#and I do this

[mt10lt20]

Finally, an Ace Combat Fanfic (or two)

Finally got my AO3 account approved, so I posted my first (two? Do 2 Chapters count) fanfics, and its of Ace Combat Zero & 6 (Ciphixy & TaliSham) - Featuring... some plot with subtle horror AND smut. Also, I realized that I cannot write pure vanilla T_T

AO3 link here - F*ck like you fly

Additional notes that were not mentioned on AO3 as they were linked to HCs: under the cut.

The protags are technically male. But because I sometimes also draw them as females + because they are faceless, they are written to also have some feminine qualities in their appearance. Or, they may not be human at all, considering the way they fly; and their wingmen will do well not to forget that they are predators, no matter how alluring or nice they seem to be.

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AC6’s Shamrock/Talisman are my rare pair. Their story started out when I was thinking about how they’d ever get together, considering how much baggage Shamrock has. And I just happened to write it down, and by that time it was already a full-length fic. Might as well dump it on AO3.

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ACZ and AC6 go together for me. I find them like mirror images of each other and hence, easier to write or draw as a “set”. Besides a weakness for the Angel and Demon trope (I blame Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett for writing Good Omens), I think ACZ and AC6 were purposeful corporate “mirror projects”: ACZ and 6 were developed around the same time (release date 2006/2007 - the only 2 main platform games in the AC series developed so close to each other), and both teams prob practically, in a very corporate fashion, were given tasks to focus on building FACELESS protagonists that were opposite just to ensure no overlaps when the biz was running 2 similar projects. As a testimony to some of the development similarities, the Garuda team even had a 3rd wingman (but dropped), very similar to the Galm Team.

Note: This a hypothesis based on understanding & practical experience of messy, large corporate cultures. Unproven in the Namco (pre-merger) context, but I guess similar patterns prevail across industries?

So, I think the Demon of Ustio was conceived first and management just went like ok, corporate has a demon now, this faceless thing is gonna be a challenge if we’re running 2 concurrent games cos we just can’t make them LOOK different, let’s do an angel/ angels for the other one so there will absolutely be no way we can clash the characterizations. The Angel and Demon trope was just too convenient and I think that resulted in Cipher and Talisman being developed to achieve the same outcome (ace pilots who are a cut above the rest, instrumental to winning the wars they were in etc), while being the exact opposite of each other.

A feared mercenary bound to no rules | An admired leader in the air force. Lone contributor | Strategist. Fear inspiring | Awe inspiring. Faces off against a wingman who breaks orders | Stays together with a wingman who breaks orders. Both their wingmen are also highly effective but one turned out to want to kill them | the other will die for them.

At the end of the day, Ciph & Tali would both be annoyed at how similar they really are despite trying to be so different (affectionate) - hence the basis of their beef in the chaotic ACZ/6/7 AU that sometimes features here. But they do have a grudging respect for each other and might bond over their shared love for capable-idiot wingmen (again affectionate), and TROUNT lol.

And after all, both are still to be feared, bringing salvation and destruction in their own way. Cipher - all shall fear me and despair | Talisman - all shall love me and despair. Pun intended cos they fly Eagles, but not to Mordor.

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Would like to try writing Trount sometime, perhaps as a 3rd chapter. But due to their lighter hearted nature, they are a little more challenging to write with the subtle-horror undertone vs the ACZ and AC6 pairs. I will get there!

[hauntinglyfresh]

this is what i do instead of assignments

[evaldmark]

This is the only thing what I did this day, and I pretty proud of myself.

Some reasons Thrawn dress is Ezra coded, but I miss Ezra too, so its okay.

(I can't over the fact, I started drawing because Star Wars. And grammar? Oh, I didn't know her. Yet)

[mayhemchicken-artblog]

in the hour or so it took me to draw this op turned reblogs off

EDIT: reblogs are STAYING OFF. op was right and correct and i have never regretted making a post as much as this one. if you want to reblog my art you can reblog something else from my blog. or commission me, lord knows i deserve financial compensation for the nightmare this post has put me through

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[its-yashas-strong-arms]

FINALLY some good fucking feature ideas from the tumblr devs. tamagotchi renaissance now

[ladychlo]

Motaz Azaiza interviewed by Ajstream after fleeing Gaza, please do watch the whole interview...

[ruhua-langblr]

Duolingo Sucks, Now What?: A Guide

Now that the quality of Duolingo has fallen (even more) due to AI and people are more willing to make the jump here are just some alternative apps and what languages they have:

"I just want an identical experience to DL"

Busuu (Languages: Spanish, Japanese, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Korean)

"I want a good audio-based app"

Language Transfer (Languages: French, Swahili, Italian, Greek, German, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, English for Spanish Speakers)

"I want a good audio-based app and money's no object"

Pimsleur (Literally so many languages)

Glossika (Also a lot of languages, but minority languages are free)

*anecdote: I borrowed my brother's Japanese Pimsleur CD as a kid and I still remember how to say the weather is nice over a decade later. You can find the CDs at libraries and "other" places I'm sure.

"I have a pretty neat library card"

Mango (Languages: So many and the endangered/Indigenous courses are free even if you don't have a library that has a partnership with Mango)

Transparent Language: (Languages: THE MOST! Also the one that has the widest variety of African languages! Perhaps the most diverse in ESL and learning a foreign language not in English)

"I want SRS flashcards and have an android"

AnkiDroid: (Theoretically all languages, pre-made decks can be found easily)

"I want SRS flashcards and I have an iphone"

AnkiApp: It's almost as good as AnkiDroid and free compared to the official Anki app for iphone

"I don't mind ads and just want to learn Korean"

lingory

"I want an app made for Mandarin that's BETTER than DL and has multiple languages to learn Mandarin in"

ChineseSkill (You can use their older version of the course for free)

"I don't like any of these apps you mentioned already, give me one more"

Bunpo: (Languages: Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Korean, and Mandarin)

[just-spacetrash]

the 'what if you played it a little risky' post literally Changed my life but i cant fujkign find it in my blog because its. a tiktok screenshot

[evidently-endless]

i think we should remind musicians they can absolutely make up little stories for their songs btw. it doesn’t have to be about them at all. you can invent a guy and put him in situations to music. time honoured tradition in fact.

[opiumvampire]

fuck w me

[cadaverkeys]

You guys rlly don't realise how much knowledge is still not committed to the internet. I find books all the time with stuff that is impossible to find through a search engine- most people do not put their magnum opus research online for free and the more niche a skill is the less likely you are to have people who will leak those books online. (Nevermind all the books written prior to the internet that have knowledge that is not considered "relevant" enough to digitise).

Whenever people say that we r growing up with all the world's knowledge at our fingertips...it's not necessarily true. Is the amount of knowledge online potentially infinite? Yes. Is it all knowledge? No. You will be surprised at the niche things you can discover at a local archive or library.

[etakeh]

[miraclemaya]

this is problematic of me (joke) but i really enjoy the splashing of french into english speech or writing. just adds a pizzazz

[ekko-idk]

Combining my two biggest fixations atm <3

Edit: bonus comic!!