#it has a tutorial video on the page and such

[not-safe-for-truant]

Soooo, I dug into the BTD2 files (though I actually don't know which game you wanted these from), and the way the Ren sprites are set up is. The base pose, and then the expressions are overlaid on top.

There are a few unique ones, where the expression and everything is all in that one image, but only a couple have a transparent Ren. Most are just the CGs, which are all one big PNG image.

I did find this one though. It doesn't have his tail, but it's more or less a fully compiled sprite.

All the scenes of him tied to the pole in the basement are full images, background and all.

Here are the BTD1 sprites though! These are fully compiled.

I could maybe?? Try to compile a couple images of BTD2 Ren from the standard sprites?? If you want that, then lmk what outfit/pose you'd prefer.

Does anyone have the clean sprites of Ren crying and being shocked? I need em 😔

[shoutsindwarvish]

my manager is lucky i’m feeling really spiritually fulfilled and calm and at peace rn or i’d be inclined to tell her to go fuck herself

[thunderlina]

In the wake of the TikTok ban and revival as a mouthpiece for fascist propaganda, as well as the downfall of Twitter and Facebook/Facebook-owned platforms to the same evils, I think now is a better time than ever to say LEARN HTML!!! FREE YOURSELVES FROM THE SHACKLES OF MAJOR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AND EMBRACE THE INDIE WEB!!!

You can host a website on Neocities for free as long as it's under 1GB (which is a LOT more than it sounds like let me tell you) but if that's not enough you can get 50GB of space (and a variety of other perks) for only $5 a month.

And if you can't/don't want to pay for the extra space, sites like File Garden and Catbox let you host files for free that you can easily link into NeoCities pages (I do this to host videos on mine!) (It also lets you share files NeoCities wouldn't let you upload for free anyways, this is how I upload the .zip files for my 3DS themes on my site.)

Don't know how to write HTML/CSS? No problem. W3schools is an invaluable resource with free lessons on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and a whole slew of other programming languages, both for web development and otherwise.

Want a more traditional social media experience? SpaceHey is a platform that mimics the experience of 2000s MySpace

Struggling to find independent web pages that cater to your interests via major search engines? I've got you covered. Marginalia and Wiby are search engines that specifically prioritize non-commercial content. Marginalia also has filters that let you search for more specific categories of website, like wikis, blogs, academia, forums, and vintage sites.

Maybe you wanna log off the modern internet landscape altogether and step back into the pre-social media web altogether, well, Protoweb lets you do just that. It's a proxy service for older browsers (or really just any browser that supports HTTP, but that's mostly old browsers now anyways) that lets you visit restored snapshots of vintage websites.

Protoweb has a lot of Geocities content archived, but if you're interested in that you can find even more old Geocities sites over on the Geocities Gallery

And really this is just general tip-of-the-iceberg stuff. If you dig a little deeper you can find loads more interesting stuff out there. The internet doesn't have to be a miserable place full of nothing but doomposting and targeted ads. The first step to making it less miserable is for YOU, yes YOU, to quit spending all your time on it looking at the handful of miserable websites big tech wants you to spend all your time on.

[ikilledamanforthisurl]

how did coders figure out how to have fun and enjoy code at all cuz i like making cool awesome shit and webpages can be so cool and awesome but the process of this is just mind numbingly enragingly disengaging

[cchickki]

If you haven’t started already, start archiving/downloading everything. Save it to an external hard drive if you’re able. Collecting physical media is also a good idea, if you’re able.

Download your own/your favorite fanfics. Save as much as you can from online sources/digital libraries. Recipes, tutorials, history, LGBTQ media, etc. It has been claimed, though I can’t find the exact source if true, that some materials about the Revolutionary War were deleted from the Library of Congress.

It’s always better to be safe than sorry and save and preserve what you can. Remember that cloud storage also is not always reliable!

Library of Congress - millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps, manuscripts.

Internet Archive - millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more. Has been taken offline multiple times because of cyber attacks last month, it has recently started archiving again.

Anna's Archive - 'largest truly open library in human history.’

Queer Liberation Library - queer literature and resources. Does require applying for a library membership to browse and borrow from their collection.

List of art resources - list of art resources complied on tumblr back in 2019. Not sure if all links are still operational now, but the few I clicked on seemed to work.

Alexis Amber - TikToker who is an archivist who's whole page is about archiving. She has a database extensively recording the events of Hurricane Katrina.

I'll be adding more to this list, if anyone else wants to add anything feel free!

[mx-pastelwriting]

Saving My Fanfiction Work

First. Side note: This post was only intended to give resources to fanfiction writers and enjoyers. My talk on recent political events was a context/reasoning on why I made this post. Also I’ve had to add more information to this post over time due to people’s confusion in my comments. Explaining it was to make sure that this post didn’t come off as out of the blue for my followers and this community. Which is fanfiction.

Also, why I made this post was from people asking if they could download my fanfiction because of the recent political events in America hence why I named it “saving my fanfiction work” and added my context. So this was also a post to tell people that liked my fanfiction they could download it as long as it was for their personal collection. I merely just wanted to list resources to people who wanted to download fanfiction and don’t know where to start or don’t have the immediate resources. I’m not here to fear-monger. I am just giving resources and the reasoning on why I’m giving them along with urging people to look into those information/recent events as staying aware is important. I respect everybody who’s given their opinion and yes, some of my grammar in this post is not adequate as this post was merely made for giving/stating resources.

Lastly, I will no longer update this post with comments as I’ve said my peace, nor will I pay attention to the notifications as they are muted. As my page is for fanfiction not politics. Thank you for the people in this community who share this post for the resources see you around the tags! Stay safe friends!!✨ Remember I love you! And you are loved!💛

-

Due to the recent events in the United States. To clarify the recent events being Trump becoming president of the United States, Project 2025 more than likely going to be integrated. If you are not familiar with Project 2025 I urge you to look it up.

Along with the KOSA bill that has many problems and it has passed the senate now needing the finally vote in the house, which both are majority red. Go here to learn more on why it needs to be stopped and how you can. This is another component that will harm our communities. Go to: stopkosa.com

With all of its harmful plans some of the plans are to take down/restrict internet sites that have LGBTQ+ communities that means communities like the fan-fiction communities/sites in the United States.

I am only giving resources to those inside and out of the US in case they banned sites that hold fan-fiction. Better safe than sorry.

Being that I live in the US the possibly of mine and many others Fanfiction has the possibly of being in danger. Therefore I'm giving you recourses. (I'm not leaving or stopping my writing, I'm here for the fight!)

For those wanting to save my fanfiction, I give you permission to download them off of AO3 and to be used for your personal collection. Meaning, your eyes only. To clarify I’m saying this as others have asked if they could download my fanfic so for those who would like to you can.

If you do not know how to download them many others on online have tutorials on how to download them and add them to our phone libraries.

Here are some links to tutorials:

Downloading Fanfic

Adding to Iphone & Android Library

Adding to Kindle Library - Video on How (On TikTok)

Adding Book Covers (At the bottom) - Good EPUB Cover Changer (I use this)

Types of Files and What they mean

Please stay safe out there! Remember to follow the rules below.

DO NOT share the downloaded file anywhere online.

DO NOT repost the downloaded file under your name.

Fanfiction is protected under copyright law when plagiarism is involved. If you plagiarize my work, either a piece or whole in any language, I will take legal action. Inspiration or the same idea does NOT apply to this, only word-for-word plagiarism in any language.

♥ mx-pastelwriting does not consent to their fanfiction being copied, copied & credited, translated, used in videos and/or audios, screenshotted, used in AI, or reposted on any other platform without permission.

♥ mx-pastelwriting does give consent to "reblog," sharing links to direct work, and being in recommend lists.

Please stay safe out there friends! I love you so much! Know that there will always people that love you and in for the fight to make sure you are loved!

And here are some resources in case you don’t feel okay! Resources here

[channel4sims-cc]

IF YOU CAN'T ENABLE CC 🌸

Sul sul ^^

After today updates, I wasn't able to enable CC again. It doesn't matter how many times I closed and launched the game.

So I remembered that this had already happened to me before.

If you're going through the same problem, this is how you can fix it:

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

HOW TO ENABLE CC AGAIN:

1- On the game home page, in the bottom right corner of the screen, you can see what the current game version is. After today's update, mine was: 1.108.318.1020. Launch the game and check the number that appears for you.

2- In your game folder (Documents>Electronic Arts> The Sims 4) you'll find a file called "GameVersion". There will be a number.

The number in that file has to match the current game version number.

When I opened mine, it was "1.107.151.1020". So I just updated it to "1.108.318.1020" and saved. Then when I launched the game I could enable CC again.

Note 1: There's a "space" before the number in "GameVersion" (as if it were a paragraph). Keep that space. Change the numbers exactly where they are.

Note 2: If you prefer, before changing the number, make a backup copy of "GameVersion" just in case. It won't harm your game, but it's better, just to prevent and make it safer.

💎 If you want a tutorial video, I made one about it some time ago. You can watch it here :)

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

ALSO IMPORTANT AFTER UPDATES:

Remember to delete "localthumbcache". You can find the tutorial here.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

I'm currently checking my CC to see if they're still working.

If anything, I'll let you know :)

I hope it helps you if you're having any problems :)

Happy Simming ^^

[wttcsms]

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖࣪ keep it on the low !!

ᝰ.ᐟ if there's one thing every celebrity needs to master, it's the art of the soft launch. building up the anticipation by teasing your fans, leaving little easter eggs that only the two of you could possibly pick up on, playing coy whenever questioned about your relationship status... looks like you and him could write the how-to guide on this art form. alternatively: a headcanon post on how the two of you soft launch your relationship. ( sfw + fem!reader )

features osamu miya, kiyoomi sakusa, wakatoshi ushijima, tobio kageyama, tooru oikawa author's notes blue lock version!

౨ৎ OSAMU MIYA. you are: a famous influencer notorious for being bad at cooking. you could burn water at this point. it's okay, though, because at least your makeup tutorials and your day-in-the-life vlogs are always entertaining and fun. you always joke that you feel bad for your future husband, convinced that a life of takeout and restaurants is the only sustenance your future family is going to know. you posted: a tiktok of a man cooking in a kitchen that isn't the familiar one your fans have seen from your vlogs. he's wearing a black apron, a black t-shirt that hugs his biceps, and the veins in his forearms pop out as he quickly dices the vegetables on the cutting board. you don't show his face, but you do caption the video when he tells me it's okay i can't cook <3. suspiciously enough, the owner of onigiri miya has his own tiktok page where he posts cooking videos, and his kitchen looks exactly like the one you're recording in. matter of fact... osamu miya always wears that plain apron, too...

"thank you for the meal!" your feet don't hit the ground when you're sitting on this stool, and you're literally kicking your feet as you stare down gleefully at the plate of food he's prepared for you. the meal is great, and for dessert, you decide to read the flood of comments tagging miyaosamuofficial on your latest video. you won't confirm or deny, but when osamu convinces you to stay the night, you know that you'll be more than happy to share a when he cooks you breakfast <3 video next.

౨ৎ KIYOOMI SAKUSA. you are: a cheeky pop princess. with your promiscuous persona, your flirty songs laced with sexual jokes, and your minidresses that you flounce around in while on stage, you're the girlie that has parents gasping when they take their daughters to one of your shows. while there's been speculation that you're already in a relationship, since clearly there has to be someone inspiring all these ovulation songs, you've never confirmed anything. you performed: a special dance routine at your latest concert. while you normally wear extremely bright colored bodysuits or pastel babydolls, tonight you're dressed in a sparkly black and gold getup. all your male dancers are wearing fitted black shirts with three golden scratches down the back, and you make a show of grinding against one of the dancers, running your nails against his back. you're staring into the crowd, smiling cheekily. that same night, grainy footage is captured of kiyoomi sakusa standing in the crowd, watching the whole show. the mask he's wearing covers his facial expression, but he barely blinks throughout the entire show, as if he doesn't want to miss anything.

"and there's a special guest here tonight." your chest is rising and falling from how out of breath you are after an hour and a half of nonstop singing and dancing. this is your ending speech for the concert, and the crowd is going insane. "i really hope he enjoyed tonight's show as much as i know all of you did. the love songs... they all are about him." the screams from your fans are deafening, and kiyoomi's glad that his mask covers the blush that creeps on his face as he hears your confession.

౨ৎ WAKATOSHI USHIJIMA. you are: literally ushijima's wife. you're a fairly private person to begin with, and it's not like you two have been married for long. you've been engaged for nearly a year, and you do attend most of his games, but ushijima specifically requests that the suite you watch him from doesn't get filmed. he wants to protect your privacy as much as possible, until you're okay with being shown to the public. he posted: a picture of you smiling on christmas day as you open up a gift from your husband. the boulder on your finger can be seen from a mile away, and as dorky as ever, ushi captions the photo with a happy wife happy life 👍🏻

"what does this mean?" ushijima shows you his phone screen, and you squint at it before laughing. one of the tweets tagging ushi reads leave it to ushijimawakatoshi to fucking hard launch his wife one random xmas morning. "it means you posted about our relationship out of the blue. usually people soft launch before they confirm anything." "soft launch?" his eyebrows furrow adorably as he tries to piece together what you just told him. "like, if you were to soft launch us, you would post a picture that maybe doesn't show my face but people might infer that you're in a relationship based off the photo you took." "that's dumb." he says, in his familiar ushijima cadence that had you falling for him. "i'd never take a photo of you without showing your face. why would i want to hide you?"

౨ৎ TOBIO KAGEYAMA. you are: japan's favorite nepo-baby model. with a face card like yours (and connections from your parents), it's no wonder why you're gracing every billboard in the city, and you're the spokesperson of a premier skincare brand. your fame gets you international publicity, and you're selected for the latest skims campaign. with an entire country in love with you, it might be a hard pill to swallow for your intense fanboys when they find out you're in love with japan's best setter. he posted: so many reposts of your campaigns. tobio still wants to support you, even if he knows that you two can't go public with your relationship just yet. he's actually branded (and sometimes mocked) as one of your biggest fanboys, and it doesn't help that during your skims campaign, he reposted every single ad featuring you.

"tobio, baby, you're so sweet, but you don't have to repost every ad." you tell your boyfriend, watching as clicks repost to yet another one of your photoshoots. "but i want to." he says. you kiss his cheek happily. "and that's exactly why i stayed back and did some extra photos on the skims set, just for you. these are pictures you might not want to repost, though." tobio isn't sure whether his eyes should stay glued to the personal photoshoot you did just for him, or to the real life you who's ready to show him what the set looks like in person.

౨ৎ TOORU OIKAWA. you are: currently visiting your beloved boyfriend in argentina. people know that you two are together, even though neither of you have confirmed it explicitly. it's pretty obvious, though, considering you're constantly seen with him, and he talks about how lucky he is that his girl is his number one supporter. someone posted: a viral video of a toned man wearing aqua blue swim shorts taking pictures of a beautiful girl laying down on a beach towel. not only are the two of you so hot that you look fresh out of a perfume ad, but to have a boyfriend so devoted to getting your best angles? iconic, truly. fans don't even realize that it's you and oikawa until someone points it out.

"tooru, are you taking multiple photos or just one?" you try not to move your lips too much when you speak, uncertain of when he's going to snap a pic. "you trained me well." tooru whines. "obviously, i'm taking several at once." "and make sure the lighting is good!" you remind him. "it doesn't matter how i take the photos, baby. you're still going to look good in them, regardless." "aw... are you sweet talking me because some of the pictures are blurry?" when your boyfriend starts showering you with more compliments, you know the pics are definitely not going to be instagram-worthy. he's lucky he's so cute.

[stellophiliac]

how to build a digital music collection and stuff

spotify sucks aaaass. so start downloading shit!!

file format glossary

.wav is highest quality and biggest

.mp3 is very small, but uses lossy compression which means it's lower quality

.flac is smaller than .wav, but uses lossless compression so it's high quality

.m4a is an audio file format that apple uses. that's all i really know

downloading the music

doubledouble.top is a life saver. you can download from a variety of services including but not limited to apple music, spotify, soundcloud, tidal, deezer, etc.

i'd recommend ripping your music from tidal or apple music since they're the best quality (i think apple music gives you lossless audio anyway. .m4a can be both lossy and lossless, but from the text on doubledouble i assume they're ripping HQ files off apple music)

i also love love love cobalt.tools for ripping audio/video from youtube (they support a lot of other platforms too!)

of course, many artists have their music on bandcamp — purchase or download directly from them if you can. bandcamp offers a variety of file formats for download

file conversion

if you're downloading from apple music with doubledouble, it spits out an .m4a file.

.m4a is ok for some people but if you prefer .flac, you may wanna convert it. ffmpeg is a CLI (terminal) tool to help with media conversion

if you're on linux or macOS, you can use parameter expansion to batch convert all files in a folder. put the files in one place first, then with your terminal, cd into the directory and run:

for i in *.m4a; do ffmpeg -i "$i" "${i%.*}.flac"; done

this converts from .m4a to .flac — change the file extensions if needed.

soulseek

another way to get music is through soulseek. soulseek is a peer-to-peer file sharing network which is mainly used for music. nicotine+ is a pretty intuitive (and open-source) client if you don't like the official one.

you can probably find a better tutorial on soulseek somewhere else. just wanted to make this option known

it's bad etiquette to download from people without sharing files of your own, so make sure you've got something shared. also try to avoid queuing up more than 1-2 albums from one person in a row

tagging & organizing your music

tagging: adding metadata to a music file (eg. song name, artist name, album) that music players can recognize and display

if you've ripped music from a streaming platform, chances are it's already tagged. i've gotten files with slightly incorrect tags from doubledouble though, so if you care about that then you might wanna look into it

i use musicbrainz picard for my tagging. they've got pretty extensive documentation, which will probably be more useful than me

basically, you can look up album data from an online database into the program, and then match each track with its file. the program will tag each file correctly for you (there's also options for renaming the file according to a certain structure if you're into that!)

there's also beets, which is a CLI tool for... a lot of music collection management stuff. i haven't really used it myself, but if you feel up to it then they've got extensive documentation too. for most people, though, it's not really a necessity

how you wanna organize your music is completely up to you. my preferred filestructure is:

artist > album > track # track

using a music player

the options for this are pretty expansive. commonly used players i see include VLC, foobar2000, clementine (or a fork of it called strawberry), and cmus (for the terminal)

you can also totally use iTunes or something. i don't know what audio players other systems come with

i personally use dopamine. it's a little bit slow, but it's got a nice UI and is themeable plus has last.fm support (!!!)

don't let the github page fool you, you don't have to build from source. you can find the releases here

click the "assets" dropdown on the most recent release, and download whichever one is compatible with your OS

syncing

if you're fine with your files just being on one device (perhaps your computer, but perhaps also an USB drive or an mp3 player), you don't have to do this

you can sync with something like google drive, but i hate google more than i hate spotify

you can get a free nextcloud account from one of their providers with 2GB of free storage. you can use webDAV to access your files from an app on your phone or other device (documents by readdle has webDAV support, which is what i use)

disroot and blahaj.land are a couple providers i know that offer other services as well as nextcloud (so you get more with your account), but accounts are manually approved. do give them a look though!!

if you're tech-savvy and have an unused machine lying around, look into self-hosting your own nextcloud, or better yet, your own media server. i've heard that navidrome is a pretty good audio server. i unfortunately don't have experience with self-hosting at the moment so i have like zero advice to give here. yunohost seems to be a really easy way to manage a server

afterword

i don't know if any of this is helpful, but i just wanted to consolidate my personal advice in one place. fuck big tech. own your media, they could take it away from you at any moment

[uppersidedreaminnn]

𓂃 ‎ ‎ ‎ DANCE MACHINE‎ ‎ ‎★‎ ‎ ‎ ‎N.RK

synopsis: in which you want to learn how to dance; lucky for you, you have a dance prodigy as your boyfriend.  word count: 1.6k genre: fluff, soft hours, established relationship.

reblogs ִֶָ 𓂃⊹ ִֶָ feedback >ᴗ<

you weren’t sure what exactly sparked your sudden desire to learn how to dance. maybe it was the numerous trending challenges that filled your tiktok for you page, or the way your friends were constantly filming and joining in. then again, maybe it was because your boyfriend, of all people, happened to be a walking dance prodigy—and watching him move so fluidly, so effortlessly, always left you entranced. 

whatever the reason, you made a silent promise to yourself one night: you were going to hop on the bandwagon and give it a shot. 

the following morning, you go through your usual routine, except with one new addition. standing awkwardly in front of your bedroom mirror, you hesitate. you’d spent the night before figuring out how to even begin this new endeavor. of course, you could have just asked riki for help—he’d probably jump at the chance to teach you—but after thinking it through, you decided to try learning on your own first. maybe it’d be more rewarding that way. and maybe, just maybe, you didn’t want to embarrass yourself in front of someone who danced like it was second nature.

so you start small— with the basic body movements, slow waves, beginner footwork, all inspired by a random youtube tutorial you found. you instantly feel like a kid learning to ride a bike all over again, clumsy and off-balance. in just a few minutes, you’re already sweating, your muscles sore and unfamiliar with the new way you’re forcing them to move.

you exhale deeply, watching your reflection as you repeat a sequence again.

damn, you think, people really make this look way easier than it is.

days pass. you go to class, hang out with friends, spend time with riki—your life carries on as usual. except now, your mornings start differently. you've been consistent, determined to better your skills. every day, you rehearse movements, watch “how to dance for beginners” videos, and scroll through advice from dancers online. sometimes you feel good. other times, you feel painfully awkward, like your limbs are working against you. but regardless—you keep going. hoping, eventually, your movements will start to feel natural.

lately, though, you’re starting to second-guess that sentiment.

you dance in the mornings, sometimes even at night if you’re free, trying to lock down a “beginner-friendly choreography” you thought would be easy. spoiler alert: it’s not. no matter how many times you run through the steps, your body refuses to cooperate. you’re rigid. stiff. your body failing to replicate the movements you see on-screen. after another futile attempt, you throw yourself onto your bed with a dramatic sigh, limbs sprawled and tired.

you’d picked a simple dance today, hoping for some kind of breakthrough. but now, lying there and feeling defeated, you can’t help but wonder if all your hard work has been for nothing. maybe you’re just not cut out for dancing after all.

your phone pings, snapping you out of your spiral. you wince as you reach for it, your sore muscles protesting. it’s from riki.

he’s spammed you with messages.

“baby??” “y/n, check your phone.” “did you seriously forget we have a date today?”

your heart sinks. crap, it slipped your mind.

you sit up straight, reading the last message:

“i’m coming over to pick you up. just get ready.”

but before you can even get up, the doorbell rings. startled, you scramble out of bed, hair a mess, shirt damp with sweat, rushing to open the door.

“hi,” you breathe, greeted by the familiar sight of your boyfriend—varsity jacket hanging off his frame, paired with his signature baggy jeans. instinctively, you run a hand through your hair, trying to fix yourself up a little.

riki arches a brow the second he sees you. you're disheveled. not quite the look for a date. his eyes flick up and down, trying to guess what on earth you were doing to end up looking like that. you don’t catch the bemused expression on his face as you dart into your room, grabbing a clean shirt and trying to tame your hair.

he crosses his arms, amusement dancing in his eyes. now that he thinks about it—you have been acting strange. you’ve been declining his morning hangouts lately, always saying you’re busy. and that’s unusual. mornings are your favorite time to relax, he knows your habits like the back of his hand. so either something’s changed... or you’re hiding something.

and riki doesn’t like being left in the dark. especially when it came to you, his girlfriend.

he watches you closely as you quickly change and rush through your makeup routine, forgetting to even apologize for spacing on your date, he leans against the counter, eyes narrowed.

“you forgot our date,” he says bluntly, prompting for an explanation.

you sigh upon hearing his words, glancing at him through the mirror. there’s no use denying it.

“yeah,” you mumble lowly, snapping your lip gloss shut, “i got caught up with something.”

“with what?” 

you pause.

after a moment, you give in with a quiet huff. you know you promised yourself to keep your pursuits a secret, but riki’s got you cornered and honestly, you’re too tired from all the practice to care anymore.

“remember what giselle said when we started dating?” you ask, voice slow. when he doesn’t respond, you go on, “about how we’d be unstoppable if i learned to dance… and we could dance together?”

riki nods slowly, “kinda,” vaguely remembering the comment your friend had made when he first met them. he hadn’t thought much of it at the time, assuming you didn’t really care about dancing and that it was only his forte.

“well…” you trail off, sheepish. “i started learning recently.”

he blinks, eyebrows rising in surprise. you feel shy under the weight of his reaction, the shock clear on his face.

“you’ve been learning to dance?” he asks, incredulous. “i thought you hated any physical activity,” he adds, his tone genuinely curious.

you sigh dramatically. “i do. but i’ve been... determined.” 

before he can say more, you cut in, “it’s just—i don’t think i’m getting anywhere.” your voice wavers with frustration. “i’ve been practicing every day, even late at night sometimes, and i still move like a robot.” the words spill out as you finally let your boyfriend in on how you’ve been feeling.

riki steps closer now, studying your face.

“why didn’t you just ask me for help?” he says, sounding half-offended that it hadn’t been your first instinct. dancing was something he took pride in—and he knew he could’ve taught you what he knows, if only you had asked.

you avoid his eyes. “i don’t know... i wanted to do it on my own first. and i didn’t want to look stupid in front of you.”

he frowns at that, gently tilting your chin so you're forced to meet his gaze. “you could never look stupid to me.”

you smile, touched—but embarrassment still lingers in you. “you haven’t even seen my movements yet.” you breathe.

riki nods, understanding how you feel—he knows learning something entirely new for the first time isn’t easy in the slightest. he pauses, thinking of a way to help, then his face lights up as an idea comes to him. “i have an idea.”

before you can respond, he grabs your hand swiftly, intertwining your fingers and tugging you towards the door.

“where are we going?” you ask, confused as you trail behind him.

riki just flashes you a grin, keeping you in suspense. “you’ll see,” he says lowly.

you two soon arrive at a familiar building, riki’s family dance studio. the arcade date you had planned quietly fading, replaced by what seems to be a dance date with riki teaching you.

you hadn’t been in the building for a while and apparently, neither has he. riki greets the staff with ease, exchanging a few light words before guiding you down the familiar halls. he leads you into an empty practice room, its mirrored walls stretching across one side, reflecting the quiet space back at you. the atmosphere feels different now, open, expectant, almost sacred. you’ve never stood in one of these rooms as someone who would dance before, only ever watching from the sidelines when you tagged along to riki’s practices. now, standing in the center of it, you feel a quiet nervousness mixed with awe.

“this was my go-to spot when i was a kid,” riki says, his voice clear in the quiet room, eyes soft by nostalgia.

he plays music from the speakers and swiftly begins moving through a simple choreography. you watch, captivated, as always. he dances like water—fluid, controlled and sharp. when he notices you staring, he grins and gestures for you to join him.

sensing your hesitation, he reassures you. “don’t worry, we’ll go slow. i’ll break it down for you, okay?”

you take a deep breath and nod, stepping beside him.

and true to his word, he takes it slow, demonstrating each movement in detail, patiently guiding you when you mess up,  and gently correcting your mistakes. even when your frustration peaks—discouraged by certain moves—he stays patient, gently reminding you that you'll dance better with a clear, confident mind.

eventually, after a few run-throughs, you both laugh exhilarated in triumph. he plays the song again from the top, this time letting you take the lead. you hesitantly move to the center of the room, your expression focused.

he watches from the side, arms crossed, a soft smile tugging at his lips.

when the song ends, you exhale.

“i definitely still need more practice,” you conclude, biting your lip as you look up at him.

“you did amazing, baby,” he says, voice low and sincere.

you roll your eyes, poking his side. “you’re biased, riki.”

“and proud of it,” he moves away, dodging your advances.

you laugh, then redo the footwork you still struggle with. “can we go over this part again?”

“of course,” he says, stepping in front of you, mumbling the countings, demonstrating the steps again.

in that moment, you realize—learning to dance might not be so hard after all.

not when you’ve got a boyfriend as patient as riki right beside you.

[likethestarsatnight]

Stop policing other peoples practice.

I got a helpol "tutorial video" against my will on my tiktok for you page this and I have to rant about, but I believe this is very important.

This person said in their comment section that hellenic polytheism IS ONLY a reconstructionist religion and someone who isn't a reconstructionist shouldn't be in the religion. And their post was about offerings to the gods and in their caption they implied that any offering that wasn't in the video (those being common offering like milk, honey, bread, hymns, etc) wasn't valid.

Here are my thoughts on that:

That's an opinion, not fact, and that opinion can fuck right off. The claim that Helpol is only a reconstructionist religion is fucking stupid, and that's coming from someone who's a borderline reconstructionist. I don't call myself that because I have to adapt to a modern way of practicing to make practicing more accessible for myself. Everyone has to. Including the overconfident poster who said that stupid thought. Unless that poster is currently building temples for the community, they can fuck off. They even told a commenter on their post who challenged that thought that they shouldn't be a part of the religion. It's fucking disgusting. Everyone also shows their love to the gods in many different ways. Just because someone decides to offer the gods something over another something does not mean they do not actually love the gods.

Now in these pictures, there are a good amount of things that I agree with. Yes, people shouldn't treat this religion like some game and treat it seriously. Yes, there is more to this religion than altars. Yes, TikTok has done a lot of damage to this community. But that includes this person's post. Stop speaking for the entire Helpol community. Stop gatekeeping. Stop policing shit that does not affect you.

I'm stressed right now and i don't know if this is a rational crash out💀 If I'm acting crazy, please tell me

[aethersea]

I've always wanted to learn bookbinding, ever since I was a wee little nerd, but there are a lot of things I've always wanted to learn, and this one has both a daunting upfront materials cost and a daunting upfront research cost. however, my sister is a jewel among siblings and gave me for christmas last year a handy dandy bookbinding manual, a block of good paper, and a little bag of tools.

but I still didn't have a suitable workspace, nor any of the many important tools and materials that she didn't include in her gift. so I just read the manual and pined. until maybe a month ago I got fed up with pining, flattened a cardboard box for a cutting mat, and went to town.

and I'm real proud of myself, so here's me rambling, plus photos!

I went to the thrift store and got glue + some fabric to bind the cover, went to Michaels for a paintbrush (and later went back for a metal ruler lmao it's amazing how useful it is to have a straightedge for cutting the paper), and...could not find material for the cover boards. so I went home and pined some more. but the urges were too strong, so after a couple hours of moping I got a stack of printer paper at the grocery store (I could not bring myself to use the good paper for my first, inevitably weak attempts, I just couldn't do it) and started making a little booklet. which was a great idea, it turned out, since it makes for good practice with cutting the paper, measuring things, punching holes in the signatures, etc.

I have a big box of greeting cards from Michaels, which I used for the covers. it didn't feel like I was making a Real Book, so I got some colored paper from the stationery store and used that for end papers.

so fancy~

galvanized by this success, I ordered a stack of chipboard online to use for cover boards; and once I was confident that I could cut paper without making it look too stupid (getting that straightedge ruler sure helped lol), I made signatures out of the good paper, left them under some heavy books overnight since I don't have a book press, and then punched holes in them! (huzzah for this nice video on getting the holes right)

my sister's gift included good linen thread. it's unwaxed, but after some poking around on r/bookbinding it looks like that just means I'll have to be more careful to avoid tangles and keep good tension. I am fine with this. I can be extra attentive. (I considered just running it over a beeswax candle, but one commenter said if your wax has paraffin in it, it could melt in a hot car, ruining the spine. I can't guarantee my candle is 100% beeswax, I didn't make it, so maybe we just move on.)

I don't have good linen fabric to use for the tapes, but the important part there is that the fabric be thin, sturdy, and not stretchy. the probably-cotton I got from the thrift store fits the bill, so it'll do!

this is a french link stitch, which I got from this exceedingly good tutorial. apparently it's strong enough on its own that for a book of this size, I don't actually need tapes, but I'd already cut the things so eh here we are. and tapes plus french link will make it a stronger binding still (according to a friendly redditor on r/bookbinding), so we carry on.

specifically we carry on to the gluing step. now as I mentioned, I do not have a book press, and you....kinda need one for this step. you need to hold the book block in place with the signatures facing upwards, pressed together hard enough that the glue won't run down between them and stick the pages together (though you do want the glue to get between them just a little, just for like a 16th of an inch). you at least need some clamps and a couple boards to sandwich the book block with.

but you know what? I'm not a professional, this is my first ever book, if it's a little bit off it'll be fine. so we grab all the heaviest books off the bookshelf and improvise.

it's fine! I'm sure it's fine! and just in case it's not, I've tucked a bit of cardboard underneath to catch any glue that drips down so it won't land on the floor. see? I'm prepared! I'm acing this.

and actually, it really was fine. I used clear elmer's glue, applied with a flat paintbrush from the art supplies aisle at Michael's, and frankly I liked the way the flat paintbrush let me slip glue in between the signatures. I did poke around on a couple bookbinding sites to see what kind of glue I should use, and the gist is that although there are better options than this, elmer's glue is perfectly serviceable, and the main downside is it's not archival grade. but I don't need my first bookbinding attempts to last 200 years, that's fine.

the next step is to add the mull. mull is a specific type of fabric – extremely loose-weave linen – and the idea is to paste it down over the spine to essentially hold the tapes and signatures all in place in relation to each other.

but I don't have mull! so I'm using more of the thrift store probably-cotton, because it's thin enough and not really stretchy at all. I'm sure this will be fine too. I painted a layer of glue onto the spine, then left it to dry a bit while I measured and cut the fabric, then painted a generous stripe of glue down the center, where it'll affix onto the spine. then I added a bit more glue to the spine, just to be sure, and pressed the mull into place, rubbing it thoroughly to make sure it's firmly affixed to every signature, with no creases in the fabric or air bubbles beneath it.

honestly I might have overdone it on the glue. I've never done this before, I don't know! I think it's okay, though – I tried not to ever let it become a thick layer, just a slight coating, since the danger of too much glue is that it might crack once dry and weaken the spine.

and now we leave it in the press overnight to dry, and pick up the next step in the morning!

[pippenpaddlopsicopolisthethird]

Today's cosplay post is a tutorial! I sat down and put together a full breakdown on how I use fabric painting to get my cosplay details. In this world where it seems like everyone on the big social media pages has an embroidery machine, a desktop laser cutter, and a heat-transfer vinyl workflow, I feel like sometimes we need to get back to basics and understand how to achieve clean finishes without a $2k overhead.

Video is fully captioned using the script I read from (not auto-generated captions!) And includes timestamps for different parts of the process. I recreated Marcille's t-shirt from one of Ryoko Kui's illustrations in this video, but it's useful for way more than just shirts!

I've never tried my hand at video tutorials before so I hope this is helpful!

[sillywizardman]

HI!!! After finishing Disco Elysium I wanted to read Sacred and Terrible Air, but there were two issues:

1. It’s not officially released in English

2. I don’t like staring at pdfs!

So I did what any sane person would do. That is take three days of my life printing and binding it.

TRANSLATION (“thank you Group Ibex” we all say in unison!):

PROCESS PICS:

I apologize in advance for anyone who has experience in this sort of thing this is so botched.

I have NEVER done anything like this before, I don’t even read books on my own volition, but if the Disco fixation wants me to learn how to sew and bookbind I’ll do that.

Four of the signatures above. There were nine total, eight of them with 8 sheets/32 pages and the last was five sheets I think. Threw the pdf into adobe acrobat and went straight to printing with those settings and the “booklet” option enabled.

Pricked holes through each signature! Used thumbtacks and a piece of foam I scavenged from my room, worked out great. It’s probably also worth mentioning I do not have a bone folder, book press, or any of the other fancy schmancy bookbinding tools. Flattened the pages with a pencil and pressed with D&D books…

SEWING TIME. I have never sewn in my life. My success in this regard can be majorly attributed to Sea Lemon on youtube, particularly this tutorial:

The process from printing to finishing sewing the signatures took ~8 hours. Now we hit our first roadblock, I had no glue for the spine! After going to sleep and waiting what felt like ages (literally 10 hours or so) before I was free to visit a craft store, I tried to find PVA glue because that’s what you’re supposed to use I think?? Yeah. They were out of PVA glue and my impatient ass got mod podge.

‘Tis glued! As you can see I added cardstock to the ends. Joyous day.

Also, you see that sketchbook in the pic? Yeah? You see that lovely cardboard?

It is now the cover. Rest in piss bristol sketchpad backing.

———

EDIT: I see a bunch of people want to attempt this so here’s a video on how to make the hardcover: https://youtu.be/Av_rU-yOPd4?si=7T5zgVJGAfPFBxn-

I didn’t use any measurements or advice from it but it’s a good reference for when it comes to assembling the cover from ~3:50 onwards. The boards are same size as your text block pages and spine, I think I made the cover width a bit longer just in case it doesn’t cover the text block though. Do not do this with the spine, I regret it.

And note, this is NOT a tutorial, it is the process of someone who got a bit too silly and decided to bind a book, obviously do your own research lol. Don’t be afraid to try it though, it’s surprisingly simple!

———

… So, now that’s done! I swore to myself I wouldn’t start reading SATA/PJÕL until I finished this project completely, meaning I’ll be doing that now yippee :]

[haxkattpress]

Our Objective Remains Unchanged by @citrusses

"Harry Potter, returning member of the Oxford University Boat Club, has two goals for the spring of 2005: beat Cambridge, and beat Draco Malfoy. Perhaps not in that order."

This has to be one of the most creative and meticulously researched fics I have ever had the pleasure of reading. If you haven't read it yet, don't walk— run! Citrusses is an absolute genius, and kindly gave me permission to bind her masterpiece.

The cover of this bind is made out four different shades of Allure bookcloth cut by my Cameo 4, and the centerpiece is printed and hand foiled. The banners were machine foiled in gold and black with hand foiled rose gold shading. The endbands were hand sewn with Gutermann silk thread.

You can find more pictures and information about my process under the cut.

The amount of inspiration this fic gave me was overwhelming, and Citrusses' writing fully immersed me in the world of competitive rowing. While designing this bind, I was struck by the sheer wealth of Oxford rowing memorabilia available to me. I settled on this 1929 illustration from an official publication on the Oxford and Cambridge Centenary Boat Race for the cover.

"How hard could it possibly be?" I thought, foolishly. The answer was HARD, but I'll get into that later.

Due to the wealth of design options, I believe that this may be the best typeset I have created to date. Thanks to the help of my friend @tsurashi-bindery, I was able to learn the basics of InDesign (kicking and screaming all the way). There will be spoilers in the text of these photos, so try not to read them if you haven't finished the fic!

For the title page, I modified To See the Crews in Training by Charles Pears (1930). I believe that this was part of a series of advertisements for the race in the London Underground.

For the chapter headers, I redrew the crest from an Oxford Oars, Flags, and Arms postcard, presumably pre 1914. I also had some fun creating a mock email using La_Temperanza's How to Mimic Email Windows on Ao3. Cormac's email makes me laugh every time I read it, and Citrusses provided an appropriately pompous subject.

I also had lots of fun editing the oars from the official OUBC logo to serve as dividers and decorations for the page numbers.

Additionally, I got to edit a full newspaper page for the fic! I was very excited find an opportunity to slip Leyendecker's The Finish (1908) in.

The fic ended beautifully, so I wanted to include one last element at the end to capture the atmosphere. I settled on L'aviron (1932) by Milivoj Uzelac. It makes me feel as though Harry and Draco will continue rowing together long after I've closed the book.

I of course had lots of fun sewing the headbands, and got to do it with not one but TWO copies!

Things got tricky when I had to recreate the cover. I had a poor understanding of how vector images worked, and ended up having to redraw it three times. Once I finally cracked and taught myself how to use Illustrator, the program crashed...and I had to redraw it a fourth time!

I set the vector to cut on my Cameo 4, and I assembled the pieces together like a puzzle on my Silhouette mat. I used Allure's indigo, skylight, white, and black bookcloth in the process. I will be making a tutorial video on this method, so I will keep it brief here.

I also cut a piece of bookcloth to 8.5"x 11" and fed it through my inktank printer to print the center design. I then cut it out using the print and cut feature on my Cameo 4. Both of these methods were a first for me, and they were very scary!!

To be perfectly frank, the foiling was a nightmare and I don't want to get into it. I machine foiled the gold, and then foiled black lettering on top of it. I foiled the rose gold shading by hand, and then foiled a thin black outline along the edge of the banners to make them stand out more.

I hand foiled the spines (because I'm scared of measuring), painted the exposed board (to hide any gaps in the inlays), and used transfer tape to lift my design from the Silhouette mat and onto the cover.

One more fun detail— my copy and the author's copy are sisters! The dark blue and the light blue are inverted on the author's copy, making it distinguishable from mine. This is the first time I have made an author's copy for a fic, and I was admittedly incredibly nervous. I always worry about what authors will think of my work, but Citrusses gave me an incredible amount of encouragement and support throughout the process! Thank you for trusting me with your precious fic!

This story is a work of fanfiction and can be read on Ao3 for free. My bind and typeset are for personal use only and not for sale or profit. Keep fandom free!

[prismaticpichu]

Things Zack Has Accidentally Emailed Lazard Instead of a Report:

• Screenshots from cheap mobile games

• Photo of Genesis’s head on a bird captioned “Henesis”

• Link to Silver Elite donation page

• a pdf of Blood Meridian

• A Mutube tutorial entitled “how to survive the bee apocalypse”

• An entire Moogle doc typed in green Comic Sans

• A photo of Angeal’s head on a pig captioned “Ansqueal”

• 45 minutes of the DVD loading screen

• A photo of Tseng’s head on a turkey

• the Friends theme song

• the Chick-fil-A menu

• A MuTube video of sock puppets fighting each other

• An entire mission report in Spanish

• Extreme close-up of a harp seal

• A gif of someone throwing out their PHS instead of the empty wrapper in their hand

• Link to gummy bear nightlights

• a pdf of the Walmart employee manual

• A png of a croc-flavored pop tart

• a Moogle doc link to “the adventures of Stamp” fanfic

• A photograph of him and Sephiroth captioned “Life is Fairly good”