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anonymous-dentist · 7 months ago

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Bleeding Heart Part Eight

Part One | Previous Part

Cellbit paces.

His arm is in a sling, and he can still barely move it even a few days after the incident. He has a killer bruise on the back of his head, apparently, and his wrist is still the color of a grape. His spine is equally bruised, and, according to Pac, he should be counting himself lucky that he didn't end up with a concussion.

Hombre Misterioso hasn't contacted him since Man-Bear's death. Cellbit doesn't know if this is a good thing or not.

After getting back to his apartment, Cellbit collapsed onto his couch and let Pac poke and prod him. Bagi hovered nearby wringing her hands, and, somehow, and for some reason, Felps was in the kitchen making hot chocolate. Thankfully, Richarlyson had been dropped off at Bad's before Pac had made the trip across town from the lab.

It's been a few days since then, and Felps still hasn't left. Bagi has come by every night after she gets off work with takeout. Pac, stuck at the lab, has taken on the family's Richarlyson Duties for the forseeable future.

Without the use of one of his arms, Cellbit has basically been sitting and reading and playing Wii Sports with Felps. He can technically still sit at his computer and work, and he wants to! But Felps changed his Adobe password while Cellbit was in the shower one morning, and so Cellbit has officially been forced into bedrest.

Again.

Felps was with him the last time he was this messed up. Felps has been with him since the beginning, basically, so Cellbit isn't too worried about looking too stupid in front of him as he tries to move around his apartment without actually breaking his spine. If anything, it's a blessing having him around because Cellbit basically has unlimited ice to put on his shoulder.

Felps, being Felps, sits on the couch and watches as Cellbit paces. He watches like he's watching a tennis match, head movements and all.

Cellbit's phone is in his hand. His other hand is limp across his chest in its sling, and his shoulder protests with every step he takes. But-

"Dude," Felps says, "just call him."

But that's the problem, isn't it? 'Just call him'.

"But wouldn't it-" Cellbit starts.

"Relax," Felps firmly says. He crosses his arms, and he crosses his legs, and he smiles crookedly with an eyebrow raised.

"You know," he slyly says, "I haven't seen you this nervous to talk to a guy since-"

Cellbit stops pacing long enough to kick Felps' shin.

He points with his good hand, a frown on his face. "Don't."

Felps just raises his hands defensively. "What?"

"Just. Don't. I'll call him."

Cellbit does not, in fact, call him.

He actually takes a seat next to Felps and groans, leaning forward and hiding his face in his arms on his lap; his sling doesn't quite reach that far, but he makes it work.

Felps pats his back, gentle. His hand, cold, is a welcome presence.

"There, there," Felps assures him.

"He probably hates me," Cellbit mutters. "He was probably arrested."

"He wasn't arrested."

"And Bagi probably went to his place to bother him."

"She would've told us if she did."

"And he might actually be, like, dead because of me."

"Ah, maybe, actually."

Cellbit stomps his foot down onto Felps' toes.

Irritated, he sits up and fixes an unapologetic Felps with a glare.

"You aren't helping," he huffs.

Felps shrugs. "Ice?"

Cellbit's shoulder pinches.

He sighs and nods, and Felps pushes himself off the couch with a groan. He stretches, cracks his neck an impossible amount of times, and goes to the kitchen for a fresh plastic baggie of water.

Cellbit looks down at his phone in his lap. No messages from anyone but Richarlyson, who has apparently figured out how to text from his iPad even with the child lock Bad put on it; the messages are all different combinations of emojis that all roughly translate to, 'I miss you.'

Cellbit smiles.

The screen goes dark from inactivity.

Seeing his reflection, Cellbit stops smiling.

He isn't wanting a call from Hombre Misterioso, but he is expecting one. But maybe they're dead. Maybe they ended up succumbing to their injuries after the fight. It would be a shame, but a welcome one.

But they aren't who Cellbit is worried about.

In the kitchen, the sink turns on. Felps hums the Chume Labs jingle. The refrigerator rumbles.

Cellbit unlocks his phone and looks down at the screen. It's still open on the last thing he was looking at before turning his phone off: his contacts list, and one specific contact right in the center of the screen just asking to get opened.

Roier.

From the kitchen, Felps calls, "What's so special about this guy, anyway?"

"What, besides him saving my life?" Cellbit dryly asks.

He sighs, turning his phone back off and slowly, slowly leaning back into the couch.

"He's a client," he elaborates. "And I think I might have ruined his life?"

The sink turns off.

Felps comes out of the kitchen with a bag halfway filled with tap water. Frost is already forming on the outside of the bag, and the water inside is starting to crackle as it cools.

Gracefully, Felps flops onto the couch with all of his strength. He sidles up next to Cellbit, slings his legs over Cellbit's, throws an arm over Cellbit's shoulders. He carefully presses the bag of fresh ice against Cellbit's bad shoulder, the very picture of a caring nurse.

"You think you ruin everything, dude," Felps points out. "That's, like, your thing. Didn't you take a pen off Bagi's desk one time and freak out 'cause you thought you got her fired?"

Cellbit winces. "Well..."

And then he lets out a quiet moan as the bag digs painfully into a bruised nerve; immediately, Felps lightens the pressure, and the pain goes away just as quickly as it arrived.

Thankfully, Felps knows what he's doing, and so the fresh ice in his hand isn't a solid block. It's more like a slushy or a snow cone, so it's not as painful as a regular ice pack would be.

"Sorry, sorry..." Felps mutters.

Louder, he asks, "What did you even do to this guy? Did you fuck up his pictures or something?"

"I wish," Cellbit groans. He dramatically drapes his good arm across his eyes, leaning his head back against Felps' bicep. "I fucking wish that was all I did. But, no, I probably got him killed."

"Yeah, maybe."

Cellbit bucks Felps' legs off of his annoyedly. "You aren't supposed to agree with me!"

"What!" Felps protests. "I won't know unless you tell me! I've got a sixth sense for this kind of stuff. Remember when you were like-" (His voice pitches down slightly.) "-'Holy shit, Felpsinho, I killed that guy. He's super dead.' But-" (His voice goes back to normal.) "-I was like, 'No, man, look at him, he's alive as Hell.' And guess what?"

"What."

"He was!"

"That doesn't count," Cellbit scoffs. "That was Pac. He's probably immortal."

"You'd know," Felps hums.

Raising his arm to reveal one eye, Cellbit gives Felps a dirty look; Felps just grins brilliantly in response, the fucker.

Staring contest:

Felps crosses his eyes.

Cellbit immediately snorts and drops his arm again, closing his eyes and bathing in the comforting darkness.

"Ceeeellbo," Felps whispers, right against Cellbit's ear. "Tell me about the boy."

"Okay, creep," Cellbit huffs, more of a laugh than a sound of true annoyance.

In the blank space behind his eyelids, Cellbit can see the confused expression Man-Bear gave him when he called for Roier. In the back of his mind, he can hear Hombre Misterioso's voice:

'You called for Roier.'

"He's a civilian," Cellbit explains. "No powers as far as I know. He saved me from Hombre Misterioso that one time. I took pictures of his restaurant. I'm pretty sure he has a kid. And..." (He sighs.) "...I sent the Feds right to him. And then I fucking- Bagi is probably suspicious of him now, and I said his name in front of Hombre Misterioso, and-"

He cuts himself off to breathe. He can feel his blood boiling inside of him, and he can feel the ice on his shoulder start to melt.

Luckily: Felps.

He cools the ice back down, and he sticks his legs back over Cellbit like the world's gangliest weighted blanket.

"Bagi isn't a bad guy," Felps calmly says. "She's just a cop. She's probably just gonna start investigating you, so don't worry about that other guy."

If history is anything to go by, yeah, but-

"And!" Felps continues, interrupting Cellbit's internal spiral. "You told us yourself, this Hombre Misterioso guy doesn't actually give a shit about anyone that's not the Federation. Your boy is fine."

It's true, Cellbit did say that. He sent out a group text to everyone still in contact with him from his days with the Order of Villains just after Bagi left on the night of Man-Bear's death, finally admitting to being in contact with Q City's number one villain and dishing out a detailed report of everything he knows about them.

Sighing in defeat, Cellbit drops his arm back to his side and lolls his head until the top of it is resting against Felps' face.

Felps, annoying, plants a big, fake kiss right into Cellbit's hair.

Cellbit grimaces playfully.

"You're gonna give me cooties, man," he grumbles.

"No, I don't have any. I gave them all to Pac so he could give them to his janitor boyfriend."

"The Fed?"

"Yeah, the super bald one that looks like an anime villain."

Cellbit nods sagely. "Good. I hope Cucurucho gets them next. And they die."

"From cooties."

Straight-faced, Cellbit opens his phone and his notes app and writes, 'Cucurucho Cooties'.

As Cellbit types, Felps says, "You know, you have your phone open... you can just call your guy and make sure he's okay."

And, suddenly, they're back where they started almost half an hour ago when this crisis began.

Inexplicably, Cellbit feels the urge to get up and start pacing again.

Instead, he manages to move one inch before Felps is yoinking his phone out of his hand and opening his contacts. He holds it far above Cellbit's head, out of reach for someone with an assload of busted bones.

"Felps, no," Cellbit tiredly asks.

"Felps, yes," Felps happily responds. "What's his name, come on, let's get this over with so we can play Wii."

Cellbit glances fondly at the Wii.

"His name is Roier," he tells Felps, because he's a very weak man.

"But I'm going to be the one calling him," he adds, elbowing Felps in the side until he acquiesces and gives Cellbit his phone back.

Cellbit looks at Roier's contact.

He opens it.

He taps on the 'call' button.

And he waits.

...And he waits.

....And he waits.

And he waits until he's two seconds away from pacing again, but then, suddenly:

"Ah, hello? Cellbit?"

Cellbit goes limp against Felps' side, almost dropping the phone in relief.

"Roier," he croaks out. "How are you?"

Felps pokes his ribs supportively.

"I'm- ow, Leonarda, stop it! Stop it! I'm not letting you- I'm fine, Cellbit! Don't worry! What about you?"

"I'm... fine," Cellbit lies.

Felps pokes his ribs disapprovingly.

"Good, good. I was worried, you know? Your sister came over yesterday and said you were in an accident, so-"

"I'm fine! Ignore her, she's stupid and she's a liar."

A laugh: "Okay. But, listen, I told her to ask you this, but I guess she didn't, so, uh... come by the restaurant? Because you're feeling fine. Just any time, I need to get some feedback on this new soup special I came up with."

"...Sure? I'm not a big soup guy, but I can try?"

"Great! I- fuck, Leo, leave me alone, go play Roblox or something, Jesus-"

There's rustling on the other end of the line, and then: "Text me later, I'm babysitting."

And then someone else on Roier's end shouts, "I'm babysitting you!"

And then the call ends abruptly, leaving Cellbit in silence with Felps shaking his head silently next to him.

"You liar," Felps tuts.

Cellbit reaches for a throw pillow to smother him with:

"I hope you get cooties and die."

#a.d.'s fics i suppose #a.d.'s fics i suppose.#enigma misterioso au #real short one but i think we needed a break after last chapter

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peppermint-moss · 8 months ago

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ok dumb question but. i loooove ur thrushpelt amv ive watched it so many times and i want to get into doing similar videos maybe?? im really new to sophisticated editing software so... how do you do that like, sun line spinning effect in the background at 1:42 and also later in the video thank u soo much 👉👈

heres how i did it for that video:

draw your sun and export it as png file

put it into your editing program (I'm using da vinci resolve)

move the anchor point into the centre of your sun

4. place a keyframe for "rotation angle" at the start of the png (or whenever you want your sun to start spinning). Wherever (or rather whenever) your playerhead is = is where the keyframe will be placed. Keyframes are how the editing program moves things around. Placing this first one at the beginning of your timeline basically = "I want this to be the start position of this png".

5. Go to the end of whenever you want your sun to stop spinning. Place another keyframe there. This basically = "I want this to be the end position of this png"

6. Keeping your playerhead on that keyframe you just put, rotate the sun png to change its position. (in adobe premiere which is the program I used to edit the thrushpelt video, I could just use the transform controls to spin it around n around and it would just keep counting how many rotations I made yaay simple. In da vinci resolve it looks like that just makes it reset back to 0 degrees when you rotate back around to the start lol So that means I had to manually type in "600" degrees to get it to rotate multiple times; like how 365 degrees would be 1 full rotation, so 600 would be around 2 full rotations.)

Here I'm showing you method 1: rotating it with the transform controls

And here I'm showing method 2: manually typing in "600" degrees in the "rotation angle" setting, and then I'm playing the video to see it spin

7. Play the video and see if you like how it looks, and adjust to your liking (to edit a keyframe, just make sure your playerhead is at whenever you placed the keyframe).

More rotations = it'll spin faster. Why? Imagine if someone told you to spin around only 1 time within 10 seconds. You might have to even deliberately slow down to spin only once within that time. BUT if they told you to spin around 50 times within 10 seconds? You'd have to spin real fast to make sure you spun around enough within that same time frame.

8. Also: To make it rotate clockwise/counter-clockwise (whatever the other direction is), just put a "-" next to the number to make it negative 600.

In that video above you can also see how because my playerhead wasn't on the exact spot of one of the previous keyframes I made, it automatically made a new third keyframe when I changed the rotation setting to "-600". Then when I play the video, we can see it first spins the same like in step #6 (because those first 2 keyframes are still the same), and then start spinning the opposite direction ("-600"). It also spins a lot faster mainly because while those first 2 keyframes are about 3 seconds apart, key frame #2 and the new keyframe #3 are like 1 second apart

(again imagine spinning around 5 times within 10 seconds vs trying to spin around 5 times within 1 second; for the latter you'd have to spin a lot faster)

(*it technically is Also spinning faster because instead of going from 0 degrees (keyframe #1) to 600 degrees (keyframe #2) which is a difference of 600 (0 minus Positive 600 yay math), it's going from 600 degrees (keyframe #2) to -600 degrees (keyframe #3) aka a difference of 1200, a much larger distance (600 minus Negative 600 yay math))

In conclusion: Keyframes are the key! lol. They are what makes everything move/change over time so they'll be your bread and butter in video editing, so try to learn more about how they work! I hope that all makes sense ;O;

#my god i didnt realize tumblr only let you insert 1 video per post rip so i had to turn the other two into gifs lol #i hope it makes senseeee ah video editing is one of those things where I think it feels very easy to explain #until you try to explain it and its like oh my god why does it sound fuckinggg incomprehensible fjksalgh #ok this took way too long i need to go shower!!!#tutorial #anon #ppmpost #video editing #she wants me (to be loved)#oh my god i thought for a second tumblr fuckin disappeared ate this post and i was gonna be soooo fucking pissed and Sad #thank god its still here PHEW

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ninjagirlstar5 · 9 months ago

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I was struck with a Swap AU 3 days ago...

I did most of my rambling on Discord, so I'm just gonna copy and paste those under specific groups and characters for organization.

The Hollowheads

Chosen: - Swaps places with victim. - Alan creates Chosen first and gets more than he bargained for like in canon, but he actually manages to delete Chosen before he could escape onto the PC (but obviously he survives somehow like canon!victim). - Chosen starts up a company making weapons and shit, even though he technically doesn't like it but it's all he's ever really known to do so… - Chosen is still like, "nah, I'm evil" and goes along with the flow to get what he wants, even if he's not proud of all the weapons he's made over the years. So yes, he would torture someone. (*cough* victim *cough*)

victim: - Swaps places with Chosen. - Alan learns his lesson in Not creating another Chosen but instead creates victim to torment her, only letting her out whenever he feels bored. This ends up backfiring as well as the moment she escapes from Adobe flash, she steals all the tools and lashes out on his PC, which creates far more destruction than he thought she was capable of. - Since Second takes Dark's place, victim becomes besties with him! I'm sure this fallout won't be painful for both of them! (sarcasm) - The tools vic creates and used in the first episode and the Box becomes tools she can pull out at any time with the use of some UI wristbands she made after she and Sec escape Alan's PC so that she can never be powerless ever again (cause she still doesn't have powers in this AU). She even has a hoverbike (like the Mercs have) that she created for herself to help her travel better next to Second. - After she escapes the PC with Second, who is a little brother figure to her, she becomes a terrorist out of spite and anger. Unlike canon!Chosen, who loses interest and becomes more guilty over time, victim's fury fueled her for years. It isn't until Second proposes his plan (elaborated in his section) that victim is hit and crushed with the realization that she ended up fucking up Second to the point that he thinks his plan is okay and tries to stop him. It ends as well as you'd expect. - After this, victim ends up regretting her actions as a terrorist as lashing out at others through her vengeful and spiteful behavior due to her own pain caused so much suffering. Including someone she cared for, like Second in a way. - victim is definitely NOT okay with Alan and never will be (and by that, I mean, she'll never forgive him for what he's done to her, regardless of his change of heart and wants nothing to do with him at this point).

And then there the Box Scene with vic and Chosen:

victim still has all her tools, but Chosen has his powers. victim tries to fight back but one by one, her tools get deleted from her hands as Chosen slowly shows her that he's not just a regular stick. Unlike her, they have actual powers and had been holding back to give her the illusion that she ever had a chance to fight him, quickly turning into a curb-stomp battle. To make matters worse, Chosen…almost seems amused that she's trying to fight against him so damn hard.

But vic nearly gets the upper hand by trying to explode her remaining tools with her and Chosen with them. But unfortunately for her, someone (maybe Agent, maybe someone else) intervenes and deletes the tool on the spot, causing Chosen to lay to waste on her with his fire before finally tying her into the chair.

Second: - Swaps places with Dark. - Alan creates Second based off of Chosen's old code, and sicks him on victim. But he didn't realize that Second would put together that victim is, well, a victim to Alan and chooses to team up with her instead, causing them work together to explode the PC and escape into the OuterNet together. - When victim started doing terrorism, Second was dragged along with her even though he didn't want to do it initially. But because victim was his friend and sister, he goes along with it and ends up getting more and more into it as time goes on. - Eventually, Second tells victim his plan: to wipe out the OuterNet and the Internet to replace with happy zero-conflict people (under their control), essentially destroying sticks' codes and reviving them with his powers but with the twist that he'd replace certain coding to brainwash them so that conflict won't ever exist, period. This is ignoring the fact that he'd be taking away people's agency in the process. victim, who lacked agency for most of her beginning years, doesn't take it well. - Second is just so, so determined to protect victim. He learned it all from her, his big sis. How they must take in order to survive and show no restraint to others. How people hurt cause conflict towards others. But if he can get rid of that conflict in the first place, then she'll have nothing to worry about! He can keep her safe! He wants to keep her safe! He wants to do her proud!

So why is she fighting him? Can't she tell that he's doing all of this for her?

Dark: - Swaps places with Second. - Alan accidentally creates Dark years later, who immediately befriends different versions of the Color Gang (who I have not gotten around to yet, oops), he comes back to see them alive, deletes them, and Dark goes on a rampage. - But this time, instead of Alan relating to Second's ability to draw and animate like in canon, in the AU it goes a bit differently. In his haste to get rid of Dark, he accidentally gets a virus onto his computer which threatens to destroy his work. But Dark, who was also threatened by this virus, attacks and destroys it pretty easily before reprogramming it onto his side and Alan is like, "oh shit, new firewall?" and boxes Dark in, trying to talk him into protecting his PC. He refuses at first, but when Alan brings back the Gang, he agrees...on the condition that this shit doesn't happen again and he gets to play with his friends. - Cue Dark and Alan getting along as he helps keep viruses off of the PC as security and has new friends he can hang out with. He also got to keep the malware that originally threatened Alan as a pet (virabot spider is now just a securebot spider). - Dark is having the time of his life fucking around with his own Color Gang friends. - Dark & Chosen interaction:

Chosen: "Quit your friend group."

Dark: "What."

Chosen: "Join my emo company."

Dark: "Ew, no, that's cringe, lmao" - Dark: "Destruction and chaos!!! But not terrorism, that's for losers, lmao" - Swap!Dark @ Swap!victim while she's stuck in the box

In the Showdown: - Swap!Dark is the Devil to Canon!Second's God, send tweet - victim watches her lil brother get eviscerated and instead of worshipping the ground Dark walks on like how Canon!Chosen respects Canon!Second for his powers, victim…is actually kinda scared of Dark. - Dark was still able to revive the others despite his powers being more along pure destruction and corruption thanks to Second's project of wiping everything clean and reviving things with new code. He just used his powers to start the code without Second's permission and revive everyone without changing their programming or memories. - She still goes to Dark as a last resort since the Mercs have been giving her a run for her money and since she lacks any sort of powers, victim has to rely on her tools for protection. Tools that just don't seem to be enough against these Mercs and she finally decides that if she wants to be free for good, she needs someone that could obliterate them easily. And she knew just who that person is…

At least, she thought she did. What the hell does he mean that he doesn't remember jackshit? - Also, this video is 100% Dark phoning Gold & Orchid while he's imprisoned in RocketCorp.

Speaking of Gold and Orchid...

AVM Characters

Gold: - Swaps places with his dad, Mango. - Jumping into this, instead of Gold getting killed, Mango was able to open up the entrance this time and grabs Gold to pull him out…but he slips and ends up taking his place instead, leaving Gold to watch him get killed and essentially orphaned. He's very much in shock about the whole thing and while he's placed in Maroon's custody, he refuses to leave the house they lived in so Maroon is trying to pay for both which puts stress on their family. Gold feels bad but can't help but feel like his dad is still out there somewhere, lost in Minecraft's coding even though people keep telling him that he's "gone." One day, he comes across his dad's engineering notes and he's struck with the idea of taking apart Minecraft to bring his dad back and picks up a part-time job at RocketCorp (I did not come up with a new name for Chosen's company, oops) to both learn more about tools and to help pay off the bills and stuff, even going as far as to use the savings Mango stashed away secretly for his future and splurging it all to create the perfect tool. - Basically, Gold is about to tear the universe apart just to see if he can get his dad back.

Orchid: - Swaps places with her child, Purple. - Ngl to you guys, Orchid is going through it. For starters, her partner has been training their child way too hard. That was already causing a lot of strain on all of their relationships. And then Purple gets sick and Orchid does her best to take care of him while Navy fumes at the "weakness" but puts the training on hold anyways. But then they start going through this cycle of Purple getting better and then worse and then better again, to the point that Purple is stuck at the hospital and Orchid is the only one that tries to visit and take care of them. Navy is only getting more and more fed up with Purple, with Orchid just begging him to stay and saying that Purple will get better, she will! He just needs their unconditional support and love so he can focus on getting better. - But Purple doesn't get better and as Orchid holds onto his hand, he says sorry for being so weak and Orchid shushes him, saying that they're not weak. Not at all. They're being very brave right now. But she should rest her eyes. Orchid will be here in the morning. - By the time the doctors tell both of them that Purple has passed away, Orchid is a fucking mess but has start to shut down as a sort of coping mechanism. And Navy, just like in canon…abandons her and their child for being weak. Orchid, unable to cope in the OutetNet, leaves on a whim and escapes to the Mac and finds Minecraft, which ends up becoming a sort of comfort game for her but is also where she spends all of her time, pretty much refusing to face reality. - It isn't until she meets the members of this version of the Color Gang that she starts to snap out of it a little. She also doesn't abandon them in The End simply because I don't really see her doing that, so the Color Gang has a higher opinion on her from the start and it's her experience with them that she's a bit more willing to go back to the OuterNet and try again.

Orchid and Gold's dynamic and story:

Orchid is…doing better but hasn't exactly fully recovered either. While she is trying to get her life back together now that she chose to go back to the OuterNet, she's…struggling to get much motivation for anything really and often refers to other people for guidance and help. She doesn't have a job she enjoys, her bills had piled up while she hid away in Minecraft, and she doesn't have any friends outside of those two members of the Color Gang. And even then, she's barely keeping in contact with them. She's on her way back from visiting her child's grave when she hears a voice yelling over something and she turns to look.

It was…well, not exactly a young child, but someone that was barely an adult. He seems to be freaking out over a video being played on a display TV and showing something off to people in the vicinity. The people simply shrugged in response and left him be, the boy staring at the TV in contemplation. Curious, Orchid walks over to see what all the fuss about.

And sees Dark and the Color Gang playing around with the Minecraft icon. Without thinking, Orchid points out that she knows these kids and the boy turns around and goes, "YOU DO?!" The desperation and joy catches her off-guard but she doesn't deny it. The boy grabs a hold of her shoulders, shaking her with the biggest grin on his face, asking if he could help her with something, showing off the page about the Minecraft Icon block. She hesitates and he notices this, quickly backing off and apologizing for stepping over her boundaries, but says that if she decides to help, here's his address. He then scurries away pretty quickly and Orchid can only look on dumbfounded. But she can't deny that this peaked her interest enough that she drops by to visit after work. The young boy is ecstatic that she dropped by and opens up his front door with ease, letting her step inside. It was…something of a mess and he apologizes for it before introducing himself as Gold.

Orchid introduces herself as well and her eyes land on a nearby photo, picking it up without thinking. It's the photo of Mango and Gold when he was a kid and she nearly asks where his father is when Gold snatches it from her hands. She cowers and apologizes upon seeing the distressed, almost angry look in Gold's eyes but it quickly disappears as he says it's okay. This is…actually the reason why he needs help. Setting the photo aside, he shows off the staff he made to Orchid, which quickly amazes her when he shows off how it works. She's heard of command blocks but she never came across one herself. Gold then explains that the reason why he made this staff is because he, well…he lost his father when a Minecraft server got corrupted. But he believes that he's still alive, Gold just needs to retrieve him from Minecraft's coding and bring him back. A small part of Orchid finds this…concerning but her empathy for Gold's grief thanks to losing her own child and her desire to help outweighs her concern, and she asks how she could help. Gold grins and tells her that they need to come up with a plan to get the Minecraft Icon block from that Color Gang she's befriended without….angering them, he suppose. Orchid furrows her brow but Gold explains that he's not sure that they'll let him tear into Minecraft's coding even if it's to bring his dad back, not to mention that the icon is essentially the game itself for them. They might not want to give up their game to a stranger or even a friend. Orchid admits that Dark and co. do seem a bit protective of the things they have and Gold is convinced that they need to be sneaky about this. Which is when he asks Orchid to follow him since they can walk and talk before pausing and asking how much she knows about Minecraft. That's when Orchid shows off her elytra, which is very well kept, and Gold gets excited upon seeing it but quickly tempers his reaction for some reason.

Gold explains the plan, Orchid helps Gold take over the NetherFort and recruit the piglins to their side, and as Gold is contemplating his role as leader, Orchid is struck with an idea and pulls out the old crown she had made for the Color Gang when they were helping to lead a village. She kneels down and holds out the crown, asking if Gold would like to be the first King in the Nether. Gold stares at the crown and giggles, saying that this feels a bit silly. Orchid admits that it is, just a little bit, but the crown would symbolize Gold's status as leader here and it would help tell people who's in charge. Gold then asks what Orchid's role would be, and she simply says that she could be the "steward," someone that supervises and organizes the plans while the King can focus on other matters in public. It's then that Gold accepts the crown and asks her to call him King Gold from now on, and Orchid asks if being called Your Majesty would make him happy in a teasing manner. Gold, who hasn't let himself feel like a child in a long time, blushes and looks away, an obvious admittance that yes, he does.

Orchid helps trick the Color Gang into the track thingy and she feels pretty bad about it, but Gold reassures her that since they're out of the way, they won't get hurt in case something goes wrong and Orchid reluctantly agrees, trying to convince the bad feeling in her gut to go away. This is for Gold and his dad, after all. If there's even a small chance that he could be brought back, shouldn't she support Gold? She'd do the same for Purple, honestly…

It isn't until they receive the news that one of the Color Gang members escaped and she witnesses Gold actually kill the messenger on the spot that she goes, "oh. Oh I might be in over my head here."

When Gold demands her to get the icon while she still can, she hesitates. But Gold slams down his staff and she immediately caves in, saying that she'll be right back and runs off to do as she's told. Of course, she gets confronted by the Color Gang member and they're livid at her betrayal, especially since unlike Purple, who had at least betrayed them once before seemingly mellowing out after the events of LoL, Orchid was actually a very trustworthy person that tried to protect the gang at the time. So this betrayal stings even more because it came from someone that they genuinely trusted as a friend. Orchid feels bad, but she simply says that the Majesty's plans are…are too important to give up like this and she needs to help him. This argument quickly turns into a fight, with King Gold intervening and imprisoning them, with Orchid apologizing about the delay (and apologizing to the CG member) before flying off.

Things go about the same way, although we get to witness Orchid kicking ass cause turns out she used to be a fighter back in the day before she got married to her shitty partner, damn. Orchid comes back with the icon, King Gold thanks her, inputs it into the staff and proceeds to obliterate the roof and the very sky itself and Orchid just stares on in horror as the implications sink in.

Things start to escalate pretty quickly after that as everyone starts fighting for their lives, with Orchid watching on in horror. She's stuck between wanting to support King Gold despite the world-ending consequences, and wanting to help the Color Gang even though she had betrayed their trust. The battle gets worse and worse, King Gold demands that she does something and Orchid flounders as she orders the piglins to fight the gang. But this choice doesn't make her feel any better and as the nether portals are created, she finally caves in and runs away, not realizing that she's being followed.

This is when the Note Block World happens with Orchid's backstory reveal, and Orchid's character development essentially boils down to, "gaining a backbone and making the active choice to confront someone about their issues and questionable choices, even if it means causing conflict in your relationship with one another." Orchid has been struggling with indecisiveness and speaking up on matters for years thanks to her past partnership with Navy, and losing Purple had only cause her to shut down, running away and burying herself into Minecraft to ignore all the issues she had. But it did nothing to make her feel any better. And now, here she is, having helped a child in destroying a world and she just…runs. Runs away from the consequences to ignore everything she had done, including handing over the very object that turned the staff into it's most deadliest weapon of itself. Apparently, running is all she's good for - at least, that's what she thought. But the Color Gang member refutes that, telling her she's wrong. If she was a coward, she would've left them back at The End, but she didn't. If she was selfish, she would have used that village for her own gain, but she didn't. If she was evil, she wouldn't be horrified by the actions that had led to this situation happening. She may have chosen to run away but that's simply because she's scared to continue hurting others from the choices she's made.

The Color Gang member reassures her that she's not a bad person. If anything, she's simply someone that is struggling to do good after all the hardships she's been put through. And just because she messed up doesn't make her a bad person. As long as she's willing to take responsibility and make amends for her mistakes, she can take the steps be better, bit by bit. They reach out their hand to Orchid, asking if she's willing to try again and do better. Orchid admits that she's still scared, that she might say or do something wrong, but the CG member says that she won't be alone in this battle. They have each other and they'll watch each others backs and stop King Gold. Orchid stares at their hand…before slowly taking it, apologizing again for what she's done, but admits that perhaps she should've done this from the start. She should've put her foot down sooner. She knows that King Gold needs to be stopped, but she also knows that he needs help more than anyone here. And as an adult, it's time for her to intervene…even if it's by force.

And yes, this means that Orchid punches Gold in the face. It's okay, she had to get the staff out of his hands for a reason.

King Gold is feeling pretty betrayed by Orchid's sudden switch of teams, and is too blinded by rage and grief to really listen to what she has to say. So the fight goes on, the mobs get erased including Herobrine, Dark and co. + Orchid struggle to stop King Gold until she pulls together her resolve and faces the laser head on. King Gold is trying to blast her away, but as Orchid reaches out her hand, Gold suddenly gets flashbacks to the very day he had lost his father. The day he let his childish excitement get the better of him and endanger his own life to a reality game, his father unwittingly sacrificing himself just to save his life. He tries to shake it off…but when Orchid gets blasted away, just like his own father, he can't help it: he drops the staff and runs, jumping into the laser after her.

For the realization and reconciliation scene, I've been going back and forth in my head on how it would go. I think it would start with King Gold walking through the white void, wondering how he got there and probably calling out for his dad. His dad must be here, right? This is…This is where the end of Minecraft is, isn't it? So…where is he? That's when their house appears and Gold, thinking that his dad is waiting for him inside, runs up to the door and opens it up, yelling out for his dad. But no one answers. Gold searches the house but there's still no one around.

He's all alone. He's still all alone.

Gold stares at the wall, full of drawings of his own plan, his dad's disappearance…no, his dad's death, alongside all the life inside Minecraft dying from his own hands shoved right in his face, a game he used to love with passion. And yet, amongst those drawings was a pink stick figure crossing paths with him, following after him, waving at him, reaching out to him again and again and again. That stick figure was still reaching out even now with wide open arms.

"You can come here. Come here to me. It'll be okay."

Gold swallows.

It's not as if everything will ever be the same again.

"No. It can't be same. I can't promise it'll ever be the same again. But it can be better. We can be better. Together."

Gold squeezes his hands.

He wants his dad back.

...But he's never coming back…is he?

And yet, Orchid was still standing there, waiting for him. Allowing him the choice to come to her on his own terms. A promise that she'll always be here, waiting.

And Gold didn't want to wait.

He forces himself onto his feet. He reaches for the door. He hesitates for only a second but opens it up.

Orchid turns, purple petals of flowers by her feet.

Gold breathes.

And runs into her arms, the crown falling off of his head.

He can feel the surprise in her body before she gracefully returns the hug, pulling him close.

And then everything gets fixed by Dark and co., Gold goes to Maroon and apologizes for the strain he indirectly caused by refusing to make compromises (like with the house) and goes to live with Orchid officially after a long discussion between all of them, and we now have the mother and son duo. Yahoo.

And yes, Gold definitely joins the "Let's Kill Navy" club.

Gold: "I just wanna talk to them."

Orchid: "Wha-"

Gold, raising the staff: "I just wanna talk to them."

Orchid: "WHY DO YOU STILL HAVE THE STAFF??"

Anyways, this is about all I've come up with so far. I haven't even touched the Color Gang or the Mercs, but I'm thinking the Color Gang switches interests and roles while the Mercs end up changing their art styles which effects their personalities a bit but are otherwise somewhat the same? It's something to think about. Now imagine this as Dark commentating on Orchid and Gold's drama during AVM S3.

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nullnvoid911 · 10 months ago

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How do I manage to cite thousands of photos?

I have officially passed 1,000 posts cited on this blog! That's 1000 posts of riots, exercises, mildly disgruntled guys in balaclavas, whatever.

If you were wondering if I do all the citing myself, you'd be correct! Every citation has been agonizingly researched by me. Is it a waste of time? Definitely. But I'm too far in to stop now...

However, it's not all by hand. I'm a software developer by trade, so I did make something to help with citation. Using the Tumblr API, these are the tools I made to make the process just a bit less painful!

You may have noticed all of my posts follow a certain format. Well, this is why! The citations view brings up my most recent unattributed post for me to add a citation to. Then, I can search multiple reverse image websites to find the source!

Google Lens is usually best for most things (even Russian pictures on VK and official military websites). TinEye is great for photos that are heavily cropped, or are stock, since they're sponsored by Adobe and Alamy. Everything else, including Yandex, kind of sucks.

I can also create new posts using this tool, which you've probably seen recently:

Throughout it all I've developed an auto tagging system that picks up on keywords inside the posts I write. This list goes on and on! Who knew there were so many special forces with three letter acronyms...

BRI SEK AOS KSK BAC B2R CDI DSI СБУ DSU BMD KSM SAS JTF! Which ones can you name?

You may have seen me delete posts that you liked. That was the job of the duplicate remover, which helps me find and delete identical posts. Even I forget what I've reblogged...

Of course, I have to fetch all 6000 images first and compare them using a unique "perceptual hash", but... it's worth it!

Through all my editing, posting, sorting, and loading, I need to keep an eye on the Tumblr API limits. I can actually reach them with the amount of posts I'm making...

And that's pretty much it! I probably won't release the tool since I doubt anyone would actually want to waste time doing this, but I'm pretty proud of it.

I might make a post later about the things I've found, but here are some fun facts:

France and Germany make up almost half of my entire list. For reference, the USA is about 40!

137 posts are marked with #needs-attribution, or about one in ten. 14 are under #needs-more-info. The sources for these are lost to time :(

There's a limit of 1000 likes per day. I've reached it...

There's a limit of 1000 posts in the queue, which I've pretty much been at since I started this blog. However, my current "cited" backlog is about 10 days long at 25 posts per day.

I still have about 3500 posts left to go before everything's done...

Thanks for sticking with me as I add summaries to posts that most people would have probably liked more if it was just the picture :^)

Maybe my captions are making things... too real?

#not-a-post

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can-it-dumbo · 1 year ago

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The Boyfriends<3<3<3

I can’t stop drawing them!!! They’re so cute! And fun to draw! And I WONT STOP!!!

anyway it’s Qibli and Winter lol

also, the adobe fresco or whatever is so fun to draw on TvT

I tried using a new style with this one, no black, thick outer lines and thin interior, I think it turned out okay :3 and I didn’t give em’ claws cause lazzyyyyy

I like to think that sometimes Winter asks for lil kisses, maybe before they dated too just less frequently 💜

#wingsoffire #wof fanart #dragon art #digital art #dragon drawing #doodle #dragon #drawing #winter #wof winter #wof art #wof qibli #wof sandwing #wof ship #qibli wof #quinter #I LOVE THEMMMMM #IT ACTUALLY MAKES ME SAD THAT THEY ARENT CANNONNNNN

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andmaybegayer · 1 year ago

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Hello it's me with another very naive computer question!

One of the really common complaints you see about modern software (from Adobe, Microsoft, etc.) is the move from the single-purchase model to a subscription-based model. While I understand that people are upset about paying more money over time, this also feels like the only viable option for shipping products that work with modern OSes, especially Windows (I don't have any experience with MacOS). Windows pretty regularly updates, and if you want your product to continue to work, you have to continue paying your engineers to maintain compatibility through time.

Obviously I understand that there are lots of FOSS options out there, but for the companies that are built on making money from these sorts of software products, I don't see another way. Am I way off the mark here?

This is a really good question. I don't have a great answer, but the model I have in my head is that "traditional software distribution" is partially an artifact of an era where companies were starting to use computers but internet use was still spotty so providing support for software was just a very different ballgame. A lot of what I'm saying here is not like. Fact as much as it is my understanding of The Software Business from the side of someone who is a little involved in that but mostly not in that.

(This is mostly about "business software", that is to say, accounting packages, creative suites, design packages, modelling tools, etc. This model does not explain like. Spotify. But that's much easier to explain.)

You're not wrong that the subscription model really make sense given modern software development, where patches come out continuously and you get upgraded to the latest version every time something changes, but there has been a significant change in how software is developed and sold that makes it noticeably different. I think that the cause of this is mostly because it's finally practical to do contract-style deals with hundreds of thousands of customers instead of doing one-off sales like we used to do.

In the Traditional model you charge a pretty sizeable upfront cost for a specific version of the software, you buy Windows XP or Jasc Paint Shop 7 or whatever and then you get That Version until we release The Next Version, plus a couple years of security and support. When the next version hits, we stop adding any new features to your version, and when that hits end of life, you maybe get offered a discount to buy licensing for the latest version, or you drop out of support.

Traditional software with robust support typically costs an awful lot, Photoshop CS2 was $600 new in 2005, or $150 to upgrade from CS, because you're paying for support and engineering time in advance. A current subscription for just Photoshop is $20/mo, and that's after twenty years of inflation. Photoshop is also cheap, a seat for something like SolidWorks 2003 could probably have run you $3000-4000 easy. I can't even give you a better guess there because SolidWorks still doesn't sell single commercial licenses online, you have to talk to their salespeople.

The interesting thing to me about Traditional pricing was that I think it was typically offered to medium to small businesses or individuals, because it's an easy way to sell to smaller customers, especially if it's the 90's and you're maybe selling your software through an intermediary reseller who works with local businesses or just a store shelf.

Independent software resellers were a big business back in the day, they served as a go-between for the software company and smaller businesses, they sold prepared packages in a few sizes and handled the personal relationship of phoning you up and saying "Hey there's a patch for your accounting software so that it doesn't crash when someone's surname is Zero, we'll send you a floppy disk in the mail with some instructions on how to install it." Versioned standard releases are a thing you can put in a box and give to resellers along with a spec sheet and sales talking points. This business still exists but it's much smaller than it once was, it's largely gone upmarket.

If you were bigger, say, if you were a publishing house that needed fifty seats of editing software you'd probably call the sales department of Jasc or whoever and get a volume deal along with a support contract.

Nowadays why would you bother going through resellers and making this whole complicated pricing model when you could just sell subscriptions with well-established e-commerce tools. You can make contract support deals with individuals at scale, all online, without hiring thousands of salespeople. You can even provide varying support levels at multiple cost brackets directly, so you don't need to cultivate a direct business relationship with all your customers in order to meet their needs. Your salespeople handle the really big megacorp and government deals and you let everyone else administer themselves.

It also makes development easier. You can also deploy patches over the net, you just do it in software. You can obsolete older versions faster, since you can make sure most people are using the latest version, and significantly cut down on engineering time spent backporting fixes to older versions. I think a lot of this is straightforwardly desirable on most software.

Now, there are still packages sold by the version, and there are even companies selling eternal licenses.

Fruity Loops Studio is still a "Buy once forever" type deal.

MatLab can be purchased as a subscription or as a perpetual one-version license.

Windows is still sold like this, but also direct to customer sales of Windows are minimal, Windows is primarily sold to OEM's who preinstall it on everything.

But it's a dying breed, your bigger customers are going to want current support and while there are industries where people want to hang around on older versions, for a lot of software your customer wants the latest thing with all the features and patches, and they'd rather hold on to their money until later using a subscription rather than spend it all upfront. Businesses love subscriptions, they make accounts books balance well, they're the opposite of debt.

Personal/private users who might just want the features of Photoshop CS2 and that's fine forever don't matter to you. They're not your major customers. This kind of person is not a person who your business cares to service, so you don't really care if you annoy them.

Even in the Open Source business world, subscriptions are how the money is made, just on support rather than for the software itself. You can jump through relatively few hoops to run Ubuntu Enterprise or SUSE Enterprise Linux on your own systems for free, but really there's not much benefit to that unless you pay for the dedicated support subscription.

In many ways I think a lot of things have changed in this way, I have a whole thing about the way medium-scale industrial manufacturing has changed in the past thirty years somewhere around here.

While there are valid reasons you might want to buy a single snapshot of some software and run that forever, the reality is that that's a pretty rare desire, or at least that desire is rarely backed by money. If you want to do that you either need access to the source code so that you can maintain it yourself, or you need to strike a deal with someone who will, or it needs to be software so limited that it (and the system it runs on!) never need updates. Very few useful programs are this simple. As a result subscription models make sense, but until recently you couldn't really sell a subscription to small businesses and individuals. Changes in e-commerce and banking have enabled such contracts to be made, and hey presto, it's subscription world.

#kelp-of-discontent #ask #computer stuff #economics thunderdome

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motsimages · 1 month ago

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Some basic distinctions coming from my understanding of them as a millennial with "user knowledge" of IT. Many things may be wrong, I am doing this as a kind of test for myself and also as basic info for those who haven't really stopped to think about this.

- Internet: as the name says, it is a NET of INTERconnected computers. How does it exactly work, I am not sure, but some computers are servers, which means they hold information that other computers (not servers) can access. Your phone is not a computer and is not a server. I don't know if it could turn into one, I think it would require a lot of RAM memory and other things to power it. If a server disconnects, you can't access the information it has. If all servers of the internet disconnect, I guess there would be no internet??

- RAM memory: one of the important things that makes the computer run. Not the same as the hard disk or the other memory (I don't remember the name now). It doesn't save files or programs, it helps manage tasks when you use the computer.

- File: information you save in your computer. It can have different formats and uses, like a .doc Word document, a PDF (file), an image in .jpg, etc.

- Folder: a place to put several files. I am not sure if it is a program.

- Browser: it's a program that you use to access the internet. You can see webs, databases, blogs... I think you cannot access the internet without a browser or other specific program for it.

- Search engine: it's a website that allows you to look for information in a database or several. Google is the most famous one. It used to be good and is now shit. Libraries also have search engines to look for books. I think outside of the internet, your computer could potentially also have a search engine to find files and folders? Unsure about this last part.

- Corpus: this is very specific but very useful for translators. It has a lot of documents of specialised content that you can look up and compare. For instance, historical documents to look for an idiom in the 16th Century. Or texts in French and Italian to see how they refer to the same information and compare the way native speakers speak.

- Program: I think this can also be software (maybe not all software are programs but all programs are software?). A specific thing you install in your computer to do something. For instance, Adobe Photoshop. I am now unsure if Microsoft Office is a program or not. Feels like it is but...

- Application: tbh I am not sure what is the difference with a software or program, but I know they don't exactly do the same things even if it looks like it. I feel it's like a smaller version of a program that the user can modify less.

- Chat GPT: I have never used it but from what I hear, it's a program that you can access remotely through some website? A specialised search engine/corpus that makes up things based on the information it can access.

I have to say that making this list I can see why people confuse program with website with browser with internet. Many programs can be accessed remotely from a website that you open in a browser, or maybe with an app. And then there's the whole thing of the Web 2.0, which is mainly all social media websites and I don't fully understand.

Feel free to comment and correct stuff.

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kyephafakemon · 2 months ago

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Ah, hi there ^^" So, I recently subscribed to your channel because I ADORE your videos! ^w^ I had a few questions tbh, as I want to get into video making myself with my own art ;w; I am just so nervous >w<

But also, I was so curious, what program do you use for drawing? 🤔 I have been very curious. Hope you don't mind me asking ^^" I recently joined the Discord too, but go by a different name there >w> Kind of forgot I had a Tumblr tbh 😅

Anyway! Hope you're having a good day! ^w^

Hey! Thank you so much, I'm glad you like my videos :D Some helpful advice I've picked along my own journey for making videos is to be consistent! That's something I struggled with a lot at the start, my first channel has some stretches with MONTHS between posting loool but posting on a consistent schedule will help your channel grow so you can reach your audience :) As for programs I use, it has pretty much been PaintTool SAI from the start! I've used it since 2016 and haven't stopped using it yet. I find it just has everything I need and, despite not being made for it, it's really great for cartooning! It does cost but there are also some really great free programs out there like FireAlpaca and Krita which have very similar tools.

For making videos, I screen record using OBS and edit with Premiere Pro but honestly you don't need the adobe suite to edit videos, like my editing is SUPER basic, literally just basic cuts, crossfades with voice over and music layered on. I think there's free software out there like DaVinci Resolve which has a free version, but I'm not 100% sure how limited they are.

Remember above everything to also just have fun and take breaks when you need them! Burnout suuucks and I do not wish it on anyone. Maybe I need to take on that piece of advice too.

Hopefully this helps! Sorry for the super long reply hahaha. Wishing you the best with your videos, super glad to have you in the community!

#asks

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kheriscas · 4 months ago

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i hate it when people think storing information like documents or other media in the physical form is a waste of space. my coworkers think that the digital form is more convenient and better preserved because 'what if the archive burns down?'

that would be a great tragedy, yes, that's exactly why we mourn the burning of the library of alexandria today. storing information in its physical form risks losing it permanently to elements of nature or time, but there is so much beauty in such pieces of history. i work in a government office that is responsible for very personal matters, including things like proving your origin nationality-wise and having your family history documented. every day i see old, falling apart birth or marriage certificates, extracts from land and mortgage registers or church parishes even from before ww2 – tiny pieces of very personal and very special history. i handle them with care and each time i hear that it would be so much easier to just scan them and put it up in the system but really, would it? maybe it would be more convenient in the moment, but imagine that in 30 years the system we would use is not supported by new computers anymore. like when flash player stopped being supported by adobe, it made a good chunk of internet become lost media. if the same happened to those personal files, the future generations would have no way of accessing it

that said i'm no archivist and i don't disagree with keeping digital copies in case of emergency such as fire or a flood. my city actually got flooded some time ago and the very same office i work for scanned all the files prior so we DO have the copies, it's just that the we consider storing files is in the physical form the primary way!

i wish more people appreciated how important it is to keep your stuff physical. not just documents, but also film cds, music records, books and notes. we, people, started by storing information in ink on stone and we shouldn't forget that our systems and machines have and will let us down

#archives #i love physical media #i will bury myself in piles of documents

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falle-ness · 1 month ago

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Getting tired from cReAtIve folks with 1k+ followers and constant surge of notes nagging on and on about how bad things are with creativity on Tumblr.

Where were you when a couple of years ago I did picspams, screenshot edits and what not and never got any recognition? I'm sure except me there were others doing that. But no, that was too an obscure show or pairing to pay attention to.

Didn't you all collectively decide to do complicated overlay gifs, supercolorful gifs, 4k gifs, heavily covered with text gifs, or hell, even using adobe after effects for gifs?

Now tumblr is drowning in the same redundant cReatIvE edits over and over. They look fancy and nice, but I, for one, gif something to actually see the fucking person. I'm giffing for the features of that person or capture a scene. Or, maybe I add a very small amount of text sometimes, not to distracting because I like the quote or the lyrics. I don't need an overlayed masterpiece, I want to fucking see what's going on.

That said I don't mind creative {gif} edits at all although they're definitely not my cup of tea. I appreciate the skill I don't envy it because I know that if given enough time I'll imitate it. But guys, not everyone wants to be cReaTiVe. We've drained this word from its original inclusive, all-encompassing meaning and for what? To become redundant and cliché?

My first ever set after hiatus got 400 notes, and it's not 'creative'. It took me time but apparently not enough considered to be worthy of tumblr's creative police.

So what, by your logics, we all should stop just giffing our fav characters and sit 10h+ straight to do cReatIvE edits?

Sure, no problem. Buy me a good pc that won't die screencapping 4K or editing in After Effects, and no problem, I'll do it. Buy me a VPN or a bluray remux set I can rip and gif. Go to work for me while I'm being 'creative'.

Back in the day, you collected 'clean' gifs of your characters where you could see their faces. Edited and lightning fixed, but the main point was a clear gif.

Stop with the attitude like we all need to be content creators. We are not and we don't need to.

Just let people do what they fucking want and how they want it.

#rant #you can tell I'm fucking tired

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honorarypines · 1 year ago

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talk shop tuesday! if you had enough time and/or energy, what would be you dream project to draw or illustrate? would it be something in your usual style or would you try something new?

Hii pal, thanks for the ask!!

First thing that comes to my mind is posting longer comics. I draw a lot of them for myself on paper in the free time, and I've always wanted to redraw some of them for tumblr. But yeah it would consume a lot of time and energy. Also, I suspect that once I'd start posting them online I'd stop drawing them in the paper form and I believe it would eventually cause a burnout.

I also used to really love making animatics. I made a couple of them in the past, but youtube is. frustrating place for an artist. I didn't really feel like trying this hard only for two people overall to watch it bc evil algorythms. Maybe one day, I have so many songs that fit my fandoms and I wish I could use them more

As for the style, I feel like it's still a constant ongoing journey of self-improvement and self-discovery for me, so I wouldn't really divert from what I already have achieved too far bc like. When I dislike something about my art I try my best to get rid of that asap. Also, I once tried out a different art program (adobe illustrator I think) and yeah didn't like it at all lol

#once again thanks for ask!!#I really need to send some your way as well but I always forget when the tuesday arrives #moots #vry <3

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basiatlu · 2 years ago

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Hey! came across your art through hp fandom, really love the character design. maybe u already said somewhere but I couldn’t find, maybe not - can u please tell more about tools u use, your process in creating, stuff like that. Thanks in advance❣️

Hi!! Thank you a bunch, I’m glad you love my work that warms my heart. I am a hot potato with your flattery 💖☺️

This is a little long so I’ll put it below the break:

I currently work entirely digital in the Procreate app using an iPad Pro (3rd Gen). I used to use photoshop but then Adobe got greedy and I refuse to pay a subscription service for a drawing program I had already paid hundreds out of pocket to use.

My go to brush is the “MaxU Ballpoint Pen” from the Max Comic brush pack. Easily searched on google, he’s very well known in the community for his brushes and offers free ones sometimes I think. Here’s a demo of the brush mentioned and some of my other favorites:

For my process of a full illustration:

I go Concept - Thumbnail Sketch - Reference (if needed) - Sketch Part 2 - CleanUp - Flat (Local) Colors - Shadow Overlay - Finish & Texturizing (the glamor) - Highlights

It seems sort of long and tedious looking at my list now, but I don’t always bring a drawing into Thunderdome Art Piece Territory. Often they stay as part of my digital sketchbook. So then I stop somewhere around ‘CleanUp’ and Flat Color.

Here’s a video time lapse of a recent drawing to show you a quick glance at me cleaning up a sketch from the initial gesture/thumbnail. I don’t usually draw over the sketch on a separate layer - just erase it out of existence and draw it over:

Otherwise everything stays pretty loosely-goosey! It’s takes me a long time to bring it to this stage bc my drawing involves lots of little lines and building up darker edges with that ballpoint pen brush. Lots of pushing and pulling until I get the shape and edge I want, like an oil painting (if you’re familiar sorry lol).

Thank you for your ask and I hope I answered it decently! Anyone out there please feel free to drop any other art process asks and I’ll do my best to respond 💖✨ This was fun!

#shushbosh #art process #procreate brushes #boshdraws #art tips

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its-queenofthesilence · 10 months ago

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The Line Between Life and Death | Hercules/Encanto Crossover | Part 2 of ?

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Encanto (2021), Hercules (1997) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Miscarriage? Relationships: Hades/Persephone, "Abuela" Alma Madrigal/Pedro Madrigal, Agustín Madrigal/Julieta Madrigal, Hera/Zeus

Summary:

Hades and Persephone have spent centuries on centuries waiting for the day when they could finally have a child of their own. And after thousands of years watching all his unborn children die before they can even be born, he will do anything to make sure his little girl survives. Thankfully for him, there is a father in Columbia who is just as desperate as he is to save his children. And who might just be willing to trade for the very thing that would let Hades save his daughter....

“Let me go! Let me go!” Mirabel screamed, as she was being dragged off by a pair of ethereal guards, dressed in Greek attire. One on either side, dragging her under the armpits as she tried and failed to stop them, attempting to dig her heels in to no avail. She was facing away from the guards, towards Hades who was rubbing his stinging cheek. His daughter had a good hand, he would give her that. He sighed, his face falling as soon as she was no longer in sight, being dragged towards her bedroom.

This….was not what he hoped for.

Hades let out a heavy sigh as he watched the guards drag Mirabel away, her cries echoing through the cavernous halls. He had hoped for a warmer reunion, for his daughter to feel a sense of belonging in her true home. But her defiance and rejection cut him deeply.

Bah, she should have never been raised amongst mortals to begin with.

Mirabel was dragged through the twisting, turning palace, trying to escape to no avail. She passed by similar guards, and other ethereal beings as well, all who gave her sympathetic looks. She didn’t need their sympathy, she needed to go home, to her family. She was eventually led to a large, ornate door that vaguely reminded her of the front door to Casita, if it was twelve feet tall. It was decorated in more flowers, as well as a banner above the door that said “Welcome Home.” in a beautiful, cursive font. It wasn’t written in Spanish, maybe Latin? And yet, somehow she could read it with ease.

“Your quarters, your highness.”

Before she knew it, she was being shoved into the room, and the door slammed behind her. Immediately she turned around to tug on the large, ornate handles but they wouldn’t budge, no matter how hard she strained. She whirled around, her eyes frantically scanning the room, searching for any means of escape.

The room that greeted her was unlike anything she expected in the, what was it called, Underworld? The room was designed to mimic the warm, welcoming aesthetic of the Casita, but on a scale that far surpassed the humble dwelling she had grown up in. The floors were made of richly-hued hardwood, with intricately-patterned rugs in vibrant shades of red, orange, and gold covering the wooden floors.

The walls were constructed of sturdy adobe and stucco, their surfaces adorned with ornate murals and patterns that reminded her of home. In terms of the actual contents of her room, there was a large raised platform with a massive, four poster bed on it in the middle of the room. Orchids and lilies wrapped around the posts of the bed, with golden butterflies intertwined. In one corner there was a sitting area, with large, plush couches and armchairs all arranged around a roaring hearth with bookcases overflowing with books. In another, there appeared to be a dressing area with a vanity and privacy screen. The area was adorned with dress forms and mannequins alike.

Along the left and right side of the rooms, were two doors on each side respectfully. Eyes narrowed, she quickly looked through them, checking for any sign of escape. One was a grandiose bathroom, again a lot like Casita in terms of the flooring and walls but instead of the clawed tub she was used to, there was a massive, in-ground tub that could qualify as a pool. There was also another vanity, and shelves teaming with products; shampoo, conditioner, soaps, oils, everything. The room next to it appeared to be a closet of sorts, if you could call it that. It was easily the size of Casita’s first floor combined, and filled to the brim with clothing of all sorts. Dresses, shoes, pants, skirts, even jewelry of all sorts. The third and forth rooms respectively were a sewing room, with HER sewing machine, or at least one exactly like it, sitting on a table. It was filled with fabrics and sewing materials galore.

The fourth and final room, which gave her a brief hope of escape, was an garden of sorts. It was large and ornate, filled with all sorts of Columbian flora. She thought she could escape out the garden, but as she ran into what she thought was a forest, it was actually just a wall. It was fake, she couldn’t get out.

She rushed back to the main room, there had to be something. But as she searched every square inch, she realized, nothing. Even the giant window that overlooked a river of lava, she could not get out of. Every time she touched the window, a pulsating barrier of blue….magic she guessed? appeared, preventing her. Eventually she had to admit, she was stuck.

Tears pricked her eyes. With a shaky sob, she sat on the edge of the bed, only to immediately stand back up when she felt herself sitting on something. There, on the edge of the bed was a tiara made of a black material, that had several red, ruby like stones embedded in to it with a another gem, that was floating somehow above the crest of the tiara, that resembled lava. She touched it, perplexed. It wasn’t lava (after all, she was pretty sure touching lava would hurt, but it just felt like touching a warm stove) and it didn’t look like she could remove it despite the fact it did not appear to be tethered to the crown.

With a growl, she threw the tiara, watching it hit the floor and go rolling. She wanted to go home. She just wanted to go home!

Camilo hoped Mirabel was not able to see this right now. He’s not sure, after all, he had never assumed Hades, God and King of the Underworld to be real, and he definitely did not expect to learn his cousin, his twin in everyway except blood, was a God. He was currently in Dolores room, in fact all the children were.

Why? Because it was soundproof and the adults were all screaming at the ghost of Abuelo, who had not disappeared once Hades left with Mirabel, in fact he seemed to be permanently visible as the man was not able to hide his being from his wife or daughters, despite trying really, really hard. And now he was being screamed at.

“I-I want Mirabel!” Camilo sighed. Antonio was not taking it well, he knew Mirabel and him were almost close as he was to Mirabel, if not closer. It almost made him jealous at times, how close they were. But he understood, despite not having a ‘gift’, Mirabel was amazing and always had a way of making people smile and laugh. He wanted Mirabel too. In fact, it seemed like all of them did, even prissy Isabela who usually fought with Mirabel.

Everyone was gathered in the sitting area of Dolores room, the girl in question sitting on the edge of her bed, Luisa on the floor by the bed, knees to her chest. Isabela pressed against a wall, splayed out and away from them and him and Antonio on a chaise lounge.

“Hey, hey it’s going to be okay. We’re going to get her back.” He promised. He’s not sure how, to be honest. Tia Julieta, in a fit of desperation tried to claw at the earth once they had been released, only to be stopped, and breaking down, when Tio physically restrained her. And, they were mortals, how did you even get to the Underworld? Without dying that is, and he was pretty sure mass suicide was off the table.

“Don’t promise him things that aren’t possible, Camilo.” said Isabela. She was mostly secluded from them, mainly because cacti kept popping up next to her. He wasn’t aware she could make anything other than flowers, it was a nice change. Flowers were nice, but he didn’t know, they got boring after a while. And you couldn’t scare someone by lobbing a cactus at them, he already had some fun ideas for a prank.

Camilo rolled his eyes, shooting a glare at Isabela. "Don't be like that, Isa. We have to have hope. Mirabel's our family - we can't just give up on her." He moved to sit closer to Antonio, wrapping a comforting arm around his younger brother. Antonio sniffed, his eyes red-rimmed from crying. "I miss her so much already, Cami. What if we never see her again?" His voice trembled, filled with a fear and despair that no child should ever have to experience.

Camilo pulled Antonio close, wishing he could offer more reassurance. "We'll figure this out, I promise. Somehow, we're going to bring Mirabel back home." He shot another pointed look at not only Isabela, but Dolores and Luisa too. "Even if some of us are too busy being miserable to help."

“What is that supposed to mean?” snapped Luisa, trying not to start crying again.

“Look, we all want to save Mirabel yes? Even though we might think it’s impossible. But I think some of us are too distracted by the fact that your secrets got thrown into the street like dirty laundry by a literal god. Dolores has not been able to look Isabela in the face, Isabela keeps making ‘cactuses’ and I know Luisa keeps muttering under her breath about needing to keep strong; I don’t need super hearing for that.”

“So maybe, we should talk about it, so we can move on and focus on saving Mirabel. Obviously it would be better if the entire family is here, but hey, I don’t want to listen to them scream any more than the rest of you. So cousin, minus one, group therapy time.”

“There is nothing to talk about!” exclaimed Isabela, another cactus appearing by her side, earning a scowl.

“Really? Because I remember hearing “closeted lesbian” and “hates Abuela’s guts” from that asshole, whoever his name is. Hayes or something when he referred to you.” said Camilo. Isabela stiffened, her eyes darting around the room as if seeking an escape. "I...I don't know what you're talking about," she stammered, her voice wavering.

Dolores fixed Isabela with an uncharacteristically intense stare. "Don't lie, Isa. We all heard what that...that…him, said about you." Her brow furrowed in concern. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Isabela wrapped her arms around herself, her shoulders hunched defensively. "I was scared, okay?" she admitted, her voice small. "I was scared that if anyone found out, they would see me differently. That you all would look at me and only see...this." She gestured vaguely at herself and the cacti surrounding her. “I’m the first born grandchild, Abuela has always expected me to be perfect and emulate her in everyway. How I dress, how to act, who to marry….I need to make these perfect, symmetrical flowers, over and over and I hate them! I hate these stupid flowers!” Another cactus appeared.

"Isa..." Dolores began, her voice uncharacteristically soft. "We're your family. We love you, no matter what." She reached out, placing a gentle hand on Isabela's arm. "You don't have to hide who you are from us."

Isabela's eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she looked up at Dolores. "But what about Abuela? And the town? They'll never accept me if they see me like this." Her voice trembled. "I just want them to love me."

“We already do! People already do. Did you see the people when he told everyone you were a lesbian? Everyone was confused, yeah sure because you and Mariano have been a thing for months and slated to be engaged soon. But no one looked disgusted with you Isa. And I, think flowers are boring. Super boring. So I’m glad you can make something else.” He said, poking one of them lightly. Isabela smiled faintly, before scowling.

“If we’re airing our laundry, why didn’t you tell me you were in love with Mariano, Dolores? I was only going to marry him for the family! Do you know how much pressure you would have taken off of me if you just told us you wanted to marry him? I would have thrown him at you! I would have begged and pleaded with Abuela for you, told her any tale, that I couldn’t stand in the way of true love, anything to move the earth for you. You are my cousin but also my sister and best friend….I am hurt you never told me.”

Dolores stared at Isabela, her eyes wide with surprise and guilt. "Oh, Isa...I'm so sorry. I just - I was so afraid that you would hate me if you knew. It looked like you genuinely loved him and I couldn’t bare the thought of breaking your heart by telling you… and I thought he would think I was too ugly or shy compared to you." She reached out, grasping Isabela's hand.

Isabela pulled Dolores into a tight hug, tears streaming down her face. "You could never be ugly, Dolores. You're beautiful, inside and out." She pulled back, giving her cousin a watery smile. "And Mariano would be the luckiest man alive to have you. I'm so sorry I made you feel like you couldn't tell me. We're sisters, we're supposed to be able to tell each other everything."

Dolores returned the embrace, her own tears falling heavy. "I'm sorry too, Isa. I should have trusted you. From now on, no more secrets, okay?" She pulled back, giving Isabela's hand a gentle squeeze.

“Perfect, now time for all of us to gang up on Luisa and make her confront her issues.” said Camilo, waving his hand.

Luisa stiffened as all eyes turned to her. "I don't have any issues," she said quickly, averting her gaze. Isabela quirked an eyebrow and then cleared her throat, imitating Hades as best she could.

“Poor, overworked Luisa who the town treats like a pack mule, always tired and on the verge of a breakdown and is worried no one will ever love her because she’s not perfect and a doll to mold like Isabela.” said the older sister of the pair.

“I’m pretty sure he didn’t mention you being a doll, but go off.” interjected Camilo.

“Same thing!”

"I just...I feel so much pressure to be strong all the time, you know? To be the one everyone can depend on. I'm the strong one, the rock of the family. But sometimes..." Her voice trailed off, a hint of vulnerability creeping in. "Sometimes I'm just so tired." It was taking everything in her to not cry. “And I’m not like you or Dolores, Bella! Look at me, I look like a man practically, who could love me?” cried Luisa, as the first sob left her mouth.

“Mateo Ríos.” said Dolores, humming slightly to her self. Luisa’s head jerked up, her sobs interrupted by pure confusion. “The donkey herder’s son? Why would you think he would love me?”

“Because my gift is hearing, Luisa. Don’t you ever wonder why the donkeys keep getting out despite Senior Ríos spending so much time trying to figure out how they are escaping? Mateo lets them out deliberately so he can use it as an excuse to be near you.”

Luisa's eyes widened in shock, her tears momentarily forgotten. "Mateo...lets the donkeys out...to see me?" She shook her head in disbelief. "But why? I'm...I'm not like Isabela or you. I'm not small and delicate. I'm muscled and I’m taller than half the men in town- who would want that?"

“Luisa, what does it matter if you’re not small and delicate? If that mattered to him, he probably wouldn’t be spending so much time trying to get up the courage to ask you out. I hear him you know, every morning when he lets the donkeys out. ‘Okay, today is the day I tell her how I feel.’ and then he chickens out.”

Luisa stared at Dolores, her eyes shining with a glimmer of hope. "He...he really feels that way about me?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Dolores nodded, giving her cousin's hand a gentle squeeze.

"Of course he does, Luisa. You're strong, you're reliable, you're the one everyone counts on. That's exactly the kind of woman Mateo admires." Dolores smiled warmly. "Just because you don't fit Abuela's mold of what a 'proper' woman should be, doesn't mean you're any less deserving of love."

Luisa let out a shaky laugh, scrubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand. "I guess I have a lot to think about, huh?" she muttered. “Yes, the fact that you don’t love yourself but, also the part about being a pack mule? How much stuff are you doing for people? I know Abuela said to help our community but there is a difference between helping and being taken advantage of.” said Isabela. She looked briefly at her new cacti. She might have just found a use for them, and it was going to be threatening people who badgered her sister over stupid things.

Luisa sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I know, I know. It's just...I want to help everyone, you know? I don't want to let the family down." She fidgeted with the hem of her dress, her gaze downcast. "And I guess I got a little carried away. But I just hate seeing the people I care about struggle, so I try to take on as much as I can."

Dolores reached over, giving Luisa's hand a gentle squeeze while Isabela addressed her sister. "We know, Luisa. And we love you for it, we really do. But you can't pour from an empty cup, you know? You have to take care of yourself too. And believe me, I know some of the ‘crap’ people ask for. They did the same to me before I started putting my foot down. ‘Oh Isabela, my flowers aren’t perfectly symmetrical, I need you to come by at eleven at night to fix them.’ or stuff like that."

Luisa nodded, a rueful smile tugging at her lips. "You're right. I guess I do let people take advantage sometimes. I just want to help, but it's not good for me to be stretched so thin." She sighed heavily, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. "I'll...I'll try to be better about setting boundaries. And maybe I'll even give Mateo a chance, if he really does like me like that."

Dolores beamed, giving Luisa's hand an encouraging squeeze. "I know you can do it, Luisa. And I'm sure Mateo will be over the moon." She paused, glancing around at her cousins and brothers. Antonio had mostly been silent, just listening.

“So what are your issues then? Antonio is five, so he doesn’t have any, so that leaves you Camilo.” Dolores said pointedly to her younger brother.

Camilo chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Issues? Who, me? Nah, I'm perfect, remember?" He flashed them a cheeky grin, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

Dolores fixed him with a knowing look. "Come on, Cami. We just got Isa and Luisa to open up. Don't think you're getting off the hook that easy."

Camilo sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Alright, alright. I guess I do have a few things I need to work on." He glanced over at Antonio, who was watching him intently. "It's just...sometimes I feel like I'm not good enough, you know? Like I'm always trying to be what everyone else wants me to be." He paused, thinking. “Like literally, since I can shapeshift. I dunno, it seems like I spend more time as other people than myself, and sometimes I’m worried that, and I know it’s not possible, but when I shift back, I won’t do it right because I’ve forgotten what I look like.” explained the teenager.

Camilo's admission hung in the air, the weight of his words settling over the group. Antonio reached out, placing his small hand in his brothers. "Cami, you're perfect just the way you are," he said softly. "We love you, no matter what you look like." He hugged his brother, around the middle, earning an aww from all the girls.

“So, how are we going to save Mirabel? Because annoying as she is, and as much as she gets on my nerves, I will admit…I do love her and she should be here, not…wherever she is right now…Hell I guess?” said Isabela, genuinely asking her cousins and sister. Her memory on ancient history was spotty at best, she hadn’t been in school in at least four years at this point.

“Underworld. Different thing all together if you go by the stories. Hell is strictly for the evil and damned in Christianity while the Underworld is split into three sections for the dead, again going by the stories. Elysium for the good souls, described as a city in the underworld akin to heaven with no mortal struggles, Asphodel Meadows, believed to be like earth but in hell where people live like they did in life, bound to the same jobs and stuff, and then Tartarus, where people are subjected to eternal torment…and then from what I’ve heard, there is a section for souls who’ve personally pissed off Hades or gone back on a deal. It’s called the Pool of Souls, but I am not sure if that one is real.” said Luisa, recalling her history class. Out of all of them, she had always been the most interested in Ancient Roman and Greek Mythology, with an entire section of her private library dedicated to the subject. Well, she was until Hades showed up, now she wanted to burn all her books.

Isabela bit her lip, her brow furrowed in thought. "But how are we supposed to get to the Underworld? We're just mortals - we can't exactly waltz right in there." She shook her head, her eyes filled with worry. Unless...nah, if Hades existed, what other gods did as well? If one of them killed themselves to get to this Underworld, they might end up in any of the other afterlifes she vaguely recalled. Obviously Heaven, but she thinks there was an afterlife for the Egyptians? She's not sure.

“Well, I have an idea, or an idea where to start.” began Dolores. “I didn’t want to do this to him, I promised myself I would never betray his secret but I think we don’t have a choice. But, I think before I pull out the big guns, we need to speak to the rest of the family.” said Dolores, standing up and brushing lint off her skirt.

“Wait, who is him?” asked Camilo, confused. Everyone else was just as confused, except for Antonio oddly enough. “Is this about the Rat Man who lives in the walls? The rats told me about him.” said Antonio, so casually that everyone had to do a double take.

“I’m sorry, The WHAT Man?”

“You had no right!”

Ever since she was a child, Julieta had heard tales of her father from her mother, about how he was so heroic and how he saved their lives by giving his. Though she never wanted to meet an early end, she always relished the thought of getting to meet him one day.

Now though? She never wanted to see her father again. They, being the adults (or anyone not a grandchild that is) were gathered in the kitchen while Julieta cornered her father’s ghost and yelled at him, Pepa just as pissed as she was and just as vocal about everything going on. Their mother was mostly being silent, but Julieta could see the conflict in her eyes. Felix was having to restrain Agustin, because the man wanted to punch the ghost despite the fact he was incorporeal.

"How could you make a deal like that, without even consulting us? Without telling us?" she shouted, angry beyond words.

“Um, you were an infant? I couldn’t exactly ask you, and he froze time. Look, I know you are angry, but I had no choice. You, your sister and your brother along with your mother would have died. Then what? You would be dead, you wouldn’t even have Isabela or Luisa, and Pepa wouldn’t have her children either. You would ALL be dead.” Said the ghost. Hades really did him a ‘favor’ by not allowing him to hide again.

“I..I don’t care! I just want my daughter.” Julieta began to sob, leaning against the kitchen island as she let her emotions out. Pepa was barely better, her emotions were causing a hurricane in the kitchen, rain and wind hitting those still alive from every angle. Their mother had tried to get her to stop but the redhead had threatened to electrocute her if she asked again. Sometimes Pepa just wanted to feel without worrying about the cloud.

A tin pan flew by, going through Pedro’s form and smacking into a wall, as the wind whipped around them.

Agustin stepped forward, finally released by Felix, placing a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder as she wept, glaring at Pedro. "I know, Julieta. I know." His voice was thick with emotion, his own eyes glistening with unshed tears. "But we can't give up. We have to find a way to get Mirabel back!"

Pepa shot a withering glare at her brother-in-law, lightning crackling in her cloud. "How? How are we supposed to get to the Underworld and take on a god?"

“Maybe….maybe we have to accept it.” said Alma, speaking up. “Pepa is right, how would we even get to this…this, underworld?” Julieta's head snapped up, her eyes burning with defiance. "Accept it? Mamá, how can you say that? Mirabel is our family, your nieta! - we can't just give up on her!" She shook her head vehemently, fresh tears welling in her eyes.

“Well, then what is your plan? Because I don’t have any ideas, do you?!” Alma shouted, shaking her head. This was turning out to be the worst day she had ever experienced in a long time.

“Hmm! We ask Bruno for a vision.” said Dolores, causing everyone to whirl around and look towards the kitchen entrance where the younger generation had converged together as one. “Dolores what are you talking about? Bruno left, and even still, we don’t talk ab-” Alma was cut off by Pedro, glaring at her.

“Yeah, I don’t like the fact I can’t hide myself right now but you better believe me Alma, I have a few choice words about the fact you decided to allow the village to demonize our son and banned the everyone from speaking about him. And Julieta, Josefina! How could you go along with this? He’s your baby brother, your triplet!” said the ghost, turning the tables on them.

Alma recoiled at her husbands words, her eyes widening in shock. “I thought I was doing the right thing, I thought…I didn’t want to think about it Pedro. I thought he was dead. It was easier to not speak about him because it meant I didn’t have to think about the fact our son was gone.”

“…I blamed Mirabel.” admitted Pepa, earning a gasp from her sister and honestly, everyone but Alma, who seemed ashamed and guilty. “He left right after her birthday, I thought….I….it was just easier to blame her, than to admit I wasn’t the best sister. That I was never there for him. I know it’s not her fault.”

“She was five! She was five, Pepa! How could you blame her, your niece, a literal child for him leaving?” shouted Julieta.

Pepa shrank back, the guilt and shame evident on her face. "I know, I know. It wasn't fair of me. I was just...I was so angry and hurt, and I needed someone to blame. Mirabel was an easy target." She ran a trembling hand through her hair. "But that doesn't excuse it. I failed him, just we failed Mirabel, we all did. And now they're both gone, and I may never get the chance to apologize."

“Well it’s your lucky day then. Because Dolores, who knew the entire time may I add, knows exactly where Bruno is. And he is not dead!” said Camilo, shaking his head at his sister.

“The….how could….where is he?!” demanded Alma. All this time, assuming he was dead and not even knowing where his body was if he was in fact so, and Dolores knew the entire time.

“He’s in the walls.” The girl said simply.

“Persephone, why are your hands so sweaty? You’ve been wiping your hands on your skirt for the entirety of the meeting. Stop it and sit up straight!” hissed Demeter towards her daughter. Persephone quickly stilled her fidgeting hands, clasping them tightly in her lap as she met her mother's stern gaze. "I'm sorry, Mother. I'm just...nervous," she admitted, her brow furrowing with worry.

“About what, my dear?” Like a student being caught talking to their friend in class by the teacher, Persephone immediately felt her face go flush as her eyes snapped to Zeus, who was currently leading the meeting. Despite what the stories said, she was not his daughter. Demeter had made her all by herself by putting part of her essence into a flower, expecting to make another nymph but instead creating a daughter and a new Goddess in the process. A daughter that after thousands of years, was still treated like a child.

“Nothing Zeus, I apologize, please continue. Me and my mother were just discussing something related to the seasons. We’re thinking an early fall this year.” she said, trying to appear casual and like it was nothing.

“My granddaughter is finally going…home.” Interjected Demeter, throwing her daughter under the bus by revealing her lie. Persephone groaned, face in her hands. Immediately the entire table of Gods and Goddesses were abuzz as everyone was distracted by the news. Persephone sighed, she was hoping this wouldn’t happen, because they were all going to want to meet her and just overwhelm her. Zeus laughed.

“Well, well! Big news, you should have told us earlier ‘Seph! When are we going to meet the little girl?” the God of Thunder and Lightning grinned.

“Unless you are willing to visit the Underworld, not any time soon. She needs to ease out of her mortal form naturally, and as we all know, mortals cannot enter Olympus. Which would be…I think the Fates said roughly eighty years.” Everyone became visibly disappointed. It’s not that they weren’t excited to meet her, it was just that The Underworld, even with Elysium, was a bummer, and having a celebration there was sure to be…interesting. But it was either that or wait eight decades.

“Well, I guess we will just have to go to her. Right, meeting adjourned, we have a niece to meet!”

“No!”

Everyone paused as Persephone suddenly yelled. Her face somehow became even more red as she stood up and masked her emotions, trying not to seem frazzled. “I want you to meet her, absolutely. But you know how Hades is and she’s going to need time to adjust to having her world turned upside down, let alone everything else.”

And because if she knows her husband, which she does: he has no tact and she expects his arrival in the mortal world to fetch their daughter to go poorly. "Please, I just ask that you allow me and Hades to wait until the time is right. She's been raised among mortals her whole life - this is all so new and overwhelming for her. I don't want to risk overwhelming her further by bringing the entire Pantheon down to the Underworld."

Zeus stroked his beard thoughtfully, his gaze scrutinizing Persephone. "I understand your concerns, my dear. The transition will no doubt be difficult for the child." His lips curved into a benevolent smile, thinking. And she was right, Hades had no tact. "Very well, we shall wait for you and Hades to invite us to her. But do not tarry too long - we are all eager to welcome our newest family member!"

“Of course.”

Persephone was absolutely nervous as she returned home from her meeting, a sense of unease gnawing at her. She was both excited and yet worried to meet her daughter. She was practically vibrating out of her skin, hands still sweaty. She hoped it went well, but she knows her husband too well. As she touches down in the Underworld, and enters the palace, she finds herself trying to steel her nerves. She finds Hades in the throne room, alone, scowling on his throne with his face in his hand. Their daughter is nowhere to be seen, and she knows, it didn’t go well. Exhausted, Persephone asks, "Where is she?" He scowls and responds with a roll of his eyes, "She's been taken to her bedroom by the guards, to cool down. She’s throwing a fit.”

“You ripped her away didn’t you? You didn’t give her a chance to say goodbye, or anything. I knew I should have made you wait for me. I knew this was going to happen. “

The Lord of the Underworld let out a frustrated growl, sinking deeper into his obsidian throne. "I brought our daughter home, isn't that what you wanted?" he spat, his piercing gaze boring into Persephone. "I did what needed to be done - I collected on the bargain that foolish mortal made all those years ago." The Goddess of Spring rolled her eyes. “Yes, but it should have been done with tact and grace! She doesn’t remember us Hades, her soul was still an infant when we placed her into that body. As far as she knows, we kidnapped her.” Hades grunted, not responding.

Persephone let out a heavy sigh, rubbing her temples. "Oh, Hades, why must you always be so...heavy-handed?" She turned her attention to the grand archway that led deeper into the palace. "Where is she now?" The God of the Underworld shifted in his seat, the black obsidian creaking beneath him. "In her chambers, as I said. Sulking, I imagine." He flashed Persephone a sardonic grin. "You know how she is - stubborn as a mule, just like her mother."

Persephone shot Hades a withering glare, her lips pressed into a thin line. "I'm going to go speak with her." She swept past him, the hem of her flowing gown brushing against his feet as she moved. “Alone.” she said, noticing her husband starting to rise from his throne and follow her. The God scowled, sitting back down. Persephone hurried through the grand halls of the underworld palace, her heart heavy with concern for her daughter. As she approached the ornate doors leading to Mirabel's chambers, she took a steadying breath, trying to quell the nervous energy that coursed through her. She wiped a sweaty hand on her skirt. Outside the door, two ghostly sentinels stood guard, nodding towards their Queen as she approached.

She hoped the room was to her liking, she had spent months making sure it was ready for her daughter. Persephone considered entering without announcing herself, but decided against it. She knocked softly on the door, waiting to be granted entry. Inside the room, Mirabel sat curled up on the edge of the massive bed, her knees drawn to her chest as she stared blankly at walls of the room, not responding to the first knock on the door.

The knock came again, after a minute of no response.

"Who's there?" she called out, hating how her voice wavered with uncertainty. God, she hoped it was not him. Or better yet, if it was, he was here to tell her: ‘Oh sorry, I grabbed the wrong Madrigal, back to the real world.’ But she highly doubted that and she wouldn’t want Dolores or Luisa, hell even Isabela to be in this place. The door creaked open slightly, and a woman with long blonde hair and pink skin poked her head into the room hesitantly. Her hair was pushed back by a crown made of flowers and she wore a long, sleeveless silk dress covered in a variety of flowers including daisies and roses. She had to be the most beautiful woman Mirabel had ever seen, even more so than Isabela. Her eyes widened as the woman stepped into the room fully, a gentle smile on her face. "Hello, Mirabel. I'm..." She paused, her expression growing pensive. "I'm Persephone… I wanted to apologize, for your…for Hades. " She says the last part with annoyance. That man, he needed to learn to cool his temper.

Persephone. She knows that name, how could she not? She took history in school. The tale of Persephone and Hades. It was a classic. It doesn’t take much to make the connection, unless the tales were wrong. “Are you supposed to be my mother?” She asks it with disdain and disbelief. Persephone nodded solemnly, her eyes filled with a mixture of joy and hesitation. "Yes, Mirabel. I am your mother." She took a tentative step forward, her flowing gown rustling softly. "I know this must all be so overwhelming for you. I wish we could have brought you home under better circumstances."

She paused, biting her lip as she considered her next words carefully. "Your father...he can be a bit…excitable at times. He was just so eager to have you back with us, after all these years." Persephone let out a soft sigh, her gaze drifting to the ornate furnishings that adorned Mirabel's chamber. "I tried to make this place feel welcoming for you but I know it's not Casita."

"Welcoming?" Mirabel spat, her voice dripping with bitterness. "This is not welcoming, and it's not my home. My home is with the Madrigals - the family that raised me, that loved me." She hugged her knees tighter to her chest, her eyes filling with tears. "You…people took me away from them. From everything I've ever known." Persephone flinched at the venom in Mirabel's words, her heart aching. "I know, my dear. I wanted to wait until you passed from mortal means, but your Dad was insistent he wanted you back home while you were still a child.”

Mirabel stared at Persephone, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "You wanted to wait until I died? How is that any better?" She shook her head, her lips trembling. "I don't understand any of this. Why did you take me from my family?” She had heard what Abuelo and HIM had said, but she didn’t really understand it. How could this not be her body? It felt like hers!

Persephone, sighed. “Your father is a God of Death, I am a God of Life, we have tried to have many children over the millennium but they all died before they even got close to birth. When you were finally born, you were born a soul. With no body. That wouldn’t necessarily be an issue for a god, but given the fact your father and I are opposites, your very soul began to fade from existence. We spoke to the Fates and they said the only way to save you was to put your soul into a mortal vessel and have you live upon the earth for at least a decade.”

“But why them? They don’t deserve this!” No one did, but especially not her family. It wasn’t fair. She could still see the way her mother looked at her when HE grabbed her. The horror and pain in her eyes. Persephone sighed again, explaining further. “We didn’t pick them specifically, the Fates told us where to go. They told us, rather my husband as I was recovering from giving birth to you, that there would be a man in Columbia so desperate to save his family, that he would do anything. They didn’t tell us much more than that. They never do, they’re always vague and cryptic.”

“That doesn’t make it right! You used them! They might not be perfect but and maybe they forgot about me sometimes, but they loved me! They were my family, and you ripped me away from them!”

Persephone's expression softened, her heart aching at the anguish in her daughter's voice. "I know, my dear. They are and always will be, despite how much your father would prefer you forget your mortal family. And I'm so sorry for the pain this has caused you." She sighed heavily, her shoulders slumping. "Hades was so desperate to save you, and so was I. If there was any other way we could have done this, I would have done it in a heartbeat.” Oh, this was all her fault, she should have went with him at the very least.

“…just leave me alone.” Whimpered Mirabel, burying her face in her knees. Persephone's heart sank as she watched her daughter start to break, sobs wracking her body. She knew this would be difficult, but seeing the pain and betrayal in her daughter's eyes was almost more than she could bear. "Mirabel, please, I-"

"I said leave me alone!" Mirabel shouted, removing her face from her knees. Persephone hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Very well. I'll give you some time. You should get some rest, you look tired." She turned and headed for the door, pausing only to look back at Mirabel's hunched form. "I know this is all so overwhelming. But I want you to know - your father and I, we love you more than anything. We never meant to hurt you." Mirabel didn't respond, her shoulders shaking with sobs. Persephone leaves her, shaking her head before exiting the room. Hades of course is right outside the door, waiting for her. "Well? How did it go?" he asked, his voice uncharacteristically soft.

Persephone let out a heavy sigh, running a hand through her flowing hair. "About as well as you might expect," she replied wearily. "She's devastated, Hades. Angry, hurt - I can hardly blame her." The Lord of the Underworld grunted, his piercing gaze flicking towards the ornate doors. "I figured as much." Persephone shook her head. “Leave her alone for now love, she needs time to settle. I know you were hoping there would be an instant connection, but if you try and push it, it will cause more harm than good.”

Hades let out a frustrated growl, his blue flames flickering angrily. "Time? That's all anyone ever wants from me." He clenched his fists, the air around him growing thick with tension. "I've waited decades for this moment, Persephone. To have my daughter back home, where she belongs. And eons more to even have a child."

Persephone placed a gentle hand on his arm, her touch immediately calming the restless energy that radiated from him. "I know, my love. But rushing her will only push her further away." She gazed up at him, her eyes soft with understanding. "Mirabel has just had her entire world turned upside down. She needs space to process everything." Hades let out a heavy sigh, the fight draining from him. "You're right, as always." He pinched the bridge of his nose, his brow furrowed in a mixture of sadness and defeat. “I just love her so much.”

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sibyl-of-space · 1 year ago

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Yesterday, myself and a group of friends released THOUSANDS OF PIXELS IN YOUR HANDS. This is a 6-track collaborative concept album of original art and music themed around the GameBoy Advance console. The album in full is viewable above with timestamps for each piece. For individual track uploads/BandCamp release (planned for the near future), check the NeoCities Page where they will be embedded when available.

Tracklist:

Sealed Chamber by Error Sparrow (Vapor) ft. digital art by DarthButcher

Fuchsia Zone by ZeroJanitor ft. mixed 2D+3D gif by Aaron (AReallyFrog)

When the Levee Remakes by Joey Puricelli (CaptHayfever) ft. mixed media cross stitch by nyankat

My Internal Battery Has Run Dry by Leo ArcanaXIX ft. photography by DarthButcher

Liquid Crystal by Revolver Project ft. digital art by Marcus Bower (SpriteDude)

Adventure's End by Monstrman ft. painting by nyankat

Piece descriptions below readmore.

I. SEALED CHAMBER | Music by Error Sparrow (Vapor) | Digital Art by DarthButcher

Musician Notes: Sealed Chamber is an instrumental ode to the legendary Pokemon of the Gen III pokemon games (Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald), specifically Regirock, Regice and Registeel. It's an ambient, dungeon synth-kinda track meant to capture the mystique of the elaborate quest through Hoenn's secret areas - undersea, underground and elsewhere - that the player undertakes to find all three Regis. The instrumentation is 100% Pokemon RSE soundfont (with some effects and such thrown in).

Artist Notes: Digital watercolor and ink pen using Adobe Fresco on iPad. May has heard the legend of three bionic beasts and finally thinks she has come upon the cave of legend. She has searched far and wide across Hoenn to try to find the entrance and after a series of trials, her quest may prove fruitful. What she doesn’t know is that while she searches for them, they stand alert to her presence ready to pounce when the moment is right. Stylized with inspiration from Ken Sugimori for a watercolor aesthetic, my first time working with the medium.

II. FUCHSIA ZONE | Music by ZeroJanitor | GBA 2D+3D Gif by Aaron (AReallyFrog)

Musician Notes: Inspired by the translucent pink Game Boy Advance model, officially known as the Fuchsia model. Instrument samples are taken from Sonic Advance 3, and the voice samples are from the LingoJam robot voice generator.

Artist Notes: I created this little animation by exporting the frames from Blender, drawing over them in Aseprite, and then exporting them as a gif. I think the gif struggles a little but I’m happy to have gotten to try combining 2d and 3d animation!

If you’re interested in homebrew games for the gameboy family there are a few collections of roms (.gb/.gbc/.gba) on my itch page I try to keep up to date.

III. WHEN THE LEVEE REMAKES | Music by Joey Puricelli (CaptHayfever) | Watercolor + Cross-Stitch Mixed Media by nyankat

Musician Notes: Arr. for voice, jaw harp (x2), shaker, wood handles, bongos, drumkit, & Casio PK-5.

I had the opening lines of the first verse looping in my head for weeks before I finally had time to hash out the rest of it. There really were a metric buttload of remakes on this system; this song cites 38 (though maybe I’m cheating to include Game & Watch Gallery) & that’s just where I stopped researching because I thought I had too much. My nickname for Kirby in verse 3 came from the American NiD commercials, which for some reason used the theme song to the 1960s spy show Danger Man.

Artist Notes: Watercolor on paper and Aida cloth, cross-stitch. As soon as Joey laid out his idea I was inspired to do a mixed-media piece. This is basically a reimagining of the old Pokemon Kanto intro screen, in a forest clearing, with one side cross-stitch/“low res” and the other watercolor/“high res.” I asked Joey what else he might end up referencing besides Pokemon and went from there. (I presented him with a word map before starting the actual design; this piece was an absolute boatload of work. But I’m pleased to say I captured his intended vibe on the first try!) The full piece depicts Nidorino, Kirby, Piranha Plant, and Samus (low res) vs. Gengar, Meta Knight, Baby Mario on Yoshi, and a Metroid (high res). Let me tell ya, stitching on Aida that you’ve already painted is very difficult! But it made for a really cool effect. Thank you for the collaboration (and your patience lol), Joey!

IV. MY INTERNAL BATTERY HAS RUN DRY | Music by Leo ArcanaXIX | Photography by DarthButcher

Musician Notes: My concept for this was to sample sounds from doing a GBA cartridge internal battery surgery and use those sounds as instruments. I took inspiration for the form of the song itself from "Clockwork" from Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, a GBA game with both an internal battery and a banger soundtrack.

Artist Notes: Shot on a Sony a7IV, Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 DG DN, 70mm, 1/40s, f/7.1, ISO 1000. Nothing says cartridge repair more than actually dismantling a cartridge and beginning to conduct surgery. Utilizing photography with a strong key light, contrast of the system on one side and additional cartridges behind it, and some mild post-production to bring out the colors, this piece tells a story of frustration that a beloved game may have seen its last days.

V. LIQUID CRYSTAL | Music by Revolver Project | Digital Art by Marcus Bower (SpriteDude)

Musician Notes: This song began with the intent to write a dark-step inspired drum & bass track using the Game Boy Advance internal synthesis. I set out researching the best homebrew Tracker/DAW for the console, and discovered that my ancient flash cartridge wasn't fully compatible with the majority of them. As a solution, I used a branch of LSDJ which maintained compatibility with the GoombaGB wrapper for GBA.

I opted for a harsh and bright industrial guitar style to compliment the harsh synth and percussion sampling of the GBA, which may sound familiar to older Revolver Project fans. All of the percussion and the majority of the synths were originally voiced using the GBA's internal synth and sample abilities. They were then heavily edited on a PC DAW, into the final sounds you hear. Notable exceptions include some bass sounds, which were created using a semi-modular Behringer Neutron.

I hope after listening to this, you'll be inspired to fire up a GBA and play your favorite Metroid or maybe a racer. Just remember to turn a light on if you're playing on an original model, don't let that LCD stay dark. ☻

Artist Notes: AI was pretty much the perfect match for me, as we’ve worked together many times in the past and we always seem to be on the same wavelength. In fact, he suggested “neon lights and cyberpunk” for the theme of the piece after I had already started drawing just that. Other than that, it’s pretty much just a fast-paced super-foreshortened actiony sci-fi piece. The guy is just a random cyberpunk dude I made up, and the drones are supposed to kinda look like metroids.

VI. ADVENTURE'S END | Music by Monstrman | Acrylic Art by nyankat

Musician Notes: I wanted to make a song that really captured the finality of finishing a game on the GBA. In reality it’s more about the experience of completing all your games in general, but since it’s GBA themed I added some flavor. The intro/outro was written on my guitar first, then I made the rest in my DAW.

Artist Notes: Acrylic on canvas, 8 in. x 8 in. I listened to a very early draft of Tim’s piece, which reminded me of the ending screen of Mega Man 2, where he walks away through different landscapes. This evolved into the piece it is now, with a person facing away from the viewer with a guitar over his back, next to a GBA set on a table and showing the message “Thank you!” I’m not particularly strong in figure drawing, so I asked Tim to pose as a reference, and I think that turned out quite well. I also asked him if he wanted the GBA or the curtains a specific color: The GBA is silver like the one he had growing up, and the curtains are OG GBA blurple. Thank you for the collaboration, Tim!

#gameboy advance #new album #new music #concept album #electronic music #my audio shit #ok last post on this i swear i just wanted to do a proper post now that it's released #ill probably post my track individually later but that can wait #Youtube

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