#amazingly put op

[ogsherlockholmes]

Regardless of whether you see their relationship as platonic or not, you can still see how respectful they are of each other, especially Watson. Like he’s not ‘tolerating’ Holmes, he genuinely enjoys being around him. Then he wants to help him when he’s struggling and doesn’t judge him for it.

As anyone who was considered ‘weird’, a relationship like this could literally be life saving as it stops a person from feeling they have no place in the world.

okay but thE THING IS that at the beginning of the canon, holmes is so convinced that the Only thing he has going for him, the only reason why people even tolerate him, is because he’s a spectacle, because he puts on a show, because he can “do a cool trick”, and that when he doesn’t have that anymore, when people get used to it and it’s not new and interesting and intriguing anymore, that everyone just gets tired of dealing with him and his mood swings and his addictions and his attitude 

and then he meets watson and watson shows time and TIME again that he is interested in holmes as a person, would literally always find him interesting because of how he is as a person, would just sit quietly with him when he decides today’s a day for trying to read fuckign palimpsests, and he can’t in fact accept holmes’s drug abuse but instead of just walking out on him he would! eventually! put in the effort to help him get over it! would understand all the times when holmes pretended to be fine when he really wasn’t, would understand all the times holmes pretended not to be fine when he really was, would listen to him ramble on about p a g a n i n i for hours, just because it’s him, like, that’s love!!!!!!

[nathaslosthershit]

A Big Decision (Teen Dad!Oscar AU)

(Part 8 of Teen Dad!OP au [Can be read on its own])

Summary: It is time to pop the big question

The twins had finally gone down for a nap after spending so long fighting it. The kids, at age three, have started to fight them more and more, leading their parents to start discussing if it's time for naps to stop. Honey, being a stay at home mom, had needed the nap time as much as her kids had in the past, giving her time to catch up on chores or just rest for a little, so she was really trying to get as much time as she could with it. But maybe it truly was over.

She was surprised to see Oscar pacing in their living room once she went back downstairs.

“Well, aren't you home early?” She says as Oscar immediately wraps his arms around her, burying his head in her neck and kissing it.

“Missed you all, did what they needed from me extra fast so I could get home earlier. Thought we could maybe go out tonight?”

“Oscar, it's a friday night. Do you know how impossible getting a babysitter would be? The kids also take a while to warm up to babysitters, I don’t think it's a good idea.”

“Good thing I thought ahead then. Lando had a free night and has been begging to see them after the last ‘betrayal’ when they wore Sargeant hats. Even better, he said he would do it for free if it meant working towards being the favorite.”

“Oscar, you can’t get your coworkers to babysit your twin toddlers for free by dangling favoritism in their faces.”

“It was his idea! I am just capitalizing off of it. I got us a nice reservation too, we just need to let him now in the next…” Oscar checks his wrist where his watch usually rests but finds it missing, “uh now. So I need an answer quickly, are we going to stay home and eat the same leftovers we have had for the past two days, or are we going to make Lando Norris the happiest man alive by letting him watch our kids for free while we have an amazingly romantic dinner?” Oscar quickly asks as he takes his ex-fiancee, now girlfriend, in his arms.

“Fine, let's go out, we could use the night off. Let Lando know I appreciate him watching them for us.”

“Perfect, why don’t you go out, do something nice for yourself, I'll take over with the kids. We still have time before dinner tonight.” Oscar suggested in a strange tone as he kissed all surface area of her face.

“What is up with you today? I don’t mind it but you are so much more touchy.” She laughed.

“Don’t worry bout a thing.” Was all he replied as he walked away. “Tonight will be the best yet, I promise.”

That’s when it struck her, why he was being so weird. Surely, he was going to propose.

After the huge fight in Suzuka, she had called the engagement off, causing them to ignore each other’s existence unless it came to the kids, for seven weeks. Since they had gotten back together, life had been blissful. Sure, it was most likely the ‘honeymoon’ phase of their relationship, but even so, they had been so ready to marry each other before things started going downhill. Maybe days after they got back together isn’t the right time to get engaged, but they had been to hell and back together since they got pregnant at 18 years old, they were it for each other, always would be. 

Oscar taking off of racing had also been a blessing. It had been hard for him, certainly. But he had needed to learn how to put his family first again, a priority that got harder to keep up with since joining Formula 1. 

As she sat in the nail salon chair, getting what were hopefully her engagement nails done, she thought back to how far they’d come. 

Arriving home with her nails done, and after getting the most amazing massage, Honey was giddy as she greeted her, hopefully, soon to be fiancé. After an hour and a half of filling her head with wedding plans and thinking about their future when she would finally get to be Mrs. Piastri after 7 years, she was more excited then she was the first time he proposed. 

This excitement continued from the moment she stepped into the shower, till the moment she sat in her seat at the restaurant. Oscar had hired a driver for the night, saying it was a night all for them, no need to be careful of how many drinks they were going to have, he had also told her he had plans to take them to the beach after where they could finish the night with a picnic by the water and stay as late as they liked. 

There was one thing that was off about him though, while she had expected nerves, she had also expected excitement from him and soon noticed the more giggly she was, the more upset he seemed to be. Maybe he realized she had caught on?

She finally asked what was up after he spilt his drink.

“Seriously Osc, what is wrong with you? You claim this is such a nice night for just the two of us but you are a mess right now!”

“It’s nothing, I’m sorry I don’t know why I’m like th-”

“Bullshit. I thought I made it clear how awful of a liar you are Oscar Jack Piastri, just tell me. Please?”

Silence filled the air as he stared at her, words failing.

“I will get up if you don’t-”

“I had a meeting with higher ups at McLaren earlier today and was told if I don’t come back then I am out of the contract and I agreed to come back for the Spanish Grand Prix!” Oscar blurted out.

Again, a heavy silence landed on the couple, both of them daring the other one to speak first.

Then, without a single word, Honey got up from the table and walked to the car leaving Oscar at the table, tears starting to fall.

Part 2 out now!

[lunarriviera]

The way luo wenzhou keeps hitting fei du's head is throwing me offf so bad lol...his face every time is so fuunny 😭 child fei du is always angry😡 and adult is just dumbfounded😶😐 glad they kept that in.

Im honestly scared they keep cutting the parts i love so much.their playful banter nd teasing..so many dialogs between them(wch are not even remotely gay) are so important for their characters to develop a emotional bond u know! God what are they gonna do to their ending?!?!🫣😬(sorry i need someone to rant about this)

ME TOO am so glad they kept all or at least most of lwz's casual fei du swatting (and i'm still aggrieved about the "lwz red flag" post on an unnamed platform, bc that person DID NOT GET IT). plus you're right, zxc gives the perfect reaction every time, so affronted and offended and just in shock that anyone would dare to treat him this way?!? like he's a regular person?!? not to quote my own tags but:

i do hear you about the other cuts, tho. to me it seems like every time there's a fade-to-black, it's when something has gone suspiciously missing (cf. the end of lwz's how-to-do-dishes/"you called me and that's a ceremony too" speech, which i'm pretty sure ended with him taking fei du's wrist and guiding him to put the dish in the drainer, just as in the novel). cuts are always clean, with a solid black title card between scenes, but those fades make me narrow my eyes a bit.

i mean: mo du still exists, and i cling to it. and for some insane reason, i'm not worried about the ending? like i don't think they're gonna slaughter tao ran or whatever. also, this garbled leak turned up earlier this week, with op alleging it's from the final scene, so…???

unrelated but very funny (to me) story: when i showed this leak to chat, my beloved and amazingly artistically gifted friend @sangcurcumasvp, who had a very bad headache, thought they were wearing very fuzzy coats for some reason, and that the caption was: BLEP. so now this art exists. it is infinitely precious to me and i hope you all cherish it as well. friends and mutuals, i give you…BLEP.

(also this fei du absolutely slaps oh my god i love him?!??!!?!?!)

[whoviandoodler]

[ID: a sketch page of mark s and helly r kissing. there are for sketches. in the first they're apart and looking at each other, in the second helly has kissed mark and is holding his tie, and in the last two the kiss gets progressively more physical and intense. End ID]

gross fraternization

[casualclassical]

Ballade No. 1: A Musical Journey

Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 is a work that I tend to describe loudly as amazing and sublime. It may not be my all-time favorite Chopin piece but it’s definitely up there. Not only does it sound beautiful, I think it’s an amazingly put together musical journey from the very beginning to the very end. The beginning is iconic and it only gets better from there. Interestingly enough that Ballade is one of the few classical music pieces I describe as a musical journey, but I think that description fits perfectly. You go through the piece, feeling many emotions throughout, but it’s beautiful from start to finish.

Originally posted March 2, 2019 on WordPress

[darkmaga-returns]

CBS’s 60-Minutes show was at it again Sunday night in the most prime primetime weekend news slot on the old broadcast spectrum — Sunday at 7:00, the power-hour of national mind-fuckery — with blob PR-agent Scott Pelley singing the blues over the systematic disassembly of the rogue bureaucracy. Trouble is, fewer and fewer minds are susceptible to the argument that the blob exists to “save our democracy.”

You’re supposed to go boo-hoo because the Department of Justice is under new management. Now get this: since 2015 the Department of Justice and its step-child, the FBI, have devoted their vast and savage powers to manifold acts of sedition, treason, malicious political prosecution, obstruction of justice, suborning perjuries, and countless other abuses of law in an ever-widening gyre of ass-covering operations as year-by-year their crimes multiplied.

RussiaGate was initially a cover-up op for the Clintons’ many acts of mischief and moneygrubbing when Hillary ran for President, just as the Mueller Special Counsel Investigation was a cover-up for the crimes committed by the DOJ and FBI after Hillary lost to Mr. Trump, just as Impeachment #1 was a cover-up for the Ukraine money laundry and its role in RussiaGate, and Impeachment #2 was a coverup for the 2020 election ballot hijinks that got rid of Mr. Trump, and just as the Mar-a-Lago raid was a cover-up to retrieve evidence of all-the-above that Mr. Trump had archived, and just as the flurry of Trump prosecutions in 2024 was the final (and amazingly inept) effort to put the Golden Golem of Greatness out-of-business forever.

[bliss-in-the-void]

Some of the lyrics for Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Part 2 OP, “SPECIALZ” by King Gnu. I will now give my analysis, since this gave me so many feelings. It seems to me this is a sort of pseudo-convo between Satoru and Suguru.

“I love you baby, let’s keep eulogizing” - SatoSugu mourning the loss of their once happy life together (they both canonically thought about it when they were alone). They’re stuck in the past.

“No matter how ignorant, no matter how homeless” - they kept ignoring the reality (Suguru kept telling himself he was on the right path by leaving Satoru and Satoru kept ignoring the execution order on Suguru) and the two feel displaced and away from home without each other.

“Every heart-burning move” - it hurts to carry on without the other, and to constantly meet on opposing sides

“Once we start running, it’s unable to turn back” - they’ve both made their beds and they have to lay in them no matter how much they wish they could turn back time.

And then later on in the lyrics:

“No, no, no! No more composure. A lifetime of wandering in a maze” - Satoru is tired of putting up a mask in front of everyone, acting like he is fine, when the entire time since he’s been without Suguru life has felt more and more complicated and overwhelming.

“No matter what others say, ‘you are my special’” - despite the execution order, despite everyone calling Suguru evil, the worst sorcerer who ever lived, a disgrace, Satoru only ever saw him as his “very best friend, his one and only.”

“‘Get lost in me’ only words that protect yourself. How long are you gonna keep doing this? ‘Get lost in me’” - this could imply that Satoru could have offered for Suguru to forget about his pursuits and be with Satoru instead. Maybe Satoru believed if he loved Suguru enough it would make him ‘come to his senses’.

“Won’t regret the way of life, this is the path I chose” - Suguru refusing to abandon his new way of life, causing a rift between himself and Satoru.

“Please answer me, I wanna feel your heatwave. Blue flame flow from hypothermia” - Satoru wanting Suguru to say yes, to warm him back up after he left him so cold. Flames are the hottest when they are blue, and heating someone too quickly with something as hot as blue flames would send them into shock and potentially heart failure. This could be Satoru saying ‘yes, you left me in the cold and I want you back and I don’t care if the force of you kills me, I’ll take it full-force’

“Don’t deceive romantically, just cut to the chase. No longer get drunk on this love song” - Suguru saying ‘stop lying to yourself just because you love me, you know you need to kill me’

“I love you baby, I love you baby” - Satoru’s stubborn answer, refusal to not love Suguru

In the outro:

“We are special, no more composure” - this will be the arc where Satoru finally drops his happy facade, he can no longer ignore what Suguru’s loss has put him through

“We are special, stay as who you are” - Satoru willing Suguru to remain who he remembers him by, despite everything that has happened

“We are special, be special all the way” - Satoru believes he and Suguru are still the strongest, he himself escaped death once, why can’t Suguru do the same? He’s special too. Maybe he’s still in there.

“We are special, no matter what others say, you are my special” - even now, Satoru still feels the exact same way for Suguru that he always has.

And that will prove to once again be his kryptonite.

Hats off to King Gnu, this was amazingly done <3

[iridescentmirrorsgenshin]

Alhaitham believing that the fate awaiting all idealists is to run out of stamina and drown at sea meanwhile Kaveh believing if it ever comes to that point for himself that someone will come to save him and recognising that he has been helped out recently - by Alhaitham. The lifeline metaphor is insanely strong!!

Also that in itself is contradictory in terms of what Kaveh believes about Alhaitham - he holds these dual sentiments that Alhaitham strongly believes in not imposing on other people’s decisions as they have chosen their fates, and yet he acknowledges that Alhaitham has helped him out and will continue to do so, even though he doesn’t grasp why, therefore it’s easier to interpret Alhaitham’s actions as him seeking something in return.

If Alhaitham believes that the fate that awaits all idealists is drowning and that this is not a personal problem for Alhaitham, then why has he thrown Kaveh a lifeline? And why is it implied that he will do so again if need be? These are questions that Kaveh most likely has but since they’re so nebulous and out of touch with what he believes about Alhaitham, they’re left open-ended - but the answer is so apparent that he’s blinded to it

Kaveh will get swept up by the tide of emotions, tumbling through waves and currents of highs and lows. He will be proud of what he accomplishes, only to dip beneath the waves because of guilt (not just because of his family issues, but maybe the guilt of not "doing enough" for everyone, not changing Sumeru to a point where he thinks his ideals could meet reality). He is stuck in this eternal limbo of feelings and I think at this point he is so deep in it, he doesn't really think there is anything else. The world is the merciless water, and any solid land is a dreary dream that won't save him, because he still needs to brave the ocean.

Alhaitham on the other hand, stood firmly on the ground for most of his life. He would observe the ocean from a distance, feel the moisture, smell the salt in the air, hear the waves crashing on the shore, but he himself wouldn't partake in this song and dance personally. I think through Kaveh he realized that to actually understand the ocean and how the earth needs water to flourish, he needs to touch the waves. Especially when he once got the taste of rain that nourished the garden of thought, only for drought to wreck it for years, leaving a limited, dull hollow behind.

I think we're currently at the point in their lives where Kaveh is still struggling, salt in his eyes and water in his lungs, trying to keep his world afloat as he drowns. Alhaitham on the other hand learned to sit by the waves, and let them crash against his feet, soaking the emotions and observing them, one tide after another, never letting himself get overwhelmed by diving in headfirst.

Kaveh is blinded by it, and still doesn't realize, that Alhaitham is waiting for him just out of reach. He tossed him a lifeline so he could pull him out the ocean and take him back to solid land, where a home waits for him. But he can only stay there and wait for Kaveh himself to actually grip it and let himself be helped out.

Kaveh thinks the only way to experience feelings is by being drown by them, Alhaitham figured out you can live on solid ground, and just run a tap or bath if you want to feel, still in the safety of home.

[etraytin]

"Linemen" - Zoe & Cloyd

If you have a little time and want to get a really good nitty-gritty understanding of what Helene did to Western North Carolina, get onto Facebook and check out the page for French Broad Electric Membership Co-op (FrenchBroadEMC). They serve customers in North Buncombe, Mitchell, Madison, Yancey, Cocke and Unicoi Counties, which were among the hardest hit by the hurricane winds and floods. For nearly three full months the linemen of FBEMC, supported by linemen from other co-ops around the country, worked seven day weeks to rebuild a spider-strand network of power lines that had originally taken decades to set in place. They went where the roads were gone; they went where there were no roads at all, they went by truck and helicopter and ATV and on foot to replace over 2000 downed power poles and return electricity to all the hidden hills and hollers that the people of Western North Carolina call home. 

Along the way they posted frequent pictures and updates so that everyone who was still waiting could know what was happening and that they hadn’t been forgotten. And amazingly, they put it all back together again. Looking at their outage map today, a map that was solid red after the storm because every single power transfer station was down, every one of the co-op’s 41,150 members has power tonight to start 2025. That’s an amazing accomplishment, worthy of commemoration. The linemen got through.

[nelfs]

me and my roommate finished Split Fiction tonight and I don’t think I can remember the last time I’ve played such an innovative and engaging game. probably never. the last level really pushed the boundaries of what co-op gameplay can be and I mean it. It totally blew my mind.

I’m always saying that video games are never used to their full creative potential but I felt like the developers put their whole heart and soul into the mechanics and visuals of this game. every level and asset and item is so insanely detailed and lovingly crafted. the whole thing is amazingly action-packed and NEVER boring. even a little overwhelming at times for someone who hasn’t owned a console since Wii came out. 10/10 would recommend this game tho.

the only lacking part to me was the tone as it tried to tackle some serious subject matter and fell a little short emotionally for me. just felt really cheesy at points (I thought Zoe’s story beats hit better than Mio’s though.) but god damn please play this game and talk to me about it!! It’s seriously a breakthrough!!!

[kanade-memes-daily]

I can’t stop shaking and I’m having severe mental breakdowns. I woke up today trying to play the new update but the update wasnt coming, I had a major panic attack but managed to calm down after a few hours. I couldn’t go to school today, I am so worried that I even took my dad's gun from the shed, thinking of killing myself. I am nothing without Project Sekai, it is my life, it is my destiny, without Project Sekai, I wouldn't be able to do anything. Project Sekai is the best thing ever made and I can't get rid of my addiction to it, it is the best game in existence. I can't stop trembling and crying, I am very worried. I used all of my crystals on Project Sekai, I bought the stamps, and pulled the event 4 star Mafuyu Asahina for my girlfriend MafuyuToeLicker10. I don't know what to do. Project Sekai can't be gone any longer cause if it does then I'll go insane again.. breaking my mouse, chair, house, and everything I own. Project Sekai is very amazing and I can't lose it. Project Sekai is my life, I met my amazing girlfriend john there, In Project Sekai, I was in a general co op room, when I saw this amazingly attractive woman named, MafuyuToeLicker10, she was so cute, I flushed. I found her account later then and tried to talk to her, she was so kind and cute that I accidentally typed my thoughts out "mind: she's so cute.." and she flushed than I got nervous, we then went in the co op room and made out, after that, we went to buy so many stuff in the virtual show venue room, where we bought 2 virtual show outfits of Mafuyu Asahina. The outfits were so cute that I even always used them and took them to the grading system. after the grading was finished it turned out to be a replica and I put the Mafuyu Asahina outfits on sale, then MafuyuToeLicker10 got mad at me threathing me with a breakup, so I chopped her and put her on sale and a guy purchased her for 50%. At the end of the day I made so many crystals that I was #1 on the new Nightcord event. (yes, this is a copypasta)

[hello-there-cyarika]

Hive Trooper Milo

This is my OC Milo (CT-4304)! He's a special operative/stealth trooper, and he's here to show off proper hive trooper proportions and anatomy :]! More info below the cut <3

Milo is a sweetheart and has agreed to be a model

His batchmate, Cicada (CT-3301), will show up another time to demonstrate how helmets work with their antennae

(side note if you understand why cicada's number is 3301 you're my new fav ily)

As you can see, Properly Proportioned and not Cutesy hive troopers are much less visibly fluffy when they're wearing their armor

This doesn't mean that there's less fluff, it's just covered properly by the armor

The fluff also continues up the neck, and in the back it meets the bottom of their hair

On the front of the neck/throat area, the fluff is shorter and finer

On the back and base of the neck and chest, the fluff is longer and thicker

The fluff is very soft and comfy- it helps by being waterproof and very warm on icy planets

On the other hand, it's not very breathable and very flammable, so it's not great in hot environments or facing down a flamethrower

Hive trooper wings are made of a very strong, surprisingly light chitin

The chitin has a property similar to beskar: it can withstand a blaster shot! (not one at point blank or very close range, though)

It can't withstand a lightsaber, unlike pure beskar

The chitin of the wings is super flexible, so troopers' wings are actually quite hard to break

The wings attach to the troopers' upper back in the shoulder blade area

The wing joint is like a ball and socket joint, allowing the wings to have a lot of range and flexibility, giving the troopers a lot of finite control over their aerial maneuverability!

The chitin continues onto the back, covering the entire back and a little ways around the sides with a thin, flexible, transparent layer of chitin

Over top of that, there are several dense, stiff chitin plates that are even more effective than the thin chitin

Below the plates, on the lower back, is where the secondary abdomen is connected

The secondary abdomen is covered in overlapping, thick chitin plates, and has thin chitin as a flexible under layer

Each stripe is along the bottom edge of each plate

The secondary abdomen contains stinger, venom sac/gland, crop, stomach, intestines, liver, gall bladder, and pancreas

Since the torso is lacking the majority of the digestive organs, the lungs are much bigger and take up a lot more space

The heart is also larger to compensate for the additions of wings and secondary abdomen

The venom gland produces a substance that can send just about any sentient, allergic or not, into anaphylactic shock within a couple minutes

Thankfully troopers are very polite and keep their stingers retracted while interacting with nat-borns

The troopers themselves are immune to the venom, fortunately

The antennae are very expressive!

Aside from being used as a sensory organ, the antennae move in a somewhat involuntary response to emotions, much like a cat's ears or a horse's tail

One method of silent greeting for troopers is bonking antennae, whether that be bumping antenna to antenna or antenna to head/shoulder

It's a big deal for a nat-born to be greeted like this by a trooper, especially since antennae are so sensitive! It means they're "part of the hive"

Bonking antennae goes hand-in-hand with a keldabe for the boys :]

In case you haven't heard about this amazingly adorable fun fact: bees give a lil "woop" when they bump into each other!

Troopers do it too, but it's more of a gentle lil "oop" or "ope"

Stealth troopers and any ARCs that take on stealth missions have to be trained out of this involuntary response so they don't get caught if they bump into each other

The upper blacks that the troopers wear obviously have to be quite different

They have an open back and a closure at the top back just below the neck

You sort of have to step into it like a leotard and pull it up, put your arms through, and then do the closure at the top

lol okay this one post has gotten long enough! I'll save more worldbuilding for future posts ^-^;

I think next I'll do a doodle of wolffe/fox/thorn/tup/dogma, so look forward to those cuties!

<3 I do not give my consent or my permission for my art to be re-posted or reuploaded on this or any other website <3

[niobiumao3]

Commissions and Artwork

Below the cut is all the lovely art I've commissioned or which the amazingly talented artists of this fandom have drawn based on my fics. Figured it would be easiest to put this in its own post.

Phee and Tech from Obliquity by nightskyfoxyy

Phee and Tech from Man in the Middle by nightskyfoxyy

Phee from Mercury Salt Sulfur by nightskyfoxyy

Jedi Phee by Eli Tan

Tech in civies by Eli Tan

Phee on an ocean map background by lightspringrain

Phee enjoying a sunset on Pabu by kelstares

Phee and her sword by purpleartdude

Phee and Tech discussing a find by tsarevichh

Phee and Tech meteor-watching by amalthiaph

Phee by ethiobirds

Phee and Tech by cloned-eyes

Phee vs. Tech at sabacc by croc

Tech comforting Phee after an intense moment by eggdrawsthings

Phee solving a puzzle by matthewyeez

Jedi!Phee dressed up for an undercover op by Eli Tan

Phee and Tech researching by clambatch

Mercury Salt Sulfur fanart by 99aceace

Tech and Phee by littlestpersimmon

[therwriter]

Feeling both kind of ashamed and weirdly proud of this one. Ashamed because I caved pretty early (at about 380 points) and had to look at someone else's clear to go with a core of Dorothy, Ceobe, Virtuosa and Ines (knew I needed Ines but not where) (this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxAs8XHWfIs), but weirdly proud because it was a 4-op clear with all of them at E2 Lv. 90 so while I got the initial placements down it took a bunch of work to make it work with my E2 Lv. 60 ops, even if I still had to break out a bunch of busted meta ops. Anyway I should really have clocked the Ceobe and Ines positions but holy shit Dorothy snaps this map over her knee holy moly do not mess with Jerboa. Her global range with mines works amazingly on a 5-deployment limit.

In terms of additions, Mumu and Bagpipe were mainly there for their passives, though Bagpipe also did double duty as a meat shield/seeds of withering remover. Goldenglow S3 worked fantastically for removing the Dublinn Evocators, hitting Withering Collector Disciples later in the map and generally helping Dorothy out on an incredibly busy and chaotic map. Eyja was there to put big dents in the Disciples on each pass, while Texas S2 and Skalter S3 were used to melt down the second swamp rover immediately, making life much easier for the rest of the map. Virtuosa S1 used as helidrop to hit Disciples for massive instant necrosis damage. Gladiia was... just kind of there in the final clear and didn't do anything, could easily be swapped for another fast-redeploy or merchant, something with a low redeployment time so they can be useful.

Overall just didn't manage to click with this map initially so I really hated it, but once I got a core to build something on it was kind of fun actually, maybe I should start defaulting to Dorothy since that's how I cleared the last one too lol. Though those withering collector disciples were super annoying and basically came down to how much burst can you put out at the end, oh my god invisibility suuuuuuuucks

Tl;dr: TAKE MY DOROTHY SHE'LL BE S3M3 IN ABOUT 6 HOURS

[rplayford02]

KEEPER: Production

The shoot ran fairly smoothly. Here’s a run down day by day!

Friday - Changing Rooms

The prep we did during the tech recce really helped here. I was able to tell Tom exactly where he should boom from without having to consult camera. We did eventually need to consult camera to check exact edge of frame, but the prep definitely streamlined our communication.

Saturday - day off!

Talked about the shoot with Ben.

Sunday - Will’s Bedroom

A lot of time spent basking in the sun on the decking at Jake’s, waiting for the light to change. It was an indoor location where we had full control so it was fairly easy for sound. Only challenge was space. The room wasn’t very large and we (Tom and I) had to hide in a corner behind camera. When I wasn’t soaking up the sun, I was hiding in a cupboard next to an unnerving pillow of Jake’s face.

Monday - 1st Pitch Day

So rainy! The weather made communicating anything ten times harder, and it was our first day out on the pitch so we were still settling into the environment. To make it all just slightly more complicated, we switched around the schedule so we were basically shooting in sequence. It was necessary to move all of scene 5 onto this day to minimise continuity errors, however it did create some confusion. I hadn’t really prepped to shoot those scenes on that day so it kind of put us on the back foot. This being said, we still got everything shot and only wrapped slightly late.

Tuesday - also a day off!

Had crew dinner at Nando’s and conversations with Ben about the direction of the film so far - what beats we were already hitting, what might need adapted. With our style of shooting, there was room for some flexibility. Was also able to speak with Zoe at SAS about how sound was going. Came up with a strategy with Alex and Ben for how we would better communicate over the next two days on set.

I’ve never been able to reflect on a shoot whilst it was happening before and I was surprised at how valuable I found this day off. Such a shame that I’ll probably never have the luxury again!

Wednesday - 2nd Pitch Day

Ran much smoother. No huge issues, except that Monday’s shoot had made me ill. :((

Slightly concerned about the sound for water break 2 - the boom couldn’t be close at all and I couldn’t get LAVs on them, since it’s a continuous take from the scene before.

Tom continued to be an incredible boom op through very, very long takes in the freezing cold! I was very grateful!

Thursday - 3rd Pitch Day

Last day ever on a set in uni! People cried! Unusually, not me!

Also ran smoothly. Re-shot the walkout shot from Monday. Sound was good, probably the best of the three days. Had a chance to get some extra field tracks of the ambience.

In the end, sound wasn’t actually forced to compromise much at all. There were a lot of factors which we couldn’t always control and that was scary, for sure. The improvised dialogue, improvised movements, the loud, inconsistent, constant background noise, the weather, the broken/missing kit (two crackly radio mics and no waist bands!) - it was all against us and yet there were no real catastrophes, which shows how much my sound recording has improved in the past two years.

At times the stress got the better of us (mainly me, maybe Alex) but on the whole, the set was extremely professional and well run. I really enjoyed being able to focus entirely on sound recording, which never really seems to happen on student projects. I just loved working with this team! Everyone was firing on all cylinders and I could trust that everyone was doing their jobs amazingly and just focus on my own sound shit. I still had my overstepping, control-freak moments but they were significantly reduced.

It was so cool to see it all come together from pre-production. I’m so proud of everyone and grateful for all the work they put into this film!

[misfitsandmusings]

⭐️ Half-hearted “theory”/wishful thinking and musing on Law, Doflamingo, Rosinante, and the “man marked by flames”. ⭐️

POTENTIAL SPOILER WARNING for the end of Wano (but not really bc my Wano knowledge as a whole is lacking. But I mention one scene at the end of it and give a vibe nod to Egghead/current events without any details. Read more-ing it from here because it’s a longish post in general and somewhat crack in nature.

I’ve been screaming with @clownquixote and have screamed at @climatact about this before but since I’m feeling unapologetically myself in my ridiculousness today I’m going to share a far-fetched “it would never happen but I self indulgently WANT it to happen so let me find this little stretch of a thread to tug on” hope/theory. (On the AMAZINGLY UNLIKELY chance that this happens I’m putting it out there right now and if it defies all the odds and comes true I demand of the universe the equivalent of Law’s bounty in… idk, something dumb like chocolate mints or bread bc as much as I love Law this chick cannot relate to the bread hate.)

But anyway- after all Law has been through in his life and series as a whole, even though YES I know his death was important to his story and character growth, I think he deserves and I would not be mad to see a plot twist in which Rosinante lived. I feel like Sabo’s reappearance came out of left field when it happened and has been widely accepted so I don’t think it’s THAT much of a stretch and if it can happen once it can happen again. The stretch of a thread I’m picking at in my self-indulgent desire to see this happen? The tiny and (I think) thus far unexplained references to the man marked by flames? When Kid says something about that mystery figure being his objective there’s a single panel -that I of course do not have saved. Will find and rb later- where it shifts to Law and he has this vaguely interested/curious look on his face. And yes, Law is curious by nature and that could and probably doesn’t mean anything.

And you would think with a cool tagline like that it would be some really important, powerful, badass character in the making but. What if it’s actually just a clumsy clown of a character prone to setting himself on fire?

I’m thinking a lot on this today because I was revisiting Law & Rosinante backstory episodes in preparation for writing kid!Law for the first time (yay!) but I jumped to episode 700 and decided to watch the entire thing instead of jumping to the actual flashbacks of Law’s childhood. The first few minutes are Law vs. Doflamingo with the latter ranting about the hidden secret use of the Ope Ope no Mi and him stating that if he’d had access to its abilities then, he would have been able to get his hands on whatever he knows is hidden at Mariejois. I have long suspected we (the fandom and poor Law) aren’t done with Creepy Mingo yet, and I won’t really get into current arc stuff because I’ve mentally checked out on it in light of some of the recent events so I’m not well-informed enough to pick it apart just yet. But I do think that bit of info, Doflamingo, and Law are going to come into play again in regards to that conversation some 300+ episodes ago. Since I didn’t claim this would be a fully fleshed out theory I don’t have much more to offer plausibility/possibility-wise yet but I am JUST SAYING Law has been through so much, Doflamingo will end up back in the fray, and I could 100% see a Rosinante that survived and has been laying low on the sidelines for his own various reasons showing up to interfere with his brother and save Law or at least finally give him some much needed light/good news/happiness in his life.

So the tl;dr highlights that I noncommittally hope but don’t really expect will happen (I’m cashing in if I’m right though okay): Doflamingo essential to whatever’s going down, Law still has some stuff to go through and will get roped into this presumably against his will, Rosinante survived and is the “man marked by flames” and will show up to help and/or protect Law. I make no apologies for wishful thinking or for not coming with receipts/all the lore knowledge I need to further explore it yet. I just wanted to get it on the record and scream about how much I want good things for Law.

Okay thanks for reading my silly rambly nonsense that I hope will come true if you did. 🙃 you can pick it apart if you want but keep in mind I make no secret my overall lore knowledge is not the best, or you can scream about it with me if you like it too.

UPDATE: I FOUND IT. (Ch. 1056. I feel like I brought receipts now even though this really established nothing. But like, why that face, Law? It seems INTERESTING. Where’d your thoughts go? Foreshadowing? Does he know something? Do flames just make him think of someone setting their clumsy self on fire all the time? Sus enough for me.)