#I didn't fully rendered stuff but still

[bluepallilworld]

Day 7 of dark cream ship week: Porcelain

final day :D

The porcelain doll lost its mask.

It tumbled down the earth and broke in many pieces, each sharp, each fragile.

Without it, its head's inside was exposed.

Bunch of moving cogs, darkened by grease.

Everybody could see its ugliness and maybe, that was only fair.

Its beauty gone, everybody started to leave him, starting with the ones who sang its charms before.

Its insides were out in the open and people did not enjoy the sight.

It gave up on the remains of its delicate face and leaned into what people finally saw it as.

An abnormality, a truly nightmarish being.

It stopped playing nice and started sneering at others' vulnerabilities.

It cackled and laughed.

It didn't feel as good as it thought it would.

But the world continued and the porcelain doll was forgotten.

It let go.

Why fighting?

It wouldn't give him back its face.

Did it even want it back?

Going back to the times people admired it?

It wasn't fully certain.

So when the only one who never stopped looking at him came bearing an unexpected gift, it didn't know the right answer.

Shattered Dream belongs to @/galacii-gallery Cross!Sans belongs to @/jakei95 Dark cream ship week by @zu-is-here

[phoenixyfriend]

"Why didn't the Jedi help Shmi after TPM?"

Why didn't Padmé.

Ignoring the expanded universe stuff about Qui-Gon sending the expensive lens or Padmé dispatching Sabé years later, so long after that Cliegg had already met, wooed, and saved up to free Shmi himself, why did Padmé not include "paying back the slave woman who helped me save my planet" in her post-invasion plans?

The Jedi have budgets that are regulated, to some unknown degree, by the Senate. Sure, there's probably some discretionary spending, but an Entire Slave would be flagged. Not a purchase you can hide easily! They're also NOT supposed to operate in Hutt Space unless undercover OR as official Republic envoys.

Padmé? Literally a queen. In the same galactic neighborhood. Has inherited wealth. Probably has room in her staff for a mechanic or something. Can easily justify freeing Shmi to her cabinet as payment for services rendered; remember, that Nubian hyperdrive was paid with Anakin's winnings, meaning they came at the cost of Shmi's freedom.

The real answer is that George Lucas needed Shmi to still be on Tatooine in AotC, and never bothered to expand on how Shmi was freed, himself, so other people took up the slack.

But if we ask why the Jedi didn't free Shmi, then I think we also need to ask: why didn't Padmé?

(I love Padmé. I fully believe she would have sent someone to free Shmi after Naboo was in order post-Invasion, and that it was just an oversight or even plot necessity from G Lucas. I just dislike the double standards of hating on the Jedi for not helping when Padmé is right next door and has That Cash Money.)

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Here. Have a DPxDC prompt or something. (#1)

Danny, Tucker, and Sam were walking down the streets of Gotham, chatting as they cut their way through the decrepit alleyways and backstreets to get to their favorite comic shop in the city. Tucker and Danny were deep in a debate over the latest storyline in the Road Rage series and so didn't notice the man walking towards them in the dark alley until Sam nudged them both.

"Guys!" She said it in a pointed whisper to catch their attention, but hopefully not that of the stranger's.

Sure enough, heading towards them was a muscular tower of a man. He was wearing what was clearly an expensive suit, tailor fitted for him, and a golden mask over the left side of his face.

"No way...! I-Is that Two-Face!??" Tucker was shivering, suddenly struck by fear now that he was in the presence of one of Gotham's most famous criminal masterminds. "What does he want from us!?"

"Didn't they say that he had reformed...?" Sam asked, less afraid and more curious.

"Maybe if we keep walking, he won't notice us..." Danny mumbled as he continued to shuffle forwards.

A collective breath escaped the trio as they passed the man, but just as they thought they were in the clear, there was a clatter.

Slowly, the three turned around to see the man holding something in front of him.

"Excuse me, young man, but I think you-" but before he could finish, Tucker was yelling.

"PLEASE DON'T HURT US, MR. TWO-FACE, SIR! WE'LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT."

"...What are you-"

"Tucker, I don't think-" but before Sam could talk some sense into their friend, Danny interrupted.

"Don't worry guys, I'll take care of this!" And with that, Danny went intangible and entered the body of Two-Face to overshadow him.

Danny could feel the man inhabiting the body go unconscious as he took control. "See, guys! It's no big... Deal... I'll just..." Suddenly, Danny got the very real feeling that he was not alone inside of this body. There was something else in here. Other... People... And they were fully aware that Danny was in here with them. Inside of this man's mind, Danny knew that all eyes were on him. They did not want him here. And whatever was holding them back before was no longer there, now asleep at Danny's feet.

"What are you doing in here, child?" A faceless voice asked into Danny's neck, forcing a chill to run down his spine.

A flash and suddenly Danny was confronted by a mass of anger and scars. "Who are you? You're not one of us! Get out. Get out! GET OUT!!!" He was screaming.

Danny was screaming. The body of the man he had just possessed was screaming for him to get out.

Summary/TLDR: Danny, Sam, and Tucker pass Harvey Dent on the street. Harvey is minding his own business when he notices one of the kids drop something/something falls out of one of their bags. Harvey tries giving it back to them, but Tucker starts freaking out. Thinking that it would solve everything, Danny overshadows/possesses Harvey Dent. However, while he rendered Harvey unconscious, the other members of Harvey's system are still very much awake and do NOT want Danny in here!

Note: Plural system stuff going on here! Danny basically made Harvey (who is mostly harmless and was fronting at the time) disassociate into unconsciousness. When Danny leaves the body, Harvey will probably wake back up, but there is no guarantee that he will be able to get back to his senses quick enough to stop Two-Face from taking the reins to attack whatever/whoever made Harvey black out.

(Feel free to use. Credit is appreciated but not fully necessary. Have fun!)

[cowgurrrl]

Don't Let This Darkness Fool You

Summary: Joel's journey to sobriety [1.1k]

Author's note: idk how i feel about this

Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI, ANGST, TW ADDICTION, misuse of drugs and alcohol, mention of Sarah's death and Ellie's time in FEDRA school, chronic pain, symptoms of withdrawal, Joel trying to make peace with his past, happy ending

The first time Joel goes to a meeting, he sits in the back and says nothing. He watches person after person get up and talk at the front of the room like it's the easiest thing in the world. He doesn't move. He can barely breathe in the musty church rec room as he listens to their stories and finds pieces of himself in each. The survivor left to carry on when everyone else died or left; the bereaved parent; the ruthless dealer shaking down clients to make ends meet; the addict.

Joel never felt the need to examine his relationship with substances. He drank and smoked and made bad decisions as a teenager and into young adulthood, which is partly how he became a single parent at twenty-two. After Sarah was born, he didn't have the time or energy to party anymore. Sure, he had a beer or two here, but never anything close to a bender. He always had to wake up for work and make sure Sarah got to school on time. He would just be setting himself up for failure if he drank heavily.

Then Sarah died, and nothing mattered anymore. The FEDRA doctor gave him a bottle of painkillers for the stitches on the side of his head, and he never thought twice about it. At first, it was manageable. A drink here, some pills there. His kid had just died. He was allowed to grieve however he wanted to, or that was his reasoning, at least, when it became harder to get under control. He would go from being fine to the throes of withdrawal and back to the hazy stupor that rendered him incapable of function. It was a cycle. One that Tess and Tommy hated, but he was always sober when they needed him to be, or he tried to be.

That entire year spent with Ellie, he was more scared of what would happen if he did touch the stuff than if he didn't. His objective was no longer how fast he could get his next fix. It was how fast he could get Ellie fed or somewhere safe. When they finally settled in Jackson, he felt like he could relax without the help of a neat whiskey or a handful of menacing white pills. He was good. He kicked his nasty little habit that followed him for decades and cold turkey at that. He was fine. Until the trauma from the previous twelve months finally caught up with him.

His back was permanently fucked up from falling off the horse in Colorado. He got horrible headaches, which were probably the result of one too many hits to the head and neck. His wrist clicked in pain every time he moved it too fast, and he couldn't sleep. The Jackson doctor cautiously prescribed him anti-anxiety medication and painkillers. And goddammit, if those little pills didn't make him feel the tiniest bit better. He could feel the spiral start again but was too scared to voice it or ask for help.

It wasn't until that night when he stumbled home drunk and a little high after a patrol shift and found Ellie doing homework at the dinner table. He slurred an apology, and she eyed him like a dangerous stranger when he sat across from her. They got into a fight. Joel doesn't remember what it was about, but he remembers going to bed feeling stone-cold sober even though the alcohol was still thrumming through his veins. In the morning, Ellie admitted that she hated when he drank because it reminded her of the FEDRA soldiers loudly coming home from QZ bars. Drunk men with authority and weapons are enough to scare anyone, let alone a little girl. Joel promised her it would never happen again, and he fully intended to keep his promise, but he'd be lying if he said it was easy to quit.

His hands shook in pain for the first few days, and he constantly felt sick. He was sweaty and irritable and uncomfortable. It didn't help that the other patrolmen would ask him to join them for a drink after patrols. He almost folded once. He was almost over the threshold of the Tipsy Bison before he doubled back and ended up at Tommy's door, crumpling in on himself from pain and withdrawal. It was Tommy who mentioned something about the drug addict's anonymous support group. "I'll even come with ya." His brother offered as he rubbed his back like Joel was a fussy infant instead of a grown man.

So, that's how Joel found himself white-knuckling his way through a DAA meeting with Tommy at his side. Tommy assured him that everything said in the meeting was privileged and couldn't leave the church doors. Joel was safe to say anything, and he would receive support. Still, he was so scared. He just sat and watched. It would take two more months of tears, sleepless nights, and fighting temptation before he found the strength to walk down to the front of the room.

"Hi, my name's Joel and… I'm, uh," he stumbled. "I'm an addict." He shared the bits of his story he felt comfortable sharing, but his hands wrung nervously the whole time. He was waiting for the room to turn on him or for the world to end (again), but it didn't. He said the worst things about himself and everything was… fine. "I just… wanna do better for my," he breathed deeply. "For my Ellie." He awkwardly thanked the group and moved to sit back down when the group leader, a kind-looking woman named Shawna, stopped him.

"How long have you been sober, Joel?" She asked softly, and he cleared his throat.

"'Bout four months, ma'am." He said, and she quickly turned to grab something out of her bag. Before he could ask what she was looking for, she pressed a dented circle into his hand and smiled.

"Now, it ain't as pretty as the ones back in the day, but you should be just as proud." She said before encouraging the group to applaud Joel. He felt silly receiving the praise, but when he sat back down, he couldn't ignore how much better he felt.

He didn't look at what Shawna gave him until after the meeting. He thought it was a personal thing he should see only when alone. He waited until his boots were off and he was comfortable on the couch before fishing the wonky thing out of his pocket and looking at it. It was obviously made from scrap pieces of metal, and the engraving was all wrong, but the words "4 months sober" still made him beam with pride. Joel stared at it for a few minutes before walking upstairs to Ellie's empty room and scribbling a note on her desk.

When Ellie gets home from studying with Dina and Jesse, she finds the coin on her desk beside a note in Joel's blocky handwriting. It reads, "Every single one is for you. It's all for you."

[ave661]

👉Watermark Glossary👈

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Keegan P. Russ

If I didn't answer your question, there's a good chance you'll find the answer below👇

But please do not ask me for 3d models and do not send me requests.

-Do you have other platforms where you post your stuff? Yes I have! Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter and Patreon

-What software are you using to create them? Now Blender 3.5, but i started making them first in Source Filmmaker

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It's different if you want to use them in a creative form, such as: fanfics, edits, videos, references for drawings - I fully support everything where you give something from yourself! Just give me credits if you don't want to tag me.

But if someone only downloads my renders to post them on their account with 50 hashtags to get as many likes as possible - then no.

-Do you do commissions? Sorry but no. I don't want to treat it as a job, but as a hobby and something that allows me to relax and learn new things. Maybe one day! (i'll do announcement for sure).

-Do you sell your work somewhere? I don't sell my renders anywhere, so if you see them somewhere as posters, t-shirts, stickers etc., please know that they are stolen. I would be grateful for information on this matter so that I could report it.

-What if I want to have one of your prints? I have nothing against custom prints, but only for personal use

-What if I want to support you? I have Ko-fi but also Patreon where I post my renders in 4K version. That's where I publish my works first and nsfw content wink wink

-How long does it take you to make renders? Many hours. I am self-taught, I did not graduate from any special school in this field, so I often devote a lot of time to learning, so please respect that. But to answer your question, it depends on the project - sometimes 4 hours, sometimes a week.

It's still fanart after all so sometimes I make mistakes.

[rustingcat]

Lavender

"I feel like I'm more surprised than I should've been," Alex said as she took another swing from her beer.

"What do you mean?" Kara asked, taking a fistful of popcorn from the bowl.

Kara was at Alex's place for their weekly sister's night. Kelly and Esme were visiting James out of town while Alex had to stay for work. Kara used that opportunity to come out to her sister, telling her about her newly discovered feelings for Lena.

"I mean, well. Kara, you decided to have babies with her." Alex pointed out.

"Yes, but as friends." She explained.

"You moved in together!"

"It would be easier with the kids–"

"Do you hear yourself?"

"I–" saying all of that out loud did sound a bit weird. "Okay, so what does it mean? Did I like her like that before I knew I liked her like that?"

"Yes. Probably." Alex nodded and took another sip.

"How would I not know such a big thing about myself?" It didn't make sense.

"I mean, I didn't come out until a few years ago, it's a very normal thing to happen. Feelings are complicated." Alex said. She seemed a bit nervous, as she had much more to say.

"But it's not like I was against the idea, it wasn't really an issue on Krypton and you know that it was never a problem with you. It just didn't cross my mind!" She had nothing about the idea of being queer, she just didn't think about it much.

"Well you did act a bit weird when I first told you about it." Alex leaned forward, studying Kara's face as if she was looking for a reaction.

"What? No, I didn't! I was just a bit surprised. I just didn't think you'd be gay." She quickly explained, putting the popcorn down back on the table.

Alex took another swing from her beer and studied Kara for a moment. There was something in her eyes that Kara couldn't discern.

"You started dressing differently recently." Alex said, catching Kara off guard.

"What?"

"You're back to slacks and button downs, though you still have some tank tops and better fitting shirts."

"What does that have to do with anything?" She inquired.

"It's just, you seem more comfortable with your clothes."

"Um.. yes?" Kara wasn't sure where she was going with this.

"It wasn't until recently I think that I finally got it."

"Got what, Alex?"

"It was thanks to Esme. We talked about it briefly after I first adopted her. She had a lot of trouble fitting in even after a while. She's been through so much and was forced to hide her powers since she was born. You know, she's a very opinionated kid, yet I started to notice that she was holding herself back, she was so afraid to pick the stuff she wanted sometimes, it was heartbreaking to see. It made me think about you."

Kara swallowed hard. She wanted to say; how so? But found she couldn't bring herself to do it. As if she wasn't sure what Alex was getting to, but also part of her felt it deep in her bones. She was rendered speechless.

"Since you landed on earth, since your whole world fell apart, you were drilled how much you needed to suppress yourself. Instead of exploring yourself and finding new ways to express yourself in different ways, you spent your teenage years forced to swallow down everything that made you unique, everything that made you you. And even after you came out as Supergirl you started to slowly suppress yourself more as Kara, and I still just–" Alex took a moment to breathe, she seemed to have struggled with tears. 

Alex wasn't one to cry. Even when Jeremiayah was pressumed dead she barely saw her cry, she did hear her sobs when she was hiding in a corner of the house and thought no one could see. Kara didn't know how to react back then, but she was closer with her sister now and didn't hesitate to scoot over on the couch and put a hand around her as she continued to talk. A talk Kara was still trying to process herself.

"It's not just the clothes, you started to walk differently, carried yourself more lightly in some sense. I really started to notice the change after you decided to fully come out and made the step to let yourself really be yourself. And–" she closed her eyes trying to blink away a tear. "I'm so sorry about everything I did, or said that ever made you hide yourself."

"Alex you have nothing to apologise for." She put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Yes I do. Kara, I said some terrible things to you. Things that I regret so much and I want you to know how sorry I am. You deserve this apology. "

This chapter ended up being longer than usual so the rest of this chapter is on AO3

[bugtransport]

WARNING! DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS ASK UNTIL YOU ACTUALLY FINISH KUUGA! I AM SENDING THIS PREEMPTIVELY BECAUSE I WANT YOU TO HAVE IT WHEN YOURE DONE.

Image buffer

Ok so I wanna hear your thoughts on the final fight specifically. I really adored how after all this hyping up of Ultimate Kuuga’s destructive power, rather than it being something flashy and explosive, it was… down to earth. Brutal. Just two dudes punching the shit out of each other in a way that was Difficult To Watch.

The final battle of Shin Rider felt like a callback to this, honestly. Just heartwrenching impact after heartwrenching impact. It’s not big or extravagant, but instead it shows that having to fight… sucks.

Sorry, I think about this particular fight A LOT.

YEAH YEAH i completely get what you mean. your buffer worked - i didn't see this at all until i had already finished the show and compared it to that one part in black (you know, The One). i think, as i chew through everything that happened in this show, that there's more i have to say about kuuga on the whole than i've managed to render right now, mostly about how it feels like they did really manage to distill a lot of the core feelings i've gotten from showa rider into something new and interesting and fun that they could do now that it's in vogue and possible to have the episodes a little more interconnected than they were able to get away with (sans a couple areas, like the 4-episode demon world stretch in black rx) previously.

the setup to the fight really worked for me. i think it was the right choice to watch the last 3 episodes on the same night so that we could start with ichijou, just some guy, just some human guy being the one to kill... that rose lady. you know the one. the one who has been around as a boss from the start of the show and who had a couple faceoffs before with him? you know, the one who, with her dying breaths, told ichijou that she realized humans could be equals to them, capable of the same destruction that they were? that she wished she could have faced off with ichijou again? that lady.

they had been setting the grongi and at least godai up as equals for a while there - there's the obvious stuff with the back and forth "i need to get stronger!" moments but the one in specific that stood out to me was when tsubaki was doing autopsies on the bodies that they were able to recover and he was like oh shit... these guys look just like kuuga on the inside?

kamen rider has this feeling running through it, this essence of "that could have been me, but it wouldn't have been me, couldn't have been me, because i love humanity too much, but i can only say that because after experiencing this, i'm still me," which is an odd feeling to put into words, but i think it's one that many people are familiar with. to come out of something on the other side feeling worn down and miserable but victorious and look back and see other people who have been through the same or similar things to you and for whatever reason, came out the other end differently.

hongo escaping being borged before they were able to complete his brainwashing, yuki being the one picked as a scapegoat and therefore realizing that what was going on around him was wrong, shigeru just straight up being confident enough to manage to trick people into borging him, nobuhiko being chosen as the favorite son just because he was the one who stuck around for a while leaving kotaro able to make his own decisions about what is right and wrong. these are all things that each of the riders did have an active say in, but they're also a bit dependent on luck to fully and correctly pull off. and i think godai also kind of picked up on that vibe. he's both reassuring people that everything is going to be okay because he believes in himself and his love for the people around him, and he does, but he still plans for the off chance that things can go wrong by telling ichijou how to kill him should things really go to shit.

that's it think the thing i took away most from this fight. the visuals are great, the whole thing just feels raw and uncomfortable to watch, which it should! this is the reality of everything that's been going on here behind the suits. we should feel glad that kamen rider doesn't have to fight anymore once this is over. kuuga flirts with this level of reality through the show and they completely full on commit to it at the end. but i think everything leading up to it and the context of the fight really helped me to put my finger this feeling that i've been feeling through the entirety of the show.

so. there you go. those are my stream of consciousness thoughts the morning after finishing kuuga... so much more to think about later!!

[that-blue-vault-dweller]

You know seeing the reactions to my last ask reminded me of another legendary encounter I had that made me feel like a badass. I had just finished exploring a ruin in the glowing sea and walked outside only to see a legendary matriarch death claw come out of nowhere and slap me hard. Scared the hell out of me and almost killed me but fortunately I had a piece of legendary armor that slowed down time when I took too much damage and the weapon I had equipped at the moment was the knife you get from that mine with the cult vision in it. My reaction was to swing at one arm which ended up breaking it, swing at the other twice and it broke while dodging attacks, swung at one leg broke it, jumped over the tail and ham strung the second leg, which caused it to finally mutate but didn't heal the broken limbs.

As a result by the time the slowdown wore off I had a legendary deathclaw matriarch lying on the ground unable to do anything but growl and snap at me and occasionally whimper which I didn't even know they could do. It was one of my most badass moments in over 400 hours of gameplay. And for some reason my companion (cannot remember which one I had) took almost 2 minutes to come out of the ruin that I had been in before the fight started. No idea why or what took them so long. Still I would love to see how you would write them reacting to coming out of the building and seeing that sight and the explanation for what happened. I'm certain it'll be very entertaining

Dang, you've had some serious encounters on this game 😂 Sounds freaking awesome, though 💙💛 I need to get on the game and fight some more stuff soon 😂

But here's your reaction! Thank you so much for the request! 😊 For the sake of explaining the companions' absence, we're going to say that they got lost down in the ruins.

Cait - Comes out and is honestly quite freaked out despite her attempts to remain composed. However, she's not doing a very good job of looking composed... Once she figures out what happened, that F!Sole is okay, and she more fully soaks in the creature lying there, she is rather impressed but is quickly irritated at her friend for putting herself in harm's way like that instead of getting down into the ruins and waiting for Cait to come and help.

Piper - Is almost rendered speechless. She had heard the thing from inside the ruins and she had been desperately panicking and trying to find her way out because she was terrified Blue was going to be hurt. When she finally escaped to find the Deathclaw completely crippled and nearly dead at her Blue's feet with Blue not too hurt, she could hardly believe her eyes. When Blue shoots it and finishes it off, she finally finds her ability to speak and inquires about the story, asking for every detail she can as she prepares to make a whole article about how the heroic vault-dweller accomplished this incredible feat.

Curie - Somehow had missed the whole thing so when she comes out of the ruins, she is utterly baffled at the creature's presence in the first place. She had somehow not heard it, but she was now utterly shocked at how her protector had taken the creature on. Once she understands that F!Sole is not gravely injured, she then requests that the creature be put down so that it does not have to suffer any longer with its current condition.

MacCready - Comes out of the ruins with his gun at the ready, looking through the scope, scared to death he's going to see an angry Deathclaw coming at him. To his surprise, however, he quickly realizes what happened, and as F!Sole is explaining it to him, blasting a bullet through the creature's head, he honestly has no idea what to think. He's just standing there in utter shock, unable to say anything for a little while.

Deacon - Is standing with his mouth hanging open. Out of all of the things that he has seen in this job, this definitely tops the list for most insane. He almost thinks she is lying for a few minutes as she tells the story, her somehow managing to beat even his own frivolous tales, but the results speak for themselves. He can't believe his eyes, and when she finally puts it down, he has decided that she has to tell Glory this one because she'll never believe it coming from him.

Codsworth - Is shocked, but is more concerned with Mum's safety than anything. He is not overly fazed by things like this when they're not a threat any longer, and he is more worried about whether she is critically injured. When he finds out that she is not and he tells her the story, he compliments her formidability and then asks that they take care of the poor beast so that it can die peacefully and without much more pain.

Hancock - Just lets out a loud curse as soon as he sees it, staring for a few moments as he listens to the story that F!Sole tells him about how she pulled this off. He is shocked at the fact she made it through that, but he honestly admires her even more now. He does urge her to go ahead and kill it off, though, since it is the humane thing to do.

Danse - Is rather panicked, but does a good job of hiding it except for the Surprised Eyebrows™. After getting the story, he commends F!Sole on a job well done but tells her that she should have waited on his backup before taking on something like this. He also tells her to go ahead and finish it off because while it is a monstrosity, it deserves to die quickly. He is mostly just trying to disguise the fact that he almost crapped his power armor.

Preston - Comes out of the ruins yelling for his general, terrified that he had lost yet another one with the sounds of the Deathclaw that he had heard from where he had been lost. As soon as she tells the story and shoots the Deathclaw, finishing it off, he is just reeling but definitely has the biggest heart-eyes ever. That's the best general and the most heroic person he has ever seen.

Valentine - Is rather surprised, but does not handle it with as much shock as the rest. All he's really worried about is F!Sole and as she excitedly tells him her story of how she pulled this off, he realizes she's fine. As soon as he does, he tells her to finish the creature off, and once she does, he takes a little more time to actually respond to the entire thing.

X6-88 - Actually is worried about F!Sole despite his outward appearance. However, as soon as he sees the thing on the ground and hears her story behind how it happened, he offers one of his very few and far-between, almost nonexistent smiles. He expresses that he greatly admires her abilities in combat, the smile still hanging on despite the fact that he ordinarily shows hardly any emotion at all.

Dogmeat - Is extremely concerned about his owner and when he gets out of the ruins, he is happy to see that she is okay. The big, mean lizard is still alive, though, so he growls and snaps at it until she hits it with her fire stick. She offers him an affectionate scratch behind the ears and he feels much better.

Strong - Is actually angry that she did not wait for him to find his way out of the ruins before almost killing the creature. He finishes it off for her and after a few moments of fussing about her being a tiny human and expressing his strange sense of worry in his own manner, he begrudgingly says that tiny human is very strong even if she isn't a Super Mutant.

[cookii-moon]

This is my excuse to gush over Dragon form because yes.

Basically headcanon and redesign galore yayy

More under the cutoff since this is LONG. You have been warned.

The first part is an introduction, and then the second is actually talking about my designs and ideas and stuff, plus some thoughts/snippets/headcanons... help me.

SO apparently I am far more stupid than I thought, and the reason I say that is because for WHATEVER REASON, it took me ONE. YEAR. For the thought "Hey Cookie the ninja became dragons that one time" to even properly cross my mind, let alone set in. Which is surprising, because I historically freak out over dragons. You'd think that my favorite blorbos having dragon forms would make me instantly go crazy, but no, it took an entire year for my brain to even realize it was... you know... dragon related... even.though I knew they were dragon related... I just didn't... does that make sense? Probably not.

ANYWAYS

As it stands the dragon forms are forgettable because they're literally just reskins but with different element colors (which makes sense, cause yknow... Lego molds...) and then they vanish which obviously yeah. Who knows maybe they'll come back in dragons rising now that the ninja have their powers again.

BUT THAT DOESN'T STOP ME FROM GUSHING OVER THEM ONE YEAR AFTER THEY WERE RELEVANT.

Hyperfixation transcends the measly concept of time (actually that's probably not true I wouldn't know since I don't think about the very fabric of reality that often) so good luck stopping me.

ANYWAY, so uh... I might or might not have on a whim made messy concept sketches for each dragon form, made up a ton of headcanons, and chosen color scheme... no... no I didn't do that.

Okay yeah I did that.

...I was supposed to do two at a time.

How did I get here. The power of autistic brain.

Time to actually talk about the designs!!

Uhhh I'm gonna go in true potential order... because yes.

First... Zaneee!!!

Without color in case it's confusing

Also you're gonna notice a trend with this being that the drawings are not high quality or rendered or anything and are sloppily colored and that's because they're just concepts. I only did the actual "big" draconic traits because I wanted to get it finished quickly so i had an excuse to talk about it. If I ever do use them for an actual art piece then I'll fully render them n stuff obviously this is just to get across the concept.

So since Zane is a robot it.. would be kinda hard for him to suddenly get like.. organic dragon wings... or whatever...

So instead- he gets cybernetic dragon wings and a tail. Yes i know that still requires cartoon logic. The power of creation just magicked them into existence OK? It makes more sense than randomly growing scales.

The mechanic parts are mostly held together/afloat by the ice energy flowing through them (which is what the crystal-like fragments that make up most of his wings are!)

Also his horns are like a little crown... because... I dunno I thought it'd fit with his haircut and such but also ice Emperor (even though he didn't really wear a crown) look this was drawn at like 2 am I don't know what I was thinking with it or why I didn't actually draw the haircuts as well..

I imagine that he'd be very cold to the touch, especially his wings (which are pretty much sheets of ice) both Jay and Kai have ways of circumventing it, but when Cole has to deal with it (like sitting next to him or such) he gets sluggish pretty quickly. Zane is still trying to figure out a way to ease it a bit.

He also tends to make clanging noise by tapping his tail against the ground when he's upset, or make mechanical whirring noises when irritated. Nobody quite knows why since yknow robot, it's just a quirk.

His ice energy does mean he's gotten a power boost. Just like literally everyone else.

Also this is going to involve me assuming they kept these features because if Lloyd can be part dragon then so can the ninja I dare you to fight me /lighthearted

Jay!! He bird. Feather scrunchie.

"But Cookie that's not a dragon-"

Shhhh If a dinosaur can have feathers so can a dragon they're both giant reptiles OK. Feather dragon. It's a thing.

I'm going to be honest the only thing going through my mind while drawing this was vague wing shapes I can't even put a name to (they were probably from monster hunter... I think... Uh... ) and silkie chickens. Not quite sure why I thought of silkie chickens, but I did. So here we are.

So anyways I love him. HIM!! FEATHER MAN!!!

Also I just realized while writing this he can finally be fugi dove's proper equal and arch nemesis. Amazing.

So while drawing I was like "it'd be neat if he could produce static n such with his wings/feathers" so I took off to the internet and after trying a ton of different "CAN BIRDS MAKE STATIC" "ARE BIRD FEATHERS STATIC" and such search queries I finally came up with that ostrich feathers can have static and chicken feathers were used in computer components and hummingbirds can produce static from how fast they flap their wings. Is that trustworthy whatsoever? Probably not. (Surprisingly the most trustworthy one seems to be that chicken feathers were used for computer components which is funny) But rule of cool. I get to break the laws of physics and reality for my story as long as it's cool. Yay.

He's very fluffy and enjoys using his wings to snuggle up in bed :) Cole also tries to steal him as a blanket during winter. Nya and Lloyd can't because of the static but Cole can't be shocked so Jay just has to begrudgingly accept it with his hollow bones and consequentially low weight. He's also known to let sparks off when he's excited/happy, which is f u n.

Also I used the blue/yellow color palette because they seem to be leaning towards using more yellow in Jay's color themes (like how they started using orange in Cole's or blue in Zane's) and I thought it worked really well here so yeah!! It also helps differentiate him even more.

He sheds like crazy. Especially during winter where he gets EVEN FLUFFIER. (no one knows how it's even possible) Feathers everywhere. Cole and Kai also shed, but they shed skin all in one go (usually..), whereas Jay just leaves a pillows worth of feathers everywhere he inhabits, and it drives them insane.

The type of dragon he is is mostly a flight based species. They hunt in the air, live in the air for most of their lives, and such. Because of that not only does he rarely sit down, but he is FILLED with excess energy. He's also the most natural and second fastest flier, and fastest consistent flier.

Because the type of dragon he takes after is so focused on flight, they also roost up in really high places, so you'll probably find him on the top bunk, up in rafters, on the Monastery roof, etc. He loves that they're on a mountain because it means he can take a flight whenever he wants to. That doesn't stop him from being horrible at evading actual birds, though.

He also regularly makes "chirp" and clicking noises. (By chirp I mean the type a cat will do while looking at a window or such. Look up cats chirping or smthn for an example if u haven't heard it before.)

Could I have just made him a dragon with lightning bolt patterns?

Yes but that would be very boring and uncreative (in my opinion and standards I hold myself to ofc-) SO.

Jay is chicken. Jay uses wings to shoot lightning. Thank you for your time.

Cole. He crystal dragon. He's probably also gonna be a pain to draw (but also very fun) because of that. Yay.

I could of just done magma but I loved the idea of like a crystal dragon. So I made a ninjago related crystal dragon...

... again. Don't ask about the first one.

so uh I chose the colors bc like light blues/purples/white are pretty stereotypical crystal colors (plus I think they're pretty) and then orange... because. Cole. He has little crystal patches all over him and his scales also have like.. small crystals dotted all over.

I feel like whatever species of dragon he is is probably adapted to like.. mostly living in caves? Like cave bats kinda where it goes outside at night to hunt but sleeps and lives in caves, and probably goes deeper in the cave to hibernate. So because of that he can be sensitive to artificial light and doesn't really have any like adaptations for the winter, so he just tries to snuggle up with Jay or Kai to keep warm and gets really tired/sluggish when he's cold because reptile. On the other end he can sense vibrations since his species wouldn't be relying on sight as much, which is very handy.

Unlike Zane, Jay, or Kai, he can't really "fly" exactly. His wings are much smaller because the species kinda adapted to being able to use them as a sort of speed boost thing where they'd use them to get quick bursts of flight to catch prey, but since they mostly hunted on the ground and lived in caves they didn't need full on flight. However it's sorta a peregrine falcon situation where technically he is the fastest of all the ninja in flight, but only during a short burst.

He is also very well adapted to climbing vertical surfaces. His claws are REALLY good at gripping onto things since they were adapted to cling onto things such as stalactites, rock walls, etc. to traverse up ledges and deeper parts of caves, and he can also use his wings (and more specifically their claws) as a third pair of limbs to grip onto walls.

Cole tends to make more subtle noises, he growls when agitated and purrs when content or in pain (yes that's a thing, purring soothes and encourages healing, so cats will also purr when they're hurt or scared to comfort themselves) but it isn't very loud, so it's not easily noticeable.

Kai!!

Again

Could I have done magma for Cole and just given Kai flame wings?

Yes. But I'm not going to, because I find this approach more interesting.

... I joke that it's magma but not REALLy, it's still just.. fire... but his scales are brown cause I thought it fit. So. A lot of people like to draw Lloyd with the kinda dragon ears so I thought it'd be cute if Kai, as his guardian, also had them since, again, a lot of people like to see them as brothers. And I just gave him generic dragon horns. Because dragon.

It's hard to simplify it because... fire... so this is probably the worst sketch..

Look OK he gets to breathe fire. Like that's one of the most iconic medieval red dragon things, he's the fire ninja, he gets to breathe fire and blow smoke out of his nostrils when mad I don't make the rules.

I also kinda went all in on generic dragon tropes (i mean ig they're not as generic anymore because of stuff like HTTYD) because... Kai.

So like hot temper, fire breath, that type of thing.

He also has a hoarding habit, as in instead of cleaning or anything when he uses something and just tosses it aside, he puts it all in an ever growing pile of stuff that he just let's stay there until somebody else cleans it up because they were sick of it. Compared to Jay's feathers it's not the WORST thing in the world.

He's slower than Zane and Jay, but can fly for longer periods of time than Zane. His species is kind of adapted to flying closer to the land. So that they can eat some well cooked cow. Yknow generic dragon stuff.

I also think it'd be funny, since dragons are fiercely protective, if these dragons had a dragapult situation where if they didn't have a kid they'd just "adopt" (in their eyes, in reality it's abducting. Usually.) a random animal and pretend it's their child. Because. Kai.

He's also fireproof, to an extent. He can withstand intense heat (unlike Cole or Jay) and can withstand intense cold (Unlike Cole... poor guy) because fire. He can't dive bomb into a volcano though since it would eventually get through and burn him to a crisp, but in small amounts he'll be FINEEEE...

Im not quite sure if he'd make any sort of draconic noises or anything. I feel like maybe he'd growl when upset, but it'd be louder than Cole? Whereas Cole does it more frequently (probably to be passive aggressive) but it's much more silent. He also has a tendency to involuntarily raise his voice a lot.

Yeah that's about it. Also if you consider lloyd to be a dragon, or think of Nya as having dragon features from when she just became h2o that one time, then the entire group might as well be renamed to Dragon ninja. Even Wu!!

..I feel like Lloyd would be jealous- Like "Oh why do THEY get to go full dragon and have wings when I don’t?!" But he'd never say anything because Lloyd.. but everybody knows something is up and is trying to make him feel better... but it's making him feel worse because it just makes him feel more singled out... oh boy that's uh I'm gonna shut that depressing thought train down right there.

Poor pixal though... she's left out because she's too cool already.

ALSO if you ever use this or want to expand upon it/take inspiration from it PLEASE DO AND TELL/SEND IT TO ME I WANT TO SEE AND HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS PLEASE DHRJGJDJDJ I LOVE WHEN MY STUFF PROMPTS IDEAS

[mooreaux]

I know it was months but, but the "Weirdly Specific Artist Ask Game", if you're still interested in answering; 1) Art programs you have but don't use 2) Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even) 5) Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself and 8) What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

O hello there! I still love this game so I will defo still answer 👀

1. Photoshop and Clip Studio.

I tried. I bought a whole new desktop PC to learn those damn programs *weeps* I still haven't given up hope. But in comparison to how light weight and intuitive procreate on the iPad is, those programs really quickly overwhelm and confuse my poor brain.

2. Depends on the day honestly. If I get to use the symmetry tool then forward no contest. But I would say facing left if I had to choose.

5. I actually post a fair amount of my stuff. I used to have a real issue finishing work or sketching w out fully rendering so I would put stuff out either slow or messier than I would have liked to share. But these days I'm actually having a lot of fun with lines and flats and it's made drawing quicker and easier if I'm just trying to get an idea down (huevember). I'm always hungry for that sweet sweet validation haha.

It's actually deciding what to draw that factors a little more for this question. I have a bad habit where I get self conscious of the subject matter I draw not appealing to my audience. If I think I can't post it and have it do well I tend not to be able to get inspired to draw it. Which is a real shame! And something I would like to work on changing!

8. Oh God how could I even narrow it down. I have the attention span of a goldfish. Looks at my fandom graveyard guiltily.

I thought of doing tarot cards for my OCS once. Like, the whole deck cuz I have so many. Yeah. No. That didn't happen.

Thank you so much for these questions! I always love hearing from y'all 😊💕

[captainmera]

Mera, i honestly dont know you put up and manage so many people asking you for stuff-

like today, ive only ever gotten one request (that i realised was a full on commission once i accepted) which i then spent atleast 3 HOURS on. not even to get paid T-T

so i just gotta say on behalf of the Mera crew, thank you so much for putting up with us and our shit.

Thanks I appreciate inte that. 🙇💗

I hope they weren't rude, that you still had fun, and that you learned something from it on how you want to proceed going forward with people requesting things from you.

I dont think people who approach me are shit or anything, it can be a little rude or disrespectful at times, but I boil that down to a few people. It's not the majority. Most people are nice and behave like they would if this had been in person.

I like drawing things, and it helps me fill my day with something.

Sure, It can be a little hurtful when people take advantage of that by just throwing a request/ptompt at me like they're putting paper into a copy machine, without consideration or empathy for me and my time.

Some people come in with the energy of "since you have the time you should do things for me, you're nobody without my attention, and if you don't appease me I'll be upset and think you're a selfish bum." Which is, yknow, unpleasant to put it mildly.

Like, sure, I've put myself here. I post things online, and I like when people are interested in my work - who wouldn't be? I do think it's fun to take prompts. It gives me cause to be social and creative at the same time. But just because I'm willing and open for something doesn't mean it gives people an allowance to be entitled to demand things. They speak as though they have paid me enough with their approach alone.

Yes, I spend between 10min-5hours on pieces depending on if they're doodles, fully rendered pieces, or comics.

I think it is especially a bit entitled to go "I NEED PART TWO GIMME!!!!!!" Right after something like a comic, as though I didn't just finish something that took a while to make. It's not very empathetic.

But I don't take it to heart. People show who they are in their actions. I'm within my right to ignore, block, or politely decline. It doesn't serve me to sulk or get sad over people getting mad, calling me names, or get too pushy about what I should or shouldn't draw.

I understand its excitement, but please behave, yknow? You're not a toddler at the toy isle who hasn't developed a temperament resistance yet. Some people, I think, have an issue with instant gratification.

Have some respect in how you treat and speak with people online. The way you treat others reflects who you are.

If you wouldn't yell at someone irl to make you something, don't do it here either. I promise it doesn't reflect well on you, and I don't care that this is online and we are time zones apart; I will judge you. As will others.

You don't treat people like that.

And I won't let anyone treat me like that either. I've had enough of that in my life, and I'm tired of people calling me gullible and dumb for being polite and kind or giving people a benefit of doubt.

What I have is self-respect. It has taken me a lifetime to build it up, and I still wobble a little on whatever or not I can defend myself sometimes when people are mean. But nowadays, I can more confidently say, "You don't get to treat me like that. It hurts, and it is mean."

If you are the sort to take advantage of someone who is willing to do things for the fun of it, and who don't mind the effort it takes sometimes: then you are most unwelcome here and I host no guilt in removing you however I see fit.

But, like I said, the majority of people who approach me are friendly and level-headed, even when they're awkward or excited.

There is a difference between; "I need X so give me X!! Raarghargh Im going to die!!!" And "aaaa! I really enjoyed Z, if you have the time, I'd love to see more of Z!"

You know? <:T

Just food for thought I suppose.

I hope, though, that you keep doing right by yourself and don't let others discourage you.

[deepenthiran]

My Reasons to switch to or stay on Linux desktop instead of Windows

Before switching to Linux (When using windows 10 pro N)

Boring windows with no customisation: When I was using windows, I saw my friend using Linux (debian). I felt that 'Linux is looking cool'. Also I liked how he customise his Linux desktop. Also, I like to see some hacking stuffs and doing stuffs with command line. Comparing to that my windows 10 looked flat and boring.

Windows/its famous application is not free: When I was using windows, i was unable to switch to linux because I don't wanted to lose microsoft office. But after an accidental full 'reset my pc', I lost the access to microsoft office. I don't want to pay to get ms office. Don't like browser like Edge and other bloats.

Unnecessary stuffs of Windows: I don't like the windows auto update without my permission (I also don't want to pause every updates). I don't like the 'blue screen error'

Low performance over time in not so great spec PC and high RAM usage: My windows 10 performance was very very poor after 2 years. It only got better after 'reset my pc' but again started messing after months and adding some extra softwars over time. Also, I don't know why it is taking so much Ram (I initially used 4 GB ram and then added another 4GB ram). after it becomes 8 gb ram, the performance was better. but again got slower over time, crashes, hanging etc.,

Fear of Security vulnerability and the abstraction of windows: I always cautious about downloading unnecessary things. but still sometimes things gonna happen in the initial days. Always doubted the presence of malware in windows. After reset pc, it was working fine. but still not satisfied with windows for its security (As it always feels like fully abstracted os).

Complexity of windows in extra things: As long as using normal stuffs it is simple. But when going into control panel, changing environment variables, and several other things, etc,. I didn't have any idea of what I was doing.

The above reasons make me to try Linux. So, I started to try ubuntu 20.04.

Initial Impression of Linux and Easy to use: The Live usb feature of linux impressed me a lot. Easy installation of linux. The gnome DE was looking very good and also simple. Also the GUI settings are simple and easy to understand in ubuntu. As expected, I can do several customization and reading ubuntu's beginner command line tutorials etc., Surprisingly I didn't feel any complication at all. Infact everything felt simpler than windows. Also I felt that the utility apps or system apps of Linux is much better than windows in every aspect. Every Linux distros default pdf viewer >>> bloaty adobe acrobat pdf reader. Default text editor of linux >>> milky white notepad. etc.,

Linux is free and also its ecosystem application: Because Linux is free and open-source, it created an ecosystem for all the free and open-source apps. I automatically find all the fantastic free and powerful featured apps like Libreoffice, gimp, krita, inkscape, blender, kdenlive video editor, obs and several others (Some I already started to know when using windows at the later stage but the feel is different when using it in Linux). And there are no forceful apps like edge. I don't have to go for any pirated things when I already have a fully featured great open-source ecosystem for anything. I can also use apps vlc in linux (that is enough for all the media content for me).

Everything going fine: It just ping me that there are updates with all the package names and its details. It won't force me. I can start update only when I wish. Also the downloading and installation of updates are very quicker. This is such a relief when thinking about windows. Also there are no blue screen errors! I even started to have an idea of how it works inside (like one step deeper).

Very good performance in not so great spec and low RAM usage: The performance is very stable and good even after several months. The rendering in blender is like 20% to 25% faster compared to windows. Every app is performing good and stable in linux. felt like 8GB RAM is very sufficient for all my stuffs!

Security awareness: After I started using linux, I automatically started noticing what I am doing with my computer. started to know about why using this command to install or anything. Whenever installing anything or doing anything weird, I automatically started doing research about that. Came to know about firewall. Also came to realise that our system is not as secure as we think and we have to very careful about it.

Exploring Linux and it simplicity: The existing GUI part of linux is very simple and easy to use. But After using linux for some time, I felt comfortable with commands than GUI. It felt faster and also knowing what exactly is happening under the hood. It is less abstracted! and came to know about several things like IRC.

After using Linux for some time (an year), The things I felt:

I 100% missed games (especially cracked version of games like far cry 3, call of duty: modern warfare older version, nfs hotpursuit 2010 are no more playable in linux). I have to pay in steam to play those which i don't like. But still some free supported games are good in Linux. But I don't like much (as I am not a big gamer). The microsoft store has lot more good free games than Linux supported free games.

microsoft office: Currently I am familiar with Libre office, so no more missing MS office. But the problem is everyone uses ms office. and when I open some docs in Libreoffice which was created by ms office, then it started messing some things slightly.

Missing font: I missed the fonts of windows 10. Eventhough we can install preprietary microsoft fonts in Linux. it still misses some important fonts. Also the ubuntu's default font felt not so good after months. When I look into windows font, it looks great. (Initially I was liking ubuntu desktop font than the windows due to new changes, but when the time goes the windows desktop font is better)

browsers like firefox and chrome is taking some time for the first time launch after the reboot.

So, I switched back to windows by reinstalling (using dual boot with linux):

Some positives: After swictching to windows the only thing felt good is seeing it in my PC again after a long time with fresh installation. It looked polished. The icons looks premium. Edge, google chrome launches very fast in the first time launch at the cost of eating so much RAM. The default fonts of windows looks so premium compared to ubuntu 20.04

Negatives again and no need for windows: All the negatives I listed Initially comes back again with very much awareness since i got familiar with linux. Now I can clearly see the difference of how mess it is! especially interms of RAM usage, simplicity! Felt that there is no reason to continue windows when everything worked perfectly and fluently in Linux. The positives of Linux is very much than the positives of windows.

Not so good development in Windows: The working with gcc, git and other software development things are very much easier to setup in Linux than the windows. Felt like app installation is much easier, faster and simpler in Linux than the windows.

Started to completely switch to linux but also need to overcome negatives of ubuntu 20.04. Which leads to Distro hopping.

I switched to Linux mint: Almost all the negatives of ubuntu is gone. The utilities, default system apps, simplicity, Faster and efficiency of everything is even so great in Linux mint than ubuntu 20.04. The fonts are very good like windows. But the only problem is after some months, the cinnamon DE looks bored and little bit old fashioned. Every other thing is great.

I switched back to ubuntu but ubuntu 22.04. This version is very good than ubuntu 20.04 and I was satisfied with new gnome DE. but still I want change because of somethings. I want to try debian (as that was the one I saw my cool friend was using back then in college).

I switched to debian: Everything went smooth. now my distro is not handled by any company like canonical. I learned a lot while using debian. I was so proud of debian and myself. But after 2 months, I felt that I don't like gnome 3 (why not gnome 4 like ubuntu 22.04). It felt outdated. Also as usual it uses only very stable applications in the repository which is also outdated. Now the disadvantages of ubuntu 20.04 and linux mint is happening in debian.

I tried to swich to several lite distro for like 2 to 3 days: But don't like the DE (desktop environment) because too old fashioned. I couldn't find anything that fully satisfy me. So I agian tried to switch between linux mint, ubuntu 22.04. Until I find the KDE Plasma.

The last distro I switched is Kubuntu 22.04. It felt like having a good water after a long thrist. It satisfied all my requirement and even have its own eco-system of KDE apps which is fantastic. The default font is very good, the performance of apps are very good. The default DE font is very good. The system apps and utilities are very good. The customisation is fantastic at its peak. The features are fantastic! The default apps like text editor, pdf readers, File manager, settings, music player (Elisa) etc,. are the best of all. The options I have here are excellent. It is almost an year with kubuntu. No distro hopping anymore for me. Fully satisfied with Kubuntu (mainly because of KDE plasma DE). I am not a 100% command line user.

This gives an end card to windows. I don't even have it in my PC. I have windows 11 in my company working PC and that is for work only and I don't like windown 11 there. Only games is the positivity in windows.

[pqrachel]

So like my last mARTch studies I picked an artist who has a style similar to what I'm aiming for. This time I'm studying @rxsiki! My main issue has been not rendering my pieces and even though I kind of know how to do it, I need to learn how to have fun doing it so I've been looking for artists whose style seems fun so maybe I can incorporate some stuff.

(Pictures on the left are from them, pictures on the right are my own.)

I started with a little warmup with these stuffed animals. This let me see that their style is a lot more loose than I originally thought and it was fun to copy that. Really makes me think I've being a little too perfectionist with my art cuz if their art can look this good and still have little mistakes, then maybe I should embrace my own mistakes a bit more. (Mistakes prob isn't even the right word but just little imperfections that are purposefully kept.)

I also made a new brush to use that's a little more variable compared to my own, so while my last mARTch study I used a brush with no line weight differences and used color to change their apparent weight, here the line weight is actually changing a lot and the line colors are more stylistic when used. It's really noticeable on a bigger piece but not so much on the stuffed animals.

I saw this pose on their art a few times so I wanted to use it cause I thought it'd be a good representation of their art. I made the character more my own instead of fully copying and then because I wanted to color pick to see what their colors were doing it ended up being a little weird to have a purpley-grey colored human.

The shading was less subtle up close than I thought and I didn't do a good job emulating their style with this one. I did more of my usual dark tone and blending one side of the shadow into the flats, but they have an in-between color and instead of blending like it looks from a distance, up close it's distinct and done well. So with this next piece, I'm gonna focus on that specifically and try what I've learned on my own character.

(And obviously no artist always has a consistent style, the intermediate color in their shading isn't present in all of their work but I still think it's cool and want to try it for myself.)

I do really like the concept of using a shading line for blending instead of actually blending the colors, even though I'm not entirely proud of this piece I am gonna use that going forward at least for a while. But I do feel like I learned some stuff and that's the main point.

[waitmyturtles]

I've been trying to hold on as much as possible during today's busy work schedule and managing this HELLA cold I have, but I can't help but YELP a few words about the Cherry Magic Thailand trailer that released earlier today!

(If you're a longtime reader of this space, you will know that, besides being a Bad Buddy girlie, I am VERY MUCH A CHERRY MAGIC GIRLIE, here, go read some stuff I wrote!)

As opposed to my wibbles about GMMTV's Kieta Hatsukoi/My Love Mix-Up adaptation -- I am onboard with TayNew as KaranAchi/KurosawaAdachi. I think, I think?! -- that they can level up to the camp that Machida Keita and Akaso Eiji delivered in the Japanese version.

Will it be fair to compare?! This is going to become an ongoing question as GMMTV adapts more material from Japan. For myself: I don't think I can help but to compare these properties to their original Japanese versions. I admit that I have nostalgia, and I'll do my best to be critically objective to the show itself -- while remaining aware of where the material comes from. (I didn't watch Enchanté, but I know of its reputation, and I will admit that I have some jibbles about Film Pawis being an AD on CMT.)

But all that being said: I still have not seen GeminiFourth in My School President yet. And I have spent a LOT of time with TayNew as I watched Dark Blue Kiss, and their preceding Kiss/Kiss Me Again/Our Skyy x Kiss work for my Old GMMTV Challenge project. I saw how they improved drastically with a different kind of script in DBK, and I think, and have hope, that they can rise to the challenge of adapting a beloved work in Cherry Magic. And: New did show off comedic chops in The Warp Effect.

I loved their yelpy inner monologues in the trailer. And I happen to really appreciate that the show actually has a couple of Japanese elements! I did a head-turn when I heard "san juu" at the start of the trailer, HA, and I love that the guys are shown in a sento:

So I feel like there's something interesting going on here, more than just a straight-from-the-page adaptation. If there's some cultural experimentation and mixing between Thailand and Japan? I'll be all over it.

AND: Yu Toyota, the mangaka behind the original Cherry Magic manga, is fully onboard with the adaptation.

(It's so cute how TayNew rendered in photography what Yu Toyota drew to make the original announcement of the show last year 😭)

ANYWAY! Again, I'm just yelping in the cuteness. I hope the show's good! I PRAY THE SHOW WILL BE GOOD. My nostalgia for the original Cherry Magic, which I watched right around this time last year as I was beginning my journey into more Asian BLs, will live on with me for a long time. I like that GMMTV put its vets into this experiment. For their sake, and for the girlies, I hope it works. (And I'm not watching Cooking Crush, to allow me room to fit this into a busy December of shows. The payoff better be worth it!)

[blissents]

Devlog #1

Hi hi! ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ I don't really post often, but I told myself that starting in 2024, I wanted to share what I've been working on! I'm a solo game dev who has been developing a game called Visionaries. It's a romance visual novel that explores grief and loss.

༺✧ STORY ✧༻

"Visionaries": Special individuals with the ability to look into the past. There are a select handful of Visionaries who can also see into the future.

"What happens after we die?" The age-old question with no definitive answer. Many have constructed their own complex theories and stories to try and explain this mystery.

~~~~~

Explore the world of Visionaries as you wake up in an unfamiliar room, unable to speak and move. You're faced with unusual people (who tend to bicker any opportunity they get) only to later discover that they are your assigned Visionaries. These Visionaries have only one task; they intend on looking into your memories.

What is the purpose of Visionaries existing, and why do they insist on looking into your mind?

If you want to read more about the progress I've made on Visionaries, please continue reading below the cut! ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

༺✧ ART ✧༻

Most of my time has been spent working on the art! (I can't feel my hand) My main focus is to finish drawing all of the character sprites as well as finish rendering the backgrounds. I've already come up with all the designs and expressions for the characters, they just need to be rendered :,)

I still need to create their little character info sheets (I have no idea what the word is, haha), where you'll learn their names, ages, and all of that fun stuff ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

Below are some of the sprites :-)

The first two are fully rendered, while the other three need to be finished :,)

As for backgrounds, I have 1 that is fully rendered and 3 that still need to be finished! I'll only be sharing 3/4 today since I'm unsure if I'll be including the one background in the demo.

To be honest, I struggled quite a bit when drawing the backgrounds D: There were a lot of things I envisioned, but unfortunately, I didn't know how to fully portray them. I had some trial and error while coming up with the original designs. That being said, I'm glad I was able to come up with something I felt satisfied with! I'm planning for the rest of the backgrounds to follow the red/brown colored theme as seen in the first photo ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

Of course, there will be more backgrounds than the ones I'm currently showing! I already have some ideas/drafts for those, but they might change depending on the way the story plays out.

༺✧ WRITING ✧༻

So far, I've planned for the demo to have a little less than 9k words. I'm unsure if I'll keep it at 9k words, or if I'll expand it some more so that there will be more content in the demo :-) We'll see!

As for the overall game, there will be at least 2 routes. There will also be 2 romanceable options (one being he/him, the other being she/they). I'm still figuring out how I want to script all of this, so these aspects may change in the future!

The game will also have options where you can choose your pronouns and name!

Here's a small snippet of the script!

I wanted to show the dynamic between two of the characters :-)

༺✧ OTHER ✧༻

Besides writing and coding, I've been coming up with some ideas for the GUI! I don't have any current drafts of that to share, but I'll hopefully include them in a future devlog ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ I also have plans on creating the cover art for the game, cgs, more backgrounds, and possibly some promotional art (rip my hand, there's so much I need to draw (╥_╥))

I was thinking about composing the music for the game, but I realized I know absolutely nothing about music and wouldn't even know where to start if I had tried :,) So instead, I've compiled a list of some soundtracks and sound effects I might use! Hopefully, I can share that in the future once I've narrowed down which soundtracks I know I'll be using.

༺✧ CONCLUSION ✧༻

My overall goal is to release the demo sometime during this year! Because I'm doing everything myself (art, script, writing, etc.), it might take me a bit longer to get everything done. My apologies for that! (╥_╥)

Besides that, I really just want to start creating and sharing more of my art. Getting over the mental hurdle of being afraid to show my work is honestly pretty terrifying for me. I normally only share the things I create with close friends, but I think it's time to get over this fear of mine! ᕦ(ò_ó)ᕤ

I was able to make significant progress within these past few weeks since I'm currently on my winter break. Classes start back up soon, though, and I'm going to be internship-hunting as well as planning on a big move. I'm still going to try my best to juggle everything so that I can make even more progress on the game! ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

At the end of the day, all of this is a fun little project I've always wanted to do. As a little kid, I absolutely loved playing VNs (and I still do!). Creating my own game felt like an unreachable goal, but with enough effort, I think it's something obtainable ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ I really just want to create something that others can enjoy!

As a side note, I have some plans to create a little blog (not even sure if it's considered a blog, haha) about the games I've played/want to play! That will be coming very soon!

Thank you to anyone who read this far! You have my eternal gratitude <3

~ bliss ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

[emeraldspiral]

You know, I'm finding Loki season 2 enjoyable enough just as a show to watch, but I am feeling like this series is no longer about Loki, with the TVA as a vehicle to propel his story forward. Now it really feels like the story is about the TVA and Loki's just kinda extra baggage. We're halfway through and it's not really clear what kind of arc he's supposed to be on.

Like, straight from episode 1 in the first season we had Loki's ego being broken down when he realizes the TVA are powerful enough to render the Infinity Stones mere paperweights, then we see him continue trying to connive his way into power, then start to care about Mobius and Sylvie and the bigger picture, then finish his arc by rejecting the temptation of power to focus on trying to do what's right. It was very much a personal, character driven journey with everything built around supporting Loki's arc.

In season 2, the only real thread that's been left hanging is now that Loki's decided he wants to do the right thing he has to figure out what that is. But that barely feels like it's been addressed and we're already halfway through the series. The crisis presented by the loom meltdown and Loki's time-slipping gives him something to do, but it doesn't really seem to be advancing his story in any way. Sylvie got a little something in episode 3, realizing she'd be a hypocrite to kill Victor Timely when the whole point of her killing HWR was to give people free will so they could choose to live different lives than other variations of themselves. But Loki hasn't really faced any ideological challenges yet or been forced to reevaluate anything. It kinda seemed like that guy in episode 2 was supposed to make him genuinely question whether he'd turned over a new leaf or not, but I didn't really buy it. There's been absolutely nothing to indicate that any of Loki's concerns about the TVA or HWR are duplicitous, and nothing else has reinforced the idea that the theme of this season is Loki not being sure whether he really has the freedom to break free of the villain/loser role, or if he's just a bad person deep down whether he has the freedom to be something else or not. Like, I feel like if that were the angle they were pushing, they'd do stuff like having him try to escape the TVA to save himself until he realized he had no other choice, or having him do some actual unplanned, unnecessarily brutal interrogations to show he still has a dark side he hasn't fully conquered.