#i am nothing without a gradient map

[consomme-poser]

happy yuri,,, ooookkay goodnight

[ohcorny]

How I Made the Colors in Hunger's Bite So Good

first of all: buy my book. buy it and look at the colors. (if you cannot buy the book, ask for it at your local library or i GUESS you can look at these spreads i posted)

we're gonna talk about colors, but more specifically we're going to talk about overlays. if you're an artist you are probably familiar with overlays. we love our overlays. we love to color a picture and then at the very last minute go 'hm. looks bad. i'm going to put a yellowish overlay on it to make it look less bad :)'

do not do this.

i mean you can, and it'll work sometimes, but all you're really doing is tricking your brain into thinking different is better. you've been staring at the image for potentially several hours. none of the choices you made at the beginning mean anything to you anymore. you're just finishing what you started. one of the big reasons you might look at your art and go 'man, this doesn't look that good' is because You drew it and are intimately familiar with it. you know all the flaws and mistakes because You made them and You know what your vision was. one of the great frustrations with art is that the piece in your head doesn't look like something you actually made. you want it to look like somebody else did it, so you can enjoy it as a viewer, not as the creator.

so when you put that overlay on, and suddenly the image looks very different, your brain will go 'this doesn't look like the thing i've been staring at for 2-3 hours! this is different! now it's good!'

and again, sometimes it Is good. but do you actually understand why it's good? or is it just different?

okay so what am i supposed to do smart guy

i'm glad you asked. the trick to making overlays work is to have them on from the start. this requires knowing what mood you want to convey in your scene from the very beginning. hopefully you know what mood you want to convey. you do, right? and i don't just mean happy or sad, i also mean safe, threatened, familiar, strange, soft and harsh. blue is not always sad. green is not always healthy. yellow/orange are not the only way to convey a companionable warmth.

okay did you pick the mood? do you have an idea of what color you want to use to represent that mood? great. i'm gonna use blue to convey the cool, clean white of a ship's maintenance corridor without making things literally white. and i'm going to stick in two characters whose color palettes consist of bright yellow, brown, and wine red. awesome. i definitely know how those colors would behave under blue lighting.

(here's the thing: no i don't.) this is where a gradient map correction layer comes in. i want my page to be Blue. alright. let's make a gradient map that's Blue.

a gradient map is basically just A Gradient with specific colors connected to specific values. you have your darkest values on the left, and your lighter values on the right. at 100% opacity, this gradient map layer will read the value of anything below it and go 'okay this bit is this dark, so it should be This shade of blue. and this bit is this light, so it should be This shade of blue'.

kind of like a hue or color layer except determined by a gradient rather than one color, so it could also go 'this is light, so it's green' and 'this is dark, so it's purple'. it's math. i don't really get it either. but anyway this is probably not what you want if you want your characters' palettes to be recognizable. emery's sweater is supposed to be a wine red! neeta's skin should be brown, and her shirt should be yellow. these are their Key Colors. generally, i want them to be recognizable. so let's lower that opacity down.

nice! you can definitely now see that emery's sweater is red and neeta's shirt is yellow. and everything is relatively balanced. nothing is too saturated, nothing is significantly brighter than anything else. it's all got a little bit of blue in it. but i've skipped the step of actually picking your colors. because here's the thing with gradient maps.

they hate you and want to fight. when working with gradient maps you must imagine there is a monkey sitting on your shoulder dumping paint in every time you pick a color. the monkey has a tube of blue and he is going to put that blue into everything you paint, but it's not normal paint. it doesn't mix, it overtakes. it won't turn something yellow into green, it will turn it blue. it wants everything to be blue. if you want something to look like the color it's supposed to be, you will have to make it extremely saturated under the layer to essentially fight the paint monkey's blue. hence, emery's sweater is a BRIGHT red, so it will look a little more purpley under the blue. and neeta's skin is very orange, so it can be dulled down into a soft brown.

this is the sort of thing you will have to learn by feel, because it will be different with every gradient map, especially if you start getting into weird ones that aren't monochromatic. you want to know one of my favorite maps to use?

i have memorized where on the value scale all of these colors appear. i can color something using only shades of gray when i have this filter on. i am evolved. if you want to use gradient maps effectively, you'll have to get a lot of practice.

anyway this post got really long and i'm about to go to a movie so i'll talk about how to use screen/multiply/overlay layers later. but gradient maps are the main tool i used to make hunger's bite's palettes so unified across scenes. but you can see way above how they work to turn insane saturated colors into the nice harmonies--and the trick is that i'll never see those saturated colors while i'm working. because i have accepted the paint pouring monkey into my heart, and i trust him. except when i'm coloring wick's coat. holy mother of god every gradient map hated that man's purple coat.

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Hi there, your Europe without trade, a worldbuilding exercise was a fascinating and educational read, kudos for all the insights!

One section has left me with dual questions however, namely:

The other rule is that the Gulf Stream still exists, so you can have that unusual European climate which is a fluke. (This also ticked off people? But seriously, to get the gradient of Europe that far north, you need to Gulf of Mexico otherwise the latitude range would look more like the US than Europe, more south, and larger, much larger. And most people don't make a continent that large. Why people get ticked off at true facts is a whole thing.)

I am rather curious about how these factors interplay with one another, IE, how the Gulf of Mexico creates an unusual climate in Europe, what about the climate is unusual and most integrally, what would the climate look like without it?

Sorry if this is a Wikipedia question, weather science is not my forte and I've love to see your take specifically on it, but not pressure.

I learned this in geography class and covered this in my worldbuilding posts, so short cutted it.

See that red arrow going to Europe from Florida-ish. That's the gulf of Mexico Stream. Hot, wet air travels from Mexico to Europe, giving you climates like the Mediterranean, the rain that Brits complain about, but also things like the South of France, Spainish warm agriculture weather.

If you want to build it super racist and cut off all PoC influence, which some people were cursing me about mentioning the Gulf of Mexico and how dare I at the time I made the original post (which was years back)

Then as my Geography professor succinctly put it, you get Siberia. Siberia, has high continentality, is extremely cold in the winter and extremely hot in the summer. You'd be able to grow NOTHING. No Europe for you. Most of the Siberian people or this reason, without the world food supply were Pastoral Nomadic people who lived in chiefdoms and tribes and survived mostly on grasslands.

The majority of maps, including Tolkien's does not include a Gulf of Mexico structure, which means high continentality and miserable weather. You're looking at only Evenk-type of people in Europe year round with probably diminishing trees, and BTW, shamanism is most likely. (or Totemism, if you follow the whole worldbuilding series I did)

If you do want an Agricultural state without The Gulf, you're more looking at China or the United States in terms of latitude, but you'd have to study China closely. This means larger latitude range with a gradual shift towards Mediterranean. But also more extreme weather, such as more deserts, more swamps, etc. And absolutely, you'd need cooperation.

There's environmental politics about China too,but you'll have to research that on your own.

This, BTW, is why I say as the first thing you probably should do is draw a map, the entire world, map the currents, and then you can figure it out. But notice Europe is really far North and the South of Spain, which is typically Warm is about equal to Newfoundland in Canada which is really cold.

And that's what you're going to get if you melt those ice caps. The summer is going to get worse. The winter is going to get even more miserable. You'll get less warm hot rain for England, etc, but crop failure rate is going to skyrocket. Unfortunately, you need those polar ice caps back ASAP because if it desalinates too much, the Earth will do everything to try to rebalance itself. And do you want that?

Read the geography worldbuilding post I put up. I got up through government loosely.

To get monsoons, you do need high continentality, which is why India, China, etc gets monsoon weather. So if you want that weather feature, understand you need more land mass, but there is the trade off of some place being like Siberia.

BTW, it's climate, not weather. Only saying it because my geography prof would be on my case if I didn't differentiate. You're looking for climate differences which are dictated by latitude, physical features and currents. Another way to screw over Europe is to Destroy the land bridge on the tip of Mexico, thus changing all of the currents and flood it.

[ar-mage-ddon]

Hi! I was wondering if you were willing to share any tips/advice when it came to your art processes? Whether it be lineart or composition or anything else really! I’m obsessed with how good your art is dhdhdhd Thank you for your time!

HAKJSD THANK U!! i kinda do most things by vibe so idk how coherent this is gonna be but i'll try my best ajhsdha (these also aren't gonna be the traditional rule-of-thirds/color-theory type of advice because frankly i don't think i'm qualified to give advice on that stuff LMAO this is just what's sitting in the back of my head when i draw)

i'm probably not the best to ask about composition because 99% of the time i'll just be flipping through concepts in my head like a slideshow instead of actually thumbnailing things (which you should absolutely do to help you visualize things better if you're unable to in your head); i literally just operate on a scale of "i think it would look cool if i did this" either based on symbolism (ephemerweek 1 vs 7, for example, where it looks like ephemer is reaching out to bring player/the viewer towards the light behind him vs ephemer facing the light on his own without looking back — in both of these i wanted it to look like he was being blotted out by a harsh light, like when you try to hold an object up to the sun and it becomes impossible to see) or a neat concept (i.e using transparency to make it look like a character is coming through the screen, or something simpler like in my last skuld post where i vaguely wanted her hair to make the shape of a crescent). why am i already rambling. BASICALLY i encourage you to think about what exactly you wanna portray and the methods you can use to reinforce your idea; try to play with the medium if you can! think of themes! be dramatic!!

don't be afraid to mix up your lines when it comes to lineart! you can vary your lines depending on the piece to match the kind of tone you wanna use; sharp and bold for something that's energetic and flashy and colorful, light and thin for something that's melancholic, etc

doing a basic, quick skeleton sketch first to get an idea of the pose you want will save you so much time and headache good lord. i often still find myself getting carried away and not doing the basic sketch first because i wanna hurry up and get to the Fun stuff (especially if i have no specific plans and just wanna doodle), but having it genuinely makes things so much easier and also helps to avoid ending up with stiff poses; personally i like using planes/rectangles more than stick figures since it helps more with the actual figure (and use a box instead of a circle for the head, it's easier to visualize the exact angle you want that way). be better than me and remember to do the basic sketch

this is probably a personal thing but honestly there is nothing more important than having satisfying Shapes. i don't even know how to explain this but it's like . have you ever looked at how a line curves and thought "fuck that's a nice line, i like that line"? i sound insane i think i'll just put some examples under a readmore but i guess the gist is visual appeal?? like if something felt satisfying to draw, whether that's a curl in the hair or a curve in the silhouette or how clothing wrinkles flow, then chances are it'll be satisfying to look at, too (and on the other hand maybe you could take advantage of this to go the opposite direction to make something feel more unsettling?)

be aware of where the viewer's eye will tend to go first and try your best to do that part well; unless your composition is specifically pointing to a certain place or isn't character-focused, it'll likely be the character's expression/face

learn how to use gradient maps, tone curves, and color balance layers they will save your life when it comes to coloring

i think i'm running out of tips now but if you use clip studio paint, use this if you need help on figuring out perspective for objects or backgrounds

that's all i can think of atm HAKSJDHK hopefully some of this actually made sense !!

and here's some examples of lines or smth that i like that will hopefully make me look less insane. triangles are the best shape btw

does any of this make sense. is this thing on

[sdyuteiaok]

Just aimless sketching while checking out Reid Duke's first Pioneer Master's draft. I've been so out of it, unable to sleep lately for more than just a few hours. I've got another meeting coming up shortly, so I am also just trying to stay awake so I'll be too exhausted not to sleep before hand. Of course, there's always the risk of still not being able to fall asleep, and then you're even more exhausted for the meeting. I was just tinkering away at a drawing for the most part earlier, which thankfully ate up a lot of time, but didn't tire me out enough to the point of actually falling asleep. Sleeping at my desk always seems to be more reliable. The drawing is following a guide I saw on YouTube, and I'm basically trying to mimic each step I can see in the non-narrated video, so a lot of pausing and screen shots of the different brushes, settings, and specifications. So far, nothing too removed from my usual flow, but the real twist comes in the coloring, as this technique starts monochromatic, and then uses gradient maps, which isn't how I normally do it. I did one drawing like that a while ago, and it was nice, but certainly not with all the further bells and whistles I see in the video, but there are also a bunch of other steps I wasn't quite able to discern, so I'll just have to guess and extrapolate on some of the more advanced stuff--I can see layer names and because it's CSP, some info about the layer properties, which is definitely helpful, but not too much info beyond that, and most crucially, without any narration or captions, it's just a lot of guessing at the end of the day. But other than that, it feels reasonably straightforward, hence why I chose to mimic this guide. It's mainly cel shading, too, and I still have to try to finish my more painted test illustration, too, not to mention my oil painting practice piece. On the Magic front, had a nice little run in the last day of Explorer, now it's officially Pioneer, imagine that. But on this last day, we finally got all the neat, weirdo, rando decks--where were these all format?

[petricorah]

hi it’s snaildroid!!! Just wanted to say that I love your art so fricken much! Your comics make my day every time I see them I swear. I wanna know how you do your lighting, it’s always so pretty and soft <3

ahhh thank you! it makes my day that you like them :')

to be honest, my lighting style is pretty quick and dirty, and it's certainly nothing super original or groundbreaking, but here's the process under the cut:

So, the first picture is flats. I do those all on one layer (or putting them all into a folder) under the lineart.

Then, I use a clipping layer and fill bucket all one color. This color depends on the mood lighting, and it unifies the flats. If it's night, I tend to use a darker purple. If it's nostalgic, I use orange, etc etc.

Then I set the layer to multiply and lower the opacity for what works for the time of day. This is a low ~19%

Then, I'll add lighting, again on a clipping layer. I'll usually pick an orange/yellow color and do vague rim lighting with an opacity sensitive brush. I tend to be too lazy to render, and I like having it blend in some places but be hard, like cell shading, in others. I also do sort of "fake rim lighting" where it's rim lighting wherever the heck I want it instead of logically where light might go, but it depends on how realistic the piece is.

Recently, I've started to copy and paste that clipped layer and change the effect to Glow Dodge, and lower the opacity depending on how vibrant I want to be. This adds a little more vibrancy and color variation without a lot of extra work, like lining with pink across the edge boundaries like a lot of artists do. (Which I love, but I am. lazy.)

and viola! Quick and dirty lighting. Sometimes, I'll adjust the colors with tonal correction or add gradient maps (aka the "make colors good" button) but for the most part, this is how i shade for comics! I hope it helps. Let me know if you want anything more specific or to explain something else :)

[mystic-blue]

// ayo it's been a minute but uhhh follow up to this piece i did because i wanted to and also i'm still always thinking about starchild casey <3 as always this au belongs to @ashwii i am merely writing bc i'm obsessed with the au!

"Careful, Raph," Donnie's voice filtered through the darkness that weighed Leo's eyes closed and muffled everything around him. "I think he's a little numb right now, he might not feel it if you burn him."

"But he's so cold," Raph's voice rumbled against Leo's cheek where he was curled up against Raph's chest.

A hand touched Leo's arm, the weight barely there against the detached awareness Leo currently possessed. He wasn't sure if the hand was testing the temperature of his skin or trying to wake him, but he couldn't seem to summon the energy to care. Everything felt syrupy slow, and his body was far too heavy for the task of lifting his head.

Leo was used to pain. He grit his teeth through it every time a star died, and breathed in tune with the sting of new stars blazing to life. Pain was constant, ever-present, and (unfortunately) reliable.

But this? The numbing detachment, the rattling chill, the press of constant fatigue, and hollow absence of a connection lost? Somehow the emptiness hurt more than the pain.

Leo was prone to wandering the cosmos, but ever since the attack, he hadn't left his brothers - both for lack of want and lack of energy. Raph kept him close because Leo thought maybe the heat would find a way through the paralyzing chill, but it had yet to do so. Still, Leo kept trying. There was nothing else he could do. This had never happened before, and he didn't know where to even begin in terms of bringing his stars back.

Part of him knew they were still out there, but his connection to them was gone. They didn't decorate his arms and legs anymore, not since the Kraang. Worse yet, there was no sign of them returning any time soon, either. He finally forced himself to uncurl from Raph's hold and blink blearily up at his brothers.

"It's been days," Leo murmured, drawing their attention. Donnie moved closer and placed a hand on Leo's starless knee as Raph gave him a careful squeeze of a hug. Leo flipped his palms up and stared down at where his hands trembled in his lap. They looked so lifeless, so dull and starless. The inky gradient still spilled up Leo's forearms, but the endless map of glittering stars remained mostly absent. Leo had hoped they would start flickering to life relatively quickly on their own, given the average rate of creation, but nothing changed.

Without his connection, he couldn't even tell if stars were being created or dying anymore - just that ever present numbness that permeated his limbs like static. He never thought he would miss the pain.

"What should I do?" Leo choked out, looking up at Donnie and Raph again. They both looked to be fighting back emotion, knowing well enough that Leo didn't want their pity. He wanted answers - something none of them had.

Leo wanted to scream, the sound aching and straining for freedom at the back of his throat.

"Master Leo?" A tiny voice piped up, shaky with fright. Distracted from his misery, Leo looked up on instinct and found Mikey nearby with little Casey in his arms. Casey's eyes were bright pools of nebulous starlight, wide with concern for their primary caretaker. "Are you okay?"

"Hey Case," Leo managed, voice strained and smile forced. He held out his numb arms with clumsy coordination and nodded at Mikey. He passed Casey over to Leo carefully, and Leo clung to his little starchild, curling around Casey protectively. Raph pulled Leo closer, creating a cosmic matryoshka doll of vigilant embraces.

"Are you okay?" Casey repeated, placing gentle, tiny hands against Leo's jaw. "You aren't sparkling."

Leo swallowed a sob and choked it up as a laugh instead. He gave Casey what he hoped translated as a light squeeze of a hug and nodded jerkily.

"I'm not feeling too great, bud," Leo confessed, because he knew better than to lie to Casey. His little starchild was far too perceptive for their age. "But I'll be okay soon, promise."

Casey frowned up at him before looking down at their sparkling fingertips. Their skin was a swirling collection of cosmic dust interspersed with the flickering, fitful bursts of new stars. The more developed a star was against their skin, the closer the light moved to their fingertips or settled on the bridge of their nose. Eventually, the light would disperse and make way for yet more starlight, but Leo loved seeing the freckled patterns traipsing across his starchild's skin like a dance.

"I can share until you feel better!" Casey cried out abruptly, startling Leo and his brothers. Leo looked down at Casey with confusion as they wiggled around in Leo's hold.

"What--?" Leo started to ask as Casey wrapped their tiny hands around Leo's forearm. Their brow furrowed, tongue poking out from Casey's lips as they concentrated on pressing their palms against Leo's arm.

The return of sensation to Leo's limbs was a sudden, unpleasant rush of prickling heat. He gasped and fought the instinct to yank his arm away from Casey, not wanting to hurt them. His brothers moved forward but stopped just as quickly, their eyes wide and fixed on Casey.

Where their hands were wrapped around Leo's arm, starlight spilled from Casey's fingertips and melted into Leo's inky skin in a puddle of silver. From the mass of light, pinpricks broke free and rushed off to various positions, rebuilding constellations that Leo had lost to the Kraang.

With Casey's shared starlight, came the familiar call of the universe. Leo could feel his stars calling out to him, joyful and worried and clinging to his presence. They had never lost connection with him before, and now that they could reach him again, they wouldn't let him go so easily. Leo reveled in their presence, choked by relief and joy and a thousand emotions he couldn't begin to put a name to.

Sweeping Casey up into a tight embrace, Leo tumbled out of Raph's arms to spin Casey in circles and laughed as starlight tears dripped down his cheeks. Casey squealed with joy and wrapped stubby arms around Leo's neck as they spun.

With the return of his connection came the ever present pain, but Leo embraced it with a joy he did not know he possessed. He would take feeling anything over the emptiness.

Nuzzling his face into Casey's faintly starlit hair, Leo huffed a watery laugh and squeezed his starchild a little tighter.

"Thank you, Casey," Leo said through tears. His brothers pressed in around them, hugging and speaking over each other in wondrous excitement.

Casey grinned a sweet, gap-toothed smile up at Leo and squeezed him back. "You're welcome!"

Leo's limbs burned as stars were born and died while his brothers hugged him. In that moment, it didn't even hurt.

[elis-corner]

Hi El!! Beef is literally my favorite hermit so I rushed to your asks lol-

Anyway! Would you consider writing something where Reader finds Beef working too hard on his maps? Maybe he’s been skipping sleep to keep building/generally just not taking care of himself, and then Reader forces him to take a break?

No worries if not, love your writing by the way! :-D

I'm glad to have gotten a request from you! This was loads of fun, and I love your writing too <3

For the next week, I am writing for who I believe are underappreciated Hermits, a task provided to me by @boop-ity! Writing for new people was loads of fun, Beef especially! Beef is a highly entertaining, charismatic hermit with his own unique charm, and is working currently on a Pokemon style card game. Check him out! On the topic of this specific fic, if someone reading this is not aware, Beef’s parents are from Portugal, and growing up he spoke Portuguese. There is more info about this roughly 39 minutes into Episode 48 of the Mindcrack Podcast. Around 40:40 he says something in Portuguese to Millbee, and the response it has gotten from people including myself resulted in me using it in this fic. To anyone who knows the language, I apologise if I got something wrong, I was going off what the comments said.

Underappreciated Hermits #1 - VintageBeef

The wind fought against you, trying to flip you backwards as you flew down the nether tunnel. For somewhere with no real sky, the breeze always surprised you, and heat from the nether was sometimes hard to glide through. Landing by the isolated portal your frequent journeying leads you to, you step into the swirling mist of purple. A burning feeling like a cold flame enveloped you. As you close your eyes and breathe deeply, the image of the portal is imprinted in the back of your head. The image warps, taking the form of a person smiling at you, mouth moving speedily and hands gesturing wildly, and yet you could hear nothing. It was but a memory, a moment from the past eternalised within your mind.

Your eyes fly open as you hear a voice slowly grow louder. You hop out of the portal and creep towards it. You spy a tall figure placing an assortment of blocks, all with similar colours and yet a variety of textures; sandstone and sand, terracotta, and more. The sky surrounding the two of you is a gradient of a warm orange to a cold midnight blue as the sun began to set. You’d been in the tunnels that long? He was much too far from spawn. Much too far from you. 

‘Talking to yourself now, are you? Have you really been here that long?’

Beef spun around, jumping slightly at your voice being so close behind. ‘Y/n! I wasn’t expecting you today! Now what brings you here?’ He wiped some sweat from his forehead with his left hand as he bent down to place the shulker he held on the ground.

You gently take his now empty hand in yours. ‘I’m here because a certain someone has been out here for weeks without even coming back to spawn, not even to check their highly successful shop’s profits. You didn’t even visit me,’ you added softly.

‘Ah, shoot,’ he exclaimed, quickly stepping forward. His arms enveloped you in their warmth. The hug was tight, as they always were; you were pressed up against his chest so closely you could barely turn your head from its awkward sideways rotation. ‘I’m so sorry, love. I was so distracted with my maps, and I just really wanted to get a few more completed first. At least before you came over, that is. Uh- fly up with me, how about, and get a better look.’

Beef stepped back from you and lit a rocket, jumping up for a mere moment before he was propelled up into the deep sky. You followed moments after, continuing to glide upwards. Your lover’s hand brushes against yours. He calls to you softly to look down and you do.

The large platform you had been standing on loomed below you, and yet not as an assortment of random materials. It took the form of an artwork, a masterpiece, each block placed meticulously to get exact shades and shapes. The person on the card was stunningly portrayed, more gorgeous than you’d assume them to be in reality. The person on the card was you.

Beef looked at you nervously, fiddling with his suspenders as he hung midair. ‘It’s not done quite yet, but–.’

You spun around to look at him, beaming. ‘It’s wonderful, really. Although I must say I reckon you’ve exaggerated a few things. I can’t be even close to that good looking.’

‘You’re more than that in my eyes. Your eyes are stunning, your skin is flawless. I could never create something that even comes close to looking that wondrous.’

You smile softly at him. ‘You’re biassed–.’

You’re cut off by an ear-splitting shriek speeding towards you. Phantoms. You draw your bow, assisting Beef in felling them from the sky, one by one. The ghostly creatures–how else could you describe them?–were menacing, and you were glad they could be prevented. And you were preventing them by sleeping. At least, you should have been. They couldn’t have been yours.

You and Beef landed softly on the platform he used to create his cards. He grabbed your hand and ran, ran, ran, leading you to the nether portal. His arms circled your waist as you both waited to escape the impending doom caused by his mistake.

‘You haven’t slept?’ you questioned him. Your voice broke the awkward silence that had slowly begun. ‘You should have been looking after yourself, Beef! Have you even been taking breaks from that thing?’

‘Yeah, of course. I’ve just been forgetting to sleep the last few day is all!’

You grabbed his wrist and tugged him gently in the direction of the main portion of the hub. ‘Come home with me and get some rest. Please, love.’ Beef’s arm relaxed and he nodded, letting you guide him through all thirty segments of the yellow tunnel and back to spawn. Back to where you had all started. Back to home.

You both ran through the night to avoid a second disaster, leading Beef to your starter home. ‘I haven’t been here in a while,’ he stated, walking around slowly with his head tilted slightly above eye level. ‘You’ve done quite a bit!’

‘And I’m about to start my megabase.’ You gesture towards the plans hanging loosely from the wall outside your bedroom. ‘You really haven’t been here for quite some time.’ You grab some clothes from your wardrobe–either they just so happened to be his size or he had forgotten them here, who knew?–, and tossing them to him you went to go change in a different room.

Upon your return, Beef was lying in your bed on his side, facing you. He extended his arm–as if you needed to be invited into your own bed–and slowly lowered it again once you were next to him, so that he’d be able to keep you close while the night flew away. The grin that had been conjured onto his face by your arrival showed a small sliver of white. As you looked up at him, his smile closed and he bit his lower lip for a moment, before whispering into your ear. His voice was deep and slow, sending chills up your spine and your cheeks to burn.

‘Y/n,’ he whispered, his large hand resting above you moving to rub slow circles onto your cheek, ‘A tua cara é tão linda, eu quero te beijar.’ His hand rotated to tip your chin upwards. He kissed you gently, head tilted slightly to the side. His rough beard scratched against your chin, but every other sensation you were experiencing made it barely there, nor any form of inconvenience. ‘Goodnight, my love.’

You closed your eyes, and let sleep take you, held tightly in the arms of the man who loved you more than life itself.

[madam-melon-meow]

Bisexual Kyoshi is something that can be so personal, actually

Panel edit by @flagellasturbation

[image I.D. : An edit of a comic panel of avatar Kyoshi. On the left in the image is a close-up of Kyoshi from the torso up, contained within an upside-down trapezoid shape. She wears her full battle uniform of olive and emerald robes, dark gloves and bracers, and a golden headpiece in a fan-like shape. Her eyes are the same emerald shade as her robes, she has black hair billowing to the left edge of the image, and her black eyebrows have been dramatically lengthened by black face paint. Her face and neck are artificially whitened with chalky makeup, she has black winged eyeliner, red eyeshadow that sweeps upwards to her temples and down the sides of her nose, and red lipstick outlined in black. This is the classic Kyoshi makeup. Her arms are crossed, the left arm behind her head pointing a golden fan away from the viewer, the right arm extended in front of her face, another golden fan pointed towards the viewer. She appears to be looking upwards and towards the right of the image. Above Kyoshi’s eye level and in the top right of the image is a comic text box. It reads in all caps: “even avatar Kyoshi- who by all accounts loved men and women- was unable to effect any kind of real progress.” The background art and color has been replaced with the Bisexual Flag, a thick horizontal line of pink on top, stopping at Kyoshi’s cheek level, then a thinner line of purple ending at her shoulders, and a thick line of blue that extends to the bottom of the image. End I.D.]

(If someone does not find my image I.D. sufficient, please let me know. This is my first time trying to make such a thing, as i am a lurker, not a poster)

Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee, page 99 (text copy / pasted from the b&n ebook version)

““Are those . . . fire lilies?” he said, a wide, knowing grin spreading across his face.

Kyoshi flushed beet red. “Stop it,” she said.

“That’s right,” Yun said. “The Ember Island tourism minister brought a bunch when he visited two weeks ago. I can’t believe you simply shred the flowers once they dry out. I guess nothing goes to waste in this house.”

“Knock it off,” Kyoshi snapped. But it was too hard keeping the corners of her lips from curling upward.

“Knock what off?” he said, enjoying her reaction. “I’m just commenting on a fragrance I’ve come to particularly enjoy.”

It was an inside reference that only the two of them shared. Rangi didn’t know. She hadn’t been there in the gifting room eight months ago while Kyoshi arranged a vast quantity of fire lilies sent by an admiral in the Fire Navy, one of Hei-Ran’s friends.

Yun had spent the afternoon watching Kyoshi work. Against every scrap of her better judgment, she’d allowed him to lie down on the floor and rest his head in her lap while she plucked deformed leaves and trimmed stems to the right length. Had anyone caught the two of them like that, there would have been a scandal that not even the Avatar could have recovered from.

That day, entranced by Yun’s upside-down features dappled with the flower petals she’d teasingly sprinkled over his face, she’d almost leaned down and kissed him. And he knew it. Because he’d almost reached up and kissed her.

They never spoke of it afterward, the shared impulse that had nearly crashed both of their carriages. It was too . . . well, they each had their duties was a good way to put it. That moment did not fit anywhere among their responsibilities.

But since then, whenever the two of them were in the presence of fire lilies, Yun’s eyes would dart toward the flowers repeatedly until he was sure Kyoshi noticed. She would try unsuccessfully to keep a straight face, the heat coloring her neck, and he’d sigh as if to mourn what could have been.

Today was no different. With a wistful blush on his own cheeks, Yun stared her down until her defenses broke and she let out a giggle through her nose.

“There’s that beautiful smile,” he said. He pressed his heels into the floor, sliding up against the wall, and straightened his rumpled shirt. “Kyoshi, trust me when I say this: If it turns out not to be me, I’ll be glad it’s you.”

~~~~~~~~~

Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee, page 210 (text copy / pasted from the b&n ebook version)

“You think you don’t deserve peace and happiness and good things, but you do!” Rangi yelled. “You, Kyoshi! Not the Avatar, but you!”

She closed the distance and wrapped her arms around Kyoshi’s waist. The embrace was a clever way to hide her face.

“Do you have any idea how painful it’s been for me to follow you on this journey where you’re so determined to punish yourself?” she said. “Watching you treat yourself like an empty vessel for revenge, when I’ve known you since you were a servant girl who couldn’t bend a pebble? The Avatar can be reborn. But you can’t, Kyoshi. I don’t want to give you up to the next generation. I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

Kyoshi realized she’d had it all wrong. Rangi was a true believer. But her greatest faith had been for her friends, not her assignment. She pulled Rangi in closer. She thought she heard a slight, contented sigh come from the other girl.

“I wish I could give you your due,” Rangi muttered after some time had passed. “The wisest teachers. Armies to defend you. A palace to live in.”

Kyoshi raised an eyebrow. “The Avatar gets a palace?”

“No, but you deserve one.”

“I don’t need it,” Kyoshi said. She smiled into Rangi’s hair, the soft strands caressing her lips. “And I don’t need an army. I have you.”

Psh,” Rangi scoffed. “A lot of good I’ve been so far. If I were better at my job you would never feel scared. Only loved. Adored by all.”

Kyoshi gently nudged Rangi’s chin upward. She could no more prevent herself from doing this than she could keep from breathing, living, fearing.

“I do feel loved,” she declared.

Rangi’s beautiful face shone in reflection. Kyoshi leaned in and kissed her.

A warm glow mapped Kyoshi’s veins. Eternity distilled in a single brush of skin. She thought she would never be more alive than now.

And then—

The shock of hands pushing her away. Kyoshi snapped out of her trance, aghast.

Rangi had flinched at the contact. Repelled her. Viscerally, reflexively.

Oh no. Oh no.

This couldn’t—not after everything they’d been through—this couldn’t be how it—

Kyoshi shut her eyes until they hurt. She wanted to shrink until she vanished within the cracks of the earth. She wanted to become dust and blow away in the wind.

But the sound of laughter pulled her back. Rangi was coughing, drowning herself with her own tears and mirth. She caught her breath and retook Kyoshi by the hips, turning to the side, offering up the smooth, unblemished skin of her throat.

“That side of my face is busted up, stupid,” she whispered in the darkness. “Kiss me where I’m not hurt.”

~~~~~

I include both these quotes because i've seen a few posts about the “gigantic lesbian” avatar, and although i am glad my sapphic sisters feel connected to Kyoshi (as well they should!), that doesn't mean i wish to simply be quiet on the matter of her textual bisexuality. I understand that not everyone has read her novels, nor has everyone read legend of Korra comics, but Kyoshi is *textually* bisexual.

Kyoshi had a loving romantic relationship with her firebending friend Rangi, but this does not erase her feelings for her earthbending friend Yun, even if neither of them were able to properly express it due to their respective “status”. (For context if you haven’t read, the masters believed that Yun was the avatar, and though he was bodyguarded by Rangi, and though Kyoshi was his servent, the three of them were simiar ages and thus close friends until the discovery of Kyoshi’s true ability destroyed their former lives). Hell, Kyoshi and Rangi do not become intimate until after fleeing their former lives. Who is to say what would have happened, had Yun not been captured by father glowworm ?

I know that there is a chance you will scoff at this, will write this off as comphet, accuse me of disproportionately weighting an almost-kiss with a true relationship, but these above quotes (as well as the comic panel from “the legend of korra: turf wars- part 1”) serve as proof that Kyoshi, “by all accounts loved men and women” (see panel directly below)

[image I.D. : the same comic panel as the edit above, this one without the bisexual flag edited in. Directly behind Kyoshi, within the upside-down trapezoid shape, is an olive to lime gradient, darker around her head and lighter near the bottom. Around and to the right in the image, outside of the trapezoid, is an aerial shot of buildings within an Earth Kingdom city, and what appears to be the lines of troops on the ground far below. the text box in the image is the same, but I have underlined the word “men” in blue, the word “and” in purple, and the word “women” in pink, to reflect the bisexual flag. End I.D.]

I am making such a big deal over this because Kyoshi is a massive figure, her long shadow cast over Aang’s life alongside Roku’s, and even before her novels came out there were often jokes about her “bloodthirsty” nature. I implore you to read the novels and see why Kyoshi believed in deadly justice at times, but also so you can see what a dynamic, loving, and beautiful character she is.

Some members of fandom have taken a “step on me” attitude towards Kyoshi, who has, even if the 7 feet tall thing is more fanon than canon, been explicitly described as “exceptionally tall”, and “towering” over others. This “strong woman who will break me and I thank them” attitude is one that butch &/or physically imposing sapphics, as well as trans women with similar statures to Kyoshi have expressed discomfort when applied to themselves and characters like them. I would love for more people to acknowledge her flaws and multi-faceted nature, that she is more than a “warrior goddess”, just as Aang is more than a living relic. Flattening her out to the easily-fetishable parts erases the depth of her character and the complexity of circumstances that led to the instances of deadly force.

There are very few bisexual characters in media, especially women, and especially in children’s media. Bisexual women have often been caricatured as loose, promiscuous, good for a threesome and not much else. (This is mot to say that i think any lesser of my fellow bisexuals who are proudly promiscious, nor can an actual live bisexual person be considered a stereotype for living their life, but media’s portayal of us as obsessed with desire is incredibly harmful). Knowing that a strong, beautiful, and important character in the avatar universe is a bisexual woman is amazing, even more so to have her first lady-love described in the novels with such care. F. C. Yee, the author of these novels, has my eternal gratitude. I sincerely hope that the new generation of fans, whether they are drawn to the cartoon or even the hypothetical live action show, will pick up these novels and discover the kind of bisexual character that I wish existed in my early days as a reader, and if a small fraction of them resonate with Kyoshi’s reciprocal on Yun and love for Rangi, then the world becomes a little bit brighter for it.

I mentioned her importance for the simple reason that Kyoshi IS important with the text of ATLA. As one of the avatars, she is one of the most historically important figures in that universe, one of the few avatars that Aang knows by name, and one of the only avatars to speak through his body. The fact that she has two whole novels to herself testifies to that effect, making her bisexual representation all the more important than a simple background character might be. 

If or when the ATLA live action tv show occurs, we can expect some mention of Kyoshi. After all, there is a whole episode dedicated to exploring one of her missions, and the way that the descendants of her enemy have recolored history. It is my sincere desire that enough discussion is made about her canon bisexuality , that fandom trumphets it from the roof with as much force as crackshipping zukka, that when she does make it to the screen, there is some subtle nod in her bisexuality’s direction, even if it is something as meta as casting a bisexual actress for her. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

edit by @flagellasturbation​

[image I.D. : An edit of a comic panel of avatar Kyoshi. This is like the first image, Kyoshi and the text box of the comic panel untouched, the background color and art replaced with the bisexual flag. However, this version has the words “by all accounts” blown up large and placed diagonally in the image, directly under Kyoshi’s face and stretching from one side of the image to the other. The bottom third of the image is similarly obscured, the words  “men” , “and” , “women” blown up large enough to fill the panel and cover most of Kyoshi’s torso, as well as the purple and blue areas of the background flag. End I.D.]

[pateldevs]

Hi! I hope I'm not bothering you, but I love your mood board edits and was wondering if you could explain how you go about making/colouring them? I see lots of places to find gifs but turning them into a set is so hard. Thank you in advance!

hi! first of all thank you so much and second of all it’s not a bother at all! i am happy to give some of my own tips even if my explanation probably isn’t super helpful. i won’t give like a ps tutorial but below the cut (since i included example gifs, it’s VERY long) is my process for my latest jily aesthetic:

i keep track of all my ideas/sets in a spreadsheet (which i won’t show bc there’s a lot of info i’d have to blur/black out) but i always have a list of what scenes i need to gif/what gifs i’m editing and where i’m getting them from. i also include a couple extra ideas in case the gifs i have planned end up being too hard to color or don’t fit in the set. i’ve found it’s best/easiest to start w the list bc there is literally nothing worse than spending hours on a set and then not being able to complete it.

as for actually finding the material, i have a pretty healthy number of scene packs saved in my giffing folder, esp. for things i know i will gif frequently. most of the time i will peruse youtube, vimeo, and instagram for any aesthetic scenes. i also have a lot of gif packs saved specifically for the purpose of making mbs (usually i mix my own gifs w gif packs), if you msg me i’m happy to direct you to some gif packs i use regularly or you can check my #resources tag. a couple tips for finding material: 

always opt for download when possible, i used to screen record and the difference when i switched to downloading was astronomical. (it’s easy to lose quality and esp if you’re on mac, quicktime duplicates frames so either you have to manually delete those extras or you get sort of choppy gifs when you load them into ps.)

always use 1080p or better, 720p will work in a pinch for 268px or 177px gifs since you can make up some of that resolution loss with sharpening, but don’t go any lower than that, just love yourself. 

for pale sets, look for the right colors. i tend to look for scenes w high color contrast especially if it features poc so it’s easier to color without whitewashing, ie if the subject is a person then i look for light colored or blue/green/violet/white backgrounds. it’ll make your life wayyyyy easier. this also means if you’re making a set try to find scenes with already similar lighting bc you won’t have to work so hard to make it look cohesive.

here’s a quick rundown of what i do before coloring:

import all frames and save all the files in a folder together!!

play around with frame delay so all the gifs are moving at about the same speed, usually keep it between 0.03-0.05s

crop and resize gifs (i use 268x145 most of the time)

convert to timeline

when it comes to coloring it can be really hit or miss, i’ve recently gotten back into my groove but i was having sooo much trouble earlier this year. in general, don’t stress yourself out!! sometimes it’s easier to just find a new scene/gif (hence my list of extras!) than to try too hard to fit a gif into your set. i color all my gifs by scratch (ie no psds) but i tend to follow the same pattern, i’ll explain using these gifs/psd as an example since then i can also explain how to fix white-washing:

first off when you’re coloring gifs with poc always always always make a layer mask so you can compare the edited and unedited skin tones directly! i use the marquee tool to make a selection in the middle of the character’s face, select the folder of my adjustment layers, and hit ���add vector mask’ (the third button from the left on the layers panel, it’s a white rectangle with a circle in it). 

i almost always begin by using hue/saturation layers to highlight and delete certain colors. here i highlighted red and raised the lightness on yellow by a lot since it’s a very yellow scene. then i use a combination of brightness/contrast, levels, and curves layers to brighten the scene. here’s what i have now:

i add a gradient map set to black/white, change the blending to exclusion, and lower the opacity to between 5-10% (depending on the scene) to lighten the contrast further:

then i add back a little depth with selective color in neutrals and blacks:

now i have two main goals: 1. add contrast between the background and the subject, and 2. brighten the scene into a pale gif. to do this, i use color balance to tweak the color of the background, taking out the yellows. this step works best if there’s at least some shade difference between your subject and background, otherwise isolating the two will be impossible. here’s what i have after adding color balance:

i use hue/saturation to selectively highlight the background color. in this case i chose to adjust magenta and used the color picker (the first eyedropper on the left) to identify the exact shade i wanted to lighten. now i have a fairly neutral background and a colorful subject, which gives a sort of pale effect:

and now i use a curves layer and a selective color (white) layer to brighten further:

before i go further, i start fixing white-washing. keep in mind that some variance is normal since you are naturally changing the lighting of the scene; this gif shows it rlly clearly bc of how yellow and dim the lighting is, so some lightening is to be expected. however, both because the vector mask shows a lot of whitening and because i’ve giffed dev patel before and have a general idea of what he looks like in this type of lighting, i know what needs to be fixed, so i go back in under the psd/adjustment layers with a combination of selective color (red and neutral) and hue/saturation layers to darken his skin again:

now that some more contrast has been added in, i can go back to working on the psd and use curves and selective color to play around with the background again:

i use another hue/saturation layer and a black/white gradient to tone down oversaturation:

usually i leave those layers on top, so if i want to make any adjustments (like lightening the background more), i go in under those two. in this case i tweaked the whites and reduced the contrast a little to get this:

again, you can see his skin tone has changed from the original, but variation is to be expected given how much brighter the room is, the fact that i took out a lot of yellow lighting, and the brightening effect of the computer screen in front of him. some other things to keep in mind when coloring:

when you add layers to correct white-washing, you’re likely to end up with overly red/orange skin tones (red-washing). this can be fixed by upping cyans in the reds, desaturating/darkening the reds, or adding b/w or desaturation later on.

when in doubt, it’s better to be darker than lighter (the issue with white-washing is that it promotes colorism, and there is nothing inherently wrong with a darker skin tone) but really. just put in the effort to color poc correctly.

when changing the lighting a lot it helps to look at pictures of the subject in natural/bright lighting, since you get a better idea of what their normal skin tone is. 

don’t try to squeeze all your selective color layers into one. you’ll get less grainy gifs if you separate them out and work one by one. 

TURN OFF NIGHT SHIFT/NIGHT MODE! yes i KNOW it’s bad for your eyes (especially if you’re like me and gif at night, when the lighting outside isn’t changing every 20 seconds) but your gifs will look VERY different under f.lux or night mode compared to daytime screens. especially if you’re giffing at different times of day, blue light filters can really change the way your coloring appears. best to keep it consistent.

my sharpening settings vary depending on what i’m giffing but in general i do two layers of smart sharpen (500% with radius between 0.2-0.4, 10% with radius at 10px) and then gaussian blur at 2.5px and adjust the opacity so it’s somewhere between 15-20%. i try to strike a balance between smoothing out the graininess from selective color, and sharpening details like clothes and hair. here’s what i ended up with for the gif above:

then i rinse and repeat for the rest of the gifs in the set! i tend to start with the gifs that i know will be hardest to color, which is usually the darker ones (coloring is limited by how much i can brighten the scene) and those that include poc (again, limited by how much i can brighten and adjust the scene’s lighting without white-washing). then i check set cohesion as i go, using those first few gifs as benchmarks. once i have all 8 (or 9 or 10) gifs, i play around with composition and try to balance and vary the subject, colors, and composition of gifs next to each other. i go back and make a couple of adjustments here and there according to what i observe and what i think might improve the overall appearance.

and that’s pretty much it! i hope this was helpful, if you have other questions feel free to message me and i’d be happy to help/troubleshoot. happy giffing!

[pain-special]

What's your technique !! It is so beautiful

listen, I am glad you asked, and I’m glad you said beautiful, as I always feel awkward and weird about it—my technique, anyway, not the final picture. though sometimes the final picture. I’ve got no real technique. at least nothing I have memorized. if I make pictures close in time, then they often look alike, bc I will repeat the same things without thinking. but if I wait a week to make something new, then I forget and it’s a whole new starting over. begin again! Annoying bringer of stage fright. But often fun. If not fun, i don’t do it. i usually do what my hands want. or what my eyes feel like eating. I am rambling because i am tipsy. hmmmm technique. Photoshop, always many layers, always a brush on blend mode, often gradient maps, always noise 10-40px, forever threshold layers <3 This is the worst answer. I’m sorry for my worst answer. feel free to ask for clarification. will answer when not on whiskey. Mwah xx 

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

omg okay so i was totally ignorant but now i am enlightened because the brilliant @h00f sent me the booth video recording and im dying over it so here we goooo. i recorded it and uploaded the vid into davinci resolve so i could zoom in and also go through frame by frame.

tl;dr: so its all good its all good UM TYREEN’S TATTOOS WENT MISSING ON HER FOREARM AND THEN SHE SUCKED A MONSTER AND THEY REAPPEARED so it’s all good it’s all good im not having a crisis. im not. i thiiiiiiiiink we see the Vault of Promethea (the one with the cranes, but lilith also says “wherever the hunt for the vaults takes us” which throws me off a bit. still kinda think it’s promethea tho).

so not what i was expecting to be doing at 2:32 am but you know what? this is okay, borderlands gives me literally infinite energy

and new content? HOH BOY i am going to go so fucking in depth. hold onto ur horses. i was working on my mock intro to the game but this is so much better

UMM?? HOLY SIHT????

THAT’S THE SAME TILE AS THE ONE IN THE TEMPLE

I THOUGHT THIS WAS ON EDEN-6???

same tile on the wall on the right there

those guardian statues have staffs!!! that’s so rad, like the Watcher and shit, they also have less big necks?? or they might be bowing down. they look a lot more humanoid than the guardian/eridian statues im used to!!!

like as far as i can see they don’t have the butt spikes? maybe these are just super well preserved and thus not broken/spiky/cracked!! I do think the staffs are awesome! I know the Watcher carried one and so do some in TPS (I don’t recall seeing any in bl1 with staffs? im pretty sure they used their energy claw things) so maybe these are a higher tier of guardian than the ones we see in bl1? (which, if the Eridians wanted us to open Pandora’s vault as punishment for stealing fire the tech on Promethea, then that would make sense)

AND THE CRANES! and the buildings!!!!! is this Promethea’s vault? there’s something in the sky near the moon (?) so i thought maybe that was the asteroid belt but... it’s only condensed in one area..? 

it looks like a rocky place (you know, the quasmarian quarry Typhon mentions?!), i could see it, it looks super well-kept!!! my only problem?? it’s not underground/next to a cliff or anything. i guess it’s actually possible with those cranes and shit that it’s been excavated completely

i think we walk out of a temple here, which makes me think this is connected to the temple with all those monster dudes in it (also i can’t be the only one who thinks the blue sparkles on the statue on the far left makes it look like it has a shiny thicc butt. i CANNOT be the only one)

you know this one

well ACTUALLY in the We Are Mayhem trailer we DO see one of these guys!!! he’s on Maliwan’s side as the VHs are running across the bridge and im pretty sure that is Promethea!

IM PRETTY SURE

the neon lights and shit make me think it is in fact the city!!! maybe a part of the city that’s been totally overrun by Maliwan??

okay im certain this is promethea, those turrets we 100% see in the gameplay reveal trailer (below)

i thought i recognized that silhouette!

so unless maliwan is carting those demon dudes from a different planet to use in their army, I’m going to guess the huge ass temple was excavated from when Typhon found it (explaining the cranes and buildings) and Maliwan maybe took control with the CoV and somehow?? got control of those big demon boys. not quite sure tbh

OKAY SO THIS IS SO AWESOME ASDFGFHGJFK IM NERDING THE HELL OUT I LOVE ERIDIAN STUFF AAAA OKAY SORRY IM JUST ADSFSGFHYDJUK

AND THIS ONE LOOKS SO TINY?? I AAAA I KNOW IT’S NOT BUT??

THIS FEELS LIKE IT WOULD BE THE VAULT ON ATHENAS (IF THERE IS ONE) THOSE STAIRS (??) ARE GIVING ME THE VIBE. THERE IS UNFORTUNATELY NOT A LOT TO WORK OFF OF HERE, BUT THE PROJECTION THING IT’S DOING IS NEATO!! 

okay so this is either paint or light. and i can’t tell if that’s a person up there or a statue or something? I feel like i can’t almost see a cross or something so...

THEN IT CUTS TO THIS? AND HOLY STARGATE VIBES BATMAN I LOVE IT

i have a huuuuge feeling at least one of these Vaults is going to appear in like a cutscene of a flashback where Rhys and/or Fiona describe what happened at the end of Tales. The reason I’m bringing this up right now is because this Vault is just... in a void. There’s nothing around it except that gradient which is really bizarre to me.

JUST

ALL OF THIS

HOLY HELL THAT LOOKS LIKE A FORTRESS IN THE BACKGROUND MAYBE THAT’S WHERE THE TWINS ‘LIVE’? I IMAGINE THEY HAVE SOME SORT OF PLACE TO SLEEP AT THE VERY LEAST

it has the mouthpiece shape on the top up there? although i guess that could also be a VERY crude statue of someone raising their hands to the sky?? but it looks like the mouthpiece symbol. 

another shot of the HBC

intro to the rc

what i am assuming is the back area of the RC? but uh... given what we saw above, maybe this is in their fortress area???? imagine lilith teleports away because the twins stole the key from us and we have to sprint to their fortress base and when we get there it opens into a cutscene and Lilith is crawling on the ground away from them

mhmhmhmhmhmmm

heyo look at those shapes and colors on the left there. you know exactly what im gonna say

im gonna say it anyway

inhale atlasatlasatlasatlasatlasatlasatlasatlasatlas

okay i think i got it out of my system

it could also be dahl architecture (because it looks very very similar to the RC) painted with the colors of the CoV. Could also be that. 

i do think it’s interesting because this is almost the exact same shot as this!!

which means this is here

and i can 100% see this being in their fortress (???) and not the RC. The RC has that huge area in the back we don’t explore yet, so it could be there but... now I’m thinking... what if that’s just so we find the clue that the sun smashers gave the key to the twins in the HBC? Like i know i said the room Shiv comes out of is gonna be it but... maybe the whole area is just for quest stuff? or there’s a loot room or smth. idk. it’s good to keep ur mind open to alternative possibilities, is all

we get to learn what color Tyreen’s power actually is! ... I think? I’m pretty sure. like im hopeful this happens before she steals Lily’s powers...? but?? anyway although the vid is washed out, if we look at the shot from the dev trailer, it seems to be purple/red. I thought it was straight red, but guess not. Unless this IS after she stole Lily’s powers and that’s why she’s looking at it like that LMAO. i don’t know!!

Troy with a little robot buddy! Did he build that?! it’s adorable! it reminds me of the one in the RC but without a snake body. I wonder if his body mods/arm/neural implants let him control it. that’d be so rad

... why did the background start glowing???

ty in the hbc!!!

same shot with troy. i think this is the same cutscene as the reveal trailer one (VS the Calypso Twins) just at a slightly different angle/animation

oh shit is that a demon boy in the background? i think it might be

definitely looks like the temple area!! those spikes look like they could’ve been part of one’s wings, you can even see the thin skin bit stretched out on the left next to tyreen. also... is that an eyeball on the part in the middle there? that’s horrifying. no thank you.

so far, literally the closest we see Troy near one. This is 100% after he shed the monster skin like a snake. ... I’m kidding. mostly.

also i can’t believe my art of the twins giving the rock on symbol is actually legit. i posted that literally the morning before their personalities were revealed in the demo, im so happy

if this is not the video we see in Shiv’s room I’m gonna be so disappointed. is that a sword behind the box? Also i think i understand why the Map Machine Broke now. I am under the assumption this happens before they steal lily’s powers, but it’s entirely possible it’s after! this looks like the area they steal them in, so maybe lily sees it on live stream and is like “NOPE FUCK THIS” and teleports in to steal it. that’d be really interesting... still hoping they steal her tats after the HBC tho. im gon b really upset if they dont lol (not really, because it’s fucking bl3, but like... why would u then go put the map with mouthpiece... why...)

troy has his tattoos here! that or his skin has been peeled off and he’s losing a lot of blood. let’s say he has his tattoos so i can sleep tonight :)

cuts to him catching the key? almost want to say this is a different scene entirely than the previous one. same area, probably though

hmhmhmhmhm the fortress (?????) doesn’t seem to be connected to a rock wall at all (it’s elevated on like a plateau) so you know what, maybe this IS in the RC afterall!

fuckin mlg over here

oh it stops glowing again. you know maybe its on like a timer/pulsing or something. maybe that’s not important lol

back at the monster. why does tyreen look nervous/in pain? AND WHERE DID HER FOREARM TATTOOS GO???

OH MY GOD

THEY ONLY START REAPPEARING AFTER SHE DOES THE SUCK ON SOMETHING BELOW HER

WAIT HOLD UP

 UMM 

wTF???

i think that’s the horn or part of the monster they were sitting on/had killed???

holy shit. are tyreen’s tattoos/powers temporary and she has to continuously suck the life force out of stuff to keep them going??????? maybe stronger stuff = longer battery life??? holy shit.

troy in jakobs manor! explains the psychos with tv heads being hung everywhere

i was about to say this was the HBC but its not. ‘HOLY CHILDREN’ maybe this is where the VHs are walking forward with the giant spike head behind them. you know, this area?

altho that would be the outside of it. ACTUALLY maybe this is the entrance to the fort?? the walls like like castle walls lol

what in the holy fuck is that thing??

it looks like a fucking dragon??? sitting on a wire ball?

where the heck is this? in the temple area maybe? i don’t ever remember the floors glowing, but they do look similar. 

oh and the twins shake forearms again. maybe Tyreen is giving Troy half her powers or something and whenever she does her tattoos start to disappear so she has to suck more energy from other stuff to keep them present??

to this shot, so it’s a possibility. maybe they figured out how to “activate” stuff or something! And i am kinda thinking this is on Promethea now because of the Vault being similar? and the big demon boys appearing. but again like... the Eridians were kinda EVERYWHERE so it’s hard to say for certain even if the architecture looks similar. of course it would, they were goddamn everywhere. still curious as to why Little Blue gets that book, though. is it typhon’s book? a siren’s book? a researcher’s book? one of her ancestor’s books? i don’t know! lol

another shot of this. is this actually a vault???? it seems small and tbh the vaults are usually like... not shaped/designed like this? maybe it’s a statue. idk this feels wrong saying it’s a Vault. it doesn’t even have the inscriptions. maybe the academic district on athenas has a statue of a vault bc they’ve got a bunch of weird shit like Amara’s tattoos on a building and a vault symbol for a door so why the heck not this too lmao

the circus area with the ferris wheel! im so excited for this area. hype hype. it looks like it’s next to the motorcade. maybe this is where the big face arena place with pain and terror is, too!!! i could see the whole arena type deal being in a giant red circus tent

oooo where the fuck is this?? im interested. my first thought was a spaceship bc of the machinery (?) in the back but... maybe not?

maybe some part of the CoV spaces we’ve already seen? the railing in the back makes me think so.

back in the HBC!

space shot of Promethea (the asteroid belt and city lights)

it was at this point in the vid i started crying (like for real lol)

god im so ready for this game

Sanc-III!

colors check out 

im still wondering where that blue ship is...

they have totally different paint designs and the blue one is on the cover art as well!!! what is UP with that gearbox?!

anyway, this is TAKE OFF and also a nice shot of Elpis in the background. the crackening lava seems to have died down over 7 or so years. good for her.

“Pandora”. i love the sky, holy shit that’s gorgeous. what’s in the sky there by the moon? i don’t know! maybe sanc-iii actually DOES have a cloaking device. damn, i was kidding, but that’d be amazing

eden-6! with the jakobs manor in the background. this looks vvvv similar if not the same area we got the moze gameplay in

Promethea!!!!!!! wow this place is gorgeous holy shit

as this shot appears lily says “wherever the hunt for the Vaults takes us” which is likely implying this isn’t promethea. athenas, then? It’s possible, we see Maliwan has occupied at LEAST the academic district so i could see them excavating a Vault.

THERE’S A BIRD where do we see birds??? on eden-6, but this 100% does not look like eden-6 to me... it would explain the temple, though....... because tannis has the floor tile in her office the same time she’s crawling around inside a dino so... maybe???

we’ll have to see! I kinda hope it’s promethea, seeing large buildings and cranes and shit would only really fit my views of Promethea and Pandora.... the whole area is giving off weird blue sparkly effects, maybe it has been teleported or summoned or something? i don’t really know what’s up with that tbh.

it cuts off on this shot

wondering if this is like a character selection screen or smth it reminds me of the persona “press start” screens haha

also the art in the background is pretty rad. anyway that’s all for now folks

im gonna go pass out now, it’s 4:12 in the am. gnight

edit: i got my acronyms for the hbc and rc messed up bc i am a v tired.

[ballentines]

Shortest Day | Lowestoft to Lands End

On the morning Sunday 22nd of December 2019 I found myself watching the gradient of the grey sky gradually change at Ness Point signifying the sunrise on the shortest day of the year. I with a group of similarly minded nutters enthusiasts was about to embark on a ~430 mile ride to lands end to catch the sunset. 

How I found myself there starts with a period of time just over a year in which I had gone from ‘L’ plates to a full license, bought a Versys 1000 and joined TVAM and iAM to gain an education in becoming an advanced rider. Which had result in me back in October attending a ‘Look Lean and Roll’ Course in happenstance with Bob Stammers an avid member of the IronButt association in the UK. Who upon hearing that I liked taking a long ride just to catch a sunrise asked what I was upto the weekend before Christmas, some might say I was foolish in replying I had nothing planned.

Some chatting about the details and joining the Iron Butt forum later and I was booking a hotel for the night before and after and working out my plan for the ride from Ness Point to Land’s End on the shortest day of the year. It looked like this; on the 21st ride from High Wycombe to the Premiere Inn at lowestoft avoiding motorways (168 miles), on 22nd ride to Ness Point, then to Lands End, then back to Premier Inn at Hayle (451 miles), 23rd Ride from Hayle to Dibden Purlieu on the Edge of the New forest (212 miles) to spend Christmas with Family. So a nice solid 800mile weekend, with a group of strangers, Bob being the only one I had met before and even him I had only met once...

The 21st came flying round and the day started with a bit of maintenance and getting loaded up before starting the journey to lowestoft in the afternoon. Unfortunately this journey did go quite to plan, when I got to around Stoke Mandeville a lady not paying full attention I suspect in the haze of pre Christmas prep tried to kill me, last minute lurching across the road towards a parking space in front of a shop just a split second before I was about to pass her going the other way. Luckily I had already slowed seeing her waiting to turn and managed to execute a swerve and stop not dissimilar to what you have to perform on your test. My pannier must have missed the front of her car by less than an inch, as I passed here looking in her driver window at the fear and apology in her face which was much to close for comfort. 

After a brief moment of putting my heart back in my chest and unclenching I continued my journey, all was smooth until I got about half way and notice that my gear indicator appears to be stuck on 6th and misbehaving. I pulled over to try and see if a reset would clear it but to no avail, the bike up to this point in my ownership had been faultless. Not to worry its only a gear indicator I can ride without it and continued, nearing my destination I stopped to fill up at great Yarmouth not knowing what the petrol station situation near Ness Point would be like the next morning. 

This was when the next issue would occur, upon leaving the petrol station I suffered a KIBS error on the dash, the bike then I assume in self diagnostics reset itself twice before I could find somewhere safe to pull over. Although I am glad this cleared the error, I do think that it is not the best firmware feature given that it was now dark and the in doing the reset it also turns off the lights which I was needless to say using at the time. Overall I managed to arrive safely at the Premiere in at Lowestoft get unloaded and comfortable before heading down for dinner where I got to meet a wonderful group of friendly and interesting like minded people before hitting the hay for a good nights sleep.

Early Morning Ness Point

The next morning a flurry of bikes headed down to Ness Point to begin what would turn out to be one of the best days riding I have had, the day was overcast breezy and not warm but there was an feeling of adventure and excitement as we started our respective journeys towards Lands End. 

The challenge for this journey was going to be fuel versus time, I had chosen to follow the stock route offered by google maps M25, M3, A303, A30. The tank range on the Versys is good being 21 litres and normally averaging just below 50mpg with my heft on it and the panniers on and fully loaded. I know that I can get 200 miles out of a tank but I am not yet comfortable pushing my luck on the range. 

Sunrise was at 08:06 and Sunset was set to be about 16:00, with google saying that the journey would take 7hours and 44minutes it was going to be tight. I knew I was going to need two fuel stops, some of the Iron Butt members can do this in record time by being organised and sequencing there steps but I am not quite there and figured it would take me 15 minutes a stop at best.

This meant i needed to make up some time, this is where the challenge begins, increasing speed means reducing fuel efficiency, you also don’t want to have to detour much to get find a fuel stop with good prices. In my head the night before I had done this maths and planned to try and make it onto the M3 before coming off somewhere near bracknell for fuel. 

Th e journey began with most of the bike staying in a group, the roads back to the A1 were fantastic and the scenery beautiful. It was an excellent way to start the day with sweeping country roads and no traffic. The A1 though not my favourite road normally flew by with the cruise control coming in useful for large sections. At this point the bikes had split up with me not seeing another familiar bike until I made it onto the M25. It was at this point I started to get twitchy about fuel, looking back I probably could have made my planned stop off the M3 but nerves got the better of me. I dived of the M25 at the M4 heading London bound and pulling immediately off, I managed to find a petrol station within a mile or so and although trying to be quick this stop probably cost me 25 minutes.

Now with enough fuel to make it to the West Country I cracked on, for the most part the mile flew by only hitting a little traffic to filter through at stone henge. And then to practice my overtaking past in the Blackdown hills. Although not the cheapest I pulled off at the Exeter service for convenience also knowing that once filled up I would be able to to the rest of journey without a further stop. A quick sandwidge and some fuel later and I was back on the road, the A30 although once an interesting road for me has become a little dull having done it so much. It also didn’t help that there was an area of average 40 for a fair distance, though the cruise control and low speed did give me a chance to stretch my hands.

It was around Goss Moor when the storm that had been battering the west of the UK hit again, with a sudden bout of extremely sideways rain and gusting winds. I managed to keep cutting through it and as I got to blackwater the worst had passed and it was easing up, the section from carlands cross to blackwater being one of my favourite sections of road. Knowing I am now on the home straight I feel fresh all of a sudden, a little tired a little saddle sore but somehow fresh like the winds still hitting me.

The last section from Penzance to Lands End though a challenging piece of road especially with the mud and gravel in places I attack with gusto and make cracking progress even getting some overtakes in. Arriving a Lands End with time to spare not the first and not the last...

I walk round the side of the Lands End resort and I am greeted by the sheer power and beauty of nature, the wind pushing me side and rolling the waves into a foam. I walk and take some photos unable to find the rest of the group I resign myself to trying to get the best shots I can on the breathtaking life affirming scene in front of me.

With the resort being shut down for Christmas I realise I am able to ride the bike all the way to the front private carpark, where people are sat in there cars watching the beautiful sun gradually set light to the sky in front of them. The shot above was only just possible I had to dig the side stand into the gravel as the wind was so strong it risked pushing the bike over.

After finding the rest of the group we headed back to the hotel in Hayle for a warm shower a slap up meal and some drinks. Sitting in the bar waiting for a table the conversation was alive with tales of the ride at various stages, with stories of various similar rides and what was next on the calendar. 

The next day I slept in had a late breakfast and then headed home, I had emailed Bournemouth Kawasaki on Saturday night and they phone me back Sunday morning. If I could they wanted to get the bike in that day so they could take a look the next day. Which was ideal for me as it was on route to my family destination, I did the ride back as a bit of a tank range eco test setting my target speed at around 68mph, resetting the trip saw the MPG over this journey up at 60. I dropped the bike in on route and they got it sorted over Christmas ready for me to collect at the start of Jan and on the same tank of fuel I did a further ride covering 230 miles on that tank and still no low fuel indicator.

Overall the weekend was a massive success, I saw so much of the country as I rode through it, I made new friends got to see a breathtaking sunset and try my best to capture it. Despite some minor issues the bike lapped up the miles and made this journey so enjoyable and so doable. Looking forward to doing the same next year...

[infinitylester]

GIF TUTORIAL

i’m finally getting around to giving the people what they want!! i hit 2.5k like 3 weeks ago and asked you guys what you would like me to do in honour of that...the resounding answer was ‘gif tutorial’ !!!! 

so!! in true dnp fashion i’m merely here to give the people what they want and the people have demanded a gif tutorial, so here it is!

we’ll be learning to how to create this gif right here!

please keep in mind that this is how i make gifs!! everyone does things slightly differently and what i say and do may not match up with other people or your own personal style and that’s okay! editing is all about creative freedoms and you may use this as a basic starter so that you can branch into your own thing or you might really like how i do things and use the same methods. point is, it’s perfectly okay either way!!

right so!! let’s get the basic bullshit out of the way! i use ps cs6 but it’s basically all the same, so this should work perfectly fine no matter what ps you use. 

1. we’re firstly going to choose our video to gif. for this tutorial, i’ve chosen pinof 10! pick a moment you like and get the timestamps from when the moment starts and finishes. i usually get a second before and a second after to make sure i’ve got it all!!

2. we’re now going to copy the url of the video and go to clip converter. clip  converter basically is going to give us an mp4 version of our little timestamps so that we can put them into photoshop and make gifs from them! paste the url of the vid into clip converter and press enter once. once you’ve done that follow my settings and press start

(of course you can name it whatever you want and put whatever timestamps you want in!!)

once it’s done converting, it’ll give you a download of your mp4 clip, which you’ll click! 

3. now open your photoshop. go to file, import, video frames to layers, like shown and select your video

once you’ve done that, put these settings in and trim the clip to your liking (the little black place holder things trim the clip!) 

4. okay so!! we now have our gif imported and open on photoshop! we have to make it much smaller because right now it’s like...huge (that’s what she said hehehe)

simply click on image at the top of your computer and press ‘image size’, like shown

then make your settings like shown

5. so that’s done!! now, we have to change the pace of our gif to be a bit slower. i make my gifs real slow apparently but,,,,,personal preference man. click on the first frame of your gif and then scroll to the end of the frames of your gif. hold the shift button and click the last frame. this will select all your frames. press the little arrow thingy near the time of the frames. this will allow you to change the pace of your gif. press other and change the timing of the gif to whatever you want! i make my gifs like 0.07 normally but for this gif, i made it 0.09 because they’re moving so fast and it was giving me whiplash. anything under 0.1 is great!!

6. cropping time! you don’t have to crop your gif if you’d like, but mine is a little big for me, so i’m going to and show you how to do that! so basically press the cropping tool and put in the measurements you’d like, as i’ve done.

7. now we’re ready to convert our gif to the timeline method! select all your frames again, like before, as well as your layers. selecting your layers is the same as selecting your frames, so nothing new there, don’t worry! once everything is selected, press this lil guy.

once our gif is in the timeline method, right click your layers that should all be selected and turn them into a smart object, as shown!

8. righty-o! we’ve done all the boring, dumb shit! time to use an action to make our gif look a little nicer and sharper! i really can’t be assed showing you how to use an action in here because i suck and this is long as fuck as it is but!! i am nice enough to link you to a basic tutorial on how to use actions and how to download them! you can find that here! right so, i use a certain action on all my gifs and then edit it slightly, which i’ll show you! you can find a download for the action i use here !!! 

i play that action and now my gif looks much nicer! however, it’s not quite the way i like it, so i push the gaussian blur layer to the bottom and i adjust the strength of it to this!

9. i lied. now we’re up to the fun part!! colouring!! colouring is my best friend and i love her dearly!! technically you could stop now and save your gif and be done but....that’s boring as fuck!

right so, colouring really, truly is your own preference, loves. you can do whatever you like, you do NOT have to follow what i put here. this is simply the colouring i chose for this gif. i do literally whatever i feel like every time i make a gif, so it’s forever changing!

i gave a bit of thought to what kind of colouring i’d do in this tutorial. did i want to do something extra basic and like...no colour changing? did i want to do something wildly vibrant? and then i decided not to do either of those things! so today, i’m going to teach you how to create a soft, almost pastel blue/purple colouring for the ap room *cough* set *cough*!! 

firstly, here is the adjustment panel where all the tools you need for colouring reside !!

we’re firstly going to start with the boring crap,,,,,so i lied again....oops. firstly, we’re going to adjust the brightness, the levels and the curves. here are my setting for each, if you’d like to copy them!

here’s how the gif looks without all our colour layers!

10. and now all that crap is done, i promise it’s actually the fun stuff!! selective colour is where all the magic happens! i sometimes do two, three or even four selective colour layers, depending on just how heavy the colour changing is going to be in my gifs, as well as using hue/saturation, colour balance and gradient maps!!

firstly, we’ll start off with our first selective colour layer! here are my settings for it (sorry for all the pics rip)

once you’ve got all those sorted, onto a hue/saturation layer! this basically drastically changes the colours, if you’d like it to but it’s not quite as accurate or smooth as a selective colour layer, so i only really use it for small things or if the colour i’d like can be acchieved nicely with it. i didn’t change anything in the master setting, but here are my settings for the things i did change!

aaaaaaaand now we do another selective colour layer! i’ll just show you the layers i did change...everything else, leave as is!!

11. next is a few gradient maps and a layer of vibrance!! i promise, we’re almost done!! i add a bunch of probably unnecessary bullshit to my gifs but i like how it looks with all the extra stuff so!!! yeah!! make your first gradient map black and white, as shown and set the opacity to 10%

next step is to create a vibrance layer! when making a bright, colourful gif, i use about two or three vibrancy layers. i never EVER adjust the saturation, only the vibrancy. adjusting the saturation makes everything too heavy and it just looks kinda icky to me. the first layer, i normaly adjust the vibrancy to 100% and the rest being between like 20-50%, depending. i just thought i’d tell you guys because that’s vital if you’re making bright gifs! 

we however are not, so i only adjusted the vibrancy to +14%, leaving the saturation alone....nasty saturation !!!

aaaaaaaaaaaaand finally, we are up to our last adjustment layer!! it is yet another gradient map oops. this gradient map is a light golden colour and i downloaded it in a pack somewhere ages ago. i do not remember where and i know that photoshop’s default gradient maps don’t have something like it so if you’d like, you can definitely just skip this last layer!! it’s not vital, i just think it gives the gif a nice touch! 

for reference, the gradient map looks like this and i set it to 6% opacity!

12. that’s it!! the gif is complete! go to file, save for web and press on that! you might have to wait a little bit for it to load...photoshop is a really shit program sometimes, guys. once it loads you’ll see all these confusing settings. simply copy what i have here!

this is also the moment i realise my gif is over 3mb and go to fucking smack my head against a desk. tumblr basically has a thing against gif makers and will NOT allow gifs over 3mb to play once posted. this can be fixed though! i’ll show you how to shorten a gif right now because well...if you followed this tutorial, you’re stuck in the same boat as me and need to know how to fix it!!

so basically save your gif as is right now! now, we’re going to open the gif we just saved into photoshop. go to file, open and select your gif. it’ll open as a frame animation which is perfect! now, delete whatever frames from the start and end that you think you can live without. never delete frames from the middle because that’ll just disrupt the gif altogether. the less frames, the better!!

i got my gif down to 40 frames by deleting the first 15 frames of the gif and the last like 6 or so. now go back to ‘save for web’ and save this shorter gif as a whole new gif! this should be under 3mb. if it is not, go cancel the save and delete some more frames!

once that’s done....you’re done!!! congratulations!! you’ve made your very first gif, my dear!!!! here’s the finished labour of your hard work!! 

i hope i wasn’t too confusing and i hope you now have a sound understanding of how to make a gif! if you’d like me to make another tutorial on something specific related to gifmaking or even to do with edits and edit-making, just send me an ask and i’ll see what i can do for you! happy giffing, loves!!

[detachableteacher]

It's both summer and birthday, nice.

"What's a good summer outfit?" I ask during lunch at Ryu's place.

"Can't be that hard, can it?" Yu asks back. "What are you thinking of wearing?"

"Something simple, something breezey, maybe-"

"No shirt at all?"

"Are you serious with that?" I glare at Yu for giving that suggestion.

"Yusei is right, though." Ryu answers as he joins us with iced tea. "Why should you feel embarrassed about being shirtless in public?"

"Because I'm shirtless? in public?" My face is still in its miffed state.

"Why not?"

"I don't think I have the looks for that."

"Nonsense," Yu responds. "You definitely look like someone who's hiding something good under that tank top of yours, and if you're confident enough to wear a tank top outside of work..."

"I'm not getting you."

"You're just a few steps away from going shirtless in public, even if it's for a beach."

"Really now? It's like I'm showing more of myself than I want to."

"You'll be fine. How about this, lift up that tank-"

"What?!"

"There's no one else here, Jun, just your two fellow teachers — Akashi says he'll come, though — and I'm a childhood pal, there's nothing to worry about."

"Fine, if you also join me in this, this birthday party at the beach was your big idea after all."

"Plural, all the other teachers planned for this." Ryu adds, with Yu turning to him. "What? It's not a surprise party."

Yu turns back at me. "Show us what you have first."

"Here goes nothing." I nervously hold onto the bottom hem of my tank top, and slowly but surely lift it up to the point where my stomach is in full view. Given the lack of change in their reaction, I may not be lacking in this department.

"The ladies would go crazy for that, man!" Ryu grins. "You definitely don't need to worry about what shirt to wear."

"Or if you forgot to get a spare on your way to the beach." The two chuckle at what Yu says. "You know what? I just thought of something. Put your head on the table.

I shrug and take my head off, placing it on the table to face where my body will be standing. "Should I go all out?"

"It's like you know what's up. Go for it."

I go back to the spot, and with trepidation on my face take off my tank top, the lack of anything on my neck making things slightly easier. "I look like a mannequin."

"They'll be looking at your body long enough not to realize it doesn't have a head on." Ryu snickers. "You pretty much have the perfect body, Jun, all it needs now is a head."

"Yeah, if you can go around town carrying your head like it's a basketball, going to a beach without a shirt is a piece of cake."

I walk to my head and put it back on. "There, does it look any better?"

"It's definitely complete." Ryu answers. "I do notice how your face doesn't seem to match your body. Shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"Okay, I've done my part, now you two."

The two are more than willing, with Yu showing off first. Safe to say that neither of them are any more or less notable than I am.

"We'd look great together as a group like this." Yu comments. "If you're with us, you don't have to worry about grabbing too much attention."

"Hey guys, what's-" Akashi barges in to us three about to get dressed again. "Jun's birthday party isn't until Saturday, right?"

"Just in time!" Yu exclaims. "Come on, take it off."

"What now?!"

We couldn't help but laugh.

-----

Fully clothed again, we snack on some fries while we wait for Ryu to come back.

"So we're heading to this beach?" I ask.

"It's the closest one with lodging we can stay in." Yu answers, circling the spot on a printed map. "It's the only one; they developed the beach itself."

"Who's coming, by the way?"

"There's you, me, him, Ryu, uh, did Sayori confirm?"

"She did. So did Midori." Akashi answers.

"I think that's everyone, the others said no."

"Who's going to bring the food?" I ask while I get some food for me.

"Ryu will, as usual. If that won't cut it we'll buy at this KFC here."

"Faaaaan-cy. By the way, my car's not big enough for all of us, not counting strapping you on the roof.

"I'll deal with that myself." Ryu comes back with more grub. "The vehicle I bought is about to arrive tomorrow

"What kind of vehicle?"

"A van, should be enough to fit every person and cargo inside."

"Cargo. We're not going to bring a lot, right? Just the food, and whatever games you'd bring."

"Everything will fit, and you'll even have some leg room in the van."

"When it comes to Jun leg room is pretty wide, so ya gotta be precise." Akashi says. "What are you going to wear to the beach, Jun?"

"What you came into should probably answer that, or not." I rub the side of my neck. "I guess I'll be wearing beach shorts, just beach shorts."

"Yeah, the beach is the perfect place to show that physique without getting arrested. You'd do yourself a disservice by hiding that in your usual tank top."

"Forget about the shirt," Yu joins back in. "Do you even have shorts?"

"They're all indoor, I'll probably buy a new pair tomorrow, anything can work."

-----

The next day after work, I head straight to the nearest clothes store in the middle of town.

"Good evening!" A salesperson greets me.

"Do you have any blue beach shorts?" I ask.

"They're over here, sir." She points at a rack of shorts. I thank her and head to the rack to start scanning. I find a few candidates and bring them to the fitting room.

The fitting room's mirror is a full-length mirror tacked onto the wall. I stare at my reflection for a while readying myself to try on some shorts. After some pondering, the only way to assess which shorts will fit me best is to wear them without a shirt. I take my shirt off, and as it sometimes happens, my head gets snagged off my neck, and I flail around a bit until I grab my head, pull my arms off, and then take my head out of my shirt.

Only then do I remember that I forgot to lock the door, because by the time my shirt's off and my head in my hands, the door opens and a lady screams at the sight of me, almost causing me to let go of my head.

"I'm so sorry!" I hold my head up to my neck, then immediately reattach it. "It's my fault, I forgot to lock the door."

The woman, who's about my age, looks at me from top to bottom, and with her being shorter than I am it's rather noticable that she has no idea where to look at. "Wow, is that really your body? I think I saw you holding your he-"

"This is also my head, miss." I point at my head. "I won't have any other head I can steal, right?"

"Yes?" She gives me a confused look, then averts her gaze before returning to me. "Could you, do, that... thing again?"

"This?" I take my head off again, holding it just beside my chest. "Or do you want me to do it like this?" I hold it beside my neck.

"You really look like two different people that way." She comments, and silence follows. "Um, I'll just wait for you to be done." She sidesteps out of sight.

I finally lock the door, staring at my bare torso reflected by the mirror, then my own face. I guess they have a point about that. I have three shorts, all blue, all reaching above the knee, differing only in design. The assessing doesn't and shouldn't take long, and decide on getting the one with a gradient from sky blue to light blue; it doesn't end on white at the very least.

With my final decision in hand, I leave the fitting room, and the woman from a while ago bows at me in apology. "I'm sorry about what happened, sir."

"It's fine, I wasn't paying attention myself."

"I must say, I wouldn't have known what you have under that sweater."

"Uh, thanks?"

She giggles a bit before giving a final bow and duck to the fitting room.

I shrug it off and finalize my purchase.

-----

"Hey, Jun," Yu drops by my place. "Do you still have that omelette pan?"

"Yeah, it's collecting dust in my kitchen, I'll just grab it."

"Got anything for the party?"

"Shorts. Just the shorts."

"Now we're talking. Lemme see them."

I show him the shorts, fresh off the bag.

"Of course they're blue." He chuckles. "When it comes to you it's always green and blue."

"Says the guy with the same shirt for work." I hand him the pan. "Do you even have anything for the party yourself?"

"Already have."

"Glad to know I'm not alone in this."

"You're already good enough on your own, I promise. Well, I gotta go back and make dinner, see you tomorrow."

-----

After Saturday classes, the invited folks immediately go to Ryu's place to get things ready, and I find out what Ryu's new ride is: a Delica.

"So that's what drive to the beach?" I struggle to carry the gifts I get from those who aren't joining us

"That's the one." Ryu proudly answers. "More than enough for us."

"Family road trip much?"

"If it works, it works." He shrugs. "And it will also be used for business purposes. Today is for leisure, though, so let's get moving, guys."

Taking my birthday boy spot at the passenger seat, we are on our way to the beach. About half an hour later, we arrive at the beach resort, a nice slice of coast filled with people and a good number of establishments.

"After we find our spots, let's get our gear ready." Ryu heads the hunt for a spot and finds us a nice covered table just by the entrance of a bazaar-looking marketplace.

Fully settled in, Yu jumps in with the opening remarks: "Let's see what Jun's gonna be wearing, you can't just go on like that in here, you know."

"That's what we're waiting for, right?" Sayori asks in wide-eyed anticipation.

"Fine, if that's what you want, I'll change. Don't get too excited." I leave off to the nearest changing room, get changed and come back in my new shorts, showing my shirtless body in its full glory. "Here it is."

"Nice shorts!" Akashi exclaims.

"Looking good!" Ryu adds.

"Hey, let's not forget the most surprising thing of it all," Midori interjects. "You've been hiding that under a sweater for so long?"

"What do you mean?" I awkwardly rub the back of my neck.

"You, excuse me, you have a great body!"

"Don't even bother with having your head on, the girls will be too busy staring to notice."

"Stop it, will you?" I approach the gang's table after the impromptu exhibition. "Do you guys really think I'm that hot?"

"Yes." A unanimous decision.

"Really? I just don't think I have the right type."

"You do, just take our word for it." Sayori says, not exactly reassuringly.

"Enough of this chit-chat," Akashi cries out, "Let's get wet!"

We rush to the changing rooms, and after I wait by the doors, everyone's ready. Then we head to the shore, though along the way I feel my head getting yanked by someone.

"Midori?!"

"I'll show you what I mean." I can already see that she's diverting from the group to a row of beach chairs.

"Okay, how are you going to explain carrying a head around?" I ask as she lays me down on a chair. She covers me with a towel.

Meanwhile, my stands along with the rest of the gang, and in less than a minute I notice a couple of girls taking a good look at my torso, one of them's even holding a phone. Then a quick shift up to my neck surprises them. I fully face them and give them a slight wave.

"You're getting some attention now, huh?" Yu elbows me a bit. I awkwardly rub the back of my neck. "They're about to talk about the headless hottie they saw, I'm sure about that."

"Did you bring the volleyball?" Ryu asks Yu.

"Here." With the volleyball in hand, we walk to a volleyball court.

The first game is between us boys as Sayori goes away to find Midori. A quick drawing of lots (Ryu always has those ready) pits me and Ryu against Yu and Akashi. It's not exactly professional stuff, but quite a number of people are watching, thanks to the spectacle of a headless beach bod playing volleyball with his pals.

Not a pause in the game goes by without someone wanting to take a picture either of me or with me. I can't tell them anything and I don't want to reject their requests so the photoshoots keep coming, solicited or not.

With a game finished, the two girls finally return, with Midori carrying my head. With that the attention just stays on me, probably astonished at seeing me reattach my head. I expected that being back in one piece would stop the looks, I guessed wrong. At least no one is approaching me for photoshoots.

With the girls in line, we have Yu and Ryu match up against them first as a bit of boys versus girls before a 3-on-3 where Sayori joins the two against the rest. The people still staying are definitely only watching for the game.

After all that gaming we watch the sun set for a bit before rushing back to our table for some dinner. On the way to the beach we bought a bucket from a KFC.

"Did this come with any drinks?" I ask in the middle of laying down the items.

"This." Ryu pulls out a large bottle of soda. "It's probably not enough for us, there must be a convenience store here for us to get a second bottle."

"We can look for it if you want." I say.

"I'll join ya." Akashi volunteers.

After a short walk, we lay our eyes on a convenience store, and enter it without any issues whatsoever; the AC isn't set to frigid.

I buy another of the bottle of soda and a bag of chips while Akashi has already bought some gashapon tokens. I pay out at the counter, trying to act like I'm used to buying at a convenience store without a shirt on.

Once we leave, I ask Akashi, "Of all the places to do that,"

"They only sell these things in select branches, especially this," He pulls out a CD.

"That's some dedication."

After all that we return, the others already having their meals, so we quickly join in, and after all the food, each one of them gives their birthday gift to me. All in all the day went well, and I don't feel as bad about others seeing my body.

We all change back to clothes more appropriate in a city and head back home. I open all my gifts after crashing into my apartment and call it a day.

-----

The next school day after classes, a student approaches me as I walk by the field, phone in hand, "Sensei, is this you?"

Indeed it's a picture of me at the beach, "Yeah, that's me."

Other students crowd around her and without fail all go "Ooooooh!"

"I didn't know sensei has such great-"

"Don't say it out loud!"

-END

[cagsun]

A paradise called Tokashiku

I will tell you the story of our trip to Tokashiki. Or Tokashiku. Whichever you prefer. Japanese have their own way of making words and sounds confusing. Nothing enters and stays in my memory these days.

Well, we arrived in Okinawa to find a flat island full of buildings and not any greenery or tropical trees we were imagining. Being disappointed, we jumped on the ferry next morning hoping it would take us to a tropical paradise despite the efforts of ferry company stuff to stop us from going to that island due to Coronavirus.

This time we were fullfilled. We found a lash green forest looking to a navy blue- blue-turquoise-white gradient of a beach. We climbed up the hill from the pier to take one of the 3 main roads of the island, to get us to a viewpoint. And we were fulfilled again. The view was amazing. Nothing short of spectacular. And there was a free binocular from Nikon that overlooked the ocean and smaller islands on the horizon. It was perfect weather, a perfect view, a perfect atmosphere that I couldn’t stop but just dance.

We stayed there the first night. Smooth grass, seemingly no problems as there were very few people on the island. At the end of the evening, after hours of no single person showing up, someone came with a car, waited for a second, made a U-turn, and then went back. We were watching a film at that moment and didn’t mind the unexpected visitor.

On the next morning, someone came to our tent to warn us. He said that place is a ‘no reservation place’ with his limited English. We didn’t understand completely but we didn’t mind since we were going to leave soon.

After we had packed and we were on our way out of the youth center complex, a car came towards us and a woman went out of it and started running until she came face to face to us. She handed us a paper, and at that moment we were guessing that it was a fine. She explained to us that this is a settlement that you need to reserve beforehand. She explained to us nicely that we cannot camp here, we accepted the paper and everything she said, and silently left the complex as she instructed us to. From the car the guy who warned us in the morning was waving to us. We thought ‘how nice of these people’. The paper was just an explanation of the situation in English.

We kept walking for a few hours until our next station, which was Tokashiku beach. It seemed to be a nice place from the map, so I moved on the curved car road until we reached the paradise beach that it turned out to be.

We entered the beach through a narrow pathway, and the moment we saw it, we decided to stay there. We first went to a shadow on the right side of the beach, we settled there, and I had my first swim. Wow, what an amazing sea. Amazingly clear, crystal light blue, fresh, and transparent until a long long distance I don’t know how much. I then took a discovery walk along the beach, discovered showers, spotted a table to eat on, and a shadowed part at the end of the beach which was separate and reserved from the rest of it. Yes, it was confirmed, ‘this was going to be our paradise.’

We sat a little more on the beach before we went shopping in the next town to buy groceries for the night. Half an hour walking and we were in the only shop in the town, a small place with limited options. So we bought food for 2 days. Usually canned food since this place offered fewer options than the one on the port town.

We came back to our paradise and sat directly for dinner on the table overlooking the beach. We watched the sunset, enjoyed wine and our food. Amazing moments really, in this view that just belonged to us. After a few hours there, chilling, reading, and enjoying, it was already very dark. The only people on the beach were 2 fishermen enjoying nighttime fishing and us. We went to our hidden spot, moved our bags, set up the tent and we camped the night. No problems at all.

We woke up after a nice sleep, around 9 am I think. I took a morning swim, and I saw Tugce talking to a guy. Apparently, the guy told Tugce that we cannot stay there since it’s a national park and they would need to call the police if they see the tent in the night. Tugce luckily told him that we set up the tent just to spend the day. And the guy nicely said, ‘Ah okay, enjoy your day then. We are here if you have any questions or need anything.’ But still it was the end of our dreams to spend some paradise time on this amazing beach beyond that day.

We had a small argument with Tugce since I thought she overreacted to the situation suggesting to go to the next island Zamami, since rain was coming as well in 2 days. I was mad and told her fuck the rain that she was obsessed with the rain and wanting to quit so early.

We would at least spend the day on this paradise. I took another walk and spotted another location, not on the beach but inside the green park, which was called the marine center camping or something. My idea was that we would put up the tent next to the main building of the site, which was hardly visible from outside.

Relaxing by the fact that we found our spot, we continued enjoying the beach. We had plenty of food, good wine, shadow to lay under. Everything, the water, weather, everything was perfect. We shouldn’t be leaving this place.

I swam 3-4 times, Tugce unable to swim due to her period. It was a great day. We had dinner again on the same spot watching the sunset. Views I won’t be able to forget for the rest of my life.

We decided to put up the tent earlier today. We went to the spot, and we took a look at the next building, which was a wooden hut without a door. It had electricity inside and no furniture or anything so we thought, ‘we can just stay here as well, why bother putting up a tent outside. And this is less visible as well.’ We still put up the tent, since there were lots of mosquitos. And spent a good night, being afraid a bit at the beginning from the feeling of breaking into the place and the site, but also knowing that it was really unlikely that anyone would come here at this time.

We woke up to a cloudy day, unlike the previous sunny one. It didn’t look like a day we would want to spend on the beach, and we ran out of our food supplies, so we decided to go to Tokashiki town to do shopping. We put down the tent without packing it and left our things along with it in the hut. Our idea to shop for 2 more days and stay there in peace. We felt like no one would recognize us there and we could stay as long as we want. Rain wouldn’t be a problem either since we were now covered under the wooden roof. What a life! Free-roaming on a paradise beach, with our own hut and show and table with the greatest views.

We took a nice walk of 40-50mins to Tokashiku, and we did a rich shopping for 2 days. We decided to hang out there as we had nothing to do back on the beach. We killed our time inside the port’s sitting area, using the internet which we didn’t have anywhere else on the island.

We basically spent the whole day talking to our friends and family. Making video calls and chats to our loved ones, telling hesitantly about the amazing and unbelievable life we were having at that moment for free. I remember very well the feeling of being reluctant to give many details about what we were doing, as I was scared something bad would happen to the great life we were having. Talking to my mom and brother, I gave some hints on how happy I was, then sent some photos after we hanged up. Also connecting with my friends, really feeling the need to share all of this, but not being able to do so due to the fear of Nazar (evil eye).

At one point, I remember the feeling of the worry of something happening started superseding the excitement to share it, and I started feeling in my stomach. Especially I regretted sharing some messages on my company friends’ group, and I stayed more with these feelings of resentment rather than anything else.

In the last hour of our stay at the port cafe, I felt like, ‘okay we should go back now.’ After the calls were over, we hit the road and I had this internal excitement due to what I didn’t know of. Nad things started going weird then.

On our way back, while we were walking, we were stopped by a car, and the guy in the driver seat told us that he’s looking for some people. And asked us if we stayed in Tokashiku, on the beach. Tugce at first said no, but I felt that it was useless to deny it, and the guy was looking for us. We said we had left our stuff on Tokashiku beach and we were going to the camping at Aharen beach. The guy said come and put up the seats in the back of his van and called someone probably informing someone that he found us. He said he was looking for us all day and took us back to Tokashiku, entering the campsite with the van, all the way to in front of the bigger hut. On the way, he told us that we cannot stay there and asked if we can go to Aharen, we said yes we can, which made us get a bit of a relief to what was going to happen.

We were welcomed by some really angry faces, and non-English speaking men, who told us that police is on his way. We were not able to communicate with the guys, so they called someone, who turned out to be the lady who warned us after the first night. I got to understand that this place belongs to the same organization with the observation point, which Tugce told me she had understood that before. We exchanged the phone many times, explaining to them what we did and why, and after each time they would discuss something in between them. We said we are sorry many times, and kept in silence for most of the time, waiting for the police to arrive.

Apparently, they came to cover the windows of the hut and found out about our bags. So long for our luck, right! Following the series of conversations, I told her about our situation, and was very understanding and emphatic rather than being angry, which could very well have been the case, since we disturbed her twice in 2-3days. First, we were told to go to Ahende for camping, but then the guy called and found out that it was closed. The lady then told me that we should camp somewhere hidden that nobody could see and leave the next morning. I accepted it, but then after some internal discussions, they told us that we could spend the night there, in the same room ‘ that we broke into’. That made us really happy due to coming rain however sensing the pinching in the words.

Finally, the angry man who was waiting for us showed us our room, which was another one, on the upper floor of the main building, with tatami floors, with its own bathrooms and comfort that we wouldn’t even imagine in our dreams. And that angry man excused us because of the rotten part of the tatami floor and left us saying that he’ll meet us at 9 am next morning.

They decided to keep us under control and take us to the port first thing the next morning. We accepted that but told them we would want to go to Zamami, which they rejected saying that everything in Zamami is closed as well. We then told them that we want to go with the slow ferry in the afternoon, to which they responded “Sorry, everyone is really worried about you, and we strongly suggest you go with the morning boat’. ‘And you need to book a room in Naha’.

During these 30-40 minutes that felt like a lifetime, we also explained the situation to the policeman, explaining what we did, how we entered the place, and so on. He took our information and I learned later that Tugce showed him the paper we prepared to explain our situation to people, and he responded ‘Oh we understand you are in a difficult situation, please don’t misunderstand us, we are not bullying you’.

When we were shown the room, we were almost going to cry due to the kindness we have seen from these people, despite the illegal activities that are probably not acceptable at all in their world.

It rained all night as we were sleeping securely on the tatami floors, and we left the place with the young guy who carried us from the town to the campsite in his car. He suggested us to stay in camping in Naha, that would be safer due to coronavirus.

They didn’t check us on if we got on the boat or anything. We bought our tickets ourselves for the afternoon boat. The same policeman came to the morning boat, and we were worried he was looking for us. We said hi, and apparently, he wasn’t looking for us so we had the chance to say goodbye.

There we were, a day later in the same port cafe where we were there to tell about our paradise life to our loved ones, but this time waiting to take the boat that would take us back to reality with the signs of a light slap that this island left on our faces.

April 18th, Tokashiku Island, Okinawa