#(I changed my art tag - a single word is easier)

[danikatze]

I really like how my Maurice and Alec turned out, much more like I pictured them in my head 🥰

Process gif under the cut! Also some thoughts on this scene.

I'm seeing a lot of love for the movie here on tumblr, and I'm sure it deserves it.. but I'm not a fan. Every movie adaptation needs to leave things out - I know that - but this scene specifically? Is so weirdly threatening. And mostly because they show Alec just. inviting himself in through Maurice's open bedroom window. Like, he sees Maurice hanging out of the window twice and assumes he was looking for some fun?

While in the book Maurice calls "come!!" into the night, on two separate occasions, himself not really understanding why. Alec was out an about both times. The first time he ignored it - the gentleman wasn't calling for him, was he? - but the second time he did feel like that could be the case. They completely leave that out in the movie. Seems important to me though? It refers to the recurring dream Maurice has, of a "friend" who will last him a life time. It refers to his desire for real love and companionship. And to then have Alec responding to it has so much meaning! Why omit that?

And then in the movie, the way Alec says "I know" as if he's saying "I know you're gay and if you don't let me fuck you, everyone will know too." Whereas in the book it felt more like "I know you're gay and that's alright, I'm going to take care of you," or something like that.

And then Movie Alec just starts off by smooching Maurice's chest.. it all feels super invasive. Very dubious consent ^^; But I guess I'm supposed to think nothing of it, cause when they wake up in the morning they're all cuddles and kisses. I personally would've liked to see that gentleness from the start.

I know the dubious consent part can be said about the book scene as well: Maurice didn't *actually* invite Alec in and he doesn't verbally consent to sleeping with him either. The atmosphere is just so different..

Anyway, I'm not judging anyone for liking the movie, I personally can't really stand it (at the moment: I thought it was acceptable ten-ish years ago when I'd read the book for the first time)

[lusalemaart]

Google Maps screenshot doodle study

[captainjunglegym]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by the big man himself @bigassbowlingballhead

How many works do you have on ao3?

Fifteen wonderful fanfictional works of art (i used to have more for other fandoms but they were culled during the great move to this fandom haha)

What's your total ao3 word count?

102,099 if you can believe. all since the end of january.

What fandoms do you write for?

currently rwrb and rwrb rpf but I've been doing some research into another fandom that i wanna write in soon! watch this space *eyes*

Top five fics by kudos:

No.1 (Royal Red and Blue) Oil on Canvas

Henry Fox is Alive

If You're Not Made For Me (Why Did We Fall in Love?)

Said I'm Sorry But I'm Not To Blame

Drinking light chardonnays and eating tiny finger foods

Do you respond to comments?

uhhhhh yikes. I have adhd i'll blame that. I'm sorry. i dont tend to on my long fics but on my shorter smuts i might if i remember. im sorry. just know that i read every single comment!!!!!! and appreciate them

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I've written some angsty shit, but i think my fic Someone Loved Me But Not Today. It's an open ended fic where Alex and Henry are exes who reconnect at the funeral of Henry's twin brother George.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

All my fics bar the above have a happy(ish) ending.

But probably Henry Fox is Alive because it's so healing to both Alex and Henry.

No.1 is a close second. All my smut has a happy ending ifyaknowwhatimean *wink wonk*

Do you get hate on fics?

Hate is a strong word. I've had some slightly nasty comments about characterisation that hurt my feelings lol, but nothing that is intentionally nasty to me or about my writing. Just choices I've made. But it's whatevs innit.

Do you write smut?

Of course!

Craziest crossover:

no crossovers as of yet. I can imagine writting 911/911ls crossovers if that even counts. Maybe alex and henry can get into an accident in either austin or LA and have my fire boys and gyals come rescue them

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Ha! who'd bother

Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope but if ya want to then sure.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope. i'm too shy i'd be all embarrassed haha

All time favorite ship?

oh i've been in fandom for like 13 years now i've got a lot of ships that changed me. Lets say firstprince at the moment though bc it's brought me some wonderful friends

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i usually finish my wips actually. but my 1850s australian prison au is on the back burner bc i have others i find easier writing haha

What are your writing strengths?

people always say dialogue

What are your writing weaknesses?

editing and streamlining. maybe pacing.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

yes love it, but i wouldnt do it bc i only speak english and i dont want to look dumb in front of my international friends. like lots of my blorbos are multilingual!!!!

First fandom you wrote in?

oof. idk. Maybe supernatural as my first posted fic? I wrote a lot of fic for bands that were popular when i was young but they shall not be named and never saw the light of day

Favorite fic you've written?

uhh actually it's probably Henry Fox is Alive. Love that fic and it was my first firstprince fic. Special place in my heart!

Also Drinking light chardonnays and eating tiny finger foods is a fave bc it got a lot of traction for being a piss fic hahahaha

No pressure tags for just a few peeps: @anincompletelist @agostobuwan @nocoastposts @wordsofhoneydew whoever wants to!

[pb-dot]

Word Find Tag

@dyrewrites tagged me to particpate in one of these. I haven't done this in forever, but His Impossible Brushstrokes should be a good hunting ground, as it is mostly done.

The words I'm looking for is: tight, blur, trap and sweet

I tag @owlsandwich @caffeineaddict980 @bard-coded and @amandacanwrite

Who'll be looking for point, rich, stage, and strange

Words and snippets below the cut:

Tight

In the kitchen, a wide open space outfitted with the fanciest kitchenware money could buy, Tomasz was preparing something fragrant and, presumably, delicious. The smell of what I came to understand to be some sort of tomato-based sauce made the hunger I had apparently been hiding storm out in the open, but that was secondary in my mind to the sight of Tomasz working on the food. In the lack of a better word, he seemed to have reached a higher plane of awareness. His eyes were open and alert, but there was a focus on the task that made me wonder if he had even heard me come in. The gas fire flickered, the sauce puttered, some sort of meat sizzled on a pan, and a pot of what I assumed was pasta boiled with quiet intensity. There was a poetry to the whole scene I realized, but it was not inherent. This was all Tomasz, it was his will that shaped this beautiful moment, perhaps in the same way his will shaped the art that had grasped my mind tight when I was a young man and just never let go.

The burners of the gas stove clicked off, dispelling the mesmer like a hypnotist snapping his fingers. Tomasz started plating up, his concentration was still intense as he arranged pasta, meat, and sauce on two plates, finishing the presentation with a single leaf of some herb, I assume fresh basil. Once the food was ready, Tomasz himself appeared to come back to my plane of reality.

Blur

Charles coughs, at first once, then two or three more times, I can see there’s blood in his spittle. It’s at this point I’m becoming aware I haven’t blinked for what feels like minutes.

“So I just start trying to rip the thing apart with my teeth,” Charles sounds almost resigned. “It hurts almost right away, but I can’t stop, and I keep trying and trying and at one point a tooth shatters against the wood and I keep going until a couple more break and the sharp shards of the thing still attached to my roots starts scraping against the wood and I just don’t get anywhere. I think the security guys get to me before I pass out from the pain, but it’s all… a bit blurry I suppose.”

I nod, gravely. I want to throw up, but I have to keep up the facade. “I understand,” I say, it’s just about all I can manage. I take a minute to silently choke down the bile in my throat. “And did you succeed in damaging the painting?”

“A bit I guess,” Charles shrugged. “From what I could see, the worst of it was actually from when I snagged it off the hook, a bit near the lower right corner got ripped on the canvas. It didn’t really change much?”

Trap

I wasn’t afraid of elevators, I told myself. I had no reason to be afraid of elevators and I certainly wasn’t going to have a panic attack on account of my journey in the vertical aluminum coffin, even if I did feel a slight coating of sweat on my forehead from the experience.

There was also the question of what would await me at the top, of course. If I were to design a trap to ensnare myself, I probably would make something like this. A mysterious, un-googleable club or society dedicated to the thing I am most passionate about, plant the idea and an invitation with a known collaborator of mine, and then make sure it happened in the most isolated place you could conceivably lure me to. A penthouse law office at night would be a pretty good place for this sort of thing. There were some points I’d improve, perhaps getting Mara to actually urge me to go would have me arrive more at ease and thus easier to jump, or maybe psyching me out was part of the plan.

Sweet

Oscar, I know you’re probably excitedly kicking your legs in the air and scribbling Gildebrant’s name in your trapper keeper or whatever it is you do all day, but please listen to me when I say this. The next text promised yet another link in the chain, so I waited while Mara crafted whatever devastating missive she was going to deliver next. I know you’re excited to go meet Gildebrant, but please don’t go all doe-eyed on the guy. This isn’t really my speed normally, but if I’m honest, I have a bad feeling about this whole setup. I don’t know if there’s actually anything to this whole Gildebrant Psychosis thing, and I don’t know if the man himself has anything to do with the thing if it’s actually real… but please be safe. The world’s a stupid place, but it’s just a tiny bit better of a place with you in it.

This was an unexpected track from Mara. She wasn’t what I’d call emotionally open under anything resembling normal circumstances, and while these definitely weren’t normal circumstances, it still felt weird. I let the whole message hang between us for a little while before I replied. Aww Mars, that’s sweet of you to say.

Fuck you, MN boy. Why don’t you clean your ass with that disgusting potato liquor you love so much!

[codywansleepbingo]

Codywan Sleep Bingo FAQs

What do I have to include to fill a bingo square?

If you’re interested in participating in the Codywan Sleep Bingo 2023 Challenge, each fill you create must include Cody and Obi-Wan in a romantic and/or sexual pairing AND a sleeping prompt of your choice off your card. That’s it!

What can I put in the FREE square?

You can create whatever you want for the free square! However, and I’m sure this may come as a surprise, it must involve Cody and Obi-Wan and sleeping in some way, shape, or form. 

Can I include other pairings?

Sure! Go wild! The only requirement to qualify as a fill is that a) Obi-Wan and b) Cody c) get up to something sleep related. We’d appreciate it if you could tag the other pairing, too, just to make it easier on us, your friendly neighborhood mods.

Also, because this is CODYWAN sleep bingo, Codywan should be:

The primary pairing

The “endgame” pairing

We look forward to seeing what you create!

Wait, isn’t this the FAQ from your last event(s)?

Friend, it sure is! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

What if there’s a prompt in my way and I don’t like it?

You have the option to change the position of one (1) prompt on your Codywan Sleep Bingo Card. 

Can I ask for a new bingo card if I don’t like enough of my prompts?

Unfortunately, no. Each card is procedurally generated. If we allowed people to just keep asking for new cards in order to easily get a bingo, the format of the event sort of falls apart, and what’s more, it wouldn’t be fair to the people who worked hard to write a prompt they didn’t immediately have an idea for. 

We’re sorry if you got a particularly difficult card! We hope you enjoy the challenge of trying to get a bingo anyway, and remember, you can always move one prompt and use your free space!

Can I write a fic using a sleep idea that is not on my bingo card in order to get a bingo?

Absolutely, that is what the Free Space is for! As long as you fill at least five prompts in a row, as per the rules of Bingo, you have achieved a bingo.

No, I mean, can I submit a fic (or five fics) where Cody and Obi-Wan sleep without using my bingo card, and still get a bingo?

Unfortunately, no. We are playing Codywan Sleep Bingo, and so in order to be in the collection/part of the event you do have to be filling prompts on your bingo card. However, if you want to write sleepy fic outside of our event, we are sure not gonna stop you!

How long does my fic have to be if I write?

Each bingo fic fill should be a minimum of 100 words. No upper limit. You can write as much as you want about them having sleepy fun, and, in fact, we’d love it if you did! 

Can one piece of art qualify for more than one bingo fill?

Unfortunately, no. Due to the nature of art being a visual medium, we ask for ONE piece of art per ONE fill. We do, however, accept variations on a piece as a second fill, so long as it is not exactly the same piece (sketches, slightly different poses, playing with colors to give the same drawing a different feel–all fine, all separate fills). If you have questions about whether your piece would qualify, reach out and we’re happy to assist!

What if I include all the prompts in one fic?

That sounds impressive and we’d love to see someone pull it off! However, the word count minimum remains the same. So, if you do five prompts in a single fic, it should be at least 500 words long. 

What if I already have a fic or piece of art that fits a prompt? Can I add it to the collection?

No, this event only accepts new pieces of art/fic/media/etc. We want to encourage the creation of brand new Codywan pieces, so we can’t accept previously published items of any sort, even if you change them slightly. 

Can I have a card to fill outside of the event?

We scoured our brains for prompts and set up the bingo generator specifically for this event. Each card we generate and record information about takes time and we are both very busy. We therefore respectfully ask that you only request a card if you intend to participate in our event. 

How many fills do I have to create?

In order to get a bingo, you need to fill a minimum of five (5) prompts in a row. You can fill them in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line. You may include one or more prompts in a single fic or a comic or…. Well, you get the idea. 

You may also decide to do a blackout! We’d love to see one! 

What’s a blackout? 

Ah, so you were paying attention when we mentioned that in the last answer, huh? A blackout in bingo is when you complete EVERY SQUARE on your card. That means 25 prompts! We’d LOVE to see some blackouts and each person who completes one gets a special shout-out on our Hall of Fame Bingo Card Winners Supreme Post along with a fierce feeling of pride at a job well done. 

When do I have to post?

Technically, you can post your fills whenever. HOWEVER, if you want to be included in our ao3 collection and/or part of our Hall of Fame Bingo Card Winners Supreme Post you must have your bingo completed by March 10th.

Where do I have to post?

Well, you can pretty much post wherever. HOWEVER. If you want to be included in the ao3 collection, your works are going to have to be on ao3. Also, if you put your pieces behind a paywall, the mods are not going to be able to see them and therefore we cannot award you a completed bingo. 

How do I get started again?

We’re glad you asked! Click right here and get your very own, unique and specialized Codywan Sleep Bingo 2023 card! 

Wait, don’t go, I have more questions!

Feel free to send us an ask and we’ll help you out, friend! 

[novafire-is-thinking]

Rule: Tag 10 people you want to get to know better

Tagged by @figgiforever - Thank you!

Relationship status: Single and genuinely content

Favourite colour: Technically deep purple, but maroon and several other dark colors aren’t far behind.

Something I want right now: Art and creative writing skills beamed into my brain so that I can skip the learning process altogether. Or hangout time with Soundwave. Either thing would change my life.

Song stuck in my head: None. I don’t get songs stuck in my head. Just interesting words. I am a nerd.

Three favourite foods: Mac n cheese (so basic ik), salmon w/teriyaki sauce, and seasoned potatoes (baked or fried)

Last song I listened to: Medio Loco by CURIO (spotify | YouTube) - It makes me think of Flamewar. Mind you, I’ve never read IDW2, but I heard this song and went, “Yeah, this is definitely a Flamewar song.” My confidence astounds me sometimes.

Last thing I googled: “unit 731 japan” - Warning: don’t look it up unless you can stomach things like human experimentation and torture. …I was curious, okay? It’s my way of, um…not losing sight of the darker side of humanity. Don’t worry, I read about plenty of wonderful human things too. I just like to keep a balanced view of humanity—the beauty and the horror.

Dream trip: Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach or Diamond Beach - Iceland in general is the country I want to visit most someday, but as for these two locations in particular, I like to imagine doing photo shoots with some of my favorite characters. I prefer to stay behind the camera, but TFP Soundwave and Prowl would look spectacular against the starkly contrasted views.

(source: The World Is A Book)

(source: Pixabay)

Bonus Question:

If you had the opportunity to [safely] become a cyborg via body upgrades, would you take it?

I know I would. And no, I don’t necessarily mean Cybertronian upgrades, although that would be interesting. I just kind of have an indifferent attitude toward my body and would be perfectly fine leaving some of it behind, but I’m aware that not everyone shares that view of themselves. I am curious.

Tagging: @huanted-dennys @sithklyntar @ohblushblushblush @lets-try-some-writing @beyond-the-voids-edge @glittergummy @localrobotlover @superbbasementtragedy @benadrylcandlewhack @cherrysaki-blog + anyone who sees this and wants to answer

[To make life easier, I’ve put the blank formatted question form in the replies for those of you who can access replies. Sorry to those who have been following me for less than a week. Replies will open up for you. I just had to take measures to, um, deal with certain people.]

[yanban-san]

God, I 💕Love 💕seeing everyone's art and interpretations of the eldritch twins!!! I love how unique they all are!!!!

Plus!!! because their forms can change and beyond our mere mortal comprehension technically all designs could be considered canon!! At least, they're canon in my heart 💖

Sorry, I'm getting so super excited rn. I feel like a small dog wagging it's tail so hard its entire tiny body starts to shake lol

Yanban I'm so glad ur writing is getting a bunch of love because it totally deserves it!! ^ ^) 💕💖💕💖💕

Honestly though?

It completely floors me how much y'all love the Eldritch twins- It started as a haha funni conversation between me and a pal from pathfinder who were discussing dumb AU ideas and my campaign, and I made a vague post to it as I worked out the idea and then boom we're here somehow-

And it fills me with such indescribable joy with how much everyone loves them and the fact people started drawing them- Everyone's interpretations are really really really cool and I love seeing them and I love sharing them! I just have no words for how incredibly joyful I get at any and all art or writings people make about the two Eldritch Horrors who love you very very very very much. <3

Plus!!! because their forms can change and beyond our mere mortal comprehension technically all designs could be considered canon!! At least, they're canon in my heart 💖

Yup! They are YOUR eldritch darlings and they want to look not just like the pretty subway bosses of your dreams but the pretty monsters of your dreams; I like to think that even when they struggled to make a physical form at first, they were, at least, in some, esoteric/subconscious way, aware of things their Darling liked- And while they have a general "guideline" for what they look like (Emmet has feathers and fluff and is light and Ingo has scales and some fluff and is darkness, stuff like that) their appearances became something you would appreciate. (The longer they spend in physical reality, the easier it becomes for them to manipulate their shape, within reason. They aren't shapeshifters by trade but they can do it if they need to- And I'm getting off topic oh no)

Sorry, I'm getting so super excited rn. I feel like a small dog wagging it's tail so hard its entire tiny body starts to shake lol

Listen. When I see fanart or fanworks I could spend literal days just marveling at it before I can sit myself down long enough to post it/reblog/ or get out the words of how much I adore it- Words just aren't enough, I want to buy you all your favorite beverages and give you fluffy blankets and a platonic smooch on the forehead-

I appreciate every single one of you, whether you've just lurked on my posts or you've sent me asks or you comment in tags in a reblog- All of you are super cool and wonderful and I wish you all nothing but the best ever!

[alma-amentet]

I’ve been tagged by @katastronoot and @sheirukitriesfandom

Feel free to take if you haven’t been tagged already.

1) Describe one creative WIP project you’re planning to work on over the summer.

Just a few days ago I decided to pull myself together and finish my drafts, debts and references queue. There’s a number of tabs with refs hanging in my browser... Need to get rid of them! Then I’ll also finish some tutorials from my previous lessons as well as rewatch the ones I already did, just to get back in shape. And will probably dive into some other courses - I have some good videos.

Was thinking about making some doll, clothes after a long break. My drunk shepherdess needs this, as I changed my mind to sell her away! (she’s another story). And a bag for my favorite tarot deck, now I use the the bag I made for another one, while that another one rests in a bag that once was part of friend’s Christmas present.

The rest is optional for now, but I hope to start drawing more portraits again. Maybe, by the end of the year I’ll be taking requests and trades for your OCs and favorite characters... That would be super cool.

I wanted to start attending my IRL art class again, but looks like I won’t be able to afford it 😢 Sadly I’m not making much money these days, and there are some unexpected expences.

2) Rec a book!

Tanith Lee, The Night’s Master. I think Elden Ring fans will appreciate 😉 Made a post about it a while ago.

I also liked The Winter Players - finally, a good and strong female protagonist! Not evil, unlike Zorayas - the one from the Night’s Master 😉

3) Rec a fic!

False Azure in the Windowpane by Tulak_Hord

If you don’t mind het Malenia ship. I don’t because it has a lot of fluff and an interesting Tarnished. I loved the first 55k words, excluding the chapter where they sparred (for me, that felt too long and boring). But I keep reading it.

Also Flamed Aeonia by BadMonsterFr  

This one has fem shipping, also a lot of hurt/comfort and fluff - just the way I like it! 

I love Malenia fluff. So more Malenia fluff pls! If you can rec me anything else like this, you're welcome! (yes I know and love Unalloyed, esp. the epilogue. It’s somewhat different, more on Millicent and Miquella, but just my vibes as well).

(also I’m really sorry for not reading some of fandom’s buddies works, I do - I’d like to support you more ... started some of them, but couldn’t keep up. I’m a bad and slow reader, and prefer smaller sizes to long ongoings. There are just two long ongoings I'm reading, False Azure and Rebecca's, because they are updated not really often).

4) Rec Music!

I’m on my Breton and Francophone folk kick again, so I recommend 

- La Boutine Souriante, folk-rock from Quebec (so far I’m listyening to their earliest albums, but they’ve been around since 70s and have many albums)

- Tri Yann. Modern Breton classics, I’d say! Love those old men who are still fit and well.

5)Share one piece of advice!

I agree with @vidvana Take care of yourself! Also don’t skip meals, get enough sleep. And if you feel you’d use some support, seek it any ways. If you can’t afford therapy or anything, there’s plenty of books and resources. Sometimes it’s even easier to help yourself than to find help. I’m quite experienced in self-help, I know what I’m talking about. 

For me, Julia Cameron’s “The Artists’s Way” has become that single straw I grasped in my darkest times, and it actually helped greatly! I also used her list of further reading and quotes, thus finding Shakti Gauvain, whose books are inspiring and supportive as well. Later I was a moderator for several groups for the Asrtists’Way. Not an easy experience, but it taught me something as well.

But if there’s a chance of any therapy, groups, any other support, don’t give it up as well.

[burning-jealousy]

An Open Letter To FR Staff & Users (But Mostly To Staff)

This post will be long and I'm sure one or two people will deem it as brown-nosing staff, so here's a read more because I love my friends and followers and anyone perusing the Flight Rising tag. This is a very long post.

Preemptively, yes, you can reblog and add on, but I probably won't respond, as immediately after posting I'm muting this post.

There are 3 TLDRs under the read more, alongside the bulk of the post. Again. This is very, very long. 2.4k words long. I have 9 years of thoughts rattling around in this post.

TLDR for section 1 (No Wait!! Only Dragon): The art staff needs to draw, adjust and recolor (if this is seen past 3/24/23, over.) 7,244 individual pieces of apparel for every new modern breed (this is including both poses, not just one pose) they add, along with 324 genes (including f pose, m pose and h pose) and make sure all 177 colors with 2,680,125 combinations of colors possible (I.. I think? This is including all 3 poses also. Additionally, if I'm not wrong, they have an algorithm handle coloring to make things easier, but it doesn't change the fact that these still need to all be tested as they come up. Also this doesn't include every gene and gene combo, so uh, you can have fun with THAT math) don't break anything, and paired with their 'no crunch policy' it is no surprise we need to wait 5+ years between modern breeds, and even without modern breeds being taken into consideration, it makes sense that we have glitches with colors and genes just breaking.

TLDR for section 2 (Communication): Staff (Specifically those in positions like Aequorin, where they can be a bridge between coders/artists/etc and users) needs to communicate more with their users in regards to accessibility rollouts, issues with 'ban waves', false multi-account claims, actual multi-accounters being unnoticed for some time, etc. Full stop. The lack of communication can be a bit egregious, but it's slowly gotten better.

TLDR for section 3 (Final Thoughts): Staff messes up. With people they hire, things they do and decisions they make - We see it a lot more because they're effectively 20 or so people being eyeballed by (as of writing this) 4,221 people. So does the userbase. But we don't see that as much because the average user does not have 4.2k eyes on them at any given moment. But they're just a bunch of humans. They still deserve to be treated like them, even if you don't agree with every single thing they do.

v-v-Actual Post-v-v

To start, please know, I have been an active user off and on since 2014. This is not coming from a user who has been coddled by the release of Obelisks and onward. Additionally, I have plenty ill opinions on staff and some of the hills they've decided to dig their heels in on, as they are not perfect, no one is, but I would like to write this post to no one either way. This is more so in regards to their 'no crunch policy' and several other things that I've noticed over the years.

I'll focus on my main and only issue here first, the "no crunch policy." I'm not sure if they've ever quite explained what they mean by that, but, at a glance, it means they don't make their artists rush to finish pieces, which is fine, however it becomes frustrating as a user when they keep, in the case of Aberrations, putting the release off because of a 'no crunch policy.' There is a definite difference between not crunching and ensuring your artists adhere to a release schedule- That is to say if Stormlight Workshop intends to handle Flight Rising like a professional website, then they need to hire artists with the intent of making a set release date, rather than hiring them under the pretense of 'not crunching under any circumstances, ever.' Realistically, we should've gotten Aberrations a little sooner than we did.

Now, staff has said on multiple occasions they are always working on new breeds, and only in the 2020s have we been able to get a good view of that being true, as we have had three Ancient breed releases in the past 12 months alone, a massive step up from the previous release 'schedule' where we got two in 2014 (Coatls, Nocturnes), one in 2016 (Bogsneaks), two in 2019 (Gaoler, Banescale), one in 2020 (Veilspun), one in 2021 (Obelisks), two in 2022 (Aberrations, Undertides) and one (so far) in 2023 (Aethers).

This isn't to be ignorant towards the artists employed at Stormlight Workshop and the fact that artists regularly, without fail, get absolutely shafted when it comes to income VS the work they put in and time constraints, etc, to the point where freelance artists (the average artist you'd commission off of Tumblr or other social networking sites) need to greatly undersell their commissions to even get one commission. For example, an artist who I'd put their art at maybe 45/50$ for one fullbody charged 20$ for a 2 character fullbody with full shading and details, it is that bad when it comes to trying to find work, so I can ABSOLUTELY understand why they'd choose to push for a 'no crunch' policy to give their artist a dang break when it comes to work they receive. However as far as I'm aware, no artists have ever come forward to speak about pay they receive working on Flight Rising assets. This is in no way me claiming they are not paying their artists a fair wage or not paying them at all, this is me saying that no official artist, as far as I am aware, has stated what they are paid and how (gems, USD, etc.), so guesses cannot be made re: hourly pay until then.

This is a very, very long-winded way to say I think the userbase should be a bit.. More understanding re: wait times. I know in recent times, as we've stopped being kids/early 20 year-olds, the agitation in regards to everything has gone down. And I still think the wait can be pretty egregious and I'm hoping we get more modern breeds soon, or a better idea on what release schedules we can look at going forward.

Now. The following segment is not about the art staff and issues in regards to the waits, but the company Stormlight Workshop as a whole. I am not claiming anything I say going forward reflects on the company, workers and staff in a negative light, nor am I claiming any/all of these bans were done to 'get back' at a user, were done 'incorrectly/in error' or were done without reason. These things happen with sites like Flight Rising where they have a smaller staff and cannot 100% screen every single ban/email inquiry re: a false ban/etc. But the communication is an issue all the same.

Moving onto other my secondary, significantly lesser issue is the lack of communication regarding this stuff. Staff - User communication should be kept at a minimum without being cold, snarky, standoffish, etc, (sort of like the behavior Aequorin(? i think that's how you spell her name) displays with users, she can be serious at times and silly others, it depends on the context really!) lest we get sites like PokeFarm Q where the site owner/main coder can be a total jerk and traumadump to a userbase consisting primarily of mentally ill minors while having no repercussions. However, the issue with this comes in when we don't have details regarding breed releases, actual ETA dates for when we're getting (for example) achievements back. Additionally there are some lesser promises that have fallen through that we've gotten no word on, such as more merchandise like the pins we never got, and why it can be such a complete pain in the butt to get Wildclaw scrolls and why they've only been in circulation for a total that's around a month when stuck back to back when they were intended to more 'regularly' cycle. (The post I saw claimed a cumulative 20 - 40 days? I don't recall exactly.)

Additionally, there are the, at times, false ban waves that staff goes on every once in a blue moon that makes a subset of the community lose their collective minds. I have been friends with two users affected by this. One I will not give details to, as they are back on-site under a new account (which is permitted under the pretense they give up on getting their old account back), but her husband and her both got banned. Staff can be very inconsistent with who does and does not get banned for multiaccounting, even while reporting is taken into account, as I've seen what I deemed to be a pretty blatant case not get taken care of for quite some time, when reported.

However I am aware this is very likely a case of personal bias. I am very aware that this is a topic that is very personal to me as I lost a pair of dragons to someone being banned unfairly for multiaccounting (context: they admitted they had an acc prior to their current one on the forums and got banned), and even when they relented the account and just asked that the dragons to be sent back to me, staff refused, per their TOS re: dragon ownership (once it leaves the original owner's lair, ownership is forfeit, so technically they weren't mine anymore). The final case I can think of here is when a user known best for their darker lore and was widely disliked for it being 'problematic' (see: it was dark, and people did not like that) was falsely flagged for multiaccounting and had their account locked, and staff eventually just stopped responding to their emails, so they gave up on waiting and made a new account. (I know that this was false because the user who flagged them admitted to it.)

Next are the many complaints regarding accessibility. Starting at the landing page on the site, it is VERY bright- Painfully so- And those with migraines, eye issues, so on and so forth, are not permitted within site rules to even use an addon to change the way the site looks. I won't do a deep dive into the issues with this, but they claim they 'will see' about a dark mode in the future. I am somewhat photosensitive. Not in the 'rapidly flashing, bright colors can give me a seizure' way, but more in the 'this can give me a migraine' kind of way, so while it is less harmful for me to have it open in a low-lit room, it still isn't particularly pleasant. Even sites several years it's predecessor, like Dragon Cave, even have alternate color schemes for their website, so I never quite understood the logic.

That is to say that things like this are not excusable, especially the lack of a darkmode and basic accessibility features regarding familiar bonding being marginally less painful to do than clicking and pressing left on your keyboard up to 215 times (this is 100% excluding those who bond ALL of their familiars every single day. they are not being counted in here, as even if they are disabled, they are making the intentional decision to bond 1102 familiars every day even if it hurts them) and that is a 'lesser' task that one can do in maybe 5 - 15 minutes if they're on the Desktop version of the website.

The coli captcha being changed was an incredible step forward, one that I'm very pleasantly surprised we actually got. And that's why I think we need to push more on these things in a respectful way. Key emphasis on respect. You obviously won't get anywhere being too gentle and kind and letting staff get away with ableism like the lack of a darkmode and banning of those who use applications to make the screen dark so they can use the site.. It doesn't make the site out to be a very friendly website to users who suffer from various disabilities. But they are making changes to help that. Several users enjoy writing in tiny, barely visible text, so they added a 'toggle text style off or on for this post.'

I know full well that no war was ever won with kindness, but you need to avoid making a donkey of yourself on the public forums- Especially ones where the minimum age is 13. Calling staff stupid/incompetent/nasty names is hurtful, even if you DO feel that way and it's a knee-jerk reaction to the lack of accessibility they seem to be digging their heels in on, that's just not how the real world actually goes.

This is not to say that staff is exempt of criticism, if anything they need to be critiqued more than they are in constructive ways that don't come off guns blazing.

All of this is to say that staff's communication, as a whole, not just about, say, a delay or two, but rather developer updates, needs to be done much better. I feel like I should actively be seeing more developers talking about what's going on rather than just Aequorin sniping misbehaving users and locking a thread, or Undel talking about what she's wanting to update next (for the encyclopedia, full disclosure, nothing too interesting.)

Going three pages into the dev tracker I have only seen the following administrators: Aequorin, Undel, Kaepora and Mutron. Aequorin seems to do a lot of the heavy lifting regarding engaging with the community, which makes sense, she's the community manager, but I sincerely think there needs to be more communication going on, more updates and such that aren't .

I could just be saying that as I feel every website, especially sites like this where a lot of it is on the users to make the fun out of the game, could benefit from more clear, concise communication. I am not asking a lot, I don't think at least, for them to maybe get one or two more community managers and hold more regular Q&A sessions like they used to. It is not right that we need to claw at staff for some of the things that we've gotten after 10 years, and it's not right that staff needs to shake us off their legs like rabid dogs from time-to-time because of a misstep they made that makes a small and very vocal subset of the community go ballistic, which sends ripples out to other parts of the community.

That's about all I have to say. I've been writing this nonstop for almost 3 hours, and I honestly can't think of anything else I have to say. Sorry if it's disjointed/doesn't make sense at times. I guess my very last thought is I don't know what I'd do to change the issues I have. I'd say monthly updates on various aspects of the site or maybe a Q&A, as I feel that's a fair request, given that's the average amount of updates a Kickstarter game gets, but that could prove annoying, frustrating or just ineffective in practice.

But again, I want to put emphasis on this: None of this is in any way, shape or form meant to reflect badly on Stormlight Workshop as a company or it's employees. This is merely a series of opinions I have in regards to Flight Rising, Stormlight Workshop and the staff behind Flight Rising.

[codywankinkbingo]

Codywan Kink Bingo FAQs

What do I have to include to fill a bingo square?

If you’re interested in participating in the Codywan Kink Bingo 2022 Challenge, each fill you create must include Cody and Obi-Wan in a romantic and/or sexual encounter AND a kink of your choice off your card. That’s it!

What can I put in the FREE square?

You can write about whatever you want for the free square! However, and I’m sure this may come as a surprise, it must involve Cody and Obi-Wan and a kink in some way, shape, or form. 

Also, we your friendly neighborhood mods humbly request that you be explicit in your tagging of what kink is in your Free Space fill. Everyone has kinks that make them uncomfortable, even if they are your absolute favorites! In order to allow everyone to stay safe for this spicy, spicy event, we want to make sure everyone knows exactly what they’re getting into when they click.

Can I include other pairings?

Sure! Go wild! The only requirement to qualify as a fill is that a) Obi-Wan and b) Cody c) get up to something kinky. We’d appreciate it if you could tag the other pairing, too, just to make it easier on us, your friendly neighborhood mods.

Also, because this is CODYWAN kink bingo, Codywan should be:

The primary pairing

The “endgame” pairing

A few of the prompts would work great with three (or more!) participants and that’s fine, too, as long as there’s a focus on-- you get the idea. 

Wait, isn’t this the FAQ from your last event?

Friend, it sure is! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

What if there’s a prompt in my way and I don’t like it?

You have the option to change the position of one (1) prompt on your Codywan Kink Bingo Card. 

Can I ask for a new bingo card if I don’t like enough of my prompts?

Unfortunately, no. Each card is procedurally generated. If we allowed people to just keep asking for new cards in order to easily get a bingo, the format of the event sort of falls apart, and what’s more, it wouldn’t be fair to the people who worked hard to write a kink they didn’t immediately have an idea for. 

We’re sorry if you got a particularly difficult card! We hope you enjoy the challenge of trying to get a bingo anyway, and remember, you can always move one prompt and use your free space!

Can I write a fic using a sort of kink that is not on my bingo card in order to get a bingo?

Absolutely, that is what the Free Space is for! As long as you fill at least five prompts in a row, as per the rules of Bingo, you have achieved a bingo.

No, I mean, can I submit a fic (or five fics) where Cody and Obi-Wan play with kinky stuff in bed to the collection without using my bingo card, and still get a bingo?

Unfortunately, no. We are playing Codywan Kink Bingo, and so in order to be in the collection you do have to be filling prompts on your bingo card. However, if you want to write kinky spice outside of our event, we are sure not gonna stop you!

How long does my fic have to be if I write?

Each bingo fic fill should be a minimum of 100 words. No upper limit. You can write as much as you want about them having spicy fun, and, in fact, we’d love it if you did! 

Can one piece of art qualify for more than one bingo fill?

Unfortunately, no. Due to the nature of art being a visual medium, we ask for ONE piece of art per ONE fill. We do, however, accept variations on a piece as a second fill, so long as it is not exactly the same piece (sketches, slightly different poses, playing with colors to give the same drawing a different feel–all fine, all separate fills). If you have questions about whether your piece would qualify, reach out and we’re happy to assist!

What if I include all the kinks in one fic?

That sounds impressive and we’d love to see someone pull it off! However, the word count minimum remains the same. So, if you do five kinks in a single fic, it should be at least 500 words long. 

What if I already have a fic or piece of art that fits a prompt? Can I add it to the collection?

No, this event only accepts new pieces of art/fic/media/etc. We want to encourage the creation of brand spanking (ha) new Codywan pieces, so we can’t accept previously published items of any sort, even if you change them slightly. 

How many fills do I have to create?

In order to get a bingo, you need to fill a minimum of five (5) prompts in a row. You can fill them in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line. You may include one or more prompts in a single fic or a comic or…. Well, you get the idea. 

You may also decide to do a blackout! We’d love to see one! 

What’s a blackout? 

Ah, so you were paying attention when we mentioned that in the last answer, huh? A blackout in bingo is when you complete EVERY SQUARE on your card. That means 25 kinks! We’d LOVE to see some blackouts and each person who completes one gets a special shout-out on our Hall of Fame Bingo Card Winners Supreme Post along with a fierce feeling of pride at a job well done. 

Oh, here's one that wasn't on your last FAQ: Can we create a piece that doesn’t involve the kink as a sex act?

No, sorry, this is not allowed. We do expect you to include the prompt in the spirit of the event, which is: spice. You can subvert the prompt to your heart’s content, with the main exception that it DOES have to have a spicy connotation. A hint of lemon, if you will. Sex. The point is sex. 

Please do not create a piece in which someone is tied up and imprisoned by an individual who means to do them unsexy harm and call it a fill for “bondage.” While that sounds like a fic we, your dedicated mods, would read, it will not count for the event. 

This is why we have a rule that you cannot have a G-rated fic, by the way! The subject matter by definition should merit a higher rating than that.

Why can’t I get a card if I’m under 18? 

This event is focused on kinks and spice. As such, it’s focused on fics rated M and E in the vast majority of cases and we’re only issuing cards to participants over 18.

When do I have to post?

Technically, you can post your fills whenever. HOWEVER, if you want to be included in our ao3 collection and/or part of our Hall of Fame Bingo Card Winners Supreme Post you must have your bingo completed by October 31st.

Where do I have to post?

Well, you can pretty much post wherever. HOWEVER. If you want to be included in the ao3 collection, your works are going to have to be on ao3. Also, if you put your pieces behind a paywall, the mods are not going to be able to see them and therefore we cannot award you a completed bingo. 

Remind me what the rules are?

Over here, friend!

How do I get started again?

We’re glad you asked! Click right here and get your very own, unique and specialized Codywan Kink Bingo 2022 card! 

Wait, don’t go, I have more questions!

Feel free to send us an ask and we’ll help you out, friend!

[sitron-sunni]

a get to know you better meme

tagged by @dummerjan, tysm!<33

do you make your bed? no.

what's your favourite number? Four! No reason behind it, I've just always really liked four.

what is your job? don't have one

If you could go back to school, would you? I'm in school! I actually had to drop out for several long years due to chronic illness. I had to move to find a school willing to provide accommodations, but I got started again with online classes almost three years ago. Now, I'm finally (finally!!), wrapping up my last subject for upper secondary school, which qualifies me for higher education. I literally sent in my application for art school last night<3 Everything is terrifying but also exciting but also terrifying but also there's no other way but forward, so.

can you parallel park? nope, I can't drive.

a job you had that would surprise people? Have not had any jobs.

do you think aliens are real? Well yes. the universe is infinitely big, I do believe some form of life exists out there, whether single-cell organisms or a more intelligent species. Do I think they came over here and built the pyramids? no. no i do not.

can you drive a manual car? still can't drive...

what's your guilty pleasure? i don't know, do i have one? I like lots of things people might find cringe, like, 80's love ballads or early one direction songs, but I wouldn't say there's anything I think of as a guilty pleasure.

tattoos? can look really cool on other people, though they're not necessarily something I'm inherently attracted to. also, they are not meant for me. I'm too indescisive, too afraid of making a mistake, and too aware of how changeable I am. I hope I keep growing and changing for the rest of my life, and I don't wanna put marks on my body that define me as someone I've moved away from, if that makes sense.

that being said, there are some tattoo artists i follow on instagram whose work i really like. People who do the loveliest watercolour work, people with insane colors, people with gorgeous, folk art-style. If I had to get a tatto, I would go to one of them, and let them dream up something wonderful.

favourite colour? yellow! yellow-y orange! sunlight!<3

favourite type of music? I think spotify usually tells me it's some type of folk indie pop rock-thing, but it's easier to answer the reverse: I don't really listen to opera, screamo/heavy metal or dubstep/edm. Aside from that? I love gathering artists and songs of all different styles from all over the world in all different languages. I'm eclectic at heart.

do you like puzzles? yes, although it's a struggle to do physical puzzles as I can't seem to find a spot with good lighting. But I've done lots of digital puzzles and they're fun.

any phobias? my fear of insects has gotten progressivley worse. specifically the crawling ones. especially if they have lots of legs, and are fast. ughhhh. does it classify as a phobia? idk.

favourite childhood sport? the words 'childhood' and 'sport' in combination are rarely associated with enjoyment for me. idk. we played a game similar to baseball sometimes, that would probably have to be the one but... I've never really been a sports-person...

do you talk to yourself? Hm. rarely out loud, but often in my head.

what movie(s) do you adore? the first lotr movie = ultimate comfort movie. Mamma mia, pretty woman, notting hill, wild child = fond childhood memories w/ my mom. Billy Elliot and the way back are two movies I've watched several times and really really enjoyed, like they just stand out in my mind. Divines, which I stumbled across on netflix, is possibly my fave. If I were to rec someone one movie, it would be that one. I just think it's good. I vibe with it.

coffee or tea? coffee, I cannot stand tea.

first thing you wanted to be growing up? A hairdresser, maybe? and I wanted to be a designer for several years after I read the book threads by sophia bennett, lol. Grew out of that one around 13/14 i think.

tagging whoever sees this and wants to do it!<3

[bluwavez]

I posted 115 times in 2022

That's 115 more posts than 2021!

46 posts created (40%)

69 posts reblogged (60%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@bluwavez

@whileinvenus

@haechantaeil

@it2won

I tagged 107 of my posts in 2022

Only 7% of my posts had no tags

#kpop oc - 38 posts

#idol oc - 37 posts

#fictional idol community - 35 posts

#kpop addition - 29 posts

#oc kpop group - 28 posts

#fictional idol oc - 27 posts

#aes!ocnet - 26 posts

#kpop au - 26 posts

#˗ ˋ 🌊    dive deeper    ﹕   underwater    ! - 23 posts

#deluxeocnet - 23 posts

Longest Tag: 74 characters

#i dont know if i've put this on here before but im doing it again if i did

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

— BASICS

STAGE NAME :: HAN

FULL NAME :: Hana Takuya

BIRTHDAY :: October 11th, 1995

ZODIAC :: Scorpio

BIRTHPLACE :: Tokyo, Japan.

HOMETOWN :: Aichi, Japan.

ETHNICITY :: Japanese

NATIONALITY :: Japanese

— CAREER

PROFESSION :: Idol

YEARS TRAINED :: 5 Years

LABEL :: ANGELICO Entertainment

GROUP :: DEEP DIVE

GROUP POSITION :: Leader, Main Dancer, Lead Vocalist, Visual

— PHYSICAL

FACECLAIM :: Yamazaki Kento

HEIGHT :: 185 cm || 6′1

BLOOD TYPE :: O-

— HISTORY

Hana Takuya, professionally known as Han, was born to two middle class parents in 1995, being their eldest child. His birth was followed by two sisters and a single brother. Takuya’s upbringing was very strict according to him as his parents believed the arts were a waste of time and none of the Hana children should go into them.

Though, this never deterred him from finding a love for dancing. He said he first fell in love with ballet, always wanting to take a class but knowing his parents would never allow him to. So, instead, he joined an after school dance team that he said was a debate team so his parents wouldn’t get suspicious. There Takuya would develop his dancing skills and begin busking around Japan with the group. During one of these busking events, Takuya was scouted by DSP Media, being only fourteen at the time.

Not wanting the opportunity to go to waste, Takuya told his parents about his want to be an idol. This went over horribly, resulting in Takuya being disgraced and kicked out by his parents. He hasn’t had any contact with his parents since 2009 but has reconnected with his younger siblings.

Being one of the original members of DEEPDIVE, Takuya began training under DSP Media at the ripe age of fourteen, debuting at nineteen in 2014 as the group’s main dancer and lead vocalist. He became the group’s producer after their debut, finding a passion for music production and composing.

After ANGELICO’s acquirement of DEEPDIVE, Takuya was promoted to leader, replacing Jisung. He grew in popularity due to this position change, many praising his dedication, artistry, and visuals. After the switch to Angelico, Takuya often gets the most modeling gigs and solo activities in the group.

Being one of the most popular member of the group, he’s often villainized online or unfairly targeted. He’s often targeted for his bluntness and straightforwardness or his etiquette during award shows and other groups performances. He’s admitted multiple times that he does these things for attention and to make people mad, giving him the title of “the shit starter of kpop”

23 notes - Posted January 24, 2022

#4

FINN “METAMORPHOSIS” HIGHLIGHT MEDLEY.

TRACK LIST

01 EASIER  02 TAKE MY HAND  03 STARTING LINE 04 JUMP START 05 YOUNGBLOOD 06 SolSol 07 LOVER OF MINE 08 JUST YOU 09 BUMP BUMP 10 FIRESTARTER 11 FACE 12 PLACE IN ME

See the full post

27 notes - Posted July 16, 2022

#3

ib: @qp1ds & ft. duri @plydte !

#DEEPDIVE: as it was.

27 notes - Posted April 15, 2022

#2

— TITLE :: We All Know

— FEATURING :: Jacob Joo & Kang Woobin.

— WARNINGS ::  Minor smut, nothing insane, easily skippable. Physical fights. Minor blood. Verbal Abuse. Blue says some really fucked up things to Jacob. Suicide mention. The suicide is not written graphically but it is discussed in detail. 

— WORD COUNT :: 4.8k

— AUTHOR’S NOTE :: i tried writing this in a different style than i usually do. it’s def more narrative heavy, i took inspiration from euphoria haha, but yeah! it was my first time writing like this so i hope you enjoy this kind of story telling!

— SUMMARY :: In which, the blood is on Blue’s hands.

See the full post

41 notes - Posted February 1, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

˗ ˋ 🌊    ANGELICO’S FAVORITE DEAD BOY   ﹕ The Tragic Story of Noah Son . . . Since his passing in 2019, Noah Son has been the center of many discussions around mental health, company negligence, and overall mistreatment in the idol industry. In the hour and a half long video essay by KPOP video essayist and Angelico Hater, ANGELHOE, she goes over the timeline of Noah’s life, his death, and the exploitation after his passing. The video gained over a million views within the first 24 hours, many Sirens (Deepdive stans) finding the video impactful and very well done. ANGELHOE, real name Dolly Williams, revealed on Twitter Angelico hit her with a cease and desist because of her video. “The video is staying up until Son Jinhwa knocks on my door and serves me papers himself” Dolly tweeted after getting the letter. A week after video was posted, now sitting at 6 Million views, Dolly posted a selfie of herself holding papers captioning it: “angelico served me but i know the law baby 💋” confirming that Angelico is trying to silence her and the narrative she’s painted of them.

COMMENT  BELOW  YOUR  THOUGHTS  AND  OPINIONS !

See the full post

54 notes - Posted October 19, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[luck-of-the-scapegoat]

RULES

In no particular order my rules are as follows.

This is a Sideblog. Please always tag me in asks and threads so that Tumblr actually alerts me.

This blog is Semi-Selective, meaning that I may pick and choose who to interact with based on writing style and chemistry.

Askbox is always Open unless I specifically state that it's not, please feel free to send me things, that's what it's there for! However know that I am not obligated to answer every ask. If I'm not comfortable or inspired I won't. Please be respectful and use common sense.

Content Warnings: Occasional Angst and Violence may appear, as well as Mild NSFW content. All will be tagged as well as other obvious triggers and squicks. If you need me to tag something specific shoot me an ask and I will do my best to accommodate you. Tags will follow the "#CW:" and "#TW:" format.

NSFW will be tagged as "#Lights Out " because I don't want Tumblr nerfing me for using the actual NSFW tag. (This tag may change over time but the most recent should always be listed here)

For the love of all that is good DO NOT interact with any NSFW content on this blog if you're a minor. That just puts us both in a bad position.

OC, AU, and Crossover Friendly. Crossovers are selective though and if I'm not familiar with or don't like the source material I may choose not to interact.

Multiverse and Multiship. However ships are chemistry based and I will maintain the ability to choose not to ship with a character, even if I'm already shipping with a mirror.

Please don't send single word or single sentence cold starters unless they're from a meme. Give me something to work with, I'm not a mind reader.

Unless it's from a meme please do not ever send me NSFW cold starters. I'm just not comfortable with that.

No means no. Regardless of if it's the Mun or the Muse respect that. The only time this rule can be waived is if the encounter is pre-plotted, or I have otherwise already agreed to whatever is happening. And even then please respect it if I change my mind and ask you to stop.

Generally speaking I am not a meme source. Therefore unless it's a meme that I've created or a reblog meme I will ask that you at least consider sending something in if you reblog a meme from me. This isn't a hard rule but it would be greatly appreciated.

I don't do RPs in Tumblr DMs, I prefer to keep those open for plotting and other discussion. Please respect this.

Don't reblog threads you aren't involved in. If you wanna drop a Like I don't mind too much but reblogging threads you aren't a part of is a good way to get blocked.

Reblogging my art is completely fine, encouraged even, so long as it's not attached to a thread. If it is check my art blog @kitsartblog to see if it's there and if not feel free to give me a poke about it, I probably forgot and I probably won't mind putting it up!

That said, Do Not use my art without permission. Always ask first and respect that I have the right to say no.

Regarding OCs, please have a bio for your character so I can read up on them! I like to get to know who I'm talking to and it makes it easier if I know a few things about them!

Will probably go through periods of inactivity. Listen, we all have bad brain days, or weeks, or sometimes even months. I can't pump out content 24/7/365. That said, unless I've posted an official Hiatus Notice you can message me or shoot me an ask and I will do my best to respond.

[illicitlimerence-writes]

lonely hearts | p. gasly

pairing: pierre gasly x reader word count: 2.3k words. request: yes/no by an anon: "pierre was fed up of failing at dating, it never seemed to work out, girls wanted to parade him around on their social media instead of knowing him, or just be dismissive of him and his abilities (red bull demotion?).” then he meets the reader (kind of like in taylor swift’s begin again music video? ++ love your writing and hope you’re doing well!" thank you for this! i hope you like it and sorry it took so long! prompt: strangers alone on valentine's day from this prompt list. warnings: language maybe, kinda angsty, i think that's it. a/n: REPOSTING BC IT WASN'T SHOWING UP IN THE TAGS. happy birthday to my french croissant<3 just like my xmas fics, PLEASE DON'T SEND REQUESTS FROM THE VALENTINE'S PROMPT LIST. i'll tag all the fics as illicitvalentine's so it's easier to keep track of them.

my masterlist / valentine's day masterlist

being single on valentine’s day is really not as bad as you had expected, and in all honesty you didn’t know why you were still holding on to that small sliver of hope that your ex partner would change like he’d promised so many times before.

there’s no tears to cry, since the relationship had been leading nowhere for months now, you allowed yourself to mourn the relationship whilst you were still in it.

eight months later, you found yourself in paris. the historic city is the perfect destination for a heartbroken girl. the city of love is supposed to heal the heartache.

you get up early, change into workout clothes for a morning run and leave the tiny apartment you’ll call home for the next six months. it’s cold outside, the sun is still rising as you make your way out and put on the perfect playlist to start the day. - being dumped the day before valentine’s is the worst thing ever. pierre wondered when life was finally going to give him a break, when he was finally going to get back the positive energy he gave out to the world. his career and personal life had been a mess ever since 2019. he had been given a great opportunity, only to have it snatched away in the blink of an eye. his previous relationships never seemed to work out, either. he poured his heart and soul into his love life, treated girls with respect and adoration, gave them everything they deserved, and in return, they only used him to get a little bit of fame and move on to the next guy.

it was unfair. he didn’t deserve to be used like that. he felt defeated, humiliated. he thought he’d found the right girl but as it turned out, happiness wasn’t in his plans at the moment. his phone kept blowing up with concerned texts calls, he’d been ignoring everyone since yesterday. so he put it in airplane mode, put on a playlist for the day and buried his phone in the pocket of his coat as he rode the elevator down to the lobby of the hotel he was staying at.

his ex had left the night before, left him alone with the champagne, roses and heart shaped chocolates taunting him. yet, he refused to let himself go down a dark path. they say that success and happiness is the best revenge, and he was determined to make that a reality.

not today, though. today, he’d let himself mourn what could’ve been, he’d allow himself a day of being sad, of not being completely okay. an early walk around one of his favorite cities was the right place to start. so he set off without a destination, he just let his feet wander off and take him whenever they felt like.

as he strolled through the city, that even the cold couldn’t keep tourists from exploring, he passed by places he visited with his ex, places he didn’t think he could ever visit again. there was that cute cafe that he took her on their first date, and the museum he showed her for the first time. back then he wondered why she only insisted on taking pictures of him, and he felt better once she claimed that he was prettier than any work of art on display.

the music playing from his earbuds isn’t the usual hip-hop or electro he’s used to, his playlist for the day was one he found online, ‘heartbreak’. asimple, straight to the point title for a playlist that represented how he felt at that moment.

the pont d’léna wasn’t as busy as usual, he climbed the bridge halfway, stopping to look at the calm waters of the seine below him. he leaned his elbows on the stone edge, closing his eyes as he felt the warm sun hitting his face. his thoughts were beginning to quiet down as he stood under the sun.

“oh, god, i’m so sorry, i didn’t look where i was going,” he stumbles to his side as a body collides against him. his head snaps up as he takes off the earbuds, looking at the girl who’s apologizing frantically. “god, and i just realized i’m speaking english and you probably don’t understand me… uh- pardon,”

“don’t worry, i understand,” he gives her a small smile.

“i’m so sorry, i just… the tower is right behind you and… woah, look at it,” pierre notices her eyes wandering off to a spot behind him, to where the eiffel tower sits pretty. “i’m sorry, i should just leave you alone. sorry for running into you,” she said, smiling at him as she continued her walk.

his eyes follow her, he doesn’t realize he’s staring at her until she turns back, smiling and waving at him before heading for the eiffel tower. he looks ahead of him, to the sun reflecting on the seine, and smiles before walking away.

-

stupid, stupid, stupid. you scold yourself as you keep walking. when you left the tiny flat earlier that morning, you had no idea you’d find yourself nearly running over a hot french guy on your way to the eiffel tower. you feel a heat in your stomach as you look back and find him gazing at you with a soft smile.

you stay there for a few minutes, watching the sun rising and relishing in the quiet of the city as more and more people begin their daily activities.

as you sit on the grass of the garden across from the tower, more and more cozy couples begin their days with their loved ones. one certain couple sits too close to you, the girl is carrying a basket whilst the guy is extending the blanket. the giggles and sound of their kissing is enough to prompt you to get up and leave.

you try not to get too bitter about it as you cross the pont d’léna again. you pass by a woman holding a to-go cup of coffee, and your stomach grumbles at the thought of food. so, you stroll through the streets until you find an inviting coffee shop.

the immediate warmth engulfs you, the scent of coffee lingers in the air as you make your way to the counter. you order and pay for your drink and a blueberry muffin, turning around as you scan the busy tables, looking for a free spot.

a familiar head of blonde hair catches your attention, and you narrow your eyes as you stare at him, smiling when you realize it’s the same stranger you ran into. he must feel your eyes on him.

“i promise i’m not stalking you,” you say as you stand in front of him, giving him a small smile. “do you mind if i sit here? all seats are taken,” he looks around, nodding. he goes back to his phone, as he scrolls through the pictures taken just a week ago.

a server brings over your drink and muffin, and you hum as the drink is just the perfect temperature.

“want some?” you ask the guy in front of you, who has a frown on his face. “you okay?” your eyes flicker from his phone to his face, and he looks up at you, you can see the corner of his mouth twitching as he tenses his jaw. “i don’t mean to intrude, it’s just…”

“no, it’s fine, i… my girlfriend broke up with me yesterday,” he says, and in all honesty, pierre doesn’t know why he’s trusting you with this information.

“ouch,” you say with an understanding look on your face. “sorry. that must really suck,”

“yeah,” he clears his throat. you let your eyes wander down, meeting the phone screen.

“she’s very pretty,” you think out loud.

“yeah,” he says, resting his back against the chair and sliding down a bit.

“here, you can have my muffin. happy valentine’s,” you say, you didn’t want to make things worse for him, and he needed something to make his day a little sweeter.

you stood up, grabbing your to-go cup and smiling at him.

“wait, what’s your name?” he asks, watching you get up. you smile at him.

“i’ll tell you when we meet again.”

-

a few hours later, the next stop for pierre’s heartbreak valentine’s day extravaganza, is to get ready for lunch at a restaurant he had reservations at.

it’s right across the street from the louvre pyramid, a place his ex always loved admiring. he sits right next to a window, which allows him to see the glass pyramid, the people passing by. it allows him to see her. you.

you’ve showered, changed into comfortable but nice clothes and set off for a walk around the louvre. it’s as busy as one would expect for a monday. you watch the people marveled by the pyramid, and you can’t help but agree with them. it’s one of your favorite sights.

you grab your phone and open the camera app, holding it in front of your face as you try to capture the sun reflecting from the glass. you snap a few pictures, then hold the phone close to your eyes as you zoom in and inspect the pictures. you’ve managed to capture a bit of the café from across the street as well.

maybe a quick snack before hours of learning might be a good idea.

you cross the street, looking at both sides of the road, and ask for a table. your face falls once the host tells you they’re closed for the day and only allow reservations. you gave him a small smile and turn around, but a voice stops you.

“elle est avec moi,” you lift your head to see the blonde stranger, who points to his table with his head.

“thank you,” you say as you sit down in front of him. “i owe you one,”

“give me your name and we’re even,” he smiles, and he doesn’t know where it comes from.

“(y/n),” you say, grabbing the menu in your hands and hiding behind it. pierre repeats it in his head, a light chuckle dying in his throat.

“i’m pierre,” he says and you nod.

“i know, i read it on your coffee cup earlier today,” you laugh.

you start talking, getting to know each other.

“heartbreak sucks, i remember when my ex and i first broke up i was dreading the holidays, or whatever important date when people expected us two to show up together. but now, i… i really don’t care. it’s valentine’s day and i get to do whatever i want to, i don’t get to spend any money on things he wouldn’t appreciate anyways. i’m in freaking paris by myself and it’s one of the best choices i ever could have made.” you say, downing the rest of your drink, “what i’m trying to say is… it’s going to get better. maybe you should just wait and dedicate time for yourself, don’t go around trying to find a new replacement. let things happen naturally,”

pierre felt his heart speed up as he heard you, his eyes flickered down to your lips as they moved. but he listened to your words, was he doing exactly the opposite of what you had instructed him to do?

“take your time to also get to know yourself for a bit, learn what you want from a partner, what you’re willing to give, that way you can set things straight from the beginning.” you finish, grabbing your fork as you take the last bite of your meal. “shoot, i have to go.” you grab your purse, ready to grab your wallet, but you stop yourself. “hey, i… you don’t have to or anything, but… i have tickets for the louvre, would you like to come with me?”

his eyes widen slightly, your smile is inviting, honest.

“weren’t you the one who just said i should take time getting to know myself?” he lifts an eyebrow and you can’t help but laugh.

“we’re just two strangers alone on valentine’s day. we don’t have to be anything other than that,” you get up, throwing the strap of your bag over your shoulder. “what do you say?” you leave enough to cover your meal.

“we’re not really strangers, though,” he says as he does the same, leaving the tip as well.

“fine then, two lonely hearts alone on valentine’s day,” you say as you leave the cafe.

“we’re not alone,” he retors, making you grunt and roll your eyes.

“two lonely hearts on valentine’s day,” you say, and the tone in your voice, the look in your eyes, the smile on your face tells him you won’t take another change to the description.

“two lonely hearts on valentine’s day,” he nods, content with it.

“let’s see if that description changes after tonight,” you wink at him before crossing the street, leaving him a few steps behind.

his eyes grow wide and bright, but he has to let a car pass by before he can run and catch up wth you.

maybe you were right, maybe if he let things happen naturally, things would turn around for him. for the better.

one look into your bright eyes is all he needs before he gets the final push he needs. he wraps an arm around your shoulder, and once he sees you nod your head, saying it’s okay, he relaxes.

“i have reservations at le chardenoux tonight at 8. what do you say?” he asks.

“pick me up at 7:30,” you smile, and feel him sighing in relief. “now, come on, i want to see some van gogh,” you grab his hand and pull him in.

at that moment, he’d follow you wherever you led him to.

[tittyblade]

tumblr etiquette 101

a list that is nowhere near exhaustive, from yours truly.

First off, welcome! Whether you’re a twitter veteran looking for anything but whatever twitter is, or a new user just done signing up, glad to see you in our ranks beloveds! Welcome home. Refer to this quick tour to make sure your fandom experience (or tumblr experience in general) is a positive one!

Disclaimer: I know it’s long, but please try to read or skim through til the end if you’re new here! This is by no means meant to be a rule book (for the most part lol), only a guide to help you get settled easier!

1) Your blog

This is where people will see and interact with you, so put some effort into it!

Try to choose a name (url) that’s simple. You can see it as your brand, it’s how people will perceive you and remember you. If you’d like to interact with other users here (and not use the site just for the content) it’s better to have something short and sweet, preferably without spaces. (Of course, these are only suggestions.) Rest assured, you can change it literally any time you want.

Have a theme. Utilize the tool that lets you edit your blog’s color or the font of your bio! You can make it match your profile picture, or your blog if it has a theme of its own. Make it feel homey :]

Fill in your bio. People will be checking out your profile probably more often than you think. Don’t leave it empty! Put in any information you’re comfortable with sharing and isn’t too personal (like your age if you’re a minor, or other TMI that can be found on other people’s carrds). It’s always better to add a name/nickname people can use to refer to you by, but feel free to use your blog description to shitpost still.

You can have an intro post. More often than not, you’ll see a blog have a pinned post, a post permanently appearing at the top of a blog until you pin another post or unpin it. You can make one of those, if you’d like to introduce yourself in more length, link any other socials or a carrd, and show others visiting your blog how you tag things so it’ll be easy for them to navigate. Not an obligation.

Keep your anonymity and your safety. It should go without saying, but there’s no harm in repeating it just in case. Your comfort, privacy and safety has the utmost importance. Don’t share any information you don’t want to. Don’t share your age if you’re a minor, or any other incredibly personal info. I’d encourage you to go by a nickname that’s not your real name, (blog name, your brand, remember?) since there’s safety in anonymity, and that’s lowkey one of the big deals of tumblr, but that’s up to you still.

Choose what you want to be visible. Your liked posts and who you follow are all things you can set to keep to yourself and hide from the publics eye, how handy! You should go through all the setting while you’re at it, set it to your comfort.

Side blogs are a thing. You can have multiple blogs that you can use for different things (see: different fandoms, art blog, etc) to keep them organized or away from your followers. Just remember that the replies and off-anon asks you send will be from your main blog, as well as where you follow other blogs from.

2) Interacting with others

You’ve set up your account, now comes the fun part!

Follow to your heart’s desire. If you care about others seeing who you follow, fear not! In tumblr, usually only two types of blogs keep their following visible to others: newbies, and big blogs using it to point people on other good blogs’ direction. Just turn it off, and go ham following people.

Customize your dashboard. Gonna mention just two things here: this is another reason why it’s really important that you follow blogs without sparing, your dash will collect dust otherwise; and you should turn off “best stuff first” in your dashboard settings, to have a better community here and all.

Follow tags. You can set it in your settings that posts with your followed tags appear on your dashboard.

You can check the og post for edits and context. When you see a reblogged post you don’t understand the context of (or don’t recognize the character in case of fanarts), click on the profile so it will take you to the original post. From there you can check the original poster’s tags to get the context, or see if there have been any edits made to the post, since when you edit a post it doesn’t update any past reblogs.

Send people asks... This is how you make mutuals, people! Do it off-anon if you’d like them to know your blog, or anon if you’d rather not! (You can still end your messages with a signature to show you’re the same person, -[name] is one example.) Send them nice messages, ask their opinion on something, discuss things, or just straight up shitpost lol. Go wild. The sky’s your limit and it’s definitely more than 280 characters.

...and let them ask you! You can set your preference in the settings, do it on desktop tumblr to access more settings tho! What you can customize on mobile is limited (like letting people ask you things anonymously, that’s only on desktop settings). In my personal opinion, it’s always better to tag their username (or a nickname you give them, if they’re a friend) on that post, since you wouldn’t want your interactions with your friends to get buried in your blog forever.

Comment on posts. If you have something to say but don’t want the post to appear on your blog you can add a comment. The owner of the post will get a notif for it, but for anyone else you need to tag them.

For the love of god, reblog. People will only see your liked posts if you have it visible to public and they specifically go on your blog to look at them. You like something? You reblog. It’s already hard for posts to circulate properly, if you don’t reblog them literally no one will see them. If not for anything do it for the artists. Just hold and drag on mobile to fast rb.

3) Your Posts

Finally here! Don’t be a lurker, post and engage!

Make use of “read more”. If your post is long, add it. That’s what you clicked on earlier to expand this post. On desktop leave an empty line and you’ll see three dots appear, and on mobile type :readmore: on that empty line.

Draft a post to come back to it later. Pretty self explanatory.

Queue your post. Whether it’s your own post or you’re reblogging, make use of the queue feature to a) not spam reblog and fill up the dashboard of people following you and b) keep your blog active while you’re gone. Mess around in the settings, it’s fairly easy to set up.

Schedule your post. Same as queueing, the only difference is you get to choose the exact time your post will go up. Handy if you want to schedule a post for certain dates like april fools, or 5 years in the future for some reason. 

Format your texts. You can do all kinds of fancy stuff here (that’s a link, try pressing on it). Twitter doesn’t have this, make use of it. Changes depending on whether you’re on mobile or desktop. (Desktop has less features.)

Check your stats. If you’re trying to understand the algorithm better or want to look at some pretty graphs you can get your data on that on desktop tumblr.

@ people in comments. You’ll get all the notifs when people comment on your posts but they won’t see your reply unless you tag them in your message.

4) Tags, and tagging a post

This is where my earlier statement “this isn’t a rule book” stops being applicable. It’s not a war crime to go against these, I won’t come chasing you (don’t take my word for this) but you’ll work up a bad rep. Just saying lol.

Do NOT crosstag posts. It’s really tempting to add unrelated tags to increase your posts’ interaction, I know, but that’s not what tumblr is about. Don’t be a dick and make other communities’ experience worse for them.

Always tag your posts with “crit/critical/discourse/etc” if it calls for it. There’s no exceptions to it. This is the reason you see people migrating to tumblr. Let people enjoy things.

Don’t main tag a critical/negative post. If your crit post is about “Thing”, you add the “Thing critical” tag, but not the “Thing” tag. People block crit tags if they don’t want to see it, don’t shove it in their faces by main tagging it. 

If you don’t want to see something, just block it. Another reason why people are able to survive on tumblr. You don’t start discourse, you don’t make call-outs, you block. You can find something for every community you can think of if you go looking for it. The worst of the worst probably won’t ever appear on your dash, but if you’re worried or feel the need for it, you know where the block button is.

Feel free to shitpost or ramble. More often than not you’ll see people rb a post with a comment, and their elaboration will be in the tags. The tags are only visible on your profile and the notifications of the owner of the og blog. Just a thing people do.

Reblog artists’ posts with nice comments in the tags! Commenting on a drawing is usually done through the tags (Not an obligation, again, just a thing people do. Feel free to add your comment on the rb itself if you’d want other people to see it tho!) and leave nice messages for the artists! It’s a win-win for everyone involved. 

If you have more than a single follower, always use the common tw warning tags. You don’t need to tw everything, but tw’ing some common things is the bare minimum human decency. Keep it safe for others. 

Tag a post “long post” if it’s really long. Pretty self explanatory. Don’t make people scroll through all that please lol. 

You can use them to organize your blog. This is more of a pro tip, if you’d like to not miss a post in your blog, cause they will start pilin’ up soon enough.

#Liveblogging is pretty fun. If you’d like to talk to people during streams, don’t forget to add the relevant tags still! Again, you won’t show up on people’s dash otherwise.

Whew! That got out of hand. Hopefully I didn’t bore you too much. Check out blogs like @heritageposts and @hellsite-hall-of-fame to honor our past o7. @mcytblr-hall-of-fame too maybe :eyes:. Anyways, don’t forget the most important rule of them all:

Enjoy your stay! You’re meant to have fun on here while also making friends (if that’s your thing). Just be kind and respectful of others, you’ll get the hang of the rest! <3

[hypergryph]

Part 2 (Comics)

Research Phase

When creating comics, it’s important to absorb as much material as you can before hand. This will introduce you to a plethora of writing styles, panel-techniques, compositions, and other techniques that others have already figured out. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel! I read up on IDW comics (mainly the newest Sonic, as well as the MLP Comics) which provides a more cartoon-like yet dynamic styles of art. There’s also a plethora of webtoons to read, which in themselves have a more ‘manga/anime’ style when it comes to panels and art styles, but there are many many more kinds of comics to explore. Absorbing this, and seeing how these styles can be played with can give you an edge in comic creation.

Here is a webtoon that I find extremely helpful when learning about intelligent panel design and blending different art-styles. 

BroodHollow by Kris Straub

Writing Phase

On god, just open up word...It’s so much easier to make a comic when you’ve written it down first. I know it’s tempting to just jump into drawing, but it took me years to realize how much time that eats up, and we don’t have that long on this earth. You want a solid idea of your comic(esp. dialogue) before you begin sketching things out. It may take some getting used to, but hey it’s worth it!

Sketching Phase

This is where the fun begins. If you’re using SAI, which is pretty difficult to make panels in, you can simply opt for a single file that is lengthy, resulting in sequential, equally sized images that you can scroll through(like a webtoon). Be sure not to have a bunch of face shots, however, as that can get boring quickly. Focus on playing with angles, and also be sure to always follow the 180 rule! (note: you can make changes during the sketch phase to your script where needed) 

Sketching for Comics

Lineart/color Phase

My comics are always in greyscale, so depending on your art style, you’ll have to reference some tutorials on youtube to get your desired effect. However, I do advise that you ALWAYS keep your panels, line art, and colors on separate layers to avoid any collateral damage. 

Posting to Your Blog!

Be sure to post each comic with a tag that makes them easier to find, and keep them organized. You should also add a link to each comic to your pinned post. The less people have to dig, the more your comics will be seen.

Other Resources

When To Start Making Comics?

Writing and Drawing Comics for Beginners!

Comic Creation Tips!

I’m still learning, but hope these can be helpful!