#Post Script Notation

[post-script-clown]

Pitch Corrim / Cronim Anyone?

I Am Making A Bigger Piece Don't Worry, But This Is Your Tid-Bit.

I Saw Something About Cronus And Meenah Actually Being Moirails And It Just, Maybe It's Kinda One Sided, Maybe Porrim Hates Cronus More Than He Hates Her, But Hey It Gets Him Lot's Of Attention And That's All The Little Guys Wants Right?

Porrim Is Just So Mother Fuckin' Tired Of His Attitude And Inappropriate Behavior Guys, He's Leaning Directly Into The Misogyny She See's With Lord English, And Now She's Been Trapped With Just Him And Their Friends For Years And You Know, She's Not Too Picky (Not That, That's Bad, She Just Admits It.) And Maybe This Attention Seeking Little Asshole Is Worth Having A Kind Of Rivalry, Maybe, With The Way They Are Stuck Together, It's Fated.

[creaman]

Hi there! I apologize for taking up your time, I am just so curious: When you tackle a comic, what does the process behind it look like?

Asking because I found myself scrolling through your blog once again and couldn't help but marvel at all the beautiful effects you use, at how flawlessly the structure guides the viewer's eye across each page, how the graphic weight seems to always be in just the right places…, and wonder how you learned doing this. Everything you put out looks incredibly professional and I aspire to reach your level of skill 😌❤️

Thank you Finz!! You're no bother at all, I'm an open book. This is such high praise for a guy that really doesn't have a set process, I feel like a hack. Ha. Rest assured my style is still developing. Besides the referencing of the linework and composition of official comic books, (practicing by redrawing panels for fun), explaining the process makes me feel like a serial killer but I will do my best.

(WIP Riddler panel, scrapped Scarecrow composition)

My comics usually stem from a single panel or concept — I like to focus on/emphasise particular panels of my pages, the heavy hitters, the main piece that catches your eye. I know I'm not a profoundly technically proficient artist so I prefer visually interesting elements and formatting, i.e. drawing characters outside their frames, negative space, notation, perspectives etc.

(Kung Fu Panda 4 sketch god I hate Kung Fu Panda 4)

I like to establish 'main focus' panels, the bits of the comic that really, well. make people want to chew on it. This is where the technical effort is concentrated, really, and the rest of the comic is generally build around these concepts.

('Restaurant Balthazar' focus panels)

Textures and effects are done on individual panels first, then the entire page as a whole to even out the unity. Generally, blocking in shadows, hatching for visual interest + middle tones, then textures/half-tones, then highlights.

(Script excerpt WIP)

I'm not a writer per se, but having a vague 'script' in your pages helps with pacing and direction. Comics are a versatile story-telling medium. I only really do scripts for comics longer than 2 pages. An optional but recommended strat is to send your script to a friend for a second opinion.

(Script excerpt — 'Restaurant Balthazar', annotated by @vincepti0n I don't know why he drew a face in the middle)

With the script crudely slapped together, I rough out the thumbnails and composition with the text, prioritising coherence and clean integration of previously mentioned 'main focus' panels.

Settling on a composition sucks the hardest. Drawing is fun, thinking makes brain hurty. Variety is good! Close-ups, wide shots, visual metaphors. Every panel is its own artwork.

The text bubbles are usually added in post, yes, but I'm just one guy and I don't have a writer to call me a good boy for doing things correctly. Bite me.

(Early 'Restaurant Balthazar' drafts)

In addition, keeping the text graphics in mind help create a sounder composition wherein even if the panels don't read cleanly left to right + top to bottom, the text can stagger and create the same reading order effect.

Panels and concepts are constantly tweaked, and my comic process is still highly experimental. A lot of industry standard comics aren't illustrated to their full potential due to deadlines and such — I strive for visual epiphany by treating each panel as its own artwork, and every page as a a bit of a mural.

(Old art hurts the soul)

Constantly experimenting allows you the insight of looking at your current art in comparison to your older works. In more recent works, I've been blocking in more shadows wiht lineart with thinner lines and more line weight, and learned to integrate the subject characters with less plain, abstract backgrounds.

TLDR: I have no idea

[randomfoggytiger]

Mulder's Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part XXIII): Alien Babies, Shared Fears, and Hoped-For Escapes

Essence is chaotic and messy; but it also raises one or two intriguing points, as well as continues to establish Mulder's evolving dynamics with each character. It's a shoddy craft you have to cut around in order to refurbish; but it's salvageable-- at least, for this analysis.

Disclaimer: if you, like me, enjoy Season 8 up to a point-- and that point is midway through Essence-- I suggest you consider this post the end of the Alien Baby Baby Trauma series. Or at least skip over the next part when it's posted; and come back for the third and final addition. That way, Mulder and Scully run off into the night, together, and don't reappear until Existence's final five minutes.

Regardless, this part of the analysis marks the beginning of the end. There are a few loose threads the series strives to conclude-- or elucidate, for future (non-) exploration: namely, the mystery behind Per Manum's there-and-gone alien fertility clinic, the intrigue behind the hybrid alien replacements, and-- most importantly-- the mystery and happy ending for the Mulder-Scully family.

Now: let's tackle Mulder's slow descent into chaos.

ESSENCE AND EXISTENCE'S MAIN THEME

Mulder's monologue sets the tone for the finale two-parter:

"We call it the miracle of life. Conception: A union of perfect opposites-- essence transforming into existence-- an act without which mankind would not exist and humanity cease to exist. Or is this just nostalgia now? An act of biology commandeered by modern science and technology? Godlike, we extract, implant, inseminate... and we clone.

"But has our ingenuity rendered the miracle into a simple trick? In the artifice of replicating life can we become the creator? Then what of the soul? Can it, too, be replicated? Does it live in this matter we call DNA? Or is its placement the opposite of artifice, capable only by God.

"How did this child come to be? What set its heart beating? Is it the product of a union? Or the work of a divine hand? An answered prayer? A true miracle? Or is it a wonder of technology-- the intervention of other hands? What do I tell this child about to be born? What do I tell Scully? And what do I tell myself?"

The last three lines are the cornerstones of this finale two-parter: "What do I tell this child... what do I tell Scully... what do I tell myself?" And the order is important, too: Mulder knows this child will have questions-- how does he answer them? One layer deeper: he knows Scully harbors questions and doubts-- what can he say to her to assure them both? And at the center of these ponderings are his own fears and doubts: what does he believe, truly; and can he hold to that belief indefinitely.

The monologue is also a logorrheic oration of Mulder's struggle with his identity post-abduction: reborn to a life he'd at first assumed moved on without him, one with more questions than answers, still. And with these swirling questions looms his old skepticism with too-neatly tied bows on top of too-neatly provided miracles; and his new dominating PTSD. The triple combination is over-powering, and leads him to believe then question, believe then question throughout the latter end of Season 8-- and not just him, but Scully, too (as Essence's script notated, post here.)

If Essence through Existence had been well-written, it would've effected a succinct one-two-three masterstroke of Mulder and Scully's seven-year arc: finding the truth in themselves, turning "I want to believe" into "The truth we both know."

That aside, the monologue steers the remainder of Season 8: Mulder's mission, Scully's reactions, Mulder's and Scully's and Doggett's and Skinner's cumulative irrational actions. The problem, of course, comes down to execution.

THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP

We pick up from Mulder's perspective the day after Scully's baby shower. He arrives at Doggett's door on a Saturday, ignoring the charms of the man's porch trellis (post here) and NASCAR ritual to wheedle him onto an open investigation.

From his demeanor, Mulder appears more at ease, parrying Doggett's "Agent Mulder" with a muted, "You can drop the 'Agent', Agent Doggett. It's just plain Fox Mulder now." His voice is wistful when referring to his former status; but not disheartened, nor uneasy. He's made progress towards peace-- would probably be more at peace if he wasn't bearing bad tidings.

Doggett nods neutrally, figuring out how to navigate that landmine; and decides to face it head on, changing gears a little too familiarly with an inviting, "Right. You want to come in, Fox? I was just watching a race."

His guest accepts with a double entente. "That's what I was doing. Slightly different race, though." Walking in and switching the channel, he then hooks Doggett's interest with the suspicious, recent burning of a fertility clinic-- a link to Scully that Mulder doesn't spell out but anticipates the other agent will connect independently.

Doggett follows along, helping Mulder access the crime scene through his credentials and even skillfully avoiding a fight between on-site investigator Agent Crane. The patience for Mulder's antics begins to thin when nothing suspicious turns up; and he's about to call it quits when Agent Excommunicado-- who is having a good time with Agent Doggett in tow--

--uncovers a professional association between the deceased victim and Scully's former obstetrician, Dr. Parenti. Connection firmly established, both X-Files men sneak over to Parenti's clinic.

Mulder blatantly ignores proper procedure-- as usual-- but thoroughly enjoys roping Doggett in as an accomplice; and the latter rewards this inclusion by unquestioningly having Mulder's back.

During their snooping around, the two split up. Doggett finds the stash of preserved fetuses while Mulder comes face-to-face with an incensed, mid-procedure Dr. Parenti. Catching a glimpse of the vulnerable woman sitting just behind the doctor, Mulder's face changes, angry himself over what he suspects is diabolical predation.

The intruders leave after a fruitless altercation; and, back at the crime scene, Mulder overhears Agent Crane's remarks and triangulates a confrontation between the third man, himself, and Doggett. Why, you ask? Because the X-Files exists-- as he told Agent Doggett earlier-- to make people angry in its pursuit of the truth. This moment is a test, measuring his replacement's backbone against friendly but oppositional forces.

The entire scene of dialogue discusses unidentifiable biological material-- possibly alien in origin-- that neither files man shrinks from observing out loud; and Mulder, addressing Crane directly at the end of their exchange, knows that the FBI team is listening in. Doggett knows, too; and doesn't attempt to save face, either-- which is exactly what Mulder wanted to see.

The second trip to Parenti's is not as profitable-- their suspect is dead; and Billy Miles knocks Mulder through a glass wall, leaving him unconscious on the floor (and Doggett barricaded in another room.) Still, there are brief glimmers of success: (e.g. Mulder trusting his not-partner to simultaneously wander off and cover his back; and the substantial link between possible conspiratorial forces and Scully's pregnancy.)

OUR CONCERNS ARE NOT SO DIFFERENT, YOU AND I

Back at Scully's apartment, Mulder submits to his partner's doctoring until she touches a particularly tender patch. Gently, he snatches her wrist away-- "Oh, Scully"-- acknowledging her quiet "Sorry" with a slightly lessened grimace.

Mulder being Mulder, he spots an opportunity for a quip. "I see why you gave up a career in medicine--"

"Mulder," Scully interjects, smiling disapprovingly: knowing, already, where this is going. (Perhaps an old joke between them?)

"--for the FBI, Scully. You've got manos de piedra."

She does not let this mischaracterization slide, picking up a cotton swab and unexpectedly booping his nose before returning to her work.

Mulder brushes at boffed dignity, had.

"Sorry," Scully adds, referring to her earlier mistake.

Off of a brewing thought, her partner mulls, "Imagine if he'd connected."

"Who?"

"Billy Miles."

"Billy Miles?" she repeats, straightening her spine to engage eye contact. "He did this?"

And out it comes: Mulder and Doggett's misadventures, Doggett's corroboration-- to a point-- and Mulder's theory: " Well, Billy Miles is a whole new deal. He's an alien abductee who was returned after hideous procedures were performed on him. And who miraculously returns to so-called perfect health when his body completely sheds its skin."

Scully presses her lips together ever so slightly; and Doggett voices what she and he are thinking: "Same thing happened to you."

"Same thing would've happened to me," Mulder insists, bluntly setting the record straight, " if I'd been left alone." Locking eyes with his partner, he spells out, " If Scully hadn't treated me."

Mulder, then, is laying the credit of his recovery completely at Scully's feet: not a surprise, but a sweet touch.

Scully turns the page away from unpleasant thoughts, piping up with an insistent, "And what were you doing there?" When he doesn't answer right away, her eyebrows shoot up momentarily, and she adds, "Mulder?"

And it all comes out.

"Listen, Scully, I'm sorry, but I just need to know that this baby of yours is going to be all right."

"My baby is fine, Mulder. I've had it checked over and over again with my new doctor that I trust implicitly."

Lizzie Gill momentarily interrupts their discussions-- "She's just helping me out here at my mother's insistence", Scully excuses, hiding the fact she'd warmed to the idea herself.

And Mulder-- never failing to grasp an opportunity-- uses the brief interlude to his benefit. "That's... that's all I'm trying to do. Just make sure nothing happens to you; that this baby you're carrying is born without any surprises."

A few noteworthy details here: Scully, as previously remarked, is not as sure about "her baby" as she pretends. The script mentions that she is "overcompensating" here; and that correlates with Scully's own confession in Existence's conclusion: ("From the moment I became pregnant, I feared the truth... about how... and why. And I know that you feared it, too.") Even though she works hard to be impenetrable, to embrace this chance with open arms, Mulder sees right through it-- said plainly that he's already seen through it in his opening monologue. "What do I tell Scully?" is answered in Existence's conclusion-- "I think what we feared were the possibilities. The truth we both know"-- but that's after the dust has settled and the day has been saved. What can he say now? That is why Mulder is running around: to give his family answers-- answers the Mulders never had (post here), if one wishes to extrapolate his motives farther.

(Side note: Is this the best writing? No. Is it the worst writing? Not yet. Is it, in its current form, serviceable. Yes-- if the "your baby" and "my baby" would be dropped, it would zip along rather nicely.

Why doesn't "your baby" and "my baby" work? Because Mulder and Scully have gone weeks now referring to their child indirectly or not at all; and, though that in and of itself was a tease, it was a tease in line with both characters' minimal communication. "When he's old enough, tell the kid I went down swinging" and "You gotta worry about the little boy" are cleverer ways to hedge around the baby-- adding on "your" and "my" only confusingly detaches and depersonalizes its connection from Mulder, or Mulder's consideration of that connection.)

THE KNOT BEGINS TO TIGHTEN

Another tie to Parenti's clinic is murdered that night-- Per Manum's Duffy Haskell-- and his death draws Doggett and Skinner and Mulder to the scene of the crime.

Skinner, fed up with improper answers, pulls Mulder aside and questions him about the baby: "Some business we need to clear up. Personal business. About Scully's baby, about who the father is." Blowing over his former agent's quip about the FBI betting pool, he continues, "I've had my suspicions. That is, until I found out that you had questions. Questions about Scully's pregnancy itself."

Mulder warms to the A.D.'s candid, no-nonsense consideration; and confesses, "You want to know who the father is, that's Scully's business. But if you're asking me how a woman who was diagnosed as barren and unable to conceive is about to give birth in a couple days, that's an answer I can't honestly give."

It's a tricky game of disclosing only so much to minutely advance the plot; and, considering the writers' later tactics, one of the more sophisticated methods. Mulder is questioning where the baby came from-- at the present, whether it's even human. He does not trust Scully's scans because Parenti referenced them earlier; and he does not trust in convenient miracles-- never has, never will. And because he cannot explain these considerations with a clear conscience, he cannot answer his, Scully's, and now Skinner's questions.

Unappeased, the A.D. reaches for his phone, ready to worm clarification out of Scully for once. Mulder intercepts this attempt, politely; and Skinner lets him, cognizant that both agents know how to handle each other best.

Scully ditches the shower to answer the phone, dashing (as much as she's able) to catch it before the line goes dead. Mulder, hearing her irregular breathing, immediately pivots from his rote "Hey, Scully, it's me" to an alert "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," she assures, "I just ran from the shower."

Mid-conversation, Scully realizes Lizzie Gill might be a spy; and the call cuts short when she catches the other woman swapping out the prenatal vitamins.

The scene changes to the hospital where she stands distraught-- barely holding onto her dignity until Dr. Speake walks over to reassure her. Mulder and Maggie wait in the hall until the doctor slips by; and he continues to stand guard as Mrs. Scully embraces her daughter comfortingly (and apologetically.)

Skinner joins Mulder in the hallway--

--and the latter follows him out to interrogate Lizzie Gill. (Though absent by necessity, his departure reinforces Scully's long-held worry that the X-Files will always dominate Mulder's attention-- a concern that will resolve itself in two scenes.)

The interrogation is conducted by Mulder, Doggett, and Skinner, who take turns grilling Lizzie on her involvement in the Parenti project. She is equally forthright with her answers, unabashedly laying out that her former boss and his associates were working under the orders of "government men"-- adjacent, then, to the Syndicate. And that part is important: Lizzie Gill's assignment was tangential to the Project's work on Emily Sim-- creating a child cloned from a human egg and alien DNA.

"Alien babies. Birthed by human mothers desperate to conceive. They didn't live more than a couple of days, but tissue and stem cells is what we were after for other experiments."

Mulder rubs his temples, disgusted by this revelation: and immediately launches into what is most important to him. "What did you do to Scully?"

When Lizzie's answer doesn't satisfy, he repeatedly yells, "What did you do to her! Tell me what's wrong with her! Tell me what's wrong with her baby!" It's not until Doggett intervenes with a gentle, "Listen to her-- what she's saying," that he calms long enough to hear the rest.

And, of course, the revelation is somehow worse than everyone assumed: "There's nothing wrong with her. That's what I'm trying to tell you. The child she is carrying is very special. One could only hope to create that in a lab. A perfect human child but with no human frailties."

This means one of two horrifying things:

The Parenti clinic did not create this child-- worse, they marvel at, and are invested in, its existence.

The baby-- normal or not-- is a wanted asset; and Scully a target by proxy.

This may act as confirmation that the child was most likely conceived by Scully under "human" conditions-- i.e. with Mulder's involvement-- but that merely allays one fear while breeding ten more. Scully previously had a child-- born-and-bred by the Project-- that she let go to protect. Now the Syndicate-- or their scattered allegiances--are restarting the cycle with this pregnancy. Her only hope is that this baby is not what anyone is expecting; and, luckily for Scully, that is what what the ending of Existence establishes (and the beginning of Nothing Important Happened Today throws away. But I digress.)

Mulder doesn't know what to do or who to turn to; so, he stands and runs back to Scully, ignoring Doggett's initial attempts to haphazardly trail behind.

THE GREAT ESCAPE

Arriving at his partner's apartment, he makes sure she's alone before insisting she start packing, immediately.

Scully, confused and frightened, becomes frustrated after he cryptically recounts, "No-- your, your baby is fine. It's you who's in danger now, Scully."

"From who? Mulder, from what?"

Part one of the truth reveals itself-- one that will guide his actions the rest of Essence and Existence: "I don't know, I'm not sure. I'm not sure about anything. I just know I've got to get you out of here."

Mulder is not thinking rationally anymore-- he is out of answers or solutions, and is now relying solely on adrenaline-fueled gut instinct. This leads him to a multitude of questionable choices (as will be explored in the next post) that no one bothers to checkmate or pump the breaks on. He is in panic mode-- one that rears its ugly head whenever aliens or Conspiracy are mentioned post-Deadalive (i.e. tearing up over continued abductions, post here; beating a black-oiled worker nearly to death, post here; and currently jumping to alien baby conclusions and continued catastrophic thinking.) He desperately needs someone to reason with him; but, alas, no one will because the writing says so.

Fed up with the overreach of evil in her life-- having lost her sister and her health and her fertility to the monster of the Conspiracy; and having left the files without plans to return-- Scully snaps, incensed. A limit has been reached, and a line in the sand drawn. "Look, Mulder, look, I can't take this! I can't live like this—as, as the object of some unending X-File."

And part two of the truth reveals itself-- one that has grown and taken root in Mulder's life over the past eight years: "This isn't about the X-Files, Scully. It is only about you."

He expands this truth to include the little Scully-- "Now, you are going to have this baby and I'm going to do everything I can to protect it. I just can't do that here"-- and waits for his partner to process his promise and trust it.

After a long, assessing pause-- weighing Mulder's transparency against other (or any) alternatives-- Scully acquiesces, gliding away to hastily pack her things.

But as fast as she is, Billy Miles is faster. While Mulder is on the phone with Doggett, Billy arrives, cutting the power lines as he works his way up to Scully's apartment.

Both former agents freeze, taking in the sudden darkness; and realize their chance at escape is fleeting. They make it down the hall and out the stairs mere seconds before their pursuer arrives, fleeing into the night towards her car.

Mulder outstrips Scully's pace effortlessly; and she passes over the keys so he can jump behind the wheel and unlock her passenger side door-- both fluidly in time with each other's movements.

Having escaped, all is well; and both speed off into the night.

...Right?

CONCLUSION

The next part will tackle the egregious errors of Essence and Existence-- the bits that can be (I posit: should be) tossed into the garbage truck that crushed Billy Miles.

In the meantime, we bask in the bare minimum: story beats that aren't egregiously expositional, with moments that navigate previous characterization through formulaic, tension-building Chris Carter rhythms. It's not a clean break, overall; but it's not too sloppy, either.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

[post-script-clown]

Graywing my baby :( You deserved so much better in your life but at least you died taken care of and surrounded by loved ones.

*This poll was submitted to us and we simply posted it so people could vote and discuss their opinions on the matter. If you’d like for us to ask the internet a question for you, feel free to drop the poll of your choice in our inbox and we’ll post them anonymously (for more info, please check our pinned post).

[moghedien]

I fell down a rabbit hole looking at the official Wheel of Time Power Rankings and I always forget how wild the notations are with its 1(+12) and ++1 system. Anyway this ask is brought to you by Rahvin is meant to be as strong in the One Power as Rand and Ishamael is? He's stronger than Demandred? That really doesn't sound right I don't remember everything from the books (for reference I saw someone who's not one of the Forsaken at the 1(+12) tier and I have no memory of who that is and I assume she must've been somewhat important) but that sounds wild. Like broadly I don't put much stock in power levels but these are like at least like official right?

But also Logain ++2, so power levels are great I guess, Logain fans stay winning whoop whoop. (for legal purposes this post script is a joke)

I'mma be sooo real with you

I never look at the power levels, I have no idea what they mean and I have no interest in looking at it

I think the part of me that hates min maxing in rpgs and whatnot sees those numbers and my brain immediately refuses to process what they mean lol

I literally just go with "x person is stronger than y person" and nod and am like "sure ok" and never think about it

Rahvin being as strong as Rand and Ishamael sounds weird tho, especially since Rahvin is one of the Forsaken without a third name.

tho now that I'm thinking about it, if I remember correctly Rand did have trouble fighting him and only beat him because Nynaeve showed up with Moghedien on a leash and distracted him. I mean it was kinda early in Rand's forsaken murdering but still he was a problem for Rand

now I wonder why he doesn't have a third name....

[post-script-clown]

Chocolate Milk My Beloved.

[ghostlycleric]

I saw someone post this on here and tumblr was less believing of it than tiktok, but I need to get this off my chest. No hate to the people who posted this, but there are a disturbing amount of people BELIEVING THIS. So, heres everything wrong with this script😭

1. Mike/Will scene 6 - That’s not how that works. At all. In any script writing format. This tells the crew absolutely nothing. Screenplay scene breaks include the following: EXT/INT (inside or outside), the name of the location, and the time. In no official scripts do they name or number scenes. It’s also not capitalized correctly or bolded.

2. Dialogue Tags - In screenplays, the name of the speaker goes ABOVE their dialogue. It’s also very specifically indented. There’s also never quotation marks in scripts like that. Scripts are dialogue heavy and already have notations that indicate dialogue. Quotation marks are redundant and only used when the character themselves is quoting someone else. Also there would never be a “he said” after a dialogue. Also redundant.

2.1. The Colons on Dialogue Tags - Even in stage plays those are unnecessary.

2.2 The Lack of CONT’D - When a character speaks multiple times in a row, every tag after the first gets a (CONT’D) slapped at the end of it. This doesn’t have that.

3. The Typos - Improper capitalization everywhere.

4. The Colors - There’s no reason for text to be colored differently.

This is a mix of a stageplay, screenplay, and a narratives format. If any writer submitted this to the Duffers, they’d be fired. It’s the equivalent of submitting an MLA essay without MLA format.

But don’t take my word for it. Take the real, official scripts we got after scriptgate’s word for it instead:

[post-script-clown]

I Have So Many Mother Fuckin' Thoughts About Cronus But This Is Genuinely So Fuckin' Funny Brother XD

Canon Cronus Really Doing This Just For Attention And He Knows It, It's So Bad, But His Attitude Is Also So Mother Grubbin' Astounding You Gotta Laugh Cause It's Too Ridiculous.

Anyways, Love You Funky Fish Boy But You Need Some Mother Fuckin' Help.

period troubles

[doctorwhoisadhd]

thinking about gallifreyan/time lord music and ive already said that an equally split six note scale (so as to allow for any piece to be played in any of the six keys) would make sense for gallifreyan folk music but now im thinking about how the time travel and such aspects of time lords and gallifreyan culture would interact with this.

pieces that call for the last phrase to be played before the first

instruments that, when played, transmit the soundwaves forward or backwards in time

maybe even part of how you play certain instruments is with one hand producing the notes and with the other operating the chronological directionality and distance the notes are transmitted (whether they go into the future or the past and how far in time they travel)

nursery rhymes designed to teach young gallifreyans various things such as local creatures or the complex set of tenses and conjugations that deal with time / time travel

a gallifrey far enough post-Pythia's curse would likely have lost lullabies and childrens nursery rhymes (at least somewhat)

sheet music notation being in possibly a similar script to sherman's gallifreyan - maybe sheet music is written on circular sheets of paper (or whatever they use instead) and they end up looking like cds or vinyls, with a hole in the middle so that they can be stacked

classical music being in old high gallifreyan while folk music is in modern gallifreyan or maybe a different shobogan language (similarly to how classical music is often in different languages)

different houses or chapters having different variants of the lyrics to folk songs, some folk songs are limited to certain chapters (for example ceruleans having songs about plants whereas other chapters songs don't mention plants)

instead of folk songs about romance/love/etc, gallifreyan folk songs are more typically about tragic regeneration situations of the cousins of a house, and such, or exploits of rassilons

[hegoeshardasfuck]

casual

wordcount: 2K

tags: semi-public sex, biting, handjobs, workplace (?) sex, sub Itachi, dom Kakashi

synopsis: Kakashi and Itachi both think that it's nice having a wherever we want and whenever we want kind of relationship / OR / that fic where they fuck on the job

authors note: hehehe been working on a fanfic writing/reading discord server lately :3 me and my bud r still workin' out the flaws rn but i got something queued to post when its ready to drop

https://archiveofourown.org/works/57578641

Really, they couldn't ask for much more out of their agreement. Simple and concise and signed with ink laden with trust to the point it may as well be blood. Not a word would ever be uttered outside hallowed halls to keep both of them safe.

Although, hallowed halls are almost never enclosed spaces, almost never somewhere without a risk. That's part of the fun. Two high standing shinobi having an affair in the dead of the night against a tree or in the hallways of an abandoned building.

They play fast and loose with each other. Sparing raking glances if they cross in broad daylight. Hunting one another down if split missions cross paths. Whenever and however they want each other they have each other, only if they can be done within the parameter of time limits. They have jobs to do even if they're shaky legged as they do so.

It's a simple mission this time, assassination. Sneak into a theater and kill the lead actor because they're planning a coup d'état and they're the one in charge. Kakashi wants to bite back against the Hokage's instructions, that it's improbable for an actor to be capable of revolution. But he doesn't, he may be in his twenties but backtalking his old teacher won't fare well.

He doesn't get a teammate at first, Minato sure of himself that his prize pupil would do fine. But after a bout of consideration and back and forthing between the two, he dispatches another. And that other is Itachi, someone who'd blend in well with the darkness of the house. He supplies a script of the show, how the scenes play out, and notating each of the leads major scenes.

A simple job, they weren't even advised to do it in the back after the show. Just to get the job done, even if the entire audience sees it happen. They just need to get it done.

"How do you want to do this?" Kakashi asked the day of the mission, closing night. The sun was starting to set already, just an hour until the show would start.

"There's a dressing room underneath the stage, and two that are far off stage right. I doubt he'll use those ones during quick changes, too much distance and too little time."

"If he's a shinobi then he'll only need a minute, he could use any changing room. Where else could he hang out when he isn't on stage?"

"There's a chance he'd just loiter off to stage left, or underneath the stage."

"Underneath it?"

"It's called an orchestra pit, it's quite close to the changing room. Sometimes there are live instrumentals, I suspect there will be for this play."

"What about the pipe grid above the stage?"

"Don't you think we'd get noticed? It'd be too creaky anyways."

Kakashi raises a brow, "Too creaky? My, my, Itachi, how much moving around do you think we'll be doing?"

"Enough to risk alerting a cast or audience member."

"You really think you'd be shaking that much?"

"You really think you wouldn't."

They share a brief pause, carnality rests heavy in the air, but it's dismissed as fast as it's agreed upon. They have a mission to do. They can swap spit and fuck before the play hits it's crescendo.

"What about the catwalk?" Kakashi asked.

"Do you know how hard it would be to get up there even before the show starts?"

"Sneaking around wouldn't be too hard, we just break in through the backdoor and then find our way to stage left and make our way past the balconies undetected, and then climb the stairs."

"I didn't take you for a theater guy."

"Itachi, I throatfuck you every other week, what makes you think that I wouldn't be invested in theatrics?"

Itachi gives a nod, "Fair point." He shoves himself off of the wall he was leaned against, "So it's settled then?"

"We hide in the catwalk and assassinate him for all to see?" Kakashi confirmed, just to make sure they're on the same page.

"If nothing goes wrong, then it'll pan out just like so."

-/-/-/-

The catwalk is more of a crawl space, they have to hunch awkwardly to dart through to a good spot so they can actually snipe him when he's center stage. Heat rises up to the top and the urge to call it quits for up top and hide out in the dressing room is strong. But they have a plan and they're going to stick to it.

Even as Kakashi pushes Itachi against the low railing, back arching against it they'll stick to the plan. They have forty minutes till the big cue where it'll be fun to watch someones brains splatter across the stage. He grips one of the bars to keep himself from tilting to far back as Kakashi bites his throat.

Lips trailing up from his collarbones and along his major veins and to his jawline. The mask got pulled down once the potlights came down and they were thoroughly drenched in darkness, save for the glow of limelight hitting them from below. Kakashi doesn't know when exactly he deemed Itachi a safe person to take down the mask in front of, but he just did.

And maybe he ended up deciding so when he realized he couldn't leave marks that darkened to the point of needing concealer to cover if he had on the mask. He'd rather avoid clawing tears into Itachi's hips and his shoulders and his thighs, much rather bite and kiss his way into permanent residence of the flesh. Leave marks with lips that sear skin and make Itachi falter when he has to wear a tight collared shirt.

Knees rest on either side of Itachi's hips, his own barely bent to keep from his feet hanging off the ledge. A hand rides up underneath his armor and undershirt to brace his lower back. He keeps his hands up above his head because they both know they'll never be in a situation where his wrists can be tied to a headboard.

The hand on the small of his back drops down to grip his ass as teeth sink into his throat. Then his hip, tenderly kissing along the mark as he goes. Semi gloved fingers trace past the waist of his pants, sliding along warm skin and the contrast makes Itachi shudder.

He gasps as blunt nails firmly grip into his thigh and fingers jam into his mouth. He goes ramrod straight at the intrusion and tries not to moan around them. Kakashi leans back from Itachi's throat, sore and red and slick with saliva. He retracts his fingers briefly to allow Itachi to breathe before pressing them back in, "Itachi, if you don't want to jeopardize the mission, you'll have to stay quiet."

Itachi tried to nod in spite of fingers pressed down on the back of his tongue, triggering his gag reflex only a little bit. He swears he'll start to dry heave around them or pull back his head. He knows that if he pulls back Kakashi will thrust his fingers in deeper.

"Can you do that for me, sweetheart?" Kakashi asked quietly. The swell of a musical number started below them, the serenade of an ensemble started singing. Kakashi gives a hum of laughter at the timing, "See, there'll even be a little bit of cover for your moaning."

He drags his fingers out of Itachi's mouth when he finishes speaking, "I can be quiet." Itachi hisses the words at Kakashi. Almost a dare. Go on, he urged, make me scream so loud it stops the show.

And despite how much the notion made Kakashi shiver with delight, he held strong. They have a job to do and they have a plan for it. Instead of bearing down on Itachi's throat to make him fucking howl he rubs circles into the tender flesh of his thigh. Well, not super tender, he is toned, but there's enough give that Kakashi can feel the flesh depress under the calloused pads of his fingers.

The fingers in Itachi's mouth hold him steady at the shoulder blade, shaky arms still held high above his head. Lips meet his own every single time he gasps or moans with Kakashi's fingers pull down his pants at an agonizing pace. The theater is already a hotbox but Itachi's swears he could faint with how hot his body feels.

Heat courses underneath his skin as pale flesh is exposed to the air. Eruptions of song and cheering go on below them every few moments and it makes it really hard to focus on not moaning. Normally it's dead silent, normally there isn't a semblance of cover from being exposed. It's so much easier to crack when there's something to catch his slip up.

A shaky moan slips past his lips and Kakashi devours it without hesitation. Meeting his lips and kissing to make sure that they're red and puffy and slick with saliva. He kisses to the point he might as well be throat fucking Itachi with his tongue as his hand deftly slides slick down his partners cock.

Itachi bites his tongue as Kakashi slowly strokes him. Don't moan. Don't groan. Quiet little gasps escape as he follows the rises and falls of the music below them with each stroke. His toes curl and he tries his hardest to shift the wanton moan into an uneven exhale as Kakashi nips his throat. Teeth so sharply blunt, like that of a dogs.

Kakashi pauses, words hush against Itachi's throat, "Nice and quiet, you wanna cum for me?"

Itachi nodded fast.

And as fast as he nodded Kakashi stilled his motions.

A bewildered little "what?" escapes Itachi's throat as he registers the stall of motion and the incessant throb of want. He whimpers and tries to buck up but he hears something in the infrastructure of the catwalk or the bar he's gripping creak and he goes still.

"Go on," Kakashi said, "Tell me how badly you want to cum for me."

"Kakashi..." Itachi seethed and whimpered at the same time, "We can't, can't risk being loud- what about the job?"

Kakashi gave a hum as he ghosted his hand dangerously close, "You have plenty of time to beg before our target gets on stage for his big musical number."

Itachi tries to glare but Kakashi's hand rests heavy on his inner thigh and Itachi sort of just crumbles to pieces, "Please."

"Do better than that."

"Please, Kakashi, just let me cum. It's been too long since we last did this, please. I don't care if they hear me; make me cum, Kakashi sensei."

The word sensei hits Kakashi like a bag of bricks, it's been a long time since Itachi called him that. And this re-contextualization makes him feel something ungodly burning in his stomach. He let's his hand trace back up Itachi's thigh to slowly pump him, the somewhat rough texture of fabric against skin makes Itachi whimper and whine.

He doesn't stop giving pathetic, pleading sounds though. As he hits climax and Kakashi kisses him to muffle his reaction his grip on the bar slips, the hand on his shoulder blade catches his fall. He leans onto Kakashi as he's carried through the high of orgasm and somehow he timed it with the way the orchestra falls out of a tune.

"Want me to take the shot?" Kakashi asked, a tenderness too his tone he reserves only for the likes of Itachi and his dogs.

"We only have one chance, and you're definitely in a better state to be the one to do it," Itachi answered with, already back to calculating every possibility so they can come out on top and succeed.

"Got it," Kakashi said, shifting his knee away from where it bracketed Itachi in. Minimized him. Made him easy to dominate because it really is hard to make it seem possible unless you've already done it a hundred times.

Which, Kakashi can't confirm or deny if he has dominated Itachi that many times. Because as often as he does top Itachi has done the same to him twice over. And he really wouldn't have it any other way.

[musical-posts]

Hi, person with some musical and technical knowlage, with both questions, and some follow-ups to other people's questions:

Regarding the dynamics question, it's implemented in MIDI via velocity, so, in theory, if you just increese the velocity by a set ammount at a certian point, for a certian string (p, ff, etc), it should work fine

Following on from that, using Capital Letters to denote accents (raise the velocity for a single note, then return to the baseline) ought to work nicely

Then, taking it to a stupid extreme, text styling, for example, if it's in the cursive style, make it legato, which then opens the tin of worms of digital legato, but, making the notes playback for 105% of their regular length works way fucking better than it should

Have you considered a method of implementing octives? I've though about it a bit, and, other than general muscal direction (for example, if the last three notes 123 are all lower than the previus note, drop 4 by an octive, visa versa for up, no change for other situations), I don't think it's very possible to implement in a musical way

How do you select the instrument for each post?

Have you considered using a system like LilyPond in order to generate scores for each post?

OK, that's everything I can think of, if you have any more questions, feel free to ask, well, me, I suppose, despite that not being how tumblr asks normally work

To be completely honest I don't want to deal with dynamics, if I do add them it'll probably be in like version 3 of the script at best, version 2 is already gonna be an undertaking.

See above

Copy pasting text from tumblr into powershell means it does not carry the formatting into the script and I really don't want to do that manually

I definitely want to add octaves, but figuring out an intuitive way of doing it that allows for maximum manipulation by asks is proving difficult. Your idea is good but I'd rather go for something

If you look closely at the formatted text you'll see some letters bolded and italicized, those are the letters used to choose the instrument. I've explained in further detail in the past but basically it just sees what instrument it can find in the text first.

I have never heard of lilypond and I do not want to learn entirely new notation software for silly gimmick blog, sorry. if you want the midi file for one of the posts so far i haven't deleted any though

[post-script-clown]

Hell yeah, they/them Terezi my troll!

day 269

i think it could happen

[levunalangs]

Sdefa Sdaturday #8

I made a new script for Sdefa! It’s not a replacement for the other one, I just thought it would be nice to have more than one. They work in very different ways, and reflect different aspects of the structure of the language.

In this system, there are seven letters, plus two diacritics. Each letter represents either an interval or a note. The intervals are more often used, so let’s start there.

The first letter is for a unison, or repetition of the same note. If the standard terminology for intervals made any sense, it would be represented by 0, but since it doesn’t it’s 1. (In my own notes I use 0 for a unison, ±1 for seconds, ±2 for thirds, and so on, but that isn’t standard and can be confusing so for this post I’ll go from 1 to 7 instead of 0 to 6. For a unison, I’ll write -1 but it’s actually neither up nor down.) The second letter is for a second (step) up, or a seventh down. It doesn’t matter if it’s a major or minor second (whole or half step); that can be specified with diacritics later. Since a step up from C is D, a seventh down from C is also D, and meaning in Sdefa isn’t affected by octave, the same letter is used for both. The rest of the letters work the same way: the third letter is for a third up or a sixth down, the next for a fourth up or fifth down, and so on.

Normally when making a conlang script I don’t like to have more than a small handful of letters be reflections or rotations of other letters, let alone almost all of them. It can be visually confusing and hard to keep track of, but I think it makes sense in this case. I want there to be visual similarities between a scale up and a scale down, an arpeggio up and an arpeggio down, and so on. There are also not that many letters to keep track of, so that helps reduce potential confusion.

Within a word, a sequence of these letters will tell you the melodic contour. They can combine into ligatures, some of which are shown below:

In order to know what pitches we’re actually playing, though, we need a reference point. For that reason, the first letter of a text and the first letter after a space represent specific notes rather than intervals from the previous note:

These are the same notes that each letter would represent if the previous note was a C, so you can think of C as being an unwritten, unheard reference note between each word. This is useful because it can be very easy to lose track of where you are in a longer text, so having somewhat regular signposts for what the actual notes are is helpful.

I said “the first letter after a space” rather than “the first letter of a word” because prefixes are written separately from the words they are affixed to, in this notation system. This is done so that the first letter of a root word will always be the same, and the word will therefore be consistently recognizable. Because of the restrictions on the lengths of Sdefa roots and affixes, it’s never ambiguous as to whether a given string of letters is a prefix or sequence of prefixes or a root with one or more suffixes.

Here are some examples:

The first word begins with G, or a fifth above the reference pitch C. Then a third down is E, a step down is D, another step down is C, and a step up is D. So the whole word is G E D C D, which means “grass” (a reference to the finale of Sunday in the Park with George, the line “on the green purple yellow red grass”). The next word begins with a third above the reference pitch C, but the dot below means that we lower it from the expected E to E♭. Then we have a step down (D), a step up (E—accidentals only apply to the note they’re on), a step up (F), and a third up (A). That spells out E♭ D E F A, aka “Sdefa.” The third word begins with B, followed by a third down or sixth up (G), a step down, raised by a half step (F♯), and a step up (G). This is B G F♯ G, or “Sunday” (borrowed from the same song as before: “Sunday, by the blue purple yellow red water”).

So why use two systems in one writing system—why not have each letter represent a note all the time, instead of a note sometimes and an interval at other times? The reason is the affixes, which are determined based on intervals rather than notes. The first-person singular suffix is up a third and down a step, with the first note matching the last note of the word it’s affixed to. So if that starting note is A it could be any of {A C B}, {A C B♭}, {A C♯ B}, or {A C♯ B♯}. Affixed to a different word it might be any of {E♭ G F}, {E♭ G F♯}, {E♭ G♭ F}, or {E♭ G♭ F♭}, and there are just as many possibilities for every other starting pitch. If the different letters only represented notes, each of these possibilities would look completely different. But with this system, they all look like this, plus or minus some dots above and/or below the letters for the sharps and flats:

To wrap up, here’s the image from the beginning of the post again:

You may recognize the first word from the previous examples: it’s “Sdefa,” plus a suffix that goes A G F (-1-2-2 in terms of intervals). The next word is A B G D, meaning “Saturday,” followed by the suffix D C♯ D (-1-2+2). Both of these suffixes are third-person suffixes, used here to show which one will go with which noun. The final root is C B C B, which is the locative verb. It has two suffixes, the notes of which are B A G G F♯ G. In terms of intervals, that’s -1-2-2-1-2+2, the same two suffixes from before, showing that the noun corresponding to the first suffix is in, at, or on the noun corresponding to the second one. This therefore says “Sdefa is on Saturday(s),” aka “Sdefa Sdaturday.” You can see that written out musically here (with audio) and written in the other Sdefa script here.

[mostlyihyperfixate]

WIPs

I've seen some people sharing their WIPs, and since this blog is technically connected to my writing blog, I decided to share the two things I'm working on right now.

So first off, I've got this thing that's in very early stages. I've actually never written a canon-character only story before? I've literally been writing OCs or reader inserts since I was 13. I'm not even sure I'll get around to writing this. But I've got a document to put notes in, since my extremely convoluted writing process requires that I brainstorm everything on a keyboard, then outline scene by scene before I open a journal and actually write it.

Even though I love amnesia stories, I've never written one of those either...mostly because I feel like I should have a plot happening at the same time. So I'm trying to come up with a murder mystery, which shouldn't be too hard since I subsist on Midsomer Murders, Death in Paradise, and New Tricks. But you know what? Actually coming up with good murder mysteries is hard. My hat is off to everyone who writes case fic.

Oh, and I need to credit The Things We Agree to Believe are True with the magatama idea. I already planned to if I ever posted it; it's just not in my notes. It'd work differently in the idea I've got, but credit where credit is due. I'm wondering if I should combine the idea with a soulmate AU since, you know, you screw up with the psychelocks, you shatter your soul. I've only ever written one soulmate AU before--so why not go whole hog and just keep making it more difficult for myself?

I'd like to try writing the whole thing before posting it, if it grows to be longer than a one shot...

Annnnnd then here's the request I've been working on for months and months and months and months now. It's to the point where I'm writing it out in a journal before getting my editing in on MS Word, so I'm a liiiiiiittle ahead of here in terms of actual words, but I'll save you the attempt to discern my illegible handwriting. (Sometimes I send pictures to words to my best friend, and even she can't tell what I was trying to tell myself.)

I had a really detailed outline for this, but I kind of wound up going off script. It's still the same story, but I've moved a lot of stuff around. This is from the extra scene mentioned, and I'm actually pretty sure I'm going to add another extra scene between this and "Scene 4" because there's too much of a time jump otherwise, in my humble opinion. Even these scene notations aren't really reflective of what's going on when they're actually written out at this point.

Haha, it was a pretty wild request with a lot of crazy details, but I'm pleased that I'm pretty sure I've managed to cram them all in, regardless of my original hesitation.

[featherwurm]

I have some thoughts on the tadfools (and the other companions and my Tav's) handwriting:

Gale – Gentle, flowing, easy, and clearly legible. Can get a little bit scribbly if he’s writing fast, but proper notation is important for spells, research, and notes. It’s a long-practice hand from a very knowledgeable background. Occasionally makes an old, odd ingrained spelling error.

Wyll – Almost a little uncomfortably formal, he has proper training in basic calligraphy, and a delicately proper sense of penmanship. His spelling is similarly well trained.

Astarion – Lazy and scratchy, but still legible, clearly could write better but doesn't bother – it’s on other people to interpret his notes. Spelling is precise and perfect though, and his diction seems slightly antiquated.

Lae’zel – Precise and orderly, she can write microscopically small if given a fine enough implement. Her writing and spelling in Gith is immaculate, her Common does get some odd phonetic errors in spelling.

Shadowheart – Looks like she used to dot her Is with hearts and is doing everything in her power not to. Isn't too fussed on spelling, but isn't bad.

Karlach – A bit quick and sloppy, but pleasant to look at and legible. A mix of half-forgotten cursive and script. Her spelling gets interesting, sometimes mushing up her own words that she feels 'fit better' than one single word (such as "ignots".)

Tav – Barely legible chickenscratch, spelling can be almost unintelligible. She writes like someone is forcing her to. She reads just fine, but writing is not her strong suit.

Halsin – Long practiced, elegant and clean – this is a man of intense study and beautiful notetaking. Would make the ‘journaling’ crowd jealous.

Jahira – Legible to her and that’s it. Her grocery lists are utterly impossible in every aspect, much to her kids' chagrin.

Minsc – SURPRISINGLY nice, like, where did this man learn penmanship? Did Boo teach him? Is this normal in Rashemen?

Minthara – Clean, authoritative, and clear, no flourish, but completely legible despite being a quick hand. She writes to whatever audience she is commanding and can adopt a variety of styles of narration to make her point clear. Her spelling is perfect.

(You'll have to forgive that my own handwriting limits this a bit, I wasn't going to get 10 different fonts for a quick head-canon post.)

[post-script-clown]

Yeahhhhhhh! I love this! I don't have any solid opinions on ships yet, my silly little brain has been busy just trying to figure out all the possible ones before I pick "the best" (that doesn't exist they're always all fun) But I love this!

Made this graph in MS Paint to explain to a friend my SolDaveKat vision.