#i feel like it might just feel like a redo of this combined with a Chris scene i already have

[try-set-me-on-fire]

Tagged by @rewritetheending and @wildlife4life for wip Wednesday! Another dreadful conversation from me your pal

“I don’t-“ Buck waves a hand, generally. “Bad shit happens to us. Anything- anything could happen. Will you be okay?”

Eddie stares at him for a moment, uncomprehending. Then: “No, Buck. I won’t be okay.”

Buck shuts his eyes. “I- I just want- if I die, you-“

“Buck,” Eddie interrupts, voice probably harsher than he means it to be. “You’re scaring me.”

Closed eyes aren’t enough, Buck covers his face with his palms. “I don’t want to scare you. I don’t want to hurt you. But I can’t stop thinking about it. I need to know you and Chris will be okay.”

It’s just Eddie’s breathing for a while. Eventually his hands come up, warm, over Buck’s own. Eddie gently reveals his face. Buck hasn’t got a good look at himself in so long, he wonders how he might have changed, he wonders if Eddie still thinks he’s handsome. Eddie looks- sort of terrified, very in love, entirely determined. “We’ll survive, Buck. If something happens to you, we’ll survive it.” He takes in a shaky breath, looks at Buck like he wants to drill his words directly into his brain. “But you have to promise me you will do everything in your power to not let that happen.” He kisses Buck like he can’t help but doing so. “You- I’ll survive it but- I don’t want to lose you-“ Eddie’s voice breaks and Buck pulls him in close.

“I promise,” he says, as he kisses him again, nodding against his face. “I promise,” he says again as he tugs and pulls until they’re in their room again, and he means it, he will try his fucking best to stop drowning in ever present dread and work as hard as he can to stay alive. A warning, not a guarantee. “I promise, Eddie,” he whispers into skin, over and over, everywhere he can reach. He thinks about a wedding, he thinks about late summer. It’s not so far away, is it? Maybe- Maybe-

Tagging @forthewolves @devirnis @shitouttabuck @lover-of-mine @eddiebabygirldiaz

[mirrortouchedsea]

Day 13

Niki’s alarm went off and he awoke to…nothing. Rinne had gone to sleep with him last night but now he was nowhere to be seen. There was no sound from the bathroom or kitchen to indicate that he was still home either. Not the first time Rinne had gotten up earlier than Niki, but it was still strange. 

Niki shrugged it off. Maybe there was some important unit leader meeting at Cospro or something he had forgotten to mention to Niki the night before, so he just got up and stretched before making his way to the kitchen. 

Sitting on the table was a plate of pancakes, eggs, and sausage, something he definitely should have noticed being cooked. He surely would have woken up to the smell of breakfast cooking. There was a note sitting next to it, which Niki read after putting the food in the microwave to reheat. 

Dear Niki-kyun~ 

Your beloved Rinne-kun has a special surprise for you! Eat up and follow the notes! Kohaku-chan will have the next one. 

Rinne 

Niki sighed. Of course it was another one of Rinne’s antics, but he’d play along since he had the decency to cook something for him, or at least have something delivered. He quickly scarfed it down and sent out a text to Kohaku asking to meet at Cinnamon in twenty minutes. Hopefully the wild goose chase wouldn’t last all day. 

When he got to Cinnamon, Kohaku was already sitting in a booth with two drinks and a card on the table. He waved to Niki and Niki walked over and sat across from the youngest member of Crazy:B. 

“Do you have any idea what Rinne-kun is planning?” Niki asked, taking a sip of the drink Kohaku had gotten for him before tearing open the note. 

“Not a single clue.” Kohaku replied, sipping his own drink. 

Niki read the second note aloud. 

“Dear Niki-kyun, you’ve found the second note! Congratulations~ Feel free to sit and chat with Kohaku-chan for a little while, and Merumeru will have the next one! See you soon~” 

“Can’t he just be a normal boyfriend for once?” Niki asked, laying his head on the table. 

Kohaku awkwardly rubbed Niki’s shoulder to try and comfort him, which Niki accepted. 

“Well, I guess I should ask HiMERU-kun where he is. See ya later, Kohaku-chan.” 

“See ya. Tell Rinne-han he owes me one for this.” 

“Yeah yeah he’ll get an earful from me later.” 

[epiicaricacy-arts]

there’s something beautiful and tragic in the fall out

here’s more babygirl. alternate version and commentary UTC (not really a process discussion more like. wailing.)

i’ve never been so indecisive on a piece in my life !!!! i redid the rendering once and this strayed so far from what i originally wanted for the sketch. idk how i feel about it actually. i might come back and redo it someday cause this isn’t what i wanted to do but im so sick of this drawing lmao i don’t wanna spend another 10 hours figuring it out again. i got finals to study for 👎

i was trying to combine my painterly art style with the more graphic style of my last drawing cause i thought it’d be cool. i was also looking at some of the art from reverse: 1999 but that didn’t really carry through in the final piece. i really wanted to do more painting ☹️ but whatever ive drawn so much in the last 2 weeks i need to stop lmao

this is the sample i made after i restarted the rendering. i like how this looks a lot more but i think a big problem was how i rushed the second lighting source (blue) so it wasn’t executed very well. the finished piece is just way too clean for what i imagined but i mean its still cool!

i could not figure out how to do the weird magic soul taking thing for the LIFE OF ME. i spent 20 minutes just redrawing it 😔

ok that’s all. i need to go will myself into studying now. o7

[vixendoesstuff]

God, it's been a while since I've done digital art. If only I have a tablet, I might have an easier time drawing there instead of a tiny phone, but no use crying over spilt milk. Here's the reference sheet for Techno Branch!

Man do I love a quality drop.

I don't know how to make my drawings aesthetically pleasing like I've seen other artist do, so this is all you get lol. But anyway here's the boi!! (Ignore my handwriting, it's usually better than it is here, I just have difficty writing on a phone).

I was actually gonna make his Grey version and True Colours version, but I was an idiot and hadn't copied his lineart before I combined it with the colours. So, I might have to redo his entire lineart from scratch. Art is so fun :)

More info below the cut!

So Branch here is more dull and glow less brightly (or not at all) compared to his brethren. Probably a side effect of going Grey for so long. I doubt the Techno Trolls of today would know how to help him fully because, while they probably have a better way of helping traumatized Trolls than the Pop Trolls, they wouldn't exactly know how to bring Branch's True Colours back, as he doesn't know Techno culture and they don't know him well, and that grey Techno Trolls were a rarity in it of itself.

Back when he was Grey, at some point in time the heart on his chest was split in two due to relentless trauma. Ater regaining his True Colours did it combine again, but after being Grey for so long I doubt it'll ever be truly whole again (trauma, amirite?).

Combined with that he probably doesn't like looking at his arm lights, as it reminds him that he's different than the rest of the Pop Trolls, adding more hurt to his already painful life (yikes). So he covers it with arm warmers, and by the time he regained his happiness it became a habit to wear them.

I like to think that Branch likes being on the ground more than swimming, so he's constantly walking and climbing around. Hence, the crease marks on his fins. 'Cause I like to think that Techno Trolls are not built for long periods of standing up straight. And Branch has done the exact opposite of that. Building a bunker by himself is hard, imaging doing that with a pair of swimming flippers. My feet would cry in pain lol.

Anyway, that's all I have for now, if you have questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer. With this out of the way, I can finally finish up my notes on what happens in World Tour. Hope you don't mind long paragraphs 'cause WHOO BOY lol.

[heartfullofleeches]

Spill

Immortal Male Yan + G.N Criminal Reader

Summary: You kidnapped him to get some information about a shared friend, but he won't give in so easily

Warnings: Sadomasochism themes, violence, slightly suggestive scene

Good little Silas.

Always keeps every word someone says to him.

It's his job afterall - one no-one else in the entire world could full. You see, Silas knew the secrets of a lot of dangerous people. The type of series others would die, or even kill for. Why would these people trust a scrawny, pathetic looking guy like him? It's simple really. He has a bigger secret than all of them combined.

He couldn't die.

It was really hard to convince his boss of his usefulness at first. His buddies put a bullet through his skull and tossed him into the trash out back before he could demonstrate himself. Didn't even buy him dinner before hand. Assholes. Coming back after having his brains splattered on his soon to be employer's did wonders for his credibility. He was mostly used as a living meat shield early on, but with his resilience to wounds and the pain they may cause his boss become more relaxed around him. He had proven worth plus is anyone ever caught wind of their ties and kidnapped him Silas would never saw a thing. He was the perfect lapdog.

After that he pretty much became an outlet for everyone's tales. From little white lights to infidelity, murder, and every other sin in the book. Sweet Silas would do his to lean an ear and give input when requested. By the end of the year Silas had enough information to get everyone involved arrested, murdered, or whatever else might happen if he let any details slip. He could easily save the lives of innocent people, but he had a bigger prey to catch than the fleeting high of justice.

After all, a good boy might go to the police, and he was no good boy.

-

Silas greedily gulps down tablespoons of water as the glass clacks against his teeth.

"Feeling better?"

"Mhm..."

A backhand soars across his face.

"Good."

Silas' head hangs at an awkward angle from the force, red stained saliva dribbling down his lips. He bite into the lower one to avoid making a sound. Normally he'd hold his captor to the same standards as his friends in regards to filling his stomach with something other than water before smacking him around, but this was no ordinary kidnapper. They were intoxicating, threatening, the exact type of person he'd love to...

Ugh, he's getting carried away again.

Best not to do that while he's still playing an innocent victim, especially in front of his Doll. Just a single week before his employment, Silas fell in love. The culprit of his stolen heart was a crook committing another robbery that night, the two's paths crossed in an alley behind the bank. No questions asked, his future spouse stabbed him directly in his chest before they fled the scene. That boldness almost made them an optional playmate, but that hint of guilt in their eyes swept him off his feet. Researching them only made him fall madder in love. He would do anything to have them.

"I don't want to hurt you. Just tell me code to his safe and I'll let you go.

Facing away, Silas is fully able to roll his eyes. At least threaten his life if he speaks while you're at it.

"Please... I really don't know what you're talking about. I'm just a waiter!" He fights in his restraints and sobs with wide eyes, hoping to sell the act anc draw attention away from his lower body. Pitching a tent right in front of his doll on their first meeting was rather embarrassing. You snarl as you pick up your knife.

"Just tell me what I want to know!"

You're so pretty when you scream. Silas can't wait for his turn to play. He holds it isn't too long so he can take a picture of his wounds and mirror them on you so you'll have matching scars. Sure he'll have to redo his now and then, but the photos you take at your wedding won't know that.

You ghost the blade down along his neck. Silas swallows to feel its point and prevent himself from choking on the blood collecting in his mouth. He wants to act just a little longer - but you're making it so hard teasing him like that. He repeats his scripted moto in his head like a pray as you drag the knife down his chest.

Scream. Cry. Scream. Cry. Ah-

Your eyes grow to the size of dinner plates as the tiny moan sounds within the empty room. It's not a whimper you're used to, but one of pure unadulterated lust. "Did.. you just."

No going back now. So much for that.

"Guess I just can't help it, Dolly. You're too fucking irresponsible. I know you wanna hurt me, but since I love you so much I wanna let you in on a little secret. You can hurt me, but you can't kill me. Break me apart if you don't believe me. I'll be back tomorrow to take what's mine."

You step back as he erupts into a fit of shrill laughter. "That bastard- Always hiring the freaks. I can't believe he ditch me for someone like you."

His laughter stops. That's a secret his boss never shared with him. That old fuck would've been dead long before then if he had.

"Ohh, did he do something to hurt you? That changes everything. I'll give you whatever you want to know down to his house code if you let me have first cut."

"Why would you help me?"

"I already told you, Doll." Silas stands up and drops the cuffs to the ground, dislocated bones bopping back into place as he flexes. "I love ya, and I'm gonna make sure whoever's hurt you pays. Got this job just to help you out anyway. Issue is if you want me to spill the beans without a few dates first you gotta spilling my guts on the floor as my spit spills down your pretty throat."

[level2janitor]

grid-combat sandbox thing!

i get distracted with new projects a lot, but lately my brain's been hyperfocused on one in particular. i wanted to take a crack at combining 4e-style tactical combat with OSR-style sandbox play, which on the surface seem like entirely opposite directions. and they kind of are, but i think i have something

since i started work on it i ended up dropping the words "OSR" and "4e" from my descriptions of it bc i think they end up evoking the wrong image. there's a lot that's core to both playstyles that i'm omitting to make it play nicer with the other playstyle. but it's far along enough now that i can talk about some of the design philosophy and how that manifests.

little to no scaling

the traditional way modern D&D (and to an extent even old-school D&D) handles progression is with big numerical scaling. a level 2 PC has nearly twice as much HP/damage as a level 1 PC. so you scale monsters to match, because the PCs have to get into fights around their level for the game to work.

skeletons are a real danger at 1st-level. they're manageable by 3rd, easy by 5th, and a joke by 7th-level. so you just stop running into skeletons, and when you're nearing the end of that level range any skeleton encounters that do happen will have a lot of skeletons.

this is bad for sandboxes! say i'm preparing a sandbox setting ahead of time and have a dungeon with a bunch of skeletons in it somewhere. i don't know what level the PCs will find it at - depending on whether they go through it as a 2nd-level or 6th-level party, it might be incredibly easy or so dangerous there's little they can do to mitigate that difficulty. or i'll just have to redo my encounter math the moment they find it, and that sucks for both the GM and players.

so, big numerical scaling is out. there's levels, you level up, but most of what you get from that level-up is a new ability. not a big pile of hit points and more damage. there's some scaling, your numbers are like twice as big at 10th-level compared to 1st-level, but it's a small enough range that a hard encounter at 1st-level will stay relevant throughout a whole campaign.

the game's far along enough i can create & fully level a fighter PC, so i made a 1st and 10th-level (max) character and put them side-by-side to get a feel for the scaling.

the warrior class

speaking of, the first class i made is the fighter, obviously. it's always the first thing i want to get right if i'm making a D&D-like system.

this is a good showcase of what each class is going to end up looking like: you start with a few core features & two perks (3 for warrior bc i like them being customizable). warrior perks range from a few unique moves to useful passives that let you resist statuses, strike multiple enemies, move further, equip heavier gear, parry weak attacks, etc.

the two core features, versatile fighter & combat opportunist, are designed to reward you for engaging in core combat mechanics. you get bonuses to attack from high ground, and this increases that bonus. every weapon has a unique special move you can do with it, and this lets you use any weapon you have with no cost to switch.

i've never liked the way most D&D-likes handle weapons, where you design your build around one specific weapon. you invest all your feats into being The Polearm Guy and when you find a cool magic warhammer or dagger you're just like. well i don't want this. it's not a polearm. so this fighter is instead designed to encourage you to carry around a ton of different weapons and use all of them.

exploration & the ranger

i used to hang out in the 5e community a lot, and people hated the 5e ranger. why? cause nobody used the travel rules, and you can't really blame them. the game has rules for how far you can travel each day, for random encounters & whether they ambush you, foraging, encumbrance, different travel speeds.

but most people who play 5e don't want that kind of experience, and 5e half-commits to it by leaving these rules scattered through the dungeon master's guide and making them too tedious. everything's measured in real numbers - miles, minutes, pounds. you track weight with pounds instead of item slots. of course nobody wants to track encumbrance when they have to stop the game to ask the GM how many pounds the macguffin weighs. nobody wants to dig through the DMG looking for the rule that tells you how many miles you can move. it just gets in the way and stops the game, so nobody does.

all of this screws over the ranger class which gives you bonuses to things like travel speed, not being ambushed while traveling, finding more rations, and tracking. people disliked the ranger so much that a supplement came out that replaced all of their exploration features with naturey combat features and some skill boosts, and since then that's the actual ranger when anyone wants to play one.

with that context, here's the exploration features my game's ranger gets.

the feature on the left is inherent while the right two are perks. there's combat features, but they're not part of the point i wanted to make.

the ranger needs to feel useful, and for that, the exploration needs to be front and center. so what better game than one designed for sandboxes?

i don't want this to be the kind of big-damn-heroes game where you skip to the next setpiece because the travel is boring. the travel is the game. that's where the OSR influence comes in.

you track rations. it's important - if a place is far from civilization, it feels like it because there's nowhere safe nearby to restock rations.

you track encumbrance. deciding how much space to spend on arrows and rations, and how much to spend on treasure, means more decision-making.

you do hexcrawling, you track time, and you care how many days a journey takes because the world changes as time passes. enemies & other factions progress their schemes, new developments come up. so sometimes you go, wow, good thing we have a ranger - we can move 3 hexes today instead of 2!

the ranger is better at foraging rations so you can venture further into the wilderness, better at moving your party faster, better at keeping watch. i want that to matter! i can envision it being so satisfying to play a ranger and constantly come in handy. and i want parties without a ranger to wish they had one in a way that isn't just tedious.

so hopefully that gives you a good idea of the sandboxy direction for this game. will be posting about it more as i make progress, and gonna continue to support iron halberd in between this sort of thing

[safetycar-restart]

I’m k combining yesterday’s ask slightly with today’s ask: Littles at Christmas!

So, the slightly more boisterous littles such as Lando and Mick, I think, would love Christmas. They’d love the decorations, music, gift-giving parties etc. Maybe, they also love playing with their little!friends with the new toys they received.

However, I particularly wish to talk about the softer, more sensitive little such as Arthur and George perhaps? Personally, from what has been said, I think that whilst they do enjoy all the festivities of Christmas, it can be overwhelming at times: particularly with how little they both tend to regress?

Imagine little!George with a special pair of Christmas earmuffs that his mommy bought him so that when they have guest over, maybe the fellow drivers, he can get wear them so that he isn’t too stressed out and can enjoy the fun? Though, they may have a signal between them in case George needs time away.

Arthur, as we’ve said, is very happy so longer as he’s with his Mommy. I’m thinking that maybe they always wear matching Christmas pyjamas so that Arthur knows she’s always there for him? Or they spend a lot of the time cuddled under a festive blanket? Then, any guest can come and give Arthur affections and gifts without him having to stray.

Anyway, that’s a very long ask so I’m sorry, but I will always take the chance to talk about littles (Little!Arthur just has my heart ❤️ and you write him so beautifully)

-🎞️

Aw yes!! All of these thoughts are so on point I love them. I'm gonna discuss a bit about each little mentioned here and then I can always discuss any of the ideas more if you guys would like :))

LITTLE!LANDO:

Of course Lando loves Christmas!! He loves presents and spending time with family and all the Christmas activities. He just loves the whole season so so much.

However I don't think that Lando would be good with sharing his toys, at least not at first. Because they're his new toys!! He wants to play with them by himself and with you and no one else. A few weeks later he'll be willing to share his new toys, but at first no!

(Except with little!George, little!George can play with his new toys)

LITTLE!MICK:

Mick loves Christmas too! But he's the complete opposite of Lando in that he LOVES to share his toys. The moment he opens a gift, he immediately looks around to see who is around and who might want to play with him.

You actually have to remind Mick that those toys are for him, because he'll always want to give them to others. He just wants to make others happy!!!

And of course he always wants to help you! He wants to help make Christmas food and decorate the tree and even clean the house after guests come over. He's just the sweetest little boy.

LITTLE!GEORGE:

I fully agree that little!George can be very overwhelmed at Christmas time, especially because of how many people come over and how many people he has to see. George usually likes to regress at least once a week with you, and when its Christmas and so many friends and family want to come over, that's not always possible. Which leads to George feeling awful and desperately wanting to regress and then being so overwhelmed.

Having said that, you do get him to enjoy Christmas with you! You introduce him to cute Christmas movies and let him watch you bake cookies.

We said a while ago that he would love to play animal crossing with you? He doesn't play, he just watches you and comments and points at pretty things. You show him that animal crossing has special Christmas items and Christmas events and he loves those! Together you redo your entire island to be Christmas themed and that becomes a Christmas tradition.

LITTLE!ARTHUR:

I love the idea that you sit in a corner with Arthur while all the other littles play and interact with others. Arthur doesn't enjoy doing that because other littles are loud and scary!! Even Charles!

So you cuddle with Arthur and watch all the others, and people can come up to you to chat or give Arthur some affection. Arthur happily accepts all the head pats and cuddles and babbles happily when Lewis comes over to ask how he's enjoying the Christmas party.

[dnfao3tags]

Monthly Fic Roundup - May 2023

ok look man this is the third fucking time i've had to redo this entire post i dont give a shit anymore i hate tumblr i hope it and i die a very painful death does anybody have any idea how hard it is to edit these things with the shittiest site and shittiest laptop in the world

anyways. nobody reminded me i forgot about mays roundup. betrayal. leave all the writers here a warm kudos and comment :]

— find me here by womanhunt (mat. | comp. | 9k)

Dream and George through various phone calls across time.

— All paths lead to you by Simplysmitten (teen | comp. | 28k)

When George is stressed, he has nightmares, and when George has nightmares, he sleepwalks. In a subconscious search for relief, George sleepwalks to the safest place he can find- Dream's room. Dream finds out more than he bargained for when trying to decode George's nonsensical sleep-talking, but he struggles to make conscious-George as comforted by his presence as unconscious-George.

— i want you, and that’s the way it is by pondsofkoi (gen | comp. | 4k)

Sometimes George combs his hair with enough force Dream thinks he’s trying to yank his scalp out. “Dude.”

— a wish, a child by heartinhands (teen | comp. | 3k)

George wants a child. If he and Dream wish hard enough, there's a chance.

— every sunset by indigoh (mat. | comp. | 10k)

when George goes to sleep, it’s June 2020. When he wakes up, it’s 8 years into the future.

Part 2 of the past, the future, and everything in between

— what a childish thing by tippysleeps (teen | comp. | 7k)

“What year is it,” George repeats. “Um,” Dream frowns. “It’s 2020?” George just stares at him. “It’s 2027,” he says, finally. “2027.”

Part 1 of not afraid of living on a faultline

— Some Other Beginning's End by Scoops (consciousness_streaming) (expl. | comp. | 5k)

George's family takes a holiday to Orlando to visit Disney. Just before George is set to meet Dream, disaster strikes in the form of a werewolf pack taking over Florida, and maybe more of America. While George struggles to survive, scavenging for food and materials for the few survivors, and at the end of his rope--a miracle happens. He might get to meet Dream after all.

— falling in love in the cruelest way by twostorms (teen | comp. | 7k)

Dream can't remember a time where he wasn't at least a little obsessed with George.

— Maw by shrewtz (expl. | comp. | 1k)

To combine their two selves in one way or another, to blur the line between hunger and arousal, to consume a piece of his lover— would it not be the most romantic gesture possible?

— when you kiss my lips, you'll make it stick by demonstars (mat. | comp. | 6k)

Dream's hero's (MUA) journey.

— Can you make it feel like home (if I tell you you're mine?) by JanetBaby99 (expl. | comp. | 19k)

Dream and George go on a road trip together and the tension between them becomes too much. Eventually, it snaps, and they can’t keep their hands to themselves any longer.

— unbreakable heaven by furculaed (teen | comp. | 5k)

“I didn’t mean for it to get so messy,” she breathes, “I thought we could, I don’t know, just do whatever and we’d be okay. I can live with just this, I promise. I can do with nothing, even. I don’t know. Just don’t ask me to stop.” Dream’s breath stops right at her chest. “Stop what, George?” “You know,” she whispers. George looks at Dream, beautiful and breaking at the seams. “Don’t make me say it, Dream. You know,” George begs.

— fall into me by havocrat (teen | comp. | 7k)

Handing the tube back, Georgina smacks her lips together, and they make a little pop sound. It’s a weird feeling, a little sticky, but she kind of likes it. She wonders if it’s anything like kissing Dream for real. “Nice chapstick,” she says, and her voice comes out a little hoarse. Dream’s throat bobs, and she wets her lips again. “Yeah?” “Yeah. Tastes good, too.” She’s aware she sounds like an idiot, but this is the only coherent thought in her head right now, the only thought that isn’t about Dream’s lips and Dream’s mouth and indirect kisses and direct kisses and– God. She needs to get out of there, before she does something they both regret.

— right through your bones by dizzy (teen | comp. | 3k)

George tries to kiss Dream, and it doesn't go as planned.

— tall man’s burden by alreadyhateyou (expl. | comp. | 4k)

Clearly Dream is tall, clearly Dream is taller and bigger than George, in a lot of ways. Clearly, George is really into this. First it’s Dream’s hands, then his shoulders and chest and thighs. Soon it’s everything. Soon George finds out Dream is big everywhere.

— what a fucked up reality show by brokenlikeastitch (teen | comp. | 13k)

“Have you started studying for the map quizzes?” George asks, shoving some of her stuff over to clear the table in front of the chair next to her like she’s making room for Dream. It’s bizarre, and Dream is caught off guard at the sudden conversation. She’s not sure what exactly she was going to say to George, but now she’s even more unsure what to say. “Not yet, I don’t really like thinking about that class.” George giggles, pushing a loose strand of hair back behind her ear as she does. “Me neither, but I don’t want to fail them because I think I’ll jump off a cliff if I have to take this class again, so.” The giggle makes Dream feel a little faint, and she sits down in the offered seat just to make sure she doesn’t accidentally actually fall out in the library in front of everyone.

— This Ambiguous Edge by Amoxil (expl. | comp. | 21k)

Dream and George don’t care about the label. For months, they do everything that couples do. Everything but sex. George is patient, but Dream’s beginning to skirt the line. George wants to see how far he can push him.

— it isn't new (but it's still you) by mocharex (teen | comp. | 15k)

The slow shift from friends to fiancés to having a family together may take years, but, luckily enough, Dream and George have all the time in the world.

— Reasons Not To Be An Idiot by VicIsWriting (expl. | comp. | 30k)

Dream and George– they used to be friends. Sandbox besties, cradle to grave, ride-or-die kind of friends. Now they’re nothing, just strangers on a college campus who barely look in each other’s direction as they pass by, neutral recognition in both their eyes. When their friendship is revived, something new develops too.

— get busy waiting by alreadyhateyou (expl. | comp. | 17k)

Dream claims he wants to wait until marriage, and while George does his best to respect his wishes, it seems like all Dream does is make them both so, so horny.

if you want a rec of your own on next month's roundup, send it in!

[bluebudgie]

Hello peeps!

Thought some of you might be interested in some tips and tricks for making gifs of your GW2 characters. Don't get me wrong here please, I'm by no means the be-and-end-all of gif-making, but maybe a handful of you might enjoy this? I do at least have experience with throwing myself in front of chak for hours. You decide if that's good or bad.

This is how I personally proceed and maybe some of you have better ways to do it! Feel free to share your own advice here :D

Let's get started! ･°˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°.

Choosing a location

So you chose a victim and have a neat little idea of what you wanna show. Now all you have to do is find a fitting location. Here's some things to consider:

How's the ambient lighting? Rotate your newly found top model at your location of choice to make sure the light hits from the best angle. Keep day and night cycles in mind. Some places also simply have bad light for your character; in that case try to think of a similar location that might look more flattering.

How busy is the background? You probably want your character to pop out, so the choice of scene is important especially if you don't have access to 3rd party depth-of-field filters. Keep in mind that moving background elements might look distracting.

If there are enemies around, can you get rid of them reliably or will they keep interrupting you? Are there safe spots to stand in outside of enemy range? Most enemies really don't hate you as much as you think. Unless you're in the Crystal Desert.

Strike a pose!

The basics:

Play around with the camera sliders in your options. Having your character big in the frame goes a long way! The vertical, horizontal and zoom sliders are your best friends.

Remember the UI doesn't have to be visible for you to type emotes in chat. Just to be safe from (public chat) typos though, I like to type the command with the UI turned on, then hide the UI, and then once I've adjusted the camera hit enter to play the emote. This is especially useful if you're trying to pose around enemies and don't have the time to frantically type things in chat.

Some tips for posing:

Rotating the camera while in first person mode rotates your entire character. This way you can turn around without having to redo your /emote all the time. This is especially useful if you use persistent emotes that last an infinite amount of time (as opposed to emotes that play an animation once and then return your character back to the default idle).

Similarly, zooming into first person mode and zooming back out will (client-side only) display your weapons and back piece. Those usually get hidden during emote animations.

If you swap weapons via keybind mid weapon idle animation, the animation will usually keep playing despite not fitting your newly swapped in weapon. This will often look silly, but can sometimes get you some cool poses too. Try out some combinations!

The technical side

So you're a master at staging the perfect shot, how do you get all of this into a neat little moving image?

To capture your gameplay, any recording software of your choice works. Windows 10 should by default come with the ability to record your game (press the Windows key + G to bring up the overlay; you can change keybinds for active and retroactive video recording & other things in the settings).

Once you've made your video file, the tricky part begins. It's kind of difficult to write a definite guide for this since programs and methods for making gifs vary so much. Different programs might compress your file differently, giving you different results in terms of file size and quality. Personally I've been using an ancient student version of Photoshop CS6 since the dawn of time, and it took some trial and error to figure out a good balance between quality and size.

About posting on tumblr:

tumblr currently allows a file size of 10MB max per gif (you can have several <10MB files per post).

The tumblr dashboard displays images at a width of 540px, so make this your gif's absolute minimum width if you want to ensure a crisp image.

Now for some subjective observations based on my experiences with how I create gifs. ! Important ! This is how my particular version of Photoshop handles sizes. You might get completely different results using any other software that compresses files differently.

Getting a good balance between image dimensions, quality and length of animation is hard if you're limited to a maximum file size of 10MB.

Your file size will depend on: The amount of frames your animation is using, the amount of colours, how much movement there is, and of course the dimensions of your image. Editing your image in terms of colours, saturation, contrast etc. can also impact the file size (it can go both ways).

Using a video recorded at 60 fps I can usually squeeze about (give or take) 3 seconds of animation into the gif before it gets too large (given a – by my standards – decent image quality). Take this into consideration when you pick your poses.

Things you can do to reduce file size, other than the two obvious solutions of simply making your animation shorter or image dimensions smaller:

Lower the amount of dither. This has a huge impact on file size in my experience. If you have many transparent effects (e.g. smoke, fog) or use strong depth-of-field filters in your image it will look bad if you go too low.

Limit the colour palette when you export your gif. Highly dependent on the scene, sometimes you can get away with reducing your colours by half, sometimes it will look atrocious.

In the end I don't think there's one formula that works for every situation. It really depends on what you're showing, so mix and match different methods to try and get the best compromise between quality and size!

And that's all I can think of right now! I hope that maybe one of these points could help someone :D

[babybulbasaur920]

Twst Boys playing Pocket Love

this might be shitty, its late and i did this in one sitting, but combined my two favorite phone game apps. Ill probably redo this when im not about to hit the floor, enjoy what you will of it

TWST boys playing Pocket Love (and my favorite ships) part one

trigger warning for internalized homophobia in Ace´s part

Heartslabyul (Cater made them all get it)

Riddle: has a nice organized house. Spends very little time playing it because he doesn't collect all the clothes and furniture. Sad that Jess only gives you a cat or dog, my boy wants a hedgehog 🙁. His house is, as you can imagine, very red, and fancy. He will take the free gifts and refuses to spend real life money. He only has 2 floors cuz he thinks it's ridiculous to go any bigger. He has the typical stuff downstairs and the second floor is all outdoors stuff. One room is just a fancy table surrounded by roses and other flowers. Only interacts with his character's partner (Floyd) when it's required for a mission or date because the dialogue is so sweet, and the teapot tyrant refuses to be a blushing mess, even alone. Also has a library, with couches and the wallpaper from the international women's day pocket surprise, he got lucky enough to get it as a free-bie. Cleans the trash in the neighborhood religiously, spans the whole around his house. Wishes there was some way to penalize whoever is tossing that trash to begin with, Trey tells him the coins he gets for each piece of trash, was fined from the litterers and that seems to pacify him 

Ace: Chaotic as hell, are we surprised? In the beginning he picked out a gray cat and named it Grim to annoy real Grim. Has Deuce as his character's partner but refuses to admit to any feelings beyond friendly ones. It's nearly sad how much he fights against the idea of him and Deuce (repressed gay, we have a repressed gay here), and claims it's just because Deuce is the best friend he's got, who else could live in his super awesome house? (note, it's not awesome, it's a mess). He can barely keep a room in order, cuz he has so much random stuff. Has a penchant for getting the same date items every single time so he has multiples of shit that he just puts up. Like the dragon dumpling date- he refuses to call them dates, they are hangouts dammit!-, he gets the same dragon head so now he has 7. He has them all hung up in a row in Deuce's room, cuz of course they separate rooms, so they stare at him when he sleeps. 

Deuce: It's blue time baby! He enjoys the game as a relaxer and decorates it pretty simple, or tries to but he gets so many things it gets a bit cluttered, no matter how many times he uses the moving truck. Once again, is in it with Ace, and gives Ace a separate room, because he thinks having his sprite and the Ace sprite sleep together would be disrespectful when Ace is so blatant about it. Loves outdoorsy space like Riddle and has at least one room as a park, complete with a duck pond. Another one who has a cat named Grim purely to be a dick. Has a room devoted to vehicles, and even has a road patterned floor, is bi and proud so he doesn't mind that the road and the cars are all rainbow-y since they come from the pride parade date. 

Trey: You know the two most done up rooms in his house are the kitchen and the bathroom. Sad he can't actually bake but the pancake minigame satisfies that urge for him. Collects the clothes he likes but lets Cater do the dressing up stuff for him. Tries to keep it simple and fun. For the bit he googles ¨ normal things to have in a house¨, cuz he's normal. Totally normal, run of the mill, average. Totally. Has some rooms that are ¨weird¨, like what appears to be the waiting room for a dentist office, and one that seems to be a cellar, with the wine glass chair and buckets of berries. Actually, the 2nd one isnt that weird

Cater: Do I have to say it? Aesthetic king! Always dresses him and Trey up so fly,  is sure to change outfits everyday. Spends $20 a month on this thing because he has to have all the fresh new furniture from the pocket surprises. Both loves and hates how affectionate the characters are, he feels that he can't really have that and Trey only sees him as a friend. Someone just love this boy, he needs it. His favorite date is the cat cafe one cuz its cool and trendy but also fairly romantic, and coffee shops carry not-sweet food, like bagels, so he can actually enjoy eating there

[bvannn]

Weekly Update January 12, 2024

I’m exhausted and still packing for the move tomorrow. I don’t know what’s going to happen this semester but I’m hoping I can stay kinda productive, since I should get weekends entirely off save for homework. Car ride up tomorrow, planning to do either epithet TTRPG work or thumbnailing or both.

TRGA: 1-5 Jon is done and 1-5 Emile is like half done, need cleanup and face. The more smoothly things go the more I’m worried about having to redo the old shots, but for now I think I can get away with touch ups on 1-3 and leaving 1-1 as is. 1-5 is going nice and quick so I’m hoping I can get the whole thing done by the end of the semester, but no promises.

Comic thumbnailing stuff going well, only 2 scenes away from getting through ‘act 1’ (the first third-ish of it). If I’m ambitious I might get going on writing a second issue soon too, because I have it kinda sorta outlined, and I found what is basically an outline for a third issue done as well (or a first draft of it anyway). Still gonna focus on the pitch/pilot/w.e issue for now. But because it’s been going so well I’m feeling optimistic.

I did no music stuff this week so once I’m back on campus I’m going to try to get going on one. Maybe will be a character theme, maybe will be something else. Not sure. *Really* want to get going on something animatable, but not sure how long it’ll take. Also I’ll go through that giant plug-in pack I got with the auto volume stuff to see what else it can do.

Also after racking my brain around music I listen to I think I have a basic idea of lyric whatever’s I was worried about last week. I’m going to fuck it we ball it because I think I do have a subconscious enough understanding. I’ll try to budget time to rewatching vocaloid tutorials so I can start messing with it.

Also haven’t really done a ton of Epithet TTRPG stuff other than sporadic general planning. I have a general outline for a first chapter/session/batch of sessions, I just need to plan out the details of the encounters, and trajectory for the rest of the campaign. I want to kinda combine it with another RPG I found at the store, ‘Urban Decay’, so I’ll need to throw together a document of that and any other house rules, and set up a session zero for character creation. Unsure if I want to d with friends in person, people found online, both, or a combination.

I have a big stretch of free time tomorrow, I’m going to try to actually schedule myself for that, spend X amount of time on comic thumbnailing, X on TTRPG, and X on watching Vocaloid and other music tutorials. Hoping my mood will be stable enough to maintain that schedule. From there, I’ll try to do a song on Sunday (and time myself so I can add music to my commsheet), and try another bite of animation and another thumbnail, plus maybe a drawing if I have time. Weird that drawings are such a low priority right now but it’s because the other stuff I’m working on is just that much more exciting!

[chessalein]

WIP WEDNESDAY - 21/06/23

So uhm.. yea. My WIPS at the moment are three things. One of these you know already. Its a clothing mod for Jackie in the Lumberjack outfit. I'm tr ying out different combinations. Different colors, variations like dirty and clean and what not. And fighting against mean clipping and... oh boy. Its hard. actually the only problem I have with this shirt are the armpits. I really have to butcher this poor mesh so it won't clip anymore.

Maybe I just have to learn that it won't be perfect but it stresses me out because I have the feeling I'm letting the people who are hyped to put Jackie in new outfits down.

The second thing I'm working on is kind of like the same as the first but I'm completley stuck right now. I don't know why but my wolvenkit just doesen't want to save .app files anymore so that I can change his clothing in these files. I can't even redo the shirt that already worked. I wanted to do it again to see if its the shirt or if I missed some steps while trying it on other clothings but... It just doesn't want to work anymore. I don't know what to do anymore.

So if one of you ever had this problem, please let me know how you solved it. I already have the newest wolvenkit nightly version because Wash thought it might help, but sadly it doesen't.

And I have the "Jackie's Wardrobe vol. 1" mod from @twistedsinews so I thought I try to look how they did and to find out what I'm doing wrong. But they did it completley different. I tried to use their stuff as a frame and maybe just somehow make it work with the stuff I want but... no. After seeing Pinkydudes new amazing seductive input poses I really wanted to have some shorts in which I can put Jackie so people can take hot underwear-model like pics. But... yea.. I didn't get that far and I'm stuck with this method as well. So I'm a bit lost right now.

Just so you know: 1. twistedsinews wrote in a readme file: "permissions: share, modify, whatever. just don't sell the darn thing for money, please!" If it wasn't I wouldn't dare to open someones mod to play around with it. 2. The name of my mod was inspired by theirs :) Because I just love all the outfits that are in there. The mod was available in a Tumblr post but I think the link expired.

Thats what I got somehow working but the texture is.. I don't even know what and he still has shoes and... yea. I'm out of ideas right now.

We share the same expression right now. Both absolutley not happy but don't know how to change it. And beside modding, I work on chapter 18 of "Bringing back the sun" :) In which we learn how Misty is doing with her grief.

[miloscat]

[Review] Wario Land 4 (GBA)

A disappointing misstep... am I the only one who thinks this??

Despite coming so soon after Wario Land 3 (the fourth Wario Land game), Wario Land 4 (the fifth Wario Land game) makes a lot of changes. It tries to synthesise new ideas with the old and ends up feeling like a bit of a mess. It has a good reputation but honestly I don’t get it!

The first thing you notice is the visual refresh. We’re on the cusp of Warioware completely revolutionising Wario’s characterisation and setting, and WL4 gets a bit of a ripple from that. Wario is flexing and posing, driving a muscle car… read the manual though and it leans harder than ever into his hilariously gross habits and self-aggrandising mannerisms. Unlike a lot of other things in the game, this combination works well.

In a premise most reminiscent of Virtual Boy Wario Land, Wario is on the hunt for treasure and goes to explore an ancient ruin only to stumble on a series of wacky out-of-place environments contained within and a big weirdo out of nowhere as would-be antagonist. The use of magic portals does a little something for plausibility, I guess. Did Wario really need a princess to rescue though? Was that necessary? Shokora at least has a presence in the story thanks to her transformation into a mysterious cat who pops up in cutscenes / Mr. Game & Watch-style silhouette person who acts as shopkeeper.

The levels feel initially like throwbacks to pre-3 style, with a critical path and side rooms, where it isn’t always clear which is which. But you do need to thoroughly explore because getting all four chests in each level is mandatory to unlock the zone bosses, plus there’s a key to find to advance to the next level. Having to redo entire levels if you miss any of these is a real drag. There's also optional mini-puzzle challenges sectioned off in their own rooms, removed from the flow and aesthetic of the rest of the level. But things change when you find the frog switch: a giant timer appears, and you have to backtrack to where you came in. Sometimes things change in the level, or you find a new path to return via, but often those progress items are hidden in this time-pressured sequence as well.

Far from being an exciting combination of ideas, I think these concepts of structure and design are at odds, pulling in different directions. Similarly, the non-damaging conditions from WL2 and 3 return here, but in a position of reduced prominence, and they've reinstated a health meter mechanic on top. (The GBA's shoulder buttons also prompted a return of the run button from VBWL, but it feels underused.) Removing the timer and health system was a breath of fresh air in WL2... now they're back, and for what!?

The boss battles are another miss for me. They're also timed, and you have to do them quick to get maximum treasure, which is otherwise kind of a non-factor. Collecting coins in levels lets you play one of three minigames (none of which are very fun) to earn tokens. You can spend these in a shop before the boss door, for a variety of effects that simply remove health from the boss. This Breath of the Wild-style "reward" of making the fights shorter by just subtracting from their health bar is such an odd choice to me. The fights themselves are fine at best, but the bosses are visually overdesigned in a purposeful, grotesque way; I suppose it's meant to be amusingly absurd but I just found them ugly eyesores.

Playing the Wario Land games one by one, I've enjoyed seeing them refine the concept and bring in fresh ideas. WL4 on the other hand feels like it's trying to force ideas in and fumbling in the process, with a result that doesn't quite come together. Even though the play control is tighter and snappier, the game is less than the sum of its parts, less pure than previous Wario Lands. The music is really strange too, trying for some kind of esoteric wackiness but maybe trying too hard... The series has never looked better, but this might be a sign that it's losing its direction. Meanwhile Nintendo R&D1 themselves are soon to be restructured, splintering into oversight roles and smaller teams, and I think the "Wario platformer" series suffers as a consequence, while Warioware's star rises. We'll see in the next few reviews I suppose...

[cbk1000]

HI!! ID LOVE TO KNOW UR THOUGHTS ON THIS (if u dont mind me asking)

Why do u think so many women gravitate or feel more comfortable reading/writing mlm fiction?

I don't think it's that they necessarily feel more comfortable reading/writing m/m fiction, I think it's that so much of media revolves around men that m/m ships are overwhelmingly more numerous because it's slim pickings for female characters. I saw a post on here a while ago that broke down all possible ship combinations using the Marvel fandom as an example, and there were infinitely more choices for m/m ships simply because there were so many male characters. Fandom is also a space, in my experience, with a lot of queer people, so I think a lot of what you're seeing with the preponderance of m/m ships in fandom is simply a lot of queer women wanting to tell queer stories, and having, in many fandoms, more, and more well-developed, male characters and relationships between men to explore. And too I think it might be that we see a lot of intense male relationships portrayed on screen, and have even coined a whole phrase, 'bromance', to make sure people understand that the romantic elements they're seeing are not, in fact, actually gay, because God forbid. I imagine seeing a story that looks queer, only to be told that it is not, is frustrating for people who have spent a very long time waiting for representation in media, and fandom gives them the opportunity to redo those stories by making them explicitly gay.

When we're talking about traditionally published fiction versus fanfiction, while I have read some gay novels written by men who, I think, are gay (I won't list them as examples of gay fiction written by gay men because off the top of my head, only one author I'm thinking of is for sure out as gay, and I'm not positive about the others, and it's none of my business how they identify), most of what's available in the m/m genre does seem to have been written by women. But romance as a genre has always been dominated by female writers. It's the one genre where they aggressively outsell male writers. Any romance, regardless of the sexuality of the main pairing, is more likely to have been written by a woman.

Also, I think, no matter how open-minded they are, straight male writers are less likely to write in detail about a gay couple. They might have a gay couple or character on the side, but most of them likely are not going to set out to tell a story about men being in love with one another. There will always be exceptions to this, of course, since it's a generalization, and Sebastian Barry is one such example of a male writer who, so far as I know, identifies as straight but wrote a novel about two men falling in love for his son, shortly after he came out as gay. But men, even those who are not anti-LGBT, have still usually been socialized not to act in ways that might be perceived as gay, and writing a gay romance is going to be perceived as pretty gay. So you narrow down your potential pool of writers a lot when you take out the majority of straight men, leaving mostly women, who don't have to worry that they'll be taken as a gay man if they write about one, and gay men, who are kind of, you know, already gay. Obviously there are a lot more female writers, gay and straight, than there are gay male writers, so again the chances of a woman writing m/m are just higher based on sheer volumes and the fact that romance stories are overwhelmingly a space made by women for women.

[gamebunny-advance]

Fandom Doodle Dump

And now, time for the "bad sketches" portion of the upload night.

1-5) Zam Doodles. Some other sketches I did to celebrate Zam winning the poll. The first couple were done before I realized that the poll ended on Valentine's Day, so the last few are more themed for it. I really like the idea of the last one, Zam helping the others make sweets for the day, but it was just too much for me to do last minute.

6) Vs. Anne Glerr. A sketch for the Vs. SAYU redux album cover. I haven't changed it too much from the original upload, it's mostly just the intro made to follow the song's beats a little better.

7) Saychu. Was originally gonna be a part of a collage of Sayu imitating various Miku memes. Since she's NSR's equivalent of Miku, I figured it was fitting.

8) Human!Primid, Poppant, and Mite. I still haven't quite found the fine line of both making them look like direct humanizations of the original enemy and like they're derivative of my human!Mr. Game & Watch. The biggest factor is really the nose since GW's is very prominent, but the original enemies have none. I thought shrinking it might help, but I dunno. It just doesn't feel right.

9-10) Human?Master Hand/Crazy Hand. I dunno, these might be some that I have to start from scratch from, because I'm too used to hanging onto to the gimmick that they're supposed to slightly resemble Sakurai since they're the "gods" of this world, and he's the creator of the series, but it makes them look a little too friendly. I'll think on it a bit. I feel like they could definitely use more "hand" imagery in their designs.

11) Human?Tabuu redesign. I'm also redoing him. I'm basically redoing everybody. This is only 1 of a handful of other sketches I did, but this is the only one I feel is worth posting.

I've been trying to come at him from a few different angles. For starters, the long hair has to stay: it's supposed to represent how he's been trapped in Subspace for so long that his hair's been growing out of control (and then it gets cut once he escapes Subspace). I've considered having his hair cover his eyes in this form to represent how his original form doesn't have eyes, but I'm not totally sold on it.

The other thing I've been trying is different outfit inspirations. His old design was supposed to be a combination of a genie-esque look crossed with loungewear, since I characterize him partially as a hikikomori. It was supposed to be easy to move in, but still a little form-fitting since his original form is naked.

For this one, I went for a kind of "jester + fae king" approach. It's supposed to mirror G&W's clown motifs, and it works with his puppet master schtick too. I added the primid's collar + cuffs to also add some slight prisoner imagery since he's also trapped in Subspace (presumably against his will), but I'm not totally sold on it.

[isobug]

Can you do an anonbinary intersex flag? I feel anonbinary describes me but I wish there was an alt word for it, like there's aphorian for abinary

For a term like aphorian but for anonbinary, I came up with Anodiean

"A-" and "no-" taken from Anonbinary but with the Latin "bi-" prefix replaced by the Greek prefix "di-", then adding the suffix "-ean" which is used to mean "relating to". So roughly "relating/belonging to no two binaries", because Anonbinary genders don't exist in relation to binary or nonbinary genders, nor do they belong to either.

I might redo the flag at some point but I tried to combine the Abinary flag with elements of the Intersex flags (the new purple stripes in the middle come from Natalie Phox's flag and the circle is from Morgan Carpenter's flag, also called the IHRA or OII flag).

(edit: Anodiean can be used by anyone if they want to, it's not exclusive to intersex anonbinary people, i just coined it on this post along with this flag because anon sent in a combined request.)

@intersexflags @interarchive

( ID: a rectangular flag with 7 equally-sized horizontal lines. colors in this order from top to bottom: black, purple-magenta, pale reddish-magenta, white, pale reddish-magenta, yellow, and black. in the center of the flag is a thick black circle outline. End ID. )