#I’ll make a simpler version of this probably

[seaglassdinosaur]

It’s the lines, “Poseidon’s never helped me before. He wasn’t gonna start now. I would’ve never made it to Hades.”

The first two lines are obviously about him being poisoned, but it’s the fact that Percy talks about himself in the past tense. That he accepts he’s already dead. His father’s never shown up for him in the past, hence the past tense use, and he’s clearly not one to break the pattern. The ‘wasn’t’ though, communicates a kind of passivity. While ‘isn’t’ might suggest an active refusal, (such as: he isn’t going to start now) ‘wasn’t’ feels more like this is something that was never going to happen. The idea was fruitless from the start, and so they need to reassess the way they saw the events leading up to now; it’s almost like Percy is trying to alleviate future feelings of guilt from them, as there was nothing they did wrong, nothing they could have done better. Unlike Athena’s actions of resentment, Poseidon was just entirely uninterested.

The third line is even more interesting, I find. The ‘would’ communicates this reflection on his life, uninterrupted by his impending and accepted death, but it can be read in two ways: one, Percy, escaped from the Chimera wouldn’t make it to Hades because obviously his father doesn’t care enough about him to save him. He would die of poison before making it to LA.

Two though, and more sad, is that even if he were the one making it down the stairs, even if he were at his best, Percy doesn’t believe he could complete the quest. Facing his death in the eyes, Percy recognizes how ill-equipped and inadequate he is, because if he can’t handle the chimera, how could he ever have hoped to make it the rest of the way across the country?

[tokischaaaaa]

close to you 🌙

!hamzah x !musical reader

warning! : fluff, little smut

side note: okay so i wanted to look for songs that were ig similar to 6 FEET and i found lots of pinkpantheress songs SOOOO basically y/n is y/n, NOT pinkpantheress but the song that is made is technically by pinkpantheress so bla bla bla enjoy pookies

word count!: 2.3k!!

"i don’t know elijah,” you sigh rubbing your forehead, “this sounds like crack like bad crack, like im overlapped and behind.” you groan grabbing your phone to distract yourself from getting even more upset.

upset at the fact that a song that you had made with love and such integrity wasn’t computing when your producer, elijah, couldn’t translate your message in the studio.

“listen y/n, i know, i’m confused too but what if we take a quick break, grab some food and maybe light a joint?” elijah suggested.

“whatever fine, let’s go before i eat the microphone.” you giggle.

you and elijah head towards downtown to see what’s open this late, yall both walk a few more streets until elijah stops you.

“there!” he says pointing at a mcdonald’s, it somewhat looked better than other ones so they both decided to try this clean looking mcdonald’s out.

as they walked in elijah signaled to y/n that he had to use the restroom, as she walked to the register she was lookin at the menu then looked down and met eyes with the worker.

a young man with frizzy curly black hair and dark bambi eyes. his dark circles were visible due to the lighting of the menu right above him, his uniform hat was slipping off his head by the second.

“what can i get you miss?” the young man asked with a grin. it took y/n a few moments to respond to the handsome man.

“sorry, i’ll get a happy meal with apple slices and my friend will get a regular cheeseburger with medium fry.” she said looking up at the menu again “and to drink?” he asked while punching in her order into the machine “oh um just two medium sprites.” y/n yawned.

y/n heard a small giggle from the man infront of her, she looked at him then his name tag which read ‘hamzah’

“what’s so funny mr.hamzah?” y/n grinned grabbing her wallet out of her purse.

“you look exhausted, no offense” he admitted.

“yeah, making stuff sucks sometimes.” y/n tiredly grinned.

“what type of stuff?” hamzah asked while starting to prepare y/n’s order.

“music,” y/n said while looking at hamzah. hamzah stopped what we was doing and looked directly at y/n,

“no way! what type of music do you do?” he asked eagerly.

“i think it’s more like bedroom pop but somewhat hyperpop too.” y/n smiled, happy to see that hamzah was amused with music as much as she was.

“wow, bedroom pop was the #1 genre for my spotify wrapped this year, love that stuff. but, do you have any songs id recognize?” hamzah asked folding y/n’s happy meal.

“umm probably on tiktok, lemme play it for you.” she smiled and pulled out her phone. she opened tiktok and played one of her videos with the song called ‘just a waste’ y/n held the phone close to hamzahs ear, this gave her a moment to see him closer and see his features that made him so handsome. his sharp jawline, thick eyebrows and eyelashes.

“dude oh my god! i love that audio! dude i just met a celeb!” hamzah cried.

“ha! nice one, im no celeb but im glad you like the song!” y/n said.

“but what were you talking about making is hard, i mean i think everything can be potienty hard to make but what’s your problem right now with making music?” hamzah asked starting the 2nd order that y/n asked for.

“just the production, im here with my producer but we’re not seeing eye to eye right now. in simpler terms he’s not translating my song into a song.” she admitted while stealing glances of hamzah. before hamzah could respond, y/n felt a buzz in her pocket, her phone.

“give me a second, my producer is calling me?” y/n said with a confused expression. hamzah gave her a thumbs up and continued making her order. she walked to the corner of the mcdonald’s and pressed the green button to accept the call,

“elijah where you at, i thought you were just here.”

“i’m so sorry y/n, my roommate called me and told me my cat felix just started throwing up. i’m so sorry, tomorrow we can go back to the studio.”

“elijah i have to work the night shift, and you and i both know that we can only use the studio at night.”

“shit, y/n we’ll figure it out but i have to go im so sorry again.”

“it’s okay eli, take care of felix, sorry that im yelling.” “it’s good y/n i get why you’re frustrated, i’ll talk to you later, bye bestie!”

“byeee!” y/n then ended the call and sighed deeply as she approached hamzah who was almost done packing her order.

“bad or good?” he asked,

“bad, he left cuz his cat threw up and now no more studio and we gotta plan for maybe next week.” she said rubbing her forehead.

“damn, i’m sorry about that ..” “y/n” a few moments of silence occurred then a light bulb appeared in hamzahs head.

“y/n i’m about to end my shift for the day, if you’re not gonna eat that other burger id love to dig in.” he smiled. which earned him a giggle from y/n.

“sure hamzah,” she smiled.

the two walked to a booth and began to talk, hamzah talked about his side hustle of youtube and streaming. how he hosted weekly streams with a group he was apart of called 4freakshow.

y/n also shared her ambitions of getting a big hit from one of her songs either blowing up on tiktok or anywhere and getting that big check in the mail.

“it’s all about the money with you girls.” hamzah sneered.

“boy bye, you’re out here working for the money.” y/n said pointing to his uniform.

“yeah you’re right but you are too, your job is more rewarding.” hamzah shrugged.

“how so?”

“id rather listen to music or expirence is rather than be eating burgers or fries.” y/n burst out laughing moments later,

“so you’d rather starve and listen to music , no expirence music?” she said between giggles.

“yeah, i’m tired of seeing burgers all the time.” hamzah said rolling his eyes.

“okay i see that, but even tonight i can’t even expirence music.” y/n shrugged.

“wait, i think i still have my computer i used for my diss track and a subscription to flordia studio.” hamzah said thinking.

“you did a diss track!” y/n whisper-screamed, “shhh, yes i’ll show you but don’t spit out your drink it’s not that bad i think.” hamzah said pulling his phone out of his pocket.

he hoisted his phone behind his drink and laid it facing y/n. as she watched she couldn’t help but laugh at some of hamzahs silly moves with his friend. but the beat switch it was caught y/n’s attention. as the video ended, hamzah was waiting for y/n’s reaction.

“well..?”

“that was fucking fire.”

“really?”

“really, you said you liked my song, i’m being deadass and telling you i fuck with that song.” hamzah lightly blushed at y/n’s comment,

“do you know if you could help translate my song into a song?” y/n mumbled.

“what’d you say?” hamzah asked

“could you help me with my song?” y/n asked locking eye contact with hamzah.

“yes! that’d be so cool! we could litterly hit my place after this, but we’d have to wait a while cuz i take the bus home.” hamzah said slightly embarrassed.

“no shade man, you helping the earth at least,” she winked. another wave of blush appeared on hamzahs face.

hamzah finished his shift, clocking out with a sense of excitement. He couldn't believe his luck — an opportunity to work on music with a talented artist like y/n. they walked out of the McDonald's, the cool night air refreshing after the greasy warmth inside.

“okay, let’s catch this bus,” y/n said, pulling out her phone to check the schedule. they found a nearby bench and sat close together, the anticipation of collaboration buzzing between them.

the bus ride to hamzah’s place was filled with light conversation and shared headphones, playing tracks they both loved. When they arrived, Hamzah led Y/N up to his small apartment, cluttered with music equipment and posters of bands and artists.

“welcome to my humble studio,” hamzah said, clearing a space on his desk for y/n’s laptop. “It’s not much, but it’s where the magic happens.”

“It’s perfect,” y/n said, setting up her laptop and connecting it to Hamzah’s speakers. “let’s get to work.”

they dove into the project, hamzahs fingers flying over the keyboard as he adjusted levels and added beats. y/n watched, impressed by his skill and creativity. she sang a few lines, experimenting with different melodies as hamzah tweaked the sound.

as the hours passed, the room filled with music and laughter. they bounced ideas off each other, creating something new and exciting. The chemistry between them was undeniable, the air thick with unspoken attraction.

“okay, try this,” Hamzah said, hitting play on the latest version of the track. y/n closed her eyes, letting the music wash over her. it was perfect, capturing the idea of what she had envisioned.

“it’s perfect,” y/n said, her voice filled with awe. “you nailed it hamzah.”

hamzah grinned, feeling a rush of pride. “really? you think so?”

“I know so,” y/n replied, meeting his gaze. there was a spark in her eyes, a connection that went beyond their shared love of music.

hamzah took a deep breath, feeling bold. “you know, I think we make a pretty good team.”

y/n smiled, her cheeks flushing slightly. “yeah, we do. I’ve never had a producer understand my vision so well.”

hamzah’s heart pounded in his chest. “well, I’m glad I could help. It’s been...amazing working with you.”

y/n’s smile widened. “Same here.”

a comfortable silence settled between them, the only sound the soft hum of the computer. hamzah’s gaze drifted to y/n’s lips, and he felt an overwhelming urge to kiss her. he hesitated, not wanting to ruin the moment or their budding partnership.

but then y/n leaned closer, her eyes searching his. “hamzah, can I ask you something?”

“anything,” he replied, his voice barely above a whisper.

“do you feel this too?” she asked, her voice vulnerable. “this connection?”

hamzah’s heart skipped a beat. “yea, I do,” he admitted.

without another word, hamzah closed the distance between them, his lips meeting hers in a soft, tentative kiss. y/n responded immediately, her hands sliding up to cup his face. the kiss deepened, filled with the passion and intensity they had poured into their music.

when they finally pulled apart, both of them were breathless, their foreheads resting against each other.

“wow,” y/n whispered, a shy smile playing on her lips. “that was...incredible.”

hamzah chuckled, his thumb tracing gentle circles on her cheek. “yeah, it was.”

they sat there for a moment, wrapped up in each other, the music they had created still playing softly in the background. It was the start of something beautiful, a partnership that extended beyond the studio.

“I think we’re going to make a great team,” y/n said softly, her eyes shining with promise.

hamzah smiled, feeling hopeful and excited for what the future held. “I think so too, y/n. I think so too.”

“damn, ima have to text elijah to lay back now,” y/n chuckled. hamzah joined her laughter.

without a word, hamzah gently lifted y/n’s legs and wrapped them around his waist. the sudden intimacy made her heart race, but she felt a thrilling excitement rather than alarm.

holding her securely, hamzah led her to his bedroom. the room looked cozy, filled with more music equipment, posters, and soft ambient lighting that created a warm, inviting atmosphere.

as they entered the room, hamzah set her down gently on the edge of the bed. he brushed a strand of hair from her face, his touch tender. “you sure about this?” he asked, his voice soft and filled with concern.

y/n nodded, her eyes never leaving his. “im sure, hamzah.”

he leaned in, capturing her lips in another kiss, this one deeper and more passionate than the first. y/n’s hands roamed his back, feeling the warmth of his skin through his shirt. hamzah’s hands found her waist, pulling her closer until there was no space left between them.

they lost themselves in each other, the connection they had felt before growing stronger with every touch and kiss.

the music in the background seemed to set the perfect rhythm, guiding their movements as they explored each other through body to body contact.

hamzah’s kisses trailed down y/n’s neck, eliciting soft gasps from her lips. he paused, looking up at her with a mixture of desire and affection. “you’re amazing, y/n,” he whispered, his breath hot against her skin.

y/n smiled, her fingers threading through his curls. “so are you, hamzah. this feels amazing.”

he nodded, understanding exactly what she meant. they spent the night together, not just as collaborators but as two people discovering a profound and unique connection. the room was filled with whispers and laughter.

as the first light of dawn began to filter through the curtains, y/n and Hamzah lay wrapped in each other’s arms, exhausted but content. for the first time in a long while, y/n felt like everything was falling into place.

tokischaaa speaks: fighting demons out here in the middle of flordia with 2 bars, grind is real ladies 🫡

[lo-shouldve-been-an-email]

Why Dionysus was actually clever but got botched.

Okay,this is my first big LO essay so please don’t mind a bit of awkwardness.

The thing with Dionysus is that on paper it’s actually really smart.

Let me explain-

To understand why Dionysus in particular was chosen we need to understand the original myth of his birth,or welll,the original myths.there’s technically two of them but I’ll explain it later-

Let’s start off with the simpler one,aka:

Semele is the mother.

The myth goes like this:

Zeus falls in love with a mortal named semele,and tells her he’s Zeus.

Semele gets pregnant and Hera gets jealous.

Hera turns into an old lady and implants the idea that Zeus might be lying to her about being Zeus,so she must ask him to show her his divine form.

Semele does this and is-unsurprisingly- burnt to ashes,but Zeus saves baby dio and puts him in his thigh until he’s born,by then being upgraded from demigod to straight up god.

Who raises him afterwards depends on the story,sometimes it’s Hermes,sometimes it’s nymphs,and sometimes it’s-you guessed it-Persephone.

So you already have some inkling on why Persephone is raising dio,but oh wait there’s more.

So let’s gets into another version:

Persephone is the mother(?)

Okay,so have any of you played hades?go play it.

But,there’s a character that has an story tied to Dionysus,and people who’ve done a certain side quest might already have an inkling:

Zagreus,the prince of the underworld.

Now,you may be wondering wtf zag has to do with this but I can explain.

Basically here’s the ancient Orphic version of the myth:

Persephone and Zeus have a son named Zagreus.(it’s important to note that hades didn’t really exist at this point or at least he was merged with Zeus,hence why it’s Zeus and Persephone and not hades and Persephone,since yes Persephone actually predates hades)

Zagreus is the golden boy of Olympus and Hera gets jealous.

Hera RELEASES TITANS FROM TARTARUS and they tear Zagreus apart,the part remaining being his heart.

And dio is made with that.

There’s more to the general ancient Orphic origins of Dionysus but that’s just the basics.

I highly recommend overly sarcastic productions video of Dionysus if you want an in depth look at this explaining his origins to his cult.so yeah.check it out.

Why it fails within LO.

I admit,dio is a good reference.

He’s a good nod and a fun idea,it’s just the execution that leads it to having as many positives as a house fire.

First of all,it definitely wasn’t planned from the start.

Other have talked about this but RS has a habit of bullshitting things into the story to reference a real world date.

In this case,dio was supposed to be a Mother’s Day thing,but when matched up to the timeline?well…I don’t know why it’s such a bad decision on Persephone’s part…may be it’s because HER AND HADES HAVE BEEN MARRIED FOR LESS THAN A DAY.

Also the whole thing comes out of nowhere.

Zeus just bust into persie’s house,says he’s giving birth and instead of going to a doctor(Asclepius isn’t the only one,zeus)

Then,Persephone straight up refuses to give him to Zeus AFTER HE GAVE BIRTH and takes the baby for herself because “he looks like hades”.

Never mind the fact he’s literally purple-

After that Persephone realised she’s fucked up and ignores hades,but he bursts in and she explain how she basically kidnapped a child.

And it’s supposed to be romantic.

Anyways,I’m probably gonna make another of these rants soon,just with Apollo,but this is why the dio plot point…frustrates me.

On paper it’s an interesting reference but in the end it just ends up being stupid.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Starcatcher

Debut: Insaniquarium

“Starcatcher” is such a magical sounding name! The magic of a shooting star, now harnessed by a creature? How delightful! It must be full of magic and made of dreams and it probably even poops diamonds.

Actually, it is a stupid little doofus idiot! And please know that when I make fun of this creature I mean it 100% affectionately, because I love it and I love it exactly the way it is and would change nothing! It does poop diamonds, though. I’ll get to that.

So! Starcatcher is a “Fish”, and it’s easy to think of it as more of a cephalopod with its dangly tentacles, but it only has the four, all in a line! This is, in fact, a relic of a simpler time...

A time when it was an arthropod, in the original version of the game! Basically the same, just with a more vacant stare, and some crabby legs. Starcatcher would end up being a victim of Reverse Carcinization, evolving away from a crab-like body plan! I think it’s for the best it was changed, though. Insaniquarium Deluxe would introduce our friend Guppycruncher, a much more blatantly arthropodian creature, who inherited the scuttley style of legs, and Starcatcher would get new appendages that fit its rounder, softer body. And of course its OwO face!

That OwO face would become more of an 0w0 face, and is really one of the wackiest things about its anatomy! Starcatcher eats stars. Starcatcher’s name indicates that it Catches stars. And I’m sure you have seen the massive gaping hole in Starcatcher’s head. It’s noticeable. And that’s how it eats! Stars fall into that hole, and are eaten. That flower pot hole is a dang mouth! Then is the cutesy cat smile just for show?

It is not! When a Starcatcher begins dying of hunger because its gaping mouth hole has not been filled with celestial objects, its smile becomes a frown! So it IS a mouth, just not used for eating! At least not for eating stars. Maybe in the wild it forages on the bottom of the sea, and catches detritus in the top mouth? Whatever the case, it poops diamonds, and that makes it economically valuable.

Where do Stars come from, anyway? Space? No! That would make sense! They come from Fish. Regular Guppies drop Money, of course, but Star Guppies drop Stars, and that’s Better! Also highly unnatural, but don’t tell anyone. If an adult Guppy eats a Star Potion, it will become a Star Guppy! But an immature Guppy will instantly explode and die upon trying to eat the potion. It is not appropriate for children! But yeah, Star Guppies drop Stars that Starcatcher catches, and Starcatcher makes Diamonds which are even better than better.

Anyway, I would not be surprised if Starcatcher was an entirely unnatural being, since it seems to die almost immediately if it is not fed the byproduct of mad science. What a life this thing lives! The little doofus idiot. Wonderful creature!

[compacflt]

hey! i was just going through your blog, and i saw a post about ice&carole and mav&goose. i looked a bit more but i couldn't find a post about your take on mav and goose's relationship, so i wanted to ask what it was. if you have answered this, i'm sorry about asking you again. imo i think what they had was wayy deeper than friendship but complex and probably not romantic, but again, i just wanted to know your thoughts on it.

thank you! and this blog has probably been one of the best finds i have ever come across on tumblr, i'll be sad to see you go.

yeah, i was really trying to be suave and subtle and mysterious about it with this parallel

like, you should be able to figure it out for yourself.

but luckily for you i looooove beating dead horses. to a problematic degree.

the full story of my vision of mavgoose (moose?) is in the completed draft of the extras that are coming out on Saturday. about halfway through. But i want to bring it back to the internal craft-of-writing debate i brought up yesterday—my inability to summarize, or to cut superfluous sections that don’t really matter.

I’ll stick it under the cut for spoiler reasons, but i wanna show the simple first draft of this scene versus the complicated, heavier final draft. And I want to ask any of you, if you’re interested—as a reader, which is more impactful? which should i end up publishing?

the simple first draft:

then i kept turning it in my head thinking of different ways to edit it to say something slightly different, to get a little more specific, coming up with things to add, and ended up adding like five extra paragraphs. which is this:

about 1/4 of the final draft (by which i mean, this is about 1/4 of the whole final discussion scene, but the goosemav-specific content only goes on for about another graf [omitted bc spoilers]):

(so to answer your ask explicitly, i actually don’t think they were anything deeper than good friends. imo there’s no evidence that they were anything deeper than good friends, especially with maverick blowing goose/goose’s wishes off soooo many times [‘she’s lost that lovin feelin;’ volleyball; refusing to do the responsible thing at least twice even after goose tells him it puts his & his family’s livelihoods at risk…bro all he does is blow off goose]. see me bitching in the tags for more on this)

obviously in my head the complicated in-depth version ⬆️ is the True version, the version of events that really Happened. i think the writing is in some spots much more compelling. But it just doesn’t make for a particularly good reading experience when it’s surrounded by like 3/4 pages of other discussion of history! sometimes too much of (what i think is) a good thing turns that good thing bad! & this is a major keystone dynamic of my whole series so i just want to get it right, for my own peace of mind. I guess im asking you to be the harsh editor i wish i had sometimes, if ur interested in doing so—this is genuinely a major major problem i have with my writing, i can’t ever just leave well enough alone 😭 please let me know if simpler is better/less is more in this case! do i publish the short vague “the reader fills in the blanks” version or the long boring “here’s EXACTLY how i see it” version?

[ariadnewhitlock]

Held You Close || solo

TIMING: Current LOCATION: Outside Aria's apartment SUMMARY: Aria reads Cass's letter. TRIGGER WARNING: Sibling death referenced (found family, just to be safe), domestic abuse (parent-child) to be safe.

Ariadne,

This is hard to start. I never thought I’d be writing it, you know? It’s, like, totally weird. But everybody has to start somewhere, so I might as well start with the point of it. Here goes:

I’m leaving Wicked’s Rest. 

I don’t think it’ll be forever or anything. I just… think it’s what I have to do right now. My dad isn’t exactly thriving here, and I want him to be better. I want to be better, too. I think if we go somewhere that’s fresh for both of us, it’ll be simpler. He can get… reoriented with the world, like, the human world, and I can help him. I can help him be better. That’s what I’m supposed to do, right? I’m a superhero, and he needs help, so I should help him. I want to help him.

I want you to know that me leaving has nothing to do with you. You’re my best friend, and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. Every single movie we went to, every single sleepover in the cave, every bag of candy we shared… it all meant the world to me. It still means the world to me, even if I’m not going to be around anymore.

It’s not forever. I want you to know that, too. I’m leaving, but I’m going to come back. Someday, when my dad is a little better at understanding all this stuff, when he’s more healed, I’m going to come back. And you’ll be here, and we’ll pick up right where we left off! I might not live forever, but we’ve still got, like, a thousand more years to spend together! We’re still going to do all the things we talked about. We’ll still tell everyone we’re sisters, or that I’m your aunt, or whatever when I get older and you stay the same age. We’ll still buy every new kind of candy that they invent, and eat them until our stomachs hurt. We’ll still be best friends. I just need to hit pause for a little while.

Not, like, a total pause or anything, though. It’s 2024, right? We can still text. I’ll send you pictures of Alaska when we get there. I’ll tell you about all the volcanoes, and you can tell me what’s going on in Wicked’s Rest. Like whether or not you and Wynne have eloped yet, or whether Van and Thea ever kiss! I want to know all the hot gossip, okay? I want to keep up with everyone, even if I won’t be back for a while.

And… I want you to know I love you. I love this. Our friendship, what we have, it’s everything to me. I’m sorry I haven’t been very good at it these last few months. I hope you can forgive me. I hope you can forgive me for leaving, too. If you can’t, I get it. I’m the last person who could blame you for being upset with me for leaving. But… I hope you won’t be, anyway. I love you, okay? Forever.

Love, Cass -- There was a letter. Ariadne opened it up, carefully, despite the fact that her hands were shaking. 

It didn’t make sense, because dead people (well, people who were like, forever dead) didn’t write letters. That sounded like some especially morbid version of those Bailey School Kids books that she’d read with her literacy teacher back in middle school. They hadn’t been her favorite and, come to think of it, said literacy teacher was also probably something not human –

– but now wasn’t the time to focus on that. Even though she so desperately wanted to focus on anything but what was in front of her. The truth.

She’d always held so strongly on to the truth, placed it on an altar. It was important, and it meant things would be okay.

Now she wanted anything but the truth.

The truth made her feel angry. It made her feel hot, and not in the wonderful way that she did whenever Cass hugged her. Hugs that were now simply memories. 

She looked down at the letter.

You’re my best friend.

“You’re mine too.” She said, to nobody in particular. To the air, to the wind, maybe to G-d, who her grandparents on both sides still believed in. To anyone and anything that could get the message to Cass. “I – I wanted to save you.”

Tears welled up in her eyes.

“I love you. I love you.” Repeated like a mantra, like a prayer, as if she could force her best friend to materialize once again, and they’d both laugh and watch a superhero movie that Cass said was not good but that they both still loved. They’d eat cartons of ice cream and make Dr Pepper floats and hug and she’d watch Cass fall asleep and she, too, would close her eyes, level her breathing with that of the fae’s. Match it, because best friends were supposed to be able to do that.

I’m going to come back.

“Then come back.” She let out an absurdly large sigh, as if she was expelling any of the leftover air she had in her lungs.

They were supposed to be sisters and aunt and niece or any sort of family.

They were sisters. Not by blood, but Cass’s own blood had taken her from this world, in the end, and so found family was better in the end, wasn’t it? Found family wanted to save her, wanted to love her, did love her even when other people used her.

“I’ve loved you forever. I will love you forever. You… I’ll never be upset with you.”

Her tears dropped in big, cartoon-like drops onto the letter and Ariadne lay it down, out of reach of her seemingly never-ending sobbing. It was the last thing she had left of Cass, other than the yellow topaz butterfly around her neck – but Cass has written on this, not too long ago, and Ariadne was going to keep it forever.

“I’ll still tell you the gossip.” Once again, spoken to someone who wasn’t there. “I’ll tell you everything.”

She knelt down on the ground outside her apartment and drew a heart in the dirt.

Below it she wrote:

For the best friend anybody could ever have.

Ariadne folded up the note and stuck it into her bag.

“I’ll never forget you.” She stood up, legs still shaking.

– and then, finally, “I promise.”

[quibbs126]

So I’ve been yet again inspired in that I really want to do a swap au with the Ancients (specifically where they swap with each other), and I’ve got three potential options of how to do it but I’m not sure which to go

I’ll be using Dark Cacao -> Pure Vanilla as my example of what I mean

Change their circumstances/backstories, which in turn changes the characters. Example: the Dark Cacao Kingdom is far less dangerous, the Licorice Sea probably isn’t a threat, and perhaps the area is a magic hub due to all the tribes living there

Change their roles in the team. Example: Dark Cacao is the healer, but his kingdom and personality stays the same

Change their flavors and in turn which kingdom/region they hail from. Example: Dark Cacao is vanilla flavored and comes from the Vanilla Kingdom/where it eventually stands

On one hand I think the first one of the most interesting, but on the other it’s the most difficult to make stuff up for, especially since White Lily still doesn’t have a known backstory prior to the Blueberry Magic Academy or place of origin. Honestly I made the 3rd option because that’s just the simpler version of option 1

Also they wouldn’t be one to one swaps because there’s an odd number of them and doing so would mean one of them has to be unchanged. Unless maybe I add in Elder Faerie as a 6th member to swap

Or I could swap the Ancients with the 5 elemental Legendaries, since I remember that was an old idea I had and it might be more interesting

I don’t know, I just want to make a swap au right now

[knackeredforever]

Game development rant below:

I’m kind of at a really bad point with my game development right now as the project I’m currently working on that I have spend a lot of time working on the mechanics for is not working because trying to get the many mechanics I have made actually working in a level is not working the problem is any further development working on the game depends getting this feature working .

The most frustrating part is it is seemingly a really simple issue to fix but all of the “simple” fixes I’ve found online don’t seem to work.

Honestly I genuinely was really passionate for this project when I started out several months ago and that’s when I worked on all of the mechanics that all worked originally but now won’t work in the actual game map.

I guess I got in over my head and now I’m paying the consequences.

I do want to work on another simpler project instead to build my skill but I physically can’t because my current project is for my computer science A level so I need to continue with it.

This is the second game I’ve made the first one I made at the start of the year which was a simple top down shooter. I really want to make another simple game to build my confidence again but as I previously mentioned I can’t.

I can’t fully dedicate myself to my coursework either because I have all my A level revision to do as well so I can only occasionally work on my project but I get nothing done in that time because I seemingly can get nothing to work.

I’ve put dozens of hours into this project so I don’t want to abandon it but I don’t think I have the skill for what I’m trying to accomplish, and working on it just makes me feel worse about myself.

It especially sucks Because the game I’m trying to make is in the same genre as my dream game project so it just makes my dream game ideas feel like there slipping away.

I’m going to do game design for uni so hopefully that will improve the situation I’m in but I just feel really trapped as a game developer right now and I physically can’t improve my skill despite wanting to because of my situation.

That doesn’t even take into account the recent unity clusterfuck (the game engine I’ve made my games in) which makes me want to switch engines as soon as possible but once again I can’t do that until my coursework and A levels are finished.

I’ll probably switch to godot or game maker studio (although I also really want to buy one of the good versions of rpgmaker and try to make something with that because it requires less technical skill in coding although I’ve heard you need at least some background coding knowledge which I already do have so it could be a good engine for me)

On the plus side I’ve gotten pretty decent at pixel art over the last few months(I’ve posted all of it on my blog) so that will be helpful but I want to get good at traditional art too which I could try doing over the summer.

Anyways sorry for the rant I’ve just been feeling really shit about this recently because game development is my passion.

[lottiepumpkinofficial]

day 3

chap’s 6,7,8

are we ready?

i’m sat drinking literally the best hot chocolate i’ve ever had while reading today so i’ll probably be in a particularly good mood

i need someone who will hug me as enthusiastically as lola

i love lola, she’s so underrated

i kinda want a version of up from anis perspective like that new twilight book. i feel like it would be so interesting to dig into her psyche and what’s going on in her brain, bc we can assume some things once we find out about saskia, but there’s so many little details and things we never fully get to see

this is so random and i’m probably the only person who’d think of this but micky offers lottie a lollipop- presumably a stripy one- and lottie takes it. often lollipop colouring has carmine (bugs) in it, but lottie doesn’t seem fussed so do you think tompkins is entirely vegetarian?

“childhood friends” mmm sure

okay i know lottie not knowing what partizans are is meant to show how out of place she feels, but it kinda also shows that these kids are a little bit out of touch for assuming everyone knows what they are- i mean they’re specifically relevant to rich and important people, and i know at this point they’re all kids but dude it’s lottie’s first day and they’re assuming either everyone knows what they do or that lottie is also rich. maybe im overthinking this

if i could draw i would draw the three house mothers looking like goddesses (like the princesses in she ra style) next to professor croak as a baked bean

also i regularly forget his name because in my head he is straight up just called baked bean man

honestly baked bean man is such a vibe- stands there letting incredible women be incredible and then just smiles and leaves

once again binah is making sure lottie is up to date with info and doesn’t make her feel bad about it. i love all the binahs in the world

“i wonder if i’ll ever meet one” you already have dear lottie

“i know your secret” and boom, we have stepped fully into our story. i love that this comes right at the end of a chapter, particularly a chapter with a lot of just talking and descriptions because it’s like a mini slap in the face to remind you this is not just a story of a girl at a prestigious school

also once again, we have foreshadowing of lottie’s heritage- this time without even the person who wrote it truly knowing. also “the company of wolves” - lottie is in the company of ‘wolves’ without even knowing it at this point ahhh it’s just so clever when you look really deeply

of all the things to choose from the breakfast she grabs a piece of toast? not even a croissant or something that you can still eat on the go??

okay as much as i’m lottie, im also very ms kuma. actually i think connie must have secretly stalked me while writing the books /j

“‘Holy chocolate biscuit!’” best line

ugh maths class flashbacks i’m so glad i never have to do maths classes again

i wanna hear people’s theories about the red dragonfly and the frog. since red is conch- resolute-brave, maybe it’s suggesting lottie’s struggling to be brave

or maybe ani is the “delicate red dragonfly”, and this whole princess business is hurting her

also the dragonfly is on a lily pad, which we now know to be symbolic of lottie and her heritage

“the dragonfly is generally associated with the symbolic meaning of transformation” - googled

so change has come to lottie and it’s been eaten. i suppose on a simpler level it mostly symbolises her struggles with moving to rosewood

anyway, we’ve now got tension on a few levels and it’s starting to amp up a little- ellie has a surprise, there’s the “present”, lottie feels out of place and now people think she’s a princess. once you get to this point in the book you’re not putting it down, from here on out there’s a question for every answer and new threads to follow. we are the dragonfly, and connie glynn is the frog

[undertaletheplayersfate]

[ENGLISH]

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I last talked about The Player’s Fate and my progress on it, so I decided to tell you guys what I’ve been doing lately (And you can probably tell what it is lol).

So, my current plan for TPF is making one whole season with around 6-9 Eps. I’ve already planned some things for the 1st season, but I am still not fully satisfied with a few things, like the lack of development in a few characters and the exploration of Chara’s “mysterious power”. So far I’ve already written 3 episodes, and I gotta say I am pretty satisfied with how they turned out! I had a lot of fun writing the scenes and dialogues, especially Chara and Asriel’s because they are a very comic duo and their dynamic is pretty adorable (I guess you guys will like them as much as I do).

But the only Episode that I’m 100% satisfied with is Ep 1, because it works perfectly as a first episode to introduce this crazy world of The Player’s Fate (specially the first and last scenes, but I’m not spoiling that!). I actually wrote a much shorter version of it originally but I decided to increase the world building and explore the region of New Home, a place that we barely spend time in the original Undertale and I thought of an interesting new approach to the region. 

I know you guys must be very confused with some things that I’m saying! lol “Development?” “World building?” You may ask… But these are simply a few writing tips I learned to help increase the writing of TPF. But it is still important to remember that I am just an amatour, I don’t actually know how to write a perfect script of anything like that, but I am trying to make the best one I can with my basic knowledge. 

Still, I am very confident with TPF’s 1st Ep, but you might be wondering why I haven’t begun making it yet, and I have a very special announcement to make… The Player’s Fate will have voice acting. Yes! I know! Crazy, right?! XD 

I want TPF to have voice acting since I think it helps transmit the emotions of the characters and make intense moments being way more intense than if they were just by texts on a screen. I know it’s much simpler to add a text on a screen, but honestly I couldn’t find a good way of adding these texts to the screen without it covering too much of it, and when I usually plan a shot to animate I imagine it without any texts on it, so when I have to add the text it takes out the original emotion I wanted to show. And I also think voice acting and lip sync can help make the characters more alive and make you connect with them much easier.

I know I probably made you guys excited for the result, and I gotta say I also am, but I haven’t decided who I’ll be working with to create TPF, and also I will be paying these voice actors so I have to find a way of raising enough money to do so… I have a very long way to go before actually making the 1st Ep, but I know it will all be worth it in the end!

One last thing I wanted to say is that I think the 1st Ep will come out next year (2024) or the beginning of 2025. I know it’s hard to wait so much but I need to focus on my Youtube channel in the meantime, since the series will be posted there and I want as many people as possible to watch it (and also because I’ve been pretty inactive there in 2023 and I want to get back on track for that). It will be a bit difficult, since (if everything goes right)  I’ll be dealing with college next year which will make my schedule very tight to work on TPF. 

And I also plan on making a special video talking about everything I can about this project, like the series premise, the themes, the voice acting stuff, and a lot more, since I don’t think I’ve ever talked very openly about it. I want to do all this so more people can know about TPF and become interested in it. I know it may seem kinda dumb but TPF is one of the most important projects of my life, and I want it to work and be the best thing I can produce even being an amatour on the area. 

Thank you so much if you read all that! XD 

And thank you so much for your support, I can’t put into words how much this means to me. Thank you for keeping up with me until here. I’ll see you guys soon! :D

-

[PORTUGUESE-BRAZIL]

Oi pessoal! Já faz um tempo desde a última vez que eu falei sobre The Player’s Fate e meu progresso nele, então decidi contar pra vocês o que tenho feito ultimamente (e vocês provavelmente devem saber o que é ksksk).

Então, meu plano atual pra TPF é fazer uma temporada inteira com cerca de 6 a 9 Eps. Já planejei algumas coisas para a 1ª temporada, mas ainda não tô totalmente satisfeita com algumas coisas, como a falta de desenvolvimento em alguns personagens e a exploração do “poder misterioso” do Chara. Até agora eu já escrevi 3 episódios e devo dizer que estou bastante satisfeito com o resultado deles! Eu me diverti muito escrevendo as cenas e os diálogos, especialmente os do Chara e do Asriel porque eles são uma dupla muito cômica e  a dinâmica deles é muito fofa (acho que vocês vão gostar deles tanto quanto eu).

Mas o único Episódio que estou 100% satisfeita é o Ep 1, porque funciona perfeitamente como um primeiro episódio para introduzir esse mundo louco de The Player's Fate (principalmente na primeira e última cenas, mas não vou spoilar agora!) . Na verdade, eu originalmente escrevi uma versão muito mais curta, mas decidi aumentar a construção de mundo e explorar a região de New Home, um lugar onde que mal passamos tempo no Undertale original e eu pensei em uma nova abordagem interessante pra região.

Eu sei que vocês devem estar muito confusos com algumas coisas que tô falando! ksksk “Desenvolvimento?” “Construção de mundo?” Vocês devem estar se perguntando… Mas essas são apenas algumas dicas de roteiro que eu aprendi para ajudar a melhorar o roteiro de TPF. Mas ainda é importante lembrar que sou apenas uma amadora, e que eu na verdade não sei escrever um roteiro perfeito assim, mas eu tô tentando fazer o melhor que posso com meu conhecimento básico.

Mesmo assim, eu tô muito confiante com o 1º Ep de TPF, mas vocês devem estar se perguntando por que ainda não comecei, e tenho um anúncio muito especial a fazer… The Player’s Fate terá dublagem. Sim! Eu sei! Loucura, né?! XD

Eu quero que TPF tenha dublagem porque eu acho que ela ajuda a transmitir as emoções dos personagens e faz com que os momentos intensos sejam muito mais intensos do que se fossem apenas com textos numa tela. Eu sei que é muito mais simples adicionar um texto em uma tela, mas honestamente eu não encontrei uma boa maneira de adicionar esses textos na tela sem cobrir muito, e quando costumo planejar uma cena pra animar eu imagino sem nenhum texto, então quando eu tenho que adicionar o texto ele tira toda a emoção original que eu queria mostrar. E também acho que a dublagem e o lip sync podem ajudar a tornar os personagens mais vivos e fazer com que você se conecte com eles com muito mais facilidade.

Eu sei que provavelmente deixei vocês animados com o resultado, e devo dizer que também tô, mas eu ainda não decidi com quem eu vou trabalhar para criar TPF, e eu também vou pagar esses dubladores, então tenho que encontrar uma maneira de arrecadar dinheiro suficiente pra isso… Eu tenho um longo caminho antes de realmente começar a fazer o 1º Ep, mas sei que no final tudo vai valer a pena!

Uma última coisa que queria dizer é que acho que o 1º Ep vai sair ano que vem (2024) ou no início de 2025. Eu sei que é difícil esperar tanto, mas preciso focar no meu canal do Youtube enquanto isso, já que a série vai ser postada lá e quero que o maior número de pessoas possível assista (e também porque eu tive bastante inativa em 2023 e quero voltar com tudo agora). Vai ser um pouco difícil, já que (se tudo der certo) eu vou estar lidando com a faculdade ano que vem, o que vai deixar minha agenda bem apertada para trabalhar em TPF.

Eu também pretendo fazer um vídeo especial falando tudo o que puder sobre esse projeto, como a premissa da série, os temas, as dublagens e muito mais, já que acho que nunca falei muito abertamente sobre isso. Quero fazer tudo isto para que mais pessoas conheçam  TPF e se interessem nele. Eu sei que pode parecer meio bobo mas o TPF é um dos projetos mais importantes da minha vida, e quero que dê certo e seja a melhor coisa que posso produzir mesmo sendo uma amadora na área.

Muito obrigado se você leu tudo isso! XD

E muito obrigado pelo seu apoio, eu não consigo expressar em palavras o quanto isso significa para mim. Obrigado por me acompanhar até aqui. Vejo vocês em breve! :D

[aquaquadrant]

Scáil being a watcher + Martyn's recent "watchers eat emotions" lore means Scáil is probably one of the best-fed players in Hels, heh, no more rotten flesh or spider eyes for him! Just everyone else's misery.

OH i’m actually glad u brought that up!! see, as cool as martyn’s watcher lore is (based on little stream snippets i’ve seen and heard of, i’m by no means an expert), i don’t actually think i’ll be incorporating any of it into the HTP au?

for starters, my understanding is that martyn’s lore says that the watchers made the life series in order to feed off the player’s emotions. but in HTP it was grian who made the life series, not the watchers (he’s definitely influenced by his former watcher status tho). the players join willingly, and can still travel between their usual worlds (hermitcraft, empires, ect). their souls aren’t fractured by this process and they retain all memories.

also, my version of the watchers are def intended to be a more neutral observer- tho that’s not to say there aren’t watchers out there who don’t follow the rules, and take it upon themselves to meddle in the players’ affairs (via prompting the listeners to say or do certain things, or all the wack shit that happened in evo). but they don’t feed off players emotions- their purpose is less personal than that- and they’re maintained by the universe itself (grian didn’t actually lose this connection when he left the watchers but he still chooses to eat like a normal player).

anyway, i know there might be things i don’t know or didn’t get quite right about martyn’s lore but suffice to say, i’m gonna stick to doing my own thing for the watchers! i’ve only watched evo once (a long time ago) and i don’t regularly watch martyn, or really know how other ppl in the fandom have been using watchers (i don’t really read much fanfic, too busy writing it 😂) so it’s simpler for me to just come up with it myself.

but in any case, scáil does benefit from grian’s watcher connection in regards to sustenance! almost makes up for the horrors :)

[thelostbaystudio]

The Lost Bay update

Hey folks, sorry I've been away for a while, I've been busy working on The Lost Bay - First Look., and I’ve just dropped the latest update!

I think we’ve reached a milestone here!

What’s new?

1.An Area generation/exploration procedure for the Sleep Country district. You can generate 10 000 000+ different areas with just a few dice rolls!

In the last few weeks I chatted with members of the community asking how they’d want the exploration tables to be designed. Here's the feedback that I got.

Half of the folks said they’d want more lore injected in the tables, to get a better sense of the game world.

The other half asked for modular tables that allowed for maximum replayability.

With this update I think I’ve reached a nice compromise, not going too much into details here, but basically I’ve split where + who + what into separate tables. The procedure is highly reusable, and the what table entries have strong moods that help define the setting. And, you asked for it, the tables are written taking into consideration solo play.

2.A beautiful map designed by Strega Wolf van den Berg, it’s so exciting to see a physical representation of the Bay!

3.Two non-human NPCs: the Dogpack and the Spider Nest. I had fun designing those two, particularly their Moves. Moves are a simple way to give personality to the NPCs you create, and to make combat a surprising and fun experience.

4.I’ve modified combat rules and a few other mechanics, the game engine is more consistent, quicker, simpler. Small tweaks that have great effects. If you are planning to play the game I’d recommend downloading the latest version. You might not notice all the revisions, but trust me, they’ll make the gameplay experience better.

What’s coming up next?

Not 100% sure in what order, but here are the things I’m working on:

A couple more Vibes (playable character classes)

A new Reborn Vibe (post-mortem playable character class)

More NPCs

Exploration tables for the Mall Nation district

Errands prompts (solo and group adventure prompts)

Solo support (oracle, and complications table)

Better online character keeper/sheets

And the Creator Kit

Creator Kit and Third party publisher license

As I’ve mentioned a few times already, the development of the game has been influenced so much by the feedback of the community. And I know that several of you have plans about making supplements/adventures for TLB. The Creator Kit, which will probably drop with the next update, is intended to support the community and the creation of 3RD party modules. It’s a series of guidelines and toolkits to facilitate adventure design, like: take off checklist, tips, designer commentary, and modules you can use to build the next kick ass TLB thing.

Along with the release of the Creator Kit will come the Third Party Publisher license, I’ll reveal more about it in the next update. 

If you haven't done yet, grab the game! If you're on a limited budget don't worry, Community Copies are regularly available for free https://the-lost-bay.itch.io/thelostbayrpg

Have a great day/week

Iko

[tbcanary]

Hiii, I love ur edits so so much!! Was just wondering, how did you edit the last gif for the lucius fox edit? The way the glasses reflected was so cool to me

hello! this is a very good question, and i'm happy to answer it for you. but i feel like I should say to start that this is a pretty convoluted thing, the way i do it. i am almost positive someone else out there does it in a simpler and more straightforward way than i do. that being said, I can show you my process!

the main tools for this particular trick are layer masks and the animation timeline tool. i’ll also be using the movement/selection tools, but those are pretty straightforward I think? we’ll see, i guess!

i’m going to use this catwoman panel as an example.

let's start out by cropping it in and removing all the text bubbles/extra things, just to get a blank slate. i have a tutorial on how I edit panels here, and how I size them here, if that’s something you need. It’s not really necessary for this trick, but I like a clean visual.

i end up with something like this:

now you’ll want to make a new blank layer on top of this one. this will be the one you work on. this part comes down to kind of personal preference/artistic decision making, but you want to fill this blank layer with the sliding effect you want to have. this would be the reflection in lucius’ glasses, or the arrows in this ga/gl gifset.

(it looks very silly, I know. trust the process on this one.)

then, on the layer where I’ve just drawn the white lines, I am going to create a layer mask. select “layer” in the toolbar, find “layer mask,” and select “reveal all.” this won’t change anything about the visual at this point, but it’s necessary for creating this effect.

two things to do right away: unlink the lines from the mask by clicking the little “chain” between the two, and select the layer mask itself to work on.

wrong:

right:

(ignore groups one and two, by the way. those are just old versions of the panel/lines in case i screw up and need to go back to a previous one for some reason. you don’t have to do that; i’m allergic to the delete button.)

use the selection tool to pick the area where you want the affect to appear. for me, that’s all the yellow facets of the diamond, so i’ve outlined it like so:

on the layer mask, fill those sections with black. then hit either ctrl+i or command+i to invert the layer mask, so the white portions become black and the black portions become white. in my case, this makes the white lines… disappear! magic.

basically, what the layer mask is doing is choosing when the pixels on a layer show up. by coloring something in, you’re saying, ‘I don’t want the white lines to show up when they live in this space.’ so because you’ve inverted it, you’ve turned everything outside of the area you want to animate into a no-show zone, and only the area you want to work on is left.

this is probably not a very good explanation. sorry about that. mess around with it on your own and I guarantee it’ll make sense.

we are now done creating the layer mask! click on the layer itself to make sure you’re working on that for this next bit, like so:

this next part is like. actually really hard to explain. but i’ll try my best.

i’ve done a tutorial on how I animate gifs before. some of that might help here, but it does function a little differently. first, you’ll want to go to the timeline at the bottom of your screen.

create a new frame in the timeline with a 0-second delay. then go back up to the image itself, and select the lighting effect you made (my white lines, in this case). move it just a little bit. i’m opting to go just until I can see the first line or two on the diamond.

it won’t look like much. here’s the difference:

you can see (I hope) the tiny bit of “shine” on the upper left corner, where the mask is white and the pixels are visible.

now i’m going to make another new frame in the timeline, and nudge those lines a little more. let’s say six pixels to the right, and two pixels down. now it looks like this:

you will notice the change is almost imperceptible. that’s fine. the resulting animation will be smoother if you do smaller movements, as opposed to bigger ones.

basically… just repeat that. new frame, nudge a little. new frame, nudge a little. over and over, until the lighting effect has moved fully off the area you’re animating on the other side. These edits can get a little long/the number of frames can get huge, so if you catch that happening, wait until you get to the end and then select either all the even or all the odd frames and delete them.

this will double the speed of your animation, but given the very small increments in which we are moving things, it still won’t look too choppy. you could certainly start with bigger movements to cut this off at the pass, but it’s a LOT easier to cut these frames out than to add new ones in if it ends up looking too rough, so I opt for more frames and then remove them later.

once you’ve moved the lighting effect all the way across the image and over the other side, make sure you play it through at least once or twice to get a feel for it. this is what I have:

this is way, way too fast to me. that’s okay! we can mess around with the timeline settings to increase the delay to pretty much anything. I’m going to set it to 0.2 seconds per frame, with a longer setting for the first and last frame to give people a breather between the start and end of the effect. now my timeline looks like this:

and my gif looks like this!

that works better, i think. the more I’ve made gifs, the more I’ve allowed for pauses and slower animations; when I look back at some of the first ones I did, they feel way too fast. but it’s all up to personal preference, really, so mess around with the settings all you want until you get the vibe that you want.

you can also mess around with opacity. if you want something to fade into the background as it moves, use a white-to-black gradient instead of just stark black or white spaces. if you want the shine to be less prominent (not at all necessary here with such a small effect), change the opacity of the entire layer until it's subtle enough for you.

basically, the world is your oyster, and you can mess around with this as much as you want. this is my method; it does not have to be yours.

I hope this helps! happy making <3

[duhragonball]

Next Steps

Last night, I finished everything I had planned for the 2023 DB Apocrypha Liveblog, but it’s July, and I feel like there’s things I’m leaving unfinished.  It was always going to be this way, since the DBS manga and SDBH web anime are ongoing series, so there’s bound to be some new material that comes out before the end of the year. 

Mostly, it just feels gratifying to get all the stuff that I have covered out of the way.  Some of these things that I hadn’t seen before have confounded me for years, and it’s nice to finally have it in the rear-view mirror.  But I keep wondering if there’s anything else I’ve missed.  So I’m going to try to organize my thoughts here. 

Stuff I definitely want to cover in 2023

Dragon Ball Super: Broly (again)

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

Super Dragon Ball Heroes Episode 50

Dragon Ball Super manga ch. 88-98

I didn’t make any plans for Super Hero because I didn’t know when the home video release would be, but now that’s come and gone, and I’ve got a DVD of the movie just sitting next to my TV, waiting for me to go through it.  

The same goes for the manga version of Super Hero, since I had no idea how far along the manga would be by now, but it looks like Toyotaro has reached the part of the movie where Gohan fights Gamma 1, so I think it’s reasonable to assume the arc will be done some time this fall. 

And I can’t believe the “Supreme Kai of Time” arc in SDBH will last much longer than Episode 50, so I might as well knock that one out if and when it ever comes out on YouTube. 

I’ve covered the Broly movie before, but I liked the idea of going through it again in the same year I did the rest of the DBS material.  It’s just nice and neat that way.

Stuff I might want to cover, but probably not this year.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes manga

Toyble’s Dragon Ball AF doujinshi 

The Dragon Ball GT stage play

There’s not a lot left, honestly, and I could pull up other things, but I feel like I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel.  Toriyama’s other manga series would be nice to read, but I think that goes beyond the scope of a Dragon Ball liveblogging experience.  It’s more like a separate project, like my liveblogs of JoJo or Hellsing. 

The SDBH manga may be useful for helping me understand the storyline in the web-series, and at the very least, I could say that I’d done it.  The GT stage play was something I wanted to check out, but I couldn’t find subtitles for it, so I’d just be watching actors goofing around on a set with no idea what they were talking about.  One day, I hope to find a proper translation. 

The DBAF fan manga is kind of important, even if it isn’t official.  I mean, neither were the Korean and Taiwanese movies, but they still left a mark on the franchise.  For one thing, Toyble is widely assumed to be Toyotaro, who’s been drawing the DBS manga for years now.  Perhaps more importantly, the fan manga is the most coherent representation of the Dragon Ball AF legend.  I doubt it’s very good, but I think it would be worth looking over to dispel some of the mystique of the thing. 

Anyway, I’ll probably wait until September or October to continue, so I don’t have to make any hard decisions tonight.  Mostly, I just want to make peace with the way this project has concluded.  It was a much simpler thing to end the 2019 liveblog, because I ran out of episodes and movies to cover.  There was a clear stopping point.  Here, not so much.  

But for the next eight weeks, I’m gonna be focusing on my fanfic, so you can consider the liveblog closed for the time being.  I’ll update the index page for it, and that’ll be that.

[radiomogai]

hihi!! i hope you're having a lovely day!! i remember seeing a post from you explaining some tips you recommended for people who want to get into making their own archiving blogs, but i couldn't find it after searching through your blog. would you happen to be willing to share some tips on the topic again? sorry if this is a bother in any way ^^'' have a lovely day!! :-)

not a bother at all!!!

we found the ask, so we'll copy-paste what we said there and add a few extras!!

decide pretty early on if you want to do a general archive or run an archive with a specific topic/theme. if you can’t decide, then we recommend running a specific one at first, since it’s a lot easier to turn a specific archive into a general archive than to turn a general archive into a specific archive

if you’re able to, always reblog the version of the post that has a PT and/or ID already!! a brief check of the notes can show you any transcriptions that have already been done, especially if you don’t have the ability to do one yourself

avoid using slashes in your tags. if you put the character ’/’ in your tags, then the tag doesn’t work. this can save you a ton of trouble later on

also regarding tags, the simpler your tags are, the better. by this, i mean that you want tags you can easily type out regardless of what keyboard you’re using {no symbols you need to copy-paste every time, for example}, tags you can type quickly, and tags you can remember. while pretty tags are nice, it makes it a lot easier on both you and people using your archive if the tags used for organization are simple, straightforward, and easy to use

once again about tags, you want a tagging system that is relevant to the purpose of your blog. as an example, while tags for specific characters would fit on a blog that archives terms related to a specific media, on a general archive blog they’d easily become overwhelming and hard to remember. a blog that archives all sorts of LIOMOGAI terms would benefit from tagging genders as genders and alderns as alderns, but if you only archive kintype flags and nothing else, then tagging “kintype flag” on every post would become tedious and annoying

it’s also good to give your tagging system room to grow. i’m not really sure how to explain this, so i’ll give an example from our personal experience. we used to tag every gender related to an object as both “gender” and “xenogender”, even if the gender wasn’t stated to be a xenogender. we’re slow to change, so we were pretty stubborn about it for a while {we also didn’t understand why they weren’t xenogenders but that’s another topic}, but eventually realized that the way we had been tagging things wasn’t working for us or for our followers. it’s okay for your tagging system to change. LIOMOGAI is a growing, living, evolving community, with changing terminology, and if you run an archive for a long time then your blog and tags will probably reflect that

if you think not having a list of your tags will bug you later on, then keep track of which ones you use, even if you don’t make it public. it’s been years and we’re still finding tags that we used once and never again, which could’ve been prevented if we’d started keeping track from the get go

remember that you’ve got a community behind you!!! back when we started, it was just us and one or two other blogs dedicated to archival work, but these days there’s so many other archival blogs and coiners are a lot more aware of the existence of archives!! ask for help if you’re unsure on something, if you’re overwhelmed, if you at all feel that you can’t do it on your own. there’s no shame in asking for help. we’re always here if you have specific questions or need advice!!

if you use Tumblr on desktop, then we recommend using Xkit and turning on the setting that lets you archive a post on archive.ph or webarchive directly from Tumblr. similarly, browser extensions for these archives to make putting pages on there easier is super helpful

in blog settings, enable custom theme. this ensures that people can view your blog outside of dashboard view, which alongside making it way easier to browse, makes it possible for archive.ph and webarchive to actually archive your blog. a dashboard-only blog can't be archived on either of those

similarly, turn off infinite scroll on your blog. this, again, makes it easier to browse, makes it easier to put onto those archive websites, and has the added bonus of not playing into the infinite scroll trap. we also just recommend turning off infinite scroll for your Tumblr account in general so you view things in pages rather a limitless scroll, as it's easier to take a break and also find posts you lost, but that's a separate thing lol

we recommend tagging each post with the name of the term on it. Tumblr's search is hell, but tagging terms with their name makes it just that much easier to actually find what you're looking for

also from Xkit, some other settings that we find super helpful are quick reblog, tag bundles, and the mass tag replacer. they help a TON

even if you can't archive a post or put it in the queue right that second, put it in the drafts. people deactivate and blogs disappear all the time; several times we've found posts that have only had any surviving versions left because we saved them to our drafts

not necessary, but can be helpful: ask yourself, why archive? do you archive so you can have all the terms you like in one place? is your archive for you or is it a community resource? do you archive because you don't want posts to be lost forever? every answer is a correct answer, and answering these can help you decide your priorities, format of your blog, and generally help prevent burnout later on

hope these help!!

[ageless-aislynn]

Okay, frens, I’m about to probably be a lot less available once NaNo starts tomorrow. Which is kinda saying something, given how I’ve been pretty absent lately. Being sick sucks rocks through a straw. 😕

However, the exceptions will be if:

I’m stalling (despite the fact I’m probably panicking that I’m not writing at the same time 🤷‍♀️)

I’m blocked (in which case I might ask for prompts just to try to get something short going again)

My writering muse* is being a little jerk (there’s no cure for this 😣😛)

(*I just caught this weird typo and left it because “writering muse” felt appropriate for some reason, lol, kinda like she’s wandering around, maybe gonna write eventually... 😛)

Again, depending on how I feel/how things are going, I may start editing and posting things just to give me a much-needed serotonin boost. We’ll see!

I’m hoping going to write “The Price” (Frosthunter, The Flash, NSFW) in its entirety because I have a total of one (1) person at AO3 who has politely asked me about it a couple of times over the past - what, year? Two years? - since I first mentioned wanting to write it. Just when I’m about give up on it, this lovely person writes me a sweet note saying how they hope I’m doing well and that I’ll still write it one day. And that gives me the strength to keep fighting on, lol!

Despite the fact that, well, Zoom isn’t usually a laugh riot, “The Price” is intended to be rather explicit smut with a humorous slant. Just how explicit and how humorous... we’ll find out together! Even if it’s just me and that one lone person over at AO3, lol!

(If you ever wonder if your comment will make a difference, then I can promise you that yes, it definitely does. Just knowing that somebody cares is SO important. 🤗)

Secondly, I want to finish “Cupid’s Kiss” (Snowells, The Flash, NSFW) and “Guardian Angel” (Snowells, The Flash) at long last. 🤞😣🤞

This will probably close out my Flash fics for now. I wish I could’ve gotten them done sooner but... Life, right? 😕 I hope that anybody who still cares how they ended will get the chance to see them.

“Try” (aka the Big Beast of ReverseSnowThawne) still might randomly appear one day, despite being a thing that exactly zero (0) people probably want to read, lol. But I still want to see how it all works out and it has worldbuilding and there are already 3 chapters written so... We’ll see. It definitely has enough mileage to it to give me the 50k for this NaNo.

Over in the world of Halo... “15 Minutes” chapter 6 (John/Reader) and “Recreation” chapter 3 (Kai/maleReader) are in pre-planning. (“15 Minutes” is the rare beast of mine in that I actually have so many events still in store for it that I’ve done an outline. As a long-time pantser, that’s saying something, lol!)

“Choices” (tentative title, Noble Team x Reader, Halo: Reach) is something I’m still very excited about! It starts with the premise in chapter 1 where the reader meets Noble Team. At the end of ch1, you’ll choose who you’re going to go with and there will be links to the appropriate chapter that will conclude the story with you and either Carter, Kat, Jun, Emile, Jorge or Six (male and female versions).

I’ve always loved Choose Your Own Adventure type stories and after reading @lialacleaf​‘s awesome and super fun Master Chief x Reader interactive fic “The Medic,” I was inspired to try my own variation (mine is, of course, a very simplified version, you only make that one choice of who you’re going with but still! Similiar if simpler! 😁)

If you’d like to be tagged for any of that, just let me know. 😉

Flash Masterlist

Halo Masterlist

Anyway, that’s where I’m at right now. I have only a really basic NaNo playlist done but that can fall into place as we go along. 🎵💃🎵 I just mainly gravitate to songs with a good beat to type to, lol! This one is already on there...

“Sing Along” - Sturgill Simpson

Noble Team is kinda running to the beat in my GIF, lol! 🤷‍♀️😂

Anyway, it’s helpful to me to spell out my goals, hence why I wrote all of this. 😉 Good luck to those who are also participating in NaNo and happy November to those who aren’t!

🤗💖