#there was also lightning before

[jayrockin]

Inane worldbuilding minutia of the day: there is a viral dance craze in Runaway to the Stars "modern day" (approx. 2325), because what is society without a viral dance craze. It began on Martian social media and then spread to the rest of the human internet via the extranet social platform Megaforum.

It is called "The Whop."

It takes some skill to to whop quickly without losing your balance, and videos of skilled whoppers dancing in increasingly ridiculous and inconvenient locations have plagued the human internet for years now. It has a resurgence every time a new bubble of human space discovers and spreads it.

There is also a two-person version of The Whop:

Two-person whopping is extremely popular among children, much to the dismay of their elders. If you don't pay attention and keep time with the other party, it's extremely easy to slap them square in the face. Video compilations of people getting injured while whopping abound. School nurses have seen many victims of the viral dance, sent in with bruises and bloodied noses after whopping too hard.

[arttsuka]

Request: Jed and octavius dancing on/playing the piano like in that scene from the movie Big.

(Your art is amazing)

Like this? 🎹🎵🎶

Maybe they can have an iPad too

[bisexualmcqueen]

more sketchin

+bonus

[luck-of-the-drawings]

[OLD ART ALERT] A COLLECTION OF SCENES FROM THE GILLIONS CATSCRATCH ARC THAT BROUGHT ME GREAT JOY. i love fishy chips especially when its just gillion being delirious and violent and hostile

[apassingbird]

i'm torn between wanting buck and eddie to have a full-blown fight where they scream and yell and shove at each other because they just don't get it huh like they really don't get it OR wanting them to have a quiet soft conversation on the kitchen floor because they're both just tired of pretending that they don't know what this actually is OR if i want the fighting first and then the soft conversation help

[solargeist]

Can we pretty please get a Grian and Xelqua meet-up?? I love how you draw Xelqua and Grian and I just need to see what they would do if they meet......for science of course

wait hold on.. goes crazy .. I don’t have a design for Xelqua, that was just Grian earlier, but…. I think it’d go well

I think Xelqua is his patron, so he’d be excited to meet him !

but I was also playing with the idea that Little Grian here is a reincarnated version of Xelqua, but still looks up to him, prays to him, would want to be picked up and hugged by him, the safety of it. (How can he be reincarnated and still have a form here ? Well the divine can be a bit finicky)

[try-set-me-on-fire]

Ok well i had the brief thought “what about an ER nurse Eddie au?” and then this popped fully formed into existence so fuck it Friday pt 2.. warnings for smoking and vague references to critically injured kids

“That doesn’t seem very healthy.”

Smoke curls up from the cigarette held loosely in Eddie’s hand. “It’s not, particularly.”

Buck’s hands are in his pockets as he strolls away from the glass doors out into the ambulance bay where Eddie is doing the mature, professional equivalent of playing hide and seek. He comes to a stop barely a foot or two away from where Eddie leans against grimy concrete. “Didn’t know you were a smoker.”

“I’m not,” Eddie sighs, “Particularly.” He looks over Buck’s face as he takes a drag, cataloging bruises and cuts. He hadn’t been the one to look him over before he was discharged, probably because he was out here avoiding having to do so. “Only when it’s- only after the bad shifts.” And only once a month, even if the bad shifts come again and again. He bought this pack in January, it’s stale as shit.

Buck’s eyes follow the smoke as it drifts skyward. “Rough one today?”

Eddie thinks he probably doesn’t have to explain to Buck that it’s sometimes better when a kid is dead on arrival so he doesn’t have to try his best to administer care he knows will be useless. He doesn’t have to explain a day where nothing goes right and he loses more people than he can save and he still has to walk away from someone’s parent or wife or sister, left behind forever in a waiting room on the worst day of their life, and go on to lose the next person too. Doesn’t have to explain why he’s out here, and not in there. “Mm. We’ve got this repeat customer, always hate to have him back.”

Buck’s eyes flick to his face before they settle somewhere around his elbow. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. He seems like a nice guy. I worry about him. He’s here too often.”

Buck doesn’t look up. “What was he in for this time?”

“Minor concussion. Bruising. Lacerations.” Eddie sucks cancer into his lungs. “Heard a house fell on him.” Exhales it into the night.

Buck does look up this time, eyes a darker blue out here in the shadows. “Part of a house. Just a staircase and the- like, the balcony, really.”

“Maybe he should stay away from those.”

“From houses?” Buck asks, half his mouth twitching into a smile.

Eddie rests his head on the wall behind him. “Guess that’s not really practical.”

“No.” Buck is quiet for a moment, one hand slipping out of his pocket and running through his hair. Eddie wonders what he looks like, when he’s not here. He’s more styled, sometimes, when things aren’t very bad. He wonders if he’s usually all gelled up and neat. Eddie kind of likes the loose curls. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Making your day worse.” Buck looks genuinely apologetic, and Eddie shakes his head.

“The guy made it out okay this time.” Buck is just close enough that Eddie can kick at his boot with his sensible orthopedic sneaker. “You didn’t even need stitches.”

“That’s good.” Eddie’s left foot is pressed along the inside of Buck’s right, and Buck is staring down at them. “His favorite nurse was on break. I would have missed you if someone else had to do them.”

Eddie laughs, just a few bursts of soundless oxygen. “You gotta find new ways to see me before something happens that I can’t fix.”

Buck moves, taking the few steps necessary to lean against the wall beside him. Carefully, he takes the cigarette from Eddie’s hand, holds it between two of his own fingers, and takes a drag. Eddie watches it happen like he’s monitoring somebody’s pulse ox, and when Buck coughs he laughs again, louder this time. “Fuck,” Buck says, laughing too. “Thought that would be cooler than it was.”

“Smoking isn’t cool, firefighter Buckley,” Eddie says, taking the cigarette back and pulling from it again between smiling lips.

“Hm,” Buck says, grinning out into the night. Then he sighs, and rolls his head along the concrete to look at Eddie. “I think there’s nothing you can’t fix.”

They’re very close. “There’s lots I can’t fix.”

Buck shrugs like he disagrees. “I also think I’d like to find other ways to see you.”

Buck’s eyes are even more in shadow at this angle, and they’re the color of the lake back in El Paso that he and a bunch of kids went to after graduation, drunk off beer somebody’s cousin got for them, skinny dipping with breathless terrified delight under bright constellations. “Then ask me.”

Buck inhales as Eddie exhales. “What time’s your shift end?”

“5:30 AM. So, probably 6:15.”

Buck traces the two fingers he’d used to hold the cigarette down Eddie’s arm. “You wanna get breakfast with me?”

“Yes. I would.”

Buck smiles, and Eddie snubs out the cigarette on the wall between them. “I’ll meet you here?”

“Alright.” He takes a step forward, then a step to the right so he’s standing in front of Buck. “Two hours.”

“Uh huh.”

He should really get back inside. They’re understaffed, as always, and there are too many patients, as always, and not enough beds, as always. “See you then.” He doesn’t make any move to leave.

“See you then,” Buck almost whispers. He leans forward, and Eddie still doesn’t move, so he presses a tiny kiss to the corner of his mouth for just a moment. His lips are warm. Eddie hadn’t noticed it was cold outside.

Buck pulls back and leans against the wall again. Eddie smiles, puts a hand in his pocket, and walks back toward the doors.

[raticalshoez]

SECRET LIFE SPOILERS!!!

Some Secret Life traditional sketches of Session 6! My digital art was looking doodoo so I tried to fight artblock by going back to paper. MY CAMERA SUCKS THOUGH. Maybe I'll transfer to digital someday.

Edit: FUCK. I FORGOT JOEL HAS THE LIFE MERCH ON THIS SEASON.

Close-ups under cut!:

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

First - Next?>>

[boarloved-art]

i like the car movies a lot.......

[slavhew]

Hello!

If you're not too busy, would you mind listing some of the things you think count as death flags for Mr. Spender?

There's the obvious fact that he's the "old" mentor to group of young protagonists, but what else do you think would count?

OHH BOY ok so I'd think I'm a crackpot for this but since we're talking about Zack "Foreshadowing" Morrison. I have some thoughts

No harm in leading with the (chronologically) first thing that jumped out at me:

This one IMMEDIATELY made me antsy whenever I came back to it after my initial read, and considering Zack has referred to it on twitter in the past as one of their favorite jokes it's definitely not been forgotten about.

Second, the sheer amounts of near-misses, jokey or not, of Spender narrowly avoiding specifically lightning

Again, not much, but it's weird that it happened thrice, latter two of which had real gravitas rather than an one-off joke.

And third, Spender himself. He's repeatedly shown himself to be kind of a self sacrificing idiot, as well as prideful to a fault. Granted, it's both him and Mina trying to take on all the responsibility of saving Mayview and its inhabitants from their fate.. But Spender is exactly that right measure of doesn't-value-himself-enough (chest footprint aftercare or lack thereof), having an obscene amount of power (enables his loner act + pride) and poor judgement that has the capacity to put him at great risk. And it has!

Spender has not only shown low enough self-esteem to view himself as the de-facto scapegoat for the safety of the town, but also prideful enough to make very bad calls that end up in people, often himself, hurt (COUGH FORGE INCIDENT COUGH)

This is all conjecture, but it's definitely enough to make me worried about him :') Even if all this doesn't mean he'll necessarily die he's definitely getting (even more) seriously injured at some point. I love the guy but he's so far doing a horrible job of convincing me he wants to live bad enough to circumvent at least that

[rookie-lou]

Pre-race-jokes

Just a random Cal & Bobby & Lightning scene:

"Not a good day?" Bobby asked, a bit worried as he saw Lightning’s tired gaze.

"No, I'm fine. Just a bit stressed, I think,” Lightning said.

"Hmm, then I have just the right thing for you." Cal pulled out a small book from under the bench.

"Oh, please, please don't! Have mercy!" Bobby begged.

"What is it?" Lightning looked curiously at the small colorful book on Cal's lap.

"1000 jokes for everyone," Cal said with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah! And I've heard at least 700 of them today. And they're not even good! Cal follows me with the book all day," Bobby groaned dramatically.

Lightning chuckled and raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"So...," Cal began, still grinning.

"Please don't" Bobby started one last try, but in vain.

"What's red and bad for your teeth?" Cal looked at Lightning and waited for an answer.

"Uh...I dunno."

"A brick!" Cal grinned at his fantastic joke.

Bobby rolled his eyes but also had to smile a bit.

Lightning chuckled again. "Seriously? That doesn't even make..."

"Wait, I've got another one here. What did one ocean say to the other ocean?”

"Oh, I know," Lightning said. "Nothing, they just waved..."

"Aw, why did you know the answer already?" Cal asked disappointed.

"Maybe because everyone knows?" Bobby replied.

"Okay, okay, let me tell you one more." Cal flipped through his book again. "What do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back?"

Lightning took a few sips of water from the bottle that the others had provided for him. He shrugged questioningly.

"A stick!" Cal laughed out loud and nudged Lightning with his elbow in the side.

Lightning spewed water a few feet wide.

Bobby laughed and Lightning had to laugh too. The whole situation was very funny. Probably more Cal's enthusiasm than the jokes. But still funny.

They laughed and a few people were already looking in their direction with raised eyebrows.

I’ll always be proud of you (posted June, last year)

[total-drama-brainrot]

father ophelia. i need ur multi paragraph analysis on how camning date would happen. who would ask who out

Camning is such a weird pair to consider as an actual couple instead of two mutually pining idiots because I can't in good faith say that either of them would ever admit to having feelings for the other.

Don't get me wrong, Cameron isn't the type to suppress or deny his feeings or anything - in fact he'd be ecstatic at the prospect of having a crush on someone, because it's yet another wordly experience he's been deprived of his whole life that he's living for the first time. And that's exactly the issue; Cameron has no idea how to go about expressing these things, save for whatever romance based literature/tv shows he was exposed to growing up and, knowing Cameron, he'd be more than aware that they doesn't exactly portray a realistic perspective on real-life relationships. So he's back to square one when it comes to knowledge on how to deal with his feelings.

Which would mean he'd be the type to go completely non-verbal in front of Lightning, or otherwise be a stuttering mess. A pathetic puddle of a boy who has no idea how to deal with these new, weird feelings save for whispering "oh no he's hot" to himself.

On the other hand, Lightning is extremely prideful. Extremely prideful. He'd be completely in denial about having a crush on Cameron of all people because he's the antithesis of everything Lightning holds in high regard; Cameron isn't athletic or strong, he's not outwardly headstrong or competitive (at first glance, though Cameron does have a spine hidden somewhere in that red hoodie) and Lightning wouldn't see Cameron as someone who could relate to him in any way. Keep in mind, Lightning's a bit of an egotist, so he'd be under the assumption that his ideal partner would be a reflection of himself.

And Lightning isn't very bright, despite his namesake, so he wouldn't realise that's exactly why he likes Cameron so much. He's impressed by Cameron's fountain of knowledge and keen intellect. He's astounded by how Cameron can use his wit and his determination to win challenges without having to brute forcing his way to victory. He thinks Cameron is adorable and experiences cuteness aggression every time they lock eyes. So on so forth.

So with Cameron's Cameronness and Lightning's staunch denial, there's only one way these two would ever get together.

Lightning accidentally confesses.

Be it through an insult gone wrong during the competition, or maybe a freudian slip in a conversation post-RotI, or even him just plain denying any feelings for Cameron unprompted and inadvertantly outing himself as a Cameron Liker through his defensiveness. Either way, Cameron hears this confirmation of returned feelings and all of the knowledge he's accrued from his mother's books/shows comes in swinging - he asks Lightning to have dinner with him. And surprisingly, Lightning accepts.

...Because it's free food, not because he likes the wimp. That's his excuse.

And the two hit it off. Cameron spends the whole first date sweating profusely but miraculously not putting his foot in his mouth. Though he does oftentimes get too technical and booksmart for Lightning to understand what he's saying, but Lightning nods along politely anyway because he finds the enthusiasm on Cameron's face endearing.

In turn, Lightning's initial jibing insults (which, subconciously, he's only really using to keep up appearences) peter off into genuine compliments as he realises that wow, he actually really enjoys spending time with Cameron, and Cameron is really smart but not condecending in the slightest when he asks for elaboration on things he doesn't understand, and Cameron's got a lot of interesting thoughts that he's never considered, and...

Lightning realises that he might be very, very gay for Cameron.

In turn, Cameron's almost vibrating with excitement because he's talking to Lightning, and Lightning is talking back, and there's this natural chemistry between them that even he in all of his inexperience can feel sparking in the air now that Lightning's walls of superiority have finally crumbled somewhat. He's on a date with the boy he likes and it's going really well.

(None of his research could've prepared him for the actual experience of a first date - and oddly enough, Cameron is thankful that he didn't have any preconceived expectations for the night.)

The night goes well, they eat food at some fancy restaurant that Cameron pays for with his winnings, and as they go to leave Lightning - because he's not one to be outshone in the competitive context of being a "good date haver" - gives Cameron a peck at the corner of his mouth. It's brief, a ghost of an action really, but it's enough to have Cameron visibly light up as he returns the favour.

-

At some point after they've been going on these dates for a while (Lightning more often than not taking Cameron to various sports games "for the experience", and Cameron indulging Lightning by taking him on hikes whilst he studies the wildlife they come across, ect ect) they breach the topic of being boyfriends in an awkward but sweet conversation that Lightning spends the next few months poking fun at Cameron for.

[luck-of-the-drawings]

HAVNT ANIMATED IN A HHHOOOOTT MINUTE AND I WANNA GET BACK INTO IT. this here is super scuffed n cheap but it EXISTS NONETHELESS and i like it and wanna share. i love making these silly lil guys move.. jrwi is such a cartoon in my beautiful brain and mind

[rotisseries]

rick riordan dickriders on here will be like "why are you complaining about the pjo tv show, go watch the movies and see what a bad adaptation really looks like" ok well listen to the musical watch it on youtube and see what a good adaptation looks like bitch. it can be done. as a fucking stage musical. what did that 15 million per episode do for disney that chris mccarell couldn't

[avaantares]

People who live in population centers often don't realize just how much the urban/suburban lightscape has robbed them of.

Not just the stars and galaxies you should be able to see with the naked eye -- though that is also something that's almost impossible to see near cities due to light pollution -- but also the absolutely magical experience of seeing fireflies the way they should be seen. The way they can only exist away from man-made light sources.

Coming back from a historic small-town theatre I frequent, I have the choice between taking the interstate or the rural back roads. I almost always choose the latter, so earlier this evening I was driving out in the country for about 15 miles. That region is primarily farmland with a handful of scattered residences. It was around dusk, and -- friends, it was like the earth was covered in glitter. In the fallow fields and pastures, tens of thousands of fireflies sparkling, just this universal, unbroken twinkling everywhere you looked. The kind of light show that doesn't even look real because we're used to seeing just a few fireflies at a time, if we're lucky enough to have a large backyard or a patch of woods nearby. Or maybe you don't get to see fireflies at all because you're in a city and there's nowhere for them to lay eggs (in undisturbed fallen leaves, mostly), so you've only seen them in videos. But the fireflies were the only lights on this land before we put up our electric flood lights and streetlamps, and in these broad swaths of unlighted field and self-mulching fencerows, they're still thriving.

I watched this display in awe as I drove, slowing down at times to admire a particularly flashy area. And then I'd drive past a house with a billion watts of exterior security lighting, and... nothing. Not a glimmer in those yards. Maybe one lonesome flicker in the ditch by the road, a firefly that couldn't find the party or didn't make it to the darker areas for some reason. It's alone because there's no reason for fireflies to come to bright places; they light up to find mates, and they're obscured and blinded by the man-made lights.

The closer I got to my suburban home, the fewer fireflies there were along the road. When I came to the high school with its massive day-bright stadium lights that stay on all night (and which fill me with rage fully as incandescent for so many reasons), I didn't spot a single firefly for a quarter mile in either direction. Kids growing up in the neighborhoods around that school will never have the chance to watch fireflies in their own yards, or learn to scoop them gently from underneath to catch them without harming them and then let them crawl to the tips of their fingers to fly away again. When they grow up, they won't have any emotional association with fireflies that would inspire them to leave a few leaf piles along the fence in autumn, or to turn out the exterior lights at dusk and let the fireflies do their thing.

It saddens me that many (probably the majority of) people living in this era aren't getting to see how beautiful nature is when we just leave it alone. Instead of enjoying its natural state, we're spraying poisons on our lawns, and replacing native species with non-native ones because the yard looks more uniform that way, and throwing bagged leaves in landfills instead of letting them break down naturally and provide vital habitat for small animals and insects, and installing so many landscaping and security lights around our residences that you could stand in the yard and read by them in the middle of the night. Fireflies are actually threatened in some areas where they used to be common because of all these things.

If you live in a city or a lighted suburban area, I'd encourage you to try to get out to the country at least once and experience fireflies in force in their natural habitat. And if you're in an area where fireflies are native and you are in a position to, maybe leave a little pile of wet leaves for them in a corner of the yard. Turn out the lights in summer. Refrain from spraying pesticides on your grass.

Let the little guys light up the world for another generation.