#every section of symbolism. this artist gets it

[etheries1015]

Dear writer whose writings I love,

HEYYO. IT'S ME AGAIN. (I sent the Lilia using u as a stress relief you ask heheheha!!)

SO LIKE IMAGINE THIS (unrequited love that is actually requited love!)

You're on a "date" with Lilia to the gardens. (You wish)

And then you get to the Gardina section of the flowers and show it to him, knowing fully of what it means. (You hope, yet also don't hope he gets what's you're trying to say)

[FUN FACT: Gardenias are elegant and fragrant flowers that have long been associated with love, romance, and admiration. They are often used to express a secret or hidden love, as their sweet scent and delicate petals can be seen as a symbol of devotion and affection that is not openly expressed. The gardenia’s white or pale yellow petals are said to represent the purity and sincerity of a love that is kept hidden, while the intoxicating fragrance symbolizes the passion and intensity of the feelings that are being concealed. Gardenias are also often associated with mystery and secrecy, making them the perfect flower to symbolize a love that is kept hidden from the rest of the world. They have been used in literature and poetry for centuries to represent the hidden desires and passions of characters who cannot express their feelings openly]

SO

SSSOOOOOOO

This can go SO. MANY. WAYS.

He doesn't know and does nothing. This ends up in you making a poem about Gardina flowers to him, and he does something after that, taking the hint. (Good ending! With proposal and stuff and hehe fluff!! I love fluff)

He knows and asks you directly. (PLS GIVE THIS A GOOD ENDING. IDK HOW TO CONTINUE)

My brain is now fried again. Please expand. I will request every time my brain power suddenly shoots up. Goodbye, and see you again next time.

-🦇

Hello lovely! Yes yes, you actually revealed yourself to me after I answered that ask! Heuheu. No need to be anon! However, if that it what you prefer, I shall not convince you otherwise <3

ANYWAYS I have ALWAYS loved the notion of flowers having meanings and their beautiful poems that come in toe with their vibrant petals. It's truly a wonderful thing, I really wanna study them more. Fun fact! My favorite flower is a peony! I have a tattoo on my shoulder of a peony! ...in slue with an entire sleeve of random flowers, my tattoo artist just made up. Maybe the other arm I'll use for more structural floral... sorry for the tangent DHKFJSLDjf I love flowers. Thank you for this ask heuehueheue

Ahhhhhhh the idea of going out to a garden with Lilia...

I actually like to have this little headcannon that since Malleus is so interested in flowers and gardening, that perhaps he got that from Lilia. Flowers are our friends, after all! And what's better than making an entire garden of little friends to nourish? Along with creating a beautiful garden of roses, Malleus had delved deep into the world of floral poetry and representation.

You grab onto Lilias hand and pull him towards the back of ramshackle to show off the garden you and Malleus had placed together. Malleus was truly your wing man during this entire thing, he had vast knowledge about flowers and knew just the ones to plant In one large romantic gesture for the old fae. Malleus had landed you books and helped you study their different meanings, even taking time out of gargoyle studies club to dedicate gardening your surprise for Lilia.

"What has gotten you so eager, little bat?" Lilia chuckled, "Must truly be grand if you're so worked up like this!" You couldn't hide your excitement or giddiness as you headed towards the gate leading to the garden, a large black intricately designed gate in that perfectly suited the chicness of the dorm. Upon opening the gates, it revealed a large grandiose garden full of flowers of all sorts. Lilia's eyes widened as well as a toothy grin climbing onto his features, raising an impressed eyebrow.

"So this is what you and Malleus have been working so hard on?" He inquired, stepping forward and taking a look around, "I must say, it's rather an impressive feat! The sheer size is almost enough to rival Malleus's own rose garden back at the castle." You smiled brightly at him and skipped over to a particular patch you were proud of; Gardenias.

"These are Gardenias!" You pursed your lips as you bent over and grabbed something you had prepped before hand, taking hold of a neatly wrapped bouquet of gardenias and with a trembling hand pushing them in the arms of the fae. Lilia started slightly and took a gentle sniff of the flowers taking in their creamy sweet scent that reminded him of coconuts and peach. "They...they're for you!" You smiled.

"Oh they're lovely," Lilia said, "I presume you and Malleus are particularly proud of these ones! They bloomed wonderfully. I shall put them in my room!...oh, but I suppose they will need sunlight. Perhaps keeping them in Silvers care may be better..." You felt your heart drop and smile twitch ever so slightly. Pursing your lips you let out a dry nervous chuckle, tilting your head in awkwardness.

"I..Uh," You bit down your bottom lip, "Well, they were for you," You let out a breathy laugh.

"Of course! However I'm worried they may wilt in my care and you worked so hard! Hmm. Oh! I could put them in the lounge, so that everyone can see yours and Malleus's hard work!" You couldn't even bother to explain to him you were the one to nurture these flowers on your own upon Malleu's recommendation. He swore that Lilia would understand the meaning...it was common for fae folk to be knowledgeable on the world of flowers. Either Malleus Lied to you, which was unlikely, or Lilia was a part of the percentage that truly hadn't a clue.

You began to sweat bullets. Throughout this entire exchange, you weren't certain he understood your intentions. Or... was he purposefully deflecting the fact you had mainly meant this as a surprise for him? Was he thinking you were simply making excuses to hang out with Malleus? Or was he just that oblivious? It was rather distressing, for you already had an inkling that Lilia had not returned your feelings, and this only solidified your worries.

You began to wilt like a flower without water, your energy dying and your smiles becoming fake. You tried a few more times to hand him flowers, such as a singular rose (symbolizing love at first sight, a "one and only" in which the person you gift you give your heart to.) He insisted on taking a few more to decorate the lounge with.

This plan was failing terribly.

Finally, you let out a loud groan of frustration, pulling out a sheet of paper from your pocket with a burst of confidence and embarrassment. Your face took on a bright shade of red, pushing the letter into his chest. Lilia struggled to catch it with his hands full of flowers, eyes wide in bewilderment at this sudden display you put on. He stared in shock and confusion, unable to get a word out before you bolted out of the garden and to the dorm.

"Read that later!" You cried out.

"W-wait- what is-" He attempted to catch your attention, yet you were already out of view, leaving the fae utterly confused standing in the middle of the garden with arms full of flowers.

You threw yourself onto your bed and grasped your pillow, curling into a ball and groaning into it.

"eh? What's up with you?" Grim asked, "And what's this piece of paper?"

You sat up in a rush with wide eyes, staring at a piece of paper that you seemingly dropped from your person. You grabbed hold of it and took a look. It was the second page of the letter you had given Lilia... and undeniably the most important part. The first page detailed the history of flowers and how they have significance to them

the second page was the meanings of the flowers and why you chose them for the fae.

It was your confession.

You had forgotten to hand it to him in your flustered state.

You screamed into the pillow.

~ At Diasomnia ~

Lilia sat in the dorm lounge, reading over the page you had given him.

"Hmm...I knew flowers had meanings, but this letter seems unfinished. This is simply prefacing the history of flowers and that they hold meaning with a simple poem at the end, but the definitions they mentioned would be on the second page seem to be missing..." Lilia rubbed his head in confusion turning the paper around to find some sort of indication of continuation, Malleus walking in on the fae. Malleus flashed a mischievous smile.

"How did the visit to the garden go?" He inquired, "You seem confused rather than elated as I thought you would be..did something go ary?" He pointed out. Lilia shrugged and looked back at the tall draconic fae, tilting his head.

"I thought it was going well, (y/n) even handed me a bunch of flowers to bring back, along with this letter..." Lilia took a gander at the vase full of Gardenias and glanced back down at the letter in which stated every flower has a significant meaning.

"Malleus, could you tell me what Gardenias mean? I believe (y/n) meant to explain it to me, but the second half of this letter is missing." Malleus raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you would know?" Malleus furrowed his eyebrows, grabbing hold of the letter and skimming through its contents.

"Of course not. I like flowers of course, but I never took the time to truly study them as you did. I haven't a clue about definitions and things of the sort." The color seemed to drain from Malleus's face at realizing his mistake, before making his way to the gardenias and gently touching a petal from its bloom. He took a deep breath before giving a detailed explanation of their meaning: Passion, love romance, secrecy... Malleus explained the flower was to express a secret love that the prefect held for Lilia. Something that clearly went way over the old man's head.

Lilias's jaw was dropped to the ground, before quickly disappearing in a fog of green smoke.

He had to get the other half of that letter.

[rowanthestrange]

The Master And Margarita Jacket

(Matthew Sweet’s Doctor Who version…but with a frisson of Bulgakov’s)

It’s done! With every bit of unphotographical glittery metallic paint that I can’t capture on camera even if my iphone skills weren’t rubbish.

@spoonietimelordy, @rearranging-deck-chairs, @bearinabandana and everyone else who Did The Reading of that one ‘I Am The Master’ novel but I’ve forgotten to tag because i’m so sleep deprived i can’t think any more but hopefully other people will, assemble!

Detailed closeups and explanations (with some spoilers) below:

Starting front top right side (face on). -Margarita herself, biting a mushroom. A more Cockatoo beak than Macaw, with red face instead of white, to make what exactly she is more mysterious. -The Master Who logo here is just gold, any shading didn’t look right when it was so thin.

Front top right pocket. Purple, of course.

-Next section down are these three. The ‘Never Stop Growing’ patch is my second favourite patch of the bunch. So many Master Themes, and plot relevant. -Then the little ‘Best Buds’ with the heart in the middle. I was inordinately proud of that idea. (Buds, budding, bigenerated vibe). -And then ‘Obscene Lotus’. That’s mentioned early in the book, and while it’s just described as a big purplish lotus, there’s so much sexual charging in that scene that, well, you gotta.

Me, reusing the ‘budding’ pun in a different capacity? It’s more likely than you think.

-The cover of the Penguin Clothbound Classic version of the original The Master And Margarita, that took multiple days to complete and so much agony. -The patch is a blank one that I bought, then painted the design to look like one of those stamps people sometimes put in books. Painted the border the same colour, then tea-stained it to look like old paper. Certainly in real life the colour comes out nicely. I couldn’t find his autograph (and sadly there’s an unrelated artist with the same name lol) but he got his doctorate in Wilkie Collins so I just looked up examples of that guy’s writing and tried to give it a bit of that vibe. Hopefully it’s the thought that counts. But hey, if anyone ever meets him and gets me a signature sample I can just redo it.

General mushroom patch - I like the fire kind of vibe and the looming.

To the other side!

So. You’re asking what’s with the daisy theme. Fair. So Margarita is also another name for a daisy in some languages. I choose to lean into that because it’s also the widely known symbol of Three - with that scene where he talks to Jo and recounts how a hermit living on a mountain helped dispel his depression by getting him to focus on the beauty of the flower (“and it was the most daisiest daisy”). Given that Three is essentially a character in the book, this felt like the vibe we’re going for. It’s perennial. It also is a healer of bruises and wounds, how can that not be relevant meta wise too to the Master’s new companion, hm? And okay yes, Mikhail does say he’s not a botanist, but if you can think of another way to get that message across other than botanical illustration page…

I like the patch because lightbulb, idea, full of mushrooms etc.

-‘I Am The Master’ being the name of the book the story is contained in, plus Fun With Identity. -Next the one bit of Real Art that I attempted to copy in glittery acrylics - Magritte’s ‘The Treachery Of Images’ or more commonly known ‘Ceci n’est pas une pipe’. The story not only of the Master’s experiences recently, but the story’s themes of hallucinations and deceptions; as well as being the symbol of Russian!Brigadier. -This patch is great isn’t it? A play on the Master’s apparent alcoholism or Russian blending in as you prefer, and of course, The Lighthouse of Martin!Doctor fame.

-Mikhail’s guitar for playing Brown Sugar and other ominous inference songs. -The formula triangle of Love, Food, and Music (I couldn’t think of a self-evident way to show his approach to food - Russian dumplings are, well, not exactly distinct). On its side so the glittery pink triangle points in a certain direction because he’s escaped places and I can do ominous inferences too Sweet. -Maybe controversial? There is a failed love story component in here though, that I just couldn’t leave unmarked. The Doctor, K’vo, and Jo all have their parts to play in that.

Now for the arms:

Here’s the right-side looking-on arm. -I repainted this mushroom patch to be the orange and green of K’vo’s. -You’ve already seen the long image of it above, so here’s just a snippet closeup of the motif that goes along both arms. Daisies linked in a chain with the words ‘daisiest daisy’ (if you wonder why everything’s outlined by the way, a) i like the style, and b) it makes glitter infinitely more legible and clearer to see if there’s a dark matt border around it breaking it up, especially with something as variable coloured as denim). There’s the sunflower in the middle because Margarita loves her sunflower seeds.

This is the other arm. Margarita holding a margarita in a margarita. What’s more to add? I used my shittest white (mixed with my fabric medium as everything else has been at every step) rather than @yesokayiknow’s excellent suggestion of Liquitex, which has saved me everywhere else, including those light patches. But here shitty kids basics acrylic is translucent enough to do some excellent work pretending to be glass and ice. The parrot patch has been altered to make the beak entirely black and her face red instead of macaw white, to keep her species ambiguous as literary theme demands.

To the back!

This Master Who logo is bigger, so it has the Master’s purple highlights like bruising.

Here is a small UNIT patch I modified to be a Russian one, globe focused on their continent (roughly). Sweet just translated the word ‘unit’ for Russian!Brigadier’s group, and the text is the re-cyrilliced version of that.

Skipping to the bottom…

Here referencing O’s collection of Doctor Information, Sweet adding to that with having distinct scrapbooks. ‘Manuscripts Don’t Burn’ is a line from Bulgakov’s The Master And Margarita (spoken by Satan in fact, mhmm) and became something of a rallying cry for oppressed Russian artists. I have ‘Author Unknown’ for the obvious meta with his and the Doctor’s memories, and likewise, the fact that flames are clearly present and burning lets the viewer come to whatever conclusion they like. #133 was chosen for the simple fact that in my copy of Bulgakov’s novel, and the one depicted on the front of the jacket, it is page 133 which starts the chapter The Hero Enters, where we meet The Master who has renounced all other names (who is very much, as Interference notes, the Doctor). They are glitter paint titles done on Hemline repair patches, black, brown, white, and navy blue. I know anything too painty on that area of the back will risk a lot of wear, and these are easily replaced when necessary (if still hours of lettering).

To the left most side…

This was the most expensive patch I bought, £12. But worth it. The mushroom stalk is silk.

Here I depicted in silhouette the scene of the Master climbing up to the Doctor on the giant mushroom. I chose silhouette so as not to draw the eye too much. I also added some 2ply black-black glitter cotton as part of his climbing equipment, attached on by some silver stitches for the…things I can’t remember the name of. It gives it a bit more 3D effect, but also keeps the thread close enough it shouldn’t pull on anything.

And at its base we have a reference to Mikhail’s chosen middle name. I chose to believe it’s relevant, Sweet’s too deep into this for it not to be. This is a cover I edited to highlight the namesake who actually travelled Russia and collected the tales of this book, and indeed, it does include the story of Koschei The Deathless. I edited the robe to be red instead of its original yellow, and added the quintessential Time Lord collar. But I think it’s perfectly passable. This is iron on transfer paper (dark) onto a very light grey polycotton to turn it into a patch. It…*cough* hasn’t had its edges finished or strictly been attached yet, but that’s a bit of handwork I can do as and when.

So finally back up to the middle

I’ve expanded out @spoonlesss-artbook fantastic angel-winged Margarita’s Master art. The Redbubble bag was only that big as it was (hemmed with bostik fabric glue like a true pro and attached as a panel) so it cut off a little, and it didn’t go the whole way anyway, so now we get some endings of the feathers, some all the way up to the arm of the jacket. I tried to blend it into the fire, one creature of both. And trying to get a multidimensional feel, boundary breaking. And again, very glittery irl so plays very well with the fire theme. It was fun when it came to colour-matching particularly the blue wing at the top, because the glitter gives it a bit of a sheen. I blunted it with a few careful washes of black so it still sparkles but is the right colour in most angles.

The Redbubble edit cuts @spoonietimelordy’s signature, so I copied it from the original and moved it over to the left side in some sparkly silver. Also internet doxxing my real life self on the bottom of the back as my own signature.

Doesn’t look like the sort of thing that would take weeks when you see it all together, but I’m really happy with it. I’m so grateful for everyone who’s shown their brilliant art to me and shared posts about painting all these years, cus it allowed me to absorb stuff and let me come out of the gate swinging! It feels thoroughly addictive. Even if I only know ‘use tiny brush’ for almost everything and glitter metallic is great for hiding sins. (And a ‘Ha!’ in the face of my mother keeping me away from it my whole life because of mess - I never got even a single speck on any clothes that wasn’t this jacket. I could’ve been doing this for years rather than just picking up a brush at the age of thirty-damn-one. But at least I’ve got it now).

And thanks to Matthew Sweet for feeding the worms in my brain too.

[pawborough]

Hello, all! Thank you for the patience at the later update! It's my goal to get them back on track with updates on or near the 10th. We waited this month for two reasons:

1. A few artists went on short hiatus, leaving less to show on the art side.

2. We're focusing a great deal of manpower towards the Cat Creator, including hand-selecting every color and its accents for each gene, balancing the wheel choice in our new system, and full steam ahead illustrating coverage and patterns you all are familiar with on new poses.  We are MIGHTY proud of our work, and feel all the effort going into colors and genes will pay off, but there's not a lot to show off until the huge update (aside from a very extensive and colorful spreadsheet. We are drowning in hex codes!) Our wheel is truly like no other in its aesthetics, but it is taking a healthy amount of effort. 

It was for this reason that we chose to wait until there was a bit more content to show. Next months update may be smaller as we get back on track to the 10th of every month. 

We have great news on what we have completed!

First, let's look at some art!

New Fauna

More backer sponsored Fauna!

Starchaser

Sponsored and concepted by J. Tazer Pones, designed and illustrated by Hydde

Irimar

Sponsored and concepted by Isb, designed and illustrated by Hydde

Glasswing

Sponsored and concepted by SolsticeStar, designed and illustrated by Hydde

And here is a peak at what's being lined currently!

Icons

How about those icons? We think they're coming out quite charming!

Squid, Bok Choy, Wool, Feathers, Hay, Pebbles, Clay, Cream, Brick, Salt Lick, and Sulfur, illustrated by Remmi

Backdrop WIPs

We're chipping away at backdrops! Here are a few work in progresses!

WIP Luna theme header by Runeowl and Mirko

WIP Harvest theme header by Runeowl and Harriertail

WIP Flower Meadow by Harriertail

UI Updates

Next, we're pleased to share what we feel is a fantastic final for our UI layouts. 

Cat Creator

The cat creator went through the industrial meat grinder of testing and iteration. We had several prototypes working, all with pros and cons. A lot of consideration went into user experience, including:

Ensuring the least amount of clicking to see all the options, while still categorizing the content intuitively

In tandem, best utilizing the space to show the most amount of content at once, giving as many options as possible

Help the user best understand the relationship between what is being clicked and what is changing on the cat, with ease of navigation between each option

Give the user an easily accessible "summary" of each trait, color, and pattern that was chosen for the cat 

Find an intuitive way to express the "Saturation / Luminosity" relationship on each color choice while not overwhelming the screen with jumbles of words

We are still toying with colors and superficial visuals, but this is the final layout being built!

The "Summary & Navigation" section will showcase what traits the cat shown is sporting (ex. Ragdoll Adult, Orange Solid, No White, Traditional Eyes.) 

On mobile, the trait summary is represented by a third icon option the user can click. Otherwise, a mobile user can toggle between color and pattern for each section. 

You also will see a color navigator with buttons for every hue, and symbols for "saturated," "dark," "medium," and "light."

Some of these options may seem incongruent from the current creator. Most notably: two accents! 

It may seem like a damning choice. Really, more colors to worry about?

As a reminder, we will be grouping colors to allow for a larger chance at complementary colors (we are not ridding the chance at full randomization, just weighing it more equally against a large number of coordinated options.)

Furthermore, we are adding both line-breaking accents and very, very minor accents like ear fluff (we figured out a way to group it with mystic breeds), skin colors, or freckles on the skin. This was the best direction for both creative freedom and restriction among these options. 

The largest worry we had when considering this decision was user pressure to utilize every slot on the cat. This was at the forefront of our minds all throughout PB's concepting!

As a solution, we are taking a design approach which will encourage users both to use and not use accent slots, depending on the character they are building. We have a reward system in the works which incentivizes both routes! As a character building game with focus on your characters and near limitless possibilities, we are designing a system which values cats and rewards the player not necessarily by abundance in design, but direction and creativity. 

Simply put, building a cat the way you like it will be rewarding. This system will be unveiled at a later date, but it's great addition for the casual, creative, and breeding side of the playerbase! All of this combined made the most sense for a second accent. 

Cat Profile

This is halfway built on the front-end, and will be done very soon!

Breeding

Big news, generative breeding functionality is done!

We wrapped up the breeding logic, and banged out what I believe is an excellent UI. Everything is fully functional!

Users can view not only a rotation of offspring previews, but view all the colors available to the offspring in each slot. 

As well, users can choose what Borough their cat nests in as a premium feature. This includes a "traveling" option which randomizes the Borough for each potential kit!

Also in the preview is the nest tending page. Nests are tended to with items, and users can add midwives to forego the need to manually give said items. This mechanic is being built out!

I realize these previews might look abysmal. We want to be transparent on what we're doing and show "the sausage being made" per se. What's missing from these deployments currently is final pattern assets (previews are dummies for function testing), theme assets, icon placements, and hex codes; all things that aren't actually slowing down development on the technical side. They are very quick inserts once completed, and while it looks like a mess, this page is 99% done! 

It's one step closer to a live update on the website!

We're working next on finishing the cat profile build, the customize functions (scene building, outfit building), and the daily item garnering mechanic!

Thank you everyone!

To Summarize: We shared new Fauna, icons, backdrop work-in-progresses, the final cat creator UI, the cat profile UI, and a look at our completed breeding functionality. 

What to expect next month: Further asset renderings, outfit/scene building design, further functionality previews of what we are working on next. 

[laurelnose]

a disorganized pile of ninefox ttrpg thoughts

it is HERE! also it was late in shipping by like, a day? or two? so android press sent me the PDF version also, which was very very nice of them. For this I will forgive them the weird jank in the PDF version’s character encoding. (Maybe like 5% of characters consistently copy-paste as different characters. I think they fucked up the font subsetting somehow. It’s fine, it’s just weird. Makes quoting it a little bit of a hassle. Might be less fine if you use a screenreader.)

So pleased with several little random details which are not at all relevant to like, gameplay or the worldbuilding at large but which I just kind of wanted to know. The calendar months! The full set of Kel rank symbols! Signifiers for Kujen and Tseya! <3 Also, an additional set of symbolism for the factions per the calendar months? If I’m reading this correctly it's Rahal/Wood (!?), Andan/Bells, and Vidona/Knives. [We basically knew the other three, which are Shuos/Eyes, Kel/Pyres, and Nirai/Stars.] As a visual artist I am contractually obliged to be hype about all my little guys getting Symbols, they make my life easy and fun.

This is a slim little volume, so it’s light on lore details that you couldn’t find either a) in the actual series or b) on Lee's dreamwidth. That said, one new bit was that it was not previously clear to me that the nominal arrangement of power in the heptarchate was explicitly unequal between the Liozh and the others — I thought the extant six turned on the Liozh as one of their fellows, not that they deposed the ruling faction. Interesting.

Disappointing: there are no mechanics for the calendar besides the ability to tag the current festival/remembrance. :( I wanted to roll dice about calendrical rituals!! Funnily enough there's a whole little caveat section where he’s like, inevitably someone will want to have space battles, which can be accommodated by keeping them character-focused bc this system is not designed for battle sim crunch. No similar apology for those who might want magic system crunch, if anyone wanted any further evidence that Lee and Jedao are the same guy, lmao.

Other than that I’m not actually that much of a crunchy rules guy myself so I like the system itself fine. I enjoy the concept of every check involving not necessarily skills but character traits. And also the commitment to sixes. You need A LOT of d6s for this game.

If you’re really committed I think it would be fun to play with a set of these (normal d6s except instead of numbers or pips they have clock faces showing hours 1-6):

Jedao’s character sheet is so funny. “Complications: I have abysmal taste in lovers.” BE NICE TO HIM LMAO

It’s not entirely clear to me under which circumstances you wind up the Hexarchate Clock. Is it actually only if Kujen is in play? Does that mean he’s literally required if you want to run a long take-down-the-whole-hxx campaign?

The prewritten scenarios are neat! I don’t have a lot to say about them. They look like they would be fun. I like “The Field of Diplomacy” and the concept of the adjacent polity a lot. Oh also the note at the end of “A Heretical Sacrifice” that is just like “if the ‘human sacrifice’ bit is too vague for you and you want to add more torture, here are some ideas!” is 1) funny and 2) appreciably graphic and wince-inducing. HXX-typical gore: delivered on!

This is a petty note, but excluding servitor PCs on the grounds that this is a game about moral complicity and thus only human faction members can be PCs sure is a Statement. I know servitors are slaves and thus the moral calculus is certainly different, but like, the complicity is the entire point of Hemiola’s arc??? And faction servitors quite obviously often consider themselves to be legitimately part of that faction? The one Shuos servitor we meet is as interested in games as any fox, the assault on Shattered Needles is made possible because the Unspoken Law’s servitors consider themselves Kel, the Aerie interlude with sin 𝑥² is about a servitor who considers itself so deeply Kel it wants to go down with the hivemind. I understand they complicate things mechanically but excluding servitors for thematic reasons is silly.

That said, I feel like a servitor hack wouldn’t be too much more mechanically complex. None of the prewritten scenarios work with an all-servitor group, but I think they could all be run with one or maaybe two servitor PCs. You’d have to do some pregaming to figure out how you’d open communication between human/servitor PCs. Lore-wise, the faction traits are clearly not meant to represent the faction exotics or the Shuos wouldn’t have one; they read more like “specialized skills developed as a consequence of picking this faction” than calendrical stuff, so faction servitors could have standard faction abilities, with the caveat that a lot of interpersonal Edges may be hard for Andan servitors to hit on account of social interaction between servitors & humans being, well, you know. Alternatively, no faction abilities for servitors, but all servitors +2d6 to anything involving grid-diving and/or mechanics. Servitors can have ranks just like human PCs, though these ranks are only relevant to other servitors (and possibly moths). Servitors can probably tag calendar traits like humans, they just can’t participate in formations or affect calendrical gradients (neither of which have explicit mechanics in this system anyways). Heresies are the same for servitors as humans.

This really made me want to dig out that calendrical cryptocurrency heist concept I had to see if I can put together a scenario. And maybe also make some cardboard game spinners for a tactile clock experience...

[sovaghoul]

🔮 Tarot Tips for Beginners 🔮

🔮🕯🔮🕯🔮

🪄 Choosing Your Cards 🪄

You might encounter different opinions on where your first deck should come from. Some say it should be a gift. Others disagree. I'm of the opinion that it should resonate with you in some way, whether that's the art, or the theme, etc., and the method of obtaining it (gift vs. purchase) is secondary. However, I do recommend starting with a Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) based deck, as that's the most common set of symbolism for Tarot. If you like the original RWS deck, great! Use it! Most commercial beginner Tarot kits come with this deck. If you want art that's more detailed but uses the same symbolism, try the Morgan-Greer deck. The "Radiant" or "Universal" versions of the RWS deck are other decent choices.

I also recommend a deck with a full book, rather than a booklet (or Little White Book, LWB), as there are going to be more in-depth meanings. LWBs generally only have a brief list of keywords. Full sets with actual books cost more, but in my opinion and experience, are worth it.

The simpler the deck, the easier it'll be to learn from. The original RWS deck has simplistic art, but every part of the picture was intentionally used to convery meaning, from objects to colors. Once you have a basic understanding of what meaning those symbols impart, it's easier to translate that to decks with more detailed and/or aesthetic art, where that art may or may not be as intentional.

In recent years, many artists and deck creators have begun offering "expanded" decks, with additional cards, usually in the Major Arcana, that add to the theme and/or aesthetic of the deck. For your first deck, though, I recommend sticking with the standard 78 cards; 22 Major Arcana, and 56 Minor Arcana.

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🍷Prepping Your Cards🍷

One thing I was taught, was before using a new deck (even before opening it, if you like), is to sleep with it under your pillow (or at least near to you) for three nights, to let it absorb your energy. This is of course optional, but I've found it to be effective in attuning and aligning with the cards. Then, you may want to look through them in order, taking time to admire the art, and see if any symbols jump out at you. You can write these down if you like. Then you can shuffle them, with focused intent, adding more of your energies.

After all that, another thing I was taught was to wrap the deck in silk. The reason for this, is that silk doesn't "breathe," it doesn't easily let air through, as opposed to a material like cotton (if you've ever worn silk, you know what I mean!). It is an old belief that your spirit is carried on your breath, so if the deck can't "breathe" because of the silk, your energies will stay safely within it. This is also, of course, totally optional, but then the silk can easily double as a reading cloth. Fabric and crafting/hobby supply stores may have a bin of scraps, and that can be a good place to find cloths, whatever material you decide to use.

If I trust a person, I'm more than willing to let them handle and look through my decks. Some people advise only letting someone handle the deck if they're shuffling before a reading. Go with whatever feels better to you. You may start with not wanting anyone else to touch them, but relax about it later as you get more comfortable. It's completely your choice. But, with others' decks, it's of course, polite to ask first.

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🗡 Learning Your Cards 🗡

If you have a full book with your deck, read through it, especially any introductory sections apart from the card meanings. Usually, the deck creator/artist will give a feel for how the theme of the deck conveys the traditional Tarot meanings, and this can help you understand their cards better.

You may want to keep a Tarot journal at first. One recommendation is to look through the entire deck, book in hand, and write down keywords, the meanings in your own words, and anything else that you feel can help you remember the meaning of that card (symbols that stand out to you, etc.). Some people do one card a day, or make sure they dedicate a whole page to each card, however long that takes. Others meditate on each card, and write down those results, whether in addition to other notes or not. Whatever works best for you is the right thing to do. There are commercial Tarot journals available online and in some stores, but if you don't want one or can't afford one, a regular notebook is more than adequate.

In general, the Major Arcana (or Trumps) represent forces out of your control, the Will of the Universe, forces acting upon you. The Minors then are things you can control, your own Will, how your choices can change the situation around you. Court cards can represent a specific person in your life or the situation, or an attitude or perspective you're holding in the situation. Each numbered card (or Pip) has a generalized meaning as well, such as Aces being beginnings and Tens representing completion.

Several places online have handy correspondance charts for quick card meanings, what the numbers of the Pips mean, and what the Suits represent, so you can easily discern general meanings if you know those two pieces of information. For example, a 2 can represent a choice, and the suits of Cups deals with emotion. So the Two of Cups could indicate an emotional choice. If such correspondances help you, keep that kind of chart handy as you learn.

Some decks also include reverse meanings. Personally, I don't read reversals, because I don't view the meanings of the symbols and colors in a card as changing just because it's upside-down from the reader's vantage point (because it's likely right-side-up from the other person's point of view! The orientation is relative, but the inherent meaning is not). If you want to read reversals, I suggest putting off learning them until after you feel more comfortable with their upright/standard meaning, just so you don't confuse yourself.

There are Kabbalistic (Hebrew mysticism) and Astrological associations with Tarot also, but they aren't necessary for learning and interpreting the cards. If, once you feel you have the basics down, and you want to go deeper, look into those associations then. But for now, especially if you aren't already familiar with Kabbalah or Astrology, don't let yourself get bogged down in the esotericism of those aspects.

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🌟 Using Your Cards 🌟

Some people recommend reading for yourself first. I personally have trouble reading for myself, ever after 30+ years of reading Tarot. I'm too close to my own situations. But others find it the easiest thing in the world. Try it out. Neither result is "wrong" or "bad."

When you prep for a reading, you can do any number of things to set the mood, from an elaborate ritual-opening type routine, with candlelight and incense and music, to just sitting down and doing it. Whatever makes you feel most at ease. Whomever the reading is for should shuffle the cards, and concentrate on the question or situation they want insight into. This can go on for as long as they/you feel is necessary, until the cards "feel ready." This is an intuitive thing and doesn't have a time limit. If you're reading for someone else and don't want them to touch your cards, just ask them to concentrate on their question/situation while you shuffle.

The easiest spreads are the one-card pull (one card for something like, "How will my day go?"), and a three-card spread. The three cards can be past-present-future, or mind-body-spirit, pretty much any three factors to the situation. If something is unclear with the one card for a given position, pull out more cards, usually 2 or 3, to expand on it. At the end of a reading, I'll also look at the card on the bottom of the deck, and read that as "What it's not," something entirely unrelated to the situation that you can put out of your mind.

I usually lay out all the cards in a spread face down first, stating the position, and then revealing them as the spread progresses. I take note of which Suits show up multiple times, how many Minors, Majors, Court cards, and if there are repeating numbers. Sometimes you can find patterns to these things that help to reveal more information. I also make note of any cards that may fall out while shuffling; sometimes it's significant, and sometimes it's just because I have small hands.

Some readers use a Significator, a card to represent the person asking the question. Usually, this is a Court card and is chosen based on the description (either physically or personality). For example, if the reading was for a young man with dark hair and eyes, and say, the Page of Pentacles in your deck looks like that, you'd place that card first. Or if the reading is for an intelligent and analytical woman, you might choose Queen of Swords. For me, though, this particular practice is unnecessary. I view the card that represents the Querant (the person asking the question) as giving insight into their current feelings regarding the situation at hand. Since that's a fluid factor, the card that represents them in a spread can and should change as well.

Never hesitate to look at the book or your own notes during a reading. You're under no obligation to memorize the meanings of every card. Also, don't try to force every keyword and bit of the meaning to apply. Read them over, and see what stands out to you, what connects to a previous card, what makes sense. This is an intuitive approach to reading the cards, and it can take time to cultivate. But in general, trust your gut. When someone shuffles the cards, they put the energy of the question/situation into them. So what comes out, is only what got put in.

Tarot in general usually isn't the best for yes-or-no questions. Asking how/what/why questions are better, so if the question can be rephrased, try that. Also, Tarot isn't "fortune telling," per se. You can ask about the future, but the answer may be vague or confusing, because the future depends on the choices you make between then and now. You can remember the advice or the idea the cards have, but don't expect it to be set in stone; even asking the question changes the situation!

Lastly, when I clean up my cards, I like to disperse the ones drawn for the reading through the deck, one at a time, in random places, and then shuffle. For me, it disperses the information from that reading throughout the deck, and so helps both the deck and me, the reader, continue to learn and grow in our understanding of each other.

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If there's anything you feel I haven't covered, or something you want me to clarify, feel free to comment or message me privately. Happy reading!

[twistedtummies2]

Top 12 Ghosts of Christmas Yet to Come

It’s funny how Christmas Eve sees us covering arguably the scariest and most unnerving of the Three Spirits of Christmas, at the end of our journey through some of the side players for Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” The irony is almost hilarious. I speak, of course, of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, a.k.a. The Ghost of Christmas Future. The Third Spirit is interesting in that he’s arguably the most well-remembered and exciting of the three ghosts: he’s the dark and brooding payoff on Scrooge’s journey, and getting through his section of the tale - the most gut-wrenching chapter of the entire story - is a challenge for the audience, especially for younger viewers or readers. While the black cloak the Ghost wears in the book symbolizes the shadow mystery of the future - emphasized by the fact the Spirit never speaks, and only the tiniest gestures and nuances give away any indication of its thoughts or feelings - it has never been lost on anyone that the visual representation very closely resembles the iconography of the Grim Reaper. What’s interesting about the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come is that they have honestly changed the least out of all three Ghosts in how they’ve been visually represented over the years. While there have been some minor changes here and there, most versions of the character stick with the same visual basics of a dark figure in a black hooded robe, with only their hands - or even just one hand - visible. Yet, at the same time, along with Christmas Past, the Spirit of the Future is one that artistic people LOVE to toy with in various ways, from more simplistic to more wild concepts, which creates a sort of paradox. You can always tell which Spirit is meant to be the Future in every good take on the Carol, but it’s always fun to see the little additions and changes each rendition brings to the table. There’s not much more to say (fitting for a typically mute character), so let’s just jump right in: in honor of Christmas Eve (still ironically), these are My Top 12 Favorite Portryals of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come!

12. Charlie B. Barkin, from An All Dogs Christmas Carol. (Purely for the sheer INSANITY of this one. That, and the song he gets is catchy…yes, he sings. I told you it was insane.)

11. Czeslaw Konarski, from Scrooge (1951). (While simplicity can be used to great effect, I feel this one is a little TOO simple, hence why he takes a lower tier. But he’s still quite impactful.)

10. D’Arcy Corrigan, from A Christmas Carol (1938). (This version has such a great entrance, just for a start.)

9. Robert Hammond, from Scrooged. (Further proof this movie is basically “A Ghostbusters Christmas Carol.”)

8. Tim Potter, from A Christmas Carol (1999).

7. Paddy Stone, from Scrooge (1970).

6. Pete, from Mickey’s Christmas Carol.

5. The Version from Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol.

4. Jim Carrey, from A Christmas Carol (2009). (Really cool concept having the Spirit act as Scrooge's literal shadow. They did something like that many decades before in the 1935 version, but it's way better here.)

3. The Version from The Muppet Christmas Carol. (Puppeteered by Don Austen and Robert Tygner.)

2. The Version from A Christmas Carol (1971).

1. Michael Carter, from A Christmas Carol (1984). (I love the detail on how, as the sequence goes on, the ghost gets closer and closer to Scrooge, symbolically showing how his future is getting ever nearer.)

[succubusonthedoorstep]

❥ A Stranger No Longer.

princess!blackfem reader x sorcerer!gojo

Word Count... 4.8k

Warnings… Pussy worship, reader has nipple piercings, cheating, a dead marriage, an implied orgy, outdoor sex, reader is a sex symbol, explicit language and smut, mentioned blood pact, squirting, biting, fingering, oral sex (f!recieving) cum eating, mention of sex swings, reader teasing, breeding.

Author’s Notes… This fic will have a part two! I had a lot of fun writing this, period pieces keep me in a chokehold. Please reblog, like, and follow! I have a few more works in progress my doves <3

The bets were placed on your wedding.

It wasn’t every day an Empress’ daughter got married. Your marriage had been anticipated since you were eighteen when your Mother decided you were to be married by your twenty-first year.

You went on to endure suitor’s offers and flirtations for two years. The glances at your chest, wandering hands, and cheesy lines men told you soon became exhausting—echoes in your ears. Old, decrepit men approached you with chapped lips and wrinkled fingers.

One of them even managed to marry you a year ago.

“Artists should follow you, my Princess,” An elderly man said, offering his hand. You politely placed your gloved hand in his and watched as he kissed the small diamond ring on your left pinky, nothing compared to the rock on the finger next to it.  “You are always the picture of perfection.”

“Thank you, Sir. It’s a pleasure to see you at these soirées.” A fake, bright smile passed on your face, for you knew where this conversation was going. 

“Likewise!” He responded, his hand still holding yours as he pulled away from kissing your ring.

“The thought of you keeps my bed warm, my precious. I have to come back and visit to see you sometimes.”

Your stomach turned. The yellow grin on his lips made you rather want to chew glass than be here for another minute.

‘Mother needs to stop inviting these fucking sickos to these parties,” you grunted to yourself, tearing your hand away from the old man and gracefully adjusting your glove back into place.

“I’m not interested.” You immediately shut down, the man persisting.

“It still works, I promise. I’ll keep your womb full-“

You chose to ignore him, already beginning to walk down the hallway of the palace and back to the party.

With everyone in high society at this soirée, you couldn’t afford to have your mother upset with you over a man who couldn’t keep it in his pants. After years of dealing with it, you learned it was best to keep it direct and short.

You found yourself back at the royal table, high above the dance floor in its own section of the dining room. It seemed the maids had moved tables to make room for drunk guests (who ignored the grand ballroom a few doors down) to dance and mingle. 

High above the sea of bodies, you watched the party slowly evolve from a sway of bodies to something of a more debaucherous nature. 

This is what your mother was known for.

The late night hours of the Empress’ soirées were a legend across your kingdom. Tales of the parties included rooms full of sex swings with a reversible floor, (in case things get messy) a thirteen-person orgy where blood pacts were taken, and a grand “breeding event” that was organized to encourage the next line of royal babies. It worked.

Tonight had no specific theme, but the warmth in the summer air encouraged the drunk partygoers to do what they expected of the party. 

As you leaned over the railing, your eye caught a glimpse of a head of white hair cutting through the dense crowd, ignoring the seductive hands grabbing at his robes. Your eyes lingered on them for a moment- noticing something off. 

“He has a hood on his robe!” You whispered to yourself, realizing his rank and status. Leaning a little closer to the railing to see who he might be, you squint your eyes and try to remember all the members of your mother’s Circle of High Sorcerers. 

He turned around at the edge of the crowd and looked directly at your table. Piercing, icy blue eyes caught yours and sent a chill down your spine. The look on his face was electrifying- you recognized the lust in his eyes with ease, but there was something else there. Goosebumps bite at your brown skin, despite the humidity of the night. 

I heard you, my Queen.

His voice echoed in your head, a reassuring tone that had your knuckles lightening as you gripped the railing. A knowing smirk passed his lips, then he turned to leave.

Air filled your lungs for the first time in what felt like days. The white-haired mage captivated your attention, and before you knew it, you were down the stairs and towards the hall he turned into.

You knew the palace like the back of your hand. You’d spent your childhood hiding in nooks and crannies, running through maids and knights and nannies. The magician wouldn’t make it far.

The stylist for today did you justice as well. They dressed you in a puff-sleeved floor-length silk dress that complemented your skin and braided your hair into a secure updo. When you sprinted through the hallways and into the garden, you were still very put together. 

The garden you found yourself in was a smaller one on the east side of the palace. The glass ceiling allowed in the moonlight for visibility, illuminating tall bamboo shoots and oversized leaves. The room smelled of roses and books, overwhelming the senses. 

Or was that from the tall man standing next to a bookshelf in the center of the room?

“Princess (Y/N)?” He called out to you. The same chill floated down your back and into your core. His voice was exactly like the one from before- bright, clear, and charming. When you turned around, he was already on one knee and taking your hand into his.

“Gods, it’s my pleasure,” he gushed, pecking each of your fingertips. “To meet the most important woman in our kingdom.” His head lifted to gaze into your eyes, and you felt your face get warm.

“Don’t let my mother hear you say that,” You chuckled, suddenly nervous in his presence. After running around the palace and approaching him, you’d think you would have something to say- but instead, you uttered,

“How did you hear me? I was across the room.”

The mage held your now bare hand in his, the glove and wedding ring on your finger now disappeared. He ran his lips across your knuckles, his eyes slowly blinking as if he were under the influence. You opened your mouth just as he answered.

“I hear everything.” He blankly stated, standing up. Gods, how tall was he? You hadn’t noticed the pristine white bandages around his neck until he pulled them up and over his eyes, much to your dismay. 

Smoothing your dress down with your bare hand, you asked, “What’s your name?”

“Satoru Gojo.”

“Well, Satoru Gojo, May I have my glove and ring back?”

It was as if it disappeared into thin air. There were no pockets in his robe unless they were all on the inside. 

He pondered your request for a moment. He hummed, tapped a booted foot, and looked up at the sky despite his eyes being covered. 

“Will you come to the observatory with me? Not the one at the Academy. I’m sure there’s one here-“ It was his turn to be nervous. Slender fingers held his robe and swayed it softly, as if he were getting hot. He swung it open far enough for you to catch a peek at the jeweled vulture pendant on his chest and the bulge in his pants. 

You gulped, excitement pooling in your stomach.

“Y-Yes, of course! I’d never deny such an important guest a request.” You’d decided to take the easiest route- flattering and seducing him into getting the information you wanted. Or more.

Maybe he’ll do for the night…

“Ah! Thank you!” Surprise genuinely crossed his face. “I’d get us there faster but I’ve never been,” he smiled at you as you turned away to lead him to the Observatory. The hall you'd turned into displayed hand-painted vines and colorful flowers on the walls, each center of the flowers secured with a small jewel.

White lights that flickered idly on the high ceiling illuminated them until they dazzled. 

“It’s fine,” you spoke, not bothering to look at him. “The walk there is nice and you’re enjoying the view.” Distant moaning filled the hall and Gojo laughed quietly beside you.

“You’re the kingdom’s most prominent sex symbol,” he stated, amused. “And you do it as a fully clothed wife.”

Have we met before?

You continued strolling through the halls, your heels clicking against the marble. Gojo’s presence next to you sparked something you rarely felt- self-conscious. It was as if his gaze was burning into your back, hips, and ass. The pleasured grunts and pleading reverberating through the walls didn’t help the tension between your legs either.

“I’ll stop staring so much?”

“But I mean, are you really staring? Your eyes are covered.”

He didn’t answer. You assumed it worked the same way his long-distance hearing did, which didn’t help your understanding. You only approached the spiral staircase that led upwards into the observatory, Gojo not far behind. The silence was stiff and awkward until you spoke. 

“Sorry for the long staircase,” you said, trying to start a conversation. “You’ll find the building is full of them.”

“Will I?”

“I hope so.” 

You hadn’t stopped stepping up the staircase through your conversation, as Gojo was gaining on you. The small, unfamiliar feeling shot through you again, knowing he was definitely watching your ass in motion. 

 “What’s that mean?” He asked innocently. 

“Just that I'm a dedicated hostess,” You peeked back at him, an eager smile across your cheeks. He returned the smile brightly, long purple robes consuming his figure from your angle. His hands peeked out to hold onto the handrails and you got a better look at the jewels that decorated his fingers. Glowering gems around gold on his thumbs and middle fingers.

I wonder if Mother has those.

“Well,” he started as you reached the top of the staircase. “You look radiant tonight, Hostess.” 

The Observation Tower’s glass dome was open to allow the summer night air in. The tower was lit by small stars on crystal strings. Benches sat around a large water fountain near the massive, expensive microscope. 

“Thanks. I like your jewelry,” you offered, stopping next to him and breathing in the clear air at the top of the tower. It was incredibly refreshing after being stuck in the stuffiness of the party. Gojo joined you in your deep breaths.

It felt silly. The hopeful future Queen and a High Sorcerer, doing breathing exercises. It was midway through a long inhale that you realized it felt comfortable like you could do anything you needed to relax with Gojo and he wouldn’t judge you. 

“Ready?” He asked. You opened your eyes just as he was offering his arm to you, which you took with warm cheeks. 

You walked together to the bench farthest away, one that was turned towards the iron railing for those who wanted to gaze at the wide view high above the kingdom. Lights flickered below, the only source of life you could see.

Reminiscing on your childhood, the view always left you awestruck. You’d been up here countless times, but the bashfulness you felt now was something new.

“So…” You started, tapping your gloved hand on the bench. “Purple robes?”

“Yeah! I’m actually the head of the curses faction at the Academy.”

You nodded in interest. “I heard the work was going well after that tomb was discovered.”

He sighed in relief at the thought. “Things are fine and the new class of sorcerers is promising…”

He leaned against the wall behind you, head slightly tilted back with long legs slightly too open.

Lewd thoughts distracted you from the conversation, but Gojo’s voice pulled you back.

“I’m actually the strongest.” He noted humbly.

You rolled your eyes. “The strongest, huh?” You taunted, pushing the braids that fell over your shoulder back behind you. Gojo watched, instantly transfixed by your figure turning toward him. His cock twitched in his pants at the sight of your breasts moving in your dress.

“(Y/N)-“

“I’m cold, Gojo. Could I wear your robe?”

His cheeks turned a deep pink at your suggestion, hands tightening around the iron bench. He was previously thankful for the robe to help hide his erection, but it seemed you were already on to him.

“Of course, Princess. Whatever you want.” He ran a hand over the neck of the robe, where a gold clasp lay.

He stood and pulled the robe from his back, the black uniform under it now exposed to the night air.

He draped the warm, surprisingly weighty robe over your shoulders. You glanced at the hardness in his pants as he stood in front of you and quickly tried to look away, but it was too late.

“Don’t look away. Take a good look at what you do to me.” His voice was hard, a slim hand reaching to smooth the front of his pants down and give you a better look at his length. Your eyes followed his pants as he sat back down next to you, the coverings on his eyes coming loose.

“Satoru Gojo… Why are you at the Queen’s party tonight?”

He smiled, crystal blue eyes peeking between the bandages.

“To meet the most intriguing woman in the world.”

You laughed, a foot slipping out of your heel to push yourself up and climb over Gojo’s lap. Straddling him, you opened the robe and covered the two of you in it. 

“And now that you’ve met her, what are you gonna do to keep her attention?” 

He kissed your gloved knuckles, the palm of your hand, then your fingertips, similar to what he did earlier. Instead this time, he nipped and bit until he could pull the final glove from your hand. He took it from his mouth and dropped it on the bench.

“If Her Majesty will allow it, I’d like her company for the night. You’ve captivated my soul and thrown my mind into disarray without effort. My magic can’t even perform the same way- not since I felt you notice me in the crowd. That’s why I can’t get your glove back- it’s not in a secret pocket or anything…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” you giggled. It was clear that Gojo’s magic rarely failed, but he still found himself laughing along with you.

“I’ll just buy one? Or maybe let you duplicate the one I have another time?”

His hands were on your waist, thumbs stroking your hips soothingly. “If I duplicate it you’ll have two gloves for the same hand.”

You rolled your eyes, wrapping your arms around his neck. “You’d figure it out, Finding a princess’s glove should be light work for a man of your abilities.” 

He detached a hand from your waist to pull the bandages off and onto the bench. “Before you, maybe.” His hand found itself on your ass this time. “Now it’s like my mind is always somewhere else.” The hand helped push your ass forward and onto his cock, your warm heat grinding against his dick print and causing both of you to moan.

You initiated a greedy kiss that had your lips sliding against each other and tongues fighting for dominance. Soft silk ran across your skin as he held you delicately in his arms. Between kisses, he huffed out, “Gonna wanna take you out here,” Your teeth ran across his bottom lip to shut him up, pulling on it softly and letting it go. The slight groans that he gave only increased your desire to take him now. 

He watched as you reached an arm around to unzip your dress, insisting, “My Princess- Someone might come by-“

“There’s an orgy happening downstairs, no one is coming stargazing. Be quiet, Sorcerer.” 

He watched as a strap fell from your shoulder, the other one falling suit. Eyes glued on your chest, Gojo played with his buttoned uniform until it exposed his built chest and abs. Your eyes greedily feasted on his body from the pink of his nipples to the trail of pale white hair leading down his pants.

“I shouldn’t have to remind you of the consequences of this getting out,” you warned, teasing. The top of your dress fell from your shoulders onwards, exposing your lace and satin bra. “My husband would have your head.”

“He can have it as long as I can have some of yours.”

You rolled your eyes at the joke, only giving him a sly smile. “No challenge too big for the strongest?”

He wrapped his arms around your waist and laid you down on the bench, his robes providing a spot for you to comfortably lie. Your legs playfully wrapped around his waist and tried to pull him closer.

“Should I call you Satoru or Gojo?” You mischievously questioned. “Or something else?”

“Sorcerer seems to be working for you,” he leaned in, eyelids drooping to gaze at the smeared gloss on your lips.

Breaths mixed as you wordlessly dared Satoru Gojo to fuck the Princess of his kingdom and effectively cuckold one of the most powerful lords in your country.

You smirked. “Well, Sorcerer-“

Hungry lips crashed against yours and immediately made an effort to make you forget about everything- your forceful mother, your dead marriage, the title of Queen awaiting you. 

Satoru’s kisses had an effect on you- one that you hadn’t felt since before you married. It was addictive and you missed it, but your sorcerer would provide what your husband failed to.

What he stole from you, Satoru could return.

Between kisses, your hand trailed to the center of your bra to unlock it with a slide of your fingers. The fabric was pulled away to reveal your breasts, your pierced nipples making the man’s eyes widen. 

His brain malfunctioned for a moment before he uttered a whiny “Fucking unbelievable-“ and dove his face into your tits to immediately take a nipple into his mouth. Teeth bit at your nipple and lips kissed and sucked on the skin. A warm breeze licked the saliva on your sensitive brown skin, raising goosebumps on your arms. One of Satoru’s hands cupped the breast his mouth wasn’t already on and the other tugged at his pants.

“Take my panties off too,” you purred as your fingers found his soft white locks. He responded by releasing your breast and pushing himself down the bench and between your legs. “Gods, you’re so good for me.”

His hand moved from his pants and to your hips. “Showing my loyalty to the future Queen,” he assured between pulling your panties off, “brings me joy like nothing else.”

Legs spread wider to give Satoru a better look at your cunt. You watched his eyes light up and slowly soften as you run your fingers through your folds.

“I think I wanna cum twice with you here, then we’ll finish downstairs in my bedroom,” Head tilted and wide-eyed, your gaze remained on Satoru. He nodded mindlessly, clearly half-listening as he leaned down to kiss your pussy.

You pulled your fingers away and into your mouth, sucking them loud enough for your lover to hear. His warm, thick tongue gave your cunt a slow, generous lick, making you smile around your fingers.

“Already wanna come back for more,” he murmured against your core, his voice giving a deep vibration that made you audibly shudder. “How am I supposed to let you go back to him now?”

Two of Satoru’s fingers pushed into your pussy before you could answer. His tongue drew circles around your sensitive clit and gave it the occasional appreciative lick when he felt it twitch. 

“Hold your knees,” he grunted out, mouth now sucking your bud. You spread your legs wider and did as he told, giving him the space he needed to sloppily fuck your cunt with his fingers.

You watched Satoru play with your pussy with an open mouth, the wetness on his fingers giving his rings a different kind of shine. 

“So, so perfect, Princess,” he cooed to your cunt, his fingers curling to find the spot that makes your eyes roll back.

“Satoru-“

“Not sorcerer?” His strong voice nearly demanded, pushing his fingers deeper and laughing at your needy whines. “Has any of your other lovers told you that this is the tightest cunt they’ve ever felt?”

Incoherent murmurs fell from your lips, brain too cloudy to give him an actual response. Other lovers were far from your thoughts right now. 

“Letting me finger fuck you brainless on a bench outside?” He questioned in a fake surprise voice, feeling you get shamefully wet. Your eyes screwed shut just to open again at the waves of pleasure.

“Is that what Princesses do in their spare time? Let strangers taste their cunt?” He continued, fingertips finding what they were looking for.

Your pussy clenched around his fingers as they pressed on the fleshy part of your walls. The feeling of needing to pee approached you rapidly and you felt Gojo’s mouth humming against you amusedly, as if he knew what you were about to do.

“Fuck- fucking Satoru,” you barely made out, legs shaking around your grip. His lips smirked for a moment against your cunt. Then they opened to allow him to suck and slurp your cunt until your legs slipped and your cunt spasmed one final time. 

Gojo wore your thighs as earmuffs as your pussy squirted all over his mouth and chin; some of it soaking into the fabric of his black boxer briefs. He watched lovingly as you lost and caught your breath mid-orgasm, hair now a mess with a slightly sweaty face. Your orgasm blurred your vision and had you choking out broken groans and pleas to your sorcerer like just fuck me like you mean it! or Can’t wait for when your magic is back…

Has it always been such a hazy summer night? 

Your eyes slowly opened to the picture of perfection- Gojo fucking his cock with the hand coated in your juices. Soft clicking from the wetness on his fingers and desperate sighs replaced your moans.

 “Haah, Satoru,” you breathed out, tongue running across your bottom lip. His hand generously stroked the head of his dick.

“You did so well,” he sighed in pleasure as he pulled your legs over his shoulders and kissed the gold anklets adorning your skin. His hands then traveled to your hips, gave them a tender pinch, and pulled flush to his hips in one pull.

You laughed playfully at his strength, wondering if it were just a spell. It wasn’t.

He rested his cock between your legs and on your stomach, balls warmly sitting against your pussy lips. Heavy and warm on your skin, it was 7 and a half inches of sin with a girth that made you question how it would fit.

You wrapped a delicate hand around it and caressed it, relishing in the sweet moan Gojo released from his throat at the contact. 

“You said your room after this?”

“Mhm.”

A clear bead of precum pearled at the tip and before you could swipe it onto your thumb and into your mouth, Gojo guided his dick out of your hand.

“Need you now, angel. That pussy’s waitin’ for me,” he yearned before giving his cock a few indulgent runs through your folds and making you drool.

“My mouth is too,” you playfully complained. A cheeky smirk passed his lips before he pushed the full length of his cock into your cunt. Your hips met in a harsh way that had your hips digging into his.

“S-Sorcerer!” You yelped, fists balling and nails digging into your fists. The stretch was deliciously painful as Satoru slowly started to fuck into you.

“Knew you’d have some good pussy…” He mumbled to himself, eyes glued on your cunt gushing on him. Long white hair fell into his eyes and you clenched around him at the sight.

“Gods, you’re fucking filthy,” You barely purred out between thrusts. His arm came down between your head, the other on the back of the bench. “Fucking the next head of state? Without protection?” Your nails found his thighs and they drew red lines into the pale skin. He leaned down to whine softly in your ear, a piece of vulnerability to contrast with the way he was ruining you.

Satoru’s dick poked and prodded at the sensitive spot in your cunt. Every thrust brought a satisfying stretch and burned the memory of the night into your mind.

“Wanna get me pregnant, Satoru?” you asked, watching his hips falter for a moment.

“Fuck, if you’ll have me,” he rushed out, cheeks turning pink. “We can do this without him knowing, as long as you want me to.”

He huffed out tired breaths that made you lock your legs around his waist. 

You nodded at his words, knuckles grazing along his jawline to capture his chin in your grip and guide his lips to yours. Nimble fingers reached down to draw circles on your clit just as Satoru’s tongue slipped past your lips. 

We’ll be doing it forever then.

Satoru rolled his hips into yours and pushed himself deeper into your cunt, a deep groan coming from his throat as your cunt hugged him greedily.

Between kisses, he slurred out, “Princess, I’m gonna cum…”

Your legs involuntarily shook around his waist as your tongues danced. The fingers strumming your clit sped up, a silent beg to cum with him. His lips released yours to bury his face in your neck, sucking purple spots into the skin. 

Stars filled your eyes, the stimulation overwhelming your senses as you came around Gojo. 

“Satoru,” you whined out, cunt spasming and back arched. His arms wrapped around your waist to give you a couple more rough thrusts. His voice cracked as he filled you with hot ropes of cum and you swear you could’ve squirted again at the sounds of his moans.

The brain fog that came afterward was made sweeter by the soft, comforting rubs Satoru gave the globes of your ass. His warm hands traveled to the stretch marks on your hips and gave them a loving pinch.

“Gonna pull out now, ‘kay?” He warned, knowing you’d protest. 

“But-“

 “We’re going downstairs, remember?” He reminded you, pulling out in one smooth motion. You felt cum drip from your hole for a moment only for Gojo’s long fingers to scoop it up and into his mouth.

“Come on, babe,” he continued. “I wanna get a bath in.”

It wasn’t hard to sneak Gojo into your room.

Many of the doors in the hallway were still locked with occupants on the inside, and the open rooms were already immaculately clean. 

You held hands. It felt immensely intimate for a man you just met, but you figured you’d already squirted on his face, and there weren’t more things more intimate than that. 

Gojo peeked over at you a few times, smiling a little when you caught his eye the first few times.

“How’re you feeling?” He asked as you pulled him softly into a smaller corridor. You pushed the door open with your heeled foot, pulled the sorcerer in, and shut the door, locking it.

“I’m great,” you smiled, turning around to undress in front of him. He watched silently, appreciating the view.

“I’ll tell the maids I'm hungover so we can sleep in tomorrow morning. I’m sure you can teleport out of here?”

“Sure.”

You picked up your clothes and threw them into a wicker bin in the bathroom.

“My husband will be here in the evening. I live two hours away at his estate, but I visit every other week to spend the weekend with my mother.” 

He had followed you into the bathroom and stripped naked, leaving his clothes in your hamper and hanging his robe on a jeweled hook near the shower.

“That’s fine,” he responded coolly. He closed the toilet seat to allow you to sit while he filled the tub with warm water. “I’ll make time for you when you’re here.”

His answer was so simple. It lessened butterflies in your stomach, simplifying the situation like that. Cheating wasn’t something you ever considered, but with Satoru, it didn’t feel wrong. Your marriage left you void in ways you couldn’t have predicted and Satoru knew that. It was complicated and political and exhausting but Satoru was none of that. It was refreshing.

He flicked his wet fingers at your face and turned the water off. “C’mon, I’ll let you sit between my legs,” He offered, climbing into the large square thumb and offering his hand to you.

Graciously taking it, you tiptoed into the bath and sat with Gojo. He kissed your cheek and slipped one of his gold rings onto your ring finger under the water.

“It might slip off, but I'll just give you another one…” He promised. “No matter how many rings slip off, I'll put another one on my girl.” 

© succubusonthedoorstep2023. all rights reserved. please dont copy, repost, steal, or translate my work.

[iu-jjang]

[INTERVIEW] 221020 Vogue Korea - IU “Looking back on the past occasionally makes it more meaningful, doesn’t it?”

IU in Seoul, IU in Milan. Is she the same or different?

At ‘Vogue’, many photos were gathered of IU, Korea’s first female solo singer to have a concert at Jamsil Olympic Stadium then visit Milan as Gucci’s global ambassador. IU said, she asked herself, ‘How about this?’ and she started enjoying herself more.

Q: You attended the 2023 S/S Milan collection show as Gucci’s global ambassador. Was there anything memorable for you about the collection? Any look or item that you liked?

IU: The moment I entered, I felt that the showcase venue was small and cosy. There weren’t many seats either. Then in the middle of the show, a partition wall in the centre of the stage was lifted and I realised that it was like a decalcomanie and there was another show on the other side. The twin models who were walking on their side of the stage met in the middle and held hands as they walked. Whether visually or symbolically, it was an interesting performance. I like overalls and this season, there were overalls! I wonder if they have it in my size? I got excited.

Q: During the ‘Twinsburg’ collection this time, 68 pairs of twins appeared on stage. The mother of the creative director, Alessandro Michele, is a twin so it came from his own personal experiences. I think artists need to have the ability to not bypass little experiences in their lives or miss out on the opposite side of the lives they have become accustomed to and turn that into art. I think the way you tell stories through your music and the unique way you express yourself through your lyrics is an example of that. How do you convert your daily experiences into music? Do you observe or make notes or think on the flip side?

IU: I’ve actually been making fewer notes than before. I still write in my diary, but I’m not as obsessive about writing in it anymore. It’s like, ‘The words to remain shall remain, or else just forget them.’ It’s been awhile since the days when I tried hard to cling on to thoughts that are worth becoming items. (But when I work on my full-length albums with more tracks, I’m clearly going to cling on reluctantly again.) Nowadays, there are many artists that write lyrics by themselves that have character. I’m also the type to stick my flag (TL note: stake my claim) on mainly themes I’m good at writing and can hang on to for a long time. I’m hooked on ‘patterns’ and ‘rules’ these days. I’m gradually starting to realise that I’m someone who lives with many rules in my daily life. I get stressed when something falls out of place too. I wonder if I’ll be able to infuse such ideas in my music in future.

Q: We did the ‘Vogue’ cover photoshoot in the house of a Milan collector. It was a house filled with pictures and antique furniture, right? What’s your house filled with? Are you surrounded by them now as well?

IU: As I receive this question and look around me, I realise that I do have a number of pictures in my house here and there. I mostly spend my time in my room and in my room in particular, I have many pictures gifted to me by friends or my fans who drew them by themselves. There are pictures amazingly drawn on canvas and many sketches from my friend’s studio. Perhaps it’s because I have zero talent in drawing, when someone gifts me with a meaningful piece of art, I feel really touched. It contains the affection, time and effort of that person. The pieces that are really precious to me are gathered at one corner of my room. During my concert this time, there was a section that reproduced that part of my room too.

Q: Other than 2020 and 2021 when Covid-19 was severe, you’ve been putting on solo concerts every year since 2012. What does it mean to you to be able to have face-to-face concerts with your fans?

IU: It’s a celebration party with my fans after a year of farming. It’s difficult to replace a concert with another event. The fans who come for my concerts will clearly know what I mean.

Q: Your first solo concert in 2012 was ‘Real Fantasy’ right? Do you still remember what your first concert was like?

IU: I don’t remember it vividly, but of course I still remember it. I did a nationwide tour for my first concert. From gathering concert audience, to maintaining my condition, putting things in action, to ensuring that the tension stays up during my concert each week instead of weakening, I was at a loss about everything and felt scared. I blamed the producer a little then for not guiding me on what to do and asking so much of me from the start, but after my concert this time, I thought to myself, “Thank you for raising me to be strong” and contacted the producer separately too. What’s encouraging for me is that my parents who came to watch my first concert 10 years ago and said, “The stage seems too big for you to fill on your own” back then, told me this time. “The stage that extends beyond 100m does not look big at all.”

Q: The concert you had in September was really amazing. You were the first Korean female solo singer to have a concert at Jamsil Olympic Stadium, right? With about 90 people on stage, about 1300 staff making preparations together and about 80,000 fans in the audience. I’m curious about your overall thoughts on the concert.

IU: I felt, ‘I enjoy the stage more than I thought. Things really work when many people put their hearts together. I’m working with some really amazing people. I have a really great life.’

Q: In the teaser video on your ‘dlwlrma’ YouTube channel, you said, “I want to leave a mark in concert history.” Did you manage to achieve what you hoped for?

IU: Yes.

Q: Director Jo Hyunwoo who worked with you from the 2017 ‘Palette’ concert to the 2019 ‘Love, poem’ concert, as well as the 2022 ‘The Golden Hour: Under the Orange Sun’ concert, shared his thoughts on what a ‘perfect concert’ means to him. Usually when IU starts singing, the audience becomes quiet and only participate actively during the sing-along parts, but during your Philippines concert, the audience cheered so loudly that you couldn’t hear the music in your in-ears. You responded that, ‘A perfect concert means differently to different people. That was a perfect concert in a new way.’ In what way was the concert this time perfect?

IU: Despite the 3 year gap, not only me, but I felt that everyone was clear about their roles. At each position, it had to be that person. This concert was not a tour and there were only two days, but if I had the chance to go back again to that day, I would not have been able to make it any better.

Q: How did you feel when you fell asleep the night before your concert? How about after the concert?

IU: It was raining a lot the night before the concert and we didn’t manage to complete the run-through rehearsal, so I went back after work that day with an unsettling feeling. My backup singer who could tell how I felt sent me an image of ‘You can do it ability’, so I thought to myself, ‘That’s right, I’ve done everything I can. It’ll work out somehow’ and posted that image on my Instagram story before lying down in my bed. After the last day of the concert, I went for the after party. They didn’t make it obvious the whole time, but perhaps because the staff mostly felt pressured by the large scale of the concert, many of them were crying. Telling each other that they did well, it was the best, thank you for working together. Exchanging words with each other, I felt a surge of love for mankind that night. I got home late at night and read the concert reviews and felt overwhelmed with emotions which was something I had not felt in quite awhile. I think out of the concerts I had done, it was the concert with the highest level of audience satisfaction. That itself was enough to compensate for everything.

Q: This concert was described as a “musical or Olympics opening ceremony”. In particular, the highlight was the hundreds of drones that formed a picture in the sky. What’s the stage equipment or effect that you were most into? On the contrary, was there anything you had to compromise for practical reasons?

IU: From the performance perspective, I think it would have to be the hot air balloon that went up as I sang ‘strawberry moon’. It’s something that the concert director insisted on strongly since the first meeting. A few months before the concert, together with a few key staff members, I went on a trip to Buyeo for a test run and that was how much we anticipated the hot air balloon performance. It would move depending on the wind direction, so it was very much weather-dependent and I thought I didn’t have a fear of heights at all, but once it went up by more than 10m, I couldn’t sing and whenever it wobbled due to the wind, my heart sank. As I was close to the fire, it was really hot to ride it in summer too. The director expressed his concerns (with a firm expression I had never seen from him in the many years we have worked together) ‘Just. Believe. In. It.’ I’m glad I did. The audience really liked it. What I had to compromise with was time, of course. From when the title of the concert, ‘Golden Hour’, was confirmed, we set the condition that ‘with the sunset as the background, we had to start the concert at 7pm sharp without missing a beat’. But for an outdoor concert, we couldn’t drag it too late into the night. So it was a shorter concert than what I used to do and we prepared for a runtime of 3 hours.

Q: What was a great hurdle for you for this concert and how did you overcome it? On the contrary, what was the most exciting part?

IU: The biggest hurdle was myself. Since a year ago, my ear has been giving me some issues. If I sweat a lot or produce loud sounds for a long period of time, a muscle in my ear rattles and opens up and sound seems to echo loudly inside. As I was preparing for my concert, I trained myself well and made great improvements, but it had been awhile since I stood on stage and on top of that, it was the biggest stage in singing career, so many complicated thoughts were running through my mind. I just kept practising. If my ear opened up, sounds became unclear to me, so I was cautious about singing loudly and afraid to do so. Even if it sounded weird to me, I would just sing it out aloud first and record that and listen to it again, trying to find a way to control it. As I kept doing that, I started to regain my confidence gradually. It can get worse if I go too overboard, but for now, I’m safe. Aside from my condition, the moment I decided to do a concert, I tormented myself and struggled with thoughts like, ‘Would I be able to fill such a large stadium?’ Whenever I had weak thoughts, I remember telling myself, ‘Hey, this is the Olympic Stadium, even if you can’t eat (handle) it, it’s a Go’ to make myself bolder.

Q: After your encore stage, ‘Love poem’, you said, “There’s an issue with my ear, so I nervously prepared for this concert. I could barely hear properly today, but I could sense the support from all of you.” You must have been taken aback when you first heard the diagnosis of your condition. How did you feel back then and how are you accepting it right now?

IU: After hearing the diagnosis, I was firstly glad that it wasn’t an issue with my hearing per se. Since my job requires me to use my voice a lot, although I was at a loss of what to do, I think it was a chance for me to have more humble feelings about my health and this job that I love. When none of the worst case scenarios I imagined happened and I managed to pull off my concert successfully, I’ll never be able to forget how thankful I felt at that point in time. After the articles went out, I was contacted by many people. I even received messages from seniors that I did not have their contacts. There were more people around me with this condition than I had thought. As we use our ears and throat a lot, many singers revealed that they faced the same issue and shared their encouragement and their own tips with me. I also helped those who asked me for help as much as I could. From the perspective of someone who stands on stage, the bond of sympathy and support that we shared gave me the reassurance that I would be able to recover quickly. That was another episode that I was overwhelmed with a love for mankind recently.

Q: During your ‘The Golden Hour: Under the Orange Sun’ concert recently, you started off by singing ‘eight’ without any accompaniment. You’ve mentioned before that it’s a song you want to sing during sunset and something you’ve been planning for a long time”, but what was the reason that you decided your opening for the concert to be this way?

IU: ‘eight’ was a song that I released when I was 28, during a time of Covid-19 blues and a sense of powerlessness myself, when I was tired with everything. As I couldn’t have face-to-face concerts during that time, I wasn’t able to gain strength from the audience. So when the field of performing arts started to become active again, I felt that if I were to hold my concert, I would have to sing ‘eight’ as the first song powerfully and mark an end to the times I felt tired of everything. It’s the only song that has never changed its position the whole time we were deciding the setlist.

Q: During your concert, you said after singing ‘Palette’ and ‘Good Day’, you would be excluding them from your setlist in future. You said, “Now that I’ve turned 30, you’re welcoming moments as good as you felt back then. There’s no reason for me to hang on to these songs anymore.” Over time, you’ve also graduated songs like ‘Marshmallow’ right? It’s not easy to let go of your shining history, is there a reason that you need to graduate your songs? I think it shows your growth as well.

IU: I think looking back on the past occasionally makes it more meaningful. As I work hard to release new songs, I would like to avoid a similar structure to my concerts every year. There’s some misinterpretation in the way it was reported in the news and although they will be left out of the key pieces that make up the regular setlist, during encore or with a freer atmosphere, I can still sing them if the audience requests for them. It’s also my will to continue to produce new songs to fill the empty spaces of the songs that have graduated, so I hope my fans don’t become too disappointed because of that.

Q: It seems that your choice above is influenced by you turning 30. Are there any emotional changes for you as you begin your 30s?

IU: I think it’s a time that I break free from my obsession that things have to be either ‘this way or that way’. As I start thinking to myself, ‘How about this?’, many things have started to become more enjoyable for me. I’m enjoying life, these days.

Q: With your concert over, you’re left with the release of your movie ‘Dream’! You started filming for it last spring, right? Besides ‘Dream’, what other projects do you have lined up?

IU: I would like to show a more relaxed side of myself. I’m always telling my fans, “I want to become uaenas’ hobby.” That’s my flow (TL note: how I’m doing things) these days too, whether it’s an album or other pieces of work, rather than breathless stories, I want to tell warm stories that allow our hearts to relax.

Translated by IUteamstarcandy

[buttsnorkeler69420]

HI HOWS THE ALBUM (← insane)

you know how when l(glu) was released april said this:

[image ID: a screenshot of text from a page on the song lyric website genius. it reads, "underscores said, 'Everything was too sad. I wanted to have some fun.' the text is white on a dull grey background.]

i underestimated it and i am having a TIME. um so i wrote up some thoughts i had on every song (i don't really know how to properly talk about music but i really like underscores so i am going to say things anyway haha)

(SPOILERS FOR WALLSOCKET BY UNDERSCORES BEYOND THIS POINT. content warnings for songs discussing grooming, war, suicidal ideation and transphobia.)

track 1: Cops & Robbers

i remember mentally exploding when i saw the thumbnail for this pop up on youtube. every time i hear the beginning guitar section my brain chemistry just is like... YEAHHHHHH ITS WALLSOCKET TIME!!!!!! this song just feels so so fun—the "haha gotcha" tone of it, and the speed and energy, and the part where it's like "and its full of all of your money / yEAHHH!!!"—i looped this thing so much until the other singles came out (and then i looped those. a lot.)

i love love love the bridge of this song and it gets stuck in my head all the time

track 2: Locals (Girls Like Us)

it's another underscores and gabby start banger!!!!!!! i love the songs both of these artists make and this one is no exception. immediately when the intro started i was like YEAHHH!!!! and then when the spoken "good luck" suddenly turned into that loud sample "Good Luck!" i was honestly startled enough to jump the first time i listened to it.

this is one of the songs where i don't really get the full symbolism behind everything yet (the whole horse section in the gabby part... basically gabby's entire part actually because i am not sure what the things they mention symbolize)

i really like how the repeating words mantra extends basically throughout the whole song in different ways, and the chorus is so so catchy

track 3: Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

i really enjoy the wordplay underscores uses in her lyrics a lot... like how she describes a fishing lure to play into the "taking the bait" theme in the chorus (at first i was like "huh??? what colorful piece of plastic?" and then i was like OHHHHH!!!!) and how she indirectly alludes to things ("the name of my illness/is just one letter short of my own" - S*nny is five letters and i think this song is about S*nny's queer identity so the four letter word being referenced here might be LGBT??? not sure / and the "my favorite animal is engraved on the sides of my ribs" which i currently don't know the meaning of, but the person on Genius who suggested it was a reference to the creation of Eve makes a really cool point)

the transition in this song to the Patented Louder Ending Section is just soooooo soooo pretty... it gets me every time...

shoutout to this "OH" in particular.

track 4: You Don't Even Know Who I Am

originally when this song came out (both unofficially in "The Story of S*nny", then its official release), it honestly was not my favorite, but now it gets stuck in my head a lot and i don't mind at all! the singing and effects pair really well together. I also really like the intermittent beeping sounds that occasionally show up.

edit: i was lucky enough 2 be able to go to a live show and OH MY GOD was this song SOOOO cool in it. the freaking lightbulb effect is so cool when i realized what was going on with it i screamed

originally when i first started listening to this song i really liked the last loud bit but now i'm not really sure why but it's kind of off to me now? i dont know maybe something about the notes is a little weird to my ears but i still enjoy

track 5: Johnny johnny johnny

oh my god. OHHHHHHHH MY GODDDDD. this song has been stuck in my head since my first listen and will probably stay that way for the next month or so. this song is so amazing. IMMEDIATELY i was extremely intrigued by the way it opened (i had never heard of the Johnny, Johnny hand game thing before, and upon looking it up i was like OH MAN you KNOW the song is going to be mind blowing when it has LAYERS like this).

i think my first impression with this song was that it kind of reminds me a lot of underscores's MARINA covers?? like in a really good way, since i think underscores has mentioned marina as an inspiration and it's so cool seeing how many kinds of music she can make

i also love how like... expressive underscores's voice is, even in ad-libs and effects like the repeated "whoops!" in this song... it adds so much to the atmosphere and the um. growing dread as you realize what this song is about and are more and more aware of the juxtaposition between its topic and its tone. (the "johnny's gonna be the one who finally makes me real" line gets me every time in particular.... aaaaaaa)

this song's climax near the end is also just so so cool... i love how it takes a ton of elements that showed up earlier in the song and suddenly puts them all together (the "johnny johnny johnny johnny whoops" chant suddenly appearing alongside the chorus and transforming as the two are played at the same time)

track 6: Shoot to kill, kill your darlings

HIP, HIP... HOORAY!!! ough. this song. man. MAN. i am so crazy about how well this song tells a detailed story while still being catchy and fun to listen to (same with pretty much the rest of the album too haha) because that is such an impressive feat. the repeating gun sound impacts between verses are so crunchy i love them.

the line where it's like "he doesn't like what she chooses to do with her body / but he's given over his body as well / you'd think he'd get it more than anyone else"... OUGH...

this song is originally written in a very like... mostly conversational tone, but it's just so so fitting when at the end, OMB just accepts that her friend is going to go to war anyway, and to reflect this mood change, underscores just. drops all the fancy lingo and straight up repeats "I just don't want you to die" as the instrumental deteriorates. OUGH$$$))

track 7: Horror movie soundtrack

for some reason i was not expecting the banjo? guitar? notes that played in the album trailer to actually be a part of one of the songs in the actual album itself, and when that familiar tune started up, i immediately got chills and was like "OH SO WE'RE DOING THIS NOW".

god. the "you won't get away with this" being introduced as a calmer line that is mostly said like a quiet vengeful promise to becoming a big part of the crescendo is so so cool.

track 8: Old money bitch

i think this song was definitely my favorite of the singles when it came out because i could NOT stop listening to it and thinking about it when i wasn't listening to it. it is so so catchy. i didn't know where this sound would be in the album because i didn't have the tracklist memorized and it was such a gutpunch to hear it RIGHT after Horror Movie Soundtrack; we listeners just got to peek at OMB's current state of mind--her fears of losing her friend and her bitterness towards everyone except her friends and maybe "the girls"?--and then we IMMEDIATELY see that mara is bashing her on TOP of that. bonus points if mara happens to be included in "the girls"--I think this song does imply that OMB and mara were originally on good terms before their "first big fight" at a birthday party.

track 9: Geez Louise

i was NOT expecting to hear a rock/metal song from this album and i was smiling so hard when this came on. honestly surprised that i WASN'T expecting this because she makes so many different things but omg.

during my first time listening to the album, i'd remembered there was a song with a 7 minute timestamp in the trailer, but i forgot what song it was and by the time the album was over i was still waiting for the seven minute song. this song really does not feel longer than an average song to me somehow and it still feels only like three minutes every time i come back to listen to it.

i just... MAN. this song first being loud and angry and resentful, then bitter and dismissive with the "we don't have to talk about it", then suddenly transitioning into a feeling of like... an epiphany about identity in henhouse!'s part, is so so cool. the repeating "we don't have to talk about it" suddenly becomes like... an admittance of a sudden unspoken kinship. it's so... augh...

i had never heard about henhouse! before this song and after i was done with the album i immediately went searching and was shocked to only find one song... i am so excited to see more from henhouse! in the future though

track 10: Seventyseven dog years

hold on... is that the scream sample brakence uses in hypochondriac????? (maybe it just sounds similar haha)

the "do do ee oo ee oo oh oh"s in the background fading in and out are so pleasant and the crunchy texture of the drums in this one are so nice and i really like how the song transitions very nicely in and out of busy-ish loud and quiet sections

it's a little hard to hear the vocals during the louder parts but still a very cool experience!

i don't really know what the significance of dogs in this album is yet but i am curious because they've popped up a couple times (this song, the whole "ilovemydog77" password, arg and song thing)... i wonder if it has something to do with "dog" being an anagram for "god"

track 11: Uncanny long arms

ohhhhhh my god oh my god. i already knew this song was gonna be crazy because JANE REMOVER but man. i got interrupted in my first listen during the first verse of this song but i was so bewitched by the vocals that i had the chorus stuck in my head until i kept listening. another AWESOME example of how much vocals have been growing and evolving since the past albums... all the singing in here is so good and this song is just captivating.

the echoey louder part of the chorus ("and i saw that my hands were in a different place than before"/"and i woke up and felt my hands all on the carpet") transitioning into that ADDICTIVE "i can touch my toes/without bending over") is just so so pretty.

AND THEN THAT PART WHERE IN JANE'S SECTION IT DROPS OFF FROM THOSE VOCALS INTO A CRAZY EFFECTS ZONE. when the vocals suddenly break off and stutter and you suddenly honestly feel a little scared at where the song is going and then it fades gently into strings and more echoey vocals. GAH..... this album and its ability to play with my feelings...

(currently talking about this song while taking into account the current theories on genius that it is about mara realizing she has stalked S*nny so much that now she is talking to her, she has realized that she has overstretched and done something wrong (the metaphor being "waking up with long arms"), then deciding to withdraw ("getting an arm reduction").

the inlaws callback actually blew my mind when it showed up. i guess it kinda is a bit of irony in terms of the Lore... originally the lyrics of kinko's DO fit mara because she doesn't necessarily have real struggles (but yearns for S*nny's tough upbringing and struggles), but NOW she is just realizing what she has done by inserting herself into S*nny's issues and realizing she could affect them and have a huge impact for better or worse... ough...

track 12: Good luck final girl

this song feels both really cozy and mournful,,, especially the tune of the chorus and its tone... i can't decide whether "i hope you get what you deserve/that's not how this thing works" is more bitter or hopeful, but i think that's kinda the point because the description of this song says it's about the main characters realizing how they should grow up

considering there are 3 verses for our 3 main characters... i thiiink that the middle verse is most likely S*nny's (it talks about a girl down the block offering to help her, but she rejects the offer and says she doesn't need "people like that" anymore; likely referring to mara, "the girl next door" whose interactions with her were um. yeah.)

i am not sure which in the top and bottom match with old money bitch and mara... i think the last verse is OMB mostly because of the "ive postponed my suicide indefinitely" line, and also because of the sudden tone shift of the song (no more guitar, ambient noises in the background giving the feeling of being around people but feeling alone, the repeating of a final line over and over at the very end until it fades away like in Shoot to kill, kill your darlings)

um yeah. good album. good luck. wall sock er 👍

[godbirdart]

Hi there! Short time appreciator of your stuff (I found you a few months ago + love your style sm!!) first time asker, and this might be an odd one, but do you have any suggestions for how to get involved with the furry community? Just, where to meet folk, maybe what to keep an eye out for (good or bad!) and such? I'd love to chat to folk and such but I'm just a very nervous person ^^;

You don't have to post or answer this if you don't want to! But thank you for all the cool art and the funny memes, I love seeing Sebastian with assorted snacks ^-^ you take care!!

aaA thank you!!

i'll be honest i personally skirt around the edge of the community because i too am a shy creature that emerges only every waning moon to hand people artwork

depending on the involvement level you want, you've got a number of options. a lot of people are still active on twitter, and mastodon and cohost seem to be picking up! i know mastodon has a few furry instances, such as meow.social, though I don't use mastodon that much so I cannot say if the community there is good, bad, or otherwise. same goes for cohost. last i checked it's very much so a twitter clone, but many furries i've noticed have skipped over there. pillowfort.social has a small Furry Artists community. if in doubt, there's also /r/furry on reddit.

if you just want to appreciate art and maybe comment every now and again, tumblr is pretty good. sure the tags can be a little broken sometimes, but at least you'll find the content you're looking for when you look up Furry in the search. same goes for deviantart and furaffinity, ofc depending on your interests you may have to dig around a little to get to the content / art style you specifically like. both tumblr and twitter i find are somewhat good at recommending similar artists if you follow some. sometimes there’s a recommended that pops up after you hit follow on the profile on twitter or a “blogs like these” section on tumblr, so there’s that.

telegram and discord are still popular as ever, though i feel finding a Good chat can be a herculean task. the r/furry reddit mentioned above has both telegram and discord [both sfw].

it’s super likely there’s a local / regional furry group for your area. some meet irl, even! most of these groups have telegram chats or discords if you want to meet people closer to home. of course there's also the Countless furry conventions going on too

it all depends on your social level as an individual. you can dip your toes in just by commenting on and following other furries, or opt to attend meetups and conventions and meet people in person

as for things to stay away from, the two biggest problems i want to mention are:

furry raiders. an alt-right furry group.

people with the zeta symbol “ζ“ in their bio /  name. now, the presence of a symbol isn’t always indicative of someone’s affiliation with something, so use discretion; but the zeta symbol is often used by people who are zoosadists / into be*stiality. these people are not furries, they don’t represent what the community is about, and everyone hates them. we can and will call the authorities on these people for animal abuse. if you see someone telling “zoos” to fuck off, there’s a 99.9999% chance these are the people that person is talking about.

these aren’t the only issues of course, but i feel they’re the most prominent ones. also maybe be wary of people who constantly say things like “no politics uwu” - especially if they turn it into some furry pun like “pawlitics”. maybe i personally have just had too many uncomfortable interactions with people like this and now i’m biased, but i’ve grown to never trust that.

apologies, i’m a bit of a hermit in online spaces and can’t offer anything more specific. if anyone has cooler recommendations they’re welcome to add them in the replies / reblogs!!

[wc-confessions]

hi its the original cheetz animator anon again and SO SORRY for kicking off drama then dipping for days. however, this is gonna get LONG.

cheetz' entire work model screams offloading shit onto other people so they can produce as much as possible in the shortest amount of time.

Weekend maps (baby's first crunch culture), 200-part maps with 3 collabers on each one (literally 0 problem with collaboration and its very cool [even if its solely because of the insane crunch], but I'll get to why Im bringing it up), and TRAILERS for their maps to generate as much hype as possible for them. What these create is hundreds of videos about The New Cheeteh Z Map, thus boosting cheetz in the algorithm MASSIVELY.

To break it down, each of the 200 map part creators will post a video with the map title in it, pushing the topic out to as many people as possible. the trailer is there for the existing subs, making SURE they watch at the premiere and again putting the "X Cheeteh Z MAP" topic as smth that anyone who vaguely likes maps needs to watch Right Now. Premiere happens, everyone watches, maybe skims the part playlist, and subs to cheetz (or at least flags to yt that theyre interested in their vids). Because this happens every 3 weeks, it's a consistent stream of content running back to them. its the exact same content-farming dr**k did lmfaoo

The same thing happens to hype the animators for The Next Big Project in the server. I think it was hollyfawn that had a 10-day @/everyone spree with like? a scavenger hunt? to tease that the next project was coming, prepare to apply!!11! To add onto it, they literally dont even do the storyboarding themself. They recruit like 5 other people to do it and cheetz'll help out. This is why the visual language is as disjointed as it is, and no hate towards the board artists! Its just that everyone has different styles and cheetz isnt exactly there to unify it aside from some meaningless symbols (does anyone actually know what hawkstorm's wings mean. anyone?)

Now that we've dissected my perspective on cheetz' content creation style, I've done a wee bit of research on my end with the analytics of my vids.

DISCLAIMER: I am a smallish channel with a few hundred subs and I only upload once every couple months. in fact I'm in the process of divorcing myself from wc so its prolly gonna have a massive subdrop as soon as I upload original animations. I am also one person and have not corroborated my findings with any other animators. Part 2 of the disclaimer: Tigernoir was never finished. After the controversy and threats against the host+animators we agreed to call it off and unlist/priv/delete our parts.

The difference in analytics between my TN part and my other unrelated parts that have a fairly large amount of views within the same amount of time is Notable. This is based on the 4-day mark of each part being up (the numbers are accurate because these were recorded then, and not pulled up Now):

The unrelated part got 1.8k views by then, TN got 2.3k. the difference is the interactions though. By the 4-day mark, the unrelated part had 36k impressions, accessed thru the sidebar (a 5% watchrate), and TN had 10k impressions (23%), accessed mainly thru the playlist. TN had 4 comments by then, Unrelated had 12. Unrelated gained me 50 subs, TN gained 10.

Obviously 2 vids from one person can't be Concrete Evidence, so my theory for this is that people are just skimming through the playlist without actually Intending to watch the videos. With the algorithm, even though a smaller percentage clicked the video, the views clearly had their eye caught and chose to check it out. This meant the viewers were actually engaged with the content and chose to see what else the uploader had going. TN's part on the other hand was just kinda There and automatically watched, then likely skipped onto the next part when the process section began.

In all, the focus is not on the animator when it comes to a cheetz map from what I've noticed. It is quite literally All About Cheetz, and he doesnt do anything but PROMOTE that with their content creation style and how he interacted with the people that work for him. Downright disheartening, and this style becoming fairly mainstream + their fans mirroring it is a very large part why im packing my bags from the warriors animation scene. Once again, sorry abt the length! but that anon did drive me mildly berserk and I needed to delve a bit deeper into my stance.

all i can really say is that that sucks man. i'm glad you're trying to pursue something that makes you happy tho! i really hope you gain the traction you desire along your journey! ik all the animators on cheeteh z's maps are like super fantastic so like i can already imagine how good your content will be..

[a-romantic--aromantic]

Hi there! I was reading your post for the aro-picnic at pride (sorry I’m sure how else to refer to the post) and wanted to tell you that I think that sounds like such an amazing idea! You’d be making a safe place and slacking conversation that has never happened at pride. I went to two large pride celebrations this year in two different cities in the US and I was the only one I saw sporting anything to do with being aro-spec. And including the other a-spec identities is even better because we’re all a safe place for each other. Honestly, if I would’ve seen a booth like what you’re imagining at a pride event that I went to the I probably would’ve felt so much safer and freer to be myself. A-specs deserve pride just as much as everyone. I’m so sorry someone was treating you like that in the comments section , that was so uncalled for by them. After reading that I just wanted to reach out and tell you how much hope you inspired in me for future pride events. The aspec community is only growing and I have every confidence that wonderful people like you can help us achieve the recognition, celebration , and visibility that we deserve. You’re doing great! I believe in you and your projects!

hdjdkdhjd thank you so much. yeah the idea is in the works, and im lucky enough that an aspec organization walks in the parade every year- but thats not sensory friendly for me and doesnt have resources really for actually teaching people or meeting other people like you? im hoping that i can have little info sheets and a physical aspec + aplatonic pride flag, since i know that no one really has gotten to see that irl. i think itd be really cool.

in case youre curious, heres a rough draft of what a tabling would look like.

[ID: a concept sketch of the setup of a table at a festival. it includes various aro, aplatonic, and ace flags, as well as the new aspec flag. it shows placement of rings, stickers, keychains, ribbon, chairs, and flags. There is text to represent signs. 1. What do black and white rings represent? 2. Aspec symbols and what they mean 3. About the artists. /END ID]

and a picnic draft (which i will get approval for but yes, you can just hang out with your friends on the lawn at the festival and do crafts 🙄 )

[ID: a concept sketch of the setup of some items and 3 people sitting on a blanket. it shows placement of ribbons, stickers, and beads. off to the side there is text that reads “literally just pride flags stitched together” with a small sketch of 9 aro flags sewn into a grid, with an arrow pointed towards the blanket. /END ID]

im ngl i dont care much about including aces but i do LOVE @untitled-google-docs-document flag (featured in the table image!!!) enough that it is genuinely one of my reasons for considering expanding it to aspec in general instead of my original Aro Vision. the other one being I Want To Support Aplatonics And Rep Apls So Bad.

i hope this feeds your curiosity and excitement for me maybe doing this idea. i’m still in planning stages and reaching out to the event coordinators about if a meetup with friends/other aros like this would be okay, and figuring out the requirements to apply for a table. it appears i just need to fill out an application Dec. 1st (or after) but I’m still just waiting to hear back. This has been living in my brain for years as the picnic concept, but im starting to think that a table may be more fun/useful.

i dont plan on partnering with aurea, other than to perhaps add it to their calendar, though i may reach out to taaap as they are located in dc and march in the parade. im not sure yet because a big part of this is just doing crafts and getting aros together, and i dont particularly know if i want a big organization like that involved, and im hesitant after knowing some of their volunteers from when i was first building this community.

there are some local aspec groups and groups at the colleges nearby, and some people ive known outside of that, who may be willing to work together as a “group” if we need to to qualify for a table. mostly for that one i care about cost. i want these crafts and merch to be free because i dont have the ability to go sell and it feels wrong, but donations to make this possible/ to donate to taaap or aurea may be accepted? but mostly im just doing this because i want to.

i hope that getting to see more is exciting for you like it is for me! i cant wait to actually make it happen.

[oinker-33]

A Little Bit Of History: Old Country Humans!

(Heads up - I cannot find the tag for this, so I'm gonna say, trigger warning for Nazi symbols - don't worry, this blog post is just for educational purposes! I have done my best to blur them, however I'm not a very attuned seeker.)

Hey guys, this would usually be a Twitter thread but Elongated Muskrat wants me to pay and I ain’t doing that! So we’re making a Tumblr blogpost!

I don’t know how alive the countryhumans fandom is on here, but I thought I might make a post about something I find cool: this idea is actually pretty old!

See, back in the olden days, after World War 1, political cartoons changed - people began to experiment with new ways of expressing themselves and how they felt, beyond just redrawing what was happening.

This era, which I like to call the experimental era, was from ~1930-1980. Nowadays, political cartoonists are back to being unoriginal little shits, which gives them their grotesque impression in people's minds. But no, there's more to this art form!

There used to be characters used to represent countries. The most popular example is Uncle Sam, we know him, we love him, you even see him in countryhumans art today. And wow, is he old! Look at him in this cartoon from 1947! (Image credi: KB2 - that's all we know about this artist, other than they were from France)

Here, the characters, from left to right are Marianne for France, Gretchen/Germania for Germany, Uncle Sam for the United States, and John Bull for the United Kingdom.

There are two characters for Germany, one is Gretchen/Germania, which is a cruel old woman and I personally dislike because of her misogynistic under tones - German women were disliked for their assertiveness and stereotyped as mean or bitchy. Not their fault particularly - after World War 2 Germany began to shift over to more matriarchal society over a patriarchy, which had been their structure on and off over the years. (Image credit: Pol Ferjac - once again, that's all we know about the artist except their French nationality)

The other one is Michel, who is a chubby, sweet, short, and submissive little man who wears pajamas constantly, keeps having kids with uncooperative mothers (does he birth them himself?), and is a bit lazy. (Image credit to the Saar section of the European movement - most likely multiple artists worked on this)

He was every definition of a wife guy for Marianne, worshipping his lovely woman even if she rejected him. He rarely fought with her, except on the matter of his children, which he would get very defensive about.

Their gender roles were entirely reversed - Marianne took on the role of a man at the time, and Michel, a woman. Why this was collectively decided is not clear to me - perhaps it was what was appropriate to their geopolitics at the time, or a reflection of German societal expectations. Either way, they're the couple (I drew this one on a card for my French teacher)

They fell out of usage after the De Gaulle and Adenauer days as they were thought to be their couple, their children, not appropriate for Giscard d'Estaing and Schmidt, though in the 80s they would be used again with Kohl and Mitterrand because of their relationship making people nostalgic.

Admittedly, there aren't a lot of other countries that I have seen. Some rarer ones include Meisje, who represents the Netherlands (Image credit: Ernst Maria)

Or, this interesting cartoon by Hanns Erich Köhler where he designs people for Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.

So, why did they exist?

Well, some people didn't have access to the information we do. It wasn't easy to find out who ran what, and what they looked like for that manner. They were especially useful during the 50s because governments were in chaos, and having someone just be the entire country saved the headache of figuring out who was ruler at the time. They were often adapted from children's characters as well, bringing nostalgia and kinship.

But then pictures of people became much more wildly available as news networks got back on their feet. After De Gaulle and Adenauer, Marianne and Michel, who were the most utilized outside of Uncle Sam, were laid to rest with their real life equivalents, never brought up again except for nostalgia purposes. Even the Greeks, who lagged behind their German idol, found Kohl and Mitterrand to be much more engaging.

I made my own, by the way. I will probably make another blog explaining each one, since this one is getting much too long.

Thanks for reading!

[baezdylan]

im thinking (see also: knee-deep in spotify and pinterest)........You Be A Good Girl......an album in three parts.......three main symbols from amy's childhood.......(with three distinctly different sounds, critics wonder why cass blackwood didn't just separate them into three different albums)

talking to the apple (the apple, being left behind, a sort of joy in isolation, merricat-core)........

melody's a malady (the stars, wanting to run away, insist on your cup of stars)..........

just like broken glass (the wedding, fight the war with an unsteady aim, a lead role in a cage, local mad woman)...............

YES YES YES YES YESSSSS!!!! That's why I split the divorce album in two because it just feels right for her to connect what seemingly couldn't be connected... I mean... Amy Pond is like one of those songs with an upbeat instrumental and devastating lyrics (the smiths? the smiths.) ACTUALLY YES. This is all just one album. Yes, every section has its own title and can exist independently. I also LOVE the idea of those almost albums conversing with one another because it's definitely not a chronological progression we're dealing with here... The tracks are listed, but it's up to you to organise them how you like because there's more than one way to do that and there are several contradictory narratives packed in there... There's a beauty in solitude and I don't want to be alone ever again... I want to stay here in this garden forever and I need to leave this place for good... And I don't think Amy would consider all of those readings, I just think she would make music that gives you the space to be right about whatever it is you're feeling, the kind of stuff that just exists instead of directly telling you what to think about it... (and that's how music is, sometimes in spite of the artist, but I think she'd be hyper aware of that sentiment) My idea for Shotgun! Wedding! + Blows Of Freedom was like... you're bleeding on the ballroom floor and seconds after that image is interrupted by complete stillness (and there's a movement to that too!!! it just fades in comparison) So you're always oscillating between opposites, but you know it's all the same story... maybe she'd have songs that sound the same, but are made out of lyrics that's in direct opposition to establish that atmosphere? Oh I've heard this and I know this, but the last time I heard it, it was a beginning and now it's an ending... something along those lines, but apply it to every AP record. Never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you!!!!! And I'm living for critics who just Do Not Get It + people going crazy insane about the music because that's EXACTLY how I imagine it... Meanwhile Amy is like *Lou Reed Interviews Moment Ft. OBNOXIOUS MILF Ryan Ross Sunglasses* "I don't consider myself to be popular." Amy Working Class Hero But Also Your Toxic Ex Pond

[k00288398]

TEMPORARY-PATHS LEADING TO SUICIDE

The artist displays in his work not only the phenomena occurring around or influencing him, but also his personal perception, his feelings and thoughts caused by these events. I've always enjoyed telling stories, even if I'm presenting an ordinary portrait. The presentation of the material, small details, symbolism - all this makes the work deeper and more meaningful and makes enter into a dialogue with the viewer. This story started with a lovely melody that I heard on my way to school. This melody let me go back to my memories and gave me an opportunity to finally talk about them. This story is told from the point of view of a women show us PATHS LEADING TO SUICIDE.

I tried to arrange all the objects in my composition in such a way that the general feeling of emptiness, depression, trap and loneliness could be read without further explanation. Lonely chair on the bottom of the composition increases that feelings. I chose these parts for my exposition because I think they best reflect my concept and also show my exploration of various media throughout the project.

1: The painted part of the wall- showing the gradual onset of depression.

2: Black square "Monday" contains pills for the delayed act of suicide, as a means of getting rid of chronic pain.

3: "Broken heart" - displays a person's heart broken for various reasons.

4: The mesh bag - where a person is shown in the trap of his fears, complexes, memories and life circumstances that prevent him from living. 5: Hanger "Butterfly" is a reflection on the theme of violence against women.

6: "Heart-prison" - a narrative of deep depression - where every day is perceived as a punishment.

7: A collage highlighting domestic violence against women.

8: "Cross" symbolizes the conversion in faith, but also the pressure of Christian foundations in individual families or sections of society. 9: "In the corridors of consciousness" the look on the mental problems of human.

10: "Rain"- the influence of the environment on the emotional background of a person.

I liked this project - it really was an exciting journey! Absolutely everything was new for me, it tested my strengths and capabilities, and I made many conclusions for myself. Experience is a great!

[thevagueambition]

1,13, and 5 from the fandom ask game, for Les Mis?:D

1. which character do you relate to the most from your fandom?

Joly & Lesgle having breakfast during Lamarque's funeral and being like. As willing to martyr themselves as everyone else at that barricade but also not as organised or as in the middle of everything as the rest of the Amis (save R) is very relatable in terms of my own engagement with politics lmao.

Speaking of that scene, Grantaire's little thing of overthinking why Enjolras would send his message to Lesgle (rather than Grantaire) is also very much a mood. Which, you know, the difference is I'm self aware lmao, but certainly a lot of Grantaire's instincts make a lot of visceral sense to me. As well as the whole.... failed artist vibe, even if that's almost more of a fanon thing.

I think the ways in which Lesgle and Grantaire are kind of similar is also the ways in which I relate a lot to both of them.

Mabeuf is also very relatable in his own way. Who doesn't want to just collect books on their special interest and be left alone?

And Courfeyrac with the charter… Also, Courfeyrac's friendly bullying of Marius lol.

Given my demographic it's probably inevitable that who I find most relatable are the communist students because up until a few weeks ago I was also a communist student lmao

But tbh I think one of the things about Les Mis is that the emotionality of the characters is written in such a way that they are all very relatable at certain points just because... you know, I've never been in any situation remotely like any situation Fantine is in, nor do I think there are similarities in our personalities or anything of that nature, but the feelings she feels, like being pushed to a place of desperate impotent rage? That's relatable, even if the context of those emotions or their intensity maybe aren't. Same thing with Cosette and Valjean in a lot of sections.

Idk. Could also just be the thing where every character in this book except Theodule is neurodivergent lol.

5. who is your favorite character (and maybe why?)

I mean, I AM writing a longfic with Grantaire as the main character, so that's difficult to get around. I love all of les amis a lot though. Enjolras is of course particularly enchanting because he's such a symbol of... you know, the possible better world and its ideological underpinings.

Outside of amis, probably Mabeuf. Valjean himself is also Very Good. As is Cosette. And I'll stop before I just list all the characters we're meant to like lol.

13. if you could be in the universe of the characters what would you do first?

Die of Cholera

Hmm, depends a lot on where in the timeline I was dumped, doesn't it? And whether or not we assume I can talk French in this scenario.

The most isekai scenario I can think of is telling Fantine that Cosette is fine and she shouldn't send any more money to the Thenadiers and/or going to get Cosette for her.

If we assume I just dump into the Musain for an afternoon visit I'd want to find out everything I could about Les Amis' political opinions