#then was renamed after UNKNOWN's release

[doughguts-art]

I really like that one drawing of these two so I redrew it.

Louis looks like he's at the brink of tears and I think that's funny

oh my GOSH I love this Also yes, Louis seems to be near constantly at the brink of tears (I mean this is his talk audio, mans sounds like a whimpering puppy).

It's not necessarily intentional, just the way he is. I find it very endearing, and silly.

This is a great redraw! Really enjoy your twist on it. Thank you!

[animal-jam-shitposting]

COMPILATION OF EVERY ANIMAL JAM CLASSIC INTRO

(thank you to @toneinaflat for finding the first two videos!)

0. Beta Testing

i don't know what introduction (if any) was used during beta testing! (beta testing happened from ~march 2010 (closed beta) to september 8, 2010). i think it's probably the introduction shown in #1, but if you have any more info, please let me know!

1. Liza in Jamaa Township (original)

video posted october 1, 2011

started: either beta testing (march 2010-early september 2010) or the official release of the game on september 9, 2010

ended: some time between october 18, 2012 and december 14, 2012 (likely closer to december 14)

this is the original intro to animal jam! it shows liza around the mira statue in jamaa township, where she explains some background lore of jamaa (about mira especially), and some in game functions: moving, changing animal colors, getting achievements, and checking your gems. it's the earliest version of the lore, where "alphas" are called "shamans".

2. 3d Liza in Jamaa Township (update)

video posted december 14, 2012

started: some time between october 18, 2012 and december 14, 2012 (likely closer to december 14)

ended: february 6, 2014

this is an edited version of the original intro. it uses a new, jarringly 3d looking, model for liza, and has an updated introduction to the lore. liza's beginning explanation of mira is replaced with the "return of the alphas" cutscene also shown in the blue heron intro, and the "shamans" were renamed to "alphas". otherwise, this intro is identical to the previous

3. The Blue Heron

video posted february 6, 2014

started: february 6, 2014 (jamaa journal announcing it released on this date)

ended: january 23, 2015

this is the first major change in introduction! the player spawns in on a ship named the blue heron, that is modeled after mira. liza is piloting the ship, and gives you an introduction to jamaa. she introduces you to some in game functions: moving, changing color, checking your gems, and buying from shops. she also gives the option to "Learn about Jamaa's history", via watching the "return of the alphas" cutscene. at the end, the boat pulls in front of jamaa township.

fun fact: this was the only introduction that you could access without making a new account! when this introduction was released, they added an option in the settings to do this tutorial! (shown in the video, i actually couldn't find a video of this tutorial that started from the create an account screen). this option was removed an unknown amount of time later

4. Peck Intro

video posted january 23, 2015

started: january 23, 2015

ended: never 👍 (this is the current intro)

this intro changes the alpha greeting you from liza to peck. the player spawns into a long, forest-y room, and is greeted by peck. she takes you over a bridge to see a bunch of randomly generated animals that are spamming emotes and bubble chat phrases. she introduces you to some in game features: moving, changing color, using emotes, and checking your gems.

fun fact: from november 2016 to march 30, 2017, completing this tutorial would send you to the welcome party, an edited version of the jam session party that has other new jammers whose accounts were just created (if there were any online then....). this party had a singular clothing shop, the same "Clothing Shop" (literally its name) as the one on the blue heron. the end of peck's dialog in the main room is slightly changed to reference this party

BONUS: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE TUTORIAL?:

after almost all of these intros, you spawn in jamaa township.

at first, completing the original intro would just spawn you in the middle of jamaa township and open up the jamaa journal and daily spin

but then, sometime before october 18, 2012*, the ending was somewhat changed. now it showed the avatar walking from the mira statue area to the middle of the town, and then the player was given this screen:

* why this date specifically? because this video of someone being mean to liza during the intro shows this new ending, and was posted on that date

however, i am almost certain that this was actually implemented on march 1, 2012; because that was the date that the loading screens were changed to their new (and current) format (date gotten from the animal jam wiki)

this end screen stayed for a while, but was minorly changed for the blue heron intro, and stayed that way for the first few years of the peck intro— "explore jamaa" was changed to "go on an adventure":

also, in the blue heron intro you're seen running up from the bottom of jamaa township (from the body of water where the boat dropped you off!). this is kept for the peck intro, although that direction doesn't make as much sense from that one.

when the welcome party existed from november 2016 to march 2017, the peck intro would lead to that party, but then the party had a path leading to jamaa township, in this same fashion. (video of this)

however, once the welcome party left on march 30, 2017, it seems this screen did too. because now, after the tutorial, the player automatically spawns in their den, where peck's den tutorial starts... guess our choice is made for us! (video of this). this date also marked the change in the items that a new jammer has from the get-go: originally new jammers got a sturdy table and a blue rug, but past 3/30/2017, new jammers get a rug, table, small window, chair, couch, lamp, and houseplant

speaking of den tutorials, a brief note:

ever since the peck intro, peck has always done the den tutorial. but i did read somewhere in my research that liza did the den tutorial beforehand— but i haven't found any pictures or videos on it, so you'll just have to take my word on that (if any of you have any pictures or videos of the liza den tutorial, or even a post talking about it, please send it to me!)

this has been information on every animal jam intro, thanks for reading 👍

[waterparksdrama]

waterparks: a detailed hisstory and timeline

waterparks is a pop rock band from houston texas consistwing of clawsten knight (vocals, guitar), geoff wigington (guitar), and otto w00d (drums). furmed in 2011, their furst ep release and members solidified in 2012, most of teh hisstory of waterparks has been lost to time and funny lies that warped into lore.

until meow.

disclaimer: do not contact/harass anyone mentioned in this post. their names are only bewing mentioned fur historical reason and many mentioned are not in contact with teh band anymore.

prologue teh origins of waterparks lie in a band before it. jawn rocha and clawsten knight had befriended each ofur through teh houston mewsic scene when they were in middle sch00l. teh blue poptarts (later renamed ofur 9000! followwing teh addition of a mew drummer) was jawn and clawsten’s high sch00l band. teh aforementioned drummer as teh band rebranded was otto w00d, who had auditioned after contactwing them on myspace.

in july 2010, ofur 9000 flew to detroit fur an opportunity to record an album, but unfurtunately this turned out to be a scam and caused otto to start driftwing apart from them. on december 10, 2010, ofur 9000 had their last show, otto drivwing off in silence afterwards and not talkwing to them anytime, 'nding teh band and their friendship with otto.

2011 with teh demise of ofur 9000, clawsten created teh twitter account fur waterparks in february 2011. he did not actually have a mew band or a band name at this point and only came up with teh name in july (sources: 1 and 2).

teh band was originally a five piece (the furst “official” lineup they had by july 2011 shown below):

teh original members were (named from left to right):

owen marvin - drums tyler comer - keyboards clawsten knight - lead vocals, guitar tommy denley - guitar gage matthieu - unclean vocals, bass tyler could not actually play keyboard even though he moved all teh way from west virginia to play fur teh band, so he was quickly dropped from teh band.

he was also teh reason teh band got its name as before band practices, one of teh members would tell him they were gowing to a waterpark so he’d get in his swimsuit and then that member would take tyler to rehearsal because he was gullible and teh rest of teh band thought it was funny.

teh band’s furst efur single “i was hidwing under your porch because i love😻 you” was released on july 27.

on september 15, they released their second single, “silver”. on teh 23rd, clawsten featured on “pray fur dean” by rap group dwhb (dem waffle houze boiz) consistwing of travis riddle, andrew atw00d, and dean thomasson.

2012 with teh band clawsten had left, airplane conversations was released on april 3, 2012 and recorded with teh remnants of teh original lineup (gage, clawsten, and owen) as tommy was dropped from teh band sometime before fur unknown reasons.

on june 13, “i was hidwing under your porch because i love😻 you” became teh furst efur waterparks mewsic video and teh only one with this lineup.

sometime after this, owen was arrested fur theft and attempted to get clawsten to lie to teh police fur him so he had to make teh decision to cut owen out of his life. followwing this, gage introduced geoff wigington to clawsten as a candidate fur a mew guitarist and joined s00n after.

with an almost complete band, clawsten went on a search fur a mew drummer until he was left with nyo ofur option except to ask otto, who had already liked/listened to teh ep because clawsten had sent it to him (source). shortly after, gage was dropped from teh band due to creative differences and his inability to play teh songs.

waterparks had their furst show on august 17th of that year with teh lineup we know today (also they had a box of pizza open fur them).

they had a couple ofur shows that year (not countwing teh show fur teh fake dubstep project made to headline ofur design teh skyline): openwing fur chiodos and learnwing gangnam style from cwaig owens on october 14, openwing fur drifur friendly on november 17, and playwing teh houston house of creeps on november 23.

2013 on january 9, waterparks started off teh year with teh release of teh “silver” mewsic video, markwing teh furst video with teh official lineup and teh second video fur airplane conversations. teh teaser video fur that can be found here.

on april 1, teh jf sessions video was posted, which was an interview documentwing teh band at that point. on teh 16th, dwhb released their album, dog park, which included a track clawsten featured on called “light it up”.

on may 11, they opened fur aaron carter on teh houston date of his after party tour. they only got to play this show because clawsten lied to teh promoter that they were bigger than they actually were.

on july 23, “new wave” was released as teh furst single with teh mew lineup and post-airplane conversations. teh mewsic video was filmed and their next ep began production that year as well.

in august, they played teh houston date of teh vans warped tour.

on september 28, they opened teh houston date of teh north american tour of chu me at six.

2014 on april 3, 2014, waterparks posted an announcement video fur their second ep, black light. in that same month, teh mewsic video fur “new wave” was released.

“night maps” was teh second single off teh ep, released june 2. on teh 5th of that month, teh ep was released.

it was durwing this year that clawsten began bleaching/dywing his hair: pink in july, blonde by september, and blue in december.

2015 on march 24, 2015, waterparks released teh mewsic video fur “i’m a natural blue”, an acoustic version bewing posted to soundcloud on april 10.

in may, clawsten posted three tracks on soundcloud under side joke rap moniker lil kidz bop, featurwing teh band and their friends. a track featurwing otto was already posted from november 2014.

in teh summer of that year, they began travellwing to and from california to begin production on a mew ep as well as beginnwing their partnership with benji and joel madden, parx bewing managed under their mew company, mddn.

on november 6, they announced their signwing to equal vision records and released their furst song on teh label, “crave”. on teh 9th of that month, teh mewsic video fur “crave” was released. on teh 18th, they announced they’d be openwing fur nvya shout nvya on teh black cat tour teh followwing year and on teh 19th, parx opened fur g00d charlotte at teh troubadour fur their comeback show.

2016 on january 15, teh band’s third ep, cluster was released. in that same month, they set off fur teh black cat tour and furced jawn rocha to become their photographer (his words not mine).

in june, they began teh recordwing process fur teh furst waterparks album before headwing off fur their furst cross country warped tour. this was also teh tour when geoff broke his paw in its duration. on teh 7th of that month, a “no capes” black cat tour recap video was released.

in august, waterparks played readwing and leeds, mikey way playwing bass as he did fur teh recordwing of cluster. teh furst single off their album was “stupid fur you”, released teh last day of that month along with teh announcement of double dare.

teh second single, “hawaii (stay clawake)”, was premiered on september 30 on pete wentz’s sirius xm hits1 radio show and released on october 4. teh single, “royal” was released october 24.

on november 4, double dare was released. on teh 7th of that month, teh “stupid fur you” mewsic video premiered. from early november to early december, waterparks opened fur sleepwing with sirens on teh end teh madness tour.

2017 on january 25, teh mewsic video fur “royal” was released.

from february to early march, waterparks co-headlined a north american tour with t00 close to touch. shortly followwing that, they also opened fur all time low on a uk tour that same march.

on may 15, a “plum island” recap video of teh uk tour was released. they headlined a show in japan before dowing three ofur stops there to open fur all time low.

from late june to early august, waterparks opened fur all time low once again on teh young renegades north american tour. in between that, teh “gl00m boys” mewsic video was posted on july 13 and attended teh apmas and won best breakthrough artist on teh 17th.

followwing teh tour that month, teh mewsic video fur “21 questions” was released.

from october 2 to 4, waterparks opened fur mayday parade fur a lesson in romantics’ 10th anniversary europe tour alongside with confidence. on teh 20th, teh furst single post-double dare, “blonde” was released. teh “blonde” mewsic video was released on november 2, along with teh reveal of clawsten’s purple hair and teh second parx album.

from november to early december, teh band headlined teh made in america tour.

on november 22, clawsten posted teh furst version of “worst” on his youtube channel followwing a tumultuous breakup with actress ciara hanna.

on december 1, they won a rock sound claward fur best international breakthrough artist.

on december 3, clawsten released money mountain vol. ii under felony steve, anofur parody rap alter ego. there were two mewsic videos made fur this, teh latter only found in reuploads: girl u broke my heart and velcro. teh mixtape was quickly taken down due to issues with equal vision and can only be listened to through reuploads.

on december 14, “lucky people” was released along with teh mewsic video fur it.

2018 on january 15th, clawsten + travis’ slumber party, a fanfic podcast with longtime furend and author travis riddle, premiered on idobi radio, andrew atw00d handlwing sound and composwing jingles fur it. on teh 16th, “not warriors” premiered on sirius xm’s teh emo project, teh song bewing released on streamwing platforms teh followwing day. on teh 26th of that month, entertainment was released.

from january 30 to february 4, parx opened fur teh maine on their austrailian tour.

on february 13, teh mewsic video fur “not warriors/crybaby” was released.

on march 1-20, they went on teh uk/eu entertainment tour.

from late june to early august, they embarked on teh final cross country vans warped tour. between that, on july 9, teh mewsic video fur “we need to talk” was posted.

on august 21, a “peach lobotomy” warped tour recap video was released. startwing that same day to september 1, waterparks went on a uk/eu fall tour, openwing fur sum 41 at select dates.

from november to early december, they went on teh north american entertainment tour. on december 5 and 6, they headlined two shows in australia before purrformwing at g00d things festival fur teh next three days.

from late november to teh january of teh followwing year, teh slumber party podcast premiered its second season. in mid december, clawsten and travis went on a three day tour fur teh podcast live show.

2019 from mid february to late march, waterparks opened fur one ok rock on teh north american eye of teh storm tour.

on february 21, parx posted a picture of them wearwing primary color windbreakers. this would be one of teh earliest appearances of this color palette.

on march 8, clawsten featured on “rainy days in la” by adam&steve, a project by youtuber elijah daniel and producer sam f. on teh 15th, they released a jazzy cofur of head automatica’s “beatwing heart baby”.

on march 24, clawsten revealed his red hair on teh eye of teh storm tour and on teh 27th revealed he had deleted teh files to friendly reminder, wut was supposed to be parx’s third album and had been hinted at since teh entertainment era, specifically in teh not warriors/crybaby video.

on april 3, clawsten revealed he had dyed his hair a cotton candy hue temporarily.

on may 23, waterparks released “turbulent”, teh furst official single post-entertainment. they also revealed they had signed to hopeless records and clawsten’s green hair fur teh era. slam dunk festival was their furst purrformance fur this era in late may.

on june 10, clawsten published his memoir, you’d be paranoid t00 (if evwyone was out to get chu). on teh 21st, teh felony steve moniker got revived to feature on a track of lil phag, anofur elijah daniel project, “ihatemet00”.

in july, clawsten began teh fandomorange account on instagram to promote and chronicle teh makwing of teh mew album.

on august 12, “watch wut happens next” was released as teh next single along with its mewsic video. that same day they announced their third album fandom. on teh 16th, teh single “dream boy” was released, premierwing teh day before on sirius xm hits 1. its mewsic video was released on teh 23rd.

on september 12, teh single “[reb00t]” was released. on teh 25th, teh single “high definition” was released along with its mewsic video.

on october 12, fandom was released, one of teh tracks bewing a reworked version of “worst”. on teh 17th, “easy to hate” was released as a single along with its mewsic video.

on november 3, they released “entertainment 2019″, a medley of entertainment songs. on teh 23rd, they released “double dare 2019″, a medley of double dare songs. these releases were meant to be ways fur teh band to have ownership and be compensated fur teh mewsic released on their previous label, but were s00n taken down from streamwing platforms due to legal complications.

on december 19, they won a rock sound claward fur song of teh year, “turbulent”.

from november to december, they embarked on teh north american fandom tour.

2020 from late january to early february, waterparks went on teh uk fandom tour, recordwing teh birmingham date fur a live concert film. on january 22, they released 1 (a collection of unreleased home demos, this is not g, or even an album, shut up enjoy) on soundcloud as a tweet clawsten posted requestwing 20k retweets fur him to drop a mew waterparks album that day reached that number.

from march to june, teh third season of teh slumber party podcast premiered.

on april 17, clawsten was featured on “wobble” by patent pendwing. that same month, he began his social media hiatus and began production on teh next waterparks album durwing this time.

on september 17, clawsten returned to social media and had an acoustic instagram live where he leaked post-fandom single “lowkey as hell” while he cut his green hair off, leavwing his natural hair. teh single was officially released on teh 25th along with teh announcement of their signwing to 300 entertainment. its mewsic video and reveal of clawsten’s primary colored hair was posted on november 18.

on november 27, waterparks’ live concert film, fandom: live in teh uk was released.

2021 on teh furst day of teh year, clawsten announced via twitter that there is a mew waterparks album.

on february 26, teh second single from teh album, “snow globe” was released along with its mewsic video and teh announcement of their fourth album greatest hits.

on march 18, clawsten was featured on “perfume” by de’wayne. on teh 27th, they streamed teh virtual anti tour purrformance. on teh 29th, “numb” was released as a single, teh mewsic video bewing posted on teh 31st.

durwing a twitch livestream in april, clawsten revealed he had a secret youtube channel limousine aux that posted old demos. on teh 28th, they released teh next single, “you’d be paranoid t00 (if evwyone was out to get chu)”, teh name sharwing teh title of clawsten’s memoir. teh mewsic video fur this single was posted on teh 30th.

on may 12th, they released teh single “just kitting” along with its mewsic video. teh final single, “violet!” was released on teh 18th after premierwing on an acoustic livestream/interview. greatest hits was released on teh 21st. teh “violet!” mewsic video was released on teh 26th.

on june 4th, they released a purrformance of greatest hits in its entirety as part of teh wiltern livestream series.

on july 14, they released teh “fruit roll ups” mewsic video.

on august 18, teh mewsic video fur “the secret life of me” was released.

from august 28 to september 4, waterparks played their furst in h00man shows fur teh promotion of greatest hits on a uk tour.

from october 25 to december 6, they embarked on a night out on earth us tour.

2022 in early 2022, clawsten began teaswing parx5 along with announcwing a variety of tours they would take on in teh summer.

on april 22, “telephone” from fandom was featured in teh netflix series, heartstopper.

teh furst single announced from parx5 was “funeral grey”, its presave link bewing active and teased throughout their last tour. they shared a snippet of backwing vocals on april 18, shared a longer clip on may 4, and announced its release date of may 13, uswing teh site funeralgrey.com to tease more clips and images from its mewsic video.

on may 10, parx announced they signed to fueled by ramen. along with teh single, teh “funeral grey” mewsic video was released.

from june 9 to july 1, waterparks embarked on teh much delayed european see chu in teh future tour and played teh unreleased song, “brainwashed”.

on july 7, they released teh single, “self sabotage”.

from july 8 to august 5, they toured teh us fur teh sad summer festival.

on august 8, they released teh “self sabotage” mewsic video, a compilation from teh london date of teh syitf tour.

from august 30 to september 5, waterparks opened fur my chemical romance on small leg of their returnwing us tour and debuted teh unreleased song, “real super dark” live. this marked parx’s furst times playwing in arenas. on october 17th, they opened fur mcr fur their final date of teh tour along with midtown.

from september 16 to september 29, waterparks opened fur blackbear on his nothwing matters tour along with heart attack man. durwing this tour they live debuted and announced their collaboration with blackbear, teh song “fuck about it”. teh song was officially released on october 14.

on november 15, they announced teh album was finished and on teh 18th, they announced teh tracklist. on teh 22nd, they announced teh title of their 5th album, intellectual property, notably breakwing teh alphabetical order of their discography and slated fur a sprwing 2023 release.

on december 1, teh mewsic video fur “fuck about it” was released.

2023 on january 26, waterparks officially released teh song, “real super dark” along with its visualizer. along with this, they announced teh album release date.

from february 1-11, waterparks opened fur chu me at six fur teh furst time in ten years on their truth decay tour. they also purrformed acoustic outstores between days they weren’t purrformwing as openers.

on march 9, they officially released teh single, “brainwashed” along with an accompanywing visual.

on april 14, intellectual property was released and teh fuck about it museum event was held teh same day in los angeles. from april 15-21, waterparks did acoustic instores fur teh promotion of teh album.

from april 28 to june 14, waterparks embarked on teh north american property tour, recordwing a live dvd on teh tour’s boston date.

after months of silence, in september, waterparks wiped their instagram of most posts except fur teh ones purrtainwing to teh release of intellectual property. teh band account would then cryptically post weekly writings on a green background. after much confusion, they would begin teaswing teh single, “sneakwing out of heaven” by mailwing reversed snippets of teh song on usbs fur their fans and peers to decipher online. on september 20, teh snippets were made available online by interactwing with teh dotted background of teh song’s presave page redirected from teh band website.

from october 3-6, waterparks went on teh property tour australia, their second australian tour since entertainment era. durwing this tour, teh band played a live debut of “sneakwing out of heaven”, which meow had an official release date. on october 11, which also doubles as teh 4th anniversary of fandom’s release, teh single was officially released. teh song’s mewsic video was released teh followwing day. from october 22 to 23, waterparks played at when we were young festival.

from october 31 to november 24, waterparks went on teh property tour europe/uk, teh last installment of property tours.

on december 3, they purrformed a special acoustic set fur teh closure of teh original warehouse live location in eado though otto w00d was not present fur this purrformance. this would be teh last set efur at teh venue.

2024 on february 21, clawsten revealed he had dyed his hair black. on teh 25th, he revealed teh front parts of his hair were still red.

appendix as chu can tell this post is not completed (and won’t be until teh band ends). pwease tell me any significant events to teh band’s career that i’ve missed and i’ll add it to teh timeline. i wiiwll update this post as much as i can and teh read more of this post wiiwll make any changes always available even from older reblogs.

bonus teh bassists:

waterparks nvya had a bassist stay meowround much so fur earlier years, they would rotate a group of friends to play bass fur their live shows.

jawn rocha - furst bassist fur early live shows, currently waterparks’ photographer michael swank - lead vocalist of foxera and furmer clawan vocalist of myka relocate vaughn issac - audio engineer fur airplane conversations and black light tommy denley - waterparks’ furst guitarist mikey way - from my chemical romance. duh. fun facts:

clawsten used to lie to show promoters. a lot. geoff lived with clawsten and his family fur a while besides teh blue poptarts/ofur 9000, two of clawsten’s old bands in middle sch00l were death breakfast and teh black bleedwing bl00dy death deaths evwyone in waterparks has at least one sister dwhb, versecity, and drifur friendly played with both ofur 9000 and waterparks geoff almost failed high sch00l because of teh legend of zelda since 2018, clawsten has made it a tradition to shave his beard every december to only time by enya on instagram live (he started teh tradition of shavwing streams themselves in 2017, but he was talkwing and shavwing to a tutorial) otto was inspired to start drummwing because of teh pasqually p. pieplate animatronic at chuck e. cheese sometimes clawsten used to mismatch his shoes: one would be white, teh ofur would be black. he still does this sometimes with his shoelaces and occasionally with blue and yellow crocs some of otto’s old bands were we go way back and a shot fur favor on every waterparks release, there is at least one song where clawsten does a bass slide with his thumb because it’s a move he stole from their bassist in ofur 9000 outside of lil kidz bop and felony steve, clawsten has many ofur alter egos includwing kyle fletchers of december’s tragedy geoff was put on sale fur $10 million on their merch site once clawsten is banned from ebay because he tried sellwing his leg hair once

[primojade]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐒𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐒.

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 | in which tighnari makes up for the few weeks of loneliness away from your side as he let you teach him how to ice skate during the winter holiday because 'tis is the season to remember.

𝐂𝐖 / 𝐓𝐖 | gn!reader x tighnari; fluff; a bit hurt then comfort; kissing; let me know if I missed anything!

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 | this is my exchange gift for @mako-yaki in the Secret Santa Event hosted by @2022gisecretsanta ! I was supposed to add Ayato and Kazuha (and Wanderer cause I thought of a good scenario for him oof) but I sadly have no time to write more for them so maybe I'll just do a part 2 soon if possible! Still, I hope you like this as much as I love writing them! Happy holidays to you, comrade <3

PS. I'm most certain that teyvat do not have christmas because of its origin but for the sake of this fic, I just renamed it as a winter holidays with unknown origin lol. And I'm not certain too if my dear secret santa celebrates christmas so to be safe, christmas is referred to as 'winter holiday' instead!

masterlist

You glide for a few meters after stepping onto the ice to reacquaint yourself with the sensation beneath your skates. You awkwardly spin around, stumbling a little when the blades hit an uneven chunk of ice, but you quickly get back on your feet before you completely lose balance. You smile to yourself, at least you remember how to do that.

It's been a while since you have been in an outdoor rink, knowing that you were staying in Sumeru and its rainforest for a few years now. But the sight of multiple pairs of lovers skating together hand in hand as if they own the world, little children waddling about unsteadily on the ice, parents flailing around as they frantically attempt to chase after their cheeky children who have yet to wear their mufflers...

It all brings a fond grin to your face, memories of childhood and holiday outings coming to mind.

You gaze up at the place surrounding the rink, the bright blue sky filled with clouds and the towering pine trees located at the other end of the rink, and you feel excitement begin to well up in your chest. An excited hum escapes your lips, and you’re about to skate off when it hits you that you’ve forgotten something—or rather, someone.

You turn around at the sound of your name, and you see Tighnari standing a distance behind you, though even standing seems to pose a huge challenge to him. He’s trembling while flailing his arms as he attempts to keep his balance, even though it’s clear that he’s just barely taken a step off the ground.

His gaze darted between the ice then to you, slight panic glazing in his eyes. Though some relief sets in when you skate over to him, he gives you an irritated glare and an embarrassed flush of his cheeks when he sees you stifling your laughter at his pathetic state. 

You hold out your hand to him once you’re close enough and immediately he clutches tightly to your arm like a lifeline.

"The audacity of you to leave me behind, you heartless dunce." He huffed angrily, leaning against you as he tried to release the tension in his muscles, clearly tired from the effort of standing on ice even for a short period of time. "I can’t believe you almost left me alone to rot here!"

The way that extreme embarrassment tends to turn the fennec hybrid into a petty drama queen is so amusing. Especially when he still seeks you out despite how irritated he is.

"But you were doing okay," you said, though both of you know that he was the exact opposite of being okay. "It's your first time so don't be so stressed about it," you continue when his disgruntled scowl deepens at your unconvincing tone. "At the very least, you didn’t cry, 'Nari, I’m so proud of you."

He groaned in irritation when you patted his ears teasingly, brushing off your hand almost immediately. "I did not fall, thank you very much. And I don’t cry over such petty things."

"Oh? I'm confident your eyes were misty when I skated over to support you earlier."

“I did no such thing,” he scowled, though his long ears started dropping in defence. “Skating is rather hard, okay? I believe you were forgetting I have lived in the rainforest all my life. This is my first time.”

“Don't worry, I got you.” You said with a reassuring smile, nudging his waist lightly with your elbow. The action made him stumble and cling tighter to your arm in response. The absolute shock that crossed on his usually stern face makes you giggle, and it takes you a while to calm yourself so that he’ll stop glaring at you. 

You pried his hand away from your sore arm, and instead, intertwining his fingers with yours. "Don’t worry, 'Nari. We’ll hold hands, so don't let go."

Tighnari's brows shot up in the hairline, not comforted in the least by your reassuring smile. “I swear to all Archons in Teyvat, [Name], I’ll make you regret this if you let me go or pull weird tricks to make me fa—”

"I won’t! What kind of lover do you take me for?” You pouted.

Before he can come up with a snarky reply, you start pulling him across the ice rink. You have to bite the inside of your cheeks to keep your laughter to yourself when you hear him release an undignified yelp before tightly latching both his hands onto yours.

Come to think of it, despite his ungodly snarks and overall clumsiness at skating, your favourite scholar really isn’t too bad for a first-timer. He merely fell once so far. 

That first time was because you let his hand go for staring too long at that person who was executing a beautiful spin and statingstating bluntly that you skated like a "circus snake" compared to them. So rude. 

Though it wasn't that unusual when Tighnari insists on taking a break.

“What are you looking at?” His lips were curled downward in displeasure while seated on the bench.

“Nothing~"

"Sometimes, I really hate you.”

“Hehe. Love you too, 'Nari.” You respond in a sickeningly sweet, but mischievous voice. You bark a laugh loudly when he makes a move to get away from you but slips on the icy surface of the ground and lands squarely on his bum instead. That's twice now, you thought with a snicker.

After attempting for several minutes to convince Tighnari that you would stop harassing him for another hour and then failing spectacularly, you are left with little alternative but to drag him there. Back on the ice rink, you make the decision that you should definitely try to make your grumpy partner smile once more.

When he asks suspiciously what you're "plotting" this time, you refuse to say anything and gingerly take his hand before skating slowly toward the center of the rink. His misgivings and distrust towards you make you want to pout, but they aren't entirely unfounded given how you almost made him lose his sanity and completely drove him insane in the past hour.

“What are you doing?” He questioned in confusion.

"Dancing with the music while on ice!" You answer with a grin. "Since you're still new to this skating thing, just thought we could use a change of pace. And so that you would stop glaring at me already."

His brows furrowed. “And you didn’t think that I could use something like this earlier instead?"

You shush him, pressing a finger to his lips. "Shush. Just enjoy the moment, 'Nari."

He grumbles something incoherent under his breath, probably more complaints but nonetheless, his grip on your waist tightens to pull you closer to him, and he allows you to pull him along in slow circles. The both of you sway in time to the mellow beat, and after a while you hear Tighnari humming along softly to the carol while the ghost of a smile plays on his lips. His shoulders begin to loosen as he eases into the dance, the creases on his forehead fading away the more he loses himself in your eyes and in the faintly playing music.

Wordlessly, you felt your heart swell with affection. Tighnari has been so busy these past few weeks, and you both barely saw each other, if not at all. It makes you feel a little lonely, but you understand that his job requires his full attention and that many people rely on him as their leader.

You understand that, yes, still…it doesn't mean that you have to like it.

Perhaps Tighnari felt guilty about leaving you behind for so long either, and he felt it was his fault that he wasn't by your side at your lowest time when you needed him the most, so when the news of a new skating rink reaches his ears in the nearby country of Fontaine, he latches on the chance to take you along, knowing how you loved such excursions but have no time nor place to enjoy doing so. 

And even though it was his first time ice skating, and he wasn't even that used to the cold climate, Tighnari still took the effort to bring you here and you were grateful for his thoughtfulness for that. Whether he regrets it now or not because of your mischievous 'plotting' that almost made him senile remains to be seen.

When he appears to be less wary of the ice, you slowly skate backwards to pull away from him so you can lift his arm over and do a twirl along with him. The childish action pulls a chuckle from his lips, which causes your own to curve upwards as well.

"I supposed this isn’t half bad anymore," he remarked lightly.

"Right? I told you you would love this.”

He clarifies his sentence. "Correction: I like it when you don’t push me or make me skate like a Rishboland Tiger on incense."

Chuckling, you start skating and pulling him along with you. "It was your fault that you fell twice."

"You pushed me the first time," he argued.

"That was your fault, too."

"It wasn't, you lummox. I was doing fine until you—hey, look out!”

Before you can even process what he is saying, your left leg smacks against something hard, throwing you off balance. As you recoil and drag Tighnari down with you, all you can see is his gaping mouth and frozen expression of dread.

Your bottom takes the majority of the impact as your body crashes to the hard ice, and something sharp and unpleasant is jabbing at your side. Tighnari slammed directly on top of you, his immense weight knocking the wind out of you. He tries to get off of you as quickly as possible, but accidentally slips and falls on you again, this time, crushing your ribs.

“Ugh. I'm so sorry,” he muttered hurriedly, moving to get up so his weight is on his forearms that are resting on either side of your face. "Are you okay!?"

"I'll live." You replied with a grimace. "What was that?"

"A snowboard," he replies, looking over his shoulder where a blue overturned snowboard is lying. "Who in the world left that lying in the middle of a skating rink? That's highly dangerous! I would love to get some words with—"

"Probably a child," you stopped his tirade before it escalated to something close to a full-blown lecture. "Oww…"

Tighnari carefully crawls away from you so he has sufficient space to get back on his feet and once he’s up, he holds out a hand to you. "I'll help you up,"

You clasped his hand and allowed him to pull you up. But about halfway through, he manages to tip over—possibly because you put too much weight on him—and falls backward, dragging you with him.

You both crash land in a jumbled heap of limbs for the second time today. Perhaps the pain has finally reached your mind, but when you shift so that your weight is off of him and gaze down at his dumbfounded face, you can't help but laugh out loud. You know the people around you are giving you strange looks, but you can't help it.

You manage, struggling to recover your breath between laughs, "Today has been such a mess."

Tighnari is just staring at you like you've finally lost it, but before long the corners of his chapped, dry lips are also curling upwards and soon enough, he's laughing along with you at the ridiculous situation the two of you are in.

He sighed, blowing out a puff of breath and lightly flicking your forehead good naturedly. "You better make up for this later to me, you big lummox."

"Heh. Of course. Anything else you want as compensation?" You asked, brushing the viridescent strand of his hair from concealing his lovely face. He deserves this after all the terrorising from you today.

As he mulls over the query, his features settle into a thoughtful expression, and his lips pursed. Very cute, the way he’s almost pouting with his lips pushed out like that. Looking at him from this angle, with his dark hair splayed out around his head like a halo, lying on the shimmering ice beneath the bright rays of the sun in winter, you can’t help but feel your chest swell with affection. The loneliness you felt over the weeks apart from each other slowly, but surely unveiling itself little by little until it becomes nothing but a bittersweet memory.

He takes so much time to decide, and you feel impatient. So, with a mischievous smile, you lean in, catching him completely off guard when you press your lips to his. You pull away quickly after leaving a gentle peck, but his hand is quick to press on your back to keep you from moving away too far.

“One more time.” His tone is serious, but his face is well on its way to matching the colour of Nilou's hair as his gaze remains on your face, attentive olive eyes tracing the lines of your features and lingering on the changing colour of your heated cheeks. “As...compensation, that is.” he added, by way of explanation.

You smile brightly, ignoring the sting of your cracking lips when they spread too wide, and you lean in, more than happy to comply and compensate, while you’re at it.

This sweet moment is more than anything you could take home as a holiday keepsake.

TAGLIST (let me know if you want to be added in my future works!): @samarill , @maehemthemisfit , @chocogi , @rvoulte , @luvwukong ...

[dollysattictreasures]

A Life Of Faith Dolls

So recently I fell down this little rabbit hole and I want to share it. I don't have any of these dolls (and I don't really have any interest do) and there's little information about the company, so I got even more interested.

Background:

Created by homeschooling parents Lee and Bill Bereza in 1998, when they established Breezy Point Treasures. Together they based a custom doll on the Elsie Dinsmore book series by Martha Finley. Later they worked with Sandra Bilotto to design the dolls, and Lloyd Middleton to produce the dolls.The second character in the series was Mildred (shortened to Millie) Keith, Elsie's oldest cousin.

In 2003 Mission City Press purchased the company, and Elsie and Millie's appearances were changed. The dresses were more striking and stood out with lace and frills. Additionally their appearances were changed as Elsie was given pincurls and ribbons. Millie went from being a brunette to having blond hair and blue eyes (similar to Kirsten Larson) and the dolls got darker eye makeup and longer eyelashes.

Since the 2 original dolls were based off a book series, the original Elsie Dinsmore and Millie Keith series were re-released. One thing that seperated them from American Girl was that the story would follow their life- starting from childhood into their 20s and so on.

Additionally 3 new characters were introduced- Violet Travilla (Elsie's daughter in the series), Laylie Colbert and Kathleen Mckenzie. During this time the Elsie Dinsmore Collection was renamed to "A Life of Faith."

Once again the dolls were changed, this time with much more simpler outfits in contrast to their past look. After struggling to stay afloat, Mission City Press ceased production of the dolls in 2006.

Dolls:

Elsie Dinsmore- hazel eyes, brown hair with pincurls

Elsie is an 8 year old growing up in the mid 1800s in the South, on a plantation. They kinda gloss over the fact that she literally has slaves on her property and refers to them as just "servants." Anyways, Elsie is very wealthy but grows up without a mother, and for much of the story she waits for her father to return, as she's never met him. Her collection contained many dresses, coats, undergarments, a grand piano, some more furniture and accessories.

Millie Keith- blond hair, blue eyes

Aside from being a Kirsten Larson clone (I'm only half kidding) Millie Keith is a 12 year old girl living on the Indiana frontier in 1833. Her story follows as she is forced to move from an established town in Ohio to the unknown frontier. Her collection also features many outfits, coats, a horse, a table and chair set and many accessories. As far as looks are concerned, Millie does look very similar to Kirsten Larson, with one of her outfits even displaying her wearing loop braids.

Laylie Colbert- black hair, brown eyes, different face mold from the other dolls

Laylie Colbert is a 7 year old who's story follows her escape from slavery. In the story her family escapes and meets Millie Keith (who is 15) and the two become friends. Her meet oufit is supposed to be one that Millie gave her. Her collection literally has nothing- it has one nightgown, a robin hood costume (????) and a few accessories. She has the smallest collection out of them all.

Violet Travilla- black hair, brown eyes (well really red but I'll get to that later)

Violet Travilla is a 14 year old in the 1870s, and is the daughter of Elsie Dinsmore. She loves art, school, her family and God. Violet is the oldest doll out of the whole collection, so her story is supposed to feel personal to teenagers, so she's also very anxious about her future, and feels misunderstood. Her collection has many outfits, accessories, a sofa and a cat.

Kathleen Mckenzie- hazel eyes, curly brown hair, freckles, different face mold

Kathleen Mckenzie, the last doll to be released, is an 11 year old (although her face mold makes her look a lot younger) growing up in 1929. She has a lot of similarities with Kit, as her story talks about economic struggles, and she enjoys writing. Her collection has a lot of outfits, accessories, but no furniture.

Current State:

the Violet Travilla dolls have a defect in which over time her brown eyes have changed to a BRIGHT red. (seriously, look it up)

as I talked about earlier, A Life Of Faith bore some similarites to AG. With Kathleen's story being similar to Kit, Millie, the frontier doll's redesign looking very similar to Kirsten.

They promoted themselves as a Christian alternative to AG, with each doll coming with a dol-sized Bible, and each story talks about how the dolls overcome their struggles through God.

I want to say I have no problem with Christianity, or religious dolls. What I am going to judge is how they painted AG to be bad in their eyes, with the Baptist Press stating that AG donates to "homosexual and abortion-rights causes."

I also have a problem with how Laylie Colbert literally had no collection. A Robin Hood cloak to put over her original dress and a little nightgown just feels wrong. Every other doll got such large collections with such beautiful outfits and she got basically nothing in comparison.

catalogue from 2007 -> https://prokukol.ru/wallpapers/images/katalogs/alof2007/alof2007.pdf

From right to left: Elsie Dinsmore, Millie Keith, Violet Travilla and Laylie Colbert

Not Pictured: Kathleen Mckenzie

I know this was a long post, if you read it- thank you so much! I found this fun to research and fun to share :)

[vacantgodling]

Effe looks sick ! Tell me more 👀

so to explain dearest EFFE, i’m actually going to have to explain twilight idanly, my poor poor angel.

so let’s start at the beginning. to get some more context read about her younger twin sister whisper here. and this is gonna be broken up in 3 sections.

pt 1: twilight idanly, the terranean

as mentioned, twilight was the elder twin sister of whisper though many assumed the opposite. she was much more demure and soft spoken compared to her sister, and didn’t really agree with their father’s single minded hatred of the other side of their family. she wanted to be able to mingle with them, however, her father forbade them from seeing the rest of their family sans important events. twilight felt very isolated and alone during this period.

chance for freedom came in the form of the day of fissures… or it could’ve. she wanted to leave eros along with their cousins to venture into the unknown, however, whisper forbade her and had her physically restrained. after the fire separated the two halves of their family and the aegeans from the nomads, twilight was unsure of her fate, with whisper being named chieftain of aegos. but she would soon discover fate would not be kind to her.

pt 2: twilightsorrow, the beast

as the HWM grew and vis was able to be transformed into tenom, whisper started to have many defectors experimented upon to see if they could withstand the beastly transformation, or increase of their cava. most died. but twilight lived. her sorrowful wails of agony as her teeth grew, and horns protruded from her body and her eyes’s sclera changed to black among other horrifying transformations led to the guards who watched over her to rename her twilightsorrow, and then eventually just the beast.

every fortnight, she would be released into the overrun argos and in a bloodlust haze, would slaughter thousands of monsters and beasts alike. she didn’t remember much of what she did during that time. she stopped being capable of speech beyond a few words at times, and fully began to drown in the depths of this terribly dark place; on the brink of being transformed fully into a beast herself.

however,

one lonely night a bard was thrown in the cell next to hers. he too had tried to run away and before he could make it out of eros he was caught for the next round of experiments. his name was reed, and he carried with him a reed pipe. at this point the knowledge of sana, cava and ars was becoming more common place, and he knew he had quite a lot of ars and was able to, as many bards back then could, use cantatio; able to create magic and gusts of wind and other small spells with his pipe. though twilightsorrow didn’t wish to speak to him, he spoke to her, and eventually left her his reed pipe teaching her the musical note in the terranean scale “effe” as well as the magic that goes along with it.

(as an aside: the note effe correlates to the note in our world F, and magically is associated with gales, gusts, powerful short bursts of wind. the longer or louder it’s played the more damage it can cause over a continuous period of time).

when he was taken away, he was killed, unable to withstand tenom. but in secret twilightsorrow continued to practice effe, hoping that one day she could be able to escape.

the time eventually came. when she was brought to be let loose into argos to roam and slaughter again, twilightsorrow blew loud, clear, and deafening into the reed pipe, summoning as much magic as she could muster to break apart the cage, and killing her escort posse in the process. she fled into the woods never to be seen by another terranean again.

pt 3: EFFE, goddess of winds, gales and gusts

realistically that should be the end of her story. but it’s not! she wandered on her own for weeks, eventually coming to the brink of death and near starvation when she was found by the ancient god of chaos (among other things), MIZDARR. he could sense the chaos within her, and was able to see her memories as to what she went through before she was found. he asked her if she wanted to live and she barely managed to say yes.

it was then that he transformed her; from a mangled and broken beast to a beautiful, powerful, dangerous goddess in her own right. she grew beautiful curling horns and wings, able to summon all manners of wind and weather at her beck and call. his one restraint on her is that she could not ever return to eros and seek revenge on those who did this to her — because without that, she would’ve been unable to be reborn. she agreed to this, took to the skies, and has not set her feet on the ground ever since.

the experimentations of eros were purposefully destroyed by those at the now defunct HWM and no one will ever know the true origins of the wind goddess. but, EFFE likes to keep it that way. she prefers who she is now over who she came from any day.

—

this was quite long but i have a special place in my heart and head for twilight/EFFE. there’s a character named after her in present day terrae as well, named efelia who is someone clear meets before canon and tbh with all of EFFE’s backstory, it’s kind of fitting.

after being ascended to deity-hood, EFFE and The Lady of the Mists (or pinella-long story) were able to reunite, and The Lady helped her process some of her grief. the two of them spend a lot of time together now that neither of them could in mortal life :’)

[wyrmfedgrave]

Pics:

1 & 2. General purpose map for this prehistoric natural game preserve.

3. Kazar, Lord of the Savage Land. Originally a Tarzan clone - but, always in his own 'Pellucidar.'

4. Shanna, the She-Devil. Originally, a knock-off of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. Now married to the Tarzan clone above.

5. Kazar vs augmented dinos - in some great cover art.

6. Shanna - your readers really want to know how you get out of this jam!!

1906: The Earth (is) Not Hollow.

The Savage Land is a hidden (under Antarctica's ice!) tropical preserve at the base of the Palmer Peninsula.

It's part of several such planetary zoos built by the Nuwali for the mysterious Beyonders...

This 1 is stocked with the prehistoric animal & plant life of 200 million years ago.

50 million years ago, the Nuwali had to augment the area's volcanoes to preserve it's tropical ecosystem.

They also supplemented the animal life with various early mammals - including 'Man-Apes!'

The Nuwali finally left Earth some 200,000 years ago...

Eternals lived here briefly.

Then, ancient Atlanteans colonized the Savage Land, exporting its animal life thruout their empire.

Their scientist-sorcerers imported magical creatures & expanded the Land's recreation/commerce center called Pangea.

Beast-Men were created by the Atlanteans & promptly enslaved!!

But, after a successful rebellion, they spread out into the preserve to find places to live in...

In 18,000 BC, an alien/mystic war resulted in the sinking of Atlantis!!

The Beyonders sent alien operatives to Earth - to repair the Savage Land's environmental systems.

Yet, over half of the Land's population still perished!

Other, god-like aliens lived in the Land for awhile.

Then, the Sagittarians stored a Planet Destroyer & it's guardian there.

Khor, a French sorcerer, was exiled to the Savage Land - for eternity!

Velasco hid Beatrice under Mt. Flavius & tried to summon the Elder Gods there.

As Dante & Belasco fought, a pipe got hit - releasing some unknown gas!

It put Belasco into suspended animation, but, Dante & his men were mystically 'changed'.

In the 1800s, Atlanteans relocated to the waters surrounding Antarctica - as did Lemurian rebels...

By the 1940s, Nazis had built a hidden base somewhere in the South Pole.

After WW2, some high ranking Nazis escaped there, stumbling upon the Savage Land - & its high tech.

British Lord Plunder was the next to discover the Land - while looking for vibranium.

His 9 year old son was orphaned & raised by Zabu, a sabertooth tiger!!

He was renamed Kazar, "friend of the sabertooth cats."

Author/Artist: The Savage Land was created by Jack Kirby & Stan Lee for X-Men #10 in 1965!

[roseartsandfics]

Rhona MLP OC (REDESIGN)

Here is the redesign of my MLP, renamed Rhona instead of ShadowSilver, and couldn't name her Rose LaBelle, because there is another MLP canon character Rose as well, and I really don't want to have my OC having the same name as the canon has. It was difficult finding good names, so Rhona is the best choice right now ^^;

But here is her new (possibly changing it later in a new redraw ^^;) description!:

Name: Rhona

Other names: Rhone, Miss Rhona, Princess Rhona, princess, foolish girl, the Alicorn who is the last princess of Equestria, the long lost sister of Celestia and Luna, the sky princess, the Princess of Starlunaria

Gender: Female

Age: 18

Alignment: Good

Species: Alicorn

Appearance: slender, pink, red hair, magenta eyes, red rose flower crown, sleeves and cloak, wings and a rose cutie mark

Personality: kind-hearted, sweet, caring, supportive, sassy and stubborn (sometimes), timid (sometimes), emotional, brave and courageous

Birthplace: Equestria

Homeland: Starlunaria (formerly), Equestria

Relatives: Princess Celestia (oldest sister), Princess Luna (older sister), King Brunarr, (adoptive father), Queen of Starlunaria (unknown name and adoptive mother; deceased)

Friends: Celestia, Luna, Twilight Sparkle (close), Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applebloom, Scootaloo, Sweetiebelle, Discord, Princess Candace, Spike, Tempest Shadow, Celaeno and her pirate crew, Capper, Queen Novo, Princess Skystar, and some OCs from Celestial-Rainstorm and PokemonTrainerMax via DeviantArt (too much to list ^^;)

Enemies: Princess Saiya, The Dark King of Antropas and the Dark Soldiers

Likes: her homeland Equestria, her sisters, her adoptive father, Starlunaria, her friends, learning magic and friendship, sweets, chicken tenders, potatoes, coffee, sunny weather, the Draconequus, children, dancing, singing, royalty, writing, reading, art, music, theaters and learning of her purpose

Dislikes: pickles, darkness, Saiya, the Dark Soldiers, Antropas, tea, the Dark King of Antropas, weakness, feeling underestimated, destruction, being kidnapped, losing her sisters and her adoptive father, giving up

Abilities: Rhona was born with the magic of beauty, love, and can create roses and floral objects to represent the beauty of the kingdom and represent the beings of each ponies, unicorns, etc. She can also using light and magic beauty spells to fight enemies by releasing lore spells to distract them before releasing her magic spells to defeat them.

Weakness: dark power from Saiya is her only weakness, and basically other dark magic from the kingdom of Antropas. Couldn't resist the smell of coffee, chicken tenders, and couldn't resist seeing sweets she loves.

Rhona is an OC character from My Little Pony and MLP: Next Gen I have created before changing the name to make it more fitting, and in a new design as an Alicorn like her two sisters.

Rhona is born in Equestria, after Celestia and Luna, and was to be the last sister to be taught royalty, magic and responsibilities before becoming the next Queen of Equestria. Since Celestia can bring sunshine to create day, and Luna bringing the moon to create night, Rhona has the magic to release beauty to all the land, bringing balance as well. Until one day, years before Luna’s outrage and before becoming Nightmare Moon, the Dark Soldiers invaded the castle. The Dark King (who is unnamed at this time) of the dark kingdom Antropas, which the kingdom was full of dark magic and thunder, who wanted to take the sister's magic to use it for himself and his daughter Saiya to recreate Antropas into a divine kingdom, as if it would destroy Equestria, although he may not know the power of friendship and balance of nature. Celestia, Luna, and Rhona refused to give their magic to him. The Dark King, in his anger, made a decision to kidnap Rhona and made haste to Antropas to force her to give her magic to him as he ordered his soldiers to execute Celestia and Luna. The sisters sended the royal guards to defeat the Dark Soldiers as they chased the king, who was holding Rhona hostage. Many brave guards had enough strengths to fight him in order to save the princess. To their success, the king fell out of failure and losses to fight, but took it at a fatal turn for him. After the Dark King’s death, the royal guards soon learn that Rhona was missing. At what they thought, they had feared and believed that she died as well after the fight, and failed to rescue her, although they didn't know that Rhona was still alive. Celestia and Luna were both overcome by grief and sadness over their sister's disappearance after they were told she was dead. But Rhona was still alive as she was lost in the fields, until one unusual guard of a different kingdom finds her. Rhona was brought home into the kingdom of Starlunaria, a peaceful land in the sky Brunarr, the king had decided to take Rhona as his daughter, as she became the princess of the kingdom she had starting to love. But as time went by, Rhona begins her journey to Equestria to find answers who she really is, although doesn't know that Saiya had plotted to take Rhona's magic, promising her vengeance after her father's death and promising him to make Antropas greater and destroy Equestria.

I know the background story isn't as easy to manage, but I think it's okay. ^^;

Starlunaria, Antropas, Brunarr and Saiya are my fanbase characters and locations, which I couldn't draw soon (especially redrawing Saiya since I didn't like how she looked and how her description is to begin with first lol). I was thinking either a MLP fanfic or a comic ^^;. I am still planning on a Final Fantasy VII fanfic, which I really need to be getting into soon unless other stuff happens, so a MLP comic could be sided to make ^^

What y'all think of her now? :)

Characters (mentioned) and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic ©Lauren Faust, Sarah Wall, and Hasbro Studios

Characters (mentioned) and My Little Pony: The Movie ©Jayson Thiessen, Brian Goldner, Allspark Pictures, DHX Media and Lionsgate

Rhona, Brunarr, Saiya, The Dark King of Antropas, Dark Soldiers, Antropas, Starlunaria and artwork ©RosePrincessArts

No copyright infringement is intended

Used: regular basic pencil, artists fine pens, illustration and non toxic alcohol markers

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase: How It All Started (Episode 1)

This comic was later renamed to Cyberchase Web Adventures Episode 1.

When I make posts about certain Cyberchase characters or important events, I sometimes show panels from the prequel web comic "How It All Started", which was released online in December 2001, a month or so before Cyberchase premiered. I have restrained myself from just posting the whole thing, since I don't own it.

However, it is no longer available on the live pbskids.org website. It is available through archives, but there are some difficulties in tracking it down due to missing images in some places. Additionally, even when it was available on the live pbskids.org website, it was free for all to view, so posting it here wouldn't hurt anyone.

The best way to enjoy the web comic is through the FlashPoint Archive Project. This is because the webpages used simple animations in some places. Essentially, each comic page is treated like a tradition animation cell. They have a background layer, and then the webpage places images on top of it that can be exchanged for one another. This produces simple three-frame animations for things like flashing lights or repetitive arm and eye movements. This isn't something I can easily reproduce on Tumblr, since it isn't like posting a single animated GIF. There may be some round-about way to convert it (i.e. take video of the webpage animating and convert it to GIF), but I'm not going to do that. So, this will just be still images. There is no author or illustrator credited for this. The webpages mention a copyright of 2001 for the Educational Broadcasting Corporation, but I don't know if they actually assembled the content in-house, or if Nelvana or WNET did it. I just want to make sure that everyone is aware that I do not own this. I am presenting someone else's creation here, in an unedited form.

There is one other thing I should point out. When the comic was originally released in 2001, it has a certain framing to it.

However, in 2002, the Cyberchase website got redesigned, and the comic was changed as well. Some animations were removed, some images were replaced with lower-quality images, and some assets were altered to fit in a new frame. They started calling these webisodes to fit in with Cyberchase Web Adventures, which included an original Poddleville story and one about Hacker trying to knock over Tikis in Tikiville.

I prefer the original framing, and I dug into the archives to find as many panels with the original framing that I could. However, I was unable to find the original framing for a few pages. It may be possible for someone with better Photoshop skills to try to put the assets back in their original forms. I'm not that person, but the assets are on the Internet Archive and the Flashpoint Project for anyone who wants to try. In those cases, I will use the new framing. All of the images necessary to understand the story are intact. However, there are some special cases that I will note when we get to them.

Anyway, my plan here is to show the panels, transcribe the narration and dialogue, and make some commentary at the end. So, let's begin.

Narration: Cyberspace... A place where time and space are one... A place where the lines between reality and imagination no longer exist... A place where anyone can go and anything can happen.

Narration: Throughout Cyberspace there are thousands of places called cybersites, each very different from the other, and all under the watchful eye of their thoughtful and peace-loving leader: Motherboard.

Narration: The heads of several cybersites gather for an important meeting with Motherboard to discuss the future.

Narration: Motherboard tells everyone that all is well, and reminds them that peach and harmony are the key to the future.

Dr Marbles(?): Together we are strong

Assembled Heads(?) of Cybersites (Ava of Symmetria, Sheriff Judy of Sensible Flatts, The King of Happily Ever After, Zeus of Mt. Olympus, an unknown character, Ollie Nollie of Solaria, Lucky of R-Fair-City, and Two-Headed Sam of Castleblanca): To Motherboard

Editors note: Motherboard is absent from this panel during this version of the comic. I'm not sure if this was supposed to be a shot from Motherboard's POV, or if they just wanted to wait another page before showing her. That speech bubble is so far away from Dr. Marbles, that I wasn't sure if he was even the one saying the line. Maybe they were implying that Motherboard was speaking through the screen behind Dr. Marbles, even though it doesn't have anything on it.

The second version of the comic adds a screen with Motherboard to the background layer, implying that it was supposed to be her saying the line all along. This is confusing.

Narration: Motherboard exists in a vast, hi-tech computer center known as control central.

Narration: Motherboard is the brain of the giant computer system that oversees all of Cyberspace.

Narration: The brilliant Dr. Marbles is responsible for keeping Motherboard's parts working smoothly and efficiently at all times.

Dr. Marbles: Your memory is now optimized, Motherboard.

Narration: Needing an assistant with a high level of intelligence, Dr. Marbles assembles a cyborg who calls himself The Hacker.

The Hacker (thinking): Hmmm, someday I'll take over all of Cyberspace!

Narration: Wanting an assistance of his own, Hacker makes a robotic Cybird he names Digit.

Digit: Yoikes!

Narration: One night, while Marbles is away, Hacker removed the Encryptor Chip from Motherboard... ...and hides it inside a secret vault.

The Hacker: Without the Encryptor Chip, Motherboard cannot function. Ha-Ha-Ha!

Digit: Stop! You can't do this!

Narration: Digit needs to figure out the combination to the safe so he can replace the Encryptor Chip inside Motherboard before it's too late!

Digit: This is definitely not going to be easy!

Editor's Note: And then, we play "Crack Hacker's Safe". This game still exists on the pbskids.org website almost 25 years later. It was done in Javascript, so it survived the death of Flash that took out most of the rest of the Cyberchase game library. Feel free to pretend that Digit is the one pressing the buttons for these panels. Make up dialogue if you wish.

Narration: Congratulations you did it!

Narration: With the Encryptor Chip safely back in place, Motherboard tells Hacker he has to leave.

Motherboard: Your hostile actions cannot be tolerated, Hacker. You are no longer welcome here.

Narration: The power is drained from Hacker and he is placed inside a remote-controlled Cyberpod.

The Hacker: Someday... somehow, I'll return. And when I do, I'll take over all of Cyberspace!

Dr. Marbles: Page down, Hacker. Your file is closed!

Narration: Hacker is banished to the farthest reaches of The Northern Frontier.

The Hacker: NOOOOOOO....!

Narration: Neither Motherboard nor Dr. Marbles realize that Hacker has taken Digit with him.

The Hacker: I'll be back! Ha-Ha-Ha!

Digit: Yoikes Lemme outa here!

Narration: Check out webisode 2... ...and find out about Hacker's Evil plan ... and what happens to Digit!

Editor's Note: So, we have the narration inviting us to watch webisode 2. Normally, you would expect the alt text attached to the web page to match the text for the image, so that if someone was unable to load the image, they would still get the text. The alt text is: "Tune in next week and find out about Hacker's evil plan and what happens to Digit!"

This leads me to believe that there was a different version of this image back in 2001 that had narration that was either the same as the alt text, or more similar. However, it appears that that version of the image was replaced, and the original version was not archived.

That's the end of the comic, so let's get to my commentary.

So, what do I think about this comic? I enjoyed reading it. I like the idea of The Hacker's schemes to topple Motherboard starting before the main virus. I find it a bit odd that he was able to remove the Encryptor Chip without either Motherboard or Dr. Marbles being alerted instantly, since it is an essential part.

I suppose Digit was already a good guy at this point. Otherwise, he would have looked the other way, Motherboard would have ceased function, and we wouldn't have gotten the show at all. Now, Digit never being a bad guy is a controversial idea in the fan community. If he was always against The Hacker's evil plans, then it removes the idea of him being genuinely bad and having a change of heart later. I'm also not sure why The Hacker took Digit along after he foiled his plans this first time. Perhaps Digit was able to hide this betrayal from him at the time. But then, who else would have known about The Hacker's secret vault, or the fact that he stole the Encryptor Chip?

It is questionable how much of this is still canon. The Hacker's origin story in particular has been expanded in the years that followed. The modern story talks about him wanting to help Motherboard, and then turning evil later. Meanwhile, this original origin story had him turning evil immediately. At this point, they had not even created the young Hacker that we see in flashbacks, since he only appears (from birth) in his final form.

The show has also animated a flashback of Dr. Marbles exiling Hacker in the same cyberpod. But then, we got Season 5 Episode 6 "The Flying Parallinis, where his banishment involved being trapped on top of Mount Wayupthere until the Parallinis accidentally released him. Both items may have been ret-conned in Season 12 Episode 8 "Hacker Hugs a Tree", when we see him banished via portal. He is also alone in that episode, so he didn't bring Digit along with him in that version of events.

Also, can we go back to the board room with the leaders of a few of the Cybersites?

This was early days for the show, so they only had so many characters created. Now, Zeus makes sense. He is the king of the gods on the Mt. Olympus Cybersite. The King from Happily Ever After also makes sense. Judge Trudy makes sense, I suppose. Back then, we only really knew her and her sister, Sheriff Judy, from Sensible Flatts. This was long before Sensible Flatts had a separate mayor.

Ava from Symmetria is an interesting choice. She runs the factory that produces the symmetrical objects, but is she also the head-of-state on that Cybersite? We don't see anything on that Cybersite other than the factory, so maybe the site really is just the factory.

I'm surprised to see Two-Headed Sam here. We know he runs the Cryoxide factory in Castleblanca, but this isn't really an Ava situation where the entire site is just one factory. Is Sam also the head-of-state across Castleblanca? That would explain his monopoly on the Cryoxide business, and it is a concerning conflict of interest. This was before the mayor we all remember from the Halloween Howl.

Ollie Nollie was the cart driver on Solaria, and Lucky was the cab driver on R-Fair City. I get that Solaria is mostly a vacation resort, and R-Fair City is an amusement park. But it's still weird to me that these two would be the heads-of-state over there.

Does anyone recognize the character in the top right? I can't find any reference to him.

Edit: I was looking back at S01 E21 "Less Than Zero", where we see a meeting of the Cyber Council. They used the same room, and the characters are in much the same arrangement. Our mystery character is replaced by the Mayor of Poddleville. The Mayor of Poddleville is easily the most senior member here, due to his place in the pilot. So, I'm a little surprised that he was the one character to change between "How It All Started" and this episode.

We also get Lachesis, one of the three fates from Greek Mythology, seated across from Dr. Marbles. I'm not sure why only one of the three fates gets a seat at this table. Why would Olympus get two representatives on the council?

[themacabre70s]

joy division: goths that weren’t goth

content and trigger warning for discussion of suicide. it not graphically discussed but it is mentioned.

as the title says Joy Division is goth, but it's also not. Joy Division from what i have read is better classified as post punk today. i know the sub genre labeling in the punk/rock community is very nuanced but it would feel wrong not to include joy division in my blog. instead, this post is more about remembering the band's influence on the goth culture musically. a staple band for goths of the 70s.

there will be no style section in this post because while their utilitarian look was iconic they did not influence the fashion scene well enough for me to write too much about it. if you wish to learn more i direct you to these:

https://husbands-paris.com/en/joy-division-austere-sound-and-style/

anothermanmag.com/style-grooming/10919/ian-curtis-joy-division-lead-singer-frontman-style-fashion

https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a38894373/joy-division-1970s-style/

music: gloom and doom

joy division released their first EP “An Ideal For Living” in June 1978

a year later their debut album “Unknown Pleasures” was released in June and sold over 10,000 copies, Jon Savage of Melody Maker described the album as an “opaque manifesto” and “one of the best, white, English, debut LPs of the year”

in November of 1980 joy division released a single called “Transmission”

joy divisions second and final album “Closer” was released in July 1980. Closer reached #6 on the UK album chart and peaked at #3 in the New Zealand charts.

since then many outtakes, live editions, and compilation albums have been released.

joy divisions music at first listen is undeniably gothic with haunting lyrics sung by ian curtis' low gravelly voice. joy divisions style helped influence a new era of artists famous today such as Radiohead and The Cure.

an article by the blog "Thred" comments on Unknown Pleasures saying, "It’s a monster of a record, one that embraces the complex suffering of human experience decades before we even began to talk about anxiety or mental health. Joy Division opened the door for punk and rock to express more than simply rage and frustration."

joy divisions sound is described as industrial. echoing bass with guitar waiting for its turn in songs about the bleakness of manchester life.

the imagery surrounding their albums reinforces this idea with black-and-white stone settings and shadowy figures.

they feel restless, almost ghostly, like they're waiting for something lurking behind the beat of drums.

its clear this style of sound mixing helped pave the way for goth bands of the future, those forming, and those who would form.

band history: becoming joy division

joy division was formed in 1976 by friends Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook after seeing the Sex Pistols live and being inspired to start a band. they recruited friend Terry Mason who had gone to the concert with them and Mason became the drummer, Sumner the keyboardist/guitarist, and Hook the bassist. after placing an ad for a vocalist they were joined by Ian Curtis.

joy division first went by the name Warsaw, a reference to David Bowies song Warsawa.

Warsaw would debut on May 29th 1977 and was received with a lot of praise. Terry Mason became the bands manager and they had two drummers Tony Tabac and Steve Brotherdale before settling on school friend of Ian Curtis, Stephen Morris in August of 1977.

later in early 1978 the band renamed themselves Joy Division to avoid confusion with a London punk band called Warsaw Pakt. in January of 1978 they had their first show as Joy Division.

tragically, on May 18th 1980 vocalist Ian Curtis took his own life.

the band disbanded because of a pact made earlier saying they would rename the band should any members leave.

Joy Division became a new band called New Order which released their debut single “Ceremony” in 1981. in New Orders early years they struggled under the shadow of joy division but achieved greater success playing in a different style & genre of music.

[melmordfjordslorn]

@lovleycrowley

Phase Six: Wish You Wear Ear (2019–2021)

During a brief hiatus for the band, on the 3rd of September 2019 while visiting Iran to see Lake Urmia, Noodle made note of how climate change had taken a toll on the lake. She came to a realization regarding the fleeting state of nature on Earth, and sent a post-card to Murdoc, 2D, and Russel at Studio 13 with a message detailing her desire to build a machine and see the world before it’s gone. The post-card arrived at Studio 13 on the 12th of September.

On the 7th of September, 2D sent a post-card to the band while visiting Beirut, informing Noodle that he got the parts for the machine she had mentioned, asking what they were for. The post-card arrived at Studio 13 on the 24th of September.

On the 14th of September, Murdoc sent a post-card from his annual drunken holiday in Ibiza. The post-card arrived at Studio 13 on the 26th of September.

On the 21st of September, Russel sent a post-card from Mexico while working on his hot sauce business, "Hobbs Hot Sauce". He included a message telling the band that he’d “be seeing [them] and the machine REAL soon”. The post-card arrived at Studio 13 on the 4th of October.

The machine (revealed as the "Song Machine") was activated on the 28th of January. The following day, the band announced their next project, Song Machine, a multimedia series of songs/music videos released episodically through 2020, as a continuously-updating playlist via streaming services.

In a statement to the press, Russell said "Song Machine is a whole new way of doing what we do. Gorillaz breaking the mould ‘cos the mould got old. World is moving faster than a supercharged particle, so we’ve gotta stay ready to drop. We don’t even know who’s stepping through the studio next. Song Machine feeds on the unknown, runs on pure chaos. So whatever the hell’s coming, we’re primed and ready to produce like there’s no tomorrow. Y’know, just in case.”

Throughout the course of the series, the band collaborates with musicians they’ve met on their various trips around the world, inviting them to record at their now renamed West London studio, officially dubbed the new Kong Studios. In the music video for “Désolé”, 2D, Noodle, and Russel travel to Lake Como via a mysterious teleporting door in Kong Studios and record with Fatoumata Diawara. Murdoc is left behind and unable to reopen the portal, leaving him lonely and depressed at Kong. When questioned about this, Murdoc claimed he wasn’t upset about being left behind and didn’t care about their trip to Italy. Shortly before enviously asking 2D and Russel about portals just “in case [he] ever [needs] to find one for future reference”.

In the face of a global pandemic, the band practiced social distancing, sequestering themselves in various parts of Kong Studios. Murdoc locked himself in Kong’s basement, explaining how he was working on “something big” that would “change the effing world”. After a look through his online purchase history, this “something big” appears to have involved nearly £500 worth of pine wood and a blow up doll. Meanwhile, Russel caught up on television while experimenting with an assorted variety of food/entertainment combinations.

As the months passed, Murdoc continued providing social media updates regarding his secret project, before finally unveiling it in the music video for Pac-Man. This special project, his very own orgone accumulator (based on the pseudoscientific concept of Wilhelm Reich), was built solely by Murdoc in the basement of Kong Studios. Throughout the video Murdoc can be seen contentedly sitting and relaxing in his creation, which in an act of jealousy and defiance, he claims can also act as his own private teleportation portal despite not showing any interest or apparent ability of opening a portal of any kind.

In the Strange Timez music video, the band took a trip through space to destroy a billboard on the moon. In the music video for The Valley of the Pagans, the band traveled through a portal to Los Angeles for a drive around the city before abruptly falling through another portal leading them to Plastic Beach.

In the music video for The Lost Chord, the band found themselves back at Plastic Beach ten years after the Black Clouds’ attack on the island. Past trauma resurfaced as they explored the remains of the island. Murdoc is seen overcome with guilt at the sight of a damaged and deactivated Cyborg Noodle. Soon after, a sea monster awoke from the depths of the ocean and began destroying the island. The deactivated Cyborg Noodle is seen opening her eye as she lifelessly sinks to the bottom of the ocean. A portal back to Kong suddenly opened up as the ruins of the island sunk into the ocean. 2D, Noodle, and Russel escaped as the portal closed, leaving Murdoc stranded in the ocean. In the spirit of friendship and forgiveness, 2D quickly reopened the portal and reached out, saving Murdoc’s life.

In May of 2021, a demonic sinkhole opened beneath Kong Studios, leaving it inoperable and under renovation. During this time, the band went on a road trip in Murdoc's Winnebago, taking their instruments and recording equipment along with them. The band released a surprise EP titled Meanwhile in August of 2021. The EP was released as an "homage to Notting Hill Carnival", an annual event that usually takes place in London every August, but couldn't occur in 2020 or 2021 due to the global pandemic. The EP features frequent Notting Hill Carnival performers Jelani Blackman, Barrington Levy, AJ Tracey, and Alicai Harley.

In December 2021, the band was contacted by a rogue agent of the Department of Musical Corrections, "a covert organisation operating in the murky shadows of the music industry" with the goal to "stifle originality" in the world of pop-music. The DMC agent, known only as GFlat, revealed on social media that Gorillaz had been on the top of the organizations "most subversive" watchlist for decades. GFlat claimed that "a storm [was] coming", and began leaking classified DMC documents to the public through the Gorillaz discord. This culminated in the release of Demoz, a collection of early Gorillaz demos that had previously been locked away in the DMC vaults.

[gadgetrevive]

iOS 17.6 Released: What's New?What's up, guys? My name is Brandon, and today, Apple released iOS and iPadOS 17.6 to the general public after over a month of beta testing. In this article, we're going to talk about what's new in this update, the performance, battery life, and if this will be the final iOS 17 update or not.New Features in iOS 17.6The first notable update in iOS 17.6 is related to the TV application and sports. Apple has introduced a new catch-up feature for live sports in the TV app, specifically for the MLS Season Pass. This feature allows users to catch up on the action by watching a series of AI-generated clips of highlights that have already occurred during the game. This is a great addition for sports enthusiasts who join a live game in progress.Another minor update in the TV application is the relocation of the share button. Previously, the share button was hidden under the three-dot menu, but now it is conveniently placed in the top left corner of the screen.Apple News ApplicationIn the Apple News application, users can now schedule live activities. This means you can set up a live activity for events like a game or an election, and it will appear in the Dynamic Island without waiting for the event to start. This feature enhances the real-time experience of following live events directly from the app.Privacy UpdatesiOS 17.6 includes a small but significant privacy update in the Shortcuts application. When you run a shortcut involving actions like "Get Contents of Web Page" or "Get Contents of URL" for the first time, there’s now a new sentence indicating that this action might allow the shortcut to share content with the website. This provides users with better transparency about what the shortcut does.Settings ChangesIn the Settings application, under Privacy and Security, and then Location Services, you’ll notice that the option previously labeled "Siri and Dictation" has been renamed to just "Siri." This reflects the ongoing refinements Apple makes to its interface to ensure clarity and precision.Apple Pencil ProFor those using the Apple Pencil Pro, iOS and iPadOS 17.6 introduce a lost mode. Previously unsupported, the Apple Pencil Pro can now be marked as lost, making it easier to locate if misplaced. This update adds a layer of security and convenience for users of this accessory.Messages ApplicationThe Messages application also received a tweak. Now, if you receive a message from an unknown sender who is international, the app will specifically indicate that it’s from an unknown international sender. This update provides more context and can help in identifying the source of messages.Beats Pill and Control CenterIf you own a Beats Pill, it’s now supported with iOS 17.6. When connected, you’ll see a matching Beats icon in the Control Center. This is a minor but appreciated update for Beats users, enhancing the visual integration of their devices within iOS.Photos ApplicationIn the Photos application, when you go to delete a photo permanently from the Recently Deleted folder, there is now an additional sentence at the end of the confirmation prompt that says, “This action can’t be undone.” This added step ensures users are fully aware of the permanence of their actions.Wallet and Apple CardFor Apple Card users, if your account gets suspended, you will now receive an alert within the Wallet application explaining the reason for the suspension. For example, if the suspension is due to declaring bankruptcy, this will be explicitly stated. This transparency helps users understand and address issues more promptly.Bug Fixes and PerformanceRegarding bug fixes, iOS 17.6 addresses several issues. For instance, a bug related to messages being slow to send or failing to send has been resolved. Additionally, there’s a fix for cell connectivity issues on certain devices, thanks to a modem firmware update included in this release.In terms of security updates, iOS 17.6 contains several important patches. While none of these vulnerabilities were being actively exploited, they include several serious issues.

These include kernel bugs, issues with the hidden photos album, and multiple WebKit bugs. Notably, a lock screen issue was addressed where an attacker with physical access could use Siri to access sensitive user data.Performance and Battery LifePerformance-wise, users can expect iOS 17.6 to feel similar to 17.5 and 17.5.1. Running a Geekbench 6 test on my 13 Pro Max, I scored 2421 on the single-core and 6063 on the multi-core, which is consistent with previous updates. Therefore, no major changes in performance are expected.Battery life also remains stable. After using the Release Candidate (RC) for over a week, I haven’t noticed any significant differences compared to 17.5.1. This means users shouldn’t expect major changes in battery performance with this update.Should You Update?As we approach the end of the iOS 17 release cycle, many users might wonder whether to update to iOS 17.6 or wait for iOS 18. Given that we’re this late in the cycle, updating to 17.6 is generally safe and recommended. It includes important security patches and minor feature enhancements without introducing significant risks.If you're waiting for iOS 18, it’s expected to be released around mid-September, likely on the 16th. Before that, we might see a 17.6.1 or even a 17.7 update, focusing primarily on security and minor bug fixes.ConclusioniOS 17.6 is a relatively minor update but includes several notable features and important security fixes. The new catch-up feature for live sports, improvements in the Messages app, and privacy enhancements in Shortcuts are all welcome additions. Performance and battery life remain consistent with previous versions, making it a safe update for most users.For those in need of phone repair services, check out Gadget Kings PRS. Located in Underwood, they offer expert repairs for various devices, ensuring your gadgets are in top-notch condition. Visit their website for more information and services.By updating to iOS 17.6, you ensure your device remains secure and up-to-date with the latest features and improvements Apple has to offer. Stay tuned for more updates and tips on how to make the most out of your iOS experience.

[tienramadan]

Why have student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza gone global?

University campuses around the world have been the stage of a growing number of protests by students demanding academic institutions divest from companies supplying arms to Israel.

The protests, which first spread across college campuses in the US, have reached universities in the UK, the rest of Europe, as well as Lebanon and India.

The students say they are voicing their opposition to, what they describe as, their university’s “complicity” in Israel’s assault on Gaza that has killed more than 34,700 people. Israel said its military offensive was a response to the attack by Hamas militants on 7 October, when about 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage.

More than 2,500 demonstrators have been arrested in the US so far, with protests on college campuses attracting global media attention and reaction from Palestinians trapped in the besieged Gaza.

More protests are expected, with the Israeli assault on Rafah drawing international condemnation. Some students have begun hunger strikes in protest against their university’s “silence and inaction”.

Demonstrations have been staged at nearly 140 college campuses in the US, spanning 45 states and Washington DC since protests began at Columbia University in New York. 

Dramatic scenes unfolded at Columbia about a week ago when more than 100 students were arrested after police officers entered the campus. 

The university called on the police to tackle demonstrators who had occupied Hamilton Hall, renaming it Hind’s Hall, after a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in Gaza. 

Afterwards, Joe Biden, rejected claims that the protests were non-violent. “Destroying property is not a peaceful protest; it’s against the law,” the US president said.

Biden added: “There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans.”

Since then, students at about 14 UK universities have also set up encampments.

Hala Hanina, a Palestinian student who has been involved in protests at the Newcastle University, said: “It’s so important for the student community and British community that they are fighting for justice.”

More than a dozen students at Princetonand 10 students at Edinburgh have said they will begin a hunger strike in protest at their university’s policies.

Prof Peter Mathieson, the principal and vice-chancellor at Edinburgh, said: “We have very recently been notified of the intention of an unknown number of students to commence a hunger strike as an indication of their strength of feeling and determination around issues related to Palestine and Israel.

“While we recognise their bodily autonomy, we appeal to them and others not to take risks with their own health, safety and wellbeing. We are in daily contact with the protesters to ensure they are aware of the health and wellbeing support available to them.”

What is the situation in mainland Europe?

Small protests have taken place at universities including in France, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain, although most were swiftly cleared by police.

The largest was at the University of Amsterdam where riot police, acting at the request of university authorities, city hall and public prosecutors, moved in early on Tuesday morning to break up an encampment that had sprung up on Monday.

Police used a mechanical digger to break down barricades of pallets and bicycles erected by the protesters and used batons to disperse the crowd – 125 of whom refused to leaveand were arrested. Most were released after a few hours.

The university said: “We share the anger and bewilderment over the war, and we understand that there are protests over it. We stress that within the university, dialogue about it is the only answer.”

What are the student protesters calling for?

Many want universities to sell off shares, assets or other investments in companies linked to Israel and its war in Gaza, a move known as divestment.

Activists say universities and colleges investing in Israeli companies or organisations doing business in Israel are “complicit” in the war in Gaza. 

The protesters are also calling for a ceasefire, for universities to acknowledge the conflict in the besieged Palestinian territory as a “genocide” and to “condemn the destruction of all of Gaza’s universities”.

Some students have also fused their demands on Gaza with their calls for universities to help tackle the climate crisis.

More than 100 students occupied Ghent University in Belgium calling for concrete action to meet the institution’s 2030 climate plans, as well as demanding it cuts ties with companies connected to the Israeli military.

The university did not respond to a request for comment but its director, Rick Van de Walle, posted a statement saying its ethical policies would not change, adding: “No deviation from the existing human rights policy will be used with regard to one particular country, in this case Israel.”

How have universities responded?

There has been a varied response from academic institutions to student protests, ranging from dramatic crackdowns to negotiations. 

Brown University in Rhode Island brokered an agreement with students last week that the institution’s highest governing body, the Corporation, would vote on divestment from companies affiliated with Israel during a meeting in October. In return, students cleared the encampments.

Northwestern University in Illinois and the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, have also reached agreements with students, while Columbia has called off its main graduation ceremony.  

An occupation at Goldsmiths in London also came to an end after the university agreed to the students’ demands, including the renaming of a lecture hall after the Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, humanitarian scholarships for Palestinian students and a review of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism.

[chaotic-coffee-break]

Pinned Post (Read First)

Warning:

This blog has the potential to have adult material unsuitable for children or those with weak constitutions. If you are unable to block /ignore content you know is not for you, please keep away. Minors DNI.

NSFW means more than just sexual material. The material showcased can be Yandere, manipulation, adult situations, horror situations, stalking, blood, gore, and preying, among many other things that will be tagged. I will add tags if needed. These will often be ideas pulled from real-life crime cases.  The material can be tri-folded in the case of a villain. These themes are not to be taken lightly. 

Do not interact if you cannot handle these.

I analyze fictional characters. I am a crime buff with SOME psychological insight and I am desensitized to a good bit. I often forget that many aren't so if I say something that makes you uncomfortable, I'm sorry. I love the darker side of things and delving into bad endings for various characters.

The Ask box is open for headcanons and such. I do bite, but not often so don't be afraid to start a conversation. Fair warning, hate, and such will be laughed at and put on display. Telling me to kill myself or insulting me in any way doesn't work on me and I think that scares people.

I have done requests in the past but until I get the rules up, I'll be holding off on those. Headcanon asks are welcome until then. I will say if I have to research a condition that isn't listed, I'm less likely to answer it as I may not do the condition justice. 8<

Series:

Welcome Home, The Amazing Digital Circus, Greylock, Mandela Catalogue, The Backrooms/Liminal Spaces, and most Youtube Analog Horror series I'll add as they pop up.

OCs so far:

Renegade (previously known as "Skein", renamed out of anger by Caine due to their behavior) - TADC - Muted, upbeat Stuntman/Evel Keneval aesthetic with an androgynous form who is chaos incarnate with cheat codes and the ability to No Clip on command. They have a helmet with kitty ears and a cape that resembles bat wing webbing with black and orange coloring. Renegade is muted by Caine due to a "copyright" fear and locked away until he can "reason" with them. Why they can use these abilities is unknown even to Caine. Besides Caine, Bubble is the only one with access to their enclosure. Once released, Renegade will unleash absolute mayhem on the circus and anything Caine has created and seems to dance/react to music no one can hear but themselves. Inspo is Crash Bandicoot, Junko Endoshima, and boundary breakers/speed runners on YouTube. - Stormy Knight - WH - A little Ragdoll Muppet who lives in a cozy cottage in the woods on the outskirts of the town with a monster "uncle". She loves fireflies, wandering around at night, creepy things, and likes to teach people how to handle their fears. She is also good at sleight of hand or illusion "magic". Inspo is Raggedy Ann/Andy, Jim Henson's The Labyrinth, and Eureka's Castle. - The Backrooms - Level 9705 - Superstore after closing. Needs to be its own post.

*This blog does not contain jump scares without ample warning ahead of time. I'm personally not a fan of them.

**Everything will be tagged appropriately.

[nightly-sun]

A history of a story in the making

Since October of 2018, I have been weaving a vampire tale, titled Nightbound. I wrote an early incarnation of the story then, inspired heavily by Tribulation's song of the same name. Its premise is simplistic — telling as it does of a vampire seeking out its prey — and the story has its flaws, but I must say that I am far from ashamed of it. Since then, I've tried to write it under several different names, using several different inspirations. One of its earlier incarnations, I wrote during the height of COVID-19. Unbeknownst to me, I ended up ripping off the video game Vampyr, and under the title Unclean. Unclean concerned a young nurse named Alicia (loosely named after someone I met in college and thought of pursuing a relationship with, but didn't, and after a while, she just disappeared), who was recently turned and began using her blood to "cure" patients of COVID, which, of course, transformed them. It would lead to a war between her and militant religious zealots and an elder vampire and his hordes.

The next attempt, I returned to the title of Nightbound, where she would have squared her off against a gang of neo-Nazis, led by a vampiric white supremacist from the Old West, who ended up being too cartoonish and over-the-top in his backstory for my liking. Yet another iteration, inspired by my reading of Underworld: A Practical Guide to Necromancy, featured Alicia (who I at one point renamed Aria) as a young necromantic witch who entered a graveyard and performed a ritual to enter the underworld, where she released a vampire's spirit that had been lurking there. This same spirit would go on to kill her roommate but leave her alive. She'd check herself into a mental hospital, where the vampire would kill everyone and turn her at the end.

My second to last (or should I say, second to current) effort retained the underworld element, which is actually something of a relic from the prime incarnation. I gave it the subtitle of "A Necromantic Tale of Horror". It would take place in — where else — nineteenth century Romania on St. Andrew's Feast. Our now nameless anti-heroine would make her way through a village in Transylvania, where she'd meet up with the mother of an aspiring necromancer, to whom she would recount her tale, before mercy killing the old woman before some angry villagers could find her and burn her alive, and making her way to a shrine where she would find true immortality. I also had a whole plethora of lore behind vampirism and its different strains.

Finally, my current attempt to weave this fable drops the subtitle, but retains most of the elements from the previous one. Our heroine remains nameless and resides in lands unknown, but perhaps is at her darkest in both her history and her willingness to make certain sacrifices. She once was a beautiful and kind woman, who was so unlike her father, a cruel and iron-fisted feudal lord. When her father caught her in bed with a peasant, he sent her off to his sister, a wicked countess with a vile taste for torturing young virgin girls, and whose deplorable husband would "protect" her under certain degrading conditions, until she was one day found out by the countess. If you suspect that their family name is "Bathory" or "Tepes", I can assure you that it is not, nor are they vampires. The countess would take her to the outskirts of the village to offer her as a sacrifice to the vampire rumored to reside there, in the hopes of being granted immortality. But the vampire is disgusted by the couple and their inability to comprehend what he could truly desire, and grants them a painful death as a reward, ultimately taking the young woman under his wing. And thus begins the death of her flesh, her journey into the underworld, her rebirth as a demonic spirit hungry for life, and her quest to perfect her condition. I have said more than enough already, and shall leave it to the reader to discover how this tale will end.

While my latest effort does, indeed, take heavily from the music of Tribulation, it also derives from the concepts explored in their lyrics. Specifically, the process of individuation, and the stages of the alchemical magnum opus. In previous attempts, I may have been a little too unsubtle in my symbolism, and too openly derivative of other tales of gothic horror and vampirism. While those remain an influence, I am attempting to dig deeper. To write from the soul. To explore vampirism not as a metaphor for class warfare or for sexual perversion (although the latter does play somewhat of a role in this draft), but as a symbol for necromantic and alchemical empowerment.

[pwphoenixwrites]

Phoenix's Updates (April 28th, 2023)

Hello one and all! Starting off, I’m going to be doing weekly updates starting now, every Friday! Almost every Friday, of course. I can’t always keep up with my writing 24/7. Regardless, I hope this new tradition shall motivate me to keep up the pace and work on my writing projects again. Now, let me head onto the updates related for my writing below.

Weekly writing and project updates will now occur almost every Friday!

Unpublished the PhoenixWrites Google Site for now. The website is heavily out of date and needs polishing. It’ll be back up in the coming months.

The writing page on my Tumblr has been removed. My master writing list is now included on Arc Browser Notes through this link: https://arc.net/p/78BD8ABF-65B2-44F2-9A53-AA2201C574BC. This change was instated because it is much cleaner and mobile friendly than the Tumblr page variant. There will be a similar page for my master character list, which will release in the coming weeks.

Renamed the title of the Stars Across the Universes story series to Cosmic Odyssey: Abastarius. This is the beginning of a massive rebranding with my story series. More information will be provided when my website updates again.

From the new rebranding, I have also changed the profile picture for all of my social media pages. You may or may not have noticed it, but I hope you enjoy! It’s a brand new one of my golden eagle character, Abadastarix. I think it’s a lot better than the old one.

From the new rebranding, I have renamed my Tumblr blog from “Stars Across the Universes” to “Cosmic Crossroads.” Check it out here: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/phoenixwrites0.

The 2023 re-release of Cosmic Odyssey’s original prologue, Rewrite the Story, will come tomorrow! This will more than likely be the last piece of old writing that I re-release, but that may change if I am able to uncover more. The synopsis will be featured below.

Rewrite the Story (2023 Re-release) - Synopsis

“Within the reaches of the known multiverses are two universes that tell a common tale. These universes, Abastarius and Oriosinthian. They tell the tales of life and death. Common processes within the multiverses, with no reason for being. It just is. After all, like everything, it just is. Each and every bubble that floats in this plane of existence is here only to be here. But through this perspective of truth, life and death are given its own purpose and story. In order for this purpose to be defined, it must be given a muse and vessel. The universes of Abastarius and Oriosinthian have shown this to be a principle and constant in the multiverses. Abastarius has shown life, given its purpose by the golden eagle. A great light that poured out from the unknown into another, touching the inky blackness with its celestial light. Oriosinthian has shown death, given its purpose by a multiverse anomaly. A being that was not supposed to exist, peering out from dark matter. Its smoky tendrils cover the universe, depleting every known celestial body in the name of entropic destiny. The multiverses and its universes are vast and complex in its stories that have yet to be told.”