to that?’ [...] The rule is, if I’ve looked at the Wiki and the words, and I go ‘Here’s the correct grammatical way to do it’, and if that turns out to be too long or too many disconnected syllables and it just looks bad or sounds bad, then we shorten it to something simpler, because the key is we want to give the flavor of a foreign language, but we don’t have the world-building budget and capacity to make something that is going to be dictionary-real [in a way that] someone could go through and translate all the background things written on the old temple walls”. Part of the reason for this is the consideration for VAs, who already have to act while bearing lots of things in mind, like the cues in the script for each line

Mary: “For building a language, the first things that I started with for qunlat, elven and dwarven, was what words do we need to use the most? Greetings, farewells, words for friend and enemy, basic things that will come up easily in conversation. After that it’s ‘How difficult is this for other writers to use?’ Can they just pick it off the Wiki? Do they need just one word? Do they need to write whole sentences, and how does that work? Qunlat has almost no grammar to it because asking anyone to learn how to use Qunari grammar and conjugate verbs in a pretend language is impossible, and then once you’ve done that a human being has to be able to read it, while not knowing what any of it means”

PW: “One thing that I was really impressed with with Mary in particular doing, Mary was one of the big lore people across the entire DA series; I can look at a word and go like, ‘That has two A’s in a row, that’s definitely a Qunari word. That word is kind of long and maybe has some apostrophes and has a couple of flowy vowel sounds, that’s probably elven’, I think that’s what’s important. You want players to be able to look at a word, players want to feel smart, [like] ‘Oh I don’t know what that means but I totally know that’s a word from the Qunari people!’”. Mary: “Every language has its own set of phonemes, the sounds that they make, and the sort of word structure and spelling so that it gives a flavor to that language. Hopefully that is always chosen to be pronounceable, because again, very important that the words can be said by human beings :D”

Sheryl: “One of the fun things to do is to make up swear words in the fake languages [...] Recently Brianne wanted a word, I don’t know if she managed to find one”

The origin of bosh’tet in ME: it’s just saying “bastard” and slurring it

PW: “I feel like there are times when past writers kind of leave traps for future writers, where past writers will go ‘Okay, I’m going to write this detailed phrase in a codex entry but don’t worry, it doesn’t matter if it can never be said aloud, because it’ll never have to be voiced!’ and then, next game, guess what guys! Look what you have to make someone [a VA] say! And you’re like [facepalm], c’mon!”

Karin: “Now, four games in, we have pages and pages of all these examples, and I wanna say this, well that’s how we said something before, well that’s ridiculous, I don’t wanna say that, but now we’ve said it and it’s out there, so it’s like, how do we, y’know, how do we evolve, and sometimes we just go ‘Screw it! Languages are living languages! We’ll just say it like this now!’”

PW's favorite is the sarcastic Mythal’enaste, “Because it’s the sarcastic Mythal's blessing that basically means you’re getting screwed over somehow. I love it because Mythal nasty! Whoever wrote that clearly never thought that someone would have to say this out loud”

Sheryl wrote Bull’s joke icicles line. She also wrote Isabela’s big boats line - Jennifer took it out but then DG was like “No it has to come back”

They have a pun test, they get a few of them and have to allot them wisely so as not to oversaturate on the puns. “Is this good/bad enough to be one of the times that we pull the trigger? We did have one of those recently, I obviously can’t talk about it, but it was pronounced Okay to go ahead”

The ‘baby-est’ writer is Brianne, who’s been there 8 years

It makes PW sad that the players never get to see the writers’ temp-text [placeholder text when portions are a WIP]. “People have the best temp-text". Mary: “The number of conversations that I’ve temped in like ‘WELL. I hope nothing BAD happens HERE’”

Q. If you could bring in anybody from outside of gamedev, who would you like to work with and do a writer’s session with? PW: “I will say romance novelist Nora Roberts, she is really smart and also she knows how to write inside a genre, and do wonders within it. Her structure is so good. If you pick up one of her books, you know here’s when this is gonna happen, here’s when they’re gonna meet, here’s when this first moment will happen. We’re all experienced and I feel pretty good about that but I really like all of the things she does that way, and also I am a sucker for romance so I would love to bring a romance novelist in and just have them look at our scenes and go ‘Okay here, no, they should pull the tie so that the article of clothing comes open, we need a sense of how warm the skin is here’ - something like that. I’d wanna see what they could do with that”

“Luke writes the best worst lines”

“I’m always impressed with Mary getting away with lines. There are lines that I look at like, wow, you buried that one. [...] The only players who get that line, I feel like they earned it if they went that far into it. [...] And then Varric or Merrill says a ridiculous line in a one-time throwaway”

Karin: “The group dynamic, you’ll see conversations or snippets of a lunch chat or a thing we’ve been joking about and you’ll see it get pulled in, and how all of you [the writers] are able to take a normal kind of thing - as normal as we get as a group anyway - and then turn it into a moment, and use it to further the plot or use it to further a character. It’s just the cleverest thing and it happens in so many different ways. [...] The little snippet of life, then how you crafted it into this very cool thing”

Quartermaster Threnn was written by PW in half a day. “When I was writing Threnn, ‘Okay, this is a good-hearted [person], I was doing a little bit of Steel Magnolias, southern, no-nonsense, but like, blue collar Steel Magnolias’. This is someone accustomed to the ways of the world so she’s going to call a spade a spade. If you come up to her and you’re an elf she doesn’t recognize you and says ‘Buckets are over there’ because she thinks you’re there to clean, [but] ‘Anyone calls you a knife-ear you come to me I’ll take care of it’. It’s problematic but she’s trying - the good-hearted person rooted for the wrong group on every occasion. She was a proud Loghain supporter, she gets really exited if he comes to Skyhold.  That was a fun character for me to write because I had a viewpoint in my mind. I remember someone was like ‘Threnn is really important to me’. And you have to honor that, cause you’re like ‘Cool, it means so much to me that this connected with some part of you’”

---

Also of interest was the Mass Affection panel, in which BioWare devs looked back in over a decade of history to remaster a classic. It featured devs who worked on MELE. The timestamps for this segment are ~3:36:09 - 4:24:37. Some notes:

When the pandemic hit the MELE team were in a relatively awkward spot. They were really entering into what they consider full production and were on-boarding a bunch of teams, as well as training and on-boarding third-party external partner specialized teams worldwide. When the pandemic hit, BioWare and EA were super on top of it. They were tracking it weeks beforehand, getting everyone their computers ready, and getting everything encrypted. When the middle of March 2020 hit they were home rightaway. EA were nothing but supportive throughout the entire thing. They got money every quarter for stuff. It functionally ‘hit’ at 4-6 different times for them as the pandemic occurred in different places throughout the world at different times depending on each country’s response plan (and their external partners were in different countries). “So it was one of those things where it was just like, every day we’d come in like can we still work with this company anymore? Do we need to find someone else? Do we need to pull people in off the other projects at BioWare to fill gaps here and there?”

There was a bug on Virmire at the part when you’re coming into the STG camp. If the Mako had its new boosters on and you came hurtling in really fast, it cut to the cutscene, but the Mako hit a jump and when Ash was like “What do we do now?” the Mako ended up literally flying around in the background sideways and then crashing into the camp

Another bug: when they were re-tuning the guns, the physics force on some of the guns with Hammerhead rounds was so high that when you were fighting some of the Thorian Creepers, you could ragdoll them so hard that you could basically embed them in the roof. They’d be moving so fast that they’d penetrate all the walls with their legs dangling out. It was so easy to do and you could do it to everybody. You could launch a geth halfway across an Uncharted World

Another bug: with Shepard’s casual appearance in ME3, if you didn’t have it set up perfectly correctly it would default to Grunt for some reason. You’d be walking around as Grunt, going on dates as Grunt, and your face would be all scrunched up because it was all mapped to human bones still, so it was just, like, Nightmare Fuel of Grunt

Another bug: in ME2 on Illium when trying to recruit Samara, the Asari enemies just would not stop screaming - regardless of whether they were hit or not, it was endless screaming. Later one of the devs got an audio file of the scream, endless and looped, and now one of the devs has it on their phone and uses it for their morning alarm tone

“Shepard would come up to characters and they’d just be screaming”

---

There was also the Programming Variables panel, talking about what hurdles game programmers face. Some [or all?] of the devs that were part of this panel are currently working on DA4. They talked a bit about their day-to-day work and about the craft of game dev programming in general. The timestamps for this segment are ~ 4:24:46 - 5:06:02.

[source]

[insights/notes from Gamers For Groceries 1]

[☕ found this post or blog interesting or useful? my ko-fi is here if you feel inclined. thank you 🙏]

[asterian]

Moon beast (Captain Rex x reader) (Werewolf au)

Summary: Rex got bitten by a strange creature during a mission, leaving him wounded and unexpectedly transforming him into a beast.

Words: 2.3k

A/n: Hi, this was a request but Tumblr has been messing with my post and deleted some asks. Well, anyways, this was really fun to write and I hope you like it as much as I do. As always thanks for reading.

It was almost midnight when it all started.

The boys had returned from the battlefield a couple of hours ago, defeated and wounded.

The mission to liberate the planet from separatist occupation turned out to be a trap, leaving as its consequences the loss of at least half a battalion of troopers and a whole squadron of starfighters.

Rex was among the wounded, bitten by some sort of beast. And now, as he rested in the medbay, he felt … strange.

Something was off.

He could feel it in his bones, he could feel them moving, growing. He felt how every inch of his body burned hotter than mustafar lava. This was no good. He felt dizzy and soon allusions started to fill his mind giving him glims of images of the woods, the moon and a beast with sharp teeth and killer eyes. 

Rex shook his head in a desperate attempt to get rid of the images that haunted his mind, grabbing the sheets trying to hold all the pain he was feeling and regain some of the control of his body but instead felt his own nails digging on the flesh of his palms. The world around him started to get blurry and all Rex could feel was pain, it was like something was destroying him from within.  

A new and more powerful wave of pain ran through his body, enough to make him finally lose all the control as a scream left his throat. Then everything turned black.

At the other side of the ship, you were working on a very damaged y-wing, doing your best to repair the poor piece of metal that used to fly, but your mind was in another place, you were worried about Rex. He was wounded and alone in the infirmary, exhausted after the mission. You wished you could be there with him.

Suddenly the sirens of the hangar went on, getting you out of your thoughts.

Everyone on the hangar started to question if the ship was under attack since no one gave the "Battle stations" order, then the voice of Admiral Yularen came through the speakers:

"Attention to all stations. There has been a security break at the medical bay, the intruder is armed and dangerous. If you spot it, shoot to kill! I repeat, there has been a security break…."

"Rex" was all you could say before rushing to the medbay. 

Your  head was plagued with horrible scenarios about what could have happened as you ran through the maze that was the Resolute. Wishing nothing had happened to him, hoping he was safe.

When you arrived at the medbay you were greeted by destruction. Everything was broken and there were sharp claws marked on the walls. What kind of thing could leave such marks?  Well it certainly wasn't a battle droid. 

You desperately searched for any remaining troopers in hopes to find your beloved Captain, without luck.

You were about to keep looking for Rex when the lights went off.

The darkness only lasted a few seconds before the emergency lights came in, followed by the sound of blaster fire and clones screaming, not far from where you were. 

Something was killing the soldiers, something dangerous, something wild.

Fear spread through your body and unconsciously ran in the opposite direction, turning in every corner that came your way, trying to put as much distance  as possible between you and whoever was on board. But it was useless.

The monster was chasing after you, just like a hunter after its prey.

Your feet tripped over something, making you hit the hard durasteel of the floor. As you tried to get up you heard steps approaching along with a growl that send panic to your whole self. Gathering all your courage, you turned around as slowly as you could and then you saw it.

Big sharp teeth sticking out of its mouth, if that could be called a mouth; claws as sharp as a vibroblade that matched with the marks you saw on the medbay; the monster was covered from head to toe in a soft white fur and had bright golden eyes that seemed threatening yet familiar. At first glance it looked like a loth-wolf but then it stood on two legs, like a human would. It was as tall as a Wookie, maybe a bit taller but twice as menacing.

You were frozen in your place, incapable of moving and afraid to do so.

The beats took a couple of steps towards you, hunger and murder on its eyes. "This is it" you thought.

But then when it was mere inches from you it stopped, looking at you instead with kindness and compassion almost in a tender way. 

The killer eyes you saw seconds ago were replaced with a pair of loving ones.

Something was in front of you, it was a beast, a monster, yet in his eyes all you could see was a human, a lover. 

Rex.

Your eyes widened open at the realization. It was him, but how? Your hand unconsciously reached to touch his face but before your hand could get close to him a blaster shot came out of nowhere almost hitting Rex's shoulder, causing him to let out a roar that sent shivers down your spine.

"No!" You screamed. "Wait!"

Soon more troopers came storming the hallway, blasting your lover who desperately ran away.

You tried to go after him but were stopped by an arm around your waist. 

"Hey, easy there, (y/n)." you heard Jesse say as you struggled to get out of his grasp. 

"Let me go!" 

"That thing is dangerous" he said pointing in the direction Rex was seconds ago.  

"He's not!" you barked at him, "Jesse, please, let me go!" you cried out.

"The kriff is wrong with you?" 

"You don't understand." you told him finally break free, "It's Rex"

Jesse looked at you confused and surprised for a moment, not really knowing how to process the information you gave him. 

"What?" He asked.

"It's Rex, Jesse, I know it"

"No. That's impossible, it can't be him."

"You have to trust me." You begged

"How…" he was interrupted by another trooper that came running from the hall.

"Sir, we just received a report from the other sectors, there are no signs of the animal" informed the trooper. 

Jesse's gaze traveled from the trooper to you.

"Go to an escape pod" he told you."And leave as soon as possible."

"But-"

"Go!" he ordered you before turning back to his brothers, ready to command. "Alright, that thing is somewhere in the ship, there are a lot of places where it could be hiding" he told them "our priority is find it and execute it before it kills someone else." 

You paralyzed in your place. They were going to kill Rex, his own brother and they didn't even know it was him. The idea of losing him made you realize you had to find him before they did. 

A thousand questions started running through your head, questions such as Where in the world could he be? Where he could be hiding? Where to start looking? 

The answer was clear as kyber crystal. 

The place where you and your beloved Captain found each day, a place without cameras, away from curious eyes, a place where you could share your love without worrying about being caught.

"He must be there." you thought and hurried to that place that saw your love bloom.

When you arrived you found him curled into a ball, leaning against the wall, protected by the shadows. He seemed conflicted, as if he was battling with himself and the wolf, fighting over control.

It was heartbreaking seeing him like this but it was a relief knowing he was fine.

"Rex?" 

He looked at you, growling a bit and baring his teeth, a warning to stay away. 

"It's okay" you said softly "I'm not gonna hurt you" you raised your hands to prove you were unarmed "See? It's me, (y/n)."

He seemed to recognize you, and slowly, Rex started to calm down a bit.

You took one, maybe two steps towards him. He backed off.

"It's fine, you can come out now" you encouraged him, extending a hand for him to take. Nothing.

The more you tried to touch him or get near him, the more he retreated. 

"Love, please, I need to get you out of here before someone else find you"

Rex shook his head in response, getting further away from you. Was he afraid of you? 

He had killed his own brothers, murdered them without hesitation. Even though he was unconscious most of the time, he knew what he was doing, he knew what this new form could do and how dangerous it was.

Rex wasn't afraid of you, oh no, he was afraid of himself, of the monster he became. 

"It's okay, you are not going to hurt me" you told him as if you knew what was going on in his head. "I trust you"

The captain looked at you for a moment, and then he let you get closer to him.

Your hand carefully traveled all along his arm, feeling the soft texture of his fur, all the way to his large new face. Recognising and memorizing every detail of this new version of him, it felt familiar. His hazel eyes focused on you until they started to slowly close as he began to relax under your touch.

You kept gently stroking his head, the beating of your hearts softly echoing on the room. And for a moment the world outside seemed to fade away, the chaos of the Resolute, the clones screaming and running around, all of that disappeared. It was just you and him, human or wolf, you loved him.

You looked at him for a moment before pulling him into a tight hug. His fur trickling on your face made you smile but then you felt yourself melting under his warmth, closing your eyes and enjoying the moment.

"I love you, Rex" you mumbled against his chest, "I love you with all my soul and I want to be with you in this form or any other, it doesn't matter." you assured him, feeling the way his heart beated against yours. "I'll love you just the same, I promise"

The captain felt his heart full of love and hope. He was worried that you might have been scared of him, or that you might never want to see him because, who could love a monster like him? Now that he was one. Just the fact that you were there with him  made him feel loved and for that  he couldn't be more thankful, but he also couldn't help but wonder, what did he do to deserve someone as caring and loving as you. 

The fears and insecurities left his body and were replaced with peace, love. And as those negative thoughts left he felt the beast leaving too. He felt his body slowly changing, not painfully as the other time but more natural. Human again.

"I love you, cyare" 

His voice took you by surprise.

You were so immersed in your thoughts and his warmth that you didn't notice that he had changed, shifted back to his normal form.

"Rex." you breathed, looking at him, tears starting to form in your eyes as you placed a hand on his cheek. 

"Hello, love." he said simply, earning a little giggle from you. He pulled you close and rested his forehead on yours, and finally you felt the tears rolling down your face.

He looked exhausted and sick, like he could faint in any second.

Your beloved Captain began to shiver with the absence of the fur that a few minutes ago covered his body, leaving him now naked and exposed to the coldness of the ship. You noticed the fresh little scratches and bruises that decorated his tanned skin. You couldn't even imagine what kind of hell he went through.

You stayed like this a few minutes, before he spoke again, blame and sorrow dancing on his tone.

"It was my fault" His voice cracked. "I knew what I was doing while I was that beast, I just couldn't stop. And now my brothers are gone." His gaze traveled to the floor and you saw a tear rolling down his cheek. "I could have hurt you too."

"(Y/n), how many brothers did I-"

"No, Rex, don't do that" you stopped him, "it wasn't your fault"

"Rex-" you murmured, placing a hand on the side of his face.

"I would never forget myself if anything happens to you because of me." He told you, his hazel eyes looking right into yours.

"Hey, it's okay" you assured him, "I know you would never hurt me, don't worry about that"

"But what if that thing comes back? What if I can't control it? What if I'm not able to snap out of it again?"

"Hey, hey, easy" you said "Look, I don't have the answers for that, I have no idea what caused this or how to get rid of it, I don't even know what to do." It was true, you had more questions than real answers yet you wanted to be there for him no matter what.

"We'll figure a way to control this, okay?" You murmured gently stroking his face, meaning every single word. "Whatever this is, we're going to face it, together."

[expired-monster-craft-smp]

Vibes Dream SMP members give off (in my opinion)

Dream

Barked at people in high school ironically but it became unironic real quick

Can’t cook very well but is good with a knife, especially at a fast pace

One of those kids who either purposely spells the first word wrong in a spelling bee to just be done with it right away or tries the hardest and manages to win (there is no inbetween for this heathen)

Bites ice cream with his teeth

Has snorted pixie stix far too many times and sneezed blue after each time

Eats bananas with the peels

Wears mismatched socks

Has taken a bite out of a pool noodle because he liked the texture and impulsively bit it (ADHD things✨😌)

Walks around looking extremely high but he’s just spacin out and stuck in his head

Dreams (lmao) in Minecraft and video games in general

Will flirt with anything that moves but has no idea how to respond to compliments

Makes fun of himself first before anyone else can

Has eaten an orange peel and it wasn’t that bad in his humble opinion

Wears khaki shorts

Eats the wax part of the baby bell cheese

Doesn’t actually know what genre his music taste is cause he vibes to everything

Georgenotfound

Picks at the skin on his lip when it’s dry so it bleeds and he tries not to give in by licking his lips often enough to the point where it became a habit

Wears velcro shoes because he doesn’t feel like tying them (he knows how, he just doesn’t wanna do it)

Eats peanut butter straight from the jar

Makes that disgusting “ants on a log” thing (celery stick filled with peanut butter topped with a row of raisins)

Can’t drink milk plain, it’s gotta have some sort of flavour

Can draw a perfect straight line but his circles look Terrible

Eats cheez-its like cereal without milk

Loves making little noises so much like he walks around his house doin chores and he’s just goin “memememenownownwnkwkshskshkshskhs”

Hates wearing socks

Coloured his tongue with highlighters because they’re non-toxic

Constantly tapping his feet and hands to a song/beat playing in his head

I can’t imagine this man using a bike of any sort, so Imma say he doesn’t know how

Can’t be licked by dogs because he’s used to being licked by his cat so it makes him uncomfortable

Can actually sing pretty well but gets real nervous in front of people so he fucks it up

Sapnap

No idea how to cook anything other than Mac and cheese please help this man

Meows at cats because he wants to confuse them and laughs Way too hard when he does (his laugh is like sunshine so I’ll allow it)

Would be fantastic at braiding hair Idk why

Gives the BEST fuckin hugs EVER

When singing, he makes noises for the instrumental parts too

Wanted to play the drums at one point

Really likes pit bulls but he’s more of a cat person so he loves them from afar

Only vaguely knows how to shave his face properly without hurting himself

Opportunities for him come up out of pure luck but mans is skilled for them so it works out well almost Always

Used to or currently has a skateboard and isn’t too bad

ALWAYS has bruises appearing everywhere for no reason, he doesn’t even know where 90% of them are from

Calls his friends twinks to jokingly bully them and gets away with it because he himself is not a twink

Gets sudden bursts of energy in the middle of the night and just shimmies around a bit to try and deal with it

Favours spearmint over peppermint

Arsonist

Banned from three (3) Dave & Busters in Texas

Badboyhalo

Washes his hands after doing literally anything

Likes the bird exhibits at the zoo (specifically the penguins)

Very good at cooking, best at soups and stews

If he painted his nails they would definitely be a baby blue

Overthinks very simple things and it makes him look less smart than he actually is

Drinks tap water

Probably prefers whiskey over beer

Knows how to tap dance a bit

Surprisingly good at taking and handling shots

Steady hands

Adds extra chocolate to hot chocolate

Plays sudoku and is really really good at it (only uses pen when he plays)

Everytime he sees a Himalayan salt lamp he NEEDS to lick it despite knowing it’s very salty and he’ll pull a face afterwards

Not great at Rock Paper Scissors

Wears sunglasses inside for no reason at all, he just,,,Does

Still has a stuffed animal from childhood perched on his bed

Probably tried his hand at archery

Tommyinnit

He has no idea how to use a baby voice on children or animals, so he just talks to them normally

Wears socks to bed

His fingers are double jointed

Always starts twitching if he stays still for too long because he’s gotta move around

His shoes and have different laces and it bothers everyone but himself

Doodles on himself in class when he’s bored or not paying attention

Has really good hearing, both with pitch and volume

Can’t eat tomato’s by themselves, it’s either gotta be in sauce form or with something else

FUCKING LOVES STRING CHEESE

Terrible handwriting

Favourite part of a slice of bread is the crust

Wants to paint his nails black to be cool and edgy but his hands are far from steady and he has no clue how to paint nails

Pretty affectionate with close friends (like Tubbo and Wilbur) off stream/camera

He likes pears for some reason

Wilbur Soot

Is constantly having to decide between leaving his hair as is or shaving all of it off

He also thinks about adding some colour but never actually does

Most tea is gross to him

Everytime he puts a breath mint thats circular in his mouth, he pretends it’s a pill and he’s taking drugs because he thinks that’s funny

He does that vacant state as a joke but that really what he looks like when he’s spacing out

Likes to aggressively flirt with his male friends but if his female friends flirt with him, he gets a bit flustered

Has probably accidentally swallowed a guitar pick

Once drank two entire jars of pickle juice

Bonks his head on anything and everything

He has broken a pair of glasses by walking face first into a pole outside

Thinks kinetic sand is fun

Has passionate arguments with others about trivial and random topics like chicken feet

Can open a beer bottle with his teeth

Would accidentally pop and swallow a bracket if he had braces

Tubbo

Hates sharp cheddar cheese

Everytime he learns a new word it’s in every sentence he says for the next week or so

Ate candle wax for a dare once

Doesn’t know how to tie a tie and will probably never learn

Wanted to do ballet at one point but decided not to

He has eaten multiple flowers for absolutely no reason other than wanting to know how they taste

Starts vibrating if he’s too excited

Used to bite his nails

ABSOLUTELY DESPISES MUSTARD

Has eaten paper and says it doesn’t taste that bad

Enjoys telling his friends how much they mean to him (this has resulted in Tommy and Wilbur crying on a few seperate occasions)

Spaces out a lot and doesn’t often pay attention to his surroundings

Gets lost inside of Best Buy’s

Likes s’mores but doesn’t properly understand how to make them

Technoblade

Learned to cook purely out of spite and found it’s actually pretty fun

Constantly getting smacked in the face by trees when walking outside

Really likes apple pie

Everytime he looks at potatoes he thinks of all the hours he spent trying to win the potato war

Starts things as a joke and gets too into it

Doesn’t like the taste of most energy drinks

Has rubbed salt and lemon juice into an open wound to just,,see how it felt (he did it once and Hated it but did it again because he forgot what it felt like)

Sometimes hates how quiet he is because everyone he knows is loud and talks over him

Despite how he is portrayed in the Dream SMP, he is extremely loyal to his friends and would kill for them

Over seasons his food because he can’t taste it otherwise

Really good balance

Doesn’t like to wear bright colours, but still enjoys wearing colours

Good at knitting

Quackity

Actually fairly quiet when off camera

Will accidentally use Spanish grammar while speaking English sometimes

Country music confuses him

Doesn’t really like kids but they really like him

Can’t dance

Hardest drugs he’s ever done is second hand smoke from a cigarette and children’s Tylenol

His favourite jolly ranchers are the red and blue ones

He uses lighters as fidget toys basically

Will have a breakdown, take a bubble bath, and call himself the self care king

Dehydrated

Wants a pet rat but he already has a cat and doesn’t wanna risk anything

Constantly questions why his main source of income is playing Minecraft with two 16 year olds

Karl Jacobs

Probably ate a spider once

Would wear those socks that are like gloves for you feet where it separates all the toes

Eats ravioli straight from the can, cold

Can answer an incredibly complex math equation fairly easily but will stumble over 12x11

Loves kids so much and speaks to them in a soft voice

Tried making ramen in a coffee pot and broke it

Drinks 2 monster energy drinks a day on average

Likes to open walnuts with his teeth but doesn’t actually eat them

The embodiment of that one John Maulany joke where he says you could spill soup in his lap and HE’D apologize to YOU

Loves physical affection so so much!!!!

If he moves his wrists in a certain way, they pop Really Loudly

Fantastic at making cookies

Fundy

Lowkey actually a furry but more on like, a cat boy level than fursuit level

Drives a Honda Civic

Likes ABBA

Adds parsley to almost anything he makes food-wise

Loves garlic bread so much, he’d commit a federal crime for it

Middle child vibes

Decent at skiing

Good at singing but isn’t terribly confident

Seems responsible at first glance but in reality he’s pretty chaotic and childish

Bad at spelling

Always cuts his nails way too short so they always feel weird/hurt

Likes bracelets and rings

Thinks pastel colours slap

JSchlatt

Despite the character he plays, he’s actually really sweet

He’s genuinely that cryptic off camera as he is on camera

Can cook but chooses not to most of the time

Would probably say “what pussy size you wear” to anyone who asks him to buy pads

Not actually as intimidating as he appears to be

Lowkey would fight a child

Shuts down when someone compliments him, often using aggression as a front because holy shit they just called him handsome and kind what the Fuck-

Jokingly says his license is suspended but in all actuality he never got his license in the first place

He has two (2) extra teeth but they don’t need to be removed so he kept them

Has a stick n poke of a stickman on his ankle he got in high school

Likes physics

This is already very long, and I still plan on adding more.